What did you do in KSP1 today?

[SkyHook]

Project "New World" has commenced. 

This will be an Interplanetary craft that will have the task of landing everything needed for a colonization and science excursion in one shot. The design is restricted to airless bodies, but that's most of them in Kerbal so it should be a workhorse going forward. Hope to use it on a Dres excursion after my Duna Mission. 

[Brownhair2]

Significantly improved my crane:

Main issue remaining is that the arm can't re-dock. Which will be problematic if I try to switch away.

[Triop]

Today.

[Halfdan]

i designed a SSTO as a lander for laythe and tested it on Kerbin

Launch and insertion into an 84 by 84km orbit at half a 0.3 degrees of inclination

After a series of orbital manouvers a docking manouver with a target vehicle was performed

Final stage of the mission was the deorbit Burn and landing in kerbins deserts

I am all up for suggestions to improve the craft but i believe landing on laythe should be possible 

next planned design step is adding a sience payload and the EPS (Emergency parachute System)

[The Raging Sandwich]

MapSat 3 (A scaled-up version of MapSat 1. Launched into a 250x250 km polar orbit. So far it has found no anomalies.): Success

GeoCom 1 (A geosynchronous communications probe. GeoComs are designed to fly above all the equatorial continents. This one attempted to fly over the KSC but failed to do so. Failed to reach a stable geostationary orbit.): Partial success

Laythe 2 (Another crewed mission to KerbinLab 2. Launched on Day 153. Docked to KerbinLab 2 with Laythe 1 still aboard until day 158. Padsel Kerman is to stay in KerbinLab 2 until year 9 day 134 as the rest of the crew are to return to Kerbin on day 220.): Probable success

Laythe 1 and its crew of 3 undocked from KerbinLab 2 and landed safely back at Kerbin

STS 10 (Launched Truss B to KerbinLab 2 which contains two medium-sized radiators and 1 Megalador solar panel. So far it has matched planes with KerbinLab 2. After the failure to dock Truss A in STS 9 due to lack of probe control, engineers triple-checked to make sure the probe they attached was still there. Surprisingly, it was still there all three times.): Probable success

Next planned mission: Transit 13 (A high-gain communications relay to be based on the surface of Minmus to allow further communications with deep-space probes and probes at Minmus. It will have both an orbital relay and a lander relay.)

Laythe 1 (docked below thee KerbinLab 3 module) and Laythe 2 (docked to the end of the Orion module) on KerbinLab 2.

Laythe 1 at sunrise, slightly after retrofire and slightly before SM jettison

STS-10's unusually unstable launch

[Big Kerbie]

Just a short time to play today so only two mission s were started.  While I wanted to work on Port Kerbin and send up the first truss section, there was the nagging problem of three previous contracts that needed to be addressed.

The first was contract I wanted to get rid of was a long term orbital survey of Minmus. It required the Little Brother package, but didn't say I couldn't put more stuff on it. I loaded it up and launched the Minmus Surveyor mission. There are a miriad of science experiments on board including the resource scanner and multi spectrum imaging platform. Easy peasy. Reached the target orbit in 5 days. North and South hemisphere recon data were sent back. I only need 30 days until the contract is fulfilled. I did not put a large relay dish on it, and I kind of regret it. There are a couple of other sats in Minmus orbit already that have relay capability, but nothing really long range.

Jeb, back from his vacation, was selected to pilot a two tier mission in the Tigercat Mk2-B Orbital Rescue Vehicle. As Val is still meeting with mission planners and doing more simulations with her crew for the upcoming Mun 2/Minmus 1 landing mission, Jeb was the only pilot left. Seems some other space program has launched a hapless Engineer into LKO and they need us to bring him home. Also, there is piece of space junk in a similar orbit as the engineer, and KSP wants to bring it home to study it. Jeb asked to be paired up with one of our rookie Scientists to go up with him to get some experience.

