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Shuttle Challenge v4 - The STS thread [Stock and Mod Friendly] [THREAD CLOSED 06.08.17]


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1 hour ago, Sivonen said:

Makes sense, thank you. Just one more clarification that came into my mind.. Is it ok to jettison fuel with a mod? I mean I could just burn my monopropellant before landing, for me I don't see the difference with burning it with hyperedit...?

Yeah fine, it irks me that you can't jet fuel off in KSP.

SM

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2 hours ago, Speeding Mullet said:

Yeah fine, it irks me that you can't jet fuel off in KSP.

SM

While I agree this should probably be an optional part in stock KSP, the real Space Shuttle cannot dump fuel, nor can many aircraft.  I suspect engineers had concerns about sealing some kind of dump port in both space and atmosphere while still having a functional "door" for the port.  Not to mention that dumping fuel in orbit would cause some kind of propulsive effect on the shuttle itself.  STS-51 aborted and "dumped" OMS fuel by actually running the engines on the way up to it's lower orbit when one of the main engines failed.

Personally I consider it part of the challenge to adjust fuel loads to meet mission criteria.  The NukaShuttle was built for outrageous fuel capacity for the later challenges but I only launched it with the front and rear tanks full when deploying the fuel pod so it wouldn't be too heavy to land.  Worst case I could do a couple extra orbits and burn prograde for a bit and then retrograde at the same spot to burn fuel with minimal change to my orbit.

Regardless, it's your challenge, not mine.

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11 hours ago, Speeding Mullet said:

I would be sorely disappointing if you left it out my friend!  Good to see the HRO getting even more of an upgrade.  I believe one is Jool bound!

Yeah, never finished the preparations last year (actually, it's Elcanoplan-2 that was the biggest problem to redesign. But this version is not only faster - that is capable of going faster without oscillating to flip - than the original, it's also actually capable of takeoff from water. Still almost impossible to splashdown horizontally without damaging the nose).
But now I finally got to work on it a bit more.

Anyway, the mission is good to go. And what were you saying about 2 shuttles flying together? :wink:

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update:

And we are going somewhere green!

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But that's not Jool!

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Hey, didn't the map say "Mine me" or something like that?

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To be honest, if I took the superheavy versions of launch assembly it would likely have been enough to to send both shuttles to Jool straight away. But with the standard HRO-M configuration, ships with all these payloads already are near the edge of maximum launch mass (and the detachable modules in and on HRO-M03 are empty) and get to orbit with about half the fuel reserves. For Jool transfer definitely need a refuel. Plus, it turns out the window to Jool was not that long ago and it's almost a year before the next one

Edited by Alchemist
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Duna STS-1

I somehow stopped the auto screenshots during launch, but it was similar to all my previous launches, except I toggled a few of the engines on the external tank off towards the end of the gravity turn so I could use the external tank for circularization and start of transfer to Duna.  I fine tuned the periapsis so I could aero-brake and save fuel as much as possible.  

Shuttle was carrying a small orbital station consisting of Hitchhiker module, RCS tank, battery, two large solar panels, RCS thrusters, two antennae,  Docking Port on one end, and 4 Docking Port Jrs for later expansion possiblities.  

Shuttle was also carrying a Relay sat for bouncing the comms from Duna back to Kerbin. Relay Sat was deployed into a 2Mm orbit prior to deploying station, and I noticed while warping ahead for the transfer back to Kerbin that it had disappeared.  Thought maybe I hadn't checked the orbit correctly and it either deorbited into Duna or Ike.  Once I returned back to Kerbin, I was surprised to find the Relay Sat in an screwy Kerbin Orbit.  Must have been a wormhole or someting. WIll HyperEdit it back before the next shuttle mission as I plan on bringing two more relays to set up a network around Duna.

