What did you do in KSP1 today?

[silks]

2 hours ago, SkyRender said:

Looks like you underestimated the need to slow down before deploying the chutes by quite a margin!  Laythe's atmosphere isn't nearly as forgiving as Duna's or even Kerbin's...

Yes I remember Laythe's atmosphere being quite a bit thicker. But after some fuel pumping (so all engines could slow it down) and a dozen attempts she stayed upright and intact. KSC reports that landing in shallow water helps clean the engines and was definitely not the result of poor piloting.

Edited January 8, 2021 by silks

[SkyRender]

The big issue with Laythe is that its gravity is 80% of Kerbin's, but its atmosphere has 60% of the density.  Meaning you're coming in at supersonic speeds far sooner than on Kerbin, you have nearly as much speed to eliminate as on Kerbin, and the air does not slow you down nearly as dramatically.  Doing a very high aerobraking is helpful since it gives the atmosphere much more time to slow you down (though you're going to land somewhere very far from where you started and probably won't be able to pick your landing site).  And even then, you still need to burn off about 300 to 400m/s you're at 5 to 10km up if you don't want to slam into the ground at 500m/s.  Compared to the zero effort of aerobraking on Kerbin and Duna, it's definitely a deceptively tricky atmosphere!

[Miguelsgamingch]

I Made A New Mission Report:

Republic Of Kerbal Space City

[Fulgora]

Shameless cross-post from the STS Challenge thread:

It turns out that space balls do affect aerodynamics. Landing this without an asteroid is easier, I swear!

 

[BadOaks]

I landed the Beetle Surface Laboratory at one of the Mun's polar craters. It carries a materials lab and goo canister and will serve as a landing target for the next manned mission.

[SkyRender]

After what a bust asteroid mining proved to be, I moved on to building a recoverable SSTO that can bring a full Rockomax-64 tank to the fuel depot.  I can recover about 75,000 of the launch cost when I land it back at KSC, and it can actually land fully intact as long as it lands on flat ground thanks to my piston-based impromptu landing gear and the glorious 10m inflatable heatshield.  (Yes, I can get it to orbit with only 3438dV.  I get it there with around 50 to 100dV to spare, in fact.)

Edited January 9, 2021 by SkyRender

[Miguelsgamingch]

I Have Another Mission Report

And This Time Its A Mun Flyby Called Horizon-1

 

Amazing Images Here I Took And I Used The Scatterer Mod Just Today And It Looks Beautiful!

Edited January 9, 2021 by Miguelsgamingch
Added Images

[eberkain]

I collected a little science from the Mun

[Guest]

I have been working on some projects but I found a KSP video today that blew my mind of what I thought was possible, It was made by @Matt Lowne, it is an excellent video and I really hope even if you don't know this channel you guys give a like. I have only shared two videos ever on forums of what I think is super cool and innovative.

 

[Sky Kerman]

I DID MY FIRST ELOO LANDING TODAY!

[RealKerbal3x]

Just now, The Doodling Astronaut said:

it is an excellent video and I really hope even if you don't know this channel you guys give a like.

I agree, but I doubt there are many people here who haven't at least heard of Matt, even if they don't watch his videos. He's one of the most well-known KSP content creators.

[Sky Kerman]

1 minute ago, RealKerbal3x said:

I agree, but I doubt there are many people here who haven't at least heard of Matt, even if they don't watch his videos. He's one of the most well-known KSP content creators.

i love matts channel

[jimmymcgoochie]

KSP worked today thanks to the addition of “MOAR RAM!” but none of my modded versions would work. Started a fresh career, launched the usual science-y rockets then lobbed both Jeb and Val at the Mun without patched conics and brought them both back alive; Jeb from a free return flyby and Val from orbit, but the return was terrible and took at least 5 aerobraking passes before re-entering.

[Rakete]

Ksp today: Tuned my Colossos Mk I: a 52 Kerbal-transportplane, powered by two Goliaths. (Really a boring subsonic plane... meeh)

 

And: Made a 1st attempt on construction of my new Damocles Mk I: A Goliath-powered transporter with 4 SRB-powered Missiles (Rocket science on SRB-impacts on mountains of snacks - molten caramell, yummie !!!) on deployable hinges. But unfortunatly the plane has yet still some stability issues upon deployment of the missilestarters on the hinges in the pre-launch sequence, as the missiles have guidance wings and mess up the center of lift, as soon as the freight department opens. But it's on a good way. More fine tuning required...

