What did you do in KSP1 today?

[Cuky]

last night I completed rescue a Kerbal contract for the first time. I usually don't do those contracts because I just don't want to bother with them, but I need more Kerbals in my program and I can't spare any cash to hire them.

[soulsource]

After a relatively long break I've returned to KSP, just to lose one of my probes...

It was a SCANSat probe for Moho, equipped with all the scanning gizmos available. This probe has been on its way for quite some real life time, given my long break from the game, so I wasn't exactly remembering the mission plan. This made me choose to do a course correction just outside Moho's SOI, so the probe would reach a nearly perfect polar orbit. It was just about 100 m/s, what is nothing to worry about given my tendency to vastly overengineer. Well, in this case it was something to worry about, as the probe then had about 100 m/s too little to make the designated orbit. Actually, it was even too little to make orbit at all, so it's now closely following Moho, just outside the SOI...

Apart from that I landed close to the south pole of the mun.

[dangerhamster]

On Duna the Science Bus team moved out to the east following a rising ore reading, after 10km they realised they had forgotten to hitch up the miner..... One collective shrug later they elected to carry on sure that the miners auto navigation unit would home in on any flags they planted. With the heady wine of irresponsibility coursing though the team Ribbas decided to turn the wick up and see what the bus would do. At a shade over 32 m/s actually slowing down became a problem due to the wheels spending very little time in contact with the ground. Oh and there were some complaints from the back about expensive gear headbutting the scientists.

Back at Kerbin a steady flow of craft have been declaring mission completed,equipment problems and in one case lack of deodorant as a reason to RTB.

This may have something to do with the increase in crews being trained to 3 star level. The crew of Orbcam 3 who are already 3 star are rightly miffed at this but restrained themselves to observing that it was difficult to take nice pictures with all the clownshoes zipping across their telescope.

[MrWolf83]

Did my first fuel transfer, and forgot to take a pic in all the excitement, 

here is the complete ship that was originally meant for a Duna trip, its based on  design by scott manley, but realized during the docking to transfer fuel that I had it back wards and it's supposed to pull the lander not push. So now this is an overly fueled ship heading to Minmus for tourist season. Nukes suck by the way for this.

[Quijote]

My first orbits in manual mode

 

Edited February 22, 2016 by Quijote

[Frank_G]

Today i worked on a stock vehicle, that will be a) small enough to fit in my Constellation lander, b) be able to grab components out of the lander, c) place them on the ground or dock them to other components and finally d) be compatible with the rover... My first tries are indeed the strangest vehicle-designs i ever did in KSP, but due to the lack of robotic arms or a smaller C.L.A.W. unit, i am forced to consider work-arounds. This one is a very promising design. I bet, some of it will make it into the final construction unit...

It is not looking very spectacular, but this one here can drive "prone" or "standing" and is capable of lifting and holding itself in the needed position.

Coming up with something really reliable will be not an easy task. I also thought about a reaction wheel with a docking port, that can be docked to other components, allowing them to lift themselves up, before being pushed to the right position by the rover.

Edited February 22, 2016 by Frank_G
Added more tech-babble

[GarrisonChisholm]

On 2/21/2016 at 0:14 AM, DolphinDude3 said:

 I then spent several minutes of my life watching it spin to the Traditional Scottish music I was playing at the time.

 

...it was only the final phrase which finally earned this post my Like.  *intones sagely*

[Frank_G]

I found some time to design the aeroshell and transfer stage for my Constellation mission.

The aeroshell features a frontal mounted heatshield for Duna re-entry. The transfer stage is powered by three LV-N "Nerv" engines. The main tank is a Mk.3 spaceplane fuselage, as it is one of theonly large tanks, that hold only liquid fuel. 

The docking ring has 4 RCS tanks built in. They feed the four prograde and retrograde attitude control thrusters, that are used for de-orbiting from low Duna orbit. They are also used to control the descend trajectory. The docking ring is later separated, together with the aeroshell and the heatshield.

Edited February 23, 2016 by Frank_G
Tpyos...

[Triop]

My first lill space station

[Nukeknockout]

I designed my first (working) aircraft in FAR! To perform planetary surveys on Kerbin.

When starting the design, I knew exactly what I needed: A subsonic suborbital aircraft that can travel to either pole and return to KSC, capable of STOL, taxiing stably over uneven ground, being fitted to perform multiple mission types without altering flight characteristics to any noticeable degree, and requiring the least piloting skill to operate possible. Did I do all that? Well...

I made something that can land literally anywhere (Parachutes give enough deceleration, and since it lands tail first under that method the pilot and cargo will survive because of crumple zones). I made something that is so incredibly stable I literally left it alone at x4 to set up a bunch of waypoints where there seemed to be water in non-water biomes and it stayed straight as an arrow going right for KSC with altitude varying between 10.5Km & 11.5Km. I made and flew a plane that can taxi on any reasonably regular surface, including water. I made and flew a plane that is physically incapable of exceeding 300 m/s barring a drop from orbit, and therefore even in FAR it will not suffer aerodynamic failure. I made something approaching my first adult modular design in KSP (Switch out the cargo for a materials lab, passenger cabin, etc and the flight characteristics basically don't change). And it had about 40% fuel left after it's round trip 550Km from KSC. The probe core hidden in the cargo bay also allows the one crew to be either a scientist or an engineer, which I find to be more generally useful for aircraft.

