What did you do in KSP1 today?

[Qwotty]

I took a Kerbal named Gerbree Kerman up to a space station that I've been working in a sandbox save as of writing this in a space station utility vehicle for ferrying to test it out.  During the landing, after deploying the parachutes, I remembered that there was a KAS winch on the bottom of it and got an intriguingly interesting idea — "Why not go EVA, grab on to it, and jump off?"... which seemed fun ...so that's what I did!!! With a leap of faith, I let go of the ladder, and got a nice dose of adrenaline as the Kerbal started falling down like a skydiver faster than the ship due to the differences in mass. Both the Kerbal and the ship had soft landings where neither were harmed. Who knew that doing what's basically a form of bungee jumping in KSP could be such fun? This is something that I would recommend in all honesty if you're looking for a way to make parachuting waits more bearable. Worth the try it was indeed. It was quite entertaining, and I hope it brings a smile.

 

Edited July 17 by Qwotty

[Mr. Kerbin]

Not today, but when watching @Stratzenblitz75 video about mass drivers, I found this.  Jeb is more powerful than Bob, he just doesn't show it.

Edited July 17 by Mr. Kerbin
Hail Jeb.

[Angelo Kerman]

Today I figured out how to properly orient a printed vessel depending upon if it's from the VAB or (as below) from the SPH:

[stephensmat]

21 hours ago, Angelo Kerman said:

Today I figured out how to properly orient a printed vessel depending upon if it's from the VAB or (as below) from the SPH:

I'm having no end of trouble with that with my Base parts. I've been designing my 'Bases' in the SPH. Should I shift it to VAB, turn it 90 degrees to stand on one end?

[Qwotty]

I launched a ship for ferrying with 4914 delta-v that is capable of interplanetary missions that was designed with them in mind.
What you see here was launched into orbit without using fuel from the pictured stage thanks to efficient staging and SRB usage.
The drone core was installed on the ship during construction so that it can sit in orbit unoccupied until missions for it are planned.

Edited July 19 by Qwotty
4914 delta-v, not 4919

[anis]

Today, after many weeks of trying, I was able to make a stable and functional space shuttle recreation that can reach orbit with a nice payload.

The solid boosters push the shuttle to around 900 m/s, then separate at about 20 000 m. The core stage reaches a quasi-orbital trajectory before separating for more realism, with about 2500 m/s of Delta-v remaining. The shuttle completes the orbital insertion and has about 500 m/s of Delta-v to spare with its monopropellant engines, using linear RCS thrusters for attitude control, and then lands on the runway.

to me, this is one of the hardest missions of KSP, especially controlling both stages during ascent and landing the shuttle on KSC's runway. The first time I did it, it took me so many iterations that I started to name them. This is version 2.5.1. 

 

 

 

 

Edited July 21 by anis

[Vanamonde]

I can't see your pics, @anis. Could you upload them to a sharing service and copy their links into your post? Imgur is free and easy to use. 

[anis]

28 minutes ago, Vanamonde said:

I can't see your pics, @anis. Could you upload them to a sharing service and copy their links into your post? Imgur is free and easy to use. 

does it work now ?

[Angelo Kerman]

Finally figured out the vessel rotation issues that I was having- thanks for the help @taniwha!

When printing a vessel, if you have parts stored in inventory then they'll be used to print the vessel and reduce printing time. Also, the vessel printer can request that other print shops attached to the vessel with the printer to help out with printing parts.

[Vanamonde]

1 hour ago, anis said:

does it work now ?

You can't submit pictures directly to the forum. They need to be posted somewhere else and linked here. 

[GluttonyReaper]

3 hours ago, Vanamonde said:

You can't submit pictures directly to the forum. They need to be posted somewhere else and linked here. 

I seem to be able to see them just fine? Very cool btw @anis - I've never managed to get a shuttle working in KSP, it's definitely up there as one of the hardest things you can do! (especially if you're like me and suck at landing...)

[Krazy1]

9 hours ago, anis said:

does it work now ?

Not for me.

3 hours ago, GluttonyReaper said:

I seem to be able to see them just fine?

hmm. wonder why
I finished getting almost all of the Moho science and now need to retrieve a part from retrograde orbit. If the part is large, I'll probably need to leave it in low Moho orbit (prograde), land, refuel, launch, get the part again. Then go back to Gilly, refuel, get a second part in orbit there. Finally bring the parts and a load of science back to Kerbin. 

