00:43 <FLHerne> SporkWitch: The base keeps existing, so put the separator above

00:43 <FLHerne> unless you want to keep it for some reason

00:45 <SporkWitch> that's what i thought; thanks

00:45 <SporkWitch> this launch is going to be ridiculous lol

00:45 <FLHerne> Main advantage of sending a scientist to get samples is they can reset experiments where necessary

00:46 <FLHerne> Otherwise you need to cart multiple goo canisters and science-bay thingies around

00:46 <SporkWitch> had to get creative with re-root tool to use an upside-down triple-stack coupler to mount three of my comsats on it, single burn to orbit and transfer to the mun

00:46 <SporkWitch> yeah, that one i knew of, just wanted to make sure i wasn't burning off science points

00:47 <FLHerne> The fairing base can make a decent impromptu heatshield :p

00:47 <FLHerne> if you're not going *too* fast

00:48 <FLHerne> (when you have a 2.5m one that shadows the probe/craft)

00:49 <FLHerne> That must look pretty neat

00:49 <FLHerne> the triple sats, I mean

00:50 <SporkWitch> remarkably it's under 4 tonnes with all three satellites and the capsule to pilot them all there. https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/812736295814168623/906344599373627392/unknown.png

00:50 <SporkWitch> That's the payload

00:50 <FLHerne> hah, three separate fairings too :D

00:50 <SporkWitch> i only have the first two sizes :'(

00:50 <SporkWitch> lol

00:50 <FLHerne> I suspect one all-encompassing one would be better for weight and drag

00:51 <FLHerne> but not for looking crazy

00:51 <FLHerne> Fairing diameter can be larger than the base

00:51 <SporkWitch> likely, though given how close they are, i think it might actually work out fine

00:51 <SporkWitch> there's a limit, though; i assumed this would be larger than the rover i sent... worth a try real quick...

00:51 <FLHerne> so you could put the base under the tricoupler for a single fairing

00:53 <SporkWitch> you're right, this isn't as big as i thought it was, one of the small ones JUST fits

00:56 <SporkWitch> opinion question: what do you set the ejection force on the fairing to for best aesthetics? :P lol

00:56 <SporkWitch> (can't change it in-flight so testing has been tedious, since it doesn't behave the same in an atmosphere lol)

00:58 <FLHerne> 30 or something?

00:58 <FLHerne> depends if you want to deploy it under thrust

00:59 <FLHerne> Also, definitely select the option that keeps the fairing segments in one piece

00:59 <FLHerne> it looks ridiculous when they fly apart like confetti :p

01:01 <SporkWitch> naw, planning stable orbit first, then nice clean transfer. Once I get to the mun i need to burn to a very specific orbit. Reason for the triple-deployment setup is going for a polar 2/3 resonance eccentric orbit should make positioning the commsats in their orbits easiest (and hopefully make it not too frantic switching to the freshly-deployed satellite, circularizing its orbit, and then being ready for the next (which

01:01 <SporkWitch> I don't think it will, since it should be like 30 minutes per orbit, 3 orbits between each deployment)

01:03 <SporkWitch> much cleaner, thanks for suggesting trying it lol. it didn't occur to me it'd be big enough https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/812736295814168623/906347870855262268/unknown.png

01:04 <XXCoder> probably some weight savings too

01:04 <SporkWitch> already saved over it, but probably about half a tonne, which isn't nothing since it's only 6.4 now

01:06 <SporkWitch> was trying to plan a decent estimate of how much deltav I'll need once in munar orbit, but i can't find a good table or calculator for orbital velocities. wiki has a table for low orbit velocities, but not high or arbitrary

01:07 <SporkWitch> i need ~300km apo, 64km peri, and it needs to be as perfectly polar as i can make it... trying to figure out how much i need to get there, then get home...

01:34 <SporkWitch> end result, time to see what happens... heh

01:34 <SporkWitch> https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/812736295814168623/906355882730881074/unknown.png

02:14 <SporkWitch> that was disturbingly flyable... definitely need to focus more on my launch stages, and payload balance. i didn't think the ones i'd been struggling with were bad, but slight differences in this one made a massive difference...

02:35 <SporkWitch> bah, figures the one time i want a high inclination, i end up inserting almost perfectly at 0°

02:36 <SporkWitch> glad i brought way more fuel than i expected i'd ever need lol

03:16 <SporkWitch> well that was nerve wracking, and not perfect, but that was also the point of doing them further out than the 200km minimum. should take a nice many years for them to end up out of alignment

03:21 <SporkWitch> it's so pretty! lol https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/812736295814168623/906382782182355014/unknown.png

03:41 <raptop> yay

03:42 <SporkWitch> i kind of love that i'll spend a relaxing several hours planning and building (even as i'm being ridiculously anal about little details), and then spend another couple hours biting my nails at the actual implementation phase lol. probably won't be as bad once i train up a level 3 pilot

03:43 <SporkWitch> lack of maneuver hold (and needing the keyboard and mouse too much to make connecting my flight stick viable) makes for a lot of finnickiness lol

03:44 <SporkWitch> also definitely overprepared on the fuel and decided to see if the two radial chutes i had to go with because of the commsat launcher on top are enough to get the engine to survive; worst case i at least saved a nice big fuel tank that's still 3/4 full lol

03:49 <SporkWitch> damn, not without a drogue chute; was too aerodynamic to get below deployment speed, heh

03:52 <SporkWitch> one more try, this time a bit of thrust to get me to deployment speed

03:52 <SporkWitch> nope, too heavy lol

03:59 <SporkWitch> huh, it didn't actually activate both even though they're in symmetry, that's why it ripped when it opened fully >_< lol

03:59 <SporkWitch> looks like 11m/s, so a tiny bit of thrust at the end and i should be able to save the engine and all this fuel :P

04:04 <SporkWitch> now for the same mission tomorrow, but on minmus lol

04:15 <Althego> irys and baelz are streaming the sports festival event

06:02 <Althego> https://www.al.com/news/2021/11/spacex-crew-forced-to-wear-diapers-after-toilet-breaks.html

06:05 <SporkWitch> just open the door and poop outside :P

06:07 <SporkWitch> any recommendations for land navigation? map doesn't zoom in enough, and it's difficult to get my bearings on the ground :(

06:08 <SporkWitch> (literally give me a transit compass and a paper map and i'll be fine, even if not for my time in the military, been backpacking most of my life lol)

06:12 <Althego> you can see the coordinates

06:12 <Althego> isnt that enough

06:17 <SporkWitch> it was just proving to be a lot of adjustments and flipping between map and not due to needing to tack back and forth to climb craters, heh

06:17 <Althego> and that is why it is better flying

06:17 <Althego> faster, less risk, easier navigation

06:17 <SporkWitch> would actually make for a really cool use of the survey satellites: building land maps so you can zoom in further

06:18 <Althego> actually you can set some things as target

06:18 <SporkWitch> with an atmosphere i'm all for flying, but carting all that fuel out...

06:18 <Althego> mostly other ships

06:18 <SporkWitch> you can, but the navigation indicators assume flight, heh

06:18 <Althego> but on kerbin the space centers too

06:18 <SporkWitch> if it's a really long trip, the indicator hides

06:18 <Althego> yes, it will be too far below

06:18 <Althego> i wouldnt drive that long distance anyway

06:19 <SporkWitch> if it took a spherical estimate of the planet and gave an arrow, that would be ideal. it's what i'd do with a normal map and compass. i can estimate from map mode, but it's far from precise

12:31 <Althego> zombanwa

12:32 <Althego> but it is apex

14:39 <SporkWitch> is there any way in-game (or is there a mod) to see what XP objectives a given kerbal has accomplished before, since they're one-offs? I can't remember who I've sent where and want to make sure I'm training the little buggers when I'm sending a manned mission

14:41 <Althego> if you hover above the item in the astronaut complex

14:41 <Althego> or maybe even in the editor

14:41 <Althego> in the crew selection

18:49 <SporkWitch> as long as the range is sufficient on the antennas, is there any reason not to go with a higher orbit for commsats than the "ideal"? just tried repeating my mission from last night, this time on minmus, and apparently, despite similar operating margins, i ended up with very different and incorrect spacing that made for big coverage gaps

18:57 <umaxtu> orbital night time can be longer

18:59 <umaxtu> are you in the stock kerbol system?

19:00 <umaxtu> if so, I recommend using this calculator to make sure you've got enough batteries. https://ryohpops.github.io/kspRemoteTechPlanner/

19:01 <SporkWitch> i was under the impression that only the transmitting antenna needed power, not the relay? I also put the probe cores into hibernation, since they don't need to be awake

19:04 <umaxtu> remote tech does change the rules, but I thougt the vanilla relays still need power when deployed

19:05 <SporkWitch> i'm in stock; wiki isn't entirely clear, but it does say that only the one doing the transmitting consumes power for the transmission...

19:06 <Althego> you are in stock, then i order 10

19:06 <SporkWitch> in any case, if i'm doing the maths right, even a stayputnik should be able to reach them from the surface if they're at 300km above minmus, so think i'll try this. worst case i wasted some money and have some debris to remove lol

19:07 <SporkWitch> i was originally trying for 90km, but the margin of error was too small, i ended up with one of them way out of position just from its circularization burn and it threw the whole constellation out of whack. luckily i've gotten into the habit of making craploads of saves lol

19:11 <Althego> i typically go with something like 200-300 km for mun and minmus

19:16 <SporkWitch> yeah, i did 300 for the mun and it came out very nearly perfect

19:17 <SporkWitch> i just adjusted my orbit for 300 on minmus and about to try deployment again; i expect it to work like last night did

19:17 <SporkWitch> (and hey, greater coverage area as well, according to the calculator you linked)

19:17 <SporkWitch> i'll probably over-build when i start expanding to other planets, as well; smaller margin of error is nice

19:18 <SporkWitch> though i suppose i could put a fancier core in so i'm not having to manually adjust the aim

19:30 <SporkWitch> there we go, that went much better

20:10 <Althego> phoenix mario party collab in 20 minutes but i need to sleep

20:12 <flayer> i had a nap

20:19 <raptop> huh, irys is doing the heartrate monitor thing

20:20 <Althego> 3:30. i will be asleep

20:20 <Althego> the sportfest was hilarious

21:28 <SporkWitch> damn, wish i had another three satellites with me; my return from minmus to kerbin ended up being almost perfectly 90° too lol

21:32 <SporkWitch> 90.3° >_< lol might have to keep minmus in mind next time i need a polar kerbin orbit... lol

22:46 <SporkWitch> wish these random crashes after several hours gave an error message. the game's pretty good about autosaving (and i've become obsessive about making saves before and after doing anything) so i've not lost anything the matters, but would still be nice for a clue where to troubleshoot...

22:54 <flayer> i'm tired