jinnantonix

Ready now to begin the kolonisation, with the first primary sustainable base with 15 kerbals is deployed on Ovok. The supply carrier is filled with supplies, and the Skycrane delivers it to the orbital station, filling it with supplies. The mission is now ready to take kerbals to the other moons to set up outposts.

Here is my submission for Option 1: Kynetics, A Keidos Kompany Scoring Design notes: The Launch attempts to simulate a Vulcan Centaur launch vehicle. 4 x Kickback SRBs, 2 x Mainsail engines (BE-4) and 1 x Skipper engine (RL-10). After TLI burn the Centaur had 30% fuel remaining. Doing this simulation gave me some insight into the Dynetics Lander design: The centre of mass of the craft is only marginally above the engine gimbals. This made the craft heavily reliant on RCS thrusters to maintain stability. The craft is VERY sensitive to centre of mass (both pitch and yaw), so IRL I would expect that even crew location in the lander can would be critical. I envisage that engine thrust across the 8 engines would be computer controlled to compensate for COM changes, including anomalous events like fuel leaks, etc. Are engine gimbals even required? Perhaps rely entirely on RCS for craft stability? Reaction wheels and gimbals offered poor capability, so maybe give up weight for more RCS fuel. Makes thruster fuel usage critical to mission success. Depending on requirement, the RCS thruster limit needed to be reset. Craft rotation needed only 1% of thrust (any more was a waste of fuel) , whereas adjustments during landing needed 100%. Gimbals would be more effective if they were slung lowered on the craft, further from COM. I couldn't do that and still deploy the rover which needed to clear the engines. Needed to use the large solar arrays during flight to maintain batteries. Seems unlikely these should be deployed until on the lunar surface, so perhaps some smaller solar panels could be used for during flight.

@kspnerd122 who are you asking? If me, I Did not use Mastadons.

My next simulation for Artemis 3 will be Dynetics lander on a Vulcan with Centaur, via NRHO Orion rendezvous (no Gateway) I think this is by far the most likely solution for a 2024 landing. Vulcan appears to be on track for 2024. Or have I missed something?

Transit Vehicle A and B are now docked in orbit around Ovok. A kerbal engineer has been thawed and has piloted the Skycrane to the proposed Ovok habitat landing zone to refuel, along with the nuclear tugs. The first flag in the Sarnus system has been planted. The consolidated transit vehicle in orbit around Ovok.

Alex Moon's Launch Window Planner will give you reasonable estimates for transit times. A Hohmann transfer to Eeloo would require over 4 years.

Nice one. I did a whole low cost Jool-5 mission on gimbals alone - it works - I will be following this design strategy for my submission. I might have a go at Moho and/or Tylo too. I would have thought that you would need a relay on the delivery, and the lander would have just a Communitron that uses this relay. Right? So for example, if going to Tylo include Communitron on the lander, and a RA-100 somewhere nearby as a relay.

As mentioned previously, the reference to SLS as a potential LV is likely just salesmanship. Vulcan will be cheaper, much cheaper.

I personally like the look of the Dynetics option, mainly because it is LV agnostic. The BO and SpaceX options will be designed and costed to use their own launch systems, and that is not ideal for enhanced commercial competition. So I am putting my money on Dynetics to be the 2024 lander. Also obviously Dynetics will not use EUS as shown in the video, I reckon that was just sucking up to NASA with a sly "SLS is awesome" shoe-horned into their submission. Savvy sales. And also does not give away the commercial carrier that will be commissioned to do the TLI injection. With regard to the Blue Origin lander, I need to think about how Northrup Grumman would build the transit stage, likely it will be low mass, low thrust, hypergolic fueled, probably multiple BT-4 thrusters as used on the Cygnus SM. This will get the craft from TLI to NRHO at least, and likely also in progressive circularising to LLO. Interesting to see that the design includes laterally ejected drop tanks in the descent phase - I like the idea, it is very efficient. Also expect that the ascent phase engines are ejected prior to LLO, and the lander can proceeds to NRHO on hypergolic thrusters.

My RSS simulation of the 3 stage lander concept required SLS (for the Orion and crew) and 2 x FHe launches. Each lunar mission also added a Gateway component delivered from a FHe launch, and a resupply module which was co-manifested on the SLS. I am pretty certain NASA knows that 2 x SLS launches per lunar mission won't work, and AFAIK doesn't need to.

Ovok Setting up the scanner and relays: Scanner reports ore and water availability. According to the Ovok wiki there are 3 biomes, Macula Oblongata Tasi Region Scarring If water AND ore is available in reasonable quantity in one of these biomes, then Ovok may be a suitable site for sustainable habitation. After landing the nuclear tugs in the area indicated by the M700 scanner, the resource scanner analysis reveals that biome Macular Oblongata has ore (10.16%) and water (7.38%), so is apparently an ideal location for both refueling and habitation. Ovok orbit is also the ideal location for parking Transit Vehicle A as a distribution point for the relays.

On arrival in the Sarnus system, and completion of the Slate fly-by, it is discovered that Tekto is well outside the plane of the ecliptic, and so would require significant fuel to reach Tekto's SOI. After the long journey from Kerbin, the transit vehicle is short of fuel so the plan is to reach a stable Sarnus orbit outside of Slate's orbit, requiring just 200 m/s of delta-V. The main craft (payload) will be left in this orbit, with the nuclear tugs then searching for a refueling site and setting up relays.

