What did you do in KSP1 today?

[Triop]

1 minute ago, GDJ said:

PARTY! PARTY! WOOOOO!!

I bet you can not get 50 kerbs in there....   

[Nukeknockout]

Got a 56 ton shipyard into a 600Km equatorial orbit in one launch without any 2.5 meter engines unlocked while maintaining the ability to convert the station into a ship or a ground base later on, had it fabricate an expansion for itself, set up a supply route for rocket parts with the routine mission planner, disassembled the empty supply rockets for more parts, brought up a crew, and began constructing a Mun lander. And then realized that I had completely forgotten to take pictures. This after failing utterly to get a 15 ton shipyard into a 100Km orbit.

Palm, meet face.

Next up: Absorb batteries, solar panels, capacitors, monoprop tanks, and assorted other goodies from the supply rockets while finishing the Mun lander, then perform the first landing on the Mun and return to Kerbin.

[Delfinus]

(Sorry for lacking pictures of today's events)

Today at KIAA: (Kerbal International Aerospace Administration)

First thing I did was attempt to develop a missile to deflect incoming asteroids, but unfortunately it ran out of LFO before reaching orbit and Solid-fuel powered rockets aren't that great for orbital insertion and maneuvering...

I then went out for a flight in my two-fuselage aircraft, the Hydra I, despite it's weird appearance it has stunning performance in all category's except fuel, it has 3 Panther Engines and only 600 units of fuel, although it is extremely lightweight and aerodynamic.

Afterwards I sent a probe to the Mun, it managed to get to Munar orbit and retrieve a large amount of Science from there, but it ran out of fuel on descent and although it survived the high-speed impact mostly intact (although without power) I timewarped which caused it to explode, leaving only a single landing leg remaining, I then spent several minutes of my life watching it spin to the Traditional Scottish music I was playing at the time.

 

Edited February 21, 2016 by DolphinDude3

[ezequielandrush]

I reinstalled the game after a 5 month Kerbal free period just to realize kerbalstuff is dead, so CKAN is not working properly

so I just installed 120 mods (more or less) by hand. It's 4 AM and I am finally starting a new career game.

 

good night...

 

Zeke

[Frank_G]

Today i started to work on a new Constellation style lander and first parts of the payload. When 1.1 is out, i want to launch a large scale fully stock Duna mission.

The Lander with stored test-vehicle.

The test-vehicle is a small modular rover, that can operate autonomous or carry 4 Kerbals. I plan to have construction tools mounted to it, to connect Duna ground base parts.

Launching away the cover of the ascend vehicle. The engines of the ascend vehicle are also the landing engines for the whole vehicle.

The Duna Ascend VEhicle or DAVE launching from the lander chassis. It can carry 4 Kerbals to low Duna orbit.

[dangerhamster]

Science Buggy landed on Duna.

The control probe was cunningly programmed to find a sloped site to help the KerbalFlop payload delivery technique....

Once clear of the Deliverance the scientists set about calibrating their widgets whilst the engineer went out to kick the tyres (and sneakily become the first Kerbal to walk on Duna).

He soon called them out to watch the sunset.

Whilst basking in the glory their unspoken thought was "what if they forget about us?".

Their fears were allayed somewhat by the arrival of another Deliverance. Which appeared to have found a flat bit.

It turned out to contain the Ickle Miner designed to top off a landers tanks.

Experimenting with towing the miner they were surprised to receive a message congratulating them on starting an outpost and carrying out a docking. Go figure.

Caravan club membership sorted they returned to the Deliverance to liberate some solar panels so the gigantors only have to be deployed once they park up.

Meanwhile back home the Chelonean Mk3 was launched and met up with an auxiliary tank.

Next stop is Minmus to fill the aux tank.

 

[Vermil]

Today I watched some awesome KSP-videos and was both very entertained indeed and feeling very inadequate. I finally decided to not aspire to anything like that and just continue and explore KSP in my own way.

My team on Duna had yet another day off. Mission Control turned off the feed from their R&R lounge when it was discovered that everybody was in their underwear.

So it was another day of development work for Dr Horst and Jebediah (who now holds the official title 'Chief Development Astronaut'). Since Ikaros_H was considered finished, attention switched to Kronos_C. A Kronos expedition to Laythe is planned to be the next major mission, so some work should be put in.

