What did you do in KSP1 today?

[Guest]

So, reloaded from a pre-kraken save and parked everybody safely around the Jolian moons.

Perfectly Safe Tylo Landing System arriving here. 

Laythabout.

...and a couple of pretty shots of my high-power relays pinballing off Laythe. 

Gotta say, that gravity pinball in the Jool system is complicated.

Next up is setting up my ISRU operation. The survey results from Bop were encouraging...

 

Edited January 19, 2018 by Guest

[Guest]

2 hours ago, CatastrophicFailure said:

An Air Ship. 

That... thing... actually flies?

Wow. Just... wow.

[Castille7]

FA-05 Skyshark 

Today I am sharing an Aircraft built by XLjedi

Often I enjoy other builders craft and like to share them. This time it's an all stock 48 part FA-05 Skyshark built by @XLjedi and it can be found on Kerbalx

 

[MaxwellsDemon]

Mostly designing again... made a somewhat unsatisfactory Kerbalized version of the R-7*... rebuilt a "Proton"-inspired design that I seem to have accidentally deleted at some point... and worked on the expansion modules for my Mir-analogue.  Other than that, the second of two Duna probes left Kerbin's SOI, and the third component of the Kerbin-system comm network is in place (big antenna circling Minmus in an oblique orbit).

_________

* and then downloaded a better-looking one from KerbalX that I have yet to test out.

 

[Geonovast]

4 hours ago, CatastrophicFailure said:

Eh?

[kraden]

@CatastrophicFailure that thing makes me think of the game Guns of Icarus. 

[LordFerret]

I've a lander on Duna with two crew awaiting a ride back home (lander tipped and crashed on landing). I planted a flag by it. Each time I return to it, I notice the craft is sliding closer and closer to the flag... it's sliding downhill. Goofy game.

Also dropped a rover nearby, as planned, to give the two crew something to do. The little rover runs great... maybe a little too great... must remember to keep the speed below 25m/s. It took one bad hop and flip already and busted a headlamp. Thankfully all else about it is ok. Good thing too, because it and the driver are over 50km away from the ship... we're on our way to an anomaly.

Edited January 19, 2018 by LordFerret

[ShadowZone]

I built a fully reusable stock launcher that can put 1150t into orbit.

 

 

[Hotel26]

19 hours ago, Brikoleur said:

I do not know WTH happened but this put my mission in serious jeopardy.

I can't explain why JadeOfMaar, Martian Emigrant and Catastrophic Failure "like this", but I'm very sad about what has happened to you and am very sure you didn't deserve it in any way, so I can only say that I am very sad about it.  And wish you a speedy recovery.

Edited January 19, 2018 by Hotel26

[Hotel26]

9 hours ago, Hotel26 said:

I do not know WTH happened but this put my mission in serious jeopardy.

Hotel26 is sad about this.

[Is that so hard, folks?  What's wrong with people, today?]

EDIT: Just my sense of humor out of control.    Not to be taken seriously.

Edited January 20, 2018 by Hotel26

[Geonovast]

20 hours ago, Brikoleur said:

Something like that. It's definitely a kraken -- I checked my saves, and on day 35 it was still there, whereas on day 46 it was gone.

At least I have a savegame to go back to.

Couldn't you just pull that component for that craft out of an older save, and stick it back in where it belongs on the newer one?  I'm assuming it didn't have any children if it's all the disappeared.

[Corona688]

48 minutes ago, Hotel26 said:

I can't explain why JadeOfMaar, Martian Emigrant and Catastrophic Failure "like this"

"Like" ends up meaning a lot of things when there's a like button.  Anything people enjoyed, sympathized with, or found informative, may get likes.  About the only thing it doesn't mean, is hate.

[Atkara]

3 hours ago, Brikoleur said:

Gotta say, that gravity pinball in the Jool system is complicated.

I know the feeling. I was there a couple of RL days ago, deploying my own sat network.

Two satellites per body: one with orbital survey scanner in polar orbit, another with narrow band scanner in equatorial orbit and both equipped with dual HG-5s. That makes 10 -plus two main relays, equipped with one RA-100 each.

For obvious reasons, I grouped them into two flights of 6 satellites each. But still...

