Mun Tech: A Retrospective Look at Failed Ideas

Ah yes, one of my first rovers I've ever built. Arguably a rolling slab, this little guy didn't do much other than go forwards and backwards- and explode. One of the hardest aspects to roving on the Mun is simply the low gravity. I can only imagine how it must be on any of the inner planets or even Minmus. Regardless, roving on the Mun brings about its own set of challenges, such as gravity and gaining way too much momentum. There's a few solutions I've found, such as stabilizing your craft using Monopropellant or using the docking system rather than the rocket system to drive your rover. But really the Devs just need a dedicated roving system.

 This is one of those ideas that honestly pisses me off that it doesn't work as well as you'd like. Land based, Mun landing lights. I'm not looking for the impossible, just some high intensity lighting that will glow from a couple kilometers off. Okay, maybe that's asking a bit much.

 To be fair, this is still among the best Mun Rover I've ever made. The center of gravity was low, the craft was wide and flat- it was nearly perfect. Nearly. The biggest fault in this design came in the shape of the science probes you'll see jutting from the center mass of the rover. They were intended to decouple from the center of the craft, tossing itself into the field even as the rover moved. The problem was, they'd often get caught under the wheels as the Rover whizzed over the Mun surface at 70 meters per second. Which resulted in big explosions and nasty results.

But this craft will always have a special place in my heart, even if it can't be produced anymore. As with many of the updates, things change and in this case- building wheels on top of other wheels isn't possible anymore. Which is sad news, as the multiple wheels are what made this rover work so well on the Mun.

KSP Log: 002 Airbreaks Make Rentry Simple

Having trouble during re-entry? So did I until I found this awesome method to avoid most disastrous entries. The story goes like this, atmospheric drag was implemented and like most players I suddenly found my craft slamming into brick walls- those once easy sub orbitals that I passed off like grains of salt suddenly became heaping mounds of trouble. Nothing was safe- including my Kerbals.

As I experimented with ways to increase my drag during re-entry I got the slick idea to use Airbreak's to slow my decent. I mean, they have the word 'break' in them so I figured it couldn't be all bad. I applied multiple airbreak units to my craft and right clicked on the units to turn off their atmospheric controls. Meaning, they wouldn't work when maneuvering and would only deploy when I turned on the breaks manually.

The use of the airbreaks have worked wonderfully and when properly applied have proven the difference between life and death. While other considerings have to be made, such as proper use of parachutes and heat shields, the airbreaks form a vital first step top drop airspeed and prepare your craft for decent. Typically I won't drop into an atmosphere if I'm moving more than 3000 meters per second, but that's not to say I haven't skirted the higher limits of that limitation. In this picture to the left you'll notice I've used the deployable airbreaks on a probe. Not to toot my own horn, but this craft was a real work of art. Using the thrusters and airbreaks to slow its decent into Eve's atmosphere before jettisoning the mentioned components. Falling slower the parachutes were deployed and provided for a soft landing on Eve's surface. The heat shield was larger than necessary, but that was largely on purpose to protect the components behind the shield. I couldn't be too careful on Eve- prior landings have taught me how thick the atmosphere is, so I worried I might burn up if I wasn't careful.

 Today's final example of airbreaks were used to deorbit a small space station. You'll note in the rear there being a craft slightly larger than the closer craft. Both utilize airbreaks to slow their decent, but really none of this would have been possible if the airbreaks weren't there to slow the crafts during decent. In order to salvage both craft it meant docking in the shape of a 'T' and burning fuel de-orbit. That was the simple part, slowing the lop-sided craft was the hard part. But once again, with the aid of airbreaks it proved useful enough to slow decent, launch the parachutes and detach the craft. Both craft landed safely and most important- were recovered for a full refund on parts.

KSP Log: 001 - Bill Goes Skydiving

I've been using Facebook less and less, but I really love sharing my experiences on Kerbal Space Program. So today I decided I would start logging my adventures through space on my very own blog. Previously, I've reviewed games and my own life experiences and to an extent- I may still. But perhaps this aspect will really take off and what I have to share will really help other players in their own space faring adventures across the Kerbal System. While I'm still not entirely settled on what kind of information I'll be sharing beyond personal Kerbal stories. I would certainly like to see this become a resource for other players who'd like to master what can seemingly be the impossible. Looking back, I know I was scrambling across the web looking for any information I could find on docking, orbiting or any other (now) basic maneuvers that at the time seemed to be frustratingly difficult.

