What did you do in KSP1 today?

[Krazy1]

I tried to post yesterday but I don't see it... maybe didn't actually press Submit Reply? 

I've been developing Visor 200... a stretched version of Visor 100... because a hypersonic plane with 100 crew isn't ridiculous enough. 

461 tons wet, 260 tons dry. 55m long. 198 seats. 

Test flight to cruise altitude, pics below. Then flew the first leg of a trip for 10 simultaneous JNSQ-KSRGAP and GAP for JNSQ contracts. It took 4 attempts to land... the rear left wing fell off twice from landing shock. After a 20 minute flight  I guess there was some bug, so I just reattached the wings and it seems better... or I landed better perhaps. After attaching a part, I usually avoid translating it with the snap off because it seems this problem of weak attachment is triggered then. 3rd attempt I came in too fast and tried to deploy the flaps >200 m/s which ripped off one of the front elevators. 4th time was a bit rough but it held together. 

Spoiler

[Lyra]

Perfected my single-stage Tylo lander, now with power generation and an orbital dV that I'm comfortable with - somewhere around 440 m/s, more than enough for docking. I saved a bunch of weight by removing the landing legs - makes touchdown a little riskier, but it's worth the savings.

Also, I didn't quite do this today, but earlier this week I decided to push the limits of ion craft and make an ion Mun lander powered by fuel cells. Here it is touching down, and later being used as an "ablative heat shield" that surprisingly didn't "ablate" at all during reentry and allowed the pilot to safely parachute away once I had slowed down.

That's actually the farthest those overheat bars ever got. I fired the engines all the way through descent because they were still producing a decent amount of deceleration, down to about 5 km. The ultimate goal is a Vall lander, to further optimize my Jool 5 plan so I only have to capture at Laythe and Tylo. Could potentially be optimized even more by modifying my all-liquid SSTO from a week or so ago to transfer to Laythe on its own and come back.

[Rutabaga22]

In ksp1 today, I got a friend of mine into ksp.

He made it to the mun.

 

[kurgut]

Today, I had lot of fun completing this challenge, from KSP/discord, "Patched nonics".

Rules were :

Land and return from [x body] without using patched conics display, maneuver nodes, or informational mods like Kerbal Engineer.
Patched conics display and maneuver nodes are not allowed
You must be in career mode with a level one tracking station (This disables patched conics display and maneuver nodes)
You may use the cheat menu to get funds, science, and experience to level up the rest of the KSC, build your craft, and assemble your crew
No further usage of the cheat menu is allowed after launching your craft
You may not use Kerbal Engineer or other mods like it to gain information
All default challenge rules apply

 

This was really interesting and challenging to do ! It reminded me a bit the feelings of my first days in KSP, a whiiiile ago, when I was just firing engines cluelessly in deepspace   

Cheers

 

Edited June 20, 2023 by kurgut

[Hotel26]

On 6/20/2023 at 12:15 PM, Vanamonde said:

Please stay on-topic. 

FWIW, congratulations on bagging first post on page 2500 in the prestigious What Did You Do In KSP Today thread.  <snip>

<snip>  ...it should have been me.  <snip>  ..sniffle..

Spoiler

[Some untoward/envious remarks have been removed by the commentators] 

 

Edited June 21, 2023 by Hotel26

[Dafni]

3 hours ago, Hotel26 said:

FWIW, congratulations on bagging first post on page 2500 in the prestigious What Did You Do In KSP Today thread.  <snip>

<snip>  ...it should have been me.  <snip>  ..sniffle..

  Hide contents

[Some untoward/envious remarks have been removed by the commentators] 

 

For me here the top post of page 2500 is Vanamode, as it should be

[Hotel26]

34 minutes ago, Dafni said:

For me here the top post of page 2500 is Vanamode, as it should be

Yeah, you're off-topic, fella...  <snip>!

What did You do in KSP today?

Spoiler

I built a Space Hive!

Edited June 21, 2023 by Hotel26

[kurgut]

Today, I spent a lot of time working on this challenge (from  discord) : circumnavigate Kerbin as fast as possible and land Jeb safely on the surface.

And I think I hit a record while doing it, since I did 17m and 18s, and the closest I could find about, was Stratzenbltitz with 19 min... Please tell me if you know of any !

