Biggest Space Station In Orbit

[dogon11]

I want you all to make giant space stations with whatever mods you want, put it in orbit around Kerbin (higher than 150,000 meters, preferably), and take screenshots!

Rules:

1: All mods allowed except for insta-orbits or infinite fuel.

2: Must have life support systems (AKA, solar panels or another form of power, crew habitation modules).

3: Must have RCS fuel and thrusters for station maneuvering, and a regular engine with fuel for de-orbit/avoidance of your space debris.

4: Must have a docking system, whether it is decorative docking hatches from BACE/KOSMOS, or lander legs/KAPAS-75/Damned Robotics Claw. Does not have to be functional, just has to look like it would work. I would suggest the decorative hatches in BACE/KOSMOS

5: Must post screenshots of launch vehicle on pad, and station in orbit.

Now, for succeeding, you will win 'awards'.

Awards:

Orbital Habitat: Get a station in orbit.

Multi-Crew: Perform docking with a functional docking system.

High-Up: Above 600,000 meter orbit with station, for both periapsis and apoapsis.

Lunatics: Station in Mun orbit, relatively circular.

Far Out: Station in Minmus orbit, relatively circular.

Shades at Night: Orbit around Kerbol, relatively circular.

Interplanetary Habitat: Station that can transfer from orbit around one body to orbit around another, and then orbit around a third. Think Kerbin, Mun, Minmus.

Escape Craft: Build a station with an escape vehicle, that can survive reentry, and return from the orbit the station is in. I\'d recommend having MechJeb on your station so that once you eject the launch vehicle with crew, you can still control the station.

Landing Engines: Land your station on the Mun or Minmus.

Interstellar: Create a station that escapes Kerbol orbit.

Massive: Largest station in orbit.

List of Winners:

Praitag- Orbital Habitiat, High-up, Massive

MrMoog- Orbital Habitat, Multi-Crew

Steve5451- Orbital Habitat, Multi-Crew, Escape Craft

[dogon11]

My attempt:

http://imgur.com/a/k5JD8#0

I know that it is a small station, but this is not the smallest that would count. Solar panels are a bit small, but I plan on using the KOSMOS mod next time.

This would qualify to win these awards:

Orbital Habitat

Escape Craft

[MrMoog]

Here\'s my attempt for the ultimate space station I made a couple weeks ago, Dedalus II. It respects surprisingly a lot of your criterias, so I had to post it. It was made in 0.14.4, using a variety of mods: NovaSilisko, BACE3.0, Kosmos, probodyne.

1. No insta orbit or other trickery were used, just good old (and big) rockets. I used MechJeb, but only for the info panels and the pro/retro grad. The auto-ascent would destroy the vehicle anyway. It was a pain to balance so that it didn\'t tear apart before clearing the tower. In that regard, Kosmos struts are awesome.

2. The whole range of life supports you mention are included.

- 7 power generators modules with solar arrays and radiators.

- Station command module in the front.

- Crew habitation module below it.

- Inflatable cargo bays and laboratories compartments.

- Advance solar laboratory on top.

- Communication arrays on the bottom.

3. 3 nuclear propulsion reactor with verniers and extended RCS booms for top maneuverability, both with plenty of fuel.

4. A 3-bay capsule docking section in the front, with guidance camera and crew transfer/decontamination modules, one frontal VIP docking port and two inflatable cargo docking bays.

I even managed a rendez-vous with another ship that was on its way to land on the Mun. I made a simulated docking, but not a real, mechanical one. BACE docking hatches on the station, and dockur docking system on the ship.

5. Enjoy!

Image Heavy!

On the launch pad. It\'s not exactly the same version as the one we see in orbit later, but it might pretty much be the same. Only more RCS booms were added, for more control once in orbit.

Holding pretty well.

Orbit achieved (84/362km). It later was circularized, at about 200km if I remember correctly.

The station in orbit, still packed.

Full top view of the packed station.

Close up of the power generators with the undeployed solar arrays and radiators.

Chaser ship approaching in the distance. Close up of the BACE command module hatch, with MechJeb below, sitting on top of the habitation module.

View of the solar arrays and radiators fully deployed, with communication array on the bottom.

