Scarecrow88

Seems to me the best solution would be to create a mining operation near the tourist Mun base (that I haven't built yet) and refuel the lander, which shouldn't need much.

What's the best way to get the fuel from the mining rig to a station in orbit? Launch the entire rig and dock, or is there a way to transfer the fuel to a dedicated fuel transporting ship on the surface which is then used to move the fuel to the station? If the latter method is better, how do you dock on the surface? I consider myself to be a reasonably competent pilot but I am not sure I could manage docking to that level of precision while trying to fight gravity.

Thanks guys.

Has anyone got an example of their mining setup they can share so I can work out the components required to successfully produce fuel. I'm currently setting up a Mun Tour business, where the first stage is by SSTO to an orbiting Kerbin station followed by a transfer to a Mun station and finally a trip to the Mun surface. I originally planned to have transfer tanker for ferrying fuel from Kerbin Station to Mun Station for use in the Mun lander but then thought a mining operation on the Mun surface to provide fuel for the lander might be a better opinion, but I have no idea how to set up such an operation having never used any of the mining related bits up till now.

The Weasley engine is not useful for high altitude/high speed flight.

I used the last spaceplane I designed to carry 2 Mun landers to the Mun. Once they had been to the surface and returned to orbit, the spaceplane brought them both back to Kerbin. It was interesting to do in Sandbox mode, but in Career mode it would have saved me a whole lot on costs, as everything that was launched from KSC was brought back, with the exception of the fuel that was used.

What you are doing when you burn retrograde in target mode is more closely matching the two orbits. Once you have the relative speed at zero, or close to zero, if you are still some distance away from your target vessel you should then burn prograde towards your target, but not too fast or you will just fly past when you get even closer. In all likelihood this will indeed move your intersect point around your orbit, but it should make the intersect distance between your two craft a lot closer. As you get closer to your target you may find that the prograde marker is drifting away from your target marker, in which case you can just repeat the above process as required. There is a more efficient way of doing this, but this method should serve you until you become more used to the rendezvous process.

Thank you guys.

Named after a popular Indian fighting kite of a similar shape, Patang is a SSTO enabled spaceplane capable of transporting light payloads and/or 4 Kerbals to a 500kx500k orbit. Action Group Keys 1 : Toggle engine mode 2 : Toggle outer engines (cruise mode for flying around) 3 : Extend airbrakes 4 : Toggle docking port 5 : Toggle cargo bay doors Flight Profile Initial launch to 25 degrees nose up Drop nose a couple of degrees if speed starts to drop, up to 10,000m At 10,000m drop nose to 10 degrees up and just hold it there Should be able to reach 1,350 m/s at 20k in air breathing mode Switch to rocket mode when acceleration starts to drop off Kill engines and coast to Apo when it is at required height Burn at Apo to circularise Download Patang craft file

All of them, manned and returned. Moho most difficult to visit due to the insane closing speeds and dV required just to slow down and achieve orbit. Tylo was the most difficult to land on due to Kerbin like gravity, and no atmo that would allow parachutes to slow you down. Eve is just a cow. Thick atmo is happy to burn you up and that, combined with the high gravity, makes getting back to orbit rather tough.

I tried building the same craft based on what I can see from your picture, and wasn't able to achieve orbit. The best I could manage, following a shallow ascent profile once above 10,000m, was an apo of 75k, but I ran out of oxidizer when trying to circularise with the peri still at 24k. I tried swapping the liquid fuel tanks for rocket fuel tanks to give more oxidiser but, predictably, ran out of fuel. That was with an empty cargo bay, so it is safe to assume that if there was a payload, adding more mass to the craft, there would be even less chance of obtaining orbit. On that basis, I rebuilt the craft without the cargo bay, but as this only saved .25 mass, I still wasn't successful. It's possible that if you removed the passenger cabin instead of the cargo bay, and added two toroidal fuel tanks somewhere, you might just succeed with the slightly lower overall mass and additional fuel/oxidiser, but I didn't actually try that configuration. ETA : I finally tried the configuration outlined in my last paragraph, and actually achieved orbit, with enough fuel left for a de-orbit burn. However, this was again with an empty cargo bay, so I am not sure how successful it would be with the additional mass of a payload.

