Anton P. Nym

Rockdiver 1 makes my programs first asteroid, er... landing? Close encounter of the paint-swapping kind? Rear-end collision at 4cm/s? (Station keeping with these rocks is tough. All my future "Rockdiver" missions use The Claw.) The KSS Argo makes rendezvous with its target, a class E rock. Hope 4 Jumbo tanks of NERVA fuel is enough... This is where I stopped for the night. Next session, the crew of the good ship Argo will go play in the rockpile. -- Steve

That's exactly the opposite of reality. Ion engines are designed for long-duration missions with high dV requirements... so, yes, they're intended for interplanetary missions. Current models aren't suitable for crewed craft, but NASA and the usual suspects are looking into using more powerful versions (like VASIMR) that could. Current versions are well suited for cometary and asteroid missions, and there's no reason they also couldn't be used to send orbiter probes to the planets. Ions aren't suited to use on landers or atmospheric craft in real life like the PB-ION is, however. That's the least realistic thing about the in-game ion engine, but until we get other forms of electric propulsion for aircraft (like ducted fans, which I've wanted to use on some glider designs for some time) I'm okay with this "fudge". -- Steve

The KSS Argo on the pad, awaiting launch for my first asteroid redirect mission. The redirector is, alas, only 20% fuelled and will need two (or three?) other launches of supply ferries before it goes out to snag a rock. (I rather like the SLS parts; hefty, but not magic.) -- Steve PS: Here's Argo in orbit and fuelled, preparing to enter a 3000x300km parking orbit. It took 3 refuelling missions to top off, with the 3rd tanker standing by to top up after this burn. I found I actually had a lot of fuel left over in the first stage and have re-jigged the craft to launch with about 40% fuel instead of the 20% load I used for Argo.

I'd like to see the Lander airbags for probes. Doing a Spirit/Opportunity bouncy-bounce on Duna would be fun! -- Steve

It's actually tough to do; right now the best I can manage is single stage to Munar orbit and back for crewed craft, or Munar landing and back for a lighter probe. That's without the heavy LV-N, using the LV-909 for its lower dry mass. It can be done, I've seen videos of people doing it, but it's not easy. -- Steve

The new Arro "Sabot" SSTO, undergoing pre-flight inspection in the VAB. It works, at least up to 150km circular orbit, but transitioning from jets to rocket is rather tricky... may need more development. (Damned asymmetric engine stalls...) -- Steve

Munshot 1, the latest in my SSTM (Single Stage To the Mun) development program. Munshot 2 is already on the way, and hopefully will be able to make the return trip. -- Steve

Yes, with the warning on the jet fuel tanks I think that the Liquid Fuel resource is kerosene, or more precisely RP-1 given that it's interchangeable with the rocket tanks. If it's RP-1, the most likely oxidiser is liquid oxygen. Now, to determine how much of each fuel tank's mass is RP-1 and LOx and how much is tank, plumbing, and insulation... -- Steve

-- Steve

Only the most prominent branding I can think of; Rockwell, Boeing, GD, and others had logos on craft too. -- Steve

I don't think the OP realises how often "coloured lights" crops up in the feature request lists... I like the idea, but will wait until I see them in action before I judge where/when/how/if I'll use them. -- Steve

No fix, in my opinion. Beyond a certain lower bound of pressure, a barometer is useless. Also, it's not like the game's stingy with science points right now. -- Steve

As others point out, there's no detectable difference between Newtonian and Relativistic physics at the speeds obtainable in KSP. Getting to 10%c requires 30 000 000 m/s delta-V; thassa one spicy mighty big rocket. (I didn't even get there using the Orion nuclear pulse engine mod, which is the best candidate... though admittedly I wasn't doing speed trials with it, but rather heavy lifting.) -- Steve

I don't support this; the problems I have with KSP come from inconsistencies between modes, and I really don't want to add new ones. If you really want a ballpark figure in km/h to get a feel for how fast a rover is going, triple the displayed m/s speed. (For an exact figure, multiply by 3.6: 60s/min * 60min/h / 1000m/km) -- Steve

No log kept; I'm just noodling about with the Munbase, really. I did try to put up a craft file for the base, but my old hard drive died on me. May try to put it up again later. Meanwhile, I just blasted an attempt at a Moho sample return probe into the wild black yonder. It may be a tad overengineered... -- Steve

Flight mode only, mainly because I've set the translation controls on my 360 gamepad so that I don't have to switch at all. (Joysticks for rotation, D-pad and shoulder triggers for translation.) -- Steve

Geofald (on the ladder) and Gusbro board the MunMaster Mobile Laboratory to do Science! -- Steve edited to add: Dammit, too awesome to be; I set the parking brake and it started twitching, got the crew out, and all of a sudden the MunMaster "crashed" into the Mun. Damn you, kraken...

I guess SSTOs and probes. Next Moho window I'm going to send a sample return mission... I think. (That, or it's a lander with a massively over-engineered transfer stage. We'll find out soon.) -- Steve

We got a li'l ol' convoy, rockin' through the night./We got a li'l ol' convoy, ain't she a beautiful sight... -- Steve

Aboard a 6000 ton submarine, a 100 ton* shielded reactor isn't much of a problem. In a spacecraft, however, it's a HUGE problem. NERVA got around the shielding problem by ducking most of it. It used a small shadow shield that just protected the crew compartment, and relied on fuel mass for the rest. Anything not in a fairly narrow cone around the bow was exposed to the unshielded core. (Rendezvous and docking was... fraught, to put it mildly.) -- Steve * wild-assed guess; I have no idea how heavy the reactor plant is on a sub or carrier, and a hasty search didn't turn up any numbers.

It's not a bad idea, as such, but I think it's out of step with the rest of the game. With KSP rocket engines we don't select fuel mixes, turbo pumps, combustion chambers, bell profiles, and the like; we get pre-built, standardised units. Mix-your-own jet engines would be radically different unless we also extended this to rockets, making this a very large task. Add in that it would increase part counts (potentially by a large fraction for multi-engined craft) when we still have part-count based performance constraints, and I can't see it as part of KSP. I think it would be an ideal mechanic for a game that concentrated on high-performance aircraft, though. Might be worth exploring from that perspective. -- Steve

The Arro Firedart on final approach to KSC after its trip to Munar orbit.* Edmal Kerman dismounting from the Firedart after touchdown for post-flight inspection. -- Steve * not, alas, a direct flight. The Firedart has enough delta-V to get a Munar flyby, but in order to enter Munar orbit it needs to take on additional bipropellant (and offload left-over jet fuel, preferably) in low Kerbin orbit.

Love the leg extension in the VAB. I'd love to see that extended to solar panels and antennae. (And maybe allow ladders to retract, though that's much less of an issue I think.) -- Steve

Finally stuck the landing; even remembered to switch on the seismometer before the skycrane impacted Vall's surface, for extra roll-play science verisimilitude. However, it's on a huuuuge incline almost 2km above the crater floor (thought I was landing on a mare!) and it's going to be an agonising drive down... -- Steve

Sure! It's simple and all-stock; can't really claim any genius behind it. FYI, not seen on the photo is that the intakes are in quad symmetry and not just a duo on top. If I recall correctly, there's a Communotron-16 on the underside of the probe-core too to help with weight distribution. -- Steve