Galane

It would be a help, especially to new players, to have a sort of HUD with directional arrows and letters appearing to float next to or around the spacecraft so one could see exactly which way it will move with each key. The HUD should be configurable so any or all the arrows can be turned off. For example, Q and E for roll is pretty much always easy to see what the vehicle will do, so most players would quickly turn those off or never turn them on.

29 minute vintage film about it. http://hackaday.com/2013/09/10/retrotechtacular-the-apollo-guidance-computer/ Simulating that in KSP would be nifty.

http://www.gizmag.com/inflatable-cubesat-antennas/29003/ Make a mylar balloon with the part you want to be the antenna metallized. Add some benzoic acid powder. Expose to vacuum and it inflates. Use more than enough powder and it'll stay inflated for a while with some small punctures.

The way KSP is currently, you can do a reentry with pretty much anything and the only bit that'll burn are solar panels you've left extended. Try this for a lander. Stack as you see fit. Clampotron Rockomax Brand Adapter Mk2 Lander Can RC-L01 Remote Guidance Unit Advanced S.A.S. Module, Large (you want this near the center of mass for best use of the reaction wheels) FL-R1 RCS Fuel Tank (or some of the radial mount tanks if you figure you can get by with less fuel) Rockomax X200-16 Fuel Tank Rockomax "Poodle" Liquid Engine You'll also need RCS thrusters, landing legs, batteries, two or three OX STAT solar panels (they survive atmospheric entry due to being surface mounted) and ladders to be able to climb up to the lander can. Parachutes? Optional! Such a lander is capable of landing on Kerbin. Some people have flown the like from the Mun to Kerbin, starting with a full tank. Make sure you have something in Mun orbit with extra fuel to dock with and move fuel from. With such a lander you can push it out to the Mun, land and recover your stranded Kerbals without risking more Kerbals going to get them. Here's my manned version in my first (and so far only) successful Mun landing. Third try after one complete miss and one high speed hit. It very co-incidentally looks a lot like the lander in the Mun Orbit tutorial, which I've never played. The parts selection is just what I came up with over many test flights, starting with an unmanned design with no crew space. Of course there are many ways to build landers with various numbers of stages, and parachutes if you insist on trusting the lives of your crews to some flimsy fabric instead of the solid thrust of hot rocket exhaust. Some more of my KSP stuff, but not the failures, oh the many, many failures... http://www.flickr.com/photos/27748767@N08/sets/72157635319720861/

