Kerbal Space Program

I'll look at your situation more closely in a bit.

I can autosave and I do, but this crash caught me off guard.

I reload and I actually hadn't lost much. I came in really shallow to maximize air drag and:
Spoiler :
All three Kerbals were overjoyed (see their portraits) at the prospects of being the first to set foot on Duna. Little did they know...


I was 10 meters from the surface and guess what happened?

STICKY KEYS!!!

My inputs locked up due to sticky keys which resulted in my ship flying back up high enough that it tilted over, fell on it's side and exploded.

FML
 

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I'm launching a rescue mission to save one of my kerbals stuck on the Mun.

While doing so, I had one of the best feelings ever: I thought my lander had run out of fuel and started to panic, but then I realized I had placed two tanks of fuel on it so the engine just switched over to the other one.

Phew! :)
 
I'm launching a rescue mission to save one of my kerbals stuck on the Mun.

While doing so, I had one of the best feelings ever: I thought my lander had run out of fuel and started to panic, but then I realized I had placed two tanks of fuel on it so the engine just switched over to the other one.

Phew! :)

I know exactly how you feel!

SUCCESS!
Spoiler :


Boy, you really have to kill all your velocity right before touchdown. I mean all of it. Anything more than about 3 m/s results in bouncing and the gravity is high enough to be unforgiving. This took me about 8 or 9 attempts before I got it right.

I think I have enough fuel to get back. We'll see though. Though my large tank is 1/3 full, I still have 4 of the little ones.

Hey, I just noticed this:
Spoiler :

Is this an eclipse or is some crazy rocket scientist trying to deorbit Ike?


So I tried to go back to Kerbin but the game froze yet again when I got to about 1.5km up. I have it quicksaved though, so no biggie. I am relieved though that it has enough thrust to get back to orbit and I am fairly certain my fuel is adequate.

I'll try again tomorrow. I have to beat Antilogic to be the first to get to Duna and return.
Capitalist scum. ;)
 

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Does the command capsule SAS do ANYTHING?
Whenever I activate it, it does NOTHING!

And: DANG IT!
Landed on the moon, but my landing gear sank through the surface and the whole landing craft fell over. :(
 
Yes, command pod SAS works. It isn't much help for a big stack in space, but is fine for landers. What are u using it for and on what are u using it?
 
Yes, command pod SAS works. It isn't much help for a big stack in space, but is fine for landers. What are u using it for and on what are u using it?

Basicially I would like to use it to fix my angle during entering/landing procedures. I noticed it works fine once all other weight is decoupled, so I guess a fuel tank + engine is just too heavy. ;)

Btw: I DID IT!
The moon landing was damn close and my return to Kerbel a disaster, but thanks to a last thrust I managed to move the PA into the atmosphere and gravity did the rest. :D




:king:

Oh this game is awesome!

...so, what do I have to know about Minimus? :D
 
SAS will hold an angle for you when activates. It won't change it, it tries to keep it pointed at the angle you are at when it's activated. It will be more than enough for that lander.

Also, when it isn't activated, it is what allows you to turn. On a lander that small, it can really swing you around fast, so you have to use a light touch.

Congrats on landing on the Mun!
What kind of engine are you using?

To get to Minmusm you use the same amount of fuel, but I would add some small radial tanks to give you a better margin to play with as you are going to have to do some new manuevers.

Ok, to begin, don't worry about alignments, they won't matter for this method. Boost up so that your apoapsis goes out to Minmus orbit. When you reach the apoapsis, turn and burn retro.

Your orbit will start to shrink until it actually reverses and you start orbiting in a retro fashion, you want to orbit in the opposite direction as minmus to get a collision course. While it sounds like this will take a lot of fuel, it won't because you will be traveling very slowly at apoapsis so it won't take much to reverse orbital direction. Keep burning until you have a circular orbit that matches Minmus' orbit.

Next, you have to match inclination. Orient the camera so that you have a clear view of your orbital path and minmus. Now orient the craft to a 180 degrees heading (you want to be right on the horizon of the nav ball while on the 180 degree line). Now burn. Your orbital inclination will tilt up, stop when it matches Minmus'.

You should now have an encounter trajectory. If you don't, keep messing with the orbit until you do.

Now you will be on an encounter but not a collision. Check to see which side of Minmus you will pass it on. If you are passing on the inside (nearer to Kerbin), then point your craft straight up and burn. This will move your orbit toward Minmus.

If you are passing on the outside of Minmus (further than Kerbin than Minmus) then point down and burn.

After you have warped closer, you may have to readjust your path because often timewarping causes the orbit to drift for some reason.

