What did you do in KSP1 today?

[Francois424]

Fixed most of my 0.24 crafts that had parts changed during the update.

All you need to do is Copy the folder of the pieces you wanted into their old spots (ie: squad/parts/aero) and It works

I know it's minor, but I'm so happy... my Spirit/Opportunity rover now looks the part back ! !

[DunaRocketeer]

GreeningGalaxy, those spacecraft look very cool - Interstellar mod is getting more tempting!

I've been inspired by an earlier poster in this thread who constructed a servicing gantry for his/her SSTO, so it never needs recovering, so I did the same for my rocket.

Overnight tanking operations and crew ingress:

Docked to the station later the next day:

[Duke23]

The Valkyrie flies again! After several smaller versions each having problems getting proper lift on the way to orbit (they did get there, just very slowly) I decided to have a go at a new take on the original design resulting in the V3-SD. It doesn't have a payload in this shot but it maintained a good flight profile all the way to a 100x100 orbit. I wish I didn't have to go this route but I just wasn't getting the performance out of the smaller versions that I expected. Or the performance I got out of them in .24 with SP+ for that matter, although I'm not sure why. Still needs some tweaks to get maximum efficiency. If all goes as expected I've already eliminated the atmospheric instability of the original design from .23, but that has not been confirmed. It weighs 33.5t unloaded and is capable of lifting about 5t to 100x100km orbit with ~450 DV left.

For what it's worth, here's one of the smaller designs (V3m-SDx to be specific) dropping off a module to deorbit this old ship that's been floating around for a couple years. This one weights 23t unloaded and can lift around 2ish tons to 100x100 orbit with about 1000 DV left over if I remember correctly. That weight should be higher but the problems with lift and TWR are holding it back.

Just for good confusing measure here is another variant, the V3m-SD which is no longer in service since the SDx. It weighs 25t unloaded and has about the same payload capabilities as the V3m-SDx (ever so slightly better with ascent). The differences in all these are small but important on my quest for efficiency and reliability. Apparently I can't have both which is why I went back to the drawing board with the original larger design after these... Sigh. While I'm here, a bit about the name scheme: I've been lazy with designators on these but basically anything with this general look in my .25 game is a V(alkyrie)3(rd generation), V3m is a smaller (mini) version, SD is for Satellite Deployment (or any deployable / retrievable payload really), V3m-A(F/P) is for atmospheric only fuel/passenger version, and X usually designates a smaller version with minimal equipment (docking ports, cargo bays, reaction wheels, batteries etc may be reduced or eliminated).

For good measure here is the questionably designated V3m-X, weighing in at 8.6t unloaded and can carry a .7t payload to 85x85km with enough DV to deorbit and land back at KSC (I don't know the exact figure on this one).

I have a family of these things. lol

Edited October 15, 2014 by Duke23
details no one but me cares about :)

[Lhathron the Elf]

Congrats. Engine-only docking is tough.

Been there, done that, way too many times.

[Tail_TL]

Today I finally learned how to make a SSTO plane (One that actually works) Here are some Pics:

Pretty planetzzzzz

[SRV Ron]

I'm so upset. I'm a newbie Purchased (10/8/14)and while in the sandbox I lost poor Jeb in an unplanned EVA gone awry. He's been traveling in an oblong orbit for days. Yes, I know I can terminate him, but its too cruel for my sensibilities. So, I built a new orbiter with three brave Kerbenites to fetch him. After about two hours I was able to catch up to him in his private orbit and park in a stationary position (relative to his position) about 400M away and then I switched to him and he flew to the rescue craft and grabbed on. I was so excited!m He has just .36/5.00 units of fuel remaining! WHEW! I figured he could just hope a ride back holding on to the capsule since the heat of re-entry doesn't seem to bother them much. Then I go back to fly my awesome orbiter and WTF...I can't get in it with him clutching to the exterior of the craft. I can't save with him in that position either.

Ideas??

Can astronauts grab each other? I am going to let him go, send another with a full pack in his place and try again tomorrow. I'd welcome any suggestions.

It is a bug that has popped up in 025 that is driving all of us crazy especially when playing Career where those EVAs are needed to accumulate a lot of science points early on. Even more so when you maneuver Jeb back to the ladder and he goes flying away when you hit the F key for him to grab the ladder. Try and get him in front of the hatch so he can go inside.

[capi3101]

Didn't have a lot of time to play last night; built a Mk-2 spaceplane, flew it to orbit after working out a few issues with the landing gear, tried to land on the runway and folded on the approach. Unfortunately, there were Kerbals aboard. Good thing I was in the sandbox at the time.

Started designing a rescue rocket for my career game. Got the prototype into orbit before I realized I hadn't checked where the target was prior to launch. Reverted. At least I know the thing can make orbit but I wasn't thrilled about the outcome of the launch (had to use some of the payload's fuel for rendezvous operations to make orbit), so I'll be redesigning the booster today.

