Lost in Space

[ototcon]

Howdy Y'all,

I recently embarked on a large and complicated mission series to Eeloo to harvest that sweet, sweet Karborundum to start on a jump gate network, but some very significant design flaws have doomed my crew even though they have several years of (TAC LS) supplies on board. What do you guys do when you know that a crew is going to be lost with no hope of recovery? (Things like running out of fuel in the middle of a landing or you p[arachutes failing on reentry.)

Edited June 17, 2015 by ototcon

[7499275]

Still try my best to save them, always try to save your crew even if you know there is a 0.0001 percent chance of saving them.

[luizopiloto]

no possibilities to change orbital trajectory at Ap to a free return to kerbin?

Or at last close enough so you can rendezvous a rescue ship?

[ototcon]

I'm using TAC LS and they crew doesn't have enough supplies to last until a rescue ship comes.

Oh, and my current plan is to send a ship to recover the ship and send it back to Kerbin. Everyone comes home; one way or another.

Edited June 17, 2015 by ototcon

[Nich]

***Moment of silence***

[luizopiloto]

well... you can make a fast craft to reach your kerbals before they die... just need fuel and 4 mainsails...

[A_name]

Why exactly is there no hope for recovery?

[Nansuchao]

While you use Karborundrum, you're not against mod, so, there is a solution to save them, or maybe more than one.

Some times in the past I had a similar trouble, and I hate to kill my Kerbals, so I studied a way to save them. This secret project can be used just in desperate situation, so I'll share with you.

It's called Interstellar Warp Drive. With the mod Interstellar, you can build a mothership able to reach your lost crew in few days and take them back home safely. Maybe this is possible also with the RoverDude Warp Drive, but I never tried that.

Good luck, I hope you'll save them.

[ototcon]

well... you can make a fast craft to reach your kerbals before they die... just need fuel and 4 mainsails...

I'm still at the skill level where I can barely get to Eeloo at closest approach. They also have only 3 years of life support left.

Why exactly is there no hope for recovery?

The crew doesn't have enough life support to last long enough for a rescue or delivery of a new ship.

I had provisions set up so they could last indefinitely as part of a mining base, but the drilling rig had a significant design flaw: I forgot to hook my stage 0 LVNs up to their fuel tanks.

While you use Karborundrum, you're not against mod, so, there is a solution to save them, or maybe more than one.

Some times in the past I had a similar trouble, and I hate to kill my Kerbals, so I studied a way to save them. This secret project can be used just in desperate situation, so I'll share with you.

It's called Interstellar Warp Drive. With the mod Interstellar, you can build a mothership able to reach your lost crew in few days and take them back home safely. Maybe this is possible also with the RoverDude Warp Drive, but I never tried that.

Good luck, I hope you'll save them.

Sadly the Alcubierre drives do weird things with my game which is why I went with the jump gates.

Edited June 17, 2015 by ototcon

[Scotius]

Do not abandon hope - there is always a chance a fast ship carrying supplies can reach stranded crew in time.

[MaverickSawyer]

As several others have said, you CAN get to them in time... it just takes an unholy amount of dV. Ever heard of a torch drive? You burn continuously towards the target half the way there, then flip around and slow down the other half. It's INSANELY fast, especially if you use a high TWR design... but takes a LOT of fuel.

If the fuel issue isn't a problem, and flying the thing to intercept is the only issue... I have no tips for you. I've never done a torch run myself. I'm sure there's someone here who has, though.

[Arsonik]

As several others have said, you CAN get to them in time... it just takes an unholy amount of dV. Ever heard of a torch drive? You burn continuously towards the target half the way there, then flip around and slow down the other half. It's INSANELY fast, especially if you use a high TWR design... but takes a LOT of fuel.

If the fuel issue isn't a problem, and flying the thing to intercept is the only issue... I have no tips for you. I've never done a torch run myself. I'm sure there's someone here who has, though.

