What did you do in KSP1 today?

[Aragosnat]

Lodt a miner on Mün. Though I had enough fuel to make it to orbit as I had a nice intercpt of the refinery in orbit. Should have used the mini-refinery to get over half fuel in tank or maxed its tank. Opps. At least it was a probe. Did a few of manuevers and dockings around Minmus and Mun. Did not have enough fuel to get one of my sun divers to get an intercept with Kerbin. In a few passes maybe it will get one.

[cantab]

Slammed a lot of Nervs into the ground and ocean. Re-entering an upper stage in RSS is tricky. But with careful use of airbrakes (deploy them once it's already slow enough they won't get cooked) I can slow down enough to open the chutes.

[Norcalplanner]

Played around with Karborundum powered craft using Near Future Electrical reactors in my 3.2x GPP career.  Ended up with two designs:

I can't decide whether to call this the Uno (it has one engine, and other similar craft with two and three engines are called the Deuce and the Trey) or the Meteor.  66 km/s on tap without staging, at an initial TWR of 1.27.  Also equipped with ladders and landing struts for landing on any airless world.

The second craft is an unmanned probe called the Mosquito.  Loaded with science and scanning gear, It's currently headed to Nero on a high-energy transfer which used up 14 km/s of the 184 km/s of delta V on tap.  This design is also equipped with landing struts for landing on airless bodies.

[JadeOfMaar]

After meditating on a certain thing all day I tried it... This fails as a replica but it remains quite useful and capable.

Spoiler

It was first built with different parts, K body, for the midsection below. When I changed those parts out  for the top pic version it hit me (as the ship repeatedly crumbled between the launch clamps)... The more beautiful Humpback body parts are lacking in joint strength.  So... More struts!

 

Edited March 13, 2017 by JadeOfMaar

[capi3101]

(1.1.3) Didn't have much time to play these last several days. On Friday, I re-entered an Auk VII heavy passenger spaceplane during a solar eclipse with sixteen kerbals aboard, the last of the passengers from my recent expeditions to Mün and Minmus, from the Kerbinport space station to KSC:

Auk VII (aft aspect) after re-entry burn. Not exactly the sort of thing you want to see when your plane relies on solar panels for electrical power...

The plane landed safely at KSC 09, clearing three contracts in the process. All aboard were awarded their two-star ratings.

Auk VII safely on the ground. Somebody obviously hit his airbrakes a tad too early.

A review of the current KSC staff manifest showed seven Kerbal scientists and pilots in the employ of the Program that still only had a single-star rating, in most cases having done little more than orbiting Kerbin. Another expedition is therefore being planned. I picked up three contracts out of an available five. One of these is a mission to adjust the orbit of Kerbinport 7 Probe, the first of the Faux News probes to be launched, finally giving me a chance to make some money with it. Obviously I'll be renaming it when everything is said and done. A second contract is to rescue Leema Kerman from LKO; I'll be adding this eighth Kerbal to the next flag-planting training expedition once her rescue has been affected. Finally, I have a mission to establish a new outpost on Minmus, one that will require adjustment of the trusty Bates Motel 7 design I've been using to establish Hojos everywhere. This one will require increased capacity to nine Kerbals and two scientists, which I'll have to figure out how to retrieve when I get a chance. Refueling is also still on the horizon for both the Munport space station and Kerbinport.

And that's been it for the weekend. Chores and prototyping really ate into my time.

[SickSix]

Built my first truly successful Mk3 Plane. The AN-100. And then (for the first time) successfully transported a large rover to the North pole. The plane had exactly enough fuel for the one way trip. Even with time acceleration it was a long trip.

PS- I forgot to mention I completed three tasks with one Mk1-2 command pod as well. Val took up two scientists and dropped one each at two orbiting stations. Then rescued a stranded Kerbal from Kerbin orbit. Two of those tasks were paid contracts. Putting the scientist in the Mun station was just gravy as once that left Kerbin orbit and made it to Mun orbit, that paid handsomely as well.

Edited March 13, 2017 by SickSix

[Bornholio]

Space planes, still not sold, but i needed to do STS-30 mission for the monies.

