Shuttle Challenge v5 - The STS thread [Stock and Mod Friendly] - MAJOR CHALLENGE ANNOUNCEMENT! - 30.3.2020

[GKXS]

I'm studying Computer Science and Physics at Cambridge University in the UK. had a Physics Exam this morning - fortunately doesn't count towards my degree so I just get yelled at if I do badly!

Regarding further test pilot missions, can I suggest RTLS aborts, both back to the runway and 'transatlantic' either to either the island runway or (ambitiously) some flat bit of ground across the ocean! I can create a savefile with a suitable abort runway marked with flags if you like (assuming I find a suitable runway!!)

Other alternatives would be an ATO (Abort To Orbit) - I.e. start a launch to a 100km orbit, deliberately lose 33% of your engines, and try to limp to a 70km orbit and/or get high enough to go all the way around and land back on the runway.

 

[michal.don]

32 minutes ago, GKXS said:

Regarding further test pilot missions, can I suggest RTLS aborts

Maaan, not cool, that's exactly what's planned for the next mission

So, there will be a bit of a lack of surprise for the next one.....

[GKXS]

Sorry...

OK. for the next test pilot mission I suggest doing 15 loop the loops and landing on the VAB!!

[michal.don]

24 minutes ago, GKXS said:

Sorry...

OK. for the next test pilot mission I suggest doing 15 loop the loops and landing on the VAB!!

Daaamn, this should have been STS-3T

No, kidding of course

 

If anyone has ideas about "test pilot" missions however, send me a PM - there's never too many good ideas

 

[GKXS]

6 hours ago, michal.don said:

[T]here's never too many good ideas 

You really haven't experienced enough of my ideas. I seriously debated putting those fuel pods in a very low Solar Orbit, but irritatingly you'd specified 'Kerbin Orbit' in the rules.

Incidentally, I've redesigned the UberShuttle so it can now glide properly, and also done some drag reduction. It will now hold a 10^o glide slope at a steady 100ms^-1, and the stall speed is sub 40ms^-1. Ironically, the main problem is now getting a sufficient AoA to have the rear wheels hit first, while still descending.

[hoioh]

Well that was fun! releasing the shuttle from the plane proved to be a spectacular succes! And turned out to be real easy too, I'm totally surprised! First time, right off the bat, release shuttle, shuttle flies up and away from the plane and remains perfectly level. Same for every subsequent attempt (to land the bloody massive boeing... and I was recording, so I had to do the whole flight again multiple times untill I managed to land it proper(ish)) So without further ado, here's the STS 1-T mission flown on the back of massive 747 lookalike including landing of both craft and a pretty kraken strike right at the end for good measure (no Kerbals were harmed in the making of this video):

 

[53miner53]

I'm here with another shuttle! Except this time its based on Buran, and is named Buran. Took a bit for the set to take off (had the tail almost running into the ground during much of the takeoff run), but made it into the air, flew about 20km out at an angle, and came back to land it. Tried to use AA to have the 747 hold off to the side for a landing, but it immediately nosedived into the ocean, at a loss of no kerbals because I had it unkerbaled at the time. Almost perfect landing for the orbiter though!

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1L_GYls2b4czRFntsclIOjwroH8aXWgyH

[michal.don]

8 hours ago, GKXS said:

You really haven't experienced enough of my ideas. I seriously debated putting those fuel pods in a very low Solar Orbit, but irritatingly you'd specified 'Kerbin Orbit' in the rules.

Well, that rule comes from the old times when people did not build the type of monstrosities that appear here noweadays  

 

8 hours ago, hoioh said:

Well that was fun! releasing the shuttle from the plane proved to be a spectacular succes! And turned out to be real easy too, I'm totally surprised!

Yeah, it looks pretty much under control the whole time - good design!

So I can award the badge again

 

7 hours ago, 53miner53 said:

I'm here with another shuttle!

Long time no see, welcome back :)

Yet another design, and it seems it works pretty well. Can we expect you to build another ten shuttles to run this mission again?

Here's your badge, this one should be new for you:

Btw, is that a munar shuttle mission badge in your signature? I don't remember you going past LKO, I believe you might have chosen a wrong badge.....

 

Michal.don

[hoioh]

2 hours ago, michal.don said:

Yeah, it looks pretty much under control the whole time - good design!

