Dave Kerbin

Ham 4 (Part 3) The Gilly lander is a bit unusual, it's not an optimal design in a number of areas and it precludes the collecting of crew reports (I factored that into my science numbers before the mission). I mainly did it because it would be interesting in relation to the additional restraints there are in BTSM. Since the gravity on Gilly is so low it is trivial to land with RCS only. That got me thinking about a truly minimal lander and that meant removing the cockpit. Now normally I don't use the command chair even in stock but here it provided some interest - while in the chair the kerbal is relying on their spacesuit's life support system which only lasts for 15 minutes. This would mean I would need to be able to complete the mission in that time. I went through a few descent/ascent profiles in the planning stage. My initial thought was to get into low orbit, then have the lander fly ahead of the mothership and land so it could then launch and be almost caught up with it so that it could dock without an orbit. However I anticipated some problems with how to navigate that course (which direction to burn on the navball in order to get 'ahead' of the mothership even if the mothership was on a likely inclined orbit). My solution was to park the mothership. Not in orbit but over the landing site. The mothership is brought into low orbit (about 5km, it can't stay here long without risking a collision with terrain which is about 3.5km below right now) where crew reports and biometric sensor readings are taken and one of the goo containers on the lander is used. Then the mothership makes the burn to kill all orbital velocity as if it's going to do a direct landing (on Gilly there isn't much velocity at all to kill). Then I switch to surface mode and make a second smaller burn to roughly line up the prograde/retrograde markers with the top and bottom of the navball. This means I've canceled out most of the relative motion between the ground and the ship so that to an observer on the ground the ship is floating in place and slowly descending instead of cruising past. From here I perform the last step: with the ship pointing straight up I make a little burn so that it is now flying upward but not enough to escape Gilly. It should reach the AP in about 6 minutes and then start falling back down. Since the mission must last less then 15 minutes that should keep the ship parked long enough. (Remember that Gilly is rotating so by the time the ship is coming down on the other side of the arc the ground will have moved and the ship will still be over roughly the same area) I turn on a probe core that has been kept dormant during the mission in order to keep the mothership aligned with SAS. I don't need a freely rotating ship when I come back to dock. Next Johncan goes on EVA and gets into the seat. He opens the valve on the landers monopropellent tank and sets the control from here to a tiny probe core just under the chair. The probe core itself is disabled (more on that later) but it helps to properly orient the navball since the chair is not aligned to anything useful. Finally he released the motherships docking clamp and seperates. Some RCS is used to push out laterally and then a hard push is made to get the lander moving downward at about 20 m/s. (in hindsight it would have been safer to also close the solar panels so there wouldn't be any risk when I came back up to dock, there is plenty of battery power) Now about that probe core. When I designed the lander I knew that I would need SAS to dock it. With the extremely light mass and the way I was placing the thrusters there was just no way I could reliably dock it with no SAS under a tight deadline (given lots of time I could do it by just setting up a long approach and treat it like RCS'less docking). I also wanted that control from here point so that I could land with the navball line up intuitively though I had an alternate way of getting that (replace the tiny decoupler with a tiny docking port). The way I planned it in the VAB is that both the probe core and it's 10em battery are disabled. I then setup action group 0 to toggle both the battery and the probe core, essentially turning 0 into my T key for toggling SAS with the small restriction that I'd only have about 5 minutes of SAS time. In a 15 minute mission 5 minutes would be all I would need. However there is a small bug in stock I stumbled on that is know to FlowerChild in which even a disabled core will provide SAS. I think this might be the only situation where it is possible to actually exploit that (since all the SAS probe cores are lighter then their counterparts). Could the command chair be given SAS, since it's been said in the past that pod SAS is just the kerbal doing the piloting? With my velocity relative to the ground already in order landing isn't much trouble. I cut my landing speed to under 2 m/s and the lander bounces a few inches and slides sideways on the landing gear a few more feet before coming to a rest. In the low gravity the lander does have a bit of trouble maintaining a hold on the surface, after landing it wants to lift off on one foot. My supplies are at 33.5/50 monopropellent and 13.4/18 life support. The second Goo container is exposed and the biometric sensor is used. Johncan then gets off and uses his jetpack to reach the surface. He can't really walk here so it will need to stay on the whole time. A surface sample and EVA report are taken before he moves to the Science Jr. When he is done he pockets the data disk from the biometric sensor since it won't be coming back. I did make one big blunder during this operation. I was already juggling around the names and icons of the pieces I had and I accidently labeled the flag Ham 5 instead of Ham 4. For that reason I'll probably skip to Ham 6 for the Duna trip just to avoid confusion. The ascent portion of the lander takes off from the makeshift launchpad and heads up toward the mothership. As I get close I use control from here to switch the navball to the docking port on the bottom. Since the mothership's docking port is facing up I'll brake as I'm passing it and then come back down from above. As I'm braking just below and to the side of the mothership (3rd screenshot) my supplies are at 25.8/50 monopropellent and 6.7/18 life support. The mothership is currently falling toward the surface, with my ground markers now present I can see it is less then 3km to the surface. I take a little more time then planned to get lined up properly (I was approaching but it was obvious I was laterally off so I slowed down rather then miss). I discovered I was having the trouble because my speed indicator was still set to surface (in orbit it would automatically switch to target when you get close enough) and since I dock by instrument first and sight second it was throwing off the approach. This close to the docking port I'm now down to 2.8/50 monopropellent and 3.1/18 life support. I finally got lined up close enough but the lander was 'circling the drain' - the docking port magnets had taken grip but the port wasn't finding the exact center so the lander was wobbling in a circle on the rip of the docking port. I didn't know it at the time because I focused on docking but I'm down to less then 1 unit of monopropellent and I used some more to gently push the lander down to settle it. Final monopropellent is 0.8/50 when docked. Once docked the spacesuits battery immediately begins to recharge however the life support is still being used. The first thing I do, now that I'm in control of the entire mothership is to fire the engines a little in order to boost it back into an upward suborbital path. Then Johncan can get out of the chair and board the pod where he can drop off the surface sample, EVA report and the disk from the biometric sensor. The final life support is 1.9/18 when he boards. Some house keeping is done at this point, checking the systems and turning off the probe core. The ship is turned a bit and then the tiny decoupler on the lander is fired, removing the last of the manned equipment and leaving only the recoverable experiments docked to the mothership (the chair and thruster equipment are still on a suborbital path and will crash into Gilly). An odd artifact of how the game decided what was a probe and what was the original craft is that my MET has now reset - it no longer shows that the mission has lasted over 40 days but has reset to 0. The mothership burns a few more m/s to break free of Gilly and enter a stable orbit around Eve. The only step remaining now is to return to Kerbin.

Because they where mounted over the same section of the ship as the solar array - I couldn't deploy it until those 2 injection tanks where discarded. One of the designs that never left the VAB experimented with placing the solar panels on a pair of the external tanks but that ran into issues. The number of panels needed to generate the required power at Duna's distance from the sun meant that they would need to be larger tanks (like the big injection ones). And since those panels would be essential to running the life support system I'd need to keep those 2 tanks attached for the entire flight, which means I'd be dragging around empty orange tanks. Even with adjustments to fuel flow it would still mean that I'd be giving up efficiency on the return stage by carrying two additional massive tanks and engines and I finally just didn't like having such an essential system mounted to a radial decoupler. The flight plan was built around the idea that the fuel in those tanks would only be used to reach orbit and perform the injection burn to Eve/Duna. All the other delta-v required was accounted for in the other tanks. The reason there was so much fuel left was mostly because the launch was so efficient leaving me with about 400 m/s extra in addition to the safety margin (the tanks where designed to provide both a 500 m/s suppliment to the boosters and then another 1000 m/s for injection). With the heavier Duna lander attached the launch should use up more fuel so those tanks will be nearly empty when they are discarded on the next mission.

