Brotoro's Making History Replica Missions

[Gyrfalcon5]

Nice to see you're still here after all this time! I read your Long-Term Laythe series back in 2014, and I have to say that I really enjoyed it. But on a more recent note, test craft are top-notch and I'm looking forward to seeing more!

[Kerbalstar]

Thanks for the craft @Brotoro!

18 hours ago, Gyrfalcon5 said:

Nice to see you're still here after all this time! I read your Long-Term Laythe series back in 2014, and I have to say that I really enjoyed it. But on a more recent note, test craft are top-notch and I'm looking forward to seeing more!

I did the same thing, except in 2016 or 2017. The stories(Long-Tem Laythe and Developing Duna) were great.

[Wallygator]

@Brotoro  Dude!  Welcome back.  Nice missions and nice commentary.  

I have likely mentioned this before but your original blog(s) was the key instigator for me finally taking the plunge into KSP.  Nice to see your new content. I hope i speak for many others when I say I'm happy to see you providing even more inspiration to existing and future KSPers.

Well Done!

PS: I also have struggled with properly modelling an atlas booster - it is a real pain with the existing part connectivity constraints, but whatever, as long as it conveys the essence of the mission.

On 20/03/2018 at 2:35 AM, Brotoro said:

Inside the SM-25 Service Module are two stacks of LFO propellant tanks (more fuel than is needed), two Stratus-V monopropellant tanks (more than is needed), and the Apollo-traditional three fuel cells for electrical power (although I only activate one of them, and have it activated automatically by the LES tower jettison Action so that I don't forget to do it).

I'm disappointed that the relative size of the service module seems way out of proportion to the CM and any  reasonable LM configuration.  Oh well - off to assess other parts for this purpose.

Edited March 23, 2018 by Wallygator

[Brotoro]

Yeah...and that too-long service module part gets even longer when you add a separator and the plate of the Wolfhound. 

The M.E.M. Could have stood to be physically a little larger in size as well, to better match the CM.

[SBKerman]

On 2018-03-21 at 2:52 AM, Brotoro said:

Yes! That is what I wanted. I thought I had tried that, and just got parts to explode...but I must have been doing something wrong (I am not wise in the ways of the engine plates yet).

Thank you!

Glad I could be of some help. The engine plates and structural tubes are probably my favourite new stock parts. They're very versatile. Keep up the good work. Your replicas are really nice. I especially like the Soyuz spacecraft you put together (though why we didn't get proper parts for it in Making History is beyond me).

[Wallygator]

12 hours ago, Brotoro said:

Yeah...and that too-long service module part gets even longer when you add a separator and the plate of the Wolfhound. 

The M.E.M. Could have stood to be physically a little larger in size as well, to better match the CM.

Exactly my thoughts also.  I wonder if playing around with the scale factor in the config might be helpful?

[Brotoro]

Circummunar Soviet Style

OK, boys and girls, I have three new missions to post. We are going to the Mun...Soviet style!

First up is my rendition of a Soyuz 7K-L1 spacecraft on a Proton K/D launch vehicle. The Soyuz 7K-L1 was a version of the regular Soyuz that has been stripped down to lighten it for a mission to loop around the Moon and return to Earth. It was never actually flown manned, but was successfully flown around the Moon unmanned under the name Zond.

Below is my rocket. The Proton launch vehicle has been a workhorse of the Soviet/Russian space program, and my version is rather stubby. The first stage has six engines, mounted under the six fuel tanks, which are clustered around the central oxidizer tank. So those aren't side boosters...that bottom stage is one unit. The Soviets built it that was so that the smaller parts could be more easily transported to the launch side, and then assembled there. I had a hard time choosing the engines for my model...because T-45 Swivels were very anemic (although it could be made to work), and T-30 Reliants have no thrust vectoring. So I chose to use the S3 KS-25 Vector engine, which I then downrated to about 40% its full thrust and 50% its gimbaling range. Some of the tanks in my Proton are empty or partially full to reduce its capabilities.

I'm annoyed at the fairings in KSP... I would REALLY like the option to build the fairing ignoring clipping. My Soyuz has a 2.5 meter base, and I'd like to put it in a 2.5 meter fairing...but it won't quite fit. Please, just let me clip my fairings. Instead, I had to make the fairing bulge out (and KSP doesn't allow you to make the fairing just a TINY bit bigger...it isn't that fine grained).

Onboard the circumlunar Soyuz for this mission are Valentina and Valeri Kerman, the flower of socialist womanhood...er, socialist kerbal-female-hood. Whatever. Because I'm relatively lazy and didn't want to deal with the high inclination of the Woomerang launch site, these missions will be launched from the international equatorial launch site (KSC).

The lattice work between the first and second stages is made with struts. The second stage uses an new Engine Plate without the shroud showing, which allows a cluster of four motors to easily attach to a lower stage. Engine plates are one of the most useful of the new parts.

Below, the fairing and escape tower are jettisoned using Action key 1. The ejection force of the fairing was pretty anemic, so I increased it later.

The four engines of the second stage can finish carrying the ship to orbit. I used four Terrier engines, clipped up into the tank (and before anyone complains about clipping being cheating, I did reduce the amount of fuel in the tank to account for the lost space...but, really, if you don't like clipping, you will not like my designs. Is this even still a debate?)

