Pecan

Sorry - wrong thread! Doh.

Very, very short ones with tightly-written, well-presented scripts so no bandwidth is wasted. Keep it under about 5 minutes and I might even watch one.

Hehe, that's what I was trying too - mine didn't work, needless to say ^^.

I have used the same arrangement in a couple of launches where the payload engines are LV-Ns. They don't provide much thrust but what they do give is cheap - better to have it working than waiting, so arrange launch-vehicle stages so that the payload engines are clear, and can contribute, as soon as possible. (We know what we're talking about anyway. It'll be interesting to see if this 'Zistu staging' is something new).

At the beginning of the thread several of us said rovers weren't worth the effort - it was more efficient and quicker to send landers to each place you wanted to visit. My previous question was just whether anyone had found a rover really useful ever. On wheels - the same rule applies to almost everything in space; the 'best' ones to use are the smallest/lightest that work. Smaller ones might just break or stick/sink into the ground under too great a load but if that isn't happening there's not advantage to bigger wheels.

Well, sort of - except it isn't asparagus if the upper rockets aren't firing and it isn't serial if they are. I'm assuming that as lower pairs are dropped the upper engines, now clear, start to burn and take their fuel from the remaining lower tanks? But's that's just asparagus not done properly - you have to push useless engine-mass until it is cleared to contribute. The physical arrangement doesn't affect the logical fuel-flow, just delay (and impede) it. (Sorry, I'm just back from the pub as I type this) - what I mean is, you could do the same thing more efficiently but less aerodynamically by combining the upper stages with the 'real' asparagus lower ones.

My broadband cap won't let be watch a video that lasts for more than quarter of an hour! Any chance that you could write about the main learning points in your tutorial as well?

Ninja'd Edit: mhoram - you rock! (asparagus symmetry-3 is really just a mistake in understanding as far as I can tell - but parallel asparagus? He's having a laugh.)

Tuku - you've obviously started a thread where a lot people have interesting things to say; well done. Showing how good things can look, outside as well as the internals of the ALCOR/RPM display is good too. If it's not too off-topic, now that the thread has wandered a bit anyway; has anyone used a rover that was more efficient or easier than multiple landings?

Off topic but .. what mission would you need to lift 200 tons for? ETA: for RIC's post below - :-) 'what mission benefits from a 200-ton single launch' - And now I ask it properly it answers itself - BIG ROCKETS!

No, I don't think I need to use the VAB - I'll just vertical-launch from the runway, there's no difference in the parts or build so it doesn't matter. Mind you, what I have in mind isn't as good-looking as Fendleton's anyway. You've inspired me to see what I can do though.

What difference does it make if a vehicle is built in the VAB instead of the SPH?

@ KerbMav - EVA and right-click to take data from science equipment. AFAIK all the lab does is increase the transmission value of science. Then again, I do sandbox because the missions make more sense. - OR NOT - I've just been messing around a bit and I can't reset the goo pods after taking data so maybe you can't. Thankfully I don't need "points" to tell me I'm making progress ^^ @ tuku473 - Which way the navball points is determined by the orientation of the command pod/core you're controlling the vehicle from. Like most 'rocket' type pods the ALCOR you're using is expected to launch upwards so the navball points at the sky. Aeroplane cockpits, for instance, are expected to launch forwards so the navball points at the horizon. You certainly won't be able to use the autopilot from MJ or another mod unless it knows which way the vehicle itself is facing - that's why it's worth putting an extra, correctly-orientated, pod/core on the ship. Yes, unfortunately, that has to be done during build - there isn't anything you can do to reorientate the navball once launched. BAUI: Yes, it's ugly, unlike asparagus-staged vehicles designed for aesthetics. Why do you imply that an asparagus staged vehicle would be worse than yours? Do you mean that 'pancake' - very wide/low designs - are bad, or that those with 'moar boosters' all over the place look unfeasible? If so, you will be pleased to know that those designs have nothing to do with asparagus staging. The purpose of asparagus staging being efficiency it is as likely to make a design simpler and more elegant, should that be the designers intention. Multiple 'rings' of booster stages is almost never worth it and with a single ring asparagus is indistinguishable from other radial/parallel staging strategies without close inspection of the fuel-lines. By the same token the relative inefficiency of radial and parallel staging makes it more likely that multiple booster rings would be necessary in the first place. People who design ugly rockets design ugly rockets, and those that design good-looking ones don't; asparagus isn't responsible.

I think there is much that is arguable in your posts here but for now I'll stick with this one. Since this is a "heavy equipment" thread I'm assuming that 'this' load is the heavy one and anything else is therefore lighter. It is always preferable to manoeuvre the lightest vehicle(s) during any operation as they will need least fuel for any acceleration, unless they have very inefficient propulsion. As such a heavy load should be dropped as soon as possible - 70-75km and everything else should do the work of getting to it. However, everything depends on how many other vehicles are going to have to go to that extra effort, in which case you might want to put the heavy load into a a higher parking orbit, as you say (generally, I use 250km for exactly that reason), but you don't launch into that orbit! Every launch (rules are made to be broken) should be circularised at 70-75km, then perform a Hohmann transfer to the final parking orbit. Using this method you're minimising the flight requirements in thick, draggy, atmosphere and maximising them at optimal orbital-adjustment points. Like a lot of things, the difference isn't much with light vehicles over a short distance but can quickly become significant with large loads across large distances.

You don't need the atmospheric nosecone science thingys because you're not in atmosphere. Similar with the pressure (and I think the temperature) sensor. You don't need two goo cannisters because your pilot can recover the data from a single one, reset it and store the data in the pod. You don't need monopropellant tanks to refill your EVA jetpack because it's done automatically and infinitely when you re-board the pod. (You may still want the monopropellant for manoeuvres anyway). Of course, you might want to keep all that stuff just for balance and looks. No problem; as others have said rovers are impractical for science because it takes soooo long to get anywhere. I can't see from your screenshots but does the navball face forward, at the horizon, or straight up? If up you should consider placing a probe-core facing forwards and 'control from here' on it. This makes navigation a lot easier, especially when traversing slopes - which makes an up-pointing navball think your heading is going all over the place. I also find it best to keep SAS off - and, in fact, disable the torque in the pod and any other core(s) - so that it doesn't try to 'keep you on course' when you're just climbing a hill, not falling over! For all of this I find it best - to the limited extent that I ever use rovers - to use the 'stage' action group (which I otherwise don't touch) to turn off torque, set brakes, steering, etc. as required while I'm in the VAB. Not that this helps when you're already on Mun, of course ^^.

This thread is nearly 2 years old! The magic boulder hasn't even been in the most recent versions.

Interesting idea, well done.