As I explain in the video, it's far from perfect (both the design and the pilot ^^) , and there's still a lot of room for improvements !  

Cheers

 

[Royalswissarmyknife]

Today I Planned out the way Im going to land on the Mun in JNSQ

[swjr-swis]

Page 2500 compels me to post ... something. So here's something I spent some time on.

Craft file: https://kerbalx.com/swjr-swis/SWiS-MicroJet-1A4

P.S.: sorry for the lack of sound. Listening to other things while playing, and noticed too late I had forgot to re-enable game sound recording.

Edited June 22, 2023 by swjr-swis

[Blufor878]

Congrats on 2500 pages!
Normally I'd post this with on the BDB thread, but this variant doesn't use BDB parts. The final (for now) version of my Celestial rocket family, Celestial Ultra.





I think the exact payload capacity is around 100 tons to LKO, but I need to test again to be sure.

[Aelfhe1m]

Designing a new early career "spaceplace". Looks good in SPH but I haven't had time to flight test and refine it - or design the booster that's going to get it into orbit yet.

[Jacke]

12 hours ago, kurgut said:

Today, I spent a lot of time working on this challenge (from  discord) : circumnavigate Kerbin as fast as possible and land Jeb safely on the surface.

And I think I hit a record while doing it, since I did 17m and 18s, and the closest I could find about, was Stratzenbltitz with 19 min... Please tell me if you know of any !

As I explain in the video, it's far from perfect (both the design and the pilot ^^) , and there's still a lot of room for improvements !  

Cheers

Spoiler

 

 

 

Considering a max Gs over 700, I think you converted your Kerbals into Mystery Goo.

[kurgut]

35 minutes ago, Jacke said:

Considering a max Gs over 700, I think you converted your Kerbals into Mystery Goo.

Hahahaha, so now we know how Mystery Goos are fabricated I guess...

Indeed Jeb had to be recovered with a spoon, and put in in an empty jam's jar for easier transportation...

[kurgut]

Today, I witnessed the A.I. become self conscious, and take over Kerbin and all Kerbalkind.

Now Kerbals are slaves, and are used as wheels, to remind them how much the robotics beings had to suffer for them. (it works quite well by the way ! )

Cheers, and watch your smartphone closely, as one day you could be a wheel, and he the boss 

Edited June 22, 2023 by kurgut

[Hotel26]

3 hours ago, Jacke said:

Considering a max Gs over 700, I think you converted your Kerbals into Mystery Goo

This, in actual fact, is how Kerbals got to be short and squat.

[space_otter]

Jebediah Kerman and his friends returned from a Minmus Base mission

Then, Jeb took out his Biz-Jet and flew down to Kola Island, before flying back and crashing (no injuries, but the plane was a write-off)

[swjr-swis]

Craft was done halfway March, based on a screenshot SpacePixel posted here a few days before. Recording was done and uploaded a day later, IIRC. All I did today was set the video to public. Counts though, right?

Sorry for the slow build up - I was trying to find out how much thrust it took for just barely lifting off. And never mind my cargo pilot skills (never entrust me with your stuff ). And naturally, credit for the concept goes entirely to @SpacePixel. It's a lovely little and nimble cargo VTOL, that can muscle around a good bit of freight.

@Hotel26 published the craft file here, cause I was too lazy.

 

[kspbutitscursed]

fly orion to the moon 

[Mars-Bound Hokie]

I made a replica of the B-52 Stratofortress and posted it in the National Museum of the United States Air Force replica thread.

 

• My replica on display in the SPH.
• Due to the engines being connected to the aircraft’s structural pylons via a M-1x1 structural panel, they’re cut off from the fuselage’s tanks and have to rely on the cylindrical Mk. 1 tanks entirely. In other words, any fuel I put in the fuselage’s tanks is dead weight and my range is reduced.

 

• The B-52 flying west at night. In hindsight, I should have waited until sunset to take off.
• For this test, since the real-life B-52 was a subsonic bomber, I decided to leave the afterburners OFF. I could go faster and fly higher if they were on, but it would probably come at the cost of range.

