Michal.don's "Falcon" space program

[michal.don]

Hello,

Recently, I challenged myself to devise a reusable rocket. I know, no big deal, SpaceX makes it look routine nowadays. So to make it more challenging, no "recover vessel" comand is to be used - I have to devise the machines and procedures to go get the landed booster, take it back to KSC, "refurbish", integrate a payload, get it to the launchpad, refuel, and launch it again (and again and again and again......).

If you're interested, I'll post the screenshots and videos of the missions and machines here.

 

Mods used - plenty.

The most important mods that will allow me to build the machines/cranes are KIS and KAS

Procedural parts and fairings - once I got used to those, I can't live without them. They just make things so much easier and rocket prettier

Visual mods - the usual SVE/scaterrer/maybe something more

KER for the readouts

B9 procedural wings

Near future solar/electrical/construction for the large cranes

All the SpaceY stuff - I really love that.

And much more small add-ons, I may be a mod addict....

 

Michal.don

 

So far, the rocket has been tested, and proven the booster indeed can land:

 

[michal.don]

Update no. 1

The first part of the machinery is now complete. it consists of four different vehicles:

(KSC buldings for scale)

The largest one is the "crawler" - the thing that goes to get the booster, picks it up and loads it on the trucks

The trucks that carry the booster back to KSC

The payload carrier - a new payload integrated with the second stage is brought by this vehicle

The payload integrator - a small crane that attaches the payload to the booster.

 

Construction of the launchpad is under way, and I'll soon add a videoof these machines in action.

Michal.don

 

Edited September 17, 2017 by michal.don

[michal.don]

Update no. 2

The launchpad. Thanks to procedural parts, it has a bearable part count of 157. Testing went quite well, now to see if it works well in a "real" mission. It still has a few quirks I can't get rid of, so I'll have to learn to work around them.

[michal.don]

Update no. 3

Another booster has been landed, this time much more precisely. Now is the time for the demonstration of the recovery machines - the trcks and the "crawler".

With the booster loaded, the time comes for the integration of another payload and launch to space again.

Edited September 18, 2017 by michal.don

[StupidAndy]

seems like a very interesting thing, keep going!

[Kerbalstar]

12 hours ago, michal.don said:

Update no. 3

Another booster has been landed, this time much more precisely. Now is the time for the demonstration of the recovery machines - the  and the "crawler".

 

Very nice. Can I ask what fuel the second stage engine is using?

[michal.don]

12 hours ago, StupidAndy said:

seems like a very interesting thing, keep going!

Thanks, hopefully everything works and nothing breaks (again)

8 hours ago, kerbalstar said:

Very nice. Can I ask what fuel the second stage engine is using?

Thanks. The second stage engine runs on Monopropellant, and it comes from NecroBone's "Modular rocket systems" mod. It's a vacuum engine, with higher thrust, but a slightly lower ISP than the Terrier, but most importantly, it looks really great

Michal.don

[Kerbalstar]

2 hours ago, michal.don said:

Thanks, hopefully everything works and nothing breaks (again)

Thanks. The second stage engine runs on Monopropellant, and it comes from NecroBone's "Modular rocket systems" mod. It's a vacuum engine, with higher thrust, but a slightly lower ISP than the Terrier, but most importantly, it looks really great

Michal.don

Thanks. Yeah, it looks awesome! 

[michal.don]

I'm experiencing a bit of problems with exploding fairings/runway/vehicles/kerbals..... It's a bit frustrating, but since I managed to do every single step of the integration/launch in testing, it certainly is possible. It's just going to take a bit of time. So, it will take a bit of time before the rest of the mission takes place, but it's coming  

As a small teaser - an integrated payload on a flown booster, ready for liftoff at the launchpad

 

 

An integrated payload on a flown booster, ready for liftoff at the launchpad, two seconds later:

 

so, yeah......

 

Michal.don

[StupidAndy]

1 minute ago, michal.don said:

SNIP

Well theres your problem! not enough struts!

[michal.don]

Just now, StupidAndy said:

Well theres your problem! not enough struts!

I thought so, too. But surprisingly, as @Phineas Freak suggested to me in the "procedural fairings" mod thread, one of my problems was too many struts.... Unheard of, I know

[michal.don]

So, after quite a few frustrating hours, I have some good news, and some bad news.

Let's start with the good - I succesfully integrated another payload on the booster, got the rocket to the launchpad, refueled it, launched the payload to LKO and landed the booster a few kilometres from KSC. That's good, right?

Yes. But the bad news - my video software stopped recording after cca 6 minutes, whis is roughly when I started integrating the payload..... 

 

So I guess I'll try to do it all again, but all I have for now are two pictures of the launch, to show off my design in work:

The launch itself is a pain in the rear end, too, because I have to activate several action groups in the right order in about half a second, so the "tower" leans away from the rocket, the rocket detaches from the pad, and the engines start and SAS activates.

Thank god for Action Group Manager, I had to reconfigure those several times so the focus stayed on the rocket, and not on the tower/launchpad, which resulted in severe explosions.

 

So, hopefully, a video comes soon.

Michal.don

[Kerbalstar]

9 hours ago, michal.don said:

-Snip-

Awesome, looking toward to the video!