First Orbits
Did some simple atmo science to be able to get a few more levels of science. A goo and mat study in low space and upper atmo.
<Atmo Science Mission>
My goal was to fulfill first orbit and the Explorer 1 contract but my apoasis came up a bit short.
Launch date: Jan 13, 1951.
Explorer Base Craft (Explorer 1) 4007 dV.
Orbit at 185km x 122km (needed 250 km for Explorer contract)
<Explorer First Orbit>
So I will need a little more dV to achieve the goal. I think a small amount of fuel added to the upper stage may be good enough.
?4294dV (added almost 300 and a BoosterCam). Running sims.
Don't pitch over too far too soon (25k to 25deg was too much for stage change).
Sim went well hit a good orbit well above the requirement. Also, the camera took some nice shots so I can use that.
Launch date: Jan 14, 1951.
Explorer Base Craft (Explorer 1-A) 4294 dV.
(Go to 50 deg after 25km)
Orbit 261 km x 255 km Yes! Contract Fulfilled
<Explorer 1>
At $650K after picking a Return from Orbit contract. Upgrading Mission Control and Tracking station so I can have maneuver nodes.
Created "Orbital Return" rocket.
Sim show instability in 2nd stage. Added a reaction wheel.
4354 dV (with 401 of that in the last/return stage and 10 ablator)
Launch date: Jan 15, 1951.
Orbital Return craft. Reached orbit and performed a de-orbit burn and splashed down safely. It actually fulfilled the Explorer-2 contract as well, so win-win!
<Orbital Return>
I have received the Sputnik contract but the craft I am building seems odd (the procedural fuel tank won't size large enough) so I think that I need a rocketry upgrade. I am a bit short of science so I am building a "Minmus Flyer" craft that will be easily covered by contract. Not very money profitable but very science profitable. If I have the dV when I get there I will put it into orbit but otherwise it may be a flyby.
Minmus Flyer
5482 dV. Includes 2 goo, 1 mat, 1 temp, 1 baro, 1 geiger, and the magnetometer. Should be a science bonanza!
<Minmus Flyer Prep>
This is a very manual mission but the sim would indicate I can fly it with some room for error.
Turn to 70deg at 100 m/s. Turn to 45deg at 30km. Give yourself some room for circ by burning at 30s before apo.
Launch date: Jan 18, 1951
Minmus Flyer craft 5482 dV
2 Minmus contracts to be fulfilled.
Crisis: The whole signal range thing killed me. Since I am using Kerbalism the signal range matters but I have no idea what he range actually is! I am trying to find out (since this is something that actual rocket designers would know).
I may keep the mission because it did make me a fair amount of money (I got the Minmus flyby and it also gave me Sputnik, which I wanted to do separately)
Okay, I understand where to find my antenna range (it is on the antenna right-click after you are in flight mode). I tested it with a sim and it was accurate. So, I reset because I want to try again with an interesting mission profile.
Basically, I want to set up the flyby when I am still in range (13.3mm, just past Mun) and then run the experiments at Minmus with Parts Commander which appears to work. I don't think that is a cheat on Kerbalism because they could be set up to run automatically based on time or proximity and that is what you would do in such a case. So, after the flyby, my goal is to have it reenter Kerbin orbit and transmit the data when it gets back into range. It limits my experiments a bit (I have to store it so no multiples on a single device) and I don't know that I can set up the return before I exit the range. I guess we will see!
Got to circ orbit (159x154) with 1681dV. Trying to set the path to Minmus with return using manual maneuver node. I will do an adjust when we are near the limit.
This was really hard to do, many tries. I was able to finally pass at 24km from Minmus so that I could get the low space science. It does appear that using the fast forward "buttons" in map mode can mess up the physics. Very odd, but I should not use them when accuracy is important.
<Minmus Pass> Just want to save my work in flight. Still need to retrieve the data to make the contract.
So, I got back into range and transmitted the relevant science to get the contracts and a whole lot more! I did not have Kerbin High space science in this game (I forgot) so I was able to get much of that as well. I now have over 200 science to spend and over $600K money.
That was fun!
<Minmus Flyer Success>
Looks like the Vanguard contract is active. Yes!
I created the "Vanguard Base" rocket and have successfully run the sims to fulfill the Vanguard-1 mission. IMportant note was that I need to restrict the turn top 75deg until it passes 30km otherwise it will flip over. On the plus side, since the apoasis needs to be greater than 380. that is not a big deal.
