Kerbal Space Program
- Thread starter Leonel
- Start date
Finally got to my personal computer and figured I'd share some of my recent projects.
First, Jeb has been chilling in Kerbin orbit in his little station for the last couple years. Nobody has logged more time in space than Jeb!
My redesigned lander is a bit less top-heavy and has less RCS fuel. I'm also trying to design a more "efficient" reusable pod system and included the ASAS module under the parachute. The nearly empty RCS system is also there, and I keep about 10 units of RCS fuel back for the landing on Kerbin--I fire the RCS manually to slow down the final descent in the last 1-3 km.
Missed the intended landing zone a bit. And I probably don't have enough fuel to jump over to the arch and then return to Kerbin.
And now for the main attraction...
So this isn't just a one-time thing, but it is now my single-kerbal transport vehicle. Just jump on and ride that rocket back and forth to the Mun or Minmus, or take it back to the Kerbin orbit and jump on the next fueler headed down to the surface. It has a docking port so it can be refueled when it reaches the stations in orbit all three of these bodies. It might even be able to make it to Duna and back once I get a station in orbit there.
First, Jeb has been chilling in Kerbin orbit in his little station for the last couple years. Nobody has logged more time in space than Jeb!
Spoiler :
My redesigned lander is a bit less top-heavy and has less RCS fuel. I'm also trying to design a more "efficient" reusable pod system and included the ASAS module under the parachute. The nearly empty RCS system is also there, and I keep about 10 units of RCS fuel back for the landing on Kerbin--I fire the RCS manually to slow down the final descent in the last 1-3 km.
Spoiler :
Missed the intended landing zone a bit. And I probably don't have enough fuel to jump over to the arch and then return to Kerbin.
Spoiler :
And now for the main attraction...
Spoiler Project Strangelove :
So this isn't just a one-time thing, but it is now my single-kerbal transport vehicle. Just jump on and ride that rocket back and forth to the Mun or Minmus, or take it back to the Kerbin orbit and jump on the next fueler headed down to the surface. It has a docking port so it can be refueled when it reaches the stations in orbit all three of these bodies. It might even be able to make it to Duna and back once I get a station in orbit there.
Attachments
SuperBeaverInc.
Groucho
I've been playing around with satellites this evening. Decided to launch an unmanned mission to Minmus named Kerbing 1 to see if I could make it. Goods news is I can get very close. The bad news is I fell about 500 kms short. If I had had around 50 to 60 seconds worth of fuel left I could have made it.
There is Kerbing 1 approaching the periapsis, left to its fate of drifting through space. On the plus side I've managed to successfully put satellites, Voyagkerb 1 and Voyagerkerb 4, into orbit around Kerbin and the Mun.
What happened to Voyagkerb 2 and 3? Some fatal design flaws. Voyagkerb 2 ran out of power while attempting to make the leap to the Mun, and is doing a large elliptical orbit around Kerbin. Voyagkerb 3 had a fatal design flaw that no one thought to bring up during the design phase. The rocket on the last phase that was attached to the satellite, was only attached to the satellite, not a fuel tank. So without any fuel it was stuck in its own elliptical orbit around Kerbin. In hindsight, Voyagkerb 1 and 2 also had this design flaw, but they never got far enough to encounter it.
Kerpollo 1 is a simple rocket with Jeb on it that has been orbiting Kerbin for a while now.
Spoiler :
There is Kerbing 1 approaching the periapsis, left to its fate of drifting through space. On the plus side I've managed to successfully put satellites, Voyagkerb 1 and Voyagerkerb 4, into orbit around Kerbin and the Mun.
What happened to Voyagkerb 2 and 3? Some fatal design flaws. Voyagkerb 2 ran out of power while attempting to make the leap to the Mun, and is doing a large elliptical orbit around Kerbin. Voyagkerb 3 had a fatal design flaw that no one thought to bring up during the design phase. The rocket on the last phase that was attached to the satellite, was only attached to the satellite, not a fuel tank. So without any fuel it was stuck in its own elliptical orbit around Kerbin. In hindsight, Voyagkerb 1 and 2 also had this design flaw, but they never got far enough to encounter it.
Spoiler :
Kerpollo 1 is a simple rocket with Jeb on it that has been orbiting Kerbin for a while now.
How are your probes powered? Are you using the ion drive a more traditional fuel source?
I find, especially for long trips, the nuclear engine is the way to go. It's about twice as efficient as the next best engine, and once you get up to the large probe/small capsule sized payload it is the best thing around. I was using 3 of them on my interplanetary lander instead of a larger, less efficient engine.
I find, especially for long trips, the nuclear engine is the way to go. It's about twice as efficient as the next best engine, and once you get up to the large probe/small capsule sized payload it is the best thing around. I was using 3 of them on my interplanetary lander instead of a larger, less efficient engine.