And that's it, getting back is the same as the Mun, the inclination won't make a difference to your retun, just get the periapsis in Kerbin's atmosphere and you're good.

For more info, look up the Minmus video by HOCgaming, that's where I found this method and it's a good video. He has other good ones.

Goodspeed,
hobbsyoyo
 
What kind of engine are you using?
I am using 6 large Rockomaxx solid boosters for takeoff, a single mainsail engine with 9600F for reaching orbit, an LV-N Atomic with 800F for orbital and space maneuvering and an LV-909 with 400F for final landing and return.

And: Thanks for the tips, will definately try it out!
=)
 
Congratulations on your landing! Those big mainsail liquid rockets are probably solid for you--I find 3 big tanks are good for those types of launch systems.
 
I am using 6 large Rockomaxx solid boosters for takeoff, a single mainsail engine with 9600F for reaching orbit, an LV-N Atomic with 800F for orbital and space maneuvering and an LV-909 with 400F for final landing and return.

And: Thanks for the tips, will definately try it out!
=)

If you're just maneuvering within the Kerbin system, the extra weight of the LV-N probably isn't worth it. Try eliminating it and giving the Lv-909 1200L of fuel to play around with.
 
Aaaand I am back!
The landing and return to Minimus was a success. Took a while to align the orbit stuff (13 days *ahem*), but all in all a very smooth mission. I was even able to use my regular moon rocket without any modifications. :)





So what should be my next target? Duna? Eve?
I guess I will need a sort of bigger rocket to get me there, huh?
 
Nicely done! Minmus was a bit of a challenge for me until I learned how to use that navball and to make inclination corrections. Now it's getting a lot easier to do missions.

If you are going for an interplanetary mission and landing, you are going to want to juice up your lander with some extra parachutes, fuel, and those super-efficient nuke engines (check out some of the screenshots I and Hobbs posted for some ideas). These might require a heavier launch system to get into orbit. I went to Duna then Eve, but I used a similar enough system for both it probably didn't matter which one I went to first. Eve is easier to land on due to the thick atmosphere--tack on plenty of parachutes and just float down.

I slashed a few of my SRBs, so right now I have a 7 mainsail and 12 SRB launch system to get into orbit--probably overdesigned, but since money is no object (yet) and I like seeing the massive rocket on the pad, I keep it. :)
 
Aaaand I am back!
The landing and return to Minimus was a success. Took a while to align the orbit stuff (13 days *ahem*), but all in all a very smooth mission. I was even able to use my regular moon rocket without any modifications. :)
Congrats! What method did you use to get there?

So what should be my next target? Duna? Eve?
I guess I will need a sort of bigger rocket to get me there, huh?
Yes, you're gonna need a bigger boat. ;) A bigger rocket will get you to Duna pretty easily, and you may even be able to get back with it if you design a good lander. Getting to Eve isn't that hard, but coming back is. Expect one-way trips there until you're an expert. Antilogic and I were discussing return methods a bit up-thread.

Did someone say bigger boat? Introducing the Test Bed, the last rocket you'll ever need:

Spoiler :

It is called the Test Bed because it was originally intended to test out in one package all I had learned about building a rocket. I didn't expect it to fly, much less get anywhere. Boy was I wrong.

It incorporates asparagus staging on an 8 booster design around a central core. Yes, that is eight big stacks of 3200L tanks with mainsails surrounding the central core. This is tricky to pull off because normally you will have clipping issues with 8 boosters of 3200L tanks. Let me show you how I got around that:
Spoiler :

I had to triple stack hardpoint struts to push the tanks out far enough that they don't clip each other.

My first test flight was nerve racking because the first two asparagus stages empty at less than 3km. However, that's because they are feeding 3 other stacks each. It all worked out very nicely.

This rocket will put me on a direct Duna injection with the central core retaining 1 1/2 tanks of fuel for manuevers. I can put my lander on an encounter with Duna and even do a lot of the slowing down to get into orbit without using any of my lander fuel.

You may also notice that my lander has 4 NERVAS. I had meant to cut it down to just 3 NERVAS to save weight but I forgot and it turned out to not be an issue.

The one thing this rocket doesn't incorporate are sepatrons. I wanted to add them, but again I forgot. So far, I haven't actually needed them. They would be helpful because if I launch it enough times, I will have a collision event with one of the stages without sepatrons. However, I just don't feel like adding all the extra parts which will give me lagging issues and staging headaches. It works well enough for me now, so I am putting it into serial production and not messing with it.

