CatastrophicFailure

Wilny looks underwhelmed.

As far as I understand, I can only use their router. DSL obviously, not sure if that makes any difference. Always has creeped me out how they can access & tweak the router remotely. I probably should touch bases with them again about exactly what they want me to do to get that damn port open.

I took the afternoon off from work, and diligently tried to cram as much goofing off astrophysical research in as possible:D: Yet another restless night for Edmund, Edgas, & Billy-Bobrim. This is becoming a bit of a habit. Trying to sleep in 1/6th gravity in a tin can that now has an actual "floor," and limited space thereof, probably had something to do with it this time. Billy-Bobrim was actually quiet for once. They all hope this was the last "night" sleeping in the pod, and blearily get to work. First on the list, Billy-Bobrim powers up the rover and backs the lift support trailer up to the downhill-most docking port of the base, while Edgas spots him: The rover is wide and ungainly, but after much backing and turning the docking clamps make contact and the LST is finally secured. Edgas deploys the support struts from outside, then unhooks the rover. Next up is getting the critical power generators online. The base has around eight hours of standby battery power available, not nearly enough for the long Münar night, so solar power isn't an option. The base will run on two clusters of RTGs. Here, Edgas locates a base pylon. Then Billy-Bobrim links it. Followed by several hours of unpacking the individual RTG's from their KAS containers, and securing them to the pylon. It's boring work, and Billy-Bobrim's humming is gettin on Edgas's nerves. Once all 9 RTG's are installed, the two tiring Kerbals load KAS packs full of more parts to the rover. Then more setup. Even in the low gravity, moving the heavy parts around is difficult. The pair are nearing exhaustion. Edmund expresses his concern while he monitors them from the pod. Finally the last connection is made, and Edgas & Billy-Bobrim can stand back and admire their work. Mission Control says all systems check out, but Edgas has noticed a problem. This connection wasn't located well. It's a simple task, but more work to move it. The main tasks are done. Edgas unpacks the comm dish and climbs the 15 meters to the top of the base to install and activate it. He double checks the alignment and admires the view.... At last all is in readiness. Mission Control says all systems check out, so they give Edmund the go-ahead to power down Selena into hibernation, and join his team on the surface. His first steps onto the surface are somewhat less than graceful... The crew pauses for publicity shots before the inaugural hatch opening. As Mission Commander, Edmund is first through the hatch. His head is still smarting from the tumble he took earlier. Edgas & Billy-Bobrim follow behind, clean off their suits, then crawl into their new home. It's a lukewarm low-flow shower and proper beds tonight! They check and recheck the base systems, and bring the air & water recycling in the LST online. Even without recycling, they have 240 days of supplies on board, plus emergency extras in the lander and rover. Mission Control gives them a go for at least 230 days on the surface, pending funding for a resupply at the 200-day mark. With the cargo lander unable to return to orbit, that's no longer a given. Once they've had some time to settle in, one major planned goal remains: examination of the anomaly detected some ten kilometers away to the northeast. But that's a task for another day. For now, they're home. Billy-Bobrim is still humming.

Put it on Eve.

Yup. I actually ordered Comcast when we first moved here. They called me back, told me there was no line on this side of the street, and cancelled my order. So I went thru the phone company. Next day the Comcast guy shows up to hook up the canceled order, points to the pole right next to my house and says, "yeah, the line's right there."

My ISP sucks. I'm lucky to get a third of my nominal 14-meg speed, my router constantly has to be rebooted cuz it "forgets" what's connected to it, and I'm stuck with wireless-g and "not in the area eligible for upgrade." The joys of doing business with an independent, small-town phone company. I think the hardware supports it, but the ISP does not, and they have full control of the router. I can't even access it. I do have a router/modem, but the ISP controls it. They can't/won't simply open the one port for outside access.

Here's a more IT specific question if anyone can help. I'd like to be able to access my IP security cameras when I'm off my home network. Should just be a simple matter of opening up port 80 according to my software. However, my ISP sucks and tells me they can't open up just that port, that I'd have to buy & configure my own hardware firewall, then they just open EVERYTHING up and wash their hands of it. So fine, whatever. So Can anyone recommend a good, easy to setup hardware firewall or give me some other pointers (other than "get a new ISP")? I'm no IT guy but I'm comfortable configuring IPs and switches & such.

