What did you do in KSP1 today?

[Toaster355]

I am restarting the construction of the ISS in 2.5 scale stock system.

I actually have constructed the ISS in the past (as some of you hopefully remember in my previous account, JebNotFound) in JNSQ and partially in KSRSS, but I am restarting in 2.5 scale stock for several reasons:

1. I can't use OPM or AVP in JNSQ or KSRSS; I love AVP, and I love ringed gas giants.
2. I deleted my JNSQ save off my hard drive to save space
3. CKAN for my KSRSS save somehow broke/got corrupted; I could no longer use CKAN for updating and installing mods in that save.
4. I can't reinstall KSRSS; There is no longer any links to download it on the thread. I've tried transferring the mods necessary for KSRSS into my main save, but when I do it the game refuses to finish loading.
5. I find the planets and Moons in JNSQ to be somewhat uglier; Jool is much less saturated than I would like, and I think Kerbin looks worse.

So here I am reborn as Toaster355, ready to reconstruct the station we all know and love!

Edited March 21, 2023 by Toaster355

[Kerballlistic07]

On 3/19/2023 at 2:11 PM, N_Danger said:

Time to send a lander to Minmus with a newly upgraded booster.

Upgraded to a Skiff on the second stage.

Now to inform the blue marble we are in orbit and ready for crew.

 

Question: Why does the minty moon look not so minty? I'm assuming a mod?

Edited March 21, 2023 by Kerballlistic07

[N_Danger]

4 hours ago, Kerballlistic07 said:

Question: Why does the minty moon look not so minty? I'm assuming a mod?

That is a Mod, JNSQ . A nice challenge after playing the stock version a while. 

 

[Kerballlistic07]

19 minutes ago, N_Danger said:

That is a Mod, JNSQ . A nice challenge after playing the stock version a while. 

 

Thanks! I'll look into it myself. 

[Blufor878]

Trying some graphics design stuff today

Edited March 22, 2023 by Blufor878

[DunaManiac]

 

My plans continue to progress: I'm planning a series of 5 missions under the Nova-Z program that will land the first kerbals on the Mun and Minmus. The rocket involved will be the largest rocket the Program has yet designed. It's a simple apollo-style rocket. Now, you may be wondering about the plane stuck on top of the rocket. It was decided it would be easier to use a modified version of the MCTV the Program already uses as the command and return vehicle. It's not much different except for the frontal docking capabillities, and a shortened wingspan from 9 meters to 7 meters. Connected to it is a service module containing supplies, an engine, and the computer core. Nova-Z 1 will target the Mun for the first kerballed landing on another body.

As you can see here, it has a rather large lander below it. The Harpy, as its called, is overbuilt for the task, specifically so it can do multiple hops. The interior of it is empty, so it can carry an extra ground science monitor beneath it. It will separate it just above the ground and land next to the science platform.

Now, some prep work will be necessary.

Merlin V (technically VI, as V was planned to be launched beforehand, but VI was expedited so that Cornerstone could be crewed in time) tested the capabillities of Merlin as an orbital science platform, similar to the Merlin III mission. Except, its mission had a scientific purpose: deploying the Kerbin Gravmax and Magnetometer spacecraft. Its purpose is to measure Kerbin's magnetic field so that future missions can be aware of the radiation hazards we could face leaving Kerbin's safe magnetic harbor.

After that, Merlin V boosted into a higher orbit, setting an altitude record for Kerbalkind: 400 kilometers above Kerbin's surface. From here on out, the MCTV program will be primarily concerned with preparing for the Nova-Z program. Merlin VII will involve geostationary orbit satellites, and Merlin VIII will be a mun mission in all but name: it will carry a small unmanned munar lander and boost most of the way, but won't make the encounter: instead, it will do a mock munar return and aerobrake, before returning to the KSC.

Merlin V makes a safe return.

In other successes, MASS 2 makes the Program's first landing on the Mun. Once its landed, a ramp deploys from the lander.

And out comes a rover! It's mission: to survey this site and analyze the surface conditions. This area is an interesting area of the Mun that's rather prominent but I don't think I've ever visited: the nearside East crater. It will be the site of the first kerballed munar landing: Nova-Z 1.

 

[jimmymcgoochie]

Loaded up a save I haven't played in a while, launched a rocket already on the pad but mod updates meant that the engines had moved up inside the fuel tanks and lost most of their control authority as a result. The rocket did its gravity turn OK but then just kept on pitching over until it was pointing down, at which point I aborted the launch and the two crew ended up coming back home a lot sooner than planned.

[Martian Emigrant]

Hey all Kerbonuts.

