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[forsaken1111]

I've been mucking around with ion drives and I've found out there's really no point in using them for anything. They're too weak to make interplanetary transfers and there's no real need to do stationkeeping (and the RCS is far more suited to the task). Am I just doing something wrong or is this just how ion engines are?

Ion engines are plenty useful for interplanetary transfers, you just can't do it in a single burn like you may be used to.

[BigD145]

He just installed the new version.
Jet engines need intakes to provide air.

Ah, sorry. Also question answered.

I've been mucking around with ion drives and I've found out there's really no point in using them for anything. They're too weak to make interplanetary transfers and there's no real need to do stationkeeping (and the RCS is far more suited to the task). Am I just doing something wrong or is this just how ion engines are?

Ion engines are plenty useful for interplanetary transfers, you just can't do it in a single burn like you may be used to.

Yeah, ions are weak but dV high. You also need to build kinda small to make best use of them. Throwing a bunch of Ion on a ship will require enormous solar panels, which defeats the purpose. You're not likely to even cut burn time in half. You should be setting up burns of 15 minutes, stopping and going around the block, another 15, another rotation, and so on for an hour or more. You'll still have dV to spare if you're looking at another SOI other than the sun. Don't expect to get in Moho orbit with such a craft.

[Octobomb]

He just installed the new version.
Jet engines need intakes to provide air.

Ah, sorry. Also question answered.

I've been mucking around with ion drives and I've found out there's really no point in using them for anything. They're too weak to make interplanetary transfers and there's no real need to do stationkeeping (and the RCS is far more suited to the task). Am I just doing something wrong or is this just how ion engines are?

Ion engines are plenty useful for interplanetary transfers, you just can't do it in a single burn like you may be used to.

Yeah, ions are weak but dV high. You also need to build kinda small to make best use of them. Throwing a bunch of Ion on a ship will require enormous solar panels, which defeats the purpose. You're not likely to even cut burn time in half. You should be setting up burns of 15 minutes, stopping and going around the block, another 15, another rotation, and so on for an hour or more. You'll still have dV to spare if you're looking at another SOI other than the sun. Don't expect to get in Moho orbit with such a craft.

Or you build a TINY craft with them. As in really tiny. My first Duna return came home in one 13 minute burn on ion engines. I lost the file, but it was a fantastic little craft.

[MaximumZero]

I currently have a quicksave above the Mun. When I get back from work, I'll probably attempt to land and gather ‼SCIENCE‼

[stabbymcstabstab]

I use Ion engines for my refueling craft it, or to power construction rovers.

[GreatWyrmGold]

Just how they are.

It's how they would be IRL, too. They require a lot of power, and don't produce too much thrust in space.


A new jet was developed, nicknamed the "Jet Coffin" as it does not have any kind of ejection system like the GoldJet did. It does, however, include convenient dual parachutes and a reaction wheel! It is recommended that you activate the thrust before attempting to fly the Jet Coffin. It did briefly achieve liftoff, but only affter attempts to turn lead to one wing striking the ground at speed and somehow exploding. Followed by the rest of the plane exploding.
Following the unexplained recovery of Pilot J. Kerman, a new Jet Coffin was designed, this one with an ejection function. Also more wings, winglets, and parachutes. The first attempted launch lead to some minor wing explosions in an attempt to straighten out the path down the runway; corrections to avoid falling over lead to the destruction of the other wings and, after the remainder of the plane barreled off the runway into a crowd of observers, falling over in the opposite direction. Jebediah Kerman was killed, but he got better.
Jebediah Kerman flew the Jet Coffin quite successfully. There were worries, as the plane had reached the end of the runway without lifting its landing gear off the tarmac, but these fears proved unfounded as the J.C. number 2 was soon soaring majestically over the ocean. Turning was a bit of an issue with SAS on, and stability an issue with SAS off. Jebediah accidentally pressed the Eject button after achieving an altitude in excess of a kilometer. The parachutes performed admirably and the front part of the plane retrieved not far from shore.

