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(1.1.x) Build a Kerbal scaled ISS


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@sgt_flyer and myself have been busy beavering away on this, it's not fully complete but we have most major components finished. If you would like to help us test released components, please provide your feedback in this thread.

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The International Space Station (ISS) is a space station, or a habitable artificial satellite, in low Earth orbit. Its first component launched into orbit in 1998, and the ISS is now the largest artificial body in orbit and can often be seen with the naked eye from Earth.[7][8] The ISS consists of pressurised modules, external trusses, solar arrays, and other components. ISS components have been launched by Russian Proton and Soyuz rockets, and American Space Shuttles.

Our version of the ISS has been Kerbalised to 64% scale. All the components and craft are made from stock parts and tested to work together. It is built to be not only an exacting replica but user friendly and performant as well. We will update this thread as components and systems become available.

Just a note for those who wish to use MechJeb, we don't recommend it, everything works better manually with just SAS engaged except where it is explicitly stated to use Prograde Hold or some other mode

Current dev ISS at 1032 parts (this was hyperedited into orbit briefly for promotional use, we have not progressed this far with launching yet)

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Introduction Video

Edited by selfish_meme
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ISS Component Schedule Table
Element Launcher Mass (kg) Picture reserved reserved
Zarya (FGB) Proton-K 19,323 iXfaIKCm.png    
Unity (Node 1), PMA-1 & PMA-2 Space Shuttle Endeavour (STS 88) 11,612 MbbvzTEm.png    
Zvezda (Service Module) Proton-K 19,051 iXfaIKCm.png    
Progress M1-3 Soyuz U   J8idNXH.jpg    
Soyuz TM-31 Soyuz U 6,680 J8idNXH.jpg    
Z1 Truss & PMA-3 Space Shuttle Discovery (STS-92) 8,755 MbbvzTEm.png    
P6 Truss & Solar Arrays Space Shuttle Endeavour (STS-97) 15,824 MbbvzTEm.png    
Destiny Lab Space Shuttle Atlantis (STS-98) 14,515 MbbvzTEm.png    
External Stowage Platform-1 Space Shuttle Discovery (STS-102)   MbbvzTEm.png    
Canadarm2 (SSRMS)

Space Shuttle Endeavour(STS-100)

17.6 MbbvzTEm.png    
Quest (Joint Airlock) Space Shuttle Atlantis (STS-104)   MbbvzTEm.png    
           
           
           
           
           
           
           
           
           
           
           
           
           
           
           
           
           
           
           
           
           
           
           
           
           

 

 

Edited by selfish_meme
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Craft Downloads

Launchers and Payloads

Proton-K (subassembly)

Proton Zarya

Space Shuttle (Empty)

Space Shuttle Endeavour STS-88 (with Unity and PMA-1 and PMA-2)

Proton Zvezda

Soyuz U with Soyuz TM

Space Shuttle Discovery STS-92 (with Z1 Truss and PMA-3)

Soyuz-U (Progress M-SO1) with Launchpad

Space Shuttle Endeavour STS-97 (with P6 Truss)  New

Proton-M

Soyuz 2.1b

 

Stations Modules

Zarya

Unity

PMA

Zvezda

Z1 Truss

P6 Truss and Solar Arrays

Destiny Lab  Updated

ESP-1

ESP-2

ESP-3

ELC (1,2,3,4)

ELM-PS, JEM-PM, JEM-EF, and modules for JEM-EF

Rassvet

ISS (several versions, start where you want - Planned)

 

Saved Files

Canadarm STS-88 practice save with Unity and Zarya

ISS 2 modules : Zarya and Unity docked together

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ISS 3 modules : addition of Zvezda to ISS

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ISS STS-92 Discovery docked to PMA-2 with Z1 Truss and PMA-3 in cargo bay

ISS 4 Modules: addition of Z1 Truss and PMA-3

jecQQ8lt.png

ISS with Deployed P6 truss, prior to attachment of Destiny Lab  New

ISS STS-97 Endeavour docked P6 Truss in Cargo Bay  New

ISS with 5 Modules + Progress  New

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Operating Instructions

Launch of Zarya

Spoiler

Zarya is a very well behaved craft and even MechJeb can fly it, you can turn on RCS before staging as it is behind the fairing and not working anyway, but it will be on straight away when the fairing deploys giving you attitude control when the engines stop. Do not use prograde hold, the induced oscillations will destroy the first stage.

