What did you do in KSP1 today?

[Tex_NL]

Today I nearly killed Jebediah.

After delivering new inhabitants for my orbital colony Jeb missed his re-entry windows and overshot the runway by miles. In a desperate attempt to still make a landing he diverted to the island runway. He almost made it. His shuttle hit the slope just in front of the runway and broke apart. Miraculously the cockpit, and Jeb, survived.

[sharpspoonful]

This Minmus Low Orbit Observation Station She is finally complete, but my Macbook can handle only so much. My FPS is around 10 or 15 with this is in a 7km orbit.

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Edited December 16, 2013 by sharpspoonful

[MGCJerry]

Another mun landing.... This time I landed the top 3 guys on the mun... Had a mishap with staging that caused me to lose 2 of my lander fuel tanks so now I don't have enough fuel to get off mun. I can probably establish an orbit with 640 dV remaining. according to Engineer.

Built a rover too, and I'm going to see if i can shoot it to the moon using the same rocket. I never have launched a rover so I'll see what I can do with it...

[johngault007]

I'm a little worried because I did lose Jebediah today . As a new player, I thought I had enough fuel to return from the Mun. Well, I accidentally sent him in a very large orbit and couldn't recover him with a rescue mission.

On the lighter side, I have been an avid flight simmer and this game has completly taken over!

[Sgt. Cookie]

Practiced my Kerbostationary orbiting skills.

[Moar Boosters]

Why am I reminded of the star destroyers from Star Wars?? I bet this is murder on FPS to launch though.

It's easier to measure in seconds per frame, rather than frames per second.

I managed to get it to take off from the runway, but some silly Kerbal put some big lights at the end of the runway which I clipped.

Then bad things started happening.

[MGCJerry]

It's easier to measure in seconds per frame, rather than frames per second.

I managed to get it to take off from the runway, but some silly Kerbal put some big lights at the end of the runway which I clipped.

Then bad things started happening.

.... I bet that made a spectacular mess! What was the mass on that beast?

[Moar Boosters]

1112 tons full.

285 tons empty.

I managed to get it into space, but only on a suborbital trajectory....... which means now I get to practice landing.

[Deadweasel]

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[TD]This week marked the beginning of stand-down procedures for the space program, in preparation for impending sweeping changes to the budget policy.

Crews were recalled from their posts. Vessels that had been deployed on long term flights were now declared end-of-mission and scheduled for decommission, either by returning the vessels home if possible, or by intentional destruction if not.

MISSION: OFS OKLAHOMA - Kerbin system

The first mission to be addressed was that of OFS Oklahoma, a permanent staging and refueling station positioned in low Kerbin orbit.

Oklahoma had served a crucial role during the construction and launch of the Duna Explorer mission, and was currently the temporary home of station manager and docking specialists Rayfen, Kersy and Kurt. Bill was also posted there, following his role in assembling IPEV Venture and the Journeyman drive sled for the Duna Explorer launch.

Upon receiving the stand down order, Bill began the recall procedures by moving the Bouncer tug from the lateral port it had taken to the station's command dock, and disembarked to assume command of the Goshawk Mover, left at Oklahoma to be used as an emergency return vessel.

Originally it had been planned to send up dedicated return pods to the station, but with the sudden funding reduction at KSC, they were now forced to rely on what they had available instead.

Rayfen was ordered to join Bill aboard the Goshawk, and they were soon away.

Their return proceeded smoothly, though Rayfen loudly lamented the incredible waste of fuel and resources that simply dropping Goshawk into the atmosphere in emergency return mode represented.

Kommand advised that this was necessary, as Oklahoma could not commit her final maneuver with Goshawk still docked. Rayfen was only further angered to learn that a Goshawk CR -a ship capable of accommodating the entire crew of Oklahoma on its own- was to be sent up afterward to retrieve the remaining two crewmembers. For his part, Bill accepted the news in stride. He was simply glad to finally be returning home.

With Kurt and Kersy safely away, KSC sent the final destruct orbit to Oklahoma, and the station's automated control systems re-oriented it to begin the deorbit burn.

Final burn completed, the auxiliary RCS fuel supply was jettisoned, and the solar panels allowed to tear away during reentry.

After a flight duration of more than four years (1358 days, 8 hours, 18 minutes), OFS Oklahoma final telemetry update arrived at KSC mere seconds before her complete destruction somewhere over the Azurean Sea.

MISSION: AACT-108 Starseed - Joolian system

Attention at KSC then turned toward a lone automated test mission deployed to the Joolian system. AACT-108 Starseed was in low orbit about Laythe, relaying sensor data from the rover probe it had delivered to the surface only a week earlier.

