Design your own Rocket - how high do you get ?

[Catfish]

Kerbal Space Program:
http://www.kerbalspaceprogram.com/

You live on the planet Kearth, which vaguely resembles a place named Earth. But it only has a radius of 600 kilometers or so .. so you have to get that rocket into (K)orbit ..

It's 62 Mb, no need to install - just put it in a directory and start.
It is graphically demanding, and rockets are sometimes hard to steer ..
Just don't take Jebedia's smile for real :rotfl2:

Disclaimer: Addiction warning

Greetings,
Catfish

[Anthony W.]

Is this anything like manually controlling a shuttle launch on Orbiter?

Ooo little green guys... Downloading...

[Oberon]

Yeah, it's kinda like this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kJM-j8PLW-c&feature=channel_video_title

A lot of fun, real time-sink and being updated as it goes.

[Tinman764]

Nice find, I just noticed I've spent the last hour messing with it! :yeah:
I'm not sure what's more fun, trying to get into orbit or watching your out of control rocket mash into the ground. :D

[Anthony W.]

Nice find, I just noticed I've spent the last hour messing with it! :yeah:
I'm not sure what's more fun, trying to get into orbit or watching your out of control rocket mash into the ground. :D

I vote explosions

[CaptainMattJ.]

we all got liter soda bottles in seventh grade, and we each had to make stabilizing fins for the air pressure rocket we ere going to fire. mine was a pretty bad rocket went 40 feet, while the others went 60 feet. winner was something like 75 feet.

[Respenus]

Well this is a fun programme. Thank you Catfish.

I remember that in my last year of elementary school (in Slovenia it lasted for 8 years and people entered when 7), we got to build "real" rockets. Real in the sense that it used gunpowder engines (20N if I remember correctly), had three tail fins (stabilizers) and even a parachute, meaning that it could return to the ground safely. Some of them crashed more or less nicely, but mine was the only one that made a safe "soft" landing. Still have the model somewhere in the house. Been iching to go launch it again. Although with our mayor forbidding every single little pleasure, I'm sure I'd get fined for something or another.

[Catfish]

Hi,
you can start, and if you are fast enough you can leave the gravitation well entirely, however - you'd need enough fuel to turn the nose around and get back.
You can also start, drop a stage, and then land again ... however i did not manage this yet without killing my crew :hmmm: You can also manage to orbit "Kearth"

There are some "2nd" party (lol) add-ons like bigger fuel tanks, but i have yet only used the original parts to build. Boosters can be a very bad idea sometimes lol. Best config yet was 3x2 lower lf stages with the tri-coupler, and then 3-single line stages with the capsule at the upper end, and a SAS module at the upper part of the tri-jet assembly.

Greetings,
Catfish

[Arclight]

It's a good one, definetly. Very early stages though, keep an eye on it and see where it stands in a few months. That dev is really planning to take it places.

Can't shake the bizare feeling someone posted about it already though... :O:

[Oberon]

http://img146.imageshack.us/img146/796/bobkerman.gif

[Penguin]

nice game, thanks for the link

http://img146.imageshack.us/img146/796/bobkerman.gif

it's definitely fun to scare the crap out of the astronauts - i enjoy looking at their faces when the rocket darts out of control back to the surface :smug:

[Herr-Berbunch]

Can't shake the bizare feeling someone posted about it already though... :O:

Nah, you must be imagining it! :03:

[Arclight]

Must be. :yep:

Last time I played it I actually managed an elliptical orbit. Of course, I had used the re-entry stage for a correctional burn to get it there... Still, Jebediah was as dauntless as ever, even though he wouldn't be going home anytime soon. Poor buggers. :haha:

[Growler]

So you have a satellite called Jebediah?




Cool.

[papa_smurf]

Too addictive....

[TLAM Strike]

Who needs a guidance system?

Spin Stabilized!

http://img828.imageshack.us/img828/1630/spinh.th.jpg (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/828/spinh.jpg/)

[Anthony W.]

I managed 10500 meters before burnout. I can't keep the damn things straight with more than 5 stages.

Where can you get the add ons?