The launch went perfect. Orbital insertion was flawless. Rendezvous with the engineer's mk2 inline cockpit went swimmingly. It was grabbed with the claw. All systems go! Mission success.

As this was not the hunk of junk we wanted, Jeb set the Tigercat into a low periapsis orbit and decoupled the cockpit and the second stage (which was nearly out of fuel). He then reversed course and brought the Tigercat ORV back into a circular orbit while the two decoupled parts burned up harmlessly in Kerbin's dense atmosphere.

The intrepid crew now wait rendezvous with the target space junk.  Once they reach it, they will grab on and make thier deorbit burn. Two contracts will be fulfilled with that one.

Busy times at the KSC. All hands on deck. There is talk of beginning the planning stages of a base on another planet. The Kerbal Planetary Base Inc has proposed several plans of what could be. This is just the early stages as we have not even left the Kerbin system yet.

[XB-70A]

Wow wow wow... such much happen in a week, about seven pages to read! And, as usual, all interesting by the way.

Here nothing special. After seven days of exploitation  serving my clients I finally granted myself an awakening around 09-10:00 local time... just to be awakaned by a guy around 07:45-50 knocking at my door... I felt what it was to step to the Super Saiyan level  !!!

 

Anyway I just took the opportunity to ensure the transfert of my Duna's rover Singularity :

 

Placed on a 700x700 km parking orbit 152 days before...

 

It was now the time to accomplish what I waited pretty long for (no game warp apart of the ones during the flights).

 

T-05:25 before the maneuver. About 1.1 km/s still available in the 2nd stage.

 

And we left Kerbin for a long travel of 253 days before the so-waited encounter... and first rover operation in that career... and first in my whole KSP play which will use propulsion to land instead of parachutes.

 

 

But meanwhile, in the SPH...

A whole new prototype will launch a relay satellite following Singularity by three days. I expect to place it on the same polar orbit as the rover will land on one of Duna's poles (but I still have to decide which one), probably on a circular between 100-150 km or maybe a Molnya like to ensure the longest operation with the rover.

I just wonder what it will be as I never tried this system before, the carrier as the launcher...

[Guest]

I slapped something together like it'd be funny if it actually worked and it turned out to be an SSTO with a 250t payload to 125km and enough power to deorbit itself with 1 second of fuel left.

The vessel being launched is inspired by a 1971 shuttle concept. http://www.projectrho.com/public_html/rocket/realdesigns2.php#id--Reusable_Nuclear_Shuttle

 

View of the bottom; I called it Sunflower because of this.

[dangerhamster]

Mun Gryfon en route to it's next objective had another encounter with an erratic boulder.

Aware that flights were being cut back due to budget shortfall (largely caused by Jeb's mishandling of airships) they kept a sharp lookout to avoid turning themselves into a rescue mission. A few km further on they spotted what can only be described as a rip in the fabric of reality.

Makes the one in Dr Who look a bit silly. Parked up short of it they took a nap mulled over the problem before waking checking again and finding themselves on the other side. Querying mission control they were told "Don't ask just accept it as divine editing intervention"

Arriving in the target area they checked the take from the scansat and found indications of three anomalies to the north south and north westish. Heading to the southern one they discovered signs of a lost colony.

Vowing to return with a bigger flag they pushed on to the northern one. Their instruments placed it on top of a somewhat gnolly knoll.

Nothing loath they managed to summitise by driving in a spiral round it at a steady 4 m/s.

"Ok hotshot, now get us down"

Descent turned out to be easier than ascent as long as retardation was invoked, thus plunging was avoided. They are now tootling towards the next objective which is pleasingly in the general direction of Munbase.

 

 

 

 

[Halfdan]

the discovery began its return trip from Jool by executing a gravity assist manouver at laythe

a last look in the rear view mirror

practically on fumes discovery reached duna and therefore the fuel station in ike orbit

i think further expeditions to Jool will take place from duna instead of kerbin

[Flamingo]

In my science save my base has finally arrived to Duna and landed in a slightly sloped area. Now it is time for Jeb to bring his plane down from orbit so it can fly around and collect science. But landing the plane was slightly harder than i thought i would be, so i made a little video of how to land a plane on Duna.

