Remote Control?

[Elroy Jetson]

I'm stuck, again...

 

I have my first very simple drilling rig on Minmus.  I used Bill an engineer thinking there was some advantage with that, so, I don't have a pilot.  I made it here okay and landed and even produced some fuel!  But, now I am trying to relocate and I quickly get an error message as the SAS turns off.  It says something about no pilot on board and the SAS shuts down.  What now?  Is this a solar flare or something causing loss of comm with the tracking station?  I have line of site with Kerbin, does the tracking station need to be facing .Minmus?  I would have thought I'd see these sort of problems much sooner if it were any of my ideas going on here?

 

im reall stuck if I can't get SAS working again?  Hey, maybe my engineer can repair it?  

Edited March 10, 2019 by Elroy Jetson

[Cheif Operations Director]

8 minutes ago, Elroy Jetson said:

I'm stuck, again...

 

I have my first very simple drilling rig on Minmus.  I used Bill an engineer thinking there was some advantage with that, so, I don't have a pilot.  I made it here okay and landed and even produced some fuel!  But, now I am trying to relocate and I quickly get an error message as the SAS turns off.  It says something about no pilot on board and the SAS shuts down.  What now?  Is this a solar flare or something causing loss of comm with the tracking station?  I have line of site with Kerbin, does the tracking station need to be facing .Minmus?  I would have thought I'd see these sort of problems much sooner if it were any of my ideas going on here?

 

im reall stuck if I can't get SAS working again?  Hey, maybe my engineer can repair it?  

Some more details, what is your craft made out off. Also solar flares are not a thing In stock

What do you mean by relocate

[Elroy Jetson]

Pretty simple craft, just a one man pod, battery, solar collector, OKTO2 and the drill, convert-o-torn and holding tank.

 

i just want fly to another nearby spot on the surface and can't get more than about 400m above the surface and it tells me the SAS off line and there is no pilot on board to fly it.  What I don't understand is how I got all the way out here like it is and now it decides to not let me use SAS?

 

[Cheif Operations Director]

5 minutes ago, Elroy Jetson said:

Pretty simple craft, just a one man pod, battery, solar collector, OKTO2 and the drill, convert-o-torn and holding tank.

 

i just want fly to another nearby spot on the surface and can't get more than about 400m above the surface and it tells me the SAS off line and there is no pilot on board to fly it.  What I don't understand is how I got all the way out here like it is and now it decides to not let me use SAS?

 

Simple solutions

What system are you on Pc or Console. Could be a lack of electricity if your using ION thrusters. Perhaps a lack of propellant, if you lack on the dark side that could explain it. I doubt that is the problem, though.

Read

 

https://wiki.kerbalspaceprogram.com/wiki/Probodobodyne_OKTO2

 

Thoughts

 

I don't know why you would have a problem. If I were you I would launch a rescue mission and rescue bill and collect as much science as you can to make up for the loss.

 

Questions

what mods (if any) do you have installed 

 

Yes make sure you have an antenna on your craft your that your in range of a tracking station

https://wiki.kerbalspaceprogram.com/wiki/Mk1_Command_Pod

I'm going to try to replicated the problem of PC. I have mods but the method should be the same

Edited March 10, 2019 by Cheif Operations Director

[Elroy Jetson]

What I don't understand is how I could get this far without a problem and now finally it stops working?  I don't think it is a bug in the program, just something else I probably don't understand about the setup I'm using.

 

i have plenty of fuel, two terrier motors and full battery charge with to extending solar collection panels.

 

Im on PS4 so no mods...

Edited March 10, 2019 by Elroy Jetson

[Cheif Operations Director]

2 minutes ago, Elroy Jetson said:

What I don't understand is how I could get this far without a problem and now finally it stops working?  I don't think it is a bug in the program, just something else I probably don't understand about the setup I'm using.

 

i have plenty of fuel, two terrier motors and full battery charge with to extending solar collection panels.

 

Im on PS4 so no mods...

All the infamous console version. I'm betting it's relay Problems what's your Antenna rating?

I'm doing testing right now hold on

[Elroy Jetson]

Antenna says idle and rated 5.0k.  I guess this is built into the OKTO2?  I thought I read someplace I didn't require a separate antenna?  I don't plan to transmit data back to kerbin.

[Gargamel]

3 minutes ago, Elroy Jetson said:

I don't plan to transmit data back to kerbin.

But how is mission control supposed to fly the craft if it can't send or receive data from it?

The built in antennas are often just strong enough to maybe get you to orbit.   Not much more. 