The third stage (one Terrier) separated as the vehicle reached  "first cosmic velocity" (orbital velocity). I mostly did this short burn so that the thrust of the engine would register and give me a proper estimate of the burn time for the transmunar burn that came next.

Action key 2 deploys the Soyuz's solar panels and antenna. The third stage Terrier is nestled into a Structural Tube. I like the new structural tubes.

Below we see the plotted trajectory. It will carry the spacecraft on a figure-8 path around the Mun and return to Kerbin (where the 39 km periapsis will allow it to reenter and land). I don't know if the real Zond probes used a parking orbit before translunar injection, or if they did it in one go...but I used a parking orbit.

The mission was timed so that the far side of the Mun would be illuminated when the Soyuz passed around it (why go all that way if you can't take some nice holiday snaps?). Unfortunately, that meant that the transmunar burn was made in the shadow of Kerbin...sorry about the lack of light.

I did wait unnecessarily long before completing the transmunar burn using the small fourth stage (Block D), just so that the burn could happen in sunlight. As it tuned out, the fourth stage was kind of extraneous (the third stage of my rocket could have completed the burn with fuel to spare).

Valentina: "Launch Control, this is Krechet. We have achieved second cosmic velocity. All systems are good!"

Launch Control: "Da, Comrade Commander. Radar tracking shows you are on a perfect trajectory."

Let's take a look at the my Soyuz 7K-L1 above. It started out as the Soyuz from my ASTP project, but has been stripped of its Orbital Module (an RC-001S Remote Guidance Unit was added to the top so that this could be flown as an unmanned Zond...and because the 7K-L1 has some round thing there) and docking port. The Service Module is slightly more compact and has had most of its propellant tanks and RCS tanks removed. The number of RCS thrusters was decreased to just the attitude control thrusters (no translational thrusters). There is a Spark motor in the back for course corrections, if needed..but, basically, Isaac Newton and Konstantin Tsiolkovsky are steering this bird after separation from the Proton.

Oh..."Krechet" is Russian for Gyrfalcon, which Valentina has chosen for the name of their ship.

Below: The Soyuz was approaching the Mun, and it was easier to the the top loop of the figure-8 trajectory.

As the Soyuz was about to pass behind the Mun, it was treated to a wonderful view of the full Kerbin. Get that picture, Val!

It occurs to me that a circumlunar loop like this is nowhere near as exciting as the nail-biting worry that I experienced watching Apollo 8 pass behind the Moon...since there isn't going to be an engine burn back there, out of touch with Earth. As long as the trajectory for the loop around the Moon was set properly, the pass behind the Moon is not a worry.

Below: The Soyuz passed through munar periapsis below 47 kilometers. I imagine Valentina and Valeri were glued to the windows, snapping photos of the magnificent desolation.

And back out the other side we go! Get that picture of Kerbinrise for the cover of Pravda.

Falling back to Kerbin.

The Soyuz jettisoned the Service Module in preparation for reentry. Since I can't do a proper skip reentry path, I targeted the capsule for a higher periapsis than I normally use, just to lower the G forces. Some of the Zond probes failed to perform a proper skip reentry, and experience 20 G's on entry (this would have been very bad for a man...but the turtles onboard survived).

Flaming reentry. The antenna was ripped off by aerodynamic forces, as expected. It's not like Val and Val could talk to anybody via radio while sheathed in plasma anyway.

Out comes the chute! Hey, we are going to land on land, as is right and proper for a Soyuz (although some of the Zond's did come down into oceans when they failed to perform proper skip reentries). Sorry for the nighttime images...but, again, the desire to have the far side of the Mun illuminated for the flyby dictated that this landing occurred at night.

For the final step, the Soyuz dropped its heat shield and thrusters fired to cushion the landing. Success!

The Soviet Union was very close to sending the first humans to the Moon (albeit for just a loop-around trip), but they unfortunately had a surprisingly large number of failures of the Proton booster and Zond spacecraft (launch failures, explosions on the pad, parachute failures, crushing ballistic reentries...some of these failures were reported as successes at the time, making observers think they were much closer to pulling off a circumlunar mission than they actually were), so they wisely decided to not risk a manned flight. 

OK... I have two more flights to out in this Lunar series...already done...I just need to write them up.

Edited March 24, 2018 by Brotoro

[Brotoro]

Lunokhod Landing

My next mission in this three-part series is a lunar landing...of an unmanned Lunokhod rover. Because I need it for Part 3.

I flew my Lunokhod (which possibly should be called a Munokhod) on my Proton rocket. I used a tree-stage version of the Proton K (not historically accurate...Luna/Lunokhod craft were launched on the four-stage Proton K/D) ...because I didn't want to mess with the fourth stage...and because I wanted some experience using the upper stage as a crasher stage during lunar landing (experience for upcoming for Part 3).

I quite like this picture of the boost on six engines (six downrated Vector engines, as described in my Circummunar mission report).

The second stage takes over with four Terrier engines.