Spoiler

 

 

[Tecorian]

Testing an interplanetary vessel in Kerbin Orbit.

There are no Landers at the dockingports yet.

The ship has with four canadarms enough capacities to serve up to four Landeres and eight suppliesports.

So, this is the crewed ship and planning is, to build up a little fleet with four additional and identical supplieships.

Destiny will be Jool and, of course, Laythe.

 

https://imgur.com/758Gnv4

 

[Iapetus7342]

I launched a rover designated MICE (Munar Icy Crater Explorer) to the northern pole of The Mun, with the mission's main objective being to collect samples of the North Pole's regolith to search for water ice. The mission is in honor of the recently cancelled VIPER mission by NASA, which was intended to be a major stepping stone for the Artemis program.

[Qwotty]

Made it to an asteroid after enough practice and study, which was fulfilling to do, as before that I had never met up with an asteroid in-game, thus the celebration post.
I used the "Procedural Parts" mod to build the large initial launch vehicle — a large conical stage both efficient and powerful. The large white cone fuel tank part is 24 meters. 
The conical shape of the rocket's first stage played a crucial role in its successful ascent to orbit and thus furthermore the whole rest of the mission, effectively acting like a huge bullet.











Mission success indeed, but due to the size of the asteroid, I wasn't able to move it around at all much. And this was all done over the course of years in the SOI of Sol due to my asteroid spaceship accidentally getting ejected into an escape trajectory out of the sphere of influence of Kerbin, which had been went with, as I had more than enough fuel and thrust regardless to do a rendezvous anyway even then. 

RCS and SAS were also oversights as well that made lugging around the spaceship when it still had its heavy 2.5m Rockomax Jumbo-64 Fuel Tank until it was pointing each maneuver node truly cumbersome. 

But what matters is that the ship got there and was able to play around with the asteroid, and that things went according to plan most of the time...
which is obvious, because this post wouldn't be here if the planning wasn't well done enough.

I even recorded some footage of my mission when I got there and was doing my sandbox research on asteroid behavior that I turned into animated GIF images.
The scientific test phase of the mission so to speak was basically spinning the asteroid in a circle, chucking the big stage, and then crashing the ship into the asteroid.
In fact, doing that as an end-of-mission thing (crashing your ship into what you were studying after you are done) is not too unheard of. Space agencies do precisely that sometimes.

Here are photos of the rocket that I used that I took afterwards to show what the rocketship that I used to get my asteroid rendezvous probe looks like in case somebody wanted to see.
Check out the intricate design and careful engineering that went into this build, which made the asteroid rendezvous mission a success.
The sleek aerodynamic structure and the powerful engines highlight the effort and precision that went into change in velocity planning.


"What did you do in KSP1 today?" was asked, and this was the answer the day that this was written. 
I hope that you enjoy.
I sure did!

Edited July 24 by Qwotty

[CollectingSP]

Daily roundup- 7/23

• Worked on a custom solar panel design derived from Near Future Solar For DSCS-III Satellite Replicas (Sorry, no sharing due to licensing!)
• Worked on Preliminary Primer Vector Guidance implementation for Soyuz 2.1B and built a prototype of my version of the Roscosmos TGK-PG Supply ship concept, which will service my ISS replica eventually
• Worked on upcoming Delta IV launches for DSCS, Zvezda SM, and the Z1 truss, and prepared to shift around statics at my custom SLC-37B replica
• Prepared for my upcoming NROL-10 Launch on Antares
• prepared images for release of my ISS replica
• Released A new Spaceport news

Here's some WIP images!

DSCS-III (WIP)

TGK PG (WIP)

ISS Replica (Next Module launch NET Mid-August)

 

 

 

Edited July 24 by CollectingSP

[Qwotty]

I built a ship that can refuel using drills to capture a relatively small asteroid that was on the tracking station's radar.
Through doing that I learned that planning of the spacecraft's trajectory to intercept the asteroid is best done in propria persona, as opposed to trying to use MechJeb. There is a satisfaction to dialing that in personally anyway.
I did indeed use it for a few parts but found that doing it with your fingers and mouse in the map view with the maneuver planner was more required than I had thought initially. 
I had ~1000+ delta-v left by the time that I had gotten to the asteroid and attached to it with the Advanced Grabbing Unit, which was more than enough to do an orbital insertion burn.
I had to rush to post this before midnight, because it's "What did you do in KSP1 today?", and obviously not "What did you do in KSP1 yesterday?", but it was worth the writing, as I wanted to share this. 
I hope that my successful mission brings inspiration. 