• Group1 flew by Tylo where it delivered. It's current trajectory would also get it to intercept Vall.
• Group 2 entered Jool's SOI 12 days later, which isn't that much of a margin. So I had to pay close attention to it. That one, flew by Tylo as well, but it's next orbit around Jool, would have it intercept Laythe.
• Back to Group1, it flew by Vall, delivered and had it's Jool AP tweaked to 240Mm. There, it released the main equatorial relay, which I set up to circularize. Then, I set course for Bop, where I would deliver Group1's remaining relay.
• Group2 arrived at Laythe, delivered two relays and set course for Pol. After delivering to both, I adjusted it's Jool AP to 250Mm, where it released the main polar relay, which obviously had to go well... polar. Then Group2 set course for Bop, where it delivered it's remaining relay.

Once all was said and done, the two vehicles that brought the relays all the way up there, were sent to gracefully burn up in Jool's upper atmosphere.

The cherry on top is that while at it, I also had to pay attention to 3 more flights: two en route to Duna and 1 to Moho.

Yeah...

[MaxwellsDemon]

4 hours ago, Brikoleur said:

Gotta say, that gravity pinball in the Jool system is complicated.

Good thing for me to keep in mind when I finally send something there.  I already have enough trouble avoiding Mun at times!

[NSEP]

Dart II, my low mass lifter capable of sending no more than 500kg to LEO.

[CatastrophicFailure]

5 hours ago, Brikoleur said:

That... thing... actually flies?

Wow. Just... wow.

I think it's more a case of "so ugly the ground repels it." 

2 hours ago, Hotel26 said:

Hotel26 is sad about this.

[Is that so hard, folks?  What's wrong with people, today?]

Like @Corona688 said, and we've all been there. Unfortunately there's no reaction for "Raise a glass and pat on the back, and huzzah for backups!"

[Tyko]

26 minutes ago, NSEP said:

Dart II, my low mass lifter capable of sending no more than 500kg to LEO.

cool...if you're trying to optimize you can probably remove the fins from the upper stage. There's not a lot of air at higher altitudes for the fins to work with and there are other ways to make sure your rocket flies straight:

1. Use engines that gimbal - most of them do
2. Use two tanks instead of one long tank and set a lower fuel flow priority on the upper tank - this will make the lower tank drain first and keep your CoM further forward

These techniques can be used on the lower stages too...I never use fins anymore and you'll note that real rockets rarely use fins either.

[XB-70A]

Probably my most intense day in KSP for a while with three missions to treat "nearly" at the same time.

It started with the launch of Minmus ComSat IV, a light but still efficient small satellite to increase the connection with the inner planets probes.

 

While everything was going well and smoothly, the Kerbal Clock rang to notify me of the closing date of encounter between Mercury II and Eeloo.

 

 

Starting the ion engines burn extremely soon as the solar panels were not even capable of maintaining the electric level.

 

I started to stress at one time as the speed was not decreasing fast enough, but, hopefully, it works and the orbit reached was not so awful.

 

Woohoo! It was not just the first encounter in this save, but the first I ever had with Eeloo since I started to play!

Then another clock rang!

 

This time the target was to put a small survey satellite in orbit of Ike. Something which went really well as Ike Explorer I was still full of propellant before the circularization maneuver.

 

Despite its ineffective antennas layout, it still was possible to enjoy a good connection to the KSC with the help of two other probes orbiting Duna.

Another clock alarm at this time? Yes, of course!

 

This time it was about the circularization of Juno Explorer, a probe launch during the last July and destined to be my first craft to orbit Jool ever.

 

I could not describe how happy I was when I read this. Finally, after three years to play only around the inner planets, Jool became a reality!

 

A lot of first happen today!

 

Alas, running out of time, and of ideas, I didn't know what to do more... so I decided to make a totally useless platform containing the ultra-light and light launchers I'm using the most today...

 

Edited January 19, 2018 by XB-70A

[NSEP]

2 hours ago, Tyko said:

cool...if you're trying to optimize you can probably remove the fins from the upper stage. There's not a lot of air at higher altitudes for the fins to work with and there are other ways to make sure your rocket flies straight:

1. Use engines that gimbal - most of them do
2. Use two tanks instead of one long tank and set a lower fuel flow priority on the upper tank - this will make the lower tank drain first and keep your CoM further forward

These techniques can be used on the lower stages too...I never use fins anymore and you'll note that real rockets rarely use fins either.

My engines have gimbal, but i was a bit paranoid since my last rocket, the Dart, had roll issues. I think i can remove all of the fins, since that does not seem to be a problem anymore.

