What did you do in KSP1 today?

[scottadges]

About a week ago, I re-started my latest 1.6.x Career playthrough (too many mod instabilities... just started fresh) and finally got my first Mun orbit contract.

Been waiting for this a while so I could save up science & funds for more scientific instrumentation as well as the Universal Storage 2 housing.

The US2 compartment contains the science, which the Mk2 command pod and the US2 housing form the return capsule. Lotsa parachutes on the nose gets it down to about 4.5m/s at landing.

The "orbiter" drive section features the ReStock Terrier engine. There's a couple additional LFP tanks tucked up in that standard FL-200 tank, which gives it a surprising 1700 m/s total dV. The black shroud is from the DeCouplerShroud mod.

All together, I got about 875 science from the transfer (Space High) and orbit (per the Contract + Space Low science) and a whole lotta Crew & EVA reports.

Packed in there are:

• RPWS (US2)
• Magnetometer (US2)
• Solar Collector (US2)
• Orbital Telescope (US2)
• Mystery Goo (3x, stock)
• MSP-3000 (2x - love this mod!)
• Temperature
• Barometric Pressure

On 3/17/2019 at 11:26 AM, kurgut said:

 

I love your use of an ISS-style truss system for the solar panels and radiators. I was trying to figure out how to do this for my latest Career game station (slowly building it up) and I think you've given me a good direction from yours. Hope you don't mind if I take some "inspiration". 

12 hours ago, Triop said:

Excellent usage of an NPH meme.

Edited March 18, 2019 by scottadges

[kurgut]

1 hour ago, scottadges said:

I love your use of an ISS-style truss system for the solar panels and radiators. I was trying to figure out how to do this for my latest Career game station (slowly building it up) and I think you've given me a good direction from yours. Hope you don't mind if I take some "inspiration". 

Thanks! Yeah I like ISS-ish style, but modified a bit And of course I don't mind!!

[KerikBalm]

I came back to do a 1.6 career with KRnD with a 3x rescale (1.5x terrain height, 1.25x atmosphere height) in my custom but otherwise mostly stock system:

Mun is moved to where Minmus was, Minmus is not scaled up and is pushed out to be near the orbit of Dres, Dres does not get scaled up, both have reduced gravity. 2 new planetoids are added, as vesta and pallas analogues, so Dres is now properly in an asteroid belt, with 4 total large-ish bodies. There is a small body (about the size of Mun) at Kerbin's pseudo-L5 point, My mod planet Rald is where Duna would be, duna and Ike now orbit it. Duna's Gravity was increased to .376 G. Other changes to the moons of Jool.

XP multipliers for Kerbin and Mun are increased, to make up for the loss of Minmus (but not science multipliers, IIRC)

Haven't used KRnD at all yet, using it too early delays unlocking the tree too much. Just orbited Mun and sent back some data, planning an unmanned lander next.

My SSTO design for 3x kerbin gets about a 15% payload fraction... but I'm anxious to see what it will get when I start buffing the rapiers and nukes using KRnD...

On 3/17/2019 at 1:38 AM, PTNLemay said:

For extra fun I'm using Sigma Dimensions to rescale everything up by 2.5x.  I forgot how even such small increases made everything much tougher.  The rocket I built cost me 70K, and I can only just barely get this spacecraft into orbit (the 2nd stage ran out before we achieved full orbit, so I had to do a clutch docking while both parts were still suborbital).  The reward I get for planting a flag is just 40K startup plus 100K for completion.  It's a profit... but it's not as big as I'm used to.   I shouldn't complain, I wanted a challenge.  But man, when even the mighty mailsail isn't up to the challenge, you know it's a big task.

Eh, I'm not finding money such a problem on my 3x game, I am doing a lot more tourist contracts, and using unmanned probes more to save mass (using TAC-LS, so life support is needed).

FWIW, the increase in dV should be about sqrt (2.5) for a 2.5x rescale (if it were a perfect vacuum, and you were going proportionately high, I think it would be exact). 2.5x isn't a small increase, no? its +150% bigger.

At 2.5x you should take your dV budget needed and multiply by 1.581. At 3x rescale, multiply by 1.732.... this is assuming rotation periods change appropriately too. If you scale it up 2.5x, but still have a 6 hour day, it will be easier (but such a scaling of size and rotation would break the tidal locking of Duna to Ike, for instance).

And of course, the rocket equation isn't linear, so your rocket doesn't increase in size by 1.58x, but by much more.

Airbreathing SSTOs are still possible

17 hours ago, Hotel26 said:

I know what I want for Xmas (from Squad):

I want an Advanced Grabbing Unit that is not only "free to pivot" but also "free to spin".

That way, Gryphon (the fuel tractor) would be better able to "push back" from the terminal for those aircraft that need a little extra clearance to get away from the refueling mother ship.

