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Dude if you work on FM5 we need to talk.

CHAPTER 12: THE CONFRONTATION Jeb: “How long until we get a useful transfer window?†Bob: “Depends on how you define 'useful'.†Jeb: “Kerbin or Duna, either one is friendly territory.†Bob: “Duna is coming up first, and that – hold on, unidentified contact, closing fast.†Jeb: “Boost shields, power up the lasers, I don't want to take any chances.†Malrick: “It could be a micrometeorite...†Lengas: “There haven't been any of those out here.†Jeb: “And if it is and it's heading right for us, it's still getting shot.†Bob: “Contact is showing a power signature. Guys, we're in trouble!†Bob: “It's targeting us!†Jeb: “Bring the ship about and lock weapons!†*Several alarms* Lengas: “OOF!†Handorf (in background): “What the Kerbin is going on?!†Malrick: “That things weapons are almost passing straight through our shields, only a small amount of energy is being dissipated!†Jeb: “Return fire!†Bob: “Confirmed hit, minimal damage.†Jeb: “Keep firing! Lengas, find a way to boost shields further!†Lengas: “Aye!†Handorf: “Can somebody answer my question, please?!†Malrick: “We're under attack, a Kraken vessel. Right now though, Bill needs your help.†Handorf: “Ok, ok, that's true...†Bill (in background): “Kraken, again? Ugh.†Handorf: "You say that as though you're being forced to eat a meal you've had 5 times in a row..." *Lonestar rocks around, cables break loose* Bob: “FRAK!†Jeb: “I've got the extinguisher if you need it!†Bob: “I'm ok, for now...†Lengas: “It's no good, the power supply to the shield generator is fluctuating, so I can't boost the shields any further!†Malrick: “Hull integrity at 74.5%!†*Portside control panel in CM burns out* Bob: “Well, crap...†Jeb: “Bob, here's the extinguisher. Malrick, keep firing!†Malrick: “We lost a cannon in that blast!†Lengas: “Damn it, I need an extinguisher over here!†*Loud bang, another cannon is knocked out, shield control panel is fried* Malrick: “Another cannon is gone, only two are in alignment now!†Jeb: “As long as we still have some offensive ability...†Lengas: “Captain, I don't know how long I can keep her together now that my access to the shields is limited!†Malrick: “Lengas, does this capacitor go here, or --†Lengas: “No, no, no! That one goes there!" Malrick: "Oh, I see, ok!" Bob: “Another hit on the enemy, looks like we destroyed a power generator.†*Extremely loud bang. Multiple control panels burn out or explode, more cables break loose and some structural elements buckle* Malrick: “AGH!†Lengas: “WHOA FRAK!†Handorf: “OOF!†Bob: “Damn it, critical hit on a major power relay, we're practically dead in the water!†Jeb: “No, no!†Lengas: “Ugh... that hurt...†Malrick: “I think I have a concussion...†Bill (in background): “Join the club...†Jeb: “Report?†Lengas: “Hull integrity is down to 48.2%, we have multiple minor hull breaches along the nacelles and one in the cabin but we have that covered. Shields, from what I can tell are --†*Loud bang, ship rocks* Lengas: “... Shields are completely gone at the moment.†Jeb: “Weapons?†Malrick: “Offline.†Jeb: “Propulsion?†Malrick: “Also offline. The reactor is still functional though.†Jeb: “What about RCS, do we have that?†Malrick: “Most of the thrusters are online, although some are out of alignment.†Jeb: “Ok... Bob, plot a collision course.†Bob: “Umm, Jeb...†Jeb: “Don't bother questioning me, just do it.†Bob: “No, Jeb, the cruiser ceased fire and is hailing us.†Jeb: “Well, at least one thing still works, even if it only lets us talk... Open the channel.†Bob: “Channel open.†Jeb: “This is Jebe --†Kraken Cruiser: “Jebediah Kerman, captain of the Lonestar LNS-038 and Odysseus ODS-037, and pioneer of many other missions, now floating aboard a ship reduced to almost nothing. This is the beginning of the demise of your entire species.†...

Bought it this April. Played the demo for about 2 weeks. Till I heard that Squad, due to their miss communications, where letting those that buy the game aquire free expansions and what ever else was in their miss communications. Then bought it on 28th of April about. Talk about insentives Squad was giving.

