What did you do in KSP1 today?

[Hotel26]

I've been on 1.6.1 since January but am preparing 1.7.3 for a cut-over shortly.

Meanwhile, my Silo project has just had a major refactor with a purpose-built booster and a couple of Goliath engines for the "cruise phase" of the flight.

And for the final touch, I thought I'd try my first attempt at robotics.

  

  

  

The final step, when landed, is to fold out the twin docking booms so that aircraft can dock for the exchange of fuel and passengers.

The "cruise phase" has a range of something like 90 degrees so you only have to bring it down in the general area.  The Goliaths can manage level flight at 200 m/s maybe as high as 6km which should be enough for terrain clearance.

[Click an image and then use arrows for a slide show1.]

I'm not too thrilled about no auto-strutting in 1.7.3 but we'll see how it goes...  and be advised I've only flown this machine once in 1.7.3.

 

Edited September 3, 2019 by Hotel26

[capi3101]

Been dealing with a ferocious sea beastie these last few days. I think I might've finally figured out how to blow up enough of its tentacles to get away though. Will post a report when that happens (hopefully today - I've got a new staff person to start training tomorrow so my window of opportunity to post news is quite limited at the moment...).

[capi3101]

(1.6.1) Well, I finally got ahold of some decent Krakenbane and it's decided to leave me alone for a little bit, so I guess I'll go forward with a report for y'all. Spent the entire weekend fighting that damn thing...

Began my day last Friday with some design work in the VAB - the first bit of work involved the transformation of the Christmas Tree 7 nuclear battery currently docked at the Bi-La Kaifa Shipyards over Duna into a warp tanker, which I'm going to go ahead and dub SL Shai Hulud.

The drive section unit of a warp tanker. Going to be hooking up the nuke battery forward and a mass driver forward of that.

Construction of the drive section is now underway at BLK, with engineer Ardon Kerman estimating 38.75 hours to completion. I'll have to build and then add on the mass driver unit once that's done so it'll be a while before the full craft is ready to depart BLK. I also designed a dockable add-on replacement mass driver unit for Island Princess (mistakenly reported as India Princess in my last post), which I have dubbed something that apparently I can't report directly on the forums (which is honestly not a surprise, though I should probably mention that I am in no way, shape or form a spambot...).

If you don't get the reference, you're too young...

The module includes a KAS screwdriver in the container atop the module; the idea is for Island Princess to maneuver within a few meters of the module and then for engineer Ceri Kerman at the Dystopia Planitia shipyards over Kerbin to use said screwdriver to attach the upper Sr. docking port to the ship's prow. Docking from there should be pretty straightforward. Ceri has begun construction; she'll have it done in 40.5 hours.

Since she was due for repair work, the next thing on my agenda was for Island Princess to travel to DP from space station Kerbinport; flight time from departure to arrival was just under 45 minutes.

Island Princess coming into dock off the General Electric 7 capacitor bank docked at the shipyard. DP is inverted apparently.

Shortly after Island Princess docked, the Spamcan 7 lander carrying engineer Gemul Kerman reached position for its deorbit burn for landing at the Bohai 2 outpost on Bop. The suicide burn would not take place for another ten minutes, and during that time the Crater Maker 7 15-passenger lander over Minmus arrived at space station Minmusport. It was at this point in my weekend that I saw the first tentacles rising up out of the water - when I docked the Crater Maker at Minmusport the game refused to switch craft or let me exit the game, or do much of anything else besides quickload. Attempting to undock the CM resulted in a RUD and complete destruction of both the lander and Minmusport, and a game crash upon the attempt to revert. With this going on, my last revert for Friday put the Crater Maker nearby Minmusport but not into dock, and in the meantime I went ahead and landed the Spamcan at Bohai 2 safely.

Home sweet home for Gemul, and probably not a moment too soon - I was in full readiness to rage quit at this point in my day...

Gemul hooked up her lander to Bohai 2 via KAS resource transfer station and refueled it, then stowed the equipment and returned to her duties at the outpost.

