sevenperforce

AFAIK, even though solar eclipses are visible from Kerbin once a day (on the equator at least), there is no actual shadow cast on Kerbin's surface. So I'm assuming the same is true for the Mun. Kerbin casts shadow on spacecraft, obviously, but not on other bodies.

Doesn't help with your heading. When you're in a suborbital trajectory, you can only thrust straight up, straight down, or parallel to the surface. This means that it doesn't matter what direction you try to point your Kerbal; his or her RCS thrusters cannot angle at all and thus cannot perform any sort of gravity turn. Either you're thrusting directly parallel to the surface, or you're thrusting straight up or down. If you try to thrust at an angle by pressing W and Shift and the same time, you end up with huge cosine losses...maybe not problematic in most cases, but bad if you're trying to reach orbit from the surface. Once you're orbital, your orientation system changes, and now your up/down axis is aligned with the ecliptic. If you happen to be in a perfect equatorial orbit chasing a target in a perfect equatorial orbit, great...but if you have inclination to deal with, then it becomes categorically impossible to thrust "prograde" or "retrograde" to change your orbit.

Here's the Sterling -- personally, I think you should call it the Starling. Getting CoM, CoL, and CoT to work together was really tricky.

So does that work?

Well, here's this data: Here are some additional details: https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2017/04/nasa-goals-missions-sls-eyes-multi-step-mars/ Unfortunately, NASA simply does not have concrete plans beyond EM-6 at this time. However, based on the above reference plan, I would propose the following missions: EM-7A: SLS Block 1B crew, but "logistics" should be replaced with an Ike-capable lander which docks to one of the side docks on the Deep Space Transport. Keep Orion at the DSG; you should now have two separate Orion spacecraft at the DSG. EM-8: SLS Block 1B cargo; fully fuel the Deep Space Transport and deliver an autonomous relaysat which docks on the other side of the Deep Space Transport. EM-7B: Undock the Deep Space Transport from the Deep Space Gateway and dock one Orion to the Deep Space Transport. Send the Deep Space Transport with crew on a transfer to Duna; do not warp there. EM-9: First flight of SLS Block 2 Crew. SLS Block 2 should use advanced liquid boosters in place of the SRBs. Send Orion and a logistics/refueling module for the Deep Space Gateway; fully refuel the DSG; you should have additional bipropellant fuel in the logistics module for EM-10. Send the old Orion back to Kerbin; keep the new Orion docked to the DSG. EM-10A: SLS Block 2 Cargo. Send a reusable, partially fueled, unmanned Munar lander to the Deep Space Gateway. Lander must be capable of transporting 3 kerbals to the Mun's surface and back to the DSG as a single stage. Fuel it from the EM-9 logistics module, jettison the logistics module, and then use the DSG propulsion system to place the DSG into an equatorial orbit. EM-7C: Warp the rest of the way to Duna. Use the Deep Space Transport to capture into an eccentric Duna orbit and release the relaysat at periapse; the relaysat should use its own engines to circularize. Place the DST in Ike orbit, then land on Ike with the lander. Retrieve a surface sample and return to the DST, then make the injection burn to return to Kerbin. Do not warp back to Kerbin. EM-10B: Use the Munar lander to land on the Mun. Retrieve a surface sample. Return to the DSG and dock; use Orion to return crew to Kerbin. DSG will be uncrewed. EM-7D: Deep Space Transport arrives back in Munar space and docks with Deep Space Gateway. Use Orion to return crew to Kerbin. EM-11: SLS Block 2 Crew. Send Orion plus logistics to the DSG; logistics should refuel everything, including lunar lander. Keep Orion at DSG. Use the DSG propulsion system to place the DSG back in a polar Munar orbit. Further missions: EM-12: SLS Block 2 Cargo. Send an uncrewed Duna lander and ascent vehicle to LKO. It should include a heat shield, a hab, a rover, and space for four crew in the ascent vehicle. It does not need to be reusable. EM-13: SLS Block 2 Crew. Send Orion with an autonomous ISRU station to the Deep Space Gateway; return old Orion to DSG. Using the lunar lander refueled on EM-11, take crew and the ISRU station to one of the Munar poles. Set up the ISRU station, do not refuel the lunar lander, return it to the DSG. Keep crew at DSG EM-14A: SLS Block 2 Cargo. Send a small braking/insertion bus for the Duna lander to dock with it in LKO, then use the EUS to send it on Duna injection. Do not warp. EM-15: SLS Block 2 Crew. Send Orion with an autonomous refueling tanker to the DSG. Use the refueling tanker to land at the polar ISRU station, refuel, and return to the DSG+DST to refuel it. Make repeated trips as necessary. Keep both Orions there. EM-14B: Duna lander/ascent vehicle arrives at Duna; use the braking bus to capture. EM-16A: SLS Block 2 Crew. Send Orion plus logistics (xenon refuel, etc.) to DSG. Dock two Orions with DST and make the transfer burn to Duna. EM-17: SLS Block 2 Cargo. Send a permanent Munar surface hab to the DSG; use the refueling tanker to deliver it to the surface, one-way. EM-18A: SLS Block 2 Crew. Send Orion and a replacement refueling tanker to the DSG; do not return old Orion to Kerbin. EM-16B: DST arrives at Duna, docks with lander/ascent vehicle. 4 Kerbals to Duna surface. EM-19: SLS Block 2 Cargo. Send a second reusable Munar lander to the DSG. Refuel and then send it down to the Mun base unmanned. Continue to refuel the DSG as necessary from the polar ISRU station. EM-16C: Duna ascent vehicle returns to DST, DST makes burn back to Kerbin. Do not warp yet. EM-18B: Send crew of 3 down to base in Munar lander, then return only one member to DSG, leaving two in the base. Return one Orion with 2 crew members to Kerbin. EM-16D: DST returns to the DSG.

