What did you do in KSP1 today?

[DunaManiac]

I've fired up KSP once again, and I decided to start a fresh new save. The first objective of this save is a small station planned to be inserted into LKO

It's a pretty small station - about Mir sized, with 6 modules attached. It has some amnesties, such as an experimental gravity wheel experiment a cupola, and a science panel. I've already designed rockets for most of the modules - all that's left is to finish that and launch them.

[Guest]

26 minutes ago, DunaManiac said:

I've fired up KSP once again, and I decided to start a fresh new save. The first objective of this save is a small station planned to be inserted into LKO

It's a pretty small station - about Mir sized, with 6 modules attached. It has some amnesties, such as an experimental gravity wheel experiment a cupola, and a science panel. I've already designed rockets for most of the modules - all that's left is to finish that and launch them.

Epic, can't wait to see the assembly!

Quick question, how did you get the blue background around your craft?

[jimmymcgoochie]

Two very different ideas about what a “small” space station looks like.

@JebNotFound Kronal Vessel Viewer is the mod you’re looking for.

[Kerbalsaurus]

10 hours ago, DunaManiac said:

I've fired up KSP once again, and I decided to start a fresh new save. The first objective of this save is a small station planned to be inserted into LKO

It's a pretty small station - about Mir sized, with 6 modules attached. It has some amnesties, such as an experimental gravity wheel experiment a cupola, and a science panel. I've already designed rockets for most of the modules - all that's left is to finish that and launch them.

Looks comfy for Kerbals!

[Hotel26]

SPACE NEWS GAZETTE

Kerbal Space Command has been sending these ORB Mk2 mining rigs to the Mun to set up a base network.  (There will be at least 12 overall.)

Pictured: Left to Right: ORB Mk2, Finch Lux and the Zodiac lifter (begat by Zephyr which was begat by Atkara...).

      

 

So I knew this was coming: I entered the VAB with purpose earlier this evening.  About 15m to construct ORB Quattro: 4x ORB Mk2 on top of a Finch Lux on top of a Zodiac lifter.  This is my first serious use of Zodiac (many thanks to @swjr-swis, as usual).  [click + arrows = slide show]

       

and straight outside to the launchpad in my production (Orbit) world, for a nocturnal launch/mission.  Not a single hitch!

Payload delivered to space and ready to plot the transition to the Mun.  Zodiac return to KSC and pulled to a stop just at the turn-off to proceed to the VAB doors for recovery.

Re-entry fireworks occurred earlier than scheduled, over the west coast of the KSC command peninsula, and so Mission Control plotted a perilous night-time descent via the Khyber Pass (alt. 4.5 km) in the Western Wall mountains, followed by direct to BAKOR and then inbound for R9.  The Zodiac's twin Panthers offer an 'assist' to return but Mission Control had to nurse fuel consumption during the final 10m.  Ecstatic burst of applause from all staff as the main bogeys made soft touch-down straddling the center-line just past "the numbers"...

A very good evening for Kerbal Space Command (and to all, from KSC).

Edited March 10, 2023 by Hotel26

[Abel Military Services]

Launched a HUGE part of the Kermes Duna Transfer Vehicle. Next one will be DAV and the docking module! 

[Blufor878]

I made the finishing touches to my Karo-1B rocket, which is based on the Naro-1 from South Korea. For better control I replaced the solid motor stage on the real version with a liquid fuel stage.


And, of course, it's available on KerbalX:
https://kerbalx.com/ManateeAerospace/Karo-1B

[DunaManiac]

17 hours ago, jimmymcgoochie said:

Two very different ideas about what a “small” space station looks like.

It's a small station by my standards

Anyway, I'll probably start assembling Cornerstone tomorrow. For now, I've been playing with the Multi-Crew Transfer Vehicle (MCTV), or "Merlin." I decided to avoid the typical SSTO crew transfer vehicle I use in my saves, and used a small, rocket-launched spaceplane. It's closest equivalent in real life is the Dyna-Soar. To test it, I launched it from a modified Stearwing A300: (I thought the idea of replicating the Enterprise test was pretty good)

I separated it, and glided it down to ditch in the water below.

Now for the real version: The rocket has rather large fins to make sure it's stable, and as an extra precaution, I'll be maintaining a vertical flightpath till 20km.

It's one problem is that it has a rather nasty habit of shimmying during Max-Q, but this is fixed by quickly turning of SAS and turning it back on.

Separation confirmed just as first light arrives.

In orbit, the spaceplane has a propulsion bus attatched to it. On this mission, it won't be doing all that much, as it's primarily designed for facilitating rendezvous with Cornerstone.

After a day in orbit, we use the avionics pack for the first and only time to deorbit the vessel. I chose a rather shallow reentry, which proved to be a mistake later on.

Several minutes later, we're flying at the KSC like a bullet, just as the last red light of the sun disappear. I probably should've undertaken a steeper reentry. Thankfully, it didn't break apart due to it's rather small size, but that also means that it will flies like a bullet in the upper atmosphere.
This is when things go a little off-script: I overshot the runway and had to do a U-turn and come at the runway from the east.

However, I managed to bring it down. The MCTV is a success.

[Kerballlistic07]

Hello fellows! Today, I continued testing of the soon-to-be operational Starstruck Alpha, my first (halfway decent) SSTO. I built it yesterday and completed a test flight, but there were control (flipping on ascent) and power issues (It ran out of power before landing ). Today, with some improvements, it completed its first completely successful flight. 

Starstruck Alpha on the pad

SA liftoff!

SA flips to fly inverted (Similar to the Shuttle, just later in flight)

Orbit Achieved!

Payload Deployed! Payload is a small, ion powered relay sat.

Deorbit Burn

Reentry!!!

Nearing Landing 

That is, unfortunately, it. I forgot to take pics of landing.  Looking forward to more flights of Starstruck Alpha in the near future. Also planning to make a crewed variant by replacing the cargo bay with a crew module. See ya fellows later! 

Spoiler

Some cool on-orbit pics

 

Edited March 11, 2023 by Kerballlistic07

[Perapsis]

Made me some Weapons o' war!

 

 

[Centaury42]

Started a new game on easy career mode just to chill out from work

[Kerbalsaurus]

11 hours ago, Perapsis said:

Made me some Weapons o' war!

 

 

Mmm… declassified U.S. aircraft.

[Director_Valle]

Most people on Kerbin were still celebrating the deviation of the asteroid bound to impact the northern hemisphere, but the more aware knew that as long as its trajectory intersected the Mun's orbit there was a chance...

After all components of the P.H.A.G.U.S. mission were delivered into orbit...

Spoiler

A series of maneuvers were made to dock them all together, fuel was transferred by the Tanker ships into the main vessel:

Surprisingly one of the AVI-01 upper stages made it into orbit with enough fuel so as not to deorbit it immediately. One of the tankers was completely drained of fuel (other than the one needed for deorbit, quickly the minds at KSC came with an idea to cannibalize some components from it in order for the main P.H.A.G.U.S. vessel to carry a bit more fuel.

Afterwards the Tankers separated, one of them deorbited immediately (the one with the AVI-01 upper stage still attached), the other began a series of maneuvers to adjust its plane to match that of the KSS Alpha station. Meanwhile a spacewalk was conducted to reinforce the joint between the Command and Refinery modules.

Finally the intercept burn was conducted, and after a few hours a small correction burn was performed.

P.H.A.G.U.S. is now bound to intercept asteroid JKE-380.

[N_Danger]

A Material science lab and Mystery Goo containers combined with a fuel depot is sent off to Minmus.

 

Finishing up the trans-Minmus burn.

And now it waits in orbit for Kerbals to come get the science and fuel.

[DunaManiac]

Began assembling Cornerstone today:

First up is Triple-C: Core, Command, and Control. Contains power supplies for the station before the truss arrives, some KIS storage, RCS for the station, and a small amount of supplies.

Second up is General Habitation Module, containing a spacious habitation module where the crew can eat, relax, and sleep. To spice things up, I launched Cornerstone at a 30 degree inclination.

Third up is the Processing and Scientific Experiment Module. It's central feature is an MPL Mobile Processing Lab, and it's storage module also contains scientific equipment, as well as more recyclers for the crew.

I also played with using Merlin as an LKO scientific platform as well as a . The second Merlin mission involves Jebediah as pilot and Bob Kerman as Science Manager. Together, they launched Merlin into polar orbit with a Scansat radar antenna attatched to it. Over the course of 5 days, they mapped 90% of the planet.

