What did you do in KSP1 today?

[MalfunctionM1Ke]

I am playing this game since .13 or .14, can't really remember, and today, for the first time ever since it is possible, I actually managed to DOCK!

It took me 1.5 hours, made me scream at the screen on at least 5 occasions, I feel like I aged at least 10 years, but I did it, I learned a lot about future attemps aka propper placing of RCS (the right ones aswell, I ll never use the kitty ones I used on these crafts again), doing it in higher orbits, waiting for a good opportunity to start the second ship so I don't need to spend 30 minutes in fastforward to catch up etc etc.

... and lastly, I admit, I rarely felt as good in a videogame about a certain accomplishment ever as I feel just now.

I know what you mean, the first Docking is like the first.... well... you know... no Need to write that down ;D

[Somerled]

Did some fancy flying to land an SSTO spaceplane on the Mun. Came in extremely shallow, retro burned upside-down to lower my landing speed, then pitched all the way over, only meters from the surface, to come down on the wheels.

It's such a different experience from any other landing I've done. No vertical descent, no hovering to a setdown, no atmosphere to provide lift or drag. Horizontal speed had to be below 20 m/s or the plane would just bounce off the surface.

It's been a good day.

The XSSTO III is a modified Aeris 4A: less weight, more lift, shifted CoM, wider gear placement, and a flintstones parking brake.

Oh yeah, update. I didn't have enough damn oxidizer to get off the surface. So I stupidly heroically tried to land at 320 m/s. Brave Philnard EVA'd from the cockpit, which was ejected from the wreckage. He did actually survive the crash and awaits rescue. I love KSP!

Edited July 17, 2013 by Somerled

[Epic DaVinci]

I know what you mean, the first Docking is like the first.... well... you know... no Need to write that down ;D

Its very much like that, Both involve trying to line up two "Craft" when Docking, usually done in the dark and when you have transfered your load you de-orbit and crash.

[Loerelau]

My first Jools spacecraft didn't work. Today I build my second one. It has (I hope) enough fuel and 4 landers.

[MalfunctionM1Ke]

Its very much like that, Both involve trying to line up two "Craft" when Docking, usually done in the dark and when you have transfered your load you de-orbit and crash.

Hahaha, that made my day

[Moon Goddess]

Well last night, I made a correction burn on my Jool mission, and got my Eve mission in orbit. My crew set up a the satellite network and launched the remotetech aeroprobe. Tonight they will remotely pilot the drone into the atmo and make the burn to return home. It's possible they may make an EVA trip to Gilly before leaving first, Depends on how the math for oxygen supplies and delta-v works out.

[capi3101]

Tried to build my first skycrane last night for the Hellrider 7. Might've even gotten into orbit had the last asparagus stage not been clipped into the support truss for the payload. At least no one was aboard...

Got the Damnation 7 up to 9300 m/s of delta-V last night; stuck a Zenith Supernova on the bottom of it and had close to 13,000 delta-V overall. Now if I can just figure out a) how to launch that into Kerbin orbit while leaving all the stages intact and how to keep the "payload" from decoupling prematurely, I might have a working Eve lander. I suppose I'll ultimately have to consider c) how to put ladders down the center stack and d) putting enough lander legs and chutes to bring the whole thing down safely as well. Then there's e) replacing some of those payload engines with some that have enough thrust to put the Evil TWR over 1.0...

[CatastrophicFailure]

It takes a little practise. I'll describe my technique.

I use protractor and Kerbal alarm clock, which makes timing a little easier.

I launch the whole thing, and complete any docking several days before the window. This gives a good margin for error. Then, I do a burn at the ideal point, stating about 5 degrees before, and ending about 5 degrees after, give or take.

Before long, that point becomes the periapsis.

The trick is to use the time until periapsis to time when you do the final burn. Watch that, and the time to the ideal alignment carefully. Normally, the perfect transfer time and the time you arrive at the burn point are of by a bit, but it's still close enough to be accurate.

OK I can grasp that. Do you use specific apoapsis heights for each step or does it vary by situation? Do you burn directly towards a maneuver node or simply prograde?

I didn't do any KSP today.

But a while back, I mentioned that IRL, I did a "grand tour" of the world's largest scale model of the solar system. So here is a pic of that.

