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I took a bit of a break from the Intrepid's voyage, as I have been playing other games and tinkering with other things in KSP lately, but now I'm back at it. I'll try to keep updating at least once a week. Also, resizing the images has been getting tedious, so I'm going to stop doing that. Part 3: Exploring Gilly In orbit of Gilly, the crew open up the payload bay to deploy the landers. First to the surface of Gilly will be technician Billy-Bobbin, who has the most experience with these lander systems At this point you're probably wondering why I'm using landers that are completely overpowered for Gilly. Thats because they were designed for use on Bop and Pol when the Intrepid heads to Jool, but I'm using them now on the shakedown mission. Billy-Bobbin slowly makes his descent onto the tiny asteroid, too slowly in fact, so he actually has to burn straight down to get there sooner. Eventually he found a flat spot on Gilly's lumpy terrain, and set down. BB: "Wow guys... this is incredible... I'm stepping out now... well, floating really... Weeee!" He also has the honor of planting the flag Meanwhile, back in orbit, Bob boards the other lander and heads down as well. In short order, he's down on the surface as well, ready to start doing some Science. After collecting readings and surface samples at the initial landing site, BB and Bob split up to survey more of the surface. BB heads west toward what might be an some sort of fault-line, while Bob flies his lander toward Gilly's north pole. Investigating Gilly's Pole: Bob set down near the pole, which appeared to be almost pyramid-shaped, and flew toward it with his thruster pack. Everything seemed fine until he got close to the peak, at which point he started to experience a strange rotation he couldn't account for. It was as if some kind of phantom force was spinning him. Bob: "What's happening... I feel kinda dizzy... I'm losing control!" The strange phenomenon caused him to graze Gilly's surface and start to drift away! Jeb: "Bob, Bob come in... are you alright?" The com is silent for an uncomfortable few seconds Bob: "I'm fine, I'm not sure what just happened but I'm alright... standby" "Hold on, I think I know what happened... Being this close to Gilly's pole must have confused my suit's orientation gyros. I think I can compensate now." After that, he had no problems reaching the pole. BB didn't find anything unusual at his second landing site, so after a few hours on the surface, Jeb gave them both the go-ahead to return to the Intrepid. The crew stored the experiment results from Gilly's surface, and got everything prepped for departure from Gilly. Hans: "Vell Bob, how vas it down zere on Gilly?" Bob: "Just about how you'd expect a tiny dry rock to be, who knows though, maybe analysis of the samples will reveal something unexpected" Before they left for home, they had one more mission objective to complete: a low swing-by of Eve to collect data from orbit. Wilwise: "I wonder if Kerbalkind will ever set foot down there..." BB: "Maybe, but only if they don't mind a one way trip" Wilwise: "Maybe, though you never know what kind of innovation might be around the corner. I remember when they used to say that Kerbals wouldn't even be able to survive space travel, and just look at us now!" After the swing-by, they circularized the Intrepid's orbit and waited for the transfer window to head back home. Then they powered up the drives again and set their course for Kerbin As they sleep away their long return flight, the crew dreams of home. Next time: The crew returns to Kerbin for some much-needed time off, and preparations are made for the Intrepid's flight to Bop and Pol.

So, apparently the official NASA mission pack from Squad will feature parts to acurately recreate the SLS. Does this change your priorities for this pack at all?

yeah, thats what I mean.

Could you perhaps make an air intake styled on those on the SR-71? It could be identical in function to the stock Ram Intake. I just can't understand how the stock Ram Intake is supposed to work... it just looks strange

If you zoom in, its pretty clearly a chain of spheres, not a cylinder

Well... I'm stumped They kinda look like the spheres Danny2726 spawns in this:

Nah, I've got something else in the works now...

I tried a dumb idea (it didn't work)

I use shuttles like this for crew transfers, ever since I got good at gliding down to KSC.

