What did you do in KSP1 today?

[Duke23]

It's been quite a while since I played (burned out!) so I decided to boot up 1.0.4 today after grabbing some mods and DO SOME SCIENCE! I'm still weird about career mode so I just made a Science game and started to go at it. Probably since the days when I spent hours on end playing were back before there was a career mode and it never sat right with me... So I started building some crappy looking stuff!

I think this was my first rocket in this game to make it to stable orbit. Apparently the aero has been tweaked yet again since the last time I played, so there were some rough patches along the way, but we made it.

And my low tech science jet-rover that netted me about 300 science points just by cruising around KSC's general area. (No ladder so you have to hop up one of the rear wheel supports)

And the terribly designed "MultiProbe" that is equipped to take several kinds of scientific readings, scan celestial bodies, and also (hopefully) land on Mun. This particular one was just a test and Kerbin scan, the one that actually goes to Mun will be slightly different.

Funny story about the probe, it went up in a fairing so in the VAB I set one of the internal batteries to lockout "just in case" (completely not thinking that through). Everything on the launch went fine, I separated the fairing parts and was cruising to a better inclination for scanning, then the probe started spinning dead on the dark side of Kerbin. The battery resource meter said 0/15 even though I had 6 small batteries on board. I started thinking, oh crap I read somewhere that you can't use certain things inside service bays! I thought I'd have to scrap the mission. Once I got back into sunlight I opened up the bay and saw that (duh) not one but all six of the batteries were set to lockout, AND it was oriented in a way that barely charged anything while it was in the sun. Now it's chugging along just fine.

KSP, I have missed you...

[Aragosnat]

Enjoying the fact. I have 8+ crafts heading to Duna. A few of which are going to be used in mining so the Kerbals all 34 of them can come back after I get another back of more perminent settlers ready.

[mythbusters844]

I had some fun

Edited July 13, 2015 by mythbusters844

[selfish_meme]

http://i.imgur.com/GweJzGRl.png

I had some fun

A recreation of Hotblack Desiato's ship?

[TokiTech]

Done some interesting R&D on finding the magic sweet spot. This MT1-Type2 is now my ultimate small scale Mk3 SSTO for station module delivery to higher orbit. Will soon put into service for my 100m and 400m station building.

Edited July 13, 2015 by TokiTech
Wrong screenshot & typoes, wow

[Xeldrak]

I tested all planes and cast my vote over on the BSC-Redux challenge.

[DunaRocketeer]

Completely messed up my ascent stage design for takeoff from Duna - not enough Delta-V. Fortunately with KIS, I canibalised the descent stage parts and made it to orbit. I feel like Mark Watney from the Martian! I'm going to do that book's scenario next...

[Plume & Akakak]

Time to return window : 121 days.

Bob having an enlightening conversation with the Sun.

Edited July 13, 2015 by Plume & Akakak

[capi3101]

Didn't do a whole lot this weekend; I've still got a Mun Buggy taking its sweet time getting out to Minmus, so I figured I'd take care of some pud contracts closer to home. Had a TR-2V test in orbit contract that paid √50k, so I built a little SSTO sounding rocket (the Derpnaught 7h) to do the job. Aside from it wanting to fly backwards once the engine was turned off, all went well with that mission and I was able to retrieve it for a nice little profit. Also had a Nerv test in Minmus orbit; since I'd recovered some science from when Berris had brought back her last group from Mun, I went ahead and unlocked the Nerv engine so I wouldn't have to keep a hold of that contract anymore (still keeping a hold of one for an Aerospike test on Kerbin just so I've got access to the part) and sent up a cheap little probe to go take care of that. It's now en route to Minmus and should arrive in two weeks or so.

After turning down a tourist contract (was okay except that one of the tourists wanted a sun-dive; I've already got one of those in progress and I'm not confident of its chances of success), I got a contract to perform pressure test on Kerbin. The waypoints were in the vicinity of KSC and as a whole the contract paid something close to √120k, so I went for it. Designed the Pressure Cooker 7 and off I went. Plane's handling was okay; had some issues with pitch control in the trans-sonic but that's not unusual for a tail-less delta and canard configuration. Whole flight took about forty minutes RL and I retrieved the plane intact - total lost revenue for the craft was fuel, a mere √300 for a really nice profit margin. Picked up another Minmus rescue contract; since I've already got folks there (Jeb and Free Bird 7 are parked at Minmusport at the moment), I'll need to see if I can squeeze in a quick rescue mission. Possibly tonight. Fuel's a concern but not a big one since a Mun Buggy is on its way.