The Siding Springs observatory is 38 million times smaller than the sun, and set the scale for the rest of the model, which is centred on it.

Some of the planets are a little burnt, from the last bushfire.

Cool model. How far out is Pluto at that scale? I'm guessing from that map it's into miles at least.

[CatastrophicFailure]

Managed to do an Eve accent and ending up with in orbit with 1800m/s dV to spare.

Test of the sample return mod.

This is the lander

it work as an airship in the atmosphere, however the propel and stuff makes moved center of mass. Did not notice during transfer with the heavy transfer stage who moved the trust far back, however the braking burn for landing got messed up.

I could not collect rock just water and air, this reduced the cargo weight and saved fuel.

Notice the impressive braking speed, mechjeb did not like this lander. The top part is some spare fuel and rcs for use during landing.

What mod are those twisted looking things I'm guessing are balloons from?

[lucidLemon]

What mod are those twisted looking things I'm guessing are balloons from?

Here you go!

[lazarus1024]

Not technically today, since it was yesterday, but I started my Duna mission. First time beyond the Mun since .19.

I got the hab/rover section in to orbit as well as the fuel/propulsion section. I still need to design and launch the station section, though that should be pretty quick since I plan on it being rather small/lightweight.

I might need a 4th section to add, possibly a fuel/booster (just to get it started out of Kerbin orbit) section.

I did go "dooh" last night after everything when I realized I meant to put together a rover with a seat, instead of a rover with a 1-kerbal lander can. Oh well.

It'll be tricky and I'll be leaning on quick saves as the descent profile is going to rely on luck and parachutes. Hab/rover descend as one, but this'll be the first time I don't land the rover connected to a hab/lander. I have it setup with the rover attached with a seperaton on top of the hab, get to low enough altitude and slow enough and blow the seperaton which also releases the 4 parachutes on the rover. Then the hab uses its 4 parachutes and its pair of light engines to brake and land. I am pretty sure that the parachutes should slow the rover enough to land without damage...if it'll land upright. No way to right it other than trying to use the torque wheels in the thing. So quicksaves and proper terrain to land on are going to be crucial.

Tomorrow will likely be assembly of the station component of the mission, rendezvous and at least blasting out of Kerbin orbit. If it goes well, I might be able to do the whole darn mission in a day (I probably only have a 1-3hr window to play tomorrow).

[Whackjob]

I finally got around to doing videos.

[Loerelau]

Aerobraking @ Jools!

[espenrik]

Got two kerbals of the surface of Eve.

Awaiting launch window for return to Kerbin.

That will conclude my "send a two man lander to all celestial bodies, plant a flag and return"

[CatastrophicFailure]

Man I got ALL Y'ALL beat. Today (well last night actually) MY WIFE decided to play KSP! With very little guidance from me she put not one but three Kerbals successfully into orbit and returned them safely to... Well the middle of an inhospitable desert but still... Nothing exploded that wasn't supposed to.

[Tw1]

OK I can grasp that. Do you use specific apoapsis heights for each step or does it vary by situation? Do you burn directly towards a maneuver node or simply prograde?

I just burn prograde for the first burns, then use a node for the final burn. Apoapsis hight is varies, what is more important is the orbital period, which needs to be carefully watched so that you end up at periapsis again when it's time for the final burn. For each step, the focus is more on getting the burn done at the right point (within a few degrees) than achieving a certain apoapsis.

Cool model. How far out is Pluto at that scale? I'm guessing from that map it's into miles at least.

It's about 200km from the observatory to Pluto. But as the roads aren't straight, (hilly terrain) but planets are placed where main roads intersect the orbit distances, it's longer to travel. We saw Neptune on the way in, so drove straight from Uranus to Pluto. Took more than an hour, not including the double back we needed to do to find it.

Here is a touristy map I found:

http://www.solarsystemdrive.com/pdf/map.pdf

In KSP today, I began an Apollo style mission, trying to set it up with a rocket that runs similar. It blew up. Then it blew up. Then it wouldn't fly straight. Then it made it to orbit, and I noticed the fuel lines on my lander weren't connected, and my rover wasn't going to deploy properly.

But, I fixed that, and now it is safely in LMO.

Edited July 18, 2013 by Tw1

[mordin86]

What did you do today?

I took a break from KSP and played some Eve Online - I want KSP 21 now!

