What did you do in KSP1 today?

[astronomical]

I continued work on trying to make mono-propellant based rockets while waiting for the major update on Console.

[Angelo Kerman]

I de-orbited Dolores Air Force Station:

And landed softly my A-51C Flapjack:

 

[Triop]

 

Edited February 4, 2019 by Triop

[Space Kadet]

10 hours ago, Angel-125 said:

*snip*

And landed softly my A-51C Flapjack:

 

on the subject of your flapjacks, i may have been abusing them a little. 

 

Edited February 4, 2019 by Space Kadet

[RizzoTheRat]

Spent most of the weekend playing with different variations around my KOS circularization script, attempting to calculate the angle at which the Apoapsis stays stationary.  Must be doable but I've not got it right yet.  I can get within a couple of hundred meters of the target Apoapsis but it must be possible to do better.

On the plus side all this messing about with KOS means I've improved my file management so any vessel auto loads a script tailored for that ship, and my Q limited climbout script is working perfectly for such a simple feedback loop. 

[Kerburettor]

Got two ships to french kiss each other in outer space

and without SRBs (because I'm a stupid headless kerbal)

PS: can someone help me insert pictures?

Edit n°2: got it

Edited February 4, 2019 by Kerburettor

[Delay]

Testing the capabilities of my Falcon 9. A literal Falcon 9 - it indeed has 9 engines.

It's slightly heavier than my Falcon 2, but it has more thrust, as well as a bigger first and second stage. It's also capable of returning to the launch site with a 6t payload, upper limit for RTLS is 5t for the Falcon 2.

I started the landing burn at 2650m. That works for ~750 units of fuel, but for 600 it turns out that was a bit too early.

And shortly after landing I got my 6 t mass simulator into a 85km orbit around Kerbin.

[Hotel26]

I built (= slapped together) a silly prototype of Pegasus IV, a mobile fuel base.  It carries 54t of fuel, mostly LF, flies at 21km and 1,300+ m/s.  I packed a Gryphon fuel truck into the cargo ramp.  No cargo bay; just the ramp.

I also figured out that if you sit the airplane on the tarmac -- gear retracted -- with the ramp opened 55% -- just enough to touch the runway -- it's easier to drive the truck in.  I park it with the brakes on; then switch to the transport and raise the bay.  Immediately back to the truck and release its brakes so that it begins to roll down the rising ramp toward its docking claw.  The goal is to get the Klaw to lock into position only after the payload has been raised up close to its snug position, so that wheels and other protrusions don't, you know, stick out of the fuselage like, ehm, broken limbs at a skiing accident.

Really snug in there!!

Couldn't get an airdrop to work but Peg IV is easy to land, although it wanted to sit on its tail due to the weight of the truck in the caboose; so I moved the main gear back further behind the CG.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    

Now comes the hard part: the silly prototype is so ugly I don't want to show any screenshots of it.    And the worst part is that it is growing on me, so I may keep it. 

The fuel truck is as snug in that cargo ramp as a Joey [baby kangaroo] in its mother's pouch...

Spoiler

 

Edited February 4, 2019 by Hotel26

[RizzoTheRat]

1 hour ago, Delay said:

Testing the capabilities of my Falcon 9. A literal Falcon 9 - it indeed has 9 engines.

It's slightly heavier than my Falcon 2, but it has more thrust, as well as a bigger first and second stage. It's also capable of returning to the launch site with a 6t payload, upper limit for RTLS is 5t for the Falcon 2

Are you doing the Falcon style first stage turn round and head back to the launch site from sub orbital?  On my last game I found it easier to SSTO and come back down 1 orbit later.  This had the added advantage that I could leave them in orbit and dock payloads I wanted to land to bring it back down.

 

Didn't look anywhere near as good though

[Delay]

13 minutes ago, RizzoTheRat said:

Are you doing the Falcon style first stage turn round and head back to the launch site from sub orbital?

Yes, I am doing a boostback. If the payload is too heavy to allow for a RTLS I simply land on the peninsula to the right of KSC's one.

[MiscelanousItem]

Today I brought Val back from the mun:

 

Like a Korolev cross but on the Mun!

"I was all the way up there!" says Val

Then I launched two comsats with my Rutherford-1 rocket:

I also started designing my first Duna mission(which was the reason for the comsat launch):

 

The top part is the lander,and the bottom part with the solar panels is the transfer/orbiter (it will have science experiments on it) 

 

[kurgut]

I just discovered Procedural wing mod, and I feel I'll have lot of fun with it (I'm used to B9, I like this one to be me more intuitive) !!

Some testing around:

Gloorious!

Edited February 4, 2019 by kurgut

[Cavscout74]

I had some time on my hands today, and did some revamping of my older jet designs.  My Vampire was revamped into something resembling a Mig-15.  My Viper (which was a mediocre attempt at an F-22) got rebuilt into a cross between an F-16 & F-15.   Didn't take any screenshots of either, though.

