What did you do in KSP1 today?

[vv3k70r]

5 hours ago, Hotel26 said:

The trick is to settle into a 45-50 km orbit before/over the desert and then fly like a buzz bomb...

If You descent from orbit You can target for PE around 60 and AP around 75 to pass almost half a planet decelerating.

3 hours ago, N_Danger said:

Sent a  probe to the Mun using 30 parts

Kind of chalange?

[Hotel26]

1 hour ago, vv3k70r said:

If You descent from orbit You can target for PE around 60 and AP around 75 to pass almost half a planet decelerating.

You are correct about this.  My standard approach is to circularize down at 70km.  Then lower PE to 50km at 70E.  This is the opposite point to 110W, which is the tip of the desert, 36 deg uprange from KSC.  The idea is that, at 50km, most craft are still maneuverable (in the atmosphere) such that you can go retrograde, do a long decel burn, then still turn prograde again^[1].  There is a concensus that says that that decel burn over the desert should bring your touch-down trajectory around about to the Island Airport off KSC.  This is all well and good for a ballistic return but still kind of wildly inaccurate.  By the time you are low enough to control further with chutes and airbrakes, you are in thick atmosphere and it's too late to control your descent -- your bed is made.

With a winged glider, you can do better but only if you are maintaining the glide at a lower altitude, e.g. at 40km descending, where you can quickly get some bite on the atmosphere with wings.  By the time I get to the western KSC coast, at 35-40km altitude, I think it is possible to use speed and lift to hold off the landing at will, possibly even using whatever fuel is left in reserve to assist.  This is what I am attempting and I think it is controllable and reproducible and should yield pinpoint accuracy.  Certainly a properly-balanced winged lifter should outperform one without wings.  (The glide ratio on Zephyr degrades to about 2:1 in the lower atmosphere.)

Your comment suggests one of two ways of "orbiting" in the atmosphere.  #1 at PE where you keep AP higher.  #2 at AP in which you keep boosting PE.  I use a combination of both, switching as needed.

[1] I've experimented with a couple of winged lifters (e.g. Star Knife and Blister), that are intended to "fly" backwards on final descent, such that you don't have to attempt to revert to prograde once you've completed the final decel burn...

Edited December 23, 2020 by Hotel26

[Rakete]

...started building a low-tech (intended!) Science-Collector-plane to do some kerbin-sightseeing and to train the kerbals not to smash every red button as soon it starts to blink... I think its gonna be a propeller-plane again. Maybe this time with the fuel-powered rotors. Let's see.

Also finishing the last polishing of my fuelcell driven take-hang-over-kerbals-home-propellerplane "twinstar"... maybe some fancy go-faster-lightstripes for the party kerbals? The damn bug reverts those lights always to white.

Also finish works on my KSC-Sciencecollectorbuggy with some fancy weeeeooooooeeeeeoooo-blinking-warning lights (warning! Science & Snacks inside!!!) and a attached claw to transfer the collected science to a rocket in order to be processed in one of my space stations. Why? Cause it's possible.

[Rakete]

Also built the other day an astronauttrainer. A device, that flips and twists the kerbals around in 3 axis. Poor Kerbals, but if they want to be astronauts, they have to train nasty g-forces without getting sick. But all of the trainees got a whole bunch of snacks afterwards. The looked very happy about the sweets. Love my kerbals.

[vv3k70r]

53 minutes ago, Hotel26 said:

The idea is that, at 50km, most craft are still maneuverable such that you can go retrograde, do a long decel burn

I did not considered any burn inside atmosphere (because I get away on boosters and vac engines are not best in dealing with pressure and so I do not have any control surfaces, I just aim for 0deg inclination and fall half a planet to open parachutes above KSC as You do; so I do not land boosters but mostly probes and capsules).

53 minutes ago, Hotel26 said:

do a long decel burn, then still turn prograde again

Atmosphere is for free. And if rocket have control surface (like the early milestones that my son do) You can even go higher up from 10 to 12km and breake this way.

53 minutes ago, Hotel26 said:

There is a concensus that says that that decel burn over the desert should bring your touch-down trajectory around about to the Island Airport off KSC. 

I have to take this case of burning fuel in atmosphere with KSC administration - they save every penny

53 minutes ago, Hotel26 said:

This is all well and good for a ballistic return but still kind of wildly inaccurate. 

You attached screens where You menage it - acurate for You.

53 minutes ago, Hotel26 said:

By the time you are low enough to control further with chutes and airbrakes, you are in thick atmosphere and it's too late to control your descent -- your bed is made.

It is made when You go in the atmosphere. When You touch it - it is done.

53 minutes ago, Hotel26 said:

With a winged glider, you can do better but only if you are maintaining the glide at a lower altitude

Yes, but I stop to use shuttles - wings in space are dead weight. Boosters are cheap (I guess they reuse them).