I've been using ReStock since its initial announcement. When I downloaded it from the spaceport, the download counter said 0. Some critique of the current version on the spaceport. 0.2b There are some serious problems with that triple inline adapter/tank. http://partsbyemc.com/pub/EX-Depot.craft This will get up to 70K then a little more kick will raise its orbit easily. Still EXperimental, thus the lack of things like docking ports, lights, landing legs... see below... The problem I ran into is with tanks stacked on top it doesn't draw from them all, it starts with only one on one end, leading to imbalance. I had to put on a couple of pipes to make it feed off both sides. Another problem is vanishing nodes. Take that rocket, grab the triple tank and pull it loose. Can't connect it back to the middle stack. Same thing with the big cone and all below it. The default rotation of the 5-way RCS modules should be changed to vertical to match the stock 4-way one. The large ThunderMax adapters don't stick very well to the ThunderMax tanks. Note the struts in the craft file. Zigzagging 16 struts amongst two rows of 8 small hardpoints finally made the top one stop wobbling around. I have 8 struts holding the bottom 9-way adapter on, it still manages to fall off at launch sometimes and it wiggles around as the engines gimbal. The golden struts are a good idea but I think the ends are too large and they don't angle to mount nicely like the stock ones which sometimes stick on at weird angles but they're not big chunks sticking out. I tried some golden struts on this rocket but it doesn't appear that any fewer could be used than the stock ones. If they can be stretched a lot farther than stock one or work a lot better at crossing over things like separators and decouplers, that I'd have plenty of use for. Modding the ends to have plenty of built in standoff so they'd work like attaching struts to small hardpoints would be a big help! Another part ReStock could use is a bent or curved or standoff fuel pipes (make the end fittings taller), whatever it takes to make them able to cross over separators and decouplers. As an alternate to that, separators and decouplers with a fuel crossover toggle that can be set in the VAB. What I didn't get around to trying again with this release is seeing if the ThunderMax tanks will stick to radial decouplers. I tried to attach a couple to the core of my Depot Marko 1-0 fuel station with the previous version of ReStock and they ignored the decouplers but would stick to the sides of the core. http://partsbyemc.com/pub/Depot Marko 1-0-NC BT.craft I had to use large Stretchy Tanks instead. (NC = No Cones, BT = Big Tanks) Trying to get away from the asparagus monstrosity to cut part count. (KSP crashed after landing the upper stage of EX Depot at KSC. Hot diggity, I think I've a start on a large lander...) On this ship I got enough struts on the 9-way adapters, or perhaps they stick better to Stretchy Tanks. It'll get to orbit (don't recall if that last flight was 70K or 100K) and cough out the last drop of fuel precisely as MechJeb finishes the circularization burn, using the default ascent path. EX Depot looks like the way forward for Alan Aerospace Recycling & Packaging to put larger refueling stations into orbit. The Depot Marko 1-0 (deep-oh mark-oh one-oh*) line with two Rockomax 64 tanks inline is now on the back burner, though some final optimization may be done to the latest BT version since the first successful orbital test of EX Depot only got there by burning a bunch of the fuel it was supposed to deliver. Adding the fittings for use as an actual station will add more weight and use more fuel. *some Kerbal heard in the background shouting "Moar Boosters!"* *At AARP there's a rumor that in the geopolitical district called "Virginia" on a planet called "Dirt" or "Soil" or or "Ground" or something like that, natives have been known to pronounce depot as "de-pot". Any Kerbal mentioning that is usually told by leveler heads that planet Dirt doesn't exist. There's no other intelligent life in the universe.

Amazing flights. Landing with the support ship still docked and another with a *second* Mun landing and safe-ish return to Kerbin.

Skipping all the booooring going to the Mun stuff you've seen before. Rendezvous in Mun orbit to empty then kick away the lander's Rockomax 64. (It's titled Goodbye Support but then I looked closer and, oops, that's docking, not cutting loose.) Going down. MechJeb is burning a lot of fuel. Realization hits that we didn't go down to anywhere near close enough of an orbit. Touchdown and ready for Bill to EVA. Happy faces all around! Get out, plant the flag, climb back in and let's get out of here. We've been in space so long we'll have to take ten showers and they'll have to burn out the lander then douse its hulk with bleach before the scrapyard will take it. Something isn't right! The autopilot seems to be confused by a ship with engines pointing both ways and all it wants to do is reverse orbit direction, burning all the fuel, before doing anything else. Having no experience with this, Mission Control decides to poke the reset button then quickly strip down a Depot Marko 1-0, stick a standard Clampotron on top and boost out a full Rockomax 64 to dock with the lander to ensure plenty of fuel for any further "Mechanical/Organic Pilot Interface Issues" or MOPII which may occur. Mun Rescue One has delivered us a present of a giant tank of fuel so we can be as incompetent as we wanna be on the way home. Skipping all the tedious mucking about in hyperspace between Mun and Kerbin on the way back, we're back home, at night so nobody can see how embarrassed we are at how long this simple trip has taken. At least we made it back alive and learned some things. AAAAAAHHHH! So that's what naked Kerbals look like! Jeb, get back in the ship and get dressed! He did, and did. Came back out looking normal.

So, it is possible. Good to know.

Right. I got stuck in this situation and MechJeb just can't fly out of it. Doesn't matter what sort of maneuver I try with it, the first thing it insists on doing is reversing the orbit direction, which burns up all the fuel - leaving the poor Kerbals either on a trajectory back to Mun for a crash or drifting off into space. I'd like to see if someone can manually pilot out of this, get back to Kerbin and land with the fuel available. The ships used to get there http://partsbyemc.com/pub/AARP-Mun-collection.zip

There's a limited amount of fuel to use. The hardest way back home is to not send out any more fuel.

