Space Transportation System - Rebooted!

[G'th]

The Space Transportation System - Rebooted!

 

 

With my new shuttle fully operational, I decided I would reboot my old STS series, this time with a focus more on the actual programs rather than the individual missions (One for my sanity, and two because then I don't feel obligated to be constantly posting). Also changed is the move from the Stock system to the Stock Sized Real Solar System, which introduces not only its own challenges but also a welcome change to the typical Kerbin visuals we'll be seeing in screenshots. For a start, we'll be starting off with the Moonlab program, a demonstration of orbital construction and reusability of deep space constructions. But first, the story thus far:

 

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With the end of the Trident program, the original missions to land on the Moon, the newly christened NASA had to figure out where it was going to go next. At first there was a grandiose idea of visiting Mars using massive orbital constructions and hundreds upon thousands of tons pushed to Mars Orbit and the surface. The feasibility of this and simulations of it killed this idea rather quickly. Then, there was an idea to, instead of pushing to further explore for the sake of it, push to really develop the space around Earth, and eventually transition the Kerbal race into a true space faring nation. Things such as a more extensive and comprehensive orbital network of communications and mapping satellites, space stations in LEO and and around the Moon, and all kinds of other endeavors. 

But what this would require, however, is a far more developed launch vehicle than the expendable rockets and capsules that were so iconic when Kerbal first set foot on the Moon. Not only would the spacecraft be required to act as lift vehicle for both Kerbal and Cargo, it would need to be a workhorse in orbit. It needed to be able to manipulate objects in space and put Kerbals in a position to actually go to work in space. And on top of all that, it would all need to be reusable. 

The Moon really was a camping trip, but the weekend is over, and with this idea taking hold in the agency, it was only inevitable that the so called "Space Transportation System" would become the focus of its efforts.

So NASA set to work. Early on it was decided that the main vehicle of the program, that would serve as the orbital workhorse, would be a winged spacecraft called an "Orbiter", equipped with one or more robotic arms to enable it to perform the duties required to accomplish the goals of the STS program. This decision also enabled the ability for significant down-mass, allowing the spacecraft to not only deliver cargo to space, but also bring it back down. 

Many companies would go on to present proposals to NASA for how the actual vehicle should look and operate. Some were basic, with simple lifting body spaceplanes lifted atop conventional rockets, and some were completely outlandish, such as one companies proposal (which was denied not only for being kind of silly, but also because it went against what NASA was looking for anyway) of a giant aerospike engine with a capsule and small cargo bay attached.  The most prominent candidate of the original proposals came from Tetragon Projects, with its HL class orbiter lifted aloft by a "fly-back" booster. However, while this design done very well, it suffered due one to the fact that it was very limited in both its up and down mass capabilities (despite the large engines on both the Orbiter and the booster), its higher than needed crew capacity (where a significant portion of the crew if manifested would essentially be nothing more than passengers), as well as the complexity of its main booster, which required not only a very advanced linear aerospike engine, but also extremely large wings to enable to fly back to the launch pad to be recovered and reused. Initial tests also indicated that the crucial glide time, required by the Orbiter to make it back to the Space center complex in the case of non-ideal re-entries (which would be present for most complex launches), was extremely low, with tests indicating that the Orbiter would have to come out of re-entry within 10 nautical miles of its landing site, essentially meaning it would have to fly a perfect ballistic re-entry in order to land at back at the Complex, something that was extremely complex and would put a huge amount of stress on the Orbiter and the crew. 

Eventually, however, another company would come into play with a proposal that was essentially like the answer to every problem the Tetragon orbiter faced, and then some. Cormorant Aeronology came onto the scene with a Tetragon-based system that followed a very simple pitch: Safer, Simpler, Better. Its proposal was for an orbiter lifted aloft by a pair of fly-back boosters (based on heritage Trident program hardware) that would be able to fly back from space without the need for large, heavy wings or even extensive hardware beyond that required for a conventional rocket. Also changed from the Tetragon proposal was a max crew of 6, as well as a change in the main engines of the Orbiter. With the HL orbiter, the orbiter had to boost itself through half of the flight, which required not only a large, heavy engine but also extensive fuel storage on the orbiter itself, cutting down the max payload and increasing complexity. Cormorants orbiter, however, is lifted aloft for 99% of the flight by its pair of boosters, which are jettisoned when the periapsis is raisied to approximately 20-30km above the surface. From here, the Orbiter requires a very minimal amount of delta v in order to circularize its orbit, starting at approximately 120m/s for Low Earth Orbit, compared to the HL orbiter, which required 10x that amount for a similar orbit. As such, the Cormorant design could do away with the large SSME engine and instead use 3 smaller RL-10A engines. As a result of this main engine change, this also enabled the orbiter to have a much larger safety margin than the HL design, with over 400m/s delta V extra when in the target orbit. 

