Dave Kerbin

Quebec 2 This one is going to the Mun. As I mentioned in my last post it will be the same ship but reconfigured for landing for 6 landing legs (I only get the light probe ones for now, the normal sized ones are very soon in the tech tree), one goo container replaced with a battery and the GravMax's have been replaced with a DoubleC, 2Hot and PresMat which is coming along for weight but since I'm taking it I might as well see if it can be used. The launch goes normally though I didn't manage to super precise gravity turn so this time the circularization is closer to 700 m/s. I'm going on a flat course to the Mun so there is no inclination work. When I arrive at the Mun the day side is facing away from Kerbin (Mun is roughly between Kerbin and the sun) so I do my capture burn with the intent of landing before I even complete half an orbit. The landing target is the largest biome (other then the Midlands) that I can spot from space. Given how I had to farm all the science around Kerbin and then GravMax scans around the Mun I want to make sure I'm picking up the biomes immediately so that the Midlands are available if I send a probe and can't find a better landing site. At 10 km it looks like I'll be landing near the edge of a small crater inside the larger one (the faint white rim in the lower right of the last picture). As I get closer it becomes apparent I'm coming down on the wall of the crater and a few meters from the ground it's clear that it's too steep for my liking. I push toward the left, down toward the flat bottom of the crater. I'm applying small amounts of thrust to hover a dozen meters over the surface as I coast down the hill before turning right to cancel out my horizontal velocity and prepare to land. The landing is at less then 2 m/s so nothing gets damaged. The ground is still slightly inclined and the ship didn't have a perfect orientation or lateral velocity but the low speed makes it all work. On the surface I can answer my first question which is what is the Mun's science multiplier. Turns out it is 6x assuming we take the Kerbin's atmosphere as 1x and Kerbin and Mun orbit as 2x. The Double-C turns out to have a data value of 50, making the reading worth 300 science. My 2Hot with its base value of 4 is only worth 24 science but it's something. The most surprising result is that the PresMat works on the Mun, 48 science! This means I might need to check if the PresMat works in orbit of Kerbin or the Mun too (it would be a very small amount of science at this point but knowing if it can be used in orbit of a body would be useful for future missions). There is another detail that I didn't notice until the return trip when I was reviewing data. None of the readings list a biome, they are just Surface of the Mun. That means there are no seperate Mun biomes to land in which radically alters my plans. I had assume I would need to send multiple Quebec series probes to the Mun to farm the data needed to inch along the tech tree. Instead I got more data then I was expecting and found out that I only need to come back when I can do a manned landing. At this point I still have lots of battery power but limited fuel thanks in part to changing the landing zone at the last minute. Until I got to the point in the return where I reviewed the science data I was already planning how many batteries I should remove in order to give the probe more delta-v (the answer was I would remove 6 batteries, reducing the lander mass by 1.8 tons). With the limited fuel situation I launch up and perform a limited circulization. I really just want to reach the point 'in front' of the Mun (another 90 degrees from my landing position to make my burn out of its SOI. At that point I make another burn to leave and enter orbit around Kerbin with a PE of 1.8 million meters. The reentry burn runs into a bit of a snag. I run out of fuel with the PE still at 262 km. Fortunately I still have over half a tank of monopropellent and burning a quarter of that lowers my PE to 38 km to match the actual PE used in Quebec 1. Since I have enough battery power to reach Kerbin twice (but not enough to have circled around to the AP for a more efficient burn) I don't detach until I'm about to enter the atmosphere. That way the decoupler has minimal effect on my PE. The results are nearly identical to Quebec 1 with 2 braking passes followed by a descent. Even the heatshield loses almost exactly the same amount of shielding. There are various things to unlock at this point. Unlocking Electronics gives me the DTS-M1 comm dish. I may need to more closely compare its stats but I think the difference between it and the start antenna is that the new dish is about 40% lighter and transmits about 50% faster (but at the same cost in power). I could be wrong about the last two parts though. With that unlocked I can see a lot of new things such as advanced stackable battery packs, crew modules and other toys. One issue is that this mod introduces a lot of stats on parts to the point where there is actually a scrollbar to see them all. Unfortunately on the tech tree you can't operate the scrollbar (moving the mouse toward it gets rid of the tooltip). In the VAB you can scroll though it's a bit ackward because the clicks are registered in two places. Because of this I can't see the quantity of life support carried by the new pods (and I can't see a supplimentary life support container on the tech tree yet) Obviously I won't be back at the Mun immediately (except for maybe a flyby if the PresMat turns out to work in orbit). I will probably invest in better batteries and make a trip to Minmus orbit, I'm not sure how many missions I will send there in order to unlock enough technology that I feel confident in making a manned Mun landing. I really need more life support to make that work though since my current little pod only has enough for 200 minutes. One of the pods does however include space suits (but no jetpacks) so I could perform EVAs in Kerbin orbit if I got it.

