Potterus

I've done a fair few searches and downloaded some of the more popular part packs (KW, B9) to see if I can find these parts but to no avail. What I'm looking for is: - 3.75m docking adaptor i.e. clamp-o-tron maximus! - Greater than 3.75m head shield, perhaps 5m I ask as I'm planning on building a big transport system to colonise Laythe and want to exploit both the 3.75m parts and aerobraking to achieve this. Any help would be appreciated

I wasn't a fan of the new aerodynamics at first due to a number of rockets spinning out of control during gravity turns, but when I unlocked basic plane parts at tier 3 and took a jet for a test flight I was bowled over - so much more fun than it used to be! Kudos Squad!

Drag chute to stabilise the craft during re-entry worked a treat, Val is safe and sound One thing I noticed was that the new resource for the heat shield (ablator?) didn't diminish during the re-entry effects, is that a bug too or do you have to be really really aggressive to make a dent in it?

Thought as much. Guess I'm far too used to the old model, where you could chuck craft in at almost an angle and be okay (obviously heating was only cosmetic before unless modded).

Been playing a new 1.0 career since launch and run into a bit of a problem, namely trying to re-enter the atmosphere after a steep sub-orbital flight. I was trying for the orbit Kerbin contract but came up with another mission of my own, namely getting plucky Val into high orbit and grabbing goo/bay/report science points to advance up the tech-tree. The craft is a mk1 command pod with one inline and two radial parachutes, an equipment bay with two goo cannisters, two science juniors and a heat shield. That was fine but when I come into the atmosphere of Kerbin the craft, which is lined up with the trajectory, flips end over so the command pod is facing forward into the oncoming air. This then promptly explodes due to overheating. I've tried it with SAS off and on. The only difference is that the flip happens sooner with it turned off. It's not a question of electric charge either as I have had at least 10 units. I do have the heating effect at 100% for a bit of a challenge but after several quick save reverts I am at a bit of a loss how to proceed. Am I entering the atmosphere too steeply in the new atmospheric model? Is the SAS of the mk1 pod just not strong enough to overcome the turbulence of re-entry?

Loving the antigrav repulsors!

Just caught the last three chapters, glad to see this is back

I've just installed the latest SCANSat and Karbonite releases and tried it out by putting a satellite in a polar orbit of the Mun. While Karbonite deposits are showing (the orange markers) I'm having trouble when I use the "big map" view of SCANSat as no resource overlay is showing. I've checked the options and everything is set correctly. I used this for reference - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lMozN4jpxbU - and expected the pink resource overlay to the map. Wanted to know if this feature has been removed or is not working in the current version. If it is a still a valid/working feature, any ideas why I am not seeing this overlay?

Thanks for the link to the mod

Cool mod, look forward to using this

Where did you get the rotating part for the centrifuge?

Some members of the Kerbal Space Program often ask "When building a space craft, how fast is too fast?". Then Jeb laughs for several minutes, gives them a knowing wink and they know "it is never too fast!". This mission began as a question I was considering on my drive home from work when I had a chance to put my foot down on the open road and cut a few minutes off my commute. Most of my interplanetary transfers were based on the most fuel efficient burns i.e. Hohmann transfers. However, with the popularisation of new advanced technology in mods such as the Interstellar pack it seemed that if the Kerbals had a lot of Dv available on their spacecraft then they would likely explore non-Hohmann transfers. So if they were not worried either about being fuel efficient, what could they achieve? So I used alexmoon's KSP Launch Window calculator (http://alexmoon.github.io/ksp/) to work out how to cut the transfer from Kerbin to Duna from a Hohmann-based 251 day snoozefest into a less than 60 day speed-run mission from launch to landing, using only stock rocket parts and a couple of game play mods. This is only a proof of concept mission and I am already thinking about follow up missions to other planets and a manned mission to Duna using the same method. Hope you enjoy!

Fantastic capsule, think I will be using this a lot

I had the same thought. Longer tether and faster spin, you could build enough energy to do this. Timing it right, keeping it under control so its aimed correctly and getting enough momentum going before the tether snaps would be the tricky parts.

Here you go The debris in the circular orbit is the decoupler used to separate the craft before spinning began

I kept the save file after the mission, will try to get an image up later from the tracking station

Had a go at trying to replicate the concept from the Mars Direct plan - the manned stage is linked to a spent booster stage by a tether and rotated around a common axis to produce artificial gravity for a crew using centrifugal force. So I sent Jeb, Bill and Bob into orbit with some new fangled technology from KAS (winch + an attachment point) to give it a whirl. Once orbit had been achieved, the booster stage was separated and after a quick EVA by Jeb to attach the winch to the spent stage. When Jeb was back on board, special laterally mounted engines were fired to spin up this un-godly contraption. Things were going... okay, apart from it being an uncontrollable mess and I'm sure making the crew very dizzy. The accelerometer said we were getting about 0.1G with the engines off and the spin had got a little bit less violent. But then the winch snapped off and send the boost stage off into the abyss. The maneuver had also degraded the periapsis by from 130km to 60km, so I sent the boys home for some well deserved cake and pie Here is a little gif of Project Dizzy in action:

This is fantastic, nice one!

This is one of my favourite threads on the forum and the one I check first to see if there is a new chapter, keep up the good work!

Great mission, looking to do something like this (but not as cool) using insitu parts from the HOME mod

Thanks for the reply, I'll give the full orbit burn a try. Really hoping to put a few modules together from separate craft on the surface and my manual attempts usually end up with them hundreds of km apart.