Ham 4 (Part 2) In deep space on the way to Eve some biometric readings and crew reports are taken. This is bonus science in addition to what was already planned. During the trip the ship requires a few attitude adjustments to ensure the solar panels can continue tracking the sun without being blocked. Arriving at Eve I find myself in one of my classic bad Eve approaches. I'm passing on the wrong side of the planet and I'm doing it on an inclined path. A 560 m/s capture burn is made that brings me into a heavily inclined retrograde orbit high above Eve. Some more readings are taken here and one of the motherships Goo containers is used. There is no planned visit to low Eve orbit. From this point I started to wing it in regards to getting into Gilly orbit. I've gotten myself out of this situation a few times so I'm a bit more comfortable make a series of manuveurs without being able to look far ahead at the result. The first burn is 260 m/s to tip my orbit over a bit so that I'm technically on a prograde orbit and I'm going to come fairly close to Gilly. After that burn I fast forwarded until I was crossing Gilly's orbit path. At that point I didn't plan a maneuver, I just pointed myself at the target indicator, then tilted myself off a bit in relation to the prograde marker and burned about 2000L of fuel. This brought me into am orbit close to that of Gilly's and bit behind it. From here I used regular maneuver nodes to adjust my inclination (another 30 m/s) and then setup an intercept for another 9m/s that would bring me to Gilly in about 3 days. Because my orbit is so similar to Gilly's the capture is incredibly easy (5 m/s) and I've got ages to do it. In high Gilly orbit I take some more biometric readings and a crew report, then expose the 2nd Goo container on the mothership. In part 3 I'll be setting up a surface expedition.

Ham 4 (Part 1) The numbering for this mission is a bit messed up, it even confused me to the point that I might need to skip over a number for the next mission due to a mistake I made midway through. The first 3 Ham ships never left the ground: the first two I tinkered with different fuel tank layouts in the VAB and the 3rd was a final configuration held down with launch clamps for a fuel line test to determine if the arrangement I had made would confuse KSP (it did - having multiple fuel ducts that eventually lead to the same destination causes weird things to happen). Ham is built on top of my 120t transit assembly but instead of being a payload that discards the transfer stage I made extensive modifications to integrated it into the ship itself (the one restriction was that I couldn't change the bottom fuel tanks and engines used without taking apart the entire booster assembly). The result is a ship designed to travel to Gilly, Duna and/or Ike with about 160 days of provisions and a solar array capable of powering it at the range of Duna. Since all of these destinations have been covered with probes it is designed mainly for manned science. It carries 2 Goo containers itself (for orbital readings) and assumes that a lander will provide a biometric sensor and a dockable payload consisting of a Science Jr and another 2 Goo containers. With some of the destinations I listed provide more opportunities to use Goo containers my numbers showed that science wasn't crucial to reaching my next level of development. The first Ham ship will travel to Gilly. Gilly will stress the fuel load more then Duna since there are a number of variables that would alter just how much delta-v gets used (what angle I approach Eve at, etc) but provides less stress on the life support consumables and the solar array which hasn't been tested in space yet. If there where problems with array coverage I could get away with only 50% of the panels receiving power for a Gilly flight. But the most important reason was for science - after going to Gilly and Duna I want to unlock the RTG, and that means I need to meet a certain amount of science. The science I will get from Gilly is relatively fixed - there are a few opportunities I am skipping but there just isn't enough there that I can 'expand' the mission plan to gather more if a mission to Duna comes up shorter then expected (maybe I miss a reading or lose a piece of equipment). However if I come up short in a Gilly mission then I could simply restructure the Duna mission to pick up the slack. In the worst case scenario Ike could provide all the additional science I need (I considered a Duna+Ike mission to get the science for the RTG but for personal reasons I wanted to go to Gilly too). I'm sending Johncan Kerman on this mission and I've loaded Ham with a Gilly lander (I've already designed the lander for Duna so that I'd know the weight in advance for fine tuning Ham's fuel load). The launch is straight forward though at 330+ parts in the lower atmosphere I actually got a slowdown in the game speed, a limit I haven't hit before. The first stage is a massive 24 mainsail monster to reach about 15km. After that the 2nd stage with 7 mainsails takes over. This stage has some small fins to counter spin at this stage of the flight. I had to ease a bit on the throttle due to the lighter load and prevent buffeting. Just before the cutoff the 2nd booster is exhausted and the orbital engines takes over. This was designed to include up to 500 m/s of delta-v for orbit and circularization but I only need about 30 m/s to reach a 100 km AP and another 110 m/s to circularize. The orbital portion has an asparagus staging - all engines initially draw fuel from the 2 large side tanks. Once those are exhausted the 4 smaller side tanks are used until it is just the center tank and a single engine, by which time the ship should be on a return course. The 6 engines (later 4) provide a large amount of thrust. With the exception of the return burn (when it reaches a single engine) the ship can perform injection and course corrections with burns of less then 3 minutes each. The injection burn to Eve goes well and thanks to a safety margin and the fact that far less delta-v was used from the orbital tanks to get into proper orbit there was till over 1300L of liquid fuel left in the two long side tanks. However now that the ship is on course to Eve those tanks need to be ejected. The ship is given a bit of roll and then the tanks are released to drift away. With the tanks removed the solar array can be extended. The ship continues rolling until the array is lined up with the sun. The side tanks can block the solar panels if the tail end of the ship is pointed roughly toward the sun. The ship needs to be aligned to point in the rough direction of the sun. The solar system is able to operate at full efficiency which will be required to reach Duna.

I've noticed this too and was wondering if it was a bug or intended. Specifically it has to do with weight. I built a test craft consisting of a pod, RCS tank and 4 RCS thrusters. Pressing W showed visible RCS thrust (the jet of white particles) and consumed a notable amount of monopropellent. Pressing Q also showed visible thrust and consumed propellent as well (as measured on the resource pane at the upper right). However if I added weight to the craft (19 orange tanks) the W key still produced visible thrust and consumed notable RCS, but the Q key now produced an almost invisible amount of thrust and the monopropellent consumption was almost too small to measure. On a longer craft (where I first encounterd it) pressing Q or E produced no visible thrust and no measurable monopropellent usage - my guess it was producing some thrust but it was less then 0.01 monopropellent being spent per second. Again I'm not sure if this is intended behavoir because of the balancing of the craft or not. If you stick a lot of thrusters on the heavy end of the ship you get visible thrust from them but not from the thrusters at the top. That would lead me to believe that the game is trying compensate for the center of mass by firing the thrusters near the bottom more then the ones at the top. Yet even with enough thrusters on both ends pressing Q or E doesn't properly roll the ship - you get pitch and yaw movement as well. This leads me to believe there may be a bug in how the game is calculating the correct thruster balance to use for rolling - the thrusters on the heavy end are firing too much and the ones on the light end too little.