I never thought of the 2 tank idea thing though, i will try that out! Thanks for the tips! Appreciated!

Edited January 19, 2018 by NSEP

[Starman4308]

The most atypical thing I've done today involves a lot of "shoop da woop" and "firin mah lazor". Specifically, I forgot to remove those debugging print statements from a kOS method used to check "okay, do I need to discharge a Near Future capacitor to keep my ion engines running?."  As a consequence, every second of a 30-minute-long ion burn, kOS would print out "shoop da whoop shoop da whoop shoop da whoop".

At least the burn was a complete success, an Oberth maneuver at Tellumo to bring up my solar inclination to about 25 degrees of the 48 degrees required for a contract. For those unfamiliar with Tellumo, it's a super-Earth about 1.6 Kerbin distances from the sun in Galileo's Planet Pack, which makes it very ideal for slingshots and Oberth maneuvers, though solar panel effectiveness is sub-par.

Especially sub-par when Tellumo is in the way of the sun.

The purpose of this: I had to achieve this high-solar-inclination contract without really enough time to do a proper bi-elliptic. So, my plan was to have an absurd amount of delta-V (over 10 km/sec) on an ion-powered probe, slingshot it around Tellumo, and complete the rest of the inclination adjustment brute-force. Tellumo is excellent for this; at 3.2x scale, escape velocity is over 10 km/sec, so Sir Oberth grants great rewards for burns deep in Tellumo's gravity well.

Seeing as that I'm playing with RemoteTech, and I didn't have relays at Tellumo yet, this meant a kOS script not just to hold the burn while in the communication shadow, but also to discharge my capacitors as EC ran dry, something I'd never done with a kOS script before.

Other than that, after double-checking the delta-V requirements for orbiting Thalia with just a few weeks until the transfer window, I very very hastily edited this probe, which used to have a 1-ton recon camera, 0.2-ton M700 survey scanner, and some extra batteries on it. Replacing that mass with an extra 1.2 tons of propellant got my delta-V up to a comfortable 5 km/sec.

Past that, in about 266 game days, I'm going to be able to test using KSPTOT's multiple flyby predictions to slingshot around Tellumo towards Otho for vastly reduced delta-V vs. a direct transfer. A big part of my issue right now is just setting up a maneuver node at the correct true anomaly to match KSPTOT's prediction, since the Gael ejection burn has pretty large radial and normal components that differ from what a typical interplanetary transfer looks like.

[Guest]

Jebediah Kerman has returned from the surface of Tylo with a very important report.

It's rather dull really. Grey and mostly flat, lacking in features, and entirely unsuitable as a destination for a beachfront holiday.

The Perfectly Safe Tylo Landing System on the other hand performed flawlessly. Neither the landing nor the re-orbit were exactly textbook perfect, but the tolerances were more than sufficient for the job: Jeb made it back to the orbiter module with over 300 m/s to spare. A more practiced Tylo pilot would likely have been able to do the trip without the initial 500 m/s assist from the orbiter module. That would have been close to the limits of the design however.

The Atomic Rover likewise made a perfect landing and is busy exploring the surface and transmitting back its discoveries.

Jeb's return trip is likewise as good as assured: the ISRU operation on Bop is in full swing. Bop Prospector found a suitably flat valley with a sufficient concentration of surface ore, and fuel production has started.

The rest of the operation is in good shape as well. Jool Station has sufficient fuel for one Vall landing while leaving enough for the tanker to make its way to Bop for refueling. The first fuel shipment will therefore go to Laythabout which is lacking just a little for its trip to the surface. The only fly in the ointment is the continuing series of petty larceny in the Space Program, as a Science Recovery Can has mysteriously disappeared from the PSTLS orbiter module.

[Drag0n]

Rescue 5 kerbals, 4 stranded in LKO and 1 stranded in HKO:

 

E

(Excuse Valentina, forgot to remove her from the pod ) (LKO Version)

(Didn't forget this time ) (HKO Version)

Edited January 19, 2018 by Drag0n
Messed up the numbers

[CoreI]

I just had a revelation.

I've been having these bugs where the Mun would turn pitch black on all sides, but I could still see topography around the edges. Weird. I also would occasionally have this happen with only half the Mun being black. i never time warped during these bugs.