I also see that the Vanguard satellite has an extremely long range set of antennas, so I can use it as a relay in a ton of places. I may send one to Minmus (on some other contract and put it in a polar orbit so I can not have any comm issues in the planet system (probably want one at Mun to for possible relay).
Had a weird thing (again) with procedural tank not being full. Need to check that each time. Reset to Minmus Flyer Success and build again. (since this is a bug) Saved update as <Vanguard Setup>
Vanguard-1 (apoasis of at least 380 km)
Launch date: Jan 23, 1951
Vanguard Base craft 5210 dV
Going for circular orbit around 400km Should have over 1000 dV left that will be ditched (satellite stands alone).
Excellent 408 x 400 km orbit! (1024 dV left)
<Vanguard-1>
Quick Kerbin science before I send a Vanguard to Minmus to act as a relay.
Instead of a Vanguard, I am sending an Explorer to Minmus. I use the GRAB satellite because there is nor Explorer in the US parts pack and it has the same range as the Vanguard. Plus, I can fulfill both the Explorer-3 mission and then send it along to Minmus.
Need to reset the game because the ocean disappeared...
Launch date: Jan 24, 1951.
Explorer Base craft (6091 dV)
Both Explorer-3 and Vanguard-2 are fulfilled by this mission. First a save.
<Explorer-3>
Now, let me see if I can use the satellite to set up a relay station at Minmus for the future and get a Minmus contract as well.
Got to polar orbit of Minmus 375 x 342 km. Transmitted some probe data and Voila! Contact and Relay station set up!
<Minmus Relay>
I once again have both a Vanguard and Explorer satellite contract. I will use the Vanguard this time (return the last favor) as it will fulfill both.
Launch Date: Jan 27, 1951.
Vanguard base craft (5210 dV)
Must reach apoasis above 325km. Will fulfill both Explorer-4 and Vanguard-3.
Orbit at 353x348 km. Two contracts fulfilled.
<Vanguard-3>
I have another survey Minmus contract which will pay for me to get more science from Minmus high orbit as well as test out my new relay. I have adjusted the payload of the Minmus Flyer and am prepping Minmus Flyer 2 (5551 dV).
Launch date: Jan 30, 1951 (dusk launch)
Minmus Flyer craft
Well, it was a mixed bag. The relay worked great (once I turned it on) and I got some decent science, enough to get me the next MJ level. However, the contract failed. I need to do that part again at some point. Kerbalism has another fix in which is that it will not give you credit if you transmit zero science apparently. I needed to return the Goo, which I did not. I will need to create a Minmus return mission. Shouldn't be too hard since this is returning beautifully at the moment, it just will crash with no heat shield or parachute!
Ah, a failure is necessary here.
<Minmus Flyer 2>
Just for a kick (since it would burn up anyway) I tried "landing" Minmus Flyer 2 on Kerbin. Just not enough fuel timed right to do it. I think if it was timed right, it would have a shot, but it doesn't matter since the Goo was spent anyway.
Next up is a couple contracts and Discoverer-1. I saw Sputnik-2 when I zoomed ahead but it has not shown up yet. I may launch Sputnik-1 just for fun since I never got to! (It got handled by another mission) I also have 3 contracts for Mun orbits so I can set up my relay base there.
Kerbalism
Wanting to try another variant. This time using Kerbalism and a smaller set of mods so it is a little more efficient. Plus, I want to do historic contracts but I want to use the US and Soviet ships on Kerbal. Confused? Sure, but that is why I love this game, I can set it up however I want!
First Launch.
This is both the first launch contract and the historic A-3 contract. I have used an Aerobee-based sounding rocket design named "Goddard 1". It has 1470 dV in a single stage. The sim had it reach about 24km in altitude, plenty for low atmo experiments and to fulfill the contracts. It has 2 k-days (Kerbal days) construction time and a short rollout. Get science before 18K because we may not be down here again.
Launch date: Jan 4, 1951.
Goddard 1 Sounding Rocket Test Flight.
Apogee 25,878 m. Science conducted and transmitted.
Contracts Fulfilled. $217k.
<Goddard 1 Success>
The next missions require a suborbital flight which means breaking the atmosphere at 70km alt. Probably need a little more than 2200 dV for this, but let's see.
Goddard 2
2304 dV. Sim puts it at about 137km altitude. Should do a fine job.
2+ k-days construction and rollout. 2 Contracts (V-2 and Break atmosphere).