Quebec 1 This mission is a prelude to a full Mun landing (I'm not sure if I should name that series Quebec 2-... or go to Romeo, the changes in design will be minimal). This mission will gather some important orbital data from the Mun including Goo experiments from low and high orbit and take GravMax readings (which will be stored instead of transmitted) from the poles. It will then depart the Mun and provide a final dry run for the reentry system (while the instruments will change for the landing I've been careful to nail down the exact weight of the return capsule). The only thing I'm really missing for a full landing on this mission is landing gear and the Double-C which I'll get once I earn just 2 more science and unlock the landing tech. The launcher follows a design like Oscar and Papa only bigger. The first stage is expanded from 12 to 16 engines (4 clusters of 4) and the fuel per engine has been doubled along with some minor reconfiguration of the fin and launch clamp placement to match the geometry. The second stage is almost identical to Oscar (4 radial engines and 1 center) except that it adds the small monopropellent tanks used on the smaller November version of that stage. The 3rd booster stage is reconfigured, it no longer has the guidance or RCS tank (monopropellent for launch was moved to the 2nd stage) but it has been expanded with 2 more engines and 50% more fuel, making it look like a fueled up version of the November 2nd stage. This last booster will actually be used for both the circulization burn and the injection burn and should have just about enough fuel for the capture burn too. The payload is a lander using a center T400 tank and LV405 engine and 3 identical radial tanks with engines. I could have had less fuel in the lander, but it came down to layout - I needed more fuel then what I wanted to stack vertically (too tall and the lander risks tipping) but I didn't want to have just 2 pods (not as stable) and the pods needed to have the same amount of fuel as the center tank to maximize efficiency. Since people sometimes ask about how the design process works here is the excel file. There is a big space between the lander and the next stage, I originally had a transit stage with a single LV405 engine but working the numbers (and imagining the even taller skyscrapper that the single tall transit stage would have created) I found it was easier to beef up the third stage so it could deleted. My notes show I had considered putting some batteries on the transit stage to power my trip to the Mun (then discard them before landing). This would have required some careful micromanaging of which batteries where enabled and as the staging was changed I ended up with a lander with the right number of batteries and the delta-v working out ok so I didn't go back and rebalance the battery placement. And yes I was being very generous with how much time certain operations would take, I didn't want to get that far and run out of power. The launch goes fine. With SAS it becomes pretty standard. The gravity turn worked well with my velocity close to 1900 m/s as I approached the AP and 420 m/s needed to circulize. The third stage kicked in just before the coast phase so I had accurate readouts on how long the burn would be. That meant there was plenty of fuel for the transfer to the Mun. Since I wanted to pickup some more gravity readings, and the only places I was sure I'd find some new biomes was at the poles I did a modified burn out to the Mun, adding a small normal burn so that I'd be roughly above the Mun during the encounter so I could enter polar orbit. Entering the Mun's SOI a correction is made to get a more exact polar orbit. So far things are going well. I'm only 5.5 hours into the flight and I'm in orbit around the Mun. The T30 engines are the first engines I have that generate power (the T15 doesn't) and during their burns have extended my battery range by just over an hour (at 5.5 hours in my batteries have only had 4.4 hours depleted). While there are a few drops of fuel left in the transfer stage I eject it. Passing over the poles I find gravity readings for both the Poles and a difficult to snap area called the Polar Lowlands. Like the Highland Craters they seemed to be blink and you'll miss them as they flew over. I also performed my goo experiments. In theory I could head back with all my science but first, since this is a copy of the lander minmus the legs I want to get test its descent performance before I have to do it for real. I was essentially following an Apollo 10 profile where I would bring the lander in close to the surface and then abort and ascend back into orbit. I wanted to check if the lander was maneuverable enough or if the monopropellent supply would be an issue. Maneuverability was maybe not as good as with a light reaction wheel oriented lander that I usually use, but the reaction wheels so far in BTSM just wouldn't be enough. The monopropellent attitude control does over correct a bit but it is managable. The only minor issue I could identify after decending to 5km and then turning east to make an ascending burn was that the outer engines did begin to overheat when run at maximum for an extended period of time such as the ascent and circulization burn. Fortunately I don't see any longer burns and I always have the option of throttling down - the overheating wouldn't affect the landing. Thrust to weight is good enough to ensure I can quickly slowdown. Leaving the Mun I still had plenty of fuel (since I didn't do a complete landing) and half my battery power. At this stage I did have a concern because I had read the description of a part that is available to be unlocked for 180pts. The large heatshield (1000 points of protection instead of 250 on the small one I have) is suggesting that it is more suited for the velocity of a Mun return - does that mean my small heatshield might not be enough? To be safe I setup a 40 km PE for my return to Kerbin. I also released the return capsule at this time despite having enough batteries to make it all the way back to Kerbin - I want to replicate the conditions of a proper flight. Decoupling at that stage had a big effect on my orbit, moving the PE down by 2 km. The return to Kerbin took a while. Passing the first time shaved a few points off the heatshield and lowered my orbit to 1.7 million meters. The second pass lowered it to 368 km, raising the heatshield temperature to ove 800 C but not doing any major damage. The final pass, with my PE now at about 34 km brought me down with the heatshield reaching a temperature of 930 C before beginning to drop down even as the heatshield melted away. Over 90% of the heatshield was taken off (21 / 250 left) but the sample capsule survived reentry and parachuted safely to the ground. So I gained 150 science (50 x 2 for Goo, 25 x 2 for GravMax). I'll now be prepping a Mun landing that will carry a Goo container, 2Hot and Double-C (I think it will carry a PresMat too since I need a little bit of ballast and I might as well see if it does anything)

While building the ship that will first undertake a proving flight to go around the Mun and return with a sample before being fitted with landing gear for a landing and return I've used some science to unlock another item, Heavy Rocketry. I had some motives for unlocking this as I was considering if I could use the T200 tank in a particular way but it turned out I couldn't (more on that after the pic). I did get the T30 engine which I've taken on an undocumented flight I'll call Quebec 0 - just the engine, a fuel tank, batteries and a probe core in order to check its performance. The T30 has the same characteristics as it does in stock. That means that it doesn't overheat when you throttle over 80% and so you can get all 215 thrust out of it. It also weighs 0.25 less then the T15. This is an interesting part of BTSM, it definitely has some parts (like the initial battery and the T15 and LV405 engines) that are deliberately inferior versions of stuff you'll be able to improve later on. The T15 feels like it is essentially the experimental version of the T30, mirroring the real development of a space program. Anyway I really needed some delta-v despite carrying lots of weight (batteries and other essential equipment add up fast in BTSM) and I was thinking of using my docking ports to radially mount the T200 tanks. However I discovered you can't radially mount the docking ports in BTSM - in fact there are a lot of little adjustments that seem to be designed to prevent you from skipping technology by taking advantage of stock mechanics. For example I found out you can't transfer fuel manually. Instead after unlocking Heavy Rocketry I can see a new tech for 160pt that in addition to giving me some more engines (the T45, LV909 and Poodle) it also gives me a fuel pump. That means I need electricity to move fuel and only in certain ways! Because of all of this my current rocket is rather big - the launcher has the same basic layout as Oscar just fatter but the lander is probably the first time in a very long time that I've mounted multiple engines on a lander, and it's because I can't move or otherwise manage fuel in a magic way like you can in stock. My lander needs lots of delta-v to move those batteries. I did the numbers for putting some batteries on the transfer stage so I could get rid of the cells used for the 4-8 hour trip to the Mun but it wasn't enough so I ended up with multiple engines to avoid having to land a skyscrapper lander from all the fuel it needed to carry. If all goes according to plan I should have a chance to fly Quebec 1 soon on a low orbit polar pass of the Mun, taking GravMax readings near the poles and performing Goo experiments in low and high Mun orbit before swinging around and returning them to Kerbin. As long as there are no issues (I still have concerns about the heatshield being able to hold against a Munar return) I'll unlock the landing legs, adjust the instruments (weight and balance of the return package will remain the same) and begin the first of the Romeo series launches to explore the Mun's surface.