[Cohaagen]

I don't think any of you are going to beat this guy:

http://www.bloodhoundssc.com/search.cfm?faArea1=customWidgets.contentItem_show_ 1&cit_id=4252

A real-life, present-day British hero, with a truly heroic moustache.

http://www.bloodhoundssc.swan.ac.uk/export/sites/default/images/SwanseaLaunch/JD_Bloodhound_60.jpg_1746487417.jpg

[CptSimFreak]

Managed 109K max....and crew lived!

[Tinman764]

I managed 350k+ but didnt take enough fuel for re-entry.. opps lol

[Raptor1]

The highest I got was 1,249 kilometers, unfortunately (Or fortunately?) I had just slightly too little delta-V to reach escape velocity so I ended up plummeting down to Kerbal. I could probably have entered a stable orbit with a slightly different trajectory though...

[Tinman764]

woot! just managed a controlled orbit at 200km and brought it down safely. Highly recommend the speed chart on the KSP forum for planning your orbits.

[Growler]

So, as of right now, my Kermans are at 16000K (yes, K, not m) and still heading away at ~5400m/s. MET is 52:00 or so. Just the CM and the recovery chute. Kearth is slowly becoming Sagan's proverbial "pale blue dot." I'm tempted to let it run to see if they ever come home.

[papa_smurf]

Keep killing my poor astronauts.....will get the hang of it eventually:damn:

[Growler]

31000K at MET 1:36:00, velocity 5408.8m/s unchanged. I don't think the lads are coming back.

[papa_smurf]

31000K at MET 1:36:00, velocity 5408.8m/s unchanged. I don't think the lads are coming back.

Nope, they deep space explorers now:D

[krashkart]

Been following this one since first release. What a hoot! :)

How many Orbinauts do we have here? :06:

[Tinman764]

Been following this one since first release. What a hoot! :)

How many Orbinauts do we have here? :06:

Stable at 220km, my speed was around 2200m/s I think. Seeing the sunrise was pretty awesome! :yeah:
I'm going for a low orbit now and going to try to transition and then deorbit.

[papa_smurf]

How many Orbinauts do we have here? :06:

Not yet, got into space a few times but yet to orbit. Too many times i killed my crew - wont be getting a call from NASA any time.

[Growler]

Stable orbit at MET40:00, altitude 1447Km, orbital velocity 1304.1 m/s. Crew healthy, enough fuel for deorbit burn and reentry.

[Lionclaw]

Been following this one since first release. What a hoot! :)

How many Orbinauts do we have here? :06:

Orbinaut since 2003. :up:

But it's been some time since I played Orbiter. Have to get back to playing it again at some point.


Hail Probe! :salute: :O:

For those that don't get that last bit: http://www.orbiterwiki.org/wiki/Probe :DL (http://www.orbiterwiki.org/wiki/Probe)


Been having some fun with KSP, have yet to achieve orbit.

[Arclight]

Finally got around to downloading Orbiter... only been thinking about it, oh, 2 years or so. :roll:


Good reading: http://kerbalspaceprogram.com/forum/index.php?topic=145.0

And: http://kerbalspaceprogram.com/forum/index.php?topic=1061.0

[Oberon]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jZJczZ6gbVU

http://img189.imageshack.us/img189/6564/failnix1.jpg

[Oberon]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mZ_Aq0YvBJ0&feature=player_detailpage#t=273s

http://img37.imageshack.us/img37/9167/aaaaaaaaaase.jpg

[ajrimmer42]

omg it's liek the most fun game I've played in liek EVAR! :yeah:

haha, it is genuinely proper good, I mean considering it's in Alpha it's really gonna rock when it's finished.

Keep smilin' Jeb :D

[papa_smurf]

So close to achieving orbit, won't be long till I get there:yeah:

[papa_smurf]

Made it in to space:woot: Now to achieve a stable orbit.

[CCIP]

Fun stuff! I've managed to figure things out relatively well and have got ships into a variety of orbits (and out of a variety of orbits, too, though it is relatively easy to de-orbit and get it back down as long as you keep even a little bit of fuel in reserve).:up:

[papa_smurf]

Whats the best way to attain a stable orbit?

[Oberon]

Pray. :yep:

That being said, I do appear to have achieved a form of orbit at 40k feet, doing some 2300m/s. I just kept a decent angle of attack and I've kept some fuel to adjust course and that.

[papa_smurf]

I can get into space and get into a rough orbit, but as soon as I cut the engines I fall back down.