Even if you disregard those issues, there's also the fact that the thick atmosphere and surface gravity similar to earth would make returning to orbit close to impossible, compared to the ease of getting to orbit from Mars.

If you're making some new spaceplane stuff, don't forget the intakes. The stock ones are rather lacking.

Nice Looks close to how I usually launch my shuttles.

Wait, my thread got stickied? Neat I guess

I use stuff like this for transferring crew to and from orbit. Easy to launch, easy to land

So, I've been looking up lots of SpaceX stuff and I've come across their plans to make all of their rockets reusable by fitting the boosters with landing legs and literaly flying them back to the launch pad. What I'm wondering is whether or not this is really effective. Yes, it means that the boosters are reusable, but it also means you have to separate them while they have a significant amount of fuel left so that they can land. This would reduce the payload you could lift with the rocket. Also, if something goes wrong, you then have a partially fueled stage falling back to the launch site at high speed. Wouldn't it be easier to use parachutes at some point during this process? That way the engines would only need to be used to to set the trajectory and for the final touchdown. It might mean that it wouldn't be able to land as accurately, but it wouldn't require as much fuel.

I've decided to change my style from now on. The way I wrote the first part just kinda tells a story, rather than actually talking about how I'm flying the mission. Admittedly, that's probably at least as interesting (if not more) as the story I'm coming up with along the way. Also, I'll try to tell story in a less clunky way. I appologize in advance if I switch between the Kerbal's point of view and my own without warning. Part 2: First Flight After departing from the Intrepid, Bill flew the Atlas Shuttle back down to KSC without incident. I only recently mastered landing on the runway like this and I'm still pretty darn proud of myself every time I touch down. I might not use aircraft all that often, but I enjoy these unpowered glides down to KSC enough that lately I've been using shuttles for every crew transfer I make. Meanwhile in orbit, the crew has been prepping the Intrepid for departure, unpacking their supplies and equipment, and assembling the furniture in the inflatable rings. Billy-Bobbin and Hans go on EVA to install struts between the forward and aft sections of the ship. There we are! Nice and sturdy. Once they were safely inside, Jeb gave Lofal the go-ahead to begin the first stages of bringing the reactors online, starting with extending the radiators. Lofal: "Locking S-foils in attack position" Jeb: "Huh?" Lofal: "It’s from that one movie... nevermind" The next order of business was to bring the VASIMRs online and raise the Intrepid's orbit to 500km. It occurred to me that I hadn't seen the new engine effects that Nertea had added in a recent update to Near Future, so I was curious to see- OH... OH WOW! Now thats impressive With the habitat centrifuges now spinning, Jeb decided to break out the coffee and Snacks™ (it’s what the astronauts eat!) while they wait a few more days for the optimum transfer to Eve. When the window finally did arrive, the ejection burn had to be split up into 2 parts. That is to say, they made one burn to raise the apoapsis significantly, then had to wait until their next pass around Kerbin to make he rest of he ejection burn. It took a bit of fiddling to figure out how get the proper trajectory to eve this way. Its certainly not ideal, but its necessary when working with these low-thust, high efficiency engines. The crew wave goodbye as they speed away from Kerbin. The transfer to eve will only take them about 40 days, much much shorter than their eventual trip to Jool will. After about a week, they make their plane-change burn, putting them on the proper trajectory to intercept Eve. Looking good, just a few more weeks to go. [Theory Time] For any interplanetary transfer, Kerbals tap into a unique adaptation left over from their small, ground dwelling ancestors. They have a limited ability to hibernate, allowing them to sleep for days at a time (sometimes confused with laziness), reducing their life support and living space requirements. Normally this would only be possible under specific circumstances and carries some risks, but Kerbal science has identified the chemical triggers for inducing and ending the hibernation state. Now, the crew take shifts sleeping away their voyage, with at least 3 Kerbals awake at any time. This hibernation ability, combined with the short limbs of Kerbals, has lead some fringe scientists to speculate that Kerbalkind evolved for space travel, and traveled to Kerbin from somewhere else. The mainstream scientists disagree, stating that the fossil record makes it quite clear that Kerbals evolved on Kerbin. These adaptations were evolved for other, terrestrial reasons, and it is only a happy coincidence that they also lend themselves to space travel. [This is, of course, just my own theory and ramblings] Shortly before arriving at Eve, Bob goes on EVA to check the instruments on the "Scientific Mast" section of the ship. Bob: "As always, the radiation has caused some fascinating reactions to the materials samples, and the goo is behaving as predicted. Jonnie, I have the results, is the equipment ready to reset the experiments?" Jonnie: "Its ready, but the Goo doesn't seem to like it..." Bob: "What are you talking about? its just Goo" Jonnie: "I know, I know, it just seems to quiver and jiggle in a weird way right before i send it through the re-processor" Bob: "Goo always jiggles, thats just what it does. Be ready to meet me at the airlock, okay?" Jonnie: "Sorry, I guess I'm just letting my imagination get away from me" It wasn't long after that they neared Eve. Everyone tried to cram in behind Lofal in the cupola so they could get a look at the majestic yet eerie purple planet. As the neared periapsis, the reactors were brought up to full power for the breaking burn, setting them into a high orbit around Eve. Intercepting Gilly would be tricky, I had no clear idea where I should try to intercept it, or whether I should wait a few orbits for an obvious opportunity to open up. In the end, I chose a trajectory that probably didn't make much sense, nor was very efficient, but certainly worked. The crew took a moment to marvel at Gilly's lumpiness. After performing the braking burn and putting the Intrepid into a equatorial orbit, they were ready to begin the exploration of Gilly! Part 3 will be coming soon