It may be that you're using too much fuel for landing. Can you talk us through how you perform a landing sequence typically? I find that with the basic little Scott Manley Minmus rocket lander (i.e. a 4 tonne module consisting of a Mk1 Command Pod with one chute, a stack decoupler, an FL-T400 tank, LV-909 engine, four lander legs and a ladder), you'll make it back to Kerbin without problems if you've got ninety units of fuel left in the tank when you're done. Eighty is bingo fuel - hit the deck or hit space. You can make it back on 75 but you're going to have to use good piloting. Seventy or less and you might as well land, because you're definitely not making it back. If you're still not used to Mun landings, begin killing your horizontal velocity about 8000 - 5500 if you're more experienced. Once your vertical, kill your burn, switch to IVA, watch your radar altimeter and do not fire up that engine again until you're down to 1000m above the deck (incidentally, the radar altimeter can give you an idea of where the deck is, and let you estimate how far you still have to go). Then it's just a matter of watching what you're doing. Note that this is not the most efficient method fuelwise, but if you're not an expert in Mun landings this oughta give you enough play to make it to the surface with between 80-90 units of fuel remaining.

The acceleration of a rocket varies over time as it burns fuel and its mass decreases. Also it makes little sense to think about the velocity over time of a rocket as it will be moving through a non-constant gravitational field. It is more usual to talk about the delta-v of a rocket, which is it's total ability to change it's velocity. For most rockets in KSP the time taken to get from body to body is a matter of what route you choose to take. The route also affects the amount of delta-v required. http://alexmoon.github.io/ksp/ can tell you both the delta-v required for a journey and the time it is going to take. The delta-v of a rocket is found using the /Tsiolkovsky_rocket_equation, for which the ISP is an input. If you wanted to know how long it will take to do a burn, say of 1000 m/s you would plug the starting mass, ISP and dv into the equation to find the total mass of fuel burnt. time=Isp*mass*g/thrust.

It's really sad that current KSPTV is just user-only. I don't get why it was needed to gether all of them in a single channel, people could've watched KSP user streams freely long before that. I personally loved old KSPTV for the ability to listen to devs thinking out loud about game development, and how things should be. And sometimes showing us new stuff, which is also cool. But things have changed, and now they barely talk, and keep silent about future and their vision of the game, keeping it only to the current stuff. Makes me sad panda.

Hmmmm 1: Put your best video in your signature. Somehow I did this and my best movie got 4100 views. So happy. 2: Like brabbit said, if you make good quality things, it's gonna get noticed. 3: Try editing, or just skipping over slow parts. For me, if a video comes to a slow part, it gets boring-er and I may not want to watch it. Eg: Trasnfering from kerbin to Jool. Do I need to spend 5 minutes watching you time warp to Jool? Unless you have some pretty good stuff to talk about.

Oh ya! You are right, I did forget that. I do not make promises ever, I just release videos when I can, so never really thought about it. If you ever think you are going to upload a video and talk about it, make sure to always say might, or maybe. Never make it a definite thing, because people will hold you too it. I find sometimes I am not in the mood, and a promise can make it difficult on you and make you feel like you NEED to do it. Which sucks, and you tend to make the video crap because you do not want to do it either. But ya, long winded response sorry about that XD.

Hello! I'm Matt, nice to meet you here! Well I've been playing KSP since 0.17 but I didn't realize how to play the game until I started searching for Youtube videos and then I found none other than "Scott Manley" and all his freakin cool KSP videos.. And then I found Robbaz's KSP videos and boy he sure makes me laugh so hard! I LOL (seriously) when he crashes but the Kerbal lives and he says "Success!" hahaha!!!!!! Anyway I'm quite happy to have found the forums. I'm sort of biased to multiplayer games as i have always thought that was the only way to really randomize certain circumstances or to engage in heated battles that you can't predict... But KSP has shed new light on the idea of turn based gaming since people share saves. I think it kind of brings everyone together in a way that is unique from other games, but then the game is so awesome itself you can't help but be addicted! I'm new to my 30's but KSP is like when Doom II came out for me! I haven't done much more than dock once despite multiple attempts and land on Minmus. I also realized recently that the game is most enjoyed when you have a mission plan (I write mine down) and follow it through more than just one setting. It took me a while to realize this, but now I am orbiting 3 planets and I love using the RemoteTech mod and watching all the satellites talk to each other. It's very interesting to me in what I have been learning and figuring out related to sending up ships to match orbits but then Kerbin has rotated so your polar orbits have different headings.. I'm just an I.T. guy so this is all new to me. Loving EVERY SECOND of this! Well worth the money, too bad most people I know don't have the patience for a game like this as I sure could use a nearby friend who likes this and iRacing.com (you should see my triple monitor and cockpit setup, but this is the wrong section for a post like that.)

