Reusable Development

[Maul_Junior]

I have been thinking over the last few days about trying to set up a completely reusable space program.  That is, almost entirely reusable. Specifically all liquid fuel tanks would be reusable. This thread will be my attempts to pull this vision into reality, with as much fun as possible (and with a few photos along the way)

 

At the end-game (-ish) money becomes fairly trivial, science is complete, and it's essentially sandbox with occasional needs to run some contracts for cash before you go back to whatever project you're working on. At least, that's how it appears to a beginner. The relative ease of bringing fuel from the surface versus the thrust needed to bring mined fuel down from the Mun or Minmus before a final burn (not to mention much more limited insertion windows for extra-Kerbin trajectories) can make some players decide not to bother with the relative hassle of mining, refining, and bringing the entire payload down to Low Kerbin Orbit. So I decidd to add some restrictions to myself so I would not become this type of player. There's not anything necessarily wrong with this playstyle, I just don't want it to be mine.

Restrictions:

 

• If at all possible, launch all payloads via a single stage.
  • If not possible, all liquid fuel boosters must be kept in orbit to be reused, whether added as fuel tanks as part of a fuel depot, or impressed into service boosting another payload to another orbit (or planet).
  • All new liquid boosters must have a docking port somewhere on their frame to allow for refuelling.
• Solid fuel boosters can (and should) be discarded. There is no reuse value in them, and using exclusively liquid fuel boosters that HAVE to be reused will get cumbersome.

 

I should say at this point that I have only landed on one extra-Kerbin body at this point in my playtime, and that was on the Mun. I'm particularly proud of that landing, because I didn't practice on Minmus first, and I came in at a bad location after deciding "what the hell, land as soon as it's bright outside." ....not to mention the design flaw where the Terrier extended a few centimeters below the landing legs..... The craft landed on the upper lip of a crater at an angle. It made even getting the EVA report interesting because of the severe tilt. And I'm not sure if it would have stayed for long if I hadn't been super fast getting the flag down, jumping back onto the ladder and capsule, and activating the engines.

 

Goals:

Fuel Depots:

• Establish a mining outpost on Minmus
• Establish interplanetary fuel depots both in LKO and Minmus orbit, with the primary fuel dump residing in LKO.
• Establish a refuelling depot in Duna orbit.
  • Establish a mining outpost on Ike to supply fuel for the insertion/ejection windows.
  • Establish a practice mining outpost on the Mun. If it works there, it will work on Ike.
    • Practice launching fuel from the Mun to the LKO fuel depot. It will not be exactly the same for Duna, but because Ike does not support craft orbiting itself, it will be the best practice you will get. And any mistakes made here will be far easier to correct (and order replacements for) than in Duna orbit.
• Establish a refuelling depot/outpost on Gilly
• Establish a refuelling depot/Mining outpost on Moho.
• Establish a refuelling depot/Mining Outpost on Dres.
• Establish a Joolian refuelling depot
  • Establish a Mining Outpost on Bop. It may not be the outermost moon, but it has the most dependable orbit.
    • Vall would be the other primary choice for a mining outpost, due to not having to fight an atmosphere, having very low mass, and existing on the same plane as most of the rest of the lunar system. However, it is deep within Jool's lunar system. escape burns might be complicated by Tylo (on the same plane), Bop, and/or Pol depending on the orbit.
  • Establish the refuelling depot on the Joolian plane, outside of Pol's SOI?
• Establish an Eeloo refuelling depot/Mining Outpost

 

Population:

• Orange-suits can land.
• White-suits may not be hired, only recovered.
• White-suits may not land on Kerbin
• Any and all tourists can and should be kept as long as possible in cities above as many Kerbian planets as possible. See how high you can get your population!
• If at all possible, White-suits should be kept in the planetary orbit of the orbital body from which they were recovered.
  • Tourists should be kept in space station cities (at the refuelling depot?) of the orbital body from which they wanted to travel to.

