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

[Darth Badie]

 

Check out the amazing and creative entries of last week challenge!

This week we have another theme for you: "Creative emergency escape and re-entry vehicles"

Make an escape pod(s). It can be for a space station, but for those that don't have a working station in orbit, a ship in orbit would count as well.... as long as it has an escape pod. Share your screenshots, videos or images. We want you to have fun and share it with the whole community!

All the participants will receive their Official Challenge Badge "THE GOLDEN KERBAL" ! Thanks to @HebaruSan for sharing his idea! 

[Spartwo]

Yay, one I already have done.

(Ugh, unmodded)

Tis good. Only one crew and you might die if you don't land in water because it has no chutes eitherXD  Better just point prograde instead.

Edited May 10, 2017 by Spartwo

[TheEpicSquared]

And... I know what I'm doing this weekend!  

[kerbinorbiter]

i could go realistic on this one *launches soyuz*

yes, a soyuz is an escape pod

Edited May 10, 2017 by kerbinorbiter

[cratercracker]

Adding a Patch for your impactors escape pods!

Edited May 10, 2017 by cratercracker

[Daveroski]

3 hours ago, Badie said:

All the participants will receive their Official Challenge Badge "THE GOLDEN KERBAL" ! 
 

Another golden kerbal?

Wasn't that the badge for the last challenge?

[Human Person]

My very simple escape pod I usually have on kerbin-Stations.

In an emmergency situation, 4 sepratons pull the pod away from the station at an acceleration of 5 g. This moves passenger quick enough away from any kind of station-explosions. After that, 2 sepratons are left to deorbit the pod if necessary.

full album

It's not very creative but it's fast.

 

Edited May 10, 2017 by Physics Student

[MiffedStarfish]

I also already have one, a Star Wars style escape pod, nearly identical to @Spartwo's. 

"What's that escape pod?" "

I'm reading no life signs, let it go."

Whew, that thing actually worked. I had never tested it before, but it actually looked really good doing it functioned perfectly.

[linuxgurugamer]

Does it have to be stock?

[ShadowZone]

Oh I did such a thing for our collaboration station series (the real escape pod fun starts at 8:39):

 

Edited May 10, 2017 by ShadowZone

[max_creative]

What counts as an escape pod? Are "escape pods" okay?  

[zxv_3815]

I was a bit doubtful that this was going to work and the kerbal was going to burn up, but it all worked out and didn't explode. 

[Red Shirt]

Built the simplest escape pod I could come up with to use on my station. No chutes necessary but I did use landing legs.

Deorbit burn  

Gets pretty warm but no heat shield needed. 

Spark engine is all that is required for landing.

Safe at home

[JoeNapalm]

 

NEW RULE! : "Thou shall not use explosive decouplers inside a shuttle cargo bay!"

I decided to recreate one of my emergency de-orbiting vessels from my old space station...the Maple Seed Class lifeboat.

What was meant to be a test flight became a trial by fire when a slight misjudgement in design of the testing platform went a bit sideways. Being a lifeboat, rather than just an escape pod, the Maple Seed Mk I was too large for the bay on the Arayanna Mk I Heavy STS, thus the Arayanna Mk II was born...an very nearly mortally wounded.

 

So far, so good! The Arayanna ("Heavenly Swan") Mk II is snugly in stable orbit, with Jeb and Bill at the controls, while Danlinne is ready to pilot the Maple Seed with Ening along for an engineering assessment. (Sure, everything has drone cores...heck, the Maple Seed is built with such heavy redundancy that she has two! But where's the fun in an unmanned test of a safety critical system, anyway? )

Jeb counts it down and Bill hits the switch to trigger the decoupler. Which is where things go horribly, horribly wrong. The explosive decoupler follows the laws of physics, and the equal-and-opposite reaction of trying to blast the heavy lifeboat clear of the cargo bay breaks the Arayanna's spine, blowing her clean in half!:

The Maple Seed is rigged for RCS, so Danlinne quickly regains control of the spinning lifeboat and brings her back around to the crippled Arayanna to check on Jeb and Bill.

Jeb insists that Bill transfer over first, while he holds the damaged bird steady:

Then Jeb EVAs over, pausing to check the damage to the Maple Seed:

The news is grim. The Maple Seed is built with redundancies, but she only has one deorbiting engine functioning, one airbrake, two of six parachutes, a couple of solar panels, and two monoprop tanks. The heat shield is completely gone, either destroyed or lost. Only the RCS system is fully fuctional.

Giving the remaining Spark a try:

That is futile, but Danlinne is able to perform an RCS deorbit burn:

Without a heat shield, this could get pretty interesting...but spirits among the crew are high:

Thank the Kraken I used shielded ports.

One airbrake is better than no airbrakes:

And two parachutes is definitely much better than no parachutes!

