Search the Community

Greetings! I'm building a rocket with radially attached solid fuel boosters that have extra liquid fuel tanks on top. I desire that the solid fuel boosters decouple and leave the liquid fuel tanks attached for later decoupling. I cannot get both the stack coupler and both radial decouplers to attach all at the same time. I've tried several methods of constructing it. One method joins the liquid fuel tanks first and tries to attach the boosters to it, and that doesn't seem to work at all - the top join point on the boosters doesn't connect to the bottom join point of the coupler. I can attach both parts separately with radial couplers but if I don't use 2 on the solid booster it wobbles both on the launch pad spawn and in flight. If I do use 2 radials on the solid boosters, they decouple weird and take out my liquid fuel engine at separation. If I construct the whole side stack first and then attempt to attach it to the main rocket via the bottom radial coupler, the top coupler doesn't attach and the whole booster/tank assembly wobbles on the one attach point. thoughts? ideas? pic: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1845395872

Decided to try the Elcano challenge, built a mad max-ish rover and set off. After like 3km I rolled of a hill, prior to which i tried to repair my solar panels. Not giving up. Second attempt, rolled it 4km further. REDESIGN NEEDED. After a pause. Pictures are here

So I've been having a bad year, to put it mildly. It started off well enough, I got a message from a former co-worker that he was running the warehouse/tech dept at a separate company and I should put a application in because they could get me out of my dead-end job (for another dead-end job). Put my application in and I got the job! It went well enough for a few months until one day (mostly) out of the blue I was fired for not being fast enough. Although I never missed a deadline. (I think my bosses boss just didn't like me but I have 0 evidence to back up that claim.) I was out of work for a few months and then something awesome happened. I found a job still working with the printers I was familiar with that paid a whole 65% better and was for the most part... a piece of cake. Until one night I was running the one big complex copier I was unfamiliar with and got a message that a certain supply was low. Several Google searches later (and a few bad judgement calls) I put a liquid where a solid was supposed to go. Derp of derps. Needless to say, I got a call the next day and was promptly fired and the company is probably out a month of time and a considerable amount of money. And that brings me to a few days ago. Aside from being nearly out of money entirely to pay my bills, I accepted a job offer than may have actually been a bad idea. The job is virtually identical to the place I was at for 5 years, they even have pretty much the same machines. Problem is, All three of these jobs have the same tech support for their printers. The job with the machine I broke isn't on my resume and it's almost certainly going to come out when one of their lead techs comes in to fix their machines. He didn't like me before this all happened to begin with. I've already talked to several people and they've all agreed I didn't need to have it on my resume and that I shouldn't mention it unless questioned. I don't like being dishonest. The new place doesn't have any of the machine I broke. (I don't think) I've never been this apprehensive to start a job with a interview that went so well. Week 1 is gonna be rough. Hope there's a week 2. I'm really lucky to be living with a group of friends that are supportive. But this is a bad year however you slice it. Feel free to yell at me or otherwise give your input.

