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Kerbfleet: A Jool Odyssey-CHAPTER 22 pg 2: Yet >another< narrative device!


Mister Dilsby

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2 minutes ago, Chemp said:

I hope this doesn't come too late. I had the idea yesterday but had no access to my computer until today to test if it works - and it does!. You don't have to redesign your scansats, the claw can grab them if you open the scanner and hit it with the claw dead center, like so:

Dangit. Where were you two days ago? Not in my kitchen, I can tell you that! And why, why did I rage-deorbit them? Oh well. :) 

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7 minutes ago, Kuzzter said:

Dangit. Where were you two days ago? Not in my kitchen, I can tell you that! And why, why did I rage-deorbit them? Oh well. :) 

I guess I would have done the same after half an our of trying to dock, just to get frustrated. Like when I discovered that my lovely science expedition to the Mun that I designed the other day happened to be without the science subassembly in the cargo bay. But hey, let's say it's all Bob's fault :wink:

On the bright side, now Samantha gets to repeat her reentry. :D

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10 minutes ago, Chemp said:

But hey, let's say it's all Bob's fault :wink:

On the bright side, now Samantha gets to repeat her reentry. :D

Yeah, let's. Or Nimzo, he's the newest, and also entirely blameless so that makes sense somehow. :) Oh, and I ran out of replikes or I'd have given you a couple for that, sorry Chemp.

In other news I updated the OP with the Chapter 5 album link and realized I had never posted an album of the Interlude where Evil Kenlie aggressively de-orbits the Eve flotilla. So if you got here late and are wondering what the heck Bobak and Gene were talking about at the beginning of Chapter 4, now you know :) 

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Wait, flaps? I'm not sure I can find flaps on this craft.

If you used some of those control surfaces on the main wings - they are too far back to be used as flaps during reentry. They produce more downward torque than useful drag or lift if you deploy them down. For reentry the best plan is to deploy those surfaces up (or just trim your pitch full up), get as high AoA as it can hold and brake with your entire lifting surface. (+ high AoA compatible airbrakes).

For landing you can probably do it with deflecting both canards and elevons to produce extra lift - deploy one end (maybe even with disabling pitch control on them, but only if you still have enough pitch authority left) and let pitch control on the other to balance it.

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3 hours ago, Kuzzter said:

Hm. Hm! I'm going to test that. I didn't think I could get enough dV from mono only, but maybe I can with such a light, all-fuel ship. And if I have a TWR problem I can always put on O-10s. Thank you!

We'll close the chapter here. Not that 'flight operations' are finished, but I think this is already long at 34 pages, and hopefully I can finish up quickly in the opening to the next chapter. Plus, I like ending at this point for now :) 

Airbrakes?  But those are for pulling you out of the hypersonic deceleration spin!  What, isn't that how everyone slows down their spaceplanes?

Anyway, MK3 parts seem to have a slightly radioactive effect- that is, they repel each other, and even the slightest jostle will disturb the balance between the spin-pair attraction and the strong fall-y-apart-y force, such as is provided by touchdown. 
I have experimental data on this, in the form of my A320 replica, which would, every time I landed it, fall apart.

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1 hour ago, Mad Rocket Scientist said:

Anyway, MK3 parts seem to have a slightly radioactive effect- that is, they repel each other, and even the slightest jostle will disturb the balance between the spin-pair attraction and the strong fall-y-apart-y force, such as is provided by touchdown. 
I have experimental data on this, in the form of my A320 replica, which would, every time I landed it, fall apart.

I hope it goes away in 1.1. One of the devnotes mentioned fighting something very similar.

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1 hour ago, Mad Rocket Scientist said:

Anyway, MK3 parts seem to have a slightly radioactive effect- that is, they repel each other, and even the slightest jostle will disturb the balance between the spin-pair attraction and the strong fall-y-apart-y force, such as is provided by touchdown. 
I have experimental data on this, in the form of my A320 replica, which would, every time I landed it, fall apart.

Well the Kerbfleet Crashed Transport Study Board (CTSB) agrees that something like this happened here. From the look of the wreckage, the ship just kind of fell apart. The two cargo bay sections are intact and separate from each other and the command module. The Mk2 engine nacelles are on the ground next to them, pretty much intact and with the engines still connected. The landing gear is disconnected but intact, next to the nacelles. The wings are destroyed, and the tail, but it looks like that's pretty much it. Derpstar Two will likely just move the brakes around, and maybe carry some additional fuel reserve. (I think I had more than enough thrust margin on five engines, so I can safely add a little mass, yes.) If Sam can get it back to the nice flat runway, or failing that the grass near it, it'll do fine. In any case, as long as she "walks away" every time I don't care too much what happens to the ship. 

Edited by Kuzzter
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14 minutes ago, Deddly said:

I have to say I actually love the fact that it's becoming almost a running joke that Gregmore always gets forgotten about. That is just begging to be written into the story somehow.

Well, somebody has to lead the B-team to Dres. (Joking! It's a joke! A JOKE!)

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36 minutes ago, Kuzzter said:

Well, somebody has to lead the B-team to Dres. (Joking! It's a joke! A JOKE!)

Never disparage Dres.  According to the mythology of my Kerbals, Dres was the apprentice of the smith god Kerbin, helping him forge the universe.  But Kerbin quit early and while tidying up the shop before going home himself, Dres noticed a fatal weakness, so he added the Sacred Strut to hold the universe together.  You can see it today, the silver band around the elliptic :D

 

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Count me in as another voice for monoprop powered probes. I've had great success with them in both stock and 6.4x scales. It's easily feasible to make a compact monoprop probe with more delta-v than a similarly sized LFO probe, if only because of lighter engines. Plus it simplifies a lot of tankage and such if you ever need them to dock with things (as is the case here).

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29 minutes ago, GreenWolf said:

Count me in as another voice for monoprop powered probes. I've had great success with them in both stock and 6.4x scales. It's easily feasible to make a compact monoprop probe with more delta-v than a similarly sized LFO probe, if only because of lighter engines. Plus it simplifies a lot of tankage and such if you ever need them to dock with things (as is the case here).

Agree completely. Just tested the new scansats, and converted the Jooldivers to mono and tested them as well. Simpler and better all around, so that's what will go up in Samantha's next Derpstar flight!

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3 minutes ago, Aperture Science said:

@Kuzzter

Please. We need a "Probes Interlude". A special episode dedicated to The Probes.

NANANANANA, le beep, le burnt scansats, le new scansats.

Nope. BATTMAN!!!

Those darn Sodium batteries.....they never shut up. :)

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Now I don't feel quite so inept landing my replica Derpstar!  I call mine Freightliner since I'm partial to that brand of big rigs.  Still have some tweaking to do but having a full sized cargo bay in a relatively compact form is a far sight better than my previous design.

...and I did manage to make it back to KSC in one piece...eventually :)

Thank you for the design, Kuzzter.  It's now in the inventory along with the Kranefly.

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