Kerbolitto

April 9, 2020

34 minutes ago, sturmhauke said:

Using a rear-facing ramp is nice in some ways, but it also means I can't effectively dock anything substantial back there.

You could also try to dock something longitudinally above or below the shuttle ? :p like a fairing with cargo placed as an External Tank

April 9, 2020

2 hours ago, QF9E said:

I experimented with a different way of unloading cargo on the Mun, and I like this one better than the robot arm I used in the previous mission. While in Munar orbit I moved my cargo out of the cargo bays and attached it to the booster attachment point at the back of my shuttle. I could then simply undock the cargo to unload it after landing.

Here is an idea I had to deploy stuff on bodies with high G : double set of landing wheels, one medium and one high to lift the rear of the shuttle

1 hour ago, Yakez said:

The biggest issue that I ran into is lack of properly shaped 2.5 - 1.25 fuel tanks/adapters to cover forward port. They all have max temperature of 2000K. Every single reentry I had some borderline overheating of that part. Most likely would be redesigning that whole module.

A possible solution for you : green circle represents a fairing (better heat resistance) with interstage nodes, it has a much lower drag than standard fuel tanks, and I can also put stuff inside (tank, batterie, relaydish).

April 2, 2020

Damn, now I got to fly it for the 3rd time !

March 30, 2020

Thanks a lot Michal !
Take care, and play for fun

March 26, 2020

Just now, Ksp Slingshooter said:

Well, it's in rule #9. I haven't noticed the from LKO part. My plan was to get an encounter with Kerbin with the mothership and then launch the recovery rocket to rendezvous in an hyperbolic trajectory.

Oh sorry I stopped at only one craft must go to Jool So you're good to go !
Did a 5500m/s difference rendez-vous in solar orbit once, don't hesitate if you need help !

March 26, 2020

28 minutes ago, Ksp Slingshooter said:

and in the end rescue them with another ship to reenter Kerbin's atmosphere

I don't think you can do that since you have to launch 1 craft only to Jool to accomplish the whole mission..!

March 25, 2020

A few pictures from the last missions I flew

(yes I love shuttles <3 !)

more pictures in Shorpa mission reports

March 24, 2020

14 minutes ago, Yakez said:

Laythe is okay if I have fully fueled shuttle in orbit to start. It is by far the easiest place to land and to ascend. I think my shuttle is a bit under-powered with 6 Whiplash's and definitely with 6 Rapiers. 8 Rapiers were fine, tho. I would just need Rapier cluster to make trip far more comfortable and boost myself into orbit

If it flies well on 4 Rapiers (w/o cargo, low fuel) you can use them to provide a bit of boost when ascending Laythe on Vectors ! If you're shuttle is Tylo capable and has a sleek design you'll have enough dV to get out of the atmosphere.

17 minutes ago, Yakez said:

Tylo is the biggest concern for me, do not want to bring that dirty rocket fuel... My Kerbals believe in atom! If 8 Nukes would fail... from engineering standpoint it is more viable to bring lander over 100t shuttle landing. And technically it is still Jool 5.

Anyway Duna would most likely be the testing ground for more powerful VTOL, since 4 nukes and 17 shoots was not enough, hit the ground at 50 m/s... vertically...

That's the problem, nukes can only kill horizontal velocity, they're just too heavy to be usefull on descent.. even on Vall it's hard, you'd need 6 nukes for a 150t. craft to get 1TWR, and it would still be very dangerous to not impact. That would represent 15t. of LF (826dV) + rocket TWR to kill vertical velocity. So a lightweight solution could be to use 1 Dart and give it 200-300m/s.

Following this idea on Tylo, you'd need 50t. of LF to get 2430dV (150 -> 110t.) but 20 nukes to get 1 TWR, 60 tons of engines, which leaves only 40t. for the structure of the craft, minus the weight of the empty tanks D:
And it would still be very hard to land it :p

I like nukes too but even with 1.73TWR from 30k altitude I had troubles not to impact Tylo, I reloaded for maybe 1h30 before starting the retroburn at the precise second and still landed on the tail.

March 24, 2020

4 hours ago, Yakez said:

So I need to rethink second craft to be fuel tanker/refinery and maybe use double docked FMCS as transfer stage to Jool and back. Maybe I would do Ike or Dres pit stop...

Jool injection is only 2k m/s, could go even lower if you use Eve ! I don't know what would be the dV difference if you split the injection at Duna.. You can use the refinery as part of the Laythe outpost, as I did, so you only need to land on Laythe, deploy the thing, re-orbit and come back home .

5 hours ago, Yakez said:

Maybe I would go for double Nerv cluster for Tylo landing. It can be done with current design. Refinery taxi needs second cluster anyway if I want to be more fast and "realistic".