Because I believe that bringing surplus fuel in is better than running out somewhere in between. Thanks anyway. I have derived it from (that haven't successfully made it to the Mun and back), a few weeks before 0.12 (Mun) were released (where landers are the talk of the town).

Just an FYI: Anyone who clicked on tomf's link is now on the NSA watchlist I mean if they're recording people who talk about building pipe bombs, they probably have a whole department dedicated to people talking about destroying the planet!

Yourself is absolutely correct about this one. The interaction between observed and observer alters the dynamics. There is nothing "magical" about Quantum Physics. It's very straight forward field mechanics. Same deal with Quantum Zeno. They are not, strictly speaking, discrete, either. You can store "half" of an electron in a box. You simply can't measure "half" of an electron. Any measurement is going to result in a discrete quantity, and so the overall dynamics is such that we can talk about superposition of discrete states instead. You do change the experiment. That's not the point, however. The statement is far more fundamental. You cannot make an observation that does not alter the outcome in such a way. In other words, any interaction sufficient for you to make a determination is sufficient to offset the balance in the system. The proof of quantum mechanics, however, is not in such qualitative experiments so much as it is in quantitative measurements. Certain predictions of Quantum Mechanics are among the best tested predictions of physics.

In fact Photosynthesis is pathetically inefficient, it is really 3% efficiency or so It's a complex story to do with the Kreb's cycle but if photosynthesis were an efficient means of getting energy plants would walk around, talk and have complex brains, the only thing which stops them from so doing (in this universe) is that they can't waste the energy on something as complex as a brain or legs because they cannot get enough energy to evolve in that direction

all this talk about how awesome the cards are but none about actually trading them ill get the ball rolling, anyone willing to trade a jeb card for a bill card? steam: trollmylove edit: maybe it would be a good idea to start a thread specifically for trading the cards

