Galane

I installed this and quickly launched three satellites into Kerbin orbit, built a triple launcher with enough fuel to change inclination to put them all in slightly different near polar orbits so it'd scan the planet faster while I started work on Kethane mining and refining equipment. Welllll. No, it doesn't go faster. Looks like there can only be one active Kethane scanning bird per SOI and they only scan when they're the currently selected ship. That's really going to slow things down. I had plans to send three each to Mun and Minmus too but that plan went in the round file. Is it a limitation of KSP that there can't be more than one actively scanning Kethane satellite per SOI and the player has to babysit the #%#@ things? Kinda exactly the opposite of the concept of an autonomous satellite. Does ISA MapSat suffer from this limitation too?

I'd be happy with with a mod that simply adds right click options to parts in the VAB. For example, right click an engine and lock gimbal and have that setting stay with the .craft so one doesn't have to remember to do it on the pad at every launch. If you have a part with fuel crossfeed that can be turned off and has to be off but is on by default and can only be toggled on the pad or in flight, make it toggle-able in the VAB and save its state. Same thing with parts with reaction wheels. Then go a bit farther and equip those toggles with time, altitude or stage settings - choose one. If your rocket needs the reaction wheels off on the pad (due to them causing wobble that interferes with MechJeb's auto warp) but is fine with them on after launch, set them to start out off but turn on at liftoff. In some cases you might need to toggle something more than once, so having 3 or 4 (shouldn't need more than 4) settable state changes of a system like RCS would be good. For example if you need RCS on while making the gravity turn but then need it off afterwards the 1st toggle would be On at the turn start altitude then the 2nd toggle would be Off x meters higher. There wouldn't need to be any directly visible/editable code or script in-game. What the player would see is the same sort of popup menus they normally see for parts after the ship is on the pad or in flight. With the script stored in the Ships folder using the same name as the .craft it could be directly edited by people who want to dig in and twiddle the settings directly. Could have two options for the script, just changes (different start settings from the defaults and any toggles set) or a full script that has every part with editable settings so the player can open the script in a text editor and easily set things without having to create the rest of the script structure from scratch. To get more complex for the plugin would be to have an in-game editor that lights up the part on the ship and staging chart when the cursor is in the script section for that part. What would make it even easier is to also put the popup menus on the staging chart for decouplers, separators and engines. If you have an engine buried in the middle of a rocket and it must have its gimbal locked for less wobble in flight, it's difficult to get at on the rocket. Dunno why Squad doesn't also have the menus on the staging chart.

Appreciate the highlight vids, and the other vids being fairly brief. There's sooooo many 30 and 40+ minute KSP videos on YouTube.

For get out and push, the key is how far away from Kerbin is this Kerbal in his ship without fuel? How many times will he have to get out and back in for pack refills? Should he try for a capture into Kerbin orbit or go for a direct hit, if the ship has parachutes? How about a map screenshot showing where he is in the system?

I put the stock rover on the Mun, where it's stuck in a large crater inside the really huge, dark crater. I tried several times to get out onto the relatively flat terrain amongst the craters but ended up flipping backwards at the top of the rim instead of the front wheels going over. Once I nearly managed to make it into a smaller, intersecting crater that was further down the slope but some rather coarse geometry jammed things up and it ended up tumbling back. It's a very tough rover. Nothing broke until the last time. Then I decided to go up the high side because there's a small crescent of intersecting crater whose upper lip has a shallow transition to the "between craters" landscape. I *almost* made it before the rover flipped back. That was one loooooong tumble during which everything but the center bottom plate, the two middle wheels, the probe body and two batteries got ripped off. The rover was still drivable! (Until the batteries died.) So I Mun-schussed down the the lowest point of the crater before hitting F9. Also got in some practice fiddling with control to keep it balanced on two wheels. Some day I'll try going out the lower side, into the next crater to see if I can get over its lip.

I often put two on the outer side of each piece that needs pushed away, rotated 90 degrees and aimed so their exhaust won't hit any of the rest of the rocket that needs to keep going up. Some of my rockets use tanks that stage off the top, so they need a bit of kick up and out. To do that requires a placement for deliberately imbalanced thrust so they arc up and out and won't strike any of the rest of the rocket. If you want a rocket to deliberately fail, perhaps to simulate a historic rocket launch failure, place a seperatron so its exhaust is aimed at a fuel tank and staged to trigger at the right time.