Launch date: Jan 5, 1951.
Goddard 2 Sounding Rocket.
Apogee 135km. Science at high alt and low space conducted and transmitted.
2 Contracts fulfilled. $369k.
<Goddard 2 Success>
I will be using a new Goddard 3 (with parachute recovery) to fulfill the R-1V contract since that recovered the small creature in the rocket!
Launch date: Jan 6, 1951
Goddard 3 Sounding Rocket with some fuel removed. (1867 dV)
Apogee 34.5 km. No science but rocket recovery.
Contract fulfilled. $404k.
<R1-V Success>
Next launch is the Blossom-1 contract which is a suborbital V-2 with recovery. With a current dV of 2182, the Goddard 3 it may be enough for sub-orb. Needs to be sim-tested.
The sim test came up a few thousand meters short. Crap. I am not sure what is the best way to charge up this rocket a bit more.
Added a small booster at the bottom and named it Blossom-1.
Launch date: Jan 8, 1951
Blossom-1 Suborbital unmanned V-2 with recovery. (2146 dV on pad)
Apogee 122 km. No science.
Contract good. $438K.
<Blossom-1>
R-2A contract should be able to use a fully fueled Goddard 3. (2182 dV). Requires recovery. I will try and put some new science on it.
Added Geiger experiment. dV at 2144 so it should make 50k (requirement) easily.
Launch date: Jan 8, 1951.
Got science from lower and upper atmo but the contract failed. It said a 50K altitude but I missed that it needed to be sub-orbital as well (very redundant since that is 70km). Okay, take a hit. Let's try it with the booster. At least I will get some low space science and the ground science I missed.
Launch date: Jan 9, 1951
R-2A (take 2) with booster and recovery.
Apogee 117 km. Good Geiger science from low space.
Contract Good. $470k.
<R-2A Complete>
Misson 15
So the shift to 1.1.2 appears to be okay. I needed to get rid of the DMagic contract stuff for now, it appears to not be working properly. I will add it again when I can.
Couple mission saves done:
<K-Files Ep0>
<Pioneer-5>
<Venera-1 Adjust>
Contracts are being odd. They are fulfilled but not marking themselves fulfilled. Both of these had to be closed manually:
<Korabl-3>
<Mercury Redstone 1>
It has actually been a few days but this is such a short entry I am continuing it. I was working on 2 other Kerbal installs with different setups but I want to return to this as I am getting close to a manned mission!
I have two more unmanned tests to do, a US and Soviet one. I believe after that will be the first Kerbal in space mission.
<Mercury Redstone 2>
<Korabl Sputnik 4>
<Ranger-2>
<Polar Contract>
Broke $5M in funds!
I have received the contract for the unmanned Mercury-Atlas rocket which means I cannot use my suborbital Mercury for this one, so I am developing the rocket as "Mercury Orbital"
Test flight for Mercury-Atlas-4 (5086 dV)
Reached 150k circular orbit with 960 dV in 2nd stage. Releasing the stage as I have 516 dV in the return stage and I need 115.6dV to get my peri down to 10km.
<Mercury Atlas 4>
Orbital contract and Historic Mission
<Poppy 1>
Last unmanned Korabl craft.
<Korabl Sputnik 5>
Continuing some historical until I get to the manned missions (very close).
Built a Ranger base for Mun Flyby. 6982 dV. Trying a Hullcam again.
Needed to add some thrust at Miun because it wasn't going to go heliocentric. No problem though and it succeeded.
<Ranger-3>
The Ranger 4 mission has to run out of power on its way to the Mun and then crash into the surface. Done!
<Ranger-4>
So, I have been offered the chimp Mercury orbit mission. Need to get that done. I also am a little concerned about my Duna rockets that they may be short on dV. I may want to add boosters. The Ike on in particular since the lander is a separate item and is not part of the transfer.
RSS Early Days
I updated to include the real career stuff so I have a few early contracts to do. Launch, Pass Karmen Line, Sounding Rocket.
I will use "The Minnie" which should reach an altitude sufficient. I am now using the construction mod so things are a bit more time-oriented.
<Minnie 2nd Flight>
Building The Minnie to fulfill 3 contracts.
Morning Launch 1951, 24
Successful for many achievements. About 175 km.
<Minnie 2 Success>
Testing an engine and heat shields.
<Basic Tests>
The contracts are not making sense at the moment (seem to be leaping ahead quite a bit). I am holding and going to my other Kerbal for a bit.
