ThePsuedoMonkey

You're right, fixed.

Sorry that took so long, I forgot what I was doing for a minute.

Challenge #47 Complete Total Kerbals lost: 1 Vehicles lost: 6 Extra-Kerbin landings: 2 Next transfer window: Dres in 26 days KSC had a surprise inspection during the two-week wait for the Moho transfer window, so they busied themselves by creating a small impactor ship to join the Manticore Two for the transfer. They have docked and are now on an intercept for Moho with a high periapsis. Meanwhile, the Charon performed a successful re-capture, aerobrake, docking and refueling with Shiva station. The Shiva fuel module has a remaining supply of 35%. The next challenge shall be to create a dune buggy for Bill, since he wishes to explore Kerbin a bit. This rover should seat at least two, and be equipped with a jet engine as well as auxiliary electrical wheels. Also, the Soyuz will reach the SOI of Jool in five days, so you will need to aerobrake and set in on an intercept for Laythe. https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B6828vVl_-ZocjRUTzItY0d3OUk/edit?usp=sharing

Watch out for how rear-heavy the NH71 is while flying empty. I wasn't able to get it to land properly, so you may want to just bring it to a Kerbin orbit to be rescued by the Charon or something. If you do manage to land it at KSC though, I'll be pretty impressed!

Sorry about that, I wanted the Charon taken to the Manticore Two, and the New Horizon 71 taken to the Delta probe. I guess I get carried away with my exposition

Mission #42 Complete Total Kerbals lost: 1 Vehicles lost: 5 Successful landings: 2 The Duna transporter now has a thruster module that should hopefully deliver it to its namesake when the time comes, and is parked in a nearly geosynchronous orbit. The next challenge shall be to deliver the Charon mobility package to orbit and dock with the Manticore Two. (When the transfer window arrives, it will perform a Moho ejection burn, decouple from the satellite, make a re-capture burn, and subsequently refuel at Shiva station. There is an alarm for this event for 1day before the window in the archive file.) The Charon launch vehicle has 4825 dV. The Charon itself has two main nuclear engines (group1) and eight R24 boosters (group2) for when you need additional thrust. A large tank of mono-propellant feeds lateral (group5) and rotational (group6) RCS ports. Comes with ASAS, auxiliary computer, and both docking port sizes. It also appears that Bill is bored of Minmus now that his experiments are complete, and is requesting clearance to launch and dock with the Delta probe for its almost-semi-annual inspection. (It's been droning on about some answer to life or some such. It's clearly malfunctioning.) https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B6828vVl_-ZoUkRkcFF3UWVvcUE/edit?usp=sharing

Don't worry guys, we'll get this girl to geosynch if we have to baby the engine and turn on unbreakable joints. (pic by request) Also; for the love of all that is holy, please reduce the part counts!

(calling of dibs)

now turn it around

Good ideas, Ray! I guess I'm just a stickler for the extendable ladders I think I'll leave that as an exercise for you but I will try and point you in the right direction. That info panel is from this addon, which shows you your rockets TWR and its delta-V (for each stage, and as a total). Use that with this delta-V map to determine what your rocket needs for a given stage. Of course, you could also just slap a bunch of Rockomax tanks and engines on it until it gets where you want it too! Keep in mind that any extra mass you add to that ferry will also need some fuel with it to keep your delta-V around where it is now (keep the mass of the fuel tanks around 25% of the ships total mass).

Go ahead Zingidy!

You don't need much to ferry between the mun and its orbit; this will transport 10 kerbals there with more thrust than you can shake a stick at: You can double its mass with other things you want and still have a great thrust-to-weight ratio.

It looks like there's enough lift on it, but I'd put some more control surfaces on it. If you make the front wheel slightly higher (so that the nose faces upward) than the rear wheels the takeoff will be easier too.

Getting back on track, here's my entry: the SkyHawk http://imgur.com/a/dwtVu Hanrod ended up making it home by the skin of his teeth, but if I could get a better orbital insertion we wouldn't have to run on fumes so often I'm not sure what happened on the Mun there, but reloading the game seemed to have fixed it. Craft: https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B6828vVl_-ZoeEQtcHBWNG1oMWc/edit?usp=sharing I need to move those radial boosters though, since that tank kinda breaks their center of thrust ASAS freaks out during the ride home and I'm not sure why, so that landing was pretty interesting for a while.