Edited July 26 by Qwotty
Correction

[Angelo Kerman]

Today I finished up the Shipwright vessel printer.

Now it can handle special resources required to print the vessel, just like the existing printers can require when printing parts. Additionally it can handle the resources required to print parts in the vessel that are deployed- like the test base here. Its assembled Castillo parts require Ore and Konkrete.

Additionally, the Shipwright can create an alarm to let players know when the printing will be done. Note though, you'll need to ensure that you have sufficient resources on hand, or you'll run into problems.

Now that it's done, I have to create the Shipbreaker, the vessel recycler that will tear vessels down into their constituent parts. If you have room in your inventory then the parts will be added, and if not, it'll work like the existing recycler.

[Blufor878]

2 hours ago, Angelo Kerman said:

Today I finished up the Shipwright vessel printer.

Now it can handle special resources required to print the vessel, just like the existing printers can require when printing parts. Additionally it can handle the resources required to print parts in the vessel that are deployed- like the test base here. Its assembled Castillo parts require Ore and Konkrete.

Additionally, the Shipwright can create an alarm to let players know when the printing will be done. Note though, you'll need to ensure that you have sufficient resources on hand, or you'll run into problems.

Now that it's done, I have to create the Shipbreaker, the vessel recycler that will tear vessels down into their constituent parts. If you have room in your inventory then the parts will be added, and if not, it'll work like the existing recycler.

Are those buildings from a new mod or an existing one? They look neat!

Edited July 27 by Blufor878

[capi3101]

2 hours ago, Angelo Kerman said:

Today I finished up the Shipwright vessel printer.

Not gonna lie to you...it's weird to me to see those buildings directly connected to one another without Walkways in between them...

Been having some issues with Pathfinder of late, actually. Not with the Castillos, but definitely with the inflatables - they used to work better with less competent crews.

[Angelo Kerman]

29 minutes ago, Blufor878 said:

Are those buildings from a new mod or an existing one? They look neat!

They're from my Pathfinder mod:

It's old but still works. I've learned a bunch since I built it, and KSP matured too...

15 minutes ago, capi3101 said:

Not gonna lie to you...it's weird to me to see those buildings directly connected to one another without Walkways in between them...

Been having some issues with Pathfinder of late, actually. Not with the Castillos, but definitely with the inflatables - they used to work better with less competent crews.

Probably some fine tuning done at some point. Part of my drive to add vessel printing/recycling, field updates to flags, field updates to part variants, and more to Sandcastle is to pave the way to leveraging the experience that I gained since making Pathfinder and add some new base-building parts. Those parts could potentially become a successor to Pathfinder, which is now pushing a decade old...

[Mr. Kerbin]

So. Today I launched a mission, in my WIP mod, Beyond Jool. The probe was called the Sarkin Surveyor. This is its story.

Spoiler

After the Kerman Telescope was built, it discovered a new planet. Sarkin. It also discovered 4 moons. Lull, Sushut, Kotta, and Sapp. So they launched a new mission to explore more. 

 T-5.

4.

3.

2.

1.

AND LIFTOFF!

Anyway, it was a good launch.

Stage separation and ignition of the KR-2L Rhino.

So, before they knew it, it was time to do the transfer burn.

And now to wait. For 5 years.

And then...

The giant planet (7,150,000 meters in radius!) was in our sights.

We found the second large moon, Sushut, was even larger than Kerbin. So it was good for a gravity assist to slow down. At about a periapsis of 45,000m, we had slowed down very much.

So, now, Mission Control had the SS flyby Lull.

They made sure to go close to grab moar science.

Now Kotta was next. Turns out that it is oblate, because it spins fast. The periapsis was also about 45,000 m.

And finally, the retrograde ringed moon Sapp.

So, after 6 long years, it was finally over. It would deorbit to Sarkin to grab some last-minute data.

And instantly upon entering the atmosphere...

.. it was over.

shameless plug, but how would you like to try the mod yourself?

Edited August 3 by Mr. Kerbin

[Qwotty]

While doing engineer work in EVA Construction Mode during a Gilly mission that was the Plan B after my asteroid intercept mission failed, I learned that, with effort and skill, you can make Kerbals wear part hats with it. Pictured here is my Rockomax Brand Adapter 02 sun hat.
It's like an Asian conical hat or sombrero, but in space. And made of metal. 

