M4ck

Another module installed This time it was a medium-sized landing pad oriented in a different way than the first module - I know KAS cables have no collision on them, but it would still look silly if visiting ships were to maneuver between all types of cables on the way down. Just after installing it in place I've realized it will be a bit wobbly(but not too much) and impossible to angle it away from the wall without some claws along the lower edge, but I didn't have enough patience to redo this whole flight... Maybe some other time. Also, for some reason, the present colony seemed to be located almost 1km higher than in reality(which was ABOVE the crater edge), after closing in to less than 250m it moved to the correct position(I assume the physics kicked in at that time, but why was it this high to begin with?). Final stage lifter structure: 4x(2,5m separator, probe core, RCS tank, short LFO tank, 2x ASAS, battery bank(turned out to be not needed for any reason other than making lifters long enough for the last stage to stand on lifters, not platform edge), 4x RTG(for reaction wheels, overkill), 4x3 RCS blocks and a regular nuke engine. Only LFO tanks were not stock, so engines were stock nuke ones - I really had no idea they were THAT efficient(see end of next paragraph) in space. (one of the probe cores was the core part) Again, after going into high Mun polar orbit, this stage was landed on the bottom of the crater and slowly lifted with ASAS on, then moved towards the wall with RCS. This time my technique was a bit better than on the first module, as I have found some useful things to help this whole process. Kerbin TWR of 0,33 was a bit too much to precisely control hovering. TWR of about 0,2 would probably be better. The best acceleration(showed by MechJeb vessel info window) at which I hovered after reaching desired altitude for a long while was something between 1,55 and 1,6m/s2, which changed a bit due to fuel consumption. RCS translation up/down was strong enough to control altitude without the need to touch throttle. Top down view helps a lot in the last few moments before firing claws, you know exactly where you are positioned and where you are going in relation to other modules. The fuel and RCS depleted really slowly, the ascent from the bottom of the crater to the moment of cutting the throttle off completely took me about 5 to 10 minutes, and the fuel reserves were barely touched(compared to what I expected), so there was a huge safety margin Now here are the final moments of installing it on the wall: Approaching the colony(after its relocation) Firing cables and lowering thrust to 1,4m/s2 to slowly swing towards the wall Close-up of the underside Detached parts falling to (as it soon turned out, not only)theirs doom On their way down they accelerated to about 40m/s, crashed into previous lifters and obliterated each other(a bit). One engine bumped into the launch pad, but luckily didn't rip anything off. (the launch pad turned out to be defective somehow anyways - while on Kerbin it worked fine, on Mun anything launched from it gets teleported inside the launch pad vessel(not the plate) once physics for the new vessel kicks in, ripping it to shreds; back to regular Kerbin>orbit>transfer>orbit>landing, everyone! The launch pad now simply sits down there looking pretty) Underside after detachment of lifters Colony overview It looks rather dark, but the plate is highly resistant against exhaust damage, and those yellow strips are still bright enough when illuminated by landing vehicles that it is rather easy to land precisely in the middle Next modules to add: fuel tanks, crane, KAS hub and kerbal safety net below the core/landing pad.

I had that name in mind, the first module was is called the Hanging Garden I am now in the process of designing a portable launch pad to place nearby, in order to save me all that trip from Kerbin for future modules. The bottom of this crater is rather uneven, so the bottom part of launch pad has to be quite wide. I'll have it placed there today, maybe tomorrow morning.

Location: 57*39'34" N /9*05'00" E, according to MJ. If you are going to land there using MechJeb for any reason, try to land from a very stretched orbit, going almost straight down through the surface, otherwise MJ will go crazy and probably just smack your ship into one of the crater walls.

Well, to be honest I have already tried that. It IS possible to suspend a tiny ship in the middle using cables going in all 4 directions, but the claws detached under really low stress meaning it hanged there for a while, but started to fall after "stretching"the cables by throttling up a bit.

Just in case any of you would like to replicate something like that, here's how I have actually put it there First of all, it was launched oriented in a way that the side of the cylindrical winch on the end of "crane" structure was on the top, and the side touching the wall was the bottom. Lifters were connected via 2,5m separator connected in the middle of the edge touching the wall, then there were ASAS, RCS tanks + 4x4 thrusters(16 total, 4 in each direction), a rather short fuel tank with an engine weak enough that the TWR on Mun was about 1,3, maybe 1,5. THAT was later connected to a flat platform with some engines and landing legs, below that was the main lifter structure. 1. Get it to orbit, detach lifters 2. Fly to moon using engines on flat platform, enter an almost-polar high orbit and refuel a bit if needed 3. Land on the bottom of the crater(just to save in case something goes wrong... Maybe that's cheating a bit, but I really hate redoing all the launch-orbit-getto-land stages...) 4. Detach from lander platform and slowly rise. ASAS enabled to keep it straight(one large stock ASAS, or whatever it is now called, was enough for me), use RCS to get slowly moving towards the wall while hovering on the main engine. (I had a docking port placed on the side opposite from the engine in order to "control from there" and make sure the ship was oriented exactly vertically 5. When near the wall, thrust RCS the opposite direction to make yourself almost stationary 6. At a distance of about the lenght of deployed 1x6 solar panel from wall, I fired the claws(set "eject" on all 4 winches to an action group) and slowly throttled down to zero, sometimes using RCS to slow the swing towards the wall. When the base is just about to touch the wall, decouple that tank+RCS+engine part (ASAS was ON the whole time, so the base was kept straight) 7. Now you just need to pull the cables to level the base I first pulled the "near" cables(using that KAS windowed controls, much faster than right-clicking) till they had about 1m of cable left, then extended the "far" cables till everything was horizontal. That 1m left was so that the base would touch the wall with the bottom 8x8 panel(the upper layer was 4 4x4 panels, from KW rocketry or B9, I don't remember exactly), not the winches + I-beams + 8x8 panel(then it was slightly sloped towards the wall)

