The Apollo Applications Program: 1.0 Edition

[loch.ness]

Fascinating.

On a similar note I've gotten a proto-type re-useable crew shuttle for a future Munbase into orbit. Now all that remains is to test landing and return to the station.

If that Mun-Shuttle works as planned it would be able to transport 6 to Mun and back to the station for refueling (I am planing on a second shuttle for cargo transport. Haven't decided if the future refinery will be on the sur

[Halsfury]

Ok I took just one look at this and the thought that struck me is, I need to do this in stock with Ferram Aerospace Research

Here's Little Joe, testing the transonic abilities of payload shrouds.

Little Jeb ;-) went to a maximum speed of mach 1.1 and 12km

EDIT: In a short time made plenty of progress, FAR isn't that tough on simple serial staged rockets like the Apollo Program used, so I've already launched a CV into orbit to test it, and I launched a 2 stage lander also

Here's the 2 missions, which are critical milestones in the Apollo lunar architecture. (I didn't screen capture the CV's flight)

EDIT 2, DAY 2:

Apollo 8 in orbit: Used free return trajectory until Mun SOI , thus disposing of the S-IVB stage into a fiery reentry

Design of Saturn V is finalized, it stands 54.2 meters tall, and is 9 meters across at maximum

Here's a shot with the fairings open so you can see the engine arrangement,

5 F-1 Mainsails on Stage 1, 5 skipper J-1 engines on stage 2 and 1 J-1 (skipper) on stage 3

EDIT 3, Day 2:

Proof that I used the free return for Apollo 8 (just so it's confirmed) is that the 3rd stage of the saturn V underwent reentry. The spacecraft would have followed the same path if course corrections were not made

Edited June 15, 2015 by Halsfury

[B-STRK]

Fascinating.

On a similar note I've gotten a proto-type re-useable crew shuttle for a future Munbase into orbit. Now all that remains is to test landing and return to the station.

http://i.imgur.com/7vvcQd3l.jpg

If that Mun-Shuttle works as planned it would be able to transport 6 to Mun and back to the station for refueling (I am planing on a second shuttle for cargo transport. Haven't decided if the future refinery will be on the sur

Your reusable reminds me of Galactica. (Then, of course, there's that resemblance as well to the Space: 1999 landers...)

Ok I took just one look at this and the thought that struck me is, I need to do this in stock with Ferram Aerospace Research

Here's Little Joe, testing the transonic abilities of payload shrouds.http://i.imgur.com/BamSKEd.png

Little Jeb ;-) went to a maximum speed of mach 1.1 and 12km

http://i.imgur.com/3NcuWbG.png

EDIT: In a short time made plenty of progress, FAR isn't that tough on simple serial staged rockets like the Apollo Program used, so I've already launched a CV into orbit to test it, and I launched a 2 stage lander also

Here's the 2 missions, which are critical milestones in the Apollo lunar architecture. (I didn't screen capture the CV's flight)

http://i.imgur.com/LSdSuc5.png

http://i.imgur.com/vb6GTx3.pnghttp://i.imgur.com/oR9uTSL.png

Welcome to the challenge, and fair (and FAR) journey ahead!

[loch.ness]

Well, Mun-shuttle 1 failed on three different tests. There simply wasn't enough DeltaV on it and the TWR was low enough to be a major head-ache. Thrust was balanced throughout the tests as was RCS. I wasn't happy with the pointed nose - but the rest seemed to work well - including the way the under-carriage had room for a nicer rover for future missions.

Back to the drawing board on that. I want a crew and cargo shuttle ready to support base infrastructure before I start building my Mun colony in force.

[Death Engineering]

Your reusable reminds me of Galactica. (Then, of course, there's that resemblance as well to the Space: 1999 landers...)

I too saw the Space 1999 'Eagle'.

Well, Mun-shuttle 1 failed on three different tests. There simply wasn't enough DeltaV on it and the TWR was low enough to be a major head-ache. Thrust was balanced throughout the tests as was RCS. I wasn't happy with the pointed nose - but the rest seemed to work well - including the way the under-carriage had room for a nicer rover for future missions.

Back to the drawing board on that. I want a crew and cargo shuttle ready to support base infrastructure before I start building my Mun colony in force.

Too bad that great looking design didn't work out. Just wondering... are you developing a shuttle that can go two-way, or are you refueling at both points? Mine needed fuel at both the Munar surface and from the Munar station to be effective.

In my playthrough, refueling on the surface turned out to be more gee-whiz than real value, as manually piloting the craft to a precision landing was thirsty work. More efficient landings and a lighter shuttle would reduce the amount of fuel that has to be flown out to munar orbit. That said, a large detachable lander that can refuel storage tanks on the surface then ferry them to orbit should be a workable solution to a closed loop munar shuttle.

