Duke MelTdoWn

"Behold, Behemoth, which I made as I made you; His bones are tubes of bronze, his limbs like bars of iron." So after a small hiccup, the Behemoth Program is back on track. They found a scapegoat at DKAPC, and the fat senator was bought off with some tickets for the inauguration of the tourist flights. I am proud - despite the unwarranted negative press - to present to you: 'Behemoth' Mining System This integrated Miner/Freighter/Refinery system enables you to refuel even the largest ships in Kerbin orbit with ore brought back from the Mun. This can greatly reduce the launch mass and cost of huge interplanetary stacks like Maia and Pannychis. Launch them without propellant load and then refuel in low orbit after docking with the Orbital Refinery component. As a bonus, crew compartments on the two Ore Freighters allow tourists to hitch a ride to the Mun surface and back in regular intervals. 2x Leviathan Mk.3 Freighter + Leviathan Mk.2 Miner + Behemoth Refinery + Very Heavy Reusable Launcher III Payload Mass (launch confguration): 195 tons (down from 220 tons of the Mk.2 configuration) Price: 512,235 Total launch mass incl. VeHeReLau III launcher: 1181t Total price: 849,469 The Behemoth System consists of the following modules: Leviathan Mk.3 Ore Freighter can ferry 12,000 ore and 6 crew between the Mun and Kerbin. Two are provided to minimize downtime of the Miner. Leviathan Mk.2 Heavy Miner concentrates all the gear necessary to land on the Mun and extract the ore. This optimizes the range of the docked Freighter. High powered engines keep the burn times during Mun transfer and Mun ascent low. Behemoth Orbital Refinery serves as the gas station on the Kerbin side. It stores up to 180 tons of ore and provides ISRU and lots of docking options. The VeHeReLau III launcher can be left attached to the refinery to serve as additional fuel storage (62k LF and 76k OX). Or it can be recovered for ~235,000 back at KSC. More pictures and detailed operational instructions in workshop. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3020149140 Edit: KerbalX page now also has nice operational concept, with pictures. https://kerbalx.com/Meltdown/Behemoth-Mining-System

Huge explosions rock the Mun, visible to the naked eye If you looked at the Mun yesterday at around 1:30 UT, you might have noticed some flashes of light. As it turned out, these were not alien signals, but an ill-fated test flight performed by Kerbal Space Center (KSC). A prototype of a "Leviathan Mk.3" ore miner crashed near the Muns equator during a landing attempt. This is a very heavy vehicle weighing up to 75 tons during the landing phase, so the explosion caused by this horrible accident was visible all the way back here on Kerbin. The impact was so great that it could be measured by seismometers placed at the Muns Poles. The Kerbin Herald was able to obtain exclusive footage of the crash. The lone survivor is Barlorf Kerman, a geologist. She only sustained some mild bruises after her Lander Can detached during the initial impact and slid across the Mun surface for some kilometers. KSC is currently working around the clock to retrieve her. Matrigh Kerman, Pilot, and Samburry Kerman, Flight Engineer, were lost in the crash. Samburry leaves behind a husband and two children. The preliminary investigation by the Kerbal Transport Safety Board (KTSB) found that the accident was caused by "a lack of communication between the main contractor for the Behemoth Mining System and the subcontractor for the Mk.3 Ore Freighter module". Two of the four Nerva engines of the new Ore Freighter were moved outboard by about 30 cm compared to the old Mk. 2 version. This small change caused the exhaust to hit parts of the basically unchanged Miner below, in turn lowering the available thrust during the critical landing phase. Walt Kerman, KSC spokesperson, told the Herald on request that this change was not communicated to KSC and not caught during integration and testing of the full Behemoth stack due to a lack of funds. "It is very hard to test engines like the Nerva, which are designed for vacuum operations, on the ground. And we would need a HUGE vacuum chamber to fit the whole Behemoth Mining System inside." But a contact inside KSC, who likes to stay anonymous, stated that problems with the new design already became apparent when the Leviathan prototype was leaving Kerbin orbit for the Mun. "Some temperature readings of the Inline Stabilizers of the Miner were abnormally high during the trans munar injection burn. But we decided to go forward with the burn anyways because the Thermal Control System seemed able to cope with it. It has cost us over 800 thousand to get this baby into orbit, so management wanted to finish this test flight. It occurred to nobody that this might affect our thrust levels. " The red hot glow of the Stabilizers can be seen clearly in some frames of the TMI burn and Mun descent footage. Dawton Kerman Aboveground Pool Company, the contractor for the Mk.3 Ore Freighter, declined to comment. A source inside DKAPC provided some background on the unfortunate redesign: "So KSC told us to get rid of half of the fuel tanks and replace them with airbrakes. They said that they have reevaluated their mission plan and found that it does not make sense to lug all this fuel all the way from the Mun to Kerbin and back. They planned to keep the fuel for the Mun descent in the Miner, save fuel during Kerbin arrival by more efficient aerobraking, and refuel the Freighter for return to the Mun at the Behemoth Refinery. They wanted to get the launch mass of the whole Behemoth System down so they would not need to strap on so many boosters to the VeHeReLau. Now with half the fuel tanks gone, we suddenly had a lot more room for packaging all the components of the freighter. For ladders that actually work and stuff." "Then an intern said 'You know what, if we rotate the twelve central tanks by 90°, we can move the crew cabins closer to the dorsal and ventral Nerva. This way the tourists will not get cold on the way to the Mun and can enjoy the pretty glow from their windows.' We all thought that this was an excellent idea and made this change. We knew that this would move the port and starboard Nerva outboard a little bit, but thought it would not be a big deal." Sergei Kerman, renowned rocket scientist, told the Herald that the whole design of the Behemoth System is flawed. "Whoever thought that it is a good idea to shoot the exhaust of the Freighter straight through the Miner stage below should reconsider now in light of recent events." He showed us pictures of his own "Kraken" system that is, according to him, much safer. "You see, in my design the exhaust goes AROUND the lower stage." Wernher von Kerman dismissed this: "We know about the design of Sergei. We even did some preliminary testing with it at the outset of the Behemoth Program, when we were evaluating designs for the Miner stage. But we found that it introduces unnecessary bulk and complexity." Senator Kerman questioned the usefulness of the Behemoth Program in general. "Why do we need 1000 tons of fuel in low Kerbin orbit anyways?" To this Wernher von Kerman commented: "Because we can."

