Kerbal Space Program

[warpus]

I am a very good programmer but that means I rely on other sources for areas in which I am not an expert - so basically I know abstract algorithms and concepts very well and everyday syntax but all the rest I just look up. That's the most efficient way of doing things, and considering how incredibly lazy I am, it suits me very well

 

[hobbsyoyo]

Looking things up:
How Engineers Get Sh*&t Done since, um, since Google.

Er, I guess they had big reference books before that but screw that it was the the dark ages pre-Google.

 

[hobbsyoyo]

True story:

Today we were going over thrust eqiations before we do wind tunnel testing on our drones next week. The professor asked if anyome knew how to solve a particular equation.

Silence.

I raise my hand.

'Yes, how do you solve it?'

'wolfram alpha'

'fair enough, we don't teach you the solution until next year anyway'

 

[Thorgalaeg]

I did most of my chemistry degree in pre-google world, and the only three ways to know things was: a) asking your class swot b) asking teachers c) looking in the library of the university. Being a) the most usual.

Now i am finishing my laws degree (in Spain we have now plenty of time even to study several degrees) and everything i know about laws came from google and internet in general.

 

[warpus]

What do you guys when you have a spaceplane that's designed and ready to go and you want to stick it onto a rocket? I moved the physical file into the VAB folder, flipped it to be vertical, saved, and that works.. but whenever I fly my rocket and crash, teh popup menu asks me if I want to return "to the space hangar" to edit my craft.... not the vab. Do I have to edit my ship's physical file and change something, or is there an easier way of doing this? Anyone know?

edit: I opened up the .craft file and one of the first things there is type = SPH .. nice! I changed that to VAB.. that should do exactly what I want it to

 

[cardgame]

Personally I designed my orbital spaceplane from the VAB, but if you want to design it in the SPH, simple rotate it 90° so it points vertically, save it, then move the .craft to the VAB. That should work.

 

[warpus]

It works, I just had to make that one change in the .craft file to make things be more normal.

Last time I tried this my navball was all messed up because my cockpit was not facing.. the right way. I think. We'll see what happens once I launch this badboy

 

[warpus]

Polish scientists have today confirmed that Eve's atmosphere lacks oxygen

Spoiler :

Thompcas Kerman: "Hey, my jet engines aren't working"
Mission control: "Hey uhhh.. We just sort of figured something out"
Thompcas: "It's like there isn't any oxygen in the atmosphere or something"
Mission control: "Uhh.... Just a second Thompcas, we need to regroup over here. Try to keep things under control"
Thompcas: "I think I can glide this thing down and land it on that island."
Mission control: "... Good luck .. we got nothin"

Spoiler :

The entire mission was a bit crazy to begin with. The payload seemed way to giant and bulky to easily get in orbit, but it went better than expected.

Spoiler :

My favourite interplanetary design far in terms of what it looks like.. not very functional but this was sort of supposed to be a Laythe test mission anyway, so I guess.. success? The concept seems to work, even if there are a bunch of things I need to change.

Spoiler :

I brought a rover and descent system for the rover with me AND an extra pod with an extra astronaut, so that he could climb into the rover right before descent.. but I forgot to put him in the pod before launch. Most problematic mission ever. The rover was released as planned and its parachutes deployed, but it was destroyed . My approach into the system was insane as well - I didn't have enough fuel to get into orbit around Eve before descend so I slammed into the planet.

So.. in this mission my main pod was a part of the jet.. strapped to the side of the interplanetary stage with 4 engines. I edited the .craft file and made it a VAB object and the launch was normal as a result.

But when I had the plane under control in Eve's atmosphere during descent, after I detached from the interplanetary stage? My navball was off by 90 degrees. I am guessing because the vab status of my plane.

So I guess next time I can't have my main pod being a part of the jet and that should fix that problem. Fun mission though

edit: now that I'm looking at the photos, I think the navball looks fine. I think. Either way, I guess I was disoriented

 

[cardgame]

If that plane is actually bound for Laythe, word of advice: less jet engines, more (RAM) intakes.

 

[Thorgalaeg]

The plane is your design? It is cool, it kinda looks like a F-23

BTW my kethane adventures are going to suffer some changes since i dont know how to reattach a rover after it is decoupled, since docking doesnt work at land. So i cant use it to refuel other ships. I think i am going to make my drilling plataform capable of getting into orbit for itself to dock and refuel there, however it is going hard to do it in big planets (i was thinking on Duna) so i'll need to find kethane in some moon.

 

[Thorgalaeg]

Huge amounts of kethane found at Mimmus!!! It is everywhere. It is a huge kethane tank.