It means that what you are asking is impossible. This generally happens when you ask for the fuel requirements to give a very large payload a very large delta-v. As you know there are diminishing returns as you add more fuel because some of that new fuel will be burned to push all the other fuel and tanks. It reaches a tipping point where the fuel mass you add (say 8 tons) is not enough to even move the fuel tank (1 ton) that it came in. At that point the MassRatio formula is basically going to come back and say you need some kind of negative-mass fuel to get that much delta-v for the given ISP constant. If you follow through the formula I think one of the terms ends up being infinity.

The ratio between a full and empty tank is 9:1 and it's the easier number to use in most equations. That's why it's easy to overlook that the ratio between the fuel and the tank itself is 8:1. For example a full Rockomax X200-16 is composed 1 of ton of kaluminum tank, 3.6 tons of liquid fuel and 4.4 tons of oxidizer. 9:1 is easiest to use for math problems while 8:1 is easiest to use when explaining how fuel storage works: You need 1 ton of tank to hold 8 tons of fuel.

Papa 1 While Papa 1 will collect real science it is also an engineering test mission for a number of components. With access to the heat shield I want to road test a complete sample recovery system, the first sample being taken from high orbit around Kerbin. I've taken the existing Oscar ship and lightened the load by removing most of the batteries and then moved the guidance system into the orbital module. The top is modified into a sample return system with the probe core, heat shield, parachute and the experiments I want to return. The battery is for weight balance with the goo container and the GravMax is providing ballast equal to some instruments I might add later. I might as well find out now if a bigger parachute is required. With more then enough delta-v (I skip the third stage entirely and only do a small burn with the orbital module) the whole thing is launched up to 255 km where a sample is taken. The sample return module seperates and falls back to Kerbin. To fully test it I've taken a number of steps: The module is oriented down, to determine if the return package will be able to reorient itself through drag (from a large distance it may be impossible to determine the correct orientation for the heat shield before seperation) The battery power is turned off to kill the probe before entry, to ensure the parachute works automatically in BTSM (my automatic chute deployment was perfected during my probe career) The launch was aimed for a water landing to test the impact on everything Everything works as planned and I get another 50 science. The return system is viable to bring back a sample from the Mun, it just needs to be on a return path before power runs out. Next on the agenda I will probably be testing a slightly larger launcher to send a sample return mission from Mun orbit (it won't need all the delta-v, but I want to test a launcher that can be used for a lander). Maybe I'll carry 2 GravMax instruments like in the test run and make a polar approach to get that data and return it (rather then pack batteries to transmit it).

You sort of go around a bit, but it sounds like you know your payload (engines, capsule, basically everything but the fuel tanks) and you know how much delta-v you need, you just need to know how many fuel tanks you need to bring along. With the exception of the smallest fuel tanks (the Round8 and Oscar) all the stock fuel tanks have a ratio of 8:1 for fuel to tank. If we assume that we will only use those tanks we can figure it out without too much trouble, though because of the way the fuel ratios work (and the fact that I don't know how to format equations on these forums) I'll break the problem down into 2 parts. The first part is figuring out what value is going into ln which is the wet to dry mass ratio. Let's calculate a value for MassRatio as follows, MassRatio = EXP(DeltaV / 9.81 / ISP) Using that ratio lets figure out the total weight of the fuel tanks (including the fuel in them) WetTankMass = (9* Payload * (MassRatio - 1)) / ( 9 - MassRatio) You now have the mass of your fuel tanks and fuel. So if WetTankMass = 4.5t that means you need exactly one T800 tanks (360 units of liquid fuel plus 440 units of oxidizer). If you want you can check that I haven't made a mistake (and that you got it correctly) by calculating the delta-v of a particular combination of engine and fuel tank, then reverse it by using my equestion to figure out the tank using the weight of the engine and the delta-v.

It depends on what orbit (if any) of Minmus you want and how bad your inclination is after launching into LKO. If you want to enter an equatorial orbit around Minmus (passing over the same areas on every orbit) then you'll need to do an inclination change. You can do this in LKO and unless you really messed up the launch it doesn't cost that much - correct your inclination first then plan the prograde burn so you'll intercept Minmus on the way out/in. If you just want to get into any Minmus orbit or just do a flyby then as long as your launch was fairly east-west (you can check your kerbal inclination by targeting the Mun since it has a 0 degree inclination itself) to within a degree or two you should be fine to get an intercept. For reference my inclination was 1.2 degrees off an equatorial kerbin orbit in the screenshots.

Click on Minmus and select it as your target. From there you can use a maneuver node (make it prograde about 900 m/s) figure out where in your LKO you need to burn in order to intersect Minmus's orbit at the same time Minmus itself is reaching that point. You'll know you are close to an encounter when you see some arrows showing the positive of the ship and body at closest approach, followed by getting an actual encounter.

Oscar 3 Not much to report on this one. I sent up another Oscar probe to try and find more Mun biomes, this time by circling the equater. Unfortunately it only found one new biome, the East Farside Crater. I could (and I guess will at some point) send another Oscar to polar orbit around the Mun but for now I'll spend some of my science to move on. I'm going to unlock the heatshield and begin some work on testing sample return. The parts you see are an odd little stabilizer (it seems to attach radially to anything, hard to accurately position it), another fin, the 1.25m heatshield and the 1.25 nosecone. In stock I wouldn't be touching the aerodynamic branch of the tech tree until I was done the rest - first get a good chunk of the bottom (science) then grab a good chunk of the top (rocketry). But in BTSM everything seems to have a needful purpose.

