What did you do in KSP1 today?

[Jetenginestar]

The KSC campus is worth A LOT of science actually

[luizopiloto]

Something really powerfull, but dangerous...

[G'th]

Today, in my continuing efforts to land Kerbals on Duna (Once I get my heavy cargo launcher going I'll be all set! ) I worked some more on what I call the Duna Exploration Vehicle, a pressurized rover for exploring Duna, because duh. I took the overall design look from the Martian (because its not totally obvious) and took one particular element from a certain video about the Constellation program in KSC (Guess which bit).

Poor, poor Dunfree there in the cockpit gave his life for the program, when his attempt to scale the mountains of Kerbin failed due to improperly manufactured winches, sending his test rover plummeting into the valley. His last words were muffled, because he was apparently eating a donut.

[-M-TheDoctor]

Today' date=' in my continuing efforts to land Kerbals on Duna (Once I get my heavy cargo launcher going I'll be all set! ) I worked some more on what I call the Duna Exploration Vehicle, a pressurized rover for exploring Duna, because duh. I took the overall design look from the Martian (because its not totally obvious) and took one particular element from a certain video about the Constellation program in KSC (Guess which bit).

[url']http://i.imgur.com/ftqZQi6.jpg

Poor, poor Dunfree there in the cockpit gave his life for the program, when his attempt to scale the mountains of Kerbin failed due to improperly manufactured winches, sending his test rover plummeting into the valley. His last words were muffled, because he was apparently eating a donut.

Well.... now you know you can't take it up a mountain, and remember what G.I. Jose says:

[G'th]

TheDoctor;2237945']Well.... now you know you can't take it up a mountain' date=' and remember what G.I. Jose says:

http://s3.postimg.org/lcjbbr50j/oie_0_EWii35l_TYfb.jpg

Yeah but after I fired the winch manufacturer and had new ones delivered I now can scale most inclines

(IE, I modified KAS' winches so that they would actually be useful for scaling any particular incline. The cables were too short and didn't launch our far enough, but now they do)

[-M-TheDoctor]

Yeah but after I fired the winch manufacturer and had new ones delivered I now can scale most inclines

(IE' date=' I modified KAS' winches so that they would actually be useful for scaling any particular incline. The cables were too short and didn't launch our far enough, but now they do)[/quote']

So what do you do? Do you have 2 winches on there and have an engineer place a mounting block and attach one winch, pull up the rover, then repeat the process with the other one? I feel like the breaks wouldn't hold if you have to winch your way up, so you would have to essentially belay up the slope, step by step. Sounds like fun, but I could see problems if you used a life support mod.

[EliasDanger]

Used my new nuke powered kerbin system transport vessel to rescue a kerbal in orbit beyond the mun. Brought him back to my LKO space station. Then I was trying to figure away to get him back on the ground without sending a rocket up just for him. So I took a contract for a 4 person tour to the mun and minmus. Sent them up with 2 extra seats (wanted to have room to bring back the unneeded pilot on the space station too). Docked with the space station, transferred the tourists to my kerbin system transport and the rescued kerbal to the ship they came up in. Sent the tourists off, completed the tour, brought them back to the station, loaded them all back into the ship that got them there, with the rescued kerbal and the pilot, and brought the lot of them back to kerbin

[G'th]

TheDoctor;2237980']So what do you do? Do you have 2 winches on there and have an engineer place a mounting block and attach one winch' date=' pull up the rover, then repeat the process with the other one? I feel like the breaks wouldn't hold if you have to winch your way up, so you would have to essentially belay up the slope, step by step. Sounds like fun, but I could see problems if you used a life support mod.[/quote']

Nope its even simpler. I just use the KAS Hook. Attach it to the winch and eject it. It'll latch into the ground 200m off (or however far it landed) and then you can hit retract to have the winch pull you towards the hook. If you ever played with Arkham Knight's Batmobile, its the same principle.