Rather than expend further funding on payroll and other resources to return Starseed home, the decision was made to direct her into an impact trajectory with Laythe instead. Objections of Starseed's engineers and flight planners were successfully overridden by the argument that Starseed's final flight would still produce valuable insights into the composition of Laythe's atmosphere, and how it affected vessels that attempted to fly outright through it, rather than simply dropping down in a hovering configuration.

Deorbit burn complete, Starseed turned and burned hard toward the ground, recording and transmitting every iota of data it could discern throughout its final mission.

Impact occurred after a total flight duration of two weeks, three days and sixteen hours. KSC science labs are still working hard to digest the trove of information that AACT-108 had returned to them. The rover continues to gather data until its batteries run down in four months.

MISSION: IPEV Karavel - Kerbin system

Duna Explorer had been planned to undergo its first research team rotation when the recall order arrived. In fact, the outbound Kerbin flight to bring the replacement crew was cancelled only hours before its intended departure.

IPEV Karavel had been assembled with the returned Journeyman drive sled, and the research staff brought aboard by the KSC's first automated crew transfer shuttle. With the stand down operations in full swing, the research team's flight was cancelled, but with the AACT program similarly mothballed, special measures needed to be taken to return them home.

The complement of two DV-103 Sherpa IIs that had already been detached from the mission would be required to shortcut the team's return, but they had been allowed to drift more than 11km from Karavel. Somebody would have to go out on a dangerous EVA to retrieve the dropships.

The team member most experienced in EVA operations elected to go, and he successfully made the treacherous crossing to the conjoined Sherpas.

Safely aboard, he re-configured the control systems and began the slow return trip to Karavel.

Once the awkward vessel had docked, the dropships were refueled, and the four of the six individuals on the research team began transferring to them.

The maneuver would be exceptionally dangerous, with the returning team members using the Sherpa's external seats to return as many of them as possible with each flight, since the Sherpas would not be able to return to Karavel for the rest.

The flight trajectories were exceptionally steep but slow, to prevent the passengers from being injured or killed by exposure to the thermal extremes of a normal reentry. The Sherpas were running critically low on power by the time they approached the space center grounds, but that had been expected and planned for.

Both flights touched down safely, with all returning team members in good health and spirits, despite the cancellation of the mission they had been training for months to join.

Despite the disappointment over their early return home, none could find fault with the execution of their flights, which concluded quite literally at the doorstep of the KSC's staff center.

Meanwhile, a pair of automated Sparrow Crew Retrieval ships were deployed to recover the remaining two research team members from Karavel. Kerfred and Jercas would be remaining aboard Karavel as mission commander and pilot for the Duna Explorer crew recovery flight they would be executing soon.

MISSION: Duna Explorer - Duna system

The Duna Explorer mission had evolved into something of a mess, now including a veritable flotilla of vessels on its flight roster.

Among the ad-hoc fleet were two cargo vessels, now unmanned but serving as additional comm relays to Kerbin. The LRCV Bruin A and B had been deployed to deliver upgraded rovers to the team on the ground, but now that their primary mission was complete, they were sent to self-destruct on Duna's cold and unforgiving surface.

Bruin-A committed its de-orbit burn, then jettisoned its remaining cargo, effectively terminating the ship's automated control and making its trajectory terminal.

Its course was planned to pass near the Explorer mission itself, giving the remaining ground team one last look as she screamed by, and providing tangible proof that the end of their mission to the red planet was marching ever closer. (The green indicator on the ground is "Bob's Beach"; a flag marking the first manned landing on Duna. The white indicator is the Cardinal Research Station and Sherpa landing pad, with one of the Kurb Burner rovers just to the east.)

Bruin-A impacted at the floor of the Valles Cicatrix, 36km west of the Cardinal station.

Bruin-B -a smaller version of its sister, followed suit shortly afterward on the same flight path.

Following termination of the LRCV vessels, the time had come for the team members in orbit to assemble at the staging location: IPEV Venture. Charlie and Sonfry brought two of the mission's three Sherpas to take up positions aboard, and join Edcas, Donmore and Rodbree as they waited for Karavel's arrival to take them home.

Unfortunately, an old nemesis had apparently been stalking one of the Sherpas. Charlie had no sooner docked and keyed into the third Sherpa's channel to signal the all-clear to approach, when Venture suddenly exploded. The Breaker had returned!

When he returned to consciousness, Charlie took quick stock of the situation.

Venture was gone. The cockpit had shielded him from the brunt of the explosion, but was now the only component of his own ship left intact.

