What did you do in KSP1 today?

[blorgon]

My first probe to Moho!

Having spent most of my time on long-term, large-scale Duna missions, I decided on a change of scenery and sent a probe to orbit Moho.

I ran out of patience during the transfer however, and ended up spending about 100m/s more than I'd planned, which ended up being the crucial extra 100m/s I needed to achieve orbit, so it ended up being an impactor.

[Gamax19]

Built and lonshed a Kerbol observation probe it all went well then I realised the solar panels weren't extended and the power supply was gone. I then sent a capture device to send the probes to the sun's surface to burn.

[DunaRocketeer]

I'm testing a new vehicle - a tail-sitting spaceplane designed for Laythe landings. I've sent small probes down to Laythe numerous times, but only landed a crew once, and that was over a year ago, so I'm doing a lot of flight tests on Kerbin before it gets hitched to my Jool exploration ship.

Other requirements for it include a crew complement of two (pilot and engineer), a small exploration rover deployed from a service bay, and most importantly, an ore tank + drill so that the mothership can refuel.

It can SSTO from Kerbin with a little fuel to spare: Is that ok for Laythe? It has the advantage of 0.8g, but I'm a little concerned that its thinner atmosphere will hamper my Rapier engines.

[The Aziz]

47 minutes ago, Gamax19 said:

Built and lonshed a Kerbol observation probe it all went well then I realised the solar panels weren't extended and the power supply was gone. I then sent a capture device to send the probes to the sun's surface to burn.

You know you could transfer power or just use the tug's supply to extend panels instead of wasting whole mission?

[Gamax19]

1 hour ago, The Aziz said:

You know you could transfer power or just use the tug's supply to extend panels instead of wasting whole mission?

I  have chosen the interesting and fun option. I relaunched the mission and got lots of science don and a good view of the middle sized yellow dwarf.

[Adam Kerman]

So today I did a modified version of the Stearwing A300 to do like a Bell X-1 drop from a modified upside down MK3 cargo bay

[Overland]

Fighting the good fight, finding light in 1.1s darkness:

Increased smooth framerates letting me use 8 car trains where 4 would previously be enough..

 

coupled with superior articulation using a new steering drawbar system

Testing an 8 car experimental electric unit with all corners in KSC.. Success!

6m/s yard speed in the depot, over 12000 units of fuel loaded

EDIT: I'll give a closeup of the wheels and drawbar system tomorrow night

its using the chassis part of the puma rover, coupled with a free spinning docking washer from infernal robotics I think it is (?)

using slightly modified M1 wheels tuned to not bounce at all (all suspension off) realistic wear and endurence.. with around 3x the power they used to have.. works well.. everything has a start..id love to see it translate to trucks too

Edited May 24, 2016 by Overland

[JoeNapalm]

@Overland -- Any plans to put a train on the Mun, or Duna, or somewhere?

Because that would be AWESOME.

 

-Jn-

[CaptainApollo]

Progressing on my new career mode, sending a probe to mun, maybe even first Kerballed landing on Minmus.

[teag2]

More attempts to make an SSTO. My new one flew up to about 3 km before it couldn't keep pitching up. It splashed down in the ocean.

[Fearless Son]

On 5/22/2016 at 11:03 AM, 5thHorseman said:

I have a friend who was also bitten by this. I wonder if anybody's considering a class action lawsuit.

FWIW I think Windows 10 is better than 8 was, but both are worse than 7. And whatever your prior version, auto upgrading because "Yay we're Microsoft" is a BS move.

Which is why I stick with Windows 7, or as I like to call it, "Vista Done Right" (and I am speaking as someone who used to contract at Microsoft during the development of both Vista and Windows 7.)  

[justidutch]

On 22 May, 2016 at 1:03 PM, 5thHorseman said:

I have a friend who was also bitten by this. I wonder if anybody's considering a class action lawsuit.

FWIW I think Windows 10 is better than 8 was, but both are worse than 7. And whatever your prior version, auto upgrading because "Yay we're Microsoft" is a BS move.

 

On 22 May, 2016 at 1:12 PM, TimePeriod said:

We will soon find out, I am calling my lawyer tomorrow to see if something can be done about it. This is something which I will not stand for.

 

FYI fun: http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-36367221 

 

[PTGFlyer]

I made a decent SSTAO

The A stands for Almost.

I also learned that Rapiers and Swivels have almost equal efficiency, and I already have enough power, so I'll put in a Terrier instead.

[Delfinus]

Tried to finally write Chapter 6 for my mission report after 3 weeks without an update to it, but the bumpiness of the Tier 1 runway, the unreliability of early aircraft parts, etc resulted in every attempt to get the screenshots for it resulting in me being frustrated and having to go to the persistence file to "un-dead-ify" Kerbals.

On my last try KSP just crashed on me, which was a large enough hit to morale that I just gave up.

 

Writing a mission report may seem fun, and it definitely is sometimes, but other times it can be extremely frustrating and exhausting.

[DChurchill]

21 hours ago, kananesgi said:

I just got my first "World Firsts"  messages regarding Kerbol (the sun). World's first fly-by and orbit of Kerbol. I've never sent anything beyond Minmus yet. 

The hilarious part is that these two firsts are because a piece of debris from a failed Mun shot that has been orbiting Kerbin for nearly two years in a highly elliptical orbit just caught a weird slingshot from Mun that sent it on escape out of kerbins soi. 

I find it hilarious. "The world is congratulating our engineers for accidentally sending a piece of trash into solar orbit." 