I'm sorry, but I don't understand what you're getting at. I can understand wanting it to be free to spin in addition to pivot (would make an awesome stock prop/centrifuge bearing in that case).. but I don't see how your pictures or the described situation related to that.

[Hotel26]

2 hours ago, KerikBalm said:

I'm sorry, but I don't understand what you're getting at. I can understand wanting it to be free to spin in addition to pivot (would make an awesome stock prop/centrifuge bearing in that case).. but I don't see how your pictures or the described situation related to that.

Thanks for asking!  (And absolutely right about the bearing for e.g. helicopters!!).

Note that the fuel truck, Gryphon, has 3 claws.  At the right end, it docks with a much larger fuel reservoir (like the Manta fuel tanker shown on the far right in these screenshots) allowing a continuous flow straight through to a client at the left end -- where there is a horizontal claw for for use by rovers and a vertical claw for almost all aircraft.

In this case, the Esprit has brought its nose over the vertical claw on the Gryphon and retracted its nose gear in order to dock.  Works for any of the larger-class aircraft.  Additionally, if that claw could spin, it would act like the "fifth wheel" on the tractor of a semi-trailer.  it could tow the aircraft and maneuver just like the tug carts you see at a major airport.  Furthermore, others have noted as well that coming up to a vehicle to dock and get fuel can leave you with a problem in that you may in some situations not be able to reverse away from the dock after refueling!  (You have to make sure you approach uphill so that you can roll back!  With Wheesleys, of course, no problem.)  But with Gryphon, it can simply undock from the mother ship and "push back"...  But it would be more maneuverable if that claw could spin...

So, in the first screenshot, Gryphon and Esprit, still docked together, have just undocked from Manta and pushed back.  In the second shot, Esprit has re-extended its nose gear and undocked from Gryphon.

Edited March 18, 2019 by Hotel26

[KerikBalm]

Ah... I didn't realize that there was a 3rd claw pointing up. The image was dark, and the thing is clipped, so I when I looked again for the 3rd claw, I initially thought it was facing sideways.

Now that I realize that there is a 3rd claw facing up, it makes sense.

[capi3101]

Had a three day weekend on account of various appointments in RL on Friday; the weekend itself was just as busy as usual, and so I didn't have a great deal of time to play but the log is still full of confusing shorthand, so I figure I might as well share what I've been up to.

On Thursday afternoon, the Crater Maker 7 8-passenger lander made its way back to space station Minmusport, having delivered eight fresh-faced suckers colonists to the Deepwater Horizon outpost on Minmus's surface. Colonist Pado Kerman (i.e. colonist number 9) had been left behind, so the lander was refueled, Pado boarded and a second landing at Deepwater Horizon occurred. Once Pado successfully transferred into the outpost, the lander was refueled once more and returned to Minmusport, at which point Next Objective, the ferry ship that had brought the colonists to Minmus, was refueled from the station's stores and departed and burned for Kerbin on automatic control. Next Objective should return to Kerbin in about four days. In the wake of Next Objective's departure, fuel supplies were shot up to Minmusport via Deepwater Horizon's mass driver, effectively securing all operations at Minmus until Strange Cargo arrives in a few days. Even then, none of the tourists currently aboard are headed to the surface, so Strange Cargo's expedition should be relatively light as far as resource consumption goes.

The Nostromo 7 resource hauler set a rendezvous with space station Dunaport as well on Thursday and ultimately affected a successful docking.

Been a while since I'd broken out the docking cam; last time I used it I inadvertently ejected the same tourist three times. Here we see Dunaport's mass driver and the Spamcan 7c lander docked.

Once docked, the Nostromo's consist of 11,200 units of uraninite ore was transferred down to the Enchova Central outpost on the surface in a series of about sixty mass driver shots - 187 units at a time, pausing as necessary to allow the station's batteries to recharge. Job done, Nostromo's Mule resource tanks were reconfigured for Minerals and the Mineral supply was shot up from Central, with the station's/lander's fuel stores refilled at the same time. Once full, the Nostromo departed Dunaport and burned for Ike.

Cargo hauling. Yeah...it's as exciting as it sounds.

Five hours and change later, Nostromo put into dock at space station Ikeport, at which point her consist was shot down to the Scan Queen outpost on the surface via the station's mass driver. Shortly after that, with Konkrete production able to resume thanks to the Minerals delivery, Scan Queen deployed a Castillo Depot. The new Depot was configured for fuel stores, oxygen and Enriched Uranium storage, greatly expanding its ability to process uranium. Konkrete production at Scan Queen continues this morning, with an immediate goal to deploy a Castillo Factory module.

