diary: European Space Agency, reaching out for the REAL Solar System

[TrooperCooper]

As promissed in my old diary thread, I am now starting a new one about my current RSS game.

Like the topic title says, I am flying for the ESA (since I am european myself), using the french spaceport at Kourou in South America.

Key elements of the game are obviously the Real Solar System mod, Realism Overhaul, Remote Tech, TAC Life Support and Kerbal Construction Time. Along with those I have plenty of other mods installed. Since my GameData folder is filled with the fine works of the modding community, don't expect pretty graphics here. With the RAM limitations I have, I preffer content over eye candy for the most part.

One note on realism: while I do play with RSS and RO (ongoing, for the first time for me), I am not trying to recreate the most realistic game behaviour that would be possible. RO has the limitations on engine ignitions deactivated for example. Remote Tech runs without signal delay. And I have several mods (and mod parts) installed, that are not "certified" for RO (throttleable stock-a-like top stage engines for example, even though their characteristics make them less efficient in RO/RSS, the convenience of fine-adjusting the thrust is something I wouldnt want to miss). I am also not planning to recreate real ESA spacecraft like the Ariane series (although I might at some point) nor the ISS etc. This game is quite a step up in realism for me. But I am not going all the way yet.

My GameData currently looks like this (content may change during the diary):

The game is running in sandbox mode, since career mod is currently not compatible with RSS afaik. KCT is putting some restraints on the progress though. And I am trying to not let efficiency go totally down the drain (like launching 1 ton sattelites with a 100-ton lifter due to lazyness ). Mid- to longterm goal are manned missions to Mars and maybe beyond (sidenote: I havent landed anything intact on Mars in RSS in the past so far when trying out the mods).

As always, comments, questions and critics are always welcome.

PS: sorry about my sometimes incorrect english. Its not my primary language, which is also the reason why my diaries are more image-focused compared to other storytelling mission report topics.

The first object to be brought into space of course has to be a communication sattelite. Crammed with dishes, antennas and solar pannels, these standardized probes will probably play an important role in the communications network that has to be established. The inductor engine with its supply of Argon gas gives it enough dV for repositioning into any orbit around Earth or even move to other orbital bodies.

The ComSat is strapped onto a standardized light lifter and production was beginning...

120 days later, the rocket was finished and rolled out onto the pad...

First lift off into the clear sky over French Guayana...

The first SRB-based lifter stage pushing the rocket through the gravity turn...

Fast ascent to avoid the signal gap over the Atlantic, where ground stations would not be able to reach the vessel...

Second stage taking over...

Exiting the atmosphere... fairings dropped...

When the second lifter stage was burned out, a stable but excentric orbit was achieved. Release of the payload...

Panels and com equipment deployed. Earth Com 1 operational.

The sattelite went into a higher orbit, to aid in the following launches...

Next up was a stack of small probes...

put on top of a 10 ton lifter...

The first launch attempt, ten month after the first ComSat had been brought into space, failed. Shortly before the ignition, one of the probes exploded. The remains of the vessel were recovered, scrapped and the engineers (who mumbled something about physics load bugs) started the re-building process.

Six weeks later, the 2nd launch attempt went more successfull...

Leaving a pile of smoke all over the launchpad...

the lifter went into the gravity turn...

and accelerated over the Atlantic coast...

Launch booster eject...

Top lifter stage ignited...

A few seconds later, the aerodynamic equipment was dropped as well...

In this stage, the craft became extremly wobbly. The narrow payload oscillated under the control inputs of the SAS. Only a quick reduction in gimbal range safed the mission.

The take off was timed right, so that Earth Com 1 could ensure a stable connection to mission control while the package ascended over the Atlantic...

Payload released, solar panels deployed...

The vessel climbed into a 10,000 km orbit...

And then the probes were released...

Since managing a perfectly timed setup of a small number of communication sattelites didnt seem feasible for me, instead a bunch of these tiny probes is beeing spammed into various orbits around Earth.

Even into polar orbits...

(to be continued)

[TrooperCooper]

The European Space Agency is preparing to make the step to the Moon. Click the spoiler below the image for details.

After deploying a few more communication sattelites...

...the orbital ComSat network was complete.

