What did you do in KSP1 today?

[Grogs]

I built a simple SSTO space plane using Mk2 parts. This is my first one, and despite all the reports of how draggy the Mk2 parts are I had no major issues getting it to orbit. It has about 500 m/s for maneuvering after making orbit. I think I have more than enough LF for the ascent, so if I swap out one LF tank for LF+Ox rocket fuel maybe it would have enough to get to Munar orbit.

 

Landing is quite a different story. It seems quite capable of landing with a stall speed below 60 m/s, but I'm terrible at it. I can land maybe 1 in 4 times without breaking something. So for now, it's parachutes.

 

Over on Minmus I rescued stranded engineer Jorlof Kerbin and returned him to Minimus Station.

 

Then Ludorf and Beazor visited the last biome on Minmus, the poles. That's pretty much all the science from the surface. I've transmitted everything, but there are still lots of reports that need to be taken back to Kerbin. The transmitted science was enough to get the last tech in the tree - large motors. Once I have enough science for the down-payment, all future science will be converted into funds to support the program.

 

And finally, the crew shuttle (bottom right in the pic) arrived at the Munar Station bringing a load of kerbals from Minmus. Their arrival finally completed the contract to expand the station.

 

Val took a load of newer kerbals down to the surface, where a flag was planted. This fulfilled a contract and also provided experience for those who haven't visited the Mun before.

 

Before they left, engineer Sherman Kerman placed two new RTG power sources at the surface deployed experiment station nearby. Now the experiments should be able to continue all through the night as well as during the day.

[JorgeCS]

19 hours ago, Delay said:

I'm sure they exist in stock KSP too, they're the largest wheels in the category. This is, however, Ven's/Kerbas ad astra's overhaul of them, with my TU patching on top.

Actually yes, it is the Stock XL3, using the mesh and the texture from "Ven's stock revamp resurrected" by Kerbas_ad_astra   As I'm personally a fan of Restock and they are not compatible, just unpacked and used that part. Thanks!!

[N_Danger]

I put a station orbit around the Mun to fulfill a contract

And upgraded the Workhorse with RCS, antenna and new solar panels for crew transfer to the station.

 

[Angelo Kerman]

I tested a proof of concept using DockRotate:

 

[Guest]

Deep breath... Let's do this Eve landing! So far 

15-ish attempts and over 2 hours of attempting so far...

[Neil Kermstrong]

I've done many things today:

I learn how to rendezvous two different vessels in the orbit (not the level of docking) with the help of forum users

I saved two different kerbals from Kerbin's orbit (one was contract and the other one was bill)

and I've landed in minmus for the very first time

[Guest]

Three hours later... I am processing the video!!!!!!!!! Probably coming out late tonight. I might upload Eve Ascent RN but I don't want to upload on youtube and export the video at the same time. I also am doing a live commentary for this video so again expecting video coming out LATE tonight...

....

I am soooooo excited to show my first eve crew mission 

While I am at it I need some decisions for thumbnail:

Edited August 9, 2020 by Guest

[Misguided Kerbal]

I landed on Minmus! I've always had trouble with Minmus, so I'm pretty happy!

 

I also made a Saturn Shuttle:

[Lewie]

Just now, Misguided_Kerbal said:

I also made a Saturn Shuttle:

Bruh, why no Saturn shuttle heavy? 

congrats on Minmus! It’s always a fun place to visit

how much delta v does that sucker have? 

[Misguided Kerbal]

Just now, Lewie said:

how much delta-v does that sucker have?

Idk. The Delta-v meter went all funky

 

Just now, Lewie said:

Bruh, why no Saturn shuttle heavy? 

In the caption for this pic I posted in my closet thing, it's literally named "Lagger"

 

1 minute ago, Lewie said:

congrats on Minmus! It’s always a fun place to visit

Eh... it takes a loooong time to land.

[etmoonshade]

Because it was suggested that I post it here:

Delicious Tweakscale abuse.

[Guest]

 

All images and videos on link

https://kerbalanders.wordpress.com/2020/08/08/eve-crew-mission-complete-eve-crew-diaries-4/

[JorgeCS]

In my 1.10.x career I finally decided to start using some additional mods. It was a bit strange to (as I'm using Unkerballed Start for careers) have so many empty nodes in the science tree  So, after finally confirming that most of Nertea's mods are already compatible with 1.10, I downloaded all the NF plus the one I really love, the Stockalike Station Parts Extension Redux.

And USI Life Support. Which made me send 'foodies probes' urgently to Mun and Minmus, where I had already stationed some kerbals (facepalm much).