OK, now... Don't laugh. I'm going to pop off the fairing now and you'll get to see my somewhat unfortunate rendition of the Lunokhod. I know a proper Lunokhod is supposed to have eight wheels (and I did build one later...see the end of this mission), but I wanted to try out the new Apollo-style rover wheels in the Making History expansion. So my Lunokhod for this mission has four inappropriate wheels. Sorry. Also, I can't fold up the clamshell top of the Lunokhod, or make fold-out ramps...so I did the best I could and still get the spacecraft to fit in the 2.5 meter fairing.

The Proton successfully dumped the Luna/Lunokhod spacecraft and transfer stage into Kerbin orbit.

Below, the transfer stage executed the transmunar burn with its single Terrier. This stage had plenty of fuel to boost the probe to the Mun, capture it into munar orbit, and start it down to its landing on the surface.

Below, a successful insertion into lunar orbit.

Kerbinrise...but nobody onboard to see it.

I designed and tested the Luna Lander to be sure that it could deorbit and land on the Mun by itself...but I'm using the remaining fuel in the Proton' upper stage to bring the lander most of the way down as a crasher stage. I don't know if the real Luna probe used a crasher stage technique or not.

The Luna lander completed the landing of the Luna/Lunokhod spacecraft (after the crasher stage was released and crashed, much as expected from its name, nearby).

Below we see the Lunokhod sitting on top of the Luna lander after successfully touching down on the lunar surface. There weren't small enough landing legs for the Luna lander, so I made some out of trusty cubic octagonal struts.

Then the separator was fired and the Lunokhod rolled down to the surface.

Actually, even with the separator force set to minimum strength, the Lunokhod was popped up into the 'air' and fell to the surface. The picture above is a recreation made by having the Lunokhod rover back up onto the ramp. It deployed fine in one G on Kerbin during tests.

Test driving showed that the Apollo-style wheels have a surprisingly squishy suspension allowing the rover to tilt around a lot as it corners and accelerates. Also, if the rover flips over at low speed (so it is undamaged) the torque in the HECS probe core is sufficient to roll it upright again. Of course, a Lunokhod is only supposed to move at one or two miles per hour, so you shouldn't be tipping it over anyway. The real Lunokhod looks kind of like a bathtub on wheels, and it has a clamshell top that opens to expose its solar cells (and closes to retain heat from its internal radioisotope heat source during the long lunar nights)...but my solar panel lid is fixed in place.

Ooo... What's that marker off in the distance in the picture above? Aliens?

Ah. Nope. Just the single surviving piece from the crasher stage.

But let's get back to this Lunokhod's primary mission. It drove around, scouting out the area. It turned out that the whole area was nice and relatively flat and free from nasty craters or boulder fields. So the Lunokhod parked in a good spot, activated its homing beacon... and waited for Part 3 of this series.

 

Oh... And below is a proper eight-wheeled Lunokhod being tested at KSC. I actually prefer the feel of these wheels. Now I wish I had resisted the temptation of the new Making History wheels.

Next up: Part 3... Munar Mission Soviet Style!

Edited March 24, 2018 by Brotoro

[Brotoro]

Munar Mission Soviet Style

For Part 3 of this Munar series, it's time to land a kerbal on the Mun and return her safely to Kerbin... Soviet N1-L3 style!

It has been a while since I last did a Soviet style munar mission. Here's what that rocket looked like:

Ewww... But at least it had the right number of stages and engines and such. Still, what can be done with KSP stock parts (including the Making History expansion) has come a long way...

Behold! The marvel of kerbal Soviet socialist technology... the N1-L3 stack:

Still not perfect... a 7-meter fairing and engine plate would have helped. And finer control over fairing building would have helped. But this stock N1 is much better than my previous stock N1.

And get a look at the nice interstage lattice structures. True, they're just lots of struts...but the new engine plates make the gaps between stages of clustered engines easy. And if we could get a nice 'bare' variant of the T-45 engine, I could have tucked all these first stage engines up inside for a much prettier butt on the thing. Lots of use of fairings going on here (with several fairing having staging disabled, since they are just for looks and never need to deploy).

"But what if your N1 explodes? They tend to do that, you know. Can your kerbals escape safely?"...I hear you ask. 

Yes, the abort capability was tested, resulting in a successful recovery of the capsule and an explosion equivalent to a small nuke. Below, the N1 lifts off...and then the engine controller steps in and shuts down the party. Abort!

My abort sequence doesn't drag the whole fairing away (for simplicity) as is done with a real Soyuz abort.

But let's get this show on the road. Our pilots for this glorious mission are once again comrade Commander Valentina Kerman and comrade Flight Engineer Valeri Kerman, the pride of the socialist republic.

Below: Liftoff of the N-1 rocket. The view from below shows that all 30 engines of the Block A (first stage) are working perfectly, as expected from the handiwork of socialist laborers. No loose bolts ingested into turbo pumps...not structural mistunings leading to nasty pogo effects. None of that!

I used 30 (count 'em, 30!) T-45 Swivel engines for the N1's Block A, grouped in a ring of 24 with a cluster of 6 in the center, as is the accepted fashion for an N1 Block A stage.

My N1 staged successfully (now that's something you don't see every day) above 13 kilometers. The eight engines of the Block B (stage 2) ignited to continue the boost. Valentina and Valeri seem to be calm...Such bravery! Such confidence in Soviet technology!