Spent Saturday and Sunday tracking down the unholy interaction that was destroying the Crater Maker. I tried multiple configurations of docking the two together to no avail, and ultimately came to the (erroneous, as it turned out) conclusion that something had happened to the Crater Maker when I picked up the fifteen KSC staff aboard the lander from the Deepwater Horizon outpost on the surface. Thinking the craft was now defective, I went ahead and began having everybody abandon ship - the crew piled out through the single hatch in the pilot's seat and one by one they EVA'd over to the space station. I left engineers Millas, Geoffrod, Genery, Sigzer and Kabert aboard and sent the lander over to the Non Mentha Yards in Minmus orbit for recycling. The five remaining engineers also got out via EVAs and boarded the shipyard, after which the Crater Maker was sadly fed into the station's recycler unit. The five engineers along with station engineer Sulan Kerman began the process of building a replacement Crater Maker and Crater Maker Crew Adapter craft, with total construction time at just under two hours (having lots of smart engineers really speeds up construction time, it seems)...

Meanwhile, I still wanted to get some of the engineers over to LSV House Harkonnen in Minmus orbit to speed up construction of the Echo Flyer 7a base-seeding quadcopter the ship was building. To that end, I decided to temporarily swap out the tourists loaded aboard J. G. Backus docked to Harkonnen with engineers. Backus departed Harkonnen for Minmusport, arriving at the station 77 minutes later. My tourists got out and engineers Tanmon, Ludvis, Madorf, Calkin and Gwenuki Kerman boarded the ferry ship, which then departed to return to Harkonnen after refueling. Flight time back to Harkonnen was 112 minutes, during which time the engineers at NMY finished the replacement Crater Maker. The five of them boarded the new lander and after fueling they proceeded to undock from the station, join the two halves of the lander together and burned to head to Minmusport. Total flight time back was 90 minutes. During this same time, I went ahead and sent the Spamcan lander back up from Bohai 2 to space station Bopport, where it docked safely.

Can y'all imagine my level of annoyance when J. G. Backus docked at House Harkonnen only for that same damn Kraken to strike again? 

This time, though, there were some clues that put me on the right track to coming up with the right solution. I had docked Backus and started moving over folks into the ship's Bigby Workshop. I noted that when I loaded two of them into the Workshop, the workshop's productivity level went down to zero - this is not what should've happened; if anything, it should've gone up. I noted specifically which two kerbals caused the behavior, and when I had them EVA over to Harkonnen instead of being aboard Backus when the ship docked, I was able to dock with no kraken attack. Since both of those particular engineers started as colonists (i.e. tourists), I had the thought that maybe I'd missed something when I retrained them - the Pathfinder mod has the option to do this via the Castillo domes but I'm working with an older version of the mod where that particular feature doesn't work (it's been fixed since; haven't got the firepower to upgrade to it though), so I retrained these guys by hand. After checking the Pathfinder source code, I did find something - they hadn't been unregistered from their original contract. Finding the spot in the persistence file didn't turn out to be too difficult - in Notepad ++, I looked for the name of one of the engineers that hadn't caused a problem versus one that did, and found the registry. I then went through the list and removed the names of the kerbals that I'd retrained manually (and there were a lot of them - some of them on Backus, some on the Crater Maker, others still at my bases (where the problem had never had the opportunity to show it self before)). I then did one more docking of Backus at Harkonnen with my engineers all aboard; none of them caused problems. After the new Crater Maker arrived and docked at Minmusport without any issues earlier today, I'm pretty sure at this time I've got fried giant calamari.

A colonization contract at the Piper Alpha outpost on Mun finished up somewhere in all of this weekend's rigmarole; I went ahead and washed the three colonists - Malfen, Stadous and Giller Kerman - through the outpost's Castillo to get them out of the registry and then retrained them by hand while I was fiddling with the persistence file...

Anyway, the engineers arriving at Harkonnen was enough to finish the Echo Flyer build instantaneously, and so by the time the Crater Maker docked at Minmusport I was ready to haul everybody over to Harkonnen. All fifteen kerbals - engineers, pilots and tourists alike - boarded the lander, and after taking on fuel it departed for a very fast rendezvous and docking at Harkonnen, arriving a mere six minutes later. My tourists swapped positions with the engineers and re-embarked aboard Backus and the lander took on fuel from the ship's stores. I was ready to send my crewmembers on to LSV House Corrino, where they have been scheduled for some time now to act as ready crew for deep space outpost assignments. So the next thing that happened was Corrino's warp from Kerbin orbit over to Minmus; the ship arrived at 255 m/s and eventually had to burn to slow down enough to enter a 75.9 x 74.4 kilometer, 34.77° inclined orbit. Once in orbit, the Crater Maker departed Harkonnen for rendezvous with Corrino, arriving 46 minutes later.