Chapter 4.5: The Arrival of Help *A few days later* Jeb: I really hate these shows sometimes.... Kirk: They are amusing, at least. Live, From the launchpad, with John Kerman, *kerbal on the right waves* That other guy, *kerbal in the middle frowns* And our special guest, The Voice on the Vacuum, The Overwatch commander for all missions, Commander Kirlak Kerman! *kerbal on the left smiles* John: Yes, and welcome to the Kerbal Show! So, Kirlak, this event is momentous, With the second manned munar landing and all. Kirlak: Yes John, it is momentous. However, what is more momentous is that, like every other mission where something has gone wrong, this time we have backup. John: Really? Who is backing the 6-kerbal crew up? There is only one landing vehicle, the rovers, and the orbiting module. Kirlak: That's everything we have out there now. However, we have recently been in communication with other companies, specifically Verolan Space & Aeronautics Ltd., and New World Homes Inc, and they are both sending up new things into space, to start space-based construction and tourism. John: We have a picture, or several, of the new projects that were sent up over the last day or so. It has been a seriously busy launch platform, hasn't it? Kirlak: Yes, yes it has. John: This is the common-connection adapter, correct? Kirlak: That's right. It uses a uniquely-shaped docking system, specifically for smaller craft. It is the same docking shape and design that our base-lander uses. John: Does that mean that our viewers might be able to buy a ticket in the near future? Kirlak: Yes, John. That's what it means, in general terms. We will be offering business-level orbital and munar flights within the next fiscal year, planned and developed by Verolan Space & Aeronautics Ltd., and several possible holiday/relay stations may be developed by New Homes Inc. John: New Homes Inc and Verolan Space & Aeronautics Ltd.... Hopefully we will get a interview with them one day. Kirlak: Oh yes, one of our engineers had a request for me, to put on this show. John: What is it? Kirlak: I wrote it down. Ehem: "John, address them directly- Tell them to PM me as your contact info is hard to find. Their names are Fox62 and Itsdavyjones" John: That's it? *** Jeb: Mekan1k keeps saying weird things. Kirk: He always looks like he knows something we don't.... Jeb: Yeah. He's a bit odd. *** Kirlak: Yup. John: Alright. To the Presidents of New World Homes Inc and Verolan Space & Aeronautics Ltd, Fox62 and Itsdavyjones, I would like to ask if you two would like to come onto the show, and answer questions for your two companies, as well as prices for tickets to the mun and such. Kirlak: Well said. Those are weird names though.... John: I have heard weirder ones. Where is Mekan1k anyway? Kirlak: He is working on a specialized deep-space project. Currently it is classified- we want it to be a surprise. John: Alright. Can you give us any information on that project? Kirlak: Not at this moment. John: Alright, I will not press. Then can we talk a bit more about the Verolan Space & Aeronautics Ltd Adapter? Kirlak: Sure. It is an autonomous docking segment, capable of connecting to any standard-1 docking port, and with it's own radio-isotope generator, does not require extra power draw from any station it connects to. John: Cost? Kirlak: 1.3 million dollars for delivery to the station in LKO. John: Is that cheap? Kirlak: Yes. The launch vehicle is re-usable, and 90% of it was retrieved, to be used with the other vehicle. The cost was fuel. John: Do you think it was a worthwhile investment? Kirlak: We at the spaceport placed the station it was docked to in orbit for 30 million. It was cheep since we developed a low-cost method of extracting fuel- cheaper and more flexible than mining kethane, and we figured out how to extract ores using the same manner. It makes costs cheap now- time was that to launch such a vehicle into space would have been several billion dollars. We sent up upgrades to the station, and the cost of putting up another version of the station would be around 80 million, but it is still dirt-cheap. John: That is good news, I assume, for the companies going into space. Kirlak: It is. John: Our next question on my prompt sheet is related to the unfortunate kerbalnaughts on the mun. What plans are for them? Kirlak: New World Homes Inc constructed a land-able housing module for them, and in the picture here: John: ? Kirlak: That was a cue for the next picture.... Kirlak: Thanks. As I was saying the housing module is a modified version of the Miner that was landed on the mun recently- using only 8 nuclear engines, it is optimized to connect with the rover-base that our brave munwalkers have been using, and hopefully we will be launching some simple assembler components, so that we can get more parts of the base launched. John: Please show the next picture. John: So- what is it doing in this picture? Kirlak: The vehicle is dropping it's munar-burn/circ stage, in munar orbit. In under an hour, the vehicle will be ready to land within 2 km of the munar base. *** Jeb: Bob! Are you looking at the telemetry from the MunHome module? Bob: Yeah, Jeb, I am. It is prepping for the burn- burn in about 15 minutes. Jeb: Cool. *** John: So the kerbalnaughts will be safe, for a while, until they fix whatever problem they are having. Kirlak: That is correct. John: Cool! Guys, if you can hear us, we are all rooting for you. Onto the next question: We have reason to believe that the military is launching vehicles, in response to the threat of the corrupted SWARM AI. Kirlak: What? John: We have several pictures- could we bring them up please?- of a launch that occurred without alerting the press and was done on a night-launch, just after the crew for the latest mun mission were reaching the station, so there is little to see, but.... Kirlak: These are rather bad quality pictures- how did you get them? John: One of our planet-watchers was setting up for a shot of Duna, and had aligned his telescope already, so these were taken by a camera on max zoom from more than 30k away. Kirlak: Well done! John: Large-scale liquid boosters are visible, but the internal rocket is indistinct until... Here! Separation! John: Spectral imagery shows fusion-level temperatures in the rocket flame. Is there tech being used that we don't know about? Kirlak: There are undoubtedly tech that we use that you don't know about, however, I am not at liberty to discuss most of it yet- company secrets. I hope you understand. John: I do. Kirlak: Can we get to the next question? John: Actually, the next one is a continuation of the previous- a public-observation satellite was recording pictures of the night sky, when it saw this: Kirlak: That looks really cool. John: That it does- but what we want to know is- What is it? Kirlak: I don't think I could tell you, even if I did know. The Other Guy: It appears to be a Lazor-tech particle beam. I remember when I was testing lazor-control craft, the good old-days before the development of the MechJeb autopilot series. Kirlak: So that's why you are on the show! The Other Guy: Thanks. John: Back to business... Our last question, before we run out of time, what is this? John: No name of the launch vehicle was released, but it was launched immediately after a catastrophic launch attempt of a Saturn IX rocket with the equivalent payload. Kirlak: That rocket is known by us as the MX Lifter, but it's official name and uses are unknown, but its specs are... Impressive. John: How so? Kirlak: Before the development of the MX, (A design that was developed specifically after attempting to get the bindings and computer systems of the Saturn ix design working, I might add), out heaviest launcher was the 40T lifter, a launcher that could lift 40 tons max into low-kerbin orbit, and we were setting up a launcher version of the Aries system for heavier payloads... But this is big, strong, and cheaper. John: Any plans for anything cheaper than that? Kirlak: Of course- but those are not planned for release yet. We have a couple heavy-lift designs that utilize the super-ion engines, but the components are incredibly expensive to manufacture, and a nuclear-lightbulb engine is still in the design phase. So now, the MX is probably the best heavy-lifter vehicle we have. John: Well, that is enlightening, but that's all the time we have for today. *** Jeb: I gotta say that looks cool. -Groundcrew, this is Trawler In the Dark- we have long-range eyes on you. The MunHome should be landing now.- Jeb: Thanks Trawler In the Dark. We have eyes on the lander. Jeb: Everyone into the roverbase! Bob: Don'tCrashDon'tCrashDon'tCrash... Jeb: It's down! Jeb: Lets get over there. Kirk: I am driving. *5 minutes later* Kirk: Are we lined up? Jeb: Right. Just pull in slowly.... *BANG* Jeb: I said slowly! Kirk: Hey, I learned by watching you. Bill: Guys- look in here. It looks amazing! Jeb: I guess we wait until we finish inventory, then get to launching and returning home. (Sorry about the kerbals blank expressions... The players were not co-operating on the set. Damn actors) Thanks for waiting for this chapter to finish- I don't like being sick.... Next update in a few days. There will be more munar awesomeness!!!! Hope you guys like.