[annallia]

Time to return window : 121 days.

Bob conversing with the Sun.

*snip*

And that is why I never send them alone... though I am suddenly missing a kerbal from my Minmus mining outpost....

That being said... I realized what I was doing wrong with my spaceplanes. I was too focused on being a minimalist and making it to orbit with just enough fuel to dock with a station or de orbit and maybe a guided landing. It was time to stop thinking small and think big! Much bigger. So with that I built what I am calling the Explorer class shuttle. Its big, its heavy, even with an RCS assist it doesn't get off the runway till the very end, but it also reaches orbit (without cargo) with 56% of its fuel (51.5% if I get rid of the fuel in the wings).

Now I just have to solve a few problems... The runway thing I think I can solve by moving the rear wheels up a bit, it needs a bit more stability landing, and for whatever reason my RCS doesn't want to be used for rotation when placed from the SPH (it isn't just this plane, any plane the RCS just wont fire for rotation for some reason).

Did I mention stability for landing? Also needs air brakes, probably add some drogue chutes as well and some more work on the cargo bay (I like putting winches in there).

Any landing you can walk away from right?

[selfish_meme]

And that is why I never send them alone... though I am suddenly missing a kerbal from my Minmus mining outpost....

That being said... I realized what I was doing wrong with my spaceplanes. I was too focused on being a minimalist and making it to orbit with just enough fuel to dock with a station or de orbit and maybe a guided landing. It was time to stop thinking small and think big! Much bigger. So with that I built what I am calling the Explorer class shuttle. Its big, its heavy, even with an RCS assist it doesn't get off the runway till the very end, but it also reaches orbit (without cargo) with 56% of its fuel (51.5% if I get rid of the fuel in the wings).

http://i1184.photobucket.com/albums/z335/annallia92/screenshot1_zpsj4ee0g7c.png

Now I just have to solve a few problems... The runway thing I think I can solve by moving the rear wheels up a bit, it needs a bit more stability landing, and for whatever reason my RCS doesn't want to be used for rotation when placed from the SPH (it isn't just this plane, any plane the RCS just wont fire for rotation for some reason).

Did I mention stability for landing? Also needs air brakes, probably add some drogue chutes as well and some more work on the cargo bay (I like putting winches in there).

http://i1184.photobucket.com/albums/z335/annallia92/screenshot11_zpsg2ezyuzn.png

Any landing you can walk away from right?

Don't bother, roll off the end of the runway, you want as much speed as you can for the Rapiers down low.

[Enkiel]

tried to build a SSTO, then just tried to build a plane, then gave up, and went back to rocket.

built my "new" and improved base, capable of carrying 6000 ore (because i can!,... and because a mission ask me to), and with enough delta V once in space to get pretty much everywhere (4000+).

I'm kind of lazy, so no upload except steam ;

http://images.akamai.steamusercontent.com/ugc/441701048986748085/0AB298101E83800C930F481554CB806C33C8BC14/

[Sharpy]

haha, my approach to that: parachute at the nose (enough to slow it down to some 15m/s), two landing legs right next to the tail fin, when extended pointing back and up.

The craft lands on the two legs, and without disengaging the parachute (hey, it's far from the end of falling with just two far off-center legs!) flips neatly onto its wheels

[annallia]

Don't bother, roll off the end of the runway, you want as much speed as you can for the Rapiers down low.

I want to avoid crashing into the ocean and having to use my RCS to keep the nose up while I build up that speed. Also pretty sure I go faster in the air than I do on the ground...

haha, my approach to that: parachute at the nose (enough to slow it down to some 15m/s), two landing legs right next to the tail fin, when extended pointing back and up.

The craft lands on the two legs, and without disengaging the parachute (hey, it's far from the end of falling with just two far off-center legs!) flips neatly onto its wheels

If that was to me I have a different approach. RealChutes mod, they don't detatch right away when you hit the ground.