On Friday, Necessary Evil finally returned to Kerbin after an eleven day return journey from Minmus (timing your return burns is important, y'all), docking successfully at space station Kerbinport. At the station, tourists Hadfrod and Donpond Kerman along with rescuee pilot Kardon Kerman boarded a waiting Auk IX 4-passenger spaceplane, which departed Kerbinport and returned to the surface, landing safely at KSC 09. A junk-hauling and junk-and-kerbal mission were offered as replacements; a pair of Bill Clinton 7b grabber probes were ordered up at the Dystopia Planitia orbital shipyards over Kerbin and the Non Caseus Yards over Mun to do the jobs. Both probes should be complete within another few hours. The South Base outpost near KSC shot fuel supplies up to Kerbinport via its mass driver, and Enchova Central drilled 450 units of ore for contract. Finally, just this morning, a Minnow 7b touring craft returned to Kerbin from an excursion to Minmus, affecting a safe docking at Kerbinport. The Minnow is scheduled to refuel later this morning and will then depart to conduct a rescue mission over Kerbin before returning to Kerbinport, at which point it's slated to haul a group of Duna/Ike-bound tourists over to LSV House Harkonnen currently in orbit of Kerbin. Harkonnen is slated to begin preparations for departure to Eve, and will be heading on to Duna/Ike after conducting some operations over the purple planet.

[RizzoTheRat]

I do love a nice neat Komms network.

 

4 Komsats around Kerbin, 3 around the Mun, and a Scansat in a polar orbit of the Mun.  The Munar Komsats on a 7 degree inclination, which wasn't intentional and I didn't spot it until too late, but does mean if the Scansat doesn't give me enough data to identify landing spots,  I could do a detailed survey of the 7 degree band around the equator using my altitude/slope KOS script.

 

10 hours ago, Hotel26 said:

In this case, the Esprit has brought its nose over the vertical claw on the Gryphon and retracted its nose gear in order to dock.  Works for any of the larger-class aircraft.  Additionally, if that claw could spin, it would act like the "fifth wheel" on the tractor of a semi-trailer.  it could tow the aircraft and maneuver just like the tug carts you see at a major airport. 

If you're not averse to mods, Infernal robotics has a rotatey thing intended for use on docking ports, with a choice of powered or free rotation.  Not sure if it has them for all three sizes though.

 

Edited March 18, 2019 by RizzoTheRat

[Triop]

Today's visitor : "NASKAR"

[SnacklessKerbal]

 Impressed EJ with one of my builds  

Soyuz FG rocket with a full Korolev cross, Soyuz spacecraft, and accurate abort system (shroud motors and all)

Not-EJ covered version of the separation: 

 

[capi3101]

And now for the short, short version of what I did yesterday:

3/18: Kport xMOF Min; Min dep, att r p-Melrie, no hatch, r&d kport. SC a N. HH bp PN. SB xMOFRP HH. SB x2050Ore DP. PA D 2050 Ore 4c. SQ/EC D 3000 Ore 4c. NCY ptd BC, PA xMOF NCY. 3/19: BC + NCY, rs Verbur Debris. HH ptd PN. SB xMOFRP HH, +Depot +Factory.

Everybody with me? No? <sigh /> Okay...I guess I'll translate my shorthand for y'all then. No screenies today, I'm afraid.

My day yesterday continued after the docking of a Minnow 7 touring craft at space station Kerbinport. After refueling from the station's stores, the Minnow was dispatched in an attempt to rescue pilot Melrie Kerman in LKO. While the Minnow did affect a successful rendezvous, the mission had to be scrubbed when it was discovered that Melrie was aboard a Pathfinder Spyglass module (one of those parts that I haven't quite figured out what it's supposed to do). The Spyglass lacks a crew hatch and the Minnow doesn't have a grabber, so the rescue mission had to be scrubbed; the Minnow returned safely to Kerbinport. Plans are in the works now to print up a Bill Clinton 7b grabber probe at the Dystopia Planitia orbital shipyard when it becomes available again; I'll treat the mission as a junk-and-kerbal, even though I won't be getting paid for the junk part...

Strange Cargo arrived in Minmus's SOI, and while it's not in the log, it later conducted a burn to set up a rendezvous with space station Minmusport, which is scheduled to take place about 75 minutes from now. The rendezvous has honestly got me a tad nervous - right now, Strange Cargo is on a sub-orbital trajectory over Minmus, so if I bork it up or miss it, I could find myself with tourists pasted over the surface of the minty moon. Plus I'd lose a ship for which I have a fondness. Don't want that.

In preparation for the pending Eve missions, LSV House Harkonnen currently in a resupply orbit over Kerbin began printing a Pink Noise 7 communications satellite carrier. The South Base outpost near KSC conducted mass driver shots to Harkonnen to help augment its current supply stores, sending up Monopropellant, Oxidizer, Liquid Fuel and Rocket Parts. Harkonnen completed the printing of the Pink Noise this morning, with South Base conducting a second resupply shot. South Base also shot a little over 2000 units of Ore to Dystopia Planitia in support of a contract I had to drill that much ore from Mun and put it into Kerbin's orbit; after the Piper Alpha outpost on Mun had actually drilled the prerequisite amount of ore, I was credited for the contract. A similar ore drilling con job took place using the Scan Queen outpost on Ike and the Enchova Central outpost on Duna - the contract was to 'drill 3000 units from Ike and then send it to Duna's surface' because reasons. Close enough for government work.

