gabyalufix

41 Habitation Modules, safely landed on the mun. Can\'t remember where I got the parts. The super-long tanks is from skypiercer. Big rocket, only 2 stages: a set of solid boosters and the liquid fuel boosters, the latter of which keep us going right up until the end. The first stage technically included all the engines, including the main-stage liquid fuel engines. I needed them to be partially throttled up, so that I could use their gimballing to keep me on course. The eight massive uber-solid-boosters provided most of the thrust. But stage 2 is no chump either. 21x LV-T300 1m liquid fuel engines, attached to a super-long tank. In past tests, i made it into solar orbit, without the solid boosters. A few pics of the main stage: 20 hab mods + the command module on the top deck. 21 hab mods on the bottom. On munar approach. this part is REALLY touchy. I have no RCS, so all my changes in direction come from the engine gimballing. I MADE IT! Jeb looks disappointed. Sunset over the last kerbins in the universe. If they had brought any poets along, they might have been able to link this to an appropriate metaphor. Next year, in Kerusalem! Not bad at all. A few of those RCS tanks got snapped off by the stupid tower on the way up. That\'s probably part of why it was so hard to keep it stable. Note, not all attempts were a complete, unqualified success. In my first try, a few habitation mods exploded when the tower tipped over on landing. Most of them survived, however. Ok, fine, maybe 'Landing' is too strong a word. 'Jebification', perhaps. Anyhoo, I Included the craft file. You\'ll need all the mod packs, but I don\'t think I used anything too crazy or out-of-the-ordinary.

Yeah. I just took all the command modules and copy-pasted them up, changed the configs so they\'re 'Struts'. I missed being able to stick command modules wherever I feel like it.

Symmetry is for people who have downloaded an insufficient number of parts! Death before the symmetry button! Viva la Asimetría! PS. I am male.

Updated firefox. Works now. Thanks!

Whenever anyone attaches links in this forum, i can\'t seem to download them. It works when the post has a link to mediafire or whatever, but when there is a 'attached' link, it just downloads a blank php page. Tried it in firefox and chrome, no dice. What\'s wrong with my computer?

Made a new topic, for my new, and complete, version of the Farside Mission. http://kerbalspaceprogram.com/forum/index.php?topic=5434.0

