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Go For Launch: Mission 6: Orbit! Sunday 19 June 5pm EDT/9pm UTC Part A, 8pm EDT/midnight UTC Part B

NathanKell

By NathanKell
in KSP Fan Works

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Fenisse

Fenisse

Posted
Posted
1 hour ago, Maxsimal said:

Is there any room for ''flight spectator" on the team?  Would love to watch the stream.

Everything was written in the OP, but anyways,

This is our Twitch channel where you can follow the streams: Twitch

And these are the past streams (only Mission 1 is a real stream, though): Twitch Past Streams or on YouTube

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soundnfury

soundnfury

Posted
Posted
2 hours ago, Maxsimal said:

@Fenisse  Thanks, missed that.  Is there a modlist posted as well?  I saw something in the original thread about it being just RP-O with recommended, but obviously it also has DMP.  Anything else?

Uh, there's no DMP (I'm not sure why you think there is).  Though we may need it in the future for some missions, we're not using it yet.  Just lots and lots of telemetry, and a Discord server for the chatter.

I've attempted to compile a modlist here; note that it's missing various eye-candy mods (RVE etc).  Probably we should have a list in the repo, but I'll let @NathanKell do that as he has the canonical install.

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NathanKell

NathanKell

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Progress update: We are looking forward to some sounding rocket testing! Our current plans involve some sounding rocket launches Friday at 5pm EDT (9pm UTC), and another round Sunday at 5:30pm (10pm UTC). Once those are firmed up they will go in the topic title.

Given our success in the previous mission, we now have access to further contracts. We had a 50km sounding rocket contract which I already accepted (pays 375/612), as well as the Break the Sound Barrier contract (pays 10,000/35,000) and an X-Plane (low) contract (4575 to 5575m for 3 minutes, pays 560/588).

We have added to our stable of vehicles a boosted version of the SR1 and two more jet craft. The sounding rocket is capable of breaching the Karman line (indeed, should be capable of doing half-again the Karman line), and the jets have rather higher top speeds. However, neither will be capable of fulfilling the Break the Sound Barrier contract, since it requires a speed greater than 350m/s for a full minute, and they are transonic.

The Buzzsaw is a simple upgrade of the Buzzard, featuring swept wings and wingroot nacelles. Looks rather like a P.1057. The Lamprey is a classical 1950s stovepipe jet.

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DuoDex

DuoDex

Posted
Posted

After watching a couple of launches I have a few suggestions.

  • Use @Thomas P.'s excellent mod CursorHider.
  • Turn off KSP's default music, we can use our own instead. It is jarring especially in orbit. On that same note, the more sound mods the better. :wink:
  • Basic information provided by KONRAD can probably be incorporated in a little HUD on the screen somewhere, cropped as necessary. I personally dislike trying to read all the text as I have a relatively small screen.
  • If possible, fake vessel view from mounted cameras SpaceX style (HullcamVDS cams edited to be massless?)
  • The less UI the better!
  • Map view is very fun and feels very launch-y. Use it more?
  • Commentary commentary commentary! Even if you're talking out of your rear. Long pauses are sometimes boring.
  • Hide anything besides launches/flights behind graphics or something (I will make if needed).

Otherwise, this is super-awesome and I'm looking forward to Sunday when I will be able to help launch for the first time!

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NathanKell

NathanKell

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We have before us the choice of four nodes to research. Early Rocketry, Early Construction, Early Avionics, and Mature Supersonic Flight. All cost 10 science except Early Construction, which costs 5. We have 35 science available, which means we queue all of them, but it might make sense to reserve some science to beeline further up a branch.

We currently research at 6.5 science per year, although every $10 million we allocate we can increase that by 1.5 science per year. This means that researching all three LV-related nodes, even considering a few more upgrades, will take us twenty one months.

In order to make this decision, however, we need to make another decision: how we want to get to orbit. We have, essentially, the following options:

  • Orbit from the starting node and starting pad. No useful payload can be orbited: we will not have enough electricity stored to return science data from the orbit. Other disadvantage: very difficult-to-fly and failure-prone launch vehicle.
  • Orbit from the starting node but an upgraded pad. This allows us to orbit a useful payload and does not involve unlocking any tech nodes or parts, but does require a $75 million investment in our launch pad (which we will need to do at some point). However, such an LV is still failure-prone and cannot orbit very much, although useful science data can be returned.
  • Orbit from Early Rocketry. This will involve unlocking parts which we will use later (early AJ10, Baby Sergeant) and parts we will not (X-405 and/or RD-103). It will allow us to orbit useful payload into even polar LEO.
  • Orbit from Early Avionics. Has the same reliability issues as the first two options, but can orbit somewhat useful payload, although probably not into polar orbit. Does not involve unlocking anything we won't use later however.
  • Orbit from multiple Tier 1 (TL0) nodes. We will need to research all these nodes eventually, so we can put off our first orbital launch until they all unlock. That will let us launch useful payloads and even reach the Moon (barely), even from the starting pad.
  • Hold off until Tier 2 (TL1) engines / avionics. This delays our first orbital launch, but does not involve spending money on parts we won't use again.

Finally we also should consider spending some of our science on Mature Supersonic Flight. That will allow us to unlock the first afterburning jet engines and good cockpits for high supersonic flight.

Considerations:

  • Upgrading the pad should also include building a new pad, so we can still launch sounding rockets with fast rollout times. However, upgrading the pad will not interfere with research, and therefore should be done as early as possible so as to synergize with research times.
  • While orbit early on is possible, it probably makes sense to hold off. Some parts we unlock we will need to unlock anyway, and it means we won't waste LV money on 'stunt' launches that cannot return as much useful science.
  • We should keep in mind that in some ways this is a "demonstration" playthrough, and thus we should showcase how the game may be played well, rather than, perhaps, pulling off crazy hijinks for the sake of it.
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Fenisse

Fenisse

Posted
Posted (edited)

Mission 2B Report (30/01/2016 12-14AM UTC)

Stream is up. Report of today's launches:

Rockets Launched: 3x A4-3S; 2x A4-B

Successes: 2

Partial Successes: 2

Failures: 1

Detailed report:

- First launch of an A4-3S was a partial success. Although record altitude of 3000km was not achieved, contract altitude of 1300km was achieved (the rocket reached 2600km).

- Second launch of an A4-3S was a failure: failure on the third stage, contract altitude of 2100km not achieved (it reached 1800km before range safety detonated it).

- Third launch of an A4-3S was a success! Reached 3044km apogee, and fulfilled both contract (2100km) and record (3000km) altitude.

- Fourth launch was an A4-B, a Bio Sample version of the A4-3S. It was a partial success: science was not collected properly, and the scientists only received a preview of the data. Still, the probe was recovered successfully. Also, contract altitude of 160km was achieved (reached 206km).

- Fifth launch was still an A4-B, and it was a success! Science collected, contract altitude of 200km exceeded (207km apogee). Probe recovered safely from the ocean.

Edited by Fenisse
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tetryds

tetryds

Posted
Posted

@Red Iron Crown I was about to ask what did you screw up this time.

Nice set of missions, unfortunately my internet and schedule made it impossible for me to fly something this time, but I may be available for the next one!

Now that I think about it, does failing manned flights mean that you are KIA and cannot pilot anymore? That would be hardcore.

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