How it's made: Orbital station fuel

[xendelaar]

I've been messing around with orbital slingshots and thought it would be funny to make a 'how it's made episode' out of it.. just for excrementss and giggles.
The actual transfer costs of the fuel is pretty cheap! It only takes around 100 m/s to get a fuel tank from Minmus to the fuel station and back!

Here's a small video I made of the episode (3:16).

 

[Single stage to ocean]

Try and explain how Kerbals are made.

[Dafni]

Very well done video! You put a lot of effort into it and it shows. The editing is very good! The craft are nice too! Congrats!

Couldn't help notice the surface of Minmus. Is that Parallax? Anyway, keep up the good work, I'll make sure to keep an eye on your stuff.

[Dientus]

I love the way you did this! Very unique fuel delivery system and presentation of that system. It almost gives it a realistic feel. I was hoping you would continue with making a few more.

[king of nowhere]

What are those "landing flags" that can lithobrake at 150 m/s without breaking?

the slingshot is very nice.

[xendelaar]

  On 4/17/2021 at 7:24 AM, Single stage to ocean said:

Try and explain how Kerbals are made.

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well... if you really want to know.. If you watch the last 20 seconds of the video below, you'll get a hint of how they're made.. (apologies for my self promoting)

  Reveal hidden contents

 

 

  On 4/17/2021 at 1:35 PM, Dientus said:

I love the way you did this! Very unique fuel delivery system and presentation of that system. It almost gives it a realistic feel. I was hoping you would continue with making a few more.

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wow! thank you so much for your generous compliment. what would you like to see me do more? How it's made episodes? or slingshot episodes? I'm always looking for an excuse to start a new mission/videoclip. 

  On 4/17/2021 at 2:48 PM, king of nowhere said:

What are those "landing flags" that can lithobrake at 150 m/s without breaking?

the slingshot is very nice.

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The landing flags are just regular flags. They are literally unbreakable. only the physics timestep calculations are the limiting factor.  I bet this will be patched in a later update (my version is 1.10). thanks for watching

  On 4/17/2021 at 8:21 AM, Dafni said:

Very well done video! You put a lot of effort into it and it shows. The editing is very good! The craft are nice too! Congrats!

Couldn't help notice the surface of Minmus. Is that Parallax? Anyway, keep up the good work, I'll make sure to keep an eye on your stuff.

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thanks for the kind words man! it took me quite some time to wrap things up. more than I expected at least haha. But it was a great little project

I'm using the parellex mod. It's nice, but I kind of prefer the stock textures more. Also, parellex introduces bumps on the flats of minmus! It's annoying to ride over these bumps because the rovers are literally launched into the air.. urr... vacuum...

[king of nowhere]

  On 4/17/2021 at 7:06 PM, xendelaar said:

The landing flags are just regular flags. They are literally unbreakable. only the physics timestep calculations are the limiting factor.  I bet this will be patched in a later update (my version is 1.10). thanks for watching

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but what i mean is, how do you stick flags on a ship like that? i never tried, but i never knew it was possible

[xendelaar]

  On 4/17/2021 at 7:55 PM, king of nowhere said:

but what i mean is, how do you stick flags on a ship like that? i never tried, but i never knew it was possible

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maybe it's a DLC thing? but since a certain update, we're able to slap additional flags on a ship. I think they're in the utility tab in the VAB.

[Dientus]

  On 4/17/2021 at 7:06 PM, xendelaar said:

. what would you like to see me do more? How it's made episodes? or slingshot episodes? I'm always looking for an excuse to start a new mission/videoclip. 

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Would it possible to do a kind of How Its Made space station? Or mun rover?

 

If you want to give it a shot, I think it would be interesting to slingshot a probe from Gilly to Eve... or maybe even something from Vall to Pol and back again. How Its Made style would be a bonus 

 

[Single stage to ocean]

When a mommy and daddy Kerbal smash.

[xendelaar]

  On 4/17/2021 at 7:55 PM, king of nowhere said:

but what i mean is, how do you stick flags on a ship like that? i never tried, but i never knew it was possible

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flags are a new item that you can put on your ships. just like a lamp, or a science instrument. there are small flags and larger flags...  I'm guessing this is a feature from a DLC you don't have? I have both DLC.

[xendelaar]

  On 4/17/2021 at 9:43 PM, Dientus said:

Would it possible to do a kind of How Its Made space station? Or mun rover?

 

If you want to give it a shot, I think it would be interesting to slingshot a probe from Gilly to Eve... or maybe even something from Vall to Pol and back again. How Its Made style would be a bonus 

 

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Interesting ideas, I'll try to think of something.

[king of nowhere]

  On 4/19/2021 at 7:32 AM, xendelaar said:

flags are a new item that you can put on your ships. just like a lamp, or a science instrument. there are small flags and larger flags...  I'm guessing this is a feature from a DLC you don't have? I have both DLC.

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oh, you mean the decoration you put on rockets! I was thinking "flags" as in "those that kerbonauts plant on the ground".

But in my editor they list 12 m/s as maximum impact speed.

[xendelaar]

  On 4/19/2021 at 12:14 PM, king of nowhere said:

oh, you mean the decoration you put on rockets! I was thinking "flags" as in "those that kerbonauts plant on the ground".

But in my editor they list 12 m/s as maximum impact speed.

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Try it yourself

the flags are almost indestructible. Only thing limiting is the calculation time step between two frames. if you're going too fast, the collider will miss the flag between two frames and go through the ground and explode when it notices another part is colliding with the ground. this is also the case for fairings, although they are less reliable. 

[jimmymcgoochie]

Ok, but how does the deorbit section get back to space? The same centrifuge launcher?

[xendelaar]

  On 4/21/2021 at 12:01 PM, jimmymcgoochie said:

Ok, but how does the deorbit section get back to space? The same centrifuge launcher?

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yeah.. well... there is a long story and a short version..

Short version
The deorbiting unit will be flung into space,together with a next fuel shipment.

Long version
Initially I started recording the video when I finished a working slingshot. I thought I would fling some fuel into space, then dock with the gas station, and then deorbit using another sling... but when I started experimenting with the slingshot in space, I found that deorbiting just cost 50 m/s, while landing (at this altitude) costs 150 m/s! I was like Daaaammnnn.. that makes my design very inefficient! So then I figured that lithobraking was the way to go.. So I had to add a module somewhere. Since I already recorded the ascend part (and also docking the fuel tank onto the sling etc) .. I didn't feel like redoing everything again. So that's why I added a landing module on the gas station. once it got docked, it will stay on the craft indefinitely. I was hoping nobody would find out.. haha I guessed wrong  :D

 

[Dientus]

  On 4/21/2021 at 8:22 PM, xendelaar said:

I was hoping nobody would find out.. haha I guessed wrong 

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LoL there's always someone who notices details, I have had to take my lumps too.

 

Still love it tho