Lowest Kerbol Station | Stock KSP 1.12.5 | Fully Reusable + No Cheats

[@Deltarious]

That "layover" was hilarious. Imagine returning from *literally the sun* only to be placed into the desert. I'd be furious too!

[@GameristicForce]

No matter how good you are, you’ll always end up in the desert in KSP.

[@moondreamer5988]

*stellar photobraking* is the most kerbal thing I think I’ve ever heard! Good job! :)

[@stahlhelm5755]

Is it possible irl? I mean we have solar sails to push spacecraft so in theory if we use those for braking, It's called Photobraking Interesting that it's not an official term yet based on my search online.

[@lt_duckweed]

@@stahlhelm5755 honestly I just called it photobraking because that sounds so much cooler than aerobraking lmao

[@matthewcoetzee3413]

@@stahlhelm5755I don’t think it could slow it down fast enough

[@BenLaneUK]

What about stellar lithobraking?

[@anekdoche7055]

isnt ot solar lithobreaking

[@chips989]

That crew module docking sequence in kerbol atmosphere was awesome! Great camera angles and lighting, and the design is so cool, the way it enters into the sheltered interior of the station before the doors close behind it is inspired! It looks so real

[@LongGoneFuture]

I didn't realize how big the craft was until the crew whent in. Absolutely amazing work!!!

[@jackandrews8098]

I’ve seen some pretty impressive feats in KSP but I think this one might take the cake. To do this at all is impressive. To do this Stock is even more so. And to do this stock AND fully reusable AND demonstrate the ability to send as many crews as you want absolutely blows my mind.

[@judet2992]

The fact the station can close its opening and is hollow inside like the ones from Elite: Dangerous is so sick.

[@ez_theta_z9317]

you aerobraked around a star kerbal moment this is the first vid of yours i've watched, you might be the next stratzenblitz

[@emqueue1h]

HAHA YEAH HE WAS "KIDNAPPED" once for a video of his

[@Joshs4stro]

this is the coolest station / program i’ve ever seen, i especially love how the crew vehicles are stored inside the station, and that door!! great job your skill in this game is outstanding

[@somerandomnification]

It makes my brain hurt just trying to understand the planning involved here. I hope Scott Manley sees this and ends up just as tired as me. :)

[@Cby0530]

Amazing... Love how you demonstrated a complete architecture for regularly sending and returning expeditions from the station too!

[@stahlhelm5755]

You madman! You did what i was imagining and what i thought was Impossible. A Couple days ago i was imagining a Spacecraft or a Space Station in a Low Orbit around the Sun (Heating Issues aside), i started doing my research. Upon getting to the delta-v values, i got ~36,000m/s at which point i simply stopped and said to myself: "Unless i learn Orbital Assists, this will be close to impossible." And a couple days later you did it. I did not know that Photobraking is a thing in KSP so right now, i might give it a shot.

[@nikkiofthevalley]

It isn't, it's just aerobraking in the atmosphere of Kerbol.

[@Kurgutt]

That's hot, in every sense 😎 Amazing, well done !

[@C_on_my_C]

5:20 is how baby rockets are made

[@warriorsabe1792]

The layer you passed through there I believe was actually the chromosphere (the photosphere is the visible not-really-a-surface below it) based on appearances, which'd make it chromobraking, heliobraking, or asterobraking. Mighty impressive either way; I had thought the heat occlusion trick also occluded drag though? Of course that said I also thought it restricted vessel design a lot more from when I tried to get it to work so there's probably more to it than I'm aware

[@lt_duckweed]

Yeah technically if I wanted to call it something other than aerobraking it should be chromobraking, and I considered that, but I decided to call it photobraking cause I thought it sounded cooler. As for heat occlusion, several of the methods used for it do indeed remove drag, but I'm using a combination that leaves the flags exposed to the aero model: 1. They aren't in a fairing, just an open payload bay that is clipped into an adapter. The bay let's me toggle drag, and the adapter shields from solar heating. 2. They are behind a dlc structural panel that has all 6 drag cube faces covered by node attached parts. This shields from shock heating. Both craft have a main root part fairing as the core of the vessel, and in the case of the station, ancillary fairings that are shielded by the main fairing and in turn shield other parts (such as the habitation arms)

[@warriorsabe1792]

@@lt_duckweed I see, I don't know why I didn't think of that in hindsight lol; I think I was fixated on fairing-based occlusion since that's what I'm most familiar and comfortable with

[@l3mmy_k]

I'd love to see a breakdown of this craft, your thought process and of how you used all the exploits to make this work, I'd watch that

[@casualbird7671]

Your designs are outstanding, I love these

[@mephisto8101]

Spectacular! Congatulations on depleting the worlds Xenon reserves. But for real, astonishing content. I am looking forward to a behind the scenes video. If I would do the mission planning, I would probably have installed a refueling point near Moho. Do you think that would have reduced vehicle masses significantly? Or would that not be necessary due to photobraking?