Meh, the only real problems I've ever had with Windows had to do with the INSANE amount of bloatware/crapware that comes preinstalled with most pre-built laptops/desktop PCs. I mean, seriously, why include utterly redundant network and audio control centers, which do nothing but change settings in the "proper" control panels built into the OS? And that's not to talk about pre-installed trialware, especially antivirus software...

This next part is a little shorter and is something of an interlude from rocket building. Hopefully this thread in the story will make more sense in a few chapters time! The Other Side The village lights twinkled in the dusk as Jonton toiled up the hill towards his home. It had been a very interesting day indeed but for now he was more than a little footsore and simply looking forward to a bowl of something hot and maybe sitting out on the porch for a while with his feet in a basin of cool water. No wind tonight either to put a chill on things he thought to himself as he trudged up the garden path. The front door opened, spilling out a fan of warm golden light onto the ground. Gerselle stood in the doorway looking partly amused and partly exasperated. “What time do you call this, Jonton Kermol?" Jonton opened his mouth to speak but saw the corner of Gerselle's mouth quirked upwards in a half smile. “I'm not sure," he answered “but I do know it's way past supper time."He sniffed the air appreciatively. “Fortunately for me, it seems like someone left some white bean stew on the stove." He gave Gerselle a brief hug. “Think I'll just wash the road dust off before supper. This kerbal will be a lot nicer to be around after a quick hose down." Gerselle wrinkled her nose at him. “You just go ahead and do that. It'll make this kerbal a lot nicer to be around too." Jonton chuckled as he went inside. The house was a fairly normal kermol dwelling - a simple circular hut, built around the trunk of a Kerm tree with three walls marking out rooms for sleeping, eating or bathing. The kermwood walls were polished to a soft inviting glow and colourful homespun rugs littered the floor. Jonton stepped through into the bathing room, slipping off his rumpled travelling clothes as he did so. Grabbing a large handful of dripping sweetmoss from the pool, he sponged himself vigorously, the water running off his skin in icy rivulets. Shivering but feeling much refreshed he took a spare poncho from the rail and padded out onto the porch, fingers combing his hair back out of his eyes as he went. A steaming bowl of stew was waiting for him on the table and was demolished in short order. By the time he had helped himself to a second bowl from the stove, Gerselle was waiting for him on the porch, rocking back and forth in her chair. “So, were the stories true?" Jonton pushed his empty bowl away with a contented sigh. “Sort of. Or at least the more sensible ones were. There was definitely a rocket - and three crazy kerbals packed into a can on top of the rocket too. It didn't fly around the world though - I'm guessing the kerman are probably working on that part." He looked wistful. “Actually, I say crazy but they seemed like pretty level types to be honest." Gerselle shifted in her chair. “Were there many other kermol at the launch?" “Quite a few actually. Patbro was there, Ludvis as well. Didn't recognise too many after that but there were plenty of grey robes dotted around the crowd." Jonton scratched his head. “The Interplanetary Society were careful to come over and talk to us too - actually, some of us went back to their factory afterwards to have a look round and meet the team." Gerselle looked amused. “Interplanetary Society?" Jonton nodded. “Kerbin Interplanetary Society is what they call themselves. Bit of a grand name at the moment really - the flight this afternoon was impressive but it sure didn't go near any planets other than Kerbin. He smiled. “But like I said, I reckon they're working on that. Not that I blame them after seeing those pictures." “Pictures?" asked Gerselle curiously. “Pictures of Kerbin, taken out of the window of the last rocket they flew. A lot of them weren't that good but there was one that was simply beautiful. Kerbin on one side, all greens and blues, the dark sky on the other but with even more stars." Jonton paused. “And the Mun rising over the horizon." Gerselle looked at him. “We could always go kerman for a year or two you know," she said softly. Jonton smiled again. “It's a kind offer, love but we've got plenty of time yet. I have a feeling they'll be flying into space for many years to come." He gazed fondly at the tiny tousled head peeping sleepily out of her poncho. “Besides, living amongst the Kerm does have its advantages." Little Joenie wriggled as she was lifted out of her pouch and squeaked grumpily in the sudden cold as she was passed across to her father. Jonton wrapped his daughter in a corner of his poncho and murmured to her in soothing tones as he snuggled her into one shoulder. Joenie burrowed into the comforting warmth and promptly fell asleep again. The two kerbals sat on the porch as the Mun rose over the trees, sometimes sitting in companiable silence, sometimes talking of this and that. Eventually, Jonton couldn't hold back any longer and yawned widely, trying his best not to disturb the sleeping kerblet at his shoulder. Gerselle made a shooing gesture at him. “You get to your bed, Jonton Kermol - you know you've got a long night ahead of you." He reluctantly unwrapped his daughter's fingers from his ear and gently handed her back to her mother. The bedroom was fragrant with the faintly cinnamony odour of Kerm leaves and Jonton noted absently that the new buds near the ceiling had finally opened. The large clump of leaves at the head of his bed unfolded as he approached, making a very inviting looking pillow. They rustled slightly as he lay down, curling themselves around his head. As Jonton drifted off to sleep, he was only vaguely aware of the familiar tickling sensation of hundreds of wispy leaf hairs burrowing into his scalp. That night he dreamed of rockets and kerbals flying far out beyond the reach of Kerbin. High above his head, the Kerm trees rustled in the still night air. << Chapter 7 :: Chapter 9>>