Buckle up, folks. I\'m gonna show you guys how I roll. It\'s a long ride, so get comfy. Maybe make yourself a snack. Originally, Operaration HFPMB was a modest proposal, intending to launch an unmanned, half-meter ball that beeped over ham radio. However, top KSP engineers soon fixed that. The Beep-Ball Manufacture and Engineering team requested that a manned command module be included, so that the frequency could be manually set before release. This of course required the addition of several other modules, so that the intrepid kerbalnaughts could breathe, stay warm, play regulation-size ping-pong, etc. This of course required ever-greater lift capacity. Of course, whenever the booster engineers built a new rocket, they inevitably added too much thrust, causing the rocket to tear itself apart from acceleration. Rather than forcing a redesign, more payload mass was added, inevitably in excess. This process cycled for several iterations until the road-sides were spotless, all across the nation. The final mission goals were: (1) Establish a permanent communications satellite in planetary orbit. The NearEar Communications Relay would act as a radio relay for transmissions from the other modules. (2) Establish a permanent space station in low munar orbit. Lowball Station included a space telescope, a solar array, a communications module, and an return/escape vehicle, as well as a large central service/habitation module. (3) Establish a massive, permanent base on the munar surface. Nobody was sure exactly what they would do once they got there, but everyone agreed that they were sure to think of something. Thus, they brought along every possible module and tool they could fit on top of the rocket. A radar dish, a huge solar array, a full set of left- and right-handed milspec can-openers, test tubes, various chemicals (many of which were labelled). The list went on. After all, one never knew what sort of brilliant Science(!) they might be able to get up to, on the far side of the moon. (4) Send a small command module back home with soil samples, instrument readings, exotic alien servant-girls, and/or whatever else of interest that they might come across. Mission Log: -Launch! The first stage used 8x full-length 3m tanks, and 4x massive rockets. It handled about as well as a tank made of rubber bands. If you touched the sas button or fired the RCS, it instantly tore itself to shreds. A very touchy beast indeed. The first stage cut out at aroung 45km. The burn was a little suboptimal, since the ship would snap in half if I tilted before I released stage 1, so I had to go straight up. The 2nd stage was a set of 4 solid rocket boosters. Jeb enjoyed this part tremendously. I had to focus to keep it from spinning out, so I didn\'t get a screen shot of the burn. But it didn\'t last long anyhow. Release: Stage 3 was a set of 5 high-efficiency, low-thrust liquid engines running off a single full-length 3m tank. Jeb sulked the whole time. This brought me to stable orbit. 159km/103km apogee/perigee. T+13 minutes. Let\'s take a look at the ship: Mein gott . . . how the heck did I get this into orbit? 'How many solar panels do you think we\'ll need?' 'Dunno. How many ya got?' Sunset. Probably should have packed some batteries too . . . Stage 3 release. All that\'s left are the three long-term modules: The NearEar Communications Relay, Lowball Space Station, and Farside MunBase. NEC Relay has been released. My luckiest shot of the series: You can see the NEC relay drifting away, the Mun in the background to the left, Kerbal below, and in the distant background, the discarded Stage III booster. Another shot of the NEC relay, drifting away. Okay! Now all that\'s left is Lowball and Farside. Let\'s take a look at lowball. The Comms module, with a parabolic dish for transmitting messages to the NearEar. While other space programs might claim that a huge dish isn\'t strictly necessary for communicating over such short distances, the KSP\'s official best-practices specifications require that all kerbalnauts have access to full-HD television at all times; therefore, such additional equipment is considered vital to mission success. The FWtSHtF C/EEV. Despite rumors to the contrary, a spokeskerbin for the Kerbal Space Program has assured the media at a recent press conference that the official title of this module is the 'For When the Stuff Hits the Fan Command / Emergency Escape Vehicle'. After a visit from the FCC concerning a few unfortunate live, on-air comments by Jeb, the kerbalnaughts were sternly ordered to refer to it by it\'s full official title. Since then, they have begun referring to it as the 'R-LAV', or 'Really-Long Acronym Vehicle'. Kinda hard to see, but there\'s a space telescope on there. During the trip to the mun, an inter-module game of Eye-Spy was cut short amid accusations that the commander of the Lowball was cheating by discovering