SuperBeaverInc.
Groucho
At the moment I'm using liquid fuel. Haven't quite advanced past that part of the learning stage yet to experiment with other power sources.
I recommend sticking with liquid in space, and only using solid fuel for the first booster stage (you can see my liquid tanks surrounded by the large solid fuel boosters on the launchpad). Don't be afraid of the nuclear engines, though--they actually run on liquid fuel for shiggles.
hobbsyoyo
Deity
- Joined
- Jul 13, 2012
- Messages
- 26,575
Antilogic - that rocket with a seat on it is boss. I 
'd when I saw that.
I find that Xenon engines are a complete waste. It takes waaaay to much power for even one of them and when I use four, the added mass of all the solar panels I need to power them means I probably accelerate even slower than if I just went with one to begin with. You also can't time warp with them on which guarantees they are useless because I'm not sitting there for 5 hours (when I walk away from the game and leave it running bad things always happen) for a transfer burn. Even a small, simple orbital correction takes too long with a Xenon engine and I don't trust the maneuver nodes to properly calculate burn angles that take that long to do. I've had maneuver nodes screw up enough as it is.
My Explorer series had 4 Xenon engines to do some maneuvering after the cruise stage NERVA was exhausted, but I'm going to ditch them on my next iteration to save mass. They just aren't useful enough under any circumstances to justify the huge mass penalty. I guess I should throw up some pics from my last Explorer mission - I pretty much hit the limits of that design and I'm going back to the drawing board. The mission was only partially successful.
For all of my capsules and even satellites I use NERVA's. I only ever use normal engines if I'm hopping around Kerbin and it's moons because then I usually have enough fuel for me not to worry about maximum efficiency. Even then though I usually use NERVA's because my NERVA designs work so why change them? However, I have been thinking about using normal engines on the massive interplanetary cruiser I'm planning after the new version fixes dock-wobbling. NERVA's just aren't powerful enough to push around a huge payload so you end up with enormous burn times and I have no patience. IDK, I'm still mulling it over. Oh and NERVA's are also very heavy so I'd have to send up multiple launches to dock enough engines on my interplanetary cruiser to get decent burn times (and you end up adding so much mass with each engine it's almost a lost cause) whereas one or two mainsails could do the job well enough.
'd when I saw that. I find that Xenon engines are a complete waste. It takes waaaay to much power for even one of them and when I use four, the added mass of all the solar panels I need to power them means I probably accelerate even slower than if I just went with one to begin with. You also can't time warp with them on which guarantees they are useless because I'm not sitting there for 5 hours (when I walk away from the game and leave it running bad things always happen) for a transfer burn. Even a small, simple orbital correction takes too long with a Xenon engine and I don't trust the maneuver nodes to properly calculate burn angles that take that long to do. I've had maneuver nodes screw up enough as it is.
My Explorer series had 4 Xenon engines to do some maneuvering after the cruise stage NERVA was exhausted, but I'm going to ditch them on my next iteration to save mass. They just aren't useful enough under any circumstances to justify the huge mass penalty. I guess I should throw up some pics from my last Explorer mission - I pretty much hit the limits of that design and I'm going back to the drawing board. The mission was only partially successful.
For all of my capsules and even satellites I use NERVA's. I only ever use normal engines if I'm hopping around Kerbin and it's moons because then I usually have enough fuel for me not to worry about maximum efficiency. Even then though I usually use NERVA's because my NERVA designs work so why change them? However, I have been thinking about using normal engines on the massive interplanetary cruiser I'm planning after the new version fixes dock-wobbling. NERVA's just aren't powerful enough to push around a huge payload so you end up with enormous burn times and I have no patience. IDK, I'm still mulling it over. Oh and NERVA's are also very heavy so I'd have to send up multiple launches to dock enough engines on my interplanetary cruiser to get decent burn times (and you end up adding so much mass with each engine it's almost a lost cause) whereas one or two mainsails could do the job well enough.
Thorgalaeg
Deity
IIRC you can timewarp while engines are running using the timewarp keys plus ctrl key.
SouthernKing
crickety cricket
It's alt, at least on windows. You can reach up to 4x that way. I've found it useful so I don't have to waste 10 minutes just getting one thing in a proper orbit.
hobbsyoyo
Deity
- Joined
- Jul 13, 2012
- Messages
- 26,575
Wut is this? I've complained here about Xenon propulsion and timewarp issues multiple times and no one said that before. lol thanks guys
SuperBeaverInc.
Groucho
I tried sending Kerbing 2 to Minmus last night, but about 700km out it suffered a flame out on its engine while trying to establish orbit, so it is now drifting off into space along with Kerbing 1 (which is currently doing an orbit of the sun).
