Constellation Mission Packs Discussion Thread!

[pTrevTrevs]

DTV assembly is completed, it now awaits its first crew in orbit.

Now I need a name for it. I could just call it the DTV, but it would be nice to have a special naming scheme for each ship.

[Raptor9]

Man, those saddle trusses look legit. 

[pTrevTrevs]

36 minutes ago, Raptor9 said:

Man, those saddle trusses look legit. 

I'm really proud of the way it turned out. I spared no expense, from adding little lights to help align the docking ports to arranging the crew pods within the inflatable section to appear to form different rooms, this is one of the best stations/motherships I've ever built.

Now to overhaul Orion/Ares I and cleanse the landers of the many problems plaguing them. The biggest is that the fairings push the mass of the entire descent package well over the Ares V's tonnage limit. The heaviest payload I've rated it for is 70 tons, but with the aeroshells the landers weigh over 100 tons apiece. I don't really have the space to build a custom aeroshell without taking a huge hit in FPS, and I doubt I have the skill either.

[Majorjim!]

27 minutes ago, pTrevTrevs said:

I'm really proud of the way it turned out. I spared no expense, from adding little lights to help align the docking ports to arranging the crew pods within the inflatable section to appear to form different rooms, this is one of the best stations/motherships I've ever built.

Now to overhaul Orion/Ares I and cleanse the landers of the many problems plaguing them. The biggest is that the fairings push the mass of the entire descent package well over the Ares V's tonnage limit. The heaviest payload I've rated it for is 70 tons, but with the aeroshells the landers weigh over 100 tons apiece. I don't really have the space to build a custom aeroshell without taking a huge hit in FPS, and I doubt I have the skill either.

Hmm, tricky. You could use SRB bundles to give you that initial push out of the lower atmosphere. 

[pTrevTrevs]

47 minutes ago, Majorjim said:

Hmm, tricky. You could use SRB bundles to give you that initial push out of the lower atmosphere. 

The Ares V already uses SRB bundles. I may just have to go through the landers and remove any unnecessary parts so I can have a custom aeroshell.

[Majorjim!]

Just now, pTrevTrevs said:

The Ares V already uses SRB bundles. I may just have to go through the landers and remove any unnecessary parts so I can have a custom aeroshell.

Hmm, ok, more bundles? How many do you have per stack?

[pTrevTrevs]

14 minutes ago, Majorjim said:

Hmm, ok, more bundles? How many do you have per stack?

Either seven or nine per booster. I did have the idea to add one or two more engines to the second stage (it would be acceptable, some concepts of the Ares V had two or three J-2Xs), but I would have to see if the reduction in DeltaV would be within limits.

The Ares *may* be able to lift slightly more than 70 tons, but I classify it as a 70 ton lifter because that's the mass of the test payload I launched it with.

[Ozymandias_the_Goat]

Hello all,

After a few weeks of trying stuff, I made some craft similar enough to the Constellation Lunar mission, and figured this would be the best place to post it, and get some advice for making the craft better.

Some more important pictures:

Ares V on the pad. The boosters on both rockets are actually 3 SRBs bundled together.

Ares V second stage.

 

Ares I lifting off. The crew are Chadman, Carbertta, and Sigdard Kerman.

Orion in orbit.

The ship departs for the Mun.

 

Crew posing with flag and lander on the Mun.

 

Thanks everyone!

[Majorjim!]

Just now, LetsGoToMars! said:

Thanks everyone!

Good stuff dude!

It's always cool to see someone else taking on the constellation craft. I hope you had fun making these. I know it's tricky but see if you can make the Ares 1 the same diameter down to the SRBs. And make it taller. The Ares V looks good!

 

[pTrevTrevs]

I took a look at both my landers to see just how much weight I would have to shave off. The crew lander is well within acceptable limits at 59 tons. The cargo lander, on the other hand, is well over 110 tons, at least 40 tons over my Ares V's tested lift capacity. I may end up sending an ISRU to allow me to carry less fuel, although I highly doubt the lander even has 40 tons of fuel aboard.

[Ozymandias_the_Goat]

2 hours ago, Majorjim! said:

Good stuff dude!

It's always cool to see someone else taking on the constellation craft. I hope you had fun making these. I know it's tricky but see if you can make the Ares 1 the same diameter down to the SRBs. And make it taller. The Ares V looks good!

 

Yeah, you're probably right. I noticed that many other KSP constellation packs use an 1.825 m SRB. I thought that would make the Ares V look strange and decided to make the boosters 1.25 m instead. I figure I might as well try to make some duna landers as well.

[Majorjim!]

8 hours ago, pTrevTrevs said:

I took a look at both my landers to see just how much weight I would have to shave off. The crew lander is well within acceptable limits at 59 tons. The cargo lander, on the other hand, is well over 110 tons, at least 40 tons over my Ares V's tested lift capacity. I may end up sending an ISRU to allow me to carry less fuel, although I highly doubt the lander even has 40 tons of fuel aboard.

Wowzer that is heavy!

 I am having palpitations at the thought of the next few update changes. Especially the rocket part updates.. I am very tempted to halt work on the Ares V until the updates come up in case there are changes that affect the lander and Ares 1..

[pTrevTrevs]

1 hour ago, Majorjim! said:

Wowzer that is heavy!