Bill Kerman, pilot of the orbiting spacecraft, is considering EVA but decides to wait until sunrise.

The RC FlyCar is an unmanned vehicle that was looked at with derision and laughter. The laughter increased when a flame-out occurred. The head engineer strapped two new air intakes on, which also failed. The puny radial air intake valved from Vac-Co were replaced with large, bulky fuel tanks and air intakes, complete with engines. Also present was a new bulky device incorporating decouplers and solid fuel tanks which, when asked the purpose of, the head engineer cackled and said "You'll see...you'll see..." Initial testing suggested that their purpose was either to explode, knocking the drone backwards, or to unbalance the drone, making it too heavy to fly. The question of why these were important functions was not answered.
Any connection between this event and the appearance of a large jet thing with similar devices attempting to take off from our runway and exploding is under investigation.

I tried to launch a stock satellite into orbit, but encountered issues when trying to circularize the orbit. For some reason, none of the controls worked. Again. Then I noticed I was in time warp and facepalmed. I ended up with a nice orbit, not too elliptical. A bit over a million meters one way, a bit under two million the other. Inspired, I expand and circularize the orbit of my orbiting thing. Sadly, it no longer has any fuel. The first orbiting chunk of debris has been created.

You know what the problem with this game is? There aren't any good starting stopping points. You just keep playing and playing and suddenly hours are gone.

[jocan2003]

Just how they are.

It's how they would be IRL, too. They require a lot of power, and don't produce too much thrust in space.


A new jet was developed, nicknamed the "Jet Coffin" as it does not have any kind of ejection system like the GoldJet did. It does, however, include convenient dual parachutes and a reaction wheel! It is recommended that you activate the thrust before attempting to fly the Jet Coffin. It did briefly achieve liftoff, but only affter attempts to turn lead to one wing striking the ground at speed and somehow exploding. Followed by the rest of the plane exploding.
Following the unexplained recovery of Pilot J. Kerman, a new Jet Coffin was designed, this one with an ejection function. Also more wings, winglets, and parachutes. The first attempted launch lead to some minor wing explosions in an attempt to straighten out the path down the runway; corrections to avoid falling over lead to the destruction of the other wings and, after the remainder of the plane barreled off the runway into a crowd of observers, falling over in the opposite direction. Jebediah Kerman was killed, but he got better.
Jebediah Kerman flew the Jet Coffin quite successfully. There were worries, as the plane had reached the end of the runway without lifting its landing gear off the tarmac, but these fears proved unfounded as the J.C. number 2 was soon soaring majestically over the ocean. Turning was a bit of an issue with SAS on, and stability an issue with SAS off. Jebediah accidentally pressed the Eject button after achieving an altitude in excess of a kilometer. The parachutes performed admirably and the front part of the plane retrieved not far from shore.

Bill Kerman, pilot of the orbiting spacecraft, is considering EVA but decides to wait until sunrise.

The RC FlyCar is an unmanned vehicle that was looked at with derision and laughter. The laughter increased when a flame-out occurred. The head engineer strapped two new air intakes on, which also failed. The puny radial air intake valved from Vac-Co were replaced with large, bulky fuel tanks and air intakes, complete with engines. Also present was a new bulky device incorporating decouplers and solid fuel tanks which, when asked the purpose of, the head engineer cackled and said "You'll see...you'll see..." Initial testing suggested that their purpose was either to explode, knocking the drone backwards, or to unbalance the drone, making it too heavy to fly. The question of why these were important functions was not answered.
Any connection between this event and the appearance of a large jet thing with similar devices attempting to take off from our runway and exploding is under investigation.

I tried to launch a stock satellite into orbit, but encountered issues when trying to circularize the orbit. For some reason, none of the controls worked. Again. Then I noticed I was in time warp and facepalmed. I ended up with a nice orbit, not too elliptical. A bit over a million meters one way, a bit under two million the other. Inspired, I expand and circularize the orbit of my orbiting thing. Sadly, it no longer has any fuel. The first orbiting chunk of debris has been created.