Time to address the first artificial satellite. It need the following:
>150K Periapsis. A science xper that is transmitted. Simple.
I built the ship (Sputnik X) based upon the tutorial design in RP-0. It has 8663 dV in 2 large stages and two small stages. This should be enough to get into orbit. I am beginning simulation runs with the full craft (the partial sim runs went pretty well).
Total craft cost: $1917.
Satellite failed to reach orbit on first sim. Burn up on reentry. Need a sharper angle on the first stage. Need to be at 45 degrees at about 1000 m/s. Was well behind that and came up about 1000 dV short.
Trying again.
Better flight but came up short again! Little unsure at this moment whether there is enough dV. Only about 500 short this time, maybe a tighter turn?
8873, still came up just over 300 dV short. I will try adjusting the rocket itself.
Updated to 9438 dV. Should be enough, let's see.
Made the orbit, very close and very little room for error. Ready to try the REAL LAUNCH!
28+ day build in the construction. Standing by...
<Building Sputnik>
Sputnik I came up about 200dV short. Not enough turn early and that made it short. Need to try again.
<Building Sputnik Ia>
Sim got wonky so I restarted and...
<Sputnik Ia Success>
We have an orbital satellite! Tough launch, it scraped the launchpad stabilizer, but it made it to orbit with about an extra 100 dV or so. Final orbit was 541km x 213 km. Needed all of it and I added some from the initial design.
Created "The Chuie" to handle a medium sounding rocket contract (270km+)
3350 dV reached an altitude of 311km
<Chuie Contract>
Starting RSS 1.1.2
I am going to do an RSS version of Kerbal trying to handle some of the historical mission contracts. I don't expect to get real far in this (no moon landing because the realism kills) but I am curious what I am able to do, so thus the effort.
There will be a lot more failure here and learning to do. Let's see if it's fun!
To fulfill the first two contracts which is get a ship off the ground and the V-2 test (which has the same demand) I am creating:
"The Garlic"
A sounding rocket comprised of a command object. Nose cone parachute (which won't work in FAR, so no chute). A solid fuel motor (non-RO). I will make an RO version next but this will get the ball rolling.
565 dV
Ready for test launch.
Forgot the fins, but I got to 1600m and the parachute does appear to maybe work?
BTW, I have no structural launch holder yet because of career. Damn!
Also, the Sounding Rocket mod doesn't register the first launch contract, so I will do that with "The Pepper".
"The Pepper"
Build a Sounding Rocket with RO parts.
Using a procedural tank and an aerobee engine. 2182 dV.
Test Flight did not fix contract (will do manually). Reached a height of 16,493m.
"The Madelyn"
AerobeeJr-based. 2285 dV.
Test launch.
Reached a height of 58km. Upper atmosphere so good science from both upper and lower atmosphere (transmitted) before the crash.
The Madelyn had much better height without much more dV. I am theorizing this is due to the pressure at the lower atmosphere shifting quickly as you break through.
"The Minnie"
2866 dV. Testing the altitude.
180.5km. WOW!
<Sounding Launches>
Need to do the suborbital V-2 mission with The Minnie. I will try and recover with a parachute as well.
Shifting to 1.1.2
I ran a few more missions that were not logged
<Minmus Mag Study>
and the very first capsule mission!
<Korabl 1>
There has been a variety of mod updates so I think I may be ready to try the shift to 1.1.2 with my save game. First I am running what I have right now (54 addons, 6850 patches) and then I plan to add a bunch of manual mods, sifting to CKAN when/if they are available. Still missing some I like, but they are missing in 1.1 as well (like Hullcam and Transfer Window) so that should not be a blocker.
I am manually installing:
Community Tech Tree
RCS Build Aid
Kronal Vessel Viewer
Ship Manifest
Ambient Light Adjustment
Environmental Visual Enhancement (EVE)
Stock Visual Enhancement - Ultra to go with EVE
Planetshine
LCD Countdown
Distant Object Enhancement
Surface Experiments
Mkerb Science
The only remaining missing one from 1.1 is Procedural Fairings and I don't think I need that. I guess we will see how this all goes as I have a number of new mods in 1.1.2 as well as more planets and other systems.
Launching notes:
Needed Mkerb for the pingers, need to reset lost missions.
Texture Replacer gives warning but should work.
AmbientLight, ShipManifest and Planetshine are the same.
Intersteller Fuel Switch needs an update per AVC.