Another angle.

Front view, left to right: the Mun, one of the inflatable cargo docking bay, communication array under the station, the 3-bay capsule docking section with crew modules on top, the the VIP docking port and the command module.

Nice view.

Close up of under the station.

Clear view of the propulsion reactors, cargo docking bays, inflatable compartments, advanced solar laboratory on top and capsule docking section on the right.

Front view of the docking section and command module.

Close up of the three docking ports, with the guidance cameras attached to the crew modules.

Approaching Dedalus II.

Closing in.

Meet up.

Nice engines you got there.

The station began spinning heavily at some point, making further docking attempts impossible. I manage to get closer though, but don\'t have any screenshots.

Leaving the station.

Link to the higher resolution album.

http://imgur.com/a/33KbI#0

[ARPOLLO]

Whooo thats BIG!! im going to try something similar tomorrow

[dogon11]

I can\'t wait to see what the rest of you guys are going to come up with.

[Steve5451]

Being my first space station, I didn\'t make it very big, but it\'s a good size.

I only put MechJeb on it so I can use it if I launch my emergency/return stage. I don\'t believe in using it though. I\'ve never used it. I added some Damned Robotics stuff just so I could have an excuse to use it.

It contains the basics of life support, it\'s not exactly luxury just yet.

Spiffy looking station in an orbit of 125 KM almost perfect. I didn\'t take any screenshots of that though, just the map view. I don\'t feel like loading it up so you\'re probably going to have to trust me on this one.

Now for 'docking'

It works.

[Praitaq]

Here is my entry into the Largest Space Station Contest

The Station MK3

98.9 Tons(according to the MechJeb stats)

Ap: 605km

Peri: 604km

Station MK3 on the Pad

Station MK3 in Orbit

Station MK3 Map View

Sadly this thing needed a bunch of struts to keep from falling apart, so it lags my computer which is sad....

AMD Phenom II x4 3.0ghz

16g of memory.

[Speider]

MrMoog. That was friggin epic. Do you have fraps?

[dogon11]

Here is my entry into the Largest Space Station Contest

The Station MK3

98.9 Tons(according to the MechJeb stats)

Ap: 605km

Peri: 604km

Station MK3 on the Pad

Station MK3 in Orbit

Station MK3 Map View

Sadly this thing needed a bunch of struts to keep from falling apart, so it lags my computer which is sad....

AMD Phenom II x4 3.0ghz

16g of memory.

That\'s the new biggest!

I\'ll add you in a bit, once I get off my phone.

[Praitaq]

Woot! Thanks, I\'m actually in the middle of building a new station to try and launch. After looking at what i did launch and its lack of 'eye-appeal' I felt I needed to try again. Also at the same time, I may try and send it out of kerbol influence.

Praitaq

[Semo]

So here is my station. I dont think my pc can handle a bigger one because this one is al ready lagging my pc pretty bad.

The take off took forever! I might need to built a smaller and simpler rocked for the next one.

Anyway here it is.

PE: 80 km

AP: 222 km

[MS] Kerbal Orbiter MK-I

It was designed with the ion engines in mind. Note all the battery packs.

I made the mistake of thinking the solar panels would recharge my batteries.

I ran out of juice so i was not able to get a circular orbit. (am i missing a plugin? )

It has a fully working live support system that supports long and deep space travel (if you have power ). Dark sides of Kerbin and the Mun are no problem.

It has no docking ports or an escape pod. The MK-I is just a prototype to see if it would make it into orbit.

Apparently the designers where not too confident in their work and decided it would be cheaper to leave it out for now.

The crew is pretty much doomed to stay up there if they want to live.

It is pretty though!

[CtrlAltEL1TE]

Building a station at the moment. Its fully stock and fairly light in wait (i think it was about 30 tons) However it is huge. Trying to get it off the ground at the moment so far my lifter is upwards of 500tons (its stock so going into orbit 'fully assembled' creates HUGE drag)

[Felix]

So here is my station. I dont think my pc can handle a bigger one because this one is al ready lagging my pc pretty bad.

The take off took forever! I might need to built a smaller and simpler rocked for the next one.