Space Buff "Balls Eight" Releasing Magellan into the void  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balls_8

Bleeding off way to much velocity for landing.

Rare successful runway landing, deployed all my chutes to slow it down though. (Cape Canaveral)

Nose needs more cooling, just about blew up on re-entry from 350x348km orbit.  300dv to correct for orbital rotation and 700dv spent landing, left me 1500dv fuel. RCS balance aid is a life saver for these builds.  The dry center of mass indicator should be stock.

Edited March 13, 2017 by Bornholio
add name, add link to balls 8 Wikipedia

[ProtoJeb21]

About 108 (in-game) days after the perilous and very-precise Eve encounter trajectory correcting, Aphrodite I reached the purple planet's SOI! However, fearful for the probe's safety, mission control raised the periapsis up to 80 km to avoid fiery results. However, it turned out that 80 km was too far up for an aerocapture. Thank goodness Kerbals are gods able to revert time back to a specified point!

*Quickload* Mission control lowered the periapsis down to about 71 km before getting rid of the interplanetary stage. What a waste that stage was...so much fuel, so little use. I feel like a terrible person now  

The inflatable heat shield deployed, and aerocapture began. Aphrodite's debris quickly overheated and exploded, and my inflatable heat shield began to warm up a little too much for my liking. Thankfully, the radiator panels can be extended during reentry. Aphrodite's temperature stabilized as it began to take in-atmosphere measurements of the temperature and atmospheric pressure. Eventually, it left the chaotic atmosphere of Eve and re-entered direct communications with Kerbin. It transmitted the data it gathered as a "Hi there!" signal back home. Mission control was overjoyed with the craft's success, and immediately set it to science-gathering mode. The craft had about 1 Kerbin day until it reached Eve apoapsis at an altitude of about 4,300 km. Until then, where it would have to raise its periapsis out of the atmosphere, Aphrodite went to work scanning the gravity of the biomes below. It gathered over a DOZEN gravitational measurements before having to complete a quick, few-second burn to raise its periapsis to 103 km. The guys at the lab back home were overjoyed with the amount of data they had received from just the first day of the mission. The engineers were also excited as well, as they now had access to the 2.5-meter probe core and ore container. Which meant....it was time for.....a Mun base!

The idea for Rhea Base was of a mining facility in one of the Mun's giant impact basins. This particular crater was the site of some interesting Mun missions and Kerbal mishaps in the past. Mission control had tried to send a base module to the Mun weeks earlier, but it had gotten stuck in LMO (Low Mun Orbit) with no fuel except for some measly RCS thrusters. This time, the Kerbals were prepared for proper assembly and landing.

First up was the Rhea Core. It was the main hub of the base, with detachable engines and a bunch of fuel to spare. It was supposed to help the base get down to the Mun. It was sent up on a Titan II lifter - a downgraded version of the Titan V - to an orbit of about 110 km. The Titan II was also used for all other modules. The next one up was the Crew Module, consisting of the 2.5m probe core, the landing gear section, and a Hitchhiker module. Along for the ride were to base connectors, each made of one 1.25m crew cabin. Meant for holding the base together and allowing Kerbal transport. The following modules were the Mining and Ore Processing Modules, each coming with one more base connector. The final module, the Comms/Power Module, did not have room for a base connector, which was why the Crew Module needed to carry two. It took me about 2 hours real-time to assemble the base in low Kerbin orbit.

Then it came to getting it to the Mun. I decided to make my base similar to how @Matt Lowne did his - assemble it in orbit and then land it before detaching the engines used for getting it down. It proved to be difficult assembling it - I often had to dock SIDEWAYS - but getting it to the Mun was much easier. The craft was a bit wobbly, sure, but it held together and had enough fuel for landing. As the majestic base was falling towards its planned landing site, I discovered that where I wanted to assemble the base was just a few kilometers away from a MUN ARCH!! What luck!

Rhea Base successfully landed...6 km off target . Whatever, it's still ready for operations.

Mun arch!

Eve album: http://imgur.com/gallery/w4biR

Rhea Base Album: http://imgur.com/gallery/SSwz3

TO BE CONTINUED....