Edgas, Edmund, & Billy-Bobrim wake after another fitful "night." But they are encouraged, today they set foot on the Mün. Selena undocks, and with plenty of fuel now, makes an uneventful descent to the build site. Also visible is the descent stage from Isfjell 1 nearly a year ago. Selena settles to a perfect touch down, with only a hint of wobble on the uneven ground. The crew spend a couple of hours checking systems and EVA suits, then open the hatch. Rover driver Billy-Bobrim descends the ladder first. He spend the last rest period mumbling in his sleep again. Ed & Ed are a bit worried about him, but he's enthusiastic and ready for work. Billy-Bobrim inspects the rover thoroughly. No obvious damage, he gives Mission Control the go-ahead to drop the gear remotely... ...and the rover leans over, then bounces lightly on its wheels, as designed. They even remembered to set the parking brake. Billy clambers aboard and begins checking over the systems, everything looks good. The first order of business is to decouple that docking port that's blocking most of his view... ...it explodes satisfyingly a few meters away. Meanwhile, Edmund has descended the ladder and made his way to the toppled life support trailer. The damage doesn't look as bad from out here. He attaches a spare RTG from the rover to restore power, then backs off, while Mission Control tries futilely again to flip it with the built in reaction wheels. Edgas can see the trailer is hanging up on a pylon. He detaches it, Mission Control tries again, but still no luck. It's time for MOAR BOOSTERS POWER! Billy-Bobrim brings up the rover, and attempts to nudge the trailer over. He backs off, tries another angle, then tries again. The trailer weighs half again as much as the rover, and every time he starts making progress, the front-wheel-drive rover just lifts up & bounces. Out of frustration, Billy-Bobrim channels his inner redneck, gleefully yells, "Hey y'all, hold mah non-alcoholic-fermented-space-beverage-in-a-bag and watch this!", pops the rover into 4-lo, and guns it! The extra traction works, and after some bouncing & scrabbling, the trailer finally flips over onto its wheels. With only a few extra dents. Now it's just a simple matter of hooking up... ...and raising the gear. Edgas climbs aboard the rover, and they do another systems check. Despite the rough handling, the life support trailer is still in good working over. The two drive it up to the still powerless base, but further assembly will have to wait. It's been a long work cycle. Even with their eagerness for more space, Billy-Bobrim & Edgas retreat to Selena while Mission Control runs more checks on the LST. Tomorrow, if all goes well, they'll finally open the hatch to their new home. Billy-Bobrim is still practically bouncing off the walls...

Edgas, Edmund, & Billy-Bobrim did not sleep well during their rest period. Edgas awoke to Billy-Bobrim drifting about the cabin, muttering loudly in his sleep, "ItlookslikehesgonnathrowitwhyishethrowingitdontthrowitNOOOO!" then waking up screaming in a cloud of sweat, waking Edmund too and scaring the crap out of him. The three lonely Kerbals, so far from home, felt as if a great crowd of dread was floating over them, as if thousands of voices suddenly cried out in terror, and were suddenly silenced. They all feared that in some distant, parallel universe, something terrible has happened. SO with no one getting any more sleep that night, they woke up Mission Control to begin the day's activities early. They will be mostly supervisors for the semi-autonomous landing procedures. First, they undock the node from the rest of the stack, back away, and hope for the best: The landing stack then separates from the transfer stage. The crew re-docks the node to the partially fueled stage. It will remain on orbit for possible future use as a fueling station. The landing stack begins its decent. The rover is attached to the top of the base module, making for a very heavy, ungainly craft. The lander struggles to control it as it brakes towards the surface. The crew is tense as the assembly approaches touchdown. The land is uneven here, and many things are about to happen very quickly. Initial touchdown is a success... ...but even with the powerful Vernor thrusters, it begins tilting. A few heartbeats later, the lander/rover decouples and blasts away from the base... ...then settles to the ground safely nearby. One more hurdle for the first round... The rover decouples from the lander and settles onto its gear, then with very little clearance the lander blasts back towards orbit. The crew can breath again for a moment. The lander rendezvouses and docks with the transfer stage to refuel. Shortly thereafter, the life support trailer that had been waiting in a parking orbit, also meets up and docks, transferring what's left of the fuel from it's transfer stage as well. Then the trailer undocks, decouples from its transfer stage, and holds attitude as the lander undocks & approaches. It's an even tighter fit than the rover, but soon the trailer and its crucial life support supplies are secured. Now begins another tricky descent. The trailer is actually balanced its self, but the lander is unevenly fueled, which will soon have ramifications. The lander touches down again, everything still nominal so far... Then the trailer is decoupled, but it bounces more than expected, and knocks against the lander's fuel-tank-leg. Only a minor problem so far. The orbiting crew gives the automated control system the go ahead to lift off, and land nearby. But immediately after it lifts off, the unbalanced fuel in the lander causes an engine failure. It spins wildly, knocking the trailer over and bouncing across the surface of the Mün. Amazingly, despite several hard landings, it hasn't been damaged, and the control system is able to use the remaining fuel & thrusters to stabilize the tumble so at least it lands upright. But the situation still doesn't look good. The fragile life support trailer has also taken a tumble, and is now stuck on its back like some sort of shelled alien reptile. Mission control attempts to use the reaction wheels to right it, but they lack the power, and soon the trailers batteries are drained, and it too is also dead on the surface. How much damage the internal systems have sustained is still unknown. The crew is given the go-ahead to attempt landing the next day. They'll have their work cut out for them. Selena only has 7 days of life support remaining, leaving only 6 to get the base up & running or they'll have to abort and return home defeated. For now, it's been a full day, and Edmund, Edgas, & Billy-Bobrim take their next rest period.