Of course, she ends up upside down, but everyone's alive. Mission successful!

When contemplating what to do about the mess in orbit, I remember that all my ships are configured with drone cores -- maybe the Arayanna is merely MOSTLY dead?!:

Turns out that the lifeboat isn't the only vessel with redundancies...and payload doors apparently make passable wings and airbrakes! The Arayanna II limps home, where I'll refit her for my next flight (escape pod instead of lifeboat) and write a sternly worded missive to Engineering about the overuse of explosive decouplers.

I salute Jeb, Bill, Danlinne, and Ening for their bravery and perseverance. Here's your ribbons, now get some rest, and throw Rochambeau to see who's testing the escape pods!

-Jn-

 

[*MajorTom*]

14 hours ago, Badie said:

 

All the participants will receive their Official Challenge Badge "THE GOLDEN KERBAL" ! 
 

again this badge? its looks like "1-2-3...100500 hero of  ... Kerbin " ?

 maybe better get @cratercracker badge on this page? Or add some word on it... like "official" . IMHO It is cool and we all can remember the different ones badges.

Just an opinion...

ps: but ok... if many "the same" badges system is remain the same... then if i'm getting old will do many official challenges ... i maybe looks like this...  

     

Edited May 11, 2017 by *MajorTom*

[SudAntares]

I builded up this simply, but still outstanding design to catch up with the humour of the game - and it's useful!
PS.: Optionally you can put on this some sepratons if you like.
 

 

[Darth Badie]

19 hours ago, Daveroski said:

Another golden kerbal?

Wasn't that the badge for the last challenge?

This badge is for special challenges only

[NISSKEPCSIM]

Would it count if I replicated the MOOSE and de-orbited a Kerbal with RCS and then made sure his head was facing the ground when he re-entered and impacted? Because Kerbal's skulls are stronger than titanium and are made of infinite ablator.

[Darth Badie]

21 hours ago, cratercracker said:

Adding a Patch for your impactors escape pods!

It´s pretty cool! 

[Sheppard]

Kerbals are born Astronauts! So why escape to the boring pile of dust called a planet/moon/dwarf-planet/asteroid/comet when you can remain among the beauty of the stars?

Sure, this pod can land safely, glide to the warm comfort of the space center, can even be modified to chute into the cool ocean, but why do all of this when you can escape.... well, to just about any other safe space station around any other planet or moon?

When you accidentally blow up your space station, deorbit it or just grow bored of your habitat, simply hop on and with the power of ion-drives, go and invade the privacy of fellow Kerbonauts on any other space station that is still in one piece. It has around 5700m/s delta V, giant solar panels for quick recharging between burns and there is even a deluxe-version that can rescue 4 more Kerbals along the way if the need arises (with slightly less delta V, around 4700). Do not be fooled by the engines. While they lack any sort of serious power alone, together, these little ion-spitters deliver quite a punch, so strap in.

Here is a simulation: a scientist quickly leaving Acheron Station around the Mün and heading back to Kerbin.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[53miner53]

My space station has 2 types of escape pods. Both have been tested with pics here: https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B0eMT8zRijNmRTdFbl9fQWhWdUU

The first one is called "What Evacuation?" It is the crew cabin of the station, equipped with parachutes to deorbit and land safely.

The other is a pair of 2 person supersonic lifting body spacecraft called "Lifting Body Rescue" They land with parachutes because the wheels don't like landing at 120 m/s. I have no landing pictures because I decided it would be a great idea to set parachute opening latitude to 50m without any previous testing of this.

Edited May 11, 2017 by 53miner53

[JoeNapalm]

 

Having done the lifeboat, above, I went for a more minimalist escape "pod" with the Springheel Jack Orbital Escape Vehicle:

Here's Jeb taking her for a test spin, using an typically overbuilt test lifter:

Things got a little sporty on re-entry. Being a minimalist escape vehicle, it lacks certain amenities...like any sort of heat shielding. Jeb used all the liquid fuel and a fair bit of monopropellant bleeding off enough speed during re-entry to avoid being char-broiled inside his suit:

Turns out the only buoyant part of this apparatus is Jeb!:

-Jn-

[CairoJack]

High maneuverable Escape Pod

 

[DeltaDizzy]

On 5/10/2017 at 11:18 AM, Badie said:

It can be for a space station

Oh, it will be. Also, does it have to be for emergencies only? Ex. Soyuz, since soyuz is an Lifeboat, but is also used for normal crew rotations.

Edited May 13, 2017 by DeltaDizzy

[DeltaDizzy]

My entry:

A Really cool Technically its an Escape pod Mission Infusion of Science(ARTEMIS) 2.0

Going to the Intrepid as a lifeboat with parachutes.

Now to to see it in action:

 

 

EDIT: After it was over, I revealed this

 

Edited May 21, 2017 by DeltaDizzy