Create and organize lightboxes on the go with your Apple or Android device.A game is getting more and more attention recently from the space geek community. Obviously, I am talking about Kerbal Space Program (KSP), a sandbox-style space flight simulator, developed and published by the indie team Squad, from Mexico City. In KSP, the players have to create and manage their own space exploration program, which means design, build and flying spacecraft, ultimately trying to help the little green humanoids called Kerbals to conquer space. The Kerbals are the inhabitants of Kerbin, an Earth-like planet in a planetary system just like ours. They have a dream – exploring space. To achieve this dream, they will furnish the player with every kind of hardware needed to build rockets, probes, and spaceplanes, along with volunteers with a blind and sometimes misplaced trust in the engineering capacity of the player. Kerbals are space enthusiasts and players will never lack astronaut candidates for whatever space mission one can possibly imagine.
The core of the game consists of the construction of the space transportation system. Engines, tanks, wings, and other parts can be used in many different and sometimes intricate designs but if you are launching a crew capsule, please, do not forget the parachute system! Once the player has acquired the capacity to safely launching rockets, the space program can be fully developed creating, for example, a space station in low-Kerbin orbit where Kerbal astronauts can perform extravehicular activities. Alternatively, the player can decide to navigate and land probes and Kerbals on other celestial bodies. Possible targets can be the Kerbin’s satellite, Mun, the red rocky planet resembling Mars, Duna but also Moho, Eve, and the other bodies orbiting around Kerbol, the star of the system. – Below, a nice tutorial to start with KSP (Courtesy of Scott Manley). Although the physics of the game is far from the multiple variables that a real space mission has to take into account, KSP has been praised for its representation of orbital mechanics and Newtonian dynamics.
No fear, KSP does not need rocket science to be played, but the rockets require some thought in the building. There is real science at work in KSP and it can actually teach a bit about rockets, orbits, and space. Being a sandbox game, KSP does not have a specific goal to accomplish and players are free to pursue their goals, even recreate historical milestone of the human space program, such as the Apollo program, the International Space Station, or Mars Science Laboratory. The Penny Arcade Report website interviewed Douglas Ellison, a visualization producer at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), at the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3). He revealed that half of JPL was playing KSP. “I’ve actually tried to land on Duna using the sky-crane method and I have killed many Kerbals along the way,” said Ellison. NASA and SpaceX were present at E3 with a booth. While NASA was invited especially to do some public outreach, SpaceX was hunting talents for its software team.
“Half of our software team is actually from the gaming industry,” said Keith Nicewarner, a robotics engineer at SpaceX. “At the end of the day, a lot of the problems are software problems, and you don’t need to know rocket science to solve them, we already have rocket scientists.” The first version of KSP was released in summer 2011. The game’s sandbox mode is in a complete state but it is currently under heavy development and is improved on a regular basis, each time enabling more features. The development team has already announced upcoming features to include the career mode, damage from atmospheric friction, and a system for creating reusable spacecraft. A free demo version of the game is available to download and play and the complete version is sold on the official KSP Store. Are you playing KSP? Tell us where you have launched your Kerbals! README FIRST PLEASE - Project Set up and (For older version for cards that don't support "pot-less" Documentation for systems using the older BLDRV-12/24 cards
Cards and System wiring - UPDATED for new CL_SPU & BLDRV2-24 driver cards Commissioning Steps (Jan 16) check out the OpenBeam yoke as an alternative construction approach....) PLEASE read the above documentation carefully if you are interested in building the DIY CL Yoke or your own flight controls using the CL system. The force response of the yoke varies with flight conditions so that changes in airspeed, trim settings etc cause the feel of the controls to change - similar to the behaviour of real aircraft controls.... This makes for force feel much more like real flight controls. force levels produced are also much higher than on conventional FFB joysticks. The default system set up will produce single handed aileron control forces up to 4.25 kgf (~9 lbf) and elevator forces up to 9 kgf (~20 lbf). Larger forces can be generated but would require the transmission ratios to be increased. The yoke's range of travel is +/- 90 Deg
on the aileron axis and 155 mm on the elevator axis. CL_SPU + BLDRV2 Drivers The force components generated by the control aerodynamic loading (centring forces proportional to control surface displacement and airspeed) Adjustable aerodynamic force gains (equivalent to adjustable control surface area) Angle of attack (alpha and beta) effects (eg for longitudinal stability response) More realistic trim behaviour (independent of simulator trim system, controls can be force trimmed in any Control surface static & dynamic weight effects (aircraft acceleration effects) Engine vibrations (vary with power & Runway vibration effects (vary with Stall buffeting effects (frequency and amplitude definable - eg stick vibration type Damping and friction adjustments (-ve Note that the plans do not include the control wheel (yoke) - choice of which is likely to be a matter of personal preference or dictated by the particular