Ordinarily I'd find nothing exciting about a rendezvous, but considering what all it had taken me to get to this point, I was fairly ecstatic to see this sight...

Docking concluded without incident.

So, at this point I'm going to attempt to make up for lost time. I have to offload my crewmembers from Crater Maker to House Corrino and then get it heading back to Minmusport, but after that both Harkonnen and Corrino are ready to depart Minmus for their respective missions. Harkonnen is heading to Laythe to pick up Gilligan and the intended crew of the Laythe outpost, and seeing as how their 'copter is ready to go I should be able to establish a new outpost on the surface sometime in the next day or two. From there Harkonnen will be heading on to Bop to deliver colonists to Bohai 2. Corrino, meanwhile, is scheduled to make a tour of the bodies I've already visited in the Kerbol system, with the idea being to get the crew aboard as much possible training prior to arriving at their assignments as possible. Duna is the ship's first port of call, where I'll be having her pick up a rescuee whose contract I got just this morning as replacement for the PA colonization contract. Not much else going on at at this point; definitely looking forward to putting together another base, and definitely looking forward to a lack of explosions when I'm docking...

Edited September 3, 2019 by capi3101
got rid of a divider I'd put in place in anticipation of the forum merging this post with my previous one.

[Guest]

Based on a design challenge and long-running discussion I've been having with @Hotel26, I've been working on the MIKS -- Modular Interplanetary Kerbal Shuttle. The goal is a system that lets us shuttle a significant number of kerbals (or, eventually, cargo) around the Kerbolar system with a minimum of fuss. 

I have just completed a preliminary trial mission of the prototype. Some issues came up and will be resolved, in particular several of the modules need less fussy electrical power, currently managing it was a little bit fiddly.

The core of the system is the Payload and Fuel Module (PFM). It seats 48 passengers and 3 crew, and carries the bulk of the fuel for the mission. It has no engines of its own, but does have RCS and a probe control point. It has a large docking port at the rear and a shielded one at the bow.

The PFM couples to a variety of different thruster modules for different phases of the mission. The prototype tested three of these: the Kerbin Orbital Shuttle, the Interplanetary Tug, and the Munar Orbital Shuttle. These three should cover most bodies in the Kerbolar system, although Duna could use a dedicated one. 

The mission profile has the system reach orbit with an orbital shuttle module designed for the body in question. In orbit, it switches to the Interplanetary Tug (IT) module, which takes it to its destination: with the tested IT module it had over 4800 m/s dV which is sufficient for an orbital insertion almost anywhere. Once inserted into parking orbit at the destination, it is met by the shuttle module for that body, which ferries the PFM to the surface. After refueling, it returns to orbit, RVs with the IT module, switches to it, and goes on its merry way. 

The idea is that the orbital shuttle modules remain in low orbit around the body they serve, as the PFM+IT travel from body to body. Since the PFM carries the fuel, no extra refueling missions are needed; all the necessary fuel is lifted from the surface with the module.

At the end of the mission, both IT and MOS are left in orbit with KOS+PFM on Kerbin's surface, ready for another mission.

Some pictures from the mission which ought to make the system clearer:

Ready for take-off. The PFM is docked to the KOS.

On our way to orbit.

Undocking from the KOS to dock with the IT.

Docking with the IT.

Munar orbit.

Docking with the MOS.

Arrived at Mun Refueling Station 1.

Refueled and on our way back.

RV with KOS.

Approach to KOS. It's important to align the verticals correctly...

On our way back down.

Back at KSC.