The Non Caseus Yards over Mun completed its printing of a Bill Clinton, which was set to conduct a junk-and-kerbal mission in low Munar orbit to pick up scientist Verbur Kerman. Fuel for the probe was shot up from Piper Alpha, and then the probe was released from Non Caseus just this morning. At this point, the probe is set to rendezvous with Verbur's Debris. That rendezvous is, unfortunately, going to happen at about the same time Strange Cargo reaches Minmusport, so I'll have to be very careful about how I handle both rendezvous.

The only other thing that's happened so far today is the deployment of a Pathfinder Castillo Depot and Castillo Factory module at South Base. Right now, the modules are in place but they won't be able to be inflated until South Base prints up sufficient supplies of Konkrete. That shouldn't be an issue - it'll just take some time to finish. The hope is to be able to adequately support missions of larger craft over Kerbin in the future; Harkonnen is still not completely saturated with supplies (though she definitely has enough aboard at this point to conduct the Eve mission - which right now just entails the establishment of a comm network and resource surveys of Eve's surface), and meanwhile I'm pretty much neglecting LSV House Atreides also in Kerbin's orbit at the moment. 

So right now I've got the two rendezvous coming up. Contrary to previous reports, Strange Cargo does have one passenger heading to Minmus's surface - the plan is to conduct that mission and get the ship heading back to Kerbin as quickly as possible. Strange Cargo will swing back to Kerbinport, pick up a few remaining tourists heading on to Duna, Ike and Eve and then go rendezvous with House Harkonnen. When Harkonnen finally warps out from Kerbin, Strange Cargo will be docked and carried along. I've got enough tourists heading out to Duna/Ike/Eve to warrant the use of the larger ship for the job. I've also got a Bill Clinton printing up at Dystopia Planitia right now for a junk hauling mission; I might do Melrie's rescue instead for now, and print up a second Clinton for the job later on. I have a new batch of colonists - again, there's nine of them, and for some reason, they've once again picked the Deepwater Horizon outpost on Minmus as their final destination. I guess people like the fact that of the places where I have bases now, Minmus has the lowest gravity and therefore they weigh the least or something. I don't know. Other than these few things though, I've still got a lot of contracts in 'waiting to get there' mode. Curious to see what the replacement missions will be for the two rescues and junk hauling missions in progress - those have the best chance of being resolved sooner rather than later.

[Ultimate Steve]

Short version: I accidentally destroyed my space station in a no reverts career.

So I have this space station. It's called Arkangel Station. It's pretty useless. It was the first ever station in this save and I pretty much never had the astronauts necessary to crew it. Occasionally I'd send a crew up to process what little science was in the lab, but there was no convenient way of getting science experiments there.

The only real useful thing about the station was the fact that, docked to it, was T-01 Spectre, a nuclear powered transfer ship that could take crews to Minmus and maybe the Mun, if necessary. It was a routine crew transfer. It used a new ship called "Vau." Vau was my Dragon 2 clone. It lands propulsively and carries no parachutes, but has integrated solids for abort as well as liquids because it needs some extra kick.

Vau is... A terrible design. Cosine losses mean it's not great beyond LKO, and its LKO lifter, Titanium II, has a multitude of issues. I don't think it's worked properly once. Propulsive landings are actually one of the safest parts of Vau... Fortunately, nobody has died on Vau yet.

So, Arkangel was unmanned. I was going to take a crew of 12 up to the transfer ship, 2 Vau missions, 6 per Vau.

I was right next to the station, but I had bounced off the docking port. I fired my engine to correct (Vau has no RCS for some stupid reason) but I accidentally hit space.

The abort system activated. The station spun up and turned round and round extremely fast. I couldn't do anything to stop it, Vau slipped around to the fuel tank...

No more Arkangel station.

Nobody has died. Also, the nerv plumes are a glitch, don't mind them.

The historic portion of the station is intact. The Spectre is intact. The science lab is not. One fuel tank is not. Vau's docking port has been destroyed, as well as one of the engines, so landing would be very risky.

The historic portion of the station.

 

Fortunately, there was a drill on the Vau, so I was able to steal a docking port and dock to the Spectre.

I've got to find that fuel tank, though, the Spectre is low on fuel. And what now? I should probably still go to Minmus, but I need a new descent vehicle for the returning Minmus crew. Should I still send the other 6 crew up on the Vau or should I completely retire it?

And should I clean up the debris? Should I build a new space station?