Yup, a reference to this movie, in which a Lunar Lander plays a central role. Download the quicksave file here Three Kerbals are in a single stage lander in a low and eccentric Mun orbit. The lander has one full Rockomax X200-16 and one full FL-R1, with a Poodle engine. The lander is docked nose to nose with a support ship that has one full and one partly full X200-16 and one partly full FL-R1, with a poodle engine. Behind that are three empty tanks, a Rockomax 64, a X200-16 and a X200-8, then a Skipper engine. Everything in flight is all stock parts except for the control pod mod for MechJeb 2.0.9. Also in orbit are two stations with six full Rockomax 64 tanks with a ship docked to one that is an RCS tanker, but it's mostly empty on fuel. The kicker is the autopilot has failed. MechJeb finds it impossible to do anything without first completely reversing the orbit direction before executing the desired maneuver, doesn't matter if the inclination is set to 0 or 180, it's reverse gears first, oops, there's no fuel left. There is enough fuel to leave Mun SOI, MechJeb has managed it several times, sending our poor Kerbals on a dutchman towards the outer system with no fuel. Thus the player has three options. 1. Manually trigger the separator to jettison the empty tanks then fly out of Mun SOI manually, keeping the support ship docked until its tanks are empty. Can't use MechJeb because even though a manual separation leaves the support ship's engine set to inactive, MechJeb will activate it AND throttle up the lander's engine at the same time. Once out of Mun SOI, either make it back to Kerbin with enough fuel to land or do an orbit rendezvous to take on fuel for landing. (Once out of Mun SOI, MechJeb should recover its sanity and be able to do a Hohmann transfer to Kerbin.) 2. Build a rescue vehicle to send out and fill up all the tanks on the support ship, giving the player what should be plenty enough fuel for even the most ham-handed pilot to manually fly out, or for Insane MechJeb to waste on reversing orbit direction before doing anything else. In that case, the empty tanks are a resource to keep. 3. Build a rescue vehicle to dock only fuel tanks to the lander, completely replacing the dead weight parts of the service ship (engine, RCS tank, Rockomax Brand Adapter etc.) Either leave the service ship in Mun orbit to be refueled later or crash it for disposal. Fly out manually or let MechJeb waste some fuel. A note about the lander. It has no parachutes and no way to cut the crew pod loose. MechJeb has brought it down to Kerbin several times from orbits as high as 200KM and landed with almost 1/2 a tank left. So that's an additional challenge, the lander has to have at least half of a X200-16 full of fuel upon re-entering Kerbin's atmosphere in order to land safely. This landing convinced our engineers that the lander was a robust enough design to upgrade to a manned version. Immediately after, it was updated to the design seen in this scenario and has proved to be reliable in many flights. If it's not possible to get the lander back to at least a refuel rendezvous so it can land on Kerbin, I'll have to re-think my Mun landing strategy. If you do manage to figure out how to make MechJeb not burn all the fuel reversing orbit direction I'd love to know how you do it. I've even tried setting it to 180 degree inclination in an attempt to make it use the direction the ship is already going. Seemed logical. If it wants to stop and turn around at 0, 180 *should* make it stay going around the way it already is.

That got me with the small drop tanks on mine. I figured it'd suck them down last as they're right next to the center engine and there's fuel coming in from asparagus around it, but nope, they got drained early. Then when I lengthened them and moved some pipes around they drained slower, but still got tapped right from the start. Running pipes both ways to make different size tanks/engines drain at the same rate was a thing I figured out soon after I first used the pipes. What'd really be nice is a way to explicitly set fuel use order, along with either bent pipes that can jump over decouplers and separators, or have all those with a fuel crossfeed toggle that is off by default. Looks like the question has been Answered, a whole bunch.