The Hanging Gardens of Mun Harmful Environments Research Program, project 1. Finally, taking two weeks of my time and definitely a lot more launches than it should've taken, the colony has been completed! After reading a thread about some new, super-deep Mun crater, and, precisely, THIS post: I've imagined a single, fully autonomous platform hanging there and decided to give it a try. And right after placing one module, some new ideas came to my mind. Long story short, a wall-hanging colony was born. Parts (with links to their posts): 1. The central module 2. The landing pad 3. Fuel storage and lines 4. The crane 5. The habitat 6. The walkway and the ladder (with an EVA tour through the base) 7. Another, final habitat + something else And an album link if you only want pictures(no descriptions yet) ____________________________________________________________________________________ (Yeah, I know i have also posted this in another discussion, but I am so proud of myself I want to share it with all of you, guys ) After seeing someone speaking of a new, probably bug-made very deep and steep crater on Mun, as well as seeing some photos of it, I've came to a conclusion that this will be a great spot to try hanging bases. So far there is only one module, something like a self-sustaining outpost. It consists of an observation terrace, small solar panels array(despite being located quite deep into the crater, they get quite a lot of light), a crane for lifting/lowering my brave, lonely kerbal hermits(kermits?), a battery bank, fuel mining/processing equipment with a fuel hose included, and a lander can for the little guys to rest in. As you can see there is a lander can, some structural elements, a large battery bank, two small kethane tanks, two drills and a converter, as it will be probably used to provide fuel for vessels launched from a launch pad on the bottom of the crater(still to-be-landed there ), or to some little ships visiting a landing pad anchored to the wall nearby, via the bottom connector cable. The other not yet used connector will probably be used to lower/lift kerbals between the base and the bottom by means of plugging an unfortunate kerbal instead of a claw/connector, bungee jumping and lowering them slowly when they reach current rope length. I have edited the KAS files to make the cables about 1,5km long, which is about enough to reach the bottom. The battery bank is used mostly when kethane is processed and mined simultaneously, especially if the solar panels are in shadow(since they are at about 80* angle they provide great amount of electricity for their size, usually between 0,8 and 0,95 efficiency when in sunlight). I am currently planning to create a whole colony down(up?) there. It will take some time, as first getting it into the crater, and then anchoring it to the walls is... well, pretty difficult and/or long Any progress will be reported here Finished base will probably include: the current outpost 8x8 or 16x16 landing pad just next to the first module several short 2,5m fuel/RCS tanks mounted perpendicularly to the wall, located a bit below the landing pad larger crane anchored to the wall to the other side of the first module: a large girder arm anchored directly to the wall and also hanging on one support rope(like the two in main module), winch at the end, and a 2x2 or 4x4 platform on which kerbals will stand/seat on the way up/down, it will be located so that they will be able to directly jump from the platform to main module launch pad either on the bottom of the crater, or atop one side of it. I doubt it can be attached to the walls firmly enough that it will not fall apart when I launch something from it. Everything other that the launch pad will be connected via KAS, fuel will probably be transfered between bottom and top by lowering/rising a tank hanging on one KAS, detaching it there and connecting to the launch pad vessel(If it was all supposed to be connected at once, I would get a vessel about 1,5km long, so the camera would probably go crazy. any suggestions for modules are welcome

Editor Extensions, if you are not against using mods. All it does is add a bunch of tools while creating ships(like what you need here: TAB switches between symmetry modes of VAB and SPH). Basically more symmetry options, ability to place anything attached radially(toggled option, so you can simply disable it when not needed). Very handy mod

It does not exactly need a "pod" category item to be controllable, MechJeb case attached anywhere is enough, maybe some other parts would work as well. But then you need reaction wheels from "Control" panel in order to turn your vehicle around.