There's a lot to think about!

 

Debris:

[MisterKerman]

Just finished lifting a docking adapter to help park my booster while I design a replacement for my current commercial lander and attached it to a Terrier engine for testing in orbit above the Mun. At some point in my latest moon expedition for funds, I had suffered minor damage to my lander's RCS; the port-side lateral linear jet. To be safe I'm de orbiting it, which causes a slight parking issue aboard the station. Will most likely improve later. Very excited to swap modules when the time comes.

The module; stowed. Terrier docked to it.

 

Module/Terrier unpacked and rearranging of equipment aboard the station begins.

 

Quite proud of my first astronaut-assisted docking of a Terrier engine which is to be tested in orbit above the Mun the next time I go. 6 tickets are already booked!

 

The booster will be very useful as a Sr.-sized tug, however the purpose of the station's command pod was specifically for that purpose. It lacks mass, so I will make my decision later.

 

 

 

@Ultimate Steve Awesome post! Your stuff looks so great.

If I were you, I'd stop tracking anything you can't use, and carry on.
.

Edited March 20, 2019 by MisterKerman

[capi3101]

Had a reasonably busy day yesterday, starting with the completion of a new Bill Clinton 7b grabber probe at the Dystopia Planitia orbital shipyard over Kerbin. After fueling, the probe was launched from the shipyard and burned to rendezvous with Melrie's Capsule; the probe had originally been slated for a junk hauling mission over Kerbin but the rescue mission took on a higher priority after the unfortunate discovery the day before that pilot Melrie Kerman was trapped in a part with no hatches. The Clinton did make a successful rendezvous and grab before the day was out yesterday, deorbiting and bringing the capsule down to a safe splashdown 90 kilometers to the east of KSC.

Meanwhile, another Bill Clinton probe printed up the day before rendezvoused with Verbur's Debris over Mun, which turned out to be a Pathfinder short passenger cabin. The module was grabbed successfully, and a burn to head to Kerbin was made almost immediately afterwards.

I still wonder who's launching all this crap and how they get it all up there in the first place. I mean, if I built something with a Short Passenger Cab that exploded, the Cab would probably have been toast...

This Clinton is still en route to Kerbin as of this posting; it's scheduled to arrive in another 90 minutes or so.

While the second Clinton was making its rendezvous, Strange Cargo was making its rendezvous with space station Minmusport and I had to rapidly switch between the two, since at the time Strange Cargo was in a sub-orbital trajectory over Minmus. I got both rendezvous done successfully, though; Strange Cargo put into dock safely at Minmusport, at which point pilots Gwenlock and Edsy Kerman, engineer Gilford Kerman and tourist Hanson Kerman transferred to the station's waiting Crater Maker 7 8-passenger lander; after fueling, the Crater Maker departed for a surface excursion.

I decided to put the lander down at the old homestead in the Great Flats, that narrow bit right there at the equator between the two hills on either side. That's where Deepwater Horizon was located from v.1.2-1.5, in the days before I started using Pathfinder.

The lander touched down safely. The original plan called for Edsy, Gwenlock and Gilford to pile out to plant flags, but as has bitten me in the backside before, the Crater Maker doesn't have any open crew hatches. The four kerbals merely returned to Minmusport one orbit later, still having received sufficient experience to upgrade Edsy and Gilford to two-star status and Gwenlock to four-star status. Upon the lander's return, fuel supplies were shot up from the Deepwater Horizon outpost on the surface via mass driver, at which point the crew transferred back and Strange Cargo departed the station. Strange Cargo has affected its return-to-Kerbin burn and should arrive in about thirty hours.

Not much else has happened. To support the construction of a replacement Bill Clinton probe for the aforementioned junk-hauling mission, the South Base outpost near KSC shot up supplies of Monopropellant, Oxidizer, Fuel and Rocket Parts via mass driver to Dystopia Planitia and the shipyard began construction of the new probe; construction should take eight hours to complete. The replacement contract for Melrie's rescue called for a Pathfinder space exposure experiment over Mun, and to that end a Venkmann 7 science probe was ordered up at the Non Caseus Yards over Mun. Since this experiment requires a crewmember to perform, I went ahead and moved scientist Roddon Kerman from the Stevie Wonder 7 solar telescope over Mun to NCY via a Spamcan 7a lander that was docked at the telescope; he arrived at NCY just a short time ago, with a mere twenty minutes to go on the Venkmann's construction.

You really have to pay attention to this approach - get going to fast going the wrong way and you'll find yourself mowing through the dock...

I'll most likely have to shoot up some Research Kits to NCY for the probe to perform the experiment, but that shouldn't be a problem. At this point, I'm back to a waiting game - while I have a fair amount of events happening in the next day or two, I don't have much else to do in the meantime. I might take the opportunity to try and get a few more structures built at South Base; I dunno. Waiting for stuff's boring, and it makes for lousy log entries too...