[@lt_duckweed]

It ends up not being worth it. In fact, the cheapest path for returning home in terms of theoretical dv expenditure is actually to burn outwards from Kerbin, and then lower periapsis to the Sun from past Jool. Hpwever, being able to aerobrake direct to Kerbin capture from solar transfer saves me a boatload of dv on the return trip (don't have to raise ap as much, don't have to raise pe at all, no capture cost) and thus I can afford to spend extra on the transfer departing from Kerbin. Stopping at Moho wouldn't help because the cost to drop pe from Moho to solar encounter, or to circularize from solar transfer, is actually higher than at Kerbin because Moho is moving so fast, and there's no atmosphere to help. And the transfer cost from low solar to Moho encounter is only a little bit cheaper than for Kerbin (-26800 m/s to reach Kerbin, ~25000 m/s to reach Moho).

[@mephisto8101]

@@lt_duckweed Thanks for the explanation! :) Being able to brake in the photosphere opens up new abilities some would consider ... unnatural. ;)

[@Blockenheimer]

​@@lt_duckweedthe cruel and unusual punishment of the landing in the desert had me rolling on the floor

[@Monkiiengineer]

literal wizardry, cant wait to see a lander dock inside the station's hangar!

[@kxmapper]

These exploits give the second life to the game. Great job!

[@redpug5042]

this is secretly just a conspiracy so the kerbals can say they're using fusion power on a space station, when in fact they are just inside of the largest fusion reactor in the solar system

[@harbor-8004]

Awesome work, enjoyed watching it. Reminds me of a little sci fi movie lol

[@harleyclawson7639]

Wow…. Its so good it’s almost intimidating. Your crafts look amazing

[@StaK_1980]

Looks incredible! Really nice! 😮

[@NickBDesigns]

Great video! I wonder how much time dilation crew 1 would experience spending two years so close to that gravity well. Probably not much but its fun to imagine.

[@lt_duckweed]

Unless I scuffed up my math, after their two year mission they would be 1.37 seconds behind Kerbin.

[@NickBDesigns]

@@lt_duckweed marvelous job! Ya not much but it’s something Thanks for your response

[@harleyclawson7639]

Wow

[@tehice23]

Damn, that was beautifly well executed Waw

[@tinpotgaming]

i love how the ssto just shits out the payload then returns

[@thisflyingpotato4227]

Best advertisment for the game I've ever seen

[@NooberianRepublic]

Absolute madman, top fucking job.

[@catnipleaf8680]

Duckweed is a certified madlad.

[@Phoenix2.5D]

I almost didnt believe it was stock until i closely examined the parts!! Brilliant build my good fellow! Edit: IT'S HUGE!!!

[@CombineWatermelon]

The thing I'm most impressed by is the building style, to be honest.

[@Green-xm6rd]

Great video as always.

[@hiroprotagonist921]

Rad video, gonna go watch the others

[@judet2992]

Mildly toasty.

[@SuperMarioOddity]

12:5 aspect ratio goes hard for KSP 1.12.5 very smart

[@pokemonfanmario7694]

Kerbals: Science compels us to explode the Sun!

[@nicholasleclerc1583]

9:58 Ouch, that was a hit at 86.4 km/hour (24.0 meters/second) ! 😬

[@Phoenix2.5D]

"Photobraking" sounds extremely unsafe and I love it, I wish I could do that but unfortunately, I don't think I could ever make anything strong enough to endure the sun like this, stock solar system or otherwise

[@petterlarsson7257]

underrated as hell

[@GarryTwin]

So impressive looking mission

[@lockheedx33]

15:00 Netflix: Are you still watching? Someone's daughter:

[@6Twisted]

Can someone work out the time dilation in a 610km orbit around Kerkol

[@michaeljohn5175]

I had to count the number of engines on your super heavy lift SSTO rocket to see if it was "heavier" than the one I designed very similar to yours. Looks like 72 engines on yours. I had 96 on mine.. although you obviously spent the time to make yours as efficient as possible. I just slapped mine together by expanding my lighter weight SSTO. Also why bother burning engines to land it? Just throw a bunch of parachutes on it and call it a day. I probably had a few hundred on mine which landed it okay without any need for fuel on the way down except for the initial de-orbit burn. That way I could always store the extra fuel in orbit at my space station. I believe I could launch up to at least 1000 tons of cargo on mine, and it could bring back a substantial payload as well.

[@PaleBlueDot946]

The sheer amount of fuel and g forces

[@silverfox8615]

Go Duckie, go!

[@proxima_fish]

Amazing! 🥰

[@raphaelm4367]

wow what a nice mission ! just a thing : we say "rendez-vous" not "rondezvous" it's a french expression ;)

[@JYF921]

Legendary

[@FavoritoHJS]

any interesting low atmo experiments down at the gates of -hell- kerbol? also how did the on-rails "delete ships in atmosphere" failsafe not kick in?

[@Linventor]

groovy.

[@NachoTwins]

How did you calculate the 3:4 resonance for the commsats?

[@emorej5440]

how can be stock with graphics mods ?