I also dusted off my CF-04 Tiger forward-swept wing heavy fighter & took it through the mountains to try and scare a fairly new scientist.  The pilot ended up looking more scared - another Jeb she apparently is not.  It is actually pretty fast & maneuverable for its mass, but it bleeds off airspeed quickly in turns.  Of course it is nearly 30t, so it's not surprising.

I also performed some experiments more suited to early-mid career than end career.  I built a jet-SRB mix spaceplane.  I didn't quite make orbit - but it was a 250x40km ellipse, so it potentially could have if I'd flown a better profile.  Not that it's in any way useful, just was interesting. 

Spoiler

I had to put a shroud around the cockpit to keep it from exploding when I lit the SRB.  The 2 pair of 0.625m afterburning turbojets will get jettisoned once they start to flame out.  Landing gear were jettisoned at takeoff to reduce mass.

 

Jettisoning cockpit for reentry

Landing wasn't really meant to be an option, so I just put a drogue on the cockpit/reentry capsule to slow down a little to allow the pilot to jump

 

Finally, my 2nd Duna crew of this career made it home.   PCC-01A Avalon entering Kerbin orbit

The crew transferred to the waiting Lightning spaceplane for the trip home.  I came in at the very beginning of dawn at KSC, made for a pretty approach to the mountains west of the runway.

[RizzoTheRat]

My science tree is looking a little lopsided, and now the R&D department are scratching their heads to work out where to go next.

 

Had to get Flight control in order to unlock the first KOS module, and the plan is that form here onward everything is scripted.

Then went for Basic Science to get the Materials Lab to get enough science to unlock Electric for some solar panels, and the plan is to launch an Agena style target vessel to work out rendezvous and docking, 

Trouble is now I need both Miniaturisation to get the Clampotron Jr, and Advanced Flight control to get RCS, but I'm not sure if there's enough science still to be had in Kerbin Orbit to get both without doing a Mun Flyby first, in which case Advance Rocketry would make sense for the Terrier and bigger fuel tank....

Deke Slayton never had this much trouble

 

[Tyko]

36 minutes ago, RizzoTheRat said:

My science tree is looking a little lopsided, and now the R&D department are scratching their heads to work out where to go next.

 

Had to get Flight control in order to unlock the first KOS module, and the plan is that form here onward everything is scripted.

Then went for Basic Science to get the Materials Lab to get enough science to unlock Electric for some solar panels, and the plan is to launch an Agena style target vessel to work out rendezvous and docking, 

Trouble is now I need both Miniaturisation to get the Clampotron Jr, and Advanced Flight control to get RCS, but I'm not sure if there's enough science still to be had in Kerbin Orbit to get both without doing a Mun Flyby first, in which case Advance Rocketry would make sense for the Terrier and bigger fuel tank....

Deke Slayton never had this much trouble

 

the stock tech tree IS a bit whacked...LOL...WRT a mun/minmus flyby, if you're playing stock scale you can get a flyby, maybe even an orbit of the moons with the engine tech you have. The first real moon missions were flybys or impactors and you can pull that off now. Just keep your payload as light as possible.

Happy to give more input on that if you need it.

EDIT: My apologies...I completely forgot just how screwed up the stock TT is, you don't have a fairing or a nosecone for your OKTO Probe Core...GRRR...I'm fooling around with it now

Edited February 4, 2019 by Tyko

[RizzoTheRat]

 

17 minutes ago, Tyko said:

EDIT: My apologies...I completely forgot just how screwed up the stock TT is, you don't have a fairing or a nosecone for your OKTO Probe Core...GRRR...I'm fooling around with it now

Only got the octo and stayputnik cores.  No nosecones, no side decouplers, and I'm using RemoteTech so no comms to the Mun yet either.

I've gone for the Terrier otherwise I think I'm stuffed  

I'm thinking a Mk1 pod with a pair of materials labs and goo containers (or just 1 set but then I need a scientist and a probe core as I don't entirely trust my KOS scripts to get there without a problem), with a terrier and  maybe enough fuel that's 6.7 tonnes.  MOAR BOOSTERS!

 

Oh and I'm not entirely certain how much dV I need for a free return to the Mun

Edited February 4, 2019 by RizzoTheRat

[Triop]

Today we gave Edberry a lift.

[Jacke]

33 minutes ago, RizzoTheRat said:

[ @RizzoTheRat's got the stock tech tree blues. ]

Oh, yeah.

 

33 minutes ago, RizzoTheRat said:

Oh and I'm not entirely certain how much dV I need for a free return to the Mun

Approximately 3500 m/s to LKO, 900 to 950 m/s for TMI, 300 to 350 m/s for MOI if going into MOI.  For return missions, another 300 to 350 m/s for TKI.  If you're aiming for a polar Mun orbit, you need another 150 m/s delta-V for the half-way course correction to aim for a Mun polar pass.