And for another example of how it works, here's a KSP video which I shamelessly stole the idea from:

At around the 20 minute mark you'll see how it works. Much like how he had to do it, I too had to go in and modify the .cfg's for the winches so that they could actually be useful for this sort of thing. (and honestly it should be an in-game option anyway, even if it means a heavier bigger winc)

[Green Baron]

Visited Hale. Unfortunately the lander "disappeared" after i switched to the pack of probes and scanners entering the Sarnus system to distribute them over the moons. Which is a lot of work so i rather sacrificed the lander than herding all those probes again. When i switched back to fly the lander over to Ovok it was gone. So, these are the last pictures from the mission, the crew is missing.

Am not sure whether ksp's stability really supports running a 1.1-style relay system with many probes and stations over a longer time without having to replace the kraken fodder from time to time. Which really costs time (10 years) and probably temper in case of a planet like Sarnus.

Edited October 10, 2015 by kemde

[G'th]

The testing continues

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I'm more or less ready to get started on going to Duna. My first task is to send some Wayfarer orbiters to Duna, which will provide comms and mapping services for the future landings. After that, I'm going to do an Apollo-like landing to test out the Duna Ascent Vehicle, utilizing an expendable deep space habitat in lieu of the future transport craft. This mission will be a relatively short stay (about 3 days on the surface) with the rest of the waiting for the return window spent in orbit around Duna and Ike. This is to serve as a transition point from the Apollo-style moon landings I've been constantly repeating for 2000 hours to actual interplanetary missions.

After that comes the first expedition, Inspiration. The mission itself will consist of 8 phases.

The first phase is to send ahead the Inspire Base modules and support modules. This will consist of the 4 main base modules, 2 D.E.V rovers, 1 Supply Module, and 2 Duna Ascent Vehicles. One of the DAV's, upon arrival to Duna will immediately set out to land at a pre-selected landing site and begin fueling its ascent stage using in-situ resources while the other remains in orbit as an emergency rescue option. The rest of the modules will also remain in Duna Orbit to await the crew.

Phase 2 is construction of the IPC (Interplanetary Craft) in Kerbin Orbit. Beyond the simple launch and docking of the different sections, the craft will also require some additions by astronauts. This will mostly include some struts to ensure the full stability of the ship, as well as some science experiments, among some other additions I've yet to decide upon. By keeping Kerbals with the ship as I construct it, it will also help ensure that it is constructed efficiently during any Comms downtime.

Phase 3 has 3 parts. First is the final inspection of the IPC (at this point now referred to by its mission name, Inspiration) and a shakedown run with a flyby of Mun and Minmus. Using a skeleton crew this 12 day mission will ensure that Inspiration is at full operational status. After Inspiration is refueled, it will remain in orbit as the Duna Descent Vehicle is launched to rendezvous and dock with Inspiration. This pairing will remain in orbit until the Duna transfer window has opened.

And finally, once the window opens, there will be two Orion launches to bring the first Inspiration crew to the ship, upon which they will depart for Duna.

Phase 4 begins once Inspiration comes into Duna orbit. At this point, the base modules are deployed and sent in for landing. Before the crew will make a landing, the Hab/Logistics pairing at least must make a safe landing within a reasonable distance of one another and the DAV, as the other two modules are not mission critical. The close proximity of the 3 core modules is, however, as they will be running on relatively limited power. Presuming all goes well and the base components are ready to be set up, the Inspiration crew will transfer into their DDV and come down for a landing. The first task after stepping onto the surface is to get into the DAV and verify it is functioning.

Presuming a safe landing and functional DAV, phase 5 begins. This is the initial construction of the base to be carried out over one Duna day. Once the base modules are connected and up and running, the DEV rovers and the supply module will deploy and come in for a landing. These modules, much like the base modules, are capable of automated travel and as such do not need to be precisely landed. Once these final components are linked up with the crew, the base is to be considered at Initial Operational Capacity, and as such is now designated Inspire Base.

