What did you do in KSP1 today?

[Clipperride]

Well, panicking seems to have worked!  Full report and pics tomorrow, but today I achieved;

-i) After struggling with space planes since the 1.2 update, I went back to basics and built an all LF, 4 Kerbal (+  1 pilot) Mun fly by plane.  It tumbled a bit on re-entry (needs more electricity), but I was back in control with 3,000m to spare before landing.

-ii) I redesigned the Minmus "Hut" base expansion module.  It's now based around a Mk3 passenger section with Cupola, mining/processing equipment and a Klaw to attach to the original base.  Instead of building a horizontal, rover type craft, I went for a vertical approach.  Jeb flew her up to LKO followed by 3 MOL ( Mun/Minmus Orbital Lab) automated refuelling tugs, each supplying 1½ orange tanks of propellant.

The refueled ascent stack acted as the transfer stage and placed the module in a Low Minmus retrograde orbit (due to an over burn and the fact it takes about a week to turn round to correct, due to the lack of RCS).  

The last of the transfer fuel was used to deorbiting and the top mounted landing stage did the rest of the work.  As it's a little touchy to fly, Jeb landed around 3km away from the base and will drive the rest of the way.  As it is on one of the flats, it's an easy journey. The expansion module sways a little during acceleration and braking, but hasn't toppled over on us yet.  He also has to fill the empty LF tanks with 6,499 units to satisfy the contract requirements and wishes he had brought some sort of ore scanner with him.  One will be sent up, with extra snacks as well as the second pilot I forgot to add to the crew roster before take off - another contract requirement.  It's a good job this'll pay over 1,000,000!

Other than those oversights, it went pretty well! (Really should start double checking things before lift off)

Edited December 17, 2016 by Clipperride
Correcting the autocorrect

[Triop]

Trip to honor the Kerbal god.

Edited December 17, 2016 by Triop

[legoclone09]

Crashed into the surface of the Mun on a 3.2x rescale doing an Apollo mission with BDB.

sigh

[Triop]

2 minutes ago, legoclone09 said:

Crashed into the surface of the Mun on a 3.2x rescale doing an Apollo mission with BDB.

sigh

bummer dude, merry X-mas.

[Guest]

Fweeeeeee

Small plane for dropping on other planets. I swept the wings around the reactor since it's the only heavy part. Actually flies really well; the arrangement of COM/COT/COL is very simple.

[Triop]

Playing Kerbal Pool...

[LordFerret]

Today my encounter with Moho came up, a SCANsat mission launched early in my Science game before obtaining the Hi-Res scanner.

Due to the approach, not wanting a retrograde orbit for the accompanying relay satellites, an adjustment burn was made just as Moho's SOI was encountered. The burn, which was not in the planning, took a little longer than desired, and as a result the transfer stage was short of fuel for a full orbital insertion burn. Fortunately, the probe and relay platform had fuel enough to finish the job and accomplish orbit... but not before mission control (me) went into full panic mode. As if running short on fuel wasn't enough; Without relay satellites, being behind Moho at this point, control of the probe was lost right in the middle of the burn. The panic was short lived however, as the probe regained signal a few moments later.

Currently I've 3 relay satellites orbiting Moho at 500km, and a SCANsat probe in polar orbit at 250km doing its thing. The image below is of the probe and relay platform in orbit, circularizing before releasing the payload.

 

Next encounter is another SCANsat mission, to Eve, 32 days.

 

[The Destroyer]

One mission.

Two Bases.

One launch.

7000 tons.

[RoboRay]

I'm so determined to find the High Over Earth biome that I'll go all the way to the Moon if I have to!

(Ok, really, I've got a lunar flyby contract, so I may as well grab some High Earth science on the way.)

And I goofed and forgot to wait for my launch window so I'd be aligned with the lunar orbital plane.  We'll call this a full-up test of the new launch vehicle.  Very successful.  Great job guys!

Let's try it again tonight...

I finally found High Over Earth at 40,000 km up.

I didn't get much closer to the Moon than that (pericynthion was 30,000 km), but I had a good free-return trajectory with an 80 km perigee dropping me right back into the atmosphere, so I took it.

The entry angle was too shallow, though, so I had to skip around for a second pass...

