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KTS-40 Mission Completed!


nothke

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MISSION COMPLETED

KTS-40

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Mission synopsis: KTS-40 flown by "Charon", third assembly mission of Horizon-3 space station. Charon will deliver the first truss segment "M" (standing for Middle or Main) to Horizon-3 and also perform the first crew rotation, delivering Gregcan and Hervis to the station, and bringing Chrilkey and Barker back to ground. It also means that for the first time, there will be 5 Kerbonauts onboard the station during the mission. This mission is projected to be much shorter than previous ones because there is are no on-orbit pre-docking operations, Charon will directly dock to the Horizon-3 and start grappling and berthing the truss segment (the only cargo in the bay) to the station.

The mission patch celebrates 40 flights of Kerbal Transportation System with all 7 orbiters displayed and carries the names of 2 fallen Kerbonauts beside the ill-fated Basilisk orbiter on top.

Mission: KTS-40

Orbiter: Charon

Crew:

Lubro Kerman | commander/pilot, fourth flight

Gregcan Kerman | remote manipulator technician, second flight (ascending only)

Hervis Kerman | spaceflight passenger, second spaceflight (ascending only)

Returning crew:

Barker Kerman

Chilkrey O'Kerbaman

Mission code: H3-3

Objective: Deliver Deliver M Truss segment to Horizon-3, first crew rotation

Payload: M Truss, ALADIN, DRO-8

Launcher: Orcan-H external tank + 2 KW Thor SRBs

Powertrain: 3x FSX3 (X3-a, X3-b, X3-c)

Payload mass: 7.06 t

Orbit inclination: 50

Orbit apoapsis: 80km

Milestones: First truss segment to Horizon-3, 40th mission of KTS program

Launch location: KSC Landing location: KSC


MISSION COMPLETED!

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Mission synopsis: KTS-39 flown by KTS Elegy, the return to Horizon-3 space station which core module we've deployed during KTS-37. It's now the time to power it up and board, as well as adding a few new "gadgets" to it. KTS-38 has proven that KAS is indeed reliable when being careful with it, and also proving KABOOM docking system works as intended. The new modules delivered to the station will include the 6 way node that will provide the attachment point for future modules and the Theresa Power Module, a temporary module that will provide power to the station before the big solar panels arrive. While the temporarily attached impact docking DCK-2 module will provide clearance for shuttle docking in following missions. The mission will also include the first Scottish Kerbonaut Chrilkey O'Kerboman who will stay on the station together with Barker Kerman after the Elegy returns home.

Current mission: KTS-39

Orbiter: Elegy

Crew:

Mike Kerman | commander/pilot, fourth flight

Alfie Kerman | remote manipulator technician, second flight

Barker Kerman** | spaceflight passenger, thrid flight (ascending only)

Chrilkey O'Kerbaman | trainee, first flight, first Scottish kerbonaut (ascending only)

Mission code: H3-2

Objective: Deliver Crosser node, DCK-2, and Theresa to H-3, powering up and boarding the station

Payload: Crosser node, DCK-2, Theresa PM, ALADIN, DRO-7

Launcher: Orcan-H external tank + 2 KW Thor SRBs

Powertrain: 3x FSX3 (X3-g, X3-h, X3-i)

Payload mass: 6.695 t

Orbit inclination: 50

Orbit apoapsis: 80km

Projected milestones: 4 crew since KTS-24, first Horizon-3 expedition, first flight of Elegy as 3Gs, reusable SRBs

Launch location: KSC

Landing location: KSC

Mission outcome: Success

Landing: Perfect

Orbiter status after flight: Undamaged

Crew status: OK.

Consequence/Assesment: More RCS fuel is necessary. More caution at launching and orbit information because the external tank wasn't thrown out in time and the orbit had to be lowered afterwards, and therefore spent more fuel coming back to orbit and correcting inclination.

Mishaps: Launch clamps launched with the orbiter (bug). I didn't decouple ET at the right time.