53 minutes ago, Hotel26 said:

By the time I get to the western KSC coast, at 35-40km altitude, I think it is possible to use speed and lift to hold off the landing at will

Yes. Specialy with rockets of Your design.

It will transform You aproching vector from vertical forward to horizontal up and then obviousl fall down.

53 minutes ago, Hotel26 said:

This is what I am attempting and I think it is controllable and reproducible and should yield pinpoint accuracy

It works - do not fix it.

53 minutes ago, Hotel26 said:

Your comment suggests one of two ways of "orbiting" in the atmosphere.  #1 at PE where you keep AP higher.  #2 at AP in which you keep boosting PE.  I use a combination of both, switching as needed.

AP will fall and I avoid lot of heat bleeding speed without using engines (sometimes I just toss a "craft" on atmosphere trajectory 0deg inclination and get away with hauler back to stable orbit leaving only capsule with parachutes to manage the rest). It could be consider reasonable aproach for thicker atmosphere like Eve where heat and speed are just bad.

53 minutes ago, Hotel26 said:

that are intended to "fly" backwards on final descent, such that you don't have to attempt to revert to prograde once you've completed the final decel burn...

I do not much prograde att all when landing. Breaking radial out to expose area when not much heat, and retrograde to expose high drag when heat is an issue. It is like aiming a piano for half an orbit to KSC just to open parachutes above it.

I avoid manouvers exposing diagonaly at sides to keep 0inclinataion, it is more like throwing a stone. For a while I'm making so cheap return modules that I do not take care where they fall (more when and how long I do have window to play with them so forced landing with parachutes trigered 400m over the ground is used), but if I have time during aproach (running over 60 flights same time) so I play to aim at KSC and quite often end up on the grass around - kind of personal chelenge.

Edited December 23, 2020 by vv3k70r

[evileye.x]

I've build my first 1,25m rocket in my "JNSQ2" playthrough.

Well, not quite 1,25m. I don't have 1,25m engines or fuel tanks yet... So I crammed two 0.625m SRBs in structural tube and called it a day.

Second stage is Spark engine and dozen (or so) Oscar A fuel tanks <- the only engine and LFO tank my space program developed so far.

Spoiler

Don't have any SAS yet, so... Spin stabilization once again. Kerbalism + Kiwi TT together make launches more exciting. 

Spoiler

I really like optimistic opinion "We can still repair it" , but I don't think so

 

Spoiler

Next try is successful and Dontstayputnik is pushed a little bit below 500km, enough to perform inner belt radiation measurement. But not enough to reach outer belt though...

 

Edited December 23, 2020 by evileye.x

[Zeiss Ikon]

Last night (late, like right at bedtime) I test flew Eagle 1.

RSS/RO/RP-1 in 1.8.1, this is the first aircraft in this career.  Initial mission: crewed Sound Barrier attempt, X-Plane contracts, and likely Flying Low science around Brownsville, Texas (there are seven biomes accessible on about a two hour flight, and I think I can add enough fuel to this to give that endurance.  Still have to figure where to mount that huge Early Film Camera, though.

 

 

Inspired by the Curtis Ascender fighter prototype, as well as the Vought Cutlass carrier fighter.  All starting parts, except aluminum separate structure tanks instead of steel.

 

 

Stock "Swept Wing" with B9 Procedural control surfaces.  the inner trailing edge parts are locked, outers serve as ailerons only (pitch control is on the Standard Canards).  Delta Deluxe winglets for the tip fins/rudders.  Three Derwent jet engines -- seems to me the radial compressor sections used to be bigger.   And yes, that's a JU-87 Stuka cockpit; everything else in the starting parts node is worse.

 

The aircraft is transsonic, sustained level flight, at 5 km altitude.  Service ceiling with the Derwents ought to be a little above 7 km.  Pilot(s) will be on oxygen at that altitude, of course.

 

It's a little cranky -- tends to pick up a side crab and tip off one way or the other in roll -- but the autopilot handles it fine.  A live pilot just has to pay attention all the time.  Takeoff is a little more, um, "fun" -- requires near full elevator deflection to keep the nose up below 140 m/s  Should be really interesting to land (no flaps, though I may test them) -- haven't tried that yet; images are from KRASH simulation.

[Urus28]

I had to perform some maintenance on my space station.... The probe core was missing. Hopefully the new KSP version allows to correct such mistakes ! =D

[eberkain]

I finally make a robotic arm with the stock robotics that isn't completely trash.  And a 5m starship with tweakscale parts. 

[vv3k70r]

I mate pair of whales:

Then reasembled they docked parts on main engines.