Im not sure you can save a lot of dV by deorbiting on Tylo with nukes, the thing is you will reduce your horizontal speed quite significantly and will need a lot of rocket TWR to avoid falling directly on the surface.

By looking roughly at my screens, I burned 62ms from Pol, +100m/S correction, 700m/S to capture at 30x30 above Tylo, 2450 or so to land (1.7 Vectors TWR). So once you empty LiquidFuel and shut the nukes, it's not that hard to come with 2500 +/- rocket dV. You could also leave the nuke's pod in orbit and save lots of weight this way. Or detach un-necessary parts of Laythe's outpost !

March 24, 2020

5 hours ago, Yakez said:

4 Rapiers for powered landing. And this pretty much had sparked into all this switcheroo bonanza. Nervs was pretty much no brainier from there. And then I was like... "can I fit 4 Nervs vertically into the cargo bay for Minmus landing?"

That's a good solution to cover the first ones but in the end it might hamper you to finish the high dV missions. I used that idea to dock 2 shuttles back to back and go / return to Jool but the crafts were not that efficient individually. Ultimately it's possible to create a 200t. Tylo shuttle but even with 0.12 nuke TWR it's barely manageable, so having a few tons of unused engine is a risk.

Regardless, this is good creativity and it's quite cool to use your shuttle as a toolbox, ready for almost anything

March 22, 2020

This is the report of a new STS Whynot, I went back to Duna with 2 different Shuttles to deploy a large outpost, using 2 assembly rovers

https://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/index.php?/topic/187136-spaceshuttle-shorpa-sts-jool-5-most-certainly-part-3-laythe-and-kerbin-heavy-beauty-pics/&do=findComment&comment=3759618

March 22, 2020

Ok so the Shuttles are back in action !

I flew a mission to deploy a large outpost on Duna using 2 shuttles, the biggest is a new twin bay design, while the other is the well-known Shorpa with a body-lift new wing design !

A few numbers :

I'll refer to this one as DB (Double Bay) : this beast weights 259t. and has 2x 1.5 Mk3 bays, 1600dV 0.3 TWR with 2 Bobcats, then 3140dV 0.24TWR on 6 nukes. 2 small docks, no RCS, the center craft is an "abort" shuttle designed to save the crew. It has 800m/s on a Terrier + 2 Panthers. This version is still fragile during re-entry.

This is the BL (Body Lift) Shorpa, 139t. 1.5 Mk3 bay + a ramp, 1340dV 0.56TWR on 2 Bobcats, then 3100dV 0.28TWR on 4 nukes, RCS but no docks. The wings are shorter and I tried to mimic a body-lift fuselage. So far it works quite well, but the cargo tonnage is reducting faster than on the larger shuttle.

Part 1 : Launch and Burn to Duna !

DB Orbiter is a 1500t. 3 stage design, 2 SRBs + a massive 12 Vectors central core, then 8 Vectors to finish the circularization.

Spoiler

8m/s margin on the circu -humpf-

Duna maneuver :

Shorpa BL Orbiter is the same as usual, I kept the old SRB design because they look cool :p

Part 2 : Duna approach

At first I tried to land on the poles or somewhere cool but the DB was quite fragile (probably due to a glitch savegame or autostrut breaking the fuselage :/).

Spoiler

BL orbit and polar maneuver after aerobraking :

DB :

Part 3 : Landing (cough)

Spoiler

DB deorbit maneuver :

Flare : the wing design is far better than expected ! Was able to stall at very low speed (also the 2 Cubs in front helped a bit)

Spoiler

Deorbit maneuver :

High speed approach :

BL on finale :

Part 4 : Deployement (why 2 shuttles?)

Smolcar is detached first :

Assembly rovers are deployed on their carts :

DB detaches its cargo :

And the assembly begins

Its mine !

Outpost is now complete !

Part 5 : Take-off

Spoiler

DB maneuver to orbit :

Spoiler

BL launch :

Part 6 : Return maneuver

Spoiler

DB maneuver :

Spoiler

BL maneuver : will require a 20+ms correction

Part 7 : Approach and landing

implied message ?

Spoiler

Quite hot indeed ! The small nosecones (they are expendables, I put heatshields behind them) and Cubs exploded, Bobcats were ok but are not well protected

Orbit after 1st aerobraking :

Final retroburn after a few orbits :

End of the mission

Spoiler

Approach :

Final flare :

Spoiler

Capture : Still hot, nosecones also exploded !

Orbit :

Deorbit burn after waiting a bit :

High speed approach :

And flare :

Hope you enjoyed Sorry for the (tons) of pictures !

Also there's still some videos of this mission on Twitch !

Spoiler

March 22, 2020

Here's the first part of the relaxed mission I flew on the surface of Duna.

