Dock Two Lander Cans In Kerbin Orbit With No RCS

[tosha]

In my career mode, I recently accepted a contract to build a space station. The launch of the first module went without a hitch, but I was so hasty on the second ( I just used the same spacecraft, but with another cockpit to fulfill the crew capacity requirement) that I forgot to add RCS thrusters. After pushing my close approach to .3 kilometers, when I started killing relative velocity, I realized "uh-oh, I forgot the RCS bits and pieces". I however succeed in docking through careful prograde and retrograde burns, along with thrusting toward and away from the target. I want you to do something similar.

Here are the requirements.

1. The first module must have at least one mk1 lander can, an antenna, and power generation.

2. Neither the first, nor the second module may have ANY form of RCS thruster (0-10 engine is allowed however)

3: Post a picture of the ship on the launchpad, three pictures of the rendezvous procedure, one from map view showing close approach arrows, and a picture of the docked spacecraft. A video is okay too.

Edited December 3, 2016 by tosha

[Gordon Fecyk]

Having just witnessed some shenanigans in another challenge, I can just see someone using an array of either O-10s or Twitch engines pointed in different directions, and using action groups to emulate RCS behaviour. That may be another case of Too Much Time On My Hands though.

That aside, I can see careful use of SAS target tracking helping out a lot in a no-RCS scenario. Sounds like fun.

And if someone hasn't told you already, Good Day and welcome to the KSP Forums!

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[bengee777]

While I probably won't be doing this challenge any time soon, I guess I can give some advice...

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[Superfluous J]

Can I just submit any of the videos I've made in the past several years in which I dock 2 small ships together?

I don't even think about RCS until I'm docking two things that are each bigger than an orange tank. And usually I think "Naaw I still don't need RCS for this."

[tosha]

13 hours ago, 5thHorseman said:

Can I just submit any of the videos I've made in the past several years in which I dock 2 small ships together?

I don't even think about RCS until I'm docking two things that are each bigger than an orange tank. And usually I think "Naaw I still don't need RCS for this."

Feel free to submit past videos

[tosha]

13 hours ago, Gordon Fecyk said:

Having just witnessed some shenanigans in another challenge, I can just see someone using an array of either O-10s or Twitch engines pointed in different directions, and using action groups to emulate RCS behaviour. That may be another case of Too Much Time On My Hands though.

That aside, I can see careful use of SAS target tracking helping out a lot in a no-RCS scenario. Sounds like fun.

And if someone hasn't told you already, Good Day and welcome to the KSP Forums!

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Thank you for the welcome, I didn't think that anybody would want to waste time with action groups and radial engines, as once you dock without RCS once, It becomes easy.

[GoSlash27]

As @5thHorseman points out, docking 2 craft with no RCS is actually a trivial matter. Many of us have done this. All you have to do is point the docking ports at each other and initiate a closure rate. RCS for docking isn't a necessity, it's a luxury.

Best,
-Slashy

[RuFLaSH]

I haven't done this challenge, but my buddy came up with a nice early sollution by using an Ant on the side of the ship and I furthered the thought by designing an "RCS" Ant block.

[BlockTrooper]

Did that 2 days ago lol, and it wasn't easy, when I docked, the entire thing started spinning out of control!

[MaxL_1023]

A harder challenge would be to dock two lander cans together, without RCS, in RSS, with Realism Overhaul installed. Heavily nerfed reaction wheels, most engines are unthrottleable and everything is 3 times faster.