I stayed up entirely too late last night reading this.

Today began the real work on getting a Mün base up & running. All the components are assembled in low Münar orbit. After their assistance with the impromptu repair, Edmund, Edgas, & Billy-Bobrim were indeed selected to be the inaugural crew. Aboard Isfjell 4, they ready for launch. The liftoff is mostly nominal, after the usual first-stage lagfest, however the third stage intentionally inserts to an unusually low 110x95km orbit. The crew are again called on for an impromptu repair. Due to an, er, software error, Wyvern 6's solar panels never deployed, and its batteries ran dead before it could rendezvous with Highlab II. So the Mün crew get some extra practice maneuvering the massive Isfjell third stage to within a few dozen meters of the crippled science ship. Edgas, being closest to the hatch, EVA's out to manually deploy the solar panels and save the little ship and its lucrative science experiment. With the Wyvern back on its way to the space station, the crew finally burn for the Mün! In another unusual move, the transfer stage is kept all the way to the capture burn, where it would normally be discarded after TMI. There's still a couple hundred m/s left after the burn, it's just enough to capture into an eccentric orbit, and it will save fuel for the lander. The stage is decoupled, and the lander descent stage finishes circularizing. An extra cargo still attached to the spent stage will be an orbiting science package. Once the stage swings back into daylight, the little satellite separates. The transfer stage is left in a mostly harmless eccentric orbit, high above normal LMO operations. Asymmetrical Sciencey Bits™ deployed! This new, long-duration Isfjell lander has received several upgrades. The solar panels have been nixed in favor of full RTG power to keep all systems running during the long Münar night, the shiny bare metal tanks have received a coating of protective paint, and extra RCS thrusters for full translation control have been added. It's also loaded to the hilt with KAS boxes, containing the nuclear power generator for the new base, as well as various odds and ends. The crew has dubbed her Selena, since a ship like this needs a proper name. After a few maneuvers, Selena rendezvouses with the assembled base hardware, and docks to the end of the node. Total mass in LMO is just over 190 tonnes, nearly as much as the Highlab station. With the first hurdle completed, the crew settles in for a rest period before the real work begins.

I will post a pic of the launcher when I get a chance. I used the transfer stage as a Relay, since the rover doesn't have the range to respond to Earth. Skycrane? Just what happened there? Inquiring minds want to know!

Hey just a quick question. IIRC, RT-configured antennas always stay deployed even after transmitting. I'm guessing this is a tweak in the part.cfg somewhere. Can someone clue me in on what it is plz?

Sorry, my own personal aesthetic neuroses there. The .625 docking port is "too small" for a Kerbal to fit thru. So a ship with that design would have to "back in" with a docking port behind the heat shield like the Soviet TKS. So Both that & the real Big G had hatches in their heat shields. That bugs me, even tho it's not modeled and completely irrelevant in game lol. But I was thinking a Big G type adapter would have gone to 2.5m. That would leave plenty of room on the "side" for a cut out or flat spot, like kind of a cargo bay. Room for a docking port, KAS container, maybe one of those inflatable wings if someone ever made one. See what I'm getting at?