Know this would suck up my gaming time from my 0.235 rescue mission, I've started playing 1.2, and doing it with kOS to boot. R&D has just started studies on mixed cycle engine, and fuselages larger than Mk2. The latest production jet engine, the J-X4 "Whiplash" Turbo Ramjet has allowed the creation of a more efficient Single Stage to Orbit Spaceplane than The Reliant (powered by the "Panther" and "Reliant" engines). This along with the new Shock Cone intake lead to the design and production of the 3rd SSTO model, with the ability to accelerate at higher altitudes. In order to keep the CoM somewhat centered after the majority of the propellant mass was used up, the Whiplash engines were placed on the wingtips, as far forwards as possible. This gave the craft a distinctive shape, leading to the name, "The Diamond." Also, the Design Department was sick of SR-71 knock-offs. After many launch "simulations," a good ascent profile was developed for The Diamond. This was programmed into a kOS sequencer, and consisted of 10 steps, including a drop in altitude to accelerate past 400 m/s to "jumpstart" the Whiplash. The SSTO was able to achieve an 80km orbit with about 500 m/s delta-V to spare or 150km with 380 m/s. A new de-orbit program was created, and 2 launches were performed with orbital altitudes of 80km, and 150km (to match the Curie Space Station). The Automated Landing Program originally made for The Reliant was used successfully both times resulting in safe landings at KSC. (vaguely sung to the tune of "The Bonnie Ship the Diamond" made popular by The Corries, though I prefer the Gaelic Storm version). The Diamond's a spaceship me lads, To orbit straight she's boun', At KSC she is all garnished with auto-struts aroun' Jebediah gives the order, To orbit far and wide, Where the Sun it oft'n sets me lads, And darkness dims the sky And it's cheer up me lads, ne'r yer struts be breakin' For the Bonnie Ship The Diamond goes a fishin' for kraken! (sorry, out of lyrics. Also, got a bit of help from /u/morpheus1229 on that last bit on the chorus) After the two shake-down cruises, The Diamond's first real mission came up. To prepare for the first landing on Minmus, Gene wants to bring down veteran Scientist and Engineer Bill and Bob from Curie Orbital Akademy and Gas Station. Also, we need one other redshirt. To help finance this operation, a Tourist Contract was accepted for an Orbital Adventure. (that's The Defiant attached in this older photo) En route to the station, Jebediah is tasked to capture an empty capsule or cabin, which will be converted to a re-entry pod at Curie. The Diamond seats 2 in the cockpit, and 2 in the cargo hold. With the addition of the re-entry pod, there's enough space for everyone that needs to go planet-side. And to get one more thing in, a "Rescue a Part" mission was also accepted. Previous attempts to KLAW the PAL Humpback Truss with the standard sized KLAW were unsuccessful. Mission Control hopes the new "Baby KLAW" (Tweakscale) will have better luck. That totals 5 Mission Objectives Retrieve 3 kerbals from Curie Orbital Akademy and Gas Station Retrieve an empty pod from Kerbin Orbit and bring to Curie Station Release the converted pod for re-entry (Bill thrown in there) Give a Tourist an orbital adventure Rescue a module from Kerbin Orbit The two orbital retrieval missions will require a number of Hohmann Transfers, using up precious fuel. The plan was to do a partial refuel at Curie. As you can see, all mission objectives were accomplished! Looks like the Landing Script couldn't stick the landing. I suspect with manually pumping fuel in, and after the Part Rescue, too little fuel was left, compared to the previous successful landing runs. This lead to some instability, which fed into the ascent/descent PID Loop in the landing program, causing pitching oscillations. Eventually the craft did a back-flip, one engine flamed out, leading to an accelerating upside-down flat spin. This actually slowed the fall down, likely due to the left generated (like Helicopter?). Descent speed was less than 50 m/s until fuel ran out near the ground. Most of the expensive parts survived, and they made it within 35 km of KSC. Val likes to point out she did better in her SSTO crash landing from Orbit.

Firstly, I'll just say I've barely been playing KSP over a year now and I'm a swift learner. I absolutely love this game. I feel like Squad hooked us up with an unlimited supply of super-powered LEGOs or something! The freedoms... It's incredibly entertaining... but today I wish to personally introduce RNG to my kraken-fist! Okay, so here's the breakdown: My ultimate goal is to vacation the surviv-- uh, I mean Kerbals of my space program to Laythe. Naturally, there's a few things we'll need to truly enjoy ourselves on Laythe... You know, boats, jets, spider-bots and submersibles... the usual. However, for ease of transit and a larger margin of error, I decided that a Minmus refueling station would be, not only necessary, but PERFECT for such a feat. Not only does the super-low gravity prove simple to beat, but Minmus is also the furthest satellite from Kerbin, naturally nullifying a great deal of the deltaV required to escape Kerbin's gravity. That's going to come in handy with this career later, as well, considering my plans of sending many heavy toys to Laythe to play with. Jebs and Vals, I assure you I have done similar Minmus bases before, many times in past, now-deleted game saves. Never ONCE was I disappointed until this very evening. After starting a new career and establishing a communications constellation around both Kerbin and then Minmus, spending a few hours in the SPH designing a beautifully mobile and minimalistic Minmus refueling base, then building the launcher for it, it was finally time to send a probe to survey the minty planet. I didn't. Instead, I tested out the full potential of the refueler, from launch to landing to ensure a later success. After a near-perfect flight, I landed the base safe and sound, ultimately deciding it was no test flight at all. No time later, that surveyor launch was underway, and without failings of any kind (other than my inefficient piloting.) Soaring over the north pole of Minmus, my capture burn was a success, so I deployed the probe's scanners in haste, ready to move on with the next phase of the operation. I could always move the refueler to the nearest ore concentration, if necessary. And RNG kicked me right where the sun don't shine. Minmus was practically dried up. No more than 4% ore content at the hottest concentration, and that makes mining ore ridiculously lengthy, no matter how many BadS, 5-star engineers you have aboard. I'll time-warp through a day of mining, sure. No problem. Warping through years of mining? Forget it. It's one thing to have to stop the drills so the ISRU can catch up... it's a whole 'nother headache to stop the ISRU and wait for ore. Good thing I have so much experience in starting careers from scratch, because this will be the fastest-deleted game save I've ever started... having only spent about 6 hours in total, from beginning launch to surveying the prune that is Minmus. Hopefully the career I just started will be more like what I'm used to seeing-- averaging around 12% ore concentration, and generally in the Flats areas, where landing is even easier... Good luck to you, my fellow kerbonauts! May the odds be ever in your "flavor."

Everything went well until the end. Can you help fix this munar return probe?

Ever had a fail? *you probably did* it might've had an explosion. show it off!