 

- no mods -

Edited January 10, 2021 by Rakete

[Frank_G]

Today i built a 3.75 m / 7 kerbal command pod. Features loads of RCS fuel for orbital shenanigans and cargo capacity for tools and other useful stuff.

[Zeiss Ikon]

I spent an hour or so fighting with Simple Procedural Engines.  The mod won.

In an RSS/RO/RP-1 1.8.1 install that will normally run until memory leaks bring RAM usage up to 10.5+ GB, if I install Simple Procedural Engines (freshest version downloaded direct from GitHub), I can induce a crash to desktop just by putting a bare B class engine in the empty VAB.  If it doesn't crash the game as soon as it's placed, it'll do it either immediately when I select the "configure" option from the PAW or before I can make and save any configuration changes.

Sure would like to be able to use engines (or engine families) other than the Aerobee and RD-100 in the pre-kerolox stages of the game.  Not to mention having the option a little later to try kerosene/peroxide or kerosene/nitric acid (both nice high-density combinations with decent Isp, allowing small tanks, good mass ratios, and reasonable performance with zero boil-off).

 

[panzer1b]

Well, decided to take a short break from the usual stuff i do in KSP (pretty much exclusively exploding capital ships and the like), and actually put together something akin to a jool-5 mission (with a bit of a military twist to it as well i just dont make unarmed ships period :)).  I plan to setup a base on either Vall or Laythe (although im thinking Vall is more likely due to no atmo and the base i launched the2re isnt really verty good in atmo exceeding Duna's neglibile drag).

Anyways, im very happy with my destiny class mothership.  Its a genuinely original design (im pretty sure i was inspired by something, but i didnt actually intend for it to be a replica of anything), and i wanted a rotating rear (those 3 containers are the crew sleep area, habitation, and storage areas), but that idea got shelved as the part count went through the roof and i just couldnt do it without tearing my eyes out later with the sluggishness and lag (the ship with its payload is over 1200 parts).

Anyways, the core payload this thing drags with it is my redesigned Tylo rated single stage lander.  Nothing fancy, just a command seat, reaction wheel, and a single LV-909 with as many fuel tanks as i could reasonably fit.  I wanted to make it as small as possible, so i clipped a little bit with the fuel, but hey, it works, it should allow me to land/return from tylo surface, and well lets hope it goes well once the whole monstrosity arrives at the jool system.

Secondly, intending to put it on whatever planet the main ground base ends up going, i brought a marauder-II class heavy SSTA dropship.  I loaded it up with my 1st truly viable mech/walker tank, the Jaguar.  Its sorta undergunned, overweight, and sluggish (max speed realistically is around 10m/s at least in kerbin gravity), but its the first thing i ever managed to make with a true chikin walker leg design that actually breaks 5m/s while being 12t in weight.  While it failed as a replica (this was supposed to be a shadowcat from mechwarrior universe), i think it still looks really cool, and it does have working weapons albeit ive yet to figure out how to aim then properly since they seem really unreliable with how the mech bounces around while standing still.  The dropship will also double up as the entire group's IRSU unit capable of refueling the mothership and other ships nearby (i dont plan to use this for the jool-5, but the dropship will be left behind at jool and will probably end up refueling the spy station thats been slowly running low on fuel since i wanted to put it in a super low jool orbit and burned every bit to do that.

Finally, i added a HK-101F to the mix as i had completely overkill amounts of dV leftover and well, a SSTL starfighter is never a bad idea to fly around in.  It is alone capable of making the entire trip from Kerbin->Laythe->Kerbin without refueling if i replace its onboard weapons with 2 extra fuel tanks.  Ill prolly use it to determine a suitable landing site for the main base ahead of time if i decide to try and land it on laythe, otherwise it will be what i land on Laythe in the even that the main base goes to Vall as there is no reason to use the MArauder for that since its complete overkill to explore something with a massive dropship.

The whole ship was refueled using a partially drained fuel can i had sitting around in a close enough orbit that it wasnt a complete waste to drag it there.  Not fully fueled, but i managed to get ~90% of the internal LF supply, and around 50% of the booster engine that was still left from the Destiny's launcher which will hopefully give enough of a kick to allow the rest enough range to actually go to every body in the jool system.