Used 1.11 and KIS/KAS to reasemble my oldest mistake (first Mun landing and with rover that include lab on those tiny wheels) - it is getting 2 pairs of biguns and some other reasembly.

I use spider crane to toss rocket in faster trajectory (spider have fuel mine base back down)

and return to slower/lower trajectory to get back to base just after speeding up for throw. Rocket going back to Kerbin gonna deliver there some fuel on orbit and land with science, and during the way catch up some orbiting tourist to deorbit them (it is cheaper to bring it from da Mun then pay for ship from launch pad).

 

[Death Engineering]

Finally....

..getting to take some time off RL. This year been a b*tch, eh?  Put this mod-set together with Parallax months ago and have been eager to have a look around.  Didn't load in a LS mod to didn't have to worry about that.. just want to fly around Laythe! 

 

But the pre-landing bonus was this amazing and well planned (with some luck!) gravity-assisted Laythe orbital insertion with just 227m/s of ▲v!  

 

Now time to fly around..

[pyropelush]

I put a very small (and cheap!) Rover on the Mun, I wouldn't recommend using it when the Sun isn't out.
For the camera, I used Hullcam VDS Continued.

Edited December 23, 2020 by pyropelush

[vv3k70r]

I landed by 2,7m/s just on spot - parking lot for rockets next to fuel distributor.

Tourist are excited (one of them is about to switch the rocket and get to Minmu as stated in ticked:

Rocket do not have landing legs because it is a cargo hauler that accidently was on proper spot at Muns orbit and tourist was just a cargo attached to tanker. We are recomended by people buing ticket for mother in law.

[Stamp20]

I launched a colony mission to Gateway.

Spoiler

The first launch was five SCANsats for each moon.

I just realized Gateway actually has a surface, so one of the sats will be repurposed once it's done scanning its moon.

The second launch was a space station with the colonists inside.

The colony ship in orbit. It features room for 20 kerbals and a full science experiment set.

The first burn attempt resulted in RUD of the engine.

The second attempt went more smoothly.

The burn takes about 1200 m/s but took 15 minutes of game time because of how low the TWR is.

The last launch was a crew transport vehicle and a beacon station.

By the time the Gateway colonists arrive, Karborundum mining on Rock will have already started so the beacon can be used for fast travel to and from Rhode.

 

[Goaty1208]

Tomorrow Artemis II, which laneded on Laythe, will return just in time gor Goat Engineering Inc's 1° anniversary

[king of nowhere]

11 hours ago, Rakete said:

Also built the other day an astronauttrainer. A device, that flips and twists the kerbals around in 3 axis. Poor Kerbals, but if they want to be astronauts, they have to train nasty g-forces without getting sick. But all of the trainees got a whole bunch of snacks afterwards. The looked very happy about the sweets. Love my kerbals.

pictures?

[RP1IsSuperior]

12 hours ago, Rakete said:

Also built the other day an astronauttrainer. A device, that flips and twists the kerbals around in 3 axis. Poor Kerbals, but if they want to be astronauts, they have to train nasty g-forces without getting sick. But all of the trainees got a whole bunch of snacks afterwards. The looked very happy about the sweets. Love my kerbals.

Multi-axis trainer? those aren't really used these days as they figured out they weren't needed

[Rakete]

17 minutes ago, RP1IsSuperior said:

Multi-axis trainer? those aren't really used these days as they figured out they weren't needed

Yeah. Maybe. But building it was fun... and Jeb loves it. 

Photo? as soon as I'm back on the computer. (If I remember your request :-) )

[vv3k70r]

35 minutes ago, RP1IsSuperior said:

Multi-axis trainer? those aren't really used these days as they figured out they weren't needed

They are in use to present trainee acurate acceleration (with directions) for ascend - what should they expect during launch. But I suspect it is gadget mostly for testing seats and accesibility to emergency controls when it is quite physical to perform. For actual training of personel it is nothing more then toy from past.

[Astrionix]

 

[vv3k70r]

I found that struts conected in EVA VAB 1.11 stays if conected new part to original vab part, but not conecting new part-new part.

[N_Danger]

16 hours ago, vv3k70r said:

Kind of chalange?

For me at least. I'm playing Career in JNSQ for the first time(which is rescaled by 2.7) and the 1st level VAB in career only allows 30 parts.

Edited December 24, 2020 by N_Danger
Grammar

[Hotel26]

@Astrion +5 for your latest video

[RP1IsSuperior]

5 hours ago, Astrion said:

 

YOOOO

THIS MAN USES REALFUELS

 

[Clamp-o-Tron]

Just now, RP1IsSuperior said:

YOOOO

THIS MAN USES REALFUELS

 

That looks like RealPlume-Stock.

Some desktop-worthy screenshots from the last week of playing: