stijnovic

Is anyone going to the open day at ESA/ESTEC in Noordwijk? I'm going and I read in the devnotes that Kasper will be there too. Might be nice to meet some fellow KSP-ers. Unfortunately, the tickets are all sold out. Of course I should have asked this a bit earlier..

Ah yes, interesting, I see the Contract Configurator mod has a Contract Pack: Mission Based R&D config file that does make the techtree unlock based on missions in stead of science points. I'll give it a try! Though the way I described it, you wouldn't even need to finish missions to unlock the tech-tree. I would prefer the tech-tree to unfold automatically, depending on what rockets/planes/rovers you launch, what parts you use and what you do with them. Though I guess you could get specific missions to test new parts or do specific things with existing parts. Like testing what the maximum impact velocity is for a part to survive...

Yes exactly, I would like something more than just changing the progression. In the current system, after getting more science points, you can choose what new parts you would like to unlock. This gives a nice incentive to discover new bodies, but it is not logical. I would like an inverse approach. I want the unlocking of new parts to be based on my current use of the parts and the problems I run into with the current parts. This is how actual engineering is done in real life - you hit a problem, so you engineer a solution. This would also make the whole tech-tree super-logical and intuitive - what you use is what you get. Using many planes gives you better plane parts, using many Kerbals gives you bigger capsules, making high delta-V rockets gives you more efficient engines, etc. Also I think the tech tree should have a branch for every individual part in the game. Also, Are there mods that have like a real proper story-mode perhaps? Would be awesome to play as Jebediah getting himself in al kinds of trouble! He/you would start as a simple technician, buildling simple rockets, flying them, getting problems, getting better, becoming the head of the Space Program, going to new frontiers and finally discovering the purpace of the solar system...

Are there alternative mods that change the career mode? So other than "Better Than Starting Manned"? I have an idea of how I would like it to work, but I don't think it exists (yet). I would like a mod that distinguishes between "science" and "engineering". So science would be about discovering the solar system and engineering would be about developing new parts. The engineering part would require you to experiment with certain parts. By using a certain part in new situations, you unlock the next part and go up in the tech tree. The tech tree would consist of all the different parts and all the steps would have a few goals specific to that part. So for instance to unlock the FL-T800 fuel tank, you must have made a rocket with at least 2 FL-T400 tanks and you must have flown those higher than 30km. Another example could be that to unlock lander legs, you must have destroyed a rocket when trying to land. The science part could be the story of you discovering all the bodies and their properties. This story might even have an ending, when you have done all the science and know everything about the solar system. There could be some interaction with the engineering part, for instance that you have to discover fuel on other bodies to unlock the drill etc.

Does it exist already? I found the Graphotron 2000 Mod, but it seems to be able to plot against time only. I would like to see a graph with Altitude on the y-axis and horizontal distance on the x-axis. Like in the video of the Sentinel-2A launch (at 18:20). Would be nice if it also showed the times at which stage separation occured, something like this:

Snow flake? Carbon atom? Tie/bow tie? Flower? Human body? Watch?

A ship/ferry at sea? A snowy mountain peek?

Damn, yes I was also thinking about a blackboard, but ruled it out. ...Or what about a person's first white hair (the rest is still black), being cut off?

Okay then Starwhip, my guess would be... a comet? Ninja'd! Okay, then ice cream spilled on my black shirt?

Hi, I'm new in this thread, can I still propose an answer to the very first riddle? (yes, I found the "real" answer on page 5, I just think my answer could be equally valid) I think it should be the circular pieces of paper that are cut out by a hole punch like they use in offices.

Well as long as the comet doesn't become active and starts expelling gas, I guess Philae isn't going anywhere..

In the live stream at 3:37:20, the guy says the harpoons did not fire.

Yes but later another man said that they didn't fire and they were thinking about trying to fire them again...

Very excited!! I like to believe the harpoons are firing right about now.. and that they work!

