What did you do in KSP1 today?

[Stewcumber]

Today I solved a problem. A dumb problem probably only I have, but a problem none the less!

I'm sure we've been there before, you're messing around with a fast 'car' and you turn too fast and it flips over. Well, introducing from the depths of the Kerbal skunkworks, suspension!

It's not really live axles or fully dependent suspension, because the "half shalf" on each side has a hinge to allow each wheel to move slightly independently rather than the right side fully mirror what is happening on the left. I think this is part of the reason why the wheels seem to buckle as the hinge is angling the wheel (instead of the connecting beam). I tried fully independent suspension of some kind but there was not enough rigidity in the "spring", even with more than one attached, and the wheels were bugging out.

Next step is to try and increase the rigidity further so that the "spring" and hinge is the only parts that move. And also to find out what action group I need for steering to work properly, i.e. the steering resets to the centre once you let go of your "turn left" key.

[Kerbals_of_Steel]

Away Team Bravo made the first landing on Duna today:

Hellas found that the Pulelehua is a wonder to fly, despite its awkward appearance. Point Radial Out for maximum belly-flop braking down to ~15km, then it settles into a statically stable 10 degree AoA for the rest of the flight.

They almost overshot the landing, but Mirler frantically reprogrammed the parachutes so they popped a bit early:

KSC, the Butterfly has landed!!!

3 km away from the scout rover, not bad at all for a first attempt. Mirler started the summoning sequence as everyone else settled in for the first overnight camping trip in Duna's history:

Fed and rested the next morning, the crew had a busy day deploying science sites, collecting samples, and taking the rover out for a drive (Mildock declared the rover "Somewhat sketchy, but superior to walking") :

Time to go home:

Away Team Bravo: Well Done, and welcome back to the Tagaloa!

 

KoS

 

 

 

[jimmymcgoochie]

Today I took someone’s carefully designed VTHL SSTO rocket, and proceeded to ruin it by stapling a load of boosters on the sides and crashing it a few times in my quest for greater payload to orbit. Final results aren’t terrible- 220 tons to orbit for 102k funds per launch, or about 450 funds per ton which incidentally is double what my current 30 ton SSTO spaceplane can do but with >7x the capacity.

All it took was “ignore max temperatures” so everything didn’t explode during re-entry then “unbreakable joints” and “no collision damage” plus 0.1x time warp so everything didn’t explode during the landing, but aside from that no problems at all…

[ColdJ]

6 hours ago, Stewcumber said:

Today I solved a problem. A dumb problem probably only I have, but a problem none the less!

As beautifully creative as this is, and I encourage you to keep developing it. For fast cars, if you only use stock parts. Jet engines come with a Centre of mass adjustment built in. When you build a craft, turn on the centre of mass display option, place a jet engine with it's thrust nozzle pointed at the ceiling and then nestle it down inside the craft and watch how the centre of mass ball moves. As long as it goes below the centre of the wheel and is centered front to back you will have good stability( don't overdo it and put the centre of mass below the ground, as this causes a different problem.) The engine doesn't need to be on and you can set it's thrust limiter to zero.

[Guest The Doodling Astronaut]

The Expedition Continues

To be the first KSP youtuber to have a complete series on GPP

Latest report: Gauss starts being explored

Findings on this mission:

-Gauss is at the boundary of the "Stock" zone. AKA the farthest you can go with one antenna with stock ksp. That means the next missions beyond Gauss will have to have spider relays (more on those when we visit Nero.)

-Loki is a vacuum moon while the other two are not. This will help much especially with the ginormous moon Catullus

-You can indeed survive re-entry on Gauss (more in the video)

More details in the upcoming video GPP part 2. But the next step is to send probes to the three moons of Gauss. After that, we back trail abit and finish Otho (which we skipped because it can corrupt saves possibly)

[Krazy1]

Welp, after 3 attempts at recovering my 700+ ton SSTO booster I landed it... except the 10 m Mammoth exploded from overheating. Oh well, still recovered 650 k funds. 