Edited September 4, 2019 by Guest
Fixed some numbers. Thanks Hotel26

[NHunter]

After many years in-flight, my ships (starting with the forward relay) began arriving to Plock:

This looks awesome even if the sun shouldn't be anywhere this large here:

Finally, stable equatorial orbit around Plock:

Edited September 3, 2019 by NHunter

[papuchalk]

I built a lander for Minmus which will be used mainly for searching the Surface features (BG expansion). This hovering lander will be much better than a wheel rover, which is not very efficient on Minmus (too slow and jumpy and they have to return looong way back to lander once they are finished..)

Movement around Minmus will be done by RCS thrusters for comfortable maneuvering controll - Science arm needs to be landed precisely

RCS thrusters placed at center of mass.

 

Enough monopropellant in tanks to wander around Minmus foreva..

Actually i will collect all biomes on Minmus with this. Also perfect for data measurements in low altitude missions.

https://imgur.com/a/O1q8adS

 

 

 

 

Edited September 4, 2019 by papuchalk

[Kerbinchaser]

THE FOLLOWING MESSAGE IS AN EXCERPT FROM AN OFFICIAL KSC PRESS BRIEFING HELD ON Y1, D41, AT 00:44:00

On the third day of the mission, year one, day 40, a large unidentified piece of debris struck the Cygnus pod while it was undocking from the Müner Workshop. The strike separated the pod from it's CSM, and the two man crew, pilot Lenlock and Engineer Kirely, began an uncontrolled spin, trapped in their pod. While astronauts on the Müner Workshop could only watch in horror as their comrades began their rapid descent to the surface of the Mün.

5 minutes into the crisis, it is presumed that the main hatch to the Cygnus was ejected by force, and Kirely Kerman passed away as a result of this depressurization. However, it is believed that before this occurred, Lenlock was able to don his EVA suit and protect himself from the elements of space.

After the forced ejection of the hatch, telescopes trained on the pod by the Workshop's crew captured Lenlock bailing out of the stricken spacecraft and engaging his RCS pack.

At 00:43:30, Lenlock struck the surface of the Mün at 20 meters per second. He landed near the top of the Ponti Crater and rolled an estimated 500 meters before finally coming to a rest. Orbitial imagery taken from the KSC shortly after the incident suggests that Lenlock survived this ordeal and is alive on the surface. He has no extra food, water, or a HAB. The flight surgeon was able to access his life support stats and reports that Lenlock is bleeding internally but is still alive, unconscious.

The KSP will do everything in our power to bring our brave Kerbonaut back home. Thank you. I may take your questions now.




#rescuelenlock

Edited September 3, 2019 by Lo Var Lachland

[Chel]

#LeOofForLenlock

Bleeding internally? Press F to pay respects 

[Kerbinchaser]

2 minutes ago, The_Cat_In_Space said:

#LeOofForLenlock

Bleeding internally? Press F to pay respects 

The flight surgeon believes that it is a reptured spleen on account of the hard impact. While also looking at the breathing stats, it appears that Lenlock has fractured almost all of his ribs. 

[Chel]

Oof

Just give him a medkit, he'll be fine 

[Kerbinchaser]

16 minutes ago, The_Cat_In_Space said:

Oof

Just give him a medkit, he'll be fine 

Yes, by shipping a 500ton rocket into orbit. The KSP will be sending a lander filled with snacks and a doctor to the surface. They will land as close as possible. 

[Chel]

Inb4 they too are stranded on the Mun, it would be hilarious to mount a rescue mission for the crew of a rescue craft.

[Kerbinchaser]

Just now, The_Cat_In_Space said:

Inb4 they too are stranded on the Mun, it would be hilarious to mount a rescue mission for the crew of a rescue craft.

Yeah, I'm trying to make sure that won't happen. Can you imagine the PR?  

[Cavscout74]

I had two milestones in my 20% science career today - first station, and a combined first manned orbit of Minmus & first trip out of Kerbin's SoI.

First up, the MOLE Station was launched at night from KSC and was able to attain a 95km orbit. 

Second stage boosting the station clear of the atmosphere before the third stage puts it in a stable orbit

Orienting station for circularization burn.  Note the separator drifting away that was used to attach the aerodynamic nosecone.

Once it was available, Val & Ambera rode on a prototype STV-3 (Station Transfer Vehicle, 3-seat) to dock & become the first crew on the station. 