Previous missions:

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Last completed mission: KTS-38

Orbiter: Asterion

Crew:

Kurt Kerman | commander/pilot, fourth flight

Carol Kerman | robotic manipulator technician, second flight on KTS

Hervis Kerman | trainee, first flight

Mission code: X-2

Objective: KAS testing and reliability mission, arm replacement

Payload: DROMOMAN-5, test cargo module, test dock module, picoDROMOMAN

Launcher: Orcan-H external tank + 2 KW Thor SRBs

Powertrain: 3x FSX3 (X3-a, X3-b, X3-c)

Payload mass: ???

Orbit inclination: 30

Orbit apoapsis: 90km

Milestones: First flight with 2 arms, and first success of moving one arm's root position. Also assessed an ability for arm extension in case far reaches are needed. Tested the KABOOM (Kerbal Androgynous Berthing OO-Matic) ports for future use on Horizon-3 Station, which work flawlessly.

Launch location: KSC

Landing location: KSC

Mission outcome: Success

Landing: Perfect

Orbiter status after flight: Undamaged

Crew status: OK.

Consequence/Assesment: KAS is quite reliable if you are carable with attaching detaching! Discarded the arm after flight cause there was no time to pack arm and take the cargo module out.

Mishaps: None


KTS-37

You can see the footage here and here, or the images below

pM6u6EL.png

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Mission: KTS-37

Orbiter: Charon

Crew:

Enemone Kerman | commander/pilot, fifth flight

Lubro Kerman | robotic manipulator technician, second flight

Dosy Kerman | trainee, first flight

Mission code: H3-1

Objective: START OF HORIZON-3 program. Launch Horizon-3 core and DCK-1 modules

Payload: DROMOMAN-6, H3 core module, DCK-1, ALADIN

Launcher: Orcan-H external tank + 2 KW Thor SRBs

Powertrain: 3x FSX3 (X3-a, X3-b, X3-c)

Payload mass: ~11t

Orbit inclination: 50

Orbit apoapsis: 80km

Milestones: First Horizon-3 mission, start of first station entirely constructed with KTS

Launch location: KSC

Landing location: KSC

Mission outcome: Objective Success

Landing: Hard landing, damaged

Orbiter status after flight: Clipped left wing on landing

Crew status: OK.

Consequence/Assesment: KAS is not reliable! Discarded the arm after flight from fear of wobble

Mishaps: KAS bugged, removed the plugin. Front landing gear brake was engaged and caused the orbiter to lean to the left and clip the wing, possibly was accidentally engaged in VAB before flight (damn tweakables). It is assessed that it will take some time to repair the damage.


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KTS Charon grappling Longton-2 satellite on the KTS-36 mission

Kerbal Transportation System, General Info:

Hi guys, my first time posting about an actual flight project than modding =)

Since I am a more like plan, design systems, study, improve, log everything kind of guy, I do my permadeath missions (no quickloads, except if it's a KSP/mod bug), a bit of roleplay and having this feeling of suspense and meticulousness of running things flawlessly, than just destroying rockets.

Some of you might know it, seen it in the screenshots, saw me running missions in realtime on Kerbal livefeed.. Anyway I want to officially present you KTS - Kerbal Transportation System, a reusable, Space Shuttle like system with which I did a lot of missions and assembled a few stations with. It started in KSP 0.19 as a Shuttle recreation project and has continued to every version since. I am writing a paper about the history of it (good old days nostalgia is hitting me) which you can read on the link below and also keep a log book of each mission, mishap, even an imaginary "serial number" of each engine used. Yeah, that's me =)

Most of the mods I designed came as "spinnoffs" of programmes like this, for example DROMOMAN came to be just because of the KTS program, and S6 compartment systems came when making a light pod for interplanetary missions.

In the future, I am planning to make videos or livefeeds of entire missions.

KTS mission log

KTS description and history paper

Edited by nothke
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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 4 weeks later...