[Lisias]

TweakScake 2.4.6.0 on KSP 1.3.1 Test Case

KSC is facing a shortage of parts for new crafts and maintenance of the current ones due the ongoing global supply chain crisis, and the increasing P/R events scheduling the Fab Four to raise funds is pushing the current fleet beyound its safety margins.

With Dr von Kerman terribly busy on repurposing available parts to compensate the shortage and Bill away of the Engineering due the preps for the talks, Gene reluctantly charged Jeb with the task to design and built a new small commuting airplane so the First Crew could attend the events without risks.

The only constrain was the parts themselves, only the simplest and older parts available on stock could be used as the scarce newer ones are reserved for the Missions - Kraken knows when the current crisis will be solved!

"Gene, we have some of these KSP 1.3.x era parts available on the warehouse - they are pretty dated, but they still kick SAS. I can build something cheap and really fast if we could use TweakScale, I heard that Doc Wernher had recently pulled it out of Experimental for 1.3. What do you say?"

"Sounds good, Jeb, but the 'really fast' part of the stunt worries me a bit. Please remember this is a commuting vehicle, not an interceptor or fighter!"

"Trust me, Gene, I know what I'm doing!", said Jeb grinning from ear to ear, and finished already turning his back and rushing into the Engineering with "What could possibly go wrong?". And then vanished yelling "GUS!!! GUS!! We have some fun ahead!!! Bring the snacks!!!"

"Famous last words", sighted Gene. "Kraken help us, Jeb is on the Engineering..." was his thoughts while walking into Mortimer's office to check the insurances...

And, so, TweakScale v2.4.6.0 (now being able to run from KSP 1.3.0 to KSP 1.12.2!!!) helped to repurpose old KSP 1.3 parts and make them useful again!  

And being a craft designed by Jebediah….

Full album on my site. craft on Kerbal-X.

Edited October 11, 2021 by Lisias
Tyops! Good thing I'm a programmer, not a novelist!

[N_Danger]

Launched a rescue mission to collect 2 kerbals in LMO, both in orbits 10 km x 4.2 km to 4.5 km ish.

Spoiler

I used a new, cheaper launcher.

On our way to the Mun

Once in orbit Jeb sets up an intercept with Gadson. Because of the target's elliptical orbit with a PE of 4.2 km, Jeb elects to wait 4 hours to catch Gadson coming up to Ap. 

Just at a critical point in the rescue of Gadson, I get the news(The 3 messages in the Commo tab) that the other contract failed due to   a kerbal's death. I presume because the PE of his orbit was 4.5 km and eventually he found something taller.

We press on and conduct the rescue of Gadson

And bring her home.

[jimmymcgoochie]

Deployed a hacky hack to fix a serious issue in the Snarkiverse- due to Kerbin and Dres having the same SMA, the Sentinel system just couldn’t work and spammed exceptions; bumping Dres’ SMA by one fixed that problem entirely, without affecting the overall orbit or its quasi-satellite status as it’ll take a huge number of orbits before a 1m difference in orbital diameter is visible on orbital scales.

Also went chasing after a Class I asteroid, which I didn’t know was a real thing- I thought only comets went above Class E? Still haven’t seen a single comet yet though which is disappointing.

Edited October 10, 2021 by jimmymcgoochie

[Alien21]

1 hour ago, jimmymcgoochie said:

Deployed a hacky hack to fix a serious issue in the Snarkiverse- due to Kerbin and Dres having the same SMA, the Sentinel system just couldn’t work and spammed exceptions; bumping Dres’ SMA by one fixed that problem entirely, without affecting the overall orbit or its quasi-satellite status as it’ll take a huge number of orbits before a 1m difference in orbital diameter is visible on orbital scales.

Also went chasing after a Class I asteroid, which I didn’t know was a real thing- I thought only comets went above Class E? Still haven’t seen a single comet yet though which is disappointing.

Class I??? I know that on KSP is possible meet only from A to G category.

Anyway, few days ago I made some touristic missions on minmus....and I was able to land very closer to the landing zone of the first mission launched. I'm currently now deploying some satellites with a Kerbniya rocket.

[Wizard Kerbal]

Attempted to fly a rover to the arctic in a cargo jet, but the kraken said no, flung it into the top  of the jet and crashed the aircraft.

4 of 6 crew survived. 
1/2 of the plane withstood the crash forces.

And that’s why docking ports are a thing!

Edited October 11, 2021 by Wizard Kerbal

[ColdJ]

1 hour ago, Wizard Kerbal said:

And that’s why docking ports are a thing!

Yep, always have cargo docked so they are treated as part of the craft or use the mod "Hangar"

https://spacedock.info/mod/1000/Hangar

[Araym]

Saturn C-8 Mission (Apollo IV), second part...

We left our trio of space heroines, Valentina, Linlas and Virfel, on the way to The Mun, after the ride on orbit and TMI onto "The Nova Beast 2", as we call my second version of Saturn C-8...

... this is the rest of their adventure (I'll place most of it in spoilers containers, to avoid cluttering the thread):
The  girls made their way to The Mun uneventfully...

and orbit was achieved with no particulary problem:

Spoiler

 

A slightly issue was immediately noticed: being the whole launch a "test mission", it was not particulary considered the phase of The Mun. The only portion of the Kerbin's satellite under the sun was the "dark side" (irony of nomenclatures), totally opposed to the planet itself. Mission Control was about to call it just a Munar fly-by, but Valentina (as hot headed Kerbal second only to Jeb) make use of her Commander privilege to call in the landing in any case:
"We didn't make the whole trip to be so close, just to swing around. We are capable of manage the landing ourselves, so we will commit to it!"

It was then provided the coordinates of a location of some interest, and the very brave trio of girls started to adjust the orbit and prepare for landing:

Spoiler

 

The "interesting location" was soon revealed as the East Farside Crater's Mun Arch:

A couple of problems then arised.

First was that the data for the landing was slightly off, so the landing zone was placed a bit too much on the crater rim, and Valentina had to manually adjust it once the landing was in the ending phase...

... and second: our engineers didn't take in consideration the compression of the new leg's suspensions. Paired with the late correction to avoid to fumble into the crater itself, it created a bit of a trouble:
there was little to no clearance between the landing engines and the terrain. This caused the craft to bounce on them (with the result of one of them exploding) and slightly slide away on the munar surface. Designers are aware, now, of the shortcoming of the vehicle and assured that a "mk.2 version" will totally address at least the engine clearance problem.
The tension at the moment didn't allow any image taken of the "hard landing", but in the end the craft itself settled in a stable, even if inclined, position. Thankfully to the craft redundancy already into the design, this didn't pose any danger: the Apollo IV has a whole ascent stage, and the landing stage was not even needed anymore, if not as platform for later lift off.

It was time, then, to start the surface operations.

Spoiler

The ladders to descend on the surface were extended:

And in an orderly manner, the girls started their EVA:
first, as commander, was Valentina...

... followed by Linlas...

... that as "Engineer Specialist", was immediately interested to take a survey of the engines after the hard land, to check if there was any secondary problems to be aware of, prior the later lift-off:

Then, Virfel joined her two crewmates on The Mun surface:

It was a fiery moment of satisfaction when the intrepid girls performed the ritual "placing the Flag", as symbol of their landing.

But the trip was not over yet: being the "Scientist Specialist", Virfel decided to take a stroll to the nearby MunArch, at least to mark it properly for future explorations, and avoid the crater rim border that posed the danger to jeopardize their own mission:

Spoiler

Virfel placing a second flag, as landing aid, in a more suitable landing spot inside the crater, right next to the MunArch, for future reference:

After that, she just "flew" back to her crewmates:

It was time, then to wrap up the mission and return home:

Spoiler

The lift-off was uneventful up to orbit, in the clear winsdom to have provided a fully autonomous ascent stage:

Spoiler

As soon Kerbin rised above the horizon, comunications with the KSC were, finally, restablished:

"Capcom to Apollo IV... Capcom to Apollo IV: we have you back on the tracking station! Long time no see, Val! Are you all alright?"
"Apollo IV to Capcom, Commander Valentina speaking: Yes, Jeb! Do not worry: we are safe and sound, and in a great mood here! Ready to return home!"