...which meant that the data canister ended up coming down in the middle of the Amazon rain forest instead of out in the Atlantic.  It's OK, though...  I sent Bob in to retrieve it.  I'm sure he'll be fine.

Edited December 17, 2016 by RoboRay

[loch.ness]

I'm starting to put my Duna mission launches in orbit (not simulated) though it strikes me that I haven't updated my Delta V calculations for some final configurations.  With 109 days left to my transfer window I have plenty of time for that.  I also need to follow up on my selection process because I have 4 out of 13 mission members assigned so far (though still on the ground).

I tried (Unsuccessfully) to pack and launch some of my long term research base modules into a rocket and launch it.  I'm going to need to do some more work on that front.

After that I decided to start with the crew transfer ships since everything else can be many small launches.

The TMR Halo was launched using KOSMOs's new Beryllium launcher (4 modified protons with adapters).  The entire rocket was surprisingly stable all things consider.  It did fire its LVN cluster to circularize its orbit at around 180x180 and to check its TWR.  It was a beast in atmosphere but manageable in orbit.

A supply mission will need to deliver LF, Mono prop, and Material kits to expand out the central habitat prior to the crew of three being delivered.  The TMR (my research showed this acronym from the original Russian mission plan for a crewed interplanetary ship and I kept it) "Halo" (Name might not stick, I'm just not yet sure of a better one) will transport the "Train Team" to Duna before meeting up with a KOSMO LK and LKO for an Ike mission and then delivering the crew to the train (which will be assembled in Duna orbit and landed as one big piece).  Val is mission commander of the train team and will be piloting Halo, the LK Ike lander, and acting as conductor of the train itself.

My other big launch was a "Can I even do this" attempt which proved successful but got reverted anyway (I messed up on the ship's configuration a bit.  Real launch will probably be tomorrow).

I left the crew-habitat ring inflated because it requires 40,000 material kits to inflate and I have no easy way to get that many into orbit without a whole lotta launches and lag.  It was difficult to control, but the stretched SLS boosters just about put it in orbit SSTO.  I considered keeping them attached and trying to refuel them for a trip to the outer planets but decided that could wait for a future mission.

The DCTV (Duna Crewed Transfer Vehicle) Hyperion made orbit with minimal loss of resources (In simulation).  Excess LF and Monoprop from the crew's launch will be enough to have her topped off and ready for a long voyage.

 

I am seriously thinking of turning off the homesickness setting on USI-LS.  I've accounted for ample Habitation, and Life Support on this mission.  I've got probe cores on just about everything so I could probably still handle it with a bunch of tourists - but that's no fun.  The only Medical bay parts I have don't really fit anywhere aesthetically (I had one on Hyperion but I removed it since Halo can't use one at all - only having one scientists planned for the flight).

Hyperion will be taking a crew of 10 to Duna (Bob+4 on one team and Jeb, Bill +3 on the other - Bob earned his own command but Jeb doesn't want to share so they each get a team, Bill i making sure Jeb doesn't break anything important).

Tomorrow will be the real launch of the Hyperion and then some missions to get the rest of my roster up to level 2 so that I can start mission selection for the remaining spots.  (Still need 1 pilot, 4 engineers, 4 scientists)

[N_Danger]

 Val is given the go for landing.

And does a pretty good job. After aborting 2 landings at the last few seconds.

 Lifting off with all the science.

Rendezvous with the return vehicle was neatly done. With just 1 unit of fuel left in the tank. Here Val lines up for the docking.

And an uneventful return home. There was enough d/v on the return vehicle this time. No one wanted a repeat of the "Jeb" incident with the engineering department after he had to get out and push his space ship home from Minmus. 

 

[Bill2462]

Today I was working on a new Minmus terrain : 

 

details : http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/index.php?/topic/153378-reworked-stock-system-wip-v01/

 

Edited December 17, 2016 by Bill2462

[Kertech]

 Finally went beyond LKO for the first time since July!!! I keep on restarting saves and whenever a new release occurs I start again (and exams are a pain, psychiatry is way too wordy, give me standard blood skin and bone anyday!) I finally removed myself from the update cycle with 1.2.1 and am happy!!

 Station 1 was launched on a Thumper 3 rocket, pretty basic thing made with the mol stuff from BDB, deorbited after use.