I was also watching, and now I come here to celebrate! \o/

Leaving everything behind to live in a new world is not a new concept. I admire the people who have the will, courage and devotion to do this!

Haha, ok good, I thought I was getting crazy. But it's funny, cause now I see a bit further in the book where Marsion seasons are explained: This simple situation was complicated by the eccentricity of the martian orbit, which is extreme by terran standards, for at perhelion Mars is about forty-three million kilometers closer to the sun than it is at aphelion, and thus receiving about 45% more sunlight. This fluctuation makes the southern and northern seasons quite unequal. Perihelion arrives every year at Ls = 250°, late in the southern spring; so southern springs and summers are much hotter than northern springs and summers, with peak temperatures as much as thirty degrees higher. Southern autumns and winters are colder, however, occurring as they do near aphelion; so much colder that the southern polar cap is mostly carbon dioxide, while the northern one is mostly water ice. There it seems to be correct, both the apo/peri-part and the helion/gee/areion-part.

I'm reading the book right now and am very inspired to do something similar... Have to get back on that. In the meanwhile, may a direct your attention to a possible error in the book that I found?

Thanks for you reply, but it still seems totally wrong to me. True, but this is 12 hours after the aerobraking, so at this point you are already in orbit (although your periapsis is in atmosphere or lower). It is also mentioned that after the burn, they get closer to Mars again. How I understand it, they do a burn (increase speed) at apoapsis to raise the periapsis above the atmosphere. Psoriasis? But do they raise the apoapsis then? That seems inefficient to do after aerobraking?

Yes! Nice movie, quite realistic for a change. And District 9 Wicus van de Merwe (Sharlto Copley) is there! Thought it would have been so much better if they would not have found any life. Why do they always have to screw up science fiction movies with stupid horror.

So I'm reading this book and really enjoying it! It's about the colonization of Mars, very detailed and scientific and quite plausible. Also the characters seem very convincing and for a change the story does not revolve around action. It's really cool to read and understand the jargon that KSP taught me. But... to me it seems the terms apogee/apoapsis and periapsis are switched. Here's an example right after aerobraking for Mars orbital insertion: Twelve weightless hours later their new course led them to a periapsis thirty-five thousand kilometers from Mars. There they fired the main rockets for a brief thrust, increasing their speed by about a hundred kilometers an hour; after that they were pulled toward Mars again, carving an ellipse that would bring them back to within five hundred kilometers of the surface. They were in martian orbit. Each elliptical orbit of the planet took around a day. Over the next two months, the computers would control burns that would gradually circularize their course just inside the orbit of Phobos. But the landing parties were going to descend to the surface well before that, while apogee was so close. They moved the heat shields back to their storage positions, and went inside the bubble dome to have a look. During apogee Mars filled most of the sky, as if they flew over it in a high jet. Seems to me that perigee should be close to the planet and apogee should be far away from the planet, or?

Yes I enjoyed it too!

Compact triangular/hexagonal craft design!

I think they actually have a chance of succeeding! We are shifting to a new era. An era where space travel will no longer be the domain of large nations, but of companies. And when there is a market, someone will do it. Many space-companies are growing and new ones, small and big are sprouting. At the same time it is very simple to reach out to a gigantic world-wide audience. So if their marketing is good, they can do it. There are many existing companies with a budget much bigger than is required for this mission. Anyway, that's what I like to think and I like to think positive. So.. no one actually signed up?

So I wonder, did anyone actually sign up for Mars One? Because I am really excited about this initiative! I almost signed up, but I guess I rather play KSP than actually do it myself. But as they had more than 200.000 applicants, some (a lot!) of them must be playing KSP, right? If you did (or didn't), what are your thoughts about it? Also, if you are enthusiastic about this project, check out their crowd-funding campaign to back the project. I especially like the "The First Visitors" T-shirt, it reminds me of the maneuver nodes in KSP!