[SleepyMan]

I seem to have spent the day swapping from ship to ship to ship ad nauseam. Running 2 mining vessels, 2 resupply runs, 2 stations an ISRU plus a couple of science missions to various biomes on Mun and Minmus  kept me busy. So busy I still haven't started either moon base even though I installed the mod over a week ago.

With the vastly increased manpower now deployed at both moons (16 kerbals in space as i write this) I am retiring my trusty Orbiter 3 resupply rocket. Using the 7 man capsule from Near Future mod series I will have a way more capable shuttle to ferry crew from the Moon stations to the LKO station. Plus it can land on either moon if an emergency occurs or Jeb gets the urge to try something new ...

All dockings must occur at night IT IS THE LAW!

The transfer window to Duna is getting close, preliminary work on the probes is going well. Once that is out the way it will be time to finally build some moon bases and expand the Minmus space station.

Edited March 13, 2017 by SleepyMan
spelling

[joacobanfield]

The Kraken tried to stop my Minmus base from getting power.

[Bornholio]

Rhea & Cronos went to Mars, I know mixing mythology, the automated Cronos, fully stocked with life support and emergency fuel along with 2 landers (Hades and Hestia). arrived at Deimos.

Docked and transferred the landers and fuel, Cronos likely is now a orbital station.  The 6 person crew of the Rhea begins surveying Deimos tonight. 

Rhea doesn't have the original spun habitat but the shorter trip time of 123days makes up for the lack of gravity.

2.3 million EC was not enough.  The way back is gonna suck with hour long burns.

Launch album http://imgur.com/a/azsZE

Edited March 13, 2017 by Bornholio

[Kerbital]

On 3/11/2017 at 6:04 AM, Puggonaut said:

Jeb takes Val to the Sea for a romantic evening watching the Eclipse

 

Sweet:) Although, deep, DEEP in my heart... I expected something exploding towards the end!

[SelectHalfling0]

1 hour ago, ProtoJeb21 said:

About 108 (in-game) days after the perilous and very-precise Eve encounter trajectory correcting, Aphrodite I reached the purple planet's SOI! However, fearful for the probe's safety, mission control raised the periapsis up to 80 km to avoid fiery results. However, it turned out that 80 km was too far up for an aerocapture. Thank goodness Kerbals are gods able to revert time back to a specified point!

*Quickload* Mission control lowered the periapsis down to about 71 km before getting rid of the interplanetary stage. What a waste that stage was...so much fuel, so little use. I feel like a terrible person now  

The inflatable heat shield deployed, and aerocapture began. Aphrodite's debris quickly overheated and exploded, and my inflatable heat shield began to warm up a little too much for my liking. Thankfully, the radiator panels can be extended during reentry. Aphrodite's temperature stabilized as it began to take in-atmosphere measurements of the temperature and atmospheric pressure. Eventually, it left the chaotic atmosphere of Eve and re-entered direct communications with Kerbin. It transmitted the data it gathered as a "Hi there!" signal back home. Mission control was overjoyed with the craft's success, and immediately set it to science-gathering mode. The craft had about 1 Kerbin day until it reached Eve apoapsis at an altitude of about 4,300 km. Until then, where it would have to raise its periapsis out of the atmosphere, Aphrodite went to work scanning the gravity of the biomes below. It gathered over a DOZEN gravitational measurements before having to complete a quick, few-second burn to raise its periapsis to 103 km. The guys at the lab back home were overjoyed with the amount of data they had received from just the first day of the mission. The engineers were also excited as well, as they now had access to the 2.5-meter probe core and ore container. Which meant....it was time for.....a Mun base!

The idea for Rhea Base was of a mining facility in one of the Mun's giant impact basins. This particular crater was the site of some interesting Mun missions and Kerbal mishaps in the past. Mission control had tried to send a base module to the Mun weeks earlier, but it had gotten stuck in LMO (Low Mun Orbit) with no fuel except for some measly RCS thrusters. This time, the Kerbals were prepared for proper assembly and landing.

