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

[Kerbolitto]

6 hours ago, michal.don said:

While I love your approach to this mission - the in-orbit assembled transfer stage, and the overall payload design - I can't award you the badge for reasons stated by @4x4cheesecake above: you have too many fuel tanks on your probe. you can only use 1 on the probe and 1 on the lander. I'll edit the rules in the OP so it's more obvious, it might not stand out as much as I thought it did. So, I'm sorry, but no badge this time.

Yeah, I missed that little 1 ... Too bad, I spent hours trying to figure how to pack that bay :D. Sadly this means that with only 1 fuel tank, the next probe will have to be lighter and that I probably won't assembly anything in LKO : /

[inigma]

I need to get me one of these coveted architect badges in my sig...

So happy to see this challenge going strong into its 5th generation!  Lots of neat designs. I keep watch.  

[Kerbolitto]

New Cassini-Huygens is ready, obviously it's less """pretty""" but I managed to put a DOCK on it ! Since it's lighter and shorter I think that I can add 1 or 2 Hammers in the cargo bay, and throw it on a high speed transfer.

[michal.don]

On 10/9/2018 at 4:44 PM, Kerbolitto said:

Yeah, I missed that little 1 ... Too bad, I spent hours trying to figure how to pack that bay :D. Sadly this means that with only 1 fuel tank, the next probe will have to be lighter and that I probably won't assembly anything in LKO : /

That's why I say it's important to read the rules thoroughly  Glad to hear you are not discouraged and another attempt is already underway

On 10/10/2018 at 6:28 AM, inigma said:

I need to get me one of these coveted architect badges in my sig...

Sure thing, you're on of the few that have every right to wear this badge proudly - I'm glad you like them, and the way this challenge is going! It's a good feeling to have the challenge approved by the great one that started this whole shuttle obsession we have going on around here  

Also, I think it's worth noting that we have surpassed 1,000 posts and 40,000 views, which places this challenge amongst the longest-standing and most visited challenges around the forums, in the elite company with KEA, Kommunity Space Station, The K-Prize or The Jool 5 - all thanks to you, my fellow shuttleholics!  

So, to another thousand, and hopefully even further!  

Michal.don

[sturmhauke]

I'm taking a little break while I attempt to figure out FAR and BD Armory for the BAD-T tournament, but I'll do another shuttle mission soon.

[Kerbolitto]

3 hours ago, michal.don said:

That's why I say it's important to read the rules thoroughly  Glad to hear you are not discouraged and another attempt is already underway

Well I read them many times, but when I built the probe 1 week ago I focused on the second part (commander mission) and did not look much at the restrictions above :p It's ok, even if the attempt is rejected I learned new stuff with assymetrical design and cargo packaging, in fact the new version is on the same spirit.

[michal.don]

21 minutes ago, sturmhauke said:

I'm taking a little break while I attempt to figure out FAR and BD Armory for the BAD-T tournament, but I'll do another shuttle mission soon.

Sure, no stress, this challenge is not (hopefully) going away anytime soon  

19 minutes ago, Kerbolitto said:

Well I read them many times, but when I built the probe 1 week ago I focused on the second part (commander mission) and did not look much at the restrictions above

Hopefully noone is going to be confused by the rules since I stressed the "1" part even more  Looking forward to seeing your new attempt!

 

Michal.don

[RealKerbal3x]

@michal.don I finally decided to enter this challenge, but made the decision not to use a Cormorant shuttle, instead making a fully stock one, the 'Shuttel' (the name came from me trying to type Shuttle too fast ). The craft is fully recoverable, but I screwed up the ET landing, so I lost the heat shield and probe core. Lucky that parachutes work even when you have no control! BTW, the LV-909 engines look different because I have Missing History installed, but they are the same apart from the texture.

I added the screenshots I took to an imgur album to avoid clogging up the thread. The de-orbit, re-entry and landing were pretty difficult, as this is only the second time I've flown this shuttle. I had a hard time timing my de-orbit -- thank the Kraken for quicksave/load -- and the damn thing kept getting into uncontrollable spins. In the end we were going too slow to reach the runway, even with a short burst of dismal Terrier sea-level thrust (I actually had a hard time reaching the land at all -- the Shuttel kept splashing down a scant 10m from the shore), so I made a landing on the grass just in front of it. I'm going to have to optimise the design for later missions. I'll probably upload a craft file when I do that.

Edited October 13, 2018 by RealKerbal3x

[4x4cheesecake]

@RealKerbal3x Cool, another Kerbonaut arrives these challenges but be warned: Flying a Shuttle (or Shuttel ) is highly addictiv

You got an interesting design, have you already tested it with some payload? I'm really curious how you balance the whole shuttle during launch without firing the engines of the orbiter, especially as soon as you have to carry a heavy payload like during the STS-1b mission.