Spoiler :

Spoiler :

Link to video.

 

[warpus]

If that plane is actually bound for Laythe, word of advice: less jet engines, more (RAM) intakes.

Yeah, I want to at some point send a fleet of colony and other ships in that direction, along with 1 or 2 planes.. Thanks for the tip!.. That should save me some more blushes. I guess I should probably look up some sucessful Laythe plane designs

The plane is your design? It is cool, it kinda looks like a F-23

Nah, that is one of the stock jets. I figured I don't have any experience designing them, so I'll focus on trying to build a delivery vehicle that will get it to other planets and spend the time building that and getting there, instead of screwing with the plane itself.

That part took a couple hours and I ended up going to sleep after 3am (knowing I'd need to be up just after 9). If I had designed my own jet, I might not have gotten any sleep at all.. Oh I know it, I've done that before on a Friday night.

I'm not sure how successful I'm going to be designing my own plane if I can't really test it in the atmosphere it's designed for.. but I guess that'll mean that I can make it smaller and my whole whole design a whole lotta.. unwieldy looking. It really wasn't unbalanced and the payload wasn't too large or anything.. it just looks like that cause of the plane attached to the side of the interplanetary stage and the rover system on the other side meant to balance it all.

Have you figured out how to make the whole kethane thing viable?

 

[Civ'ed]

Just a question about a mod:
Is there anything involving new wheel parts?

 

[warpus]

Check out pages 25+ of this thread or so, there's a whole bunch of rovers I've sent to various places, using various designs.

 

[Thorgalaeg]

Well, finally my platform arrived to Minmus, landed with not incidence and started to drill kethane. Only problem is that kethane is extracted very slowly, it will take time to fill that huge tank (i wonder if with more drilling machines it will be done quicker). Once in the platform kethane can be converted quickly in liquid fuel and oxidizer, monopropellant or even xenon for ion engines.

The plan is this: The platform land at Minmus and fills the tanks. Then gets into orbit again which is extremely easy and will not require almost any fuel. Any ship going to some far away planet can stop at Minmus dock with the orbiting plataform and relfuel. Once empty (not completely of course) the platform only have to land again in the same place in drill for more. Easy isnt it? Now the objective is to plant more platforms at other strategic moons in the whole system that way fuel problem will be a thing of the past. I am a clever guy, Am i not?

Drilling:

Spoiler :

Going for a spin at Minmus (not a very lively place):

Spoiler :

 

[warpus]

I'm watching your kethane mission with a bit of anticipation as I want first hand accounts of how efficient it is and how useful it might be on missions to various places So far it seems like your strategy should be very useful

 

[Thorgalaeg]

It seems so, for now. But everything is not going to be so easy as i thought, getting orbit around Minmus at full load was not as cheap as i thought so next drilling plataform will have more capacity and more powerfull engines)

OTOH there is good news too since my probe left Minmus for Ike arriving after some months. And yes, there is some kethane there too! Next step is the most difficult: To send another +100 tons platform to Duna. Of course i will use Minmus plataform to support such voyage.

Spoiler :

to be continued... (but not today, i have spent like 10 hours with this damn game today, now i will go out to get some fresh air)

 

[warpus]

Cool Delta-v chart

Spoiler :

 

[hobbsyoyo]

Very cool chart, I will have to use this, when I have a chance to play that is.

 

[Thorgalaeg]

Finally my second platform (this one much more heavy and unmanned) arrived at Ike after a long and complex trip.

Launch using a modified version of a previous 3000 tons rocket. This time i didnt use the space dockyard mod, so i launched my new more robust kethane platform directly. It fits totally inside the different stages of the rocket, so it is almost no visible here:

Spoiler :

A view of the new platform orbiting around kerbin

Spoiler :

First stop to refuel at the big gas station around kerbin, i didnt refill completely, only just enough to reach minmus.

Spoiler :

Second stop at minmus, docking with my first manned platform which was already waiting full and orbiting. After a first refueling the minmus platform had to land, refill and get orbit to dock again with the second one to replenish it totally, the old model has too few capacity like i suspected.

Spoiler :

With the tanks fully replenished it left to Duna and Ike. And after a complicated and not very efficient trip it reached Duna orbit and then Ike with the tanks almost empty, landing without major problems at a very convenient kethane deposit just in the equator. Tanks fulls again at Ike after some hours drilling:

Spoiler :

So, i would say mission accomplished! It works. What next? no idea. Maybe another platform at some moon at Jool to complete the fuel station system and then some exploration around.