It was just time now to perform the engine burn to leave the Munar gravitational sphere of influence and enjoy the trip back:

Spoiler

A beautiful space sunset timed the separation of the command module from the service module, in preparation for reentry:

Spoiler

 

Once the hot reentry plasma dissipated together with the velocity, in a dark but beautiful night all the parachutes were deployed succesfully, up to landing.
(Sadly, for the very same reason that the launch was just made as test and made the lunar landing on the far side, in this case the not perfec plans deemed the whole landing to happen in Kerbin night. The audience has to excuse me, for the poor quality of illumination on this )

Safe and sound home... somewhere in a dark shore of Kerbin.

Edited October 11, 2021 by Araym

[kerboknaut]

Val stopped by mission control to see what was on the ol' bulletin board. 

Rescue Nedrim and his scrap from the surface of the Mun? That sounds interesting. She thought about it, how would that even work? Come down from above, or land and try and get it from the side? Would she need to refuel? What was in this scrap that made it so important to bring back? Just a mark-2 cockpit? And who was this Nedrim? Val looked at his photo in the contract. So innocent, she thought. She had spent her share of years stranded in deep space, and knew intimately the feeling of helplessness he must be facing. Val grabbed the contract off the board with one hand, and clutching her coffee cup in the other, marched over the the VAB to give some orders to the engineers. 

Val was tired of sending small, minimal rescue pods for stranded Kerbals. If she was stranded in deep space, would she want to fly home in a cramped soda can with a couple other smelly Kerbals who haven't bathed in years? She told the engineers to bring out the Mk-3 passenger cabin. Nedrim, she resolved, was coming home - in style. 

Serious Business's stockpile of smaller solid fuel boosters were nearing their expiration date, so it seemed like a good opportunity to use them up. 

Nedrim watched their re-entry comfortably from the spacious passenger cabin, sipping on a hot cocoa. Nice to be home, he thought as the craft glided towards the ground a few kilometers away from the space center.  

At the KSP, a convoy of unmarked vans pulled in as Nedrim's scrap was being unloaded. Some expressionless kerbals got out and, without even asking for permission, began to disassemble the scrap and load it into their vans. One of them handed Val a briefcase full of cash, and without saying a word they were gone. Nedrim seemed as bewildered as anyone. "So I guess I work for you now?"

"Guess so," said Val. 

[N_Danger]

Today we went to Lindor (In JNSQ the next planet out from Jool)

I went with a Nuclear Transfer stage. And was reminded of the price of all that delta V was long burn times. Almost 18 minutes if I wanted to eject from LKO in one burn. Needless to say I took it in chunks.

 

Arrival at Lindor.

Now for a flyby tour of the moons. first up Krel.

then Aden..

Huygen,,

Riga

and Talos

We then go back to Huygen to map out the biomes.

I should have enough fuel after that to use the probe as a relay..

 

 

Edited October 12, 2021 by N_Danger
spelling

[jimmymcgoochie]

PSA- save regularly, you never know when a glitch might strike and you don’t want to have to spend lots of time repeating what you’ve just done because the last save was from too far back…

In other news, landed a rover on Moho within a kilometre of a Wrinkle Ridge (which apparently looks like hot fudge, according to the scanning arm; 600 science though so I’m not complaining!) and with great views of Gilly as it passes overhead.

Not shown, the nuclear transfer stage that managed to land the rover on Moho without needing its carefully balanced skycrane. It was the same thing that I’ve used to put other probes into Moho orbit but even though I set the alarm too late by forgetting to add a margin for the burn length so overshot a lot, there was plenty of fuel left even after it landed. Skycrane could have been useful, only it blocked the scanning arm so had to be disposed of.