Very nice!

Most people (including myself) seem to always use a direct trajectory when trying to get our missions anywhere. In real life however, scientists crunch some serious numbers to calculate gravity assists, reducing the dV necessary by huge amounts. It seems now that some Kerbal scientists want to launch a probe to Jool, but they want to use the smallest rocket possible. Also, they don't care how long it takes to get there. The goals of this challenge are to use gravity assists as much as you can, and to use craft with as little dV as you can. The Basic Challenge The minimum requirements for this challenge are to launch a probe from Kerbin and gravity assist from 2 celestial bodies on your way to Jool. The same body can be used more than once, Kerbin can obviously be used, and the Mun doesn't count unless you somehow use it after leaving and re-entering Kerbin's SOI (though you'll still probably want to use it to help leave Kerbin). Also, no aerobraking unless you're landing your probe on Laythe. All mods are allowed except those that allow warping, or other things resembling cheating. Any and all navigational aids are encouraged. Screenshots or (if you're fancy) video must be taken of the launch and all gravity assists Bonuses: There isn't exactly a points system for this, but the following things will be considered Economic Considerations: The missions with the lowest total dV will be recorded Traveler: The missions with the highest number of SOIs entered will also be recorded Going in Circles: gravity assist on the same celestial body multiple times Useful Moons: get into orbit around Jool using primarily gravity assists from its moons Style: do anything unusual and cool with your mission, or otherwise go beyond the requirements of the challenge Runner Ups: Those who come close to completing the requirements but don't quite succeed will still get some recognition. Hardcore Challenge (may or may not be feasible) The same as before, but with one major difference, it must be a manned mission carrying at least one Kerbal, and you must bring him back to Kerbin. You will need to use at least one gravity assist from a moon to help leave Jool, an then another at some point before making your final spashdown at Kerbin. Take as much time as you need to get him there and back. We'll suppose that Kerbals have devised some kind of suspended animation for the purposes of this mission.

Just a note, this introduction has more going on story-wise than later parts might. I'm still trying to figure out a good balance between telling stories about the crew and just showing off the missions.

Good luck!