[Raptor1]

You need a sufficiently high altitude so atmospheric friction doesn't bring you down, and a horizontal velocity depending on the altitude.

This was posted in the Paradox forum a couple of weeks ago:

http://img40.imageshack.us/img40/760/kerbalcircularorbit.png

[papa_smurf]

You need a sufficiently high altitude so atmospheric friction doesn't bring you down, and a horizontal velocity depending on the altitude.

This was posted in the Paradox forum a couple of weeks ago:

http://img40.imageshack.us/img40/760/kerbalcircularorbit.png


That just confuses me:doh: My current rocket (Pioneer-3) has enough thrust to get into space on 2 stages (solid stage followed by 3 fuel rockets), and have fuel spare on 3rd(final) stage, so I have to go higher to attain a stable orbit?

[Oberon]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EOlowNcrBO8

http://img830.imageshack.us/img830/6131/planetearthisblue.jpg

[Raptor1]

That just confuses me:doh: My current rocket (Pioneer-3) has enough thrust to get into space on 2 stages (solid stage followed by 3 fuel rockets), and have fuel spare on 3rd(final) stage, so I have to go higher to attain a stable orbit?

Basically, you need to launch up, then start leveling off gradually to pick up horizontal speed. Your goal is to reach the altitude you want to orbit at (I usually hear people using 40 kilometers), with no (or very little) vertical velocity and the horizontal velocity required for orbit at that altitude.

Or, perhaps, take a look at this (http://kerbalspaceprogram.com/wiki/index.php?title=Tutorial:Orbiting_%28Basic%29).

[Oberon]

Basically, you need to launch up, then start leveling off gradually to pick up horizontal speed. Your goal is to reach the altitude you want to orbit at (I usually hear people using 40 kilometers), with no (or very little) vertical velocity and the horizontal velocity required for orbit at that altitude.

Or, perhaps, take a look at this (http://kerbalspaceprogram.com/wiki/index.php?title=Tutorial:Orbiting_%28Basic%29).

My vertical velocity is, alas, a little too high at the moment and my orbit is getting wider and wider...however my speed itself is starting to slow down...so hopefully gravity will work its magic again.

Blimey....this must be the first time I've hoped that gravity DOES work... :doh:

EDIT: Gravity has kicked in...now de-orbiting...from 800km. KSP needs retro-rockets :lol:

[Oberon]

Now I'm going back up again...but losing speed. Either KSP models bouncing off the atmosphere or I've sling-shotted slightly. Weird...still, hopefully gravity will return soon...

[CCIP]

I got a (mostly) stable orbit at about 50km and 2300m/s speed. Stabilizing gets a bit tricky, but I'd really avoid overspeeding. At 2200-2300m/s I kept a relatively stable orbit, but when I kicked it up to 2600m/s at the same altitude it would go into a really eccentric orbit topping out somewhere around 1100km.

[Lionclaw]

Now I'm going back up again...but losing speed. Either KSP models bouncing off the atmosphere or I've sling-shotted slightly. Weird...still, hopefully gravity will return soon...

If you're in orbit that is what happens.

There's a speed difference between the perigee (lowest point in orbit) and apogee (highest point in orbit).

The speed will increase going from apogee to perigee (higher to lower), and decreasing speed for perigee to apogee (lower to higher).

It will just keep on going back and forth, depending of course what altitude the perigee is at.
If it's low enough to cause drag, the apogee will become lower for each orbit until the spacecraft reenters unless you have fuel to adjust the orbit.

Kepler's Second Law
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NiWK5z7z_Oc&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MqAXoKt9wDs&feature=related

[Oberon]

Apogee is 800km
Perigee is 147km

I'm at T+2:29hrs now...I think I'll try again for a more stable orbit. I'm impressed it's modeled such types of orbit though.

[Arclight]

Some more things to illustrate where this is going: planned features (http://kerbalspaceprogram.com/wiki/index.php?title=Planned_features) and preliminary 0.9 features (http://kerbalspaceprogram.com/forum/index.php?topic=694.0). Think things are still being added to .9 as it develops.

[papa_smurf]

Looks promising, a ton of stuff to come, although larger Solid Fuel Boosters would be nice.

[ajrimmer42]

this thing has sooo much potential, I'm particularly looking forward to joists to hold boosters and whatnot together, they'd realllly help lol

[krashkart]

Looks promising, a ton of stuff to come, although larger Solid Fuel Boosters would be nice.


