What did you do in KSP1 today?

[RizzoTheRat]

15 minutes ago, Brikoleur said:

Hmm... if your relays are too big to fit in a Mk3 bay, you could use the Chausiku Kibowen. Just give each of them its own streamlined fairing and drop them off one by one; trouble is that you would have to circle around to keep them in physics range as they land -- ask @Hotel26 about that.

I.e. you can't just drop them off from 25k, you'd need to descend for each drop and climb to cruise to the next spot. Annoying but there it is.

(I still want to do it on my next career.)

A Mk3 bay should be easily doable, wheels would make a Mk2 bay tricky, but I had wondered about an atmospheric variant of your Pelican.

However thinking about it this morning, I reckon I could build the relay in to a streamlined 1.25m ish body, and build some form of torpedo bomber to air drop them.  I can't see them needing be as much as a couple of tonnes each.  I've not experimented with sideways offset CoM, but I should be able to cope with a sideways CoM shift more easily than a fore/aft shift, so no reason why I couldn't carry at least 3 comms torpedoes.

What's the physics range, 10km isn't it? If I dropped from say 2km I should easily be able to stay with 10km until it lands.

My challenge then would be coming up with a design with enough fuel to make it right the way around the world on one tank of fuel, otherwise I need to look at packing drills and ISRU which starts to get quite heavy.

[Hotel26]

33 minutes ago, Brikoleur said:

circle around to keep them in physics range as they land

Very good fun and, in the case of a Pelican design, with no load it bounds back to altitude!

7 minutes ago, RizzoTheRat said:

What's the physics range, 10km isn't it?

Heard it mentioned recently as 2.5 km.  I've never violated it.  (And Pelican, unloaded, is delightfully maneuverable.)

9 minutes ago, RizzoTheRat said:

with enough fuel to make it right the way around the world

Then, if you can get it inside a cargo bay, you should.

[RizzoTheRat]

30 minutes ago, Hotel26 said:

Then, if you can get it inside a cargo bay, you should.

I reckon if I'm air launching them I might be able to squeeze them in to Mk2 cargo bays, just depends on the landing gear, the Falcon ones from the Kerbal Reusability Expansion mod give a decent spread for not much additional width when stowed, but if I'm launching them from inside a cargo bay I guess I'll need to fiddle with the parachute pressures to ensure they don't open until it's clear of the bay, and I'm not sure how cleanly they'd separate if it's a tight fit in the bay.  External stores are going to be easier to drop but as you suggest, more drag.

Of course as an Englishman, if I go the air launched torpedo route I really should reinstall firespitter and build a replica Swordfish, but that would be even slower than the self propelled relays.  Maybe I need a rotary launcher like the B52, might be doable with Infernal robotics...

I think my Eve mission might be getting postponed for a bit as this seems like fun.  Shame I've not got any free evenings to have a go for a few days though

[eberkain]

Sending science probes to Minmus

[McFarnsworth]

I spent some time figuring out what past me was up to in my last career save from a year ago in the hopes of continuing my own work. And through a combination of old screenshots, old and current contracts, some notes, and my own hazy memory I think I got it figured out ... mostly.

 

 

- There's a rather large, and rather very ugly mining ship on Gilly filled with rescued Kerbals. I'll need to bring that back to Kerbin. Easy.

- Judging by the amount of accepted satellite contracts in the Duna system I was going to launch a lot them there. (or one giant monstrosity) Still easy.

- There's a very old but well designed ship on Ike that needs to come back to Kerbin for contract reasons, but the heat shields are empty because of many repeated landings on Duna. Ok, so not that well designed. Might get tricky

- There's a giant Jool 5 ship in two sections in the final stages of construction in Minmus orbit. I think I left them separated for now due to the part count reaching absurd levels. Will revisit this one later, too complicated for now.

- A more advanced version of the Duna ship is orbiting Dres. It's clear it landed, did some science and refueled itself. No clue or recollection why I sent it there. Even less of a clue as to why it has parachutes, but no airbrakes or heatshields. No claw either so wasn't there for the Dresteroids. Did it end up there by accident? Were the Kerbals manning it exiled to Dres?

- This thing sits unmanned, fully fueled, on the Mun, and no clue why:

Now that looks like something you'd exile to Dres.

 

[Hotel26]

My Sprint 3 (a 3-day sprint) started Friday 1700 local.  I built a better version of Lepidoptera [super-secret, so can say no more], checked off the item, and then took a boring one: "set up a Library world and move the stuff I don't routinely use there", which includes recently-downloaded items.  Course I had to fly a couple of them first, before mothballing them...

So, I took this for a ride [link]:

50 degree climb with the 2x RAPIERs SCREAMING for LOX.  So OK, we took it back and, this time, REALLY  filled its tanks.  Straight to orbit like a homing pigeon!!

