DerekL1963

Building out a 1.2 install, only to have 1.2.1 drop... Meh.

You can, and AIUI many projects do when they're dealing with "snapshots" and a small number of observing locations. It's not a solution that scales well though, the costs mount quickly as does the difficulty and labor of handling all the drives.

For certain values of "easy", as we're talking considerable amounts of data (up to gigabits per second) that have to shipped from the telescope to the processing center. "Easy" enough terrestrially, much more difficult when we're talking installations that are multiple AU from the (presumably terrestrial) processing center, and/or which can't be connected to the processing center via hardline.

You also have to get the data from the two (or more) telescopes involved to the same place to be combined, this can be a significant challenge in it's own right.

@sdj64 - all done! Log thread here!

Landed on Bop... And Pol... Then brought my crew home... Completing my Jool-5 Challenge run... Just waiting on the challenge maintainer to make it official.

Y52 D295 - Headed home, the T/TV undocks and maneuvers clear of the mothership. Fortunately, I get a nice return window without waiting too long. Y53 D08 - Trans Kerbin Injection - headed home! The long fall Kerbolward.... Y55 D297 - after seven years and thirty days... the intrepid explorers brake into Kerbin orbit. I forgot to write the day(s) down, but crew recovery commenced immediately after the end of the braking burn... With Valentina once again piloting, the recovery vehicle climbs for orbit. And swiftly docks with the T/TV... Passing over KSC, re-entry heat builds... A picture perfect touchdown off of KSC... Crew recovery... Five flags... It's been a ton of work, and a long hard trip... but it's done.

Y52 D241 - When I originally practiced this, after refueling I headed back to the mothership. This actually makes no sense, since I'm already halfway to Pol! So, fat on fuel, I undock from the T/TV and head off on the last landing mission. Y52 D260 - Pol orbit, and descent. Y52 D261 - Touchdown and a flag raising on Pol! All five moons complete. Headed back to the mothership... don't miss that rendezvous burn! Y52 D284 - The lander docks with the mothership, it's job completed. Y52 D295 - the T/TV docks with the mothership, time to refuel and head home.

Y52 D203 - The lander undocks, destination Bop! Approaching Bop, like any other of the small bodies, is nerve wracking - you don't always get a visual display of your encounter the SOI is so small... Y52 D216 - After entering orbit and picking a nice flat sunlight landing area, the descent begins. It's not until I'm in final descent that I realize I may have made an error, there's a big mountain right to the East of the landing site... right in my ascent path! After touchdown, the boys get out to explore... Jeb can't resist jumping. Obligatory PR photo for the folks back home... Clearing the mountain by manually ascending five kilometers before handing over to the ascent autopilot. After reaching orbit, I plot an escape trajectory and eventually reach a stable circular orbit around Jool... where the crew awaits for the arrival of the T/TV and more fuel. Y52 D241 - arrival of the T/TV with a fresh load of fuel.

AIUI the problem isn't so much the size of the airbags as the physical strength of the material. The heavier the payload, the higher the stress on the first impact-and-bounce.

Mathematically speaking, pitching way over as soon as the gear clears the ground is an entirely reasonable thing to do when ascending from the surface of an airless moon. Still, it nearly gives me a heart attack every time. And, my Jool-5 progress log has been updated with a visit to Vall! Three moons down, two to go.

Y52 D118 - The Quad Lander departs the mothership and heads to Vall. Y 52 D137 - Once the lander is in a stable orbit at Vall, the T/TV undocks and heads down to refuel it. During rendezvous and docking, I made a few screwups and used way too much monoprop. Long term, not a problem as I have plenty in reserve. Short term, a problem because the reserves are in tanks on the mothership. But I figured out what I had done wrong, looked at the numbers, and crossing my fingers pressed on. Y52 D156 The first step in landing is resetting my thrust, reducing the t/w ratio from nearly 6.00 to 2.00ish, which is much more sane. Laythe on the horizon shortly before touchdown. Once down, a flag is planted and the obligatory selfie for the folks back home is taken - and the boys are photobombed by Tylo! Mathematically speaking, it's entirely reasonable for MJ's ascent autopilot to pitch way over as soon as the gear clears the ground. It still gives me a heart attack every time though. Burning for orbit... once again a wonderful view. Once in orbit, the Quad Lander and the T/TV link up to take off the crew and refuel the lander. Y52 D181 - the T/TV returns to the mothership. Y52 D203 The quad lander returns to the mothership, this time docking to the crew compartment, and the Vall phase of operations is complete. Three moons down, two to go.