The eight engines of the Block B (eight T-45 Swivel engines in may case) are arranged in a ring, just like the real deal. And it was easy to do thanks to the new engine plate. The four engines of the Block V took over around 49 kilometers. (Block V? Not Block C? Yes...get with your Cyrillic alphabetical order, dude.)

The four engines of Block V are arranged in a square pattern... which used to be a pain to do in KSP, but is now a snap with the new engine plates. 

I dumped the fairing and jettisoned the escape tower during the Block V burn (I don't know when the real N1-L3 was supposed to do this).

Look at all the confetti... a celebration of another socialist victory? Nah...just KSP's default fairing separation.

Its work completed, the Block V separates from the L3 stack, depositing the stack safely into parking orbit.

Next up, a maneuver was plotted to take the ship to the Mun (standard figure 8 trajectory with free-return to Kerbin).

Then the Block G fired up to push the L3 Munar Expedition Complex on its way to the Mun! The Block G was then discarded. 

Both my Block G (fourth stage) and Block D (fifth stage) used single Poodle engines. 

Below, the L3 stack enroute to the Mun. You may have noticed that my Soyuz does not have solar panels... That's because the Soyuz 7K-LOK ("Lunniy Orbitalny Korabl") was supposed to be powered by fuel cells, like the Apollo spacecraft. The lunar lander (LK for "Lunniy Korabl") is enclosed in a fairing between the block D and the Soyuz (as was planed for the real configuration). Except for the change of electrical power supply, and the addition of a Junior docking port inside the regular docking port, my rendition of the Soyuz 7K-LOK is the same as my Soyuz used in my previously posted ASTP mission.

The Block D stage was used to insert the L3 stack into lunar orbit. This time mission controllers were waiting anxiously for the callout from the Soyuz as it passed out from behind the Mun to know if the orbital capture was successful...

Valeri: "Mission Control, this is Kryakva. Engine burn was successful. We are in lunar orbit!"

As seen below, the lunar capture burn has left the Block D tanks over half full... which is good, because that stage will carry the LK lander most of the way down to the surface.

Time for Valentina to transfer from the Soyuz LOK to the LK lander. There would be none of this transferring to the lander in shirtsleeve environment via a docking tunnel, as done by weak capitalists in an Apollo. Moving to the LK required a spacewalk!

The fairing covering the LK would have a hatch allowing the pilot to enter the lander... But we don't have hatches in our fairings in KSP...Oh! I guess we do (you just need to know where to poke Valentina through the fairing).

Once Valentina was in place, Valeri jettisoned the fairing and moved the Soyuz away.

Valentina: "Kobchik calling Kryakva. Radio check."

Valeri: "This is Kryakva. I am receiving you fine, Kobchik. Your lander looks perfect from here."

Valentina: "As expected of the glorious handiwork of socialist workers! I shall proceed to the surface."

Oh... Kryakva is Russian for Mallard, and Kobchik is Russian for Falcon (you always need two different call signs when dealing with two ships on a lunar mission).

Valentina does a little maneuvering to line up on her landing site and fires of the Block D to drop from orbit. (Those aren't parachutes attached to the sides of the Onion capsule...those are just shapely bulges to better resemble the real LK.)

Valentina: "Mission Control, this is Kobchik. I have acquired the Lunokhod's homing beacon."

Mission Control: "Khorosho, comrade Commander. You are permitted to proceed to landing."

The Block D has a nice amount of thrust for this light craft, so it gives you a lot of leeway in landing.

After passing above the Lunokhod's beacon about a kilometer up, Valentina used the Block D to slow down into a steep, slow descent, and then she cut the Block D loose and fired up the LK's engine. Below, we see the Block D crasher stage living up to its name as the LK slowly descends.

And landing! Immediately after touchdown, the four upward facing thrusters near the tops of the landing legs fire to force the lander to settle firmly down onto the lunar surface (the Soviets chose this design feature to be sure the lander wouldn't bounce around or tip over, even on surfaces with a 30 degree incline).

Valentina: "Mission Control, Tranquility Base here. The Kobchik has landed."

Mission Control: "Da, Twank..Tranquility. We copy you down. You shall not be written out of the history books."

Off to the east, less than a half kilometer away, the Lunokhod is visible amongst the lunar landscape.

Here is Valentina's landing location:

Valentina got out to set boots upon the Mun.

Valentina: "That's one small step for a kerbal... one proper use of the indefinite article for kerbalkind."

She came in peace for all kerbalkind. And to accentuate the superiority of the socialist economic system.

While Valentina was setting up a flag and grabbing a few contingency samples of lunar rocks, mission controllers back on Kerbin were remotely driving the Lunokhod over to her landing location.

Because the Lunokhod was not just there as a landing beacon... it also was going to be equipped with a place for the cosmonaut to stand on the front and use manual controls to drive around on the Moon...at the screaming speed of one to two miles per hour.

So my Lunokhod has seat on the front.

Valentina drove over to the Luna lander to check it out.

And to have fun sling down the deployment ramp.