So today I was piloting my Munar hopper on the Mun, picking up a very survey contracts. Then I exit out to map view. And nearly had a heart attack. Half the Mun was black, and the front was racing towards my probe, which was on a suborbital trajectory! I couldn't figure out what this mischief of the Kraken was until I managed to land (my first successful [and unintentional] dark landing, I've lost several ships to the Munar night before). I happened to check my solar panels, and they were at full power! Then I remembered something on the wiki about eclipses on Kerbin making everything dark but solar panels still functional! I was just unaware that this could happen on the Mun.

https://imgur.com/a/Yn3ee

Armed with this glorious revelation, I would like to apologize for ever thinking there was a bug. I feel so relieved.

 

[Geonovast]

3 minutes ago, CoreI said:

Armed with this glorious revelation, I would like to apologize for ever thinking there was a bug. I feel so relieved.

You have that backwards.  In stock, eclipses will kill solar panels without any visual clues.

However it appears you're running visual mods, so they're probably what's mucking you up.  I've never seen stock get that dark.

[scottadges]

The past several days have been all about designing spacecraft. I posted this on my Duna mission report with pics and more details

========================================

DSV 101 - Duna Service Vehicle 'Valkyrie'

This is the first in a new class of interplanetary spacecraft for the kerbals. It represents an evolution of their technical and design capabilities, utilizing experimental new materials and integrating cutting-edge technologies with proven design methodologies towards one monumental goal: Successful completion of the Duna Mission.

Mission parameters and design specifics:

Spoiler

The specific requirements of the Duna mission factored heavily into the design of the craft. The Valkyrie will take a crew of five (2 pilots, 2 engineers, 1 scientist) to the Red Planet, land successfully for the first time, and return to Kerbin after an extended period in orbit. Each component and design choice was evaluated to ensure success in realizing this monumental achievement.

Since actually "landing and returning" is the primary focus of the mission, the spacecraft features an integrated lander that will de-orbit, land under power, and return to the Valkyrie. Purpose-built for Duna's thin atmosphere, the craft carries sufficient dV for a powered descent using new a high-efficiency engine and an integrated landing leg assembly to maximize aerodynamics. In order to take advantage of aero-braking in the almost non-existent atmosphere, the lander includes supplementary air brakes and drogue chutes. 

Other design innovations include a larger habitable area than any vessel in the fleet, a larger communications array, as well as improved propulsion and electrical systems to support the long journey. Finally, the Valkyrie will be bringing along an experimental micro-communications buoy in a specially-designed external cargo housing to leave in equatorial orbit around the planet.

========================================

LKO Transport 'Charon'

Evolving out of the successful Mk3 STS shuttle program, a new class of Mk3 LKO transport was designed to support the needs of the upcoming Duna Mission. Hopes are high for this class of spacecraft, with additional variants already on the drawing board.

Background and more information:

Spoiler

As construction began on the 'Valkyrie', additional Engineers and crew were needed quickly at the 'Foundry' manufacturing station. Rather than rely on the aging STS shuttle fleet, a next generation spacecraft was envisioned to better fit this role and support other operations throughout LKO.

Mission experience with the STS Mk3-E class shuttles was mixed in LKO, beyond simple orbital insertion and return to Kerbin. The Cargo Hab program was a great improvement, allowing flexibility to bring more crew to LKO and provide dockable temporary orbital stations.

But the actual process of docking the STS fleet with orbital facilities established later on was time-consuming and inefficient. Transferring orbits with an STS vessel was less than precise, due to the engine configuration of the craft and RCS design shortcomings. Most importantly, the overall dV of the STS fleet was low, making it almost impossible to complete a round trip between Kerbin and the 'Delphi' research station (KSO) or the Munar Mk2 Outpost.

The LKO Transport program was specifically designed around a high-dV engine profile, with enough LFO and MP to support longer missions throughout Kerbin's SOI. It also needed larger capacity to transport crew without the use of a cargo bay. Most importantly it needed to feature highly-tuned RCS thrusters and reaction wheel technologies to make orbital docking very efficient.

Innovative techniques were employed to integrate a significant amount of fuel, electrical, and other equipment within the Mk3 framework while maximizing weight distribution and overall form factor. Finally, improvements in Mk3 cockpit designs allows for a unique spacecraft design that just looks "fast". It features an impressive 1.25 TWR and over 4200m/s of dV.

 

 

Edited January 20, 2018 by scottadges