CHAPTER 3: PROJECT FOOTSTEPS Orbital Satellites. Staging, tweaking, orbital manoeuvres. SECTION 1: PROJECT BRIEFING Identity;Project Footsteps – Mapping Kerbin Background;Now that KSC has the ability to reach orbit we have been tasked with mapping the surface of Kerbin to provide drivers and pilots with accurate navigation information. The scanning instruments themselves have been developed by the Scientific Committee of Advanced Navigation (SCAN) and consist of low-, mid- and high- orbit sensors. Objectives;Build a dummy satellite equipped with non-SCAN scientific instruments. This will be used when the SCAN equipment is not available. Ensure that the instruments you use are the same total mass as the SCAN ones so they can swapped-out as required. 1) Build variants of this satellite each carrying one of the low, mid or high SCAN sensors. 2) Build launch vehicles for each of these variant satellites. 3) Place one each of the satellites in orbit. Payloads;SCANSat Low, Mid and High (or Placebo for all three if SCANSat is unavailable). Vehicles;Two-step, Sidestep and Quickstep. Execution;Unlike Rocket 1A/B 'the rocket' is not the mission – getting the satellites into the right orbits is. Usual design practice is to treat 'the payload', which has a job to do in space, as completely separate from 'the launch vehicle' (rocket) which gets it there. It is best to design the satellite payloads first then, when you design the launch vehicles, the only things you have to worry about are how much the payload masses and where you have to put it. It would be possible to design and use only the largest launch vehicle for all three satellites but the oversight committee have rejected this in favour of three different vehicles. Starting with the smallest and simplest and gradually building-up will enable KSC to gain early, and cheap, experience before working with bigger payloads and harder objectives. Start small, otherwise you can easily get frustrated. Small vehicles are usually easier to design, build and fly. Easier missions with easier ships mean you're more likely to succeed, feel good and progress. In KSP failure and explosions can be fun but the chances are you'll have those anyway. Don't tempt the Kraken by trying too much too soon. One of the famous quotations used a fair amount on the KSP forums comes from the science-fiction author Robert A. Heinlein's "Get to low-Earth orbit and you're halfway to anywhere in the solar system." If you have followed the Prologue in the previous chapter or otherwise got the skills to get to orbit you also have half or more of the skills needed to get anywhere in the Kerbol system. This chapter will give you the other rest, at least in outline. The launch vehicles in this chapter are somewhat contrived in order to demonstrate different staging strategies, solid-rocket boosters and 'tweaking'. This is especially true of the second design (Sidestep) but, in any case, you will not be launching such light loads again in this tutorial. Also note that they are over-powered to allow for those readers wishing to use Procedural Fairings for streamlining (which adds mass) or more instruments. SECTION 2: SCANSATS PLACEBO, LOW, MID & HIGH SCANSat Placebo Payload i) Data Sheet Identity;SCANSat Placebo/Low/Mid/High Purpose;Orbital surface-mapping Statistics;0.236t VAB/0.172 dry, 6 (7) parts, cost from 3,120/5,220/10,720/26,720 Design;Less is more – as long as it works Construction;Okto, Z-200 battery, Oscar-B fuel tank, LV-1 engine, OX-4L solar panels, instrument(s) Action Groups;abort:shutdown engine, 6:engine, 7:instrs, 8:solar panels Performance;(Kerbin) TWR 1.73, 894m/s ii) Construction These satellites don't have to get to space, just work when they're there, which simplifies their design a lot. They will need to have a probe core and carry a SCANSat sensor or other instrument(s) of the same mass and in a lot of ways this is the only payload. For these to function, however, they will need electricity. You can get that with solar panels in sunlight but on the night side of the planet a battery will be necessary and the solar panels will also have to charge this. In practice it is almost impossible to establish and maintain a perfect orbit so some form of propulsion for orbital adjustment and station-keeping is important, even more so in real life. The smallest, lightest fuel tank and engine in KSP are plenty for such small satellites as these – you'll use the fuel in short bursts, if at all; first to fine-tune the orbit and then at long intervals to maintain it. At launch a complete satellite will form the payload for the launch-vehicle and the more it carries (specifically, the higher its mass) the more powerful and therefore bigger and complex the launch-vehicle will need to be. As a rule of thumb rockets may only be 10% efficient – meaning 100kg added to the payload results in 1 tonne added to the total launch. With decent design this 10% 'payload ratio' may easily be increased to 15% and good designs can reach 18-20% but that still means even a small increase in the payload has a big knock-on effect. The lightest probe core is the Okto 2, but the heavier Okto includes a reaction wheel, so that's what we go for. Similarly the Oscar-B fuel tank and LV-1 engines are the lightest. Each SCANSat sensor masses the same (0.03t). As a compromise between minimum-mass and maximum-functionality the satellite design given uses the slightly heavier Z-200 battery instead of a Z-100 and OX-4L solar panels. Planning ahead – how long will a satellite spend on the night side of Eeloo? How much power will it use during that time? Will the solar panels be able to power it and recharge the battery during the daylight transit, so far from the sun? This is a tutorial not a walk-through so you'll have to find those things out for yourself. Instrument particulars: For 'placebo' the pictures illustrate an instrument-payload of one Communotron 88-88 and one Communotron 16. Any other object(s) that mass 0.03t – to match with a single SCANSat instrument – may be used instead, if you wish. The SCANSat orbital-sensors themselves are found on the 'science' tab in the VAB/SPH, if you have installed the mod. The 'low' satellite needs to be equipped with a SCAN RADAR altimetry sensor (5-500km, optimal 5km), 'mid' with a SCAN multispectral sensor (5-500km, optimal 250km) and 'high' with a SCAN SAR altimetry sensor (5-800km, optimal 750km). iii) Staging And Action Groups Separate groups have been assigned to toggle the engine, instrument(s) and solar panels. The instruments and solar-panels should always be operating in space but can't be deployed in the atmosphere, during launch, or the drag will rip them off and destroy them. Their operation could be combined into one group but if power is