[Tyko]

45 minutes ago, RizzoTheRat said:

1 hour ago, Tyko said:

EDIT: My apologies...I completely forgot just how screwed up the stock TT is, you don't have a fairing or a nosecone for your OKTO Probe Core...GRRR...I'm fooling around with it now

Only got the octo and stayputnik cores.  No nosecones, no side decouplers, and I'm using RemoteTech so no comms to the Mun yet either.

I've gone for the Terrier otherwise I think I'm stuffed  

I'm thinking a Mk1 pod with a pair of materials labs and goo containers (or just 1 set but then I need a scientist and a probe core as I don't entirely trust my KOS scripts to get there without a problem), with a terrier and  maybe enough fuel that's 6.7 tonnes.  MOAR BOOSTERS!

 

Oh and I'm not entirely certain how much dV I need for a free return to the Mun

You can do it. I've figured it out and successfully flown a flyby using the parts you have. it's a cobbled together, duct-taped pain in the green behind design, but it does work. The booster stage is a Reliant and the sustainer is a swivel. The parachute is on there because it's the closest thing you have to an aerodynamic nosecone...ugh...stock   

I had about 30 DV to spare, so your ascent profile has to be really efficient, but it does work

Edited February 4, 2019 by Tyko

[NHunter]

My Gratian fleet finally arrived:

After sending the relays onto their designated orbits, the mapping satellite was maneuvered onto a nice twilight polar orbit. Now, it's time to make some maps and gather science!

[RizzoTheRat]

 

35 minutes ago, Tyko said:

Neat solution, but I want to get some science packages there ideally 3: high above kerbin; high above Mun; and low above Mun.  Then I need to return the science!

Have some of the engine had a bit of a nerf over the last couple of versions?  I'm sure the terrier was never this good, I'm getting 1100m/s from a single TLT-200 tank and 3.5 tonne ship!  Way less fuel than I was expecting.

The good news is a free return trajectory looks to be about 860m/s, so plenty of dV.  The bad news is while I'm confident I can programme an impact mission, I'm going to need to have a think about how I get the lead angle for the return without hitting the Mun

 

Jeb says go big AND go home!

It's amazing how quickly efficient design goes out the window when you have solid fuel boosters

 

 

[Tyko]

59 minutes ago, RizzoTheRat said:

Neat solution, but I want to get some science packages there ideally 3: high above kerbin; high above Mun; and low above Mun.  Then I need to return the science!

Have some of the engine had a bit of a nerf over the last couple of versions?  I'm sure the terrier was never this good, I'm getting 1100m/s from a single TLT-200 tank and 3.5 tonne ship!  Way less fuel than I was expecting.

The good news is a free return trajectory looks to be about 860m/s, so plenty of dV.  The bad news is while I'm confident I can programme an impact mission, I'm going to need to have a think about how I get the lead angle for the return without hitting the Mun

Haha...that's cheating.. I was trying to get you your flyby without unlocking the Terrier.       Once you unlock the Terrier it's a cakewalk to orbit the Mun and return. If you sent a scientist you could even reset your Material Bay and not have to carry 3 of them   

Try this design out and send Bob up.. He can reset all the experiments and his last job is to EVA, collect all the experiments our of the science container and take them all into the pod with him.

Edited February 5, 2019 by Tyko

[Espatie]

4 hours ago, Jacke said:

If you're aiming for a polar Mun orbit, you need another 150 m/s delta-V for the half-way course correction to aim for a Mun polar pass.

It's cheaper (because you don't need to lift the extra Delta-V to orbit) to do a Mun Polar orbit like this:

 

Wait until The Mun is on the opposite side of Kerbin from KSC.

Launch, but go 10-15 degrees south of due east.

Once you get out of the atmosphere burn prograde a bit as if you were circularising as normal, but immediately set up a maneuver node for a Mun insertion (it'll be at roughly the point at which Mun comes up over the horizon.

Pull the Man Node back and forth a bit - you'll find it'll give you a direct Mun polar insertion with a bit of fettling about.

[Ratwerke_Actual]

Playing around, managed to get SSRSS to load in 1.6.1.

So now I have an Aeris 4a modified with a Kodiak engine prepping for a Titan landing

[Espatie]

What I actually did in KSP today: built about half of a Space Station using KIS/KAS, and then nearly destroyed it by accidentally hitting full throttle rather than nudging 10% as I bought the Orbital Tug in to dock up.

 

Frantic RCS retro thrust was applied!

 

Thankfully I only lost a bit of empty tankage and a couple of junior docking ports; easily replaced.

 

Tomorrow I'll push the Lab, Cupola and more tankage up along with some cosmetic touches like flat end adapters.