Rescues are great. The Kerbal you rescue stays on staff! Saves quite a bit on hiring costs, and the contracts pay well, too. Easier than docking since you just need to get close, switch to the stranded kerbal, and Eva them over.
+4
Nova_CI have the needThe need for speedRegistered Userregular
So what are these rescue contracts I keep seeing. I have never successfully done an intercept, so I am a bit scared of them.
You rescue kerbonauts. Rendevouz are pretty easy. Watch a few tutorial videos (like this one by Scott Manley) and Do it! Just DO IT!
You need a small craft with a fair amount of monopropellant, thrusters towards all cardinal directions and at least a semidecent vacuum engine.
P.S: Never accept a "orbit around Sol" rescue contract. They can be absolute bullshit.
You definitely don't need all that.
I haven't put monopropellant on a rescue rocket yet.
Definitely watch some tutorial videos to get an idea and then just go for it. Orbital Rendezvous takes some practice, but it's not difficult, especially because rescue missions don't require docking. When I do a rescue I hold the launch until the ship I need to rendevous with is at about the 4:30 position (If KSC is at 6:00) and then launch and do the intercept pretty much immediately. If you don't want to have to worry about timing, then don't. Adjusting the orbits for intercept isn't fuel intensive as long as you're patient (Again, those tutorial videos will show how small adjustments to your orbit will bring you closer to the object you want to intercept).
Once you're close enough (Like, 20, 30 meters), just switch to the other ship and fly the kerbal over to the rescue ship.
Basically all that extra stuff about monopropellant thrusters in all directions is necessary for docking, but not for rescues.
Hell, you can get away with fewer thrusters once you get good at docking. I've done it with super unbalanced ships and while it was difficult, it's not impossible.
Yep, all you need for a Kerbal rescue mission are:
A craft good enough to get to the same orbit and back to Kerbin surface safely
An empty spot on the pod that your rescued Kerbal can climb into
You need the ability to plan a rendezvous that is within 1,200m of your target rescue, so that you can swap over to them.
Once you swap to them, you get them to climb out of their debris, and use their EVA thrusters to bring them to your rescue ship and climb in.
Update:
Apparently I was too cheap when creating my main mission vessel and my lander vessel, as they had enough fuel to achieve orbit of Kerbin, but not enough to get anywhere.
Fortunately, I had some very old stations orbiting Kerbin that I mostly just use for rescue contracts that have some fuel left in them. Problem is though, they don't have a probe core or any Kerbalnauts currently stationed on them.
Solution:
Meet the Mosquito, he latches on without a care for if you have a docking port there or not, and then drives you to where someone else can suck out your precious fuel.
So after bringing my new vessels their "feast" of fuel, here it is in its glory. I added some radiators for the nuclear engines, but it can carry ~6500 Lf for its 3x LV-N engines
I know it looks like you have solar panels for days, but if you're heading past Duna you might want to consider fuel cells for power. Solar falls off drastically; out near Jool they're like 8% effective.
First they came for the Muslims, and we said NOT TODAY, MOTHERFUCKERS
I know it looks like you have solar panels for days, but if you're heading past Duna you might want to consider fuel cells for power. Solar falls off drastically; out near Jool they're like 8% effective.
Yeah, it looks like I'm going to have to send up some Lf feedbag tanks to C.L.A.W onto the sides of the craft, 1k Lf is just enough to get me to Mun, and the main craft only holds 6.5k Lf.
My hope is, that I will do the inner / closer planets first, and then use that science to get myself some reactors, since fuel is looking much more scarce than I thought.
MWO: Adamski
0
Dhalphirdon't you open that trapdooryou're a fool if you dareRegistered Userregular
A big part of your problems is probably the triple nuke engines. They are extremely heavy and there's really no need to have more than one.
A big part of your problems is probably the triple nuke engines. They are extremely heavy and there's really no need to have more than one.
I figured the weight would be a problem for getting from the Launchpad into orbit, and that once in orbit, having 3x LV-N would be nice so I wouldn't need to do 8m long burns.
