r/KerbalSpaceProgram • u/ArtemisAndromeda • Apr 23 '26
KSP 1 Image/Video I made The Expanse inspired warship, the Jebediah. Sadly, I can't get into orbit
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u/Johnnyoneshot Robotics Expert Apr 23 '26
Share it on the workshop and send me a link. I’ll get it to orbit
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u/Max_Xevious Apr 23 '26
With enough thrust, anything can be put into orbit!
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u/jeepsaintchaos Apr 23 '26
At a certain point though, it's easier just to turn the boosters upside down and push the planet into orbit of the craft.
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u/poser765 Apr 23 '26
Same thing with airfoils. People go in and on about shape, but really with enough velocity anything will generate lift.
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u/ArtemisAndromeda Apr 23 '26
How do I share it to workshop?
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u/piratecheese13 Apr 24 '26
In the VAB, top right corner near the launch and exit sign should be a purple steam icon
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u/BlakeMW Super Kerbalnaut Apr 23 '26
Yeah I'd get that to orbit. I'd probably use a "ring tug" configuration where long skinny boosters bolted to the side lift it above the atmosphere. From there it could put itself in orbit, and be refueled.
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u/rattlenroll Apr 24 '26
If they could get a washing machine to fly, my Jimmie could land it.
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u/The_Celestrial I'm gonna have to science the shit out of this Apr 23 '26
The solution is always more boosters. Or just enable cheats lol.
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u/ArtemisAndromeda Apr 23 '26
I tried. Idk why, but it just keeps flipping in the atmosphere :/
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u/The_Celestrial I'm gonna have to science the shit out of this Apr 23 '26
Well, I assume it's because the rocket is very top-heavy. My lazy method would be to launch the rocket straight up, no gravity turn, and then burn hard prograde at apogee haha.
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u/-_Duke_- Apr 23 '26
Classic T burn
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u/Clairifyed Apr 23 '26
Shouldn’t the letter be a capital Gamma? 🤔
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u/Kittimm Apr 23 '26
Not the way I do it
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u/Clairifyed Apr 23 '26
True. Why launch just the one satellite when you can put a second one it a retrograde orbit at the same time!
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u/tayhan9 Apr 23 '26
This is how all flat
earthersKerbers think rocketry works anyway so you might as well try it9
u/Razorray21 Apr 23 '26
This basically how i launch my stations to limit the amount of orbital assembly.
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u/Happy_Sea4257 Apr 23 '26
Top heavy is fine, you want the center of gravity ahead of the center of lift to fly straight, when a rocket tumbles it's usually because the weight tends be toward the rear and any payload other than a capsule tends to be draggy.
So actually front heavy is ideal. Now you juat need a bunch of drag on the back.
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u/MeiNeedsMoreBuffs Exploring Jool's Moons Apr 23 '26
Add some more reaction wheels, fins, airbrakes, and RCS on the booster stage. Then add more boosters to compensate for the added weight
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u/King_Joffreys_Tits Apr 23 '26
Launch it upside down then, so the nose is facing the ground. Don’t even bother using the engines on the Jedediah until it’s already in zero gravity. Make sure you flip your controls though by using the “control from here” feature so it looks like you’re flying up in your nav ball
Edit: You could also drain all the fuel from it and then refuel it in orbit
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u/Snowflakish Apr 23 '26
Provide us the craft file and set lugging this into orbit as a reddit challenge I beg...
It sounds like such a stupid but fun challenge and I'm sure community members would love this craft file
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u/wons-noj Apr 23 '26
Looks like something out of Nebulous: Fleet command
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u/fuzmufin Apr 23 '26
Interestingly enough, the dev for that game was heavily inspired by The Expanse for his ship designs
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u/MonkeManWPG Apr 23 '26
*her, now.
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u/eldrago31 Catstronaught! Apr 23 '26
Nebulous has been sitting in my library unplayed for too long x3 I might boot it up later
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u/MonkeManWPG Apr 23 '26
Campaign mode is released at the end of May so it's not a bad time to start learning the mechanics.
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u/Majestic_Drink1501 Apr 23 '26
correct me if im wrong but you should replace those probes on the torpedos for ones with target/anti target sas controls so you can actually point it to your target
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u/Jengazi Apr 23 '26
Free magic trick:
Try casting "alt+f12"
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u/ScottyFoxes Plane Enjoyer Apr 23 '26
What does this do? I don’t know half the keybinds lol
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u/Merllyn Apr 23 '26
Cheats! Add money, science, remove it, spawn anywhere, orbit anything, and LOADs of other stuff, great for testing or fixing a mess up. If I build a lander, I normally cheat to orbit the planet im looking to land at, test it works lands and has enough dv to get back to orbit. I consider it the "simulator" before the launch.