Ambera performing EVA to restore the materials bay near the nose of the station before she gets to work in the lab

While that was going on, Jeb & Kelrik were in Minmus orbit.  After one orbit and multiple EVA's, Jeb came up with the idea that they had plenty of dV, and it would take just a quick burn to put them on a Kerbin escape trajectory instead of returning straight home.  Jeb also "accidentally" crashed into the HG-5 antenna before Mission Control could veto the idea.  That little stunt - in addition to bringing back extra science and completing a contract for EVA in solar orbit - put them as the first crew to spend 30 days in space.  They even managed a fly-by and gravity assist from the Mun on their trip home

Preparing for ejection burn out of Minmus

Next up for tomorrow is a LKO rescue mission, then a crew swap for MOLE station.  If time permits, maybe even the career first manned Minmus landing.

Edited September 4, 2019 by Cavscout74

[Kerbinchaser]

THE FOLLOWING MESSAGE IS AN EXCERPT FROM AN OFFICIAL KSC PRESS BRIEFING HELD ON Y1, D43, AT 03:50:00

Ladies and gentlekerbs, I am pleased to announce that the "Compassion" mission to bring Pilot Lenlock Kerman home to Kerbin has been a success. Lenlock is currently under medical observation on board the Müner Orbital Workshop "Venture." He was rescued yesterday, Y1, D42, 01:54:25 by Cpt. Kimvey Kerman, the only crew member on board the Compassion. After recovering Lenlock and dragging him the 450 meters to the pod, she took off from the surface and docked with the Venture two hours later, where Cmdr. Jadbert Kerman, the flight surgeon for the Venture, overtook medical command. Lenlock was suffering from severe internal bleeding but he has been able to recover from those wounds. 

He will return on D50 if all medical procedures go as planned. The mission that we had refrained from telling you about was the Compassion mission. We used our ever popular Discovery launch vehicle. 

However, there is still one brave Kerbonaut who is un-accounted for. Kirely Kerman, Lenlock's Engineer crewmate. She will remain in Müner orbit in eternal entombment  for a few reasons. Those reasons are as follows: The pod is spinning too hard for a crew to latch onto the docking mechanism and actually retrieve Kirely's body. Another reason is because Kirely was exposed to the harsh elements of space, and as of such her bodily structure is very fragile and brittle. Trying to recover her in this state would surely be impossible.

Our thoughts go out to the family. They have lost a hero, and they should always remember that Kirely died doing what she loved to do. 

Thank you. Now please turn your attention to the slides and then I can take your questions. 

The "Compassion" Rescue Mission Launch

The extent of the search area. 

RIP Kirely. Our nation and space program lost a good Kerbonaut. You will never be forgotten.

Ad Astra. 

Edited September 4, 2019 by Lo Var Lachland

[Hotel26]

14 hours ago, Brikoleur said:

the MIKS -- Modular Interplanetary Kerbal Shuttle

(Hoping not to be distastefully effusive, but I just have to remark...)

Brilliant work, good sir.

Inspirational.  The MOS is a stroke of ingenuity.

You've taken a concept and made Art.  Originality has always been your trademark.

Outstanding.

Edited September 4, 2019 by Hotel26

[Guest]

Why thank you @Hotel26! I do like the aesthetic of the PFM/MOS, it has a touch of Tintin goes to the Moon about it -- but it's a fairly straightforward case of form follows function. It has to be wide enough not to tip over too easily, carry enough fuel and have a high-enough TWR to be able to lift the fully-fuelled PFM to LMO, and it has to have an accessible hatch. The rest follows, more or less. I might make another version that uses wing components instead of those strut boxes purely for aesthetics but we'll see. 

