ANWRocketMan

Sure. But only tomorrow. Gotta get my 6 hours of sleep and half-day at university. Hmm, I see. Can't wait for 2015 and New Horizons now... Thanks for the work anyway. Now i gotta figure out how to get everything I use installed at the same time.

This only hapenned after I installed and added ECLSS to my stuff. Or at least, I never noticed it before.

You're coming home! In 20 years...

Did a mission to the Moon in real Solar System today. The crew will spend another 20 days in Munar orbit after which they have to come back due to oxygen limitations. Space Buddies. Earthrise and smiles.

Hmm, maybe I should re-install everything from scratch. See how that goes.

Andrey, the clouds on Duna/Mars are a little thick still... Can barely see the surface of the Planet. Otherwise it's a very well done configuration. Was just thinking of setting one up this weekend. Now I don't have to! Thanks mate. p.s. Is there any chance of getting a texture for Ceres/Minmus? And alos removing the "rings" around the one moon of Neptune I think. Forgot the in-game name.

Is it possible to have a Kerbal on EVA and have him re-fill his resources from a tank with O2/monopropellant and move his CO2 to a tank on the ship?

@NathanKell: Any idea about the rockets not reacting to physics until you switch to within about 200m of them?

I just want fairing bases to be procedural. It's terrible to have to make a new part for every rocket.

I'm having some balancing issues with v6.0 preview. For some reason, the rockets tend to be less able on the,launchpad compared to RSS Kerbin. Not sure why this is? In adition, I found this strange bug where certain physics objects will do bothing once they touch the ground, and once you switch to them or get within about 100m of them, they suddenly come alive and continue: This is after a simulated abort: the SRB's detached flew around a bit but as son as they touched the ground they just stopped and hanged there like that. After I switched to them they suddenly came alive and started interacting with physics again. It doesn't happen only in 4x Physics time warp. 1x Does the same.

Disable gimballing on as many engines as possible. Also use fine controls. Having too sharp/strong a gimball force will do that. SAS will start overcompensating etc and mess up the launch. If you use a cluster of engines, disable gimballing on all of them except for say the middle one. I launch without SAS now and use the atmosphere to my advantage(using proper gravity turns etc.). It's strangely not that hard to do... Untill you mess up...

@ferram4: Did you make any changes to launch clamps in v2.0? I use v1.7 still because it seems more stable with launch clamps(using v0.23 of Kerbal Space Program and RSS etc.). To the point where it does not matter how many you have. This using both the standard launch clamps and the ones in FASA. p.s. I still can't stick 25,000 tonnes on launch clamps because it starts bouncing up and down and hits the launchpad at 20m/s speed eventually. But that's to be expected I think...

Hmm... Guess I'll have to scratch some money together, buy a better graphics card so I can build something bigger and more complex. Damn "poverty"

It's pretty low, but mostly due to the high poly F-1 engine models. I only have a GT240 anyway. Further than that the part count is surprisingly low(thanks to Stretchy Tanks and Kerbal Joint Reinforcement, which is a MUST for things like this). I'm going to make one that "cheats" by using "asparagus"-type staging between the boosters and core stage in a Falcon 9 Heavy sort of way. But that'll only be later in the week. Got university stuff to worry about now

I'm having trouble figuring out how to reshape the fairings. There are four things I'd like to do: 1. Make a fairing that does not reshape based on the payload(is this even possible?). 2. A fairing that does not have a sharp corner that goes straight through from the nodes to it's end position. 3. Make Fairing Bases procedurally re-sizeable. It's terrible with such limited sizes and using Real Solar System with such a wide variety of rocket sizes. It severely restricts building potential. I feel. 4. Make the height of the inter-stage fairings independent of the re-sizing of the radius/width. Or just have it remain constant while the radius gets larger. If anyone could possibly help to do this? It would be much appreciated

1,000 tonne payload?

Thanks for the amazement!

Hmm, strange. I reinstalled v1.7 again and the problem was solved. Oh well...

@panzerknoeff: Is that in real Solar System? Because that's beautiful!

