What did you do in KSP1 today?

[AFF]

[Triop]

Today's visitor: F-104 starfighter

[Fraktal]

With the Mun mostly devoid of new science data, I decided to get back into aircraft research and made an interesting discovery on the first test flight of the L2A Record Breaker. Well, aside from the discovery that Engine Nacelles still work if their front attachment node is covered with a nosecone; I thought it couldn't work if the airflow was obstructed and I'm overjoyed to be proven wrong.

Anyway. Apparently turbofans don't like being run at full power at Mach 2 for more than a few minutes...

But at least this design made it back to the KSC and landed without parachutes, which was a first in today's line of experiments.

For reference, the overheating also showed up with only two engines at Mach 1.8 and the produced heat was sufficient to tax two small radiators at 99.88% each. Without radiators, the engines belched out so much heat that the rest of the plane was still increasing in temperature over a minute after both engines were completely shut down and the aircraft was back on the ground. I'm thinking of adding on a large radiator instead.

Also experimented with drop tanks. Not that useful: two small tanks only add on about five minutes' worth of fuel and their decouplers are producing so much drag that the plane only reaches Mach 1.07 - but the moment the tanks are empty and I drop them, the plane immediately accelerates to Mach 1.73. It's just not worth it.

On the other hand, I figured out to my joy how to make my planes practically self-fly themselves with SAS instead of SAS struggling to keep them level. By toying around with wing AoA and tail/canard trim, I figured out how to make the plane very slightly nose upward when flying without SAS, which means SAS has to pull it downwards to keep it level, which very noticeably decreased cruising AoA and thus drag. Of course, it doesn't work with physical time acceleration: when I flip the switch, all intakes' effective air speed drops like a stone, which decreases engine thrust, which causes the plane to nose down. Still, it's gonna come in handy for visual survey missions once I take these designs into a career game.

[Superfluous J]

I wrote my first KOS script since KSP was in alpha. It does the same thing that the only script I wrote back then did: launch to orbit. Back then it was 10km, crank to 45, burn to space, crank to 0, burn to orbit.

This one has a bit more finesse, though it's by no means robust. Or pretty. I think it'll work fine though.

[Triop]

[aagun123]

 

[Espatie]

I took Val base-jumping off the side of a Mun Crater to get to a ship 2km away.

[MaverickSawyer]

Well, while I was at work, I kept thinking about Triop's current attempts to circumnavigate Kerbin via rover and Kerbal Konstructs bridges, and how I could improve on that. It somehow morphed into me planning to drive a rover to every biome on Kerbin... and remembering that I haven't made a biome map this save with ScanSat. Ordinarily, that'd be a non-issue. Just slap together a rocket and probe in a few minutes, and park that sucker in orbit. But... I felt that was insufficiently challenging. 

 

So I decided I'm going to BUILD a rocket. Not just in the VAB. Oh, no. I'm going to "launch" from the VAB to the pad, dismantle it via KIS, either store the parts in KIS containers or mount them to a trailer, load them into an airlifter, fly them to the Dessert Airstrip, trailer them over to the pad, reassemble it, fuel it, light the fuse, and stand back. Now THAT's sufficiently challenging, right? 

Hoo boy.

First plan was to do vehicle integration horizontally, then tip the rocket onto a base, dock it, and then fuel it and fly it.

Test rig #01

I've... not used KAS winches in a while, and I'd never used the new struts, so there were some rude surprises in store. Hence why I was tinkering with this stand setup in sandbox.

Easy does it...

Turns out, the winching it vertical idea is... not the brightest.  I had endless issues trying to get it to match up with the USI Construction Ports, and eventually just gave up. 

Tomorrow will likely be me attempting to stack the parts on the pad manually, in the launch orientation. Thankfully, the stack, when defueled, is actually light enough that, in a pinch, I could still do horizontal integration and then just toss it onto the pad with two kerbals. But that's not as challenging. So... I think it's going to be stacking it by stage, with the decoupler attached to the stage it's releasing, just so the shroud remains intact. But that'll have to wait until tomorrow evening, after work.

Edited February 3, 2019 by MaverickSawyer

[Loskene]

This wasn't exactly today, but I have some slightly old footage of an Energia-Buran launch that I never quite got around to finishing the editing on before moving on to other projects. But no sense letting it go to waste, it's probably 80-90% done and you guys will appreciate it anyway. Sharp eyed viewers will notice I cheated a bit and added some fins to the boosters, but since Kerbin is 1/10th the radius of Earth it requires a more aggressive gravity turn and thus fins on some craft that don't need them IRL.