I decided not to use Kerbal Health as well, just because I can't really figure out a way to make someone survive the trip to Duna  But if you guys have some tips about it, feel free to drop me a PM.

Other than those probes, more contracts, more rescues, tired of 'satellites and stuff', a bit tired already of scansat missions  but Need More Science (tm) to unlock nodes and parts...

Cheers!

J

[Grogs]

I did a lot of logistics work, specifically involving fuel. First, I decided that the Rockomax Jumbo-64 fuel tanks I'm using for refueling missions aren't big enough anymore. I put together a new model based on the S3-14400 tank that has twice the fuel capacity of the Jumbo-64. I launched the new refueler probe 10% full, which is enough to get to Minmus while being light enough that a single-stage booster can get it to orbit.

 

The design worked great so I launched two more tankers. I realized that I don't have enough docking ports at Minimus Station so I sent these with their own docking port adapters to expand the station.

 

The new S3 boosters are fully reusable and the new spider legs make it much more stable on landing than the previous 2.5m booster. Landing near KSC returns 98% of the $75k cost meaning each tanker only costs 40k funds net.

 

Over at the Mun, my crew shuttle pulled out of Munar Station and headed back to Kerbin with 5 tired kerbals aboard.

 

This seemed like the perfect opportunity for a live test of my new SSTO space plane. Kafel Kerman hopped in and headed for Kerbin Station to meet the incoming crew shuttle.

 

The docking at Kerbin Station was a no-go. First, I haven't put RCS thrusters on the spaceplane and there's no way I could dock a dorsally mounted port without them. I also realized none of the ports on Kerbin station have enough standoff for the port to fit without hitting something. I'll need to modify the station, or maybe just replace it. It's getting pretty old. Anyway, Val docked the crew shuttle directly to the space plane and transferred the crew over. Then she parked the crew shuttle at the station and EVAd back for the trip home.

 

I may have overshot the landing a wee bit, but that's what the chutes are for, right? I'm sure coming in nose down at 180 m/s is no big deal for these guys.

 

The five kerbals were happy to watch their first sunset on Kerbin after a long trip out to Minimus and the Mun.

 

One last thing I did was mess around with a Duna space plane over in my sandbox save. This was tough to land in the thin air, but sailing over the Dunatian landscape below was very peaceful. Watching Ike rise in the distance was certainly the highlight of the flight.

[RealKerbal3x]

Today in my career game my Eve rover arrived at, you guessed it, Eve. However, the entry, descent and landing did not go as well as I had hoped.

During Eve entry, the vehicle was behind a 2.5m heatshield and covered by a fairing for protection. I even added RCS thrusters for additional control.

However, despite multiple attempts, the aeroshell uncontrollably flipped around during entry, causing the fairing to overheat and explode, followed by a significant segment of the rover. There seemed to be no way around this, so I had to settle for a rover missing half of its wheels. All of the experiments survived, and the vehicle parachuted to the surface successfully, but it was unable to move. At least I got a decent amount of science from one biome.

Always remember to test your designs fully before sending them off! In this case, the rover's entry trajectory was intended to be hyperbolic, but I only tested EDL from low Eve orbit, where it worked fine. I think next time I send something to Eve I'll propulsively brake it into orbit before atmospheric entry.

[Guest]

3 hours ago, RealKerbal3x said:

However, despite multiple attempts, the aeroshell uncontrollably flipped around during entry, causing the fairing to overheat and explode

...

Always remember to test your designs fully before sending them off!

Yeah... that was fun to do with my Eve mission. It felt like one mistake with the aeroshell would cause the mission landing to fail. Separate the deorbit stage during re-entry the aeroshell thinks it can separate and crash into my spacecraft (image of this actually on my profile banner.) After separation it flips and flips and flips! Causing the game to take a punch. The only real solution to this is to make either a lander that isn't too tall or a lander that has a heatshield on top to control

[billbobjebkirk]

Last night, instead of working on my ongoing save, I took on the gargantuan task of building Wernher Von Braun's insane moon lander from his 1952 series of articles in Collier's magazine:

Spoiler

As far as my google searches can show, I'm the first person ever to build this design to Kerbal scale and post it online. At 444 parts and a fuelled mass of 1,177 tons, I can see why!

[RealKerbal3x]

1 minute ago, The Doodling Astronaut said:

Yeah... that was fun to do with my Eve mission. It felt like one mistake with the aeroshell would cause the mission landing to fail. Separate the deorbit stage during re-entry the aeroshell thinks it can separate and crash into my spacecraft (image of this actually on my profile banner.) After separation it flips and flips and flips! Causing the game to take a punch. The only real solution to this is to make either a lander that isn't too tall or a lander that has a heatshield on top to control

Indeed. I think a mistake I made that influenced this failure was the placement of the RCS - at the bottom, near the centre of mass. If I had placed the thrusters further up the aeroshell they would have had a higher moment of inertia (I think I used that term correctly ) and would have been able to rotate the vehicle more easily. I've never tried an Eve ascent mission, but I reckon that getting an enormous, delicate ascent vehicle to make it safely through entry is a big challenge.

