School Project

[cutlercollin99]

Hello fellow Kerbals, 

For my engineering class project, I have to make my own problem- solution project. Me, an avid kerbal lover, I want to incorporate KSP in any way. I have to propose a problem, give a possible solution for the problem, and execute the project I made. It would be a cool way to integrate KSP into school. I can download mods too if the problem requires it. I just would like your guy's thoughts and ideas for a problem that I could solve. All advice is appreciated!

Send me a personal message if you want to have a conversation about your project idea. 

Thanks a lot!

[theend3r]

I don't know how skilled you are at programming but writing a program (for kOS or make a standalone mod) that could plan gravity assist maneuvers and potentially even execute them would be an interesting project.

 

[Kerbol Macrosystems]

A launch optimizer would be a good project.  You would need to run a minimization algorithm that alters thrust and attitude throughout a flight, using a given drag profile and atmosphere characteristic.  If that seems to easy, do it again for a space plane by adding lift characteristic and angle of attack.  If this is too hard, you could write a de-orbit targeting algorithm that can help a vessel target its re-entry landing location.

[Torgo]

Approach it like a contract. They give you the requirements, and it's up to you to develop the solution.

This would also let you incorporate having to do the project on a limited budget. 

Just to throw an example out there: You have been tasked to put a space station in orbit of the Mun. It needs to have a science lab, communications, power generation and storage and be able to support 4 kerbals. Your budget is 75,000 funds up front and 225,000 funds upon completion for a total of 300,000. 

Now you'll have to design the station, along with the means to get it to its destination and stay within budget doing it. You'll have opportunity to explain your design choices and how they impact multiple facets of the project. Do you build it on the ground and launch in one piece in one launch, or do you do multiple launches? 

You could add mods like Kerbal Construction Time, Stage Recovery and even life support for added depth. 

[cutlercollin99]

3 hours ago, Torgo said:

Approach it like a contract. They give you the requirements, and it's up to you to develop the solution.

I'm liking that concept. I would have to figure out what is an appropriate amount of money and what the contract should be. Thanks @Torgo Anyone want to help me make the contract?  

 

[Nich]

Frankly I would stay away from ksp for this project.  Just slapping together parts to solve a problem by trial and error will make a lousy paper.  Did the teachers provide an example project? What grade are you in? A project would ether already be accomplished by some one else or would be Ph.D. Level math. While using others work is a must in engineering I suspect a professor would not be impressed.

[cutlercollin99]

1 minute ago, Nich said:

Frankly I would stay away from ksp for this project.  

I would agree with you, but my teacher was intrigued when I told him that I was interested with involving KSP. I'm a junior in high school by the way. The project for the class was that we have to come up with an example project for a class to do. Make some sort of explanation paper explaining the day that it is due, the requirements needed to get graded etc. I wanted to use KSP because of the physics aspect and I just love KSP. My teacher is very understanding and versatile. 

[Pthigrivi]

This sounds great Collin. High five on the name by the way. Have you tried using Real Solar System or any of the realism mods? A really fantastic project could be to build, fly and document a simple moon mission. I think if you carefully went through some of the math and showed some work calculating TWR, ISP, DeltaV etc, you could have something really great. 

Oh! and of course, check here! 

http://www.kerbaledu.com/

Edited March 31, 2016 by Pthigrivi

[Triop]

"I have to make my own problem- solution project. "

Do that every day, it's called life...Now where is my badge ?

[DMSP]

Asteroid Redirect Mission. 100%.

[Creature]

If you could get realism overhaul, that would basically make KSP your simulation software. If it feels a bit daunting and you don't have too much time then just use the stock version, RO is quite a handful at start. Just remember that you're supposed to focus on the problem and the solution, not on you playing the game.

You could for example take a probe which has too little dV to reach a planet and then propose how you would use a gravity assist to solve the problem. That would be fairly simple to do even with RO if you have time to set it up. Just presenting the dV requirements, craft capabilities and the transfer orbits should be more than enough for a high school project.

Another idea would be to present something like a moon landing but instead of one big rocket to bring the command module and lander, you use two small ones and dock the two craft together in orbit. That way you can focus more on the rockets themselves and present a more detailed math on the rocket equation  and maybe even show the huge difference in launch vehicle size if you go with either one or double launch, then present some discussion on why Apollo went with one huge rocket.

For a more straightforward problem you could also just take staging as your subject and show in detail why it's used, the differences between atmospheric and vacuum engines and if you go the RO route you can discuss for example different fuels and boil-off and such.

I don't know if any of this was helpful but just random ideas that popped into my mind

[Nich]

Have you looked in the challenges forum? Payload fraction, cheap and cheer full, munar marooned could all use spreadsheeting and numerical optimization that could make for an interesting paper. Seeing as your a junior I would not expect your teacher to expect anything original. And if you manage to bet me you can point out to your teacher you beat a college educated aerospace engineer

[ILikeIke]

@cutlercollin99 The other solutions here are really great! If you don't want to deal with realism mods (which I recommend avoiding if your project has a deadline in less than 3 weeks because it has a significant learning curve), you could take a mission (planned or executed) from history or a work of fiction and perform it in KSP. It might be really cool to design your own X-20 Dyna-Soar, fly a test mission, and document it. If you're more into fiction, NASA sent an unmanned guided probe with supplies to Astronaut Wattney in The Martian that might be worth taking a look at, and the Mars Ascent Vehicle also sounds like it would have been an incredible feat of engineering in real life. 

Also since it sounds like this could turn into a design project, you may find some of these tips helpful http://spacecraft.ssl.umd.edu/akins_laws.html 

I wish you the best of luck with your project, and hope you let us know how it goes!