Fish I've been going back and forth on this mission. The changes in KSP have making the design of lifters in the end game perhaps a bit too easy. I've thrown together a few larger boosters and currently have a 120t transit system; it can move 120 tons from the launchpad to a Jool or Dres intercept (or into orbit around Eve or Duna). That's a bit overkill and confused my plans for an initial Jool probe. Ultimately I wanted to send something so I came back to a rough copy of my original 60t design (which would have been carried to Jool by the seperately launched 60t transit 'truck'), just placed on the bigger booster to simplify design. Because of how the Jool capture works the extra delta-v won't get used, and because I still have some concerns over how effective the inflatable heatshield will be it limits how much I really want to attach to the probe. With all the extra delta-v going to orbit and setting up for a Jool intercept isn't really interesting. The probe's mission is to explore Jool itself and the only moon with an atmosphere Laythe. This will let me get all the sensor nose cone readings out the way - I find the instrument a pain to work with because of the mounting restrictions so I'll be happy when I have every bit of possible data it can collect. On the way to Jool a minor burn is made to bring the probe's inclination into match with Jool. Entering Jool's SOI the probe is on an intercept course for Tylo. The PE is lowered to the target of 119 km, during which there is also a brief intercept predicted with Vall. Shortly before contact with Jool's atmosphere the transit stage is ejected and the main Jool heatshield is deployed. The is a second solid heatshield behind it - that heatshield has another purpose but it's secondary job is to protect the instruments on the top of the probe in case the inflatable heatshield doesn't provide enough protection (I'm not sure about how long a cone of coverage the heatshield will give). There are some small radial fuel tanks and I debated whether they should have decouplers - not for better delta-v but so that if one was destroyed by heat I could eject it's matching tank and rebalance the weight. Ultimately I decided the decouplers would increase the risk of the fuel tanks being exposed to entry heat more then the rebalancing would help negate it. The transit stage still has it's radial fuel tanks/engines attached since I didn't need all the delta-v but I needed to get rid of it anyway to let the heatshield open up. I manually skipped a step in staging so I wouldn't have 6 fuel tanks flying off radially, releasing the transit stage as a single piece so I could easily use RCS to put the probe on a slightly different descent and remove any chance of a collision. The picture required a lot of brightness enhancement to see anything. I had intended to try an orbital scan during the low pass around Jool. This was based on the mechanic that unless you where on a suborbital path you where consider to be in orbit (in previous versions of stock this prevented you from getting atmosphere data from Eve just by skimming past). However here it seems I could get atmosphere data while aerobraking which prevented me from using the mapping scanner long enough to get a reading. I proceeded to do all the high atmosphere readings in addition to the basic orbital readings I'd already taken. During braking the heatshield turned orange and then white hot. The secondary heatshield remains cold. For transmitting I used the antenna directly behind the heatshield which fully protected it (it is behind the inflatable heatshield at the top). After coming out from Jool's atmosphere I moved some charge around in the batteries since I had just performed some mission items out of order and was unable to complete the mapping scan. The AP is near Laythe's orbit as planned and as the probe nears it alignment is made for seperation. After ensuring all systems are turned on (they had been in hybernation during transit) the Jool heatshield detaches, taking with it a probe designed to explore deeper. The Jool probes core and engines are aligned opposite that of the main probe. The smaller probe burns a bit to seperate, in the process lowering it's PE for the next Jool pass. The larger probe intended for Laythe is already pointed in the opposite direction, raising it's PE above Jool's atmosphere. The Jool descent probe is mostly hollow being built around a decoupler and engine fairing. It has several hours of battery life to take it back to Jool for a final descent. Enter Jool's atmosphere readings are taken - while orbit was the same 3x found everywhere outside of Kerbin the atmosphere is a valuable 9x, bringing in a lot of science for this descent. There are two drogue parachutes and I didn't know if they would be needed - I was unsure of how long the probe would last before it was crushed in Jool's atmosphere. Because of that I activated them fairly early so they could deploy when the atmosphere was thick enough. At a certain point both parachutes suddenly exploded, taking out one of the engines with them -I think they might have deployed, momentarily shifted the probe and been destroyed by the massive reentry heat (I recorded heatshield temperatures exceeding 4500 C). Long after I'd gotten my readings the probe continued to fall, slowing to less then 50 m/s even without parachutes. Things started getting really weird at low Jool altitude. The RCS stopped having any effect (I could see the thrust but the ship couldn't turn or rotate in any way). The single engine could still sort of move the ship. Then the ground partially disappeared and when the probe finally reached 0m it kept going for another few seconds before exploding. Coming back to the Laythe probe it seems it's already on a course for Laythe so a adjustment is done to correct inclination and lower PE to 100 km. However reaching Laythe's SOI I encountered a major problem. I had budgeted 2800 m/s to reach and capture around Laythe in low orbit. While I saved most of my fuel with the free intercept my speed is giving me a cost of over 3500 m/s to capture. At this point at least one of my Laythe experiments can't be done, the map scanner. The seismic scan is also is serious danger, as I needed a stable orbit to even attempt an accurate landing on one of the small islands. I use my fuel to kill as much speed as possible while altering my PE to about 25km. The probe will hit the atmosphere at about 3.5 km/s but before then I'll take what orbital readings I can. Laythe is the first body I've found whose orbit has a multiplier higher then 3 - it is 4x. Entering the atmosphere the engines, remaining rocket fuel and functioning nuclear reactor are safely released where they can harm nobody. The descent probe has a few placement issues, I thought I had gotten the decoupler in the proper orientation and the communications dish slightly clips a sensor when it is open. The biggest issue is that the dish seems to stick out from the heatshield, but apparently that has no negative consequences and it transits data about Laythe's atmosphere which is worth 5x. The braking is not quite enough to capture the probe on the first try - it falls to 25 km, then rises back up to 35 km before gravity and drag finally win and it descends for a second scorching. The parachute system works though not entirely as planned. The craft flips over and descends upside toward the ocean (the nearest land is far over the horizon). After a safe landing the probe is able to right itself automatically and transmit some basic information about the surface. A water landing means the Double-C can't be used which is a shame because the surface of Laythe seems to be worth 15x. I have just over 6200 science, so this mission provided about 3700. I think I'm in range that a manned mission to Duna could provide me with the means to enter tier 9.

With the changes to joint stability and what may be some other less visible changes in .23.5 it is much, much easier to place a large payload into orbit. Placing 2 full orange tanks into orbit without struts or asparagus is now relatively trivial.

Very small update here. I'm been busy but I copied over the .23.5 update (my steam edition is always mod free) and did a really short check in. In stock KSP the new big parts look interesting and I slapped together quick rocket with whatever looked cool (new clustered engine at the bottom with 2 of the biggest tanks and 2 of the new liquid boosters, then an upper stage with the big single nozzle rocket and finally a conventional poodle orbital stage with a capsule and the new launch escape tower). It turned out to not have enough thrust in the 1st stage once the boosters ran out, the launch escape worked great. However I also really noticed the stability improvement. I went over to the mod side and briefly tried launching my experimental 180 ton lifter which seems to fly without issue now. This will probably change things, as interesting as a transit module like the truck may be if I can just launch 180 tons right away I might switch it for a reusable assembly instead.

I'd have to work it out but my guess it could return with a 30 ton payload, probably more since you'd be reducing the payload while keeping the same quantity of fuel. Trucks can't be stacked as there is only one proper attachment point. In reviewing mission designs and the requirements for a truck-truck flight I've found that doing that might be more trouble then it's worth - I'm having a hard time coming up with a near future mission that will want to return 60 tons of payload to Kerbin. It seems more likely that the return vehicle would be part of the initial payload. For example if I want to do a Duna+Ike misson the most likely layout would be a pair of 60t payloads which would both get hooked up to their own truck to be sent off to Duna. One payload would carry the kerbal, all the life support he'll need for the whole mission, and the return rocket and reentry system. Basically if anything goes wrong that module could fly him back to Kerbin safe and sound. The unmanned payload would contain landers for Duna and Ike and possibly a tug for moving between Duna and Ike orbit (I haven't reviewed my data on the travel time from low Duna orbit to Ike, it might be better to just build a big Ike lander that can do the whole journey itself). After making the landings any science equipment to be recoveryed would dock with the manned module and the remaining pieces of the unmanned module would be discarded before the burn to return to Kerbin. I've been going around and around on figuring out my Jool mission profile. Without using a bunch of hubs or some weird layouts I don't see a good way to integrate so many sensors that all want to be stack mounted (multiple sensor nose cones and the mapping sensor). I did design some micro probes that would fit on the hub part but then I need to take into account weight balance so I can safely burn from one orbit to another. For the moment I've gone back to just upgrading the fuel on Fish 1. It will do all the mapping/orbital work and then I can come back with studies for each of the moons and a descent probe for Jool itself. One mission I'm trying to figure out a good target for is some kind of unmanned interplanetary return mission (Goo containers). I want to make a trial run using the inflatable heatshield to make an interplanetary Kerbin reentry before I actually send out a manned mission and have to rely on it working to get him home safely. I could reduce the complexity of a manned Duna mission by collecting all the Goo data and bringing it back with an unmanned probe.