nearly exhausted it may be necessary to turn off the power-consuming sensor while keeping the power-generating panels deployed. It is also a good idea to disable the engines on every vehicle except when using them; at least if you are as ham-fisted as me and make a habit of pressing left-shift at the wrong times, thereby throttling-up and sending the craft off to an unintended destination/death. When assigning action-groups you will save a lot of sanity if you try to standardise the numbers that you use. Throughout this campaign (and almost everything else I do) groups 1-5 are for the vehicles that deliver payloads, 6-8 for the payloads themselves and 9-10 for space-stations/bases. Experiment to find a convention that works for you, otherwise you'll find yourself switching between craft, forgetting the action-groups and (de)activating the wrong things at the wrong time. Abort should always turn off engines, and/or take more useful emergency escape action. iv) Flight SCANSat Placebo Over Kerbin These satellites are dependent on their launch vehicles to get into space. Flights are therefore detailed below. v) Notes Very often less really is more in space-vehicle design, don't carry anything you don't need to. Especially when you're starting. Design payloads first and work 'backwards' through their mission, adding extra components only as needed. A little more payload mass means a lot more launch complexity. SECTION 3: TWO-STEP Two-Step + SCANSat Low Launch i) Data Sheet Identity;Two-step – Launch Vehicle Purpose;Placing a SCANSat satellite in a 75km Kerbin polar orbit Statistics;(inc. Placebo) 4.176t VAB/1.113 dry, 16 parts, cost 8,645 Design;2 serial-staged with dual-engine first stage Construction;TR-2V decoupler, (Procedural Fairings - fairings base, fairings), RC-001S RGU. FL-T200 fuel tank, 48-7S engine. TR-18A decoupler, FL-T400 fuel tank, TVR-200 bi-coupler, 2x48-7S engines. Action Groups;abort:shutdown engines, 3:rockets, (4:fairings) Performance;(Kerbin) TWR 1.46, 6,593m/s ii) Construction Two-Step + SCANSat Low 2nd Stage Working backwards we start with a SCANSat satellite as the payload. This will need to separate from the launch-vehicle once in orbit so a TR-2V stack decoupler (structural tab) goes underneath it. If you are using the Procedural Fairings mod for streamlining (aerodynamic parts tab) add a 1.25m fairing base under the decoupler and, with symmetry 2, enclose the payload in egg-shaped or conic fairings. In order not to leave debris in space (a best practice) the last stage of a launch vehicle should be able to de-orbit itself after separating from its payload. That means it must be an independent vehicle in its own right, however briefly, and will need a probe core. The RC-001S remote guidance unit (RGU) is used here to fit with the fuel-tank size. It's now time to start looking at performance figures; TWR (Thrust to Weight Ratio) is an easy concept. TWR is how much harder your engines can push (thrust) up than your mass (weight) is dragging you down. With a TWR lower than 1 your engines can't even lift the rocket off the ground and you aren't going to space today. At exactly 1 you can hover or maintain any speed you already have but can't accelerate away. Obviously then you need a TWR higher than 1 to take-off but less obviously you also don't want a TWR that is too high, because that would make you accelerate too quickly and exceed terminal velocity (see mission 6 in the previous chapter). In stock KSP an ideal launch TWR is considered to be between around 1.4-2. Putting the same FL-T200 fuel tank and 48-7S engine as used on the Rocket 1A under the RGU gives a TWR of 1.78, which is almost perfect. Another FL-T200 tank, however, adds so much mass that the TWR drops to 1.08, which is too low for comfort – stay with the FL-T200/48-7S combination. You can increase the TWR of a rocket by removing excess mass or by adding extra/more powerful engines. DeltaV is a slightly more difficult concept; it is the amount by which you can change your velocity vector; usually measured in metres per second (m/s). This is a speed, like mph, but as a 'vector' it also has a direction – simply put, if you are going 'at 80mph' you must be going in some particular direction. From stopped and with a deltaV of 1,000m/s you could accelerate to 1,000m/s West or 1,000m/s Up, etc. Stopping and turning are the same – accelerating to 500m/s East and then slowing down to 0m/s again would also take 1,000m/s. Likewise, you could accelerate to 500m/s North then turn and accelerate 500m/s East, with a resultant velocity vector being the North-east diagonal you'd get if you draw a '500' line up and another across on a piece of paper (a bit over 707.1m/s). The amount of deltaV a rocket has mainly depends on the amount of fuel it has and how efficient its engines are at using that fuel – the engine's Isp, shown in the VAB/SPH. Like TWR it also depends on the vehicle's mass – a heavier vehicle will be harder to push than a lighter one. In summary then, in KSP, engines burn a particular amount of fuel per second to produce a certain amount of thrust. Their thrust must be enough to lift the mass of the rocket with a reasonable acceleration. Depending on how much fuel the engines have and their efficiency that thrust will be able to change the rocket's speed and direction by a certain amount, less if it is heavier. NB: Stock KSP does not show you these figures. You will either have to work them out by hand every time you make a change to a rocket or use KER/MJ/VOID to display them. Back to the Two-step launch vehicle: we have a rocket with an FL-T200 fuel tank and 48-7S engine giving a TWR of 1.94 and deltaV of 3,459m/s. While the TWR is fine we need at least 4,500m/s deltaV to reach orbit (remember this figure!). In particular, for this our first useful rocket, we want to add some margin for error and de-orbit fuel and would ideally like >5,000m/s deltaV. If we add fuel to increase the deltaV the TWR drops to an unacceptable level so what we have to do is add another 'stage' to the rocket – in effect, build a rocket to lift the rocket. Add a TR-18A stack decoupler under the engine, then an FL-T400 fuel tank. This is all much too heavy for a single 48-7S engine to lift but two can; add a TVR-200 stack bi-coupler and two 48-7S engines. This gives a TWR of 1.46 and deltaV of 6,593m/s, as shown in the data sheet. The rocket is a little under-powered at launch (TWR low) but has plenty of fuel (deltaV high). The bottom two engines will launch the rocket, burning through the 180 units of fuel in the FL-T400 tank. When that is empty we will activate the TR-18A decoupler, dropping the now useless engines and tank, and use the 'upper stage' FL-T200/48-7S to complete the launch into orbit. Once in orbit this