Once you are in your desired orbit (I go for 150 km) and you have discarded the 3rd stage and engaged Zarya's engines it is time to deploy the solar panels. First hit the stage buttons you will see the Solar Panels move outwards into their proper position, the Action group 1 to extend the panels. Do this before quicksaving or exiting, if you return to the craft afterwards and try this it might explode :0.0:

Canadarm Operation Instructions

Spoiler

Action groups :

AG 1 : toggle the OMS engines fuel. (you can disable the fuel flow if you want to be safe during canadarm's operation, and not risk any accidental throttling messing things up :p)

AG 2 : toggle the shuttle bay doors.

AG 3 : toggle the canadarm's reaction wheels.

AG 4 : decouple / undocks the canadarm from the shuttle.

 

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Canadarm's operations :

important : do not use timewarp while elements of the canadarm are undocked.

Before decoupling the canadarm :

quicksave ! this level of miniaturisation comes with some fringe cases in physics, which can break the arm. so always quicksave before :)

 

- Activate the shuttle's SAS (the shuttle must keep it's SAS active at all times during canadarm's operation, else the canadarm's movement would alterate the shuttle's attitude).

- turn on the canadarm's reaction wheels (AG 3)

- press AG4 to decouple the canadarm (the first time you use the canadarm it will instantly redock on two points - repress AG4 to completely free the canadarm)

 

you can now switch vessels between the various segments of the canadarm.

you can use your roll / pitch / yaw keys to control the various elements - the joints of the canadarms will make it so using one element will make it move accordingly to the other elements :)

turn on SAS on a specific part for 'locking' an element while you move others. the canadarm is susceptible to momentum, so make only short keypresses :) (or enter soft mode), else the SAS will have an hard time slowing down that kind of momentum :)

control specifics :

for all elements : the key to press to perform a specific movement can change depending on which part has a 'control from here'.

- Arm section (shoulder to elbow) : restricted to 2 Degrees Of Freedom. - using control from here on either the probe core (on the shoulder) or the docking port (on the elbow) can switch the pitch and roll controls.

using the Yaw or roll keys depends on how much pitch the canadarm has. (the higher in a vertical pitch above the shuttle the arm section has, the more you'll need to use Roll instead of Yaw to make it

 

- Forearm section :

only 1 DOF. the probe core and the docking port are lined up, so controls should stay the same.

use roll control to rotate the forearm around the elbow.

using other inputs will apply torque on the elbow, and can be used to have limited control onto the Arm section if the arm's section SAS is disabled, without needing to switch to it.

 

- Wrist and End effector section :

3 DOF. use pitch, yaw and roll controls to move the wrist section around. after you docked the end effector onto something, - you can switch 'control from here' to the payload carried by the wrist, if needed. (in this case, yaw / pitch / roll controls would be applied to the orientation of the controlling part on the payload)

---------------------------
 

for docking the wrist onto something : move the other elements of the arm so the wrist end up near the docking port jr you want to dock onto. adjust the wrist section's attitude, so it's correctly lined up with the docking port, then switch back to either the arm or the forearm to make the final approach into docking port magnetism range. - once magnetism has kicked in, it can be useful to disable the SAS on the various sections of the canadarm (helps the magnetism to correctly position the wrist for docking it)

---------------------------

Known problems : docking events can sometime rip off sections of the arm (they fly out of their joints) - to limit the risks of seeing that, avoid putting the canadarm in a position which would 'strain' the joints during docking. (ex, the arm section in contact with the cargo bay side) also, disabling SAS on the various elements just before magnetisation and docking also limit the occurences. (if it still happens, just quickload :p)

Docking Unity and Zarya

Spoiler

-  Unity :

use the canadarm to latch onto one of the docking port JR's of unity. once you docked the canadarm on unity, switch to the shuttle, and click on the shuttle's rear docking port and use the docking port decouple action to free unity.

gently move unity out of the cargo bay with the canadarm (even shorter keypresses with the addionnal weight - more momentum at the end of the arm) rotate unity to dock it onto the shuttle's topside docking port.