And here is the landing, which I started recording only because the fly-by-wire had decided on suicide the moment beforehand. Sharp eyed viewers again will have noticed I didn't have quite enough delta-v for a suitably low periapsis after hauling up 34 tons to land where I wanted. So I pulled out of a spinning dive to land in the middle of nowhere. In a glider with the aerodynamics of a brick. In the dark. That certainly made things interesting. This one isn't edited at all yet so you'll have to supply your own suitably dramatic music for now.

 

[Jon Tash]

Today I put a little station with a lander in Minmus Orbit.

[Jacke]

5 hours ago, MaverickSawyer said:

Well, while I was at work, I kept thinking about Triop's current attempts to circumnavigate Kerbin via rover and Kerbal Konstructs bridges, and how I could improve on that. It somehow morphed into me planning to drive a rover to every biome on Kerbin... and remembering that I haven't made a biome map this save with ScanSat. Ordinarily, that'd be a non-issue. Just slap together a rocket and probe in a few minutes, and park that sucker in orbit. But... I felt that was insufficiently challenging. 

So I decided I'm going to BUILD a rocket. Not just in the VAB. Oh, no. I'm going to "launch" from the VAB to the pad, dismantle it via KIS, either store the parts in KIS containers or mount them to a trailer, load them into an airlifter, fly them to the Dessert Airstrip, trailer them over to the pad, reassemble it, fuel it, light the fuse, and stand back. Now THAT's sufficiently challenging, right? 

Hoo boy.

Dude, you have got to document this in a Mission Report topic of its own, like @Triop does.

https://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/index.php?/forum/51-mission-reports/

Edited February 3, 2019 by Jacke

[Hotel26]

I've been watching Triop's latest madcap adventures (and he won't mind me saying that as long as I give him a plug...  )

...and suitably inspired, I've been flying a Mink XT around the equator.  Mink has the range for about 60 deg on Kerbin, so it's a good yardstick to measure out fuel depots for short-range craft migrating to their intended theater of duty...

Well, I have to say that Mink's quad-cycle gear coupled with the long tail boom (XT = "extra tail") is a real hazard for unaware pilots (like me).  It just needs love, though, and the key is to touch down at exactly 45 m/s, which is also Vr (rotation speed).  I really have not wanted to tinker with such a delicate package...

Then, it hit me ("what would Triop do??"): Mink XTD!!  (XTD = "extra .. tail .. dragger ..)

In one stroke, I have solved all the problems of nailing a quad-cycle (with a high CG and very small base) onto Mother Terrain -- and replaced them with the legendary challenges of tail-draggers!! 

But avoiding the main problem, under heavy braking, of flipping over, Mink is now a JOY to land and even touch-down (way back on the power curve) seems even slower than it was.  By the time it's performed the standard three-pointer, Mink has NO further inclination to fly.  A reliable delight!  Vr is now 50 m/s simply because the CG is bracketed so rigidly and XTD depends on the angle it sits on the ground for lift-off.  (Some further tuning here, but I have to protect that big boom...)

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     

That's not the only benefit accruing from "cheering Triop onward".    I think a Pegasus IV is in the works.  A fast, long-range, heavy, mobile fuel base that will bring its own "fuel truck", based on a kind of cross of Chrysalis and Gryphon.

I fear I'm going to obsolete a big swath of my fleet -- but it will be worth it.

 

Edited February 3, 2019 by Hotel26

[NorthernDevo]

Just a quick one: 

My last career - hard mode; no revert, no money to start - was getting more annoying than enjoyable so I restarted. 

I currently have a few contracts to gather science data from orbit of Kermin, test the big LV-601-4 OME, and save a couple Kerbals while I'm up there.

Problem: I only have the 'Roundified' mono tank open so far so after needling Gene for a while to see if he could offer up a mono tank test (and failing), I just went with the tiny tanks.

Lots of 'em.

Cheers!

[MisterKerman]

lol @NorthernDevo Double "U" tee eff. >w<

Edit: I guess those 3 letters in that particular order are censored on this forum... I've never seen something like that before!

Edited February 3, 2019 by MisterKerman

[NorthernDevo]

15 minutes ago, MisterKerman said:

lol @NorthernDevo Double "U" tee eff. >w<

Edit: I guess those 3 letters in that particular order are censored on this forum... I've never seen something like that before!

Chuckle - that reminds me of the very early days of the Simviation Forums - like - first page. One guy asked a question about that part of the airplane where the pilot sits.

Given the censorship settings, the word that was printed in the post was "thingypit". 