These are the voyages of the KTS Intrepid... This is a multi-part mission report/story centered around The Intrepid, an interplanetary science vessel I built in late career mode. Basically, it'll be an account of my actual missions, embellished with some extra story. Mods you'll see: Near Future Propulsion Pack, B9 Aerospace*, KAS, Procedural Fairings, KSPX, Sum Dum Service Module, Realchute, Porkjet's Habs, Porkjet's propulsion*, Docking Port Alignment Indicator, PreciseNode, and maybe a few surprises. *many parts removed for performance or anti-clutter reasons Crew Profiles: Jebediah Kerman-Mission Commander Badass, experienced, you all know him Bob Kerman- Chief scientist, second in command Nervous, but with genuine curiosity about the final frontier Lofal Kerman- Pilot Badass, somewhat of a risk-taker Hans Kerman- Technician, Plasma propulsion expert Helped design the engines, talks a little funny Billy-Bobbin "BB" Kerman- Technician, Chef, Morale Officer Funny guy, gets along well with others Wilwise Kerman- Dr. Doctor Md. Phd. Oldest of the crew, but little experience in space Jonnie Kerman- Lab assistant, Mystery Goo Wrangler Fresh out of Kerbal-University, had an internship on Minmus Intrepid Details and Layout Part 1: Arrival We open with the Atlas crew shuttle ready for launch, with all 7 crew plus Bill, who'll be piloting the shuttle back to Kerbin Mission Control: "All Systems go. Launch in 5... 4... 3... 2... 1... ignition!" After circularizing, Jeb and Bill set up the shuttle's intercept to the Intrepid, the newly constructed ship that will carry Kerbals beyond the inner planets of their system for the first time. Bill: "You know Jeb, after all the launches I've been on, I think I've finally gotten used to it" Jeb: "Gotten used to what?" Bill: "You know... I think I've got a handle on the freaking out thing" Jeb: "...I have no idea what you're talking about" Bill: (laughing) "nevermind then." "Hey... I just want to say-" He gets cut off by a tone from the proximity detector Jeb: "Sounds like we're here. Burning to match orbit with the Intrepid..." The crew feels a brief rush of acceleration as the the shuttle's engines fire. Jeb: "Oh wow, I can see it!" Jeb and Bill deftly maneuver the shuttle into position for docking. The docking clamps lock with a firm "Ka-Chunk" Jeb: "I've got a green light on the seal, we're go for boarding" Behind them, the crew start to leave their seats and head for the airlock Bill: "It really is a beautiful ship... you're probably the luckiest Kerbal alive, you know that? Jeb: "Yeah, but you could have gotten on the crew too if you had applied" Bill: "Ike and back was enough of an adventure for me, besides, the KSC needs someone with seniority here on Kerbin. There's a lot of big things happening lately, big innovations, I heard they're going to build a new space station soon. Jofal (over the com): "Hey Jeb, I'm in the cupola now, you've gotta get up here, the view is awesome!" Jeb: "Copy that, on my way over now" He unbuckles himself, floating out of his seat. "So long Bill, see you in a few months" Bill: "Jeb, wait!" Jeb stops and turns back, and Bill goes quiet for a bit. Bill: "I just want to say.. good luck... and be careful... and also that I'll miss you" Jeb: "Bill, we won't be gone long, this is just the shakedown mission to Gilly and back, nothings going to go wrong either" Bill: "I know that... but still" Jeb just smiles Jeb: "g'bye Bill" Bill: "bye Jeb" Jeb floats to the back of the shuttle and into the airlock. Jeb: "alright, we're all aboard, you're clear to disengage" Bill: "Copy that" Bill (to himself): "Bye Jeb..." Next update: The Intrepid and its crew depart to Gilly for the ship's trial run Please give feedback on anything you think I ought to be doing differently!

This is definitely a kind of system that Squad should look into, a way to get us a bit more invested in our Kerbalnauts

alright then And yeah, it'll be real flights

Now I'm somewhat confused Could you explain why its closer to being a mission report than the other thing?

thank you I suppose I'll put it in whichever section is more frequently viewed