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


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Just now, michal.don said:

1) Thanks, I hope you understand the reason why I asked you to do this

2) I used HE for testing too, but since the "Set orbit" option was included in the "Cheat menu", I do not need it anymore - have you tried that? HE caused me a fair share of problems, so I was glad I could get rid of it.... :) 

Not really. i dont use the ingame menu beccause Hyperedit is more percise, and works an Altitude rather than Semi major Axis.

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14 minutes ago, michal.don said:

Yeah, the same thing happened to me too, I was just curious whether it's the same issue, or a creative transfer to Jool :)

Must be very creative...burning for 2700m/s will result in a high eliptical orbit with an Ap which is ~21 times the distance  to Eeloo :D

Edited by 4x4cheesecake
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2 minutes ago, 4x4cheesecake said:

Must be very creative...burning for 2700m/s will result in a high eliptical orbit with an Ap which is ~21 times the distance  to Eeloo :D

Hmm... I have to admit, I lost the feeling for stock transfer values a bit since I plunged into 1.3.1. Realism Overhaul, where 2700 m/s doesn't even take you to the Moon.... :rolleyes:

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Here is my attempt to STS Mun 1 :)

I present you : Artisan v5 D(drop)C(argo)

ix80dp.jpg

Spoiler

x5d8a7.jpg

This newly tuned shuttle is now a pleasure to drive fly, especially landing procedures which were really annoying .. Its main features is a reverserd cargo bay that allow surface-dropping and XL landing gear. In this current form the shuttle has 2640dV available with it's maximum payload (40 tons!)  and no oxidizer. It's possible to extend this deltaV with a lighter payload and changing 2 mk2 fuel tanks but that's not a necessity right now.

 

Lift off and injection :

 

The shuttle is carrying a manned outpost with some science equipment ready to be dropped on Mun's surface !

I flew this mission last week so lift-off and orbiting stuff is missing, as I supposed that nobody would want to see this again, but I will include some when posting STS Mun 2 3 4 ! :)

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Spoiler

Launchpad stats :

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Due to very low TWR I choosed to split Mun's injections into 3 burns :

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Second maneuver using periapsis as a reference :

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Final injection and insertion maneuver :

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Insertion and Landing :

 

Once Artisan v5CD approached the Mun, the ship circularized at around 17x17 orbit and prepared to get down on to the surface. This version of the shuttle has extremly poor TWR (+/-0.15) so the crew made sure to load some Oxidizer to light up Bobcats engines and their very high thrust.

iq40u7.jpg

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Spoiler

Deorbit procedure :

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Nuke retroburn right after passing the edge of the crater :

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Very last second of landing procedure, almost all Ox is depleted after using Bobcats :

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Deployment and take off :

 

Right after touchdown, the crew deployed XL landing gears to lift the shuttle and allow a safe undocking of the payload. Some tweaks would be necessary but nothing broke during this procedure !

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Spoiler

Ship's ready to take off :

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Remaining Ox is burned to pitch up the craft and finalize its orbiting on nuke power :

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Kerbin maneuvers and landing :

 

Regular return procedures, using aerobraking the crew set on a elliptical orbit and wait to maneuver a descent to KSC.

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Spoiler

Return maneuver :

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After a first aerobrake, crew burned a bit of fuel at Ap to rise Pe above the atmosphere and wait for a deorbiting window onto KSC :

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Descending near KSC :

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Runway approach, the shuttle has so much lift that wings stalled at 43m/s on touchdown :

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Edited by Kerbolitto
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Alright, moving on:

On 8/25/2018 at 1:01 PM, Artienia said:

Here it is as i promised, Artemis I-b and II-b Missions with a 41 ton custom-fit pod.

Well, I'm afraid that's going to be a no-go from me. Slapping engines and stuff on the pod just makes it too easy - you have to reach the precise orbit on 1b and do the docking on 2b with the shuttle, not the pod. So, sorry, but no badges for this one.

Next page reviews coming in a while.

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On 8/26/2018 at 3:22 PM, Artienia said:

Artemis II Shuttle Launch

Now, this is looking good :) It looks like the network will need a bit of maintenance in the future, but the CommSats have plenty of fuel left.