It took 3 aero-braking orbits to get apoapsis low enough around Kerbin so I didn't waste too much fuel.  Actually got lucky and after the last aero-brake brought apoapsis down to about 250km, the next orbit was almost perfectly lined up for landing, so I didn't have to circularize.  Still, since was at about 9 degree inclination ended up overshooting KSC a little, but turned the shuttle around and landed with no problems.

Mod list is in video description.

 

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I almost got the space potato down.

I will present you my glorious failure now, since I'm not trying it again this way.

Main problem was KSP bugging out... Every time when I went in/out of warp, the grabbing units stuttered a bit and went out of alignment. Also one landing gear flew off for no reason.

Also the rock doesn't allow fuel crossfeed, who would've thought of that? :D

It was hard, boring, frustrating and fun.

I managed to splash the rock to ocean and all minions survived. So let's call this approach undoable with these bugs and I'll try it again later with a boring design. :/

Pictures!

Oh, ps. I tried to fly the thing with infinite propellant on. I had to spam the free/lock pivot of the tail part grabber to get the alignment about right. It was flyable, sort of.

 

pps. fkng IMGUR!!! Again the images are aout of order... fixing...

Edited by Sivonen
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Mun STS-1 with minimalistic research station

 

...sorry for a lame entry, I was in a bit of a hurry.

 

Oh, and this time with mod list: Mechjeb, Mechjeb for all

Edited by Sivonen
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Let's see...
 

Spoiler

 

Who needs atmosphere for horizontal takeoff?
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Anyway, after 2 mining runs on Minmus (and waiting for over 300 days for the window) we are finally departing. And this is the best way to go to Jool from Minmus
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Oberth effect, isn't it?

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Bye, Kerbin!

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And a couple years later...

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Hello, Jool!

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Seems to be a good point for separation - at least the fuel seems to be enough

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Hey, how did this get right here?

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Yeah, almost ran into... Vall.

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Swing past Tylo, turn around Jool and...

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Capture burn complete - release the mapsat

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And let's lower the apoapsis a bit more - the shuttle way

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Actually, a bit more drag than expected - what the souposphere is this!? 20 km thinner than Kerbin's, yet a few kilometers in - and it's already about as draggy as on the same altitude above Kerbin!

Oh well, we got low orbit, now let's find a place to land, preferably something with good amount of ore.

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Yes, this version of Elcanoplan can actually fly. And orbital scan showed a ore-rich biome on that island, so dropping right there

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Yup, ore detected right up there. And given that despite all the hydroplane stuff it's better at horizontal landing on land than in water...

 

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Surface scan showed 11% ore! Perfect place for mining! Landing site for the shuttle confirmed.

Wait a minute! How much power? RTG produces this much, weights less and doesn't stop at night! Why the heck did I take solar panels??!

 

Upd:

0e4de0420a8f.png

Finally jets proven useful for anything else than landing back on Kerbin

Edited by Alchemist
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On ‎6‎/‎22‎/‎2017 at 2:10 PM, Sivonen said:

Mun STS-1 with minimalistic research station

...sorry for a lame entry, I was in a bit of a hurry.

:o Lame??? 

I loved this entry!  The research station made me laugh! 

...and who wouldn't love a shuttle that takes a dip in the pool after a successful mission!  :D

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And the second trip to Duna... Not a very pleasant one, I  have to say.

Firtstly I had to adjust the launch vehicle a LOT to get the launch straight(ish) up.

I did the Duna aerobraking about ten times to get it right.

I detached my cargo (rcs fuel for the station) and got it ALMOST docked until the batteries died. So there was a station without rcs fuel but plenty of electricity, and the fuel tanks with plenty of rcs fuel about 3 meters apart of each other. I did rescue the situation by docking the shuttle to the rcs fuel tank and docking the rcs tank to the station then... Then I went to do the landing - and failed - and I didn't remember to save before. I deleted the screenshots (stupid) and did the rcs docking quickly without incidents.