I've been spending a lot of time in KEA thread, that lifted my atmospheric flight designs a LOT. If people have trouble designing aerodynamic stuff, I recommend downloading a bunch of planes from that thread that get good reviews and dissect them in the SPH. teaches you a lot about how KSP handles atmospheric flight

[53miner53]

3 hours ago, michal.don said:

Long time no see, welcome back

Yet another design, and it seems it works pretty well. Can we expect you to build another ten shuttles to run this mission again?

Here's your badge, this one should be new for you:

Btw, is that a munar shuttle mission badge in your signature? I don't remember you going past LKO, I believe you might have chosen a wrong badge.....

 

Michal.don

Thank you! The orbiter does work rather well when there’s no fuel onboard, and it doesn’t need fuel transfer to trim stability, so I’m rather happy with it. I don’t think I’m going to enter another 10 shuttles, though I might talk a bit about some of the ones I’m building for fun! 

 

I went to the mun in late December with Columbia. 

On 1/6/2018 at 8:04 PM, michal.don said:

Yep, that's why I wanted to see it - munar returns are quite a different story from LKO ones  It looked a bit wild, but you maaged to land intact, so a badge for you, congrats!

 

[michal.don]

3 minutes ago, 53miner53 said:

I went to the mun in late December with Columbia. 

Ah, my bad then, disregard my question

 

[RealKerbal3x]

Hey @michal.don this challenge looks great! I love shuttles!

Just a question: can I use this mod? It’s great for making shuttles and integral to my shuttle programme!

[michal.don]

1 hour ago, RealKerbal3x said:

Hey @michal.don this challenge looks great! I love shuttles!

Just a question: can I use this mod? It’s great for making shuttles and integral to my shuttle programme!

Hey there!

For any shuttle-loving person, this is the place to be

I haven't tried that mod (shame on me), but as long as the parts are balanced for stock-alike games (which I assume they are, from the description), it's completely fine - many modded shuttles can be seen around here.

Welcome to the challenge, and I'm looking forward to see your entries!

Michal.don

[Lego_Prodigy]

https://imgur.com/a/ol1rbHf

Post Mission Evaluation: Total Success! More successful than ANY other shuttle design I've devised!

Flight side notes: Make sure NOT to go overboard with the yawing inputs, or it may flip. I was extremely careful not to hold it down too long, and practically tapped the yawing keys to keep it in a pretty stable orientation to the east.

@michal.don

 

Edited April 25, 2018 by Lego_Prodigy

[Artienia]

5 hours ago, Lego_Prodigy said:

https://imgur.com/a/ol1rbHf

Post Mission Evaluation: Total Success! More successful than ANY other shuttle design I've devised!

Flight side notes: Make sure NOT to go overboard with the yawing inputs, or it may flip. I was extremely careful not to hold it down too long, and practically tapped the yawing keys to keep it in a pretty stable orientation to the east.

@michal.don

 

Congratulations on your first mission! Hope you will post more of these soon

[RealKerbal3x]

8 hours ago, michal.don said:

Hey there!

For any shuttle-loving person, this is the place to be

I haven't tried that mod (shame on me), but as long as the parts are balanced for stock-alike games (which I assume they are, from the description), it's completely fine - many modded shuttles can be seen around here.

Welcome to the challenge, and I'm looking forward to see your entries!

Michal.don

Thanks  When a mod is ‘stock-alike’ I normally assume it’s balanced to stock as it’s designed to work with stock parts.

I’ll start working on my entry 

[michal.don]

8 hours ago, Lego_Prodigy said:

Post Mission Evaluation: Total Success! More successful than ANY other shuttle design I've devised!

Congratulations! Being on the small side, you certainly have a working design! STS-1a completed, I'm wondering how far will you be able to take this one before having to switch to MK3 parts!

Here's your badge:

 

1 hour ago, RealKerbal3x said:

Thanks  When a mod is ‘stock-alike’ I normally assume it’s balanced to stock as it’s designed to work with stock parts.

I’ll start working on my entry 

Yep, it looks like it is, I just started to be a bit more careful about mods I don't know, since a few entries with ridiculously OP engines appeared here.

Good luck!

 

Michal.don

[Lego_Prodigy]

@michal.don

How do I put that into my signature? XD

[Fraus]

It may be somewhat out of the spirit to launch something from the shuttle to bring the asteroid back, but it was the simplest way while not going overkill like an STS Heavy (Hey that's an idea...)

