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Everything posted by adsii1970

  1. Dres Polar (Orbit) Survey Probe: This challenge involves placing a survey probe in a polar orbit around Dres. One of the reasons I enjoy polar orbits is because they are more challenging than an equatorial orbit and it is the only orbit where a successful and complete surface scan can be obtained. This has been the topic of much nerd-debate I enjoy on the university campus for several reasons. Being a Star Trek fan, we've all noticed standard orbit usually is somewhere between what would be a tropic and polar lines of latitude in the northern hemisphere. This is pretty much evident in every rendition of ST from the TOS through Discovery. In all reality, it would only provide a surface scan of everything north of the planetary equator. Not an effective "standard orbit." Since being about 12 years old and clipping every JPL/NASA and ESL article I came across, I noticed that rarely did those agencies ever settle a satellite in an equatorial orbit, much less a "standard orbit" as I mentioned above. JPL/NASA's standard orbit, for lack of a better term, is as near to a polar orbit (90° to the equator) as possible. this allows the probe to scan all the terrain between the poles. Note: I am sorry about the delay in posting this recent challenge. At this time of the year, the beginning of the academic year, we now have student academic and attendance reports due about every two to three weeks. This has added a lot to my workload. Also, I have a bad case of allergies from soybean dust sensitivity and right now we are in the middle of soybean harvest season in the area where I live. And now, we have COVID-19 on the campus. So, yeah, there's that. Here are the requirements for your probe: Modded game Stock game + Probe must rely on solar power only (batteries and capacitors ok) + Probe must rely on solar power only (batteries ok) + Probe must be at an orbit between 100Km and 125Km + Probe must be at an orbit between 100Km and 125Km + Probe must be able to remain in contact with the KSC (relay ok) + Probe must be able to remain in contact with the KSC (relay ok) + Probe must have one Docking Port Jr. + Probe must have one Docking Port Jr. + Probe must have a Mystery Goo Container. + Probe must have a Mystery Goo Container. + Probe must have a 2Hot Thermometer and a Magnetometer Boom. + Probe must have a 2Hot Thermometer and a Magnetometer Boom. + Probe must have a GRAVMAX Negative Gravioli Detector. + Probe must have a GRAVMAX Negative Gravioli Detector. + Probe must have an M700 Survey Scanner. + Probe must have the ability to take pictures of the surface. + Probe must have an M700 Survey Scanner. Additional information about the challenge: This mission has a few purposes that were planned: It is a great way to practice your interplanetary transfers. Since it's a probe, you don't have to worry too much about the time it takes you to complete the voyage. It requires a bit more planning than either the Eve or Duna missions. It is a good stepping stone to the later missions to Jool and Laythe. It continues the pattern we've started on this journey - unKerbaled missions that begins with probes. From there, we go to orbiting stations Kerbaled with a brave group of volunteers, eager to expand their knowledge of space! The mission has a few purposes that were unplanned: I haven't intentionally been to Dres in over three years. There's a surprise waiting for you in the orbit of Dres and I do not want to spoil it for you if you haven't been there. But let's just say it gave me some ideas for future missions, both with landing probes AND Kerbaled exploration missions! Again, I do the missions before I post them just to make sure they are doable. And with this one, don't overthink it, but don't forget the basics. I have a mental checklist I use so I won't forget the important things - such as batteries and solar panels. This time, I had to revert because I forgot to put the solar panels on the probe... There is no preferred shape or size for your probe. As long as it meets the above criteria and can send you back all the data you can use, you're good to go. Don't forget to share your images, but for the sanity of the other users, I've had a few ask me to have you share them in "spoilers" to reduce the length of the posts. The sandbox micro-challenge badge:
  2. Aha, nope. I am unbelievably awake, thanks to my good friend, Insomnia. But will @ColdJ still be around?
  3. My problem is I just don't have one "favorite" genre. It depends on my mood. Some days, I might let Johnny Cash fill the townhouse with sound. Other days, it could be Def Leppard, Stix, The Who, or ACDC. KC and the Sunshine Band, Steve Miller Band, CCR, ABBA, and the rest of the '70s and '80s crew. Then days like today, it's been Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, or Ella Fitzgerald. There has been other times, it has been Bach, Beethoven, or Mozart. Oh, and Men without Hats, Flock of Seagulls, Duran Duran, and RE: Active It really just depends
  4. So, no one said who would be next? Who are you? Who, who? Who, who? @AtomicTech
  5. SE: you just can't land them. SP: ability to refill my coffee mug just by touching it.
  6. SE: but it then comes to life and tries to consume you. SP: I have the ability to whistle any song backwards.
  7. Granted. But you can no longer save games and you must reboot your system every thirty minutes. I wish I didn't have to go into the campus today.
  8. One of the main obstacles you forgot is radiation. https://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/real-martians-how-to-protect-astronauts-from-space-radiation-on-mars https://www.space.com/5190-space-radiation-deadly-mars-mission.html https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/radiation-remains-problem-any-mission-mars-180959092/ I do not mean to throw a bucket of water on your observations, but this will have to be something we must develop some technology to mitigate. Sure, most every obstacle you've listed could be overcome with unlimited funding and carrying enough spare parts or even using in-mission rendezvous to refuel and resupply the main mission vehicle. But the radiation exposure Whether it is some sort of magnetic shielding using "Star Trek" style shielding consuming a lot of electric power, or heavy radiation shielding construction, or a combination of both, we simply are not to the level of technological development to safely land crewed flights outside of a lunar target. If you read some reports from the Apollo program, this was a huge fear - a solar eruption which could potentially cook the astronauts with higher than safe levels of radiation.
