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[sluissa]

Yeah, Minimus is really strikingly small when you're orbiting it. The thing I noticed the most though is that there doesn't seem to be much flat area outside of the big "sea" sections. Even the plateau looking areas have a bunch of slopes and ridges. I ended up with two failed landings there with a narrow craft before I decided to widen it up a bit and then I was able to get a decent landing on one of the shallower slopes. (This was my "rescue mission" to pick up the crews from the previous two capsules. They were fine, the rocket just kinda fell apart though when it toppled over.)

At the moment, I've just got a craft orbiting the mun, not designed for landing, just a decent amount of fuel to play around with orbits. I got to orbit with about 5 tanks of fuel left. To the mun with 3.5. I'll probably try playing around with another two or three slingshots of the mun and minimus before heading back. Basically wasting fuel so I can learn enough to potentially save fuel in the future.

My experience doing this shows me that i'm going to need to create craft with more RCS fuel and thrusters in future, rocket engines, even the smallest, are way to powerful to arrange the exact profile you want for multi slingshot maneuvers etc

This, definitely. I know with orbiter and setting up slingshots with TransX, even a slight tap on the "fine" (I believe 5% of the full) rcs controls could be enough to completely throw off a complicated maneuver. There's not all that much distance to deal with here at the moment, but once we get some more planets to play with, more sensitive controls would really be nice.

Love that slingshot, by the way. The best I've managed so far is coming back from minimus, I caught the moon the right way and it slowed me down a good portion of the way to get me back to Kerbin. Saved me about 1/3 of the fuel I would have had to burn. Not that I didn't have plenty. Just fun to pull off.

[LoSboccacc]

Well of course is just for fun; at this point most of us should have crafts that could very well make a direct ascent path to minmus (and beyond, I was eager to get there and got myself into kerbol orbit)

[sneakey pete]

It'll be for more than just fun once the financial side of the game comes in though

[LoSboccacc]

....and the part rebalance.

can you still reach escape velocity with a lfe and two fuel tanks?

[LoSboccacc]

Spoiler: on the way back (click to show/hide)

no, it didn't work as shown, but it was fun just to line things up

[andrea]

hm. I have a crew from a successful minmus mission stranded in an elliptical orbit around kerbin. periapsis  is 95k, quite low, but apoapsis is 5M kilometers. I wonder if I can somehow rescue them.
how do I arrange such a thing?

[LoSboccacc]

another rocket, line up with the craft, nudge it *gently* toward surface.

[Sheb]

I remember someone on this thread making a tube out of winglets and using that to capture the capsule.

[andrea]

yes, I get that I should line up with the craft and do something with it. the problem is how to get there. maybe I could try achieving a circular orbit at periapsis, and wait until orbits are synchronized... but it would take ages, due to lack of time compression.

[LoSboccacc]

yes, I get that I should line up with the craft and do something with it. the problem is how to get there. maybe I could try achieving a circular orbit at periapsis, and wait until orbits are synchronized... but it would take ages, due to lack of time compression.

? isn't warp in the demo?

[Fikes]

yes, I get that I should line up with the craft and do something with it. the problem is how to get there. maybe I could try achieving a circular orbit at periapsis, and wait until orbits are synchronized... but it would take ages, due to lack of time compression.

? isn't warp in the demo?

95km is a slow warp speed.

yes, I get that I should line up with the craft and do something with it. the problem is how to get there. maybe I could try achieving a circular orbit at periapsis, and wait until orbits are synchronized... but it would take ages, due to lack of time compression.

Get a craft at a circular 95km orbit.

Launch a different craft at like 500km. Compress time until the rescue craft and the return craft get close

usually cog is where fuel is.


here is a standardish craft, has all those suggestion in a nice package.

-snip-
basically, it flies itself. will takeoff safely without any input at the end of the runway, or you can use the new trim feature, give a +25% trim on the pitch and see it raising softly from the runway

even untrimmed, when it reach the right speed it will rebalance itsel, raising the front wheel and getting a neutral attitude, even if there is still not enough speed/lift for taking off. will run like that as long as you want, perfectly balanced.

I'll post the .craft if anyone knows a mediafire replacement that doesn't suck

COG changes as the fuel tanks empty though right? I have to post my craft tonight....

[LoSboccacc]

yeah, that's why I've put the asas in front, it keep the nose down at landing

[andrea]

I have the full version, but at 90k KM, I am barely out of atmosphere. I think I can get 10x at most.
I would need to time it well, because if I miss and the capsule goes back on its merry elliptical orbit that takes it far away, I could be waiting for 15m.

of course I could try to match its elliptical orbit, but I am not quite sure of how I could chase it.

there is also the problem of the orbit having an odd angle, since it came from minmus.

I don't know much about orbit. all I can do is getting circular orbits, and extending such orbits ( or reducing, should I need to land)


edit:

Launch a different craft at like 500km. Compress time until the rescue craft and the return craft get close

Brilliant! thanks!.

[LoSboccacc]

mechjeb has a rendevouz helper mode, even if I never used it so I can't comment on that

[andrea]

yes, but if that thing does all the hard work for me, all the potential for disaster and more stranded crews is lost.