Kronos_C received a lot of small sheduled fixes and planned improvements. A late-minute addition to that was equipping it with two rovers. The new long-wheelbase version, of course.
But then it also got three new features, deviced and executed on the fly. First it got a similar surgery as Ikaros_H, replacing the Command-Habitat complex with a new one, assembled from spaceplane Mk3 components. It's quite similar, but not identical, to the one adopted for Ikaros_H. Then all the frontal, ejectable, heatshields were removed. This is controversial, since it means that Kronos_C will not be able to do any atmosphere-braking. Kronos_X13 and Kronos_A had to do that, as well as the forrunners, the two ancient Banshees. But Kronos_B performed its mission without having to resort to any aero-braking, so Mission Control believes that it's just a matter of getting the approach to Jool and Laythe right. And Mission Control also feels much have been learned, and doubts that Kronos will ever aero-brake again (even if it could). It's also not a matter of safety. If it fails to get into landing orbit around Laythe, it will still have more than enough fuel to abort and fly home again. So the tandem, cruciform stabilizators could also be removed. Finally, solar panels were removed and replaced by a nuclear isotope reactor. This change reflects the long times in shadow behind Jool as well as the distance from the sun. Ultimately, it converts into a weight reduction.

The new Kronos_C weighs in at 8,425.1 t, representing a weight reduction of 21.5 t from Kronos_B, despite the rovers.
The number of stages is also down. Now 48. I think Kronos_B had 51. Toggles are the same, 8.
Parts count is up though, 1004 from previous 987.

Jebediah spent like 3 hours climbing up and down the ladders, testing. There was in particular one section which proved a considerable problem.
But testing of the Kronos_C is by no means considered finished. More work remains. I think it will have to fly as well, even if it's just a short ballistic loop.

Edited February 21, 2016 by Vermil

[AlphaMensae]

The Discovery was a warmup.  Now for the main event:  launching the Argo Navis!  2116t ship, 15,249t on the pad.

All of Kerbalkind marvelled at the monstrous beast that had appeared at the KSC.  Then they probably all ran for cover as the giant's engines ignited, which must have shook the planet to the core.

 

The central engine is a R7 cluster from SpaceY (7 Ratites), upsized to 7.5m to match the ship's diameter, with a 7.5m tank plus 5m radial tanks feeding into it.

The radial boosters are 7.5m upsized SpaceY tanks with 7.5m Mammoths (for their higher efficiency) that feed into the core's radial tanks.

The SRBs are the Fenrirs from SpaceY, the biggest one in the mod...and there are 8 of them.

The radial decouplers are the Triple-Packed jumbo ones with built-in sepratons from SpaceY, though I decided to double the size of the ones on the radial booster to provide a safety margin.

I did add some struts to the radial boosters after I took the screenshot.

The ship itself is commanded by a SpaceY 5m Stack Guidance System, which I regard as the JAL-9000 computer.

Reaction wheels are 4 of the 3.75m ones from Modular Rocket Systems upsized to 7.5m and placed in doublets at the ends of the main tank, which is from Fuel Tanks Plus, the Kerbodyne 28800 (a double-length Kerbodyne 14400) switched to all LF.

The launch again went off in one shot, no troubles at all, though that R7 cluster did heat up the 7.5m Nuclear Lightbulb a bir from burning so long.

 

[SurrealShock]

.

Edited August 19, 2020 by SurrealShock

[Vermil]

See, this is why I insist on test, test, test, test like a lunatic paranoiac.

So Kronos_B works flawlessly, then Kronos_C must also work properly since it's the same basis, right?
So why the ...  is one engine suddenly missing?

As the stages dispatched tanks and rockets, the SAS eventually couldn't keep the balance, with the missing engine.

And don't worry, the vehicle was unmanned. Of course.

 

[maceemiller]

Today was a simple affair.....I added a new stage to my Jool 5 Challenge ship which will (hopefully) contain enough dV to refuel my lander and get me home again. Ive been building my craft for hours now and there is plenty more to do however the mission launch date creeps forever closer. 

[mdkendall]

After landing at the equator then driving for many days, my Ike rover has finally reached Ike's south pole. Satisfyingly, there is a small peak there.

 

[Kinglet]

I had to deal with a possessed-self aware ion-skiff.

 

I was sending it to minmus on a chemical rocket to scout for base locations. However, after a rough transfer burn, it was attacked by the Kraken, and got its solar panels ripped right off. So I sent a rescue and repair mission (kerbal inventory system mod) after it to replace the panel stubs with more stable RTG's.