First up was the Rhea Core. It was the main hub of the base, with detachable engines and a bunch of fuel to spare. It was supposed to help the base get down to the Mun. It was sent up on a Titan II lifter - a downgraded version of the Titan V - to an orbit of about 110 km. The Titan II was also used for all other modules. The next one up was the Crew Module, consisting of the 2.5m probe core, the landing gear section, and a Hitchhiker module. Along for the ride were to base connectors, each made of one 1.25m crew cabin. Meant for holding the base together and allowing Kerbal transport. The following modules were the Mining and Ore Processing Modules, each coming with one more base connector. The final module, the Comms/Power Module, did not have room for a base connector, which was why the Crew Module needed to carry two. It took me about 2 hours real-time to assemble the base in low Kerbin orbit.

Then it came to getting it to the Mun. I decided to make my base similar to how @Matt Lowne did his - assemble it in orbit and then land it before detaching the engines used for getting it down. It proved to be difficult assembling it - I often had to dock SIDEWAYS - but getting it to the Mun was much easier. The craft was a bit wobbly, sure, but it held together and had enough fuel for landing. As the majestic base was falling towards its planned landing site, I discovered that where I wanted to assemble the base was just a few kilometers away from a MUN ARCH!! What luck!

Rhea Base successfully landed...6 km off target . Whatever, it's still ready for operations.

Mun arch!

Eve album: http://imgur.com/gallery/w4biR

Rhea Base Album: http://imgur.com/gallery/SSwz3

TO BE CONTINUED....

As far as I can tell, you landed your base within a few km's of mine. .

[winged]

MAV and Copernicus MTV:

[eddiew]

Continuing to cash in on the wave of lucrative tourism contracts (Ed: I set them to 300% usual value in the face of a 15% funding game setting, so they're now the bread and butter of my space program), mission control responds to a request to visit Gael's nearest and least intimidating moon.

Carrying three tourists and a scientist, Drake I is an SSTO with ambition - to be the best. The very best. Like no one ever was. To tour them is it's only... no, wait. 

Honestly, Drake I is... functional at best. Yes, it's the same mass and engine count as the Wyvern class SSTOs launched a few months earlier, but somehow it manages to be much harder to fly. The nerva has to be briefly ignited at a mere 10km altitude just to get this reluctant spaceplane to go transonic, and the entire ascent leaves it with surprisingly little in the tanks. Fortunately, Piggu to the rescue! A quick kiss on the cheek, and Drake has 3.2km/s range - plenty to get to Iota. Whatever held it back in-atmosphere isn't going to be relevant for the rest of the trip, so mission control gives it a green light to continue.

Admittedly the landing procedure isn't exactly tidy, what with lacking any kind of ventral thrusters, but the low gravity basically means Drake can come down on its tail and pivot over onto its wheels without issue.

Takeoff is only slightly more challenging, requiring a couple of reaction wheels to tilt the vessel onto it's rear tyres before kicking the main engine. Indeed, so easy is Iota to fly over that one might almost thing there's an atmosphere here to help out.

The poor handling during ascent translates into a remarkably good descent. The unexpected drag does wonders for slowing Drake down as the runway approaches, and touchdown is achieved without so much as spilling the passengers' chocolate milkshakes.

Post mission investigation reveals that the MK2 cargo bay is not properly shielding the MK1 and MK0 fuel tanks within, causing an excessive drag to build up and causing the observed difficulty in passing mach 1. A refreshed design is quickly tabled, doing away with the cargo bay and slightly extending the outboard nacelles in order to make up for the lost fuel capacity. It also gets rid of some of the excess of wheels. The design team still has no idea how those ended up on the production model.

Early tests of Drake II are promising, with no requirement to involve the nerva at low altitudes, and about 5% more range than the original. Image below is taken at 700m/s at 10km. Tiny drag indicators are highly auspicious!

The press office responds by sending out flyers to every rich idiot they can possibly find in the hopes of drumming up business. A kerbal has to eat, after all.

Edited March 13, 2017 by eddiew

[cantab]

I've finally joined the reusable rocket bandwagon! Well, sort of. Pawn is a semi-reusable design capable of putting 5 tons in Low Earth Orbit, and landing the first stage engines and the upper stage back on Earth. However the first stage tanks are discarded. Hey, it's what ULA plan to do on the Vulcan!