MWO: Adamski
0
Dhalphirdon't you open that trapdooryou're a fool if you dareRegistered Userregular
Ooh for sure, doing long burns is awful, but the extra engines do hurt your delta v.
I'm redoing the thruster section, and have unlocked the Mk3 Aircraft parts, so I have access to gigantic Lf tanks now.
I have also downloaded the mod / cfg file that allows you to swap / replace the Oxidizer in any tank with Liquid Fuel.
I even added KAS while I was at it, so I will need to learn how to do struts etc. while EVA
Meet the new boss, only 1 LV-N engine, but has 11.5k Lf compared to the old ones 6.5k Lf
It also has docking ports on the side, and was very modular, so I could in theory do a 3x LV-N system with ~35k Lf
Ooh for sure, doing long burns is awful, but the extra engines do hurt your delta v.
Don't you lose some efficiency as well due to burning on a curve (as not all of the burns energy goes towards increasing velocity), with increasing losses the higher the angle towards prograde is?
"The western world sips from a poisonous cocktail: Polarisation, populism, protectionism and post-truth"
-Antje Jackelén, Archbishop of the Church of Sweden
0
Dhalphirdon't you open that trapdooryou're a fool if you dareRegistered Userregular
Ooh for sure, doing long burns is awful, but the extra engines do hurt your delta v.
Don't you lose some efficiency as well due to burning on a curve (as not all of the burns energy goes towards increasing velocity), with increasing losses the higher the angle towards prograde is?
That's why you do multiple burns instead of an exceptionally long one.
SO I've been playing career mode, something I haven't done since release. I enjoy the limitations, but I also feel like I'm floundering all over again. My rockets tip over unexpectedly (probably because of the "new" air resistance stuff), and I feel like ships that worked pre 1.0 don't work at all for me anymore.
I also don't really know what to focus on. I've upgraded my launch pad. I'm trying to upgrade my VAB.
I never really liked playing with mods, so I'm all vanilla, but Giant Bomb has a mod that tells you what your projected Apo. is without having to switch to map view and gosh darn if that doesn't seem handy.
Any tips on getting the craft to not flip over? What speeds do I want to go at what stages of ascent? I'll take a link to an updated launch tutorial video. I used the old Manley ones way back when but I don't know if there's an updated one with as much info.
SO I've been playing career mode, something I haven't done since release. I enjoy the limitations, but I also feel like I'm floundering all over again. My rockets tip over unexpectedly (probably because of the "new" air resistance stuff), and I feel like ships that worked pre 1.0 don't work at all for me anymore.
I also don't really know what to focus on. I've upgraded my launch pad. I'm trying to upgrade my VAB.
I never really liked playing with mods, so I'm all vanilla, but Giant Bomb has a mod that tells you what your projected Apo. is without having to switch to map view and gosh darn if that doesn't seem handy.
Any tips on getting the craft to not flip over? What speeds do I want to go at what stages of ascent? I'll take a link to an updated launch tutorial video. I used the old Manley ones way back when but I don't know if there's an updated one with as much info.
I had a lot of the same problems when I started playing again recently. First of all, fins are much more useful than they used to be. You want them on basically every rocket you launch and you'll want to keep them around until you hit the upper atmosphere (~35km). To contrast, speed at different altitudes is much less important due to the improved atmospheric model. You will also want to be much more careful about your angle of attack, you don't want to veer more than a few degrees off your velocity vector.
I recommend you install Kerbal Engineer. It's a quality of life mod that will give you a bunch of information you would otherwise have trouble calculating.
Well the old turn 90 at 10k thing obviously stopped working, so I was trying to do a gradual turn starting at like 12. THat didn't work. Then I just started turning at like 30+ and my rocket would flip over. I thought maybe I was building too tall, so I tried staging "out" and some asparagus stuff, but I'd just flip over even sooner.
How do I apply the fins? Are they location dependent, or do they just apply a kind of "buff" to stability?
You now want to start your turn much lower and make it more gradual. Try starting your turn at 1km, with the goal of being at about 30 degrees at 10km and 45 at 20km. It's not ideal in terms of efficiency but it's easier.