[Petrovich]

On 10/9/2018 at 2:55 AM, michal.don said:

I hate to bring bad news, but there are two major issues with your mission... First - the orbiter must land (at least mostly) intact. And losing your wing is too much damage to be considered success. And second - your orbit is not within the tolerances - at this height, the Ap and Pe must differ by less than 100 m. So, I'm sorry, but I can't award you the badge (which I'm not happy about, I really like your shuttle).

 (MFA going back to check the rules)

So we fired our old mission planner and got one that could actually pay attention to the parameters.

STS-1B **DOUBLY CORRECTED" - https://imgur.com/a/XqCzhRh

Bilwin Kerman - "Well that took longer than it should. They'll probably ask us to take it back down after we get back."

We also launched some communications satellites

STS-2 - https://imgur.com/a/W9ybEhR

[RealKerbal3x]

11 hours ago, 4x4cheesecake said:

@RealKerbal3x Cool, another Kerbonaut arrives these challenges but be warned: Flying a Shuttle (or Shuttel ) is highly addictiv

You got an interesting design, have you already tested it with some payload? I'm really curious how you balance the whole shuttle during launch without firing the engines of the orbiter, especially as soon as you have to carry a heavy payload like during the STS-1b mission.

I have not tested it with payload yet.... you’re right, I may have to make some changes in order to carry heavy payloads. Another problem is that the TWR is pretty low early on, so MOAR boosters may be in order.

[Kerbolitto]

32 minutes ago, RealKerbal3x said:

MOAR boosters may be in order.

This pleases me.

[4x4cheesecake]

@michal.don I'm working on my LOP-G for Mun STS 5-7 and I wonder if my design would be valid:

As you can see, the PPE is split into two modules: Xenon tanks and Ion engines are placed at the bottom but solar panels and batteries (not placed yet) will be on the module to the right. Both parts of the PPE will easily fit into the cargo bay of my orbiter and I split them just for design purposes.

(If the PPE needs to be in a single module, I have an alternative deisgn which would look like this:

Unlike NASA, I just don't want to build a space sausage )

[Kerbolitto]

STS 3T Cassini-Huygens (attempt 2)

 

Okay so this time everything should be good, I re-read the rules 15 times and I was able to produce a magnificient contraption. Injector's stage is made of 2 Thumpers and 2 Hammers with thrust scaled down to get an even burn time. Cassini is an asymetrical design with 6 Ants to balance thrust, Huygens is a non-floatable device with a detachable science-box used as a beacon to recover experiments.

 

Part 1 : Launchpad, Deployement

 

 

Spoiler

Cassini-Huygens & injector stage stats : I'm using lots of tiny RCS wheels to counteract torque vectoring, since both types of SRBs are set on a same burn time TWR is a bit too high.

 

Part 2 : Injection, capture

 

 

Spoiler

Injection maneuver : Because the 4 SRBs are quite powerfull for this payload, I was able to choose a late burn to Jool which greatly reduce deep space maneuver's cost, in fact it was supposed to be only 1 m/s O_o

Last second of burn : 2.9G tops

Capture maneuver around Laythe, using the flyby to get a better inclination with Bop :

Second maneuver to crash intersept Laythe :

 

Part 3 : Huygens splash down

 

 

Spoiler

Huygens just before impacting the atmosphere :

Re-entry stats : only 37.7G !!

Last second before splashdown : this time I used 2 very big chutes

 

Part 4 : Cassini on its way !

 

 

Spoiler

Vall and Bop maneuver : I used multiple flybys to change inclination almost for free !

 

Part 5 : Cassini goes to Pol and Tylo

 

 

Spoiler

Pol encounter using Laythe and Tylo flyby : This was such a precise encounter that I never managed to make the correct burns so I had to make corrections later.

Reworked orbit to Pol :

 

Part 6 : End of Cassini's mission after a heated argument with Jool

 

 

Spoiler

Last maneuver, crashing into Jool after meeting with Tylo :

 

Part 7 : Oops, the shuttle is still in LKO

 

 

Spoiler

Shuttle deorbit : I decided to land it in the desert during the descent

 

This should be it It's always nice to navigate around Jool, too bad the stock game doesn't show all encounters or a way to use more precise nodes !

Edited October 14, 2018 by Kerbolitto

[4x4cheesecake]

Really nice mission and I like the new probe design

2 hours ago, Kerbolitto said:

Re-entry stats : only 37.7G !!

only

[Kerbolitto]

1 minute ago, 4x4cheesecake said:

Really nice mission and I like the new probe design

only

Thank you !

