Starwhip

Issues again... The new ship is designed with a 1-way transfer stage which will drop prior to the Kerbin return burn (KRB). The Habitat module will decouple the Cupola prior to KRB, saving weight. A "Poodle" engine is concealed directly under the Cupola, it will be used to execute the KRB. My main issue? Upon gravity turn at 9000 meters, the ship decides to spin out of control. The 3-wide RCS reaction ports are not enough to stabilize it. Tips? Perhaps detachable canards on the fuel tank? Would that help, or is there another alternative?

Ok, so, new plan: 1. Cut back on the payload. ONE lander is good enough. 2. Higher TWR. Although a NERVA is highly efficient, if you can burn closer to the node, you save Delta V. So, I'm thinking Kerlington. 3. Drop tanks. Let's not haul around all that extra fuel, everybody! I'll build the craft with a core stage that can make it back to Kerbin, which carries only the crew. It would have parachutes and legs to land back on Kerbin. 4. Less monopropellant. I'll use Reaction Wheels, on a stronger craft. Saves fuel. 5. Emergency Procedures. If I can't get back to Kerbin, the core stage will be Duna-landing capable. Unintentional bases, anyone? Until these changes are implemented, please enjoy my new desktop background:

Huh. There's a link to the article on the KSP website. Didn't know that until just now.

'Fraid I can't say the same to you. 10/10.

Okay, I'm seeing some good ideas. But I want to keep the Cupolas; I find them I iconic. I think that what I'll do is get rid of the Ike lander, and give the Duna lander enough capacity to go to, land, and return from Ike. Or have drop-tanks. I'll figure it out... I hope. I got some really nice screenshots, anyway.

Woah. Look at the headline: Minecraft in space: why Nasa is embracing Kerbal Space Program A new generation of authentic simulations is inspiring a generation of interstellar explorers Sam White theguardian.com, Thursday 22 May 2014 07.19 EDT I think this was TODAY.

So check out this article I found: Minecraft in Space: Why NASA is embracing the Kerbal Space Program It seems KSP is on the right track to becoming widely known about the country/world. And the new KerbalEdu version that's coming out could be interesting. That's all I have to say, really.

Delta V literally means "Change in Acceleration". In meters per second per second. Yes, two "per second"s. Thus, m/s^2 or m/(s*s) Well, the mission failed. Horribly. I think I have to restart from the Duna Aerobrake, because at the moment, nothing is coming back home right now. Need some redesigning. I think I'm going to change out the Ike lander for a fuel tank or two, and just refuel the Duna lander and use it for Ike.

Did the DV calcs again. It's got 400 Isp from the Aerospikes, and 68 tons of fuel from... wait. Crud. Forgot the arm tanks. Okay, it's got 3203.85 m/s^2 of Delta V. That's not half bad. And the TWR is... Weight = 136.287 tons Thrust = 700 kn TWR (Kerbin) = 0.523. TWR (Duna) = 1.747. Woah. It could land on Duna. Impressive. Got the crew transferred, refueled it, now just got to wait until Duna window in, oh, 125 days or so. Crud. Bye-bye, old DTV! (I got Jeb and what's-his-face off of it first, though )

Empty fuel tanks? You mean, like, an Asparagus lander? Nay, sir. It's a single stage. And it's using a "Poodle". So no drop-tanks there. Based off of the hand calculations I did, it's got something like 1660 m/s^2 of Delta V. The Ike lander is also one stage. It has 1502 m/s^2. Note that it only really needs around 1400. But I like a safety margin. Same with the Duna lander: it only really needs about... oh, wait. I calculated 1675. Oh, well, close enough. I implemented the safety margin before anyway. The main reason the Transfer stage has to be so large is that it has to carry the crew and landers to Duna as well as back to Kerbin. In one stage. No Kethane refueling. At best, I could send over a refueler next time a window opens. Anyways, the mission seems to be on the right track. Just got to refuel the darn thing. Any ideas on what to name it? The Duna Transfer Vehicle is... not very creative, to say the least. I think there's still one guy stuck on the original Transfer section. I'll send up a Koyuz and dock with it. It's got room for two, if I kick one guy out on launch.

No, but the getting back is the tricky bit. No Kethane here, sir. Totally contained in ONE ship! On a side note: The IEV and DEV are now connected. Just need to refuel and... uh... rescue the guys stranded on the previous DTV. Heh.

Friggin'... Absolute... BEHEMOTH!!! Weighs 70 tons right now, but was clocking in over 100 at launch (Just the bit you see here) Need to an entire orange tank up there to refuel it; in fact, a little bit more. Probably 1.5 OTs. Also need RCS, plus all of the modules on the other bit. CREW TRANSFER TIME! Oh. Wait. It's in a 500 km orbit. That's going to be annoying. MOAR THAN ONE REFUELER!!!

Thank you, SLS Block II!!! Going to get there. Going to get there... soonish.

Ugh. Mark Three: Cleaner, sleeker, MOAR POWER and still has the delta-V. Yes! (NOTE: THE GRAY TANKS IN FRONT ARE TO SIMULATE THE PAYLOAD OF THE LANDERS. THEY ARE NOT FOR FUEL.) With the new version, the second hub near the DEV in the back can be eliminated, saving weight.

New & Improved DTV, packing 5km/s^2 of DV on its own. 0.44 TWR. A little better. Hmmph. And the vessel is strong enough for Physics warp. I've tested it. So this is a liiitle bit more tricky than I thought.

Hmm. I'm thinking KSP But maybe not.

So, I did the calculations for a manned Duna/Ike mission, and designed a ship off of them. It's three components. The main section (The middle one with the HSCs and the Cupolas) is the Transfer section, dedicated to getting the crew there and back. The front is the Ike Excursion Vehicle, with a CSM and Lander. The back, the Duna EV lander. That middle section is calculated at nearly 3 km/s^2 of delta-V. Good enough for a Duna trip. Here's the problem: With the two NERVA's, the thing's TWR is only 0.3 at Kerbin. That gives a 15-minute-ish transfer burn. Not nice. I have considered two options: 1 - Give it a higher orbit, so that the burn can be started earlier OR 2 - Redesign the Transfer section. Hopefully number one, but any other ideas?

Interesting! Is that really your face?! If it is, a ten out of ten!

Banned for a tiny number of posts.

Alright, I suggest you go to Google translate and type in some nice words. Make them another language. That's how I named some planets for a book I'm writing: System name: Aberats Planets: Aurrera Arreba Erraldoi Zaharra and an asteroid is referred to as Ikusezina

Switch to docking mode if you don't want to use the reaction wheels. It's the little blue circle tab by the green staging one over on the bottom left. Click it. Or you can toggle the reaction wheels by right-clicking/setting up an action group.

Hebedualllkicknealllluuekknoae *head explodes from reading too fast* Koddamn, man, use periods! Welcome, though.

That sucks... But yeah, I should probably start doing this too.

Hmm. So, you're saying that at lightspeed (if you got there) the universe would be going by infinitely fast? Interesting.

I was going for photograph or picture, but yeah, that works. Your turn. Again.