Fins create stability by generating drag, so you want them as far down the rocket as possible. I put mine on my first stage and put my SRBs in between. That way they're typically on for the majority of the atmospheric travel. You don't need as much delta v to get into orbit as you used to (maybe 70%) with the new atmo so you can be a little more spendy with things like nosecones and fins.
Rescues are great. The Kerbal you rescue stays on staff! Saves quite a bit on hiring costs, and the contracts pay well, too. Easier than docking since you just need to get close, switch to the stranded kerbal, and Eva them over.
Heh, I have life support modded in, so I don't think I've ever done a single one of these.
Plus, it feels a little immersion breaking to be given an order to rescue someone orbiting Jool when I haven't even sent a fly-by probe there. "And why the hell was he out there, exactly? If it's such a big secret, maybe he should stay up there!"
Rescues are great. The Kerbal you rescue stays on staff! Saves quite a bit on hiring costs, and the contracts pay well, too. Easier than docking since you just need to get close, switch to the stranded kerbal, and Eva them over.
Heh, I have life support modded in, so I don't think I've ever done a single one of these.
Plus, it feels a little immersion breaking to be given an order to rescue someone orbiting Jool when I haven't even sent a fly-by probe there. "And why the hell was he out there, exactly? If it's such a big secret, maybe he should stay up there!"
It's the damned Kerb-X amateurs again.
Damn you Elon Kerman!
There's no plan, there's no race to be run
The harder the rain, honey, the sweeter the sun.
Rescues are great. The Kerbal you rescue stays on staff! Saves quite a bit on hiring costs, and the contracts pay well, too. Easier than docking since you just need to get close, switch to the stranded kerbal, and Eva them over.
Heh, I have life support modded in, so I don't think I've ever done a single one of these.
Plus, it feels a little immersion breaking to be given an order to rescue someone orbiting Jool when I haven't even sent a fly-by probe there. "And why the hell was he out there, exactly? If it's such a big secret, maybe he should stay up there!"
It's the damned Kerb-X amateurs again.
Damn you Elon Kerman!
As repeatedly warned by Chief Designer Sergey Kerbolev, the Program and the Kerbal Government are not responsible for the safety and wellbeing of privately-funded kerbonauts.
SO I've been playing career mode, something I haven't done since release. I enjoy the limitations, but I also feel like I'm floundering all over again. My rockets tip over unexpectedly (probably because of the "new" air resistance stuff), and I feel like ships that worked pre 1.0 don't work at all for me anymore.
I also don't really know what to focus on. I've upgraded my launch pad. I'm trying to upgrade my VAB.
I never really liked playing with mods, so I'm all vanilla, but Giant Bomb has a mod that tells you what your projected Apo. is without having to switch to map view and gosh darn if that doesn't seem handy.
Any tips on getting the craft to not flip over? What speeds do I want to go at what stages of ascent? I'll take a link to an updated launch tutorial video. I used the old Manley ones way back when but I don't know if there's an updated one with as much info.
I actually kept running into this even with some automated Mechjeb launches when I have it set to not go faster than terminal velocity.
Make sure you are keeping a steady thrust, and only gradually reduce it as you get closer to your terminal velocity, such that you are reducing thrust but maintain your speed. Don't cut your thrust too fast.
(Ideally, you want to gradually go from accelerating at 10m/s^2 when jumping off the launch pad, to just 0.1m/s^2 when you are reaching terminal velocity, but always 100% thrust when below terminal velocity or when out of the atmosphere, and NEVER have thrust so low that you are losing speed / momentum)
Also, as others have said, when doing your ascent, you want to keep your direction on the navball just on the edge of your heading indicator, which will keep you flying fairly steady. (I believe this is the same as limiting your Angle of Attack to 2 degrees). You can start shifting your heading as soon as you are off the ground, for the most part, your rocket should have you above the lower atmosphere before you hit 45 degrees, which is when the atmosphere thins out and you wont have as much drag. Then once your Apo is above 60km you should start pushing your heading even further so that by the time you reach Apo you are at 90 / 0 degrees and are shooting for the horizon line while your final Apo is between 80-100km.