Full test of the Behemoth Mining System Prototype was successful. It features many improvements over the Leviathan Heavy Miner. Payload mass for test flight was 220 tons. Behemoth Orbital Refinery serves as the gas station on the Kerbin side. It stores up to 180 tons of ore and provides ISRU and lots of docking options. The Very Heavy Reusable Launcher was left docked to serve as fuel storage. Leviathan II Heavy Miner concentrates all the gear necessary to land on the Mun and extract the ore. This optimizes the range of the docked Freighter. The Mark 2 has 2x Dart + 2x Nerva for improved thrust during Mun transfer and lift-off. Leviathan II Ore Freighter can ferry 12,000 ore and 4 crew between the Mun and Kerbin. Two are provided to minimize downtime of the Miner. The Mark 2 has an additional internal passenger compartment to land two tourists on the Mun during mining trips. Testing showed some flaws in my operational concept. I think I can reduce the launch mass considerably, the Freighters carry too much fuel. I will post the model after I incorporated the findings of the test flight.

I was wondering why everybody here uses KerbalX links. I will look into creating an account! If you try to reverse engineer Sleipnir, be aware that the MK2 Cargo bay is packed: 1x FL-400 tank, 3x MK0 LF tanks, Monoprop, Batteries, Solar, Antenna, Thermal, Parachutes, Docking Port Jr. As Hotel26 found out clean aerodynamics are essential for this design to work, this is why everything is crammed into the cargo bay. Edit: here is the requested KerbalX link https://kerbalx.com/Meltdown/Sleipnir-Short-Range-Shuttle

"And he saw that before the steps of the horse lay the sea." In my crusade against high launch costs, I found that all my current SSTO shuttles like Teardrop and Valkyrie are Nerva powered and have 3500 m/s or more of range. This results in high launch mass and low TWR on short range missions. All this is overkill if I just want to ferry some tourists to a station in orbit around Kerbin, Mun or Minmus. I closed this gap, and proudly present to you: 'Sleipnir' Short Range Shuttle 1x Rapier Delta-v: ~ 1620 m/s left after insertion into 100x100 km Kerbin orbit TWR: 1.46 in low Kerbin orbit Launch Mass: 19 tons Price: 35,000 Crew capacity: 4 Cargo capacity: 200 L + 180 L Docking: 1 Clamp-O-Tron Jr. port, RCS (values without crew or cargo) The handling turned out to be excellent, this baby is easy to fly and land This will come in handy to ferry tourists to the upcoming Behemoth Mining System, an evolution of the Leviathan Miner. Stay tuned! More pics in workshop: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3017146114 Edit: as requested also on KerbalX: https://kerbalx.com/Meltdown/Sleipnir-Short-Range-Shuttle This is an addition to my collection of reusable launchers and shuttles: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2995059664

"For not by hook or by net could this vast leviathan be caught, when sailing a thousand fathoms beneath the sunlight." After many days of design work and a successful test flight, I proudly present to you: 'Leviathan' Heavy Miner Leviathan is a large Miner that was designed to extract 120 tons of ore from the Mun and transport them to low Kerbin orbit in one go. This allows you to greatly reduce the launch mass and cost of huge interplanetary stacks like 'Maia' and 'Pannychis'. Launch them without fuel load and then refuel in Kerbin orbit with the ISRU they have on board anyways. The upper stage of Leviathan is a stripped down autonomous Freighter holding 12,000 ore. All the gear necessary to land and mine is concentrated in the lower Miner stage, to optimize the range of the ore Freighter. I tried to build this as flat as possible so it does not topple over when landed on the Mun (which worked). The test flight proved that there is ample delta-v to transport the 12,000 ore to Kerbin, rendezvous in Kerbin orbit, then return the empty Freighter to the Mun, rendevouz with the Miner and land again. It also showed that the TWR is very low during liftoff from the Mun when fully loaded with ore, so I am currently working on an improved landing stage with higher thrust. Many more pictures of the test flight and detailed description/stats in the workshop: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3015552743 This is another addition to my collection of Exploration Systems: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2995086491