After an appropriate amount of exploring (which did NOT involve driving several kilometers to the east to visit any monuments), Valentina parked the Lunokhod at her landing site and returned to the LK to prepare for liftoff.

The real LK lander was designed to use the same rocket engine for both descent and ascent. The landing legs and supporting structure serves as a launching platform, but is left behind on the surface. My LK does this as well. Below: Lunar liftoff.

As viewed from the Lunokhod:

The lift off viewed from overhead:

Valentina heads for orbit.

Valentina successfully reached orbit. And because she is a badass pilot and because her LK had plenty of fuel left over, she conducted the rendezvous maneuvers to return to the Soyuz.

Valentina allowed Valeri to handle the final docking.

Valentina EVA'd back to the Soyuz with her samples, and then the LK was jettisoned.

The Soyuz's engine was used to boost the LOK out of munar orbit and back to Kerbin. Our heroines look please that it fired up. Sorry the maneuver is in the dark...but, you know...celestial mechanics and all.

As the Soyuz rounded the limb of the Mun, the Vals were greeted by a sight of Kerbin totally eclipsing the sun.

The eclipse persisted for a while, then the sun burst into view.

After the cruise back to Kerbin, the Orbital Module and then the Service Module were jettisoned shortly before atmospheric entry.

Reentry flames (again, coming in shallow) with stuff exploding off of the Orbital Module in the distance.

Out came the chute, over land (if the Zond or LOK's skip reentry worked properly, it would land on land in Kazakstan. If it muffed the skip and came in ballistic, it would need to be fished out of the Indian Ocean...or self destructed during descent, as happened with one of the Zonds).

Main chute open! Heat shield dropped! Retro thrusters fired to cushion the landing! (The smoke below is not from the landing thrusters kicking up dust...that's the exploded heat shield.)

The victorious heroines of the people's social republic! Now it's time to head to the wall of the Kremlin for some photo ops with their magnificent leaders.

And so ends my Soviet lunar trifecta.

I'll check for typos later. There's ALWAYS typos.

Edited March 26, 2018 by Brotoro

[Jaff]

Sun is a big typo surely?

 

really enjoying these keep it up.

 

also you could extend your stubby protons with those circular tubes?

[Wallygator]

Nice lander!   I saw the original at the London science museum a while back. 

Your representation conveys much of the same vibe. 

Cool!

[Brotoro]

40 minutes ago, Jaff said:

Sun is a big typo surely?

 

really enjoying these keep it up.

 

also you could extend your stubby protons with those circular tubes?

Yeah. My darn autocorrect kept changing Mun to Sun... I didn't notice until later.

[Cydonian Monk]

54 minutes ago, Brotoro said:

Yeah. My darn autocorrect kept changing Mun to Sun... I didn't notice until later.

It’s ok. I recognized your over-agressive autocorrect and still got a chuckle out of the “far side of the Sun” being illuminated. That particular autocorrect pattern is half the reason I always spell Mün with an ü.

[Brotoro]

Well...the far side of the Sun is always illuminated, I guess. I think I fixed all the Sun/Mun autocorrupts now.

[Wallygator]

On 20/03/2018 at 2:35 AM, Brotoro said:

Squad; how about you just close the fairing and let me worry about whether or not I want anything poking through it?).

I agree.  I'm convinced they just don't understand proper use cases.

On 20/03/2018 at 2:35 AM, Brotoro said:

The Spark in the ascent stage is poked up inside so that it clicks to the node that does NOT result in the ugly round base shroud appearing on the MEM (you have to move your cursor around in there to find the right node...be patient).

I also find the node configuration of this particular pod to be one of the most frustrating aspects of the MH expansion. AND THE POD IS TOO SMALL VISUALLY.

On 20/03/2018 at 2:35 AM, Brotoro said:

Happily, they weren't coming down in a boulder field or crater

The entire idea of having boulders without colliders seems to be non-existent in KSP - makes no sense. its just visual fluff.

On 20/03/2018 at 2:35 AM, Brotoro said:

The reentry fire effects weren't very impressive, even at munar return speeds. Ummm...and what's with the reentry effects showing through the capsule? How does something like this not get noticed during testing??

yea, what happened?   the RE effects seem to be gone entirely regardless of entry vector.

On 20/03/2018 at 2:35 AM, Brotoro said:

And it does this whether people believe in it or not

There is one specific loading tip that states "Faking Moon Landing" or something like that - which I find that slightly offensive and contrary to the entire idea of KSP as a space exploration game.   @SQUAD fell asleep at the wheel (sorry navball) on this one.  Humour is greatly appreciated, but not when it reinforces non-rational thinking.

Perhaps @SQUAD might rewrite that particular loading tip to be "Faking Faking moon landing".

 

Regardless...  Well presented @Brotoro.  I love it!        No wait... to use "Yes to the Dress" terminology... "I Love it, love it!"

[Brotoro]

8 hours ago, Wallygator said:

I also find the node configuration of this particular pod to be one of the most frustrating aspects of the MH expansion. AND THE POD IS TOO SMALL VISUALLY.

Yes, the nodes are very frustrating.Does anybody ever use that big, ugly circular shroud that appears when you connect to the big node (the one that's way too easy to hit)?