Here's a fuller run-down of the prototype test mission results:

• The PFM performed beautifully: RCS is more than sufficient for easy and precise docking, its small number of large fuel tanks makes for no-fuss refuelling, and the remote probe control point (with two pilots) made docking operations with the other uncrewed modules easy even when comms to KSP were cut off. Biggest drawback was that a lack of agility but then this isn't supposed to be a fighter jet. Biggest risk is limited battery power with solar panels only on the back; however since the PFM will only be un-docked from the other modules when it is switching from one to another and should something go badly wrong can be rescued by one of them, I've decided that this is an acceptable risk. No changes planned.
• The KOS also performed well all through the mission: take-off, orbit, parking, re-docking, re-entry, and powered flight back to KSP all went without fuss (not counting pilot-caused shenanigans, Jeb did some ill-advised aerobatics on the way back which led to a somewhat worrying flat spin at one point; it was recoverable however). Its biggest risk is also battery power, since it too only has solar panels on the back. Under consideration: redesign the electrical and autonomous control system to have an Okto Mk 2 with batteries in a utility bay with a RTG with more batteries in another. I'll also probably add some A.I.R.B.R.A.K.E.S (even though it was quite easy to dead-stick land on the runway even without them). 
• The MOS performed very well. Biggest drawback is a lack of agility. It was easy enough to land it close to the fuelling station but it is not easy at all to make short hops since it pitches so slowly. A variety of possible solutions is under consideration. It could also use more battery power and solar panels on all sides for trouble-free electrics.
• The IT -- the smallest and most straightforward component -- had the biggest problems:
  • It is not physics warp friendly. The craft started pitching all over the place at maximum physics warp. I do not know why as thrust torque is minimal. Will experiment.
  • It has thermal problems. The solar panels were in danger of overheating during burns from waste heat from the NERVs.
  • It has insufficient electrics and insufficient solar panels, running quickly out of juice when in planet-shadow. 

The issues with the KOS and the MOS are minor and easily fixed. The IT needs more work. I am considering a redesign with power coming from an RTG as well; this would also make sense as it's intended to operate in the entire Kerbolar system, and solar panels are useless in the outer reaches: in this case it would need to periodically fire its NERVs to avoid running out of juice, even in hibernation. The physics-warp-unfriendliness is the most puzzling issue; it has a whiff of the Kraken about it actually because when not in physics warp or in the slowest physics warp everything is fine. It's a significant QoL issue because of the relatively low TWR -- an ejection burn from LKO would take about six minutes which is a bit slow in real time (but still fast enough to do in one go without breaking it up into several burns -- I wanted this capability for convenience).

I would also like to make some aesthetic tweaks to the KOS; I hope I'll be able to do it without making the (currently rather good!) aerodynamics much worse...

[Hotel26]

14 hours ago, Brikoleur said:

It seats 28 kerbals including 4 crew,

It looks like 48 Kerbals  in the pictured version?  And fully probe-guided?

Another impression.  Seeing this engineering system -- modular / commoditized / fully reusable -- feels like peering into a future century.

12 minutes ago, Brikoleur said:

and the remote probe control point (with two pilots)

...this mgiht be some feature (1.7.3) I'm not yet familiar with...?

[Guest]

14 minutes ago, Hotel26 said:

It looks like 48 Kerbals  in the pictured version?  And fully probe-guided?

Another impression.  Seeing this engineering system -- modular / commoditized / fully reusable -- feels like peering into a future century.

Goodness, it is 48 (51 actually, when you include the 3-kerbal crew in the Mk3 command pod), I remembered that the Mk3 passenger module only seats 8. Well that significantly exceeds my engineering target!

It's not fully automated -- the PFM needs a pilot. In fact, the recommended crew is two pilots: that way, it can use the Mk3 command pod's remote probe control capability in docking operations with the other modules when there is no connection to Kerbin, since this is always LoS it will work once I've got the electrical gremlins sorted. The idea is that it will work even at the outermost reaches of the Kerbolar system or when no connection is available for some other reason; the craft themselves only have short-range comms. (Also I rather like the idea of spaceliner pilots.) 

(Obviously it would be quite easy just to stick a probe core on the nose, that would make the system fully autonomous, as long as it has comms to KSC or another station with remote probe control capability. But long-range comms are not in the plan for this.)

BTW I also made a quick prototype of a cargo hauler version of the PFM. Biggest problem with that is unloading the cargo. It would land with a bit of a thud if I open the bay and let it drop from the upright MOS configuration. I think some robotics solution might be needed there; the MOS might needs some adjustments too -- it would be easier of the PFM was closer to the ground...