Good morning! Thank you for tuning in. Today on the show, we are discussing methods to detect imminent death, and possibly some ways to avoid it. Are your rockets exploding often? Do you not enjoy dying a cold and miserable death in interplanetary space? Than this guide is for you! >Spotting potential disaster at LKO: Low Kerbin Orbit, or LKO, is a common first chapter to any good space mission. But it's also a place where many things can go wrong. Here's a short list of possibilities: 1: Used stages coming back uninvited. Imagine this: You're in a massive interstellar tug, with 10000 m/s of Delta-V that you just launched with a huge, asparagus staged rocket. Out of the corner of your eye, you see a flash of orange. No, it's not a meteorite. It's a 4.5 ton empty fuel tank traveling at a relative velocity of 60 m/s, tumbling at you. And it's all over. Here's why it happens: When you jettison a empty stage after you've reached a stable orbit, do not forget that it's still there. And the decoupling force will have changed its orbit slightly. So, when you begin your transfer burn with low TWR engines, your changing orbit might intersect with the debris' one. And unlike previously orbiting debris, the relative velocity is low enough to render the collision. Method 1: To guarantee a much safer orbit, raise your apoapsis 40 meters or so (assuming you were in a circular orbit) and then circularize. Always works. Method 2: Jettison the second stage before you stablize your orbit, and finish the burn with your second stage one. A bit of a waste of dV, but probably worth it. 2: Accidental reentry: RCS is like a fine cheese: It causes garlic breath and makes you sick. Jokes aside, if your RCS placement is not perfectly balanced, using it will cause orbital fluctuations. Sometimes, when you're using it for a prograde/retrograde hole in conjunction with a engine gimbal, it might end up never stabilizing due to the momentum from the engine gimbal. If the RCS blocks are thrusting toward each other, you've probably got this problem. Check your orbits once in a while. Method 1: Get some reaction wheels. Thank me for this tip. Profit! Method 2: Use the RCS balancer mod. Credit to the creator. ________ >Spotting potential disaster on the launchpad and in atmosphere. The launchpad is actually the first step towards the stars. And it may be your last if you aren't careful. Here's some things to watch out for: 1: Staging errors. A novice mistake, but a debilitating one nonetheless. One easy trick: make sure your first stage (the biggest number on the left) has no decouplers or parachutes on it. Also make sure your launch clamps, if you have any, are on the stage with the engines. Or bad things will happen. Very bad things. 2: Air-assisted decoupling Notice your asparagus staging sagging a little? That's natural. Notice your fuel tanks ressemble gelatin dessert? That's not good. What tends to happen is that the radial mounted engines, when not aquedately strutted, can decide to go to space without the rest of your spacecraft. This in itself is a reasonably bad thing, but what's worse is that they seem to be attracted to the central part of your ship. And they'll crash into it. Method 1: Struts. Attach them to the radial tanks and link the other end to the central shaft. Need proof that it works? Download it and try it out.

I've gathered some rather unconventional methods of preventing my craft from slamming into the ground at full speed. Here they are; No pictures since my computer is broken right now. (Disclaimer: These technologies are not tested for any other forms of stress, including gravity, radiation storms, excessive stroking, cleaning with coarse-grain cloth, or emotional trauma. Failure to use these technologies properly exempts us from all responsibility) 1): Radiator Panelchute Inspired by Leonardo Da Vinci's flying machines, this is a badly constructed model of one that we stole from a science fair and reverse engineered. Probably doesn't work that well. Just saying. Step 1: strap 10 or so of those expandable radiators onto your probe. Activate half of them before reentry. Step 2: After your speed is below 500 m/s, pop the remaining ones and pray that they don't all pop off early. Rating: Really Bad Idea 2): Reactive Armor Tanks have this. So why don't we? Reactive Armor uses a *small* explosion to deflect incoming projectiles, or in our case, the ground. This is actually a terrible idea, just saying. Step 1: Attach vast amounts of metal panels to the bottom of your craft, at least 2 layers. Step 2: After that, put some cubic struts and some of those small fuel tanks to the bottom. Step 3: Repeat steps 1 and 2 until you have a nicely pile of explosives below your command pod. Step 4: Pray that it doesn't explode during launch. Step 5: Pray that it does explode upon contact with the ground, and that it slows you down enough. Rating: Where did my spaceship go?! 3): The Mosh Pit Makes lithobraking a softer and more pleasant experience with this pit full of sharp metal rods! Step 1: Build a box with the structural panels. Make sure it's nice and tall for your ball pit needs. Step 2: Attach radial decouplers to inside of box. Then, put some cubic struts and I-beams onto them. Then, use the alt + left click trick to duplicate them everywhere. Step 3: Somehow get it to your target planet. Step 4: Position it somewhere flat and wide open. Step 5: Release the Kraken! Step 6: ??? Step 18: Use Mechjeb or your excellent skills to land inside the box. Step 19: Fun for the whole family! Rating: Not for children under 45 years of age. In case of rupture, do not touch, ingest, or look at contents. Still legal in 16 states!