I'm still working on stuff, just not any time to fly. For Jool I've had a probe built in the VAB for a while called Fish 1 but I may scrap/redo it now. The goal of Fish 1 was to perform orbital surveys (2Hot, PresMat, GravMax and Mapping) of most or all of Jool's moons. Previously I've combined orbital mapping with a lander but Jool has some special cases that make me want to get all the orbital data done with and then do the landers. The most important special case is Laythe. Laythe's atmosphere provides one of my best chances for a big science return (only Tylo's surface might provide more return) but frankly it poses placement issues to design a jack of all trades probe that does mapping and atmospheric studies. Making things worse is that to really do a proper Laythe study I'd need to set down on one of those small islands which means I'll either be building a fancy lander (maybe even a mini jet!) or having a mothership with an atmosphere probe and several very cheap parachute landers so that I can make several drops in the hopes that I can hit land with at least one. Pol and Bop are the second special case. Rather then seperate and send down a lander to each individually I'd prefer a single lander that makes the hop between them. A finally Tylo will demand a rather large lander so removing the mapping equipment and power supply would help. Fish 1 was similar to the Donut series but it removed the lander portion, added more batteries (recharging from the NUK NUK is really only practical while making deep space transits) and shifted the fuel stored on the bottom so it could be replaced with an inflatable shield for Jool aerobraking. The ship would have about 3000 m/s to explore Jool's moons with. However I've been thinking about manned missions and my efforts on a 180t lifter had some poor results. The first stage is still occasionally shaken up on first being loaded, resulting in a lost fuel tank (though the design is so stable I was able to subsequently take off on a test flight even with that tank and engine missing) and the 2nd stage has a reoccuring problem when it tries to level out and complete the initial burn, the engine or tanks facing the ground getting torn off by stress. Since I'm not going to save scrum my missions until I get a good launch I did briefly consider leaving it as a non-manned rated booster. I could send up my ship without a crew (and lose some hardware every couple of launches) and then use the super-stable 30t lifter to bring up a crew shuttle after. That got me thinking back along the lines of replenishment ships and I plugged in some quick numbers to find out that using my existing boosters I could design a 'truck' (I've got the prototype complete in the VAB now). The truck fits on the 60t booster and flies into orbit where it docks with the 60t payload from another launch (that payload could be a resupply module containing fuel or life support, or a manned spacecraft, or even another truck!). The truck then provides the engines and fuel for 2000 m/s. That's enough to fly and brake at Duna (no heatshield required), fly to Jool (a heatshield would be required) or fly to roughly Gilly orbit around Eve (no aerobrake required). The truck will likely recieve it's first test run when I finish redesigning the Fish mission to take advantage of a full 60t probe in Jool orbit (the truck will put the 60t payload on track to Jool then be discarded to reduce the body needed to be protected by the heatshield). From there I've made some napkin calculations that show a single truck could provide transport for my Eve orbit/manned Gilly mission. After that Duna might require multiple trucks - the fact that a truck can carry a copy of itself means I could actually fly one to Duna to be used to bring back whatever has to come back.

Grape 1-3 (Part 1...) I didn't miss F, but the mission with that letter was 95% ready and I didn't want to shuffle the names because I liked how they fit. Anyway Grape is a short or long mission depending on how you look at it. I want to find out the value of the long term habitation study so I have numbers to use in determining it's value for a given manned mission. It's going to take 5 years to complete so I might as well get it started now and run other missions, even at maximum timewarp it will be a long time to complete. The Grape station will orbit Kerbin (putting a station around the Mun or Minmus wouldn't provide any benefit, I'd need to go into the complexity of setting up a base on the surface to get a higher multiplier and I want to know the value before I invest in that) at 80km. Since I'll need a lot of supplies for 5 years (seriously, that's a long time. What are the kerbals learning in 5 years that wouldn't be learned in 1?) the ship is split into 3 pieces weighing just under 60t each (my 180t booster is not ready yet). The first piece into orbit contains the living space, return pod, power generator (including a basic battery backup), deorbit engine and a nice chunk of supplies. There is not much to the first section, it's launched into orbit and the solar panels are aligned for year round coverage. To last 5 years I'm launching two identical modules, Grape 2 and Grape 3. These originally looked cooler and even had a minor excuse to use the big radial engines, but after some changes to simplify docking alignment in relation to the solar panels (originally it would have been one long station) the requirements for size became drastically simplified. While Grape 1 goes to considerable length to pack in as many supplies as possible without blocking the solar array's line of sight the extra modules ultimately didn't need to so a nearly empty orange tank was used as a structure for simply attaching the required supplies (I had some extra weight left over so I evened out the number of supply canisters). Grape 1 also uses empty fuel tanks (T800s) for it's shape. Before docking the nose cone needs to be disposed of and the booster is also discarded for a poodle engine with a enough fuel to intercept. The main propulsion though is the large monopropellent tank (I haven't used one of these in a very long time) and some balanced RCS thrusters which I also haven't done in a long time. There are thrusters balanced on both ends to allow it to rotate or translate without affecting the other. For rotation and lateral translation it includes the new higher power place anywhere RCS thrusters which make it a very maneuverable 60t craft. Speeding up or slowing down isn't nearly as fast unless I use the poodle engine, so I'll need to watch that. Again the RCS system makes it very easy to move around. Grape 2 slides up beside the main module and closes in on the docking port (there are also 2 secondary docking ports in case something comes up later). Grape 3 docks while the dark side of Kerbin, so there isn't much to see even with color enhancement. Each supply ship carries an additional 4000em in battery capacity, both to provide plenty of time to setup an intercept and to provide backup for the station. After docking the probe cores are shutoff to avoid wasting power. With all the modules docked the experiment begins. In 5 years we'll know something, until then Nedvan Kerman will sit in a seat looking out the side window (the center window is blocked by the study equipment and return module).

Donut 2 I want to get this one down quick so I can look at updating to BTSM 1.5, which updates the tier 9 tech level along with some other changes. Donut 2 is a mission to Eeloo, something which was planned from the start for the Donut series (the Donut lander has way more delta-v then is required for just Dres). I did find that the transit stage might be a bit short for Eeloo, the ship's delta-v vs. trip estimates where a bit close so I made modifications to the transit stage to extend the delta-v by about 1500 m/s while increasing the weight by a little under 5 tons. The radial tanks are doubled in size while the center drop tank is reduced to keep the weight under 60t. The radial tanks are now detachable so the fuel ducts are in an asparagus arrangement to increase range. The lander remains untouched even though I have a better antenna. Since it required a lot of arrangement to get all the parts on the lander weight balanced and able to fit on the small surface without visually blocking the RCS thrusters I didn't want to start all over again. For the next series of probes which will go to Jool I'll have a revised design. Reaching Eeloo won't be easy, it's on an inclined eccentric orbit that takes it far from the sun and it's SOI is not very large so with a little help I write down a detailed mission plan just before starting up the game. The injection burn is on the night side of Kerbin so there is not a lot to see. In fact a lot of this mission had poor lighting. To get enough delta-v a lot of the rocket is shed off in stages resulting in a drastic weight and size reduction between LKO and deep space. The center tank and half the radial tanks are discarded before the coasting phase can begin. This is going to be a long trip. 220 days before the first course correction which will bring Donut 2 onto an intercept course with Eeloo which will then be followed by some smaller burns as it gets closer to refine the approach to less then 60 km of Eeeloo's surface. Even after the course correction it's another 310 days to reach Eeloo. A manned mission will need a lot of supplies. The course corrections use up the fuel in the 2nd last pair of tanks, leaving me with one last set for capture. Orbit is also polar, running along the line between night and day. Orbital scans reveal a 3x multiplier - I'm getting the feeling that regardless of distance all planets except Kerbin have 3x for orbit and all moons except for Kerbin's are 2x. After all the orbital scans are complete the ship begins disassembling itself for the landing. First the mapping sensor and reaction wheel for transit maneuvers is removed. Then after burning some remaining fuel to push its course toward the day side for landing the transit engines are discarded followed by the generator. On the surface it's a big multiplier, 15x just like Eve. Of course Eeloo is my final destination so I don't know how much that will help on a manned mission.