upper stage will also be jettisoned and the payload is free to continue its mission. Note that however we build the lower stage(s) and whatever they do the stage(s) above them remain complete and intact, just as they were originally designed. Ideally Two-step would have an extra, or more powerful, engine on the bottom stage but this design is sufficient to illustrate a classic, 2 serial stage, strategy for rocket construction. Rocket 1A was simpler, being Single Stage To Orbit (SSTO) but such designs are usually not efficient or even possible – there has never been a real-world SSTO. Splitting the mass between two or three stages, typically serial-staged like this design, improves efficiency and is the way nearly all Earth rockets are launched. iii) Staging And Action Groups The two lowest engines must be set in the VAB to the first stage to fire at launch (stage 3 if using procedural fairings, stage 2 otherwise). The stage above/after that has the TR-18A decoupler and upper 48-7S engine. The procedural fairings are jettisoned in the next stage (if you are using them) and, finally, the top/last stage activates the small TR-2V decoupler and the satellite's LV-1 engine. As with all vehicles the 'abort' action group will shutdown the engines. We have no idea when/if this will be used so ALL the engines should go in here. Action group 3 is used to toggle the launch-vehicle rockets but not the satellite's, which has already been assigned to group 6. Finally, if you are using them, the streamlined fairings should be jettisoned once the vehicle leaves the atmosphere and before the orbital circularisation burn, so they aren't left in space as debris. They are therefore assigned to action group 4 in this design. Quite a lot of action groups are being defined now. As I have mentioned, I try to maintain a single convention for them just so I don't forget which does what. This convention will be followed throughout this tutorial but you will probably want to experiment with your own – whatever works for you is best. Stage, RCS, SAS – generally not used Gear, Light, Brakes – automatic KSP assignments + parachutes Abort – shutdown all engines, other 'escape' options Custom01 – Launch Vehicle: jets Custom02 – Launch Vehicle: intakes Custom03 – Launch Vehicle: rockets Custom04 – Transfer Vehicle: enter orbit Custom05 – Transfer Vehicle: operations Custom06 – Payload: engines Custom07 – Payload: instruments Custom08 – Payload: solar panels Custom09 – Stations: Engines Custom00 – Stations: Instruments iv) Flight Normal launches, as you will have learnt, use a gravity turn to the East for efficiency, resulting in an equatorial orbit. That won't do for the SCANSat satellites though because they would be going over and mapping the same 'strip' of ground around the equator again and again. Instead they need to be placed in a polar orbit – crossing the North and South poles. As they orbit the world turns beneath them, presenting a new strip of ground on each pass. Over several orbits these strips add up to give us a complete map of the surface. The optimal height for the SCANSat altimetry sensor, as fitted on the SCANSat Low satellite is 5km. This is not a viable orbital height around Kerbin as it is deep within the atmosphere, so our first mapping mission will be put into a 75km orbit; as low as possible while still being outside the atmosphere. It is still well within the operating range of 5-500km. MISSION 8: 75km Polar Orbit Move Two-step to the launch pad by clicking 'launch' on the VAB screen or clicking the launch-pad from the KSC screen and selecting it from the vehicle menu. Once the physics engine has engaged press 'T' to engage SAS. Throttle to max and press the spacebar to launch. From now on this sequence will be assumed and not repeated for every launch. Follow your preferred ascent-profile but do your gravity turn to the North (pitch down, W) instead of East. Press the spacebar again to stage – jettison the tank/engines – when the first stage is exhausted between 14km and 16km. An 'advantage' of the under-powered first stage on Two-step is that you won't have to worry about throttling-back at terminal velocity, you can just keep full throttle all the way. The upper 48-7S will immediately take over when the lower stage is jettisoned. Cut engine as normal when your apoapsis reaches 75km, set your 'circularisation burn' manoeuvre node and then stage again to jettison the fairings when you leave the atmosphere (69/70km). As these are jettisoned before the circularisation burn is carried out they will fall back into the atmosphere like the first rocket stage and be destroyed without leaving any debris. We also need to ensure that the vehicle does not run out of electricity at any point. We will use the payload solar-panel for this as it will not detract from the satellite's functionality later. Consumables (fuel) on a payload should not be touched at all but solar panels won't be used up so it is 'ok' to make use of them. It is not best-practice to rely on anything from another vehicle/payload though – a launch vehicle should be designed to work with any payload within its lifting-capability and such a payload might not have solar panels at all. In this case it's 'ok' because Two-step is specifically designed for the SCANSat Low satellite. Once the fairings have been jettisoned deploy the solar panels (action group 8). Two-Step + SCANSat Low Fairings Jettisoned Carry-out your circularisation burn at apoapsis and check your orbit figures – apoapsis (Ap), periapsis (Pe) and inclination (from 0 degrees = equatorial orbit). These can be seen in the map mode (M) or using KER/MJ/VOID. Map mode will show you the apoapsis and periapsis figures directly but not the inclination. You can get around this by clicking Mun and 'set as target'. Since Mun's orbit is at 0 degrees relative to Kerbin the difference shown at the Ascending and Descending Nodes (AN/DN) of your orbit is also your inclination (it really is a lot easier to use an information mod). If you did your gravity turn directly to the North your orbit will end-up passing East of the pole and the inclination will be less than 90 degrees – why? For an 'ideal' orbit we want Ap and Pe to be equal (a circular orbit) and the inclination to be 90 degrees. If you've got such a perfect orbit; stop showing off! It's unlikely that you have though so we will use the satellite's ability to manoeuvre to improve it. Return to flight mode by pressing M again. Before the satellite can adjust its orbit we need to separate it from the last stage of the Two-step launch vehicle and, to avoid leaving debris, de-orbit those remains. Stage again to separate the satellite and use '[' or ']' to switch between vehicles. The satellite should be fine for the moment