If you're not averse to using MechJeb, there's a way to use only its Smart A.S.S. function for docking. First you have to get the ships in visual range of each other. Second, right click your docking port then click control from here. Right click the second ship's docking port then click Set as target. Third, switch to the second ship with [ or ] and repeat step 2. Fourth, open the Smart A.S.S. window, click TGT then the TGT+ buttons. The ship will pivot around so its docking port is aimed at the second ship's docking port. Fifth, switch to the second ship and repeat step 4. Sixth, switch to the ship with the fuel to dock. Now you are setup for docking. If the ships are moving together already, simply wait and they'll dock - as long as they're not moving too fast and aren't in orbits that don't intersect. If the ships are moving apart, you need to alter that situation. Either use just the barest amount of engine thrust to just get the range closing, then stop thrusting, or enable RCS and press H until the range numbers on the target are counting down. Turn off RCS when you're not using it because the auto-pointing will get too jittery at close range and Smart A.S.S. will burn through your RCS fuel pretty quick. RSC direction keys are HNKIJL. You'll want to figure out which one thrusts the opposite direction to H, in case you get your closing speed going too fast. RCS can also get you out of an orbit when you run out of fuel, assuming your ship has RCS thrusters and tanks of monopropellant, that aren't empty. Put something together like the Gemini Agena target vehicle and practice docking in Kerbin orbit. That's what NASA did before going to the Moon. First they rendezvoused two Gemini (6A and 7) capsules in orbit (AFAIK the only time two separately launched American manned space vehicles have been in orbit at the same time, ISS is a station, not a vehicle) then did a docking with an Agena with Gemini 8. Gemini 11 still holds the manned Earth orbit altitude record of 739.2 nautical miles (1,369.0 km). Pretty sad that no human has orbited Earth higher than that since September 1966.

I still need to send something to another planet, but I'd balance a rover with drop tanks, or non-drop tanks if on a lander stage that's going to stay on the surface. Tanks of fuel, or batteries, whatever parts that serve a useful function and can be dumped if you need that part of the lander to lift off again. Just used then when you needed than. "I'd rather play KSP than do work." VS "I'd rather play KSP then do work." Oh, wait, both of those work... but the meaning is completely different. ;P

You all have me beat on crazy, but I have put together a reasonably functional exo-atmospheric kinetic kill vehicle with indefinite on-orbit loiter time. forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/51115-Ship-to-ship-kinetic-energy-transfer-test-report 'Course despite the word "armed" in the project name, Alan Aerospace Recycling and Packaging glosses over the whole weaponry thing with terms like Smart Kinetic Energy Transfer Module. It's not a *missile* it's a "Carrier Vehicle". ;-)

Extending landing legs to work with the Mainsail engine. Need them father down for longer engines? Use longer I-beams. http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/49557-Mainsail-Landing-Demonstrator-1

No - we will not let you go - let him go We will not let you go - let him go We will not let you go - let me go Will not let you go - let me go (never) Never let you go - let me go Never let me go - ooo No, no, no, no, no, no, no - Someone needs to do a KSP themed filk of Bohemian Rhapsody.

Dunno the delta-v of them. They have two Oscar-B tanks and a 48-7S engine. Powered range from (relative) rest is around 2,000 meters. I may try one from 500 meters and see if with the reaction wheel it has enough fuel to come back for a second hit. With the V3's RCS it was lucky to get the first hit, no way it could maneuver for a second. I did let a few of those burnout after a miss from short range but every pass they'd miss by a few meters. I do have MechJeb 2.0.9 with the mod to integrate it into the control parts. The only way long range fire and forget would be possible is with the top stage left attached, with just enough fuel so that it'd be staged off right before final approach. Getting the Rendezvous Autopilot to go to "Ramming speed!" ("What to we do now?" "We DIE!" Name that movie.) would be a neat trick. This is my inspiration for making these. That's why I tried using RCS for steering but the thrusters just aren't strong enough. Edit: Just finished some more testing. I added three Sepratrons as a first boost stage to the S-KETM V4 and was able to hit the remains of Basic Target 1 dead center. That was a stock large diameter target and I had it held in retrograde orientation. I had to manually trigger the liquid engine since MechJeb wouldn't after the Sepratron burnout. Range was a bit over 2,300 meters. (Was going for 2,500 but MJ gets iffy at longer rendezvous ranges.) Feeling a bit smug after that, I launched another one with the Sepratrons with a goal of a 3,000 meter hit. FAIL. A near hit but still a woosh fly by and not enough fuel to make a turnaround for a second try. However, the target was only a FL-T800 tank with a LV-909 engine and a FL-A10 adapter with a TR-2V on top of that, an Armed Guard II final stage. Against larger targets, 3,000 meters may be a practical maximum range to at least make contact. I'd like to see what other people can do with this design, or improvements on it. Now if the pocket I-beam was replaced with a more frangible piece (how about some rubber rocket buggy bumpers?), some careful aiming could be used to bump fuel-less and powerless things out of orbit. In my original test using only two Sepratrons on a pocket I-beam VS a Basic Target 1, no damage happened but the vehicle was moved around quite a bit - in essence exactly what the mysterious contract writer asked AARP to provide - kinetic energy transfer. The Deorbitizer with a stick-to-anything part on top would be more effective but less fun.