Checking the ranging scanners, Charlie's heart fell into his feet when he saw the aftermath. Very little of the rapidly expanding cloud of debris would be remaining in Duna's orbit. A great deal of it was impacting the planet, but most of the remnants of the once great ship were currently screaming away from the system on seemingly random escape vectors.

Charlie himself was in a particularly bad situation. His cockpit wasn't just on an escape trajectory from Duna, it was set to escape the star system entirely! Duna was already frighteningly small in the window, so he knew he had to act fast. His comms were disabled so he couldn't call for help, but the ranging scanners gave him a means to connect with the computers of any other intact systems in range.

He flipped rapidly through the scanner returns, looking for anything that included life support telemetry, indicating there were survivors aboard.

He was elated to discover Sonfry's capsule, his Sherpa as thoroughly destroyed as Charlie's own. He connected to the capsule's computer and set its transponder beacon to MAYDAY mode, giving any potential rescuers a clear pointer toward a survivor.

After another few minutes, Charlie found Venture's crew capsule, also completely stripped of any external systems or equipment. All three of the crew aboard were alive, but unconscious. He set their beacon, then located Jeb's ship; the final Sherpa that he had been about to call in to join them, before the accident. He changed the last Sherpa's beacon to include coordinates and vector information, hoping Jeb would notice and understand.

Then, knowing he had to do everything he could to save himself, he disembarked from his capsule.

He punched his EVA pack's controls and burned with all his might back toward Duna, trying to cancel his velocity enough to at least enter a stable orbit within the system.

Minutes later, his pack fuel ran out. Though the connection was fading fast, he had time to retrieve one last telemetry update from his capsule's scanners. The news was terrifying.

Charlie had done all he could to save his crewmates following the disaster, but now there was nobody to save him.

Tears streaming freely, Charlie howled his terror and frustration, as he sped out into the void.

[/TD]

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[FlamedSteak]

I've been tearing my hair out on spaceplanes. Building a stable SSTO is one of those things I need to tick of my list.

I get close, but I either inexplicably and suddenly stall in the upper atmosphere. Or as soon as I shutdown the jets and engage the rockets, I nose upwards and start flipping (my CoL must vary wildly when I shut them down, but not having a way to determine where the centre of lift is sans jets is making my life difficult).

I did build a nifty and reliable plane this morning, well balanced, takes off and lands beautifully, but it still seems to lose lift very suddenly when I get about 12k meters.

[capi3101]

Rough day yesterday - Ranger Fox got eaten by the Hell Kraken, Ranger Able ran out of delta-V (it looked a bit anemic from the get go, though), and the redesigned Storax Sedan failed to make an Eve encounter due to lousy piloting on my part. I've relaunched the Ranger Fox mission so far; will need to get the rest of the missions back up when possible.

[Brotoro]

I did a couple aerocaptures at Laythe. Hot times.

[Spatzimaus]

(my CoL must vary wildly when I shut them down, but not having a way to determine where the centre of lift is sans jets is making my life difficult).

Your center of lift doesn't move at all when you shut down jets. What does happen is that at the point where you turn off jets, a few things change:

1> The stock jets gimbal very well. Without them, you no longer have as much thrust gimbaling to keep you stable if your center of thrust (rockets only) and center of mass don't line up exactly. If the rocket you're using to get to orbit doesn't have much thrust vectoring (and some have none at all) it likely won't be capable of holding your design steady once the jets are off.

So if your design isn't perfectly top/bottom symmetrical, it's going to nose up/down once the jets turn off. That sort of symmetry is hard to gauge since some things in the game are weightless in gameplay but are treated as having mass in the VAB/SPH (like struts and landing gear), so your best bet is to keep the spaceplane as close to coplanar as possible, not putting anything above or below the design at all, or else make it like an X-wing with a clear up/down symmetry.

2> Intakes' drag depends on the airflow into them, so if your intakes aren't also up/down symmetrical then you'll have too much drag in one direction. (You don't want an F-16 style of design, where the primary intake is well below the centerline.) This is also why you should close most of your intakes as soon as you turn off the jets, since presumably the reason you turned off the jets was that the intakes were about to run out of air anyway.

3> Angles matter. When you're using jets you're generally thrusting almost horizontally, but when you switch to rockets, the conventional wisdom is to angle upwards again somewhat (say, at a 45-degree angle) to minimize the amount of time you're dealing with the little resistance from the upper atmosphere. The problem is that if you do this too low in the atmosphere (say, below 25km) then there's still enough air to create drag that'd push your nose up even further. You shouldn't be turning off your jets much below this altitude anyway, but it's still something to watch out for.

4> If you're high enough that you're turning off the jets, you're probably also high enough that your flaps just aren't effective any more. Make sure you've got a good flywheel somewhere on your design, preferably close to your center of mass, and make sure to keep the SAS turned on. Yes, cockpits include a flywheel as well, but depending on the size of your plane they just might not be enough.

