What did you do in KSP1 today?

[Akagi]

12 minutes ago, king of nowhere said:

err.... and how exactly are you planning to achieve orbit with propellers alone?

Using fusion reactors to power engines, not props.

[Kebab Kerman]

27 minutes ago, Akagi said:

Using fusion reactors to power engines, not props.

Exactly! Unfortunately, fully fuelless is probably not something I can achieve without a Kraken Drive, and I really don't want to have to use them. Most likely, I'll have to resort to a Z-Pinch fusion engine, and two or more direct-cycle airbreathing nuclear turbojets, which only need an atmosphere to function since the combustion chamber uses the heat of a nuclear reactor instead of fuel. I'll still probably need tanks for fusion pellets for the Z-Pinch engine, but I'm hoping it will have a greater payload capacity than a conventional SSTO of the same mass.

I'm a little worried about the thrust of the Z-Pinch engine at the altitude the nuclear turbojets shut off at,  since they're useless in atmosphere, but I'm hoping it will be high enough to achieve orbit. Considering the vacuum thrust is nearly 3.5 Mn, I'm hoping it's nothing to worry about. If it's a success, I'm definitely building an unreasonably massive SSTO.

Edited February 2, 2022 by Kebab Kerman

[king of nowhere]

20 minutes ago, Kebab Kerman said:

Exactly! Unfortunately, fully fuelless is probably not something I can achieve without a Kraken Drive, and I really don't want to have to use them. Most likely, I'll have to resort to a Z-Pinch fusion engine, and two or more direct-cycle airbreathing nuclear turbojets, which only need an atmosphere to function since the combustion chamber uses the heat of a nuclear reactor instead of fuel. I'll still probably need tanks for fusion pellets for the Z-Pinch engine, but I'm hoping it will have a greater payload capacity than a conventional SSTO of the same mass.

I'm a little worried about the thrust of the Z-Pinch engine at the altitude the nuclear turbojets shut off at,  since they're useless in atmosphere, but I'm hoping it will be high enough to achieve orbit. Considering the vacuum thrust is nearly 3.5 Mn, I'm hoping it's nothing to worry about. If it's a success, I'm definitely building an unreasonably massive SSTO.

oh, this looks like far future stuff. you can't have fully fuelless rocket, the rocket equation demands you expel something. To orbit, you must raise your periapsis while in vacuum, and to do that, you need some kind of fuel. the closest I can conceive with near future is to use an atmospheric engine to reach orbital speed, and then an ion engine to circularize, spending very little fuel. but "very little" is a completely different concept than "none at all".

[Beamer]

This is my career game, latest version, all expansions, stock/expansion parts and bodies only. Using some 'QoL' mods (MechJeb2, Kerbal Engineer Redux, Docking Port Alignment Indicator, Kerbal Alarm Clock, Tracking Station Evolved) and a bunch of visual enhancements. Year 5 day 71. All science completed, 91% reputation, 33.33 million credits in the bank.

I mostly run tourist trips and rescue missions in between putting more hardware in various orbits.

Total personnel: 26 pilots, 31 engineers, 21 scientists. Aside from the 4 veterans and 2 early hired scientists, all of them are rescues.
Known tourists: 109 - 59 served and 50 currently in transit or waiting for transfer windows.
Infrastructure:

• Asteroid refueling stations around Kerbin, Mun, Dres.
• Mobile surface miners/refineries with STO tanker support on Minmus, Gilly, Ike and soon Moho.
• Personnel and Tourist accommodations around Kerbin, Mun, Minmus, Eve, Duna, Ike, Dres, soon Moho.
• A surface city on Minmus (Garage with rovers, fuel depot, lab, high-rise living accommodations).
• A low orbit Kerbol station that survives a sub-100 Mm orbit.
• Relay constellations around all planets and in 2 shells around Kerbol.

My Kerbin orbit is getting a bit messy:

5 of these are a convoy waiting for a nearby Moho transfer window, but a lot of them are just inter-planetary buses and asteroid tugs waiting for their next job, sometimes for months or years. I have a (very old) station with ample docking facilities at 200km, but if I dock more than this to it the Kraken tends to pay a visit:

Then there's my much newer orbital tourist hotel at 100km which houses up to 192 tourist and 25-ish staff (including escape pods for all 192 tourists). Needless to say, using this as a long-term docking station for heavy ships isn't a good idea:

So today I decided to put up a long-term parking facility at 150km. It's intentionally left simple and fairly low on the part count, it can house 14 Kerbals, offers 8 regular docking ports and 4 Jr ports. I will dock my KerBus and NuKerBus lines of ships to this as they wait between transfer windows:

It was fairly easy to put up, 2 launches, bit of docking, but hopefully it will ward off the Kraken from my more complex stations as I move a number of ships to this facility.