because it has the solar panel but now Two-step is running on the residual charge left in its probe core. Before this expires turn the vehicle so it is facing retrograde on the navball and throttle-up to burn all the remaining fuel and push it back into the atmosphere. Cut engines (X) when the fuel is used up or KSP will still think you're "under acceleration" and not let you switch to another vehicle. You won't be able to switch back to the satellite with '['/']' because it'll be too far away. Change to map mode again and you'll see Two-step's orbit-line in blue, hitting the surface, and the SCANSat Low satellite's orbit-line in white and going completely around the planet unless you've done something wrong. Click on and 'switch to' the satellite in order to take control of it again. Now use its engine and fuel to make the orbit as circular as you can (equal Ap and Pe) and with an inclination of 90 degrees. You will probably need to do several, small, adjustments at Ap, Pe, AN and DN to achieve this but don't worry, you have plenty of fuel. You don't need to be exact, as long as the Pe is above 70km (otherwise each time the satellite orbits it will re-enter the atmosphere, be slowed by drag and the orbit will be lowered even more until, sooner or later, the satellite falls to the ground). The inclination needs to be at least 80 degrees to ensure that the satellite 'sees' the poles. How much time you want to spend perfecting the orbit within those bounds is up to you. You are recommended to disable the engine (action group 6) once you've finished making adjustments, just so you don't wreck the whole orbit by accidentally pressing 'shift' at the wrong moment; just remember to re-activate it later, should you come back to make further changes. Before leaving the satellite make sure it is oriented (WASDQE) so that the solar-panel catches the sunlight properly. If it is blocked by the body of the satellite or is edge-on to the sun it will be useless, your satellite will run out of power and cease functioning. If that happens your only option is to 'terminate' the satellite flight in the tracking centre and try again with another launch. Engage SAS (T) so that the satellite stays in this orientation. Once all orbital and orientation adjustments are complete activate the SCANSat sensor (action group 7), press esc(ape) or mouse-over the altimeter and return to the Space Centre. Congratulations – you have carried-out your first useful mission and mapping is underway. SCANSat Low 7.5km Over Mun v) Notes Payload and launch-vehicle should be designed in that order. Decouplers are used to separate the payload and each launch-vehicle stage. For launch vehicles the TWR (Thrust to Weight Ratio) and deltaV (potential velocity-vector change) are vital but not shown by KSP itself. Design for a launch TWR of 1.4 – 1.8 and deltaV of at least 4,500m/s. You are strongly advised to use KER/MJ/VOID to see these figures. Mapping satellites need to be placed in a (nearly) polar orbit so that they cover different strips of ground as they orbit and the world turns beneath them. With a 'speed' of 0m/s on the surface of Kerbin you're actually already spinning around with the world, that's why a gravity turn directly North ends-up with an orbit slightly East of North. This same initial velocity is what makes a normal Easterly gravity-turn and equatorial orbit slightly more efficient. Fairings are purely cosmetic in stock KSP and if you do use them your rockets will be heavier and therefore perform worse (but within the design tolerance). They are jettisoned as soon as you leave the atmosphere because any streamlining they provide with mods is no longer necessary. In particular they should be jettisoned before the circularisation burn so they do not become debris – flying into a panel at over 4,000mph could destroy a later launch! Once fairings are jettisoned you are free to deploy the solar panels but if you do this in atmosphere they will be torn-off and destroyed. **** ALWAYS deploy solar panels as soon as you leave atmosphere (after jettisoning any fairings, of course) so they start work as soon as possible. A vehicle without electricity is a dead vehicle! **** Anything you can't jettison before the circularisation burn – such as the last stage of a launch vehicle – will, by definition, enter orbit. Assuming you don't want to litter space that means it will need sufficient residual propulsion, probe core and electricity to de-orbit itself by burning retrograde after separating from the payload. The probe-core should have enough electrical charge for this as long as you de-orbit soon after separation, otherwise the launch-vehicle will need its own batteries/solar panels as well (which is a good design aim anyway). SECTION 4: SIDESTEP Sidestep + SCANSat Mid Launch i) Data Sheet Identity;Sidestep – Launch Vehicle Purpose;Placing a SCANSat satellite in a 250km Kerbin polar orbit Statistics;9.181t VAB/1.662 dry, 17 parts, cost 8,725 Design;2 radial-staged with dual-SRB first stage Construction;Upper stage as Two-step. Symmetry-2 TT-38K radial decouplers and RT-10 solid fuel boosters (30% thrust). Aerodynamic nosecones on boosters. Action Groups;As Two-step. Performance;(Kerbin) TWR 1.67, 7,249m/s ii) Construction The upper stage is identical to Two-step (using a SCANSat Mid satellite as payload, rather than Low). Using radial decouplers instead of a stack decoupler allows us to build out rather than up, which can be useful. It should go without saying that you should make your rockets symmetrical – if you only put a booster on one side of the upper stage (generally known as the 'core' stack when there are radial ones around it) you rocket will almost certainly turn somersaults, but not for long! Whether you prefer radial boosters to just placing them serially, with a bi-, tri- or quad- coupler as on Two-step is up to you. Mostly it doesn't make a lot of difference but long rockets versus wide rockets is a, sometimes contentious, debate on the forums. 'Moar boosters' is often quoted, usually tongue-in-cheek, on the forums as well. The answer to most design problems is not solid fuel boosters (more commonly known as SRBs or Solid Rocket Boosters). They are used in Sidestep to illustrate the differences between them and 'normal' liquid-fuel engines but, looking ahead, are not used in any other designs throughout this tutorial. Again, this is rather a matter of preference; SRBs give a lot of thrust for a relatively short duration and can be very cost-effective but are less controllable than liquid-fuel engines. They are, however, heavy so should only ever be used in a first stage. Enable symmetry-2 (bottom-left of the VAB screen) and add the radial decouplers and SRBs to the upper-stage/core stack. You'll get a total deltaV of 5,819m/s (great) but a launch TWR of 5.55! (these figures are with satellite and nosecones but not fairings). Never mind exceeding terminal velocity – really high TWRs like this can sometimes tear a vehicle apart. You can't control SRBs with the throttle but you can set their thrust while you are still in the VAB/SPH so right-click on the SRB and reduce the thrust limiter to 30%. This gives a launch TWR of 1.67 without affecting the deltaV – the SRB will burn more slowly for a longer time. 