Any Kerbalers here?

[Milky]

Yeah, cheers blokes. I thought I'd have a quick dabble and I've gone and lost six hours today... just to the demo!

By not reading any instructions and picking over the bits that went wrong, I've managed to get Alan Kerbal-Shepard into space. Still can't get my head around sorting out an orbit for John Kerbal-Glenn though.

So, back to it /dons space helmet.

 

[trm]

Got my probe working finally! You can see the LV just below and to the right

Now to fire up the science probes and use the ion drive to nudge it into a safe orbit. I suspect it'll crash.

This was an earlier attempt. Didn't get it into a decent orbit so my apoapsis was somewhere in the middle of the earth. It's pretty hard to significantly change orbit with an ion engine. They use electrical power (and xenon, but I had plenty) and my radioisotope thermal generators only kicked out 3x2 charge/sec, my 2100 charge stored in batteries got eaten in a minute or two. I needed to burn retrograde for about 30 minutes to shift

and had a maximum delta-v of about 10 cm/s.

 

[guddler]

And so, it would seem we come full circle with some clever sort developing a nice bit of hardware to integrate with KSP and bring real life sim-type readouts etc...

Awesome stuff and for sure something I'd tinker with if and when he tells us how!:

http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/showthread.php/45636-WIP-KSP-Display-(Physical-Display)?p=586918#post586918

 

[trm]

That does look cool I'm surprised he's written his own USB driver though. I'd have used the FTTI in serial mode, unless he's going for the complex distraction routine.

It's been too nice today to sit in front of the computer (but there again, I wasn't out getting trollied past 3am eh Mart

) so I spent most of today messing about at a bbq and getting drunk.

Have had a few hours on tonight and built a new SUPER heavy lifter, except this time the heavy thing it's lifting is itself to orbit with tons of fuel. I decided that now I have a working probe I need to land on another planet, not a moon. So I'm off to Eve but the orbital maths look pretty scary!

 

[trm]

Just running a test of v0.93d of my heavy lift lander. I'm just passing 1000 km mark and I've still got about 60 seconds of fuel left (not including my small solid fuel orbital/takeoff boosters) so I think I've just about built something that is interplanetary.

It looks like a 200 day transition for Earth to Eve so I figure the smallest trajectory deviation back at burn means I miss it by millions of km so it'll be interesting

PS Now at 1400 km and still fuel left!

 

[Jodo]

Mrs Jodo and I spent ages watching videos of this and laughing our tits off last night. In fact when we got in bed she said "Have we watched all of the Kerbal videos?" ergo, I'm picking this up tonight!

Timmy makes it sound ultra complex but largely I think my approach of strapping ALL THE ROCKETS onto my capsule will get me at least into orbit. Probably go for a bit of a space walk. Yeah. Easy.

 

[guddler]

Gotta say - I love your optimism

 

[Urgentemente]

Sadly I only found out about KSP a few months ago, but was hooked instantly. Had great fun messing around at first, then getting into orbit, and followed the tutorial to reach the Mun, but haven't had a chance to spend anytime on it for well over a month or 2, planning to rectify that soon.

 

[Milky]

Successs! Kind of. Managed to get into Orbit around the Mun. Unfortunately, this was a one-way trip with no capacity for a controlled landing or a return home. So, right now, he's just floating there until I can think up a rescue plan...

 

[trm]

Good work! I can't see where your fuel tank staging is in relation to your remaining stages, but you have a bit of fuel left so with a 100km munar orbit you could probably do a low (and slow) delta-v return to earth! Not sure which parachute you've got equipped but if you used an aero brake deceleration as you came back into Kerbal's atmosphere you might even be able to splash safely using the chutes.

What is your apo- and periapsis of your current orbit? If it's reasonably circular you'll be able to slingshot out more easily (orbital position wise) but basically you need to burn retrograde at apoapsis to extend your periapsis into a Kerbal capture orbit - probably the same technique you used for mun capture.

 

[Milky]

<it's really worth pointing out at this point I've NO idea what I am doing

>

So I've got a periapsis of 55,178 and apoapsis of 127, 700 which is a pretty neat little orbit bearing in mind I just lunged wildly at the Mun.

...and here is a bit of a close-up of FLR1.

For some reason (possibly being sidetracked by a three year old), I had half of a lander idea in place (small fuel tank and burner for leaving the planet) but forgot the legs, ladder, etc. I think you're right though, I might be able to sling shot with a well-timed burn and maybe catch a break on the way back. There's a parachute, so might even survive it!!

Milky2013-08-25 21:59:18

 

[trm]

I reckon so! Is that a RocketMax body? You should have a ton of delta-v with that fuel and zero gravity if so.

I left all my fuel-less early attempts in orbits thinking I could build a tanker, refuel them and de orbit later on but because I didn't add docking rings I don't think there's any way to juice them up. I have wondered about a cargo bay and capturing them but I've not had any success there yet Or I could EVA the Kerbalnauts and just bring them back in a shuttle - I think they get orange suits once they've done a mission.

 

[TonyElyod]

Looks TOO Complicated for me TBH

I'll stick to Galaxians me thinks

 

[IDCHAPPY]

Milky going for an Apollo 13

 

[Milky]

I reckon so! Is that a RocketMax body? You should have a ton of delta-v with that fuel and zero gravity if so.

lol - it's a what with a who now?

I'd have to check - I just pick the bits that seem to fit nicely. As I alluded too yesterday, my space programme is very much based on a "suck it and see" mentality

I left all my fuel-less early attempts in orbits thinking I could build a tanker, refuel them and de orbit later on but because I didn't add docking rings I don't think there's any way to juice them up. I have wondered about a cargo bay and capturing them but I've not had any success there yet Or I could EVA the Kerbalnauts and just bring them back in a shuttle - I think they get orange suits once they've done a mission.

I was leaving all debris/failed attempts just floating out there. Until I hit a piece!

less than 15 pieces of debris floating in the huge expanse of space and I managed to twat one at over 900m/s. So now I destroy all failed attempts.

 

[trm]

I was v surprised the first time I hit my own debris Space is a big place until you twat your own boost stage.

Although I like to think it's because I'm so neat with my launches that I always hit a perfect orbit so my crap is bound to be awaiting me

 

[bbz149]

Fork me, a game for geeks!

I've got to have a bash, but will probably be like the Shuttle Sim BITD which i couldn't even get off the ground

 

[Urgentemente]

Fork me, a game for geeks!

I've got to have a bash, but will probably be like the Shuttle Sim BITD which i couldn't even get off the ground

It's well worth a look , really fun even if you just play around bolting things together and attemping to launch them (and then laugh hysterically as it all goes ever so slightly wrong). Then when you've had enough of that you can start trying to actually get into orbit, reach the Mun etc etc.

It's quite an addicitive little b*gger, and strangely compelling when you get a Kerbal into orbit, much rejoicing, then there's the moment when you go "ah, but he's stuck up there..." and start planning a rescue mission (which I haven't done yet!).

Speaking of shuttle sims, if any of you haven't already, have a look at Orbiter. It's a free shuttle/space vehicle sim, less immediate 'fun' than KSP as it's more serious, but really enjoyable also. You'll need to download a few addons to get it up to better graphics for the planets, and to add sound etc, but all fairly easy to do.

Urgentemente2013-08-27 01:01:35

 

[Milky]

So Cool;

http://kotaku.com/oh-look-a-star-destroyer-in-kerbal-space-program-1564736841
Milky2014-04-18 21:36:15