Packs 10 km/s, the first stage calculated for sea level and the rest for vacuum. That's 5600 m/s in the lower and 4400 in the upper. The upper stage delta-V is deliberately chosen - as an alternative to returning, it can be refuelled in LEO and is then capable of taking the payload to low lunar orbit, elliptical Venus orbit, or Mars intercept.

About 560 tons on the pad, which is a pretty lousy payload fraction compared to what I can do with disposable asparagus and nuclear upper. She lifts off nicely on the dual Mammoth engine. Quite an aggressive pitchover, to 80 degrees at 100 m/s, is required for a good ascent.

 

Drop tanks are essential to get the delta-V, I'm using stock Kerbal parts and the tanks have so much dry mass.

 

As we deplete the fuel the TWR really spikes, over 10 I believe at MECO.

 

The dual-Nerv upper stage has pretty low TWR, 0.5 when full, and won't make orbit before I land the first stage, so I do some corrective steering to give me extra 'hang time' because I'll need to interrupt the burn.

 

The engines separated from the first stage core and now come in to land helped by airbrakes and parachutes.

 

I always miss the interesting bits, but it did safely slpashdown: https://flic.kr/p/SGbew1

 

I switch back to the upper stage and with some more serious angled burning get into orbit with a generous fuel margin. But I shan't be staying long.

 

From a 330x70 km orbit, we come in fast and hot. But those made-of-iron Kerbals parts are tough enough to take it.

 

We can't have the airbrakes open all the way or they'd cook, but once we're slower than about 3500 m/s they're deployed and really dump the remaining speed fast.

 

And another safe splashdown!

 

[Aragosnat]

I realize this maybe hard to see. But, did finaly try some of the Mk3 plane parts it flew alright and was able to land it safely too. To bad its cargo was still a bit to wide to drive out from it:

[GDJ]

Launched 1,345.4 tonnes of flaming awesomeness! It barely fits in the VAB.

 

Heading to the moon. Lander, Command Pod, and all the necessary bits to make it work.

[Sgt Doomball]

2 hours ago, cantab said:

I've finally joined the reusable rocket bandwagon! Well, sort of. Pawn is a semi-reusable design capable of putting 5 tons in Low Earth Orbit, and landing the first stage engines and the upper stage back on Earth. However the first stage tanks are discarded. Hey, it's what ULA plan to do on the Vulcan!

Packs 10 km/s, the first stage calculated for sea level and the rest for vacuum. That's 5600 m/s in the lower and 4400 in the upper. The upper stage delta-V is deliberately chosen - as an alternative to returning, it can be refuelled in LEO and is then capable of taking the payload to low lunar orbit, elliptical Venus orbit, or Mars intercept.

About 560 tons on the pad, which is a pretty lousy payload fraction compared to what I can do with disposable asparagus and nuclear upper. She lifts off nicely on the dual Mammoth engine. Quite an aggressive pitchover, to 80 degrees at 100 m/s, is required for a good ascent.

 

Drop tanks are essential to get the delta-V, I'm using stock Kerbal parts and the tanks have so much dry mass.

 

As we deplete the fuel the TWR really spikes, over 10 I believe at MECO.

 

The dual-Nerv upper stage has pretty low TWR, 0.5 when full, and won't make orbit before I land the first stage, so I do some corrective steering to give me extra 'hang time' because I'll need to interrupt the burn.

 

The engines separated from the first stage core and now come in to land helped by airbrakes and parachutes.

 

I always miss the interesting bits, but it did safely slpashdown: https://flic.kr/p/SGbew1

 

I switch back to the upper stage and with some more serious angled burning get into orbit with a generous fuel margin. But I shan't be staying long.

 

From a 330x70 km orbit, we come in fast and hot. But those made-of-iron Kerbals parts are tough enough to take it.

 

We can't have the airbrakes open all the way or they'd cook, but once we're slower than about 3500 m/s they're deployed and really dump the remaining speed fast.

 

And another safe splashdown!

 

 

*slow clapping*

[Servo]

I began working on what I think to be the penultimate variable geometry/swing-wing/variable incidence jet in the U.S. arsenal, the XB-70.