From now on the ESA focused on its next big mission: landing a man on the Moon and bringing him back safely. In preparation, a light lifter was launched from Kourou...

It deployed a small sattelite on a Moon-inclination parralel orbit to aid in the upcoming project. The probe received the designation "MOM"... Moon Orbit Marker.

At the same time, the engineers began to develop the gear for the Moon operation. Below is one of the early lander designs, which was discarded later on...

After making some developmet progress, the equipment was tested during several missions in Earth orbit...

The (most likely) finalized mission concept: 2-stage lander at the right, command- and service module in the center and an inductor-based travel stage at the left. Total weight of this package is 105.6 tons.

The crew will be riding the largest lifter currently available in the ESA arsenal: an eighteen thousand ton rocket. Its last stage will also shoot the payload out of the LEO into a Moon-transfer trajectory.

to be continued...

Edited July 19, 2015 by TrooperCooper

[TrooperCooper]

The ESA launched its mission to the Moon. Click the spoiler below the picture for details.

After many testflights, redesigns, bugs and fixes, the final system for the first manned Moon-flight standing ready on the pad, crewed by Jeb, Val and Bill.

Lift-off in an ongoing explosion of fuel, smoke and dust...

The lifter headed due north-east, following the path of the MOM-probe...

Two minutes after take off, the emptied massive launch boosters were seperated from the rocket...

The three Euronauts left the atmosphere of the Earth...

Five minutes after launch at 250 thousand meters altitude: the top lifter stage is kicking in and the payloads fairings are beeing removed...

At the same time, the uplink with the sattelite com network is established...

After eight minutes of contiued burn time, the orbit apoapsis of 500 km is finally pushed out.

The crew optimized the orbit and two hours into the mission the package is performing its Moon-transfer burn.

The last lifter stage was burned out and left behind...

and the five inductor pulse engines took over...

When the burn was completed, the solar panels were deployed and the Moon ship in all its beauty left the Low Earth Orbit...

36 hours later... incoming to the Moon...

After the insertion burn: Low Moon Orbit achieved...

Bill and Jeb moved over into the lander craft and undocked from the Mothership, leaving Val in orbit to keep control.

De-orbit burn...

Ullage problems during the descent almost ruined the landing...

But Jeb managed to put the craft down in one piece...

Party-time!

When the Mothership came arround the Moon again, the lander capsule seperated from its descent stage and Jeb and Bill left the Moon surface...

Accelerating back into orbit...

Rendezvous with the Mothership.

Lander capsule coming in to re-dock...

After hooking back up, Jeb and Bill moved back into the main ship...

Then the lander can was released and left in LMO...

The Euronauts moved into a higher orbit...

And then planned their return to Earth...

Home, sweet home...

The travel stage is released, to be burned up in the atmosphere...

And the return-stage, which proved to be pretty much unnecessary (the ESA-chief designer still tends to overengineer ), was used to slow the returning ship down before re-entry...

Capsule seperated, heat shield open... dipping into the atmosphere...

Here comes the fire! And it ate the return-stage at once...

But the heat-shield kept the capsule safe... and one week after take off, the three Euronauts were hanging on their chutes and landed in the Pacific just south of Japan...

(to be continued...)

Edited July 27, 2015 by TrooperCooper

[legoclone09]

Nice! I like it so far, can't wait for more!

[Wallygator]

Very well done! Looking forward to the next episode!!!!

[Bev7787]

Looks good!

[TrooperCooper]

Thank you, guys!

The ESA is beginning to develop and install new tools for space exploration and logistics. Click the spoiler below the picture for details.

A series of four lifters took off from Kourou.

Carrying a bunch of slightly improved communication sattelites.

These were brough into 250 kkm orbits around Earth...

...and established the backbone for a long range communications network with interplanetary capabilities.

In order to reduce costs of the space program, the ESA began development of a modular logistics network, mainly based on tugs and high-orbit launch platforms. Below is the blueprint for a heavy tug that is able to push payloads of up to 50 tons from Earth orbit to Mars or bigger ones into a Moon orbit.

With Mars in mind, much heavier payloads are coming up on the horizon. And thus the ESA has also begun to develop a heavy duty launch vessel: the Colossus Class Lifter will weight about 22 thousand tons and should be able to propel up to 500 tons of cargo into a low Earth Orbit.