Oh yeah I had to do every trick I know to get the Duna landing to happen. At least ten tries, usually crashing, going too much nose down. Finally I did it, the shuttle bounced, rolled and exploded.... and F9 and continue to try. Finally it worked.

Going up from Duna is not hard, if you bring enough fuel. I did, barely. I did have to try the liftoff a couple of times to get to orbit.

Oh, and next time, bring a pilot....

Rest of the mission went well.

The mission itself is not that hard, I think I made it hard by making such a bad shuttle.

But it was fun.

One left, I think?

 

Edited by Sivonen
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My STS 1B submission:

 

And I really wish that I took screen shots along the way, but this was built entirely with my space shuttle in around 20+ launches:

(except for the orange tanks and huge crew module on the back. They were put up with my falcon like rocket)

 

Edited by Dman Revolution
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Duna STS-1 and 2

Fun fact:  This is the first ever time I've sent something to another planet.  Technically Jool Support and Coms occurred first, but they aren't intended to return.  My career and science saves have always ended with a probe on the way to Duna but hasn't arrived, either because a new KSP version was released or I was finding it too easy and increasing the difficulty.  Interesting given that shuttles, something I had no interest in tinkering in until I saw this challenge, are the first to carry Kerbals for me.  Quite fun and a learning experience, I hope you enjoy.

Mods used:

KAC, KER, DPAI, Trajectories, Precise Node

Shuttles: All stock

Payloads: Stock, Tweakscale.

 

Edited by overkill13
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I'm proud to present another failure! This time we're failing at Laythe.

It would've been a success, but I brought the wrong version of my ...ahem... "outpost" with me. This has only one seat, the correct version was similiar, but had four.

Also the final approach to Kerbin was too fast, but I didn't bother to do more gravity assists to brake´, since this was a failure anyways.

Get your poopcorns, and see the slideshow!

Unintentional typo, but I'm not gonna correct that.

 

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Made video report for the landing on Laythe

 

Also, here is the report thread for the mission (Warning! Plenty of messing around with overengineered ships... as if it wasn't the definition of a shuttle)

 

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My Jool trip was successful with a bigger rocket.

While I was at it, I also left a plane hangar on Laythe.

All gravity assists were done without calculating anything. Just get to an orbit and wait. It took some time, but there was enough snacks.

For example the trip from Laythe to Kerbin was something like: Laythe - Tylo - Duna - Duna - Duna - Duna - Kerbin - Duna - Kerbin - Kerbin - Kerbin - Duna - Kerbin aerobrake and a bit of boost - five times around Kerbin with aerobraking - Landing.

My F5 and F9 keys are wearing out.

Oh and this one was done without joystick... And all the atmospheric crafts were really twitchy to fly... ARGH!!!

Modlist: Mechjeb, Mechjeb for all, Better time warp, (Hyperedit not used but installed)

Edited by Sivonen
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Hi everyone sorry for the delay, as normal RL gets in your face but downloading Battlefield 1, and Day Z progressing nicely certainly hasn't helped me.  Haven't done any work on my Moho mission either :( 

Anyway, let's review some stuff before it all gets too much for me.

 

On 6/20/2017 at 9:46 PM, overkill13 said:

Personally I consider it part of the challenge to adjust fuel loads to meet mission criteria.

Yah, there's definitely a challenge in getting the right fuel to get there and back.  When I was flying shuttles I pretty much always ran on vapors on the way home the margins were so tight.  If you can run a mission like that every time then it's pretty cool, but I don't have an issue with going with way too much and dumping it for de-orbit even if it's not realistic.

 

On 6/20/2017 at 10:37 PM, Sivonen said:

And the station is finished!

Just another boring design with modular shuttle and some other ordinary things.