 

[problemecium]

Today I sat down and actually completed the Elon's Problem Challenge, finally. It was in Sandbox mode so there was no thrill of grabbing loads of Science points or pulling it all off within a budget, but my goal was to get it over with so I can get the badge, and now that is done

Gallery: https://imgur.com/gallery/q1Gebn1

P.S. It seems there wasn't an actual badge to be found anywhere, so I made one:

Slap it on your own signature if you complete the challenge.

Edited February 3, 2022 by problemecium
badge

[Kebab Kerman]

Alright, so after some testing, I have discovered a few things:

1: Z-Pinch fusion aerospikes do not produce enough thrust off of fusionpellets alone to achieve orbit.

2: Z-Pinch fusion aerospikes, with enough intakes, can produce an ungodly amount of thrust when the propellant is set to Atmosphere. I'm talking in the tens of thousands of kilonewtons with eight 2.5m shock cone intakes, so they will be used for the atmospheric engines.

3: Kerbstein drives, when scaled down, can fit the role originally intended for the Z-Pinch aerospikes very well, if at a much lower efficiency.

All in all, while the SSTOs can't be completely fuelless, they can have a very small dry mass to wet mass ratio, while also having very high TWR and DV. My main concern now, however, is the delivering of payloads; if the Kerbstein drives also have the same radiation dangers as the Z-Pinch aerospikes, which will kill any kerbals not in the craft within about a kilometer, then that requires the craft to refrain from firing the engines until after the payload is out of the exclusion zone if it is crewed; furthermore, any payloads delivered to the surface of another celestial body cannot be crewed by kerbals, and they must land after the SSTO has left the area. This makes using these to transfer crew to anything in orbit viable, as you can use SSTO's RCS to push away from the other ship or station, however transferring crew to anywhere on land requires landing a ways away from the area and using a second transport vehicle to pickup the kerbals.

On the plus side, they have virtually unlimited DV, as long as you have a way to make more fusionpellets, and atmospheric flight time is only limited by the amount of nuclear fuel in the Z-Pinch aerospikes and the life support systems. Not only that, but they can have higher payload capacities than other SSTOs of similar mass the larger they get, which means the next one I make is going to be massive. Think Arkbird from Ace Combat; that should give you a good idea of scale.

Other than that, I discovered a fatal flaw with that one rocket with the 6,000 ton payload capacity: The connection between the 15m tank and the 15-7.5m adapter on the third stage breaks after the first stage separates. I suspect it's an issue with autostruts, but I'll have to fix it regardless if I want to launch anything with it.

Edited February 3, 2022 by Kebab Kerman

[Kerb24]

Yesterday I did a Minmus contract. Here is how it went: 

Spoiler

Just after liftoff: 

In LKO: 

Leaving Kerbin: 

Minmus approach: 

Karen Kerman (Yes that was the kerbal's name) Boards the rescue vessel: 

Command pod grabbed: 

On the light side: 

Almost crashed into Minmus: 

Bill Kerman goes on Eva to attach some more parachutes: 

Near Kerbin: 

Re-entry: 

Landed: 

Mission complete.

Notes: This was the first time I used the claw in KSP. Also, the command pod Karen was in wasn't listed in the VAB. It was from Restock and would have replaced one of the Soviet pods from Making History if I didn't have Making history, but I have it, so it's a hidden part.

[Admiral Fluffy]

Yesterday I tested my Tylo lander. I teleported it to tylo orbit, and it has landed, but not been able to get back to orbit. Pictures later (i hope)

[magnemoe]

Building the wrong type of base at Minmus, 

Using the Extraplanetary launchpad mod here, and everything here is locally produced. 
From right, huge storage tanks for resources like ore, life support and rocket parts. Just below reactor and uranium processing. 
To the left is an small launchpad for making satellites and spare parts if main construction is busy, then the main mining facility. To the left of it is an small utility rover above two habitation modules with living space for kerbals, lab greenhouses and  workshops, an small utility and science lander below them. then the large blue tower is the main  Extraplanetary launchpad workshop for 10 kerbals and other EPL functions. 
Below it is the offending base, it was designed for Duna but realized it misses the thermal protection needed for the aerobrake at the end, well I got more base capacity and can use it for Moho later but still an bumper. 
Now it will be an hurry to build two bases before the launch window. 

[Hyperspace Industries]

I sent a scanner to duna, but nothing else due to a lack of ideas, then I decided to stop playing because the power was out and I didn't want to run out of battery charge.