Edited September 4, 2019 by Guest

[Guest]

44 minutes ago, Hotel26 said:

...this mgiht be some feature (1.7.3) I'm not yet familiar with...?

Probe control points appeared in 1.2 as part of the commnet features.

https://wiki.kerbalspaceprogram.com/wiki/Probe_Control_Point

Edited September 4, 2019 by Guest
url didn't hyperlink

[Chris Hopkins]

23 minutes ago, Rocket Witch said:

Probe control points appeared in 1.2 as part of the commnet features.

https://wiki.kerbalspaceprogram.com/wiki/Probe_Control_Point

Well, I learn something every day. This might change my next Duna mission plan...

[Hotel26]

1 minute ago, Rocket Witch said:

https://wiki.kerbalspaceprogram.com/wiki/Probe_Control_Point

Live and learn.

 

2 minutes ago, Chris Hopkins said:

Well, I learn something every day. This might change my next Duna mission plan...

That's exactly what I said!!!  In fact, you can see I drafted a reply but settled on a Like.  I'll let it stand...

 

[RizzoTheRat]

Took another version of my slightly over-engineered Mun lander to Minmus, and discovered it's very over engineered.  Landed in 3 biomes and it's still got half a tank of fuel left when it got back to the orbital fuel dump!  

 

 

 

 

21 hours ago, Brikoleur said:

Based on a design challenge and long-running discussion I've been having with @Hotel26, I've been working on the MIKS -- Modular Interplanetary Kerbal Shuttle. The goal is a system that lets us shuttle a significant number of kerbals (or, eventually, cargo) around the Kerbolar system with a minimum of fuss. 

Nice design.  I messed about with a similar concept using a VTOL SSTO to launch modules that link with large docking rings (plus a disposable nosecone on the top of the stack) and then land those modules back at the KSC after the mission.  Bit smaller scale than yours though, I only ever got up to launching a pair of Hitchhiker cans at a time.  I had the fuel in the nuclear tug stage though, so needed to rendezvous with orbital tankers too, getting all the fuel and crew up in one go is a neat touch.

 

Edited September 4, 2019 by RizzoTheRat

[Guest]

I completed work on the base modules of the MIKS (Modular Interplanetary Kerbal Shuttle) system. They are now published on KerbalX. 

• The Passenger and Fuel Module (PFM) got another reaction wheel, bigger batteries, and a balance tweak.
• The Kerbin Orbital Shuttle (KOS) is now RTG-powered and has also had some other aerodynamic and balance tweaks. 
• The Interplanetary Tug (IT) was rebuilt from scratch. It is now also RTG-powered and has bigger reaction wheels; the combined craft is now much easier to handle and physics warp friendly.
• The Munar Orbital Shuttle (MOS) was redesigned from scratch. It now has more dV, a stabler base, is RTG-powered, and as a side effect is much easier to launch to orbit. It also has nifty very heavy landing legs made from hydraulic cylinders and friction pads, and consequently looks nicer too. It now handles well enough for short transfer hops on the Munar surface.
• All craft have been packaged into launches and published on KerbalX.

Craft:

• MIKS-MOS: https://kerbalx.com/Brikoleur/MIKS-MOS
• MIKS-IT: https://kerbalx.com/Brikoleur/MIKS-IT
• MIKS-PFM with MIKS-KOS: https://kerbalx.com/Brikoleur/MIKS-01-KOS

Pictures:

Edited September 4, 2019 by Guest

[cantab]

I'm recreating some craft I did a long time ago. At the moment it's my Dirty Rascal V/STOL cargo plane, now built with Breaking Ground parts.

It's not finished (I'm using infinite electricity for a start), but I was able to take off vertically, hover around a bit, transition to forward flight and reach a speed of 180 m/s, then transition back to hover and land vertically (ish). I have prop torque on the main throttle, rotor torque and rpm on a custom axis (setting both gets more precise response), and propeller pitch (authority limiter) on another custom axis. (And assorted AGs to turn things on and off).

I admit I resorted to reaction wheel spam to control it in the hover, and I'm having issues with the nose wanting to dip when hovering. I need to experiment more with authority limiter on the rotor blades, it seems effective at controlling vehicle pitch but very very sensitive.

Edited September 4, 2019 by cantab