And it surprises me that graphic designers, who are supposed to have a good eye for proportions and such, didn't notice the sizing problems of the SM and M.E.M. visually.

[Brotoro]

Mercury-Atlas

The Atlas stage-and-a-half configuration is difficult to model well... or at least I haven't found a solution that I am 100% happy with. But here is my best solution for a replica of the Mercury-Atlas.

This final version has a stage-and-a-half configuration, and also has the two small vernier engines (that I initially forgot to put on...I used Ant engines as the verniers). The stage-and-a-half configuration means that all three main engines ignite at launch, and later during boost the two side engines are jettisoned. This odd configuration was adopted for America's first ICBM because engineers were not sure if they could air-start rocket engines to make multi-stage rockets. The stage-and-a-half design allows all engines to be started on the ground, where higher thrust is needed for liftoff, but then allows the rocket to save weight by dropping the side booster engines and continuing on the single sustainer engine when a lower thrust-to-weight ratio is fine.

I would prefer it if the rocket could use three identical main engines, but I couldn't get that to work (because it required clipping the side engines into the airframe, and clipping in some cones as shrouds...and I could never get that configuration to separate cleanly as a single unit). So I ended up using an LV-T45 Swivel engine in the center and two Mk-55 Thud engines on the sides. I don't like to look of the flames in this configuration...but I'll live with it.

Below we have Jebediah recreating a Mercury-Atlas flight.

CAPCOM: "Goodspeed, Jeb Kerman!"

Oh... This flight was using an older version of my Atlas that didn't have the vernier engines in place yet... Sorry.

Jebediah: "Liftoff! The clock is running!"

My Atlas has moderately low thrust, so it needs a fairly vertical launch path.

The tricky part comes at staging. It's possible for the booster engine unit to get hung up on the sustainer engine after separation. If it does get stuck, sometimes it rattles free...sometimes the Atlas blows up. This is not the reliability I wanted, of course, but I actually find it kind of interesting the there might be a random failure. Remember, when the Atlas was chosen as the launcher for Project Mercury, it was not an extremely reliable booster, and it did suffer occasional launch failures (happily, never on a manned Mercury flight).

Oddly enough, the reliability of the staging is IMPROVED if the rocket is not pointing dead-on prograde at the time of staging... I think the aerodynamic forces help wiggle and pull the booster unit free. Staging should wait until after the vehicle is going faster than 400 m/s because the stability of the sustainer is a bit questionable in the transonic region of the high 300s. To help the stability of the booster, I have my fuel tank priorities set so that the front tank is used last (the conical tank). The escape tower is jettisoned using Action key 1 once the staging has been successful (I was a bit slow on jettisoning the tower below...I was busy taking pictures, you know).

Once the Atlas gets up into the thin air at around 40 km, I tip it hard over to build up horizontal velocity.

Once the desired orbit is achieved, the Mercury capsule is separated and a brief posigrade burn moves the capsule away from the Atlas. The real Mercury capsule retro pack had three small posigrade solid rocket motors to perform this maneuver. The retro pack also had three larger solid fuel retro motors for deorbiting. My capsule's retro pack is liquid fueled and uses three Ant engines for both separation and retro burns.

Jebediah: "Zero-G and I feel fine! The capsule is turning around. I can see the Atlas booster."

CAPCOM: "Roger, Friendship 4. You are go for at least ten orbits!"

Here's some close-ups of my Mercury capsule. The Oscar-B tank on the front is empty...I'm just using that space to hide equipment (and because the real Mercury capsule had cylindrical forward sections). The bit of protrusion at the base of the front cylinder is the end of a Z-100 battery pack (with just enough sticking out that I can grab it as needed). In the bottom picture, some bits of the radial parachute are similarly sticking out. The antenna is laid alongside the cylindrical section (the top extension on the real Mercury capsule was called the antenna fairing, so this is a good place for the antenna). There is a Junior docking port on the front, but I don't intend to use it for docking...it just looked nice and I needed something that could decouple the escape tower. The Oscar-B tank on the back (attached with a TD-06 decoupler and partially clipped in) is only 30% full of propellant to start with. Three Ant engines are clipped in and angled to represent both the posigrade and retro rockets. There is no monopropellant onboard (to save weight).

After only three orbits, it was time to bring Jeb back. The three Ant retrorockets were fired to target the landing.

Jebediah: "Whoa! That felt like I was headed back toward crater island!"

Separation of the retro pack is shown below. Of course, if you are properly simulating John Glenn's flight, you should leave the retro pack on and let it disintegrate during reentry.

Reentry flames. The capsule just uses the built-in heat resistance of the Mk-1 capsule...no extra heat shield is need from low Kerbin orbit.

The parachute deployed and the ocean landing was successful.

Jeb got out for a victory swim. The real Mercury capsule had TWO hatches...the main one on the side (which you would NOT want to open while floating in the ocean...just ask Gus Grissom) and a small hatch leading out of the top cylinder (part of the control panel needed to be removed to reach it), which the astronaut could use to exit the capsule while afloat (Scott Carpenter, who landed quite long, used this to get out and wait around for recovery in his life raft).