I introduce you to the Extended HammerHead ET

https://imgur.com/a/PCO6r3H

While I was at it I also noticed the flight test and whipped up a 747 real quick like.

https://imgur.com/a/UTvaEDw

 

Also, an RTLS? Ooh this sounds fun, I actually did one of those for the joke of it back in the day, should be an interesting challenge

Edited April 26, 2018 by Fraus

[michal.don]

21 hours ago, Lego_Prodigy said:

How do I put that into my signature? XD

Go to your "profile settings" (upper right, next to your username), select "signature", and just paste the badge

 

12 hours ago, Fraus said:

It may be somewhat out of the spirit to launch something from the shuttle to bring the asteroid back, but it was the simplest way while not going overkill like an STS Heavy (Hey that's an idea...)

And a idea that actually works, it seems  The main challenge in this mission is the atmospheric flight with the potato attached, and you aced it! Good job, here's your badge:

Hope to see you go interplanetary soon!

Also, that is a pretty good simplistic 747 replica! 

 

Michal.don

 

 

[michal.don]

Ok, since several of you already completed the first "test pilot" mission, there's no point in keeping you waiting.....

So, there's a

NEW TEST PILOT MISSION AVAILABLE - RTLS ABORT

It was trickier to fly than I expected, especially with one of the SSMEs dead. As usual, there's a bit of reading I recommend, linked in the mission description in the OP.

Have fun and good luck!

 

Michal.don

[G'th]

Hey everybody, this is slightly off-topic, but this is really the one place that all Shuttle flyers really like to congregate, so I thought it'd be a good idea to post this here. And if it is beyond the scope of whats an acceptable diversion, by all means mod this out of the thread

Personally, I think this is on-topic enough to warrant it however.

Anyway, as some of you might be aware, I've been developing this:

Essentially, the Ultimate Shuttle IVA. This particular one being called Full Retro, for obvious reasons. And what I'm looking for is some testers that'd be interested in putting it through its paces and helping me finalize the design. What I'd need feedback wise from those interested would be as follows:

1. Functionality - I need feedback on how well the IVA functions not only under the hood (re, all buttons work and do what they should) but are also conductive to being used in actual gameplay. This is especially important of the ASET Avionics present in this IVA, which are functional to my understanding. So those who know these tools and how to use them would be much appreciated to help make sure they're set up properly (I'm pretty sure they are, but even so)

2. Looks - Lots of placement errors due to previous issues. I'm finding and fixing most of them as I go, but I'd need help narrowing down anything else, no matter how small. This will also include general looks. If something looks off and we can figure out a way to make it not look off, lets figure it out!

3. Finalizing the layout. Additions, substractions, and relocations. If we can find a better place for something without distorting the homage to the real cockpit too much, lets do it.

And that'd be it.  Shoot me a message if you're interested and I'll get back to you with the details. 

[Ozelui]

On 4/24/2018 at 2:22 PM, michal.don said:

Ah, that makes sense, I indeed did not notice the staging and the immediate throttle-down. In that case, here's your badge!

Thank you!    I decided to fly the mission again with a more realistic setup, now the shuttle is dry, and the separation from the plane doesn't involve igniting anything ( Despite Jeb's objections  ):

 

I forgot to power down the 747 engines, but without the LFO weight, the shuttle had enough lift to avoid the tail without any pilot input.

Edited April 27, 2018 by Ozelui

[hoioh]

Well, the RTLS abort session is a LOT harder than the 747 launch! Just controlling the shuttle without enough thrust is hard, but flipping it in the atmosphere is a different beast altogether. Had a lot of trouble controlling the shuttle in the first place because of the wing position, center of thrust, the works. I bet a Buran - Energia combo is a lot easier to control, especially in the scenario.

The shuttle:

The mission:

 

[53miner53]

5 hours ago, hoioh said:

Well, the RTLS abort session is a LOT harder than the 747 launch! Just controlling the shuttle without enough thrust is hard, but flipping it in the atmosphere is a different beast altogether. Had a lot of trouble controlling the shuttle in the first place because of the wing position, center of thrust, the works. I bet a Buran - Energia combo is a lot easier to control, especially in the scenario.

 

Honestly, I don’t think it would make a difference, after watching your video and comparing it to how mine went. 

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B0eMT8zRijNmM0NONHZYR2lYb2c 

center mounted engine was shutdown, and I ended up beginning reentry backwards to use a little monoprop to slow down and make the shuttle more stable. 15t payload(I think, it was 2 rockomax 32s, dry, and 2 large ore tanks, dry, with a couple miscellaneous pieces) ended up running the lifter dry before trajectory was turned around, so I used some OMS fuel to finish that.