  9. I could easily see mint for Minmus. And for the Mun, maybe blueberry.
  10. Why wouldn't we have to pay for a totally new game with totally new game features produced by a totally different production studio? I can't imagine a scenario where you buy one product new and you keep getting newer versions of it for the rest of your life. It doesn't work for cars, computers (hello, Dell, about my free upgrade! ) or cell phones. In fact, most gaming studios would have made us pay for multiple DLCs to get all the new parts we were given free between 1.0 to 1.12. @SQUAD has gone above and beyond what I could have ever asked for or thought any production company would offer. I'll gladly pay full price for KSP2.
  11. It isn't exactly a shower thought, but it was an after school conversation my soon-to-be eleven year-old daughter and I had. Dad, if each planet were an ice cream flavor... And with that, we came up with a list. Not all of these heavenly bodies are planets, but it was fun. The Sun: Ghost Pepper flavored Mercury: Black cherry and Dutch chocolate Venus: Blue raspberry (sherbet) Earth: Rocky road Mars: Pumpkin spice Jupiter: Coffee/mocha chocolate Saturn: English toffee and vanilla bean Uranus: Pistachio Neptune: Blue cotton candy flavored It was fun and we had to get a little creative. We even had to go to some websites of grocery stores to make sure the flavors were legitimate. So... What would some of your ice cream flavors be to represent the solar system?
  12. I have a question for those of you who follow this thread... Should those of you who complete the challenges be listed on the challenge page you complete or should I move them to the OP of the thread? Oh, new challenge coming this week.
  13. Could also try Kerbal Foundries. That mod even has tracks!
  14. Okay, not meaning to be rude here, but as someone with a bit of brain damage, sometimes, during a bad migraine attack, I sometimes forget words. Last week, in the middle of a world civ lecture, I could not think of the word, "superstitious." And, in usual fashion, I made a joke out of it. The way I read that post is what you meant was "extra-vehicular activity" or EVA. It's all good.
  15. Well, keep the conversations going! And don't forget - if you see a thread worthy of TOTM consideration, please nominate it!
  16. "Your class requires a bit more work than I was anticipating. Is there someone else who teaches this class but at a History for Dummies level?" - First year university student this morning before the lecture began. World Civilization to 1500 - survey course
  17. As a former music theory and composition major, this always amazed me that Beethoven wrote this part of the Seventh Symphony totally deaf. For me, it is one of the most beautiful pieces of music Beethoven ever wrote. It's probably in my top ten of classical/Romantic era favorites.
  18. Wrongo... Since -28 was the last correct entry, the next number is -29.
  19. Funny you should say that. I have a stock game (I know, it is sometimes extremely hard to play this game without QOL mods and parts packs) and about a month ago, I was trying to dock with a space station. Right when I was about 150 meters from the station, a piece of orbital debris slammed into my capsule! Yes, I still was able to make it to the station, but the capsule no longer had a docking port, solar panels, or parachutes. So, EVA it was! And yes, you've got yourself a badge. Polar orbits are fun. A little known secret is each of these micro-sandbox missions will interlink with each other once we get to some of the more difficult ones. I do have plans for OPM missions - and beyond. So, the heavy duty communications is going to be a must if you want to retain control of probes and communication with your spacecraft. As I tell my daughter - there is a plan.TM I will be posting another challenge this week and am sorry I am behind in getting them posted.
  20. Each of us moderators carry additional mental stresses, as do regular forum members, besides our volunteer efforts here. Some of us are here for a variety of personal reasons, and for me, being a part of this forum and being a contributor to the health to the forum outweighs the forum's contribution to the mental load I already carry. But each moderator is different and I am sure as other members of the moderation team respond, should they decide to, you'll see a variety of answers on the stresses and reasoning for being a member of the moderation team. There are times when I will step back from the forum for a few days at a time. The most is normally three days. It's a combination of things - there are a few things I never do when I am not feeling my mental best: Discipline a child when I am angry or in a bad mood Discuss serious issues with my spouse when I am in a bad mood Grade papers when I am in a bad mood Moderate this forum when I am in a bad mood I know I can be extremely difficult to deal with when I am in a bad mood. I will grade students' papers much more harshly than I usually would if I am in a bad mood. I will ground my daughter with more severe restrictions than probably would be considered fair under normal circumstances, and I am less tolerant of other things as well. So, with that being said, it is in everyone's best interest when I am having one of those bad mood kind of days for me to take a step back. In fact, I posted a status update because I recently took a step back for a bit longer this time. I had a few real-life things going on and simply needed to get my head into a better, more stable and happier place. As @Gargamel said, most of the work is light housekeeping - approving posts from new forum members, moving threads around, splitting off-topic posts into new threads, and merging parallel threads. The thing I hate doing is having to play surgeon to someone's post. I am a freedom of speech guy but there are forum guidelines for a reason. I don't go looking for moderating work to do, but wait until it is reported by another forum member before I even consider doing anything. And as Gargamel said, we use mod chat to discuss the moderation actions that need to be taken. Nearly all the serious (disciplinary) moderation action taken is discussed and a consensus is made from the available members of the moderation team. There are aspects of being a member of the moderation team I absolutely enjoy. I really enjoy doing the TOTMs each month. As you may have noticed, I have made it one of my regular monthly "duties." It takes the pressure off the rest of the moderation team knowing it will be done and they don't have to agree which one is going to get stuck doing it. I also enjoy approving and interacting with newer forum members - I'd like their first interaction with a member of the moderation team to be a good one rather than one of those dreaded "hey, you can't do that..." interactions. Overall, I'd say that it's a mixed bag. From my perspective, it's mostly good things that happen.
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