Oscar 2 First you might be asking where is Oscar 1. Oscar 1 never reached the pad but progressed far enough that I already had a craft file for it (2 actually as will be explained). With the name already used I went to the next available number rather then overwrite it. Oscar 1 used a design almost identical to November to enter orbit around the Mun with enough battery power for multiple GravMax transmissions (that's a lot of power). To do that the November capsule was stripped down to just 2 batteries and a docking port was added on top to be used with a support module. The support module was basically a light frame rig with a docking port and a lot of batteries, over 4 tons worth (which sounds like a lot but is barely enough to support a few Mun orbits and some GravMax transmissoin). The mission plan would have the first probe launch carrying the support module (all the batteries on the support module would be turned off). The fuel normally used to reach the Mun would instead be used just to get the module into orbit. The second probe, much lighter then the first, would launch on the first orbit to quickly catch up and dock with the support module as it entered its second (it the first probe ran out of power it wasn't fatal but would mean docking with a dead mass). The second probe would take possession of the support module and steal any fuel and monopropellent it could from the first probe. With a hopefully full tank it would then fly to the Mun and enter orbit with enough power to transmit multiple readings from the GravMax. There where two issues with this plan. Docking itself wasn't an issue but quickly setting up a renderous and just doing two launches for one throw away probe seemed like extra work. The bigger issue was that I had still hadn't fully worked out the exact delta-v and thrust values with all the swapping of parts and fuel going on. It was very possible that the first probe could fail to get into orbit, or the second probe wouldn't have as much left over fuel as I thought, or it might not be able to get into orbit around the Mun even with a full tank once the rig was attached. My backup plan for choosing the node I did on the tech tree was that if docking ports didn't work out I could instead use the struts to build a monster launcher and get something bigger into space. And that's exactly what I did. I designed a capsule to go from LKO to LMO on a full tank, with enough power that it could send 8 GravMax transmissions and do about 4 orbits, and then built a launcher to get it into orbit as a payload. Struts allowed me to build the first stage outward (a requirement since I needed more thrust and needed more attachment points then just a single decoupler, all without the ship flexing and bending). Oscar 2 fully utilized thrust tweaking calculations (while SBs and fuel tanks can't be tweaked in BTSM the liquid rockets can) so that I could run the ship at 100% throttle and not have to micromanage drag or heat. I also installed an SAS system in the launcher (for weight savings the Mun probe itself still relies on manual stabilization) to further reduce the workload. Ideally I can reuse the launcher for several missions before I need a bigger one or have enough technology to redesign it. I was surprised to find out that the small RCS tank actually carries a lot, 250 units compared to the 50 carried by the tiny one (in stock the small tank carries 100 units). This meant that I had more then enough monopropellent for the launch and could leave it on the entire time to aid the SAS system. The first stage consists of 12 engines, 4 clusters of 3 engines each which are attached by individual decoupler to one of the 4 radial engines of the 2nd stage. The center of the first stage is empty space with the structure supported by struts. The second stage is far more familiar, 4 engines around a 5th center engine. When it is activated the first stage splits into pieces and falls away. The gravity turn is timed to start immediately afterward. The 3rd booster stage consists of a final T15 engine and T800 fuel tank along with the SAS and RCS systems used by the entire launcher. This stage has a little more then 1000 m/s and is used for the circulization burn. Any left over fuel can be used to assist with the Mun injection burn (the SAS system also cancels out any rotation before that burn starts, reducing the need for any corrections). My course for the Mun isn't as fast as before. I'm trading some battery life for fuel to reduce the cost of my capture burn. Capturing uses up almost all of the remaining fuel but leaves me in low orbit. Oscar 2 begins scanning with the GravMax. The previous trip in November 2 identified the Midlands and Highlands which make up most of the Mun's surface. I quickly pass over Highland craters but these areas are incredibly tiny, the scanner is over them for less then a second. Midland craters are easier to get a fix on. As the probe passes to the night side it finds the Northwest Crater and the Farside Crater before coming on a larger set of Highland Craters that can be scanned. The Twin Craters are scanned next after which all remaining fuel and RCS is used in an attempt to change the orbital inclination (there is only about 60 m/s to work with) for the next pass around the Mun. Power is running out and while there was power planned for 8 scans it did not take into account the longer trip to the Mun or the number of orbits needed. Ultimately it's not important, with the small plane change only two new features can be found, the Northern Basin on the dark side and some Canyons near the Twin Craters. With 7 scans complete the power levels are too low for another complete scan even if something could be found. There is no fuel or RCS so the probe can only float as debris for another 62 minutes (around 2 more orbits) before it dies. With 7 scans I gain 175 science. Combined with some banked science I have enough to unlock 2 more 90pt nodes though I haven't decided which yet. I'm tempted to unlock landing and find out how much power is required for the Double-C and what science can be returned from the Mun's surface. By cutting down on batteries I could free up enough weight to add fuel for a landing. Mounting 2 batteries and the instruments directly to the probe core (30 m/s impact rating) I wouldn't even need a smooth landing. Another mission would be to stretch Oscar's fuel enough to make a low orbit flyby of Minmus (maybe take off 2 batteries). There would only be time and power for 1 or 2 transmissions (like the November 2 flyby) but it would give me data on what scientific value Minmus has. Ultimately I will also need to send one or two more Oscar missions to make GravMax scans of the Mun's other regions, there should be something like 400 science left to be harvested there.