Y'all are making my little dual Rockomax 64 lifter look real puny. ;-) I need a better PC. AMD Phenom II X2 555 3.21Ghz, 2 gig DDR2 RAM, Radeon HD2600 Pro PCIe x16 video with 512 meg. Remember when 12 megabytes RAM in an 80286 was hot stuff? Ran Windows 3.11 (not Windows for Workgroups 3.11) real nicely. I agree on the 64bit. Why in this era anyone would even contemplate, let alone start work on, a program this data intensive in a 32bit environment? That's why I have kept the KSP mods I have installed to just a few. That's why I like ReStock, it adds almost nothing the the memory requirement while providing many new parts.

I'd like to see all the couplers and separators have switchable fuel crossfeed, with the default being OFF. That would be simpler than making the fuel pipes able to cross them, which for some reason they can't without using an intermediary part like a small hardpoint stuck to the separator or coupler and two fuel pipes. Kind of crazy that fuel of the same type can be transferred anywhere on a vehicle, even between two tanks that are not connected in any way by parts with fuel crossfeed. Another thing I'd like to see is being able to set things like gimbal locks and fuel transfers in the VAB, and save the settings with the craft file, instead of having to do them on the pad every time. Automatically generated engine fairings that actually strengthen/support the structure so rockets don't have to be so much of a spiderweb of struts. Nosecones that reduce drag. Are negative drag values supported by the game? If so, couldn't the drag value for nosecones and tapered adapters be set to a negative so adding them reduces the overall drag value of a vehicle? Keep the weights the same. 'Course it'd have to be managed somehow so sticking 500 nosecones on a rocket doesn't cause it to levitate. ;-) I've seen the Youtube videos of engineless planes flying simply by wiggling their control surfaces.

A technique I learned on the forum for putting struts across stage connections is to put a ring of small hardpoints above and below, then connect hardpoint to hardpoint with the struts. Something useful I've found with that is the hardpoints can be stuck to a coupler or separator then more struts from the hardpoints to the part above. The hardpoints will go with the coupler or separator so they're not keeping weight on the rest of the rocket. Depending on thrust and other factors, 8 around will keep things together but can still wobble. I built a craft to put two full Rockomax 64 tanks into orbit and all I had to do to cure its wobble under thrust was to lock the gimbal on the Skipper engine in the center. Once I did that I no longer needed struts to hold the two tanks together across the battery pack, RGU and other parts between, though other parts that stage off have struts bracing the upper tank until it gets into the gravity turn. That was my #1 nemesis for a while, things folding up, breaking off and major failures going into the turn. Once into the turn it seems to be much less violent. Something you can do is turn on SAS and launch manually then enable the MechJeb ascent autopilot when you get to the altitude just before the gravity turn. MJ *always* goes full throttle at launch even when it wouldn't need to. Once it gets some altitude, or if your rocket is hitting terminal velocity, MechJeb has a softer hand on the throttle.

I've used this several times. Here's someone else's method for doing this task. http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/showthread.php/48739-Solved!-How-to-change-the-root-part-of-a-craft!

Nice to see different ways to do things. Here's another. http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/showthread.php/43208-0-21-1-Aug12-SelectRoot-Let-another-part-be-root-now-with-less-restrictions

Those are all some amazing designs for launching a lot of fuel. Depot Marko 1-0 NC RS (No Cones, Re-Staged). Stretched the small drop tanks a bit more, stacked a FL-T100 on top of each of the first staging, moved a couple of fuel pipes, added more RCS thrusters to the core and plopped a Clampotron Sr. on top. Put two in orbit and docked end to end just for the heck of it. Docked with Smart A.S.S. using TGT+ so the ports would automatically stay looking at each other. Had them aligned just right but once it got close the one *not* doing the docking decided it had to roll in spite of kill rot being enabled. Took some frantic tapping on Q & E then quickly switching ships and turning off docking autopilot to get it to click together, but I did get it how I wanted. Have not tested yet to see how high an orbit it can reach now, nor done any attempts at optimizing ascent path. Just using the MechJeb default. Might fold up if the gravity turn is done after the upper 64's fly away, the small drop tanks now last until just after those go. No struts between the two core tanks. Added to the AARP ship collection zip files. P.S. How do I get this tagged as a Station instead of a Probe?

