How Does The Sun Power Spacecraft? Things Kerbal Space Program Doesn't Teach You
The most popular power source for spacecraft is Solar panels, dating back to the oldest satellite still in orbit, Vanguard-1. Since then solar panels have seen huge gains in performance and have allowed spacecraft to go deeper into the solar system than ever before without resorting to expensive nuclear power sources.
Solar cells are semiconductor devices which exploit quantum mechanics to drive electrons around a circuit and generate power. They actually date back over a century, but modern technology makes them 30 times more powerful than the first panels ever used.
AKA - why we need improved aerodynamics in Kerbal Space Program
I take a look at how to build a space shuttle orbiter clone using a similar wing design and demonstrate several shortcomings of the system and where necessary exploit them to make something that looks the part
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-JmOQ5lqUsk
THIS GUIDE IS FOR AN OLD VERSION OF KSP.
"CAREER MODE" in this release is now "SCIENCE MODE" in the current release.
The Second part of my Career mode tutorial - unlocking some more science, learning about symmetry & balance and building a simple mission to send a kerbal into space for a few minutes.
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bvXI0FcJd7I
We made it to Gilly, now to do some science and figure out how to head home. With Gilly's low gravity you don't need rockets to maneuver around the surface and explore the other biomes.
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HOkt-4vBuAc
Taking a loot a some cool things that ended up under the christmas tree this year.
You can buy your own Astrolabe from this site:
http://www.normangreene.com/astrolabe.html
(Yes, i know I kept turning the astrolabe the wrong way, I was looking at it in the camera's screen so everything was reversed)
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GCEJNyRTUIo
With the engine changes in Kerbal Space Program 0.16 people have been looking for new rocket designs. Here's how to build a rocket that can go anywhere and has something like 30km/s delta-v budget once you get into orbit.
This is of course exploiting a bug, which will be fixed sometime, but the bug also just happens to model the behaviour of non-chemical rockets with a fixed power supply accelerating reaction mass where the flow can be controlled.
Kerbal Space Program is an Indie Game produced by Squad
http://www.kerbalspaceprogram.com
Video is used with permission from the publishers.
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XEnY0fyvUfY
Trying to see how far an unmanned rocket can travel, the pilot is only there to release the vehicle from the launch pad, everything else happens according to the laws of physics, no steering can happen after we unleash the rocket.
Check out Kerbal Space Program at http://www.kerbalspaceprogram.com - and thanks to the developers for encouraging these videos.
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xPWsgm9D-sk
Exploring the rest of the Texas Sector, picking up some class 3 shields in the high tech stations, and finding out those Xenos I was shooting down actually have a home in the Colorado sector. Oops.
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qqF3kYZzSoc
Solar 2 is a game about accreting celestial objects starting with asteroids, through planets, stars, and eventually black holes. As you grow you can perform special missions, like wiping out a race of dinosaurs with an asteroid. It's commonly cheap on Steam and right now is available as part of the Humble Bundle for Android 5 - that gives you DRM free versions on Windows/Mac/Linux/Android.
If you have an iOS device it's available in the App store.
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/solar-2/id599263900?ls=1&mt=8
Or get it as part of a special charity related deal at....
http://humblebundle.com
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=di9b_D78J2M