A tip for future synchronous/stationary networks building - the altitudes do not have to be perfect, but the orbital periods do. And you can have them displayed by KER in the "orbital" tab ;)

so, here's a badge for you:

Jm6F4Br.jpg?1

On 8/27/2018 at 10:48 AM, Artienia said:

Artemis III Shuttle and Hades space telescope launch

I have to agree, the telescope looks great, and the pictures it takes are pretty cool :) Since I completely get the urge to make a telescope that actually works, I have no issue with the modded part. I have to admit I do not like the decoupling tanks with a few thrusters that you use as MMUs, but they are fine by the rules, so hey, why not :) 

I just have to ask you to provide one more screenshot - I could not find the inclination of the orbit anywhere, so I'm not sure whether the mission is "commander" worthy. Thanks!

 

On 8/28/2018 at 9:37 AM, Artienia said:

Artemis IV and IV-b Shuttle Launch

This one is also absolutely fine, and nice improvisation with the missing landing gear :)

What is the TCA you were asking about in your edit? I'm not familiar with the name. Also, applesauce, I guess :) 

2LypmZP.jpg?1

 

I should be able to get the next page quite soon, hopefully.

Michal.don

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On 8/29/2018 at 5:43 PM, The Dunatian said:

STS-4

Don't worry my friend, you are not forgotten, I just did not have that much time, and was doing the enties page-by-page. But finally, your time has come :) 

Alright, now I can see what the thing on the back of your shuttle is doing - interesting concept of an external service module - I like it :) The mission looks flown without a hitch, and the crew got home safe, so the result is a nice new badge for you - congratulations!

2LypmZP.jpg?1

On 8/29/2018 at 7:43 PM, Alchemist said:

Last time mod question was seriously discussed, the general consensus was like this - if it doesn't affect mission performance (aside from dead weight), it can be allowed under stock category.

Which basically boils down to:

Thanks for summing that up for me, I wouldn't have put it better :)

The only thing I remember a bit differently is KJR - I think I allowed it for "stock" entries since the autostrut mechanism was introduced, but I'm not completely sure, I'll have to dig through the older pages a bit.....

 

So, now I'm up to date, so go shuttling again guys :D

Michal.don

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24 minutes ago, Lo Var Lachland said:

I hate shuttles. I hate them so much. Hiiiissssss.... GET THAT VILE CREATION AWAY FROM ME!!

we-dont-take-kindly-to-your-types-around

 

Just kidding ;) But I don't think there are many people around here that share your... ehm... strong sentiment :)

Michal.don

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3 hours ago, michal.don said:

Alright, moving on:

Well, I'm afraid that's going to be a no-go from me. Slapping engines and stuff on the pod just makes it too easy - you have to reach the precise orbit on 1b and do the docking on 2b with the shuttle, not the pod. So, sorry, but no badges for this one.

Next page reviews coming in a while.

Should i just releauch the entire mission or do only a specific part?
also you gave badge for No. 2 and 4, but forgot about three. by that i mean forgot to qoute it?Ű
Just saying if you accidiently forgot it

also thank you for the badges

 

EDIT: I just come back from school (first day) And i overlooked it (probably bc it was between two badge, sending pic in a minute)

Edited by Artienia
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10 hours ago, michal.don said:

Thanks for summing that up for me, I wouldn't have put it better :)

Well, most of that are just various things I recall being brought up from couple previous versions of the challenge. But it would be difficult to try finding those over several threads of such size, especially for the newcomers

10 hours ago, michal.don said:

The only thing I remember a bit differently is KJR - I think I allowed it for "stock" entries since the autostrut mechanism was introduced, but I'm not completely sure, I'll have to dig through the older pages a bit.....

Probably you are right given similar functionality in current stock. I recall there was a statement that it would be too much change (in terms of designing a shuttle that doesn't wobble itself apart on ascent) to allow in stock category, but that definitely was before autostruts. So if you feel it to be balanced enough (personally, I have no experience with this mod), feel free to allow it.

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19 hours ago, Artienia said:

EDIT: I just come back from school (first day) And i overlooked it (probably bc it was between two badge, sending pic in a minute)

Yup. I just needen the screen, so you get the badge now ;)

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19 hours ago, Kerbolitto said:

You may have forgotten my STS mun 1 mission !

Oh, stupid Michal.don, stupid.... :0.0:

You're right, I somehow missed that one.

Anyway, it looks like your shuttle is Mun-capable, despite the low TWR (I wonder how Duna will go? :) ). All the parts of the report look fine, payload is ok too. Now I'm curious about the next mission - precision landings with low TWR are tricky - ask Neil Armstrong.... :) 

4v8SMSj.jpg?1

Michal.don

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9 hours ago, michal.don said:

Oh, stupid Michal.don, stupid.... :0.0:

You're right, I somehow missed that one.