I'd like to see how people get lots of fuel into orbit. Here's how I've done it, rather poorly so far. My two Rockomax 64 fuel depot, with four ships docked. http://www.flickr.com/photos/27748767@N08/9656845375/in/set-72157635319720861 How I got it (nearly) to orbit. http://www.flickr.com/photos/27748767@N08/9657123873/in/set-72157635319720861 To get to 70KM it requires an in-flight fuel transfer to be able to finish the circularization burn. The previous version http://www.flickr.com/photos/27748767@N08/9643707068/in/set-72157635319720861 could make it unaided, even laden with nose cones on top of everything. I added two more docking ports and the RCS tanks and thrusters. (When KSP nosecones are fixed to *reduce* drag, it's gonna be a real game changer...) Before I went with the asparagus monstrosity I tried (and tried and tried and tried) using the ThunderMax parts from ReStock and a lot of struts and eventually wrapping a lot more boosters around the big Thundermax tank but never could get to orbit. Could get it to break apart or spin out of control... One thing I did find was that piping the fuel from the upper side mounted 64 tanks to the *second* dropping ones helped out a lot. Keeping the last two Mainsails around for another tankfull achieved much more altitude. I'm thinking of moving the pipes over to the first pair of Mainsails to keep all the big engines around longer than the first two drop. Experiments showed me that Skippers are more efficient in the upper atmo, thus the final push configuration has three plus the two small ones still hanging on. Another item of import with this vehicle is to lock the gimbal on the center Skipper before launch. It makes the wobble go away. Won't make it to orbit otherwise because of extra fuel burn by MechJeb bouncing the throttle. I dunno how just that one engine makes the launch wibble so badly, or why locking just it fixes it, when the other two Skippers and the four Mainsails are left unlocked. You can download the craft files for Alan Aerospace Recycling & Packaging's ongoing Mun attempt here or get them with everything else I've done (that I've kept) in KSP over here I build something, modify until it does what I set out to do, then rename for a major change.

From: FutureBase Industries To: CASA We have been following the progress of CASA's research and development in rocketry and outer space technology with great interest. At the present time, FBI is working on technologies for long term space travel with the ultimate goal of sending Kerbals to other planets in the system. As part of those future plans, FBI foresees a need to lift large amounts of fuel into orbit, and eventually to the outer planets, for resupply. We are now accepting RFQ's (Requests For Quote) for a vehicle capable of lifting two large tanks (which will be the Rockomax 64 size) of fuel to at least a 75KM orbit around Kerbin, with at least two docking ports. Additionally, other consumables for resupply included in the launch will be very much desired, with additional payment considered separately from the basic goal. FutureBase Industries realizes this is a long term goal and currently beyond the technology available now, but the first word in FBI is "Future" and we're always looking forward to it!

An L2B-FT2 approaches the Depot Marko 1-0 (mark 2, but not actually renamed) The L2B-FT2 is simply the L2B-FT with the 3rd stage engine removed and the two separate fuel tanks replaced by one of the same capacity. The weight saving gets it to orbit with more fuel left. This one is actually about to fail to dock due to running out of monopropellant after docking with the old depot to drain its fuel for transfer. All aboard! The new depot with no vacancy. Upper left is the L2B-FT (Fuel Transfer). Upper right is the RD-BLB-70K-plus. Lower left is the L2B-FT-MT (Fuel Transfer Monopropellant Transfer). Lower right is the L2B-FT2 with strap on auxiliary RCS tanks just for the operation to empty and deorbit the old depot. Apparently Kerbals crystallize when left in orbit for too long. Shortly before this happened, their heads turned transparent, showing only disembodied teeth and eyes floating above their space suits. The depot on the pad. Modifications for four ports plus RCS added more weight and drag than removing the nose cones saved. (All this time I thought the cones were a help instead of a hindrance. Aaargghhh.)

I'd thought about adding an RCS tank to the depot but had enough problems getting just the two big tanks in orbit. I'll get a shot of the craziness that gets those tanks into space. With all the fuel it takes, it's like a battery powered battery charger. It's likely that optimizing the ascent profiles would work better, but all these launches have been made with the default that MechJeb uses.