[Loerelau]

Completed my first Duna/Ike return mission! Usually I am lazy and don't bother with returning kerbals!

Can finally complete the tech tree.

[Terwin]

Took a couple 5-kerbal contracts. 4 of them just wanted Kerbin SOI stuff, with perhaps a Kerbol visit, but the other 6 want to go to Duna.

First sent off the locals off using an existing multi-moon vehicle(along with some kerbals who are not yet at 3 stars), landed on Mun, refilled and currently sling-shotting around Kerbin for Minmus.

Then I re-designed my old Duna mission ship(the old one launched on day 55 and is now 55 days out, with another 200 to ETA), swapped out the horizontal mining apparatus(lots of Verners on the tip along with drills in the Mk3 bay, large landing gear near the nose, small landing gear and rover wheels on one pair of landing legs) with a drill on each of the 4 landing legs. Also remembered that the large ore tank is much more weight-efficient than the MkIII short fuel tank(2T for 6K fuel vs 1.8T for 2.5K fuel), so I swapped out all but the adapter(2.5K fuel) for Ore tanks for slightly better range/speed.

Unfortunately I had some problems with my launcher(Main engine wanted to over-heat) so I used q fair bit of fuel for circularizing. When approaching the Mun I realized I might not have enough fuel to land for refueling(next time: stock an ore tank at least half full).

A little checking showed that I was ~30-60m/s short for my normal landing process.

While checking to see if my RCS fuel would help, I noticed I did not have as many thrusters as I thought, but I also found another vessel coming in for a Munar capture less than an hour after the Duna Cruise circularized. The other ship had full fuel and plenty of ore as it has just returned from a base mission on Minmus and was just stopping by to collect an abandoned Pod that I still needed to bring back for a contract.

With any luck I will be able to claw my Cruise ship without knocking anything off anything vital(festooned with radiators and solar panels), and transfer it as much fuel as it could possibly need to land some time tonight.

(I'll probably land them both for a full refueling anyway as I am still experimenting with how to get my current ship designs landed safely near KSC in 1.0.4 as they generally only have a 0.3 TWR on Kerbin)

Only at the end of the night did I realize that one of the tourists does not want Kerbol orbit, but suborbital at Kerbol, so not sure if I will complete that one or not...

[Tw1]

New Horizons!

It's almost time.

Edited July 14, 2015 by Tw1

[mrmcp1]

I completed my new rover

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[Theoderich]

I launched an early career manned mission aiming for a munar flyby. I was halfway through my burn for the mun when I noticed that jeb was doomed, so I aborted, reentering him:

I didn't have batteries yet, and although he had enough snacks and oxygen to go to the mun and back, he lacked the electric charge to get even halfway there.

[Red Shirt]

I launched an early career manned mission aiming for a munar flyby. I was halfway through my burn for the mun when I noticed that jeb was doomed, so I aborted, reentering him:

I didn't have batteries yet, and although he had enough snacks and oxygen to go to the mun and back, he lacked the electric charge to get even halfway there.

^ This ^ Started with the 2 man lander can and carefully watched my Dv for each part of the mission as I assembled my ship. Most efficient build I have ever tried. Launched. I use EVE 7-4 and EoO, so I was admiring how beautiful this game can be, all the while keeping an eye on the Dv to make sure I got it right. It was going perfect. Until I tried to circularize around Mun. No solar panels and no batteries. Yeah, just a little too efficient.

[ShadowZone]

I made a New Horizons replica

[Rithsom]

Today I sent a small manned lander to Duna.

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I called the rocket Duna One because it's been a really long time since I last went to Duna, nothing to do with Mars One.

[livefree75]

Today, I sent a probe to Jool (in Sandbox mode.) It was my first *semi*successful mission to Jool. I visited Laythe and Vall twice, and Tylo and Pol. I ran out of fuel before I got to Bop. The probe's life ended with a spectacular sundive.

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[KerrMü]

Between two missions I felt the KSC Aerobatic Squadron could use a little practice.

But their jets did look a bit outdated, so I bought them new ones. They seem to like them.

[nohelmet]

Wow! How did you do that?