Station complete, and with a gigantic death ray!  Nice deign actually, it's pretty unusual.  Well done and have a badge!  gDmEbjw.jpg

 

On 6/21/2017 at 3:55 AM, Alchemist said:

And what were you saying about 2 shuttles flying together? :wink:

HELL YES! :cool:

 

On 6/21/2017 at 5:17 PM, armegeddon said:

Duna STS-1

An epic mission to Duna!  It looks like your shuttle easily handled the rigors of interplanetary travel, and I particularly liked your comsat, even if it did wormhole on you!  yS7ukxd.jpg

 

On 6/22/2017 at 8:53 PM, Sivonen said:

I almost got the space potato down.

I will present you my glorious failure now, since I'm not trying it again this way.

Main problem was KSP bugging out... Every time when I went in/out of warp, the grabbing units stuttered a bit and went out of alignment. Also one landing gear flew off for no reason.

Also the rock doesn't allow fuel crossfeed, who would've thought of that? :D

It was hard, boring, frustrating and fun.

Its a failure, but it's a brilliant failure.  Become the space potato is definitely a rarely done thing.  I remember someone on this forum way back in the day making an asteroid into a plane to land it, but that was before all the aero changes and re-entry heating so kudos on the effort there!

 

On 6/23/2017 at 1:03 AM, Sivonen said:

And the boring way to get an asteroid to your backyard:

Landing an asteroid is never boring, I think your re-entry displayed that haha!  Here's your badge!  pwHJNsR.jpg

 

On 6/23/2017 at 4:10 AM, Sivonen said:

Mun STS-1 with minimalistic research station

On a roll much?  LMAO at your qualification for a manned research outpost.  Its the equivalent of a deckchair at the beach :)  UOxFfeM.jpg Definitely not lame....

 

On 6/24/2017 at 9:10 AM, Alchemist said:

Let's see...

Waaaa!  Very nice indeed.  Your designs never cease to amaze me.  Can't wait to see the rest of this one...

 

On 6/25/2017 at 0:07 AM, Sivonen said:

Duna mission done without quickloads.

...yes I did many quicksaves, but I didn't have to load once.

Nicely done with the Duna mission.  Love the variation you introduce in your shuttles, it's very mission dependent.  Here's your badge  AROX7Rw.jpg

 

On 6/26/2017 at 6:52 AM, Sivonen said:

And the second trip to Duna... Not a very pleasant one, I  have to say.

This one is hard.  I haven't managed to do it yet (probably because I stopped trying) but yeah, well done on another successful trip to the "wish it looked it used to" planet.  rNTkaFS.jpg

 

On 6/26/2017 at 7:58 AM, Speeding Mullet said:

Hi everyone, I probably won't get an opportunity to check in here until mid week, but keep going and I will do my usual stunning bulk catch up when I'm free :)

SM

So lazy.....

 

On 6/26/2017 at 2:19 PM, Dman Revolution said:

My STS 1B submission:

I see you already have your badge.  Well done on a great mission!  et2p8E4.jpg Also that space station is enormous.  Constructing a station using a shuttle is very satisfying.  Way harder than slamming it up there using HE or ontop of a Goliath rocket so great work!

 

On 6/27/2017 at 0:54 AM, overkill13 said:

Duna STS-1 and 2

Fun fact:  This is the first ever time I've sent something to another planet.  Technically Jool Support and Coms occurred first, but they aren't intended to return.  My career and science saves have always ended with a probe on the way to Duna but hasn't arrived, either because a new KSP version was released or I was finding it too easy and increasing the difficulty.  Interesting given that shuttles, something I had no interest in tinkering in until I saw this challenge, are the first to carry Kerbals for me.  Quite fun and a learning experience, I hope you enjoy.

Wow, the way you play and design stuff I would have thought you'd been everywhere.  What a fantastic mission report.  As always love the attention to detail.  The orbital outpost was particularly fantastic.  Glad that this challenge has turned you on to shuttles.  To be honest seeing your mission reports, it makes me want to design another shuttle and play catch up on the missions I haven't done!  Here are both your badges!  yS7ukxd.jpg  rNTkaFS.jpg

 

On 6/27/2017 at 4:49 PM, Sivonen said:

I'm proud to present another failure! This time we're failing at Laythe.