The best part was coming down.  I set the Pe for my usual return altitude knowing it wasn't going to be deep enough for this slippery eel and concerned about having fuel in the tank sufficient to taxi the length of a 2.5 km runway (like KSC)...

What most impressed me was the complete authority in the cockpit over attitude with absolutely no bad behavior from the aircraft.  Rather gingerly, I explored the envelope, but was soon making confident S-turns and burning off the excess speed, still way too high over the mountains due west of KSC.  No loss of control at any point.  Landed dead stick.  This airplane loves flying so much, it refuses to roost -- even with the fuel gauges pegged on Empty...

Taxied in and just had to head straight to the fuel bowser to [use Telemagic to] refuel and go again. 

UPDATE: The only way to fly from A-to-B in this machine is to go sub-orbital!!  You point and lob.  Then glide down.  I left KSC and had Baibakenur in sight at MET 5:39 elapsed.  This trip normally takes 19-20 minutes.

Edited February 16, 2018 by Hotel26

[Geonovast]

2 hours ago, RizzoTheRat said:

What's the physics range, 10km isn't it? If I dropped from say 2km I should easily be able to stay with 10km until it lands.

It's whatever you want it to be.

 

[RizzoTheRat]

Interesting, thanks.  Looks like default is to unload at 2.5km.  Might make sense to up it a bit, drop my relays, and then put it back to normal.

[MaxwellsDemon]

Launched the 'Hotep' station base block, then launched the first expansion module ('Hapi 1') and docked it to the rear axial port.  That ace of engineers, Alice Kerman (who the ____ is Alice?) is handling the orbital assembly in her orbital tug.   'Hapi 2' is nearing completion and will be launched soon and then it should be ready for habitation.  The expansion modules 'Tjehnet', 'Nut', and 'Geb' will be added as they are completed.

The tourist visit to the 'Nedjkhert' station is nearing the end of its 18-day run.  Evidently tourists aren't any more susceptible to space adaptation sickness than Kerbonauts...

Also wrapped up the visit to Minmus' Greater Flats, rendezvoused with the 'Horus' capsule, and parked the lander at the site of the future Delta Base on the Great Mesa (about 4N, 66W).

The 'Hotep' launch did have one hiccup... I had forgotten to include a SAS module in the design.  I was able to quickly add one to 'Hapi 1', though, so that takes care of that.

Very much enjoying the combination of Vapor Vent and Launch Countdown Clock.  I sometimes want to call a hold simply to admire the way the rocket looks on the pad.   

[Xeldrak]

On 13.2.2018 at 12:30 PM, RealKerbal3x said:

I keep posting things I did yesterday instead of things I did today.  @Xeldrak maybe we should rename this thread to 'What did you do in KSP yesterday?' (joking of course)

Nah, I think we're fine with the current title. But it will be tolerated if you post the stuff you did yesterday.

[Kebab Kerman]

1 hour ago, Xeldrak said:

Nah, I think we're fine with the current title. But it will be tolerated if you post the stuff you did yesterday.

Now we need a seperate thread for joke names for existing threads.

[Krow]

Back to grinding out easy contracts since I blew about a million funds trying to design a 2.5m rocket that can actually, well, work. No idea why but it seems as soon as I scale up from 1.25m, I start running into a ton of design issues and can't control them nearly as well. Was able to get one of them to 100k ap while fighting it the whole way but didn't have enough fuel left over even for circularization. 

[Kebab Kerman]

17 minutes ago, Krow said:

Back to grinding out easy contracts since I blew about a million funds trying to design a 2.5m rocket that can actually, well, work. No idea why but it seems as soon as I scale up from 1.25m, I start running into a ton of design issues and can't control them nearly as well. Was able to get one of them to 100k ap while fighting it the whole way but didn't have enough fuel left over even for circularization. 

If you're scaling up engines, don't. Use unscaled 2.5m engines. Tweakscale multiplies the stats for something depending on how much bigger or smaller it is from the origanal size. This includes thrust, but it's not worth it.

[TeslaPenguin1]

I gave up on SSTOs. They are just too hard for me!

I also built a munar lander. It got within 150km of the mun before being slingshotted into the outer solar system. *sigh*  I hope I have better luck tonight.

[suicidejunkie]

I was messing around while testing mod stability in 1.3.1, and I welded a pair of BACCs onto a basic reliant 1st + 909 2nd stage vehicle, and tried flying it IVA with RPM without testing.

It quickly flipped down to 45 degrees, and I was very concerned, but apparently that is the ideal launchpad angle when the TWR is close to 4.0.

Somehow managed to end up in orbit with 2.5km/s left in the tank through pure luck in the design phase.  Apparently this vehicle is very consistent about parachute drag tipping it over to the ideal launch angle; SAS is useless, but it is almost trivial to fly to orbit.

[capi3101]

35 minutes ago, TeslaPenguin1 said:

I gave up on SSTOs. They are just too hard for me!

