Kerbal Space Program

[Greebo]

EcoSpace has been continuing throughout the week and now we have 4 full orange tanks in space

VIEW CONTENT:

The last tank being delivered to the station

VIEW CONTENT:

A particularly artsy shot, taken from the observation towers on the station of the last tank being delivered

VIEW CONTENT:

Because the tanks were delivered at only half-capacity, fuel was delivered over a number of missions

Jebediah has been up to his usual hi-jinx:

VIEW CONTENT:

During these missions, the kerbanauts have been having an unofficial competition to see who can land closest to the space center - this has been the closest effort so far:

VIEW CONTENT:

The EcoSpace program belatedly realised that there would be a need to expand the station which would involve having to carefully dock between tanks full of liquid fuel. Realising that this might be construed as a risky endeavor, they went ahead and did it anyway... while doing a fuel delivery:

VIEW CONTENT:

Now that the tanks are full, EcoSpace future plans involve:

• Taking up some tanks of monopropellant
  Launching probes from the station to planets and moons to gather information for future missions
  Launching satellites (including a communications network of geo-synched satellites)
  Building ships in space!

[ADevilishPotato]

your kerbals...talk?

[Greebo]

http://kerbalspaceport.com/chatterer/

I'm using that mod - I love it! It's so simple but it really adds to the experience

[Greebo]

It's been a busy week at EcoSpace!

Aside from space station construction (which will now need dismantling, more on that later!), EcoSpace started exploring the rest of the solar system this week.

A probe/satellite vehicle design was commissioned to send probes to other bodies in the system in order to measure gravity and atmospheric pressure - useful data that will help future missions!
The design that was chosen for testing features a main body satellite with a nuclear engine. Attached to it are 2 smaller probes that can detach and re-attach, the probes carry the scientific instruments and have ion engines for maximum lifespan.

VIEW CONTENT:

The satellite+probes being taken into orbit for a test flight. This is Mk II satellite...they forgot to attach solar panels to the Mk I

The test flight took place a couple of kilometers from the fuel station. The mission was to get into orbit, release a probe, send the probe to the station for a visual inspection, then re-dock the probe with the satellite.

VIEW CONTENT:

Probe 1, ready to detach

Probe 1 gets a visual inspection from the fuel station (note the tanking framerate!)

Probe 1 redocks with the satellite (not an easy feat when you have no reverse thrust!)

The test flight success made mission control so giddy that they immediately made plans to send the satellite elsewhere. For each body the mission encountered, it was deemed that the satellite should orbit at around 110km, release a probe, and then the probe should take measurements every 10km from 100km down to 10km (or lower if possible), measuring gravitational effects and atmospheric pressure.

The first stop was Kerbin's nearest neighbors, the Mun and Minmus. The mission went off without a hitch. Probe 1 was used throughout both visits (to save using Probe 2's fuel), useful mission data was transmitted back to mission control and noted on a nearby whiteboard under the heading "Useful stuff"

VIEW CONTENT:

A flypast of the Mun at around 10km and then Minmus at around 5km. The Minmus flypast made use of the probe's docking camera to get a different perspective.

Redocking after Minmus (or possibly the Mun...can't recall)

Having recorded that data, it was realised there was enough fuel to go somewhere else! Eve was chosen because "it looks pretty".
One particularly enterprising Kerbal at mission control decided to try the risky maneuver of aerobraking in order to get into a fairly circular orbit around Eve using minimal fuel. No-one knows where he got this potentially satellite-destroying idea from but it is rumored that he had lunch with Jebediah that day.

VIEW CONTENT:

Aerobraking around Eve. Probe 1 had already been released at this point and was heading to Eve's moon, Gilly. Aerobraking seems to start around 90km here, anything lower than 80km is highly dangerous!

Probe 1, meantime, headed to Gilly to investigate. It found the gravity to be so weak, that it was decided that it might actually be possible to land the probe (which was never designed for such a thing).

VIEW CONTENT:

Surprisingly it worked.

Taking off from Gilly after soaking up the rays for a couple of minutes

Rather than use Probe 2 at Eve (it was still attached to the satellite), Probe 1 made its way back to measure Eve's forces.

VIEW CONTENT:

Unfortunately, this was the end for Probe 1. Eve's gravity meant it could never escape once ensnared. The atmosphere sheered off the solar panels, but Probe 1 valiantly returned data right up to the moment of impact, where it sent back one final Selfie.

Despite low fuel, it was decided that the Satellite should make its way to Moho for one last mission, unfortunately, Eve's gravity proved too strong and the satellite remains in orbit around Eve. Probe 2 was released as far from Eve as the satellite can get, but the ion engine was not powerful enough to get to Moho. It does have occasional encounters with the planet closest to Kerbol but not enough to slow it down.

Still, for a test mission, this was considered a resounding success.

...

Of course with every success comes some annoying failures.
Having built the fuel space station up I must now abandon it because my frame rate tanks whenever I get near it.

VIEW CONTENT:

One of two mono propellant stacks being delivered to the station

I think what I need to do is build separate, simpler stations. One (or two) for fuel, one for orbit craft assembly etc..
I still need to dock with the original station to retrieve kerbals and fuel, but after that I'll have to de-orbit it piece by piece until it burns in the atmosphere (and then crashes to the ground because atmospheric burn doesn't do anything yet!)

It's gotten fairly complex

[ADevilishPotato]

you do know you can delete individual things, so make sure to delete any space trash that is near it to see if that helps first

[Greebo]

you do know you can delete individual things, so make sure to delete any space trash that is near it to see if that helps first

Yeah, unfortunately I have no debris (or indeed anything orbiting in visual range)
It's down the part count for the station, which is currently at 227.
Apparently one of the main culprits are the 4-way docking ports (I think I only have 2 in there though), they can account for 15 parts by themselves because they contain struts (c.f. http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/thr ... -count-lag )

I might be able to get away with taking half of it away (good thing it's modular!)...it'll look weird but hopefully that will take the part count down.


I also think I could've done a better job if I'd constructed it fully on the ground and then taken it up in pieces (can't wait for .22 and the saving of sub-structures). Then I could've minimized where I've place RCS modules and suchlike (there's a lot of extra ones there).

[Greebo]

*runs around in excited circles*

http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/con ... 2#comments

[ADevilishPotato]

Gah, Finally!!!

[Boss Llama]

Science!

Sub-assemblies!

Huzzah!

[ADevilishPotato]

X-mas came early for the Kerbals this year!

[F13ND]

It isn't actually out yet right?

[Will T.]

Looks like the update just hit within the last hour.

I played Career Mode for a few minutes. Basically you run missions, collect data while on the missions, and bring your ship, crew, and data back to earn "Science," which is used to research new rocket parts at the new Research Center at the KSC (which has received a partial redesign to accommodate the new structure). You start with only three crew members (Bill, Bob, and Jeb - who else?) and a handful of rocket parts (one each of command pod, fuel tank, thruster, solid-fuel booster, comms antenna, parachute, and strut). You can use an infinite number of each of those parts just like in the sandbox, but I'm sure that will change eventually.

Can't wait to have some time to try out the new subassemblies and such. It'll have to be later though...

[Greebo]

I've been loving the career mode so far. It's been a little challenging to adjust to building rockets without all the parts that we've had access to in sandbox mode, but it's not majorly hard to get science points as you go.

Looking forward to more of this!

[F13ND]

I haven't got too far in the tech tree yet but I managed to send Jeb on a lucrative mission to Mun

VIEW CONTENT:

So much science!

[ADevilishPotato]

I haven't got too far in the tech tree yet but I managed to send Jeb on a lucrative mission to Mun

VIEW CONTENT:

So much science!

Haha, I got back from minmus with over 600 using 4 goo pods and 2 science pods...but I think it is all for not since now I can't open my career mode (went all black and buggy and now the window wont open )