Anyway, it looks like your shuttle is Mun-capable, despite the low TWR (I wonder how Duna will go? :) ). All the parts of the report look fine, payload is ok too. Now I'm curious about the next mission - precision landings with low TWR are tricky - ask Neil Armstrong.... :) 

4v8SMSj.jpg?1

Michal.don

Nah it will be fine for Duna :)

As said before, I designed this thing around a 40t. payload and modules are never that heavy. As you saw on this mission, I brought some Ox to fire Bobcats for around 350m/s, when landing. There's also the option to use Skiffs or Darts which are lighter. Finally, this new version with tilted provides a ton of lift which should help getting pitch authority on Duna.

On the other hand I can boost dV by switching the radial Mk2 rocket fuel fuselage by a liquid fuel only, and there's an Sr. dock at the end which can also be used as a staged fuel-pod, using the lifter high TWR / dV margin to bring everything on orbit :).

edit : thanks for the badge :p

Edited by Kerbolitto
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@michal.don, in regards to the STS-5-8 missions I have a question.

jcmXUpL.jpg   HLDVgEG.jpg

Does the above (work-in-progress) craft qualify as a station? It has one service module with a reaction wheel, engine, and RCS system, one habitat module, and two science modules. See above screenshots. I know most users build enormous stations just for the sake of it, but I generally enjoy building on the other side of the spectrum. Just for kicks I think it would be fun to place a small "station" in a very high orbit. Is that still OK?

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8 hours ago, The Dunatian said:

Does the above (work-in-progress) craft qualify as a station?

Sure, why not? The rules don't say anything about mass requirements. And it will be refreshing to see something on the other end of the mass spectrum :) Are the modules going up in a smaller shuttle, or will the cargo bay be a bit empty every time? :) 

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8 hours ago, michal.don said:

Sure, why not? The rules don't say anything about mass requirements. And it will be refreshing to see something on the other end of the mass spectrum :) Are the modules going up in a smaller shuttle, or will the cargo bay be a bit empty every time? :) 

Cargo bay will be "somewhat" empty. I also plan to use these missions to test improvements in docking and shuttle reusability. I still have quite a bit of work to do on the station and several small reusability modifications for the shuttle. Hopefully I will be able to make "minilab" look a bit more authentic.

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So I've tried the Mun STS 2 again...most parts of the mission went like I've planned them (unfortunately, I cannot find the savegame which contains the flag to mark my landing spot) but after landing on the Mun, I realized that I accidentally used some of the fuel from my payload, so I have to rate this try as invalid. For training purposes, I returned to Kerbin anyway and ended in a ridiculous landing which was awesome and awful at the same time xD

It took me 3 maneuvers to set up my return trajectory (escape mun, change inclination,  dropping Pe to 60km) and after all these maneuvers, I just got 28m/s dV left.
The awesome part of the landing: The KSC was on the wrong side during my first flight through the atmosphere but just by controlling the pitch of the orbiter, I managed to reach an orbit with a periode of 3h, so the KSC will be in the perfect position after one more orbit. I used some of my left fuel to drop the Pe to ~25km and was able to aerobreak into a suborbital trajectory which should bring me right to the KSC. Until now, I was actually really proud^^

Well, the awful part is still missing....I overshot the KSC and made a bad decision, but take a look on your own (this time with music but probably not the best choice :P )

Btw: How is it possible that my orbiter used fuel from the payload even though fuel crossfeed on both docking ports is disabled? :mad:  I know, it is better to disable fuel flow on the tanks instead but they are a little bit hidden and I was sure disabling crossfeed will work as well...

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40 minutes ago, 4x4cheesecake said:

Btw: How is it possible that my orbiter used fuel from the payload even though fuel crossfeed on both docking ports is disabled? :mad:  I know, it is better to disable fuel flow on the tanks instead but they are a little bit hidden and I was sure disabling crossfeed will work as well...

I think I already had this problem, disabled crossfeed not working :/

Why would you need fuel on STS Mun 2?

Also, I'll post STS Mun 2 / 3 / 4 tonight maybe, you might take a look at return maneuvers as I did 3 different types of deorbiting ! It's not easy to get down in LKO from a very inclined orbit but there's various ways of doing it, using a ton of fuel or not !

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5 minutes ago, Kerbolitto said:

Why would you need fuel on STS Mun 2?

I don't need any fuel but I want some :D I've build a second module which contains a drill, ISRU, science stuff etc which will be docked to the habitat module. I just like to build the stuff so it is actually useful. A station with room for 5 kerbals, antenna and docking port can be build with 4 parts but I wouldn't name the result a 'station' :P

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