Duna is a strong contender. The delta-v requirements for Moho make it a bit too steep unless I can think of a really fancy design o it's really hard to pick it as a first choice. The other contender is Eve/Gilly and that would depend entirely on the return of my probes. If I get enough science from the probes to Eeloo/Jool that a Gilly mission would put me over the top then it would make a good first stop since having even one tier 9 tech would make the other manned missions easier. However if a Gilly mission isn't going to give me an extra part then it's not really worth doing immediately, better to do one mission and unlock something. My Duna reentry concerns aren't really about the heatshield, even in stock I consider Duna a relatively easy planet to visit in terms of fuel and such but at the same time one of the most risky because there are single moments that will make or break the mission. On Eve/Kerbin/Laythe you deploy parachutes and that's it. On bodies without an atmosphere it's a simple matter of burning and there is no drag to worry about messing with your alignment. On Duna there is enough of an atmosphere to make a pure rocket landing complicated, but not enough to make a parachute landing straight forward. The real thick stuff that you can use for semi-deployed parachutes doesn't start until you are almost hitting the ground (there is a wide canyon I try to aim for because it's the only place that you have a few good km of thick air overhead). That means you don't have a lot of time for the atmosphere to slow you down before you hit the ground so you'll be traveling fast when you open the parachutes. And Duna's atmosphere is thin so you'll need a lot of them which just helps to make parachute release and full deployment very risky. You risk crashing into the surface because you didn't deploy in time, you risk the chutes being ripped off because you where still going too fast when you released them, you risk the ship being torn apart when they fully deploy because they had no time to slow you down so you where going too fast, and finally you might still hit the ground going too fast because even the chutes have a hard time slowing you down. And then when you thrust a bit to cushion the landing you risk tipping over the lander (in my previous career file I almost lost my Duna lander when it bounced on touchdown and the RCS was only just able to catch it from flipping)

Zulu 4 This is a short cleanup mission to Minmus with Jorster and Johncan. It will be flying the same upgraded Zulu craft as Zulu 3 so that biometric readings can be taken (the main purpose of this mission). Since I also want to get a soil sample I'm going to aim for a polar landing this time. Previously my missions have all stayed around the equator where interception for docking is safe and straight forward. Inclining my orbit introduces risk over the lander not having enough time or delta-v to meet up with the command module. For a perfect polar orbit and landing the challenge becomes figuring out what direction to burn in (compass doesn't work so well at the north or south pole). Getting into polar orbit isn't too hard, when making course corrections it's simply a matter of setting the PE to 0 and then burning up (normal) a bit until the PE comes back. A few more corrections inside Minmus SOI gets it right and then capture is done the same as any other orbit. Biometric readings are taken in orbit and a crew report is made over the poles region. My polar orbit is not quite exact, it drifts a bit toward the day side on the north pole and a bit to the night side on the south pole. That's just fine, I'll land at the north pole where I'll have more light. Jorster will take the lander down. Landing is the easy part. Jorster sets down and takes a soil sample (150 science) and then lets the Biometric Sensor Array record information about his health and condition (another 300 science, very useful instrument). This is probably the last time we'll be visiting Minmus. In order to rendezvous with the command module Jorster targets it and then waits until it is overhead. This provides some indication on the navball as to what direction the command module is moving relative to the lander. Jorster is able to get his heading figured out though it requires burning in a few directions to get the orbital path to line up where he wants it. Because the command module isn't in a perfect polar orbit it has moved a bit from the landing site. Jorster will need to make several burns in succession. The first burn will semi-circulize his orbit, then only a few seconds later as his orbit intersects the command modules he'll make a second burn to line them both up. A third burn comes later to setup an intercept. Once the first two burns are done the 3rd isn't as hard. It puts the 2 craft on an intercept course that will bring them together 3/4 of the way around Minmus and prevent the lander from crashing back into the surface. After docking it's a return to Kerbin. I had some concerns about fuel earlier in the mission due to the correction burns to enter polar orbit but the tank seems to have a good supply (481 / 1800). With the orbit more or less parallel to Kerbin there doesn't seem like any great need to burn at a specific time to exit Minmus SOI. The estimated time to leave is a bit high at 22 hours so I burned a bit more fuel to lower that to 8 hours. Once I'm out of Minmus SOI things return to normal with the ship in an orbit almost identical to Minmus but on a slightly different inclination. With only 2 crew members and a solar array there is plenty of life support so any overrun in time wouldn't be a fatal disaster. Reentry has become such a normal procedure (and I've got everything after seperation automated) that I leave the computer and take a break while the capsule enters the atmosphere for it's 5 minute return to the surface. With the science I can unlock the last (well 2nd last) 1800pt item, Advanced Field Science, which gives me the life support supply pods. Since everything is 20,000 from this point on (I'm not unlocking that other aerospace node) I might as well unlock Miniaturization since 360 points is loose change now. Unless Heavy Aerodynamics leads to something (which I doubt it does based on spacing, Advanced Field Science was the only place I saw for another level 9 tech) I can see all the final techs now. I don't need to level 9 aerospace tech at all but the other 3 each have one crucial item that essentially solves a particular problem. The nuclear engine handles the delta-v issue, the RTG solves the power issue and the SOLONG habitat thing solves the life support issue. Of the three the RTG is definitely the first I need to unlock. I can't do a manned mission past Duna without it and it would help with probes too (I could make a manned mission with NUK NUK reactors, but the reactors alone would weigh over 50 tons making it unfeasable). The choice for a second tech is a bit harder. The habitat is certainly a juicy target for making an Eeloo mission possible, but getting a manned mission to Eeloo without the LV-N seems like it would push the weight up pretty high. Without doing a more detailed numerical analysis I can't be sure but I think it might be easier (mass wise) to use an LV-N to get to Eeloo carrying lots of life support consumables then it would be to get a SOLONG habitat to Eeloo with LV909s. Because of that I might put the nuclear engine as my second goal. I still need to send a probe to Eeloo and then explore Jool's moons. I don't know how much science they will be worth but based on the other planets I should at least be able to get something in the range of 13,000 science, probably more. Since I have the numbers I've also calculated the return for manned missions to the planets I know of (these including bringing back Goo containers and Science Jr). Moho +10440 science +Short travel time (4-5 months for mission) limits life support requirements +Close to sun, current Zulu solar panel size will work +Straight forward landing and operations -Huge delta-v requirement -Capture cost can vary considerably depending on exact transfer angle and intercept point Eve (orbit only) & Gilly +4140 science +Short travel time +Close to sun, current Zulu solar panel size will work +Very simple landing requirements -Slightly more complex capture/transfer requirements that could pose issues for a 2 craft mission (manned craft+support craft) -Smallest science return Duna & Ike +12600 science +Medium travel time +Largest science return +Reasonable delta-v requirements -Requires double the solar array or an RTG -Complex 2 body mission with many items to return safely -Thin atmosphere makes Duna landings always carry a stronger risk then other bodies Dres +10440 science +Straight forward transfer and capture +Straight forward landing and operations -Longest mission time -Requires RTG

The original intent was rovers but they can be used for a lot more. Specifically addressing your docking concerns if you don't have torque then you add it using self contained reaction wheels. And if you need SAS assistance you can add an SAS module.

