What did you do in KSP1 today?

[KerikBalm]

My re-coverable 6.4x spaceplane:

Climbing on airbreathers:

Spoiler

Rapiers to closed cycle (after the Rhino already fired)

Spoiler

Getting the Ap up, but also getting some horizontal velocity

Orbiter decouple:

Spoiler

Almost to orbit? still 1000 m/s to go

Nearly there, lets check in on the 1st stage:

124.9 km altitude, plenty of time to switch back (when I was taking a 72 ton payload, it would be approaching 30-something km at this point, and most of the time, I'd be a little too slow to switch back)

Orbit, with 54 tons of leftover fuel (61 tons of fuel + un needed tank mass, and then lets say -5 tons for de-orbit).

Slowing down the carrier stage:

Turning back to KSC:

Engine relight, high speed cruise back:

Made it with plenty of fuel:

maybe I can load a bit more oxidizer to increase payload. Lets say another 1000 units, maybe then I can have enough time to swithc back when the orbiter takes more payload

Ok, so I overshot and had to turn back around:

27 minutes total, a lot done at 4x timewarp during the high speed cruise back to KSC. Also since i landed on the KSC flat, I spend a significant amount of time turning around and taxing back to the runway.

[AlamoVampire]

Since I am slowly establishing a ground base on the Mun, I thought hey, lets put up a station at the Mun, so, I did just that. This is the resulting Mun Orbital Station:

 

 

044206182020

[EpicSpaceTroll139]

Didn' t do anything too exciting today.  Decided to do some IVA piloting and tried to land a mid-heavy aircraft.

Had to go around the first time because I came in kind of high.

Made it the second time around, but I kind of Ryan Aired the landing.  I kind of expected because I was flying a large, sluggish plane and it had been a while since I last tried landing planes from IVA.  What I wasn't expecting was for the plane to decelerate to a stop so quickly that I didn't even have time to react and activate the thrust reversers.

I decided try again from external view to figure out what was going on.  This what I like to call "excessive braking."    Yes that is a converted airliner balancing on its nosewheel.

Trying to figure out what's causing that right now.  May have to do with this craft having been made in an earlier version of KSP.  Guess I can market the passenger version for shortfield operations with the stipulation that all passengers be trained for high g. 

[Cavscout74]

3 hours ago, EpicSpaceTroll139 said:

I decided try again from external view to figure out what was going on.  This what I like to call "excessive braking."    Yes that is a converted airliner balancing on its nosewheel.

Just remember the old saying:  Any landing you can walk away from is a good one, any landing you can use the plane again is a great one.  

[hoover2701]

Still in the early stages of my JNSQ/ProbesBeforeCrew/KerbalismScience/USI-LS-MKS career. Today I brought my first rover to the Mun and everything went well. Now I'll do some (badly needed) science using the great Bon Voyage mod... Here are some screens:

[Kraken that doesn't exist]

what would happen if i quote something from the first page of this 2146 page thread

[jimmymcgoochie]

Landed a little QBE-based lander on Laythe. I was originally aiming at Vall but a) I came into Jool’s system retrograde (oops!) and didn’t have 10km/s delta-V to land on Vall and b) by some strange coincidence I got a slingshot from Vall that ended up at Laythe. Some crazy aerobraking later and it splashed down. And down. And down... Until the pressure got too much and it imploded  but I got science from Vall and Laythe and some nice achievements for it too.

Then I put a plane on Tylo.

(Yes, I know that Tylo has no atmosphere- in stock; but in JNSQ it has 0.2 atm of oxygenless air which is just enough to fly with and is also helpfully thin enough that RCS thrusters and rockets operate with only minor penalties to ISP. Now all I need to do is wait a couple of years for the SCAN sats to show up and map the place out so I know where to find that sweet, sweet Science...)

2 more identical planes inbound for Laythe in the next few game ‘weeks’, hopefully those will float 

Edited June 18, 2020 by jimmymcgoochie

[RizzoTheRat]

One day I should have a go with a tech tree reordering mod as I find it a little silly that I send a crewed orbiter to the mun before I get any communications satellites up, and when I do they're far larger than they need to be because the smallest engine I have is the Terrier.

First attempt didn't quite go according to plan...

 

If version 1 was a bit too flacid, version 2 is definitely a bit too phallic

 

 

On the plus side I've got my "Test Script" kOS code up and running, which lets me run test scripts as part of my main code, meaning all my common functions are available, and I'm now working on updating my Resonant Orbit script to the new code structure to let me deploy this set of 4 RemoteTech Kommsats in LKO. 

In previous careers the satellite deployment stuff was a standalone bit of code I had to manually paste in to the kOS module and run.  Now it will run from my menu structure, so run once to get the whole vessel in to the resonant orbit, and then run it again on each successive orbit on a different satellite to boost them in to their final orbits.

So far the calculations work so just need to add i the manouvres.

 

[Angelo Kerman]

Starting to look like a spaceship:

[Aniruddh]

Today, I executed a capture burn into jool orbit for my Jool spacecraft with 12 crew. It uses the 'Jet' Tokamak fusion engine as it's main propulsion system, which I just unlocked in the tech tree recently. Everything in the mission has gone smoothly (except for a little bit of overheating of the fusion engine towards the end of that burn, should've attached more radiators!). Got some great views of Jool (and Tylo):

Spoiler

 

[Cavscout74]

Didn't get make much progress is KSP today - tested a new cargo plane design, but it still needs work.  With no cargo, it needs the fuselage tanks drained or it will sit on the tail.  With a full Jumbo 64 tank in the cargo bay, it has too little elevator authority during landing (despite taking off ok).  Actual in flight handling is surprisingly good, just need to get it to be able to take off and land successfully both empty & loaded.