And it costs 15k funds with 30 parts. It's got components from Modular Rocket Systems in it (The cargo bay, for instance), but this is something that could be fairly simply remade in stock. I can fly anywhere on Kerbin, do whatever I want, and plop it back on the KSC runway. Heck, I even lost the nosecone parachute to a hill (Don't ask) and that did not alter the flight characteristics. 30-part planes, am I right? Tons of nonessential parts. Just start detaching them at random.

I really think I have a career mode workhorse here. It's not everything I wanted, (Takeoff on anything that's not KSC is a serious pain, so is controlling taxiing speed without crashing, oh and it doesn't yaw. It tells you it can, but then it just rolls), and it definitely has limitations, but for 30 parts and 7 tons, I'm proud. And it's even good for a not great pilot like me. Speaking of orbital drops, I want to put one of these on Laythe for really no reason.

[Choctofliatrio2.0]

Things didn't load right, I had no control, one time it started rolling down the mountain (slowed by parachutes) and rolled for like 8 minutes. Then I landed it perfectly, and the probe core I attached to control it blocked the hatch. But I did it. And renamed the plateau it landed on after the brave pilot who died attempting to land another failed observatory.

Then, I launched the first module of the first space station in the new file, and experimented with stock interstage fairings. T'was fun.

[Ehco Corrallo]

I built my first space station. Docking isn't as hard as I remember it being. 

[Geschosskopf]

The 2nd Sarnus Expedition got down to business with a probe lander on Slate and the establishment of a refueling base on Eeloo, which in this universe is a moon of Sarnus.  Various USI and Lithobrake parts in evidence.

 

[Jett_Quasar]

More testing on the Pirate Tech...

JR

Edited February 23, 2016 by Jolly_Roger

[Jett_Quasar]

Updated my playlist with my new videos...

 

 

JR

 

Edited February 23, 2016 by Jolly_Roger

[Bev7787]

Testing my new reusable rocket/orbital tug launcher system

[Thorbane]

Gave a C-class a shove out of the solar system:

 

Botched a booster separation:

and launched an SSTO

Edited February 23, 2016 by Thorbane

[Hotaru]

Returned from Eve for the first time!

 

After disconnecting the ascent vehicle from the mining rover, Dottie had to climb an extremely long ladder to get to the cockpit.

 

Liftoff! After much messing with save files, F5/F9'ing, restarting and finally (paradoxically) uninstalling KJR to get the thing to stand up under its own weight. Even after all that I couldn't get it to not break its landing legs, so it went up with most of them still deployed.

 

Boosters jettisoned, the core takes the ship through most of Eve's atmosphere and starts the gravity turn. Unfortunately it's a bit of a noodle without KJR, and I had to do nearly all the flying manually since MechJeb didn't know what to make of it and it didn't have stock SAS.

 

Clear of the worst of the atmosphere, the Poodle second stage ignites to put the ship into orbit. It turned out to be insanely over-designed, in fact it made orbit with enough fuel left in the second and (unused) third stages to get all the way back to Kerbin. That's not the plan, though, so now Dottie is waiting in Eve orbit for the Constant to pick her up and return her to Kerbin at the next window.

 

 

[BJ Quest]

This one that is maned is going to Jool. Two others without the SatSCAN attached (all ready sent on different rocket) are going to Duna and Eve. Research is nearly max out.  Am using several mods. The Farscape mod is neat but the basic engine is too fuel efficient to make it much of a challenge.

 

[Stewcumber]

After my Minmus rover ended up like this...

I tried a 'personal rocket' for whizzing around in the 'air' instead. I thought I'd make a new method of getting it to Minmus too.

This little clip reminds me of a part of a movie. I think maybe Moonraker at a point where the camera is locked to their shuttle as it turns like this.. Does anyone know?

 

Edited February 23, 2016 by Stewcumber

[Zer0Winds]

I built a TIE Fighter, stock, and it FLIES! Defies physics with TIE Fighter... If I can, I'll try to get a picture of it! Slow as a snail though, so not realistic in that regard.

[Puggonaut]

Spent a few hours mucking about with one of Jolly Rogers Mil-Falcons that he kindly shared from his page . bugging about with the idea of short take off an one day hopefully in one piece a landing

After having watched many a ship go an do a amazing impression of a Russian Gymnast trying to get Gold in the Olympics whilst drunk , I finally got somewhere...............sort of..............still got things to do with it . 

 

[Sir_Robert]

Transferred a near-empty SCANsat probe from polar Duna orbit to Ike. I'm quite proud of my manouvernode. Ended up in a near perfect polar orbit as the tanks ran dry

Edited February 24, 2016 by Sir_Robert

[Triop]

Purple haze

[Munar Faliure]

My f5 key broke.

I am doomed.