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CatastrophicFailure

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    SpaceX Discussion Thread

    in Science & Spaceflight

    Posted

    A pox upon your calm logic and reason! I want the thing and I want it now! *garglbarglargl*

     

    A little real communication from SpaceX would be welcome at this point, they’ve been awfully mum about the whole thing. Are these delay issues things they were expecting or, like @KSK said, should we all just check back next week?:confused:

    ALIEN SKIES: A 6.4-scale playthrough of GPP/Rald

    in KSP1 Mission Reports

    Posted

    On 1/11/2018 at 4:45 AM, Geschosskopf said:

    This is probably the most disturbing thing you've said yet :wink:

    Anyway, the hilarity of the flying sailing ship aside (which, BTW, looks great), congrats on getting the thing there.  That indeed must have been quite a challenge, especially with 6.4x and all the other things you've got in this game.  Bravo!

    Apparently MechJeb's delta-v display does not play well with the Otter's water engine. Spams the log as long as I have the window open and eventually crashes the game, even if the engine's not activated. So I also had to do the whole launch and transfer with no display. I'm absolutely shocked the whole thing worked. I was thinking, "all those wings on the front of a long skinny rocket and no 'fuel guage' either? I'll be Hyperediting this sooner or later." Never had to resort to that. :D Then I flub the launch window and have to land at night. :huh:

    18 hours ago, NotAgain said:

    Am I the only one getting notes of Peter Pan here?

    Dangit... :mad: I just know I had a "Wendy, I can fly!" gag in here somewhere, but flarped if I can find it now.

     

    A Thread for Writers to talk about Writing

    in KSP Fan Works

    Posted

    10 hours ago, Angel-125 said:

    Another thing I’m toying with is that the good guys aren’t as above board as, say, Star fleet. James accepted a bribe and got caught. The Kerman States accuses others of having nukes and hides their own. It’s giving more for me to work with.

    This is where good, deep characters come from. Good guys who struggle with their own dark side, bad guys who secretly long for redemption. Gooder-than-good guys often become unbelievable, badder-than-baddies easily become chichés.

    Spoiler

    @Just Jim‘s Thompberry is a wonderful example. I’m still not sure if I trust him.:wink:

     

    Now with ol’ Jeb, I seem to be the outlier. I killed the poor guy off before my story even started. :blush: Val has been my focus of the Fab Four, and she really began with the first time I saw her in the game menu. She just looked so... small. Like a kid trying to see over a countertop. I figured yeah, she’s gotta be a feisty one. 

    RocketLab Discussion Thread

    in Science & Spaceflight

    Posted

    Interesting. I’m trying not to get too excited about Moon Express before it actually exists, but they’re the only entrant that seems to have a real business plan beyond winning the prize. Whether clients really turn up after is speculation, but the idea that they can get something to the surface of the moon on a rocket that small is incredible on its own. :D

    SpaceX Discussion Thread

    in Science & Spaceflight

    Posted

    Quote

    it’s a beast of a vehicle.

      Understatement of the year, right here...

    ...tho it’s been a short year...

    4 minutes ago, Jaff said:

    heavy should be just as easy as 9 only take 3 times longer based on the “simplicity” or this rocket

    SpaceX has stated, in so many words, that the biggest lesson they’ve taken away from FH development is that no, it isn’t simple at all.   :wink:

    SpaceX Discussion Thread

    in Science & Spaceflight

    Posted

    Interesting stuff I was not aware of, and possibly even relevant to this thread, via an unexpected Wiki page:

    Scaled Composites was purchased by Northrop Grumman back in 2007...

    Let that percolate, re: Zumba...

    Also, it seems Richard Branson is also interested in the point-to-point rocket market... sounds familiar... <_<

    52 minutes ago, KSK said:

    Could well be. Sillier things have happened before to very expensive bits of machinery.

    https://www.theguardian.com/science/2009/nov/06/cern-big-bang-goes-phut

    Phut. I think that’s my new favorite word. Phut. Heheh... uh... heheheh heheh. Phut. 

    A Thread for Writers to talk about Writing

    in KSP Fan Works

    Posted · Edited by CatastrophicFailure

    8 minutes ago, steuben said:

    We all have a vehicle, four wheels, engine in the front, trunk in the back. The framework provided by KSP. But how many seats, trunk space, and those silly hydraulic thingies and underglow lights, well that's writer's choice. We all have different cars.

    Then someone throws a ‘68 Beetle in the mix and it gets really interesting... -_-

    SpaceX Discussion Thread

    in Science & Spaceflight

    Posted

    14 minutes ago, Motokid600 said:

    I wonder if they found a problem?

    Given that it’s a scrub for the whole day, and not just a delay till later in the window, it’s a significant enough isssue that they think it needs 24 hours or more. Hopefully we’ll have some official details later. That is a lot of fuel to be pumping into a thing for the first time. 

    ALIEN SKIES: A 6.4-scale playthrough of GPP/Rald

    in KSP1 Mission Reports

    Posted · Edited by CatastrophicFailure

    Year 8, Day 75...