- Zarya :

use Zarya's RCS to approach the shuttle which now has unity.

Zarya has a docking port JR avaible for the canadarm to grab on, so place Zarya within the reach of the canadarm.

dock the canadarm's end effector onto Zarya.

you can now manoeuver the canadarm around to position Zarya onto the other Unity docking port :)

Progress launch and Operations

Spoiler

launch profile :

i start a 5° pitchover when i reach around 70 m/s, afterwards, Stability assist or prograde hold both works :)

i try to reach an angle of 45° above the horizon by 20000m. fairing ejection once the rocket reaches above 40000m (you can start heading for the horizon by this point)

once on the third stage, stage a 2nd time to eject the engine shroud. i generally aim the 3rd stage between 15 - 20° under the horizon - allows me to control the rate at which the apoapsis raises, allows me to make a single burn to spacecraft separation (with periapsis in atmosphere)

Action group 1 to deploy the antenna and solar panels once in orbit.

 

Edited by selfish_meme
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Instruction Videos

Playlist of all Instruction Videos

 

Proton Zarya Launch

Spoiler

 

Space Shuttle Launch

Spoiler

 

Use Canadarm to relocate Unity on top docking port ready for Zarya

Spoiler

 

Use Canadarm to dock Zarya to Unity

Spoiler

 

Space Shuttle re-entry

Spoiler

 

Zvezda Launch and Docking

Spoiler

 

Progress Launch and Docking

Spoiler

 

Installation of Z1 Truss and PMA-3

Spoiler

 

Installation of P6 truss

 

Edited by selfish_meme
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Current Dev Images and Gifs

Dev ISS (not launched)

Spoiler

 

Progress docking with ISS

Spoiler

DoGvz9U.png

 

Older dev screenshots

Unity docked to Zarya

Spoiler

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VAHHj4f.png

iss_fgb_unity_us_eva1_1.jpg

Shuttle Launch test gif

Spoiler

Zarya

Spoiler

tM2ZLjX.png

Proton

Spoiler

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Soyuz

Spoiler

EsRsHsu.png

qaYrbt7.png

Z1 Truss and Unity

Spoiler

 

OMqAkwF.png

UIk6iYf.png

Canadarm

Spoiler

FE9fh0g.jpg

 

Shuttle

Spoiler

DhxP0ww.png

Booster Separation

Spoiler

1zSwoiM.png

Launch

Spoiler

74wfdQq.png

Shuttle Comparison

Spoiler

81aH9q3.png

 

Edited by selfish_meme
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EsRsHsu.png

 

Ooh wow looks better then mine!! :o Did you get the parachutes to work? it used to be such a hassle to get working parachutes inside the fairings in 1.05 And how did you make that last edge of the service module flair out? Grmbl now I want to start building again as well.. Stupid work :-(

Btw I don't think the soyuz uses the truss segment anymore, I thought that was the old ones (see image)081014.jpg

 

 

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On 4/29/2016 at 6:58 PM, WooDzor said:

Ooh wow looks better then mine!! :o Did you get the parachutes to work? it used to be such a hassle to get working parachutes inside the fairings in 1.05 And how did you make that last edge of the service module flair out? Grmbl now I want to start building again as well.. Stupid work :-(

Btw I don't think the soyuz uses the truss segment anymore, I thought that was the old ones (see image)

Yes I think they used the Soyuz TM series without the truss, this is one of @sgt_flyer dev shot's, so not the final version.

Edit: I think the structure is the same, they just added a covering to the truss.

