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[BigD145]

Here's my basic C class asteroid catcher with Interstellar parts. Nothing fancy. I have not tested it on D's and it needs a bit of a rebuild. I need to use an inline radiator in front of the panel radiators to give some space between them and the klaw. I've lost panels to an asteroid bobbing about.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

[miauw62]

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

HUGE SUCCES

[BigD145]

I hate mountains. *roll* *explode*

[tahujdt]

IIRC, MechJeb has a surface info function that displays true altitude as well as ASL altitude.

[puke]

How possible is it to make multi-jointed arms out of girders and claws, using the gimbaling function to articulate the arm?

I'm guessing you'd need some sort of torque generator at each joint, and would have to make generous use of the "control from here" feature while disabling torque on your other flywheels...

[forsaken1111]

How possible is it to make multi-jointed arms out of girders and claws, using the gimbaling function to articulate the arm?

I'm guessing you'd need some sort of torque generator at each joint, and would have to make generous use of the "control from here" feature while disabling torque on your other flywheels...

If you use the DamnedInfernal Robotics mod, that's possible. Do the ARM claws even move on their own? I thought it was just 'locked' or 'unlocked' in which case they'd just flop around

[Sean Mirrsen]

You can theoretically do a controlled canadarm out of jointed girders, but you won't have anything resembling fine control.

And the Infernal Robotics mod doesn't seem to work with the 23.5 update yet.

[LoSboccacc]

You can theoretically do a controlled canadarm out of jointed girders, but you won't have anything resembling fine control.

And the Infernal Robotics mod doesn't seem to work with the 23.5 update yet.

0.14 marked stable as of nao http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/37707-0-23-5-Magic-Smoke-Industries-Parts-Infernal-Robotics-0-14-stable%29?highlight=robotic

notice two open bugs (docking and some menu issue)

[BFEL]

So I need some design help with mah spaceplane things.

The first is a theoretical SSTA (Single Stage to Anywhere) consisting of a rapier engine and two ions. The problem this one is having is that after a certain altitude, regardless of the state of intakes, mode of the engine, or seemingly any other variables, it flips the hell out. I've actually recovered and gotten it suborbital before, but I'm confident if I manage to keep it stable I could go full orbital and then go pretty much anywhere with the ions.

Spoiler: SSTA (click to show/hide)

Could the problem be the odd positioning of the radial intake/ion structure? Its not balanced out on the bottom, so would that cause serious issues? If so, why doesn't this happen during my ascent?

Second is my "Duna Rove-Plane" which, obviously, is intended to be dropped from orbit onto Duna or Laythe, glide to the ground, and then be able to explore with its rover wheels. Its also intended to be able to take off again and hopefully get at least suborbital so that it can be retrieved by the insertion craft.
The problem with this one is that it is having...issues...landing. It was hell balancing the thing so it can actually fly straight, but I managed it, however now it pretty much flips out and explodes if its wheels touch down at any speed above 30 m/s, despite the wheels I used advertising a impact threshold of 100 m/s.

Spoiler: Hybrids can be sexy too! (click to show/hide)

I..honestly don't know how the hell to fix this, my only ideas so far are "reduce the speed of touchdown" which would best be done by parachutes, but by that point we pretty much defeat the purpose of the design.

Finally, just for fun, share in the hilarity of the first thing I made in the ARM update:

Spoiler: PLANETARDO (click to show/hide)

Interestingly, its wings actually display a small degree of FLAPPING while in "flight"

[BigD145]

Your center of mass isn't centered, so it flips in vacuumm

[nogoodnames]

The center of mass not being in line with the center of thrust probably doesn't help, but I'm more inclined to say that your SSTO is becoming unstable because its center of lift is too far forward, a problem which would get worse as you burn fuel. Adding a tailplane might help, and a vertical stabilizer probably wouldn't hurt either.

[Sean Mirrsen]

So I need some design help with mah spaceplane things.

The first is a theoretical SSTA (Single Stage to Anywhere) consisting of a rapier engine and two ions. The problem this one is having is that after a certain altitude, regardless of the state of intakes, mode of the engine, or seemingly any other variables, it flips the hell out. I've actually recovered and gotten it suborbital before, but I'm confident if I manage to keep it stable I could go full orbital and then go pretty much anywhere with the ions.

Spoiler: SSTA (click to show/hide)

Could the problem be the odd positioning of the radial intake/ion structure? Its not balanced out on the bottom, so would that cause serious issues? If so, why doesn't this happen during my ascent?

Two glaring errors I see with this. Very glaring. One, vertical stabilizers are a thing, and you don't have any. You can probably keep drift in check with the gimbaling thruster, but if you ever have to glide...
Two, offset center of mass. Not so much the offset as the singular engine it's put up against. As you're leaving the atmosphere, your center of mass shifts backwards, and if I'm reading the craft right it pretty much parks on top of your center of lift. Which means that for that short transitory period you've got a nearly uncontrollable craft that tries its darnedest to spin out.

Best course of action I can suggest is: One, counterbalance the ion+intake array by putting the batteries and some RCS tanks on the bottom, so that the center of mass is more in line with the engine. Really, having some RCS is good, just don't overdo it. As an alternative, pluck off your wings and mount them lower, engines and all. If you use angle snap, you can pretty accurately re-level the off-center wings with small increment rotations.
 Two, tack on some outriggers or girders to extend backwards past the engine, and add a small control surface as a rudder, and anything you want as an elevator, on each. This'll help you when you inevitably have to glide to land anywhere.

As for the rover - the wheels might have a good impact tolerance, but they won't handle more than 30m/s of speed. You need aircraft landing gear if you want to land at high speed.

[nogoodnames]

For the rover you could just position some aircraft landing gear so that the rover rests on them while they are down but on the rover wheels when they are up. Though I have my doubts about its ability to glide on Duna with those tiny wings.

[BFEL]

Holy crap. I just got a Jool encounter by burning straight up from the Launchpad at Kerbin.... the new engines are HILARIOUSLY overpowered

[BigD145]

Overpowered or powered just right to lift 500 ton craft?