Geonovast Posted January 21, 2018 Share Posted January 21, 2018 @XB-70A your love affair with fairings intrigues me. Is it for aerodynamic?, or aesthetics? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
qzgy Posted January 21, 2018 Share Posted January 21, 2018 I suspect aesthetics. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CatastrophicFailure Posted January 21, 2018 Share Posted January 21, 2018 (edited) Today... well, last night, I needed to do some surveying and measuring in my 6.4x 1.3 save, so I thought I'd continue the ridiculous theme of things made almost entirely from wings. I came up with this... thing... Spoiler I seem to be getting that weird gender-reversal bug. Or maybe it's not a bug, who am I to judge? Welcome aboard, Johngard. dat face doe... I very quickly discovered this thing is very efficient at mashing Kerbals into an unconscious paste, so I have dubbed it, The Squishyalator! Unfortunately for Johngard, she came to just a tad too late.. Sorry, Johngard... Oh... The safe from the Safecracking Challenge is still sitting there. No wonder my framerate sucks. Now it's Tati's turn! *squish* dat face, doe... Aaaand it ws about this time I discovered, even with autostruts and rigid attachment, the Squishyalator does not play well with physwarp! Does anything, really? Hey! Wait! I wasn't done with that bit yet! Or... Tati wasn't done yet... oh crap... Bail out, lil' green dude! Erm... maybe you should have bailed out a little higher (he did have a parachute)... Sorry, Tati. Then it was Gregmal's turn, and everything was going well until... Gotta admire her attitude, tho. She was actually ok until right about... um... here... Dangit, that's three tonight. The wife's gonna kill me... wonder how many Kerbals I can fit under the rug... And then there was Lusy... we don't talk about Lusy... ...I got some 'splainin' to do... And then.... Oh yeah, this whole thing was about surveying. So, hyperedit to the right area... then spawn half a dozen craft trying to get an actual pilot in the seat... Welcome aboard, Gilzor! Aaaaand then I remembered I can't physwarp... dat face doe... Keep it together, guy! Er, metaphorically speaking, that is... You got this! ...maybe not... ...we're going to need another Gilzor! And Gregmal... and Tati... and Lusy... poor Lusy... I feel bad about that one... Edited January 21, 2018 by CatastrophicFailure Spoiler etiquette... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Atkara Posted January 21, 2018 Share Posted January 21, 2018 (edited) With the game requiring a craft to get back from the 'x' planet/moon, in order for exploration contracts to be satisfied, I had a returning rescue "shuttle" re-enter and splashdown. Prior to this, a spaceplane met up with it and brought the crew (and tourists) back to KSC. The re-entry was satisfactory, the splashdown, not so much. But it did the trick... in part. See, that craft didn't land on either Duna or Ike -it was neither designed, nor supposed to. So I knew the game would pester me for things I had already done. To make sure this would never happen again, I started working on a detachable command module for the lander of my Explorer line of vessels. It would re-enter and a replacement would be flown via spaceplane. But it was making the lander unnecessarily tall and there were problems with the arrangement of the ladders. I hated it. There was an alternative: the lander is attached to the main vessel via a Docking Port Sr. As a result, it's propelled by 4 Terriers, on the back end of radially attached fuel tanks, via unstaged radial decouplers. So, why not decouple these tanks and use a spaceplane to bring back the core of the lander instead? Furthermore, Explorer 1 is currently in LKO, waiting to be refueled and it's lander did visit Duna & Ike. The downside is that sending a whole lander as replacement, costs ~60k for the launch vehicle, vs whatever fuel a spaceplane would burn, carrying a command module in orbit. But given my career's financial state, I'd rather do that, than have a lander I don't like. The dice was cast. A spaceplane flew to Explorer 1, with a claw-equipped maneuvering unit in it. The lander undocked and decoupled it's 4 tanks & engines. The maneuvering unit grabbed the core, docked it inside the spaceplane's main cargo bay, then docked itself. Half an hour later and as the plane touched down at KSC, lo and behold: "we have returned from the surface of Duna & Ike". Thank you, game I wish I hadn't ditched that rescue shuttle in the ocean. Ah well, what's done is done. Edited January 21, 2018 by Atkara Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ace in Space Posted January 21, 2018 Share Posted January 21, 2018 Well, what I've got to share isn't nearly as impressive as all these other people, since I'm still relatively new, but today I took my first foray into mining and modular ground bases. Haven't launched anything, mind you, just designing modules and, in moment of wisdom and foresight, decided to thoroughly test everything in the field outside KSC before trying to build anything on Minmus or the Mun. Good thing, too, because I ended up having to redesign everything about four times before I found a workable design. One of the designs was about halfway built when my construction rover accidentally rammed into something while trying to finagle a particularly uncooperative docking port into aligning correctly, and ultimately a few explosions later I had to scrap that model entirely and start from scratch. That wasn't fun. Eventually everything was in place and working just fine... with the odd exception of the habitation module. That was the last thing I added to the field test, and for some inexplicable reason, having its landing gear deployed caused the kraken to attack the whole base. I bailed Bill out in case everything exploded, but that turned out to be unnecessary; I undocked the offending module and recovered it without so much as a broken solar panel. The kraken promptly left and everything else appears to be working smoothly. Tomorrow I'm going to investigate just what it is about this otherwise perfectly innocuous module that causes the entire base to have a full-blown seizure. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OrbitalBuzzsaw Posted January 21, 2018 Share Posted January 21, 2018 (edited) Not technically KSP (SimplePlanes, close enough, they're both aerospace build-a-ship thingys) but looks so damn cool I just had to share it here. Edited January 21, 2018 by OrbitalBuzzsaw Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted January 21, 2018 Share Posted January 21, 2018 Bop is a really poor choice for an ISRU station. I picked it because of the low gravity, despite the inclined orbit. I figured I'd just slingshot off Tylo or Laythe at the right time to correct the inclination and get there and back cheap. It can be done. But cor blimey is it tedious and complicated and tiresome to set up, and it only works when the starts ... well, moons ... are lined up just right. It's probably the way a real space program would do it but this is not my idea of fun. As it is, I'm burning most of my fuel just coming and going. Vall would have been a much better choice, despite the deeper gravity well and consequently more complicated tanker designs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted January 21, 2018 Share Posted January 21, 2018 Laythe is pretty! This concludes the first phase of the grand Jool mission. It's time for a debrief: Major scientific objectives: explore Tylo: ACHIEVED explore Vall: ACHIEVED explore Laythe: ACHIEVED Major logistical objectives: establish suffient CommNet for unKerbaled operations: ACHIEVED establish sufficient local fuel production capacity to produce fuel for a return mission: NOT ACHIEVED establish sufficient local fuel production capacity to support continuing Jool missions: NOT ACHIEVED Minor objectives: explore Bop: NOT ACHIEVED explore Pol: NOT ACHIEVED explore Jolian atmosphere: NOT ACHIEVED The major mistake with this mission was to set up the ISRU operation on Bop. It's simply too expensive/complicated to travel to and from there. I did manage to deliver a load of fuel to Laytheabout which permitted its mission, but the tanker has no fuel to get back. My other tanker does have the capability to get to Bop which means I do have the theoretical capability to support the operation with fuel from there, but it's simply no fun at all. So, this mission will need a second phase. I will set up fuel production operations on both Vall and Laythe. This will provide welcome redundancy for the mission and the fuel will be much more accessible. The Laythe operation will consist of a permanent surface base with fuel production, and a RAPIER-powered tanker plane that ferries the fuel from the surface to orbit. The Vall operation will consist of a permanent automated surface ISRU unit, and a tanker capable of hauling fuel to orbit. My existing tankers will be relegated to orbital operations only, as they are not designed to operate in gravity wells as deep as Vall's and Laythe's (and would not survive entry into Laythe's atmosphere). Onward and upward and never mind the explosions! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ARS Posted January 21, 2018 Share Posted January 21, 2018 I'm doing a lot of testing about flying wing aircraft. I made several iterations to get the best flight performance. The first version, it's basically an SSTO that's being redesigned for flying wing design. Turns out, the first version did a pretty good job. It flies well, and has reasonably responsive control. However, there's a slight sudden 'Shake' whenever I'm full-throttling the engines. TIme for a redesign... The second version, now using jet engines instead of lf/ox engines. Six engines provides thrust to lift the whole thing. The second version flies well, no more shaking at full throttle and having an even better control responsiveness. However, another problem arise. Since jet engines isn't as powerful as lf/ox engines, it struggles to correct and stabilize my craft. Quite often, the second version spin out of control if I yaw/pitch/roll too much. This needs to be redesigned again... A bit of funny note, I tried to use Goliath engines to power it, replacing 6 jet engines. 4 Goliaths provides much better thrust and stability, but a particularly interesting ... incident ruined the whole thing. Basically when I'm taking off, it goes well. Pitching slowly at 5 degree upwards, the flying wing flies smoothly. climbing to 3000 meter, I start to pitch a bit more, the suddenly something explodes (Dunno what's it, whole wings still intact), the craft's velocity drops and gliding softly while 4 goliaths are torn off from main body and flying away in the distance. It's like my craft flies on the air, then suddenly something hold it in place causing the engine to torn off and flying away. I tried to keep it in place with struts but it doesn't work. I don't know what caused it, since apparently, it always happened whenever I pitched more than 5 degree, then there's a kaboom, engines flying away while the craft glides softly to the ground. Okay, this is the third (or fourth?) iteration. This time I tried to make it simple, only one engine. The last iteration was a surprise. It flies with amazing performance. I managed to pull several sharp turns, even at nearly 90 degree angle without any