If you're stalling, one of three things is happening. On the design side, either you don't have enough intakes (likely, given the stats of the stock intakes) or you don't have enough engine power to keep your speed up. It could also be a question of your flying ability; if you're climbing too quickly, you simply won't be moving fast enough at any point to take full advantage of your intakes. Generally, you want to be climbing slowly enough that you're getting the maximum use out of the intakes, to keep from depleting your air supply while you build up speed. Aim for 350m/s at 11km, 650m/s at 16km, 850m/s at 19km, and 1300m/s at 23km. If you're turning off your jets below about 1000m/s then you're really doing something wrong (and 1200 is what you should aim for), and if you're crossing those altitudes at speeds well below what I listed then you're climbing much too quickly.

[FlamedSteak]

Thanks for that Spatz, that answers a lot of question without me having to ask them. I certainly do think my airspeed is too low when I'm enagaging rockets, which is could be a result of a lack of intakes....or at least the wrong type of intakes. Also the flipping may be the result of setting my wings too high, which I raised to allow for ground clearance of underwing engines.

[Benjpalmer]

After an attempt at asparagus staging went horribly wrong and had to be aborted, I managed to land at the Island Runway!

[StrandedonEarth]

Sent Bob and Dilbles on what turned out to be a 1-way trip to Moho, landing on fumes.

[Biker Joe]

I built a fuel tank for my kethane refinery and sent it to the mun, now to land it and hook it up...

[Sylon00]

I've been tearing my hair out on spaceplanes. Building a stable SSTO is one of those things I need to tick of my list.

I get close, but I either inexplicably and suddenly stall in the upper atmosphere. Or as soon as I shutdown the jets and engage the rockets, I nose upwards and start flipping (my CoL must vary wildly when I shut them down, but not having a way to determine where the centre of lift is sans jets is making my life difficult).

I did build a nifty and reliable plane this morning, well balanced, takes off and lands beautifully, but it still seems to lose lift very suddenly when I get about 12k meters.

These 3 videos helped me out big time. After watching them, I managed to get a SSTO up into orbit on my first try.

[Tw1]

*Beep*

"Calling for Scene 6. Could all Kerbals involved in Scene 6 please make their way to the runway."

.....

Charlie had done all he could to save his crewmates following the disaster, but now there was nobody to save him.

Tears streaming freely, Charlie howled his terror and frustration, as he sped out into the void...

Aww, poor guy.

Edited December 16, 2013 by Tw1

[Chrisd857]

Tw1, is that stock?!? It's hard to tell.

Impressive either way.

[Liowen]

Fought a claim against one of my KSP videos, and woke up this morning to find it had a second one on it, after the first one had been dropped. As for actual in game things I am trying to figure out where to go after Duna, should it be Ike, Gilly, or maybe another planet.

[Deadweasel]

Fought a claim against one of my KSP videos, and woke up this morning to find it had a second one on it, after the first one had been dropped.

Yeah I'm running into that too. YouTube's new detection scheme seems to be based on "finder's keepers", in that anybody who posts up something for sale at CD Baby containing a single sample similar to yours will get you a Content ID match warning. Between the Google+ fiasco and this, I'm about ready to give up on YouTube completely.

[Sylon00]

Fought a claim against one of my KSP videos, and woke up this morning to find it had a second one on it, after the first one had been dropped. As for actual in game things I am trying to figure out where to go after Duna, should it be Ike, Gilly, or maybe another planet.

Yeah I'm running into that too. YouTube's new detection scheme seems to be based on "finder's keepers", in that anybody who posts up something for sale at CD Baby containing a single sample similar to yours will get you a Content ID match warning. Between the Google+ fiasco and this, I'm about ready to give up on YouTube completely.

Turn music off. That seems to be what the latest issue is. Once YT detects any sort of music, it'll likely flag it. A lot of previously uploaded videos are getting hit too. Give it a try, it might work.

[Liowen]

Yeah I'm running into that too. YouTube's new detection scheme seems to be based on "finder's keepers", in that anybody who posts up something for sale at CD Baby containing a single sample similar to yours will get you a Content ID match warning. Between the Google+ fiasco and this, I'm about ready to give up on YouTube completely.

Yup, but I do not want to get another warning for going too far off topic, although it is what I did in KSP today sort of. I made a dailymotion channel I may just move my content there and see if it is better for what I need.

[Tw1]

Tw1, is that stock?!? It's hard to tell.

Impressive either way.

Nar, there's a bunch of LLL parts for windows and detail. And a few other non-stock bits here and there.