Happy landings!

Edited June 15, 2015 by Death Engineering

[loch.ness]

I saved that ship design for Minmus in the future - it will work fine there. I've been working on a different design for Mun use.

The goal is being able to land close to the base, drop off the crew, lift off again and make it back to the station for refueling. If I can get the working, step 2 is to make a cargo lander which can haul Life Support supplies to the Mun base and bring Ore/fuel back up from it.

I was aiming for a Star Trek runabout look. It didn't quite work out that way though.

Neither of these ships would work with where my current Mun infrastructure is. They'd require a larger Mun station with fuel processing and storing areas or just expanded fuel storage on Munlab and a new docking module with Ore processing happening on the surface (I haven't decided on that yet).

The Kerbin SOI goals are to have: A single large and permanently crewed station in LKO which is regularly visited by Apollo CSMs and shuttles to top off fuel and Supplies. A Munar tug to take crew and such out to the Mun/Minmas stations. A Mun station which serves as a fuel depot and base platform for Munar operations. A Mun base for ground based research and mining. A Minmas station and base similar to the Munar ones.

Right now I'm slowly working on the pieces while MOLAB is exploring the twin craters (because I need breaks between driving. Its only made 35 km so far, hit its target. Going to go a bit further before it turns around).

[Guest]

I took a stab at an early concept for the Apollo Telescope mount that eventually became part of Skylab.

[B-STRK]

I took a stab at an early concept for the Apollo Telescope mount that eventually became part of Skylab.

http://i.imgur.com/bKXpjWb.png

I do have to say that to actually use the Apollo stuff to do the Apollo stuff of this challenge is a refreshing sight.

Though do I see Soviet Tantares hardware there?

[Guest]

I do have to say that to actually use the Apollo stuff to do the Apollo stuff of this challenge is a refreshing sight.

Though do I see Soviet Tantares hardware there?

Guilty as charged. They were the closest thing I had to a match for the panels in the concept drawings.

[Halsfury]

Turns out that Sometimes you're better off without LES shrouds if they can't be compact enough

Here's with an LES, Note the lump in curvature

The without LES version, with a more consistent curve, thus better efficiency and lower weight.

[Halsfury]

So how might one add kerbals to a save file if, say, I wanted to complete the main Apollo program challenge/land on the mun for the first time with a Neil Kerman, Buzz Kerman and Michael Kerman?

And then complete the landing within 100m of the Tranquility base monument?

Edited June 18, 2015 by Halsfury

[Rhomphaia]

Kerbollo 17 is finally up

So how might one add kerbals to a save file if, say, I wanted to complete the main Apollo program challenge/land on the mun for the first time with a Neil Kerman, Buzz Kerman and Michael Kerman?

And then complete the landing within 100m of the Tranquility base monument?

Open the persistance.sfs in notepad, search for roster and simply change the names of applicants to what you want.

Edited June 18, 2015 by Rhomphaia

[Halsfury]

T-10:00 minutes, with Neil, Buzz and Michael

[Halsfury]

My fully documented Apollo 11 launch to complete the main Apollo program challenge. The creative part of sending Kermans named after the crew of Apollo 11 to the tranquility base memorial and back is applied to the Super Manley Kerbanaut Mode challenge for +25 points as agreed upon. The craft uses no solar panels, only 3 power generators running off of Fuel and LOX (+10 pts). It's 100% stock for +20 and includes ALSEP with an RTG for +5. and has full apollo staging from beginning to end (+20). No Kerbals were killed in the process.

Liftoff of Apollo 11

T+34s and they're screaming already

Nominal Passing max Q

Stage Sep

Nominal

Less atmosphere means better fairing Sep

Preparing for the Burn, this booster gets better milage in FAR than in stock I've noticed.

Reorientation

Falling towards Pe

Too many images already so here's the descent

On the other side of this crater is the Neil Armstrong memorial

Here's Neil Kerman with the flag and the memorial in the background

Eagle and Columbia dock after the landing

Return

Safe

Tally

Staging and engines +20

Free Return +10

Stock +20

Fuel Cell Power generation only + 10

LES + 5

Leave descent stage on Mun +5

ALSEP +5 for small probe on Mun

Creativity +25

=100 points total

EDIT: I forgot that having a lander behind a fairing was worth 10 points

Now total is 110 points

Edited June 20, 2015 by Halsfury

[Capt-Coulson]

I've always wanted to write missions reports, but real life seems to always get in the way. That and lack of consistent will. Sigh. Well, I decided to finally give it a proper go, and I thought what better handrail than a forum challenge to guide me! My Apollo Applications Project is going to be spun up in a separate thread below. No schedule, no overarching format beyond the initial challenge; just letting the missions guide the writing and seeing where it goes! And thanks Gregoxmun for the inspiration to do this!

Contact Light - Apollo and Beyond

[Halsfury]

Good luck Coulson.

Also just so you guys know I'm going to be releasing my craft from this project, but what to call them? To me they remind me of the Munshine launchers made by wayfare in terms of just how easy and fun they are to fly.

[loch.ness]

Your stuff looks great Hals, looking forward to seeing how things go.

My stuff is plodding along slowly this week. Imgur has not yet chosen to cooperate but I've got 2 more Apollo missions off the ground and on their way to Mun to scout for potential base sites. My second Saturn Shuttle launch has gone up with a new station core for Harbor station which will either be replacing or expanding Skylab - I have not decided yet.

I should be able to add 15 and 16's missins along with parts of the station building to the mission report thread soon.

[Rhomphaia]

Kerbollo 18 is up

This brings the Kerbollo program to a close and Kerbollo applications can begin.

Scoring:

- Saturn Five uses 5 engines on the first stage, 5 engines on the second stage, and one engine on the third stage. +20

- Free-Return Trajectory until in Mun's SOI. +10 (kerbollo 8-17 did, Kerbollo 18 did not)

- Lander stored behind a fairing. +10

- Leave Descent Stage on Mun. +5

- Include Lunar Rover on Apollo 11-18 +10 (on Kerbollo 15 only)

- Include Lunar Landing Escape System (And test it in a quicksave-simulation) on Apollo 11-18 +7 (on Kerbollo 18 only, used in mission not quicksave)

- Include Lunar Subsatellite on Apollo 11-18.+5 (Kerbollo 15 and 17)

- Stock. +20 (Use only stock parts)

- Launch Escape System. +5

- Use fuel cells for power generation only +10 (rover on Kerbollo 15 contained an RTG, Lunar subsattelite on Kerbollo 15+17 had solar panels though these were in a service bay, all other missions only had fuel cells)

- Fly a mission to Minmus using Apollo/Saturn hardware. +30

Total: 132

Edited June 19, 2015 by Rhomphaia

[loch.ness]

Managed to get 2 launches (and alot of orbitial manuvering) done towards Harbor Station:

So far, 1 INT launch (Skylab)

1 IB launch (Apollo CSM and crew)

1 Saturn Shuttle launch (Harbor Ops hub)

1 MLV launch for both life-support and power arms.

In Image, Life Guard 1 and Harbor station 1 Apollo CSMs are docking life-support and power arms to Skylab in temporary formation while they await the shuttle with the Opps core.

In Image, harbor 1 (no longer docked to Skylab) is extracting the Harbor Hub module from the Saturn Shuttle.

Edit: After much much much work:

Harbor Station - Still awaiting extended Hab module for completion.

Edited June 20, 2015 by loch.ness

[Guest]

I realize it's been some time since I've posted here. I was away from KSP while playing a PBEM game in Combat Mission. Now that it's finished, I will be returning to the AAP Challenge.

My PM-2 and PM-3 Missions are underway, and with a successful completion will finally allow me to finish the goals of the Apollo 7 Mission.

PM-2 is an LKO test of my Mk1 Munar Landing Module.

PM-3 will recover the crew from PM-2, and practice rendezvous maneuver with the MLM. It will also test the CSM on an extended spaceflight, and collect data on fuel cell efficiency.

Work on the S-5 Rocket will soon continue as well.

[benjee10]

Well, my exams are finally over, so I can get back to this!

After 22 launches, all the elements of my grand Duna mission are on their way at last!

Here's a breakdown of the launch manifest:

2x DTV habitats

4x S-IVB propulsion modules

3x crew launches (1 capsule test flight)

2x Ares Lander launches

3x Duna MOLAB launces

5x Base modules launches (2x base modules in each launch)

1x Duna Science Outpost

1x Backup Fuel Module

1x Backup Cargo Module

Bang on time, the two Duna Transfer Vehicles (Kennedy & Von Braun) performed burns to escape Kerbin and put them on course for an encounter with Duna.

Here's how the mission will play out:

Once all the presupply modules are in orbit around Duna, they will begin to descend to the surface, one by one. First will be the MOLAB vehicles. These are landing only on parachutes and are in many ways the most vital parts of the mission, as they will be used to drive between the various different craft, which will be scattered over several kilometers. It is for this reason that three have been sent. The mission can still succeed if only one rover makes it down to the surface intact, albeit in a reduced capacity.