[Astrionix]

@billbobjebkirk That's pretty epic!

[Lisias]

Honey, I shrunk the kids OPT!

 

Using TweakScale and TweakScale Companion for OPT (still in Alpha, don't use it on "production" gaming!).

[billbobjebkirk]

10 hours ago, Astrion said:

@billbobjebkirk That's pretty epic!

Thanks, it certainly came together surprisingly well!

[FezCool]

Today I impaled Bob on a claw.

Ok but really today I sent fearless pilot Lando Kerman as well as a few others to Minmus in "Super-Hawk" SSTO.

The main goal was a bit of a crew transfer between the Minmus Space Station and the Minmus so after docking I sent Jeb up in the mining ship we had stationed on the surface.

After some-what refueling Lando and Jeb undocked the Hawk and departed to the surface to pick up the rest of the veteran Kerbals.

Jeb, Val, and Bill have somewhat of a reunion before they realize that Bob is still on the station.

They pick up Bob and then finally return to Kerbin.

On the way back I kinda screw up the landing due to low visibility and we are left with half of a ship. Luckily, nobody was hurt!

 

After all that the asteroid I had been tracking enters Kerbin's SOI so I send up Jeb, Bill, and Bob to go capture it.

"Bob look out!!"

Overall the Kerbals were really happy with their space rock encounter, except for Bob who will have to spend a month in extensive surgery.

[Pipcard]

Y92, D301 (or 300?) - Dosei Maru approaching Slate

Y92, D302 - Kenzan Base on Slate

Edited August 10, 2020 by Pipcard

[Grogs]

I did a bit of designing for my Duna lander. I added a set of scientific gear for Duna and another for Ike. It was a bit of a squeeze. That bay is getting pretty full.

 

I also worked on a bigger SSTO. I replaced the cockpit with an inline one so I could put a docking port up front for easier docking. Then I replaced the inline docking port with a second crew module bringing the total capacity up to 10. Then, of course I had to go from 2 to 4 Rapiers because of the extra weight. It takes off pretty well, although V_r has gone from about 50 to 80 m/s.

 

Although it manages to make orbit with 660 m/s left I wasn't entirely happy with the atmospheric flight. It seemed like there were some stability issues around 600 m/s that need to be ironed out. I may go back and add more wing to see if that helps.

 

Over at the Mun, I detached the silly little cupola module from the station. I only added this to meet the requirements of the station expansion contract. Now that that's done, I turned it into a surface impact for my seismic detector below.

 

I powered through the entire descent and for once got a solid impact.

 

Over at Minmus, Jeb and Bill took the miner down to the surface to start filling ore tanks. There are 3 empty S3-14400 tanks on the way and they're going to be busy bringing ore up to make fuel for them up once they arrive.

 

Shortly after the miner landed, the small carrier with the RTGs for the surface science equipment arrived. Bill hopped out of the miner and put them in place with the other gear. Now there will be science going on both day and night.

[RealKerbal3x]

Today I launched some new relay satellites with RA-100 antennae I unlocked using science from the questionably successful Eve rover landing.

I used my standard reusable SSTO launcher to place the satellites into a low polar orbit, before deploying each of them into high elliptical orbits that will take them out to the edge of the SOI. These particular orbits ensure that the satellites spend as much time loitering above Kerbin as possible, making them a good substitute for kerbosynchronous orbits but without the precision and annoying fiddling those orbits usually entail. The 90 degree inclination also prevents the orbits being perturbed by encounters with the Mun (the fate of my previous satellite constellation - it was in an equatorial orbit and two of the satellites were ejected from Kerbin while the other two slammed into the Mun).

After it had deployed all four satellites, the booster re-entered and made a successful landing on the western side of the KSC's peninsula. I was hoping to be able to land it back near KSC but the timing of the polar orbit made that infeasible. I have many millions of funds in the bank anyway, so some extra recovery costs don't really matter (In fact, I have so much cash that I could exclusively use expendable launch vehicles and I would still be fine). But reusable rockets are cool.

These satellites should be useful for my upcoming Dres and Jool probes, which will launch in a few hundred days. Until those come around I think I'm going to occupy myself with those Mun and Minmus base contracts that have been sitting around in Mission Control for ages.

Edited August 10, 2020 by RealKerbal3x