Miscellaneous aids

[GoSlash27]

This thread is a place to share helpful contraptions that you've made that help you conduct your ops, but don't directly participate in missions.

As an example, I'll post my Mobile Beacon.

http://wikisend.com/download/872880/beacon1.craft

This is a simple, cheap little aircraft. It doesn't explore, collect science, carry payloads or anything like that. The entire point of this drone is to fly to a point on the surface and sit there in order to highlight that point as a marker.

As an example, these points are highlighted so that I can clearly see them, day or night.

I have a marker to designate where a station should be when I launch a spaceplane to intercept it. I have another pair of markers to mark the point where I should be when I start my retroburn and where my flightpath should intersect the surface when I end it. I also have a trail of markers lined up from the runway out to the mountains so I can see my lineup before I can see the runway.

Pretty useful little buggers, even though they don't actually "do anything".

So post the handy little devices that you've come up with to make your life easier!

Best,

-Slashy

[Rune]

This thread is a place to share helpful contraptions that you've made that help you conduct your ops, but don't directly participate in missions.

As an example, I'll post my Mobile Beacon.

http://wikisend.com/download/872880/beacon1.craft

http://i52.photobucket.com/albums/g13/GoSlash27/KSP/Beacon1_zps861219c0.jpg

This is a simple, cheap little aircraft. It doesn't explore, collect science, carry payloads or anything like that. The entire point of this drone is to fly to a point on the surface and sit there in order to highlight that point as a marker.

http://i52.photobucket.com/albums/g13/GoSlash27/KSP/Beacon4_zps64519ae2.jpg

As an example, these points are highlighted so that I can clearly see them, day or night.

I have a marker to designate where a station should be when I launch a spaceplane to intercept it. I have another pair of markers to mark the point where I should be when I start my retroburn and where my flightpath should intersect the surface when I end it. I also have a trail of markers lined up from the runway out to the mountains so I can see my lineup before I can see the runway.

Pretty useful little buggers, even though they don't actually "do anything".

So post the handy little devices that you've come up with to make your life easier!

Best,

-Slashy

Oh, I do the exact same thing, but with flags. The caption on the plaque is always the same: advanced navigation technology.

Rune. The one on the runway to line up the descent is the very least.

[GoSlash27]

Another goodie:

The "Pathfinder" probe

http://wikisend.com/download/791958/pathfinder.craft

This simple little probe sits in Kerbin's orbit around Kerbol just barely ahead of the planet outside it's SOI. It's job is to allow me to figure out my transfer windows.

When I want to go somewhere, I "fly" this craft in the tracking station. Set up a maneuver node for planet I want, then drag it around until I have an intercept.

The burn timer will tell me how long until my transfer window opens up.

It's like a poor man's "alarm clock" without installing a mod.

It's a cheap little vehicle (less than 3,000 rooties) and is pretty simple to get into position. Just launch prograde at dusk, set your apoapsis to escape Kerbin's SOI, and burn radial to circularize.

Edited December 13, 2014 by GoSlash27

[John FX]

I have these. They have docking ports, RCS a probe core some power and that`s about it. They help when you have a craft with one docking port and you want to dock it to a craft with a different type.

The act a bit like tugs too if either craft does not have RCS.

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[Arctodus]

I have these. They have docking ports, RCS a probe core some power and that`s about it. They help when you have a craft with one docking port and you want to dock it to a craft with a different type.

The act a bit like tugs too if either craft does not have RCS.

Fascinating! I particularly love the "adaptor" tugs, that's a fantastic idea!