The five base landers will be next to descent. The S-IVB stages will perform a burn to place them within the atmosphere and then decouple. Aeroshells protect the landers during reentry. The top half of the fairing then detaches, allowing drogue chutes to deploy. The lower fairing segment then detaches. Four 'Badger' engines (the same ones used on the Saturn IB first stage) then perform the final descent. The base modules deploy from their landing frames and perform system checks. If all is well, they begin to drive towards each other and dock to form the base.

The Duna Science Outpost (DSO) will then descend, followed by the Backup Cargo Module (BCM).

Finally, the crew rendezvous with the landers in orbit, transferring over to them. The landers use a 3.75m descent stage with five LEM engines attached to it. The crew will attempt to land near a MOLAB unit. Each of the two three-kerbal crews will then drive to the base and rendezvous there, beginning performing their surface tasks, such as driving over to points of interest and the DSO The crew will also perform any repairs necessary to be base and hook up any disconnected modules with pipes and cables.

After their extended surface stay, the crew will return to their landers and lift off into low Duna orbit. The lander ascent stage is a modified CSM-II, lacking parachutes and with a LEM descent engine. They are SRB assisted. The crew rendezvous with their DTVs and perform the Duna-Kerbin transfer burn, returning to Kerbin and splashing down in the CSMs they launched in.

The mission is obviously fraught with risks, and as such has several abort modes:

Phase 1 Abort

This is a failure during liftoff of either crew vehicle. The LES fires and the crew splash down safely. In the event that one crew is unable to be relaunched in time, the other crew will still launch and the second DTV will transfer to Duna empty to provide a rescue vessel.

Phase 2 Abort

Should there be a failure of one o the DTVs during transfer to or from Duna, the second DTV will expend fuel to rendezvous with it and refill from the other's tanks. Crew will transfer over to the rescue vehicle and complete the mission, but only one crew will be able to perform surface operations. Both landers will be landed as a safety precaution.

Phase 3 Abort

If none of the MOLABs are able to reach the surface intact, the crew landings will still take place, but lacking the ability to drive to the base site the crew will return to orbit after three days on the surface. It is not considered possible to land near the base itself due to the risk of damage (and the lag from the part count)

Phase 4 Abort

If the base life support systems or any major base component fail to reach the surface, the crew will drive the MOLAB units over to the BCM, where emergency life support units will be attached and cargo fitted. If the base is usable enough these will be used to repair the base. If not, the crew will rendezvous at the DSO, equipping it will extra life support and hooking the three rovers together for extra living space. The surface stay will be shortened considerably.

Phase 5 Abort

This is perhaps the most dangerous abort of all. Should one of the crew landers be unable to reach orbit on liftoff, the crew are equipped with emergency parachutes which should be sufficient to save them even in Duna's thin atmosphere. One crewmember on the ground will drive a MOLAB over to them and collect them in it, bringing them back to the other lander. The other two crewmembers will drive to the base's cargo unit, taking from it three external command seats and additional life support containers. The two engineers will work to attach the seats to the outside of the lander and reduce weight wherever possible. The fairings between the descent and ascent stages will be jettisoned to provide space for the external seats. The lander will lift off using the descent stage to compensate for the fuel lost due to additional drag, although it is anticipated that not much fuel will remain in it.

Hopefully I won't have to do any of that...

Here's the albums:

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No extra points as of yet... though hopefully there will be if I pull it off.

While I wait for them to arrive at Duna I'll be using my Saturn Shuttle to assemble Space Station Freedom in orbit. That's about 20 launches too...

[Bev7787]

I'm currently doing the challenge. Up to Apollo 10. Im uploading everything in one go when I finished Apollo 19 (Minmus landing)

EDIT: Mission plan is Apollo 11, 13, 15, 17, 18, 19, Skylab, Eve and Duna flyby, Duna landing, Jool 5 mission (already in planning stage)

Edited June 23, 2015 by Bev7787

[Rhomphaia]

Well, I was about to fly my ASTP mission last night, then 1.0.3 dropped.

Kind of concerned about my unshielded Command modules on a Munar return, but after some testing, they do seem to survive. Though it can be a bit scary watching the heat bar climb up into the red. Don't think I want to re-enter faster without a shield.

Parachutes are now the issue. Used to deploy when I was below 10km and Mach 1. Don't seem safe to deploy above 6km now.

[benjee10]

Testing begins on the STS program. The first mission of Space Shuttle Discovery was an approach-and-landing test flight from the back of the Shuttle Carrier Aircraft. The mission was a complete success. NASA mission control released the following statement:

OHMYGODOHMYGODOHMYGODICANTBELIEVETHATACTUALLYWORKED

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[Rhomphaia]

My take on the Apollo-Soyuz test project is up

1.0.3 was not entirely kind to the Lukovitsa. though It still flew, it is now harder to control and first stage separation is not as pretty. heres how it used to look

Edited June 25, 2015 by Rhomphaia