Awesome. If I could make one odd request then, a "cutout" on the Big-R/service module for a docking port. I hate the idea of "hatches" in heat shields if it has to go on the back. Maybe could double as storage for that mini lander, if it's the one I'm thinking of.

Hey as long as you're doing all that re-fiddling with it, how about an appropriately size crew tank/adapter ala the Gemini "big G"?

This hideous thing is a new heavy-lift launcher based on the second & third stages from my massive Isfjell superheavy LV. It worked, but not gracefully. Within that enormous fairing is the cargo lander that will be responsible for ferrying components to & from a new Mün outpost. The lander is completely automated, and has enough fuel to bring a good sized cargo to the surface of the Mün and then return to orbit. Hopefully. Approaching the complex brought up on Isfjell 3 earlier. Docking will be delicate... Steady as she goes.... ...and contact! The complex is now complete, but a serous flaw has been revealed. Even with struts & QuantumStruts, the mass of that lander causes and unacceptable wobble. A solution needs to be found quickly. That solution will be the S8 crew currently at the Highlab. Edmund, Edgas, & Billy-Bobrim will have their tour cut short, but get the chance to visit the orbiting Münbase before it departs, and get extra consideration as part of the first crew. Some special preparations are in order. Here, Edgas attaches several spare QuantumStruts to the hull of their MUL. Then, with some fresh snacks from the recently arrived Tenacity 5, they depart their temporary home. Their first task is to retrieve this Node, brought up by the S9 crew, and bring it to the Mün base assembling in orbit. It will be the eventual hub for a fueling station in Münar orbit to support the base. With the Node secured to the top of the cargo lander, Edmund deploys the QuantumStruts around the exterior to control the wobbles. He the takes the chance for a good look around the massive complex. ...and spots an uncatalogued piece of debris passing only a few kilometers away (that little white dot over the ocean). Some quick calculations show that's in range, so with their work on the Münbase wrapped up, they maneuver a rendezvous to investigate. But unfortunately it turns out to be a rather uninteresting discarded fairing. Nothing else to do but wait a few hours for the landing window. It's a bumpy ride down, and a trajectory miscalculation lands them several kilometers EAST of KSC, making for a rough landing on land. A week later, the S10 crew blasts off to replace S8 at the station. This is the tenth station crew in 6.4, and the seventh to visit Highlab II Finally got a good shot of the LES tower/shroud jettisoning shortly after core stage separation. They carry a small tag-along payload for fun & profit. Well, profit anyway. Harmon, Shepbur, & Sherhat of S8 approaching the Highlab. A few days later, the uncrewed Münbase burns for the Mün. With the low-thrust NERVA engine, it takes two burns to get the right transfer orbit... ..but 15 uneventful hours later, the complex settles into orbit above the Mün to await the next phase.

its a too-mah

Launched the core of what will be my first (even) Mün base into LKO. It now awaits the launch of the cargo lander before the entire stack departs for the Mün. This will be a dry run for a long-term mission to Duna, which in 6.4x should be quite the challenge, even reusing tested hardware. And right after launch, KSP died, wiping out all my in-progress contracts, AND the 80-day launchpad refurbishment, so I guess that's a draw.

Something glitched, and somehow struts on the payload attached to the launchpad. And stayed attached after the rocket launched. The nose did a complete 180 while the rest of the rocket, didn't, before hilarity ensued.

Interesting. For comparisons sake, my megalifter is similar in size, weight, & thrust to the real unbuilt Saturn C-8. So on a 64% analogue of Earth, the scale is way off.

Hey thanx. I'm still in .25 now :-/ Couple of my favorite mods are still having teething issues with .90, and as I'm still enjoying where this save is at and .90 really encourages starting over, I'm not ready to switch yet. One of these days I'll feel the pull and then I'll get to de-orbit this station, which should be a hoot on its own.

I'll second that. My first Mün mission was a real headache early in the game. KOR as well. Even with 3.75m parts the LV for the lander/transfer stage was huge and ugly, and only enough to land a single Kerbal in a very lightweight pod. With the tech tree maxed out, I finally have a super-heavy-lift LV that can put a 3-Kerbal direct-ascent lander on the Mün. It's a beast. 6000+ tons on the pad, 10m lower stages, and still needs 7 huge SRB's to get going. All Procedural Parts at this point. But it's so far been reliable. Switching to something like Real Fuels would probably allow for more compact lifters. @Raptor 831: +1 on the challenge idea. I'm working on a long-term Mün outpost now as a dry run of exactly that.