As far as Mods go, the one you listed is harmless, and just lets you watch your rocket longer instead of having to swap to orbital view.
Gnome-Interruptus on
MWO: Adamski
0
Nova_CI have the needThe need for speedRegistered Userregular
SO I've been playing career mode, something I haven't done since release. I enjoy the limitations, but I also feel like I'm floundering all over again. My rockets tip over unexpectedly (probably because of the "new" air resistance stuff), and I feel like ships that worked pre 1.0 don't work at all for me anymore.
I also don't really know what to focus on. I've upgraded my launch pad. I'm trying to upgrade my VAB.
I never really liked playing with mods, so I'm all vanilla, but Giant Bomb has a mod that tells you what your projected Apo. is without having to switch to map view and gosh darn if that doesn't seem handy.
Any tips on getting the craft to not flip over? What speeds do I want to go at what stages of ascent? I'll take a link to an updated launch tutorial video. I used the old Manley ones way back when but I don't know if there's an updated one with as much info.
Kerbal Engineer includes a display that shows your Apoapsis and Periapsis and time to both, which is the primary reason I always install it.
Speeds at ascent aren't really important. Max your thrust the whole way up.
How are you doing your gravity turn?
Aren't you being inefficient if your acceleration is over 2gs until you're in the upper atmosphere? Since I usually go with booster configurations that I pull from sub-assembly, sometimes I have more power then necessary and dial it back to conserve fuel so I'm not wasting it against air resistence.
I've found that a TWR of ~1.7 gives a good balance of initial thrust and ease of gravity turn.
0
Nova_CI have the needThe need for speedRegistered Userregular
It's always a little bit terrifying when I have a booster setup that lasts well after the start of the gravity turn and I notice my g meter hitting 8 gs of acceleration.
Usually there's a lot of fire, too, at that point. :P
It's always a little bit terrifying when I have a booster setup that lasts well after the start of the gravity turn and I notice my g meter hitting 8 gs of acceleration.
Usually there's a lot of fire, too, at that point. :P
Even with Deadly Reentry---I think you have to hit 15 g or so for a few seconds before, you know, your crew starts dying.
Hmm.. anyone want to help me do the math?
My ship, fully loaded with fuel, is ~110t
It has a single LV-N engine, that provides 60kN of thrust at 800 Isp, and has 11.5k units of Lf available
MechJeb says I have ~5800m/s of dV in Vacuum
Do I have enough to get to Duna and back? Would I need to do a bunch of aerobraking in atmo to gain orbit?
My fuel & engine module alone is 72t when topped up, and has ~14k dV, and I can fairly easily add more of them to the ship. Though it would start to look very much like a Corillian Corvette.
ie: If I add 2 more Fuel & engine modules, it bumps the total mass to ~250t, but it also bumps the total dV to 13.9k dV
Hmm.. anyone want to help me do the math?
My ship, fully loaded with fuel, is ~110t
It has a single LV-N engine, that provides 60kN of thrust at 800 Isp, and has 11.5k units of Lf available
MechJeb says I have ~5800m/s of dV in Vacuum
Do I have enough to get to Duna and back? Would I need to do a bunch of aerobraking in atmo to gain orbit?
My fuel & engine module alone is 72t when topped up, and has ~14k dV, and I can fairly easily add more of them to the ship. Though it would start to look very much like a Corillian Corvette.
ie: If I add 2 more Fuel & engine modules, it bumps the total mass to ~250t, but it also bumps the total dV to 13.9k dV
Depends on the window. Every 2+ years there is an ideal lauchwindow where it just takes 1.7km dV. That's the low point. Then there is the "absolutely the wrong time" window where it's a 5+ km dV minimum.
"The western world sips from a poisonous cocktail: Polarisation, populism, protectionism and post-truth"
-Antje Jackelén, Archbishop of the Church of Sweden
Though it would start to look very much like a Corillian Corvette.
... go on.
Behold!