Alan Aerospace Recycling and Packaging announces "Armed Guard II", A Missile With a Mission. By deleting all RCS equipment and installing a micro sized inline reaction wheel we introduce the Smart Kinetic Energy Transfer Module V4 with Very Enhanced Transfer Potential (VETP). The S-KETM V4 and modifications to its Carrier Vehicle make up the Armed Guard II system. Fewer parts, lower weight, able to reach higher orbits. The micro inline reaction wheel provides greatly enhanced control authority, resulting in higher turn rates that enable the S-KETM V4 to turn near hits into actual hits. All previous S-KETM versions are hereby recalled and will be freely exchanged on a one-for-one basis. (Remember, the "R" in AARP stands for Recycling!) The first S-KETM V4 on reentry after a succesful transfer of kinetic energy. If there were tiny parachutes that would fit on there without causing an imbalance, these would be recoverable most of the time. Punched right through the RCS tank so fast the rest of this Armed Camp II Carrier Vehicle is barely disturbed. Its systems were so shaken up that remote control telemetry was lost for a while. Immediately after telemetry came back online, some debris hit it and destroyed it, scattering even more debris into orbit. I've never seen anything like this in KSP before. The RGU is not damaged or destroyed but KSP is apparently temporarily treating it as debris. I didn't close the Smart A.S.S. window, KSP did, same as it does when a rocket crashes. The report claimed it was hit by debris but I bet it was really the Kraken. An Armed Guard II ready to roll out to the pad. The download in the first post has been updated with the Armed Camp II, Armed Guard and Armed Guard II. Only Armed Guard II is equipped with the S-KETM V4 but that's easily installed on the other Carrier Vehicles. The single KETM Armed Guard II simplifies the sequence but only gives you one shot, but it's one much better shot than any of the previous models. There was still an unused Armed Guard in orbit (thanks to a KSP crash) and I tried several more times to hit things from various ranges but the best it could do was come within a few meters of a hit. Granted, the targets were small but even the old dumb KETM Block 2 could hit them from 100 meters. Is this the end of AARP's research on Kinetic Energy Transfer Modules? It depends on the next round of tests. After all, one success on the first try isn't much of a test program, even if a 100% success rate sounds really good in the press packet.

The micro inline reaction wheel is just what I needed.

I was a bit surprised at how hard it was to launch just one S-KETM, as long as I wanted to use a wee little LV-909 + FL-T800 on the final stage so it could be moved around a bunch after making it to orbit. After a few failed flights I just went with a quad coupler and shoving four BACCs under the stack with a LV-T30 + FL-T800 second stage. I wanted a slender stack so it'd be like a normal missile without having to put things side by side or go up to anything large size. Have downloaded the latest KSPX, modified for .21 compatibility. https://www.dropbox.com/s/4kf2il322etp4qx/KSPX v0.2.3.zip Will be picking some bits out of that to see if I can make a V4 S-KETM that can actually hit things. Edit: Yes! The mini_sas (which shows in game as a micro inline reaction wheel) was exactly what was needed to make the Smart Kinetic Energy Transfer Module V4 a reliable Exo-Atmospheric Kinetic Kill Vehicle. The Armed Guard II is now in the Armed Camp download. Also included are Armed Camp, Armed Camp II and the original-ish Armed Guard. It has the Rockomax 64 and Mainsail instead of the four BACCs because they didn't work very well for this application. Parts count is considerably less, I think 47, even with going up to more OX-Stat panels. S-KETM V4 is now a missile that can be launched into orbit and loiter for indefinite time, just waiting for stuff to come along to rapidly disassemble, or leave the final stage attached (lots of fuel left at a 73KM orbit) to intercept targets. The reaction wheel provides enough torque to keep it aimed nose first all the way to the ground. V3 couldn't do that, it'd always blow around in the lower 1/3rd of the atmosphere.

Currently I have 17 pieces of debris in orbits that mostly don't reach 70K altitude. I wish they would decay and crash. I'm leaving them alone since they're not bothering anything, just to see how long the game will hang onto them. There were more pieces of debris but their periapses were much lower in the atmo or below ground level and they duly crashed. One way to make such orbits "self cleaning" would be to use a simple counter. After x number of times around in such a too low orbit, delete it because if the player was "flying" that piece of debris constantly it would come down.