After watching a bit of Isaac Arthur, I decided on taking the gardener-ship approach to interplanetary colonization. I'm going to need MoarKerbals!

Edited February 3, 2022 by Hyperspace Industries

[Kerb24]

Today I did the first part of my Duna rendezvous and docking mission. Here's how it went:

Spoiler

On the pad: 

Liftoff: 

A bit later: 

Circularization burn: 

There was never anything here, nope, definitely not a shot of the engines.

Leaving Kerbin: 

Kerbin escape: 

At Duna: 

Orbital insertion: 

In final orbit: 

Edited February 3, 2022 by Kerb24
Removed an image that some user wanted to unsee.

[Akagi]

Just now, Kerb24 said:

Today I did the first part of my Duna rendezvous and docking mission. Here's how it went:

  Reveal hidden contents

On the pad: 

Liftoff: 

A bit later: 

Circularization burn: 

Nice shot of the engines: 

Leaving Kerbin: 

Kerbin escape: 

At Duna: 

Orbital insertion: 

In final orbit: 

The engines are eyes! UNSEE JUICE PLEASE!

[Scarecrow71]

4 hours ago, Kerb24 said:

Yesterday I did a Minmus contract. Here is how it went: 

  Hide contents

Just after liftoff: 

In LKO: 

Leaving Kerbin: 

Minmus approach: 

Karen Kerman (Yes that was the kerbal's name) Boards the rescue vessel: 

Command pod grabbed: 

On the light side: 

Almost crashed into Minmus: 

Bill Kerman goes on Eva to attach some more parachutes: 

Near Kerbin: 

Re-entry: 

Landed: 

Mission complete.

Notes: This was the first time I used the claw in KSP. Also, the command pod Karen was in wasn't listed in the VAB. It was from Restock and would have replaced one of the Soviet pods from Making History if I didn't have Making history, but I have it, so it's a hidden part.

I've been on a real rescue tear in ny career game lately.  I've gotten so used to using the claw with having to extract Kerbs in orbit. 

[scottadges]

Working on my latest Career Game space station, playing around with the amazing parts from ReStock (metal), SSPXr, MMSEV/Planetary Bases, BDB, and a few other bits & bobs:

The three modules include: 

- M1: Laboratory / Hub / Basic Systems & Life Support (central axis, launching 1st)

- M2: Command / Hab expansion (port side)

- M3: Life Sciences (starboard side)

There's a CMOS 1.5m port at the aft end of the station for future expansion of a larger orbital construction facility (Simple Construction mod).

The little automated supply pod attached to M2 is very WIP but going for a low-cost, expendable monopropellant-based platform.

Any suggestions for improvements?

 

Edited February 3, 2022 by scottadges

[Kerbals_of_Steel]

I need to do a bunch of pilot training, so I decided to put forth the effort to make a couple dedicated trainers. The first step is the Aardvark Advanced Defensive Vehicle:

Very stable, very forgiving, very subsonic.  On the plus side, it's cheap, and the target cannon provides both a way to test pilot skills, and alleviate boredom...

It gained the nickname Aardvark due to it's overall ungainly appearance, downward pointing nose, and the bug-sucker intake, guaranteed to vacuum up any debris left on the runway.

Still, for all it's faults, it's a reliable and predictable bit of kit, and an excellent stepping stone towards learning advanced skills on the Shrike supersonic trainer:

Not the most conventional design, but fast, long ranged, and absurdly maneuverable. Even without the Panther TVC enabled, it will sustain 12g turns, and 50g snap turns are possible in advanced mode.

The Panther has enough thrust to sustain a pure vertical climb over 8km in altitude, and Jeb still hasn't found the ceiling for a zoom climb yet.

Of course, after dealing with rookie pilots all day, Jeb needs some way to burn off steam, a real pilot's plane, where he can feel the wind in his hair. Introducing the Sky Horse:

It's got everything essential for flight, and exactly nothing else. Still, it's actually pretty easy to fly considering the sacrifices needed to make a flyable plane that weighs less than a ton and costs under 4 thousand Kerbucks...

 

 

KoS

 

[miklkit]

After over 2000 hours into KSP I finally made the first round trip to Duna!     For those that don't like the crew, it was likely to fail so if they were lost it would be no loss. 

Started from Minmus and got into Kerbin orbit, then took off to Duna.  MechJeb did all the navigating.

Made it with no drama and got  a little science.

Then burned out for the return trip.  It was actually easier that the trip out there.

The plane had plenty of fuel to come in at a slow speed and almost flew itself all the way in. 

The trip took 4304 m/s and almost 12 years.  Don't even want to think about going to Jool.