Anyway here it is.

PE: 80 km

AP: 222 km

[MS] Kerbal Orbiter MK-I

It was designed with the ion engines in mind. Note all the battery packs.

I made the mistake of thinking the solar panels would recharge my batteries.

I ran out of juice so i was not able to get a circular orbit. (am i missing a plugin? )

It has a fully working live support system that supports long and deep space travel (if you have power ). Dark sides of Kerbin and the Mun are no problem.

It has no docking ports or an escape pod. The MK-I is just a prototype to see if it would make it into orbit.

Apparently the designers where not too confident in their work and decided it would be cheaper to leave it out for now.

The crew is pretty much doomed to stay up there if they want to live.

It is pretty though!

I love it! What mods did you use?

[Semo]

KOSMOS space station parts

Zoxygene

Dynasat Satellites and Solar Panels

PowerTech

Electrical Energy

And maybe some other parts but with that\'s about it

[dogon11]

So here is my station. I dont think my pc can handle a bigger one because this one is al ready lagging my pc pretty bad.

The take off took forever! I might need to built a smaller and simpler rocked for the next one.

Anyway here it is.

PE: 80 km

AP: 222 km

[MS] Kerbal Orbiter MK-I

It was designed with the ion engines in mind. Note all the battery packs.

I made the mistake of thinking the solar panels would recharge my batteries.

I ran out of juice so i was not able to get a circular orbit. (am i missing a plugin? )

It has a fully working live support system that supports long and deep space travel (if you have power ). Dark sides of Kerbin and the Mun are no problem.

It has no docking ports or an escape pod. The MK-I is just a prototype to see if it would make it into orbit.

Apparently the designers where not too confident in their work and decided it would be cheaper to leave it out for now.

The crew is pretty much doomed to stay up there if they want to live.

It is pretty though!

Unfortunantely, that orbit is not circular.

[Imandreas]

Meanwhile, I wait for someone to use this:

http://kerbalspaceprogram.com/forum/index.php?topic=10185.0

I would, of course, if my non-cellphone computer had existence.

[Semo]

Yeah i looked at it. Feels a bit like cheating to me.. Its the trick to get it into orbit.

Isn\'t that the challenge?

[CtrlAltEL1TE]

Hell building a 100ton station is easy. The hard part is making the 600ton lifter to carry it up there.

[rdrdrdrd]

did this a while ago, space station orbiting mun, several orbiting kerbin, and i have one orbiting kerbol, as well as some cheating mega stations just for kicks

http://imgur.com/Ftonl,KCAs8,MRdeS,koVFp#0

this one orbits the mun and was put up with no cheating

[Brains001]

Any chance of getting the .craft files for any of these stations?

Would love to have them in orbit with my own (far inferior) stations

[Maxed-Rockets]

I only have a small space station, but I will submit my super heavy lifter for people to use.

I have a small sample station that I but at an orbit of 27 billion meters from the sun, I will get pics soon.

[Selrahc4040]

Gentlemen, if I may, a mini-challenge! Give all of the stations a purpose. E.G. Mun mapping, communications, research, and more. Just a suggestion.

[TerLoki]

It was designed with the ion engines in mind. Note all the battery packs.

I made the mistake of thinking the solar panels would recharge my batteries.

I ran out of juice so i was not able to get a circular orbit. (am i missing a plugin? )

I don\'t think so, look around for a little triangular solar panel in the structures tab, I\'ve used that to recharge my ion drives before without any .cfg edits or anything.

[Zenton8787]

I tried getting my own space station into orbit about a week ago. I had a big problem with it being unbalanced. Reading through this topic has given me the drive to try again. This time, I wont give up so easy. Ill have to build the station from scratch because I deleted the .craft file for the one that I made. Note to self not to do that again.

Well here\'s luck to trying again.

[olex]

I\'d really like to see docking mechanics implemented in the game at some point. Then this challenge can be done properly without mods, by launching separate modules and docking them in orbit - the same way the ISS is being built. It could also be then used as a spacedock of sorts - once could send up multiple modules (propulsion modules, landers, orbiters, whatever) and build large interplanetary craft in orbit, before sending it away.