 

• 12 fuel units left per engine, leaving 96 usable fuel units left, and I need to land. I had to use the exhaust to see if I was over land or not, and I was lucky to have been over (I think was) some peninsula.
  • Like I said earlier, the fuel tanks in the fuselage were no good (except for moving the CoM), so all I could use were the eight Mk. I Lf tanks - with one per engine. I had to right-click on one of those tanks to accurately see how close I was to empty.
    • Right now, there’s only 3,200 fuel units usable when ready. The other 750 units in the back are the dead weight.
• When I turned on map view after landing, I noticed that I was halfway around the world.
  • After further testing with the MJ rover autopilot, I then realized that I've been calculating my aircraft ranges incorrectly the whole time.

 

• The KSP replica's cruise performance stats were as follows:
  • Afterburner: OFF
  • Altitude: 9.9 km (~32.5k ft; Class Alpha airspace)
  • Velocity: 220 m/s (~492 mph)
  • Expected Range: 1,885 km
    • Assuming it can still fly that far when loaded with ordinance, if it’s a two-way bombing mission, you’ll need to half that expected range if you want to land at that same airfield - with some fuel left to spare since you’ll be shedding weight after you blow up some enemy bases.
    • The real-life B-52D can fly 13,419 km unrefueled 
      • For reference, the circumference of the Earth is approximately 40,075 km

 

• Photograph of Amelia Kerman, Jeb’s (late) mother, doing a pinup pose on the nose of a B-52 bomber.

 

• Another flight test. This time, the bomb bay doors were open - but the plane itself is unarmed.

 

Although this replica meets the criteria to be accepted in my replica collection (looks like its namesake and functions), I disappointed by its performance stats - especially its range. How can I get the eight engines to connect with the fuselage tanks while maintaining the B-52 look, and can I still use the structural panels or are they a no-no?

• I think it might have also killed my range in my Jetstar replica.

 

As for my range problem:

Spoiler

I just realized today that MJ takes the straight-line distance between waypoints in the aircraft and rover autopilots. In other words, whatever number I see is the distance I would travel if I went straight through Kerbin's surface. This is apparent by the fact that MJ's aircraft autopilot marked me as "1.2 Mm" away from the KSC and yet I was already halfway around the planet. Since Kerbin has an equatorial radius of 600 km, it stands to reason that the 1.2 Mm I read was the full diameter, which led to the straight-line distance conclusion.

 

I also realized that if I wanted to see how far I can go along Kerbin's surface, I need to use more than just what MJ's aircraft autopilot tells me. Rather, I need the length of an arc. 

 

Think of my travel path along Kerbin as a disc below, with "MJ Dist" being the distance that MJ gives me (whether it be measuring how far away I am from the KSC or any other waypoint).

 

To get the distance traveled along the surface, I:

1. Split the isosceles triangle seen above into two identical right triangles.
   1. "MJ Dist" divided by two on one side.
   2. 600 km (or whatever the equatorial radius of your celestial body is) on the second side.
   3. The third side doesn't matter.
   4. Theta is divided by two in each right triangle.
2. Obtain the value of theta (in degrees) by:
   1. {arcsin [(MJ/2) / 600]} * 2
      1. If you're airborne, you might want to subtract your altitude from the given "MJ" value
         1. e.g. I'm getting a reading of 1.209 Mm from the KSC, but I'm ~ 9 km high.
   2. The split triangles from earlier make it easier to visualize what you're going for. First, you get theta/2. When you put the two triangles back together, you get the full theta.
3. Obtain the short arc length by:
   1. 2 * pi * 600 * { theta (degrees) / 360 }
4. (IF YOU FLEW PAST THE HALFWAY POINT) Substract subtract your result from Step 3 from Kerbin's circumference - which is (2 * pi * 600).

 

If I'm wrong on how I calculate distance traveled along the surface (assuming a straight like), please tell me.

If I'm right, I plan to make an Excel sheet made specifically for this task - and not just for Kerbin or for aircraft.

 

Thank you in advance for your help.

[swjr-swis]

16 hours ago, Mars-Bound Hokie said:

How can I get the eight engines to connect with the fuselage tanks while maintaining the B-52 look, and can I still use the structural panels or are they a no-no?