Everybody who tries SSTOs gets to this point sooner or later (my own self very much included - couldn't tell you the page numbers on this very thread where I about rage quit all over everybody; couple of years back). Mean's that you're almost there, and you'll get there if you don't rage quit now.

What specific issues are you having? Can you post a screenshot of what you're flying?

Edited February 16, 2018 by capi3101

[lodger]

I returned to playing KSP today after a few months of hiatus. And I even decided to play my career savegame instead of the sandbox one I usually play. Let's see if we can get poor, stranded Alsted a ride back home from LKO.

[Kronus_Aerospace]

6 minutes ago, capi3101 said:

Everybody who tries SSTOs gets to this point sooner or later

Well either that or you fall in love with them and they become like 80 percent of what you do. Like with me.

1 hour ago, Krow said:

Back to grinding out easy contracts since I blew about a million funds trying to design a 2.5m rocket that can actually, well, work. No idea why but it seems as soon as I scale up from 1.25m, I start running into a ton of design issues and can't control them nearly as well. Was able to get one of them to 100k ap while fighting it the whole way but didn't have enough fuel left over even for circularization. 

Well if your issue is that the rocket turns into a wacky arm waving inflatable tube man, than just add loads of struts, it always works. Also try adding fins with integrated control surfaces to make your rocket easier to control as well as more stable.

[Guest]

4 hours ago, Hotel26 said:

What most impressed me was the complete authority in the cockpit over attitude with absolutely no bad behavior from the aircraft.

Thanks! That's high praise, coming from you.

The Laythabout is a really simple design, about as simple as spaceplanes get -- unibody, single lifting surface plus rudder. I first made one like it years ago, when I first thought I had planes figured out, and there really isn't much I've been able to do to improve on it. You could make some things better but it would make others worse. 

I think one of its secrets is that it's effectively a flying wing -- the Mk 2 body produces a lot of lift -- and it has a lot of control surfaces on it. That way it can have a really gentle pitch on the wing, which keeps it pretty efficient aerodynamically despite the draggy Mk 2 parts and big wing.

The only complication making it was that it did take a bit of tuning to make it work without a tailplane or canards, and also the tank placement so that CoM would shift as little as possible as the fuel was burned off. So I did spend some time tuning the wing position, pitch, and dihedral.

BTW if you re-enter at a steep pitch it will stop very short. My usual way to re-enter with it is to go surface radial and hold it between there and 60 degrees until I'm at 1400 m/s or so, then I either keep holding it if I risk overshooting, or go straight and level if I'm coming short -- it will glide a looooong way starting from that, and if necessary it'll happily supercruise halfway across the globe at 25k/1200 m/s with very little fuel expenditure.

Edited February 16, 2018 by Guest

[Krow]

6 minutes ago, Kronus_Aerospace said:

Well if your issue is that the rocket turns into a wacky arm waving inflatable tube man, than just add loads of struts, it always works. Also try adding fins with integrated control surfaces to make your rocket easier to control as well as more stable.

I've tried that but it still doesn't seem to help. Either I get into a crazy rotation (Yaw, I think? The Q and E controls) that makes it almost impossible to gravity turn, or the moment that I tap the pitch, the whole thing suddenly keels over and starts to flip. Fins don't really seem to help one way or the other. Never had these issues with the 1.25m radial designs so either I'm still not looking at things right, or 2.5m aren't built the same way as 1.25m.

[Whisky Tango Foxtrot]

I discovered that I don't have the ability to reliably re-land on Tylo using the equipment I currently have in the Jool system. I was hoping that the vehicle I used to return to orbit after the initial landing mission would be able to land on the mining outpost that I left behind, refuel and then launch again (allowing me to continue to make round trips to and from the surface of Tylo) but it always ends up running out of fuel on the final approach. If I sent a larger auxiliary tank I could probably manage a landing, but given the transit times between Kerbin and Jool and the fact that I have no other major cargos to send there I don't think I'm going to bother. I'll just accept the fact that the two Kerbals who made the initial landing on Tylo will be the only Kerbals to walk its surface for the foreseeable future.

[NSEP]

I tested a reusable upperstage shuttle hybrid kinda thing. Sort of like the BFR, but more plane-ey. I did it in a livestream. The livestream should be uploaded to YouTube in a few minutes.

 

[capi3101]

51 minutes ago, Kronus_Aerospace said:

Well either that or you fall in love with them and they become like 80 percent of what you do. Like with me.

Same here. I'm glad I kept going.

[Damon]

22 minutes ago, NSEP said:

Sort of like the BFR, but more plane-ey.

*inhales*

Screams to @JadeOfMaar

[TeslaPenguin1]

28 minutes ago, NSEP said:

I tested a reusable upperstage shuttle hybrid kinda thing. Sort of like the BFR, but more plane-ey. I did it in a livestream. The livestream should be uploaded to YouTube in a few minutes.

 

Cool!

I would like, but I have no more likes to give