and naming new stars. A subsequent ruling by NESA (national eye spy association) determined that this was 'technically legal, but highly unsportsmanlike'. Lowball Station\'s Solar Array and Utility Module provides power, as well as maintaining various life-support subsystems. Sunrise. Scaled to kerbin, Lowball + Farside have more living space than MIR, plus several times that much volume in engines and fuel tanks. Destination: Mun. Apogee, after the first perigee burn. Bill heard somewhere that the best way to get into a transfer orbit with a weak but efficient engine was to burn at perigee. So I did that. After the 2nd perigee burn, I was in an equatorial transfer orbit. It took a few swings round, but eventually got captured by Munar gravity. Then I had to wait until sunrise over my Landing Zone, an equatorial crater on the far side. Sunrise, at last: Made my way into orbit. Released Lowball Space Station in a low orbit over the mun. (Approx) Apogee: 10km, Perigee: 5km. In hindsight, I should have written the exact numbers down. So long, suckers! Farside MunBase, with Lowball Space Station receding in the background. Lowball Station, with Farside Base in the background: Let\'s take a closer look at Farside Base: The central fuel tank is where most of the fuel is stored. Fuel lines link it up to the four engines. Goodbye, Kerbal! We\'ll miss you! Crater ho! Shedding all that nasty orbital velocity. I actually almost got hit by Lowball right after this pic was taken. Didn\'t react fast enough to get a pic though. Beginning descent. I was really nervous now. I\'d already spent 30-60 minutes on this and had had incredible luck, so I was terrified that I\'d crash, or KSP would crash, or the power would go out, or something . . . I always turned off the engines before I took a pic, because it was more stable with the engines off. I was afraid my pic-taking would be the death of me. Farside Base has landed! PIC ALL OF THE THINGS!!! The Comms module sends and receives radio transmissions and quality HD-TV programming, relayed from Kerbal to the NEC Relay to Lowball Station to (finally) down here on Farside Base. The sunroom has nice big windows so the Kerbinaughts can get some sun. Someone pointed out that the sun is horribly radioactive without miles of protective atmosphere. Thus, they built the solar array on top, to provide the sunroom with nice, non-carcinogenic shade. The Sensor/Science/Service module has a Big Ol Radar Dish, for potentially detecting hostile UFO\'s and azure-skinned alien nymphomaniac pleasure barges. RED ALERT: THERE IS SUN IN THE SUNROOM! THIS IS NOT A DRILL! The auxilery solar tower / utility module performs basic life support functions, as well as containing the Military-Grade Zero-G Poop Disposal Unit. Other misc shots: By my estimate, there\'s a kerbal-scale equivalent to around 200 cubic meters of living space. Most of the living quarters are converted fuel tanks with windows installed, or converted command modules stolen from other, less-well-funded projects. The crew complement is somewhere between 6 to 8 kerbonaughts, though it can support a full dozen if people are prepared to double bunk. I actually did 2 successful runs of this mission. In both, I tried to calculate the lowball\'s orbit and get a sight of it from farside base. Both times, I failed to spot it. I dunno if it was too far up (5-7km, approx), or moving too fast, or if I miscalculated the orbit, or if I blinked, or what. The only time I sighted it after losing sight was that one time it almost hit me, and that was while I was still mostly in orbit with it. After they ran out of sandwiches, Jeb, Bill, and Bob decided to abandon their Mun-Base friends and return home. The Return Vehicle was really touchy, so I didn\'t get many shots of it in flight. I really wish I had gotten a shot of Farside from above. Munar orbit. If I did the math right, then lowball should be far enough around the horizon that they can relay Jeb, bill, and Bob their HD-TV from the NEC Relay. Pretty big return vehicle. I brought a ton of extra fuel, hoping to meet back up with lowball. No such luck, so I just went home with extra fuel. Hello, old friend. I actually entered atmo twice. The first time was over land, so I rocketed back out and did some corrections from orbit. I didn\'t want to take any chances, at this point. This looks like as good a spot as any. Lots of splashy blue goodness, all around. Someone should probably call mission control and see if they can get a boat coming our way. Extra rocket stage, which might have been necessary if I had burned a bunch of fuel trying to link up with lowball. As it was: pointless. Command Module, coming in hot. My velocity was really high at this point. Was beginning to worry that I had hit the chute too late. Still moving pretty fast, but decelerating faster . . . . . Splash, not boom. MISSION SUCCESSFUL! WOO HOO!

No. Because kearth isn\'t tidally locked with the mun. You keep going round in little circles on your pad, as night turns to day and so on. New plan: journey to the center of the Kerbin! Then you\'ll be geostationary with the mun. edit: I\'m a ninja.

I\'m gonna try again tomorrow. Till then, a taste: The Kerbins\' new project is Farside Base, a permanent settlement on the far side of the moon. Of course, in order to maintain radio contact with Kerbal, they\'ll need a similarly-permanent munar space station. And if you\'re doing that, why not add a space telescope? And some other stuff, too. Sure. What\'s a few more kilos, right? Look at the size of this thing . . . Mission objective I: Dropping off a comms satellite in kerbal orbit. I got real low. This screenshot is taken from a stable orbit, 750m. That\'s not even the perigee, either. I was so low, I had to shut off the RCS, because it would drive my perigee into the ground if I wasn\'t careful. Mission objective 2: Insert Lowball Space Station into low munar orbit. From here, the Kerbins would transmit signals to and from Farside Base. In addition, the station would serve as a jack-of-all-trades research station in its own right. After all, as long as you\'re sending something up there, might as well pack it chockablock with more stuff. More is always better, right? Not counting the engines and fuel tanks, the station has 5 modules. The core service module, a comms / engineering module, a space telescope module, a science module (bristling with sensors), and a small escape craft capable of returning to Kerbal, in the (likely) event of the catastrophic failure of one of the other modules. Kerbal command, Lowball Station is released. Another shot of lowball station (technically, a previous version). A few seconds before KSP crashed: What I really want to try is rendezvous-ing my return stage with the orbiting station stage. Has anyone ever tried this? How close do you have to be before the engine renders a nearby object? I was hoping that if the station was low enough, I would be able to see it go by, and thus time my launch to meet with it. But 500 m/s is pretty damned fast . . . I\'d have to go an awful long time without blinking.

Ugh. I planned this whole thing where I showed off the new craft. I added a bunch of modules to the orbiter, and some other stuff, and it\'s bigger, better, and more awesome . . . and then . . . . Ow. What the heck does 'too many heap sections' mean? And why does it cause KSP to crash after 30 minutes of careful, desperately fuel-deprived orbital fiddling? Ow.

Thanks guys! It\'s amazing how creative you can get, when you have a dissertation to avoid . . .

nlancaster: I think I have all those mod packs, but it won\'t load. I think I\'m missing those extra long landing struts. Anyone know where those came from?

I put a big ol\' station on the Mun. On the launchpad. This is by far my biggest rocket to date. First stage. 4x huge 3-meter monster engines. Keeping it from tearing itself apart with standing wave vibrations takes a lot of practice. I start out at full blast and throttle back as the fuel runs out. Dumping stage 1. Stage 2 is a set of solid boosters. We\'re out of atmo here, so control is easier, but takes up a ton of RCS fuel. I actually tacked this stage on a previous (much smaller) mun lander, to give it the extra lifting capacity. Dumping stage 2. In a highly-elliptical almost-orbit at this point. Stage 3 gets me the rest of the way to a munar intercept orbit (or whatever it\'s called). The orbital service module is a hell of a lot bigger than the one from Apollo. I\'ll probably stick some habitation modules, solar panels, and antenna later. The orbiter module gets left in orbit. All that\'s left is the station module and the 2-stage return module. Here we go people. This is not a drill! Touchdown. Big station. Plenty of room for activities. Big upward-facing antennae for calling home. Loads of sensors, living quarters, etc. Serves a permanent crew of 6, with cramped but serviceable accommodations for maybe a dozen. Mun buggy not included (someone should get on that). There is a return module, but I didn\'t get to try an ascent, because when I time-dilated (in order to get some sunrise shots),the station fell through the munar floor. Very annoying. I\'ll try again later. Some of my previous (smaller) moon landings that used the same return module have returned safely, so I\'m not particularly worried.

Do you think this is the effect of the 'tide'? Does anyone know if the physics engine simulates gravity\'s effects on each component individually, or if gravity is only simulated for the object as a whole? In other words, if I built an extremely long and thin rocket, will tidal forces pull my rocket into a vertical orientation? I should probably just test this . . . As for why objects drift around after release: if you are aligned vertically on release, the lower components will be in a smaller orbit but going too fast, and thus will (initially) start slowly drifting outwards as you slowly drift inwards. (right?) Have you tried orienting yourself horizontally before release?

OOOOOOOH. Ok. That\'s really handy. Now begin my furious attempts to deorbit back to my launchpad.

On my attitude indicator. (the thing that looks like this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attitude_indicator) So I get how the green reticules represent my velocity vector. But for the life of me I cannot figure out what the pink reticules are. Is it the acceleration vector? Sometimes it seems that way, but other times not. I tried to search for it here and on the wiki, but either I suck at searching or nobody else was confused by this.