Things didn't work out. By pure chance, the ion skiff got a mun COLLOSION COURSE. Like, seriously, what are the chances? But I caught up with it easily. However, when I was 100 meters away, it fired its thrusters and escaped the mun collision course. With no power to the drone cores.

I got spooked and decided to leave it alone forever (or send the ghostbusters). So I attempted a mun-slingshot assisted return to kerbin. I succeeded with the 3km mun flyby, but I misjudged my maneuver nodes and hit kerbin's atmosphere straight on at 1000 meters per second.

Conclusion: A horrified survivor of solitary horror in space and a 25 g reentry, and a mildly damaged ship.

[Nukeknockout]

The Kraken attacked my 70+ ton orbital shipyard it took me all day to build while that shipyard was in the process of building my Mun ship. Specifically, the Kraken reached through time and space and spawned a 10T supply tug whenever the station rendered and then forced me back into the map view.

There's definitely some kind of compatibility issue with my mods, and I don't feel like dealing with it. Uninstalled extraplanetary launchpads and the routine mission manager and started from zero. Again.

[AlextheBodacious]

Landed on the Mun... again, except in 0.13.3, because it doesn't take 80 years to load.

Edited February 21, 2016 by AlextheBodacious

[Val]

Continued the journey with my ISRU SSTO Spaceplane. Took off from Duna and plotted a course to the Jool system. Took some pretty pictures on the way.

Then I landed it on Laythe. Probably one of my smoothest landing so far.

[Proteus]

 

 

i installed a rescale mod that calls "kerbin 365",it basically rescales all planets + opm planets,and orbits to 3.2 size,getting to orbit and going to other planets now feels really challenging but not impossible. kind of mixture of rss but not so realistically demanding...so far i like it very much.

so i wanted to check how good i perform with rescale mod,so far i didn't do any manned mission on 3.2 scale,but did scansat of neidon's system,went to thatmo,icy moon with atmosphere  - mission went well.4min burn to orbit hehekerbin rescaled high orbit of kerbin,warp drive activationorbit of neidon this is how far the sun is from this gas giant,solar panels are literally useless herelow flyby of the gas giant orbit of thatmothis moon actually got atmosphere

 

 

[Jett_Quasar]

Uploaded a couple more videos to Youtube.  This is a new series documenting the testing of Pirate Tech.  Forum members Dafni and PointySideUp have designed some craft using the modded parts and the results are very promising.

Part 1

Part 2

JR

Edited February 21, 2016 by Jolly_Roger

[Kuansenhama]

Built a space station in 100km LKO. It's mostly there to refuel SSTOs. Ever since my career game decided to drop every contract, I've turned back over to the sandbox side of the force where I build gigantic and fairly useless bases and stations more on aesthetic than function that make my poor potato macbook cry. But building them still gives me good feelings.

The one thing I can't seem to figure out is how I licked the asteroid dry so fast. D class ~300 tons. Was at 93% resources when I grabbed it. The transporter took about 10k units of ore and it said that it was at about 80%. So I should have only used 1/9th the resources getting it into position. Got the station hooked up and started mining it. Only got about another 10k units of ore until it ran dry. (That main tank holds about 30k liquid fuel and 30k oxidizer.) I've got about 5K in there now. Pretty much just a puddle in the bottom of the tank. That or maybe that percentage is proportional to the 'roid's total mass and not linear. (BRB doing the maths) uhm... yeah... must be, that makes sense based on my rough calculations.

(Checked the Wiki, 300T is on the low end for D class...)

I guess if I wanted to continue using the station to refuel, I have to go out and find one of those 3000 ton E-class monsters.

Edited February 22, 2016 by Kuansenhama

[Edax]

Embarked on my first mission to Jool.  And learned a terrible flaw in my spaceplane carrier: the laborious 31 minute burn time out of Kerbin (I literally just started watching the movie Patton while KSP ran in the background). Turns out 4 LV-N take a LONG time to push a 230 ton mothership.  I also learned that the carrier has far less delta-v then what I had calculated a long time ago, apparently having little more then 5000.  Maybe filling the oxidizer tanks up was a mistake, since it's mostly dead weight.  Hopefully entering Jool with 3000 delta v is enough for a landing on Pol to refuel.

 

[Kyrt Malthorn]

What a day for my stock gameplay/hard mode career.

