What did you do in KSP1 today?

[RizzoTheRat]

After some suggestions from Val and Evanitis a few pages back I finally got my SSTO crew training bus working.  Gave up trying to use Whiplashes and Nukes, and switched to Rapiers and Nukes, with a fairly small supply of oxidiser to get a kick from the Rapiers but still relying on the nukes to get to orbit. 

Made orbit with a bit over 1800m/s left, which I thought was enough but ran out of a fuel about a meter off the surface of the Mun.  No damage and the science crew at the Mun base came out with their rover to decant enough fuel to taxi the 800m to the base where Bill could hook up the fuel pipes.  Only brought 4 crew this far, and picked up Donkin from the Munbase, leaving a crew of 2 scientists at the base.

With full tanks Val was able to do a high energy transfer to Minmus, using nearly 1000dv just braking to enter Minmus orbit, and still have plenty of fuel for a much less hair raising landing.  Jeb and Bob are still constructing the Minbase, and the bus picked up Magy who Jeb had rescued from orbit a few days earlier.

From there it was on to a solar orbit (should have brought more science experiments) and then back to Kerbin

First time I've brought in a space plane at higher speeds than low Kerbin orbit and I well and truly messed it up, getting down to sensible speeds around 800 km from KSC.  With about 3/4 fuel load remaining I might have been able to fly back to base but being only a few km from one of my ground relay stations (RemoteTech) I knew there was a fairly flat plain there so opted to land.  This obviously reduced the recovery value meaning the mission cost around 35k funds, but having completed a couple of contracts (extra habitation space at Munbase and returning Magy to Kerbin), plus a couple of world firsts (space walk in solar orbit and return science data from solar orbit) the mission made a handsome profit as well as its original intention of training up the crew.

 

 

Edited March 9, 2016 by RizzoTheRat
edited for speeling...

[ag3nt108]

Having finally reached the point where I'm reasonably happy with my design for a mining craft I decided to launch M700 probes to scan moons (and Kerbin itself for the 10 science).  I thought the M700 needed to remain in orbit of the body it was scanning permanently but when I discovered this wasn't the case i set out to design a satellite and launch Vehicle that would be capable of scanning all 3 bodies via a single launch.  This is where things got a little weird, The M700 is the most unwieldy scientific device known to kerbalkind so I figured an Aeroshell would be in order to streamline things and prevent the rocket from being uncontrollable during ascent.  (can't upload pics to this forum it seems).  Anyway, the rocket wouldn't launch, being very unstable and flipping out between about 6-10KM or at about 350 m/s Velocity which ever came first depending on the ascent profile.  Clearly its an issue of too much drag at the nose, fins didn't help.  Infact nothing i did helped.  Changing fuel tanks around, didn't help.  No parts in the stock library seemed capable of overcoming this amount of drag.  I found it really odd because I was repurposing a lunch vehicle I knew worked just fine with similar payloads (the approximate pay load dimensions had not really changed).  Wait, could it be the aeroshell causing the massive increase in drag?  I removed the aeroshell and guess what, it launched just fine into a polar orbit.  There has to be something i don't understand at work here.  How can a part that is supposed to reduce drag increase it?

Once launched successfully it was quite routine to obtain the scans, kerbin scanned first followed by the Mun.  Unfortunately I couldn't find a Minmus encounter with my remaining fuel that the Mun didn't interfere with and I was unable to find an approach resulting in a stable minmus polar orbit with my remaining DV.  Simply put I had not packed quite enough fuel,rather than leave the device in a useless Minmus orbit I sent M700SAT off into a kerbol flyby instead to fulfil a contract and launched a second M700 to scan minmus.  Things got weird again, the same design would not launch into an equatorial orbit with or without aeroshell.  The LV had gone back to flipping at around 6-10 KM or 350 m/s aprox.  The fix this time?  rotate the M700 atop the rocket in the VAB.

 

 

 

[RizzoTheRat]

18 minutes ago, ag3nt108 said:

 Wait, could it be the aeroshell causing the massive increase in drag?  I removed the aeroshell and guess what, it launched just fine into a polar orbit.  There has to be something i don't understand at work here.  How can a part that is supposed to reduce drag increase it?