November 1-2 The goal of November is to reach the Mun and transmit some basic readings. This won't be an attempt to orbit the Mun, there just isn't enough battery power for that. Remembering older missions I think I can get to the Mun in 6 hours though that will still be tight given how many batteries I can carry without exceeding my payload capacity. November 1 uses the same launch platform I've been using, only it replaces the 3 ton pod with a much lighter probe core. It then doubles the number of batteries and finally the 1st booster stage needs to expand from 4 to 6 radial engines. I've fitted a 2Hot to take readings. There is a lot of spin during launch, I haven't put aside any weight for an SAS control system so its manual stabilization the whole way. With more delta-v in the 1st stage the 2nd stage can be used for part of the circulization burn. After that the orbital module plots a course to the Mun. This is a collision course but that's fine, we'll only have the power and opportunity for 2 temperature readings anyway and this should neatly dispose of the probe when it is done. Reaching the Mun there is a minor letdown. In stock .23 the Mun's orbit has a multiplier of 3x compared to 1x in Kerbin orbit. So the same reading will return 3 times the science. In BTSM that doesn't seem to be the case. The Mun is worth 1x so I only get 8 science for the high orbit reading and 8 science the low orbit reading before it crashes. Power wise I still had over 700 em when I 'landed' so I may be able to get more science (I really need it so I can unlock something else) if I send a GravMax instrument. November 2 does just that, fitting a GravMax instead of a 2Hot. Due to weight balancing I am able to slightly reduce the overall mass of the ship. This time I won't collide with the Mun, I need to be in low orbit to take a reading and the GravMax takes a while to transmit so I want to be sure it won't crash. Reaching the Mun a course correction is used to bring the probe in close. Readings are taken of the Mun's Midlands and with enough power left a second reading is taken of the Highlands. The two readings provide 50 science in total, the same 25 science/reading as I got in LKO. With the probe having done it's work and with 50 minutes of life is left to drift (there is not enough fuel to make a large enough correction to send it into the Mun). It will be recieve an assist from the Mun's gravity that will fling it out into orbit around the Sun. I'll see about marking it as debris. That leaves a question of what to do with my science. I have enough to unlock one thing. It's obvious that I at least need to be able to get into orbit around the Mun with some good battery power to take GravMax readings if I want to proceed further in the tech tree. It's also becoming obvious that I'm not going to find a ton of science on the Mun, at least not with a single landing like I'm used to. I'm going to need to explore the whole surface just to advance. Of the items I can unlock the heatshield and antenna are still nice to haves but won't really change things much. The landing equipment, which includes the Double-C, could be interesting but I have no idea how much science the instrument itself provides and what my other instruments (2Hot) would provide if I made a landing. I also don't know how much power it uses to transmit. I've rerun the numbers and the orange tank doesn't open things up as much as I need them to, it really wouldn't be better then my current launch vehicle. The T30 engine could be useful but that would depend a lot on how hard it can be run. If it still has the same overheating threshhold as the T15 then I won't have gained enough. That leaves me with structural technology which includes docking ports, size adapters and struts. I have an idea of using the docking port to let me place a support module into orbit - a partially used fuel tank with lots of batteries. A Munar probe would then launch and link up with the support module before making it's way to the Mun. In the worst case I'll need those struts if I'm force to make even bigger launchers, since without any radial decoupling mechanism I need ever bigger stages to provide enough thrust.

Mike 2-4 I've gone back to see if the Mike concept can be made to work. Mike 2 was another unmanned run but with the containers placed horizontally and as tightly as possible. It still doesn't look like they are completely covered by the shield. Preparing for reentry I titled the pod sideways a bit so the service module wouldn't have any chance to collide if it experienced more drag and slowed down faster. This resulted in the command pod stuck in a tilted position which may have provided some additional protection, I'm not sure. Either way the goo containers survived so it is go for a manned attempt. Hanemone Kerman is back to fly this attempt. He takes Mike 3 up to 252 km and then comes back down. However without the weight of the Stayputnick the pod can't maintain attitude and orients back to center. Both goo containers are destroyed but the capsule is fine and Hanemone lands safely. Since no one was killed I decide to try one more time. Merdun pilots Mike 4 which only goes up to 72 km, I don't even use all the fuel in the 2nd stage booster. The lower velocity seems to help. Despite the pod still correcting its orientation the goo containers don't explode. I can confirm that the lower velocity was the reason because the service module also survived reentry. With only samples from low orbit (I exposed both in case one was destroyed) I gain 50 science, enough to unlock one more item. If I could get high orbit samples I would have enough science for another item. Out of the available technologies some don't seem useful yet - I see technology for landings and faster transmissions which at this point are secondary to actually getting somewhere. I see a slightly better engine (the normal T30) but I don't think that would be enough. I see heat shield technology but that would have limited use right now, I need a lot more then just returning goo from high orbit. Then there is docking which could be useful - I might be able to assemble something in orbit. But what I think I really need now are Fuel Systems, which give me that orange tank and the adapters for attaching multiple engines to it, and Advanced Flight Control. This has some useful parts - a dedicated reaction wheel, SAS system and small RCS tank but the real reason I'm taking this first before fuel systems is the new QBE probe core. This probe core weighs less (.25 tons) and much more importantly it uses half the power. Because batteries are such a big part of reaching the Mun and because they weigh so much in BTSM reducing the power requirements is the single best way of reducing payload weight and thus extending delta-v. I think with this probe core I can reach the Mun.

The decouplers only detach one end. So for example you place a decoupler between a fuel tank and your command pod with the arrow pointing toward the pod. When you stage the decoupler the fuel tank (with the decoupler still attached) will break away from the command pod. Seperators detach both ends with the seperator left as a seperate piece. This is useful if you need to do things with both pieces. Seperators do weigh more though since they have 2 sets of explosive bolts.

The pod itself is fine, it's the bits sticking out from the side and beyond the diameter of the shield (goo containers) that got fried on reentry. Because of the entry profile the heatshield didn't even wear down as much as the previous runs (Lima burned off about 65% of the shield, Mike lost less then 40%). One other thing I could try is changing the position of the goo containers - maybe if I stack them horizontally I can squeeze them close enough that they don't peek out over the shield and get melted by the super hot plasma stream.

BTSM modifies how science is done. Every experiment transmits at either 100% or 0%. So for the 2Hot and GravMax I can either return the instrument or transmit for 100% of the science on the first run (there is no additional science to be gained by repeats). For the Goo Containers (and I assume the Science Jr) you must return it to get the science. I don't know whether you can use a kerbal to bring the experiment back into the pod the way you can in stock .23. At the moment I don't have the technology for EVAs (no space suits) and I have a feeling BTSM doesn't allow that feature though once I can do an EVA I'll be trying (it doesn't look like EVAs are coming soon though, they must be at least in the 160pt tier). To bring the Goo Containers back to the ground I'll need a bigger heatshield. I can see one available on the 90pt tier, though I haven't figured out which item I will unlock first at that stage. Honestly without radial decouplers (or much of any structural part to help) I think I might need to tech tier that gives me the orange tank and the mounts so that I can get a descent payload into orbit. Until I have better power technology (solar panels are also too far off to see yet) even my probes are really heavy if I want to get anywhere. Here is the goo container from Mike 1. As you can see returning it is the only option.

