MultiSat Launch

[Shpaget]

Remote Tech had this requirement for a while, but with the announced introduction of signal relay system, there will be a need for satellite networks even in stock, so I've been thinking. We still don't know all the details, but we can assume there will be a need to launch multiple satellites, and what better way to do it than to launch them in a cluster with one launch vehicle.

What is your preferred way of attaching multiple (3+) small satellites on one rocket? Do you go inline or radial? Do you use cargo bays?

[Hannu2]

At beginning or if small satellites are only payload I would attach satellites inline separated by decouplers and launch them with 1.25 m parts. I would use one long fairing for all (from Procedural Fairings -mod). Later when I have larger rockets and payloads I can use more complex arrangements, like this.

[Malich]

A 2.5m rocket with bi, tri or quad adaptor is my usual choice. With a fairing over them if they're a bit too delicate or draggy to survive in the open.

[Shpaget]

My most recent launch was inline with stack decouplers, which proved to be effective, but a bit dangerous. When I released the second sat and gunned the Ant engine the satellite slammed into the drifting decoupler left by the previous sat, braking off one solar panel.

That's why I'm asking for sugestions.

[Venusgate]

Sat network rockets are probably my ugliest. Radial, and sometimes the transfer/orbital stage is long enough to do a second set of radials.

[CorBlimey]

I usually launch my omni sat network through an SRB booster, a lv909 and fuel tank with a tri coupler on top and micro sats on each (oscar B form factor etc). set your apoapsis to about 700km and change your periapsis to make your orbital period 3/4 of the period of the 700*700 orbit then decouple and circularise one sat each time it hits apoapsis.

Alternatively, earlier in the tech tree you can simply just stack 3-4 small sats in-line on top of each other. All they need is a tiny fuel tank and engine, 2 medium solar panels and a communotron 16 or 32.

I then launch one larger sat to a stationary orbit over the KSC and one into a highly eccentric polar orbit that links to the stationary sat.

[Hannu2]

1 hour ago, Shpaget said:

My most recent launch was inline with stack decouplers, which proved to be effective, but a bit dangerous. When I released the second sat and gunned the Ant engine the satellite slammed into the drifting decoupler left by the previous sat, braking off one solar panel.

 

You can adjust force in VAB and decouple decouplers by hand (right click). Wait couple of minutes (couple of seconds with 50x warp) so that previous satellites and debris floats away. You can also rotate ship to avoid collisions.

[katateochi]

It's been a while since I played with RT but my prefered way of launching my initially satellites around Kerbin was to send them all up as a single unmanned craft.  The fun part of that was without an existing network the craft would quickly fall out of range of KSC so it had to be done by setting up burns in the RT flight computer (so many failed attempts, but so satisfying when it worked!).  

[Shpaget]

Yeah, figuring out the flight computer is fun.

[Pecan]

SSTO rocket with radial docking-ports on an I-beam for the sats themselves.  My sats all have docking-ports too, just because you never know when you might want to move or recover one.
Stock fairings are single-shot so they're out and the rocket cargo-bays are simply too short and buggy to be any use at all so I'd recommend a mod for reusable holds.

[Skorpychan]

This looks like a job for a space shuttle.

You need it to be kerbed, so it doesn't have range limitations. And you need it to be mostly reusable, so it saves funds that need to be spent on fun missions. So, you just send up a large craft, and pootle around the Kerbin system releasing minisats. All you need in them is a little docking port, an antenna, a solar panel, batteries, and some science parts anyway, so you can pile them into a cargo bay in bulk.

Maybe even design a satellite retrieval craft; just a control seat, some thrusters, and a tiny docking port for extracting satellites from cargo bays.

[Stone Blue]

3 hours ago, Hannu2 said:

You can adjust force in VAB and decouple decouplers by hand (right click). Wait couple of minutes (couple of seconds with 50x warp) so that previous satellites and debris floats away. You can also rotate ship to avoid collisions.

Yes, you can do this and it worx, and its more realistic, but after I had some collisions, and had to correct large changes in orbital periods because of decouplers, I just started using Jr docking ports on top of my bi/tri/quad adapters, WITHOUT a port on the sat.... The port "Decouple Node" applies only a tiny force to sat... Plus its less debris floating around...
I like to use the launch vehicle to circularize my sat orbits as precise as possible, and leave just tiny adjustments to the sats...

[The Optimist]

Sepratrons!

[pandaman]

Depending on sizes (or mood) I use either stack or radial mountings.  

I prefer to add a junior docking port to the base of each satellite, which says attached to it, to aid recovery.