The mainstay of the Colossus is the good old F1 engine from the Saturn. The first stage has twenty of those clustered together, plus four large launch boosters. The second stage features five F1s. And the third stage one.

Once development is finnished, the first payload for this behemoth will probably be a large depot, filled with liquid hydrogen fuel for the tugs.

(to be continued...)

[legoclone09]

Woah! Great lifter! I'd love that!

[TrooperCooper]

The ESA launched the prototype of the new Colossus lifter class. Click the spoiler below the picture for details.

The new 500 ton lifter standing ready on the launchpad with a depot strapped on top of it.

Lift off! We have lift off!

Trailing a little smoke...

Launch boosters coming off...

Now the 20 F1 engines of the first stage are on their own to push the vessel out of the atmosphere...

Three minutes after take off, the second stage of the rocket is kicking in...

Running on five F1s, the rocket is entering space...

...and the aerodynamic equipment is beeing dropped off...

Seven minutes after take off: at an altitude of 270 km the third and last stage with just one F1 is igniting...

After eleven minutes, the initial burn sequence is over and the vessel coasts to its apoapsis at 500 km. Once the periapsis is pushed out, the payload is beeing released...

And nearly 3.5 million units of liquid helium plus a large supply of life support goods and CaveaB RCS fuel are now stationed in a low earth orbit.

(to be continued)

Edited August 5, 2015 by TrooperCooper

[legoclone09]

500km is LEO? Doesn't our atmo end at ~100 miles?

[TrooperCooper]

500km is LEO? Doesn't our atmo end at ~100 miles?

Earth's atmosphere can be divided (called atmospheric stratification) into five main layers. Excluding the exosphere, Earth has four primary layers, which are the troposphere, stratosphere, mesosphere, and thermosphere. From highest to lowest, the five main layers are:

• Exosphere: 700 to 10,000 km (440 to 6,200 miles)
  
• Thermosphere: 80 to 700 km (50 to 440 miles)
  
  
• Mesosphere: 50 to 80 km (31 to 50 miles)
  
• Stratosphere: 12 to 50 km (7 to 31 miles)
  
• Troposphere: 0 to 12 km (0 to 7 miles)
  

Source: Wikipedia

The real ISS sits just above 400 km and is still subject to atmospheric effects (has to adjust orbit regularly since the upper atmosphere is slowing it down).

In RSS the atmosphere ends at 130 km. But 500 km can certainly still be considered as low earth orbit.

[legoclone09]

Wow! Never knew that! Thanks for telling me!

[TrooperCooper]

The ESA began its first missions to Mars. Click the spoiler below the picture for details.

Several lifters took off from Kourou.

They brought a bunch of improved long range communication sattelites into Low Earth Orbit.

When the Mars transfer window opened up, those probes left the SOI of the Earth, becoming the first interplanetary objects...

After arriving at the red planet, these orbiters formed a basic relay network at very high altitude.

Next up a bizarre looking setup was launched...

and moved to Mars as well...

The vessel descended into a very low orbit, just above the atmosphere...

And released twenty micro probes.

These tiny sattelites with a weight of less than 100 kg each, consisted of nothing else but a probe core, a couple batteries, solar panels and relay antennas. Scattered out into a low aequatorial orbit, these relays are supposed to allow operating future landing crafts with just short range communication antennas.

In the meantime, the engineers prepared Mars Explorer, the first unmanned Mars lander. Descend plan was completly based on parachutes.

Lift off of Mars Explorer from Kourou...

Woooooosh!

Launch booster drop...

Ignition of the last lifter stage...

Burning for Mars...

Arrival at the target.

Beginning with descent.

Seperation from the travel stage...

The egg with a heatshield and heat insulator at the bottom, travelling through the thin Mars atmosphere...

After slowing down enough, the aerodynamic protection is removed from the lander...

followed by deployment of the drogue chutes...

A few moments later, the main chutes came out as well...

Slowly the lander descended towards the surface....

Touch down successful! Solar panels deployed...

Com uplink to Earth through the relay network established...

Sending scientific data back home. Mission accomplished!

(to be continued)