By attaching the Mk1 tanks directly to the pylon, then rotating them 90 degrees. A few ticks of offset will make them look properly attached again. It works even better if you use the nacelle bodies - you do sacrifice some fuel capacity, but their rounder body helps with the attached look (and since you get to use the rest of the plane's fuel, the lesser nacelle capacity isn't an issue).

https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/2hbhraxwn6emged06qbwc/dual-turbojet-engine-nacelle.craft?dl=0&rlkey=phzpkwf3nxwgc3ygbpsdzorkb

 

[Kimera Industries]

I've been distracted from any major projects for a while, but some highlights include: a working f-14 tomcat, (with moving wings!) a non-working harrier jet, (how hard can VTOL be? Very hard) and my most recent one is trying to recreate Dyna-Soar. I got this huge book about the history of the space shuttle and the first few chapters are about early concept exploration of spaceplane designs. I've been inspired to make some high-speed planes, but Dyna-Soar is coming along the best. The wing configuration means that the CoL is really far back. To move the CoM back as well, I added some ore tanks as dead weight and the CoL is lined up perfectly now. Originally I had these cool landing skids like the real Dyna-Soar. They used pistons and I-beams to get the desired effect. Unfortunately for the accuracy of my little spaceplane, landing skids don't work (at all) in KSP, so boring, regular landing gear it is. The launch vehicle is close to getting into orbit, I need some more fuel tanks and maybe SRBs on the side. Taking inspiration from actual high-speed plane tests, I tried attaching Dyna-Soar to the wing of a stock aircraft with roughly the same proportions as the NB-52. Attaching it to the wing caused symmetry and imbalance issues, so I gave it bigger landing gear and mounted it on the bottom instead. Taking Dyna up to a high altitude and launching it worked reasonably well, but mostly it proved that it handles really well in flight. I just need to get used to flying it like a glider. If I undershoot the runway, it'll either land in the ocean (not good) or somewhere on land aside from the KSC peninsula (less good, actually). One of my tests forced Dyna to land on the mountain range next to the KSC, meaning no flat land was available (very not good). If I overshoot the runway, I can either turn around or aim for the island runway. If I massively screw up the retro burn, reentry profile, or anything else, I'll just load a quicksave. Anyway, in other news, I went on my main career save and did a bunch of stuff. I learned that the game gives you more contracts of the kind you accept. Early on, I had wanted to accept every contract, but that was a VERY bad idea. I ended up with a lot of contracts I couldn't complete. So I took a hit, declining the majority of them, and it's been fun! Rescuing kerbals 2 at a time, taking tourists to the Mun, and actually landing on the Mun, for once! No more "science data from this location in flight 20km or higher" for me!

[space_otter]

I built a few aircraft from Cosmos Airways International, the main airline of Kerbin. First , a retro moment with a KD-11 from cosmos airways, circa 1979. This livery has a red cheatline and Cosmos Airways International titles.

On Final Approach:

And parked at the KSC International Terminal 2, used by most airlines:

 

 

[OrdinaryKerman]

New install for Kerbal Konstructs stuff, started work on a road between Jeb's Junkyard (kerbinside remastered) and the KSC, maybe connect to the cove launch site and the KSC-Kerbin City route at some point



also installed TURD because why not

Edited June 25, 2023 by OrdinaryKerman
Scatterer+Spectra+Parallax+Textures Unlimited = incredible looking game. As good as KSP2, maybe. Unfortunately had to uninstall Parallax to get 'enjoyable playable' framerates with my laptop

[space_otter]

3 hours ago, OrdinaryKerman said:

New install for Kerbal Konstructs stuff, started work on a road between Jeb's Junkyard (kerbinside remastered) and the KSC, maybe connect to the cove launch site and the KSC-Kerbin City route at some point

Wow! I am always looking for new KK things. Will I be able to download it once it's finished?

Despite the MD-11 I built yesterday, I decided to redo it with some more realistic parts from neist air. Although I could not use the 3.1m parts because of a bug, the 3.75m parts with the 777 cockpit still looked good. Here are a few shots of it taking off from Dununda International airport.

 

The pilots prepare for the long flight ahead:

The DC-10 taxis onto the runway:

Takeoff

High above the clouds at 6000m, en route to Round Range

Edited June 25, 2023 by space_otter
Did some extra stuff