After spending the last few minutes of relaxation before reentry to admire the auroras of Kerbin from space, they approach the KSC from the south. Now here's something interesting - I've flown countless SSTO missions, and I don't think I've ever tried to land a single SSTO from a high inclination. So certainly a new one for me.

A much smoother reentry than last time, we bring in Bob and Jeb for a much smoother mission.

For Merlin 3, I launched with a small relay satellite, with the goal of scanning kerbin with a multispectral scanner.

The satellite is launched with no issues, again with a crew composition of Jebediah as pilot and Bob as Science Manager (only the 4 veterans have been properly vetted for the Program at this point).

Reentry, however, wasn't as thought-out as last time.

I nearly overshot the KSC, and found that roll authority really was too much.

However, I was in fact able to bring it down. Merlin makes another successful landing.

 

[Martian Emigrant]

Today Jeb went boldly.

 

 

Yes. He went boldly.

 

ME

Edited March 12, 2023 by Martian Emigrant

[Krazy1]

5 kerbals landed on JNSQ Minmus, hopped to 3 more biomes, launched to orbit and sent the science return probe back to Kerbin.

Then I launched a 6-crew LKO rocket with 1 tourist and 2 rescues to perform. 

No launch photos but more importantly... I have THE DATA. 

Stages:

1. Skiff, 2 high thrust Thumpers 
2. Skiff, 2 med thrust Thumpers. Skiff throttle cut about halfway through stage
3. Skiff only (100% throttle initially)

Viewer discretion advised... graphical content. 

Spoiler

 

[OrdinaryKerman]

New career save, did my first orbital rendezvous in a while, took an inordinate amount of pictures

Quote

Union 1 launch


Stage sep

Vehicle separation and orbit insertion

Nosecap release

random EVA

Quote

Booster descent (same for Union 2), thank FMRS for this

Tumbling at 40km

Chutes full deploy

Splashdown

Quote

Union 2 launch

Had a different upper stage configuration for less parts

Stage sep

Sunset while playing orbital catch-up

Quote

Docking

Matching orbits

Parked at about 2km

Union 1 (lower) approaching 2

Docked

Random city flyby at night

Undock, realign, redock

After deorbit burn using U1 service module, service modules separation

'formation' reentry

splashdown (thermal camera look is combo of night vision TUFX profile and Fn-12 'thermal overlay'). You can see U1 in the back hasn't quite touched the water yet because its parachute is still straight up

 

Edited March 12, 2023 by OrdinaryKerman

[SpacePixel]

Here's a story of Solmourant -- another long-range cargo spaceplane of mine. It originally started as a continuation of a spaceplane affectionately dubbed "space cow" (1). The problem with space cow, besides insufficient lift, was the travelling CoM, which required four VTOL engines to counter (note that with Parallax colliders there is no such thing as rolling landing on extraterrestrial bodies), and by the time the bloody thing reentered Kerbin's atmosphere it was about as aerodynamically stable as F-16. Fine, I figured, let's balance it (boy oh boy did I not realize what I was in for). So a second version was born (2), which sure enough was perfectly balanced (2 VTOL aerospikes on the underside not shown), but it had no NERVs, and therefore could only barely make it to Duna from LKO, and could not make it back. I figured, again, okay, fine, let's add the bloody nukes, but where? You can't casually plug 6 t of dry mass aft, hence (3), with nukes directly on top of the CoM.

Forget about the radioactive exhaust, (3) looks abhorrently boring and much uglier than (2), it seems to me as though I've seen thousands of such spaceplanes and yet this contraption of mine is still somehow worse (it's 2023). So that's been something of a waste of a weekend, since I have to go work now and contemplate my life's choices that left me with an ugly, underpowered and perfectly balanced spaceplane. My only hope is that a little more LF+Ox will rescue (2) from its ineptitude.

[Blufor878]

On 3/9/2023 at 9:03 PM, DunaManiac said:

I've fired up KSP once again, and I decided to start a fresh new save. The first objective of this save is a small station planned to be inserted into LKO

It's a pretty small station - about Mir sized, with 6 modules attached. It has some amnesties, such as an experimental gravity wheel experiment a cupola, and a science panel. I've already designed rockets for most of the modules - all that's left is to finish that and launch them.

"Small", uh huh...
But for real, this looks awesome.

Finally got around to installing Parallax.