Having scraped up enough to upgrade my research facilities so I could take surface samples, I thought it high time to do more than a fly-by - I set my sights on Minmus.  Struggling against the VAB 30 part count limit, the Cardinal I rocket was developed.  Early satellites showed large flat areas, so the development team felt comfortable making a rather rall lander.  Mellin Kerman stepped up to the challenge.

The Cardinal I takes to the skies.

 

Mellin, being a scientist and very astute (and having read the news on the unfortunate fate of Uranda Kerman's survival story) radioed down to the KSC control tower asking for the design specs, specifically asking where the parachute controls were located.

Mission control dug through the entire design's scrapbook and eventually cornered the designer.  They came to the unfortunate conclusion that there were no parachutes on the Cardinal I reentry pod.  A partial abort was called - the lander would not land at all, but Mellin Kerman was permitted to transfer to Minmus orbit, take science readings, complete a test contract for the lander engine slated to take place in Minmus orbit, and return home - landing and reentry were scrapped.  Shortly, a well-proven Mercy III rocket was launched to rendezvous with the Cardinal I in orbit, and Mellin brought the science home.

Test pilot Jebediah K., shortly after being evicted from the cockpit of Mellin Kerman's rescue/reentry craft.

 

Matfurt Kerman, designer of both recent parachute-lacking reentry craft, had this to say: "For the last time, I'll [censored] remember the [censored] [censored] parachutes from now on!"

While the program directors were quick to point out that so far no one had died in the recent parachute oversights, in hindsight, perhaps they spoke too soon.  Also scheduled for launch was the Kladdor 1D rocket, an eight-seater "bigger than ever" rocket featuring state of the art computer guidance.  In fact, designers were so sure of the guidance systems that they didn't even include a cockpit.

Kladdor 1D, now known as the Kladdor 1 Disaster

 

Project specialists Bill and Bob Kerman took along six tourists to visit the Mun for an unprecedented level of civilian access to space.  Reports throughout the trip were hugely positive.  However the rocket hit a snag partway through its mission: contact was lost just minutes after the rocket passed into the shadow of the Mun.  Contact was reestablished shortly after they returned to sunlight on the other side, but they had already missed a Munar orbital insertion burn because the automated guidance was out.  While solar powered, the onboard systems' batteries simply didn't have much capacity.  With "plenty of spare fuel", they made a late insertion burn, and shortly burned again to return to Kerbin.  

Directors state no one foresaw their reentry would be on the night side of Kerbin.  Without power, or guidance, the engine bus was never staged, the craft reentered Kerbin atmosphere at an unplanned angle, and the large red "Parachutes" button was revealed to be a visual placebo made from a plastic bottle cap, included for the peace of mind of the passengers.

If any of the eight on board survived the fiery inferno in the upper atmosphere and 25 gee flips, there was no way to survive the 300m/s impact with the ground.

The space program's memorial service for Bill and Bob will be held later this evening.

 

[ScarM]

Improved drilling equipment was added recently.

A convert-o-Tron 250 was planned, but lost on landing.  
It ran dry of fuel 50 meters above terrain.

 

[Kyrt Malthorn]

13 minutes ago, ScarM said:

Improved drilling equipment was added recently.

A convert-o-Tron 250 was planned, but lost on landing.  
It ran dry of fuel 50 meters above terrain.

 

That's a pretty awesome base!  Looks part count intensive though....

[ScarM]

5 minutes ago, Kyrt Malthorn said:

That's a pretty awesome base!  Looks part count intensive though....

Thanks, and yes it is. While it was parked on an orbiting fuel station with similar equipment, my frame rate was crawling.

[Hotaru]

Finally managed to get back to my main career save after a week stuck in OS X to do homework.

 

This is a launch I've been looking forward to for a while: the SS Hornblower, a prototype self-refueling interplanetary ship inspired by some similar designs I've seen in this thread. Unlike my Aqualungs and Spacebuses, which are reliant on stationary mining rigs for surface refueling, Hornblower has its own ISRU equipment.

 

Surprisingly, the ascent to orbit worked on the first try without trouble.

 

It has nine nukes in three nacelles, with a single Mainsail auxiliary engine to provide additional TWR for takeoff and landing on larger planets. I don't remember the exact figures (I built it a while ago) but it has something like 9,000 m/s of delta-v fully fueled, and enough TWR to land anywhere but Kerbin, Eve, Tylo, or Laythe. (Duna is marginal.)

 

It went up unmanned and rendezvoused with Super Aqualung Violet to take on fuel. Once it has its crew, it'll stop at Minmus to fully refuel itself, then depart for Moho.