The initial Cormorant design also proposed doing away with the conventional plane landing, and instead went for landing legs and large parachutes, citing the extra margins the Orbiter had and the both safer and simpler operation requirements as justification for the ultimately heavy system. NASA was on board with this decision well into the design process, however, further testing (including simulations and scale model tests), indicated that this system, while it would be technically safer and also enable a huge down mass ranging in the 60 ton region, would also induce a large g-spike as the parachutes deployed, as the Orbiter would end up being yanked backwards and upwards at the same time by the deploying parachutes, which in turn could potentially damage any of the payloads the Orbiter was bringing with it. Testing also indicated that the parachute system was unpredictable, with test results ranging from failed deployment to off-target landing due to wind and other variables (such as not all parachutes deploying properly). Further, it was realized that there was no fail-safe if the system was unable to slow the Orbiter's descent, or if it simply didn't deploy at all. Water landing was considered, but this would in turn be highly damaging to the Orbiter and would likely de-commission the Orbiter if one was ever required to ditch in the water.

So, the decision was made to move back to the conventional landing gear system of the HL design, with the parachutes relegated instead to drag chutes to help the Orbiter brake after landing. Meanwhile, the pair of fly-back boosters underwent little to no design changes from the original Cormorant proposal. Powered by F-1B engines (an upgraded version of the iconic F1 engine that helped take Kerbals to the Moon), the boosters were essentially SSTO rockets with the capability of autonomous flight, required for them to fly back to the pad to be refurbished and re-used for later flights. It accomplishes this some 3 minutes after Booster jettison, at an altitude ranging from 80-120km up (depending on the target orbit for the mission), where it will re-ignite the F-1B engine to reverse its flight path back to the pad, or, in the case of very high orbit flights (such as the proposed 400-500km orbits required for the proposed Space Station and Deep Space telescopes) for a landing at the pad at the second space complex on the other side of the country. To cope with the heat of re-entry, the booster flies with its ablative nose-cone pointed along the flight path until the booster reaches a speed of approximately mach 3, where the friction has reduced enough that the rest of the booster will remain relatively unscathed. Using a series of air-brake like systems and small amounts of thrust from the F-1B engine, it flips itself around for an engine down position at a speed of mach 1.9. At this point, the F-1B engine begins firing in order to adjust its course to land back at the pad utilizing a burn that would result in a "0 Thrust at Sea Level" type of landing, which would enable a clean rocket for refurbishment. 

With the design fully realized, all that was left was to build the dang thing. And thus, the first space capable Orbiter was delivered to NASA and christened as "Exploration", with its first test flight coming up fast...

And thus I present to you, STS 1. The first mission of the program, which served as a test flight and all-up test of the entire system.*

Following STS-1, the next 3 flights flew with little to no hiccups, and adjustments being made to the entire system as it went, adjusting flight controls and on-orbit operations for ease of use. STS-2 was the first time the Orbiter would fly with a payload, carrying a series of imaging equipment and engineering sensors to test how the different components of the Orbiter were coping with the vaccuum of space.

STS-3 was the first flight of Space Lab, which was a useful payload of the Orbiter that enabled to be used as a short-duration space station. However, due to the fuel cell issues**, the mission had to be aborted after less than one orbit as the crew of 4 would not be able to more than one day without losing power (and thus the ability to not only survive in space, but also come home). STS-4 followed up on this mission, with a second Spacelab mission that this time was successful. Also added as part of the standard Spacelab equipment was a pair of large deployable solar panels to augment (and for much of the flight, replace) the fuel cells of the Orbiter. 

With STS-5, the second space capable Orbiter, named Intrepid ,was manifested with the Earth Polar Imaging Satellite, which served as the first real test of the robotic arm in space. The arm grappled onto the satellite and moved it into a working position in the payload bay, while an EVA (also the first of the program) was conducted to activate the satellite. While the satellite by design could have been activated remotely, it was decided on to do so manually to test the ability of Kerbalnauts to work in the payload bay of the Orbiter. 

Intrepid would later follow up with STS-6 and 7, deploying a new constellation of ComSATs and an alignment satellite meant for use for future missions to Mars***. 