Anyone know what happened to his post? I could've sworn I saw it on here

You're right, I suck https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B6828vVl_-ZoNXlpdmpXMjhtSzg/edit?usp=sharing

Technically that is the maximum acceleration that engine can give. As Xeo implied, your actual acceleration will be your total thrust divided by total mass

Just divide the force by mass, and that will give you their acceleration (in vacuum, it will also change as you burn fuel or drop stages etc.)

Your brakes are locked.

I don't mean to steal your thunder hawk, but I wanted to get this challenge completed (I'll take this post down if you'd like). Challenge #33 Completed Kerbals lost: 1 Vehicles lost: 6 Worlds landed upon: 1 The Moon Base Beacon is in a circular 2000km orbit around the Mun. The Duna Habitat is in a 109km orbit around Kerbin, since the window for a Duna transfer is 109 days away. The Manticore Two is in a 100km orbit around Kerbin, waiting for the Moho transfer window in 27 days. Next encounter: Soyuz to Jool in 32 days. My challenge will be to transfer and land the New Horizon 71 on Minmus, and activate the scientific instruments. It would be cool to get it near the anomaly, but Bill won't be picky . With that complete, some maintenance is required; launch another Long Range Science Probe (LRSP) from the SPH and use its attached tractor to load it onto, and resupply the Manticore. https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B6828vVl_-ZoNXlpdmpXMjhtSzg/edit?usp=sharing

Easiest way would be to trade that tank for a pair of smaller ones and have them equidistant from the CoM, that way draining them doesn't effect the CoM.

Here's my 700-part attempt: The idea was to distribute the thrust around the ship, but this is as close to that as I can get without a computer upgrade. The stuff I added gives you 3500 dV and a TWR just below 2, so you should only need ~15% of your onboard fuel to reach orbit. This needs lots more support struts to prevent falling apart and it doesn't have a great middle stage though, so it's not really that useful as-is. I was pretty much just spit-balling with it http://pastebin.com/kJeujrzy

Challenge #30 finished Kerbals lost: 1 Vehicles lost: 6 Tragedy strikes as Hudfrid Kerman was lost during flight operations today. He will be missed while we process the paperwork to resuscitate him. He was not lost in vain however, as the science modules indicate this fascinating discovery: Sitrep: Soyuz-117 is 34 days from Joolian encounter. Manticore One is 134 days from the Dres encounter. TV-Sat orbits have been normalized. All other flights are idle. I did the best I could on this one, but I couldn't keep the gliders high enough to not faceplant. This was the closest I was to success (these pics are not all from this flight, but you get the idea). We must allow Bob and Willsby some time alone for now. In the meantime, Shepmore has finished the requisition form for the installation of additional lights to Shiva station. The station Supply Module B (SM- is standing by to launch with this equipment, as well as two scientists for transfer to the station. Ship overview: 5700 dV, ASAS, quadruple RCS quads (100 monopropellant), and an auxiliary computer. Dock with the small ports on the lower end of the station node, and leave one illumination module on each. When that is complete, move the SM-B to the forward port of the fuel tank module so that the two may be de-orbited together when the time comes. Munsen has been avoiding the others for a while now, so have him transferred from the fuel module to the station node as well. https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B6828vVl_-ZoUWthZFBTRHgzakE/edit?usp=sharing

(had called dibs)

Challenge Series 26 Complete Lost Kerbals: 0 Lost vehicles: 4 Non-Kerbin touchdowns: 2 Sitrep: Soyuz event in 178 days. Hermes probe in a 100km orbit. Jool supply module in a 350km orbit. Shiva station is operating as expected. Link rover base has touched down on the mun. The Manticore One and Delta probes are awaiting new assignments. Jeb, Bill, and Bob appear to have absconded with the Rescue Plane B, as both are reported missing. The Dionysus was unable to be taxied back to the air vehicle staging area due to equipment malfunctions; recycling crews had to be called in to remove her. The Manticore has returned from an "unexpected refit" and is currently being loaded with a Long Range Science Probe from the RUV (recycle-able Utility Vehicle). That was a mouth-full! In order to help our Kerbal command get some rest, they simply request this challenge to be that the Manticore One probe be sent on an intercept course for the Duna system. We're not going to listen to them though, so here is the NH71: It is a special SSTO design, theoretically capable of round-trip flight to the Mun, so she will be going to Minmus for safety reasons. It is imperative that she not dock with other vessels (unless she becomes stranded) for -plot device here-. She just needs to get to (any) orbit for now, so that her equipment may be tested before the transfer. https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B6828vVl_-ZoN09hSzZYU1BFVjg/edit?usp=sharing