This one would split into 5 parts:
3 Engines & Fuel tanks
Middle section with the Science lab & control module, etc
Top section just above the 3 man pilot module, which becomes the lander with its own drill & mini refinery, experiments, along with drogue & regular parachutes, and Toroidal Spike engines for landing & liftoff.
Mostly a quick and dirty mockup of the actual craft, didn't add all the Solar Panels / RCS / monoprop tanks, etc etc
FYI if you ever try docking that thing in space with the single ports on the sides like that be ready to pull your hair out when they're misaligned by 1 degree and your ship starts spinning like crazy.
For linking up modules laterally use at least two pairs of docking ports always.
First they came for the Muslims, and we said NOT TODAY, MOTHERFUCKERS
Hmm.. anyone want to help me do the math?
My ship, fully loaded with fuel, is ~110t
It has a single LV-N engine, that provides 60kN of thrust at 800 Isp, and has 11.5k units of Lf available
MechJeb says I have ~5800m/s of dV in Vacuum
Do I have enough to get to Duna and back? Would I need to do a bunch of aerobraking in atmo to gain orbit?
My fuel & engine module alone is 72t when topped up, and has ~14k dV, and I can fairly easily add more of them to the ship. Though it would start to look very much like a Corillian Corvette.
ie: If I add 2 more Fuel & engine modules, it bumps the total mass to ~250t, but it also bumps the total dV to 13.9k dV
For Duna, ~10kΔV is the top end of fuel to get there and back, while 3400ΔV is Optimal.
Using http://alexmoon.github.io/ksp around the 233rd day of the 1st year there is a window that takes 1680ΔV and 264 days arriving on the 72nd day of the 2nd year. After arrival, the next cheap (in terms of ΔV) launch window is the 242nd day of Year 3 taking 1670ΔV and another 267 days of flight arriving back to Kerbin on the 83rd day of the 4th year. For non-optimal flights, you can get to Duna for ~3000-5000ΔV and ~300 days starting from Day 1, and similar in return flights.
Keep in mind, this is just what's needed to get there and back. You'll need even more if you wanted to actually do anything once you get there.
Gentlemen, having spent roughly two weeks 1) updating KSP 2) preserving my save game 3) unbreaking broken things 4) updating my rocket designs to work...I give you...The long-awaited Minma-6 mission: return to Minmus.
Expedition M2 Munar/Minmar Rocket waiting on the launchpad (clocking in at a hefty 378 tones)
Minma-6, ignition!
We have successful lift-off!
Jettisoning liquid booster stage (Expedition manned rockets all use liquid fuel engines--we're not insane!
Smooth performance with easy rotation...
Look at that engineering masterpiece breaching the atmosphere. Ignore how many unmanned Expedition M1 and M2 rockets were fired trying to work out the kinks....
Upper atmosphere air resistance. Escape system ejection not shown.
Orbit established! Second stage jettisoned photograph lost, sadly. Quite the glamour shot though!
Burning for Minmas transfer! With +60 tonnes of spaceship still...
Ominous....
Coming up on Minmas--moon of frozen yogurt, we have returned!
Burning for orbit...
Ah yeah. Minmas orbit.
Next will be jettisoning the transfer engine, deploying and then docking with the ALCOR lander (hence the stage's oddly....vibrator-esque appearance cough), and then preparing for landing.
Indeed, it's the Low Profile LF/O engines from the Spacecraft pack. Can't recommend Near Future parts enough, they really fill out a bunch of the gaps all across the tech tree.
0
Dhalphirdon't you open that trapdooryou're a fool if you dareRegistered Userregular
@Gnome-Interruptus unless you're building rockets with an absolutely ludicrous thrust to weight ratio, like 3.0 or higher, you should never reduce your thrust on ascent.
I finished putting together the majority of my ship now:
I actually got a small fit of the giggles when attaching the fuel tanks to one another, as it reminded me nothing so much as watching giant whales humping, trying to get the docking ports to align and hold. (Especially since my first 2 had RCS thrusters that were aligned such that they actually were preventing both of the docking ports from attaching at the same time).