 

Flight notes:

I was a bit slow at staging and jettisoning the escape tower in the flight above. More typically, I do these events lower:

 

Construction notes:

To build the stage-and-a-half configuration, put a decoupler on the bottom of the sustainer, then use the Move tool (with Toggle Snap off) to slide it up. Sliding it up is needed to expose the nozzle (since the Atlas nozzle is visible)...but the further up you move it, the more unreliable the staging becomes. Then add a structural tube and side-mounted Thuds to the bottom of the decoupler...and then use the Move tool to slide the structural tube up relative to the decoupler. Note: The side boosters must protrude down lower than the center engine...if not, the coupler (which is actually on the bottom of the engine) will 'lock' the rocket to the launch pad when you try to launch (you could also solve this problem by using launch clamps to elevate the rocket).

Run fuel lines to the side Thuds. The actual Atlas has tunnels down the sides there, so I didn't attempt to hide these lines. My escape tower is an I-beam attached to the docking port and then slid upward using the Move tool. Three angled Sepratons are sufficient to pull the Mk-1 free of the rocket. The three tower legs are made with struts.

Did I test the Launch Escape System? Of course! The Abort Action decouples the capsule from the Atlas and fires the Sepratrons. Action key 0 separates the expended escape tower and retro pack.

There you go!

Edited March 24, 2018 by Brotoro
Typos, typos. Always typos :(

[Wallygator]

4 hours ago, Brotoro said:

Yes, the nodes are very frustrating.Does anybody ever use that big, ugly circular shroud that appears when you connect to the big node (the one that's way too easy to hit)?

And it surprises me that graphic designers, who are supposed to have a good eye for proportions and such, didn't notice the sizing problems of the SM and M.E.M. visually.

Many folks who are seasoned professional these days have no reference to days and scales past. 

[Brotoro]

Vostok Verisimilitude

The Making History expansion contains lots of nice parts for making a Vostok replica, so how can I resist recreating the first manned spaceflight?

Below is my vehicle. The Vostok launch vehicle is similar to the Soyuz launcher I built for my ASTP Project, except that it has a different upper stage. My upper stage is 1.875 meters in diameter and uses one Terrier engine and four Ant engines as the attitude control engines. The central core stage is 1.875 meters in diameter, but tapers to 1.25 for the lower section. The core uses an RK-7 Kodiak engine and four RV-1 Cub vernier engines, clipped in. The side boosters also use the Kodiak engine, but each booster has only two Cubs, clipped in, to match the engine configuration of the original. I found that the rocket was too powerful, resulting in all sorts of atmospheric effects that made taking pretty pictures difficult...so I limited the thrust of the Kodiaks to 50%. I also reduce the fuel levels in this stages a little so that the second stage would be required to reach orbit. My second stage and Vostok tanks, on the other hand, were full to increase the mass of the payload (to compensate for the overly powerful booster).

So let's head over to the Tyuratam launch site for this historic...What? We are calling the launch site 'Baykonur'? But isn't Baykonur 250 kilometers away? Oh! I see. Yes, yes...we are most definitely launching from Baykonur. Not Tyuratam. Would we lie?

On board for this historic first crewed flight to space is Comrade Major Valentina Kerman, a brave pilot indeed, considering that the test flights for the Vostok were having a 50% failure rate.

Mission Control: "Preliminary stage...main stage...Lift off!"

Valentina: "Let's go!"

Mission Control: "The rocket is working fine. Wishing you a good flight!"

Valentina: "Kedr calling Mission Control. G forces are slowly increasing."

Mission Control: "Everything is working fine. You may continue."

Valentina: "I have any choice now?"

Below we see the staging of the side boosters. If you want a nice Korolev Cross, it helps to reduce the solid fuel of the built-in separation motors to 10%.

Valentina: "The shroud has ejected. I can see Kerbin through my Vzor viewport. I am continuing."

Valentina: "The upper stage has ignited. I can feel it working."

Valentina: "Kedr to Mission Control. Upper stage cutoff. I have achieved first cosmic speed!"

Mission Control: "Da. Continue with the mission."

Valentina: "How is my orbit?"

Valentina: "Spacecraft separation! That was a bit violent...maybe we shouldn't have clipped parts together so much. Attitude control thrusters are stabilizing the craft."

Valentina: "Kedr to Mission Control. Zero-G is very pleasant."

Mission Control: "You may continue."

Valentina: "How is my orbit?"

Mission Control: "Well...Your periapsis is higher than expected. But even if your retro rocket doesn't work, you will reenter in 20 days."

Valentina: "Ah... But I only brought enough snacks to last 10 days as planned. What do I do?"

Mission Control: "Hope your retro rocket works. Continue."

Internal view through the Vzor port. To manually align for reentry, the cosmonaut must center the view on the planet (the horizon will be visible all around in a circular mirror system...not shown here), and the surface features should be moving upward along those vertical lines.

Speaking of reentry, less than one orbit later it was time for Valentina to align her capsule and fire the retro engine.

Valentina: "Kedr to Mission Control. Retro fire was successful. Jettisoning antennas and instrumentation module." Happily for Val, the instrumentation module separated cleanly, and didn't hang around through part of the reentry (just ask Yuri how disconcerting that can be).

Valentina: "Capsule is oscillating. Reentry flames are visible. Hello? I guess I'll continue."