 

 

[Halfdan]

i can only talk from shuttle landings on kerbin but have you tried executing turns to bleed of airspeed?

also airbreaks and an EPS (emergency parachute system) are usefull 

Edited December 27, 2016 by Halfdan

[Big Kerbie]

Finished up the Tigercat Orbital Rescue mission. The targeted space junk ended up being a BACC Thumper SRB. It was heavy, but not as heavy as it could have been because it was empty. Everything and everyone returned from orbit unscathed. Ta-da! Frante Kerman joined the ranks of the KSP. Spesos were paid out. 

[loch.ness]

Nothing pic-worthy today either, mostly correction burns and crew training.

 

The base modules and rovers for the Hyperion crew did their course corrections.  Fuel will be tight as they approach Duna but I should be able to get them all in orbit without too much fuss, Rendezvous will need to be well timed/planned later.

 

Recruited Buzz Kerman, a scientist who might need to bump someone off the Duna mission.

My Mun training mission (Using Apollo hardware) was a night side landing with two scientists (and the LEM still has no probecore).  Part of me thinks I should plan a future save in which I use no SAS at all, other parts of me thinks this is silly and wouldn't be as much fun.

Of my team, everyone has reached level 2 except Lanming, Ormund, and Namie.  Of them, Lanming needs a Mun landing while the other two need a trip to Minmus to complete their leveling for the mission.  With ~ 70 days to my window I'm on track.

I do still need to get the train in orbit and on its way to Duna but that should be a simple matter of building a big enough launcher.

[Martian Emigrant]

The other day I saw what @Jett_Quasar did,

Quote

Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's

So to put you in context. I have a career game going in 1.2 and I want to upgrade all my Kerbals to 5 Stars before moving on to 1.2.++ and a new career.

I did a lot of procrastinating (and a few failures) but now I had a seed to work with.

http://imgur.com/a/TueFQ

So I built a ship. Took a few days to test. Then put it in a bottle. Mounted it on a large rocket. Then loaded all 88 of my Kerbals on it (Can actually accommodate 98).

 

Unwrapping the Jool Ship 4.1. Now called the Jool's Verne.

 

Jeb is Down-Below. He insist it’s an Air-Reg....I don't....think it is....that the pilot must be the first one on the scene of the accident. So Startrek be darned is command chair is underneath.

Val is Topside. The seat was vacant (like half the lower deck) so she moved there after they made orbit.

Left for Jool.

 

 

ME

Edited December 27, 2016 by Martian Emigrant

[LordFerret]

I built (yet another) a plane and attempted to fly it. Sad, isn't it.

 

[Sybok]

Tested my new Laythe shuttle service.
And yes, this 'orb' can fly and achieve orbit

[Triop]

Today, SNOW !

[Brownhair2]

I'm glad I brought a mining ship. I'd still have enough delta-v to do a round trip, but I would not have enough delta-v to deal with Gilly's retrograde orbit (oh btw Gilly has a retrograde orbit) and I would not have the ~7000 m/s delta-v needed to do the Tidus capture burn after coming in from high Vanor orbit.

Actually, I still don't have enough for that.

Looks like I'll have to stop at Bop for refuels. Luckily, I have plenty of time to figure things out. >90 days, to be exact. (I don't like how large gas giants' spheres of influence are)

In the meantime, my crane is complete! (no I will not call it krane)

I'm pleased with how it turned out:

• Uses landing gear to raise the arm, letting it lift things without consuming any resources
• Can lift anything it outweighs (hypothetically)
• Arm can re-dock

Of course, I still have to do a test drive. Later. I have other things I need to do.

Edited December 27, 2016 by Brownhair2

[Julian.]

