Attention NERDS!

[sperry]

I wonder what the total cost to take that photo was. Cost of the camera, the suit, getting into orbit... the cost of the space program, etc.

Here's the one I like:



Except for Michael Collins (the photographer), this photo contains every human that has ever lived, ever.

[AtomicLabMonkey]

Wouldn't the self pic technically capture everyone? The ISS and earth are below him, reflected in the visor.

[sperry]

Originally Posted by AtomicLabMonkey

Wouldn't the self pic technically capture everyone? The ISS and earth are below him, reflected in the visor.

Except for those Cosmonauts that died when the USSR attempted to land on Venus in the 70's.

/tinfoilhat

[MikeK]

This is currently on sale on Steam: $14 until 10 am tomorrow.

[sperry]

I started playing again... posted about it on NASIOC:

Originally Posted by sperry

I got back into KSP a few weeks ago after not having played in like a year or more. Last time I was playing this, landing on the Mun required dead-reckoning and lots of trial and error planning (no maneuver node system, no quick save, no multiple craft) and the sun was just a bitmap in the sky. I had figured out a direct to mun lander craft using a few modded parts and was able to consistently land and return... and then got bored.

But the current state of the game is awesome! I'm totally fired up again to be playing... I build my own fleet of Voyager style probes with an ion engine to place in orbit around all the planets. The only problem is that the ion engine requires so much electricity draw I can't sustain full thrust which makes braking for orbit take like 2 hours even on 4x time acceleration. It would have been way more efficient to just use chemical rockets... my launch vehicle for the probes can easily lift enough.

Either way, since starting over playing the game again, I created a pair of Sputnik style low-Kerbin orbit satellites, then a few manned orbit missions, followed by a satellite around both moons, and a pair of manned Munar orbit missions. Then sent unmanned missions to Duna, Jool, and Eeloo. I had one on the way to Dres, but since it was my first time ever using the ion drive (and since I didn't bother to test my spacecraft in a Kerbin parking orbit first :derp: ) I found out too late that it takes like 60 times more solar power than I realized to operate that motor and I couldn't brake for orbit... so it's in a big ole solar orbit that may or may not eventually impact Dres.

Finally, I built myself a "rescue tug" type craft that has tons of docking options, including the ability to chain a bunch of fuel tanks to the back of it so I can lift fuel on separate flights, then tow them out to stranded craft elsewhere. The only problem is that a) ships with CoT above the CoM seem to fly like **** in KSP for some reason and b) even the big docking port tears apart ridiculously easy. So, it was a lot of effort building this heavy-lift vehicle to get the tug and a large tank of fuel into orbit, only to take like 45 minutes to dock (I always seem to have to dock when I'm on the dark side of the planet, and I never have enough lights), and then the damn thing tears apart and explodes any time I try to fly anywhere.

Either way, it's fun to be playing again. I would kill to be able to build and launch a space elevator... so I can easily lift fuel and gear to a geo-sync space station for staging larger projects to elsewhere... but I guess geo-sync orbit in KSP intersects with Mun's sphere of influence or something which would fling apart anything parked up there.

Originally Posted by sperry

Still haven't screwed with investigating geosync orbit.

But I did lift the main components of my KSS into orbit. I do hate though that the frame rate goes to absolute crap whenever I'm withing 2km of the thing. Unity has some ways to go in terms of performance... then again, I am playing on a MacBookPro and not on my gaming rig.





It's got two habitat modules with room for 5 crew each (they're currently docked together on their large bottom clamp-o-tron sr. ports... eventually they'll be on opposite ends of the solar array). The docking array supports 7 craft. The solar array has 4 of the largest panels. And I think I over did it with the lights... but I *hate* docking on the dark side of the planet without being able to see anything.

In the picture are my two utility tugs... the one attached to the habitat is an RCS-only tug for moving stuff around the station... it could really use some more RCS capacity. When I was positioning the solar array I ran out of fuel and had to use the station itself to go after it and dock it. The other tug parked on the center node of the docking array is for station keeping since it's got an actual motor.

I'm running low on RCS stored on the station, so the next mission will be to lift a fuel resupply craft with some RP/LOX and RCS. I've got a heavy lifter than can haul about 3 tons of whatever to the station pretty easily, so three flights to load up the inside of the docking array with fuel should be plenty to keep the station running for a while. And I should also bring up some escape pods... right now there's no way for anything that's up there to survive re-entry.

[sperry]

Originally Posted by AtomicLabMonkey

This is the entire launch vehicle, total delta-V is ~11600m/s. 5 main stages; the outer SRB's, 6 liquid mainsails, 1 central mainsail, 1 poodle, and then the 4 lander engines on final stage. As I recall I still had the 4th stage attached doing my braking maneuver to orbit Duna, and then was on final stage coming down to the surface.

BTW Austin... I can't tell in the picture of your lander launch vehicle... are you chaining your fuel tanks with fuel pipes?

The idea is that you can run all your liquid motors right at launch, but you use fuel from the outboard tanks first. You drain the outboard tanks faster, but when you drop them away, the center tank is still 100% full, even though the center motor has been firing the whole time.

Once you do that, you can get a bit more delta-V out of the same launch weight. Also, you'll stop using solid boosters for anything since they can't contribute their fuel to the inboard tank(s). The KSP community is calling it "asparagusing" when you chain multiple layers of outboard tanks together.

Here's Scott Manley's tutorial:

Kerbal Space Program - Advanced Rocket Design Tutorial - YouTube

Kerbal Space Program - Advanced Rocket Design Tutorial - YouTube

I don't have a picture up anywhere, but my heavy launch vehicle has a single large tank (same diameter as the orange tanks, but longer, from the KW Rocketry pack), then 3 of the orange tanks around it, so that's 4 mainsail motors. Plus for a little extra delta-V I strap on one more outer layer of the FL-T800/FL-T400 tanks, and the LV-T30 motors. The outer-most stage burns out at only 1000 km altitude, but it still gives me an extra ~400 km/s delta-V, which is the difference between orbit and not when lifting like 5-6000 lbs.

[ScottyS]

You guys are making want to quit my projects and play KSP full time.

[AtomicLabMonkey]

Originally Posted by sperry

BTW Austin... I can't tell in the picture of your lander launch vehicle... are you chaining your fuel tanks with fuel pipes?

I have been doing that, it works well. My heavy lift vehicles for LKO are usually a stack of 6 tanks/mainsails around a central mainsail, outer tanks feeding to the inner.

On a different note I did a slingshot around Kerbol with a probe to launch it out of the system. It easily hit escape velocity and it's still going, off into the ether.

[AtomicLabMonkey]

I dunno if anyone's played the latest version, but they added SCIENCE!

There's now a career mode & tech tree that you can advance through by researching & doing science experiments. It's pretty cool. I'm actually letting my kid play this a lot cause I think it's the most educational game I've ever seen (he thinks it's awesome).

[ScottyS]

Originally Posted by AtomicLabMonkey

I dunno if anyone's played the latest version, but they added SCIENCE!

There's now a career mode & tech tree that you can advance through by researching & doing science experiments. It's pretty cool. I'm actually letting my kid play this a lot cause I think it's the most educational game I've ever seen (he thinks it's awesome).

Wow, pretty sweet. I have not seen the latest.

I've started transitioning my 5 and 7 year olds into tech entertainment - they've built the first tank model by themselves, but they're not quite assembling the programs yet. I figure that will come fast enough.

http://www.engadget.com/2013/01/07/l...r-mobile-apps/