[Wizard Kerbal]

Crashed a cargo plane (again!) because it forgot same craft interaction was on, dropping the cargo through the cargo bay, messing up the CoM and making me inable to pull up in front of a mountain. And revert bugged out again.

After a failed munar mission, (this is in my head but) at least they were on kerbin to have proper “funerals”-a craft launching rectangles into a highly elliptical solar orbits. I believe in souls, so they can see the planets few had seen before. None, actually, in the case of Moho and Dres

Edited October 13, 2021 by Wizard Kerbal

[Angelo Kerman]

I finished my Orbital Dynamics Mission Control diorama:

This Mission Control is for my fictional space company called Orbital Dynamics.

[MythicalHeFF]

I built a new rover, the Odyssey 2, for my upcoming attempt at the Elcano Challenge, in which I will circumnavigate Duna or Tylo (I haven’t decided which one yet, but I’m leaning towards tylo because it’s more challenging).

It has 330 parts, a walkable interior, and weighs over 73 tons.

Spoiler

Odyssey 2 in the SPH

Exit ladders

Interior (1)

Interior (2)

Ramp and garage for the Mountaineer, a small rover that I will use to climb the tallest mountains 

Upper deck 

IVA view (1)

IVA view (2) 

 With Tylo descent stage in VAB

The Tylo Ascent Vehicle, which will take 16 kerbals back to orbit from the surface 

It’s a considerable improvement over the Odyssey 1, which was over 40m long while this is only 27m. It also has much more crew capacity and a more detailed interior, and its wheel setup also looks better than the original.

The original Odyssey in the SPH

Now, you may be saying, “Isn’t that a little overkill for circumnavigating a planet?”

Why yes, YES IT IS!!

Edited October 14, 2021 by Jack Joseph Kerman

[Araym]

40 minutes ago, Jack Joseph Kerman said:

“Isn’t that a little overkill for circumnavigating a planet?”

If it is not "overkill", it is not Kerbal Space Program enough.

[jimmymcgoochie]

A flurry of transfer windows in rapid succession resulted in the departure of:

• a cryo-fuelled scanning probe to Gilly, with a smidge over 9km/s of delta-V to get all the way down to Moho’s low, low orbit and then stop when it gets there;
• a rover heading to Eve, which doesn’t need nearly as much propellant as it can just tank into the atmosphere to slow itself down (hopefully, the engine failed after a course correction burn so no way to slow it down now!);
• and a crewed mission to Duna and its moons with Val as mission commander, Bill as engineer, Bob as chief scientist and newbie Valmal as second scientist- the latter is now known as Mal by the rest of the crew, but she’s not happy about it- which will be augmented by a crewed rover on the surface of Duna to give whoever is going down to the surface something to do; due to various restrictions the lander for this mission is a single seater and will need to be reused for both Bop and Pol if at all possible. Hybrid NERV/Wolfhound propulsion delivers the best combination of thrust and efficiency available for the transfer burn, but there’s a lot more liquid fuel than oxidiser as the NERVs will be doing most of the work now.

 

@Jack Joseph Kerman Do you know that repair kits can be stacked in inventory slots? You can put up to four of them in a single slot which would give you either a lot more repair kits, or a lot of space for other stuff too.

[Guest The Doodling Astronaut]

Part 2 is out!

[Mr.dobsonian]

I spent atleast 2 hours building and launching a probe only for it's centre of mass and thrust to be messed up, then a little later my game crashed.

[jimmymcgoochie]

Landed on Laythe.

No, really, landed on Laythe, which considering the fact that the entry capsule wanted to go pointy end (with parachute) first instead of blunt end (with heat shield) first, and there was limited fuel to try and pick a landing spot, and the general lack of land on Laythe generally, is saying something.

I also managed a water landing with another probe but then the game did that weird can’t-save-can’t-leave-can’t-quit thing and I had to alt+F4 it so that lander is back in orbit again.

[ProtoJeb21]

"What did you do in KSP today?"

Good question