[Cirocco]

I made a lifting body (or almost anyway. It still needs a few mini-delta wings as control surfaces)

http://imgur.com/4M2M4Vb

I present to you: the sparrow. A two seater capable of getting into LKO with close to 2000 delta-V left if you made a good ascent profile. Took a surprisingly long time to get it right, such a small plane suffers a LOT from a shifting COM. It comes in at about 25000 funds, just under 8 tons and -if you manage to land her back on the airstrip- a full orbital flight will cost you less than 300 funds. Also has a surprisingly good glide profile.

Seeing as it can carry two kerbals but only needs one to operate, this is my new go-to craft for rescue contracts

Also discovered a bug. When I tried to put actual wing surface and elevons on that thing, for some dark reason the game decided to suddenly reverse my pitch controls...

Edited October 15, 2014 by Cirocco

[SkyRender]

This last day or so, I've been toying with the soon-to-be-added-to-stock Fine Print mod. It has some pretty interesting goals in it, though it does seem to have a fetish for spawning aerial survey contracts. I definitely like the station/base/satellite contracts, however. Combined with my custom Hard difficulty (saving/reverting allowed, 50% rewards, otherwise the same as normal Hard), it's made Career mode pretty fun.

[Concentric]

I realised that I had so many part-test contracts accepted that there wasn't enough space for Gene to give me the Explore Minmus contract. I noticed this because he offered me a Mun-flag-planter and Explore Ike, and nothing else, despite my not having visited Minmus in this Career. So, I looked over my parts tests and grouped them up: LFB landed and Mainsail suborbital would work well together to put up something of reasonable mass without having to buy those engines, turbospike suborbital should probably go on a large-ish spaceplane, and LV-N orbital and the two escape trajectory contracts (small gear bay and TT-70) look like a job for an interplanetary mission of some sort. So that left five others, an SRB, two decouplers and two parachutes.

I ran this test launch a couple of times, tweaking it to reduce costs and hit all altitude/speed combinations needed. The batteries seen above were removed, as they were still (just about) full when the contraption landed.

That's the tiny decoupler exploding against the launchpad before the rocket takes off. The SRBs are thrust-limited, part-filled, and on action group one, as they needed to be staged at the highest point in flight. I found overlaps, narrow though they were, so that I could complete all five part tests in three stages.

Power ran out about at touchdown, but the parachute descent didn't need torque to keep it upright at that point. The 'H' shaped test probe landed safely at KSC, recovering at 98%. I worked out the profit by hand during the descent: the rocket cost 6250 funds, and profited 15313 funds (including recovery value). Other gains from the contracts were 217 reputation and 350 science - much of the latter coming from Outsourced R&D and Unpaid Research strategies.

But profit was not the main reason I did this - clearing out a few active contracts to make room was. And now, the Minmus exploration contract is available, along with some simple science-retrievals.

[ScriptKitt3h]

Today I tested a new battlecruiser...

and refurbished an old pocket destroyer.

Both are up for download on the most recent page of my company thread.

[BJ Quest]

About that contract....

http://imgur.com/iPPKO2l

[cantab]

Got a reminder of what lies on Bop after I'd set a course for a low-inclination orbit

Fortunately I have a stupid amount of delta-V, so after my first landing I'll make a 90-degree plane change and look for the anomaly.

Also, orbiting Bop gave me a nice bit of perspective failure, it felt like I was within touching distance of an E-class-ish asteroid, not several dozen miles from something the size of Minmus.

[Kowgan]

@BJ Quest: Bad, bad rover. That reminds me of Christine, the killer car.

[Moesly_Armlis]

Jebercizing and Pod Pushing.

Thats how kerbals like Jeb are practicing to move rockets around to get fueled up and to the launchpad.

Truck? What's T_R_U_C_K?

[Tw1]

I stood on the VAB roof, and surveyed the kingdom.

Then I walked into the light.

Or, what I what I was really doing -testing my Laythe lander. It is now approved for orbit, and demonstrated VTOL ability, great for fine tuning landing sites.

However, the reentry needs work.

[capi3101]

Since I read that it was going to be in KSP v 0.90.0, I went ahead and installed Fine Print. I figured I should get used to it now instead of later when it's part of the stock game.

Built a replica of Cirocco's Sparrow spaceplane. Tweaked it a bit to include a probe core, a couple of side-mounted RTGs and replaced the engine with a single RAPIER, using fuel ducts to draw out of the Nacelles. Added half-a-dozen Reaction Wheels for good measure. The craft still flies beautifully even if it does have a high take-off speed. Glides pretty nice too; it's been one of the few planes I've flown where I was able to control my final descent strictly through the use of the throttle. Landed it on the runway just slightly off-center. The Mk2 parts are above my current tech levels; otherwise I might start using it for the same purpose (as a rescue craft).

[RobotsAndSpaceships]

Screwed around with the Dragon capsule and dumped stuff on Eve.