Bring on the fails, I'm a big fan!  

 

On 6/28/2017 at 0:08 PM, Sayeret_1711 said:

This is my entry for STS-1A. It is a small craft called the CRVX-3 (I know, great name). Having completed the mission at commander level, I claim the commander STS-1 badge.

Hey welcome to the challenge!  Nice little dream-chaser style shuttle there.  Obviously for the later challenges you will need some cargo capacity, but this is a great start!  sE1QW9Q.jpg

 

 

On 6/29/2017 at 2:20 AM, Alchemist said:

Made video report for the landing on Laythe

20 minutes is ideal cup of tea length video, so give me a couple of minutes to brew up and I'll be right with you...

Right that does it, I'm parking my moho mission and creating a new shuttle.  The Jool mission looks too good to miss out on, and I've still go to do the second Duna mission.  Well played so far and looking forward to seeing the rest of this progress.  Good luck with the Elcano!

 

On 6/29/2017 at 5:55 PM, Sivonen said:

My Jool trip was successful with a bigger rocket.

While I was at it, I also left a plane hangar on Laythe.

All gravity assists were done without calculating anything. Just get to an orbit and wait. It took some time, but there was enough snacks.

For example the trip from Laythe to Kerbin was something like: Laythe - Tylo - Duna - Duna - Duna - Duna - Kerbin - Duna - Kerbin - Kerbin - Kerbin - Duna - Kerbin aerobrake and a bit of boost - five times around Kerbin with aerobraking - Landing.

Nicely done, nicely done!  I mostly free fly too, without really thinking of fuel requirements so it's good to know someone else out there is winging it haha!  Definitely worth leaving a hangar on Laythe for future missions.  Might need to bring some new planes byt he looks of their handling though :wink:  U3K2llp.jpg

 

On 7/1/2017 at 1:01 AM, overkill13 said:

The ultimate challenge.  Laythe

As always loving the payloads and general design of your Shuttle's.  Lander can as airlock is definitely a winner in making things more "real".  Really nicely run mission for sure!  Firstly:  U3K2llp.jpg

 

Secondly - There's now quite a few people finished, at or near the Laythe mission, so perhaps it's time to think up something new for you all to do!  For now, I'm going to boot things up and see about a new shuttle design to test my attention span!

SM

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Thank you for the badges and debriefings!

I was thinking about more mission ideas:

-exploration boat to Eve - pro will be to make the shuttle itself amfibious

-some big station on Minmus, requires to assemble things when landed

-wrong address! -Go to Duna station, pick up the imaginary something and bring it to Laythe ground station

-drop something somewhere... Dropping things - intact - is always fun

-Moho. Obviously something at Moho.

Just some ideas. :)

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I like the idea of building a base on Minmus.  Such a mission would be less about cramming dV into the shuttle (or spamming engines/fuel) and leave more freedom to think about the design of the shuttle and payload.

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My mission ideas: 

Moho:

  • First mission:
    • Pilot: Moho orbit, deploy satellite, return home
    • Commander: Moho orbit, deploy manned space station module, return home and land at ksc
  • Second mission:
    • Pilot: Moho landing, deploy a base module, return home
    • Commander: Moho landing, deploy a base module next to the mohole, deploy a science probe to the bottom of the mohole, return home and land at ksc
    • Scott Manley Mode: Everything in commander mode except land your shuttle in the mohole

Dres:

  • Mission:
    • Pilot: Dres landing, deploy science probe, return home
    • Commander: Dres landing, deploy manned base module in the dres canyon, return home and land at ksc

Tylo:

  • Mission:
    • Pilot: Tylo landing, deploy science probe, return home
    • Commander: Tylo landing, deploy manned base module, return home and land at ksc
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