I will be sending out a science wrap up mission to Minmus and during the last mission (Zulu 3 to the Mun) when I was quickly selecting my kerbonauts I realized I wasn't sure who was up to fly. So I've gone back and worked out what my current kerbonaut core has done so I can keep them all roughly equally experienced. Echo 3, first to survive a launch Mike 3, carried up goo containers into high orbit but goo did not survive reentry Sierra 1, 1 of 3 to test new Mk1-2 capsule in orbit, first to exit capsule in space Uniform 2, first to orbit solo around the Mun making crew reports Juliet 1, first to reach the upper atmosphere Sierra 1, 1 of 3 to test new Mk1-2 capsule in orbit Uniform 1, survived launch abort Uniform 2, pilot of first Mun lander, second to walk on the Mun Zulu 3, orbited the Mun solo Lima 1, survived launch abort Uniform 1, survived launch abort Uniform 4, orbited Mun Zulu 2, orbited Minmus Zulu 3, landed on Mun, took biometric readings and reached a remote science lab Lima 2, first to orbit Kerbin Mike 4, returned of goo sample from low orbit Uniform 4, second Mun landing in new single seat lander can, first to carry out mulitiple landings (in canyon and then moving to crater) Zulu 1, part of first group to orbit Minmus, first to land on Minmus (solo landing, multiple sites explored) Lima 3, first high orbit of Kerbin Uniform 3, performed surface imaging and first manned polar orbit of Kerbin, tested air recycler Uniform 5, landed on Mun (2 sites explored) Sierra 1, 1 of 3 to test new Mk1-2 capsule in orbit Uniform 1, survived launch abort Uniform 2, first to walk on Mun Zulu 1, first to orbit solo around Minmus Uniform 5, orbited the Mun Zulu 2, landed on Minmus, first to precisely land near another object, first to use a remote science lab From the look of things Johncan, the newest recruit, could certainly use some additional flight experience. I'll definitely put him in a seat on the next Minmus flight. Jorster could also use some more experience so I guess he'll take the second seat. Nedvan has put in flight time but never been given a first. He may be a strong candidate for my first interplanetary mission.

Zulu 3 / Egg 2 This flight will be a return to the Mun using the kerbal's second generation manned spacecraft the Zulu series. This flight has two goals. The first is to test the new Biometric Sensor Array and to perform experiments with an Egg module that will land there. As I said in the last mission report I don't want to mess too much with the design of a manned spacecraft. To add the biometric sensor I removed the bottom 4 batteries from the lander (the side fuel tanks are 'attached' to the 5th so removing that one would start to disassemble the structure of the spacecraft) and replaced them with 2 more modern batteries and the sensor. This retains the same dimensions but slightly reduces the weight and power. The new battery configuration has just enough now to match the life support supply. Egg 2 launches first. It is identical to Egg 1 and it flies out to Mun orbit which is starting to get a little crowded. Zulu 3 launches and operates the biometric sensors on the way to the Mun. The description said something about long term effects but it seems like readings can be taken right away. I'm not sure if they somehow change after a period of time but it seems like it operates like any other instrument. On my scale the sensor has a value of 100. It is not biome sensitive but it does appear to be usable in all areas including the atmosphere and orbit. While it doesn't equal the return of the Science Jr it's probably the second most powerful experiment I can use thanks to the versitility. I also was able to use the cut off 'transfer...' command to move readings from the sensor into the command pod for storage. With both ships in orbit of the Mun a landing site can be picked. Close to the night time teminator is an unexplored crater (it was just into night when I visited with Uniform 2). Since the days are longer on the Mun I figure I can land there and complete the operation before it gets dark. Egg 2 still has the booster but it isn't good for very much additional thrust (less then 20L of fuel). After that the small LV909 engine must be used which means I had to burn for quite a while to ensure a safe landing. Nedvan departs from Zulu 3 in the lander to meet up with the egg. On the surface he uses the biometric sensors before getting out and taking a soil sample from the Farside Crater. Egg 2 is not far away and Nedvan uses the new jetpacks to fly over. The experiments are done and he can return to the lander and take off for docking. It's not possible to line up a docking in a single orbit so Nedvan flies low to catch up on the second rotation. He passes low over some old landing spots. The rest of the mission is a repeat of the first egg mission. After docking the probe lifts off and enters orbit to ensure solar power. The manned spacecraft returns to Kerbin followed by the probe. Science is recovered from both pods. I've used the science to unlock the inflatable heatshield. This also leads to a 20,000 node for advanced aerospace but I don't see anything there that would interest me. I have 1627 science left so I should have enough very soon to unlock the node with life support containers which may lead to another end game tech. I still haven't unlocked the 360pt tech that provides the last antenna and I probably won't unlock the 1800pt aerospace tech that gives the aerospike engine. My next mission will probably be a cleanup to Minmus, taking the modified Zulu craft over there to collect biometric readings and another soil sample.

It does not appear to be the case in Better Then Starting Manned.

With the need for a heatshield and other recovery elements, and the need for the lander to support docking - up to this mission my kerbals didn't have jetpacks so they needed to transfer from command module to lander through the docking port, and only a few parts support kerbals moving through them - meant that integrating the lander and the science jr would be a large engineering task. The Science Jr would need to be setup in such a way that the kerbal could still board and unboard without going on EVA, and yet could also somehow be seperated from the lander and brought back to Kerbin with a heatshield for reentry. I will likely do that eventually but it will be using the technology that I will have for interplanetary manned missions. I just didn't want to design a totally new, much more complex lander system (and risk live kerbals on it) for the sole purpose of testing out a new piece of science equipment. Since it was a trip in my backyard it was just easier to make the Science Jr a seperate payload that got itself to Minmus and back.

