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[alway]

Huh. And reading up on the research in Mission Controller mod's new research (in its research tab), you almost aren't supposed to break even early on. Part costs start out at 120% of what they were before, with research to drop that to 100%, then 90%; as well as research to drop fuel costs by 20%, and getting a refund for recovery being researched as well.

[Eric Blank]

Sent another mission to the Mun, collected a reasonable amount of science given how little a challenge it was to return. Rover works, too, despite having a tendency to flip and no torque on it to counter rolling.

My Eve probe didn't make it into orbit, however: ran out of fuel whilst trying to bring it into orbit. Now it's just floating around the sun in an orbit that doesn't quite intersect Eve. I was considering making an ion-based probe, but decided against it on the basis that I don't want to spend five hours just trying to change my orbit.

[Girlinhat]

IMO Mechjeb is required for ion drives and certain nuclear drives.  When the burn time is in tens of minutes, or even hours, being able to tell Mechjeb 'perform this maneuver' is basically the only way it'll actually happen.

[Anvilfolk]

So I've been to the Mun and Minmus... and am looking into going to another planet. Any tips on how to make that happen?  Do you guys start from Kerbin orbit and burn or go from Sun orbit to, say, Duna? 'cause plotting intercepts is a whole lot harder (read, I couldn't do it).

[sluissa]

So I've been to the Mun and Minmus... and am looking into going to another planet. Any tips on how to make that happen?  Do you guys start from Kerbin orbit and burn or go from Sun orbit to, say, Duna? 'cause plotting intercepts is a whole lot harder (read, I couldn't do it).

Eject myself from Kerbin, behind if I"m going to one of the inner planets, ahead of if I'm going outside. Slingshotting the Mun is optional, but I try to do it if possible. Adjust inclination at one of the nodes for my target planet. Then just add a planning maneuver to the orbit, bring the other side of the orbit close to my target's orbit, actually mark the target as a target and slowly drag the middle circle around the orbit until I get a pass that's reasonably close to my target. couple million km is easy, I've gotten lucky though with just a 80km periapsis around Eve once. Anything close is fine though, even if you're not in the SOI yet. Wait till that planned burn time and do it. Now pick a spot a bit closer, anywhere between 1/4 and 1/8 of the way around the orbit from your target intercept is fine, in my opinion. Make another planning maneuver. Adjust it up down, left right, back forth until you get something a bit closer. Again, don't have to be exact but you should try to have it in the SOI for this burn, at least. Wait for it. Do it. Assuming you at least pass through the SOI on this run, wait till you're just inside it, then make another planning maneuver. Play around with it again until you're comfortably close to the target. Wait for it. Do it. Wait till periapsis, close the orbit around target. Ta Da! You've arrived.

No special planning or math is needed unless you're running on an extremely tight fuel budget. Just play around with the planning nodes in the map and you'll get there, and don't forget that timing of the burn can be just as important as direction or amount. Don't forget to play with timing, as well.

[ank]

I've also started using the method Sluissa described, even though it is inefficient due to the Oberth effect, when compared to waiting for the phase angle and burning straight from orbit(or even better, straight from the launchpad).
It is however more efficient in user-time, since you don't have to go to another craft to warp to the phase angle, and you don't need to look the phase angle up either.

[BFEL]

Hey all!
Let me introduce you to the best new thing in this game, that I figured out once I loaded up Mechjeb and threw a few rockets at the ground.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Uploaded with ImageShack.us

Contrary to the name, I managed to get this up into orbit, and its the first space station core I did that successfully with.
But that's not really important.

What IS important is the very modular design, specifically those weird top boosters.
Now as we all know, attaching ANYTHING to a ship via docking ports is like putting a post-it note on a jet.
I won't lie, I had to add a lot of space tape to get that part working right.

HOWEVER, the REALLY cool thing I discovered during my first series of failures, was that Mechjeb acts as a command probe when it gets detached.
So I put my Mechjebs on the boosters.
Why?

So that when I send up my next ship, loaded with docking ports, I can detach the boosters from this station....AND HAVE THEM FLY THEMSELVES INTO DOCKING WITH THE NEW SHIP!!

AUTOBOTS ASSEMBLE!

I'll let you guys know how this turns out, feel free to experiment with the idea on your own.

[Putnam]

What'll you do for power?

[Shooer]

What'll you do for power?

I assume the massive nuclear reactor.

[Putnam]

For the boosters.

[garfield751]

Lining up the boosters properly is also going to be a pain.

[Rose]

Docking cam should help there if you got it.

[BFEL]

What'll you do for power?

I'll admit this part slipped my mind on this first try...for now just hoping the Mechjeb unit uses little power.

Lining up the boosters properly is also going to be a pain.

Um....MECHJEB. I'm pretty sure it has autodocking.

[Siquo]

Maybe I should try that mechjeb. I can't dock to save my life. I did, however, land on Minmus (and Mun, had plenty of dV to spare and who needs landing legs when you've got fuel tanks to land on) in one mission. Then it was 3 AM


And then I see people do this and I feel like a noob: http://imgur.com/a/S60ie#0

KSP 0.22 first tech level grandish flyby tour
Using only the initial tech in career mode, this is a single mission that flies by Moho, Eve, Duna, Dres, Jool, Eeloo, and Mun, lands on Minmus, and returns safely to Kerbin.

[LoSboccacc]

And then I see people do this and I feel like a noob: http://imgur.com/a/S60ie#0

KSP 0.22 first tech level grandish flyby tour
Using only the initial tech in career mode, this is a single mission that flies by Moho, Eve, Duna, Dres, Jool, Eeloo, and Mun, lands on Minmus, and returns safely to Kerbin.

I am impressed.