I Sent A Probe To Eve. To See If I Can Make A Small Base. Or Atleast Get A Submarine There.

[Flamingo]

35 minutes ago, Halfdan said:

i can only talk from shuttle landings on kerbin but have you tried executing turns to bleed of airspeed?

also airbreaks and an EPS (emergency parachute system) are usefull 

I thought that the plane would have enough lift to sustain flight at low speeds, but its stall-speed is around 70 m/s, so landings are rough. I have not yet unlocked airbrakes os i could not put those on. I have realized that i should have put bigger parachutes on it tho.

[Fearless Son]

Over the weekend I sent a trio of relay probes on a course for Duna.  Each has an RA-100 and two Communotron 88-88s, plus plenty of batteries and solar panels, with only some RCS thrusters for adjustment.  All of them were sent into orbit in a single launch.  That proved to be a bigger challenge than anticipated, with the multi-faring payload capsule they were in as tall as the booster stage that lifted it.  I experimented with keeping it stable during ascent by adding lots of tail drag, but that proved insufficient, so I took a more Kerbal approach and added moar boosters.  The Skipper-driven liquid boosters did plenty enough to give it sufficient thrust to power through the fairing drag and enough gimbling to keep it going straight.  Plus the added delta-v meant that I did not even have to detach my transition module to go to Duna, I was able to use the lifter's Mainsail to burn for Duna without even having to tap into my transition module's tank.  I limited the thrust on the Mainsail and used the tiny amount of fuel left to do some minor corrections until my plotted course was actually to impact with Duna rather than simply intercept it.  I will detach the lifter en-route to be destroyed via surface impact at Duna rather than leave the debris clogging the spacelanes, while the transition module will make another slight course correction to be positioned to park directly in Low Duna Orbit.  

With that mission safely underway, I worked on building a probe rover which will be sent to Duna before the transfer window opens up too much more.  It is not ready yet, but I plan to launch it soon on the heels of the relay probes so it will arrive shortly after they do.  The idea is that the probe rover will have a skycrane-style lander with long landing legs.  Once it touches down, the probe will detach and roll around.  The lander itself will have a separate probe core, solar panels, and some relay-capable antenna on board.  That will serve as the on-the-ground relay-to-orbit of things that the probe transmits back to it.  The probe itself has a pair of Communotron DTS-M1s aboard, so the lander will not be strictly necessary as a relay, but I think it will be fun and not likely to hurt (the added mass of the relays will be pretty nominal compared to what I am already sending.)  Plus I remember reading somewhere that the bandwidth and quality of the relays will affect how much science data gets transmitted from range, so hopefully this helps maximize the return on my effort.  

[The Aziz]

I made this video

This year is making me mad.

[Triop]

7 minutes ago, The Aziz said:

I made this video

This year is making me mad.

I pressed like before even realising it's a video...

Why so sad ?

Edited December 27, 2016 by Triop

[Halfdan]

1 hour ago, Flamingo said:

I thought that the plane would have enough lift to sustain flight at low speeds, but its stall-speed is around 70 m/s, so landings are rough. I have not yet unlocked airbrakes os i could not put those on. I have realized that i should have put bigger parachutes on it tho.

i gotta admit you made me curious, so i tried myself in making a duna plane and here is what i came up with:

i took it out for a few test flights around olympos colony and i must say it handles rather well

main propulsion is by two terrier engines
steering is done by a combination of aerodynamic surfaces and RCS thrusters

landing in a low gravity environment with thin athmosphere is.... interessting to say the least, airbreaks are VERY usefull but i sometimes hat to perform sort of a drift to retrograde and throttle the engines to full



i often end up rather far away from the spaceport, but hey what airplane lands right at the terminal? ^^

but with RCS i can safely roll back to the spaceport at about 5-7 m/s 

all in all i would call this a rather sucessfull aircraft, and i proudly announce that olympos colony can now offer an airline service