And finally, perhaps the most important ship, i brought a cargo transport (very basic craft with just 2 2.5m argo containers) with the goal of bringing a ladder which will be attached to the tylo lander (in vcase it wasnt obvious oin that screenshot, i forgot to add it earlier (very much liking the 1.11 build system, it feels fair/realistic, and it really helps when you just forget stupid crap like this and dont want to essentially decouple the vessel, delete it, and teleport a replacement to destination (no more need for that, or minor cosmetic changes).  I also, since i had tons of dV after fueling, stripped a few things off the cargo ship like RCS and solars just in case they will come in handy later for something.  The rest of the cargo conatiner was various odds/ends, lights, surface experiments which i dont really need cause i play sandbox, but look amazing and really add immersion to land bases, and a few other potentially useful things like struts and a crapton of repair kits as you can never have enuff of em.

Ohh, and a few random screenshots showing the interior...

[SkyRender]

The Dunaverse begins.  The station core went up this evening, as well as the base.  The station core's off to Duna, the base is off to refuel before heading out to Duna.  The miner, lander, and habitation will swiftly follow, as well as a mission report on the whole adventure in the days to come.

[BadOaks]

I'm at an awkward phase where I can and have done Apollo-style Mun landings, but where the time and effort per mission doesn't quite justify the science reward. I've also been thinking about how I'm going to keep crews alive for years at a time with Kerbalism's radiation and part failures, which I don't really have any experience with. Because of that, I designed the CASSI program to be an abortable, long duration test mission with the idea being that if I'm going to make a mistake, I should make it in a situation where I can abort back to Kerbin rather than be stuck in deep space. My goal is to keep a crew continuously in space for at least a year and a half. CASSI will also focus on thorough surface exploration of the Mun and Minmus using a mobile orbital outpost and refuellable landers. 

The first CASSI hardware I launched was a space tug to serve as the outpost's drive section and propellant depot. A full tug is a bit heavy (40 tons) for my current heavy lift vehicle (25 tons to LKO), so I had to launch two partially fueled tugs and dock them in orbit. 

Next up was the station core. At 15 tons it was light enough for the Driver upper stage to chuck it on a trans-munar trajectory where it circularized itself into a low polar orbit. One of the tugs rendezvoused with it there, forming CASSI Station.

Zelbal, Tati, and Dubus got selected to be the first long-term space residents (yay, cancer!) and launched aboard a Janus SC + 2nd gen Mun Lander stack. Once in a parking orbit they did a transposition and docking maneuver to get rid of the fairings. On the first attempt at TMI, one of the Driver's Pavonis engines had an ignition shutdown which, fortunately, Dubus was able to fix on EVA. Second TMI went smoothly.

They rendezvoused and docked with CASSI Station, and are now ready for surface operations!

[The Destroyer]

I don't really post here often anymore, but a few days ago I experimented with some camera and editing techniques for my series. (there is sound)

gyfcat link, not sure if I can embed it directly?

[InfernoSD]

I sent some "missiles" around the Sun to various places for surface deployed seismic science. Unfortunately I didn't account for how much they have to be babysat along the way. Some of them passed straight through Gilly and Ike. The last one that I tried hit Ike at high speed, but I got no data. Whoops, I hadn't thought to account for hitting during the daytime.

[Rakete]

Fine-tuned my astronaut training machine ("The puke machine" or "Puke-o-matic 2021"). Jeb loves the ride, but Bill and Bob don't, unless you promiss to give them a bunch of snacks after the training. And Dr. Rodney McKerman refused completely to take seat in the machine. He says, he's to intelligent to risk his precious brain in this torture thingy... After that he ran away and pulled out some Jell-O, while watching the other Kerbals doing the ride... Maybe he ate their jelly, too ?! (Nice tactics, Rodney.... tzzz!)

The batteries beneath the seat are only counterweight to the kerbal. All rotation axises can be activated separately via AG 1-3. Speed control is done by main throttle and a set of characteristic curves in KAL-Controller beneath the seat. Different rotation axises have slightly different speed curves to enable the rotation angles to shift over time between all the axises - to make the movement a bit more unpredictable to the body.

 

Here the training system is activated.... Moar speed = moar wheeeeeeeeeeeeee !!!

 

Edited January 10, 2021 by Rakete

[dave1904]

For the first time in 2500 hours I decided to play a career with far future engines. Super easy but super nice looking  

[Terminal Velocity]

What I did: I added a bunch of  graphic mods to ksp when I already have and watching how installing stock system only mods breaking the game as I have outer plant mod and event horizon mod. 

[Guest]

I have been working on making new videos, the next ones I have planned are

Jool 5 (delayed)

Dreskiller Base (last of Jan-first of Feb)

The broken parts of planets and moons (next one)

Providence part 2, and Stratzenblitz's new city (last of Jan or first of Feb)

and other video suggestions are welcomed