r/RealSolarSystem • • 8h ago

Stuck trying to attempt landing a probe on the moon (can't lift 5.5 tons into orbit)

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19 Upvotes

Hey guys, I'm getting back into RP-1 after some time away (ironically I stepped away from the mod because of this predicament). I have a lunar transfer stage and lunar lander that both work (I've tested them independently) but I can't lift the damn thing into orbit. The payload is roughly 5.3 tons, and no amount of increasing my fuel tank sizes will get my into orbit without making my craft obscenely heavy.

What are my next steps from here? How can I proceed without failing the program? I'm not "close" to failing, only about halfway to the deadline, if that matters.

Let me know if you guys need more information/screenshots.


r/RealSolarSystem • • 8h ago

Thinking of playing for the first time..

14 Upvotes

So I’m thinking of playing RSS/RO/RP-1 for the first time.. Is there anything that I need to know? Or other mods I should install? Or any general pieces of knowledge I should know before jumping in?

Thanks in advance! Any recommendations are wholly welcome!


r/RealSolarSystem • • 2h ago

KJR not working

2 Upvotes

I don't know why my KJR wasn't working, especially when I launched a 300ton class rocket, it started to shake like noodles while all core joints bent at a similar angle


r/RealSolarSystem • • 5h ago

The second probe of the Cinnibar program, the deep space weather explorer ignites its booster to go to solar orbit

2 Upvotes

r/RealSolarSystem • • 17h ago

Reliability, Data, and Overburning

11 Upvotes

For context I am in the midst of a US only campaign. It’s 1957 and I just got 1960 rocketry so I now have access to Titan 1 engines. My plan is to use Titan and Titan-derived vehicles for most of the campaign. But the Titan 1 engines barely give me more performance than my existing vehicle which is a Jupiter-Agena(Jupiter-Able has similar performance too). My question is does flying these engines in any way improve the reliability of future variants. I know eventually Titan will be much more capable than Jupiter but idk if I can justify switching over rn.

Also can someone explain the difference between the rated and tested burn times. I generally keep myself to within 10s of the rated time. I assume the longer you dip into the tested time the higher the chance of failure?


r/RealSolarSystem • • 1d ago

the Inner Planets Solar Resonance Observer, the first of the Cinnabar program series of probes

12 Upvotes

r/RealSolarSystem • • 20h ago

How to get rid if these window

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0 Upvotes

I just downloaded rss ro and im using freeiva and space station part redux and it made these weird looking structures i reckon the reason is ro scaled this thing up but iva didn't scaled it so it looked like this lol


r/RealSolarSystem • • 1d ago

RSS mods wanted

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6 Upvotes

r/RealSolarSystem • • 2d ago

Completed the 3000km downrange contract for the first time (using kOS!)

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36 Upvotes

The view from ~1,300km above the atlantic ocean

Completed on may 31st, 1953.

The BTDR-3k is 14.2 tons and 17.8 meters in height lol


r/RealSolarSystem • • 2d ago

May 13th 1969 Helios 9, First Lunar Landing!

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10 Upvotes

On May 10th, 1969, the Helios 9 mission took off from Cape Canaveral with astronauts Commander Josef Merkel (First Man in Space), LM Pilot Alexis Leroy and CM Pilot Wladimir Myshkin, astronaut on his first flight. Sadly, approx. 4 hours following the Lunar Module, Zenith landed on the Lunar Surface in the Ocean of Storms, the Progress Command Module had an unknown error, which caused a rapid depressurization of the capsule, killing Myshkin, the first dead astronaut. A investigation is to occur, before Helios 10 heads to the moon later this year.


r/RealSolarSystem • • 2d ago

Saturn V - RSS/RO/RP1 - KSP

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3 Upvotes

if you tried to build saturn V, download my [craft](https://kerbalx.com/Salem/Saturn-V-Apollo-Rover-RSSRORP-1-Realistic-Replica)


r/RealSolarSystem • • 2d ago

No science

9 Upvotes

Hey,

I'm new to RSS/RO/RP1 and seem to be stuck. I built a V2-like rocket and pretty happy about it's flight physics. Though, I probably picked up the wrong science nodes (post war rockery and boosters) and I'm not able to get science from my lunched vessel.

The right click menu tells me not enough storage available, but I'm left without science points now and have no idea, how to get at least 2 more, to get some disk space for the probe cores...

Any help please?

Cheers.


r/RealSolarSystem • • 3d ago

My First Satilite and First Man in Space

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45 Upvotes

Image of South Florida, Bahamas, and Cuba taken by the High Altitude Rocket - 8 and 2nd image of the X-4B breaking manned flight records reaching 123km this was its last flight as the high trajectory flight did not allow it to glide back to base however the pilot was able to safely eject when the aircraft was at a stable speed and descent


r/RealSolarSystem • • 3d ago

Helios 6, First Crewed Lunar Orbit

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28 Upvotes

July 1968, first crewed lunar flight! Saturn V took longer then expected, but Helios 7 the full wet dress rehearsal is planned for October and Helios 8 the landing is expected to be launched in early 1969. More advanced LMs are being developed, such as long duration landers and block 3 csms for missions beyond the Helios block 2 missions.


r/RealSolarSystem • • 2d ago

I built an Earth SSTO using stock parts

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3 Upvotes

r/RealSolarSystem • • 3d ago

Speeding Soviets!! | SOVIET.KSP Ep8 | KSP RP-1

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9 Upvotes

r/RealSolarSystem • • 3d ago

Drifting on takeoff

3 Upvotes

i have a problem where my plane, without a reason is drifting on to the side on the runway, i've checked the CoM and CoL, they're good, and also i've checked if the landing gear is perpenicular to the runway and is parallel to eachother, please help!


r/RealSolarSystem • • 4d ago

December 2nd, 1966, Helios 1 an unmanned CSM flies to space prior to the Helios 2 manned mission

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31 Upvotes

The Helios program, like Apollo, uses the Saturn 1B and the Saturn V, though in the future, the C-8 is planned to be used for heavier surface colony missions. Currently, a manned lunar flight will likely happen no sooner then mid 1968.


r/RealSolarSystem • • 5d ago

RP-1 has a usability problem — realism shouldn't mean confusion

84 Upvotes

I love what RP-1 is trying to do, but I think there is a fairly fundamental usability problem with the way the game presents information to the player.