High Level Mission Schedule Transit A: Satellites/network setup, deliver bases to a stable orbit. Transit B: Kolonists (50), Skycrane, surface probes and resource carriers The aim of transit A is to establish reliable communications in the Sarnus system. Scanners are used to identify the location of ore, and a suitable outpost location for ISRU refueling of the nuclear tugs. The refueling outpost is aimed at either Hale or Ovok, the latter being favoured since it apparently has a smooth surface for easy landing and requires less dV to travel from the other moons. Transit Vehicle A Travels to the Sarnus system, and utilise a low Slate fly-by gravity assist to establish a Sarnus orbit. The Sarnus relay satellite will be released to establish a distant polar orbit. It is proposed then to enter the Tekto SOI and leave the main craft (payload) in highly elliptical orbit, with the nuclear tugs then searching for a refueling site and setting up relays. Transit Vehicle B Transit Vehicle B will deliver Kerbals in a frozen state, along with a Skycrane to deliver bases and Kerbals to the surface of the moons. The vehicle will enter the Sarnus system with a low Slate fly-by gravity capture. Initially the mission will search for water and ore to establish a sustainable base, along with uranite ore to maintain nuclear power. The search will utilise the Skycrane , along with suitable science equipment to find the ideal location(s) for the primary bases. Two bases will be established, possibly at different locations to ensure the highest concentrations of resources. 30 Kerbals will be unfrozen to establish these bases. The Sarnus space station will be established in orbit above these bases. Once the primary bases and sustainability is established, and supplies are being generated, the remaining kerbals will be thawed and outposts delivered to each of the moons (minimum 5 kerbals per moon), locating at a position of high ore concentration so that visiting ships can easily refuel. A small space station will established at each moon, each thoroughly investigated, gathering science data, and sending it to the science laboratory at the Sarnus space station. Supplies will be occasionally delivered to each outpost and space station using the Supply Carrier rover to maintain the system indefinitely. If at any point the system fails, all kerbals can be frozen in the Cryo module, and returned to Kerbin orbit.

Sarnus 50 Kolonization Mission Overview Based on the concept of the Jool 500 Kolonization Challenge , the missions objective is to take 50 kerbals to colonise all 5 of Sarnus's moons: Tekto, Slate, Eeloo, Ovok and Hale. The goal of this challenge is to create a self-sustaining civilization in the Sarnus system including satellite networks, resource gathering/transport, etc. The mission goals are same as for Jool 500 with the following modifications: Bases and Outposts (1). A minimum of 5 kerbals per moon, and a minimum total in the Sarnus system of 50 kerbals. Rover and Planes (4). Long Range transports are not required. Instead the ability to visit all biomes in the system is required, but may be achieved with a single craft shared between moons. Simulator Kerbal Space Program v1.7.3 with Making History and Breaking Ground. Game Mode: Sandbox, Normal. Mods: USI-LS Kerbal Planetary Base System SpaceY Heavy Lifters NearFuture Electrical DeepFreeze MechJeb Kerbal Alarm Clock Minimum Ambient Lighting Outer Planets Mod Craft Scanners and relay satellites Probe and scouting rover (dual purpose): Includes 5 seats, and science scanner Bases: Habitat supporting up to 20 kerbals Resource carriers: Skycrane, Supply Carrier, Kerbal Carrier, and Nuclear Fuel Facility Space Transport:

I am using fins. I'll try the BG parts to see if I get an improvement.

I am new to chopper design. I have a bacis design that I think meets the criteria, although I am yet to get to orbit. Any hints on how to stop the blades from stretching out under centrifugal force?

I wasn't assuming a staged rocket. I was drawing attention to the fact that an ISRU + LOX fueled single stage to orbit vehicle can be a very large craft. Using props to get to altitude and speed could reduce the size, however only marginally - an altitude of 20km and a speed of 1000m/s on Kerbin is perhaps possible, but still well shy of the capability of jets. Considering this, I was assuming that the design was more of the VTOL or helicopter type where the props were only for moving about on the surface at relatively low speeds. I think you are perhaps overestimating the capability of props as a means for reaching orbit. Or perhaps I am being too negative?

So using a command seat to cook a Kerbal on Moho, and freeze on Eeloo, is allowed?

The functionality of exploring a non-oxygen atmosphere with electric props could be handled by an ISRU LOX rocket, plus a lightweight prop powered drone that can dock with the main craft. Building a single prop powered craft that can lift the whole ISRU/rocket is certainly and interesting challenge but somewhat impractical. Or am I misunderstanding something?

Here is my submission, lots of fun thanks @kspnerd122 for managing this. I think this is worth maximum points, but let me know if you have any questions about detail. Scoring:

I had a look at your video, your lander is smaller than mine. I used a single Terrier for the descent engine. I will have the video ready shortly.

I started out this mission and got to the Mun. On deploying my MunSEPs, I realised that with the core in non-hibernation (powered on), they would run out of power in less than 6 hours. The solar panel would bring it back to life next day, however I did not know whether this was in the spirit of the requirement, so started again with a redesigned MunSEP with enough battery life and solar recharging to last indefinitely on the Mun surface, continuously powered. I also redesigned my rover so that it more resembled the Apollo rovers in size. This was difficult to fit in the LM, the original could fold up, and this was hard to simulate in KSP with robotic hinges. Also hard to deploy and still keep the single inline engine design for the descent phase. I ended up making the rover non-folding, made the LM second stage a bit taller, and removing the sides of the second stage to deploy it.

It takes patience, but building a cradle that keeps the pods together on landing gets points. Here the max distance from one outer pod to the opposite is 1.6m. Start off with 10 points for each command pod with one or more occupants = 50 (+ 5 for launching) = 55. For each pod destroyed during reentry, subtract 20 =0 Measure (if possible) the distance between the two most seperated pods, distance to be in Km = .0016 km Divide the score by the distance apart in Km = 55 / .0016 = 34375 Take the total cost and divide by the score to get the adjusted cost = 5360 / 34375 = 0.156 Take the total number of parts and divide by (score / 10) to get the adjusted parts = 30 / 3437.5 = 0.0087