Ravenchant

Keeping the electronics the panels would produce electricity for from frying would be a far bigger problem than any damage to semiconductive materials within.

Launchpad test of my first, obviously Copernicus-inspired manned Duna ship. Seems sturdy enough. Okay, so it might be a bit overbuilt But delta-v is hard to come by without NERVAs...

Couldn't you circularize with the vehicle itself and then refill its tanks once in orbit? It looks like it has a docking port ...it's going to take long with that TWR, though.

I did something, but I'm not showing it because it looked horrible. When working with purple, you will most likely end up with some yellow as well, because complementary colours and all that. It's hard to think of good designs when staring at my least favourite part of the palette Sorry. What about astropapi? Edit: This is the layout. Somewhere an art major is crying. Now if you'll excuse me, I'll do alike.

I vouch for those, but the stronger ones are actually engines, you're going to need action groups for them and they can't be radially mounted. The strongest has...40-ish kN of thrust? Anyway, a lot.

My second career Mun lander design almost killed two Kerbonauts. According to Engineer, it had plenty of delta-v to pull it off, but I noticed too late that two of its four engines were blocked by landing legs, so half the fuel up to that point was wasted. When did I notice? After the deorbit burn, on a steep descent, with less than 2 minutes left to impact, right after I foolishly quicksaved So after crashing into the surface at about 200 m/s and quickloading, I decoupled the rover the lander was carrying, undocked the offending stage, docked on a different angle... and still crashed. I then managed, on a fifth or so reload, to get my horizontal speed up just enough for an about 30x500, 20° orbit using the last fumes of RCS. The rescue mission was where I learned to rendezvous on elliptical, inclined trajectories

1) Yep, but AFAIK the effect is only useful when your orbital path is leaving the bodies sphere of influence 2) KSP doesn't model n-body interactions, so... I guess no?

Thanks for updating this for 0.23! Aside from Chatterer, this is the only mod that's always installed. Though I don't use the in-flight version.

Merry winter-solstice-related holidays, everyone! (that should cover most of them)

Actually just gratuitous style - there are struts inside But the payload is only meant to go to LKO anyway, and the lifter had a bit of delta-v left, so...

Oh, my. This is...quite the monster. Looks good! Should be stable on Minmus, too

Are your stations empty, or overcrowded? Do you absolutely, positively need to put three or fewer Kerbals into orbit? Is cleaning up messes left by rapid unplanned disassemblies becoming a chore? If you answered yes to any of those questions, I have just the ship for you! Using an inefficient sleek design and "able to return without leaving junk up there", the Corvus is a great workhorse for those flights when the goal isn't getting far, but getting there safely. Features: - An overcomplicated elaborate launch escape system and a simple fairing - Soyuz-style retrorockets. Yes, Kerbonauts can now do landings over solid ground without breaking their teeth...not that they have many - Auto-deorbit feature for the final stage. Starring engines for antsTM! EDIT: gallery is slightly outdated. It now looks like this (Freud would be proud) Download here. (right click -> save file)

Hard to choose... but cubic struts, sepratrons and the inline probe cores are indispensable.

Perfectly possible. You don't really need the mainsail for anything, if you design it well. One of my career launchers gets 45 tons to orbit without mainsails or orange tanks, and it's possible to go bigger if you go mad on the struts. Your name matches this picture beautifully

Not that long, it's activated by staging anyway. You basically attach a cubic octogonal strut facing outwards, then put a decoupler with 1x1 panels on it and a sepratron somewhere in the mix. Attached with double 6x symmetry. I'll share the craft file if people want it

Well, if a canadarm analogue ever is implemented, it's probably at least a few patches away. So it's either waiting, using a mod or making your own mod. The only thing you really need is powered hinges; Infernal Robotics has those, along with washers, gantries, pistons etc. If you dislike using mods on the "main" save, make a copy of your KSP folder, then install mods in that one while keeping the original stock. That way you can decide if a particular one is/isn't for you, while avoiding reinstalls

Ouch, that's unfortunate. Did you try deleting its folder in GameData? That solves most issues for me. Make your game what?

Applause. This must have demanded a lot of patience. The real reason why RCS rockets are (nearly) impossible isn't the low ISP though...it's the engine weight. BRB, off to do something similar with RLA monoprop engines!

Someone call Christopher Nolan, quick. There is a design we'd like him to see...

Those orbits are absolutely beautiful. And remind me of Lissajou curves, for some reason While on the subject of geometric satisfaction... finally managed to make a stock fairing detach somewhat decently:

This little thingy got way more attention than deserved in a recent challenge. I blame its delivery method

I could try throwing something together in Inkscape if it isn't too urgent. How elaborate would it need to be?

Debris? As few as possible! I don't terminate anything that isn't either landed at Kerbin or a single part (like broken girders and such) on another celestial body, but with probe cores on everything and a bit of overengineering the orbits are still mostly tidy. The question is, for how long? Early in career mode, before unlocking inline probe cores, I've made quite a mess with orbital injection stages for Mun landings. A few are still up there as a "memorial", the rest was deorbited using a scoop design. Two missions managed to deorbit six or seven stages. Never again! It's just too nerve-grating. Unless a Kerbal gets stranded up there, any debris created on accident are free to roam.

According to the flight log, a decoupler failed when the physics kicked in on the pad. Gone unnoticed...but not for long

Designed a one-kerbal Duna lander. Here's its ascent stage undergoing engine testing on the pad