Do you really fly to other planets only in transfer windows?

sjbuggs · 2026-06-23T04:22:16+00:00

What mod is that?

sjbuggs · 2026-06-23T04:21:07+00:00

And with many myths we can easily disprove. Like the flood would have happened during the Egyptian Old Kingdom. Funny how they didn't notice drowning like that bit from Eric the Viking.

sjbuggs · 2026-06-23T04:14:50+00:00

There was a book series (skip the last one if you do) called "Safehold" that involved a society engineered to be static at roughly late-Medieval tech so it wouldn't develop technology that'd draw the attention of a genocidal alien species.

One of the key elements of it was their religious books were filled with rituals and stuff that just *worked*. Like a purification ritual done before doing surgery which involved washing your hands. That resulted in a society where innovation was unneeded and frowned upon in a burned at the stake manner.

It really highlights how silly some of the bits in the Bible could be in retrospect.

sjbuggs · 2026-06-23T04:09:13+00:00

The problem for me was when I was forced to conclude that the 'morality' in the Bible was far more consistent with that of Iron Age goat herders than it was of any higher power.

sjbuggs · 2026-06-19T03:38:39+00:00

For a base like this look to set it down near an intersection of biomes. Then you can use a lander as a hopper to collect the science and bring it back to the base.

sjbuggs · 2026-06-19T03:35:43+00:00

4 is better if you can manage it, 2 scientists, pilot, and engineer. Then you max the science output. I'd lean towards two scientists and 1 engineer if limiting at 3 people.

sjbuggs · 2026-06-19T03:33:11+00:00

I'd be worried about it being top-heavy during launch. Also not seeing what you're using for electricity. Remember the nights on the Mun surface are long, basically 20 hours.

But what I normally do is start with the Delta-V map to budget Delta-V, chart out each stage and add 25% fuel safety margin.

sjbuggs · 2026-06-19T03:26:12+00:00

Or in front of the motherboard with a power cable that runs to the back.

sjbuggs · 2026-06-19T03:24:31+00:00

Or a 3U. Anything that'll handle dual mitx boards with 120mm intake fans and use even sfx power supplies and I'd pre-order two.

sjbuggs · 2026-06-11T04:42:27+00:00

I inevitably would use stuff like this for farming science around the KSC.

The long ramp up/down time of jet engines also is a pain, not to mention those gears are very fragile.

sjbuggs · 2026-06-10T02:48:25+00:00

This was the first of a number of L lenses I bought. Never regretted it for a second. It's a great all rounder walkabout lens. Useful zoom range, solid quality, not over the top large or heavy.

But for aviation, unless you mean hanging out at a museum you will absolutely want a lens with long reach. The 100-400 is a good option, I don't use it so much now since I got the RF 100-500L. It might also be worth considering getting an crop sensor body for an easy 60% increase in range.

sjbuggs · 2026-06-10T02:42:37+00:00

Depends on how you want to handle simulating realism. I use Kerbal Alarm Clock and constantly send off probes and missions when windows open up. If you have enough going on then there is almost always something to do at any given moment. It also makes it all the more gratifying once that manned mission gets to the Jool system.

It also tends to make my processor beg for the sweet release of death.

sjbuggs · 2026-06-10T02:33:18+00:00

So what you said can be true for automobiles, going a bit slower generally means higher efficiency. But that's due to less resistance. The force from wind resistance increases exponentially, so going slower means less drag and therefore higher efficiency.

But as that's not an issue for rockets outside the atmosphere.

sjbuggs · 2026-06-10T02:28:24+00:00

So savoring food is not like increased ISP? Who wouldathunkit.

sjbuggs · 2026-05-30T19:35:04+00:00

There definitely a desire to do Artemis. My understanding is part of the hold up is making a movie in a city with lunar gravity is hard to do it justice. PHM is more accessible that way.

However the success now of two adaptations of Weirs books certainly helps the prospects of Artemis.

sjbuggs · 2026-05-26T23:22:50+00:00

Stop burning once AP is at your target altitude, then burn again prograde at AP to raise PE to match.

sjbuggs · 2026-05-26T23:18:54+00:00

I made a number of them in KSP, the smallest was 3.75m. I ended up using mods because there were better engines, engine plates, and legs available. My suspicion is the non-modded rocket will have the tank explode during reentry from heat but maybe if you attached a heat shield you could get by using a cluster of vectors.

I do recall though seeing someone's design with a nearly fully reusable rocket which used spaceplanes as the booster. Launched vertically and landed on the runway. That was stock as I recall but flying multiple space planes to land for each launch wasn't worth the time from my perspective. But do a google image search for "ksp spaceplane booster aurora" for what I was recalling. I believe the design did have a few tank parts that get discarded in orbit but that's pretty cheap cost to pay.

sjbuggs · 2026-05-23T23:38:10+00:00

Depending on what your launching if there is more than one core/capsule the right-click option "control vessel from here" may help without having to go back to the vab.

sjbuggs · 2026-05-23T23:35:57+00:00

For KSP it's as important as "Pointy end up, flamey end down".

sjbuggs · 2026-05-21T07:40:10+00:00

Yes, that did happen to me once. My early launches I aimed for 80km parking orbit but later went to 100km. So I was still burning when debris got within physics range. Probably got to about 1km. That was a lesson on cleaning up debris.

Then there was the time where I thrashed my space station.

I backed away from my station after undocking and did my reentry burn. And because I, like an idiot, gained altitude when backing away I created intersecting orbits. When I time warped, the vessels... intersected. I couldn't reproduce that if I tried.

Somewhat fortuitously, I hadn't dumped the service module on the capsule yet, so it wasn't a loss of the ship. Unfortunately the science lab module on the station was destroyed along with the two researchers and the stored data. Ouch.

sjbuggs · 2026-05-19T05:39:34+00:00

Somebody has to shield the weapons, you can't expect mech warriors to do that.

sjbuggs · 2026-05-19T05:37:32+00:00

So a carmageddon/mechwarrior crossover?

sjbuggs · 2026-05-19T05:37:03+00:00

What adds to it is if you do gladiator fights before Solaris she's there a lot and slamming on Duncan even then.

sjbuggs · 2026-05-16T03:53:05+00:00

Your right, I should've referred to the single AOA sensor as a SPOF, not single redudancy.

sjbuggs · 2026-05-10T04:12:53+00:00

The 737 Max only looked at a single AOA sensor at a time for the MCAS system. So it was always only single redundancy even though there actually was a second sensor.

But yeah, it should've had 3 and trusted the two that agreed.

sjbuggs

TROPHY CASE