 

The last few days.

2 Kerbals went on a trip to the inner Kerbol system.

 

Mun

 

Minmus

 

Gilly

 

And Moho

 

They will have an IRSU pause and work their way back out.

Applejack thinks there is enough Delta-v to skip Gilly and Minmus and go straight to Ike.

 

Wish them luck.

 

ME

[Hotel26]

SPACE NEWS GAZETTE

A slow week here in KSC, so we let a rookie Remote Re-entry Specialist run a recovery -- while the rest of us ran a pool...

We figured, "well, older equipment, so...if anything goes missing, nobody will notice..." 

Uhm, the KSC Rules of Pool are: nobody offers advice or even prompting...  You understand: there can be rather large funds afloat on the KSC floor just after pay day; there's a lot at stake.

So the general sniggering broke out (yes, against the KSC Rules of Pool!, since it can distract the turkey rookie) over the Sandy Desert when it became crystal clear to the pros this was going to be a massive overshoot.

I did have my money on the rookie, though![*]  [Click + arrows => Slideshow]

                     

Happy to say that Remote Re-Entry Specialist, Dilman Kerman, did not get flustered, did not panic, did not even break a sweat; kept his nerve and ... successful touch-down of Zephyr re-entry booster at Gilligan's Island!  (Bit of a wake-up call for GIL ATC there when we used the landline to phone in the approach (45 seconds beforehand): "Ah, Gilligan's Island, we have a vertical descent over the numbers, Runway Thirty-Six, for you, if you can accept the traffic, Gilligan...?".

Our ASR Recovery Rules give immediate and full recovery credit for any base landing.

The losers in the pool made D.Kerman pay for a round of their drinks afterward to celebrate his mission outcome; but he was nevertheless grinning from ear to ear.

Give him time!  He'll wise up... 

[*] Dilman is the nephew of my bookie...

Edited March 24, 2023 by Hotel26

[tg626]

Feeling Nostalgic...

All Stock ( Making History DLC ) save for the Near Future Solar panels - BC the stock selection is rather limited - and Shrouded Decouplers.

Same as above, except I made a 1.875m cargo can because I can't for the life of me figure out why Squad didn't...

Edited March 24, 2023 by tg626
sphellung

[Martian Emigrant]

key all.

 

My two Kerbals left Moho.

 

Spoiler

Once orbiting the sun they managed an intercept of Duna's SOI.

Then a transfer to Ike.

They touched down with 20m/s left.

It took me 4 attempts to figure out the best suicide burn.

Still surprised. I figured I would need reload a save to stop at Gilly or use Eve to raise my orbit and save some fuel.

Or use Duna for some aero-braking. Again to save some fuel.

 

 

Our fearless Kerbals on Ike.

 

Now to make some fuel. Not a lot. Just enough for Duna.

 

Wish them luck.

 

ME

[Kerballlistic07]

Tried making an Electron recreation using a ton of flags. 

It didn't go well...

Yeah, I gave up and closed the game because I have 0 patience at the end of the week.

[DunaManiac]

I decided for my next mission, Merlin would set up a demo communications network in GKO. This is Merlin VII.  The crew complement is Pilot and Mission Commander Jebediah, Chief Scientist Bob, and Radiologist-Scientist Kimny. We're bringing him because this is the first time that we'll be leaving low kerbin orbit, and we really have no idea how the radiation will affect them. Therefore, we're attempting to minimize how often they'll be in the belts. No more than 3 days.

However, I couldn't fit more than two satellites in the service bay, so it'll be somewhat of an incomplete network, but again, we'll replace it with a more capable network once we have a more capable vessel.

This version of Merlin has boosters, and it's even harder to fly than the ordinary Merlin. I must say, I'm regretting my downgrade from passenger SSTOs!

Once orbital insertion is complete, we boost to Geostationary orbit.

Shattering Merlin V's record of 400km, we reach nearly 2800 km above Kerbin, geostationary orbit altitude.

FGN satellite one is released first.

Then the second, a few hours later. I made sure that the orbital period of Merlin VII was 3 hours so that I would end up with a perfect 180 degree angle between the satellites. I didn't, I ended up with a 170-75.

In other news, the Outer Halo Orbiter was launched with its destination at minmus. Similar to MIO, it is a dual lander and orbiter.
The idea is that it will orbit extremely close to the surface: only a few hundred meters up. Therefore, it can take samples of the halo and study them, allowing the scientists back at Kerbin to determine its exact composition. In addition, those samples can be collected later by kerbonauts in the future. OHO is similar to another satellite I did in another save. Unfortunately, said save died an untimely death when an antenna placed in the wrong position caused an RUD of an entire space station that I had spent hours working on. To add insult to injury, it killed numerous kerbals and also took out a large spaceplane docked to it. So I wanted to recreate that feeling I got with it the first time.