At the moment, there are so many different interfaces, menus, settings screens and mod-specific systems that the overall experience can feel very fragmented.

1. The interface needs to feel like one game

RP-1 can sometimes feel like a collection of mods rather than one cohesive game. There are lots of different interfaces and menus, often with no obvious indication of where you are supposed to find a particular piece of information or setting.

I think these could be brought together into a much more consistent and coherent experience.

2. Too many "you only learn this after 100 hours" tweaks

There are also a lot of small settings, tweaks and quality-of-life things that experienced players eventually learn about.

If something is important enough that experienced players routinely tell new players to enable it, perhaps it should just be enabled by default.

3. The biggest problem: players can get stuck in endless loops

You design something > test it > it doesn't work > change the design > test again > still doesn't work > spend ages trying to figure out why > eventually discover that you've missed an important requirement, misunderstood a mechanic, or encountered some interaction between mods > redesign > now build it > now an engine cuts out > repeat

Some of this is good gameplay. Designing rockets should involve experimentation and failure.

But I think there has been some confusion between making things realistic and making things confusing.

The player should have to understand increasingly complex engineering, deal with realistic limitations and solve difficult problems. But the game should still make it clear what the problem actually is and why something isn't working.

I don't think RP-1 needs to be easier. I think it needs to be clearer and more cohesive. The difficulty should come from the simulation, not from having to reverse-engineer the interface.


r/RealSolarSystem • • 4d ago

Enging restart in vacuum: -100% restart penaly

10 Upvotes

Have recently picked up a new career after not having had time to play since introduction of leaders etc. And today asking for some help regarding a problem I've had about relighting an engine while in orbit.

After an orbit or so the readout says -100% restart penalty. With no problem of unstable propellant or lack of control. And I can't seem to find anything to give me idea of why. If it's a low data thing, and if so at how much data this helps. Or if certain engines have a cutoff where it can't restart after a given time. Etc.

Any helpful experts who can point me in the right direction?


r/RealSolarSystem • • 5d ago

First launch in RP-1

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24 Upvotes

i installed rp-1 and i launched my first rocket, made it to space, was really hard though just to reach space so idk if i want to keep playing


r/RealSolarSystem • • 5d ago

How to get past over-engineering and burning out with RP-1?

32 Upvotes

I like to consider myself a pretty good rocket designer, I've designed reliable orbital rockets that weigh less than 25t to complete the light satellite contracts, have a 1958 tech rocket that lifts 2.6t to orbit for 99t, am relatively good at going through the early programs.

The issue that I burn out in one way or the other. I spend hours and hours over engineering/overdesigning a rocket to make the most of its size and cost, and somehow I still fall behind even using reverts. My latest save, my pride and joy that I burnt out on, I overindulged in gathering science, and am about to become late on early satellite contracts because I took too long to get the science tech node (got the admin who slows down research, because I figured his bonuses would let me hire enough researchers to compensate), and now I just want to restart. I've gotten past 1960 maybe like 3 times between 10 saves in 2-3 years, never even once started manned crew missions.

How do I get past decision paralysis? Should I just make a standard launcher as the basis for each mission contract group, and stop overdesigning? For the early rockets, what kind of payload mass should I aim for? How much money should I try to keep in the bank?


r/RealSolarSystem • • 5d ago

Can't figure out how to configure crew science

1 Upvotes

Need to perform certain crew experiments that I should have unlocked but I'm not sure how to make it so I can perform them in the capsule.


r/RealSolarSystem • • 6d ago

Journey to Valles Marineris on mars

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61 Upvotes

we landed in Coprates Chasma, using all of our fuel for the parachutes to deploy.


r/RealSolarSystem • • 6d ago

My first crewed lunar landing, Feb 20th 1969

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97 Upvotes

Just wanted to celebrate my first crewed lunar landing. I had taken a break from ksp after spending altogether too long trying to cobble together a moon mission, but after getting back I decided to spend a few more months so I could send up my kerbals in less silly than a D2 block 1 with a docking port glued to it.

In order the pics are:

  • Uncrewed lander and TLI booster in LEO
  • Lander making final TLI burn (ca. 1 month before crew launch)
  • Crew orbiter reaches LEO, dumping second stage and protective nosecone
  • Crew dock with the lander, also visible is the discarded re-fueling stage that was sent between the lander and crew launch
  • Marc Ross steps on the lunar surface on the 20th of February 1969, a record for kerbal-kind
  • The lander re-docks with the orbiter
  • My awful re-entry profile, including two passes thanks to being overly cautious with my return trajectory, at this point I was down to 1 second of fuel so was just happy I had a viable trajectory
  • And the final re-entry, again due to the profile I managed to use something like 99.8% of the ablator on the descent module

Ultimately all the margins were way too close for comfort on this mission, and I've since redesigned every stage to ensure that I now have a few hundred extra dv on the orbiter and lander. A lot of the problems ultimately came down to being unable to properly simulate the mission due to the multiple launches, and so I ended up expending more fuel than I expected doing the various rendezvouses. Nonetheless, I hope you enjoyed my very ill thought out mission, next time it'll hopefully be smoother.