It is more than enough for a Duna mission and could probably get me to Moho and back. I'm also fairly certain that I could land on and return from most of the Jool moons if I delete the 4th NERVA and maybe add some more fuel.

I don't think it will get me to and back from the heavier Jool moons with atmospheres or Eve. It could get me there, but a return will be tricky. I will have to radically redesign the lander and probably the launcher to get there and back, but for now, it's as good as gold. :D

I am using 6 large Rockomaxx solid boosters for takeoff, a single mainsail engine with 9600F for reaching orbit, an LV-N Atomic with 800F for orbital and space maneuvering and an LV-909 with 400F for final landing and return.

And: Thanks for the tips, will definately try it out!
=)

While I hesitate to suggest any changes to a succesful rocket, if you are just using this to fly around the Kerbin system, I would suggest either using a Poodle or a Single Nerva for both orbital manuevering and landings. Having both is unneccesary and adds extra weight. Just combine the fuel tanks from both systems and drop the extra engine.
 

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Nicely done! Minmus was a bit of a challenge for me until I learned how to use that navball and to make inclination corrections. Now it's getting a lot easier to do missions.
Yeah, well, I am still struggeling with that thing. Increasing/decreasing orbital range at AP/PA works fine for me, retroboost also okay, but changing the inclination for the orbit? No idea where I must point that thing.

If you are going for an interplanetary mission and landing, you are going to want to juice up your lander with some extra parachutes, fuel, and those super-efficient nuke engines (check out some of the screenshots I and Hobbs posted for some ideas). These might require a heavier launch system to get into orbit. I went to Duna then Eve, but I used a similar enough system for both it probably didn't matter which one I went to first. Eve is easier to land on due to the thick atmosphere--tack on plenty of parachutes and just float down.
I am already using the Nuke engine, quite happy with it. I tried a few flights with my landing craft, but my rocket was way to topheavy with that and wobbled or tilted after launch, guess I will try a Mk II design with larger parts (and MORE mainsails!).

Congrats! What method did you use to get there?
Went into Kerbal orbit and slingshotted at Minimus. Retroburned once I was close and then proceeded with countless adjustments to my orbit to avoid an escape (used almost 400L for that alone >_>) and finally did a Mun-like landing. Used the same rocket as for the Mun.

Yes, you're gonna need a bigger boat. ;) A bigger rocket will get you to Duna pretty easily, and you may even be able to get back with it if you design a good lander. Getting to Eve isn't that hard, but coming back is. Expect one-way trips there until you're an expert. Antilogic and I were discussing return methods a bit up-thread.
I guess I will start with one-way trips and packing a few stations into orbit (still need an orbital station at Kerbal. :p).

While I hesitate to suggest any changes to a succesful rocket, if you are just using this to fly around the Kerbin system, I would suggest either using a Poodle or a Single Nerva for both orbital manuevering and landings. Having both is unneccesary and adds extra weight. Just combine the fuel tanks from both systems and drop the extra engine.
It's a small Mk.I rocket, so poodle wouldn't fit. I am happy with design as it is. :)
 
Yeah, well, I am still struggeling with that thing. Increasing/decreasing orbital range at AP/PA works fine for me, retroboost also okay, but changing the inclination for the orbit? No idea where I must point that thing.
Point at 180 to incline orbit up, 270 to incline it down.

Went into Kerbal orbit and slingshotted at Minimus. Retroburned once I was close and then proceeded with countless adjustments to my orbit to avoid an escape (used almost 400L for that alone >_>) and finally did a Mun-like landing. Used the same rocket as for the Mun.
You definately did it the hard way! :lol: Good job pulling it off though. :goodjob:
 
I thought it was N (-0-) and (-180-). No wonder I was getting goofy results.

I think you might be right. 270 is only 90 off of 180, so it should indeed be 0.

Have you tried to return from Duna yet?

I'm having a devil of a time with it. I have enough fuel for it but I can't get the alignments right and I don't want to spend hours on fast forward for a chance enounter.

It doesn't help that the online calculator tells you to burn retro on your ascent and thus gives you angles for a retro ascent. All this does is waste fuel - you don't have to burn retro to get an enounter with any of the planets. Even so, I've tried using the angles it provided and I don't get anywhere near an encounter. :(

I haven't been able to find any good youtube videos yet either.
 
Can you give me a quick screenshot example on the compass setting?

Is it like the 0° LINE or a point... or ...??? :confused:
 
Well, I decided to try a dual Mun/Minmus landing mission to test out the power of nuclear engines, because I never got around to using them. The result:





Damn, out of fuel. I wasted a lot of fuel getting from Minmus to the Mun, so maybe I could do it without changing the rocket.
 

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