The goal was to use somewhat "realistic" crafts, like 2 seats / kerbal for interplatenary travel, lots of electric power, heat dissipation, shield against radiations .. and land a little outpost on Duna.

Part 1 : Kerbin maneuvers

Orbital station on launchpad :

Staging :

Station in space : It has many docks, small maneuvring capabilities, will also deploy a M700 and act as the main relay around Duna

Duna burn :

Outpost on the lauchpad :

Staging :

Outpost in LKO : It carries the 2 stage lander plus the outpost with a skycrane

Burning :

Habitat + Re-entry vehicle on launchpad :

Staging :

Once in orbit, the crew ship turns around Apollo-style, to dock in front of the habs and transfer vehicle

Part 2 : Duna !

Habitat capturing :

Outpost has arrived :

.. And the orbital station :

Habitat is now docked to the station :

The crew is then transferred to the lander :

Outpost is remotely landed :

.. While the crew deorbits on its own :

Outpost is successfully deployed :

.. And the work begins !

Part 3 : Return to Motherland

After days of work (ha ha) the crew gets back in orbit :

Everyone is transferred back to the habs :

Burn back to Kerbin :

Capsule is detached : the habitat-transfer module is left on a solar orbit

Crew is succesfully landed

March 21, 2020

Sent you a message, all pictures of the stages I've finished are the v7_8 version which is specially designed for high speed jumps, up to 9G (but it doesn't like to turn sharply or drift)

March 20, 2020

12 minutes ago, sturmhauke said:

I've been busy working on my ~50t Munar cargo truck and base construction vehicle, but I should be able to apply some of those suspension lessons to a Dakar entry.

I can share my crafts if you want to study them !

March 16, 2020

4 minutes ago, sturmhauke said:

Thanks! And yeah, it is probably too big for Mk3. But I've been using Nertea's Mk4 mod since I started this series. Also it collapses for transport, although maybe not as compactly as yours.

Yes I saw the hinges ! Robotic is not that bad once you lower your expectations ^^

Look at that you will get a better idea

Spoiler

March 16, 2020

1 hour ago, sturmhauke said:

So I've decided to split my construction vehicle off from my flatbed truck. Trying to put a crane on the truck was proving difficult with the space limitations, and I didn't feel like redesigning the shuttle yet again. So here is a test of my new construction vehicle carrying the antenna mast for my base. It also has a klaw on the belly for moving habitation and other large modules.

Nice ! but a bit large for mk3 bay ?

I can send you this rover if you want to check it

March 15, 2020

Here are 2 small clips from the mission Im flying right now.

First is the landing of a 210t. shuttle with 2x 1.5 cargo bays, followed by the Shorpa with which I made my second run at this challenge, with a new wing design (body lift). I detailled the complete approach from supersonic to landing .

Again sorry if the quality is bad, I have dark age internet

Spoiler

New clip, outpost assembly

I will do a full post once the mission is over but maybe some of you may enjoy small videos too

Spoiler

March 13, 2020

1 hour ago, sturmhauke said:

I may need to rethink my construction methodology...

Cool stuff for future archeologists !

March 11, 2020

Work in progress

0.6TWR in orbit without cargo, 2 bobcats & 6 nukes, around 4k dV in total, good glider, double 1.5 cargo bay

Also the central cockpit is a terrier / jets propulsed mini-shuttle which can detach from the rest.

March 11, 2020

18 minutes ago, Ksp Slingshooter said:

Do we have to maintain the same shuttle design throughout the missions?

My advice would be to design a shuttle capable of holding 40t to orbit and descending them on the ground, with some pre-thinking about adding more fuel tanks / different engines.

This way you'll have a suitable craft capable of flying with various cargo and fuel mass, and possibillities to extend its range for the latest missions

March 11, 2020

7 hours ago, jinnantonix said:

Part 1 of my Jool 500 mission is completed.

Oh yeah that is a cool mother-ship !

March 4, 2020

5 hours ago, Castille7 said:

Many of my attempts looked much like this one. The last part being really difficult is why I encourage a player to find a good path and stick with it until you learn where to slow down.

Yeah problem is the vehicle takes a ton of speed downhill, and it bounces too often to keep its balance The less I use brakes the happier I am !

March 3, 2020

This is the JET-version, I just covered a few nodes and painfully pulled it to 150ms +/-.
The bow generate immense drag, I created a v2 which was more sleek but did not even touched 200m/S .. It's going to be a looooong way to make it SSTO capable xD

Spoiler

In the end, it crashes

March 2, 2020

1 minute ago, sturmhauke said:

Yeah, you're a madman. I love it! The crazy stuff I build at that scale tends to maneuver somewhat more explosively.

Thanks, it was not design to land in an atmosphere so the result is somewhat unexpected xD.

But yeah using empty SRBs and some struts, its really sturdy !

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