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KSP Challenge: "Creative emergency escape and re-entry vehicles"


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2,5m Service Bay which can hold 6 canned tun... kerbs. Capable for powered landings from LKO, but decided to install some parachutes also just because of safety reasons :rolleyes:

MOErAGT.pngXS60xVL.png

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A bit late... hope it still counts!

Spoiler

KaHAAyK.jpg

Fairings deployed awkwardly

eKlBlFX.jpg

Here's the escape pod! tiny, simple, and stackable using interstage fairing nodes. Capsule is just the standard Mk.1 pod, just from the PJ overhaul.

yv3tHQJ.jpg

It is also by far the most Kerbal thing I've ever made.

6Y5gI87.jpg

It has 2 seperatrons for deorbiting. Jeb seems to enjoy this part of the mission!

RWxWDn5.jpg

Entering the upper atmosphere. Jeb has never stopped smiling.

tk4338h.jpg

This is probably Jeb's favorite part of the mission.

nMeJcWS.jpg

It looks like Jeb's getting a bit hot in there... he's fine!

RusFb9O.jpg

By the way, to keep this thing from flipping over, there is an overpowered SAS module crammed in there. Properly balancing mass is so much less cooler than doing it this way.

JB8zKYX.jpg

Also, I could only fit in a drougue chute, which might not slow it down entirely...

2jHrFt2.jpg

Jeb seems fine. Nothing like skydiving.

1OnmTPv.jpg

EXPLOSIONS! Nothing could make Jeb's day any better at this point! (It impacted at ~24 m/s)

iCmqUEp.jpg

Jeb wants to do that AGAIN!

 

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2 hours ago, ThatGuyWithALongUsername said:

A bit late... hope it still counts!

  Hide contents

KaHAAyK.jpg

Fairings deployed awkwardly

eKlBlFX.jpg

Here's the escape pod! tiny, simple, and stackable using interstage fairing nodes. Capsule is just the standard Mk.1 pod, just from the PJ overhaul.

yv3tHQJ.jpg

It is also by far the most Kerbal thing I've ever made.

6Y5gI87.jpg

It has 2 seperatrons for deorbiting. Jeb seems to enjoy this part of the mission!

RWxWDn5.jpg

Entering the upper atmosphere. Jeb has never stopped smiling.

tk4338h.jpg

This is probably Jeb's favorite part of the mission.

nMeJcWS.jpg

It looks like Jeb's getting a bit hot in there... he's fine!

RusFb9O.jpg

By the way, to keep this thing from flipping over, there is an overpowered SAS module crammed in there. Properly balancing mass is so much less cooler than doing it this way.

JB8zKYX.jpg

Also, I could only fit in a drougue chute, which might not slow it down entirely...

2jHrFt2.jpg

Jeb seems fine. Nothing like skydiving.

1OnmTPv.jpg

EXPLOSIONS! Nothing could make Jeb's day any better at this point! (It impacted at ~24 m/s)

iCmqUEp.jpg

Jeb wants to do that AGAIN!

 

Definitely one of the most kerbal things I have ever seen 

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Here's my entry for this shenanigan.   It pops out of some ridiculous space bus I built...   with sepratrons... because sepratrons are cool...  Has it's own service module with an absurd amount of delta-v, reaction control, solar panels and a docking port for those times when you're not escaping all the way home...  additional sepratrons so it can deorbit even when out of LFO... and because sepratrons are cool.   Hilights video attached.

 

@ThatGuyWithALongUsername    I'm just glad the entry platform has a solar panel to keep Jeb's Kpod charged and playing his tunes all the way down.

 

 

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Here's my entry for this shenanigan.   It pops out of some ridiculous space bus I built...   with sepratrons... because sepratrons are cool...  Has it's own service module with an absurd amount of delta-v, reaction control, solar panels and a docking port for those times when you're not escaping all the way home...  additional sepratrons so it can deorbit even when out of LFO... and because sepratrons are cool.   Hilights video attached.

 

@ThatGuyWithALongUsername    I'm just glad the entry platform has a solar panel to keep Jeb's Kpod charged and playing his tunes all the way down.

 

 

Update -  I had to try again... this time doing something actually creative!    My escape pod this go around is boring... what's fun about it is - I used KRPC and Python to make a totally automated escape sequence!  Have to assume that in an emergency even Jeb could be incapacitated right?   

Here's the gallery of images for every phase - 

When the abort button is pressed the script selects 'control from here' for the cupola, decouples it from the station, orients it retrograde, fires sepratrons, and then deploys parachutes when it reaches 5000m!   All without any user interaction!  The KRPC script is - 

 

import time
import krpc

conn=krpc.connect(name="Abort Protocol")   #setup the connection

sc=conn.space_center                      #Use some variables to save us typing later by grabbing hold of stuff
v=sc.active_vessel
ap=v.auto_pilot
 

conn.ui.message("Abort Sequence Armed",5)
while v.control.abort==False:   # Wait until abort is activated
    pass

conn.ui.message("Abort!   Setting Control From Here And Decoupling!",5)
v.parts.controlling=v.parts.with_name('cupola')[0]  # select the cupola for 'control from here so we usually go with it as active vessel

dc=v.parts.with_tag('dc')[0]   #Grab the decoupler
dc.decoupler.decouple()

time.sleep(3)  #  Wait three seconds to clear the station

v=sc.active_vessel     #Reset the active vessel just to be safe

conn.ui.message("Orienting Retrograde and Initiating Deorbital Burn",5)
ap.reference_frame = v.orbital_reference_frame  # Set the reference frame
ap.engage()   #engage the autopilot
ap.target_direction = (0, -1, 0)  # Point Retrograde
ap.wait()  # Wait until we're actually retrograde

v.control.activate_next_stage()  # Fire the Sepratrons to deorbit the ship

f=v.flight()  #Hook into telemetry

conn.ui.message("Waiting for 5000m AGL to Deploy Parachutes",5)
while f.mean_altitude>5000:  #We're falllllling!
    pass

for parachute in v.parts.parachutes:
    parachute.deploy()

v.auto_pilot.disengage()

conn.ui.message("Please Return Tray Tables and Seat Backs to Upright Position Prior to Landing!",5)

