[Scenario] Rendezvous With Roche

[Alikor]

Thx for the quick fix!

[soranno]

OMG I`m in!

streaming live!

Edited June 3, 2013 by soranno

[mushroomman]

At first I thought this was some sort of Rendezvous with Rama themed challenge. That would be pretty darn difficult.

[nhnifong]

There

Now to fill it up

[hoojiwana]

Nova, could you post the vessel you used to complete this challenge yourself? I'm struggling to believe this is even feasible. The sheer amount of dV you need to get to Roche is utterly insane. I built an Ion powered tug just to see how much Xenon I would need just to get Roche to Kerbin and the resulting vessel was larger than a LV-N rocket that could get you anywhere in the solar system.

If anyone manages to do this is one launch then they are quite simply a magician. The rocket would be far far bigger than one that could theoretically lift off from Eve's surface and achieve orbit, and I've not seen anyone manage to do that without cheat parts.

[NovaSilisko]

Nova, could you post the vessel you used to complete this challenge yourself?

Stiiilll working on that. The ship I've developed has enough Delta-V, but it requires refueling trips in both Kerbin and Eve's SoI. Definitely doable, but time consuming.

It also serves as the launch vehicle. The four outer engine drop away mid-flight, leaving just the center engine and four drop tanks. Once it arrives at Roche (after refueling in Kerbin orbit), it'll be docked and go into standby while waiting for the next launch window. At that time, more fuel tankers will be sent - enough to give it the delta-v to return to Kerbin and enter into a highly elliptical orbit. From there, it's just a matter of rendezvousing multiples times and slowly but steadily braking it into a circular orbit. Lunar slingshots could speed up the process, too.

I'll post progress updates as it goes along.

By the way, this was the test vehicle I used to get it into solar orbit:

I think it could have made it to Kerbin's SoI had I lowered the periapsis before departure, to take advantage of the Oberth Effect better. But, the amount of rocket required to get it that distance actually isn't too much compared to some of the crazy things I've seen.

[Stelith61]

I've gone all Scott Manley on this, making a calculator and doing the math manually before I can even get to a KSP-running computer. By the way, what're the orbits of Roche and the Expedition like?

[Canopus]

Wow that looks like an interesting challenge!

[metaphor]

Just finished it. Wow, that was hard. I used nuclear engines for the asteroid tug, which was about 200 tons and 120 parts. Almost did it in a single launch, but not quite...

The delta-v needed was about 1000 m/s to get from Eve orbit to Kerbin orbit, and about 1000 m/s more to circularize in low Kerbin orbit.

Here's the album with 50 pictures.

Roche in LKO

[Highlad]

this is gona be my project for the next couple of days. Its gona be epic. One thing though, does roche act like a sphere? (will my COT be in line with my COM after i stab it?)

[nyrath]

Metaphor, you are a true Master of KSP!

Your photo album is an education in orbital mechanics.

[nhnifong]

Well I have to say this is pretty awesome

I've pretty much sort of completed it

Album here http://imgur.com/a/LycBG

[Kenobi McCormick]

...is there any reason that neither Roche nor Expedition 1 show up in the map? Because I'm in Eve orbit right now and they're suspiciously absent. The parts are present. The stabber is installed on my craft, I fiddled with the test block, and the boulder itself is in the parts folder. But neither it nor the ill-fated exploratory crew are visible on my map.

Just to follow up on this: For some reason the munlet and the expedition wreckage keep getting deleted from the persistence.sfs file whenever I start the scenario. They're there in the main "Rendesvous with Roche" file, but the persistence.sfs it creates when I start the scenario lacks either.

[rhoark]

Would it be possible to copy-paste Roche into my existing persistence.sfs?

[Atanar]

Totally going to try that! See ya in a bit!

[NovaSilisko]

To metaphor and (almost)nhnifong:

Just to follow up on this: For some reason the munlet and the expedition wreckage keep getting deleted from the persistence.sfs file whenever I start the scenario. They're there in the main "Rendesvous with Roche" file, but the persistence.sfs it creates when I start the scenario lacks either.

That's very odd. What's your debris limit at? Also, you can try the alternate sfs file at the bottom of the first post.

[metaphor]

Wooo got a trophy!

This is really fun, I hope there's more of these in the future!

[NovaSilisko]

I think I'm gonna make a thread in General in the near future called Recycling Roche, where you can just do what you want with it after it's in Kerbin orbit - build a space station, send it back to eve, send it into the sun...

[Richy teh space man]

I think I'm gonna make a thread in General in the near future called Recycling Roche, where you can just do what you want with it after it's in Kerbin orbit - build a space station, send it back to eve, send it into the sun...

Mine it for resources perhaps? I do think the idea of pushing asteroids around like this is a nifty one either way. What effects would it have if it landed on a planet?

[Canopus]

What effects would it have if it landed on a planet?

I guess it would blow up like a normal Part.

@NovaSilisko thank you for making such a great challenge in your KSP free time. All the custom parts look really great! Once asteroids are officially added to the game there should definitely one with the name Roche:)

[NovaSilisko]

Due to its huge mass, the physics engine sorta breaks and it jitters and walks along the surface on its own accord.

[Canopus]

Due to its huge mass, the physics engine sorta breaks and it jitters and walks along the surface on its own accord.

Next mission: land Roche on Gilly

[Eric S]

Yup, I know just about the first thing I'm doing when I get done upgrading my computer. In fact, if I can get all the mods working, I think I've already got something in orbit that will do the job, I just have to throw the grappler onto a docking port, throw it into orbit, and grab it with a long haul tug. I'll have to try it again all stock once I do that, if it works.

[Octobomb]

Wow. Just incredible. Was gonna say, has anyone thought of just building a space station on it? Hmm.. Twiddles thumbs as Kerbal is not available ATM...... Yah yah ah yah yah yahyahyahyahyahYAHYAHYAHBAM! *head explodes from excitements*

[Highlad]

Added another optional objective, the Kerbal X-Prize Scratch-n-Sniff Sticker

Dude, I just designed something that JUST has enough delta-v to get the thing back and it weighs 700 tones. there is no way that it is possible to do that without a bigger vab...