Just to make an announcement: I am planning to do live streams of my missions from now on. I will do my next mission, KTS-37 some time tomorrow. Preparing right now for it.

You will be able to watch it on my Twitch channel http://www.twitch.tv/nothke

Video of the entire previous, KTS-36 mission will also be uploaded.

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KTS-37 mission completed and Horizon-3 program officially started!!! You can see the recorded footage, the overview images and the mission assessment in the original post now. Thanks to everyone that was watching it live. Next one will have some commentary in =)

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Can you post craft file for shuttle nd complete list of mods?

Good idea! Forgot about making mod list.

Mod list:

  • B9 Aerospace pack (Hull and cockpit)
  • KW rocketry (Thor SRBs)
  • MechJeb (guidance)
  • Shuttle Engines mod (Main engines, OMS engines and external tank)
  • FusTek Expansion Pack (I use the Kuest airlock part for the Shuttle's docking module)
  • DROMOMAN robotic arm parts + infernal robotics (robotic arm)
  • KAS (attaching robotic arm to payload, and stiffening payload and arm if returning to surface with the portable struts, KAS broke my game in the last flight)

Global mods:

  • FAR
  • KJR - Kerbal Joint Reinforcement
  • Crew Manifest (for moving crew around without EVAing and making my own Kerbals)
  • Toolbar

Some payloads also use other mods such as:

  • FusTek Expansion Pack - CBM ports (I get a lot of lag on these parts, so I will look to change them to something else)
  • RemoteTech for probes and Satelites (I am not using it anymore since it broke my game once)
  • ScanSAT
  • Solar panels from Near Future Propulsion Pack

The lists are subjects to change, it is likely I forgot to mention something

at some time in the future I will post the .craft file too, I just need to make it slightly more reliable.

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KTS-37 crew finally egressed using specially made stairbox, while I was doing preparations and payload design for KTS-38 mission.

http://www.twitch.tv/nothke/b/496805192

Very soon, I will design the KTS-38 patch and then designate astronauts to the mission and finally after everything, launch KTS-38! But tomorrow!

The patch:

BXgeFvx.png

Changed OP

Edited by nothke
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I watched both KTS-37 and KTS-38, a little long, and fairly quiet, but entertaining enough when taken passively. In particular I enjoyed the mission patch creation process, I was really wondering how much work you put into that.

I was thinking you'd use the ladders on the inside of the cargo bay to keep your EVA Kerbonaut from drifting inconveniently far away, or tethering them with another winch.

Your re-entry was surprising in its profile, entirely upside down starting very shallow and diving rapidly until you approach the space centre. Usually I do a high attitude aerobrake for deadly re-entry followed by an even glide from the coast and over the mountains to the runway using flaps, spoilers and air brakes. I used to majorly overshoot KSC by 100km when over estimating my fuel reserves and landing in the water or the next continent over. Those shuttles of yours seem to handle pretty well and agile even with the 3m HL bodies. Have you ever stalled on the sharp baking turns or elsewhere?

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I watched both KTS-37 and KTS-38, a little long, and fairly quiet, but entertaining enough when taken passively. In particular I enjoyed the mission patch creation process, I was really wondering how much work you put into that.

I was thinking you'd use the ladders on the inside of the cargo bay to keep your EVA Kerbonaut from drifting inconveniently far away, or tethering them with another winch.

Your re-entry was surprising in its profile, entirely upside down starting very shallow and diving rapidly until you approach the space centre. Usually I do a high attitude aerobrake for deadly re-entry followed by an even glide from the coast and over the mountains to the runway using flaps, spoilers and air brakes. I used to majorly overshoot KSC by 100km when over estimating my fuel reserves and landing in the water or the next continent over. Those shuttles of yours seem to handle pretty well and agile even with the 3m HL bodies. Have you ever stalled on the sharp baking turns or elsewhere?