Good day rocketeers, Today I present to you an album of, what is for me the biggest rocket I've ever built, the "NOVA" C-9. In Real Solar System... Launch to orbit, technical views: Launch to orbit, cinematic views: Technical Specifications: Height: 132.5m Width: 38.75m Payload mass: 449-mt(metric tonness) to LEO[400km x 400km] Launch Mass: 14 101.3-mt(metric tonness) Launch Thrust: 186 576kN Parts: 109 Staging: Boosters(2x):Propulsion: 8x RocketDyne F-1 Engines(each) Thrust: 62 192kN(each) Diameter: 12.5m(each) Burn Time: 185s [*]Stage 01: Propulsion: 8x RocketDyne F-1 Engines Thrust: 62 192kN Diameter: 13.75m (+ 1.25m for booster mounts) Burn Time: 185s [*]Stage 02: Propulsion: 8x Pratt & Whitney RocketDyne J-2X Engines Thrust: 10 480kN Diameter: 10.7m Burn Time: 444s Launch Profile: NOTE: Launch profile will be added later. I haven't done enough launches myself yet. Mod List: Realism Solar System v5.5 Realism Overhaul v3.0 w/ SFJackBauer's Real Enghines v5.1 Stretchy SRB v8.1 Real Fuels Deadly Re-entry FAR 0.12.2.5 AIES Aerospace Procedural Fairings v4.3 F-1 Engine(forgot the author) Kerbal Joint Reinforcement v1.8(v2.0 woprks but seems less stable, especially at launch with the launch clamps bugging out). * There are more necessary I think, will post them when I upload the craft file. NOTES: I will be adding the craft file sometime this weekend. Just a couple more issues to sort out. It is also important to take notice that the F-1 Engines take a lot of polygons, as such you need a beefy Graphics card to handle 24 of them AND a payload that weighs 450-tonnes. I can't actually use this rocket for anything other than demonstration.

Good day fellow rocketeers, Here I present my two most used rockets and a "little" bonus: Alpha MK.1 Alpha MK.1 Launcher with LunaSat 01 ready for launch. LunaSat 01 is a 400kg sattelite in a polar orbit around the Moon. The transfer stage(included in payload as separate stage) has enough dV for initial orbital operations and for de-orbiting of the spent stage. Stats: Payload to LEO[400kmx400km](equatorial launch): 7.5 metric-tons Mass at launch: 250-mt Stages: 2 Boosters:4x 1m SRB[445.5kN thrust each] Burn Time: 75s [*]Stage 01: 1x NK-33[1723kN thrust] Burn Time: 299s [*]Stage 02: 2x RL10A-3 w/ shared pump[132kN thrust] Burn Time: 306s Total launch-to-orbit time: 605s approx. Launch Profile[not perfected; for 7.5-ton payload]: Throttle to full, activate engine, activate SRB's, detach launch clamps. Once a speed of 80m/s is reached, pitch 5 degrees down toward desired heading. Once surface-velocity vector catches up, pitch down 5 degrees toward desired heading. Once surface-velocity vector catches up, disable SAS and begin gravity turn. If you are launching into an inclined orbit you want to thrust slightly to the sides now to make sure the orbital-velocity vector has the proper inclination. Once the vehicle reaches a 45-degree pitch turn SAS back on. Wait until Time-to-Apoapsis(TtA) is around 1:40 seconds away. Pitch down until you are not gaining or losing TtA and keep it as such. Once stage is empty, activate the second stage and pitch to 30-degrees above horizon. Once TtA starts rising, pitch down 5-degrees and repeat. Once the desired apoapsis is reached, shut down engine. You should already be in orbit with Periapsis above 100km. Coast to Apoapsis and activate engine prograde to raise Periapsis to desired height. SLS Block-1A The SLS Block-1A I use is slightly inaccurate, has a lower payload than the theoretical maximum of the real one, and is built to look like the old Ares V(with a much lighter payload). Here it ready for the launch of a small lunar lander(12-tons). The TLI-Stage and lander weigh 65-tons, as such, the TLI-Stage is required to complete full orbital insertion. Stats: Payload to LEO[400kmx400km](equatorial launch): 61 Mass at launch: 1 590-mt Stages: 2 Boosters:2x 2.8m SRB[14 280kN thrust] Burn Time: 107s [*]Stage 01: 4x RS-25D[9 116kN thrust] Burn Time: 285s [*]Stage 02: 1x J-2X[1 310kN thrust] Burn Time: 356s Total launch-to-orbit time: 641s approx. NOTE: I do not have an optimal launch profile. I have not spent much time trying to discover it. So, just wing it for now). NOVA C-8 The first NOVA C-8 launch with test payload of 240 metric tons. This payload consists of a TLI-Stage with Lunar Payload of 100 tons(theoretical). The rocket is not fully developed and is still experiencing issues. The first stage has a diameter(including engine shroud) of 13.8m. Stats: Payload to LEO[400kmx400km](equatorial launch): 230-mt <=> 240-mt Mass at launch: 5 512-mt Stages: 2 Stage 01:8x F-1[62 192kN thrust] Burn Time: 184s approx.(having some trouble with Kerbal Engineer and detecting the engines, it only detects 1 engine attached so my math might be wrong on this) [*]Stage 02: 7x J-2X[9 170kN thrust] Burn Time: 463s Total launch-to-orbit time: 647s approx. Future derivations[planned]: NOVA C-8 A: 4x Additional SRB's to increase LEO payload capability NOVA C-8 B: 4x Added Liquid Boosters(powered by F-1 engines) to provide even greater control and LEO capability NOVA C-9: A very ambitious Falcon-Heavy like rocket to provide the largest payload capacity ever devised by mankind. NOTE: I do not have an optimal launch profile and I'm having some problems with thrust on the second stage, adding an extra J-2X would solve the problem, but due to the engine bases that most modders add, it would look very ugly if I do that. I can add an extra J-2X in a different manner, but then I lose some efficiency on the design and would need a bigger second stage tank. I'm going to try replacing them with standard J-2 engines, which might work. But it would reduce the payload by some amount. NOTE 2: My first second flight, for example, into polar orbit needed the TLI stage to complete the burn. This is, in part, due to a difficult take-off which is in part fault of low-TWR and in part due to KJR v2.0(with which I'm having a lot of instability). This causes the rocket to veer off course right at the start and you waste a lot of time and fuel trying to right the rocket, not to mention this makes accurate launching a huge issue. But I achieved that polar orbit with 187.1 tons left. Not the best of circumstances. My ascent was very inefficient as well, my gravity turn started too quickly and I spent a lot of time in thicker atmosphere. In addition, the low TWR of the second stage had me wasting a lot of fuel to keep my Apoapsis ahead of the rocket. Letting it fall behind causes me to lose the launch(as in a previous attempt). NOTE 3: I reduced the payload to 220 tons. I added 4 very small 2m SRB's just to give some extra thrust at lift off. I also increased the diameter of the second stage by 0.6m to 10.7m(from 10.1m) wide and was able to add an 8th J-2X. After these changes, I re-branded the rocket as the C-8 R2 "NOVA". I was then able to launch into a equatorial orbit of 150km x 400km with that payload(which will have to provide an extra 100m/s or so dV to circularise). So, it seems to work now. Just some more small tweaks I think. I would still like more thrust in the second stage. It would make the rocket much more efficient. UPDATE: Here is the upgraded "NOVA" C-8 R2: And the NEW "NOVA" C-9. Just a hint: It's big, and weighs 14,000 metric tons! p.s. Where is a good place to upload the craft files for the rockets?

