The Space Station design and screenie topic

[Damonjay]

\'tis my best looking space station yet, carried by my aptly-named Lifter 1 8) Rocket works extremely well. Absolute charm to fly until release of the payload fairing. Then it tends to sway a bit much when I try to steer >

And yes, the rocket is a bit out sized. Hits orbit with nearly all stage 2 fuel left. Passed 4 km/s after stage 2 burn out and using the station\'s internal propulsion system in that video ;D

Oh and this is my first post.

*welcomes self*

Welcome To KSP Forums

in KSp there is no such thing as over sized. How many Tries did it take you to create a rocket that works so well

Keep Boosting!

[Solarspot]

How many Tries did it take you to create a rocket that works so well

...Quite ...a few *twitch*

That\'s probably the 20\'th rocket I thought worthy to save. Ironically Lifter 2 doesn\'t work as well, Lifter 3 has yet to survive first stage flight (I don\'t think there is a structurally sound way to hold onto 8 of those 2m giant SRBs... the 90 weight ones). Lifter 4 is incomplete, for lack of a sufficiently powerful 3m engine to overcome the force of gravity on the second stage. 2300 thrust still leaves me unable to climb.

That said, the station itself isn\'t really the best looking in this thread. It has 6 habitation modules, plenty of solar panels, a fuel tank acting as the main electrical bus / life support / propulsion... and an RCS pod for a docking module ???

Maybe I\'ll make my own station module if I ever figure out modding :

[Damonjay]

...Quite ...a few *twitch*

That\'s probably the 20\'th rocket I thought worthy to save. Ironically Lifter 2 doesn\'t work as well, Lifter 3 has yet to survive first stage flight (I don\'t think there is a structurally sound way to hold onto 8 of those 2m giant SRBs... the 90 weight ones). Lifter 4 is incomplete, for lack of a sufficiently powerful 3m engine to overcome the force of gravity on the second stage. 2300 thrust still leaves me unable to climb.

That said, the station itself isn\'t really the best looking in this thread. It has 6 habitation modules, plenty of solar panels, a fuel tank acting as the main electrical bus / life support / propulsion... and an RCS pod for a docking module ???

Maybe I\'ll make my own station module if I ever figure out modding :

yea the funny thing about Rocketry is the best rocket is usually the best balance. back in the day of 0.8 i began a Project to create a heavy lifter. and i started with making something sturdy. after each successful mission i would add more boosters to make it go faster. i ended up on Verison 8 of some of my projects and it had lost all stability and was just a Giant Mass of Metal and Booster fuel.

hahah who cares about looks though? its the performance that counts

im trying to figure out modding as we speak. and its almost like im reading celtic. ???

[Solarspot]

;P

Most of my rockets are actually quite stable just in terms of flight dynamics. Usually run into staging issues. I think the problem I had with Lifter 2 last I ran it was a staging issue... (Lifter 2 is basically Lifter 1 but with 1 boosters instead of 3, and no fairing on top) Lifters 3/4 had extensive structural issues, and 4 doesn\'t have a big enough engine. Still, I like 1 just because of how easy it is to fly. Feels way easier to fly properly than 3-tanks-and-an-engine style rockets.

That said, once I\'ve gotten those mass simulator parts (by I forget who) visible again, I\'ll check out the lifting capacity of it. After that I can make a proper go at a LKO space station 8)

[Damonjay]

well then it sounds like you have it sorted

Best of luck

and see you around the Forum

Keep boosting!

[Luigibro606]

My space station pwns.

Managed to dock with my latest space station. Hard though, it keeps rotating, requiring constant manual inputs while trying to also handle F1, WASD, HN, and thr IJKL keys.

[RedRockets]

Love the attention to detail on your rockets and stations.

My latest attempt at a station.

[Luigibro606]

Thanks for the compliment.

I never thought to use payload fairings for my stations. They seem aerodynamic enough. It might look better though.

[Tim_Barrett]

Thanks for the compliment.

I never thought to use payload fairings for my stations. They seem aerodynamic enough. It might look better though.

Well you would never really launch an entire space station the size of that would you? xD

[Luigibro606]

o_o

I just realised my rocket is too big to fit in fairings.

Welp, time to make a bigger space station.

[RedRockets]

Did you try the 3m?

[Luigibro606]

Yup. I\'d probably need a 4.5m fairing minimum.

[RedRockets]

Designers get on it... (BTW anyone teach a crash course in part design?)

Or a Deployable solar panel. That fires like a de-coupler and springs out to its final length or shape.

Why solar panels that don\'t recharge your tanks any way?

[Zeroignite]

Because putting a solar panel on the roof of your car doesn\'t refill your gas tank. Solar panels produce electricity, not rocket fuel.

[Luigibro606]

But what if the electricity powered a rocket-fuel-maker-thingie-inator in the car?

[Zeroignite]

Ok, then, tell me what it\'s making fuel out of?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conservation_of_mass

[Luigibro606]

I don\'t know, all I know is that the electricity powers the Magic-generator which makes fuel appear from nowhere.

[RedRockets]

Will they recharge your ion engine tanks?

Are there other electro-thrusters or motors out there?

[Luigibro606]

Of course they will, ask the Magic-generator to power your ion engines and give it some gifts. It powers anything providing it\'s happy.

[Kryten]

No, they just electricity to propel the fuel-you still need fuel.

They could power a photon rocket (basically a giant laser) but the power requirements are absurd-at maximum efficency, 300mw (about 1/5 of a major power station\'s output) per newton of thrust.

[Guest Flixxbeatz]

Solar Cells to charge fuel tanks? Now that\'s kerbal

[Luigibro606]

Definitely. =P

[RedRockets]

Are stations dead now that the Mun has, or will be, arriving shortly?

[Luigibro606]

Mun orbiting space stations.

Def not dead.

[Damonjay]

my Mun Orbiter. although it doesnt count as a space station since its unmanned