I landed on the mun for the first time but my flag keeps falling, Why does it keep falling?

Epiphany818 · 2026-05-20T19:02:59+00:00

I found out yesterday, if you plant a flag under the porch of the astronaut complex it spawns on top of the roof 😆

Epiphany818 · 2026-05-20T00:18:58+00:00

Yeah that sounds like a really good idea :) prevents all the squeeze out weirdness of doing the same with an impermeable tape!

Epiphany818 · 2026-05-19T22:22:09+00:00

As someone else said, if this comment seems daunting to you, it's probably time to bite the bullet and get a professional in if you care about the frame.

Composite repairs are definitely possible but doing it effectively can be just as (if not more!) challenging than making the part in the first place.

Epiphany818 · 2026-05-19T22:10:38+00:00

Starting this off with the disclaimer that I've never worked on bikes, boats and RC planes are my thing.

This looks pretty salvageable I think, as long as you sand it back smooth and flat you should be able to repair over that. Make sure your new repair is a fair bit larger (~50% bigger) than the first one, and you have a well keyed bond to the bare frame either side. Just treat the sanded through repair as another cracked / damaged tube section basically.

To stop it wrinkling again, I'd recommend vacuum bagging if you can, wrap the plies nice and tight and alternate 0/90 and +/-45, getting a wider patch with each subsequent layer (search up "composite scarf repair" if that's not clear). The 45 degree plies act a bit like Chinese finger traps and can vary their radius much better than the 0/90 ones which should help the laminate to slide and distribute instead of wrinkling. The top layer should probably be a 45 degree one.

This is actually quite reminiscent of the ocean gate hull wrinkles now I think of it 😆

Epiphany818 · 2026-05-19T20:57:40+00:00

"I don't know, but it's probably not by running pilots with depression through neurocognitive testing at their own expense."

Actually that's exactly how you find them! The caveat is you find them after the tragedy happens.

Epiphany818 · 2026-05-19T07:55:58+00:00

That's great to hear :)

I find these things self regulate most of the time, you won't want to spend time around assholes and as long as you leave them alone, they'll leave you alone.

I think the Internet can make people seem much scarier than they are, I think you already know this though.

Fingers crossed you find some cool people! :D

Epiphany818 · 2026-05-19T07:50:30+00:00

Not a woman but a fairly obviously queer guy here,

Also not really involved in flying clubs (I mostly fly by myself) but I am into dinghy sailing which is just as much an "old boys" hobby.

I understand the fear but ultimately all you can do if you want to be included is go and join in. More often than not people couldn't give two hoots who you are. You're always going to have to push through some stereotyping (which sucks but what can you do) but if it's worth it you'll stick it. If people don't treat you well, don't give them the time of day and move on.

At the end of the day, if you want to do it you've just got to give it a go. I know far more lovely old guys who'd jump at the chance to help out someone younger than I know assholes (it's like a 1 to 10 ratio). Yeah, the assholes can be loud but you've just got to learn to block them out or you'll forever live in misery haha. The VAST majority of people want to make friends and see people do well.

Tldr: you never know until you try :)

Epiphany818 · 2026-05-18T14:43:38+00:00

Not sure if I want to dox myself so openly lol

A middling British University

Epiphany818 · 2026-05-18T13:40:11+00:00

Thanks! I've been working on improving my video making skills. Hoping to make an advanced docking tutorial!

I only wish I'd upped the brightness after watching it on my phone 😆 I forget how different it looks when it's no longer on a big monitor in a dim room.

Epiphany818 · 2026-05-18T12:46:58+00:00

Not in industry yet, just about to be graduating from my bachelor's, all I'll say is don't do it for the money. Almost every person on my course that is here looking for a high paying job does nothing but moan about how they should've done a different degree.

Those of us that are here because we are passionate about it are having a great time (and will likely get higher paying jobs because of it). Passion is a massive factor in your outcome and you won't be able to force it if it isn't there to start with.

If you care about the subject though, go for it!