 

Standard Starships:

 

• Kerbo-Tug: Literally just Terrier engine, FL-T200 fuel tank, 1-Kerbal pod, a pair of MK-2R Radial Parachutes, and a docking port on top of the Mk. 1 Command Pod.
  • Intended mainly for getting single Kerbals up to orbit quickly or changing pre-mun Kerbal orbits.
  • Can reach circular ~70km (give or take 500m) orbit with half its fuel remaining, costing a total of~7450 Kerbucks (includes the Kickback stage and fuel).
    • Can be placed on top of a S1-SRB "Kickback" Solid Fuel Booster (that has four very large fins at its base) to reach orbit.
      • Note: The launch is not the easiest, and requires some fairly extreme maneuvers (thus the very large fins) at very low altitude in very thick atmosphere to reach a comfortable detachment point (usually around 35-40km).
      • Note: Ensure that the throttle on the Kerbo-Tug is engaged at maximum during separation to ensure that atmospheric pressure does not result in the tug being pushed against the booster and tumbling out of control.
      • Note: It is completely normal for the SAS to be deactivated upon separation, and to tumble slightly. Ensure the Apoapsis is approximately 80KM or more to give yourself time to recover from detachment tumble.
  • Can safely re-enter the atmosphere and touch down without losing parts (test entry vector was an approximate pre-entry 43km periapsis. All remaining fuel was burned during re-entry to lessen heating effects).

 

Tests:

• Multiple kickbacks, with progressively more throttled output (a double-boosted Kickback with the primary kickback's engine output throttled down to 60% or so?) to achieve a stable orbit (for satellites or Mun/Minmus tugs?

 

I wonder if I will have to bring my reputation down (and/or back up) in order to facilitate getting more Kerbin Kerbonauts/Tourists. Or do missions only spawn where you have already been?

 

 

Also I was dissapointed that the Kickback was juuuuuuuuust barely unable to attain orbit, despite my best (repeated) attempts (with a Kickback, nose cone, and fins). The ability to place a tug in even a highly asynchronous Kerbal orbit with a full fuel tank would have been amazing.

 

Current Mission(s):

Minmus 01: Yeah Science!

Bob is (at the time of writing) 2 hours out from Kerbin on a Minmus trajectory. He will land on Minmus, run all science experiments we are currently capable of, and then return to Kerbin.

Minmus 02: Um....yeah. I'm gonna need you to, uh....

He will return with a pair of ships--one piloted by Bob himself, the other by Bill. The second landing mission will run as many science experiments we will newly unlock, and then refuel at or from fuel procured from Bill's initial mining base before heading to the Mun, performing all of those missions there, and finally rendezvousing with our planned Low Kerbin Orbit Fuel Depot.

Minmus 03: For Science!

Bob will return to Minmus, and rerun all science experiments, then go back to the Mun and do the same. He will return to the LKO Depot and will head the research team in the by-then launched Mobile Science Lab.

Plans for upcoming Launch Windows:

 

Duna (testbed for the solar system) 01: The Fuel Must Flow

Prep a fleet of vessels filled with modular parts. Everything has a docking port for refuelling, even probes. 2 high gain probes burn first (in case something happens to some of them), followed by a pair of low-gain probes. Along with this a refinery, mining station, an ore tug will be launched as well. This will probably mostly be unmanned, with perhaps 1 Pilot sent in all. He will spend a year putting the pieces of the stations together, dropping the Ike mining station, getting the refinery into a decent Duna orbit, and in general resupplying the fleet with fuel for the return trip at the next Kerbal insertion burn.

I could have sent an engineer, but I'm hoping that Kerbals will pop up in Duna orbit, and that one of them will be an Engineer. If not, then an Engineer will be sent in the next launch window, along with a lander and habitation supplies. It could be  a bit risky to send so much hardware at once, but I figure that if I can get the sats set up, dock all the ships together and get them refuelled, it will save a lot of time. Even with the god-awful extraction/refinery rate with no engineer, it won't matter as much. The initial mission will set up a strong base of operations.

Depending on how the first Duna Flotilla performs, this strategy will likely be replicated by other planets with launch windows. Though depending on the orbital body, the first window encountered may only see a probe or two deployed to ensure that future missions will have no issues keeping in contact with Kerbin. I could have gone with a Duna landing first, followed by a return, but I want to make sure that I can turn what will otherwise be a one-way trip into one that can set up future operations (and semi-permanent) settlements on Ike, Duna, and in orbit.

Edited December 8, 2017 by Maul_Junior