 I am having palpitations at the thought of the next few update changes. Especially the rocket part updates.. I am very tempted to halt work on the Ares V until the updates come up in case there are changes that affect the lander and Ares 1..

Hmm, I haven't heard of these changes, where can I read about them?

If I remember correctly it's the fairing that pushes the cargo lander over the weight limit. I think without it the lander weighs about as much as the crew lander plus its fairing (approximately 60 tons).

EDIT: After looking at the latest devnotes I noticed that RemoteTech style comms relays are being added in the next update. How much is this going to require us to alter our craft to allow them to maintain communications between Kerbin and Duna?

Edited August 5, 2016 by pTrevTrevs

[Majorjim!]

17 minutes ago, pTrevTrevs said:

Hmm, I haven't heard of these changes, where can I read about them?

If I remember correctly it's the fairing that pushes the cargo lander over the weight limit. I think without it the lander weighs about as much as the crew lander plus its fairing (approximately 60 tons).

EDIT: After looking at the latest devnotes I noticed that RemoteTech style comms relays are being added in the next update. How much is this going to require us to alter our craft to allow them to maintain communications between Kerbin and Duna?

Well the remote tech type stuff is a difficulty option so not much. You will simply have to add an antenna to unmanned craft however. I think the system will be very simple. Too simple perhaps.

 The other changes are @Porkjet's rocket overhaul which has the potential to cause nodes to move and possibly change pod and fuel tank weights too.

[Majorjim!]

Hi fellow lunatics.

 Anyone still working on their packs? I am eagerly awaiting the new wheel fixes so I can finish mine. Just the Ares V to make and then final test pass on all craft and flying a full mission to certify them ready for release.

[pTrevTrevs]

2 hours ago, Majorjim! said:

Hi fellow lunatics.

 Anyone still working on their packs? I am eagerly awaiting the new wheel fixes so I can finish mine. Just the Ares V to make and then final test pass on all craft and flying a full mission to certify them ready for release.

I still plan on finishing mine, but I'm keeping it on the back burner until 1.2 drops. DTV is done, but I have yet to test how well it performs on a trip to Duna. Crew Lander awaits testing, but it appears to be within reasonable weight and size constraints. The Cargo Lander needs a major overhaul, and will probably be rebuilt to make use of an ISRU, assuming I can find a way to get the fuel aboard the ascent stage. Orion and Ares I work, although I would like to redesign them to look more like the concepts. Ares V also works, but it needs to be streamlined and smoothed over so that it can be flown more easily.

Altair and the SPR are currently the only elements of my pack that I can declare complete.

[Majorjim!]

Just now, pTrevTrevs said:

I still plan on finishing mine, but I'm keeping it on the back burner until 1.2 drops. DTV is done, but I have yet to test how well it performs on a trip to Duna. Crew Lander awaits testing, but it appears to be within reasonable weight and size constraints. The Cargo Lander needs a major overhaul, and will probably be rebuilt to make use of an ISRU, assuming I can find a way to get the fuel aboard the ascent stage. Orion and Ares I work, although I would like to redesign them to look more like the concepts. Ares V also works, but it needs to be streamlined and smoothed over so that it can be flown more easily.

Altair and the SPR are currently the only elements of my pack that I can declare complete.

Good to see at least one other still working on it!

[pTrevTrevs]

2 hours ago, Majorjim! said:

Good to see at least one other still working on it!

*shuffles feet, tugs at shirt collar*

Well, you see... It's not so much that I'm still working on it as much as I haven't declared the project defunct yet.

I would like to finish it, but I think I'n going to wait at least until after I get my new U-boat released to continue with this.

[Frank_G]

Still on KSP vacation  - Maybe i will continue to fine tune my Constellation lander, once i return, or maybe i´ll leave it as it was (it worked quite well already).

[Majorjim!]

1 hour ago, Frank_G said:

Still on KSP vacation  - Maybe i will continue to fine tune my Constellation lander, once i return, or maybe i´ll leave it as it was (it worked quite well already).

Yeah your lander is ace! As are the other craft you made for that mission you posted! 

 It shouldn't be too hard to modify them to look a little more like the real proposed craft. I know you where not going for a one to one replication of the look of the craft.

Edited September 11, 2016 by Majorjim!

[PixelatedPig]

 

 

 

A break from this project really turned out good.

It took me a while but my HAB lander is almost finished

I'm working on all the other crafts right now its hard but it will be worth it.

 

[Majorjim!]

35 minutes ago, PixelatedPig said:

A break from this project really turned out good.

Great to see others still working on this! I like what I see man keep up the good work.

 I did have a quick peek at my craft and all seems well after the update. I just need to find motivation to finish!

[Yukon0009]

115 parts and ~25 tons, I don't know if this is capable of being transported to Duna by DTV.

[PixelatedPig]

29 minutes ago, Yukon0009 said:

I don't know if this is capable of being transported to Duna by DTV.

I know that the Kerbal Engineer Redux mod hasn't been updated yet so maybe try it out? 

 

also nice orion!

Edited November 5, 2016 by PixelatedPig

[Yukon0009]

Just now, PixelatedPig said:

I know that the Kerbal Engineer Redux mod hasn't been updated yet so maybe try it out? 

 

also nice orion!

It's delta v is fine with around 1500 dV, but it's 25 tons so sticking it atop a DTV will reduce the dV of the DTV. Also it's going to wobble around when the DTV's engines are on.