Wobbly rocket syndrome. Surely if they are advanced enough to build rockets they have the ability to make joints that don't flex like an overcooked noodle.

If you click on a planet you will get the option to set it as target or to focus view. Select focus view and then zoom in. If you have set a manoeuvre node to cross the SOI, the path will be shown in focus view mode. This can make it easier to tweak the manoeuvre node to get a better encounter.

If you've been relying on MechJeb to get you to orbit, that would explain why the method you outline above is actually outdated, and no longer fits as an efficient means of getting to orbit in the current aerodynamic model. As has already been pointed out by previous posters, you're gravity turn should be started now much earlier than was the case in earlier versions of KSP, in fact almost as soon as you leave the launch pad. I would also recommend using a manoeuvre node at apoapsis, once apo has been established, as it makes it easier to see how much burn is required to circularise the orbit.

The thing that seemed strange to me was that the final stage of the MAV (the bit he discarded all the window and nosecone from) didn't have any sort of manoeuvring thrusters. By the time he was close to intercept with the Hermes, he was left in a pod over which he had absolute control, or do we accept that because he had ditched the nosecone he wouldn't be able to dock with anything, and everything connected with any sort of docking process was also ditched.

A picture of the craft showing the staging would help with a diagnosis.

Orbital velocity at 70x70 is around 2300-2400 m/s. In the current aerodynamic model, I can get my craft up to about 1300 m/s at 22k altitude in air breathing mode, which means that not a lot more is required to actually reach orbit on rocket engines. Also, a lot less dV is required to get to orbit in the current aerodynamic model, arounf 3200 m/s and not the 5500 you think you need. Re-reading your post, I am thinking you are not playing KSP on a PC platform, as the version number does not correspond, so what I said above may not hold true on the platform you are playing.

RCS build aid also has a display that shows not only where your CoM is but also where the empty CoM is. It's amazing how far apart the two can be sometimes.

Before realising there was a problem now with aerobraking at Jool, I have just tried to do exactly that. As soon as my craft dipped below 200k, instant kaboom. Something definitely not right there.

The bigger the difference between your two orbits, the bigger the difference in speed will be at the point of intersection. Unfortunately this is a double edged sword, because if your orbits are too closely matched while your craft are some distance apart it will take longer to get the intersect.

Personally I would build a faster plane. Much easier for precise landings.

What engines are you using? Do they stop because of a lack of fuel or a lack of air? Are you trying to run rocket engines using non-rocket fuel tanks and running out of oxidizer? What does the flight report log say at the moment the engines stop? (F3 to get the report up)

You mean request a flag, as covered by this thread? http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/30753-Request-a-flag%21?highlight=Flag

Personally I'm glad the stock craft are crap as it encourages you to design something better. If the game was supplied with brilliant stock craft it would remove some of that incentive.

Bob, Bill and Jeb having discussed supplementing their meagre salary, decided to form MunTours Inc. to capitalise on the growing demand for space tourism. They agreed on a ship design that would allow them to get to Kerbin orbit in one piece so as not to alarm punters with bits falling off the ship and, once it had refuelled in orbit, could then go on to the Mun where a lander carried in the cargo bay would allow their premium class customers to actually make a trip to the Mun surface. The final design has space for 16 fare paying passengers, which the boys feel is more than adequate to fund the cost of each trip, and give enough profit margin to allow them to finally turn down some of the more dangerous KSC sponsored flights. Images are from the maiden voyage to test everything, so no punters on board, but everything checked out OK, and the boys just need to finalise their marketing campaign to get things rolling.