Phase 6 is the actual mission itself. During this 30 day period the area around Inspire Base will be explored, and science will be had. Using components landed in the Supply module, additional infrastructure will be placed at strategic points ranging from a large solar field to an extensive ground Comm's network. The main goal for the first Inspiration expedition is to test in-situ resource generation in order to test the feasibility of a permanently manned base. During this period, the DAV will also be entered periodically and verified to be working correctly.

Phase 7 begins 3 days before the crew is to ascend from the surface. At this point, base operations are wrapped up and the base is set to bunker down until its next crew arrives. At this point, the crew enters the DAV and launches to rendezvous and dock with Inspiration, whereupon they begin on-orbit operations in the Duna-Ike sytem until the transfer window back to Kerbin opens up. At this point, the Emergency DAV lands at another pre-selected landing site to await the arrival of its mission components and crew, at this point slated to be named Resolution.

Phase 8 is quite simple. Bring. Them. Home. Inspiration departs the Duna system for Kerbin, and once back in LKO, the crew splits up into their respective Orion's to go back home. Meanwhile, Inspiration boosts itself into a higher orbit to await its next crew, slated to arrive sometime after Inspirations sister mission Resolution has begun its own Phase 6.

Now, obviously a lot of how I set up this mission comes from Mars Direct and a couple of other sources. Because of course it does! Who isn't copying the Martian right now anyway?

That being said, I am still very excited about this, as the Apollo-style mission is going to be my first full on legitimate landing on Duna with a manned spacecraft. The bases I'm going to construct afterwords are more or less what I want to do just because. At this point I only have two bases planned, and then at some point I'm going to figure out how and where I'm going to do the perma-manned base. At this point though I'm just torn on the name. Right now I'm torn between calling it Endurance or Atlantis. I'm totally open to suggestions!

But anyway, thats what I did today was completely layout my plans for Duna as well as finish up testing everything. Right now I could actually start these missions (as my launchers and everything are all ready to go) but right now I am just all kinds of tired and want to sleep. So it'll have to wait until later on today

[-M-TheDoctor]

Nope its even simpler. I just use the KAS Hook. Attach it to the winch and eject it. It'll latch into the ground 200m off (or however far it landed) and then you can hit retract to have the winch pull you towards the hook. If you ever played with Arkham Knight's Batmobile' date=' its the same principle.

And for another example of how it works, here's a KSP video which I shamelessly stole the idea from:

[url']

At around the 20 minute mark you'll see how it works. Much like how he had to do it, I too had to go in and modify the .cfg's for the winches so that they could actually be useful for this sort of thing. (and honestly it should be an in-game option anyway, even if it means a heavier bigger winc)

I didn't even think the winch would do that lol. Then again, I mostly use the winches as an umbilical for EVAs so my Kerbanauts don't stray too far.

[Jett_Quasar]

I can't seem to stop making big beautiful infinite range SSTO starships... it's like I'm addicted or something. This one is a remake of a Jool-5 ship I originally did back in 0.90 that I named the Argo. There will need to be a few more tweaks before I can land this puppy on Tylo though - and 29 engines is getting a bit out of hand.

JR

Edited October 10, 2015 by Jolly_Roger

[Itsdavyjones]

On the bus home yesterday, I rendezvoused with an A class asteroid, only waited half a Kerbin year for one to spawn. Currently waiting for he craft with the roid to get to the right orbital positions to fire the ion engines to change its inclination again and again to get as close to 0 as possible, and I am finding that I NEED to remove some mods just so I can have more than one scene change before crashing.

Also, on the same bus, I ran into a fellow KSP player, first time running into a player that wasn't my friends that I got into it.

[Hotaru]

Lots of logistics missions in preparation for windows to Jool, Duna, and Eeloo all coming up at the same time.

The Mega Aqualung (tweakscaled 5-meter tanker ship) landed at the Coalwood mining rig on Minmus. Although the landing was successful, barely, it is proving too ungainly to be practical; for now it's parked in Minmus orbit.

Two new Super Aqualungs went up from KSC; I've finally got a lifter configuration that doesn't explode when the boosters separate.