I've been able to stack SRB's and use just the bottom motor for thrust. The rest of the boosters on top of that should then act as a single fuel element. I think this was addressed in one of the early 0.8.x releases.


EDIT: I'm going to try it again just to be certain...


EDIT 2: Confirmed on my end. Stack some solid boosters together and they act as a single engine, presumably with just the one motor delivering thrust. :DL

EDIT 3: Or not. I think they're all firing at the same time. :hmmm:

[papa_smurf]

Just done a quick test, with a 2 stack of solid boosters and found they fire at the same time, as the bottom stack was overheating really quickly and nearly blew up.

[NeonSamurai]

unless staged motors all fire

[papa_smurf]

Was saying it would be nice if we could use larger SRB's like the shuttle/Ariane-5 use.

These would be nice:
http://lunaroutpost.com/gallery/shuttle/images/Shuttle%20SRB%20Sep.jpg

[Raptor1]

The parts addon mod pack has those, you can find it on the KSP forums.

[Tinman764]

Have a look at Sunday Punch's addons, I love it.

[papa_smurf]

Have a look at Sunday Punch's addons, I love it.

Look tempting, but will stick to stock parts for now.

[Pisces]

Oh no, just when I got my minecraft addiction under control. :damn:

What's the hotline for Rocket-Riders-Anonymous?

[krashkart]

Just done a quick test, with a 2 stack of solid boosters and found they fire at the same time, as the bottom stack was overheating really quickly and nearly blew up.


I'm completely puzzled. The boosters I used last night came stock with the game and they don't overheat. They won't even explode when I kick the upper stage away. The post-flight dialog is chock full of "Solid Fuel Booster was damaged by exhaust from...". I must have edited the max heat for those motors and subsequently forgot about it. :doh:

My apologies for any confusion that may have arisen from this mistake. I really thought I was on to something. :oops:



Oh no, just when I got my minecraft addiction under control. :damn:

What's the hotline for Rocket-Riders-Anonymous?

Kerbal addiction is very serious. Or utterly hilarious. At any rate, it is crucial that Kerbal addiction be addressed as quickly as possible. Treatment is available at the following website:

http://kerbalspaceprogram.com/forum/index.php

[max-peck]

Oh yes, very addictive isn't it? :yep:

Stable low orbit achieved (LKO?). Preparing for high orbit injection.

http://img846.imageshack.us/img846/5051/leok.jpg

High orbit achieved. Apogee 510.1km, perigee 503.1km.

http://img844.imageshack.us/img844/8036/orbitc.jpg

That white dot is the space centre. Had to enhance it in Photoshop, it's barely visible from this distance.

Still got quite a bit of fuel left. May take her out to 1000k before returning home.

Great fun :DL

[Arclight]

Beta 0.9 release: http://kerbalspaceprogram.com/forum/index.php?topic=1547.0

Features (http://kerbalspaceprogram.com/forum/index.php?topic=694.0)

[elephantium]

Terrible game. How the heck do any of you get into orbit? My rocket starts tilting in random directions and spinning around in circles by time I'm halfway through the second stage!

The auto-correct thingies don't help at all, and steering just makes the problem worse -- the rocket ends up flipping back and forth, undoing all the speed I need to build up :(

Those controls are *impossible*!

[seaniam81]

Terrible game. How the heck do any of you get into orbit?

What! Your Crazy! :up:

It takes some practice but you'll get the hang of it. Here is a smallish video on how to get into orbit.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9RvVjysJKB4

Soon you'll be addicted just like the rest of us.

[NeonSamurai]

He does have a point though. I have had similar issues where my rockets keel over and spin like mad for no reason what so ever (they are perfectly balanced in design and should work flawlessly). Nothing I can do control wise to stop it either.

I also wish i could switch the pitch keys as to me they are backwards (given our orientation, and what we use to guide the thing, aircraft controls make no sense).

[elephantium]

What! Your Crazy! :up:

It takes some practice but you'll get the hang of it. Here is a smallish video on how to get into orbit.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9RvVjysJKB4

Soon you'll be addicted just like the rest of us.

I actually watched that video, tried to mimic it, and crashed the rocket a couple of times before I posted in this thread!