Because her capsule lacked an ejection seat, Valentina waited until the capsule's chute was out before exiting from the capsule.

Valentina: "I will continue without the capsule!"

Valentina deployed her parachute and waited for it to open fully...then dived down to catch up with the capsule.

Valentina had fun chasing the capsule on the way down.

And Valentina made a safe touchdown without face-planting. 

Valentina: "Mission Control, I have ejected and landed safely!"

Mission Control: "Nyet, comrade Major! You did NOT eject. You landed in your capsule! Are we clear on this fact?"

Valentina: "Umm...what?"

Mission Control: "The Federation Aeronautique Internationale does not recognize setting a flight record if the pilot ejects from their craft."

Valentina: "Huh?"

Mission Control: "Get back to your capsule for the official photo op!"

Below, the historic photo of Valentina next to her Vostok capsule. Which she landed in. Really. Really. Would we lie?

 

Edited March 25, 2018 by Brotoro

[Brotoro]

Atlas Again

Remember my Mercury Atlas, with its entertaining little penchant to occasionally fail when staging? I really should think of the ever-so-useful engine plates first when I build things...because it turns out that when I rebuilt the Atlas with an engine plate, the staging no longer exhibits the tendency of the boosters to occasionally get stuck and explode the sustainer engine. Or at least the staging using the engine plate has worked 100% of the time for me in my tests.

So, I made this version by putting an engine plate under the main tanks (followed by a FL-A151S conical tank and then the LV-T45 ...because the Atlas sustainer is tapered at the bottom once the booster engine unit is dropped). Right-click on the engine plate and set its fairing length to long enough for its fairing node to extend below the engine.

Then add the Structural Tube and two side Thud engines.

Then change the length of the engine plate fairing to Short. And remember to attach fuel lines to the Thud engines.

Stages cleanly every time.

 

Edited March 27, 2018 by Brotoro

[Brotoro]

I was working on improving my Soyuz... Specifically the conical flare at the base. In my previous design, I used an aerodynamic adapter with a 2.5-meter wide diameter, but that was too wide. Below is a rendition using thermal radiators (they have the advantage of light weight and slightly curved shape...but there are 16 of them overlapping and clipped into the Service Module to make the flared base.

Needing to use 16 parts to make a moderately acceptable base cone is not a great solution. So I have decided that there are certain things that I would like to see Squad offer in an updated Making History expansion, if they would really like to make the Making History expansion much more desirable for players:

1. A properly shaped Soyuz capsule. Fits 1.875 tube. Come on, guys...why you left this out in the first place is beyond me. (As long as we are talking capsules, a Dragon 2 capsule would be nice, with built-in motors. And an Orion. But, really, the Soyuz is too important historically that it NEEDS to be included.)

2. To solve my problem with the flared base of the Soyuz, I want them to give us a conical adapter part that we can specify any values for the top diameter, bottom diameter, and length. Yes, I know this smacks of procedural parts (which KSP has tended to avoid)...but this is just a cosmetic structural part, not a fuel-containing part, so there wouldn't be confusion when somebody looks at it and doesn't know at a glance how much fuel this part can hold (which is the reason I personally never liked procedural fuel tanks). KSP already has aerodynamic fairings, so there is the code for drawing cones in the program...I would just like this part to be similar, but it makes a structural cone. The part could be a thin ring, and have the cone build outward from the BASE of the part...or from the TOP downward, I guess, since rockets generally get built from top down... (so that the part will get enclosed inside the final cone)...and allow sections of the cone to be built straight outward. And, of course, this part should allow clipping (I think the regular fairings should ignore clipping during building, too). In the Editor, pointing at the structural cone will make it fade out so that we can see and select anything inside of it, including the base ring of the part itself.

3. As long as we are at it, give us Structural Tubes that can be stretched to any length. They already gave us structural tubes in an assortment of click-stop lengths...how hard could it be to let us specify any length? Then again...if they give us the universal structural cone part I wish for above (#2), it could make structural tubes of any length by making the bottom and top diameters the same. 

4. Soyuz-sized solar panels (1x4 in a larger size to fit the Soyuz) would be nice.

5. Refueling hoses. (OK...I always ask for refueling hoses, so I can't resist putting them on any wish list.)

 

 

Edited March 29, 2018 by Brotoro

[Wallygator]

On 29/03/2018 at 3:46 AM, Brotoro said:

Needing to use 16 parts to make a moderately acceptable base cone is not a great solution.

Procedural needs to be stock.  I agree!!!

On 29/03/2018 at 3:46 AM, Brotoro said:

the Soyuz is too important historically

But clearly not important enough for @SQUAD to dedicate a few weeks to develop an earlier model set over the past few years. This saddens me.  They need to appoint a Historical Content Administrator, to assure accurate-ish game representations. (I could do this - lol, as could many others here in this forum...  Oh wait, Why not YOU! @Brotoro)

On 29/03/2018 at 3:46 AM, Brotoro said:

Refueling hoses

Yes please!  Now a limerick...

 

There once was a game called KSP.

It was the most fabulous game for me.

But it had not a hose.

So my anger then rose.

"It's not anywhere on the Tech Tree!"