EDIT: Once I get back from Duna / Eve, I plan on creating another small assembly for the top of the side tanks with radioactive power generators, and lots more KAS struts to solidify the build.
@Gnome-Interruptus unless you're building rockets with an absolutely ludicrous thrust to weight ratio, like 3.0 or higher, you should never reduce your thrust on ascent.
I just built a couple of vehicles to ferry up my empty Lf tanks with the LV-N engines attached, they had a TWR of 1.6 on the Launchpad, but a TWR of almost 6 by the time the Lf+Ox tanks were empty.
It was hitting the upper atmosphere and with a targeted orbit of 90km, I would have to cut the engines or else waste fuel on a bigger orbit than needed, and cutting the engines would cause the rocket to go into a spin. The alternative would be to slow the rate of acceleration, so that I was mostly maintaining speed instead of fighting atmospheric resistance.
Posts
You definitely don't need all that.
I haven't put monopropellant on a rescue rocket yet.
Definitely watch some tutorial videos to get an idea and then just go for it. Orbital Rendezvous takes some practice, but it's not difficult, especially because rescue missions don't require docking. When I do a rescue I hold the launch until the ship I need to rendevous with is at about the 4:30 position (If KSC is at 6:00) and then launch and do the intercept pretty much immediately. If you don't want to have to worry about timing, then don't. Adjusting the orbits for intercept isn't fuel intensive as long as you're patient (Again, those tutorial videos will show how small adjustments to your orbit will bring you closer to the object you want to intercept).
Once you're close enough (Like, 20, 30 meters), just switch to the other ship and fly the kerbal over to the rescue ship.
Basically all that extra stuff about monopropellant thrusters in all directions is necessary for docking, but not for rescues.
A craft good enough to get to the same orbit and back to Kerbin surface safely
An empty spot on the pod that your rescued Kerbal can climb into
You need the ability to plan a rendezvous that is within 1,200m of your target rescue, so that you can swap over to them.
Once you swap to them, you get them to climb out of their debris, and use their EVA thrusters to bring them to your rescue ship and climb in.
MWO: Adamski
Apparently I was too cheap when creating my main mission vessel and my lander vessel, as they had enough fuel to achieve orbit of Kerbin, but not enough to get anywhere.
Fortunately, I had some very old stations orbiting Kerbin that I mostly just use for rescue contracts that have some fuel left in them. Problem is though, they don't have a probe core or any Kerbalnauts currently stationed on them.
Solution:
Meet the Mosquito, he latches on without a care for if you have a docking port there or not, and then drives you to where someone else can suck out your precious fuel.
Next stop: Minmus fuel depot!
MWO: Adamski
Yeah, it looks like I'm going to have to send up some Lf feedbag tanks to C.L.A.W onto the sides of the craft, 1k Lf is just enough to get me to Mun, and the main craft only holds 6.5k Lf.
My hope is, that I will do the inner / closer planets first, and then use that science to get myself some reactors, since fuel is looking much more scarce than I thought.
MWO: Adamski
I figured the weight would be a problem for getting from the Launchpad into orbit, and that once in orbit, having 3x LV-N would be nice so I wouldn't need to do 8m long burns.
MWO: Adamski
I'm redoing the thruster section, and have unlocked the Mk3 Aircraft parts, so I have access to gigantic Lf tanks now.
I have also downloaded the mod / cfg file that allows you to swap / replace the Oxidizer in any tank with Liquid Fuel.
I even added KAS while I was at it, so I will need to learn how to do struts etc. while EVA
Meet the new boss, only 1 LV-N engine, but has 11.5k Lf compared to the old ones 6.5k Lf
It also has docking ports on the side, and was very modular, so I could in theory do a 3x LV-N system with ~35k Lf
MWO: Adamski
Don't you lose some efficiency as well due to burning on a curve (as not all of the burns energy goes towards increasing velocity), with increasing losses the higher the angle towards prograde is?
-Antje Jackelén, Archbishop of the Church of Sweden
That's why you do multiple burns instead of an exceptionally long one.
I also don't really know what to focus on. I've upgraded my launch pad. I'm trying to upgrade my VAB.