[bewing]

If you have commnet turned on, then you need to have Commnet connectivity for the probe core to work. Which means your antenna needs to be strong enough to link back to KSC or to the nearest relay. You can turn commnet off if you want, and that will fix your problem.

Perhaps you had a 2G relay at minmus when you landed the first time?

And yes, there is a tiny antenna built into all the probe cores.

Edited March 10, 2019 by bewing

[The Aziz]

Built-in antennas have terrible range. So you probably need a (decent) relay somewhere above you location.

[Aegolius13]

1 hour ago, Elroy Jetson said:

Antenna says idle and rated 5.0k.  I guess this is built into the OKTO2?  I thought I read someplace I didn't require a separate antenna?  I don't plan to transmit data back to kerbin.

You're right on all counts -- probe cores have built-in antennae that can work for remote control.  But they're very weak.  You can use the chart here to see your range with various combinations of antennae and ground station upgrades:

https://wiki.kerbalspaceprogram.com/wiki/CommNet

As shown, the built-in antennae don't function as far out as Minmus, even with a max upgraded ground station.  

Seems like you have three alternatives:  attach an antenna to the ship, give up on it and relaunch a new one, or deploy a relay network.  You'll probably want a network anyway eventually, since you will get no reception on the far side of Minmus anyway. Just make sure to use of the relay antennae for your comsats.

Even if you have a relay network, it's probably good practice to put at least a small antenna on craft that will be operating outside LKO.  You never know when something will get in the way of your expected signal path and you need a little extra oomph.

 

[bewing]

2 hours ago, Elroy Jetson said:

I would have thought I'd see these sort of problems much sooner

OK, I changed my mind. If you have defaulted settings, then your probe core should be in "limited control mode". Which means you should be able to turn on SAS, even with no CommNet connection.

Which means to me that you probably clicked the "No control without signal" button in the Advanced Settings, sometime since you landed your drilling rig.

 

[Superfluous J]

2 hours ago, Elroy Jetson said:

can't get more than about 400m above the surface and it tells me the SAS off line

Okay so just to be sure here you are sitting on the surface. You turn on SAS, and it turns on. You throttle up, lift off, turn, start moving around, and suddenly SAS turns off and you're told you don't have a pilot on board?

If the above is true it sounds like you're running out of power. Do you still have the drills and converter on? Are you using a Terrier or other similar engine that does not create electric charge? Turn those drills and stuff off, make sure your solar panels have sun, and I think you'll be fine. You don't even need connection to Kerbin as long as you don't want to futz with maneuver nodes.

Sorry that last sentence may be in error in career mode. In science mode it's true but it's been a while since I tried it in Career and don't remember what pilotless-but-kerbed-and-probed craft can and can't do in Career.

Edited March 11, 2019 by 5thHorseman

[Elroy Jetson]

Thanks for all the help, especially the links!  I think 5thHorseman figured it out and I was able to perform a test to confirm.  Bottom line I was running out of electricity.  I probably didn't realize the convert o tron was still running.  I did have the drills retracted.  I think it was probably daylight, don't think I would have tried to reposition in the dark.  So, I think I was retracting the solar panels to prevent damage during takeoff and landing.  This gave me just enough electricity to run the SAS until I got to about 400m.  Bad spot to loose all control!

Now, about that relay antenna?  I need a satellite around mimnus  with the relay antenna?  I suppose ideally I want it at a stationary altitude, but if I'm moving around I could make it polar and wait for a window?

Golly Batman, this game sure is "deep"!

[Superfluous J]

40 minutes ago, Elroy Jetson said:

Now, about that relay antenna?  I need a satellite around mimnus  with the relay antenna?  I suppose ideally I want it at a stationary altitude, but if I'm moving around I could make it polar and wait for a window?

I like to just toss up a half dozen or so in different orbits. I usually just take the first 6-10 "put a satellite in orbit around Minmus" contracts I'm offered, and complete them all with relay antennas. You won't get 100% coverage 100% of the time, but if you wait on the surface until you've got a signal you should be fine.

[bewing]

I like to just put up one powerful relay, in a 2Mm orbit. That gives you guaranteed coverage over more than half of minmus at all times. Then I put a couple fuel tankers in low minmus orbits with little HG-5s on them. At that point, there's almost always something in the sky that you can see.

[Elroy Jetson]

I got my relay in orbit of Mimnus.  I also added a scanner antenna to that satellite.  Now I need to figure out how to make use of that info.  Lets see now, where did I put that satellite owners manual?

[Kryxal]

For Minmus, you could just put an inline antenna on your craft ... maybe two, for balance purposes.