Check this one 100G

 

Edited October 14, 2018 by Kerbolitto

[michal.don]

On 10/13/2018 at 8:51 PM, RealKerbal3x said:

I finally decided to enter this challenge, but made the decision not to use a Cormorant shuttle, instead making a fully stock one, the 'Shuttel'

Glad to see you amongst us  Your shuttle looks great, and the recoverable ET is a nice extra touch. But I'm wandering how the shift in CoM with payload will influence the flight characteristics - I guess we'll see soon enough  The landing was almost perfect, and since this is your first mission with the new shuttle, I'm willing to aknowledge it as a KSC landing, which results in a commander badge for you, congratulations!

On 10/14/2018 at 1:03 AM, Petrovich said:

So we fired our old mission planner and got one that could actually pay attention to the parameters.

Now we're talking  This time, I have nothing to object to, everything seems to be correct.

Maybe, during STS-2a, the orbits are not as equidistant as they might have been, but since you had to fly the previous mission three times, I'm not going to make you correct that

Congrats, two new badges for you:

18 hours ago, 4x4cheesecake said:

I'm working on my LOP-G for Mun STS 5-7 and I wonder if my design would be valid:

Sure, no problem with that

11 hours ago, Kerbolitto said:

Okay so this time everything should be good, I re-read the rules 15 times and I was able to produce a magnificient contraption.

Despite the probe being smaller, I like this design even more  A pretty unconventional shape, and extreme packing skills to put it all in the cargo bay - I'm impressed again  Could you please post screenshots of the probe and the lander in the VAB, just so I can check the mass? I did not notice it anywhere in the report. But from the looks, I don't think there's going to be a problem, so, finally, a very well deserved badge for you:



 

Michal.don

[Kerbolitto]

4 hours ago, michal.don said:

Despite the probe being smaller, I like this design even more  A pretty unconventional shape, and extreme packing skills to put it all in the cargo bay - I'm impressed again  Could you please post screenshots of the probe and the lander in the VAB, just so I can check the mass? I did not notice it anywhere in the report. But from the looks, I don't think there's going to be a problem, so, finally, a very well deserved badge for you:

Thanks michal I learnt a lot between the 3/4 Cassini-Huygens I designed since the last mission so yeah, I'm more confortable at packing lots of hardware in the bay  . The new probe is smaller but Huygens is a lot heavier, also I did not used it's Ant / Oscar because the only way to get com with the tiny DTS-M1 was via the ground station on Laythe. I felt like it was a bit of a cheat since the spirit of this mission was about exploration (without relying on some existing satcom), so that's why I crashed intercept Laythe using Cassini.

 

Cassini : 1.53t.

Huygens : 1.934t.

Cassini-Huygens prototype : Probe's structure is a fairing with interstage nodes / without truss (I used 2 ladders for the look instead), dockable com-mast, Huygens is also weighted with ore. I would have probably used this one with 5-Hammers but instead I developped the strange idea to pack Thumpers .

 

Last remaining mission is asteroid landing .. Maybe later, when I have the patience . 

Edited October 15, 2018 by Kerbolitto

[michal.don]

8 minutes ago, Kerbolitto said:

Last remaining mission is asteroid landing .. Maybe later, when I have the patience

Thanks for the screens - nice to see the probe in more detail

And about the "last" mission - how about the Skylab?  

Michal.don

[Kerbolitto]

Just now, michal.don said:

Thanks for the screens - nice to see the probe in more detail

And about the "last" mission - how about the Skylab?

It's heavier than it seems with 2 RTG 6 engines and lots of structural stuff !

Right I forgot Skylab , maybe later, I need to get out of the SPH for a bit of time =)

[michal.don]

And, also, a new "Test pilot" mission is in progress, and something quite different from what we've done so far - a small teaser for you all - who can guess what the objective will be?

[Kerbolitto]

3 minutes ago, michal.don said:

And, also, a new "Test pilot" mission is in progress, and something quite different from what we've done so far - a small teaser for you all - who can guess what the objective will be?

Land the first stage inside a floating shuttle.

[4x4cheesecake]

51 minutes ago, Kerbolitto said:

Land the first stage inside a floating shuttle.

Sounds plausible

But maybe, the picture is a little bit more descriptive so it doesn't show an actual part of the mission and the actual objective is to get as close to the sun as possible?

[hoioh]

1 hour ago, michal.don said:

And, also, a new "Test pilot" mission is in progress, and something quite different from what we've done so far - a small teaser for you all - who can guess what the objective will be?

 

That would be booster recovery ofcourse

[sturmhauke]

1 hour ago, michal.don said:

And, also, a new "Test pilot" mission is in progress, and something quite different from what we've done so far - a small teaser for you all - who can guess what the objective will be?

Launching the shuttle from the back of an aircraft, while simultaneously launching its boosters from a submarine, and then docking them both together midflight and proceeding with the mission.