Most of the parts that were brought to be used for the Gilly base ended up blowing up thanks to an EVA Construction Mode kraken that also happens to function usefully as waste disposal. I'm sure I'm not the first to have gone to set down a part either by throwing it or placing it gently on the ground while doing EVA engineer construction and had their parts blow up that way. I've noticed that it happens when parts are being dropped, and in relation to terrain or other collision meshes, and not when attaching items to ship like during EVA orbital construction.

Jebediah and Valentina were the two Kerbals that took the brave Kerbal Kathsen Kerman to Gilly, that of which returned to Kerbin safely after, leaving Kathsen behind to stay on Gilly. I used a two-part Apollo-style spaceship, and thanks to Gilly's low gravity (0.049 m/s² as opposed to Earth/Kerbin's ~9.8 m/s²), I only needed to bring a much smaller fraction of delta-v and thusly fueling for the rocket engines (which were discarded of before I took the screenshots) for the landing stage than I did the interplanetary visit and return stage that was initially merely meant to meet up with the same asteroid from my last post that I had put into a polar orbit and affectionally started referring to as"Mini Mun".  But I quicksaved after the asteroid's distance closer and velocity faster than the engines could use to catch up and knew from understanding delta-v and having studied KSP delta-v maps well enough to know that my backup plan to go to Gilly instead was indeed feasible given the amount of delta-v that I had. I figured that if I couldn't get the base that I had built in the VAB to fit on that tiny asteroid that I would put it on another, and that's what I did.

I planned on attaching the base to the terrain so that it wouldn't move, but as you can tell from the picture above, that did not go according to plan.
And due to that plus the low gravity of Gilly being compounded with the lightweight Mk1 Lander Can's low mass, I kept having tipping problems.
Thankfully your own place probably doesn't tilt up something like 50-70 degrees like that every other time or so that you open the door and leave. 

All things considered, it was a spectacular landing, and I didn't use MechJeb for it, seeing as how, as far as landings go, landing on Gilly is a cakewalk.
Because Gilly is a celestial body with such low gravity that you can practically sneeze and end up in orbit, the said low gravity meant I was able to take my time to ease my way down without worrying about smashing into the surface like you would on a planet with stronger gravity. None of that high-anxiety, high-speed, high-throttle nonsense. You can take your time, make adjustments, and generally enjoy the process without the constant fear of catastrophic failure. It's a confidence booster, plain and simple. Landing on Gilly is like taking a leisurely walk in the park compared to the celestial bodies in KSP with higher gravity and more treacherous terrains that result in much more white-knuckled by-the-skin-of-your-teeth landings. 
Above is a screenshot showing the orbit that the ship that the lander was docked to before it landed was in, both before and after the landing, before it left for Kerbin.
The green line had turned to orange by the time that Jebediah and Valentina made it back to Kerbin, which served as reminder for the future to bring satellite relays.
Think about it — they don’t even need anything fancy such as thrusters, and it's a smart move because they can be deployed with minimal impact on launch mass and cost, enhance mission capabilities, and fit easily in cargo bays.






The ride on the rocketship back home to Kerbin was something that I worried about at first in terms of making sure that I had enough delta-v to make it back safe, but my delta-v budget at that point allowed for it, yet still regardless I had to plan smartly on a limited budget that was somewhere around <~1000 delta-v at that point. I even tried doing a slingshot gravity assist using Mun to save delta-v, but after trying that it didn't show a sphere of influence change how it did before. That was optional then anyway and ultimately nothing became of my attempt to use that type of maneuver burn for the ride back to Kerbin. After figuring out how to make it safely back into a stable orbit of Kerbin, it was all calm and nominal from thereon, and even the atmospheric reentry event and landing were met with insouciance.

Pictured here is the last photo I took from that mission before the vessel was recovered after its ~12m/s landing.
The capsule overshot the coastline and ended up doing a water landing in the ocean many kilometers far out at sea. 
A successful mission is a successful mission though, and I hope that you all like me sharing this like you have before. 

[ColdJ]

Today I did flight testing on my SU-57. It flys well. Still got to build it's own landing gear and give it an internal. Then to find something older and flatter in the soviet line up to build that hopefully will take less time.

Edited July 27 by ColdJ

[miklkit]

A new OPT/MK2.5 light cargo plane.  It just refueled at Ike base and made orbit.  Preparing to do a gravity turn around Duna and then on to Jool with the final destination of Bop.  Bringing new supplies to replace stuff used up.