Mike 1 Mike was planned as two missions. I want to return goo containers from orbit (they are worth some good science). However to do this I need to protect them from reentry. My idea was if I attached them to the side of the Mk1 pod (the way most of us did when they first appeared in .22) they might be protected the way the parachute is. I had even considered this as a part of Lima but with all the kerbal deaths I decided to focus on just one goal at a time. For this mission I still didn't want to risk a kerbal in the event that the goo containers might compromise the pod and I didn't want to design a whole ship. So I planned two missions both of which would be flown with a modified version of the Lima 2/3 space craft. The first mission would fly with 2 goo containers attached to the pod. This would add weight but that wouldn't be too important because we wouldn't try to get into proper orbit, just ascend to 250 km and then fall back down. In order to avoid risking a kerbal this dry run would be setup to 'fail' from the start - the parachute would be a replaced by a Stayputnick so that the whole flight could be made remotely. The final 3000m would be a predetermined failure, but everything before that would prove if the concept worked. Things go well at first. The spacecraft has enough thrust and delta-v to insert the modified capsule into a 251 km suborbital path. Coming back down poses a problem though. With the service module nearby (the nearly straight up path means they don't seperate very much) we can see the moment that the reentry forces hit a critical point. At which point both goo containers are also destroyed. The rest of the pod comes through, but obviously the goo containers are too far out to be protected by the heat shield. There is no point in running a Mike 2 manned mission. Since I still need more science I'm going to start planning a Mun flyby. With the weight of batteries it won't be light, which makes it feel a lot more like the early space program where everything wasn't just microchips and you needed big tubes and powercells to run a probe.

Lima 1-3 I now have the parts that I should, in theory, be able to put a kerbal in orbit. My orbital capsule consists of the reentry portion (the Mk1 capsule and a parachute) along with a service module composed of the smaller fuel tank I now have, the smaller LV405 engine (which is basically a slightly heavier, slightly less efficient LV909) 3 batteries and RCS thrusters. I calculated the battery life for a minimum of 60 minutes of operation, though actual life support would be less then that I wanted a safety margin. The pod itself has 10 units of monopropellent just like it does in stock .23. However the pod is a lot heavier then stock - 2.99 tons with the monopropellent. I'm guessing part of that is the built in heatshield and the life support stuff. Either way it should make an interesting balance against the lander can which I assume will be much lighter but obviously be totally inappropriate for atmospheric reentry. I need the limited monopropellent in the pod for when it is in orbit so I've disabled it in the VAB and will reenable it when it stages (too bad you can't drop action group items into the staging list). For ascent once the control surfaces are dropped there are additional tanks of monopropellent on the 2nd booster stage. I've also disabled the pods batteries - those will be saved until just before seperation so that the batteries on the service module are used and the pod battery stays full for the descent. Lima 1 uses 3-way symmetry and has 2 booster stages. I'm back to trying liquid rockets but Lima 1 doesn't really perform - it just doesn't have enough thrust once the center engine cuts out and ends up bleeding too much delta-v on the way up. The AP only gets up to about 65 km and despite an effort in the orbital module to boost into a sub-orbital (but actually in space) flight it doesn't work. Fortunately the reentry system does work correctly and Nedvan Kerman returns safely, breaking my streak of dead kerbals. Lima 2 uses the same orbital module but switches to larger engines - 3x T15's on the upper stage, 5x on the lower using all T800 tanks. Merdun Kerman takes the ship up this time. There is spin on the ascent but Lima 3 showed that it was down to piloting rather then a flaw in the craft. There is enough thrust to run the engines at 80% - this seems to be the sweet spot for the TN15 so I'll use it in my thrust calculations. I'm not quite sure how long I need to burn for the circulization, I end up starting the burn too late and my PE needs to be corrected to 70 km. After orbiting a burn is made to bring Merdun back. As the ship leaves orbit the command pods battery is activated and the service module is ejected. The service module is pushed into a slightly faster descent ahead of the command pod. This provides a valuable reference point since I can observe when it begins to break up and compare that to how the heat shield is protecting the command pod and parachute. You can see in the animation how parts begin to smoke and then explode in sequence, eventually the main structure breaks up leaving multiple chunks which burn up until there is nothing left of the service module. Lima 3 wasn't originally scheduled. If all had gone well Lima would have been a conservative single mission to put a kerbal in low orbit (I have future plans about testing goo container reentry but I wanted to get this done safely first). The failure of Lima 1 to fully meet its goals (in particular no crew report from low orbit) required Lima 2. However with the success of Lima 2, which still had fuel left, I prepared and launched Lema 3 which was an identical ship to be flown into high orbit. This would get a high orbit crew report and provide another test of reentry - I need to make sure I have it working like clockwork if I want to make manned missions beyond LKO. Jorster Kerman is flying this one and it turns into a rather routine flight thanks to the incremental improvements in flight control and design I've made. After making a high orbit pass he comes back in for a landing, setting a PE of 20 km to enter the atmosphere. Life support is more then half depleted by the journey after barely completing an enlarged orbit. More life support will be needed to go beyond Kerbin. And the Mk1 doesn't float very well, it would be best if kerbals don't open the hatch until they are recovered.