[Whackjob]

Four rovers, three Kerbals. The rocket that brought them there is almost completely out of fuel. Not that they could get back inside anyway. No ladders. Doesn't matter. Each of those rovers is capable of standing on its hind legs, and with a fun explosion, shed the excess framework and wheels and ignites the rocket engine.

Yep, those rovers can take you anywhere. Even home. :>

[capi3101]

Played around with the Evil Eye 7...got it up to over 10,000 m/s of delta-V. Launched it from KSC and made it into orbit without staging, but it was pretty hairy...a pretty low orbit too. Map decided not to show me where my apoapsis was, so I had to guess at it. Next time I'm taking up the KER flight computer with me; that guessing crap is for the birds.

On the plus side, it will only take two Barn Burner missions to refuel the thing once it is in orbit.

Also put a Hellrider 7 rover on Mun. Before I do that again, I'm adding RCS to my skycrane. Damn thing spins like crazy and steers like a sloth; wound up in a polar Munar orbit on intercept. Dropped the rover at 20 m/s going sideways right before the crane lithobraked. It tumbled around for a good thirty seconds; blew off the ladder, busted a tire and landed upside down. Good thing the Hellrider had a self-righting correction system installed. Even with the busted tire I was able to get it up to 17 m/s afterwards. Probably going to send a mission out to Mun soon so that my Kerbonauts can use it.

Tonight I'm going to see if I can get the Evil Eye up past 11,000 delta-V. If I can, it'll be go for Eve next chance I get (and yes, I know you need 12,000 for Eve...).

[Tw1]

Today, in 0.19, I finally returned my first interplanetary mission.

The Duna Recovery Module put the capsule from the original Duna rocket on a trajectory for KSC, then burned to put itself back into orbit. These guys have been away since 0.18.x. They were not expecting this:

Hey Bill, were's the launch tower gone?

[Cydonian Monk]

Today I burned into a very pretty free-return trajectory for my Apollo-11 reenactment. Oh, and launched said reenactment.... 2 days late. Should still make it there by Friday.

Edited October 7, 2014 by Cydonian Monk

[espm400]

Despite say exactly the opposite earlier this week, I decided to build a quick base on the Mun with my new save before .21 comes out. Also got my first properly executed precision landing.

Just for the record, the rover in the background landed first, followed by the power module (350m distance), followed most recently by the life support module (17.5m distance, damn near landed on the solar panel of the power module).

[Sma]

I've been working on an SSTO. I've gotten one version of it to orbit before. So far today I got a newer version of it to orbit. The new version has two ion engines. I got my AP up to about 75km before the aero spike ran out of fuel, and miraculously the ion engines managed after a while to raise the PE high enough to get it out of the atmosphere. Had to orbit once though with a low PE due to going into the dark side so the panels didn't get enough power until it came around again. Not sure what I'm going to do with it now though lol. I'm thinking i'll deorbit it, and try landing(one of the solar panels apparently isn't in the action group with the others), being as that I haven't had much luck with that. It's gonna be fun with no fuel though lol.

Also it has a bad habit of leaning to one side or the other while in atmo, even though fuel burn seems to be fine. It does tend to slowly nose dive, but that I I don't think can be helped much unless I try running fuel lines from the jet engines to the top of the fuel tanks. Hmm.......

[KerbMav]

Today - after years in space somewhere between Kerbin and Eve - Shellin Kerman gave his fuel- and powerless craft a slight push with the remaining RCS fuel. A mere 4m/s got him a Kerbin encounter!

Javascript is disabled. View full album

After a rough ride in the lower Kerbin atmosphere a mere 31000m above the ocean, Kerbin - home - got hold of him. With his last ounces of monopropellant he pushed his periapsis to 80000m, yet the apoapsis still is far out. But rescue is on its way!

Saying goodbye to the ship that was his home for 16 years - and watching the sun set for the first time in 16 years!

Javascript is disabled. View full album

Im done, all men are back home, 0.21 can come!

Edited July 18, 2013 by KerbMav

[Benie]

Landed at Laythe...

And "took a bath" in a pond.

I got a "good" idea. Use my rover as a freakin' boat to sail across the planet!

(also, nevermind the "empty" engine in the last pic. Cheats/MechJeb FTW)

Edited July 18, 2013 by Benie