[jimmymcgoochie]

Launched the first rocket of my brand new RP-1 save. It hit a maximum apoapsis of 118km, near the upper end of what I got in test simulations (variance and residuals produced an apoapsis of anything between 95km and 120km, so there’s no guarantee that something that worked in one simulation will work in another- or the real flight!), then dropped back down towards the KSC, hit the ground at about 100m/s and-

Bounced? And somehow survived!? The engine was destroyed and a couple of fins were lost, but the majority of the vessel was still intact and recovering that gave five science I wasn’t expecting this early. When the first set of nodes cost 1 science each, getting 5 is a big deal!

[Beamer]

For some time I've been wanting to replace some of my Kerbin system crew stations as they were all launched before I had access to things like the Sr docking port and large fuel tanks. In cooperation with Maxo Construction Toys^TM who have agreed to foot 90% of the bill, I am now testing a new design that is meant to replace my Minmus station. Launchpad tests are currently in progress:

True to their core business, Maxo Construction Toys^TM have been kind enough to provide some R&R areas decked out with state of the art entertainment systems for our kerbonauts:

On the top deck, Jeb is enjoying a cup of triple java while watching the latest episode of the hit show "Green is the new Black" with one of his novice colleagues:

On the lower deck, two crew members are having a cup of tea and some peanuts as they listen to the summer hit "I'm Green da-ba-di da-ba-da" on the 8-track:

Valentina complained about the proximity of the high-gain antenna near the recreation areas, but according to Jeb "Every time there was a brightly lit scene, my fillings were sparking... it was awesome!"

Initial flight tests suggest atmospheric behaviour is akin to a brick with a bottle rocked attached. To the side. At an angle. But Jeb assured us he would get this puppy to where it needed to be, if he had to drag it up there himself. Which he'll probably have to.

 

[magnemoe]

Things was going great, Minmus Express 2 is aerobraking here just over the space center.

Routine flight, just an tourist flight who returns two kerbals rescued in space. Raise Pe, lower Ap to get an nice one orbit intercept with the space plane. Dock it transer kerbals, one goes on eva to retrive some science for return to Kerbin. Undock, jump back to the express to see if it was more science onboard and the ship was shaking violently. Tried turning SAS on an off, did not help. 
Well used ship probably did the LKO-Mun-Minmus-Out of Kerbin SOI-Minmus-LKO run 4 times. 
back to spaceplane set up an deorbit burn after moving a bit away from the express, mechjeb enter warp to burn, exiting warp and Minmus Express 2 detonates. 
It was very lucky none was onboard. 

View from spaceplane. 

And tracking station. 

Now I'm a bit scared for Minmus Express 1 seen here who 2 was an copy of.

[Akagi]

Tried to change sound files to something more dramatic. Learned sound files either don't exist or I just can't find them.

[Beamer]

Just now, Akagi said:

Tried to change sound files to something more dramatic. Learned sound files either don't exist or I just can't find them.

If you mean the ambient music, look for the "SoundTrack Editor" mod, I don't think it has been updated recently but it works without problems for me on the latest version. The instructions also contain some useful info on valid sound file formats, locations and such. As for effect sounds, I think at least some of them are in GameData\Squad\Sounds. Waterfall changes the engine sounds to be a lot more impressive (and improves the plumes) so you could have a look at that too.

 

[Akagi]

Yeah, trying to change ambience to something more awesome.

Like, more explosions!

[Kerb24]

Today I rendezvoused two spacecraft in orbit of Duna. Here is how it went. 

Spoiler

Just after liftoff: 

At a high altitude: 

You see that grey post? That was part of the communication dish. The rest of it broke off during ascent. I continued anyway: 

Leaving Kerbin: 

Approaching Duna: 

Near Duna: 

Getting a close encounter: 

Near the target: 

Even closer: 

Docked: 

Karen Kerman going on EVA: 

During the EVA: 

Reembarking the spacecraft: 

Leaving Duna: 

Saw a comet: 

Near Kerbin: 

Re-entry: 

Landed: 

Mission Complete.

 

[Axelord FTW]

Still waiting on my GPU to arrive... The i5 12600k is a beast but I still don't want to subject its integrated graphic processing unit to KSP. As usual, when I can't play KSP directly I start designing stuff in my head. I'm looking at starting ISRU operations on Minmus and the Mun soon, so those need to be explored more fully.

Edited February 4, 2022 by Axelord FTW

[Kebab Kerman]

Made that fusion-powered SSTO.

It keeps going into a spin before I can get to an altitude the Kerbstein drives can activate at.

EDIT: Made one that actually works

It has over 125 km/s of DV.

Edited February 5, 2022 by Kebab Kerman