Look up Mun speed runs. You'll get the general concept down from watching a few of them. Scott Manely did a few high-speed rescue missions towards the end of his Interstellar Quest series as well.

[Randazzo]

Honestly I think the most obvious solution is being ignored.

Decide which Kerbal gets to live and blow the others out the airlock. Then you send a rescue.

[AbacusWizard]

Ever heard of a torch drive? You burn continuously towards the target half the way there, then flip around and slow down the other half.

Hey, it worked in Tintin on the Moon...

I should go back and re-read that now that I know how space travel is *supposed* to work. I recall the scenes on the moon itself being reasonably realistic for the time, but thinking back to it as a Kerbal player, the way they got there seems kinda ridiculous.

- - - Updated - - -

honestly i think the most obvious solution is being ignored.

Decide which kerbal gets to live and blow the others out the airlock. then you send a rescue.

Also worked in Tintin on the Moon!

[MaverickSawyer]

Hey, it worked in Tintin on the Moon...

I should go back and re-read that now that I know how space travel is *supposed* to work. I recall the scenes on the moon itself being reasonably realistic for the time, but thinking back to it as a Kerbal player, the way they got there seems kinda ridiculous.

Robert Heinlein himself used torch drives! Farmer in the Sky and Time for the Stars both make prominent use of this. Several other sci-fi tales, including the movie Avatar use a similar setup with a coast phase in between burns. THis is probably the more practical method, rather than burning continuously (which could yield some rather insane velocities on the way to Eeloo!)

[Camaron]

well... you can make a fast craft to reach your kerbals before they die... just need fuel and 4 mainsails...

It's not mainsails you would need. It's TONS of Delta-V to accelerate to tremendous extra speed and burn it off for the rendezvous. An Ion ship would probably be perfect, even though real Ion drives couldn't do that. And it would need to be attached to a ship with loads of habitable supplies for the return trip, too.

Keep in mind you can use decouplers to force fuel tank prioritization on an Ion ship.

[A_name]

Dude, you have to try that rescue mission!!! As others said, it's possible, you just need lots of fuel, but it's doable! We all want to see whatever monstrosity you put together to make this happen!!!!

[Nansuchao]

If not Alcubierre Waarp Drive, you can try with Interstelar. Also without Warp Drive, Interstellar has some futuristic engines that can you make reach Jool in two weeks (for example), if you burn consitnuosly towards the target.

[MaverickSawyer]

It's not mainsails you would need. It's TONS of Delta-V to accelerate to tremendous extra speed and burn it off for the rendezvous. An Ion ship would probably be perfect, even though real Ion drives couldn't do that. And it would need to be attached to a ship with loads of habitable supplies for the return trip, too.

Keep in mind you can use decouplers to force fuel tank prioritization on an Ion ship.

Nertea's Near Future Propulsion and Near Future Electrical packs may be the ticket for that... there's a number of large, fuel efficient engines that are significantly more powerful than an ion engine... they just need a nuclear reactor to power them.

[ototcon]

I made this thread more of wondering what people do if a mission can be salvaged or rescued; like if you ran out of fuel on descent, parachutes burned upon reentry, just plain old forgot to put something vital on a space craft and don't have time to transfer out the crew, or simply don't have the skill yet to retrieve the crew in one piece. (I'm totally guilty of all of these.)

I appreciate all of the advice. I took another look at the numbers and it turns out that the crew has 6 years of supplies not 3, so they are going to be fine.

Also: does Interstellar include other star systems or do I have to download those separately?

[OddFunction]

I always make a point of putting an emergency station in orbit with enough DV to rendezvous with my kerbals and enough lifesupport to wait for a second ship. Sounds complicated but its really not that bad building a ship to get somewhere; the difficulty is building a ship to get somewhere and back.

I currently have a rescue station in orbit of Eve, and another one being built for Duna. My manned missions come after

[lost_in_space]

Howdy Y'all ...

Please don't take my name in vain.