Free Trader Beowulf

Hi, I've been inspired by the possibilities of KAS and the lights that alexustus makes (http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/50531-Sunshine-movie-style-Deployable-Light-Globe-%28updated-7-10-2013%29). So, I built a "portable landing pad kit" and sent it to Minmus for field testing. Bob was mission commander with Bob second seat and Scott along for the ride. Chief Danler was in charge of the landing pad and Dr Jendred took advantage of he last seat in the lander to pick up some more Minmus samples. As soon as the lander touched down, Danler was out and looking for a good landing spot for the pad: The landing pad kit arrived in minmus orbit on the nose of one of my standard nuclear tugs, but deorbited and landed under its own power: Danler started work, setting up the pad: Soon it was set up and Danler was able to admire his work: So you can see how the kit works. There are four pairs of radially mounted winches that are used to give power to ASET extendible lights which were stored in the KAS equipment lockers. The lights are positioned 10m and 20m from the landing module, where they illuminate a cross that marks out four separate landing spots. The idea is that you land in one of the four quarters. In this configuration I decided to only turn the outer lights on, it was a little bright with all the lights on: I would probably space them at 20m and 40m in future. The central unit has batteries and solar panels for the lights, one of the ASET stack inline lights and four more winches which I plan to use to connect landers up to a fuel depot. In theory the pad is visible from a long way: But of course, the 2.5km physics limit means that in practice you can't see it from that far. But 2.5km is far enough to be a sensible guide, after Danler set it up, the boys did a once around and came down over the pad at night: Chief Danler briefs the pilots on the new equipment: Dr Jendred returns from a rock gathering trip: Just using the 2.5m stack inline light, things are a little dim, but probably enough to set things up with the Kerbal's headlights. I'm trying to use a light on the stack to light up the stack, so it's probably not that surprising that it's not that bright: Having successfully tested the new gear, the boys mounted up and headed for home. Here's a final shot of the Eagle lander detaching from the Mun Transfer Vehicle just before deorbiting over Kerbin. Fly safe!

I agree with the OP, your science point total would almost be like your score in sandbox. Or at least a reflection of how effective your program is at doing science.

Europa - especially if the trip included a way to go under the ice

Hi - latest version seems to be working fine for me, thanks!

Ah, I get the same thing with the new release. My version of KAS is up to date and I just downloaded the Vanguard mod for this. My version of KSP is 0.21.1.276 according to the main screen. Hurm.

I'll definitely post a screenshot when I get it built

Thanks for the update, looking forward to using these in the new KAS lockers to build a "field landing pad".

Strontium - grew up reading 2000AD

Great to see KW Rocketry back - can't wait to try the new stuff!

Looks like a great little device - I'd love to see more gadgets that Kerbals can deploy on the ground - give them something to do. I might try and use this one to set up landing zone lights when I set up my Mun base.

This is my carrier on the front of the mothership Sorry it's not a great picture, the probes are built around the custom red tanks on the left. The carrier actually ended up docked backwards because I didn't think about how I was going to dock it in orbit. I've used this arrangement before and it should fly fine even with unbalanced probe launches.

If they are small probes and the ship is large and has plenty of torque, then you don't need to worry about launching them in pairs. The new system of torque means you don't have to worry too much about balancing everything up. Last night I sent a tug down to LKO from GEO carrying a 3.7 ton tender on one side and it flew just fine. The tug is 160 tons and has 8 large ASAS, which I think is overly torquey. Alternatively, mount them on the front of side mounted fuel tanks and when you launch one of a pair, shift some fuel or monopropellant to counterbalance the lost weight. So if you launch a single 1 ton probe from a pair, for example, shift 125l of monopropellant from the side with the probe to the side without to compensate. The real problem I find with carrying lots of probes is that they increase the part count very quickly, I launched a ship to Jool a few nights ago with six probes as well as a large mothership and it lagged horrendously. That ship had a dedicated probe carrier on the nose - a central gantry with six small RCS tanks arranged around it on the ends of girders. Each RCS tank has a clamp-o-tron junior on the front and a probe docked to that. When the probes are gone I'll dump the carrier into Jool where it will perform important scientific monitoring on its way down.