Personally, I'd like to order a saturn style planet with rings. All this talk about rocheworlds has gotten me wanting the discworld...

I'll talk terms for the creation of an asteroid belt. CEO of Disaster Area speaking.

I find funny that you're trying to rationalize "why Earth should have beat the Combine" when is much more logical to think that an alien civilization that lives on conquering worlds will wipe out whatever resistance we might try to muster. What you should be questioning is "Why is the Combine so weak during the events of the game?" But all of this is moot, the premise of the story is that the Combine conquered Earth, end of discussion. Whatever fault you might find is of no relevance, if needed the authors can talk more about the Combine and explain why the events occurred the way they occurred in order to justify the premise of the story.

There are plenty of books out there that talk about theoretical designs that can reach at most 10%, the lovely Cold War Orion project being one of them. However, if by current technology, you mean and propulsion system that we currently use, yes, chemical rockets could do that, but you would probably need to burn all of the hydrogen/helium/etc in Jupiter to do so. Now, if you want to define that as (which is what I assume you mean) practical designs that we currently use, an ion drive with enough fuel might do it. I'll run the math to see how much Xenon you would need. EDIT: Okay, I punched in the numbers for the Dawn spacecraft into the rocket equation via Wolfram Alpha, and began to mess around with the amount of fuel. It would take over 1,184,000 kg of Xenon gas to get to 1% the speed of light. Now, I got this just be altering the initial mass of the vehicle, and due to the fact that the vehicle would have to be much larger than Dawn to hold all of that gas, than the amount of fuel would increase even more. Now for the part that makes that ~1.2 million kg of fuel seem really impractical. At $120 per 100 grams, that puts the price (on fuel alone) to be $14,208,000,000. EDIT 2: Yeah, PakledHostage is right, the speed of light is 300,000 km/s, so 1% of that is 3000 km/s. I don't feel like doing the math since you can imagine how crazy the fuel and cost requirements would be.

Erm, guys, all this talk about FTL drives is a bit silly. We already have a mod in-game that makes getting to Jool in five minutes or less a reality.