Kilo 1-3 I intended Kilo to be a pair of missions using the same spacecraft which would use my new decouplers to make a reasonable journey into orbit. One would orbit the equater and take a gravity scan of the desert and if it could find it the badlands (I've never been able to get an orbital scan of the badlands). The second would take a polar orbit and scan the tundra and ice caps. I calculated out the batteries I would need (the new XL batteries have a better charge:mass ratio) for the two transmissions and enough operations time to make at least one complete orbit after launch. This was the first mission in the new mode that I planned out by spreadsheet. I've started to make my own reference list of the unique mass and other attributes (like heat tolerance) of the parts in BTSM. One thing that stands out is just how heavy things get. This is an extremely basic probe with a single instrument (GravMax) and enough power for one orbit. Without fuel or engines it weighs 2.45 tons. My calculations where conservative on the ISP I'd be getting for each stage but for the launch I did have one specific concern. The bottom of the rocket consists of 4 solid boosters around a center booster, not unlike my probes. I've calculated the thrust and even with the radial boosters empty the center can't lift the rocket on its own. That means I'll need to run 2 radial and the center at the same time to keep enough thrust and I was worried about them overheating each other. Without any item like girders to space them out I would just have to try. Unfortunately overheat is exactly what they did, and they where almost done burning too. The explosion was uneven (only one blew up) and that flipped the rocket far off course into an unrecoverable spin. Kilo 2 was modified to use a larger BACC solid booster in the center which also added additional control surfaces. The staging was altered to fire all 4 of the smaller SBs followed by the center booster. Take off on the 4 SBs seemed ok but once I switched to the center engine I was far short on thrust. I dropped from 210 m/s down to 120 m/s before the load was light enough to start gaining speed. By the time I started picking up speed again I had burned more then half the solid fuel and I only made to it 180 m/s at 11 km when I staged and engaged the liquid engine. Here I encountered another oversight, my thrust calculations normally assume 100% from liquid engines, but the T15 can't run at 100% without exploding so I had to throttle down. I pushed on but things didn't really seem to be going well until I staged to the second liquid engine. With less mass and at 29 km in altitude when it started up there was little to stop it from putting on a lot of speed. Clear of the bulk of the atmosphere the control surfaces aren't useful anymore so they where put on the lower stage. It requires a lot of piloting input to keep steady but it makes it into orbit with fuel to spare. From here I began an orbit of the planet, searching mainly for the badlands. I was unable to find it, though I found two places where it briefly registered as tundra (too short to grab a reading). I took readings over the desert and with the extra battery power to allow another couple of orbits (no power used for badlands transmission) I used some of the left over fuel to boost my AP into high orbit so I could see for myself if the GravMax worked there. The result was negative but it was a useful piece of information. Finally I lowered my PE into the atmosphere which would both dispose of the probe and let me observe a reentry from orbit. Kilo 2 came apart at roughly 31 km, it's systems burning up in rapid succession until there was nothing left. For Kilo 2 I wanted to make a slight adjustment. Knowing that I'd be able to reach high orbit briefly I packed a pair of weight balanced 2Hots to see if I could take a temperature reading. This doesn't work in stock (2Hot only works in low orbit or lower), but then the GravMax works different here so I should test to be sure. I launched and turned toward a polar orbit. I didn't get the gravity turn as well as I did the first time - that was mostly luck - and the extra weight cut down on my delta-v too. However since I knew I'd have limited power to make 3 readings (2 GravMax and 1 2Hot) I had planned from the start to raise my initial AP all the way into high orbit so I could get all the readings in less time then it took to make a complete orbit. I ran out of fuel just before the orbital burn was complete but some RCS was enough to push my AP up another 10km, for a final orbit of 74 km x 255 km with the PE above and a bit north of KSC. I was able to take readings of the ice caps and tundra as I passed over the north pole. In high orbit I was pleasantly surprised to find that the 2Hot worked, giving me another 8 science. That information should be useful in the future. With half a tank of RCS I lowered my PE to dispose of the probe. I use the science to unlock Advanced Rocketry to give me the LV-909 like engine and smaller fuel tank and Space Exploration to give me the mercury style pod. From here I can see that Fuel Systems is interesting - you get the big orange tank along with all of the large to small adapters. It would seem the intent is that rather then have a lot of radial attachment at the start the tech tree is forcing vertical designs. The jumbo and the adapters means you can build a rocket with that big tank and 4 engines under it.

I want to take a sidenote here to talk about my impressions of Better Than Starting Manned so far. Overall I like this mod. It adds a lot of challenge, not in the form of extra busy work or in building huge ships but in basic design. If you play stock and miss a lot of the early challenge/discovery that came with playing and discovering things by trial and error then this is a good one. The nerfing of reaction wheels (I haven't even unlocked the first one which is available for 90 science but looks like it provides just 0.3 torque!) makes designing ships for flight much more interesting. The tech tree as a whole really extends the early flight stage - every early tech is valuable and gets you one step closer to a ship that actually gets into orbit. Science is much more restrictive - you get more of the science instruments up front (I can see the Double-C on the 90pt tier) but the surface of Kerbin is already explored and the GravMax is more balanced (it returns 25% more science but can only be used in low orbit - Kilo which I just flew confirmed that). Another thing that makes designing more interesting is the way parts fit together. For my RCS I only have one type of tank right now, a tiny stack tank. That creates issues on where it can be placed without comprimising the structure of the ship. And then there are no radial parachutes near the start (the next parachute I can see is on the 90pt tier and its the XL parachute), which Juliet showed present other challenges. In Kilo I also ran into issues with the placement of solid boosters since I had nothing to space them out and prevent overheating. Overheating itself is interesting - I actually designed Kilo with my traditional spreadsheet method and only after flying it did I realize my thrust calculations for the liquid engines couldn't work because at 100% throttle they would explode! Visually there are some cool things too. Because reaction wheels don't exist until later my first orbital probe (Kilo, report coming soon) would slowly spin as it drifted in orbit. Unfortunately time warping removes any rotational velocity but until then the effect really gives the environment a better 'feel'. The slow uncontrolled spin gives my probe the proper 'feel' of weightless that is missing when it is just sitting there motionless with the camera locked firmly on. The only real negative I have so far is that I'm not a fan of reusing some of the games models for completely different types of equipment. The T15 engine, which is a scaled version of the T30 (the flavor text even mentions the name on the side being in error), is fine. It's the batteries that are a bit off. Maybe it's because the mod author doesn't like the look of the stock batteries which I can sort of agree on (they are a bit too cartoony) but to maintain some of the feel of stock it shouldn't use those art assets for something completely different, especially when it looks like they will then be used for their original purpose too (so I have a battery and a double-c that look the same). The mod itself is very small (less then 1MB) and all code. Maybe someone with art skills could partner up to create some original assets for batteries and anything else that needs a unique model.