'Tweaking' parts like this can make a lot of difference to your vehicles' performance and is an important thing to remember. iii) Staging And Action Groups Identical to Two-step except that the stack decoupler is replaced by the two radial-decouplers jettisoning the first-stage SRBs. iv) Flight SCANSat Mid 250km Over Mun MISSION 9: 250km Polar Orbit Launch as normal, with a gravity turn to the North. Continue to climb until your apoapsis reaches 250km. Jettison the SRBs when they are depleted and the fairings when you leave the atmosphere (above 69km). Remember to deploy solar panels. Circularise your orbit at apoapsis and note the remaining deltaV, then press escape and revert the flight to launch – there is a different way to get here. MISSION 10: Hohmann Transfer Launch again but this time establish apoapsis and circularise your orbit at 75km. Once stabilised there burn prograde at the next periapsis to increase your apoapsis to the required 250km. Circularise in the new orbit at apoapsis as normal and note the remaining deltaV. Establishing a low orbit and then using such a 'Hohmann transfer' to increase it to the desired altitude is more complex, but more fuel-efficient, than going directly to the higher orbit. Mostly this is because you aren't trying to get all that extra height/speed while still in the atmosphere and affected by drag. It is quite possible that you will not notice much difference in the deltaV requirements for these two approaches with a 250km orbit – it becomes more significant as you go further. Once you've established your target orbit, decouple the payload and de-orbit the launch vehicle, then adjust the orbit and orientation of the satellite and activate its sensor. That's 2 of 3 in place. v) Notes Rocket 1A in the previous chapter is a Single Stage To Orbit (SSTO) design, getting there all in one piece. Serial (also known as Stack) staging, used by two-step, is the classic way to jettison the extra mass of tanks and engines once they have been used. The major difficulty of building serial-staged rockets in KSP is that some engines, or combinations of engines, may make it impossible to fit anything underneath them. Radial staging such as in Sidestep allows you to build wide rather than tall rockets. SRBs give high thrust but are heavy so only use them in first, launch, stages. Once ignited they can't be turned off or controlled with the throttle but they can be tweaked in the VAB/SPH to balance the thrust against the burn-time. In career mode they can be very cost-effective. SECTION 5: QUICKSTEP Quickstep + SCANSat High Launch i) Data Sheet Identity;Quickstep – Launch Vehicle Purpose;Placing a SCANSat satellite in a 750km Kerbin polar orbit Statistics;5.261t VAB/1.197 dry, 19 parts, cost 9,950 Design;2 parallel-staged with dual-liquid-fuel first stage Construction;Decoupler, fairings and RGU as Two-step. FL-T400 fuel tank and 48-7S engine. 2xradial decouplers, FL-T200 fuel tanks, 48-7S engines and nosecones. Action Groups;abort:shutdown engines, 3:rockets, 4:fairings Performance;(Kerbin) TWR 1.74, 6,843m/s ii) Construction Building this should be easy by now. The payload, fairings and RGU are the same as before, the launch-vehicle core stack is similar but uses the bigger FL-T400 fuel tank. The boosters/first stage use FL-T200 fuel tanks and 48-7Ss instead of SRBs. The main efficiency problem with serial and radial staging is that the lower stage(s) have to carry upper-stage engines that aren't doing anything. There's not much you can do about that with serial staging, as the upper engines are blocked by the lower stages. Once you move to radial staging, however, the core-stack engines are clear – make them work for their pay! The only difference between radial and parallel staging is that all the engines are fired right from the start. Since the core-stack engine has to keep burning longer that means it needs more fuel than the outer boosters. When the boosters are depleted and jettisoned the core continues with its partially empty tank. In later chapters we'll look at ways to eliminate the excess 'partially empty' mass as well. iii) Staging And Action Groups SCANSat High 750km Over Mun Identical to Sidestep but all 3 48-7S engines should be in the lowest stage. iv) Flight MISSION 11/12: 750km Polar Orbit Repeat missions 9 and 10 using the Quickstep launch vehicle and SCANSat High payload and with a target orbit of 750km. Three times as high as the Sidestep orbit (and 10 times that of Two-step), you should see a significant difference between the direct and Hohmann transfer approaches. This is probably the first time you've been so far from the surface too – it really starts to look like space, doesn't it! Compare the picture above of SCANSat High in orbit 750km around Mun with the similar ones in the previous sections of SCANSat Mid (250km) and SCANSat Low (7.5km). You'll be taking them there in the next chapter. v) Notes While SSTO and Serial staging are useful there isn't generally a reason to use radial staging in preference to parallel, one rule of efficiency is not to carry engines that aren't pushing. This does not apply to engines and fuel on the payload, of course, as they have to be preserved for the mission use and shouldn't be touched during launch (all rules are made to be broken though and this depends on how you design your ships). SECTION 6: PROJECT ADDENDUM (Party) Identity;Project Footsteps Addendum 1 – Project Party Background;Well done, you've mastered polar orbits, orbital adjustments and Hohmann transfers. You have a set of SCANSat satellites mapping the planet Objectives;Congratulate yourself Payloads;N/A Vehicles;SCANSat Low/Mid/High Execution;Check-out each of your satellites and get used to the small and big SCANSat maps. Watch them as they start to be uncovered. NB: Especially watch out for any 'anomalies' marked by the Mid satellite. Generally enjoy the view. Anomalies found by your satellites make good destinations to visit once we start using manned flights in the next chapter. You also want to look out for areas flat enough for landing planes. We won't be using these launch vehicles again but the lessons you've learnt from building and flying them will make the next vehicles much easier. To infinity, and next door!