Yeah, both are very nice. I've had a go atthe moon in the past with an SLR and a 500mm lens but it's not the same :-)

Dislikes: General shonkiness of attaching parts in the VAB/SPH when craft get complicated General shonkiness of driving rovers Lack of rigidity in large craft Instability of relative velocity vector in large craft that lack rigidity Likes: Science, physics, spacecraft, exploration, the whole package I do want more science parts and stuff to do when we get out there, but I understand that's all coming, for now I'm roleplaying my science

Geosynch is up at 2868km

Gene Kranz knew a thing or two about spaceflight. Learned the hard way though. Personally, I try very hard to never kill my boys. Everything can fly unmanned and everything gets tested before a Kerbal sets foot in it. Stranded Kerbals will be rescued, no question.

The cargo Dragon doesn't have the Superdraco thrusters either, so they add weight too. I've struggled to find stats for the Dragon Rider, which I guess is fair enough as they're still developing it. 8 tons dry is the only figure I could really find, but on internet forums so take that with a pinch of salt. The Superdracos are awfully powerful little thrusters as you say.

Not exactly. The proposed Red Dragon is a version modified to act as a robot lander. It would carry no crew and have no ability to relaunch as faras I can find out. I think they'll end up removing at least some of the SuperDracos if the Red Dragon ever does get built, it can pull five gees which is a lot more than it needs to for a Mars landing. The dragon Rider has very impressive acceleration, but less impressive delta V.

Hi, First up, I really like your model of the dragon (and your Kosmos stuff, but that's another thread), so thanks for your hard work on that front. Second up, I too think it's a bit overpowered. Actually, I think it's dry mass is too low. Been thinking about this all day and juggling a few numbers, so I thought I'd post my thoughts. As it stands, 2.5 tons for a 7 man capsule and a 250kN engine is very light compared to the stock stuff. Personally, I'd really like the dragon to be balanced with the stock components. Maybe slightly better, but not radically as it is now. The best stock engine for thrust to weight is the mainsail, 1500kN and 6 tons. So a 250kN engine alone should be at least 1 ton. As for the crew capsule, the best stock capsule in terms of crew per ton is the one man lander can, at 0.6 tons per crewman, which wold give us around 4.2 tons for a 7 man capsule. So dry mass should be around 5.2 tons to compare sensibly with the stock components. But I'd also increase the power of the engine to go with the increase in dry mass. Personally I'd go for 400kN engine power. If we allow the dragon a slight advantage over stock (it is meant to be cutting edge after all) I'd go for a dry mass of 5.5 tons with a 400kN engine. Stats for the real dragon rider are a little difficult to come by. But the stats I've found seem to suggest it's 8 tons dry, with 2 tons of fuel and an isp of 260 after allowing for the angle of the thrusters. Giving a delta V of around 600 m/s. TWR is 5 or so. So again, I'd allow the in game dragon rider to be a little better maybe, keep the iso at 290 but give it 2 tons of fuel for an delta v of around 880. Obviously that's all just my opinion, but as it stands 2.5 tons for a 7 man capsule and 250kN engine is radically better than stock.

Swift work - Thanks!

At least one of the arches is still there.My .20 save had a base there and I briefly checked in to it before abandoning that save.

TAC fuel balancer isn't working for me. It opens a blank window.

Oversaw the arrival of science recon orbiters around Moho and Eve. My first probes to arrive in orbit around another planet. Very exciting.

Welcome aboard! Nice station. Powered landings on Kerbin are actually pretty difficult compared to the Mun. One thing you might consider, go to Minmus first and practice there before going on to the Mun, it's not significantly more difficult to get to and landings on Minmus are a bit easier.

That's very touching, a lovely tribute. I'm very sorry for your loss.