Ooooooh! A part like this one would have so many uses! That's an RCS that would really put the R in Reaction.

Check my kinetic energy transfer experiment thread for the latest update. (Post #7 of this thread.) The V3 Smart KETM. So far it's proven to be rather un-dangerous most of the time. Can't hit a thing between 100 and 1,000 meters, can't accelerate fast enough to do more than bump components apart at under 100 meters. Perhaps NOT aiming directly at the target might help? Force it to steer for the target right from launch so it's having to correct immediately? Possibly shifting the ReStock 5-way RCS thrusters aft of COM would give them stronger steering authority? This is the sort of thing I'm trying to put together.

Well the result with the V1 S-KETM was just as dismal in the nose mount. Here's a picture of the V3 S-KETM The differences from V1 are visually obvious. V2 to V3 changed from stock RCS thrusters to ReStock 5-way and added a pair of small solar panels. So far the only way hits have been achieved is to first transfer control to the KETM then launch with a zero throttle setting. Smart A.S.S. targeting is NOT inherited from the carrier vehicle (which has the root component) so TGT+ has to be reacquired then RCS enabled prior to going to full throttle. Even with this "slow launch" method and starting aimed straight at the target, the S-KETM will miss the target when starting from less than 1,000 meters. Failures to hit were made from 500, 400, 300 and 200 meters. One hit was made from 50 meters but without time to accelerate it merely bumped the target (remains of an Armed Camp CV hit during a previous test) apart and did not destroy or damage itself or any components of the target. The misses were likely aided by the small target size consisting of a Z-4K, RC-L01, FL-R1, four RCS pods and four OX-Stat panels. The test proved that small targets are rather hard to hit. The 50 meter bump was made with a V3 S-KETM slow launched from the new single carrier, quick response "Armed Guard" rocket. When all you need is one shot, why launch four? Armed Guard benefits from having the root component in the KETM so no control transfers or resetting of targeting have to be made. Deactivate the CV's engine, throttle up, aim, enable RCS then launch. Clearly what is needed is a component to provide much stronger and more responsive steering control, such as an inline reaction wheel sized to work with the rest of the components used. There is an upside, the S-KETMs make for some really bright reentry flares! AARP's marketing department is currently working on a sales packet to promote the V3 Smart Kinetic Energy Transfer Module as a long loiter time spacecraft rapid disassembly tool, capable of staying in orbit indefinitely, ready whenever you need it. "Launch it. Leave it. Love it."

I'd like to see a tiny version of the inline reaction wheel, sized for use with the small probe bodies and Oscar B fuel tanks.

Dark Star. Haven't seen that one in ages.

Canopus, what do you launch that from?

Four Sepratrons on a short I-beam, mounted with a small decoupler. http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/51115-Ship-to-ship-kinetic-energy-transfer-test-report I'm also experimenting with "smart" ones with the smallest probe body and a couple of RCS thruster blocks for control. The "dumb" ones have worked quite well up to around 200 meters. Might work decently up to their maximum powered range. With only two rockets they just wouldn't hit hard enough. On the first test of the Block 2 design I didn't inspect the target after the first shot but the second really tore it apart. I tried switching to separators but the kick was just as bad as with the decouplers, and left another piece of debris to deal with. The "smart" ones have been a failure so far. I assume it's a combination of the violent sideways kick the radial decoupler gives and a lack of powerful enough steering control. The part of the decoupler left on the missile likely also causes steering problems. Wide misses every time. The only way those might hit anything smaller than Kerbin would be if I didn't specify a target and turned the launcher ship sideways to the target. I'll try them in an axial launch position to see if they fare better.

The contract didn't say anything about not posting pics of *further research*, so here's one of Armed Camp II with four Block 2 KETM on the nose. (Double the rockets, double the fun!) The Block 2 has proven much more effective at high speed disassembly though in tests has only had a 50% hit rate. At the rear, mounted on pylons, are what AARP's engineers are calling "Smart KETM". In three test flights they have completely failed to transfer any kinetic energy to anything but the Kerbin atmosphere. The decoupler kicks them rather violently sideways, so much so that they end up blasting out at nearly 90 degrees from the CV. They track back towards the target but maneuverability is apparently not good enough. Powered range appears to be at least a kilometer. Another trial with these mounted on the nose will be done to see if they can hit anything smaller than a planet.

With some de-warping in Photoshop these might work, or at least give you something to work with to create faux frames from scratch. http://dragonflyfilms.blogspot.com/2011/04/help-identifying-soviet-35mm-film.html