60 Add-ons. 7159 patches.
Capcom+ is acting weird. IT is not showing many contracts (but it says they are there). Also historicals don't seem to be showing. Doing some futzing in CKAN.
I brought my original save back and also got rid of Capcom for now. Let's see if that fixes things.
Now it is 59 add-ons. 7159 patches (still).
I will try Korabl-2 as a test.
Achieved circular orbit at 125km. Only 126 dV left though (seems much lower than last journey but maybe not?) Need to do the return.
Use it all to go to -19km periapsis. Seemed better before?
40 ablator at start (2400m/s). 21.75 ablator after burn.
<Korabl-2>
Mission 14
Yes, I am skipping 13, but not really. I actually spent a fair amount of time yesterday trying to get the X-15 to fly with little luck.
However, I was able to make it fly today enough to get the contract fulfilled. Done with plane missions. I like rockets! So I will count yesterday's non-success as mission 13.
Now onward to Pioneer-4!
<Pioneer-4>
I am seeing the odd scatterer bug where the sky is black and the ocean disappears. reset time.
Didn't need to. Updated Chatterer with NASA sounds. Pretty cool. Also some minor contracts.
<Chat Update>
<Vanguard-3>
<Good Contract>
<Luna-3>
Had the tracking station crash while I was attempting to clean up all the ships I don't need. Rest and finish cleanup.
<Some Cleanup> (and crashed)
<More Cleanup> (and crashed)
and tired...
A few more:
The Venera mission which sends a probe on a Flyby or Eve. It was possible with the Luna craft (enough dV for a flyby) so it was sent.
<Venera-1 Underway>
Also did a Mun Survey mission (it did not register my goo so I needed to manually complete the contract). There is a time component as well, so that is underway.
<Mun Mag Field>
$4.3M in the bank.
Mission 12
Still slowly adding mods to 1.1.2. It has the parts I am using, but not the beauty stuff yet so sticking with 1.1 for now, still.
However, I have put a bunch of mods into 1.1.2 and a few new ones, so I am running that to test out some of these and see if I like them!
KRASH worked great for sims. VOID may not be needed, but I will keep it for now. Lots of good new science as well. Much to play with when I can shift over. Looks pretty solid, just need my mods to make things gorgeous (and sound good too)!
Back to handling some historic (and other) contracts in 1.1:
<Sputnik-3>
<Pioneer-2>
Experienced the weird state where you go into the tracking station but cannot see any ships and cannot exit. Restart needed.
<Discoverer-1>
Tracking station F'ed again, so I am stopping for now.
A bit more...
<Luna-1>
<Explorer-7>
<Discoverer-2>
<Sat Contract>
Moving into the next day, some contract work continues. 1.1.2 is getting closer but not yet!
<Luna-2>
Played with X-15. I have no idea how you make a plane that works at this point.
Mission 11
As I mentioned in the last post, 1.1.2 was released. It seems to be doing better than 1.1.1 and it also appears mods are updating a bit quicker for it. Many of my mods have not made the journey yet so I will stick with 1.1 for the moment. However, it will not update that any longer. It seems that CKAN is breaking people by putting the latest 1.1.2 mod in to older versions (like mine) so since things are stable, I am going to stay without new mod updates until I shift.
Back to Kerbal!
I built ships for Duna. A Duna Orbiter which will get science in high Kerbol space before arrival and then high space over Duna at which point it will set up in a satellite contract orbit for big $$. A Duna Lander which will get science in low space, jettison that module and then parachute land on Duna for science from the surface (more $$). An Ike Explorer which is two ships; one detaches and lands on Ike for ground science while the other orbits for both high and low science.
<Sputnik-2>
<Explorer-5>
<3 Million Bucks>
<Pioneer-1>
Mission Log 10
1.1.2 released (glad I didn't go to 1.1.1). Waiting for mods to transition still.
Updated mods Community resource, Karbonite, Karibou, Sounding Rockets, the USI set, KJR and achievements.
Needed to remove surface experiments for the moment due to a Sounding Rockets conflict (should be fine when I need them).
Did a satellite that covered Sputnik-1, Explorer-4 and a Satellite Contract. Probably not fair but I am building up my bank account ($2.42M).
<Minmus Adjust>
I don't have any active contracts so I am spending some time build Duna Craft. The lander has no legs, it just parachutes down and lands on its heat shield. The orbiter probe will fulfill an orbital contract as well so it should be very profitable and science value. I do not plan to address Ike at the moment.
<Satellite Cash>