Captains log, Year 001 Day 049 cont'd "Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee." 'Pannychis' finally lifted off in a spectacular night launch! This stack will be sent to colonize Gilly and is optimized for low gravity operations. It took me about a week to design all the different components and integrate them into a single launch. It is currently waiting in low Kerbin orbit for some experienced crew to transfer over from the Mun to support the rookies on board. It will also take on a small load of ore to bolster the available delta-v and complete a contract. Components (from top to bottom of Pannychis stack) 'Phaethon' Relay Carrier - Communications and reconnaissance -- 1x Survey Sat -- 6x Small Relay Sat 'Eunomia' Space Tug - Space tug, fuel and cargo storage, 2 crew, 2x Nerva 'Eutychia' Gilly Station - Orbital laboratory, refinery, 9 crew, 2x Nerva -- 'Euphrosyne' Low-g Rover - Rover with stowable wheels, 2 crew, 1x Spark -- 'Eurybia' Low-g Lander - Surface science, 2 crew, 1x Ant -- 2x Data Carrier Mk. 3 - Science return to Kerbin, 3x Experiment Storage, 1x Dawn -- 1x Medium Relay Sat 'Eudaimonia' Gilly Miner - Ore mining, surface science and contracts, 3 crew, 1x Nerva Pannychis 5x Nerva Delta-V: about 4500 m/s (TWR 0.23 in Kerbin Orbit) Mass: 130.5t Parts: ~ 500 Price: 612,400 'Pannychis' Gilly Exploration Stack + Launcher (more pics in workshop): https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3002706642 This is an addition to my collection of "We have come to stay" Exploration Systems: https://steamcommunity.com/workshop/filedetails/?id=2995086491 Very Heavy Reusable Launcher https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2994966390

I stumbled across this illustrated calculator that makes it easy to find the correct harmonic orbit. Resonant Orbit Calculator by Eric Meyer: https://meyerweb.com/eric/ksp/resonant-orbits/ A while ago I also constructed a Relay Carrier that can deploy 7 sub-satellites while adding only minimal overhead. This carrier should have enough delta-v to change from equatorial to polar orbit in most cases, so you can get two planes of 3 relays each going with a single launch. 7th sat is a resource scanner. 'Phaethon' Relay Carrier (4 tons total mass): https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2955059553

Very nice, you should build a X-1 or X-15 or D-21 to hang under the wings Edit: found a nice looking D-21 https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2068789921

Captains log, Year 001 Day 049 cont'd "The hammer of the gods will drive our ships to new lands." Building on the multi-stage concept of 'Valkyrie', I designed a larger interplanetary shuttle 'Valhalla'. The multi-stage design ensures good TWR of the interplanetary stage. A recoverable second stage keeps the costs down. I spent many hours tweaking the parachutes, airbrakes etc. to make sure this can come home in one piece. 'Valhalla' Long Range Shuttle 4x Kickback, 3x Dart, 4x Nerva Delta-v: about 6400 m/s left after insertion into 75x75 km Kerbin orbit (with 4 crew and full cargo) TWR: 0.50 in low Kerbin orbit Mass: 51.516 tons (191 tons incl. booster and launcher) Launch price: 116,520 Recovery value: ~93,800 (at 100%) Crew capacity: 4 Cargo capacity: 2x 650 L + 2x 180 L + 200 L Science: 2x Experiment Storage Docking: 2x Clamp-O-Tron, 1x Junior, RCS https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3002168452 This is another addition to my reusable launchers for career use. https://steamcommunity.com/workshop/filedetails/?id=2995059664

Two months ago I found that I can make it to orbit with 2 Wheesley and a Swivel. My lowest tech design requires General Rocketry + Aerodynamics research (tech level 5; 183 total science) and no facility upgrades. It does not have any decent landing gear though, so touching down in one piece is a challenge. How about yours? What tech did you use? Minimalist SSTO I: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2968514518

One of my designs, the Science Junkie 3000, made it to "Most popular this week" in the workshop Thanks to everyone who subscribed, this made me very proud! Over the past months, I have uploaded a whole slew of low tech vessels that I hoped might be helpful for fresh careers and beginners. I am glad that some turned out to be useful. Meltdowns Minimalist Career Ships: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2995073286

Captains log, Year 001 Day 049 cont'd After many, many prototypes, the 'Valkyrie' crew shuttle now finally has superior performance compared to 'Teardrop'. It uses an expendable solid booster first stage to be lighter in orbit. The result is ~4360 m/s at TWR 0.52+ left after insertion into 75x75 km Kerbin orbit. The biggest challenge was to get it to behave nicely on reentry. More pics in Workshop: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2996638507 This is another addition to my collection of launchers and shuttles: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2995059664