Decided to start color-coding them to make them easier to keep track of. Here Super Aqualung Red departs for Minmus after refueling Silver for a transfer to Duna with a space station core module.

Finally, Dres Orbiter 1 burned into orbit, checking off the last unvisited body in the solar system. So I've accomplished my original goal for this career of visiting every planet and moon (plus asteroids) with at least a flyby probe. Now to set about landing Kerbals everywhere.

[nsgallup]

I decided to take a contract to rescue some rube that got stuck in Eve Orbit.

Launching to orbit, the craft is a command pod with a guidance module, it is unmanned until picking up it's passenger.

Circulation Burn

Off to Eve!

Approaching

Capturing and adjusting inclination to match target orbit

Kel Kerman exits her capsule and prepares to match the rescue ship on approach, 300m and closing. We are a little close on fuel so every bit saved counts.

SLOW DOWN!

Rescued! I think.. Kel grabs science and moves it to the command pod.

Final stage separation, approach orbit is good.

Entering the atmosphere

Home sweet home!

[Bekiekutmoar]

Completed a rather uneventfull return mission to Dres. Though life support (TAC Life Support) ran rather low; the mission began with around 1350 days of oxygen, water and food available to two Kerbals, but only 5 days was left when entering the SOI of Kerbin again. Gotta say I had to 'force' my return trajectory a lot to get back in time. Otherwise, the Kerbals would suffocate, die due to dehydration and starve to death. That means three deaths per Kerbal, so with two Kerbals onboard I avoided 6 deaths ... !

[Slam_Jones]

Started a thread for all my Duna Colony stuff.

Yup.

[-M-TheDoctor]

Completed a rather uneventfull return mission to Dres. Though life support (TAC Life Support) ran rather low; the mission began with around 1350 days of oxygen, water and food available to two Kerbals, but only 5 days was left when entering the SOI of Kerbin again. Gotta say I had to 'force' my return trajectory a lot to get back in time. Otherwise, the Kerbals would suffocate, die due to dehydration and starve to death. That means three deaths per Kerbal, so with two Kerbals onboard I avoided 6 deaths ... !

I'm so afraid to leave Kerbin's SOI because of that right there. I sent an Apollo style mission to the Mun with 60 days worth of life support. The mission's total time was, like 3 or 4 days. I feel like if I sent Kerbals to Jool or even further (OPM system) I would have a massive life support module on my ship:

Design Engineer: "There's enough life support on this ship to keep 40 Kerbals alive for 20 years, we're only sending 4 of them out to Duna for 6 months."

Project Lead: "IT'S NOT ENOUGH!! WE NEED MORE!!"

Propulsion Engineer: "If we add any more life support to this thing we won't have enough space to add more boo-"

Jeb: "ADD MORE BOOSTERS!!!!!"

Prop. Eng: "That won't do-"

Jeb: "MORE BOOSTERS!!!!!!!!!!!"

***End scene, fade to launch pad, 3,2,1 ignition annnnnddd....... big explosion***

[Treldon]

After a long time away from the game (10 months or so) I began playing KSP again today.

The result: the Albatros-B

When it's not carrying its 40t baby it's quite maneuverable and fun to fly. And in case of problems the cockpit can separate from the craft and land safely

[Bev7787]

I am launching my first probe to Mars

[hendrack]

One month break from KSP.

Put a 4-dish long range satellite into kolniya orbit for further missions.

Fulfilled a contract to map 18 asteroids dangerous to Kerbin with SENTINEL. Quite big for simple satellite, large fuel resources to rellocate and act as satellite relay once mission accomplished.

Also tried infernal robotics and fooled around with it, quite nice for further design considerations.

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[maccollo]

Made a video of my mission to the moon using SLS. First actuall mission I was able to do with the SLS besides the Europa lander.

Edited October 11, 2015 by maccollo

[Bev7787]

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[Endersmens]

Broke the game for the first time.

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[cantab]

Nooooooooooooo...

I have ten probe landers like this.