After several orbits, the lander separates. Its target is a primary point of interest for a future base: a tall mountain with an 11.33% ore concentration, overlooking the greater flats. The idea with this lander is that it can precipitate a Nova-Z landing about a year from now.

With the lander on the surface, OHO begins its spectroscopic and observational mission. Since we're never more than a few kilometers above the surface, we can image the surface as if we were landed on it.

 

 

[tg626]

41 minutes ago, Kerballlistic07 said:

Tried making an Electron recreation using a ton of flags.

<snip>

It didn't go well...

Turn on Aero forces overlay, I think the flag drag will surprise you. It's a bit crazy.

Edited March 25, 2023 by tg626

[N_Danger]

Val and Jeb head out to Minmus.

Spoiler

Booster sep and LES jettison

Fairing sep

Two minutes after leaving the atmosphere, the trans-Munmus burn was  conducted. 

 

They meet up with the lander and Jeb heads to the surface in it.

Spoiler

Jeb is so ready for this.

Jeb poses for the camera

Spoiler

Take off!

 

And on the way to orbit and rendezvous with Val.

 

A  quick trip to the Sci-Stop to pick up science and fuel. (Franchises are available ) 

And an uneventful trip was had back to Kerbin.

[Kerballlistic07]

15 hours ago, tg626 said:

Turn on Aero forces overlay, I think the flag drag will surprise you. It's a bit crazy.

Believe me, I know its bad! But it's the only way to make it look good.  Maybe the 50+ flags on the fairing were a bit too much...

[tg626]

2 minutes ago, Kerballlistic07 said:

Believe me, I know its bad! But it's the only way to make it look good.  Maybe the 50+ flags on the fairing were a bit too much...

I discovered it awhile back when I decided "a black band would look cool on the external tank" of my barely working shuttle and then it started flipping out (and over) during ascent.

Edited March 25, 2023 by tg626

[Kerballlistic07]

Electron was supposed to be the first of my recreations of other small lift launch vehicles. Still planning on doing it, but when my electron flipped out, I decided to do it another day! Planning on doing Astra's Rocket 3 and Rocket 4 next. I'll probably fix the Electron eventually, but not now. 

[jimmymcgoochie]

Built a plane, took it for a test flight, got a bit ham-fisted on the controls, ripped the wings off. Whoops!

[DunaManiac]

Merlin VII begins its return. I decided to take this opportunity to test out an aerobraking maneuver: the first in the Program's history.

Unfortunately, I had to part with the avionics package early so it would not burn up during reentry.

Only one aerobraking maneuver was necessary, but since it was night at the KSC and I didn't want to wait (I imagine it was determined that the crew were showing signs of radiation poisoning and had to make a landing as soon as possible. Provisions were also running low), I decided to aim for the desert airfield. Its a small military base and former missile launch site that doesn't receive much traffic: so you can probably imagine their reaction when it was told they had to accept a spaceplane coming in from low orbit! Most of Merlin's mono propellant was spent making the plane change maneuver.

Jebediah's hand begins to waver. Even from watching the aircraft flying its clear that the crew aren't doing well.

Thankfully though, Jeb brings Merlin in for a safe landing just as night falls. Thankfully the crew was alright: the radiation poisoning wasn't serious and the crew did not suffer any permanent effects. However, they will be out of the pool for a while until they recover.

Meanwhile, I decided to remedy two problems that were vexing me: Firstly, my station Cornerstone is constructed incorrectly, meaning that Merlin has to dock very awkwardly, and I'm planning to construct future space stations around farming while in orbit, and I never made a test for that purpose. This will solve both! However, I did have issues while launching it, namely that I didn't test the rocket properly and I didn't have enough TWR to reach orbit. So I needed to replace my skipper engine with a mainsail, wasting about 20 days.

The rocket is carrying two modules: a node, and the Orbital Agriculture Experiment: namely a large recycler and a few USI greenhouse-cupolas.

Meanwhile, after an inordinate amount of time spent reconstrucing the space station, I finally got in into this configuration. Honestly, I have mixed attitudes on this expansion: I think it corrupts the "small station" vibe I wanted Cornerstone to have.