The multiplier is specifically for the body/biome you are on. For example crew reports have a base science value of 5. In kerbal orbit where the multiplier is exactly 1x you'll recieve 5 science for doing a crew report. The Mun's orbit has a better multiplier, 3x. That means that any experiment done in Mun orbit will give 3 times the experiment's base science, so a crew report taken from low or high Mun orbit is worth 15 science points. The surface of the Mun is even better, experiment's done there are valued at 4x. And if you fly all the way to Tylo the experiments done on its surface will be worth 11x their base value (55 science for a crew report!)

Juliet 1 With the goo objective completed I turned back to trying a high atmosphere manned flight. The small solid boosters seem to be the only reliable rockets I have, liquid fuel engines (at least the T15) are very finicky in BTSM and the fact that you can only use a large tank only makes it harder. I think this is a very interesting change; in stock KSP I rarely use solid boosters because they have no control but in real life they are simplier and more reliable then liquid rockets. In BTSM that is true too and it really adds something to the early gameplay. Lemgur Kerman will take up the next attempt. The staging is the same as the probe design however after the 2 outer boosters fire I wait until my vertical speed is almost back to 0 m/s before engaging the center engine. This turns out to cut it very close - the ship halts the ascent and begins to turn over at 29.1km, less then 1km from the decompression point. I was aiming for a water landing (using the fins to provide some guidance during the ascent) and succeeded. The parachutes worked and the capsule was going slow enough that it survived, bringing Lemgur and his crew report back safely. I have a total of 99 science now, so I could unlock up to 2 of the current tier of items or 1 of the next. There is a mercury style space capsule within reach but BTSM, at least at this stage, really encourages you to unlock the lower stuff first. Unlike stock where the first 4 techs are enough for a complete rocket and lander here I don't even have decouplers yet. I decide to unlock General Construction to get those decouplers but don't spend the remainder on Advanced Rocketry (which would get me a smaller fuel tank and an LV-909 like engine). For now I think I'll try to save for the capsule.

India 1 - 3 I have goo containers and I have a new capsule that said it is partially pressurized but won't work in a vacuum. I wanted to get goo results from the upper and lower atmosphere, get a crew report from the upper atmosphere and get some data on how life support worked. The ship is deliberately similar to Echo 3 since that ship was able to land and I don't see any other way of mounting parachutes since the new pod doesn't have a nose mounting point. I launch and slowly climb up to 17km where the engines are cut. The crew and goo reports are stored and the ship keeps drifting up reaching a maximum altitude of 31km. Unfortunately at 30km there is an explosive decompression - I had not expected it to encounter problems until I reached orbit. The decompression leaves me without a command pod or a kerbal. Unfortunately it took the life of Luke Kerman who I had been trying to save for a later mission but got in this pod because I wasn't paying attention. I tried another flight with Fredson Kerman but lost control after 2km. Attempting a safe landing ripped apart the ship. I scaled down my mission goals and went back to unmanned flight. India 3 used a variant of a proven probe design to lift 2 goo containers up to 30km. This was the first time I tried to soft land this probe and while it was left in pieces the goo containers where both recoverable. It is getting dark out so I'll be waiting until the sunrise before launching another mission.

Hotel 1-3 Expanding on the last Golf design is Hotel. After making that report I realized that getting into orbit would be a lot harder then I thought - not only would I lack decouplers to efficiently stage (not too big of a problem for basic orbit) but even with the fins I wouldn't be able to change orientation once I'd gotten too far above the lower atmosphere because there wouldn't be enough air to use the control surfaces. I thought I'd try to get something resembling an orbit by making a sharp gravity turn. I'd try to maximum my potential science by flying toward the north pole and would carry enough battery power for 4 gravity transmissions (my records from Golf 3 give me a good idea how much charge I need and showed that the Gravmax is the only instrument so far that can take biome specific readings) and about 40 minutes of flight. That turned out to be a bit too ambitious, the fins where unable to counteract the other forces and when I started the gravity turn it just kept turning until I was pointed down. So instead I built a modified version of Golf 2 designed for basic suborbital flights with enough battery power to transmit gravity readings from over 2 biomes. The additional batteries would add weight. So would the fins and the fact that I'd be flying at an angle instead of straight up. Just barely touching space for 10 seconds wouldn't be enough to get readings on 2 biomes so I added an additional pair of solid boosters, with staging to run each pair seperately. The first flight of the revised design, Hotel 2, was turned west but only slightly. Since I wasn't even trying to get into orbit I just needed to add some horizontal velocity so that I'd pass over the highlands and mountains near the KSP. Without SAS it required a lot of hands on flying but things worked out well - I was able to scan and transmit readings on both the highlands and the mountain range west of KSP before coming down on the west coast. As it entered the atmosphere the battery expired which apparently damaged the probe, though the explosive damage came later as it picked up heat on reentry. A massive chain of explosions started which according to the log where all of the batteries breaking from the g-force. Hotel 3 was an identical craft but sent south east in the hopes of skimming along the coast so I could get a shore and water reading. It was successful at that and during reentry it also suffered g-force related destruction of batteries but not all of them this time (well at least until it smacked into the water). These two flights provide enough science to unlock 2 more items. I choose to unlock Flight Control, which gives me a small RCS tank and RCS thrusters which I'll need to make proper orbit, and Science Tech which gives me another experiment (Goo Container) a better battery (which looks just like the radial xenon container) and a cockpit that can operate in the upper atmosphere. It's stats show it has 100 units of some kind of life support. I'll need to make a flight to figure out just what that means. I can also see looking at the techs now available to be unlocked that the Double-C is there - so unless it has been scaled in size it will look exactly like the battery I have.

Actually I liked that suggestion so much that I went ahead and started on it. It's really enjoyable, brings back a lot of the wonder of discovering things for the first time and has presented me with some real challenges. It did help that a life support/realism modded experience was on my list of potential careers, I just hadn't found the mod or combination of mods that would create a truly new experience and not just require me to carry a few extra pounds. I'm not really big on big challenges. My .23 career stalled when I unlocked the whole tech tree and was left with missions like returning from Eve. I like challenges that are more along the lines of "here is a task of normal difficulty, but I want you to do it using only...".