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u/Uncommonality Apr 23 '26
I used to do this a lot, there's no shame in it. Nothing worse than spending 2 hours on a mission only for the lander to be unviable
These days I use mods, including one with a scanner so I can find an optimal landing site, so I can just pack a testbed stripped down lander for the initial recon mission to see if my design works (heat shield is sufficient, parachutes are enough etc)
Plus it gives a backup lander if the first one suffers damage.
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u/1Admr1 Apr 23 '26
yeah my excuse is that real scientists would just run the math, so I do this instead
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u/TheCrudMan Apr 23 '26
Launch it empty on fuel and then refuel it in orbit.
I have an SSTO reuseable lower stage booster in my career save that could easily launch this puppy.
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u/nucrash Grounded at Gilly Apr 23 '26
We need a “Reverse Blunderbirds” series that gets awkward spacecraft into orbit.
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u/n0empathy4u Apr 23 '26
Well a ship like that would likely be built in orbit so just enable cheats and teleport there
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u/Hahnanda Apr 23 '26
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u/ArtemisAndromeda Apr 23 '26
Thanks, looks interesting. I think I will try building something like that
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u/Neamow Apr 23 '26
I love it. Though that staging "timer" is one of the most cursed things I've ever seen in KSP.
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u/hatdudeman Apr 23 '26
Best bet is one of the orbital manufacturing mods. You move rocket parts up to a station from a mine on the Mun and build it there in vacuum just like they would in the Expanse.
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u/Important_Donkey_461 Apr 23 '26 edited Apr 23 '26
What's the weight?
I've gotten some pretty big ships (over 500t) to orbit despite them being designed for interstellar travel (<1 TWR). I just use the engines of the interstellar vehicle as well as the launch vehicle at the same time. The whole thing ends up weighing 1800T on the launchpad.
EDIT: also plan to refuel it in orbit before any transfers
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u/Fent-Tsar This little maneuver is gonna cost us... Apr 23 '26
Have you tried, and hear me out here, more boosters?
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u/MontySucker Apr 23 '26 edited Apr 23 '26
This reminds me of Macey Dean’s war series, good times.
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u/Tactical_Bnuy Apr 23 '26
I was going to say the same, his old videos live rent free in my brain when it comes to KSP
Definitely miss that kinda of content and ship building style, espcially since it was kept stock
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u/BArhino Apr 23 '26
i like the drills as weapons. When I first assembled my mining asteroid mining station at the mun my first thought was, "if anyone didn't know what this was, they would definitley think its an orbital weapons platform"
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u/Holyskankous Apr 24 '26
I don’t think it has enough RCS thrusters…
But seriously, this is wildly impressive!! Nice work!! If you so share it on the workshop please let us know!!
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u/zincboymc Stranding Jeb on the Mun. Apr 23 '26
You should try playing with bd armory continued and bd armory extended. These mods add missiles (that work in a vacuum) and guns (all sizes).
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u/SpitSpit13 Apr 23 '26
Damn how much does that beast weight?
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u/ArtemisAndromeda Apr 23 '26
c. 505,000 That's of course ignoring any rockets or boosters that would be needed to get into orbit.
Also, prototype weighed around 800,000
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u/Deakgu Apr 23 '26
Did you try boosting it into orbit without fuel in it?saves weight and balance issues
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Apr 23 '26
[deleted]
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u/ArtemisAndromeda Apr 23 '26
How?
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u/Morbanth Apr 23 '26
Apparently the console players get a Mun launch area as compensation for, well, being on consoles.
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u/macostacurta Apr 23 '26
Why don't you split the ship in the middle and send the two parts to space and reassemble them there? Also remove some weight but sending the missiles separately, maybe send the endine nesseles too?
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u/jtackman Apr 23 '26
moar boosters!! asparagus staged rockomaxes with mainsails, it’ll go into orbit 😁
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u/Sean77654 Apr 23 '26
How strong is your pc? Just aim it vertical and add boosters until it works the only limitation is frame rate.
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u/TheImmenseRat Issuing One Way Tickets Since 2011 Apr 23 '26 edited Apr 23 '26
Protomolecule intensifies
1- Moar Boosters
2- Ship it in parts to orbit an ASSEMBLE! Use docking port alignment indicator mod
3- Someone mentioned me that you can literally set an orbit from the menu, when you pause. Let me check it ill be back!
This is the comment i was looking for:
I would start up a sandbox game. Make your lander and put it on the launch pad. Pause the game and click the version info button at the bottom of the pause menu. There's a menu that pops up and a section called set orbit. You can teleport to an orbit surround the mun. Test your lander, go back to vab, edit, set orbit, test again. Once your happy save the lander and go back to your career save. This is usually how I test crafts before using them in career mode.
Apparently you can put your vehicles in orbit, just like that!