Yeah, I lost all the fuel on KTS-37 cause I used the MechJeb's landing AP, I should think twice next time when using it. So that's why I did that ridiculous cross range. Also, I came from an 50 degree inclinated orbit (I intentionally put my station there), so it was quite different than just textbook gliding over the mountains. The orbiter does tend to flip into an unrecoverable stall, but as long as I keep the center of mass forward enough (which I do with the docking module inside the bay), I can prevent it. Also I had a problem with the orbiter rolling uncontrollably on reentry and high mach, but I realized that it's because of the wing tips which I slightly curved upwards. I thought it would improve stability, but actually it does not on high mach.

I am not using deadly reentry yet, but will at some time in the future, so I don't care much about entry angles. The orbiter also doesn't have that much lift to be so agile in the thin upper atmosphere.

I will probably do the KTS-38 mission today but I am not sure yet depends how much time I have.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Very well conceived space program here and a nice spacecraft :)

I saw part of a video of yours, explaining the process of creating the mission patch, but now I don't seem to be able to find it anymore... I think that a tutorial about it would be vary appreciated by many of us :)

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I caught the launch live the other day, almost by accident! :) Your detailed approach is nice, makes me realize how tossed together some of my missions are.

But, I wanted to say how brilliant using the Kuest airlock is for the shuttle docking port. I've been toying with shuttles recently and was trying to find a way to include the docking port in a realistic way. The B9 shielded port never looks right to me on a shuttle, but it's close. I started putting a girder surface attached, the B9 nosecone on the surface node (clipped, more or less) to make it "possible" to move in and out, and a docking port on the top. But that's a whole lot cleaner and simpler. I'll be using that little idea for my next design!

Thanks for sharing, and I'm looking forward to the next mission! :)

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Rp8kFNx.png

Starting a new mission this evening! KTS-39 flown by KTS Elegy, the return to Horizon-3 space station which core module we've deployed during KTS-37. It's now the time to power it up and board, as well as adding a few new "gadgets" to it. KTS-38 has proven that KAS is indeed reliable when being careful with it, and also proving KABOOM berthing system works as intended. The new modules delivered to the station will include the 6 way node that will provide the attachment point for future modules and the Theresa Power Module, a temporary module that will provide power to the station before the big solar panels arrive. While the temporarily attached impact docking DCK-2 module will provide clearance for shuttle docking in following missions. The mission will also include the first Scottish Kerbonaut Chrilkey O'Kerboman who will stay on the station together with Barker Kerman after the Elegy returns home.

Check the OP for more info.

To see the mission spreadsheet go here: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0Aq-Kp1pObiWgdFRaYVBtOEhYeW8zWnktVFVlZEF2OGc&usp=sharing

You can follow the preparations and the mission live here: http://www.twitch.tv/nothke

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I was looking at your KTS History document, and it's really cool. I've never seen someone document their space program like that! I was wondering, how did you put the name on the side of KTS-6?

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/01onBBK5fJ-nZ9LNpGKV5t-bBqcxE_CuNXOEaaZAPJ1_KO_SiL4b6WqZfX7lc15SgxcRm2yqlGphy1fK-AETQIXrQQsHrnw-Wzu8NlsQZCFPAILA17nvp16tWA

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KTS-39 Mission Completed! Check the OP for details and image overview!

Who is the artist for your theme song? I like the tune!

The song is called

I was looking at your KTS History document, and it's really cool. I've never seen someone document their space program like that! I was wondering, how did you put the name on the side of KTS-6?

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/01onBBK5fJ-nZ9LNpGKV5t-bBqcxE_CuNXOEaaZAPJ1_KO_SiL4b6WqZfX7lc15SgxcRm2yqlGphy1fK-AETQIXrQQsHrnw-Wzu8NlsQZCFPAILA17nvp16tWA

Thanks =) I actually made a special part with the name seen in this screen. Later I used the flag decal mod to place an image with the orbiter's name on it. But I don't stick the names on the orbiters anymore, I use the mission patches instead.

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