[MiscelanousItem]

Today I finished of the most catastrophic Minmus mission I've ever done:

So the mission started normally on a Cook-5 launch the problems started when I came in the vicinity of Minmus as I begun my decent I realized that I was coming in over  a Lowlands biome which had already been visited so no big deal I think just do a burn to land some where else ,so I do the burn warp down to the landing zone I realize I am perhaps 200 m off the desired landing zone .So I decide to land and then roll down the slope the the desired landing zone. But there's no doing it the game just doesn't want to switch biomes so I take off and finally manage to land in a lesser flats biome:

  

"I hope I won't stay here for ever!'-Jeb 2019

So I take off again and escape Minmus .This was predictable but when I begin my deorbit burn I only have 100m/sec of DV even with a Mun  gravity assist I'm on an inclined elliptical orbit with a Ap of aprox 120000 m and a Pe of 4000 m so I decide to launch a rescue mission with Val at the helm I manage to get a closish encounter(aprox 9km) then Jeb bails out takes the experiments and finishes of the rendez-vous using his EVA pack .Then disaster strikes again under the form of an other fuel shortage .After multiple attempts of using the EVA pack to deorbit I discover the Jeb drive:  

Apparently ramming Jeb's head into the head shield generates a considerable amount on thrust

[MaverickSawyer]

2 hours ago, MiscelanousItem said:

Apparently ramming Jeb's head into the head shield generates a considerable amount on thrust

Ah, you found the old "ladder drive" trick!

[scottadges]

I've been steadily progressing through my latest Career game (1.6.1 heavily modded) and applying lessons learned from my previous 1.6 game (too many mod instabilities) to make missions and overall "space operations" more efficient.

MCP Program - Mission Goals and Objectives

My goal was to design a new Multi-Crew Pod (MCP) for LKO operations using recently-unlocked technologies such as improved command pods, solar panels, communications, and fuel tanks. Since the focus of the KSC right now is on LKO operations and increasing funds from Space Tourism, the primary mission of the new class would be supporting the KSS Alpha station and completing other multi-purpose tasks in LKO.

This class is based on the previous X.1 crew orbital vehicles, but incorporates new foldable solar panels, improved comms dishes, docking port technology, and recently acquired fuel tanks . Greater orbital range and increased functionality allow it to fully support orbital operations.

A few more image of the Multi-Crew Pod:

Spoiler

Designing the MCP - carries 4 Kerbals in the new "Proteus" command hull joined with the previous Orbital Pod chassis (SSPRx station core).

MCP Docked at KSS Alpha - with limited docking technologies (JR port) the MCP primarily supports the Mk1 orbital station.

Next Steps - Pushing the Boundaries?

After a successful trial run for the MCP it was time to put it to work. Wth an eye towards science, I decided to push the mission parameters for the MCP program and outfit it for a long-range science mission to Minmus, which also coincided with a hefty Minmus Flyby tourist contract.

The Science Package contains a significant amount of hardware and can be semi-autonomous for docking. It includes fore and aft docking ports, a small probe core, a tiny amount of RCS fuel, multiple thrusters, and small solar panels to maintain charge. At completion of the Minmus mission, it can remain in orbit docked with KSS Alpha for future orbital science needs.

KSC netted an impressive 1095 science and about 400,000 funds from the successful mission. Not bad for a 23-day flyby!

Here's more screenshots from the KSC-012 Minmus Science Tourist Flyby mission:

Spoiler

Ready for Minmus Transfer Burn - with a nearly-full upper stage remaining from launch, the MCP prepares to transfer to Minmus.

The View from Afar - Completing science in a close flyby (25K) of Minmus, looking back at the distant Kerbin

Returning from Minmus - after two orbits and shorter burns to reduce speed (conserving fuel) the MCP adjusts orbit to dock with KSS Alpha

Science Mission Complete - The Science Package is docked with KSS-A and will remain in orbit. The MCP will de-orbit and land the crew section.

Plethora of Parachutes - Four drogue chutes and 12 main parachutes allow the MCP crew section to touch down at ~4 m/s.

Mission Accomplished! - Jebediah and Bill walk away from the KSC-012 Mission and plant the obligatory flag in the middle of the desert.

 

Edited March 20, 2019 by scottadges

[OrbitalBuzzsaw]

Launched the core of the Mun Gateway...

https://imgur.com/9oT5XTZ

[MisterKerman]

3 hours ago, OrbitalBuzzsaw said:

Launched the core of the Mun Gateway...

https://imgur.com/9oT5XTZ

Orbital fuel depot essentially? Gateway is a curious name.

[MaverickSawyer]

Had a busy morning today.

It was crew rotation time at Minmus Station. Again, it took a little shuffling around, but managed to get everyone rotated between the Crew Transfer Vehicle and the station pretty quickly.