Egg 1 / Zulu 2 Technically the main mission here is Egg 1 but it could only work with the support of Zulu 2 which also has the opportunity to pick up some science. After unlocking the Science Jr I want to see what it can do. From the description it only works on the surface of a body and will require a kerbal to operate. After that the module will need to be returned to Kerbin intact to receive science. Egg 1 will deliver a Science Jr to Minmus where it will be operated by a crew member from Zulu 2. After that it will return itself to Kerbin. The ship is designed to be able to complete a journey to the surface of the Mun as well (so I can do a follow up Egg 2 mission without a redesign) and even with that the weight is low compared to many previous missions. For this reason it easily fits on the old Quebec launcher and even then the booster is able to provide the entire injection to Minmus. Egg 1 uses a flower pedal solar panel arrangement that I haven't used in BTSM. The reason is that to get full power from the array it must be kept precisely aligned while the wing arrangement can track the sun across long distances. With the reduced power requirements of the probe core the output of 4 flower pedal panels is enough even when not at optimal alignment and more importantly the flower pedal arrangement can continue to provide near optimal power after landing, something that is difficult for the wing arrangement. Egg 1 enters orbit around Minmus and then goes into standby mode. Zulu 2 launches with a 2 man crew that includes greenest recruit, Johncan Kerman. He's flown only one mission as CM pilot and this time I want him to fly a lander. Zulu 2 enters Minmus orbit and as luck would have it the previous landing sites are on the night side which places the unexplored Greater Flats on the daytime side. With a landing site picked Egg 1 is signaled to descend. The LV909 is a little underpowered so the landing is a bit faster then planned. It deploys in the Greater Flats and awaits Johncan. Johncan heads down in the lander (it has not been upgraded to use newer battery technology, like a lot of things in manned spaceflight you use what you know works) and sets down about 70m from Egg 1. Before he makes the walk over there he needs to plant a flag and take a soil sample since this area was not explored by Zulu 1. Johncan takes a walk over to the probe to work on the Science Jr. While he makes his way over there I'm noticing that his pack is using up life support very fast - the lander carries 75 units of life support for 4 hours of operation and he has transfered 45 of that supply into the suit for his EVA (when he boards the lander again the suit will transfer the remainder back). The suit seems to be using it up at a rate of about 1 unit every 20 seconds which is 3/min. By the time he reaches the probe he's already used the equivalent of 20 minutes of lander life support. Right now this EVA looks like it will deplete nearly an hour from the landers reserves so I need to keep it moving. Performing experiments in the lab produces a whole lot of science. Working from my baseline the Science Jr has a value of 400, more then double the next best experiment. This will go a long way to making my manned mission calculations work for getting tier 9 techs. After collecting the science Johncan returns to the lander and takes off. With the life support drained a bit more then expected by the EVA and any potential landing sites in the wrong direction I direct him back up to the mothership to dock. Since it hasn't been very long since leaving the CM it's possible to plot a shortcut that will allow the lander to catchup to the command module before it completes an orbit. The lander is able to dock just as they are coming back over the landing site. From here Egg 1 is commanded to launch into Minmus orbit. While Zulu 2 will be the first to return to Kerbin I don't want to leave the probe on the surface for hours where the sun will eventually set and the batteries may not be enough to last the night (the flower pedal design was in fact used to help augment the battery reserves while the probe was on the surface, it was assumed it would be draining some power at all times while landed). Egg 1 is placed into stable Minmus orbit with the solar panels setup to keep it charged before Zulu 2 then departs and returns to Kerbin with its crew and the Greater Flats rock samples. Due to the timing of the launch Egg 1 gets relatively close to the Zulu 2 and its discarded lander (which has not drifted very far away at this point). From here Egg 1 plots a course back to Kerbin. Near the atmosphere the payload seperates and I need to change focus - I don't need to return a probe core, I need to return the Science Jr so the probe core and the craft it is still attached to will get burned up in the atmosphere. The payload lands near some interesting lakes I've never really noticed before (they are almost invisible from orbit on the large continent). I've unlocked the tech for the one man long range pod and for the life sciences module. I think my next mission will combine a second egg run to the Mun with a use of the life sciences module on the Zulu portion to see what it does.

Donut 1 Donut 1 is a mission to Dres. On paper the ship was designed to be capable of reaching Eeloo too but I have some doubts and may have been too optimistic about the transfer delta-v. It will probably undergo an upgrade before any Donut 2 mission is launched to the farthest planet. Like my napkin calculations showed a Dres probe mission can be done on the 60t launcher, trading fuel for power generation and growing to 53 tons. The design takes several of the ideas tested and lessons learned from Carrot 1. The transit+lander+mapping nose configuration is used again to good effect. This means the lander doesn't need to take the power generation or storage systems required for transit and usage of the mapping sensor down to the surface. The lack of thrust in the transit stage has been handled by converting from a single Poodle to a cluster of LV909s producing 400 kN. This cluster is built around a nuclear reaction which takes over for the solar cells used previously. A drop tank is built into the lower stage of the ship, an upgrade could increase range by dividing the engine cluster into pairs that can be dropped asparagus style. I wasn't entirely sure how wise it was to have all those engines with the drop tank only a few feet away. To reduce risk the gimbals where all disabled, as long as the thrust travels in a perfectly straight line the tank shouldn't be subject to much if any heat. The burn is to a flat orbit below Dres, I'll be making a mid course correction to take me down to Dres's inclination and make contact. For visual flow (because of the tiny decoupler) I moved the reaction wheel up to just below the mapping scranner but I found it was a bit more sluggish then on Carrot and may move it back to its original position to give it more leverage. Arrival and capture at Dres is uneventful, there is plenty of fuel and once you get experienced with the initial Kerbin orbit burn into the empty space above/below Dres I find the rest of the trip is relatively easy to plan and execute. Like Moho the probe takes orbital readings including the use of the mapping sensor. Dres has the same 3x multiplier as all the planets I've visited. After orbital readings are done it's time to discard the mapping sensor. With all the fuel left the orbital stage is used to begin the descent and it's then dropped as a sounding stone so I'll have a better idea where the ground is. The lander is almost identical to the one used on Moho but with less fuel required so components are squeezed together more. Landing on the surface I find another 12x multiplier, making Dres identical to Moho from a scientific return perspective. I've almost got enough to unlock 2 more techs. I'm unlocking Composites so that I can perform some trials with the Science Jr which will provide important information about how much science I can gain from an interplanetary manned mission.

I used to balance my RCS thrusters but I don't really bother anymore unless something calls for it. The advantage of balancing them is that when a thruster is fired to turn your ship it will have the minimum possible effect on the ships lateral motion and the opposite is true, lateral RCS burns won't cause the ship to rotate much. There are two reasons I've stopped. One is that on some ships it's just very difficult to fit everything in. While the game physics allow you to essentially block RCS thrusters with no negative effects (only thrust from engines is checked for obstructions) I try to give at least some space around most of the outputs. You can see on the lander that I'm getting short on space to mount things radially and its Dres/Eeloo successor, Donut 1 (which has flown to Dres and I'll report on sometime soon), has even less space to mount all the same items. The other reason is that in terms of maneuvering I've gotten used to off center thrust. Much like with planes there are advantages to stable vs unstable designs. The stable design is easier control and keep in check but the unstable design can be more powerful. With unbalanced RCS it's easier to turn large, heavy ships without having to plan or place multiple groups of RCS thrusters (which also cuts down on weight). The disadvantage as I've talked about is that on interplanetary voyagers there are places in your orbit where even a tiny amount of thrust (0.01m/s) will change your course by a 100 km. The reaction wheel on the transit stage has solved these issues. Not only do I save on monopropellent but I can rotate into position for a small correction burn without creating additional unintended corrections.