 Started making Mir

Launched a probe to go to Low solar orbit, packed way too much delta-v, probably didn't need to do the Bi elliptic transfer, 

 Rough dv calculations show this is possible, Luckily it has a heatshield and a lot of radiators... (Gonna cheat to see the suns atmosphere, then will reload for reality)

 Sent my soyuz's to solar orbits for training and science (the aim is to try and get nuclear reactors soon, planning interplanetary missions)

 Although the Fuji proved to be a capable vessel

 Was the final vessel to dockto station 1, and some of it's fuel was used to deorbit the station

 The final thing I did was develop my first re-usable rocket the Denethor 1

 (Denethor because the proton stage is insane(ly powerful!))

I'll just end with a beauty shot, things like this remind how great this game is

 

[Tw1]

Logdate: 0,1,5:3. 

HA HAHA Ha ha ha. 

For the record, the KSC pool is a terrible way to wash a rover. There's just no way it can get out under its own steam.

I tried rescuing it with a  tow truck. 

No avail. The tow truck ended up in the water too.

Time to bring out some major muscle, and revive another old design:

The Mighty Mega Load Lifter

 Modern edition. 
 

 

This was after modifying the strength of the KAS magnets. I used to use a rig like this to move bases about on the Mun. It should be able to lift one medium size rover. 

Woops.

I feel like this recovery effort just became a lot more expensive...

 

Also:

Edited December 17, 2016 by Tw1

[septemberWaves]

I sent some more missions to the Medusa Orbital Laboratory. I also launched a new Mun rocket. Details here.

[The Raging Sandwich]

25 minutes ago, Tw1 said:

Logdate: 0,1,5:3. 

HA HAHA Ha ha ha. 

For the record, the KSC pool is a terrible way to wash a rover. There's just no way it can get out under its own steam.

I tried rescuing it with a  tow truck. 

No avail. The tow truck ended up in the water too.

Time to bring out some major muscle, and revive another old design:

The Mighty Mega Load Lifter

 Modern edition. 
 

 

This was after modifying the strength of the KAS magnets. I used to use a rig like this to move bases about on the Mun. It should be able to lift one medium size rover. 

Woops.

I feel like this recovery effort just became a lot more expensive...

 

Also:

How are you using the old Mk3 cockpit?

[Tw1]

28 minutes ago, The Raging Sandwich said:

How are you using the old Mk3 cockpit?

I have every version of KSP I've played stored on a drive. I grabbed it from an old version, made a few changes to the CFG file - like changing "module = commandPod" to "module = Part" so it would load, and copying some thermal properties from another pod, then stuck its folder it in my gamedata folder. 

The back node's the wrong way around, but it mostly works, and I need its sharp angles for my old rover. 

P.S, when quoting larger posts, it's possible to edit the quote so it only the part you need is showing. This makes it easier for people reading the thread.

Edited December 17, 2016 by Tw1

[Clipperride]

Further to last nights mission report, I finally got round to uploading some of the screenshots.  

As mentioned the first successful SSTO since the 1.2 update made it all the way to a Munar flyby and back.

.

Officially designated the  Azone Flyer, it has been affectionately dubbed the 'Kin Ugly by those who fly it.

 

The other big bit of news was the redesign and launch of an extension module to the Minmus "Hut" Base. It required a large increase in Kerbal Capacity as well as mining equipment,  and a large amount of liquid fuel. As the contract is worth a total of 1,106,587 roots, their every wish is our  grudging duty command.

So,, we'll finish off with a few shots of the extension in flight, sojourning across the Flats of Minmus and the final, completed base.

Spoiler

Oversized and ready for fun

Wobbling along on the crest of a (frozen) wave 

Ready at last!

Although, note that the low slung drills lift the extension module a good way off the ground.

Pip pip.

[Halfdan]

conducted expansion of my duna colony 

capacity is now 32 kerbals

[LordFerret]

My Minmus station, which had generated a ton of science for me, just before I deorbited it...

 

Landing in the shadow of a giant (a Mun arch)...

[Slam_Jones]

Worked a bit more on my re-usable boosters, managed to (finally) get one to land somewhere other than the water.

This particular launcher had just lifted a several-kerbal explorer-ship to sub-orbital, where they disconnected and the explorer continued on to stabilize orbit.  When that was done, I went back to the booster to help guide it down.

Not perfectly smooth yet, but no vital parts were lost at least!!