There's an issue with the farings that it puts the aerodynamic centre way out in front of the faring, so it only takes a tiny angle of attack to flip the rocket.  Claw's stock bug fix solves this and should make launches easier.

http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/index.php?/topic/87737-ksp-v105-stock-bug-fix-modules-release-v105a4-25-jan-16/

[ag3nt108]

 

4 minutes ago, RizzoTheRat said:

There's an issue with the farings that it puts the aerodynamic centre way out in front of the faring, so it only takes a tiny angle of attack to flip the rocket.  Claw's stock bug fix solves this and should make launches easier.

http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/index.php?/topic/87737-ksp-v105-stock-bug-fix-modules-release-v105a4-25-jan-16/

I see, that goes a long way to explain things, Thank you Rizzo.  So has anyone tried to exploit it? Radially mounted stock aeroshells instead of wings for lift? 

[Draconiator]

Made the Moth, a new business jet.

 

I love KSP, that momenty when you're so experienced that you can make stuff without trying...

[msasterisk]

Two things.

Had problems making my custom part (which was expected, but still...)

Planned a test mission to Duna. Once everything is VERY tested, I'll send a crew of engineers (they need trained engineers at Minmus outpost) to be the first Kerbals on Duna. Hopefully, it will be so tested that I won't need quicksavea. But first, they'll stop off at Minmus outpost to refuel and pick up Jeb.

Jeb must be first.

Edited March 9, 2016 by msasterisk
Wanted to add something.

[astrobond]

12 minutes ago, msasterisk said:

..., it will be so tested that I won't need quicksavea...

Don't forget the Kraken !!!

ALWAYS quicksave

Fly safe with Valentina

[kapteenipirk]

Well, i didn't do much but our test pilot Miles kerman (aka just me) did some never before seen tricks with the KN-225 durning one of our test flights.

 

And yes, that is a 1:1 scale replica of the AN-225 (bout 88x90 m in size) flying upside down and doing a loop de loop.

That 4 minute (ingame time) flight took about 30-40 minutes to do, so yea. The lag was strong with this one. The aircraft is made up of 1500 parts.

 

 

Edited March 9, 2016 by kapteenipirk

[SmashingKirby148]

4 hours ago, Draconiator said:

Made the Moth, a new business jet.

 

I love KSP, that momenty when you're so experienced that you can make stuff without trying...

I hate moths, but THAT. Is something else.

[Gojira1000]

I kept obsessively checking my Steam KSP launcher properties to see if the 1.1 beta had snuck in.

[Red Shirt]

Got tired of waiting and watching for the refueling operations at my SSTA on Minmus to complete. Sent help.

Part dinosaur, part insect, altogether a work horse. Also my first ever use of the claw. Took a while to get it to engage. I had to hit it harder than I expected and was afraid I would tear something up. Refueled in less than a day. In the past I have used KIS/KAS to connect mining rigs. Don't have a working version for 1.05 and with 1.1 coming soon^TM I made do with stock. Now to figure out how to takeoff. 

 

[JoeNapalm]

 

Waited by the door for the FedEx guy with my replacement mobo.

Said he'd be here Friday, but...what if they came early?!

 

-Jn-

[Nightshift83]

Tried the 'wield'-mod today as I wanted to built something bigger (it's named 'Titan') to get me one of those E-class asteroids into Kerbins orbit. After a break I loaded my savegame with the ship beeing in orbit.. turnes out the thing got attacked by a kraken and now spins like hell. At first sight it looked as if my crew was lost, the only two that are not away on my Duna mission. 

Then I saw something called 'Titan-lander' in the tracking station wich is kinda strange since the Mk2-Lander was somewhere in between the ship. Both of my Kerbals on board. Apoapsis 100 km, periapsis 45 km. In ten minutes they'll be flying directly over KSC !!

I did had my share of rendevous but never with such an emergency background, as I guess I'll have to get right into the seat the probe control room and get them with my first try

[Cmfodele]

Land the Kerbal XX on Ike then put it back in orbit around Ike, then sent a rescues mission to get them back home.