@ferram4: I'm having a lot of issues with v2.0. Previously in v1.7 most of my big rockets were very stable with launch clamps and very few KW Rocketry Heavy struts between inerstage fairing adapters. However, since I upgraded the rockets tend to rip themselves apart on the launch pad or wobble uncontrollably leading to very bad launches. This still using Real Solar System v5.5(I found v6.0 pre 1) made it even more unstable with the Earth remake. Here is a picture of a 61-ton SLS rocket in v1.7: And a Nova C-8(not perfectly accurate): *NOTE: It weighs 5,500 metric-tons. Just in addition: this specific one is new built in v2.0. But I built a heavier and bigger rocket in v1.7 that worked better in terms of launch pad stability. Now, the problem seems to using more than one or two launch clamps. If I use three or more, the rocket rips apart. If I use only 2, the rockets topple over. I I use only 1 it breaks and the whole thing explodes. This didn't happen on any of these rockets using v1.7. Not exactly sure what changed to make this re-appear though...

@ArrowStar, this has probably been asked before but I haven't kept up to date with the forums at all: Would your TOT for Orbiter work for Real Solar System? Does it take into account N-Body physics and such?

Today I launched LunaSat 01 and LunaSat 02. LunaSat 03 is scheduled to be launched in 3 months due to budget constraints. This using Real Solar System and various mods. LunaSat 01 before CCM 03 as it approaches the Moon. LunaSat 02 experienced a severe launch anomaly and was put into an orbit that had an Ascending node angle of 3 degrees. It was deorbited soon after being re-used for science experimentation of the Van Allen Belts.

Visit Phobos in the Martian system today using Real Solar System and a bunch of realism mods: