Landwalker

Dang, that looks a lot purdier than any skybox I remember seeing. Goes to show you how often I'm in space.... I didn't remember basic EVE looking that great, but it's been so long since I've seen "vanilla" EVE (instead of an Astronomer pack or KSPRC) that I couldn't have told you want they looked like anywayâ€â€and again, it isn't like I spend a lot of time in far-from-Kerbin space in the first place. - - - Updated - - - Dang, that looks a lot fancier than any skybox I remember seeing. Goes to show you how often I'm in space, I can't even recognize the stock Skybox.... I didn't remember basic EVE looking that great, but it's been so long since I've seen "vanilla" EVE (instead of an Astronomer pack or KSPRC) that I couldn't have told you want they looked like anywayâ€â€and again, it isn't like I spend a lot of time in far-from-Kerbin space in the first place.

Very fancy. Mind if I ask what visual mods and skybox you're using, there?

That was my thought as wellâ€â€especially given that running in DX11 resulted in a number of areas having text that can only be described as a hybrid of a five-year-old's handwriting and a ransom note: But even a driver update had no effect. My thoughts as well... I don't know what DX settings may have changed, as I'm not generally the sort to monkey around with things like that and would have been highly unlikely to have changed anything in my previous setup (and certainly haven't made any custom changes in this one yet). The curious thing is that before, when my computer only had 4GB of RAM, although things ran like they were coated in molasses they at least ran, and I practically never reach 3GB of RAM usage. Now that I have 16GB of RAM (and the same 64-Bit Windows 7 OS that I had before even when I only had 4GB of RAM), the game seems to say "My, we've got all this extra RAM now, don't mind if I do help myself" and then it overeats and crashes (sounds like me this past Saturday, now that I think about it...).

Did give that a try, but to no avail.1 Tonight's foray into Linux also proved a failure, as my Belkin wireless adapter and Ubuntu don't get along (which makes it impossible to, you know, download Steam or KSP), and since I'm not sufficiently Linux-savvy (or patient) I can't be bothered to monkey around with a bunch of old community workarounds from five years ago. Getting late here, but tomorrow I'll try falling back to OpenGL. The good news is that forcing OpenGL, in a two-minute test, seems to produce better results (starts out at a lower RAM level, at least)... which makes me wonder if I'm somehow messing up DirectX 11, since I formerly got more RAM savings with that than with OpenGL (not to mention better visuals). But it's going to need an extended-play test to verify any sort of stability. Granted, I ran it in conjunction with DirectX 11, which I don't think is the correct way to do it. If OpenGL tests tomorrow don't keep up their promise, I'll throw -nolog in there as well and see what happens.

Ah, that makes sense. I like the KAX stuff too, and after looking at Firespitter more it's just too... shiny? Bright? Blindingly colorful? I think until Tantares is ready for SETI I've probably about tapped out on parts-focused mods for now.

Today I found out you can use elevons as flaps in stock to reduce airspeed velocity (regardless of whether or not one is piloting a swallow of any variety or state of laden-ness). Yep. Just found that out. Feelin' pretty awesome today.

I concur. I have (for the record, I use "Aggressive" ATM). It gets me on the main menu at about 3.0-3.1GB, and creeps up from there. Actually lasted about 45 minutes this time before it got to 3.7GB... of course, that was all with AVP-Edge of Oblivion, which I don't want to use, rather than the resized-variant Interstellar I had been using. Trying the same thing but with the same setup as I had previously (i.e. the Interstellar setup) bears similar fruit, although at first blush it looks like the RAM creep is ever so slightly slower. Maybe.I'm a bit burnt out on trying to wrestle with KSP to get it to behave right now, but I'm going to come back to it later this week (expecting to have an uptick in actual work this week) and see what I can cook up. -----EDIT----- Alternatively, currently investigating a Windows/Linux dual-boot.

Assuming we're talking about stock parts, I think I have to go with the LV-909. That said, the Skipper (for undetermined reasons) also has a special place in my arsenal. I just have a fondness for those intermediate misfit engines.

So, a little bit of an interruption going on here. (EDIT: In order to skip the interruption and get right back to the mission reports, skip ahead to here.) Got a new computer rig set up this weekend and, you guessed it, KSP is acting up. Using the exact same settings for the game as pre-change, including DX11, but for some reason the RAM usage has increased from the 2.8-2.9GB neighborhood to the 3.6GB+ neighborhood for no identifiable reason. If the sudden appearance of some new graphical quirks that I didn't have before were the only issue, I could handle it, but the constant crashing every few minutes isn't conducive to much of anything (let alone keeping records for a mission report). Won't be able to make any progress until I figure out what the problem is, or at least figure out a way to avoid the problem (probably with a downgrade to visual enhancements, unfortunately). Also contemplating trying to get Linux into the picture, despite having zero experience with it whatsoever, just so I can get that sweet 64-bit action, but that'll require some research on my end to figure out exactly what it'll entail. From a completely computer-unrelated angle, I'm also hoping that Yemo gets the chance to incorporate the Tantares mod parts into the SETI-CTT part of SETI, because *drool*, but that won't prevent me from forging onwards once the program's stability is reestablished. The good news is that my actual save file is completely intact, so once I get the game to stay open I should be able to jump right back in and start the next ComSat launch.

Well, that depends on how you pronounce "event"...

How does OPM play with 64K? Any notable conflicts?

Afraid I have to ask a dumb question here: I've just set up a new GameData folder to "switch off" with my previous one, and added RealFuels (with stockalike config) and Tantares. While this combination seems fine for the Pavonis engine, the Pavonis fuel tank only allows "Liquid Fuel/Oxidizer" and "Liquid Hydrogen/Oxidizer", while the Pavonis engine only uses "Kerosene + Liquid Oxygen" or "Ethanol75 + Liquid Oxygen". The result is a Pavonis that is not going to space, or anywhere for that matter, on account of having an engine and a fuel tank that are incompatible. Now, obviously (hopefully) I screwed something up. But I'm not savvy enough to be able to identify the "what" very easily. I've tried a search to no avail, so is there anyone kind enough to knock me in the right direction here? ------ Edit ------ Upon further review, this appears to be true for all Tantares fuel tanks, as well as for fuel tanks from some (but not all) other mods, so I suppose whatever I messed up, it wasn't Tantares-specific after all.

Been meaning to ask: I see that you're using RemoteTech along with your 64K. Are the antenna ranges for RemoteTech adjusted to take into account the significantly longer ranges involved with a 64K game?

While I'm not familiar with "Bog-standard Community Tech Tree", have you tried just using that? (And if so, does/would it help with the problem you're running into?) There's also OpenTree, but I don't know where the MKS parts fall on that. I also saw this relative newcomer the other day. It doesn't look like he's incorporated the Kolonization stuff yet, though.

I don't have the technology yet to put the Kerbin Equatorial ComSat group into keosynchronous orbitâ€â€or rather, I could, but I'd need to use a couple of extra dishes instead of being able to use an omnidirectional antenna. That said, for the 800km orbit I'm using for this first-generation satellite team, I did actually do at least this part of the math: 794 seconds in darkness, round up to 800 seconds. Running the OKTO2 + Communotron 16 + all four Reflectron KR-7 dishes sucks up something like 3.5 EC/sâ€â€I don't remember the exact number, but I know I rounded up come up with a minimum EC storage capacity of 3,000 EC. I believe I have a 3,000 EC 1.25m battery bank available, so I'll just slap one of those on the next ComSat. I did not, however, calculate Mun-related blockage, so in a worst-case scenario there may be temporary outages (or I may just slap more battery capacity on just to be safe anyway). Did not do the math on this one, but I do know this: Running three dishes, a whip antenna, and the probe core does not drain EC in full sunlight. Running the fourth dish does. My "eyeball engineering" is that if I just double the number of solar panels (eight instead of four), and given that the satellites will spend much more time in sunlight than out of sunlight, they should be fine. I probably should do some calculations to make sure, though... Yeah, need to see what the consumption is with the lights on, too. Man, numbers. I'm actually using Background Processing specifically so that ships will consume EC "off-screen", so whatever mathing I end up doing, it'll have to be able to hold up in perpetuity. I honestly felt like even the first ComSat was obnoxiously large ( I hate having that FL-T200 tank on there), but at this stage of the game I don't think I'm getting around that.

Lancer V / ComSat Ker-1-E1  The Sound of Silence UT Y1-D131-H0-M37 √107,565 – §58.6– Ʀ44% Despite the considerable successes achieved and improvements made by the KSSLTA, much work remained ahead if the agency were to realize its lofty goals of get paid by kerbals to throw them into space for fun. The inevitable culmination of the project was undoubtedly the landing of a kerbonaut (and eventually, a tour guide and high-wealth tourists) on the surface of the Mun, the program director felt it necessary to test powered landing procedures on Kerbin, owing to the suspicion that the Mun did not in fact have an atmosphere (although this was yet to be confirmed). Not only was preparation for a still-distant munar landing in the works, but after a heated rock-paper-scissors tournament, Valentina Kerman had won a reprieve from her atmospheric missions and the honor of piloting the upcoming Lancer V extended orbital assignment to study the effects of prolonged time in space on the Kerbal physiology and psychology. The agency medical staff suggested that neither Valentina nor Jebediah were very useful candidates for learning about the psychological impact of anything, but as they were also the only qualified pilots, the options were fairly short in supply. Last but certainly not least, the program director demanded the establishment of a satellite communications network to allow continuous contact with both uncrewed and crewed missions in the Kerbin subsystem. After the debacle with the VAB engineers throwing the original powered landing test craft off the launchpad and the inadequate performance of the LV-909 Terrier engine, the now-molified engineers redesigned a lander using three 0.625m MRS "Sparkler" engines in place of the LV-909, as well as three upside-down Sepratron retroboosters to aid the "lander" in reaching the desired height for testing. Despite questionable performance by the design under simulation, the decision was made to proceed with production. Construction Timeline Construction Started: UT Y1-D131-H0-M37 Construction Completed: UT Y1-D135-H3-M53 Launch Time: UT Y1-D136-H0-M27 [*]Mission Objectives Execute a powered landing on Kerbin after reaching an altitude of 500m. Construction Command Stage Probodobodyne OKTO2 Small Inline Reaction Wheel FL-A5 Adapter FL-T100 Fuel Tank (3x) Sepratron I (50% thrust limiter) SM-3 Stack Triple Adapter (1.25m to 0.625m) (3x) MRS 0.625m "Sparkler" Liquid Fuel Engine (3x) LT-05 Micro Landing Strut [*]Engineer's Report Total on the Launchpad Part Count: 14 Height: 2.3m Mass: 1,780kg (180kg solid fuel, 275kg oxidizer, 225kg liquid fuel) Delta-V (Surface): 436/s [*]Construction Time: 4d, 3h, 16m (93,256 BP at 0.95 BP/s) [*]Construction Cost: √4,195 [*]Crew None While this design had no trouble reaching the required height of 500m, it proved to have significant trouble adequately braking during the descent. In an effort to conserve fuel, braking began too late and the craft was not slowed sufficiently for a "safe" landingâ€â€althuogh the lander survived impact, the landing struts buckled slightly and smashed the MRS Sparkler engines into the ground, destroying all three. Mission Timeline Launch Time: UT Y1-D136-H0-M27 Mission Duration: 00:01:17 [*]Mission Results Science Recovered: §0.00 Salvage Recovered: √2,914 (69.46%) Partial Success  Execute a powered landing on Kerbin after reaching an altitude of 500m. [*]Contracts Completed None1 Science Collected None [*]Crew Decorations Awarded None Despite the struggles by the LV-909 during preliminary testing and the loss of the MRS Sparklers during the actual test, the position was generally held that, by the time the program was actually landing anything on the Mun, that either the lower gravity would make the LV-909 sufficient, or the program would have access to better options and not have to worry about it in the first place. Despite this confidence, the agency still needed to demonstrate a truly successful powered landing on Kerbin to molify the Department of Tourism, and seeing as Jebediah also was long overdue for a vacation the mission organizers decided to attempt a piloted powered landing near Kerbin's beaches. For scientific research, of course. Unlike the test for the probe lander, the landing gear on the manned test craft had its suspension locked, hoping to protect the engines. Jeb, of course, was not told about this, since having no suspension would make the landing rather uncomfortable. Several simulations were run to ensure the craft would be able to achieve 500m altitude and return safely, but after the last simulation resulted in the lander craft being nearly entirely destroyed (save the command pod) after running out of fuel, the engineers simply slapped more fuel on it and announced it was ready for a live run. Construction Timeline Construction Started: UT Y1-D136-H3-M2 Construction Completed: UT Y1-D140-H0-M1 Launch Time: UT Y1-D140-H0-M32 [*]Mission Objectives Execute a powered landing on Kerbin after reaching an altitude of 500m. Splash down at the shores and conduct "scientific research" Recover craft intact and crew alive [*]Construction Command Stage Mk1 Command Pod Universal Storage QuadCore Universal Storage 9001-SC Science Jr. Bay Universal Storage Mystery Gooâ„¢ Containment Bay Universal Storage Magnetometer Boom Bay Universal Storage Science Bay 2HOT Thermometer Double-C Seismic Accelerometer PresMat Barometer FL-T200 Fuel Tank (8x) Sepratron I (50% thrust limiter) SM-4 Stack Triple Adapter (1.25m to 0.625m) (4x) MRS 0.625m "Sparkler" Liquid Fuel Engine (4x) LT-05 Micro Landing Strut [*]Launch Supports (2x) FASA Atlas Launch Clamp [*]Engineer's Report Total on the Launchpad Part Count: 29 Height: 5.1m Mass: 3,945kg (480kg solid fuel, 550kg oxidizer, 450kg liquid fuel) Delta-V (Surface): 429m/s [*]Construction Time: 3d, 2h, 59m (71,763 BP at 0.95 BP/s) [*]Construction Cost: √16,373 [*]Crew Flight Lieutenant Jebediah Kerman Mission Results Science Recovered: §9.36 Salvage Recovered: √8,399 (98.01%) [*]Contracts Completed Complete  Perform experiments around KSC √13,066  §0  Ʀ2 [*]Science Collected Probe Report from VAB  §0.18 Temperature Scan from Administration  §0.54 Materials Study from Mission Control  §4.32 Materials Study from Spaceplane Hangar  §4.32 [*]Crew Decorations Awarded Bill Kerman Multiple Missions  For participating in five missions. It became apparent almost immediately after the start of the test that the craft had no hope whatsoever of reaching the beaches, and that aspect of the mission was quickly abandoned. Nevertheless, Jeb reached the 500m height at MET 00:17 and began his descent. Once again, the Sparkler engines proved severely underpowered, and this was even more pronounced than it had been for the probe landing test, resulting in an impact at almost 30m/s (that's over 65mph), breaking the suspension locks on the landing gear and destroying the engines instantly. Despite this, the rest of the craft miraculously survived, although its failure to reach the shoreline resulted in no worthwhile scientific data being collected. Mission Timeline Launch Time: UT Y1-D140-H0-M32 Mission Duration: 00:02:24 [*]Mission Results Science Recovered: §0.00 Salvage Recovered: √14,107 (86.16%) Success  Execute a powered landing on Kerbin after reaching an altitude of 500m. Failure  Splash down at the shores and conduct "scientific research" Partial  Recover craft intact and crew alive. Loss of four MRS "Sparkler" 0.625m Liquid Fuel Engines [*]Contracts Completed Complete  Manned Powered Landing √13,500  §3  Ʀ15 [*]Science Collected None. Crew Decorations Awarded Jebediah Kerman None. With the agency's capability of a powered landing sort-of-demonstrated (not really, but nailing it down perfectly requires work, and there are snacks that won't eat themselves), focus turned to completing the upgrades to the VAB, which were wrapped up at UT Y1-D142-H2-M57. Work was quickly begun on a design for the Lancer V, which would ferry Valentina into a 12-day orbital mission. It was hoped that the craft would also be able to serve as a communications relay point during the launch and placement of the agency's first comsatas a result, the Lancer V design was almost identical to that of the Lancer IV, but replaced some of the orbital scientific instruments with a basic omnidirectional antenna for post-launch communications with Mission Control and the comsat that would hopefully follow. Due to the prolonged nature of the mission, it was also outfitted with a small solar panel array and an abundance of supplies. Experimental in-line parachutes were included as part of a testing contract with RealChute Inc. Mission Results Science Recovered: §12.42 Salvage Recovered: √7,811 (98.01%) [*]Contracts Completed Complete  Perform experiments around KSC √11,761  §0  Ʀ2 [*]Science Collected Telemetry Report from KSC  §0.18 Telemetry Report from R&D Corner Lab  §0.18 Probe Report from Runway  §0.18 Probe Report from R&D Corner Lab  §0.18 EVA Report from KSC  §1.44 EVA Report from Mission Control  §1.44 EVA Report from R&D Corner Lab  §1.44 Magnetometer Scan from Mission Control  §0.90 Magnetometer Scan from R&D Corner Lab  §0.90 Temperature Scan from R&D Corner Lab  §0.54 Seismic Scan from R&D Corner Lab  §0.72 Materials Study from R&D  §4.32 [*]Crew Decorations Awarded Bob Kerman Research II  For researching 50 RSOUs. Construction Timeline Construction Started: UT Y1-D142-H2-M57 Construction Completed: UT Y1-D149-H0-M0 Launch Time: UT Y1-D161-H1-M0 [*]Mission Objectives Launch a kerbal into stable orbit around Kerbin and keep them there for 72 hours. Act as relay with Mission Control to set up first communication satellite. Deorbit and land in a previously unresearched biome for scientific research. Recover the craft and crew intact. [*]Construction Command Stage Mk1 Command Pod RealChute Stack Chute (0.625m size, nylon, single, main) TR-2V Stack Decoupler Small Escape Tower Universal Storage QuadCore Universal Storage Magnetometer Boom Bay Universal Storage Mystery Gooâ„¢ Bay Universal Storage SC-9001 Science Jr. Bay Universal Storage Supplies Bay Service Bay (1.25m) Cubic Octagonal Strut Mk II Communotron 16 OX-2L 1×3 Photovoltaic Panels Heat Shield (1.25m) [*]Second Stage TR-18A Stack Decoupler RealChute Stack Chute (Nylon, single, main) FL-T400 Fuel Tank LV-909 "Terrier" Liquid Fuel Engine [*]First Stage TR-18A Stack Decoupler 1.25-1.875m Fuel Tank H-3200 "Long Walk" Fuel Tank HGR FG-90 Liquid Fuel Engine4 (2x) TT-38K Radial Decoupler (2x) SpaceY 05S SRB (2x) RealChute Cone Chute (2x) RealChute Radial Chute [*]Launch Support (2x) TT18-A Launch Stability Enhancer FASA Launch Tower [*]Engineer's Report Total on the Launchpad Part Count: 40 Height: 20.9m Mass: 31,403kg (3,225kg solid fuel; 10,587kg oxidier; 8,662kg liquid fuel) Delta-V (Surface): 3,262m/s [*]Command Stage Part Count: 14 Mass: 1,964kg [*]Second Stage Part Count: 4 Mass: 3,035kg (1,100kg oxidizer, 900kg liquid fuel) TWR (Vacuum): 1.22 Delta-V (Vacuum): 1,729m/s [*]First Stage Part Count: 17 Mass: 26,063kg (3,000kg solid fuel; 9,487kg oxidier; 7,762kg liquid fuel) TWR (Surface): 1.47 Delta-V (Surface): 2,836m/s [*]Construction Time: 6d, 4h, 3m (136,976 BP at 0.95 BP/s) [*]Construction Cost: √35,207 [*]Crew Test Pilot Valentina Kerman Mission Results Science Recovered: §5.40 Salvage Recovered: √8,399 (98.01%) [*]Contracts Completed Complete  Perform experiments around KSC √13,011  §0  Ʀ2 [*]Science Collected Telemetry Report from Tracking Station  §0.18 Probe Report from Spaceplane Hangar  §0.18 Seismic Scan from Runway  §0.72 Materials Study from Administration  §4.32 [*]Crew Decorations Awarded Bob Kerman None. Mission Results2 Science Recovered: §13.55 Salvage Recovered: √9,172 (97.9%) [*]Contracts Completed Complete  Perform experiments around KSC √13,941  §0  Ʀ2 [*]Partial  Probe Report experiments on Kerbin Probe Report landed at Kerbin's Shores √5,459  §0  Ʀ0 [*]Science Collected Telemetry Report from Runway  §0.18 Probe Report from Mission Control  §0.18 Seismic Scan from KSC  §0.72 Magnetometer Scan from KSC  §0.90 EVA Report from Kerbin's Shores  §1.44 Materials Study from Kerbin's Shores  §4.32 Mystery Gooâ„¢ Observation from Kerbin's Shores  §3.24 Probe Report from Kerbin's Shores  §0.18 Telemetry Report from Kerbin's Shores  §0.18 Seismic Scan from Kerbin's Shores  §0.72 Temperature Scan from Kerbin's Shores  §0.54 Magnetometer Scan from Kerbin's Shores  §0.90 [*]Crew Decorations Awarded Bill Kerman None. Although the Lancer V was completed at UT Y1-D149-H0-M0 and ready to launch within the next day, its launch was delayed while the VAB engineers worked on designing a rocket to carry the program's first communications satellite into orbit. The intent was that this delay would ensure that the first satellite would be ready to launch before it was time for Valentina to deorbit from her mission, thus allowing the Lancer V to act as a relay for communications between Mission Control and the uncrewed satellite. A number of concerns were raised by Engineering that the program lacked the precision propulsion technology necessary to set up multiple satellites with identical orbital periods. After nearly four minutes of half-hearted debate, the managing team concluded that it would be better to put up communication satellites now that were "pretty close" and then worry about replacing them in the future when the program was better equipped to do so. The satellite launch would introduce the first dedicated, consistent launch vehicle designed by the program. Dubbed the Trident 1, the design followed the time-honored Kerbal tradition of overcoming a problem by simply increasing the volume of the proposed solution until the proposed solution turned into an actual solutionâ€â€while the center of the Trident 1 launch vehicle resembled that of the Lancer IV, with an H-3200 Long Walk fuel tank and HGR FG-90 engine, the solid rocket boosters had been replaced by large liquid fuel tanks, each with FG-90 engines of their own. Simulations suggested that this arrangement might be, to use the technical term, "overkill," but everyone agreed that that was much more desirable than underkill. Construction Timeline Construction Started: UT Y1-D150-H0-M39 Construction Completed: UT Y1-D162-H4-M12 Launch Time: UT Y1-D164-H0-M36 [*]Mission Objectives Set ComSat into an 800km equatorial orbit. Demonstrate capability of providing continuous communications relay. [*]Construction ComSat Ker-1-E1 Probodobodyne OKTO2 MRS Reaction Wheel, 0.625m Stackable Modular Girder Segment FL-R10 RCS Fuel Tank Inline RCS Block FL-A5 Adapter (0.625m to 1.25m) FL-T200 Fuel Tank LV-909 Terrier Liquid Fuel Engine (2x) RealChute Radial Chutes (Silk, Single, Main) (4x) Illuminator Mk3 (4x) OX-2L 1×3 Photovoltaic Panels Communotron 16 (4x) Reflection KR-7 Kerbal Engineering System TR-18A Stack Decoupler [*]Second Stage (4x) Sepratron I (2x) RealChute Stack Chute (Nylon, single, main) FL-T400 Fuel Tank LV-909 "Terrier" Liquid Fuel Engine (15% Thrust Limiter) TR-18A Stack Decoupler [*]Trident 1 Launch Stage AE-FF1 Airstream Protective Shell, 1.875m H-3200 "Long Walk" Fuel Tank (3x) HGR FG-90 Liquid Fuel Engine (2x) TT-38K Radial Decoupler (2x) HGR Radial Booster Tank (4x) RealChute Radial Chute (4x) Wing Strake [*]Launch Support (2x) TT18-A Launch Stability Enhancer [*]Engineer's Report Total on the Launchpad Part Count: 53 Height: 20.5m Mass: 73,552kg (28,050kg oxidier; 22,950kg liquid fuel) Delta-V (Surface): 3,430m/s [*]ComSat Ker-1-E1 Part Count: 24 Mass: 3,143kg (550kg oxidizer, 450kg liquid fuel) TWR (Vacuum): 0.29 Delta-V (Vacuum): 1,296m/s [*]Second Stage Part Count: 9 Mass: 3,273kg (1,100kg oxidizer, 900kg liquid fuel) TWR (Vacuum): 0.95 Delta-V (Vacuum): 1,264m/s [*]First Stage Part Count: 20 Mass: 67,135kg (26.4t oxidier; 21.6t liquid fuel) TWR (Surface): 1.33 Delta-V (Surface): 2,799m/s [*]Construction Time: 12d, 3h, 33m (271,992 BP at 1.00 BP/s) [*]Construction Cost: √35,457 [*]Crew None. RealChute Cone Double Chute RealChute Stack Chute Although construction on the Lancer V was quickly completed, launch was delayed for almost two weeks while awaiting the construction of ComSat Ker-1-E1 in order to ensure that the two could launch fairly close together and enable the satellite launch to take advantage of Valentina's mission for communications. Lancer V was finally given the go-ahead approximately nine hours before the completion of the comsat launch vehicle. As seemed to be a pattern in Valentina's recent flights, the initial ascent was uneventul, but the craft as a whole seemed unusually interested in veering off-course after the early moments. There was some speculation that the forces exerted following the ejection of the LES tower may have had something to do with it. There was also speculation that Val had spilled snacks in the guidance system. Regardless, the pilot took over manual steering and avoided any further incidents. The launch stage burned out at MET 00:00:02:22, and Val set up a 327m/s apokee burn to circularize the orbit just above 100km. The flight plan called for an eventual expansion of the orbit out to around 800km, and to remain there for the duration of the mission. While waiting for the maneuver node, scientific instruments inside the service bay were determined to be experiencing a strange temperature anomaly, with wild fluctuations and the threat of explosions. At the advice of Mission Control, Val opened the bay doors, stabilizing the internal temperature and avoiding any disasters. The LKO circularization was executed at MET 00:00:06:24, and by MET 00:01:01:56 the Lancer V was circularized into a 819.6x818.8km equatorial orbit, and preparations began to be finalized for the launch of ComSat Ker-1-E1. An unusually long rollout resulted in the launch of the satellite at UT Y1-D164-H0-M36, just as Lancer V was passing over the KSC grounds, as this would allow Val to serve as a waypoint for satellite transmissions throughout its launch and initial circularization. The satellite lifter's first stage burned out at MET 02:55 with an immediate decoupling and ejection of fairings. Once the craft had left the atmosphere, the Communotron 16 was extended to establish a link with Lancer V. The satellite's initial orbit was circularized at 90km, and programming was sent to extend the apoapsis to 800km (allowing the craft to execute the maneuver on its own in the event of a severed comlink). Despite several errors and oversights made during the attempts to properly program the satellite's flight computer (including a failure to actually turn on the engine in the final stage before one of the maneuvers), by MET 00:02:35:32, the satellite was finally set up in a circular 802km orbit. About this time, Mission Control came to a depressing realization and, simultaneously, many of the engineers began slinking out of the control room to find somewhere to hideâ€â€for all the attention dedicated to its design and construction, ComSat Ker-1-E1 had not been outfitted with any electrical storage capacity other than that inherent in the OKTO2 core. This made it impossible for the satellite to operate anything more demanding than its omnidirectional Communotron 16 antenna during its passes "behind" Kerbin without exhausting its electrical charge. Furthermore, the four solar panel arrays on the satellite were inadequate to power all five antennae at once, even in full sunlight. Notes were hastily made and heads were hastily banged together to encourage this oversight from never happening again. Several leading engineers were severely reprimanded with several weeks of unpaid leave, an unheard of punishment in the Kerpublic.3 Four hours after launch, the mission was judged to be temporarily concluded and ComSat Ker-1-E1 was considered to be in place, with resignation that it would not be able to execute all of its assigned responsibilities. However, it was hoped that its single antenna could at least act as a relay between future, better-designed satellites, until such time as it could be replaced. Mission Timeline Launch Time: UT Y1-D161-H1-M0 Mission Time: + 03:03:44:00 [*]Mission Results Science Recovered: §2.70 Salvage Recovered: √5,985.7 Ongoing  Launch a kerbal into stable orbit around Kerbin and keep them there for 72 hours. Success  Act as relay with Mission Control to set up first communication satellite. Pending  Deorbit and land in a previously unresearched biome for scientific research. Pending  Recover the craft and crew intact. [*]Contracts Completed None.Science Collected Temperature Scan while high in space over Kerbin  §2.70 [*]Crew Decorations Awarded Valentina Kerman None. Mission Timeline Launch Time: UT Y1-D164-H0-M36 Mission Duration: Ongoing [*]Mission Results Science Recovered: §1.80 Salvage Recovered: √12,726 (35.89%) Success  Set ComSat into an 800km equatorial orbit. Partial  Demonstrate capability of providing continuous communications relay. [*]Contracts Completed Partial  Create a communication network for Kerbin (1/4 satellites). √0  §0  Ʀ0 [*]Partial  Field Research: Probe report experiments on Kerbin. Probe Report while high in space above Kerbin √5,860  §0  Ʀ0 [*]Science Collected Probe Report while in space high over Kerbin  §0.90 Telemetry Report while in space high over Kerbin  §0.90 [*]Crew Decorations Awarded None. Whew! Lots of stuff in this one. I spent a particular ton of time on the ComSat design (and then screwed it up anyway). Would have had this posted yesterday, as it was all written up, but Imgur was being a whiny brat and rejecting all my image uploads. Future ComSats will be equipped with at least six (probably eight) solar arrays and at least 3,000EC worth of battery backup. Interestingly, the Lancer V counts as one of the satellites for the RemoteTech "Get a network up" contract, so I actually have it 2/4 completed. The next project is getting two more ComSats up, and then seeing if the fact that ComSat Ker-1-E1 can only use its Communotron 16 will in any way adversely impact my communication network. If not, then I'll call it good for now, but if it poses any issues I'll have to replace the damn thing. Also, There's your dang escape system. That's actually the first time I've ever put one on a rocket, so I'm still working out the kinks of "how to actually best set it up for both aesthetics and function," but hey, a poorly-installed and ugly LES is better than no LES, I guess? Technically, no contract was completed, because I accidentally completed the "Powered Landing" contract during my landing for Lancer III, as addressed in that post. This powered landing test was mostly a "I got the reward for it already, now I have to actually earn it" / roleplaying purposes. If it seems like I'm doing a ton of these, it's because I am. They're contracts for something I would do anyway (i.e. build a cart and then go strip-mine KSC for all the science), and they're a good source of extra early-game money, which I can always use. One of the big reasons for me to write this, and in particular write out the Engineer and Construction reports for each craft, is to make me pay close attention to what I'm building. You would think that, considering how much time I spent agonizing over and tinkering with the design of ComSat Ker-1-E1, I would have remembered to include, I don't know, batteries.

I'm using it in 1.04 with no discernible issues at all.

Launched my first Kerbin equatorial communications satellite for my RemoteTech play last night. Spend a couple of hours agonizing over the design, tweaking things to make sure it could reach its desired orbit, that it had enough antennae, that it had solar arrays, that it had RCS for any future fine-tuning adjustments. Got it up there. Almost exactly circular 802km orbit. Realized I had put zero batteries on the satellite. It can only run its one weakest antenna during the "night" phase of its orbit or it'll drain the 200EC built in to the probe core in a matter of seconds. Now deciding whether to leave it there as an otherwise-useless omni-antenna relay point, or tear the whole thing down.

Anybody know how well/poorly Firespitter plays with SETIctt?

Also, on the subject of the way I'm doing some of the write-ups: Do folks find the detailed breakdowns of things to be useful / interesting / informative? I'm particularly talking about these: Construction Timeline Construction Started: UT Y1-D111-H1-M25 Construction Completed: UT Y1-D122-H4-M34 Launch Time: UT Y1-D123-H2-M40 [*]Mission Objectives Launch a kerbal into an orbit around Kerbin, and return him safely. Contract - Conduct an orbital survey of Kerbin. Return or transmit Mystery Goo™ data from high orbit above Kerbin. Return or transmit Orbital Telescope Observations data from high orbit above Kerbin. Return or transmit Magnetometer Scan data from high orbit above Kerbin. [*]Return crew and EVA report from high orbit above Kerbin. [*]Return Materials Bay observations from high orbit above Kerbin. [*]Recover the craft and crew intact. [*]Construction Command Stage Mk1 Command Pod RealChute Cone Chute Universal Storage QuadCore Universal Storage Magnetometer Boom Bay Universal Storage Orbital Telescope Bay Universal Storage Mystery Goo™ Bay Universal Storage SC-9001 Science Jr. Bay Heat Shield (1.25m) [*]Second Stage TR-18A Stack Decoupler FL-T400 Fuel Tank LV-909 "Terrier" Liquid Fuel Engine3 [*]First Stage TR-18A Stack Decoupler 1.25-1.875m Fuel Tank H-3200 "Long Walk" Fuel Tank HGR FG-90 Liquid Fuel Engine4 (2x) TT-38K Radial Decoupler (2x) SpaceY 05S SRB (2x) RealChute Cone Chute (2x) RealChute Radial Chute [*]Launch Support (2x) TT18-A Launch Stability Enhancer FASA Launch Tower [*]Engineer's Report Total on the Launchpad Part Count: 30 Height: 20.4m Mass: 30,357kg (3,000kg solid fuel; 10,587kg oxidier; 8,662kg liquid fuel) Delta-V (Surface): 3,497/s [*]Command Stage Part Count: 8 Mass: 1,444kg [*]Second Stage Part Count: 3 Mass: 2,850kg (1,100kg oxidizer, 900kg liquid fuel) TWR (Vacuum): 1.42 Delta-V (Vacuum): 2,121m/s [*]First Stage Part Count: 17 Mass: 26,063kg (3,000kg solid fuel; 9,487kg oxidier; 7,762kg liquid fuel) TWR (Surface): 1.52 Delta-V (Surface): 2,974m/s [*]Construction Time: 11d, 3h, 10m (224,123 BP at 0.90 BP/s) [*]Construction Cost: √36,450 [*]Crew Test Pilot Jebediah Kerman Mission Timeline Launch Time: UT Y1-D123-H2-M40 Mission Duration: 01:33:00 [*]Mission Results Science Recovered: §75.70 Salvage Recovered: √20,396 (55.96%) Success  Launch a kerbal into an orbit around Kerbin, and return him safely. Success  Conduct an orbital survey of Kerbin. Success  Return crew and EVA report from high orbit above Kerbin. Success  Return Materials Bay observations from high orbit above Kerbin. Success  Recover the craft and crew intact. [*]Contracts Completed Complete  Manned Orbit and safe return! √54,000  §14  Ʀ100 [*]Complete  Conduct an orbital survey of Kerbin. √30,316  §2  Ʀ6Partial  Field Research: Materials study experiments on Kerbin. Materials Study from Kerbin while high in space √5,828  §0  Ʀ0 [*]Science Collected Orbital Telescope Observations from space just above Kerbin's Highlands  §3.60 Orbital Telescope Observations from space just above Kerbin's Grasslands  §3.60 Orbital Telescope Observations from space just above Kerbin's Mountains  §3.60 Orbital Telescope Observations from space just above Kerbin's Deserts  §3.60 Orbital Telescope Observations while in space high over Kerbin  §5.40 Crew Report while in space high over Kerbin §5.40 Crew Report from space just above Kerbin's Highlands  §3.60 Crew Report from space just above Kerbin's Mountains  §3.60 Crew Report from space just above Kerbin's Deserts  §3.60 Materials Study while in space high over Kerbin  §21.60 Mystery Goo™ Observation while in space high over Kerbin  §16.20 Magnetometer Scan while in space high over Kerbin  §4.50 Recovery of a vessel returned from Kerbin orbit  §1.00 [*]Crew Decorations Awarded Jebediah Kerman Research III  For researching 100 science points. Mach III  For flying horizontally at mach 3 below 30km in Kerbin atmosphere. Kerbin EVA  For going on EVA in zero atmosphere around Kerbin. First Kerbin Orbit  For being the first kerbal orbiting around Kerbin. First Kerbin Orbital EVA  For being first kerbal on EVA in a stable orbit around Kerbin. Dangerous EVA  For executing EVA while not in a stable orbit. In particular, the timestamps, the engineer's report, and the construction detail in the "craft-building" sections, but anything is fair game. These take a lot of time to write up, which obviously impacts both play speed and update regularity, so I'd like to make sure people actually get anything out of them and that I'm not just wasting post-space and Walker-time putting them together.

Spent most of last night post-Pyramids trip doing KSC experiment contracts, designing the Lancer V, and designing ComSat Ker-1-EqA (that's Communications Satellite, Kerbin, First-Generation, Satellite A in an Equatorial orbit). I'm not particularly happy with the ComSat design itself or with my mental conceptions of a communications network in general, so I wanted to bounce some ideas around and see if folks have any thoughts on them. Right now, I have zero communications satellites. I have access to omnidirectional antennas with a range of 2,500km (Communotron 16), and to basic dish antennas that for all intents and purposes can reach the edge of Kerbin's SoI with a 25º cone (Reflectron KR-7). I do not have access to any antenna options that can reach more distant bodies (like Eve or Duna). In order to cover Kerbin, a Reflectron KR-7 would have to be at an altitude of at least 2,800km, which basically means it would probably be placed into keosynchronous orbit, but ideally that's not what I would do to start out with. In order for three satellites in Kerbin orbit to talk to each other using only Communotron 16s, they'll need to be at an altitude of something like 800km (I haven't done the hard math, but it's in that neighborhood). My current mental comm-map looks something like this (using words because I have no pictures): A triangle with vertices at about 800km above Kerbin's equator, cones pointed at Mun and Minmus, a dish pointed at the active ship, and a "spare dish". After my initial munar missions (flyby, basic orbit), a similar arrangement at the Mun, using Communotron 16s to talk to each other, and cones to Kerbin and Minmus (no dish for the active ship, since they shouldn't need to be talking to anything further away than 2.5Mm anyway that isn't in the Kerbin or Minmus cone).1 Ditto for Minmus. Since I don't have any antennae that can reach more than a few thousand kilometers beyond Kerbin's SoI, no point in worrying about that in this "first-generation" network. By the time I roll around to missions to Eve or Duna, I'm considering trying to put two satellites at the far edge of Kerbin's SoI (just inside, or just outside in Kerbin-leading and Kerbin-trailing positions) that have a cone to Kerbin, long-range cones to Eve and Duna, and a long-range dish to the active craft. Any obvious flaws or inefficiencies in that folks can pick up? The main one that jumps out at me is that polar-region ground-based missions won't be able to talk to the equatorial satellites. If I launch any polar landing missions (on Kerbin or otherwise), I'll need to also arrange something to cover themâ€â€but that probably wouldn't be too much more involved than slapping an extra omnidirectional antenna on a SCANsat satellite and letting it pull double duty. Technically, since the Mun is tidally locked, I can do my first landings there with no munar communications networkâ€â€just slap a KR-7 dish on the lander and it can talk to the Kerbin network directly. Once it's time for far-side landings, then it's time for a Mun network.

That what I suspected / was afraid of. I take that to mean that Tantares doesn't cover that intermediate size. Ah, I see. Good to know. Thanks for the info. I get the impression that Tantares is in a sort of "revision" period, although I do really like the look of some of the stuff. Worth keeping an eye on, certainly. (Edit: I guess a follow-up question, for folks familiar with both, is this: In their current states, which do you prefer to use? Tantares or HGR?)

Those blueprints are outstanding. Mind if I ask how you generated them? As an aside question, a quick query re: Tantares vis-a-vis a couple of other mods: Are there any problems with using Tantares and Home Grown Rockets together, or should those be more "One or the other"? Also, any issues with Tantares + RemoteTech?

I manage not to sneak the W into the pronunciation of "Duna" (first syllable rhymes with MOO, not MEW), but given my Joolian (spoiler: I pronounce that "JOOL-lee-uhn" even though I pronounce the planet itself like "Jewl"). I can definitely see Ker-BOLE, too. The reason for my pronunciation of Dres as "Drayce" with a long-a is because I studied Latin for all of high school and most of college (classical languages was one of my majors), and that's how it would be pronounced in Latin (in the phrase "in media res", meaning "in the middle of the things", the last word's Latin pronunciation sounds like "race"â€â€and then I just slap a D on the front for "Dres"). And yes, I am well aware that the Kerbol System has nothing to do with Latin whatsoever. That's just how my brain works. I know "Mun/Mün" (and therefore "Muhn/Moon") is a common point of contention, but until the tracking station and system map start spelling it "Mün" instead of "Mun", I stand by my short-U pronunciation. Besides, what could be more natural and obvious than "Mun rhymes with Fun because KSP"?

Dang, Ussari. Have yourself some boosters, there. I am troubled by the sudden and unexplained disappearance of loyal Yuri. No doubt kidnapped by capitalist spies.