After experimenting a bunch to see how things work in KSP, Alan Aerospace Recycling & Packaging (AARP) has developed a set of vehicles that will (should, hopefully) set three Kerbals onto the Mun and return them safely to Kerbin. The culmination of the BLB (Big Light Booster) test series is the RD-BLB-70K-plus. Through purchase of new components from ReStock, all of the previous R&D of the BLB series has turned out to be pretty much a loss after adding the Thunder Max components to AARP's inventory. Note that the five small engine mounts on the Thunder Max adapter are unused. There *is* such a thing as too much thrust. P.S. Plus just means it's had another engine and a Rockamax 64 shoved in between the AARP Stock Lander 1 and the Thunder Max first stage. RD is for Reduced Diameter, which it is compared to the asparagus monstrosity of stock parts this replaced. In this configuration, the vehicle barely makes it to a 70KM orbit with a bit of fuel left in the Rockamax 64, an essential component of the planned mission after refueling at the Depot Marko 1-0. A minor modification with four small diameter stretchy tanks attached to the Rockamax was required to leave enough fuel for maneuvers to rendezvous with the depot. That's two full Rockamax 64 tanks in a 70KM orbit with a Skipper strapped onto one end with enough fuel to de-orbit after the big tanks are emptied, or fuel can be transferred to the small tank to boost the depot to a higher orbit. The third vehicle in the mission plan is the L2B-FT, which is simply the L2B-M1 with the ladders, landing legs, and four Kerbal storage compartment removed and the compartment replaced with a second fuel tank. Our chief engineer has forgotten what the L2B stands for but he does remember that FT is for Fuel Transfer and the M1 was a one-off used for crew transfer tests from the RD-BLB-70K-plus. Here we have the RD-BLB-70K-plus with Rockamax 64 still connected and refilled. docked to the Depot along with an L2B-FT. The L2B-FT was launched first and only then was it discovered that there wasn't enough fuel remaining in its big tank to finish the rendezvous. The decision was made before (hastily modifying then) launching the RD-BLB to transfer most of the fuel from the L2B-FT to the depot after filling the RD-BLB's tank. This turned out to be a fortunate event because attempts to save fuel in the RD's big tank resulted in problems docking, leaving only 7 units of monopropellant when a secure dock was finally achieved. 100% of the remaining monopropellant in the L2B-FT's tank was transferred then the ship was undocked and deorbited into the ocean. The VAB crew is hard at work, modifying an L2B-FT to enable it to reach orbit with more fuel remaining. After it docks and refills, the two ships will leave for the Mun and should arrive with plenty of extra fuel to top off the lander for its return to Kerbin. Prior to decoupling from its Rockamax tank to prepare for Mun landing, the RD-BLB will dock with the L2B-FT and transfer all remaining fuel to it.

I did my second docking of two ships in orbit and my first *successful* transfer of a Kerbal from one ship to another. Then I built a rocket that can lift two full Rockomax 64 tanks to 70KM orbit while leaving enough fuel for the final engine to de-orbit it. Takes a lot of fuel to get that much fuel to orbit. That was just for testing. Now I need to put a port or two on, launch it and leave it up there to top off tanks for trips to Mun and other places. I've been to the Mun twice, managed to hit it... really hard once. Came quite close the second time. Probably an issue with lack of fuel once I got there. I want to get AARP's stock lander to Mun orbit with a full tank then land and see if it can take off and drop back to Kerbin and land on what it has left. I have the lander on top of a rocket that can get it to 100KM with a Rockomax 64 hanging on with some fuel left, a bit more fuel at 70K - thus the long experiment of many trials and errors to get two full tanks to orbit.

With the subassembly mod I assume a part could be pre-built with strut links (enough to make a very solid link) connecting the center and the two or more side pieces, with each side piece having a coupler or stack separator on top. What I bet would still be an issue is no node connection from the center part to anything above it. Could have a node on one side to connect to one of side parts...