Landed on Val... Three moons down, two to go in my Jool-5 run! Pictures and log thread update later today because it's late and I'm bushed.

There's an old saying... it's not stupid if it works.

Radio refraction depends on the frequency - and generally refraction means the signal is not going to space today. That being said, I usually use 99%, that's enough to ensure near 100% coverage in LKO without the line slicing into the planet so much it drives me crazy.

Update 10/27/2016 Logistically, the Laythe landing is much simpler because it's a one-way trip for the lander, and only one out-and-back trip for the T/TV. But as we'll see, the mission is not without it's own challenges. Y52 D104 - Undocking the Laythe lander, which then heads for Laythe. Y52 D110 - The T/TV approaches Laythe to transfer the crew and refuel the lander. (And a way cool picture. ) Y52 D111 - Landing day! Flag planted. I thought I had gotten a screenshot of the ascent trajectory - straight up without pitching over until fairly high up (to avoid tumbling), but it seems to have vanished in the mist. After the lander returns to orbit, since it won't be reused, it's drained of LFO and monoprop and left in orbit. Y52 D118 - the T/TV docks with the mothership, and Laythe operations are complete. (And look at the d/V - almost ran the tanks dry.)

The standard contracts system should do that. ^^ This is my standard practice too.

Touchdown on Tylo! One moon down, four to go.

Update 10/26/2016 Y51 D387 - Tylo operations commence. With three out-and-back flights and six dockings, it's the most complex phase of the mission. Undocking the Quad Lander, a bit of a nail biter because I have to translate as soon as I undock to avoid hitting the T/TV. I probably should have undocked the T/TV first and moved it to one of the side docking ports. Y51 D419 - The T/TV meets up with the Quad Lander in Tylo orbit and refuels the cruise/crash stage. Y52 D35 - The T/TV makes a round trip back to the mothership and fetches the crew and the fuel the Quad Lander will eventually need to return to the mothership. After transferring the crew to the Quad Lander, they strap in and start the landing... The first part is a nailbiter as I have to kick the cruise/crash stage away as soon as it runs dry. Kicking up some dust just a few seconds before touchdown! After touchdown, Jeb and Bill plant a flag and take the obligatory selfie. With no atmosphere and only gravity losses to contend with, the lander pitches way over almost immediately and burns for orbit... scary but efficient. I forgot to write down the date, but after transferring to the T/TV, the crew returns to the mothership. Y52 D104 - The Quad Lander returns to the mothership, officially ending the Tylo phase of the mission.

Except of course all the things that capsules can't do. Like supporting and operate an orbital science facility without requiring expensive support equipment as part of the facility, and then return said facility for re-use. Like operating prototype equipment, and then returning said equipment for modification and re-use. Like providing a stable support platform for orbital maintenance, and then returning the maintenance equipment for reuse. Like... well, I could go one but you see the pattern. Your statement above is better phrased as "with capsules, we could do practically nothing the Shuttle could do, without throwing away billions of dollars worth of equipment". A station with a fraction of the capability of the ISS. I can buy a dozen economy sedans for the cost of a single full size pickup truck - but everyone would rightfully look at me as a fool if I tried to use the former for the latter, or confused the two. Nobody sober and sane would ever confuse the two or try to substitute the former for the latter. Yet, when it comes to space, such completely ludicrous apples and oranges comparisons occur regularly and apparently without anyone seeing the contradiction. Unless they've invented some kind of magical time-and-space warping technology... the capacity of Shenzhou's orbital module, like Soyuz's, is minimal at best.

I should update too... My mothership is at Jool, and the first landing (Tylo) is in progress. Only RL has kept me busy, a long awaited book on naval command and control finally arrived, and somehow I'm way behind on my anime...

If only we had some way of performing the research without going to Mars - oh, wait, we do. A centrifuge in LEO will do just fine for basic research into the effects of Mars gravity on small mammals.

Translation: Capsules are better only so long as I don't actually discuss or compare relative capabilities.

Pretty much a mash up of every idea lately proposed... Heavy is inescapable if you plan on being there semi-permanently.

On the contrary - given that we evolved at 1g and the demonstrated fact that there are medical consequences of long term living at 0g, there's every reason to presume that there will long term medical consequences at .38g. The unscientific one here is the one pronouncing as a fact that there will be no consequences despite a complete absence of data.