CatastrophicFailure

I think the problem with the second stage is longevity. It's kerolox fueled, after all. LOX boils off and kerosene some some nasty things if it's heated/cooled too far. Anyone know the theoretical endurance of the standard F9 second stage? Or the delta-V of the existing Dragon, for comparison?

Things are moving quietly along... the next couple chapters are proving quite the challenge, as I kinda expected they would. It will be a while yet, but it will also be... significant.

You could take one of them along for the ride. Heck, you could land and rub their nose in the gritty, gunpowdery-smelling lunar regolith then beat them over the head with the bleached flag left by Apollo 11, and they still wouldn't believe. Respectfully, you and others seem to be ignoring that before any of this ever happens, the FH will have two or three flights under its belt and the D2 as well. Like someone said above, all the hardware does actually exist in some form, ala Apollo 8 when they started thinking about sending it round the moon.

And they don't need to expend resources pursuing it further, either. They're smart guys, they can likely see the writing on the wall that with a functional, reusable Falcon Heavy (and more so the New Glenn) would make SLS obsolete. I'm given to wonder how much support SLS actually has within NASA's ranks, and how much is just politics.

I didn't say anything about the time frame, just that the hardware is up to the task. I'll still put money on SpaceX sending people around the Moon long before SLS sends anything. The latent conspiracy theorist in me wonders if NASA gave their assistance specifically so that the SLS would be one step closer to being cancelled so they can focus on better things.

If it's little more than a boilerplate, that seems plausible with minimal extra expense for them. I think I remember reading somewhere that the D2 heat shield is meant for multiple reuses without refurbishment. If true, that right there could make it lunar-ready. Also remember, this big expensive deal wasn't made yesterday. It's probably been cooking behind the scenes for a while now. Yes, SpaceX has a lot to do before it happens, but they wouldn't've made such a big announcement if they didn't have confidence that their system will actually work. I'm guessing the big influx of cash from that deposit will probably go along way towards furthering that.

Well, this is an interesting development, especially in light of the minor hullabaloo about EM-1. Tho my first thought is, Jeff Bezos is gonna be soooooooooooooo miffed.

Are they ever?

FWIW Tweakscale and KR&D are known not to play well together. CKAN won't even let you install both together. Give me a shout when you figure it out, I'm thinking of swapping Tweakscale out myself.

@Galileo I keep forgetting to mention this (since it's working in my favor at the moment). I know y'all are working towards full Kerbalism support. Just FYI, at 6.4 scale (and probably others too) the KSC comm station is hundreds (thousands?) of kilometers below ground. As a result, you can still get a signal anywhere, even if there's lots and lots of Gael between a craft and the launch site.

Interesting side note: according to this article, the last SpaceX launch went up with an experimental automatic self-destruct system. Actually a really fascinating concept that should help speed up the cadence of launches. But, I was struck by a certain sense of... irony.

Day 238... This is starting to feel less like blind experimentation, and more like accomplishing something. GENE spit out a small series of contracts (and Vlad's... well, he won't need it anymore...) to put a satellite in a polar orbit and map the entire planet. It took a long time to put together, but this is what the engineers finally came up with: It's deceptively simple, and enormous single solid booster to loft the upper stage with our first proper engine. Oh. PЏҬЇИ.

Me? I spawned a small galaxy. Er... wait... Nope, that's just another failing rocket...

What were you trying to send to space, a crate full of Vectors??

(sorry, couldn't resist) No but seriously, my money's on Falcon heavy and another disappointing delay. I really really hope I'm wrong.

@The-Doctor @eberkain Yeesh, I shoulda checked all my morning emails before replying. Here you guys go. It's a very simple radiation config, Gauss probably isn't nearly Gaussy enough, but it should do the trick until Galileo & crew bring us "official" Kerbalism support. https://www.dropbox.com/s/wp54jcbq31btwqg/radiationtest.cfg?dl=0 Also, here's one for Rald if you swing that way. https://www.dropbox.com/s/ecl7wmjmypz59a4/RaldRadiatoin.cfg?dl=0 Standard MM configs, just plop them in /GameData (and remember to remove them when official support comes along.)

@The-Doctor @eberkain GPP doesn't (yet) have native support for Kerbalism. You'll need an extra config to get the radiation belts working. It's buried in the GPP thread, or give me a holler over there and I'll post mine.

...? do tell, do tell...

That cockpit, what's it from?? And those engines just behind the radiators?

Day 147... If we're ever going to upgrade the assembly building, we need roots. Lots and lots of roots. Vlad actually tried selling his body to the science department. They paid him to take it back. Somehow, it still ended up being a net loss... Myself, I crunched the numbers enough to figure out that I much prefer them soggy after soaking in milk a while. Then I did some math. Then I realized what a horrible idea that was, and had the engineering department do it instead. They came up with the radical notion that building things that either get thrown away or launched off into the void even especially if they work right is not economically sustainable. So they suggested something that could actually return to our facility after it was used. This is what they came up with: Um... it's supposed to do that. Really. Absolutely not a miscalculation... We'd better not let on what else GENE is demanding...

Only about halfway thru this (sooooo many pictures! That's a good thing), but I've just gotta say I love seeing a game screen as cluttered with MechJeb windows as my own.

You usually have to revert to launch after the first attempt, then it works better. Something about MJ learning the thrust curve or something. And yes, it still works much better on small, airless bodies than Kerbin/Gael.

Is that, perhaps, why they left in place that swing-away cover thingy from the Shuttle era whose proper name escapes me at the moment? Maybe they're expecting to adapt that.

Heh. Had to go look that last bit up, never noticed that before. Now I can't un-see it.

Spaceponies?! Oh scat, there goes the planet.