[rcp27]

In my "Remote Tech" save I recently deployed a Duna comms package.  The pictures below show it in the VAB and in LKO waiting for the transfer window.  It was intended to be able to reach its destination just on the LV909 in the top stage, but the 2.5 m Poodle orbital insertion stage still had fuel left in it when I reached LKO, so used that to give me a bit more margin.

 

[Pecan]

6 hours ago, Skorpychan said:

This looks like a job for a space shuttle.

There is never a job for a space shuttle in KSP ^^.  SSTO rocket or spaceplane, yes.  Shuttle, no.

[FancyMouse]

For me it depends on the situation. If I don't need aerobrake (most of the cases), then I use 1.25 main stack, attach radially and use two or three little octo struts each symmetry side to provide a vertical attachment node and attach satellite from there. May or may not fairing it depending on career availability. No cargo bay.

If I need to aerobrake with heat shields (mostly Eve and Laythe, and probably maybe Jool in 1.0.5 as well - I haven't got that far in 1.0.5 yet), then it's completely different - I'd be using a heatshield with a rocket cargo bay from MRS (shame we don't have rocket size cargo bay in stock). All satellites will be inside the bay. In general this will be a 2.5m stack.

[WuphonsReach]

Multiple sats from a single rocket sounds like a good idea in theory, but in practice I find it easier to just put up my four sats at 450km with Comm-16s on four separate launches.  Those first four launches are tricky and you (in career) won't have the miniaturization technologies unlocked yet.

(Then I usually put up six more at 267km, also with Comm-16s.)

In the past when I've done multiple sats - I turn the rocket 45-90 degrees to the side before using the decoupler.  Then turn again before using the next decoupler, etc.  Or have the two or four sub-payloads mounted at 90 degrees to the sides so that they separate cleanly.

[rcp27]

I definitely agree that for building your initial Kerbin relay network with remote tech individual launches are preferable.  One strategy I have used is to launch a manned capsule to serve as a temporary relay to get some coverage to get the first permanent relay satellites into their proper orbits.  Once you want to start building your relay network beyond just Kerbin, though, I find it's easier to send a single "package" with the full set of relays for the destination body in a single launch.

[Norcalplanner]

With docking ports and KJR, you can simply stack the satellites without any other reinforcement.  Examples below.

 

Edited December 14, 2015 by Norcalplanner

[Stone Blue]

24 minutes ago, Norcalplanner said:

With docking ports and KJR, you can simply stack the satellites without any other reinforcement. 

^^
This is what I do, with my smaller sats at least... Though I also try to use bi/tri/quad couplers if I can, instead of one tall stack of sats...
Having the sats all pointed prograde, and using docking ports instead of decouplers, I can use the Launch Vehicle to circularize the sat's orbit, decouple the node, use RCS to maneuver the LV retrograde away from the sat, then use the sat's ANT to fine-tune its orbit to within tenths of a second..And DONE...Rinse and repeat for the rest of the sats...

[Skorpychan]

On 12/12/2015, 21:17:04, Pecan said:

There is never a job for a space shuttle in KSP ^^.  SSTO rocket or spaceplane, yes.  Shuttle, no.

Well, a reusable launch vehicle with a cargo bay, at least.

[RizzoTheRat]

Stacked but with radial attached lift engines.

On my latest start I've recently launched my first LKO  comms network, a 4 satellite cluster each with 2 x DTS-M1 (Mun and Minimus), and a Communication 16.  They launch in a vertical stack, 3 have an FLT-100 tank and Spark engine, which is enough to lift them from the vessels initial orbit to their required orbits, while the 4th, which is on the bottom of the stack, has a much larger tank and an a swivel engine.  I then had 4 radial tanks/engines asparagus staged for launch, meaning the bottom satellites engine is used from launch all the way the it's final orbit.  I find this makes for a shorter and much more stable craft than vertical staging, and the upper satellites are connected to the booster stages with struts for stability.  Controlling it form the bottom satellite also makes for a much more stable launch.

In a previous game I launched a Minimus lander with 2 satellites attached radially which worked but meant the satellite design as a bit more complex as I had to leave one side free for the attachment point.

 

 

[Arameas]

My last attempt at multi sat launch for some sweet science harvest (not playing RT on this run) was essentially five single rockets welded together. Each had a two stage 1.25m rocket with the satellite on top. Launch it up hit the decouple and you have 5 SATs that seem determined to ram into each other as I didn't put any RCS or sepratons on them. It has worked but looked ugly. 

[Wahgineer]

Well, according to the devs, there will be a DSN: a Deep Space Network around Kerbin (basically, a bunch of radio transmitters on the ground that encircle the planet), so com networks will be pointless for Kerbin. I personally plan on putting a large relay satellite into a  high polar orbit around other planets, so I won't need a complicated sat network.