Visuals are seriously lacking, but she performs. 20km service ceiling, 950m/s maximum speed, plus the wings are really smooth up and down. Pretty good for an afternoon's work.

This thing is so draggy that it takes six whiplashes to push this thing to Mach 3, and even then it can't go supersonic at sea level. Good thing the service ceiling is so high, or it would never be able to accelerate.

[cratercracker]

Had some interesting happenings in my KSP!

1, A stable orbit around Eeloo!

And an eeloo landing!

(solar panel is just for test)

2.I Will restart building my Munar base! I already have my ginormous base on Mun, but i want to expand it!

(photo from Lunar-3 low orbit relay)

[Kertech]

'Twas the week of an update, 

And all through the drive,

back ups were been copied

to keep Jeb alive!

 

(Not downing 1.3, I'm just comfortable with my 1.2.2 save!)

 

[Salvator]

On 12. 3. 2017 at 4:29 PM, Bornholio said:

the ship part count started to be a bit high for my computer, 480 parts.

Hi, have you tried the UbioZur Welding Ltd. Continued mod? That could help you with your problem i think.

[Fury1SOG]

Setting up an orbital base in Moho

Edited March 14, 2017 by Fury1SOG

[capi3101]

(1.1.3) Had an hour to play yesterday, so I set myself to work on the three new contracts I'd picked up the day before. I began by setting KAC expiration alarms for the two crappy contracts I decided not to take on and then went to look at what would be required for the first of the contracts, to put the Kerbinport 7 Probe probe into a new orbit:


The Kerbinport 7 Probe probe (properly named Faux News 1), constructed in space by engineer Juluna Kerman at the Kerbinport space station from a KAS/KIS kit.

I determined a single burn would be required, so I set it up. The probe will make the burn in a few hours, and at that time it will be renamed to its proper designation of Faux News 1.

Moving on to the next item of business, I went to the Kerbinport space station next to get things ready to try to rescue scientist Leema Kerman from LKO. Fuel was shifted around; there was sufficient fuel to refill Strange Cargo docked at the station and to give the engineering craft Mission Bloat 7 a full tank of gas. Since Mission Bloat is a single Kerbal craft designed with an RGU installed so that engineers could go where they're needed, I figured it could be used as a rescue ship. Mission Bloat was dispatched from Kerbinport:

Mission Bloat 7 departing the Kerbinport space station. Docked at the station are The Great Artiste (zenith left), Next Objective (zenith fore), Strange Cargo (zenith right, barely), Nostromo (amidships left) and Faux News 7 (amidships right).

It was going to be a little while before Mission Bloat could make its first rendezvous burn, so I went ahead and began preparations for the third and final contract, which was to establish a new outpost on Minmus with the usual outpost accouterments, two scientists and a capacity of nine Kerbals. I started with the old Bates Motel 7 design and came to the determination that it would work as is if I added habitable space four for more Kerbals. A Mk1 cockpit was added to each of the craft's four outrigger fuel tanks, fitting the bill and only raising the mass of the craft by a little over three tonnes. Since the original Bates Motel design had plenty of delta-V and excess thrust to begin with, no further design tweaks were required - the Bates Motel 7a craft dubbed Hojo Eta was placed out on the pad to verify that it met the required mission specs, with scientists Isavie and Danwig aboard. Launch was delayed long enough for Mission Bloat to make burn to rendezvous with Leema's debris:

Hojo Eta launch from KSC.

The craft reached LKO successfully and the initial transfer burn for Minmus was conducted, with the course correction burn at the craft's descending node set up. Mission Bloat made its rendezvous with Leema's debris and she successfully transferred to the ersatz rescue ship, and plans have been made to return her to Kerbinport. Planned activities for the next session include returning Leema to Kerbinport, conducting the burns for the Kerbinport 7 Probe probe and Hojo Eta, and the launch of an Auk II passenger craft to Kerbinport with seven KSC staffmembers aboard, with a mission to conduct flag-planting activities on Mün and Minmus. Strange Cargo will be the ferry ship for that mission.

First of the Duna correction burns is coming up quick at this point as well.