Yeah, my engineers patted themselves on the back for that one, too. Had a press junket and everything.

[magnemoe]

Critical update for the starliner 20.
Having an inflateable heatshield on front of an ship is smart, however I found that putting it on the front of an MK3 cockpit did not work so well as the nose is offset, causing it to tumble during aerobrake something who is unhealthy. 
Solution is an new heatshield. who is offset and compensate for the offset nose. 
Other stuff on the probe is rcs blocks and solar panels who got destroyed.

22 hours ago, kananesgi said:

I just got my first "World Firsts"  messages regarding Kerbol (the sun). World's first fly-by and orbit of Kerbol. I've never sent anything beyond Minmus yet. 

The hilarious part is that these two firsts are because a piece of debris from a failed Mun shot that has been orbiting Kerbin for nearly two years in a highly elliptical orbit just caught a weird slingshot from Mun that sent it on escape out of kerbins soi. 

I find it hilarious. "The world is congratulating our engineers for accidentally sending a piece of trash into solar orbit." 

This was also true in real world, an Soviet moon probe missed and was the first object in solar orbit.

Edited May 24, 2016 by magnemoe

[ValleyTwo]

Well, I found out MechJeb2 can easily put my designs into orbit in 1.1.2 but that it has no idea to face the heat shield towards the heat when landing.   Looks like the last stages of any landing in a atmosphere will be done by me.  

[DChurchill]

3 minutes ago, ValleyTwo said:

Well, I found out MechJeb2 can easily put my designs into orbit in 1.1.2 but that it has no idea to face the heat shield towards the heat when landing.   Looks like the last stages of any landing in a atmosphere will be done by me.  

Aero forces should do that automatically if you're balanced right. In any case, setting SMART A.S.S. to retro should point the heatshield toward the hot end. So should SAS.

Edited May 24, 2016 by DChurchill

[ValleyTwo]

1 minute ago, DChurchill said:

Aero forces should do that automatically. In any case, setting SMART A.S.S. to retro should point the heatshield toward the hot end.

Aero forces and MechJeb2 seem not to get along (in fact MechJeb2 fought me trying to point the shield the right way) but I will try the Retro trick.  

[TMS]

I rage quit when my Class E asteroid space station decided to shake itself to pieces, and left a load of sections either escaping at light speed or being completely bug-ridden (where they think they're still connected even though they aren't).

I think it may be time to retire for another year, until the next 'update' happens.

Edited May 24, 2016 by TMS

[DChurchill]

1 minute ago, ValleyTwo said:

Aero forces and MechJeb2 seem not to get along (in fact MechJeb2 fought me trying to point the shield the right way) but I will try the Retro trick.  

Hmmm. It shouldn't fight you at all unless you're trying to process a nav node or if smart ass is on. It shouldn't do anything. We're talking simple re-entry, right? Or you mean an actual landing? Like landing guidance? Did you have areobraking nodes checked?

[magnemoe]

19 minutes ago, DChurchill said:

Aero forces should do that automatically if you're balanced right. In any case, setting SMART A.S.S. to retro should point the heatshield toward the hot end. So should SAS.

Or nose first like in my design over. 
More of an problem the landing autopilot is an idiot, yes it help estimate landing area so I don't hit mountains and with an lot of planning get me reasonable close to the spaceport if I don't mind landing in water. 

[ValleyTwo]

26 minutes ago, DChurchill said:

Hmmm. It shouldn't fight you at all unless you're trying to process a nav node or if smart ass is on. It shouldn't do anything. We're talking simple re-entry, right? Or you mean an actual landing? Like landing guidance? Did you have areobraking nodes checked?

Well, the first time I told it to land at the KSC pad.  I think that was the problem.  I think it had some course changes planned even while entering the atmosphere.  So I am thinking land guidance refused to let me aim the shields forward as it still had corrections to make.

So this second time, I just finished trying a second time, I told it land anywhere.  So it pointed the heat shield the right way.  But the four engines I had on the sides to help slow the craft started to overheat.  Now I remember from EnterElysium that tumbling helps spread the heat out.  So I started to spin the capsule, keeping the shield facing the right way.  It worked and the engines lived long enough to be useful for landing the capsule.

With afterthought, unless re-entry is straight down, I don't think I need the engines for landing but it was still a pretty close call.  I need to do more tests before I start serious operations in 1.1.2 - I want to add Life Support and I want to knock out all the designs and solve some of the basic problems before putting crew on my craft.  And get a feel for how MechJeb2 performs in this version.

Edited May 24, 2016 by ValleyTwo
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[DChurchill]

1 minute ago, magnemoe said:

Or nose first like in my design over. 
More of an problem the landing autopilot is an idiot, yes it help estimate landing area so I don't hit mountains and with an lot of planning get me reasonable close to the spaceport if I don't mind landing in water. 

Pretty much this. It's not really an idiot, but it's not Einstein, either. It's not going to fly you to a soft touchdown atmospheric landing, definitely.

@ValleyTwo If you're trying to say land on Duna or Eve with a heatshield then a rocket descent, you're going to just have to let it get into the atmosphere with a normal style reentry, then once the fire stops, you can dump your heatsheild and then choose "Land Somewhere" if you don't want to fly it down yourself.

[ProtoJeb21]

I made an over-sized replica of the Ruhrstahl X-4. And blew it up. Then I made another X-4 replica, but this time it help 2 kerbals. I burnt that one up in the atmosphere.

Pics and DL in a bit!