 

Big news of the day, though, is the fact that my Duna campaign just launched the crew on their way!

Crew transfer and reentry vehicle launch

Booster jettison.

I opted to use a BDB Kane11-3 with a custom docking adapter to get the two crew members aboard Duna 1.

Rendezvous

Docking completed just above the KSC...

Valentina was the taxi driver, with veteran Engineer Maucal Kerman (survivor of my near-disastrous asteroid mission) and Scientist Kathmund Kerman (veteran of both Minmus Station and Minmus Outpost) making the trip to the Red Rock.

Maucal opted to do instrument deployment before departure so that any issues could be sorted out while in LKO...

All the instruments aboard are ones that require collection and return to Kerbin, and some will require a reset by Kathmund after taking data. the MOLE lab behind the crew capsule is for use in orbit over Duna while waiting for the return window to open, and will be converted to a more traditional science lab upon completion of the experiments it carries for the journey back to Kerbin.

After some last minute final checks (and a much too late realization that the battery pack aboard the ship cannot keep the tank refrigeration active throughout the dark half of an orbit), the two intrepid Kerbals set out on the path to Duna.

The booster core provided a touch over 400 m/s, providing the mission a healthy margin of nearly the same amound of dV to make mid-course corrections and to account for any errors. At this point, the crew are on their way to the edge of Kerbin's SoI, and will be pursued by only one more craft: The Ike SLAM-2 lander, which I... still need to build.  I think the Duna SLAM-2 can swing the mission after returning from the surface of Duna, but I'm not taking any chances. the last time I tried a mission to Duna with a crew, it was done with basically no margin for error. It would have ended badly had the save continued, but... a new version came out, broke some mods, and I had to scrap that save. Not this time.

[mcbmaestro]

After much time and swearing and frustration I finally got the Airfly AirKing 5k with 192 seats, very long range and a max speed of approximately 1250+ m/s and I say approximately because beyond 1250 the main wings begin the inevitable burn up.

Despite the very long shape it does land and fly well due to the simplicity of having only two pitch surfaces and is reinforced enough to keep together under general stresses.  Lastly, despite Mechjeb having a troublesome aircraft autopilot, it works well with it.  Just have to reduce the rudders to 12% for it to hold altitude and return them to 100% for manual control for landing and take off.

And I know there's a better autopilot mod.  I have an obsession with mechjeb's autopilot.

Edited March 21, 2019 by mcbmaestro

[capi3101]

I remembered to take screenies for y'all this time around...

Yesterday began with a little bit of design work. Given the difficulties I've experienced with the length of a full Bill Clinton 7b grabber probe and fitting the design within the warp bubble of an Alcubierre Drive, I decided to try and incorporate the drive section of the probe into the recoverable bit ahead of the heat shield. That effort led to the design of the Bill Clinton 7c, which has more thrust and and delta-V than its predecessor while being nowhere near as long. I have yet to test the design, but if it's successful, the 7c might replace the venerable 7b entirely.

The Non Caseus Yards over Mun completed its print of a Venkmann 7a science probe, and after receiving a shipment of Research Kits from the Piper Alpha outpost on the Munar surface via mass driver shot, the probe began a long-term Materials Space Exposure Study, with scientist Roddon Kerman supervising at NCY. The experiment is projected to take 300 hours to complete and the current rate of data gathering. I don't intend to release the probe from NCY until it's complete, but if needed I did add some external seats to the probe so Roddon can continue to supervise. Honestly hoping it doesn't come to that.

The Bill Clinton 7b probe carrying Verbur's Debris from Mun to Kerbin entered the atmosphere next.

KER reported the heat tolerance of the engine up around 97% when I stopped to take this screenie of the Clinton over Kerbin's crater. I honestly thought the thing was going to blow.

During entry, when I finally felt it safe to decouple the drive stage, I accidentally hit the button to jettison the 10 meter shield instead of the one to inflate it...

Must be one of those late-80s models. You know, the kind that doesn't have any airbags...

Luckily by then the probe was going slow enough that it didn't blow right away, the ASAS module briefly getting very hot. Ultimately, the Clinton landed in the Mountains 800 klicks west of KSC on a twenty-degree slope. I counted myself lucky here.

Shortly after the Clinton landed, Next Objective returned to Kerbin from its recent delivery run to Minmus, setting up a rendezvous with space station Kerbinport. Before Next Objective arrived at the rendezvous, KAC indicated that a second Bill Clinton 7b probe I'd ordered up at the Dystopia Planitia orbital shipyards over Kerbin was complete, so I headed over there; turned out that DP had ran out of Rocket Parts and therefore construction was not complete, so I had some shot up via mass driver from the South Base outpost near KSC. South Base inflated a Castillo Depot while I was at it, and with the extra supplies, DP completed the new probe quickly. After fueling, the probe launched.