And here is the primary problem....

I also designed a 6-seat lander for low-g bodies and am waiting for it to be ready to launch (2 days left).  I'm a little concerned the vertical landing engines are too weak.  It uses a Terrier for horizontal acceleration and braking, then 6 small landing engines for the final touchdown and initial lift off.  Somewhat similar design to the Space: 1999 Eagle.

 

Edited June 19, 2020 by Cavscout74

[N_Danger]

Tested and tweaked a new booster for smaller satellite contracts.

Spoiler

 

And I finally got one that will get to the Mun and Minmus with the required payload without being overly expensive.

The Mun was pretty easy. It was an equatorial orbit contract and I got a launch to a trans Munner burn instead of having to circularize first.

And i got to the required Minmus orbit with 200 M/S DV to spare.

 

[aspacecephalopod]

Used KAS and KIS to make an old rover design I had on Laythe fit on the front of my exploration planes (which have a front docking port by the nose gear). Not aerodynamic, but the RTGs on the rover give the plane a bit of a power boost. Proceeded to fly around and get some nice views of Jool, Vall and Tylo at dusk:

Edited June 19, 2020 by aspacecephalopod

[Pipcard]

Y65, D272 - The WiM-17 mining ship and Amethyst probe complex reaches Neidon and drops a probe into the atmosphere

[RoninFrog]

Scouting for a good, flat spot for a Mun base, I never realized this part of the Mun even existed.

[ARS]

Been a while since the last time I'm active in KSP. Decided to return recently. So a lot has been changed in the game, and I started my game building highspeed exploration aircraft. 5 crew capacity, unmanned-capable and cargo bay to carry ground scientific instruments

[FahmiRBLX]

Been doing another flight with my L-6.

... and testing the new engine for my new regional airliner. Actually an 'Island Hopper'.

No, the 'Island Hopper' won't be this testbed. It's a typical straight-wing airplane.

EDIT: And yes, the front motor will be clipped into the back one to make a Contra-Rotating propeller, just like the L-6's. Why, torque cancellation, more power, and it looks cool IMO.

Edited June 19, 2020 by FahmiRBLXian

[Stewcumber]

Hasn't posted here for about a year.

Played a lot of Tony Hawk's Pro Skater recently. Made a mini Skatepark. Posts a video of my skateboard doing a 50-50 grind.

see you next year!

[Cavscout74]

Had time to test a new 6-seat Minmus lander - probably also good for Mun and similar gravity (Vall, Ike) but haven't checked it there yet.

Has a terrier for horizontal braking/acceleration, then 6 monoprop VTOL engines for the final touchdown.  This is the test version, operating uncrewed just in case.  The final version will have a few changes - like moving the docking port to the center of mass, adding some KAS connectors for refueling on the surface, etc. 

It turns out I couldn't brought a crew, because everything went smooth - I overshot the LZ a little, the terrier is slightly underpowered on full fuel.  I may have to try the Restock+ Schnauzer in its place, although that may be too powerful

After my initial landing, I sorta hover-taxied over to the Minmus mining base.  Control was excellent through all phases of flight

[N_Danger]

It was time for Kebals to head for the first landing on Minmus.

Jeb, Bill and Bob pose for the camera

Then Bob went looking for Green Sandstone.

And here we are almost home.

This got enough science to get the next level data relay antenna so we are sending out interplanetary probes soon.

[Pipcard]

Y65, D273 - Amethyst-d lands on Neidon's moon Thatmo

[Demordrah]

I built a mostly stock (1 part is from the Making History DLC) B-52 clone; The K-52 Kerbalfortress

It's gloriously gigantic

I honestly wasn't sure it was going to fly, and was pretty excited when it cleared the end of the runway and began to gain altitude.

Bill hasn't been particularly happy with the administration at the KSC lately...

Unfortunately the buildings are rather robust.  Even with the collision damage multiplier set to maximum (I play on console, FWIW), these bombs don't take the buildings out.  They do make a rather satisfying series of explosions when you carpet bomb an area, however.  I may try bombing from higher altitudes (I think I was around 2,500 Km) and see if that makes a difference, but I'm not sure that it will.

 

Other than that, there are some minor flexing anomalies with the wings that I have to sort out.  I'm sure it was a construction oversight on my part.  This thing destroys my frame rate during bombing, as well (then again, the frame rate on console is garbage in general with anything more than the most basic of crafts).

[OnlyLightMatters]

This is actually an SSTO which has around 700dv left at 80km@LKO.

 

Testing a deployable Mining Unit on Minmus.

Solar power is provided by the craft.

 

 

 

 

Then doing the job on Duna (Takeoff on Kerbin -> LKO -> Refuel in LKO -> Aerobrake and land on Duna -> mine & refuel -> go back to Kerbin. The mining unit stays on Duna.

 

 

 

I also tried the SuperHeavy way to launch this starship.

It is not optimal because you cannot both circularize and land the first stage. I had to send the payload at 100km to have enough time to land the booster, then I was able to switch back to the starship to finish the job.

Edited June 20, 2020 by OnlyLightMatters

[Pipcard]

5 hours ago, OnlyLightMatters said:

It is not optimal because you cannot both circularize and land the first stage. I had to send the payload at 100km to have enough time to land the booster, then I was able to switch back to the starship to finish the job.

That's what Flight Manager for Reusable Stages is for.

[N_Danger]

I tested a Twitch while fulfilling a satellite contract.

Have you ever moved a satellite for a contact and then found you didn't have enough fuel to move it back to finish the old one? Yeah me too. I had to launch a new one (with better tech though)

And finally I rescued Roport