I don't want to talk too much about why children are so obsessed with themselves, and why they love computers and television, but much research has gone into it, and it often shows something different from what most people believe. To get an accurate position of this from a child is almost impossible. From the research I have seen, a child's love of television can come from many things, including the ability to accurately make predictions (Even if what they are doing is post-diction), be part of a social group, or being able to teach somebody else something. The first one normally applies to young children, but the second and third often applies all the way to adulthood. On computers, I feel that the more into a computer a child is, the better it is. Children who play games on computers will likely make strong social connections that may last a long time, and many children who get into computers will often want to know how to make something for whatever they do on a computer. The idea that computers are only bad for a child are wrong, and there has never been anybody to prove this. There have been, however, people that proved gaming and working on computers can improve certain technical and social skills. From my experience, children are overzealous about things outside of the house, assuming you mean current events and going outside. All of the children I know love to go outside given the right temperatures. I, personally, prefer time outside when it is cold, or is raining. As to current events, children will often take sides and defend their positions. They are erred in most cases, as they aren't likely to be taught proper research until they get of college age, and they often take the sides of their family, but they do take part.

Yes, yes, we are all kinds of friends now. Good, good. So, how about we talk a little commerce? Sounds like you Kerbals are in the market for quite a variety of planets. So far on the menu for your particular universe we have the following: -Minmus class. Your basic bargain planet. We can give you these in bulk discounts. Cheap enough to do your own asteroid belt! I am afraid the base model only comes in grey/greygreen (as you have noticed). But we do offer a custom paint job as an extra. See Joker for a more... shall we say.. extreme example. -Gas Giants. High mass make these a pricey item. But a recent find has made gas cheap! 2 for one on sale now. -Tylo class. Vacuum moon. This is what you really want to put your base on! Isn't it? We have very affordable models ready to orbit your star! -Duna class. A real planet! Now you have arrived! Imagine custom terrain and a plush arid atmosphere to make aero braking and parachute descents a breeze. Named best in class by McPlanet. -Lathe class. Above + Oceans. Coming soon! (Once we sop up the ocean from our last go). Premium Extras: Suns. Not as pricey as you might think! -Single (any size!) -Simple Binary (bargain at half the price!) -Binary with Manilo center. (Mmmm) Prices? If you have to ask you cannot afford.