loss of stability (The flight only ends in a crash when my craft hit the ground since it was night and I cannot see the ground clearly).The single engine makes it weaker in terms of thrust, but it compensates this with much more maneuverable flight Things to learn? "Sometimes overengineering isn't always the answer" and "Success in KSP is preceded by several failures, design iteration and redesign" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adstri Posted January 21, 2018 Share Posted January 21, 2018 I just decided to launch a small space station in a new career mode. Now it's time to re-learn how to dock again. It's been a long time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LordFerret Posted January 21, 2018 Share Posted January 21, 2018 16 hours ago, Geonovast said: So this is a thing that happened. .... I like that idea. I could never get the 'traditional' shuttle and lifter balanced enough to reach orbit. I ended up putting the shuttle in the middle of its lifter. 15 hours ago, CatastrophicFailure said: ... I came up with this... thing... ... Heh heh... the faces of the pilots tell the whole story! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geonovast Posted January 21, 2018 Share Posted January 21, 2018 4 minutes ago, LordFerret said: I like that idea. I could never get the 'traditional' shuttle and lifter balanced enough to reach orbit. I ended up putting the shuttle in the middle of its lifter. I could never get it to work either. It's one of those things that probably involved math, and that's just not how I roll(literally - shuttle rolls baffle me) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NISSKEPCSIM Posted January 21, 2018 Share Posted January 21, 2018 Fixed all the crippling problems I had with my paraglider. Now, though it's not a complete dream to fly, it's not the pig is used to be! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scottadges Posted January 21, 2018 Share Posted January 21, 2018 (edited) Working on a rover for my upcoming Duna missions and testing it on Kerbin, then I got to wondering... what would happen if I drove the little guy into the sea? Spoiler My first time was actually an accident. I was playing with the wheel settings and seeing how fast it could go down the KSC runway, when I wasn't looking and shot off the end onto the beach. Before I knew it (I was going 50+ m/s) it was driving UNDER THE WATER. It was hilarious and I couldn't believe it wasn't foundering or stopping. I kept going for quite a while, until it was getting very dark and I was pretty sure it would keep on going and going. So I made a little redesign and added these inflatable floaties. I think I'll try a proper mission where I let it run to the deepest part of Kerbin's ocean. Maybe I'll even do ANOTHER ELKANO this way?? Edited January 21, 2018 by scottadges Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geonovast Posted January 21, 2018 Share Posted January 21, 2018 SEP is definitely one of my most fvaoritested mods. Arch landing was 98% on accident. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted January 21, 2018 Share Posted January 21, 2018 Design work and preliminary trials of the Laythe Mobile Refinery Unit "Pelican" has begun. The first trial run near the KSC was a success! Engineer Bill Kerman flew the Pelican from the Space Centre to the grasslands on the northern side of the bay. He landed the Pelican, lowered it to the ground, and boarded the Atomic Prospector's command seat. Then he took a surface scan of the area, and determining that sufficient ore for exploitation was present, unloaded the MRU and parked it at a suitable spot. He then moved the Prospector to the port at the other end of the MRU, and started mining and refining operations. The system performed flawlessly, at 100% thermal efficiency for all components, and started rapidly producing Lf+Ox. Following the successful trial, he reloaded the MRU and Prospector onto the Pelican and flew back to the KSC where his colleagues treated him to a nice frosty sarsaparilla. Engineer Bill was most pleased with the Advanced Avionics Unit that turned him, too, into an expert test pilot. The next problem to be solved is achieving orbit. In its current state, the Pelican flies, lands, and takes off easily and pleasantly but is not able to reach orbit due to insufficient TWR and the highly draggy payload. Since the Pelican is expected to remain on Laythe after arrival, orbit capability is in fact only necessary inasmuch it is needed to get there in the first place. Therefore, apart from the obvious solution -- adding more power -- a number of alternatives are under consideration, such as lofting the Pelican and her payload separately and transferring them in orbit using disposable boosters to get the full system into orbit lofting the Pelican with her payload using an even bigger plane After that, remains the problem of getting the system to the Jool system, and then Laythe. We remain confident that all these problems will find their solutions, and attach an application for more Funds. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
michal.don Posted January 21, 2018 Share Posted January 21, 2018 More Galileo Planet Pack, carreer mode, 3.2x rescaled system. Fourth mission to Niven SRB-assisted, parachute landing Brought this little fella Pretty much spot-on landing on a planned site - four biomes within driving distance. Sooo much science incoming. Michal.don Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
linuxgurugamer Posted January 21, 2018 Share Posted January 21, 2018 Today I have finished upgrading my install from 1.32 1.32 that one. This is a Heavily modded game with more than 230 mods installed. this is the game that I use for my stream on Sunday nights, stop on By Any Sunday evening between 7 p.m. and midnight East Coast time Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