First of all, it was launched oriented in a way that the side of the cylindrical winch on the end of "crane" structure was on the top, and the side touching the wall was the bottom. Lifters were connected via 2,5m separator connected in the middle of the edge touching the wall, then there were ASAS, RCS tanks + 4x4 thrusters(16 total, 4 in each direction), a rather short fuel tank with an engine weak enough that the TWR on Mun was about 1,3, maybe 1,5. THAT was later connected to a flat platform with some engines and landing legs, below that was the main lifter structure. 1. Get it to orbit, detach lifters 2. Fly to moon using engines on flat platform, enter an almost-polar high orbit and refuel a bit if needed 3. Land on the bottom of the crater(just to save in case something goes wrong... Maybe that's cheating a bit, but I really hate redoing all the launch-orbit-getto-land stages...) 4. Detach from lander platform and slowly rise. ASAS enabled to keep it straight(one large stock ASAS, or whatever it is now called, was enough for me), use RCS to get slowly moving towards the wall while hovering on the main engine. (I had a docking port placed on the side opposite side from the engine in order to "control from there" and make sure the ship was oriented exactly vertically 5. When near the wall, thrust RCS the opposite direction to make yourself almost stationary 6. At a distance of about the lenght of deployed 1x6 solar panel from wall, I fired the claws(set "eject" on all 4 winches to an action group) and slowly throttled down to zero, sometimes using RCS to slow the swing towards the wall. When the base is just about to touch the wall, decouple that tank+RCS+engine part (ASAS was ON the whole time, so the base was kept straight) 7. Now you just need to pull the cables to level the base I first pulled the "near" cables(using that KAS windowed controls, much faster than right-clicking) till they had about 1m of cable left, then extended the "far" cables till everything was horizontal. That 1m left was so that the base would touch the wall with the bottom 8x8 panel(the upper layer was 4 4x4 panels, from KW rocketry or B9, I don't remember exactly), not the winches + I-beams + 8x8 panel(then it was slightly sloped towards the wall)

Is this good enough? As you can see there is a lander can, some structural elements, a large battery bank, two small kethane tanks, two drills and a converter, as it will be probably used to provide fuel for vessels launched from a launch pad on the bottom of the crater(still to-be-landed there ), or to some little ships visiting a landing pad anchored to the wall nearby, via the bottom connector cable. The other not yet used connector will probably be used to lower/lift kerbals between the base and the bottom. I have edited the KAS files to make the cables about 1,5km long, which is about enough to reach the bottom. The battery bank is used mostly when kethane is processed and mined simultanously, especially if the solar panels are in shadow(since they are at about 80* angle they provide great amount of electricity for their size, usually between 0,8 and 0,95 efficiency when in sunlight). I am currently planning to create a whole colony down(up?) there. It will take some time, as first getting it into the crater, and then anchoring it to the walls is... well, pretty difficult and/or long

Not really, but maybe adding some chutes to the back will help you stop on surface fast enough to stay and not get bumped up again? You can later repack and reuse them if you want.

DSM pack has a really heavy and powerful reactor I like to put as a part of my base/Kethane refinery, the pod also has a small generator built in, but if I remember correctly, no built-in reaction wheels yet. All the parts are quite heavy, but look good in orbital/landed stations.

Well, AFAIK you simply cannot leave a vessel moving through atmosphere, like it is impossible to quicksave or return to Space Center when rolling a rover or dropping on a chute. What happens to vessels farther than about 2km from your active vessel, they are treated like a single point on its current trajectory(like all the stuff you see in map view). Such "simplified" trajectories won't be calculated in atmosphere, as that would require calculating air resistance etc. They are usually simply destroyed upon reaching atmosphere - try by launching two ships to a stable orbit, then lowering the periapsis of one to like 10km about Kerbin surface. If you switch to the other ship, open map view and wait until the other one gets to around 65 km altitude, you will see it disappear, even though it clearly couldn't have crashed into terrain(at least it happens to me). Even if you create some solid metal cube ship that can somehow survive impact at extreme speeds, so it would not be destroyed if you manually crashed it into a planet, it will still go bye-bye when "simplified" and below some pre-set altitude The pod that disappeared wasn't "another active vessel", you can only have one active vessel at a time. When it got far enough, it got "simplified", marked as currently in atmosphere and removed. I don't think there is anything to be done about it, it's just the way game engine works.

For me it usually is about three times the diameter of a regular Docking Port. Back up a bit, then try docking again. Works fine for me

In Kerbal Space Program/saves/[you profile]/Ships you have two folders, SPH(spaceplane hangar) and VAB(the one for rockets). You can create the plane in the hangar, save it, then copy the .craft file from SPH to VAB folder and create the rocket structures there. Sometimes this messes up the launching(for me it randomly launches from launchpad or runway). Other great way is to use the mod called Editor Extensions - it adds a LOT of functionality to creating crafts once you get the hang of it You can also try to use Subassembly Manager to save either plane or lifter as a "block" you can then load when creating something, but I haven't checked how well it does work between VAB and SPH. It is great if you often use the same lifter structure for different crafts, though.