Today however, I'm going to keep it simple. You'll note from the picture above that Bill wasn't doing so good for himself as he fell through the Kerbin atmosphere (ProTip: I use a couple of mods, in this case an atmosphere mod that really adds to the visual experience.) So here's the story, I have a craft that I'm trying to return home from Minmus but the problem is, I ran out of fuel to slow my craft down and unfortunately I was coming in at a really steep slope. Which means my craft didn't have the necessary time to slow down, nor did it matter as the craft didn't have a heat shield. After a few moments of flight the entire craft started to rip itself apart before exploding into shrapnel in the sky! Luckily, I quick-saved (F5) prior to entering the atmosphere. This gave me a few tries to get it right, but no matter what I tried, I just couldn't cause enough friction to slow down my craft quickly enough. The re-entry heat can be a real pain sometimes.

So in my final try I decided all was lost. I sent out via transmission all the science data I had collected and hunkered down. The craft thrashed and flipped but held together just enough for Bill to exit the craft. Even while the craft was sheering apart from the heat, Bill was protected from the bulk of the heat. The cockpit exploded, but again Bill was saved from the worst of it. The flaming craft finally slowed, the fire reseeded and Bill was left in free fall with a pile of metal around him. There wasn't much choice, he was going to have to jump solo.

This created a bit of a situation, as Kerbals don't come stock with parachutes. But I knew there was a slim chance he may still survive. I was only a few thousand meters over the ocean at this point, so I ignited my jetpack and vectored myself against the looming ocean. It wasn't a slow decent, but I burned off enough speed to still slam hard into the ocean. To my surprise and perhaps the Kerbal Gods themselves Bill survived. The mission may have been a failure, but that's not to say everything was lost. Bill would return to fly another day- and hopefully with better equipment.

Kerbal Space Program V1 REVIEW!

I can't even begin to tell you how excited I have been to play the official Version 1.0 of KSP. Having sank over 800 hours into Kerbal since I started in .18 it's been one hell of a journey to where KSP stands today. So was the anticipation worth it? Was the hype train worth the wait? In a couple words: Hell Yeah.

Right off the bat there's some really fantastic big changes to KSP. First and foremost an proper atmospheric drag model has been implemented into the game. You'll notice it as soon as you launch your first rocket. But to really feel the effects, you only need to wander into your space plane hanger and construct a winged vessel. There are a number of things about the atmosphere that create a more compelling experience. For one, parachutes finally seem to work in a realistic way. While I was cruising around at 300m/s in an early space plane (that admittedly was more plane than space.) I found myself taking off using nothing but the forces of air pressure under my wings and slowing due to drag after launching parachutes will gliding to a stop. It's subtle, but the changes make for a brand new set of experiences to play with. Space planes in general have been boosted with various new parts including landing gear, winglets and air intakes.

But the new areo model is really only half the recipe. The new implementation of heat has been a serious game changer. Previously your craft would harmlessly catch on fire as it re-entered the atmosphere or broke supersonic speeds. But no more. Now heat- or friction has turned beautiful spires of fire into horrifying moments of nail biting experiences. As I discovered dozens of times (and I mean dozens) friction really turns on you in multiple ways. It's not simply a matter of entering the atmosphere as perhaps the classic 'movie-esque' belief goes. Friction is a relation to how your craft moves within a dense atmosphere- it's like swimming. This all relates back to the parts your craft are built from. Sometimes you can get away with making your ship more aerodynamic, so it slips through the atmosphere like a knife or other times you can use a heat shield. Each situation has its pro's and con's and even then things don't always go as planned. For instance, I've used a heat shield on a top heavy vessel, but without SAS it spun and flipped me upside down- rendering the shield useless and ultimately turned my ship into a fireball.

But it's not all big changes that make a difference. The 'advance to next day' button outside your space center is a welcomed addition, making it far easier to launch during the day. Other elements like additional parts, engines and connectors have helped bridge the gaps the previous versions fell short on.

The biggest and perhaps most profound element to KSP is mining. However, I haven't advanced far enough in the game to properly review it yet. I will gladly offer a second Review as I've advanced further in the game. However, after the first few hours in KSP, I'm a solid believer.

8/10 - Can't wait to see what they do next.