Album from sgt_flyers post below about progress on the Soyuz

 

Edited by selfish_meme
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@WooDzor the parachute works :) (it's a single blue radial one) - gives the soyuz roughly 10m/s of landing speed @ sea level - so i also have separatrons as retrorockets tuned to help slow down :) (5/6s of retrorocket at slightly below 1TWR)

it's very cramped too ^^ 3 kerbal capable (though it's also heavy, at 7 tons ^^)

the flare of the fairing is an open ended fairing creation technique :).

basically, you can actually close a fairing onto thermometers placed in radial symmetry, with the correct angle for the thermometers - and you can even remove the thermometers afterwards, the fairing don't disappear ^^

for the truss, the soyuz truss is still present even on recent ones, it's just hidden :) - remember soyuz is 'wrapped' in blankets until it separates ^^ the problem, using a fairing would disable the RCS ports there :) 

i might use an inverted BZ-52 radial attachment point to cover the gap instead (and still retain RCS functionnality) :)

 

Edited by sgt_flyer
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1 hour ago, sgt_flyer said:

snippy snippy

 

The original is cramped as well. :-P Did you put seats or clipped in 3 mk 1 command pods? Still does my head in though - Funny Russians; 'Space is cold, let's make our mighty Soyuz wear a sock'

I just had a look at mine (yay! for lunch breaks and running KSP inside a dropbox folder) - I closed that gap with the heat shield's cover - doesn't look great nor terrible, but WHY are some of these textures so horrible for making stock replicas? It drives me nuts sometimes

Oh and thanks for the thermometer tip, I haven't been able to spend much time building things in the latest KSP, grmblifeandwork :-|, maybe this weekend. :-)

BTW I would probably try to simplify your crafts here and there. I am on 651 parts for my ISS and it's still not great, even though everything runs a lot smoother in 1.11


 

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@WooDzorhere's a small WIP gallery on my updated soyuz with twin heatshields shrouds - one on the descent module, the other on the service module. (when separating, the shroud of the descent module's heatshield stays with the service module) :) (and yup, i have 3 MK1's in there ^^) - hopefully, without the struts, the soyuz partcount dropped to 70 :) - and it's lighter too ! :) (6.2 tons instead of 7 ^^)

also block I and fairing WIP's (at this size, will be difficult to replicate the grid fins ^^', plus some of the fairings limitations prevent me from doing everything i want ^^)

as for staying under 651 parts for ISS, i think it'll be difficult, even if the fairings help a lot :)

 

 

 

 

 

Edited by sgt_flyer
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Oh woow looks great! Is that a stack decoupler on the heat shield? (heat shield ejection pic)? No longer necessary, heat shields have them included in 1.1 (it's a bit hidden under the RMB in the VAB.

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here's a WIP on S0, S1 and P1 trusses. (click the images for full size)

rG56dVSm.png

 

yEfudVlm.png
 
and yup - the cart can actually move along the whole length of the thing (and redock in the middle afterwards) ! and the new wheels work in orbit too in 1.1 :) (in 1.05 they got destroyed unless using them in a geostationnary orbit)
 
l5a6mmim.png
 
32 minutes ago, WooDzor said:

Oh woow looks great! Is that a stack decoupler on the heat shield? (heat shield ejection pic)? No longer necessary, heat shields have them included in 1.1 (it's a bit hidden under the RMB in the VAB.

thanks - i thought it was for ejecting whatever was on the shroud side :)

 

Edited by sgt_flyer
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18 minutes ago, sgt_flyer said:

@MK3424

we have our own stock canadarm :wink: - this ISS pack is meant to be stock ^^ - afterwards, people are free to do what they want :)

Db5BCqd.png

Oh, i didn't noticed that it was made from stock parts... i thought they where IR parts...

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A small sneak peek of how the various WIP modules look when put together :)

(yes, zvevda and poisk are not made yet ^^ - and yes - the packed P6 truss can actually fit inside a cargo bay ^^)

on the pictures : Zarya, Unity node, PMA 1, 2 & 3, Z1 truss, P6 truss, Quest joint airlock and some modules (+ ESP2),  Destiny Lab (+ ESP1) S0, S1 and P1 trusses, Mobile Servicing system + canadarm 2 - All stock !

 

 

 

 

 

Edited by sgt_flyer
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47 minutes ago, selfish_meme said:

Those solar panel trusses fitting inside a shuttle cargo bay is incredible.

Those are indeed the biggest solar panels I have seen stock :o 

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