Kerbing 3, using Antilogic's advice of a nuclear engine, was successfully able to put itself into orbit around Minmus at a slightly elliptical orbit of about 65 km.
Kerbing 3, using Antilogic's advice of a nuclear engine, was successfully able to put itself into orbit around Minmus at a slightly elliptical orbit of about 65 km.
SouthernKing
crickety cricket
For me, Kerplunk 6 and Kerplunk 7 both managed to escape Kerbin's gravity and are now doing solar orbits. Kerplunk 6's orbit is a highly eccentric one that is 9.6 degrees off-plane, while Kerplunk 7 is circular and less than half a degree off-plane. Both have since run out of fuel
The SKSRA has begun launching its next series of spacecraft, Dookie. Dookie 2 and Dookie 3 have done unkerballed flybys of the Mun and Minmas, respectively. Both are on escape trajectory from Kerbin.
Additionally, testing has begun on the Sundiver project, which, as the name says, is a kerballed spacecraft designed to plunge directly into the heart of the Sun FOR SCIENCE!
The SKSRA has begun launching its next series of spacecraft, Dookie. Dookie 2 and Dookie 3 have done unkerballed flybys of the Mun and Minmas, respectively. Both are on escape trajectory from Kerbin.
Additionally, testing has begun on the Sundiver project, which, as the name says, is a kerballed spacecraft designed to plunge directly into the heart of the Sun FOR SCIENCE!
hobbsyoyo
Deity
- Joined
- Jul 13, 2012
- Messages
- 26,575
I've never had a flameout happen before. If you push up the throttle don't they start back up or is that only when you already have other engines going so the flames from them reignite the dud? I think I might have had a few flameouts on launches (does it make a thumping/whooshing sound?) but they instantly restarted.
SuperBeaverInc.
Groucho
It flamed out as a result of running out of oxidizer, so there wasn't really anything to do to save it, as far as I know.
Next up on my mission list, inspired by SouthernKing's Sundiver project, Diskerbery 1, a mission to put a space station in close orbit around the sun.
EDIT - Still being only in the design stages, I can already see what a horrifically terrible idea this is going to turn out to be.
Next up on my mission list, inspired by SouthernKing's Sundiver project, Diskerbery 1, a mission to put a space station in close orbit around the sun.
EDIT - Still being only in the design stages, I can already see what a horrifically terrible idea this is going to turn out to be.
SouthernKing
crickety cricket
Dookie 4 crashed into the Mun, in the vein of NASA's Ranger series. Unfortunately, that is not what Dookie 4 was intended to do :/
SuperBeaverInc.
Groucho
After numerous failures, Diskerbery 1 has finally made it into orbit around Kerbin. Now for the long journey to the sun.
The number of failed attempts to just get the space station this far was ridiculous.
The number of failed attempts to just get the space station this far was ridiculous.
hobbsyoyo
Deity
- Joined
- Jul 13, 2012
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You get used to it. Also you hit a point where the astronomical number of failures hits an inflection and levels off, then drops like a rock so long as you aren't doing crazy stuff like lifting 500t or 5000 parts.
SuperBeaverInc.
Groucho
And now a recounting of my space station experiments.
First was Kerblantis 1, with Jebediah Kerman on board. Simple mission to orbit Kerbin. He also went for a little space walk...and almost floated away.
Second space station is Kerblantis 2. With Bob Kerman on board it was sent to orbit the Mun. It unfortunately fell just short on gas, and as a result has a somewhat odd orbit. But it made it, so I'm sure Bob is happy about that.
And finally, Diskerbery 1, my attempt to put a space station in close orbit around the sun. Things did not go well. Managed get into an orbit around the sun, but unfortunately did not have anywhere near enough gas to get a good orbit. Instead the periapsis is about 2500 km away from the sun, while the apoapsis is somewhere near Kerbin's orbital path.
Bill is stuck out there now, hurtling through space at great speeds. Maybe some day I'll go rescue him. If I can figure out how. And can be bothered to.
First was Kerblantis 1, with Jebediah Kerman on board. Simple mission to orbit Kerbin. He also went for a little space walk...and almost floated away.
Spoiler :
Second space station is Kerblantis 2. With Bob Kerman on board it was sent to orbit the Mun. It unfortunately fell just short on gas, and as a result has a somewhat odd orbit. But it made it, so I'm sure Bob is happy about that.
Spoiler :
And finally, Diskerbery 1, my attempt to put a space station in close orbit around the sun. Things did not go well. Managed get into an orbit around the sun, but unfortunately did not have anywhere near enough gas to get a good orbit. Instead the periapsis is about 2500 km away from the sun, while the apoapsis is somewhere near Kerbin's orbital path.
Spoiler :
Bill is stuck out there now, hurtling through space at great speeds. Maybe some day I'll go rescue him. If I can figure out how. And can be bothered to.