Edited March 9, 2016 by Cmfodele
Grammar

[Vermil]

- What I did in KSP today?

- What I did?

- I stupidly clicked the button "Upgrade to Windows 10" a couple of days ago! - That's what I f*** did!   

Now mostly back to W7. With some newfangled glitches. But still.

 

By the way guys,   as my blood pressure is up and my nerves inflamed and on the outside, do you mind compressing your images to jpegs instead? These multi-MB png cause a "slight hesitation" when switching pages.

 

Edited March 9, 2016 by Vermil

[Francois424]

So a few months ago I went to Moho for some exploration with a small electric wheels powered vehicle.

The vehicle in question did not have enough clearance on it's underbelly, causing a lot of nightmares to my 2 Kerbals...  The poor engineer also had to step outside to repair wheels every so often (not a small feat in the heat; it is Moho afterall)
The Pilot had to constantly struggle to prevent cartwheeling and other... issues.

So the folks back home worked on a successor to the craft and managed to make one, which is much sturdier, rated for 30m/s even in rough terrain, and is rocket powered with 4 Twitch engines (funny I always named these Ants... weird).
Also have a large drill at the back but a small converter at the front.  Large landing gears providing enough clearance to ISRU in safety (Lessons learned from Eve).  Here is the Moho Truck (original I know)... Let's call it "Solaris" !  So very sturdy small landing gears (which never breaks down from speed alone... which will be the cause for some fun later as you will see), and the new Radiator/cockpit our engineers worked so hard into fixing this week.   So here is solaris cruising along @ ~30 m/s on Moho, heading to the NorthPole (yeah I like doing that).  Currently 5km from the equator and everything going fine !

 

Look at that!  What a nice Slope!!  Let's do this !  (So Kerbal, but that's my crew !)

 

Oh Dear... (I installed a very old, 0.23 mod to switch navball into Km/h.  So what you see here is about ~64m/s)

 

Oh DEAR, oh Dear, oh dear... (80 m/s; still retaining control, but it's tough... control wheels are great on this craft tho, not giving up !)

 

Urrrgh... Why do I get the feeling this isn't going to end well?  (90 m/s)

 

ACK! lol-nope.  I'll Tame you Moho, even if it's the last thing I do !!

 

So another Nightmare for my Kerbals who woke up in sweat...  Let's do that one again... carefully.  Heh.

[Mjarf]

Had my first asteroid encounter today, was less interesting than expected, not entirely sure what I expected though. It was pretty much a large space potato that would only be somewhat useful for mining. I also filled up the fuel depot in my Valhalla station, it's got plenty fuel for future long, range missions. Planning on taking a manned flight to Duna very soon, just have to build a suitable craft.

Maybe I should just dock a module with 8 LV-N's and fly the whole station into orbit around Duna. 

[Fearless Son]

51 minutes ago, Francois424 said:

ACK! lol-nope.  I'll Tame you Moho, even if it's the last thing I do !!

So another Nightmare for my Kerbals who woke up in sweat...  Let's do that one again... carefully.  Heh.

You might consider having a very small LF/O engine mounted on the top of the craft, with its thrust vector putting a force anti-normal through the center of mass.  When rolling on a low-gravity surface like Moho, you turn the throttle up just a little and accelerate on electric wheels.  As long as your fuel lasts, you will have enough downward force that your wheels will stay firmly planted on the ground and their friction will keep you accelerating.  Plus if you ever get flipped over, you can use the engine to right the craft.

[Francois424]

9 minutes ago, Fearless Son said:

You might consider having a very small LF/O engine mounted on the top of the craft, with its thrust vector putting a force anti-normal through the center of mass.  When rolling on a low-gravity surface like Moho, you turn the throttle up just a little and accelerate on electric wheels.  As long as your fuel lasts, you will have enough downward force that your wheels will stay firmly planted on the ground and their friction will keep you accelerating.  Plus if you ever get flipped over, you can use the engine to right the craft.