Carrot 1 This is an unmanned mission to Moho which will provide the science needed to unlock the basic nuclear reactor that I will use to reach the outer planets. If I had to I could skip this mission and instead return to Minmus or the Mun for more soil samples but I want the data from Moho (which will almost certainly be much more then one of those missions) and I want to know Moho's multipliers since it could be a target for a manned mission. In stock play Moho isn't such a great manned target because of the delta-v required (in fact I've never sent a manned mission there before), but here it might become a more viable target due to the short travel time (less life support required), distance to the sun (cheap solar power) and potentially high science reward. The probe weighs in at 53 tons so it will be going on the 60t launcher. The specs tell me I need 4600 m/s to reach Moho, my own margins told me to use 5300 m/s and the rocket has almost 5800 m/s (all of these are in addition to the landing stage). While some initial napkin estimates suggest I can reach Dres and even Eeloo with the 60t launcher, for Jool's moons I will either need to figure out an aerobraking stategy or build a heavy (120t) launcher. This mission to Moho is testing one system I intend to use in exploring the outer planets which is a seperate battery operated landing stage. The probe will enter orbit and performs science (in which at least 6000em battery capacity is required to transmit from the mapping instrument) and then uses a power generator on the transit stage to recharge. From there the transit stage, along with its power generator, extended battery system and the mapping sensor are discarded. The lander itself should only need about 2000em from batteries to descend and transmit from the surface. The booster doesn't give me any issues this time. I'm not using the big cargo tie downs in part because the cargo isn't very big. Launching into orbit I belatedly decided to go to 100 km instead of 75 or 80 km (I was coasting toward the AP so I just burned to raise it a bit before the circulization burn) which became a very fortunate descision when my long injection burn required me to basically burn toward the ground, taking me down to 75 km before my course started peeling away. After burning 2700 m/s for injection I'll need 250 m/s for correction (when planning I never actually had an encounter, just close enough that I felt I could correct). Preparing for the correction burn I get rid of the extra fuel tanks which should have been ejected during the first burn; that will have cost me some delta-v. As I get close to Moho I mde another 30 m/s in corrections to lower my PE to 40 km. With the angle I'm coming in it will cost me to capture, I'm not 100% sure I'll have enough. At Moho it will cost 2500 m/s to capture into low orbit, I'm not entirely sure I have that much. I start burning anyway and once I enter low orbit I start transmitting from all the small instruments. With the solar panels recieving lots of power and the engine alternator running at full the batteries recharge quickly from those little transmissions (effectively making them free). I hold off on transmitting from the mapping sensor. If I don't have enough fuel to capture I'll eject the sensor and transit stage and instead use the lander (which has spare delta-v) to capture and land. That way I'll get most of the science (the double-c is the most important experiment) and I can redo the mapping sensor scan using another probe in a low orbit flyby. The capture succeeds and I shutdown the engine with 16 L in the tank. I transmit the mapping data and line up to try and circularize. I'm 10 m/s, resulting in a 30 x 50 km orbit but that's just fine (I could have landed from the original 30 x 190 km orbit too). I'm keeping the transit stage for several orbits in order to recharge. I confirmed for myself that turning off a battery doesn't just stop it from being drained it will also stop it from being charged. I transfer all power from the large battery in the transit stage to the lander and then turn it off. I only need to recharge the landers batteries. At my AP on the dark side I eject the mapping instrument (getting rid of it here helps slightly lower my orbit without having to turn the ship). Once fully charged the lander seperates and immediately starts to land, there is a limited supply of power for probe operations at this point. Landing isn't hard though I am challenged by a lack of any real debris on the ground (ground scatter). I have to judge distance by altitude above sea level and by how rough the terrain looks (as I get closer the textures resolve more gritty detail). Fortunately I have a good amount of TWR and lots of fuel. I'm able to spot my shadow after which I can land without worry. On the surface I find a 12x multiplier (I already knew orbit was 3x from the previous mission that passed in high orbit) which is good. I get about 2000 science, enough to unlock Meta-Materials and almost enough for another. With Experimental Rocketry also unlocked I can confirm the contents of another tier 9 tech (the nuclear symbol was a bit of a give away) that provides the LV-N. I have learned some things in this mission. One is that the Poodle, while powerful, isn't really powerful enough to move the kind of weight I will be moving. With the move to nuclear power I have a plan for a different kind of transfer stage built around a nuclear reactor and multiple LV-909s. My lander concept also works, though I may lower the amount of fuel since most missions don't require that much to land (and landing is all it's good for, I can't use that fuel seperate from the transfer stage without a pump and that's just wasteful to store it that way).

Bagel 1 This is a mission to Gilly which I haven't visited yet. Since I've already got enough information to firm up my tech tree plans I decided I might as well go and unlock what I can with my current science. I'm unlocking Advanced Unmanned Tech, Not Potatoes and Experimental Rocketry. I know that Meta-Materials was at the top of my list but if I'm sure I'm going to unlock all 4 before going beyond Duna then I might as well grab what I can to make my missions to Gilly and Moho easier. The probe fits on the 30t booster. With fuel lines it can carry a pair of drop tanks to extend range without adding stages. This probe does have a new feature, a reaction wheel. It's not a lot but it will let me orient the probe for solar collection / fine course adjustments without throwing off my course with RCS thrusters, something that's become a bit of a bother while transiting to other planets. Arriving at Eve I'm not going to do an aerocapture. Instead I'll be braking with thrust and coming into an orbit with an AP close to the path of Gilly (this costs about 1240 m/s from my current transfer angle). Of course Gilly's orbit is heavily inclined and elliptical so I won't be able to do anything precise from an interplanetary transfer. I do make a mistake with my capture (which I've done before, see Dust 1 from my .23 career), I come into a retograde orbit of Eve after braking on the wrong side of Eve. To reach Gilly I first correct my inclination - I'll need to set it to 180 degrees since I'm actually orbiting in the opposite direction of Gilly. Next I need to wait for a couple of orbits of Eve for an encounter opportunity. It's only a 4 minute encounter but that will be enough. These two burns have cost about 160 m/s. When I reach my encounter with Gilly I apply the same principle as docking. I want to match Gilly's orbit so I turn around and point at the retro-grade indicator (with Gilly as my 'target') and just burn. My orbit around Eve begins to change, reversing and morphing into a copy of Gilly's orbit without any additional input. When I stop I have a nearly exact copy of Gilly's orbit and from here I now have plenty of time to burn at the new PE with Gilly to easily capture. This has cost about 550 m/s. From high orbit things are not promising. Gilly only seems to have a 2x multiplier much like Ike. I was hoping it was a bit more since I think that even experienced players will have a slightly harder time reaching Gilly then they would Ike. In my opinion less experienced players would have a lot harder time reaching Gilly because of the orbit and then the low gravity making the landing a completely new experience. From a science perspective Gilly would also seem more important - Ike is much like the Mun but Gilly is a captured asteroid so it's development and composition would be different especially at the surface (heavy elements wouldn't have sunk to the center). I lower one part of my orbit to 5700m, enough to reach low orbit (but also a bit dangerous because Gilly is the only body where you can hit a mountain in high orbit). Things go really slow from this point because as soon as I get under 8km (close to where some of those mountains are) I am reduced to 1x time warp. It's very slow going to reach low orbit. In low orbit mapping data and other readings are collected and transmitted. My plan was to wait and recharge but at this point I really don't want to wait through a whole orbit so I start moving toward the surface with 1700em in my batteries (I'll need about 1900 for operation and transmission). My worst case plan is I'll land on the surface, store data and then take off into orbit to recharge and transmit. Upon landing I'm still getting power so I settle in to recharge enough for the Double-C to transmit. Unfortunately the surface of Gilly is only worth 3x just like Ike. I don't think there will be much reason to make a return (ie manned mission) to the Eve/Gilly system given the cost/return. While I'm waiting the sun comes up and I transmit. At the moment the only thing preventing the probe from basically launching off Gilly thanks to the incline is a small amount of RCS correction. Rather then keep using that until the probe runs out and falls down the hill I launch it back into space on an escape from Gilly (I want to get it moving fast so I don't have to sit around long). Once outside Gilly's SOI I make a small normal and then a pro-grade burn to alter it's orbit so that it hopefully won't come into an accidental encounter with Gilly. I turn the probe around to what I believe will be an optimal position to hopefully collect sunlight year round. Since the probe still has a good amount of fuel left I'm leaving it in Eve orbit ready for future use. This mission brought in just under 800 science, not enough to unlock Meta-Materials but I still have the surface of Moho to visit (in the worst case scenario Moho will still provide enough to get me to 1800 science). Even if that where not true I've got some back science missions (there is always more soil samples from the Mun or Minmus) and I have the basic outline for how a 1500 science Goo mission to Duna/Ike would work.

"ASL Gravity" ? If you point out where you got this term we might be able to help more. ASL is altitude above sea level which has nothing to do with thrust. As for TWR it's a calculation based on the engine's thrust (kN), the rocket's total mass (t) and the planet or moon's gravity (m/s). You start out with the engines thrust or total thrust if you have several engines. If you are using a LV-T45 engine you'll have 200 kN of thrust under ideal conditions (this information is shown on the tooltip). You then divide that by the total mass of the rocket. If I attach the engine to one of those tall skinny T800 fuel tanks and then put one of the 3 man Mk1-2 pods on top the total weight of my rocket would be 10 tons, so 200 / 10 = 20. Then divide by the gravity of the planet or moon you are on. You can find the gravity by looking on the Wiki or using the GravMax instrument. Kerbin has a surface gravity of 9.81 m/s. 20 / 9.81 = 2.04. So my TWR is 2.04 which mean I will be able to lift off on Kerbin (if it was less then 1 then I would be putting out less force then the gravity pulling me down and gravity would win).