As mentioned earlier, the 7b might be retired, so this launch could easily be the final one for the Clinton 7b. Historic moment and all that, so I felt it warranted a screenie.

The probe, launched to conduct a junk-hauling mission in LKO, burned for rendezvous. Meanwhile, Next Objective came into dock at Kerbinport.

You're going a little fast on the X axis there...I'd slow down if I was you. You know, so you don't overshoot. Which I did...

Earlier this morning, the second Clinton rendezvoused with its target, which turned out to be a MOLE Mark One Habitat. The target was easily grabbed.

Got junk?

The probe then deorbited, splashing down into the ocean about a hundred klicks to the west of KSC.

After nearly twelve days of construction (both RL and in-game, I think), the Scan Queen outpost on Ike reported that they'd finally completed construction of the Bi-La Kaifa Shipyard, which launched from the outpost into a 25 kilometer low equatorial orbit over Ike after fueling. 

Shipyard with booster still attached. The drydock itself won't be inflated until it's in final position. I'll probably try to recycle the booster if I think I can get away with it...

BLK is intended as the orbital shipyard over Duna, so a transfer burn is scheduled for later this morning. Once in place, all planned infrastructure at the Duna/Ike SOI will finally be in place. I do need to get some personnel available to run the outposts if they're going to do me any good of course, which is why I've been training some of late; Strange Cargo is coming back from Minmus with a couple of them right now, and it won't be too much longer before I can begin another expedition out to the red planet. Got a lot of tourists want to come take a look at it. Pretty much everything's at a standstill until the ship returns, so I might be warping ahead to its arrival later today. 

[Hotel26]

2 hours ago, mcbmaestro said:

And I know there's a better autopilot mod.

(Do you mean, e.g., Atmosphere Autopilot?!  (You really must test-drive it...))

I want to fly this machine!  Just because of its sheer ... uhm ... length.  KSC to Baikerbanur, for example, would be an excellent trip!  (Any chance you will post it on KerbalX?)

                                                                    

I've become super-obsessed with making my Viper work:

It's a 16 pax/2 crew express Sea Link vessel.

If one does watercraft in KSP, those soon have to be hydrofoils, you know.  Which is tricky enough.  The finale of the magic show is, or course, to prevent them from flying!  And I'm still not quite sure how to do that.  (I wish those little side-controller joysticks didn't come standard in every KSP cockpit!)

But this Viper is super stable/easy to get to a decent top speed.  Mach 4 tenths isn't too bad!    This one likes some trim to get up and then SAS with a little punch to stabilize but is then quite sure-footed.  I love it.  (But of course, I love every new machine that rolls off my production line at KSC...)

(I'm getting some decent mentoring from @FleshJeb on this project.)  I have a bigger project inside an even bigger project in progress, but I had to pause everything else to finish this one to try to really understand hydro-planing...

 (I still don't, but we'll gloss over that in the management reports.  )  All good.

 

Edited March 21, 2019 by Hotel26

[kurgut]

Some early probes I'm happy with their design, in my current RP-1 playthrough:

Mariner-1, for the first early-low-tech Venus flyby, I like how it looks like a chap

Venus flyby occured in May 1961, shot taken after closest pass, this spacecraft will also encounter Venus in 3 orbit later (for science!)

 

Here, it's Mariner-2, for the second Venus Flyby, better antenna, solars, and science stuff, and the probe should have juuuust enough Dv to capture in high eccentric orbit around Venus:

pic during ejection burn:

Spacecraft sep!

See ya Venus in 100 days!

And lastly, early design for the first uncrewed Moon landing: (still not launched)

[OrbitalBuzzsaw]

17 hours ago, MisterKerman said:

Orbital fuel depot essentially? Gateway is a curious name.

Eventually it'll be a much larger station with ISRU (on-orbit ISRU, not surface), and orbital construction apparatus (i.e. tugs).

 

Either way, today finished up Project hiBOOST - a crew shuttle

4 passenger seats + 2 pilots, limited (sub 2t) cargo launch, docking capacity, ~1300m/s dv after launch into a 120km orbit.

And on orbit over Kerbin :

With extra fuel in the cargo bay it could probably do Minmus and back, or Mun orbit and back. Have yet to test that though, and it'll be used as a crew shuttle to Unity Station during day to day operations, and I've done some testing and it seems promising as a Duna lander.

Edited March 21, 2019 by OrbitalBuzzsaw

[MiscelanousItem]

Today I launched my Kerbin relay network:

It's composed of two sats in LKO and one Mun height orbit(the trail going to Minmus is from my Scan-1 scanner sat)

Speaking of which the objective of that launch is to scan Minmus for potential landing sites for Minbase-1 (not a definitive name) which will be used in the RES and RCS programs:

BTW The rocket is a Tasman-C which is probably my favorite rocket yet!