Naturally; we had a WHOLE lot of fun with the guy, until we realized what was going on. (Then of course we had even more fun.  )

 

 

[thelostburrito]

18 hours ago, AFF said:

Yo what vfx mods are you using? This looks amazing!

[MaverickSawyer]

4 hours ago, Jacke said:

Dude, you have got to document this in a Mission Report topic of its own, like @Triop does.

https://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/index.php?/forum/51-mission-reports/

That is the plan, yes. But during the experimental phase I'm in right now, it's not nearly so entertaining.

[MiscelanousItem]

Yesterday was my boring stuff day (e.g.:doing all the tourist contracts I have to do)

So today I compensated by landing on the mun for the first time!(sorry for the dark images I was on the night side)

 

Then I sung this:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RYdfQvZrakM

And then I washed the F9 key on my keyboard with holy water

 

Edited February 3, 2019 by MiscelanousItem
Forgot some content

[Cavscout74]

Yesterday, I spent a little time continuing to tinker with my early cold war era fighter design, fine tuning handling & adding its built-in wingtip rocket pods.

First takeoff with functioning rocket pods

My work-around to get the pods to function was to decouple the front & back nose cones prior to launching.  First live-fire attempt:

Later attempt, with 6 rockets instead of 4 per pod.  Final version has 12 rockets in wingtip pods plus 12 more on pylons under the wings.

I also tested a suborbital high-g tourist pod - worked well, even knocked out the pilot.  Pictured here just before firing the high-g SRB's:

And finally, the DSV-01 Alderaan departed Kerbin for Jool.  ETA is something like 2 months before my career first manned mission that launched about a year ago:

 

 

 

[MaverickSawyer]

Ah, the ol' Stanley Steamer... 

How much damage does it deal to the VAB?

[AFF]

My terrible Space Shuttle launch)

Shuttle carrier have 350 m/c dV after decoupling in 80x80 orbit.

Other screens here)

 

Spoiler

Shuttle have 2 big ore drill and big converter in first cargobay

 

Edited February 3, 2019 by AFF

[Mister_Casual97]

Today I attempt to get that minmus orbit contract done, so let's see how that goes.





Launch was a bit wonky as the SRB took a small moment to get to full thrust, but sorted itself out.



I managed to lose connection to Kerbin during my injection burn, and the engine got stuck on. I ended up completely reversing my orbit, and wasting about 600 m/s Dv. Thankfully the probe has a lot of extra Dv anyways, and reversing my orbit actually makes it easier to get into the polar orbit the contract desires.



The probe made the marked orbit with plenty fuel to spare. I thought about using the extra fuel to land, but that can be for another time. I've learned my lesson about doing an injection burn behind a body without any Commsats, so I'm going to leave the probe in orbit as a relay for now.

[Ratwerke_Actual]

Was playing around with my 1.3.1 backup and installed the SSRSS (Stock Sized Real Solar System) mod.

Played around with it for a bit before I realized that certain Making History parts somehow work in 1.3.1. No engines, though.

[Fraktal]

After some more aircraft research, this time into finding the optimal intakes for my designs (what's the point of the radial intake with that much drag, anyway?), I decided to put my newly unlocked rover wheels to use and sent a rover to Minmus. I ended up massively overestimating the amount of dV I'd need to get there and was forced to dump nearly 800 m/s worth of fuel in my transfer stage after the deorbit burn.

Also, that 2100 m/s I packed into the rover for its pair of Ant engines on the bottom might've been too much, as I only needed half of that for the suicide burn descent and that includes having wasted quite a bit trying to zero out my horizontal velocity, as I mounted the OKTO core in a horizontal orientation for driving around, which meant I couldn't see the retrograde marker on the navball while retroburning, so I was forced to eyeball it. Lots of spinning and dancing ensued, followed by about two minutes of swearing trying to get the rover upright because even though the gravity was low enough for the OKTO's reaction wheel to flip the rover upright, whichever wheel touched the ground first ended up kicking out like a horse and counteracting my efforts the moment I was more than 20° upright.

Oh well. The rover is down, I have four biomes done already and once I'm done with everything I can access on the equator, I'm going to use that remaining 1k m/s to go suborbital and reach the poles. I'm currently headed towards the nearest flats and should be able to reach it before I go out of LOS with the KSC (since I don't have relay sats around Minmus yet, a fact I only realized when the rover arrived and failed to execute an orbital insertion burn due to Minmus eclipsing Kerbin).

[Jon Tash]

Now all kerbals can watch gifs of kats anywhere in the system!

Edited February 3, 2019 by Jon Tash