CHALLENGE CLOSED (suspended at least) Accounting software issues. The good times can not roll forever and even on Kerbin it has come time to pay the piper. Just days after launching a new station into LKO the government accounting firm announced an error in the nations budget, something about a decimal point in the wrong place and no way to move it to the right place. A mounting economic crisis is sweeping the nation and unfortunately during the most recent session of Kongress the politician who yelled AUSTERITY! had the loudest voice, now cost cutting fervor has gripped even the pride of Kerbalkind...the beloved space program. Before the crisis this is how we planned to swap out crews to our new station. This ship is well balanced for manual or autopilot flight, precise in fuel usage with nearly zero waste, has excellent docking maneuver behavior, redundant systems for lighting, power, recovery and leaves not a single speck of waste in orbit. And it costs nearly $27000. During the debate Kerbal politicians of all stripes were able to reach across the aisle and agree on one major point. Leaving the first crew of the new station in orbit to die would look very bad come election time so that option was OFF the table. What they decided instead was to issue a mandate to the space program to re-tool the crew supply/relief ship to be a little less expensive. About 30% less expensive actually. All agreed this was a fine idea, congratulations and cheers rang out through the capitol. So it falls to you, the new head of the space agency to design and fly this last mission of the fiscal year to at least exchange crew if not rescue them outright till more money comes in next year. After the budget vote several high level officials took you aside for some special interest talk. As much as they don't want to spend money they also want everything that normally requires spending money to get. Imagine that. The Corporatists want you to let a couple of private companies sleaze a toehold into the program, er..., I mean, help out. Mechjeb and Kerbal Engineering have agreed to supply their wares in exchange for prominent placement on the rocket for publicity shots. The KER people claim their software can be the budget hawk for the program so that one has been made clear its not optional. Do Gooders Union, the public safety nannies are demanding parachutes instead of the just aiming for the softest part of the planet and crossing fingers plan you were sketching on a napkin during the hearing. They would also like to see some redundant safety gear, maybe some lighting too. If you could bring that guy in the station home alive that would be swell! They promise to get some more money in next years budget if you make a show for the safety of the Kerbinauts. The Really Green party are very adamant about keeping space clean, leaving no debris at all if possible. They don't have any pull with the budget committee but they will sure fine your sorry butt if you litter in space. The Science! lobby is hoping you can squeeze out a minor miracle to get some last minute experiments run before the program bites the dust, promises to remember your efforts at the next round of budget hearings. And finally your own launch crew has fired up a Kickstarter to help with next years program but will only let it fund if you promise to use launch clamps and not "risk killing all of us with fiery death on the pad when that train wreck of yours falls over" as they so delicately put it. So off you go, napkin drawings in hand and $18k in your wallet to do what you know in your responsible heart should cost 50% more to do right...and, Oh, BTW, try to cram in some stuff you didn't even plan on to begin with. What could be easier? RED TAPE CHALLENGE Basic Conditions - Flight Must take a kerbal, INSIDE a capsule, to DOCK with a station/vessel at or above 160km. Exchange crew or populate spare seats for return, re-enter and land in one piece at 6.8m/s or less at the time of touchdown. No orbital debris of any kind, debris is not a fail but it is a $300 fine. Penalty is one time, not per littering offense. All debris must have PE less than 69.5km. No refueling at any point...you have no money for that! KER (Kerbal Engineering Redux) unit is required in order to show cost in VAB, All KER and MechJeb units are deductible IF they show in both vab and launch pictures. Please use the ER-7500 flight recorder ($500) KER unit for visibility on the rocket and uniformity of cost deductions. Mechjeb 2 module that I use is $550 Mods Allowed - ONLY Mechjeb (optional) and Kerbal Engieering Redux (Required to view cost info) are permitted. Goes without saying that editing parts is forbidden. Ship/station for docking portion is unrestricted, put it in a 160x160km orbit with Hyperedit or fairy dust if you want but don't top up the fuel tanks while there. No matter how you set up the target station or ship the challenge ship MUST do the docking. You can pitch/roll/yaw to aim the target ship but no thrust. In addition to claim the no Mechjeb bonus (50) and thus be elgible for the Full Ride bonus (500) as well there can be no MJ use on the docking station either. I've added this restriction after my own recent test ship was able to make a no RCS docking far to easily just by having the target ship hold TGT + as I flew at it with a no MJ and no rcs ship. The budget is capped at a strict $18000, not including Mechjeb or KER unit costs, use as many as you like as long as they show you can deduct the cost. Screen shots required for submission - In VAB of flight ready rocket with KER full window open to see the bottom line cost of the rocket as it will fly, clamps, MJ and KER units..everything. Launch + 1 second to show launch clamps for bonus and to show it still has all the bonus gear from the VAB on it. (optional) Last stage to be cast off in/near orbit debris showing a de-orbiting PE of 69.5 or less. Optional because its not an easy screenshot to get. Just be honest. Docked with station/ship at 160km or higher. Landing shot showing all capsules being claimed for score are surviving, so either landed close together or after chute deployment while still descending. Prior to landing to show a less than 6.8m/s landing speed is the prefered screenshot. Granted, if you have 2 chutes on a lander can with no other parts that speed is a non issue BUT if its an iffy design be prepared to show your work. Score calculation- Total must be less than $18000 after deducting for Mechjeb and KER units. Units must be shown on the craft in VAB during the cost screenshot to be deducted. ((18000) - (as flown cost - KER and MJ)) + (bonus - penalties)) = total score Bonus Structure - Bonus only counts if base total is less than or equal to budget. Base total greater than budget is a Fail Extra empty seat, inside a capsule, must also land safely + $2500 Can be extra pod(s) or empty seats on larger capsule. (No limit to this bonus, take as many as you can) Docking Lighting, must illuminate the docking target + $300 Solar Charging ability + $200 Backup Battery power for lights + $150 Redundant Parachute + $1000 (per capsule that has 2 chutes so can be claimed more than once) Docking Clamps + $500 Telling the Mechjeb corp to shove it and fly manually + $50 Scientific instruments up to one of each type, does not include antennae - $300 each, 300 bonus for ALL 4, $1500 possible *Full Ride Bonus* If ALL bonus conditions are met there is an extra $500 bonus. All science units required as well as redundant chutes on every capsule to qualify. Bonus items are one time bonus except for extra empty seats, science packages (1500pt max) and redundant parachutes for extra capsules. For example, 4 docking clamps is still only a $500 bonus the same as 2. Flying a Solo capsule with MJ or probe core does not count for the empty seat bonus, this must be a manned mission. I will post an example mission that meets the criteria but is not nearly squeezed to full potential. The budget ceiling is not hard at all to make the basic mission, this will not be a most people fail challenge. I really enjoy efficiency type challenges and thats what this is. Who can pull the most rabbits out of a hat for the fewest bucks while dotting i's and crossing t's for the powers that be? Good luck to all who enter...and don't die wading through the boredom of bureaucracy. SCORECARD 1 - Metaphor 18498 2 - me No points due to massive, though unintentional, cheating!!!! 3 - Tarmenius 13767 4 - Kappa73 13635 5 - Kelmoir 12676* 6 - RussPixie 9120