You know what the problem with this game is? There aren't any good starting stopping points. You just keep playing and playing and suddenly hours are gone.

For a second i tought you were talking about a new engine being devlopped real life or something... then i saw kerman...

[GreatWyrmGold]

I tried the To The Mun Part 1 scenario. I kinda messed up at the "change your orbit" part.

Inspired largely by a series of videos on YouTube by one Macey Dean, I designed a little space station called the Hilt of St. Kerman's Sword, intended to fire large explosive rounds as an anti-capital-ship measure. I fired the prototype into space, where it came close to the old Orbital Launcher I with Bill Kerman onboard. We were a couple hundred meters apart at our closest; Bill threw space-rocks at us. We spent the last of our fuel at apoapsis to circularize our orbit, but wound up instead with a crazy orbit about 45 degrees off the approximate plane of everything else orbiting Kerbin, with a periapsis of slightly under 538 kilometers and an apoapsis of over 7,882 kilometers! Between this and the fact that detaching the final stage ripped off the RCS tank and docking ports, I'd say that particular Hilt will not be detting a blade. I replace the Hydraulic Detachment Manifolds with smaller Radial Decouplers and hope for the best.
Meanwhile, I design a Blade for this sword. It's an impressive projectile, a good fraction of the size of many ships. It is a massive fuselage, filled with jet fuel, with a few reaction wheels and a pair of solid fuel boosters added for good measure. It is tipped with a probe brain, for reorientation during launch, although hopefully it won't be needed too much since I doubt it has much maneuverability. And no, it does not have any kind of cockpit or crew compartment (unlike the Hilt). I design a launcher for it, too, with 14 solid fuel launchers and a bunch of big orange fuel tanks powering two Mainsails. You know what it doesn't have? Stability. (Sadly, the launcher seems to be more explosive than the Sword...this is a matter I'll need to look into.) Adding two pairs of Launch Stability Enhancers doesn't help, so I toss in some structure enhancers, like girders and struts and stuff. Perhaps unsurprisingly, this caused the launcher to explode after launching, rather than before.
...Wow. This is even harder than I expected.

P.S. My zooming is either limited to the Hangar or was a fluke.

For a second i tought you were talking about a new engine being devlopped real life or something... then i saw kerman...

What, the exploding wings didn't clue you in? Or the note about turning on thrust before flying?
Anyways, I think next time I fire up KSP I'll work on atmospheric craft.

[Aseaheru]

Ah... Zooming needs a pilot...

As for hitting your target, your best bet is to set it as target and aim and the purple marker.

From 200m.

[GreatWyrmGold]

Ah... Zooming needs a pilot...

Even in the ship-building thing?

As for hitting your target, your best bet is to set it as target and aim and the purple marker.

From 200m.

I hadn't noticed I could do that at the time. I actually discovered it when trying to figure out how much distance was between the Orbital Hermitage and the Hilt.

[GreatWyrmGold]

Alright. I tried taking Aseaheru's advice. My orbit is getting very elliptical and losing its periapsis.. In other news, an EVA where I misjudged the end of the ladder probably sentenced poor Jebediah Kerman to death by falling. Say, isn't there supposed to be some kind of propelly thing?

Judging by the fact that I'm out of fuel and going to crash into Kermin in a bit under an hour, I think I did something wrong.
But hey, I learned that if I'm in a catastrophic bind, I can send one kerbal out to EVA and die before everyone else can get killed and then get the mission to end.

[Putnam]

r for jetpack?

[GreatWyrmGold]

Oh.

Good to know.

[miauw62]

If your periapsis is below 70km, you're still in the atmosphere and your orbit isn't stable.

[GreatWyrmGold]

I am aware. Pointing my nose at the purple mark and burning didn't just give me a periapsis below 70km, it gave me a periapsis below 0 km.