I never really liked playing with mods, so I'm all vanilla, but Giant Bomb has a mod that tells you what your projected Apo. is without having to switch to map view and gosh darn if that doesn't seem handy.
Any tips on getting the craft to not flip over? What speeds do I want to go at what stages of ascent? I'll take a link to an updated launch tutorial video. I used the old Manley ones way back when but I don't know if there's an updated one with as much info.
Steam ID: Obos Vent: Obos
How are you doing your gravity turn?
I had a lot of the same problems when I started playing again recently. First of all, fins are much more useful than they used to be. You want them on basically every rocket you launch and you'll want to keep them around until you hit the upper atmosphere (~35km). To contrast, speed at different altitudes is much less important due to the improved atmospheric model. You will also want to be much more careful about your angle of attack, you don't want to veer more than a few degrees off your velocity vector.
I recommend you install Kerbal Engineer. It's a quality of life mod that will give you a bunch of information you would otherwise have trouble calculating.
How do I apply the fins? Are they location dependent, or do they just apply a kind of "buff" to stability?
Steam ID: Obos Vent: Obos
Fins create stability by generating drag, so you want them as far down the rocket as possible. I put mine on my first stage and put my SRBs in between. That way they're typically on for the majority of the atmospheric travel. You don't need as much delta v to get into orbit as you used to (maybe 70%) with the new atmo so you can be a little more spendy with things like nosecones and fins.
Heh, I have life support modded in, so I don't think I've ever done a single one of these.
Plus, it feels a little immersion breaking to be given an order to rescue someone orbiting Jool when I haven't even sent a fly-by probe there. "And why the hell was he out there, exactly? If it's such a big secret, maybe he should stay up there!"
It's the damned Kerb-X amateurs again.
Damn you Elon Kerman!
The harder the rain, honey, the sweeter the sun.
As repeatedly warned by Chief Designer Sergey Kerbolev, the Program and the Kerbal Government are not responsible for the safety and wellbeing of privately-funded kerbonauts.
I actually kept running into this even with some automated Mechjeb launches when I have it set to not go faster than terminal velocity.
Make sure you are keeping a steady thrust, and only gradually reduce it as you get closer to your terminal velocity, such that you are reducing thrust but maintain your speed. Don't cut your thrust too fast.
(Ideally, you want to gradually go from accelerating at 10m/s^2 when jumping off the launch pad, to just 0.1m/s^2 when you are reaching terminal velocity, but always 100% thrust when below terminal velocity or when out of the atmosphere, and NEVER have thrust so low that you are losing speed / momentum)
Also, as others have said, when doing your ascent, you want to keep your direction on the navball just on the edge of your heading indicator, which will keep you flying fairly steady. (I believe this is the same as limiting your Angle of Attack to 2 degrees). You can start shifting your heading as soon as you are off the ground, for the most part, your rocket should have you above the lower atmosphere before you hit 45 degrees, which is when the atmosphere thins out and you wont have as much drag. Then once your Apo is above 60km you should start pushing your heading even further so that by the time you reach Apo you are at 90 / 0 degrees and are shooting for the horizon line while your final Apo is between 80-100km.
As far as Mods go, the one you listed is harmless, and just lets you watch your rocket longer instead of having to swap to orbital view.
MWO: Adamski
Kerbal Engineer includes a display that shows your Apoapsis and Periapsis and time to both, which is the primary reason I always install it.
Aren't you being inefficient if your acceleration is over 2gs until you're in the upper atmosphere? Since I usually go with booster configurations that I pull from sub-assembly, sometimes I have more power then necessary and dial it back to conserve fuel so I'm not wasting it against air resistence.
Usually there's a lot of fire, too, at that point. :P
Even with Deadly Reentry---I think you have to hit 15 g or so for a few seconds before, you know, your crew starts dying.
My ship, fully loaded with fuel, is ~110t
It has a single LV-N engine, that provides 60kN of thrust at 800 Isp, and has 11.5k units of Lf available
MechJeb says I have ~5800m/s of dV in Vacuum
http://wiki.kerbalspaceprogram.com/wiki/File:KerbinDeltaVMap.png
Do I have enough to get to Duna and back? Would I need to do a bunch of aerobraking in atmo to gain orbit?