Yes, that's exactly what I do, since science reports are the only useful thing about career mode. Start a career-mode save, edit the persistence file to give yourself 99999 science points (science = 99999), go to the R&D facility and 'research' all the tech, carry on as if it's sandbox with working science reports.

I've recently switched from sandbox to career mode. Not that career mode is any good, of course; it forces false-choices on you, creates the illusion that something like the mainsail is somehow 'better' than, earlier tech - when just about anything else is better than a mainsail - and generally, if it teaches you anything it's how to do things badly. But the science reports are amusing. Start a career mode, edit the persistence file to give yourself 9999 science points, 'research' all the tech and carry on as if it's sandbox but with entertaining science parts.

Once, or even before, landing on Mun and Minmus your next step is up to you. There's nothing you need to do, except have fun :-) Getting back safely would be a good idea though. After that there are all the other planets to visit.

The big advantage of planes on Kerbin (and Laythe) is that they can use very fuel-efficient jets. This does not apply in Eve's atmosphere which has no oxygen. That just leaves the wings for lift and they are usually not worth their mass - you're better off with a conventional rocket launch. There is no way to compute the deltaV requirements in an atmosphere and especially using wings since so much depends on the vehicle's TWR, your ascent profile, drag, etc. etc. You may like to look at http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/76153-Lightest-Eve-Lander for what other people have done.

Hehe - if you allow Mechjeb you don't need any other instruments. Similarly, would you allow docking-alignment mods such as Navyfish's or the Navball Indicator? IVA mods, like RPM? While on the subject of IVA and mods - Kerbquake makes IVA much more cool (camera shake under thrust, in atmosphere, etc.)

OH, Oh, I know this one ... "Budgets will work entirely as intended and without bugs. Although widget-coloured they will be lightly-scented with lightbulbs. During radio dramas the llamas will consult with the first move they thought of." And that's official! It's also as meaningful and useful as anything else anyone may say here. There are already a few other 0.24 pointless-speculation threads, do we need another one? Did we need them in the first place? Is there any way at all to forestall all the 'what do you think will be in 0.25' threads?

Or just consult travert, as I do when Red Iron Crown nudges me to paste the correct link (thanks).