    Well, how bout this? Our little space program is actually launching a rocket!

    Spoiler

     

    Ilb2VPB.png

    Sort of.

    Under threat of shivering of timbers, we all here have agreed to acquiesce. Because we don't want to find out what that means. *shudder*

     

    And so, still sort of being Ussaris and having a penchant for doing things the hard way, the engineering team has made a boat... out of a plane.

    FYCnJAd.png

    More specifically, out of a bunch of old wings. Yes, here we are, making a square-rigged sailing ship out of old plane parts, then launching it on a rocket to an alien moon where Kerbals we found marooned in space are now possessed by some sort of pirate delusion.

    On any other day, that might seem strange.

     

    But, the engineering team has never been ones to shy from a challenge usually they're running away and screaming instead, and it turns out having a whole bunch of wings on the front of a long, skinny, incredibly large rocket tends to make it inherently unstable. Which, come to think of it, describes a lot around here.

    0KLBYdz.png

    But credit to the design team, and threat of grave bodily harm, for finding a way. The Otho V lifter has just enough power to ascend with an unusually steep profile, getting up above the atmosphere as soon as possible, while rolling the payload over so the wings actually help pull it into the gravity turn. The engineering team might be celebrating and congratulating each other right now, if they weren't all hiding in the closet. Could you guys at least have picked a bigger closet? C'mon, you're engineers, you should know you can't all fit in there...

     

    First stage sep is good! With the air mostly below, now, it's up to the second stage for the brunt of the impulse into orbit.

    JSjaRLx.png

     

    Interstage separation. This is starting to feel like rocketry again!

    JLpxLbu.png

     

    It takes everything the second stage has, and just a bit more, but we've actually got a good initial orbit with this 50-tonne embarrassment! 

    o89Vmry.png

     

    Yes, you can say it. It's a... sigh...

    jTNcvYm.png

    Space ship.

    g4h5bQ5.gif

    Go on. Get it out of your system.

     

    Ok, moving on...

    It's a standard transfer to Rald. We... have no idea how much delta-V the contraption actually has. For some reason, possibly due to the water-breathing engine crammed in there, trying to bring up the display threatens to collapse reality into negative space wedgie.

    i1zu004.png

    The Otho upper stage burns with everything it has, while we all cross our fingers (which, being Kerbals, is extremely difficult.)

     

    Oddly enough, it works! The Package arrives safely in low Rald orbit, running on fumes after the braking burn but fumes are good enough.

    ZbHK7Ce.png

    Also, it's hydrolox, so it's all fumes anyway.

     

    Space is an ocean.

    tNk7twi.png

    No, space is not an ocean, so we brought along more rockets anyway. Turns out we won't need them.

     

    Due to a slight... miscalculation in timing the liftoff, it's a very irritating nighttime entry and landing.

    RVPR174.png

     

    As it turns out, our boat actually flies pretty well. Or... glides, I suppose. There's bets rapidly passed around that Mission Control might even be able to land the thing on its own.

    cjhCIil.png

     

    But, a reminder of the whole "shivering of timbers" thing coaxes everyone into just trusting the parachutes instead.

    EKdKB8U.png

     

    It's a surprisingly gentle splashdown...

    5SHrg6Z.png

    At night. Annoyingly.

     

    The chutes are ditched... and now... we wait...

    NaxtuPB.png

    I have a feeling now things are really going to get weird. 

     

    Ship ahoy, Cap'n!

    H4Jqqwk.png

    Where?

    There.

    Where?!?

    Right there!

    Blimey, ya scurvy sea dog, I can't see a bloody thing!

    It's not close enough yet.

    What? But ye just said...

    It's there, but we can't see it. It'll suddenly pop into sight about 2.4 kilometers way.

    Will it, now? Arrr, this place be strange.

     

    Arrr!

    Arrr!

    Arrr!

     

    A Thread for Writers to talk about Writing

    in KSP Fan Works

    Posted

    11 hours ago, KSK said:

    Okay. Strunk & White recommend not spelling out numbers unless a character is using them in speech.

    So Jeb could be a reservist in the 305th Air Squadron but presumably might refer to it in conversation as the three-oh-fifth.

    Not completely sure I like that but the source is impeccable.

     

    Bingo, that's exactly what I needed, thanx. :D

     

    I have also learned that I really need to learn how to take notes. :blush: Every teacher and professor since high school has echoed this My own note-taking system generally involves thinking about stuff over and over again and hoping some of it sticks. What ends up on the page is often quite different than the initial idea. :/ It never ceases to impress (and occasionally annoy) me how authors can break up their story into dozens of different threads and have them all come out in the same place.

     

    39 minutes ago, Alpha 360 said:

    Hello TWW! Or what you guys here call this thread. I have been staying up in the mission reports section, but I do believe I have enough writing experience to join onto this thread.

    Everyone's welcome here. :D The best way to learn about writing is just doing so, the rest is details. 

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