UnusualAttitude Posted January 21, 2018 Share Posted January 21, 2018 After serving for a full year as a resource miner on one of the near Earth asteroids, Engineer Camwise went rogue and stole (most of) Trans Pacific's lunar station from distant retrograde orbit: The Board's investigators are struggling to decide whether this was an act of sabotage, or one of space piracy. After discarding unneeded modules by flinging them at the Moon's surface, Camwise returned to asteroid Y13-HO3 to recover additional hardware. Thus, the Improvised Interplanetary Mothership L'Enfant Sauvage was born. It includes a powerful nuclear reactor, an ELF thruster, asteroid mining capability, and a Ganymede-capable lander. Locked and loaded for Jupiter's moon Dia for refueling, before heading inwards to the Galilean moons... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
klond Posted January 21, 2018 Share Posted January 21, 2018 Today I released the motorcycle I've been working on. Stock and functional. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
linuxgurugamer Posted January 21, 2018 Share Posted January 21, 2018 32 minutes ago, klond said: Today I released the motorcycle I've been working on. Stock and functional. The inventivness of people never fails to amaze me Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ARS Posted January 22, 2018 Share Posted January 22, 2018 3 hours ago, linuxgurugamer said: The inventivness of people never fails to amaze me Like someone has quoted about KSP: "if you know how it works, with enough creativity, wits and improvisation, you can build it in KSP" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
qzgy Posted January 22, 2018 Share Posted January 22, 2018 I've been thinking about making a stupidly huge ship to conquer the system. By stupidly huge, I mean big enough to dwarf.... something big? A large asteroid. Oh, and one of the goals is to look good while doing so. So far, I've only completed the bridge section of the craft. Part count is 751 parts (adn surprisingly not explodey). Probably when fully built, my cpu will be screaming for the end. Then again, its probably seen worse. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
XB-70A Posted January 22, 2018 Share Posted January 22, 2018 On 1/20/2018 at 7:19 PM, Geonovast said: @XB-70A your love affair with fairings intrigues me. Is it for aerodynamic?, or aesthetics? You're actually right on both, but mostly for aesthetics, just like @qzgy mentioned. Plus the fact that the fairings are giving a lower aerodynamic resistance. I found my first Ariane 5-like launcher extremely hideous, and in the need of some re-looking. Here it is (strangely on a flight dedicated to Eve) with another screenshot to compare: The problem is that I feel almost disgusted by the 1.25 and 2.5 m fuel tanks (exception made of the Jumbo-64) with their kind of rolls of fat... if only they could be smooth. Now the fairings are not perfect, and I don't really like the main part which is larger than the panels. They also saved me a bit when I tried to imitate a Vega today: Plus their help to plug the open space always present between the decouplers and the RT-10/RT-5 SRB. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Starman4308 Posted January 22, 2018 Share Posted January 22, 2018 So, for my 3.2x GPP career, I've been focusing on getting probes out to nearby planets. Niven is pretty well tackled from orbit, and I think I'm sending a lander at the next transfer window. Thalia is proving a bit of an issue: the delta-V requirements are high and heat builds up fast even for conventional engines. I only have biome/altimetry maps for the southern hemisphere because I was unable to circularize the scansat's orbit. To get a heavy-duty science orbiter to Thalia, I'm resorting to the biggest launcher yet of this career: a 5-meter monster designed to sling 50 tons to Gael escape. I forget where the first-stage engine (which masses 10 tons) comes from, but the upper is a pair of Penguin hydrolox engines from SpaceY. Otherwise, I have landers en route to Niven and Tellumo, probes to Gratian and Geminus, and I'm planning a Tellumo->Gauss slingshot as soon as I can figure out how to translate KSP-TOT multiflyby results into a practical maneuver set. If anybody has a kOS script to estimate the time where you will be at a certain true anomaly, I would appreciate having a reference. Gratian and Geminus are, once again, about the limit of me using solar panels: I need a pair of Gigantors just for the 3.75 EC/sec consumption of relay satellites (1 high-gain back to Gael, 2 medium-gain to communicate with the other relays, 1 medium-gain to communicate with an active vessel). I've also been messing around with small jet planes, though I have a bit of an issue getting them off the runway intact, often resorting to flagrant revert-to-launch abuse. I never knew Gael had a volcano biome, though, until I flew these missions. Finally, as of a couple hours ago, I've started an RP-0 campaign. I'm a little bit surprised about how much it takes just to get used to the new part selection, though I did get a sounding rocket into low atmosphere, powered by a quartet of Tiny Tims and an upper stage of a Aerojet X103C10 SRM. Definitely got it to above 600 m/sec, and I'm already planning the successor: smaller battery, no despin package (that didn't seem to do anything), and preferably a lighter parachute. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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