Also designed the Oasis Habitation Module: Its designed to be used twice by the Nova-Z program for its minmus missions. Since I'm using USI life support, it means I have to consider their mental health, and unfortunately being stuck with 3 other astronauts in a tiny metal tube isn't conducive to productivity. It's got an airlock and even a cupola, recyclers and supplies for the crew, and an antenna, as those are a necessity for Minmus. The plan is to launch it separately before the launch of Nova-Z III and then have it rendezvous with it in low orbit. I may have to launch a second one after the mission is over though, unless I can come up with a daring solution to use it again...

Edited March 26, 2023 by DunaManiac

[Kerballlistic07]

On 3/25/2023 at 2:38 PM, Kerballlistic07 said:

Planning on doing Astra's Rocket 3

I did the Astra Rocket 3. It went worse than Electron... 

Spammed the space bar as all Kerbal players must do when something fails...

I'll fix it next time I play. (Probably tomorrow, no time today... )

Spoiler

Went about like this...

Edited March 26, 2023 by Kerballlistic07

[Martian Emigrant]

Hey all.

Last I reported that my crew was on Ike.

After refueling they made it to Duna.

 

 

Spoiler

 

They have since left.

 

 

They are currently on their way to Dres.

 

Wish them luck.

 

ME

[Blufor878]

5 hours ago, Kerballlistic07 said:

I did the Astra Rocket 3. It went worse than Electron... 

Spammed the space bar as all Kerbal players must do when something fails...

I'll fix it next time I play. (Probably tomorrow, no time today... )

  Reveal hidden contents

Went about like this...

So what you're saying is that it was a realistic outcome...(sorry Astra, I still wish y'all success).

For real though that's a nice build. Too bad about the rapid unscheduled disassembly.

On 3/25/2023 at 8:28 PM, DunaManiac said:

Merlin VII begins its return. I decided to take this opportunity to test out an aerobraking maneuver: the first in the Program's history.

Unfortunately, I had to part with the avionics package early so it would not burn up during reentry.

Only one aerobraking maneuver was necessary, but since it was night at the KSC and I didn't want to wait (I imagine it was determined that the crew were showing signs of radiation poisoning and had to make a landing as soon as possible. Provisions were also running low), I decided to aim for the desert airfield. Its a small military base and former missile launch site that doesn't receive much traffic: so you can probably imagine their reaction when it was told they had to accept a spaceplane coming in from low orbit! Most of Merlin's mono propellant was spent making the plane change maneuver.

Jebediah's hand begins to waver. Even from watching the aircraft flying its clear that the crew aren't doing well.

Thankfully though, Jeb brings Merlin in for a safe landing just as night falls. Thankfully the crew was alright: the radiation poisoning wasn't serious and the crew did not suffer any permanent effects. However, they will be out of the pool for a while until they recover.

Meanwhile, I decided to remedy two problems that were vexing me: Firstly, my station Cornerstone is constructed incorrectly, meaning that Merlin has to dock very awkwardly, and I'm planning to construct future space stations around farming while in orbit, and I never made a test for that purpose. This will solve both! However, I did have issues while launching it, namely that I didn't test the rocket properly and I didn't have enough TWR to reach orbit. So I needed to replace my skipper engine with a mainsail, wasting about 20 days.

The rocket is carrying two modules: a node, and the Orbital Agriculture Experiment: namely a large recycler and a few USI greenhouse-cupolas.

Meanwhile, after an inordinate amount of time spent reconstrucing the space station, I finally got in into this configuration. Honestly, I have mixed attitudes on this expansion: I think it corrupts the "small station" vibe I wanted Cornerstone to have.

Also designed the Oasis Habitation Module: Its designed to be used twice by the Nova-Z program for its minmus missions. Since I'm using USI life support, it means I have to consider their mental health, and unfortunately being stuck with 3 other astronauts in a tiny metal tube isn't conducive to productivity. It's got an airlock and even a cupola, recyclers and supplies for the crew, and an antenna, as those are a necessity for Minmus. The plan is to launch it separately before the launch of Nova-Z III and then have it rendezvous with it in low orbit. I may have to launch a second one after the mission is over though, unless I can come up with a daring solution to use it again...

Especially love the last picture. That isn't the stock/restock cupola is it? It looks different somehow.

[Kerballlistic07]

1 hour ago, Blufor878 said:

So what you're saying is that it was a realistic outcome...(sorry Astra, I still wish y'all success).

For real though that's a nice build. Too bad about the rapid unscheduled disassembly.

Thanks! I'll fix it tomorrow along with the Electron. I just need to get the interstage to be a little shorter and the 2nd stage to separate cleaner. And fix the whole tipping over thing.

[xub313]

Turns out Pathfinder was a pretty good idea.