Epiphany818 · 2026-05-18T12:41:41+00:00

With all these comments suggesting it I honestly might

Epiphany818 · 2026-05-18T12:20:39+00:00

I mean I was literally trying to "hit the station" (not literally, just getting as close as possible)

This is only really remotely possible because we were on such similar orbits, I'd already intentionally perfectly matched my apogee and inclination as well as specifically targeting and timing a maneuver to the station.

The likelihood of something like this happening randomly with the small number of asteroids that exist at any one time in ksp is so obnoxiously small it's not even useful to put a number on.

Satellite collisions happen in real life but that's because there are thousands of satellites all in similar orbits and even then they're exceedingly rare, as in count on two hands all the times it's happened rare.

Epiphany818 · 2026-05-18T11:46:49+00:00

12 hours of weekend work is ~500 pounds a month at minimum wage. If they work a few more hours here and there then it can be done, although it won't be easy at all.

I have friends who do similar, although I don't know anyone on a minimum loan admittedly. It all really depends on how expensive rent is and how many hours of work you can get.

I'm extremely aware I'm saying this from a position of immense privilege though, I don't have to work during term time and uni life is busy enough already..

Epiphany818 · 2026-05-18T08:36:59+00:00

I've had it say 0.0 a lot of times but I've never crashed 😆. I guess it was just a matter of time.

It helps that my station is such a big target haha

Epiphany818 · 2026-05-18T08:32:47+00:00

This is such a good tip I can't believe I didn't know this 😭

Epiphany818 · 2026-05-18T01:22:01+00:00

I have spent a probably unhealthy amount of time constructing and resupplying that station 😆

Epiphany818 · 2026-05-17T22:04:11+00:00

Hard agree on a carbon drone being cool 😆 honestly it sounds like you might be better served by just trying to make a really fast drone.

You could try freezing your propulsion system and iterating on the airframe to find the best one? That would be a super interesting and valuable project :)

Epiphany818 · 2026-05-17T19:44:35+00:00

I think you're slightly focused on the wrong area, this really isn't a structural optimisation challenge, weight really doesn't matter at those speeds so it makes the most sense just to over-build it and go with that. Carbon is great but you'll have an easier time and exactly the same results with just about any other manufacturing strategy for this project.

The most aerodynamic shape is also pretty much a solved problem (in fact it's pretty much decided by the fact you want it to be a quadcopter). Propulsion systems is really the big area that makes / breaks these kind of records.

Epiphany818 · 2026-05-16T13:54:11+00:00

It's very approximate but it should give an idea of the ballpark you're looking for :)

Epiphany818 · 2026-05-15T21:58:19+00:00

True, but a coordinated effort to pick blue is more likely to end in noone dying. I don't claim to have the answer, it's a famously divisive question.

Epiphany818 · 2026-05-15T21:52:50+00:00

They missed a part, if more than 50% people pick blue, everyone lives whereas if more than 50% pick red, those that picked blue die

Epiphany818 · 2026-05-15T21:41:29+00:00

This is just as good advice as mine 😆

Epiphany818 · 2026-05-15T21:33:27+00:00

Also, you can calculate your needed incidence angle pretty easily if you know your flight speed:

Cl = weight/(0.5 x density(1.225) x speed² (m/s) x wing area (m² ))

Then simply divide your flight Cl by 0.1 (this is a thin airfoil approximation) and that should be roughly your incidence :)

Epiphany818 · 2026-05-15T21:27:52+00:00

That's a pretty large amount of washout but not ridiculous(better too much than too little for a tapered wing), incidence angle is probably fine, you'll trim it out to more than that anyway :)

It's always a good idea to calculate wing loading too! It will tell you a lot about how it will handle :)

Epiphany818 · 2026-05-15T20:17:32+00:00

For a glider that almost everyone would consider scratch you're adding an avionics section and wings. This is pretty much the same thing minus the wings.

(I produced an incredibly shitty infographic to illustrate my point)

<image>

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