 

And then I worked a bit on my possible Dakar entries.  Here's a vid of one of them, and it s current self-righting system (a few reaction wheels, and set stability assist to prograde).

I found that if I Override the Friction control settings and set them to 3.5+ on the rear wheels, then the rover will naturally correct to the new angle without digging in or rolling.  If the friction control is set just right, then I can get a bit of drift from the back wheels, which can help smooth out turns at high speeds.  Too much friction control causes the back wheels to sort of 'skip' over the terrain when I try to turn, due to them having too much grip at that point.  Having the assist set to Prograde also helps keep the nose pointed the right way, whether the rover is powersliding, flipping through the air, or even just rolling over the terrain normally.

 

Edited December 17, 2016 by Slam_Jones

[Firemetal]

After landing on and returning from both Slate and Tekto, I observed that most of the other moons were just rocks with a slight gravitational pull. As these are all very far away and I remembered ISRU needs lots of electricity AND you can't get that much easily on just solar panels and RTGs. Plock and Charen might be doable but I really don't want to work out the gravity assists right now. So I went back to stock and am now working on colonizing planets. The only planets that might be tough to colonize are Eve, Tylo, and Eeloo. Moho might be bad too. But our first colony will be on Duna. (of course) And after that, Gilly.

Today, I sent 3 comsats and an ore scanning satellite to Duna. Since I haven't had much luck with triangle shaped networks, I just put all the comsats in random orbits of any size, direction of motion (prograde or retrograde orbits) and inclination. Landing site 1 targeted and next launch will send a surface base to Duna.

But that is all for now.

Fire

[EpicSpaceTroll139]

I was buzzing this 500something m tall tower a friend had made on NoNameShips server. I ended up getting a bit too close and... somehow managed to become attached to it.

Eventually the tower just went *poof* gone. I was left with a bent up, but still flyable plane, which is weird, because I don't have Kerbal Crash System installed.

 

Also had another incident in which I ran off and then got run over by someone's carrier. Hilarity ensued as I got launched to the bottom of the sea at ~0.17c. As for him, I think he blew up

 

Edited December 21, 2016 by EpicSpaceTroll139
velocity

[Jamesvm696]

Well started a new career, gave myself a minor boost to science return just to get a bit of quicker start. Got as much science as possible before accepting contracts for mun fly by (new to the game only a month ago I got it) which was pretty easy, then moved on to landing on mun today. Got home safe and sound even though had just enough fuel to reduce periapsis. Came down at 2200 meters per second, but it worked out fine, dunno if that's normal or not. I'm planning tomorrow on setting up a munar base, any help on what I should use to do so, would be much appreciated.

[septemberWaves]

@Jamesvm696 welcome to the forums! A Mun landing and return after only having the game for a month is pretty good, not everyone makes progress so quickly.

As for setting up a Munar base, there's a few things that I'd recommend:

• Consider what you want the base to do. Its purpose will determine where you put it. If you want it to produce fuel, you'll need to scan the Mun first to find out what locations have more ore available, but that's late-game technology. If you want it to be a base of operations for science, I'd suggest putting it near an intersection of several biomes. Biomes can be discovered using KerbNet I think (check the in-game wiki for details).
• Think about how the base will be assembled. Will it be a simple one-module outpost that just has space for quite a few kerbals or maybe a lab, or will it be a large multi-module complex? If the latter, you'll probably need a rover for docking the modules together on the surface, or wheels on each module for that purpose.
• How will you transport kerbals to/from the base? Will you use expendable landers and send a new one to the Mun for each mission, or will it be a reusable lander which can be refuelled? Either way, your crew lander will need a good amount of testing. An alternative is an SSTO, but since you're new to the game I doubt you'll master the art of spaceplane construction quickly enough (they're incredibly challenging to make).
• How are you going to land base components on the Mun? I would recommend using an expendable skycrane that can be jettisoned once the base module is landed, but it might be easier (particularly for a monolithic* base) to stick a fuel tank and engine on the module itself. Alternatives include a reusable skycrane or a cargo SSTO, but those are more challenging to design and use.

I would also suggest looking through the Mission Reports and Spacecraft Exchange subforums to see how other people make bases - there's usually something pretty good within the first few pages.

 

*One-module, single-launch.

Edited December 17, 2016 by eloquentJane