Like I said, those controls are impossible.

[Raptor1]

Since they've implemented the symmetry thing, I've had almost no trouble keeping the rocket stable. Even before that, the anti-spin thingies worked very well.

Well, I haven't used the very latest version yet, but that shouldn't really matter, I think...

[Arclight]

O.9 has gone 'gold', also:

For the last 8 months, we've been working very hard on KSP. This project is much more than a job for us, we really love it, and we put our best efforts into it. We're all bursting with happiness at the incredible reception the game has had. But now, we need your help to continue developing KSP, so it can become all that we expect it to be. We are completely commited to the project, and we are and always will be listening to your opinions and suggestions. We love the KSP community, and we want to give you all a fantastic game. So, we've opened the Pre-Order/Donations system to allow everyone to contribute to the project.

You can donate any amount you want and you have the opportunity to pre-order KSP for a discounted price of $7.00 USD. This offer will only be available for a limited time, so if you believe in the project and want to see KSP become the game we all want, your support will be immensely appreciated. By pre-ordering KSP now, you get the game in it's current state, and all future updates.

KSP will remain free to download for the next few months though, and continue to be freely updated during that time. Later, the latest version of the game will only be available through purchase, but we'll leave the last free version open forever as a demo.

For the fun it's already given me, I think $7,- is a fair deal. Could send 'm a little more of course, not gonna hurt anyone. ;)

Really hoping this will mature into what is envisioned. It's fun as it is, but there really isn't all that much there. Final objective should be a far more well-rounded game.

http://kerbalspaceprogram.com/download.php

[Oberon]

I'm happy to announce that the 0.12 Update of KSP is now officially released! (http://www.kerbalspaceprogram.com/download.php) This update marks a big milestone on KSP development. It reaches the goal we set upon ourselves several months ago, to give the Kerbal planet a moon, and to make it possible to land on it.
This update features:


A Moon (Mun) around Kerbin.
Planets and Moons rotate, and Kerbin now has a night/day cycle.
Planets and Moons are now in orbit.
It’s possible to send a spacecraft into an orbit around the Sun.
Thrust Vectoring Liquid Engines.
And some other stuff.



Well...that's tomorrow sorted then...sorry Skyrim...space be calling...

[Arclight]

Indeed, need to set aside some time for it as well. Updates have slowed down a bit, but it's progressing nicely. :yep:

[em2nought]

I keep seeing a Kerbal in android phone ads, so has the Kerbal been stolen? :ping:

[Spike88]

If you're referring to the little green android, he's been around for a while.




In other news .13 is out and lets you add fuel lines so you can have external fuel tanks(like the space shuttle). It also is the free version of the game, to get future updates you need to donate the $7.00.

[Spike88]

Some photos of .13

http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a108/Tetsou88/KSP2011-12-2314-05-24-45.jpg
The Polaris capsule, the goal is to get this thing into an orbit around the planet. After some trial and error, I then plan to get it into orbit around the moon.

http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a108/Tetsou88/KSP2011-12-2314-14-32-96.jpg
Solaris MK-I, the rocket responsible for getting Polaris into orbit.

http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a108/Tetsou88/KSP2011-12-2314-13-05-73.jpg
FUUUUUUUUUU---- lost control due to a build error, wasn't able to recover.

http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a108/Tetsou88/KSP2011-12-2314-16-26-95.jpg


http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a108/Tetsou88/KSP2011-12-2314-27-57-09.jpg
Dropping the empty rockets.

[Spike88]

http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a108/Tetsou88/KSP2011-12-2315-10-05-17.jpg
New solid fuel booster, let's me get a bit higher before wasting fuel.

http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a108/Tetsou88/KSP2011-12-2315-26-39-43.jpg
http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a108/Tetsou88/KSP2011-12-2315-26-41-39.jpg
Near perfect orbit, I could burn some more fuel to get it exactly perfect, but as the orbit doesn't decay, I don't see the point.

After orbiting for 2 days, I spin the rocket around and fire thrusters in reverse, this gives my orbit a egg shape and then eventually back down.

http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a108/Tetsou88/KSP2011-12-2315-34-53-50.jpg
Here I'm firing the thrusters to try and slow down.

http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a108/Tetsou88/KSP2011-12-2315-36-57-21.jpg
I finally touchdown into a desert.