 

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On ‎15‎-‎5‎-‎2017 at 8:22 AM, Tinty Moce Fowt said:

Just wanted to say that I'm impressed with every entry in every challenge presented so far -- there's not a dud in the bunch -- but that, to keep them meaningful, I reserve my "Likes" for shots that catch my eye, that somehow stand out from all this amazing creativity just a little bit. It could be due to the realism, a bit more ingenuity in design, a little humor maybe, or because of the presentation (I have a hard time restraining myself from "Liking" every single entry).

I have to single out this shot, though, as nothing less than a work of art (and it's not JUST luck, mods, or whatever). A credit to you, @LoSBoL. Beautifully captured.

It was a beautifull sight indeed, a small gift to have seen it. :) I'm honoured, but the magic was all KSP here, I just happened to be at the right place at the right time franticly slamming F1 :wink: 

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BB6914F50F6E8D65FD1DFEF4DAF52F38E5EB12C3

This was "Southern Cross", and it was launched as a replacement for a nearly identical station that was destroyed due to a Tweakscale bug during the transition from 0.25 to 0.90. Caused part masses to rise rapidly with every load of the vessel. The station tore itself apart. I launched this the "quick and dirty method" (used infinite fuel) cause it was a royal pain in the backside to launch this thing on Asparagus staging like the first one, and I was still kinda miffed that my big career game had broken. Oh well...

The pair of bio-domes were one of my favorite parts (sadly, the mod is long out of date). Each of the two domes housed 8 Kerbals. The launch vessel included four escape pods that consisted of  the Mk1 Command Pod stacked on top of the Mk1-2 Command Pod, with a tiny RCS tank and some RCS maneuvering thrusters and a pair of mono prop engines. Each pod could hold 4 kerbals, thus the four pods meant that the entire population of both bio-domes could be easily evacuated. The cross structure had cross structures at it's tips with numerous docking ports, as well as the cupola command modules... As if you NEEDED more of a view... I still had 4 docking ports open for more expansion or more escape pods. I actually made that configuration my go to launch vessel as well. I'd launch a stacked Mk-1 + Mk1-2 vessel to dock new crew, and I could either leave it there as another escape pod, or send another crew back in it. It was universal, modular, and above all, Simple!

*I never got screenshots of the original Southern Cross, only it's replacement.


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This was the vessel I used to rescue my crew from the 0.90 transition glitches. It carried 48 souls back to Kerbin... Again, since it was "bug recovery", I allowed myself to use infinite fuel. It relied on parachute spam to survive re-entry. Staggered drogue and main deployment over a wide range of altitudes. This saved the kerbals from my "Silent Running" station. It was a ring station that fared even worst than "Southern Cross". Southern Cross's Escape pods survived the glitches.

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781B1574586C43EB852CF8B3C94E096C6B345E26

The pair of Mk-2 command modules you see sitting randomly on the ground... Those are an example a FAILED escape pod. The station around the background is Minmus Waystation, a modified clone of Silent Running, modded to make a ground landing. I know the station is SO WRONG, as far as gravity is concerned... Umm... Classified artificial gravity research station... Yeah, that's it... Anyway, That monstrosity was launched on the most monstrous stack of asparagus staged tanks you've ever seen... The final decent relied of drop tanks that NEEDED to blow up on hitting the ground, or they'd clutter the landing site. The very, VERY final decent burned off the last fuel reserves held in the fuel tanks for the ISRU setup in the center stack of the station.

The Cupola was in and of itself, a single person "jump shuttle" with enough thrust to move around a bit and reach the ground or any of the other stacks, using RCS. The four outer stacks ONCE had four escape vessels... They were... problematic. They consisted of a four pointed star made of MK-2 cockpits. It had some Xenon tanks, RTGs, and Ion engines on both he underside and the "back". You commanded it from the cockpit facing away from the rear engine thrust. The idea would be that the vessel would fly in like a wing once maneuvered back to Kerbin, with the four cockpits worth of reaction wheels used for orientation.

I failed to design them with enough vertical thrust, so just before I hit escape velocity on Minmus, I'd inevitably hit the ground... I might have been able make it work, with enough practice, and the right angle (to get a vector from the rear engines pushing downward) of attack... But I ran out of escape vessels to practice on. The two capsules that sit lonely... well, I got quite a ways away on my final attempt, only to break my vessel up glancing the ground at a pretty good clip. I needed to get my crew back to base... So the RTG equipped cockpits became tumblers, flipping end over end, thanks to Kerbal's OP reaction wheels. "Rolled" two pods back in to bring back my crew. I ended up leaving the pair of pods as "bunks" for visitors. With RTGs, they're still considered valid vessels, and aren't dead in the water.

Also not pictured... The rover that could totally drive under the station when it was in the VAB, but not once the weight of the station compressed all those landing legs, and left the rover with a range of... the inside diameter of the station. :/

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