[@quazar5017]

yep, pretty bright

[@notjebbutstillakerbal]

You are literally playing with fire

[@xander2853]

How did you get around heating?

[@lt_duckweed]

I used several of the techniques detailed in this video: kzbin.info/www/bejne/gIXWo2aGoq6Zf5o Namely, the station and transfer craft both have fairings as the root part, and the fairing bases are shielded from solar heat by being clipped into other parts, and from shock heat by being behind node occluded structural panels.

[@Jonassoe]

Decently toasty

[@lt_duckweed]

just a wee bit

[@jensonrecupido9767]

I wonder how gamebreaking it would be if you could do this in ksp2

[@bingusbongus9807]

how many times regular power would you get from a solar panel at that distance?

[@lt_duckweed]

Since the solar calculations are bugged and right at the surface you get infinite power, this close, solar panels are millions of times stronger than nominal power output.

[@bingusbongus9807]

@@lt_duckweed awesome!

[@debnjk]

how exactly did you do the spiral door

[@lt_duckweed]

It's 8 of the small hinges and 8 of the largest right triangle panels. I placed them so all the panels lined up exactly with the hinges straight, then retracted them in the vab. I also turned on same craft interaction on the panels so they could collide with each other

[@susangoaway]

I don't think any of those crews survived that

[@michagrill9432]

How the hell is that not overheating?

[@CLOCK-WORK]

all you need is just one solar panel to power the intire thing lol

[@viktoriyawolf]

WOW

[@joshuapatrick682]

what the sun in KSP is only 610 KM across?

[@lt_duckweed]

It's 261600 km across, but that orbit is 610km above the "surface"

[@notfeedynotlazy]

Now land it on the VAB

[@lotsoflambdas]

why arent the kerbals sent with the station

[@lotsoflambdas]

also why is there artificial gravity and why dont the returning kerbals deorbit themselves okay i get it that this is for realism but using the fairing and engine plate glitch doesnt sound real to me anyways what shielding did the "photobrakers" use?

[@lotsoflambdas]

like,i always assumed that air causes drag and heat so they appear at the same time always hmm would it work if there was a fairing and engine plate glitch that contained a inflatable heat shield that shielded something outside the fairing?

[@lt_duckweed]

The Kerbals aren't sent with the station as a sort of roleplay. Basically confirming the station is safe before Kerbals are sent. Artificial gravity is also a realism/roleplay/rule of cool thing. I just thought it would be neat to have :) The returning Kerbals don't deorbit themselves because the margins on that craft were quite tight. It needed to have about 28,000m/s of delta-v for a safe return, and the mass of enough parachutes to safely land would have had a severe negative impact on margins.

[@lt_duckweed]

As for the shielding, it basically works like this: DLC structural plates have nodes on all 6 sides, so if you node attach appropriately sized parts on at least one node in every direction, they no longer have an drag cube surface area to absorb heat with. However, they still cast "shock shadows" behind them that protect from shock heating. Some folks call these "magic shields" The drag is generated by flags that are stored in a service bay, and have a magic shield in front of them. On the station, these are the little knobs by the NERV engines. On the transfer craft, this is the visible plate by the ion engines, and a service bay hidden in the front of the craft. All the rest of the parts on each craft are "inside" the root part fairing or "inside" a chain of nested fairings that ultimately trace back to the root part fairing. "Inside" in this case means that the center of the part in inside the fairings skin (as long as the center is inside, the rest of the part can stick out). Root fairings don't count their own panels for drag or heating, so the base of the root fairing can be shielded by a magic shield. On the station, this is the series of plates visible on the front of the station. On the transfer craft, this is also the plate by the ion engines. This setup is overall more difficult to set up than the fairing+engine plate setup, but the craft were designed before the fairing+engine plate exploit was discovered.

[@lotsoflambdas]

@@lt_duckweed what are you sure that a kerbal parachute actually negatively impacts the Delta v enough for you so that the craft no longer gets to the orbit of kerbin like like you just need an ion shuttle that has a lot of Dv travel between kerbal and kerbin and kerbals can deorbit theirselves and survive a water landing without parachutes or a landing with parachutes

[@xtraviation]

I mean.. if it works it must be safe!

[@stekra3159]

Thes are great

[@SpaceBoiProot]

what the hekk is that aspect ratio

[@SpaceBoiProot]

and my guy my man the side of the station facing kerbol is going to melt

[@lt_duckweed]

21:9, it's 3440x1440p As for why the station doesn't melt, there are a number of exploits in the thermal model that can be used to avoid absorbing heat, as detailed here: kzbin.info/www/bejne/gIXWo2aGoq6Zf5o

[@JYF921]

Stewed Kerbal…what do they taste like

[@kubix354]

How is that even considered stock lmao

[@lt_duckweed]

It's all stock parts and stock physics. It just makes heavy use of several exploits in the thermal model to avoid absorbing heat, as detailed here: kzbin.info/www/bejne/gIXWo2aGoq6Zf5o