Maintenance & crew changes on my station. 10 crew & two paying passengers really taxes the life support, won't make that a regular thing. And began construction of an even taller Isfjell stack, this unmanned launch will send the beginnings of a long-term outpost to the Mün.

After the rather unexpected success of Isfjell 1, today Isfjell 2 launched the first crew to 6.4x Minmus. It ended up being a night launch to attempt to launch directly into Minmus' orbital plane, but that part didn't work out so well. Between lag, wobbles, and the sheer 6100-ton mass, Isfjell is rather squirrely early in the launch. SRB sep about a minute into the flight. Stage II on climb out. After the first stage drops the stack becomes much more stable & controllable. I made some adjustments to the flight profile, and even with the added mass of this launch there's now just enough delta-V in the second stage to complete orbital insertion. It's deliberately dropped with a couple hundred m/s left to ensure it reenters & burns up, with the third stage finishing insertion. Stage III burns for Minmus. The planes were way off so a small correction will be needed later in the flight. Plane change maneuver about 16 hours out from Minmus, with Kerbin & the Mün in the background. Shortly after this, the lander separates, and then the tag-along payload. The spent stage will end up on a harmless eccentric orbit well above Kerbin. MiniMapper III is, of course, a mapping satellite. It's powered by an ion engine with a sick amount of delta-v, so it powers on ahead of the lander to begin scouting landing spots. A day and a half after MM3 settles into orbit, the Isfjell 2 lander enters Minmus' SOI. The all veteran crew is Jerdous, Burdos, and Chadvey Kerman, who was also the first Kerbal on the Mün. Here, Jerdous gathers some high-orbit science and enjoys the view. The lander was designed for landing on the Mün, so it has ample fuel for two landings. Thanks to the map data gathered by MM3, the crew is able to attempt a risky night landing first to investigate --REDACTED-- It's decided that Jerdous will have the honor of being the first Kerbal on Minmus. Shortly after landing, he decends to collect some quick science and investigate the --REDACTED-- What an odd --REDACTED-- giant ball of ice cream. After quickly planting a flag and collecting a sample, Jerdous returns to the lander to wait out the short Minmusian night. Supplemental RTG power has been added to this lander to enable overnight stays, but power output is much reduced. The crew will wait until daylight for most of their exploration. Burdos is next down the ladder. His first task is to retrieve the --REDACTED-- Jerdous and finally Chadvey then join him on the surface for pics in front of the --REDACTED--, jumping around in the low gravity, and sharing disappointment that the ground is not, in fact, made of ice cream. Instead, on closer inspection it appears to be some greenish form of curdled milk... As the night closes in once again, the crew straps in for a relocation burn. They'll be heading south and east, back into daylight, and into one of the strange flat areas shrouded in iridescent fog. Descending into the tenuous clouds... The perfectly flat ground here is broken only by the occasional rock as the lander touches down. The mist drifts by, thick as some sort of legume-based liquid appetizer. Burdos exits to gather data from the experiments, enjoy the view (that's Mojo visible just above the sun), and ponder something deep an existential like what's for lunch. Obligatory flag planting and plaque commemorating. With fuel in the decent stage nearly expended, the crew lifts off in the return stage. There's more than enough fuel in there for yet another landing, but they're running low on snacks too. The mission is on day 8 at this point, and there's just enough left for the 4-day return to Kerbin. Or at least there was supposed to be. Maybe lingering disappointment from the discovery that Minmus is not, in fact, a large frozen desert combined with cotton mouth from 10 days of freeze-dried snacks, but the crew runs out of food & water still a day & a half out from Kerbin. But the mission must go on, so here Chadvey disposes of the empty life support containers. The capsule then separate from the return stage. The capsule has been upgraded to be fully free flying, with basic RCS propulsion and enough dV for small orbit corrections. The return stage & life support containers are left on a collision course with Kerbin. Lifting re-entries are getting better & better. This capsule has far more attitude control than earlier designs, allowing it to actively maintain a "sweet spot" angle of attack to land on target rather than just rolling back & forth. I was aiming for just south of that island in the distance. Came down just a bit east of there. Here, the capsule is slowing past mach 5. Chutes deployed and heat shield jettisoned... ...and splashdown! Airbags autodeploy, and 12 days after launch the mission is a stunning success. Another 80 days to rebuild the launch pad, then an unmanned Duna/Ike mission is in the works.