Bravo!!

On the technical side of things -- Does anyone know enough about the operation of these Soviet hypergolic engines to know whether they can be overclocked -- have the turbines spin faster, etc. to get higher thrust?

Still waiting on an update, @Bottle Rocketeer 500

Well, thanks. Those of us without KER salute you.

In case anyone wants to make testing easier, I used Tweakscale and the debug menu to figure out what isp the various rocket engines have. Observe: Thrust is not correct, since I used Tweakscale, but Specific Impulse is correct, and with a little math you can use that to get the correct thrust. Also, note that the RCS thruster (not shown) has an Eve SL isp of 8.6 seconds. In other words, nothing.

Definitively impossible. No question.

You mean a single-stage Eve Ascent Vehicle, or a single-stage Kerbin Launch Vehicle for an Eve mission, or an Oscar-B HTOL spaceplane?

A better number to look at is the ratio of payload to vehicle dry mass.

Damn, that is impressive.

http://thebulletin.org/north-korea’s-“not-quite”-icbm-can’t-hit-lower-48-states11012 Interesting. According to this assessment, which seems pretty detailed, NK's new ICBMs don't have enough dV to reach the continental United States, and may not even be able to hit Alaska. Evidently, the lofted trajectory we saw would only have been possible with almost no payload; the off-the-shelf Russian engines NK has stockpiled don't have enough thrust to get the demonstrated trajectory unless the rocket itself is fairly small, which in turn means the payload is much lower than the 500-600 kg they'd need to field a warhead. [snip]

Proof of concept: 20.75 tonne Eve Ascent Vehicle, 68 parts, Oscar-B fuel tanks only. It's actually rather overpowered. Landed (yes, I used the debug menu to get here, so sue me). Note part count and mass. Dropped my drop tanks on the ground because I'm overpowered enough as it is. Liftoff! Staging off the vectors. The sustainer basically just maintains fights drag for a while. Finally high enough to start accelerating a little. Turning over now that I actually can. Should probably throttle down soon. Starting to get heat on the fairing. Through the bulk of the atmosphere, finally. Burning off the rest of my fuel! Fairing separation and staging! High enough that the atmosphere doesn't bother Val. Plenty of time to circularize. That does it! And with half my terminal-stage fuel to spare, no less.

Yes, contracts, but that's not the only thing. It's actually a federal crime to share certain technical information with non US nationals. This includes satellite and launch vehicle data.

What nonsense. It's not SpaceX's choice; it's federal law.

Not just "national security stuff'; SpaceX is specifically prohibited from hiring people from outside the United States because of the defense and aerospace applications of rocketry.

Aaaaaand you win the internets today.

Depends on how often you need it.

Made it down! Safe and sound.

Yeah, no reason to leave aluminum grid fins in storage forever. Use'em if ya got'em. Coming up on the entry burn! Love the Eye-of-Sauron entry burn! Very cloudy. Landing burn start!

Stage separation and MVac ignition. Really, really beautiful shot of MVac ignition from underneath. Looks like it is running the older grid fins -- probably recycled from an earlier launch? This is a new booster but they can reuse grid fins. S2 telemetry rather than S1.

Yeah, that scared me too. Just a wind change, though. Coming up on MECO. This is an ASDS landing.