Just posted this in the original MJ thread, maybe one of you fine chaps has found a solution for this already. Having an issue with Mechjeb 2.0.9 landing guidance when trying to land on Duna. This only seems to apply to Duna, works fine on the Mun, Minmus and Eeloo (other places I've been too with this mod so far). If I choose "Land at Target", and I've tried this at different places, then Mechjeb sets up a seriously odd eccentric orbit (over 900km at one point) before correcting it and doing a near vertical descent to the landing coordinates. So it makes it there, right on the bulls-eye, but spends a huge amount of fuel doing so. Tonight I tried an experiment where I flew a craft that was basically a fuel tank, engine, probe and power systems to see what the difference would be between landing at a target I chose and using the "Land Somewhere" option which seems to work fine. Both times were from a 100km equatorial orbit. For "Land at Target" I chose the deep valley near the equator. Land at Target - expended 2820 m/s Land Somewhere - expended 1162 m/s After the "Land Somewhere" option I used Ascent Guidance to put the probe back into a 100km orbit, which used 1473 m/s. So if I'm not fussed about where I land, I can put a craft on Duna and back into orbit for a total of 2635 m/s which is a saving of 185 m/s over just landing on Duna at a site of my choosing. Anyone else encountered this and know if there is a fix? Maybe a different start altitude or orbital setup?

Having an issue with Mechjeb 2.0.9 landing guidance when trying to land on Duna. This only seems to apply to Duna, works fine on the Mun, Minmus and Eeloo (other places I've been too with this mod so far). If I choose "Land at Target", and I've tried this at different places, then Mechjeb sets up a seriously odd eccentric orbit (over 900km at one point) before correcting it and doing a near vertical descent to the landing coordinates. So it makes it there, right on the bulls-eye, but spends a huge amount of fuel doing so. Tonight I tried an experiment where I flew a craft that was basically a fuel tank, engine, probe and power systems to see what the difference would be between landing at a target I chose and using the "Land Somewhere" option which seems to work fine. Both times were from a 100km equatorial orbit. For "Land at Target" I chose the deep valley near the equator. Land at Target - expended 2820 m/s Land Somewhere - expended 1162 m/s After the "Land Somewhere" option I used Ascent Guidance to put the probe back into a 100km orbit, which used 1473 m/s. So if I'm not fussed about where I land, I can put a craft on Duna and back into orbit for a total of 2635 m/s which is a saving of 185 m/s over just landing on Duna at a site of my choosing. Anyone else encountered this and know if there is a fix? Maybe a different start altitude or orbital setup?

Good point, can't believe I missed that! Definitely worth picking the book up for any KSP player

This mission is inspired by two things: - "A Case for Mars" by Robert Zubrin, a remarkable book about ways to reach Mars using realistic technology. I've taken some inspiration from it but had to put other points from it aside (more on that later). Link for book is here http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Case-Mars-Settle-Planet/dp/145160811X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1377203751&sr=8-1&keywords=a+case+for+mars - Hardware difficulties (i.e. an underpowered PC) means I have to be economical with the size of my Kerbal spacecraft beyond launching them. Multi-launch/in-orbit assembly, space stations and large surface bases are off the table for me for the time being Mission Specifics: - Land a crack team of brave Kerbals on the surface of Duna and return them safely to Kerbin - Single launch from the KSC using a heavy launch platform - No nuclear engines, all chemical baby! - Aerobraking will be used extensively (4 times in total) - Some mods will be used for navigation and timing (see mods section) - Acceleration restricted to 20 m/s2 during the first two stages of take off, to save fuel and also to keep the launcher in one piece. During a trial run, when the external tanks were nearly empty, the launcher was pushing 4.5G+ and would result in something breaking, followed by a big explosion (cool to watch but doesn't get Kerbals to Duna) Mods Used: - Mechjeb 2.09 (did most of the work if I am honest) - Kerbal Alarm Clock (set the pace of the mission) - Sub Assembly Loader (for the launch vehicle) I would have liked to have used elements from the Mars Direct plan such as in-situ fuel production and while mods exist for such things, they aren't quite what I was looking for. Mostly their models were too bulky for the craft size I had in mind and I didn't know if they would work on Duna. Maybe something to look into in the future (Duna Direct Enhanced?) Additionally, while Mechjeb is a wonderful tool, somewhere between KSP 0.21 and the newest version of the mod it can't land at specified target on Duna. Works fine on the Mun and Minmus but goes crazy when attempting to "land at target" on the big red-one. First time I tried it, the craft ended up burning most of its fuel putting itself in a very wide orbit. However the "land anywhere" option works so it landed but in a near-random spot. Luckily, Mechjeb managed to put the craft down on a relatively flat area (which was nice). *** if anyone has had more luck with targeted landing using Mechjeb on Duna, please let me know! *** These two elements together (in-situ and target landing using Mechjeb) would allow me to do a two part mission closer to the Mars Direct plan - return craft lands, refuels using in-situ then the crew turn up later in the lander/hab and transfer over to the return craft when its time to go home. Things I didn't include: - In-situ fuel production (see above) - A seperate habitat/lander (see above) - Deployable surface structures (need to do some research on what is out there) - Orbital comms satellite (not essential but would have been nice) - A rover for the crew (maybe next time) - More interesting things for the crew to do once they land (rover might have helped with that) So find below the photo album of the mission for your enjoyment. It is 168 images, hopefully you'll find this mission interesting