With the first pair of Orbiters proven as capable in their roles, the decision was made to move forward with the first major mission for the STS program: Moonlab. Many among Kerbal kind were upset when NASA announced that it would not be following up on the original Moon landings, but NASA's hands were tied as the original Trident hardware was already obsolete and a more extensive follow-up program deemed ultimately too expensive at any rate. But, public desires could not be ignored, and as such it was decided that the STS program would demonstrate its capability for orbital construction by putting together a relatively small and reusable spacecraft that would be able to travel to the Moon, orbit it for an extended amount of time, and then return to Earth. While the design did not include any manned landings, it would however support autonomous sample return later in the program, and with potential upgrades (aptly named Moonlab2) could possibly end up supporting manned landings provided a suitable lander could be acquired.

The Moonlab spacecraft would be constructed by the two Orbiters, and then for Moonlab expeditions, would have supplies and the standard crew of 4 delivered by the orbiters. After an expedition has ended and returned to Earth, an Orbiter would launch to rendezvous with the station (with a basic crew of two pilots, the minimum required to operate the orbiter on-orbit) to bring the crew and any acquired down-mass back to Earth. 

STS-8 would be the first launch of the Moonlab program, delivering the Command module as well as the Utility Node (nicknamed Crossroads by the engineers, due to it being the quintessential "crossroad" between the experiment modules, the command module, the Habitation module, and the PMA that the orbiter docks to) to a TLI-capable LEO. 

*In reality this wasn't my actual STS-1, as can be seen just by reading the album. However, I have very little desire in re-flying my real STS-1 given that my demonstration flight was almost identical, even right down to the Cuba landing. I also didn't want to leave the first post without anything to show for it, in any case.
**In reality, this was because I had underestimated the power consumption of the Science lab part I used for my Spacelab. The addition of solar panels in STS-4 resolved this issue, as the Orbiter would be able to run on the Fuel cell during the night side of the orbit, and on the solar panels for the day side, resulting a possible mission time of 24 days.
***This sattelite is required because of how SSRSS is. Its really hard to launch into the correct inclination for any other body (including the Moon), as the combination the 28* inclination you have to launch from combined with the larger distances between the planets/Moon makes it so you can't just eyeball it. So, alignment sattelites in LEO, that I align with the target body after the fact, serve as a target that I can easily launch into.

Edited June 25, 2016 by G'th
Reboot!1111 + Added more Pics.

[GMM_113]

Nice shuttle. I really like the launch vehicle

[Sampa]

Seems everyone is going thebsaturn shuttl route...

[G'th]

Seems everyone is going thebsaturn shuttl route...

Ha. Believe it or not I think I was among the first to actually do one. At least publicaly anyway:

Javascript is disabled. View full album

Its even my post popular album on imgur.

Anywhoo, updates are incoming today. Real life got a little dense and then a certain disaster happened in the save (Which will be canon) that hanged things up a bit. Also spent some time getting a Kanadarm2 type thing to work, which I think I'm going to have finished up today. Once thats done I'll update with STS 2-5 and another mission that was completed as well.

[Sampa]

I thought Zoo had one first? Maybe I just wasn't paying attention...

[G'th]

Its possible. All I know is is when I went to create my challenge page I couldn't find anyone who had really done one. So unless it was just a picture in a topic that didn't specifically deal with the Saturn-Shuttle I didn't see it at the time.

[Sampa]

see link in my signature

[G'th]

Ahh yes, then I think I may be the first. My shuttle was from this:

The Saturn-Shuttle Extravacatastrophy!

Which was last year in July. AT that time the HL parts that comprise my Shuttle were still under development (The person who has it in that page was a tester for B9 I believe) and the B9 procedural wings didn't even exist yet.

[Sampa]

Ok! and yeah! Zoo is a good friend of mine. I look forward to what you can do with this!

[G'th]

^ Yes I think as time goes on you'll be quite impressed with what I can pull off.

Also, promised updates are incoming. Internet went down yesterday and currently sledging through some slow internet today.

Edited November 7, 2015 by G'th

[Sampa]

Heh, that is me all over everyday where I live!

[G'th]

STS-8 to follow later

Edited June 27, 2016 by G'th
Edited out old Mission.

[G'th]

Bump for Reboot!

[G'th]

STS-8

(and hopefully the last time I have to make a multi-post!)

With the successful deployment of STS-8, the next module, the Habitation Module, is slated to be carried into orbit by Exploration in a few weeks. (Game time) Later, Intrepid will launch again with the pair of radial science labs that will attach to the port and starboard side of the Utility Node. And then on STS-10, the first flight of the third operational Orbiter, Atlantis, will see the Moonlab station completed with the delivery of the Propulsion and Logistics module. Atlantis is also slated to deliver the crew for Moonlabs shakedown circumlunar flight on STS-11, while Exploration is readied for Spacelab 5 and Intrepid for its Moonlab flight on STS-14. (we're skipping 13 cause duh).