My fuel & engine module alone is 72t when topped up, and has ~14k dV, and I can fairly easily add more of them to the ship. Though it would start to look very much like a Corillian Corvette.
ie: If I add 2 more Fuel & engine modules, it bumps the total mass to ~250t, but it also bumps the total dV to 13.9k dV
MWO: Adamski
Depends on the window. Every 2+ years there is an ideal lauchwindow where it just takes 1.7km dV. That's the low point. Then there is the "absolutely the wrong time" window where it's a 5+ km dV minimum.
-Antje Jackelén, Archbishop of the Church of Sweden
... go on.
Steam: Elvenshae // PSN: Elvenshae // WotC: Elvenshae
Wilds of Aladrion: [https://forums.penny-arcade.com/discussion/comment/43159014/#Comment_43159014]Ellandryn[/url]
Behold!
This one would split into 5 parts:
3 Engines & Fuel tanks
Middle section with the Science lab & control module, etc
Top section just above the 3 man pilot module, which becomes the lander with its own drill & mini refinery, experiments, along with drogue & regular parachutes, and Toroidal Spike engines for landing & liftoff.
Mostly a quick and dirty mockup of the actual craft, didn't add all the Solar Panels / RCS / monoprop tanks, etc etc
MWO: Adamski
For linking up modules laterally use at least two pairs of docking ports always.
For Duna, ~10kΔV is the top end of fuel to get there and back, while 3400ΔV is Optimal.
Using http://alexmoon.github.io/ksp around the 233rd day of the 1st year there is a window that takes 1680ΔV and 264 days arriving on the 72nd day of the 2nd year. After arrival, the next cheap (in terms of ΔV) launch window is the 242nd day of Year 3 taking 1670ΔV and another 267 days of flight arriving back to Kerbin on the 83rd day of the 4th year. For non-optimal flights, you can get to Duna for ~3000-5000ΔV and ~300 days starting from Day 1, and similar in return flights.
Keep in mind, this is just what's needed to get there and back. You'll need even more if you wanted to actually do anything once you get there.
Expedition M2 Munar/Minmar Rocket waiting on the launchpad (clocking in at a hefty 378 tones)
Minma-6, ignition!
We have successful lift-off!
Jettisoning liquid booster stage (Expedition manned rockets all use liquid fuel engines--we're not insane!
Smooth performance with easy rotation...
Look at that engineering masterpiece breaching the atmosphere. Ignore how many unmanned Expedition M1 and M2 rockets were fired trying to work out the kinks....
Upper atmosphere air resistance. Escape system ejection not shown.
Orbit established! Second stage jettisoned photograph lost, sadly. Quite the glamour shot though!
Burning for Minmas transfer! With +60 tonnes of spaceship still...
Ominous....
Coming up on Minmas--moon of frozen yogurt, we have returned!
Burning for orbit...
Ah yeah. Minmas orbit.
Next will be jettisoning the transfer engine, deploying and then docking with the ALCOR lander (hence the stage's oddly....vibrator-esque appearance cough), and then preparing for landing.
The harder the rain, honey, the sweeter the sun.
Near Future Spacecraft
http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/index.php?/topic/47786-105-near-future-technologies-merry-christmas-updated-all-to-105/
Indeed, it's the Low Profile LF/O engines from the Spacecraft pack. Can't recommend Near Future parts enough, they really fill out a bunch of the gaps all across the tech tree.
EDIT: Once I get back from Duna / Eve, I plan on creating another small assembly for the top of the side tanks with radioactive power generators, and lots more KAS struts to solidify the build.
MWO: Adamski
It was hitting the upper atmosphere and with a targeted orbit of 90km, I would have to cut the engines or else waste fuel on a bigger orbit than needed, and cutting the engines would cause the rocket to go into a spin. The alternative would be to slow the rate of acceleration, so that I was mostly maintaining speed instead of fighting atmospheric resistance.
MWO: Adamski