I'm not turning on colliders though. I think I'd lose a lot of bases and rovers that way. It still looks really awesome.

Edited March 12, 2023 by Blufor878

[Martian Emigrant]

Hey all.

 

Playing with monopropellant looking for the ultimate surface to orbit runabout.

 

IDTS

BTW struts have very little friction.

 

 

ME

 

[Hi123]

Well since these two Kerbal deiced to start a little revolt on my mission to Guardian (MODDED KSP!!!) I having to figure out what to do with them. So if anyone has any ideas.

[Director_Valle]

Spoiler

The former S.A.R.C.O. mission was somewhat of a legal mess, by law no space junk was allowed, and some politicians tried to describe it as an uncontrollable spaceship (junk), but the scientific community rebutted that its status was "landed", in any case, while there was no more fuel on it of any kind, there was still energy and communications with it, in fact onboard cameras could detect P.H.A.G.U.S. as it approached.

Once P.H.A.G.U.S. arrived Jeb could finally rest (for a while), his job in the meantime was done, it was time for Bill and Bob to shine (although the engineer had already a couple of space walks to prepare the spacecraft). They both went on spacewalks, both to secure the vessel to the asteroid in preparation for the mining operation, as well as to extend fuel lines to the S.A.R.C.O. spacecraft, also samples were taken and other experiments were conducted.

The S.A.R.C.O. spacecraft was refueled, and became fully controllable once more, it was aligned to the the same axis as P.H.A.G.U.S., and with both vessels operational the mission was renamed: S.A.R.C.O.P.H.A.G.U.S.

The asteroids ore could indeed be mined, and refined into fuel and oxidizer, the first burn was at the next apoapsis, lowering the orbits inclination to a more accessible 3.7 degrees, then plan was to put it in an equatorial orbit, but that was a secondary objective. The main task was to prevent the asteroid's from being altered by the moon, such an encounter would take place in less than 70 days, but after the first retrograde burn it would happen in approximately 20 days... it wasn't safe yet.

 

[IllicitMedic]

Currently testing a new supersonic, high altitude research/imaging aircraft.

Currently sitting at 30k meters at 1300m/s or 2900mph.

[DunaManiac]

I've been thinking about the next step beyond Cornerstone's completion. The next step would be to set up a station and a mining base on Minmus to serve as a launching pad for future missions.

However, in the near term is MASS: the Moon Advanced Survey Strategy. It involves a series of probes and manned missions to explore the Mun and Minmus to gain suitable information about them to launch bases. This includes the shadowy Project DEPTH, of which considerable resources will be expended towards.

But first, the Program launches its first Mun probe - an orbital surveyor and impactor called the Mun Impactor and Orbiter (MIO)

It involves by far the smallest rocket I've launched in this save (it feels like returning from a long Hiatus that every rocket I build is overkill).

Took an agressive gravity turn, so we start feeling some heat.

One of my great joys in KSP is designing probes. I'm not sure why. However, I love to subvert the simple antenna dish + okto + solar panels + battery + engine that most people use. It contains some rudimentary survey equipment, and an impactor.

A burn is undertaken to speed the impactor on it's way once we've reached the Mun.

The impactor unfurls its short range antenna, as well as a prominent boom. The purpose of this boom is to slightly extend the life-time of the probe, so that it can measure the force that the surface imparts on the impactor. By taking into account the velocity and angle of the impactor, we can then make a rough estimation of the surface texture (hard, soft, granular, dusty, etc.) and an estimate at composition. Cheaper than a lander, I suppose

Several minutes later, the Mun Impactor and Orbiter conducts orbital insertion, where it will continue to survey the Mun for the next 6 months.

In addition, I designed a couple of probes:

Spoiler

MASS 1 - An upgraded version of MIO.

Mass 2 - A Mun lander, combined with a small rover that will use the central lander as a recharging station. Notice the cargo ramp.

And finally, the Minmus Operations Coordinator. This satellite will form the nucleus of all further operations around Minmus. It'll function as the primary relay from Minmus to Kerbin all other satellites in the region, as well as future manned ones. It's outfitted with the most advanced scanners that the Program possesses. Unlike the other satellites, it's designed specifically to be serviced by future manned missions to keep it going for as long as it's repairable.

 

 

 

 

 

Edited March 14, 2023 by DunaManiac