I've never built like that, but I've considered it.  As long as I slow down (I wanted to see how far I could push the design) I  should be okay

[something]

I am a bit confused your Mk2 rover did not have enough ground clearance. I came with two Mk2 rovers to Duna which have a way bigger wheel spacing and I didn't have any problems with them so far. Also, I included medium reaction wheels into the Cargo bays in order to correct pitch, roll and yaw once you took off. Turns out that 40+ m/s is no problem for the left rover. The one on the right hand side has kind of a big turning radius but that's ok as it is designed as an additional ore miner which basically stands around most of the time. And yeah the thing in the middle is a 100% reusable Duna SSTO.

http://postimg.org/image/tyfracseh/

 

Landing them on Duna is a completely different story, though...

[Francois424]

3 minutes ago, something said:

I am a bit confused your Mk2 rover did not have enough ground clearance. I came with two Mk2 rovers to Duna which have a way bigger wheel spacing and I didn't have any problems with them so far. Also, I included medium reaction wheels into the Cargo bays in order to correct pitch, roll and yaw once you took off. Turns out that 40+ m/s is no problem for the left rover. The one on the right hand side has kind of a big turning radius but that's ok as it is designed as an additional ore miner which basically stands around most of the time. And yeah the thing in the middle is a 100% reusable Duna SSTO.

http://postimg.org/image/tyfracseh/

 

Landing them on Duna is a completely different story, though...

I think it's more a matter of the wheels not reaching far enough forward to cover the "forward bumper".  But there is a lot of  \_/ terrain at Moho, far more than Duna (Duna is easy to drive compared on Moho, I've done both)

When you're pitching 45 degrees down a slope and it very quickly pitch to 45 degrees the other direction your rover must have the clearance to not break itself in half.
My previous design did not have it.  This one does... I just have to not exceed 50 m/s and I'll be okay, tho I can do 70-80 in flat terrain no problem.

[Fearless Son]

38 minutes ago, Francois424 said:

I've never built like that, but I've considered it.  As long as I slow down (I wanted to see how far I could push the design) I  should be okay

Do not worry, you will.  The acceleration of the tires is determined solely by the frictional forces between them and the surface, and the baseline of the frictional forces are mostly determined by gravity, hence why designs that work fine on Kerbin might work poorly on the Mun or Minmus or Moho.  But if you simulate that greater downward push with other forces, you can get a rover that pilots on those lighter bodies like it would on Kerbin.  And that enhanced acceleration works in all directions, whether speeding up, making a turn, or yes, braking, all will perform better.  

However, it does put limits on the vehicle's endurance, since once it runs out of fuel for whatever you are using to add those downward forces it no longer benefits from that extra frictional tightness, but it does not take much thrust to achieve what you are going for so it should last a good long time.  I like to only turn mine on when I need the extra acceleration and cut the throttle when I do not.  

[SingABrightSong]

Today in KSP I launched my first interplanetary probe. Set up for use with the "StockSCANsat" mod, I sent it to the Duna system in preparation of future manned missions, and even managed to land the probe intact on Ike(using an ion drive!). The probe is now in standby on the surface of Ike, while I decide on a use for the remaining 8km/s dV.

[kotomikun]

Finally, some exploration! Landed on Polta, one of Urlum's moons, which shares an orbit with the much smaller Priax. Scanning it required a lot of manual orbit adjustment because the moon doesn't rotate at all (probably because its orbit has a 90-degree inclination and KSP doesn't have axial tilt...), but eventually a landing site convenient for science-mining was found.

 

[RizzoTheRat]

9 hours ago, Fearless Son said:

You might consider having a very small LF/O engine mounted on the top of the craft, with its thrust vector putting a force anti-normal through the center of mass.  When rolling on a low-gravity surface like Moho, you turn the throttle up just a little and accelerate on electric wheels.  As long as your fuel lasts, you will have enough downward force that your wheels will stay firmly planted on the ground and their friction will keep you accelerating.  Plus if you ever get flipped over, you can use the engine to right the craft.

I do the opposite with lift engines and RCS (a couple of belly mounted Vernors are plenty for my Mk2 bodied rover currently on the Mun), so if I start to lose control of the rover I just take off, stabilise, and then land again.