[smysha]

Still waiting for my favorite mods to update. I can't play without KW parts =_=

UPD: Just when I posted this, I noticed that KW Rocketry is now 0.25. Well, now I can begin new save. I can install B9 later.

Edited October 16, 2014 by smysha

[Spatzimaus]

Seeing as it can carry two kerbals but only needs one to operate, this is my new go-to craft for rescue contracts

For my similar plane I just use the single-man Mk1 cockpit, and then put an inline probe core just behind it. That way I can send it up empty, and the Mk1 weighs a bit less even with the extra weight of the probe (1.28+0.1 vs 2.06), which gives you a bit more delta-V in a design this light. The Mk2 cockpit has a few other advantages (lift, more monoprop, more electricity, a bit more torque) but I don't use it much.

Also discovered a bug. When I tried to put actual wing surface and elevons on that thing, for some dark reason the game decided to suddenly reverse my pitch controls...

If you reverse the wings, to make a forward-swept design, this'll happen a lot. It also happens if the control surface is too close to the center of mass. I'd like to see a "reverse flaps" option on the control surfaces to avoid this, similar to how steering on the wheels in various mods can be inverted, but that might not happen soon.

[Francois424]

Continued to explore Minmus with my science truck. Got lesser flats and lowlands while heading to the poles. More to follow later I am sure... man finding all biomes is hard without maps. I know I am missing "greater flats" but can't seem to find it.

And that's keeping it interesting

[Cirocco]

Built a replica of Cirocco's Sparrow spaceplane. Tweaked it a bit to include a probe core, a couple of side-mounted RTGs and replaced the engine with a single RAPIER, using fuel ducts to draw out of the Nacelles. Added half-a-dozen Reaction Wheels for good measure. The craft still flies beautifully even if it does have a high take-off speed. Glides pretty nice too; it's been one of the few planes I've flown where I was able to control my final descent strictly through the use of the throttle. Landed it on the runway just slightly off-center. The Mk2 parts are above my current tech levels; otherwise I might start using it for the same purpose (as a rescue craft).

Ah, it always makes me feel quite honored when people imitate/steal/are inspired by my designs

The sparrow went through a few small design changes since that screenshot. It now also packs a single RTG for backup electricity generation when making manouvres on the dark side of kerbin.

For my similar plane I just use the single-man Mk1 cockpit, and then put an inline probe core just behind it. That way I can send it up empty, and the Mk1 weighs a bit less even with the extra weight of the probe (1.28+0.1 vs 2.06), which gives you a bit more delta-V in a design this light. The Mk2 cockpit has a few other advantages (lift, more monoprop, more electricity, a bit more torque) but I don't use it much.

I though about using a probe core as well and usually that is in fact the way I do rescue missions. In this case however, I just wanted to make an SSTO spaceplane with a very small wing surface which is why I went with the Mk II (because it has lift). It was only when I began testing it that I realised that it can perform very well as a rescue plane.

If you reverse the wings, to make a forward-swept design, this'll happen a lot. It also happens if the control surface is too close to the center of mass. I'd like to see a "reverse flaps" option on the control surfaces to avoid this, similar to how steering on the wheels in various mods can be inverted, but that might not happen soon.

Aaaaaaah, that'll be it. On such a small plane, the control surfaces are very close to the COM. Strange that it only happens on elevons and not on the canards though...

[soulsource]

I've been setting up three münar communications satellites, as preparation for the first unmanned science missions there (for this save). A nice coincidence was that with my current KCT build times, the satellites, launched as soon as they were finished, reached the Mün in a nearly perfect frequency, so that only small orbital corrections were necessary to make them form an equilateral triangle.

In addition I designed a probe that will gather science jr and goo data for space around the Mun (high and low) and hopefully will bring it back in one piece (I'm using DRE...), which is currently being constructed. Hopefully the science gain from this is big enough to unlock the seismometer and the gravity sensor, to make the soon to follow (possibly manned) Mün landing mission more worthwhile.

[Concentric]

Finished researching the tech tree in my career, then disabled Outsourced R&D and Unpaid Research. To do this, a splashdown test of the KR-2L, followed by transmitting temperature data from the probe/satellite/small fuel dump in Mun orbit that gave Jeb his return fuel previously. Afterwards, I built a little spaceplane with a Mk2 cockpit, turbojet and two LV-909s to test the rocket engines landed before going and rescuing Billy-Bobley from orbit. As it was a bicycle plane with no additional reaction wheels, there was a slight mishap on the return to the runway: the plane tipped sideways towards the end of its braking, scraping a few solar panels off the wing. Fortunately, that's less of a loss than the fuel cost.

Without that outsourced R&D running, ready cash seems to be considerably higher, even after only one mission. Looks like it's time to invest in some infrastructure. A nice station should do the trick - and also provide a good opportunity to do the LFB and Mainsail part tests.

[NecroBones]

As promised, I'll soon be able to release radially-attached bacon.