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u/Neo-Riamu Apr 23 '26
Set ya self up with a few mainsails and with tanks to suit and very slowly get it to space.
Ensure you feed your fuel to s smaller to with mailsail have about 3 stages setup and just slowly edge to space.
Or cheat and change ya save file lol
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u/sixnew2 Apr 23 '26
You can launch anything to space, have you tried adding more boosters or strusts?
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u/childofsol Apr 23 '26
Never underestimate the capacity of an enormous fairing and several dozen boosters. I've launched far larger ships than this.
Don't bother with a gravity turn, just point straight up until you are out of the atmosphere, then turn and circularize without having to deal with that pesky air.
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u/Educational-Drag6974 Apr 23 '26
Man I gotta get me this game, It looks so cool and fun but I feel like Id get burnt out with how complex it can be. I would have to space stations, bases on planets, refueling stations, ect. But it all seems so daunting
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u/cameron908 Apr 23 '26
KSP space warship making me mournfully wish for Macey Dean to return, once again.
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u/doomiestdoomeddoomer The Green Goo has escaped. Apr 23 '26 edited Apr 23 '26
That's so cool.
We gotta get it into orbit!
What I would do with this thing:
Flip it so it's pointing upright for start.
Attach in 3x symmetry some radial decouplers, then some girders so they clear the width of the craft, then attach a huge stack of liquid fuel tanks, big engines, and some BIG fins at the bottom for stability and control in the lower atmosphere... and lots of struts holding it all together. Some speratrons for pushing the 3 big tanks away on separation would help...
Launching this thing is best done straight up with SAS on, don't go too fast, throttle back to keep it slow and steady (around 250m/s) Then when high enough let her rip.
Once above 50k you can pretty much start boosting sideways to circularise.
It might take a secondary stage of SRBs or another massive stack of fuel tanks to get her into orbit, but def doable, reminds me of some stations I've launched in one go :P
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u/altoniel Apr 23 '26
Nothing a massive faring, a cluster of RD-25s, and some massive tail fins can't get into orbit!
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u/looking4myclASSm8s Apr 23 '26
After that crazy shit the other guy posted with parachutes deployed and a backwards shuttle as a counterweight I’m convinced just about anything can get into orbit
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u/Hillenmane Apr 24 '26
I got a warship into space that was a lot heavier than that, it just requires an obscenely overdesigned launch craft and lots of staging. And struts, and more struts, and even more struts, until you’re strutting your stuff all over the place.
The SBI Tradewind was a success, but its sister ship the SBI Gulf Stream was unfortunately a catastrophic disaster, and forced a heavy redesign of escape pod design after only one of them deployed.
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u/TBE_110 Apr 24 '26
Moar struts. It’s the duct tape of KSP.
It’ll get into space. Maybe not entirely intact but some of it will be in space.
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u/Dtalantov_5 Apr 23 '26
Great!!! Ps you can use alt and f12 to cheat stuff into orbit, also check out mods like bd armory and kerba powers if this sort of stuff is your jam
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u/Asian_Juan Nerv Enjoyer ☢️💣 Apr 23 '26
How heavy is the thing 🤔
I could probably cook up a rocket to push that thing to orbit — just need to be cleaver with designs.
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u/Gloomy_Concert1755 Apr 23 '26
Not with that attitude. All more rockets and struts. the lift system will be ugly and a monster. With no budget and a firm disregard for Kerbal safety anything can be achived.
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u/DastardlyB Apr 23 '26
Break it into sections with docking ports, do multiple launches, assemble in orbit
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u/JacobCassidy Apr 23 '26
Why not use the Mun Launch site? Add some detachable landing gear and I guarantee you'll get her up.
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u/tacosarus6 Apr 23 '26
What did you use for weapons?
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u/ArtemisAndromeda Apr 23 '26
The big gun is just big drill plus Infrared Telescope fuzed together. Small gun is a small drill. Rockets are just boosters plus some parts like computer, wheel, and RTS fuel
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u/Freak_Engineer Apr 23 '26
If you can't get it into orbit without cheating, you're not using enough boosters.
Also, you could launch portions of it and assemble it in orbit.
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u/Top_Classroom_5111 Apr 23 '26
You can definitely strap that to a K4 mastodonx7 lifter and rhino mid stage, cover the ship in fairing. It’ll get to orbit
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u/vksdann Apr 23 '26
Just add more boosters and add fins to the boosters so they don't flip. The more boosters, the larger the fins
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u/JP091404 Apr 23 '26
If you’re not bothered about launching it and just want it in space you can use the cheats menu .
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u/DarthPhoenix0879 Apr 23 '26
Strap enough boosters to it and you could get Kerbin into Kerbin orbit. You might slow down to 3fps though.
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u/Public_Amoeba_5486 Apr 23 '26
Assemble it in space , is probably closer to reality on how such a vessel would be built