Shuttle Challenge v4 - The STS thread [Stock and Mod Friendly] [THREAD CLOSED 06.08.17]

[Speeding Mullet]

14 hours ago, XB-70A said:

 

I have a small full stock Space Shuttle Sytem inspirated by the American one and called X-26A Eos :

 

that really is a very pretty "midi" shuttle you have there @XB-70A, and welcome to the challenge.  I must say you also have an eye for nice screenshots as well as detail in design so your album made for pleasant viewing, very pleasant indeed.  Have a badge and consider your X-26A Eos fully passed out to take Kerbals to orbit!  

 

14 hours ago, XB-70A said:

If it can't be elected I also have the Kronos-Demeter system totally inspirated by the Saturn-Shuttle project :

Another nice one, and equally nicely designed!  Well done and have another badge! We don't get too many Saturn shuttles around these parts (@ZooNamedGames excluded  ) so this was good to see.  Congratulations on achieving level 1 twice!  

Can't wait to see you progress through the other challenges, if you are going to!

 

12 hours ago, vladd148 said:

STS 1A - stock shuttle flown on Galileo's Planet Pack.

Image album: http://imgur.com/a/2z0mH

Teasers:

Another new entrant.  Welcome to the challenge @vladd148.  I've had a look at the Galileo planet pack OP and it appears to replace the solar system entirely so I'll have to award you in the modded category.  If you can provide assurance that the home planet where KSC resides is of identical characteristics, and KSC is in the same place etc then I'd be happy to change the modded to stock to reflect the stock nature of the shuttle.  

10 hours ago, Martian Emigrant said:

Now my reading is a any CIRCULAR orbit with the per and apo within the specified limits.

Yep you are shooting for a circular orbit with tolerances within the specified limits

 

10 hours ago, Shadow dream said:

Oh, I have a question! I want to try those challenges aswell and created a new game-folder (to keep part mods out of my *fun* install). So far I have installed following mods via CKAN:

• Action Groups Extended
• BetterBurn Time
• Docking Port Alignment Indicator
• Editor Extensions Redux
• Engine Lighting
• Gangar Grid
• Kerbal Alarm Clock
• Kerbal Engineer Redux
• Module Manager
• Portrait Stats
• Precise Maneuver
• RasterPropMonitor inkl. Core
• RCS Build Aid
• The Janitor's Closet (though I probably won't need it)
• Toolbar
• TriggerAu Flags

This does still count as "Stock", right? Now, does KerbalJointReinforcement also count as mod? I don't expect huge issues, but it might save me somewhere, where stock would kill my craft, so I'm not sure if it's ok to use.

Also, just to be safe, do I have to stick with the same shuttle for all missions or may I create another one / edit it. You said "use your cargo space" to other pilots, so should I assume this is all the editing I'm allowed on my craft down the road?

These mods are all absolutely fine for stock, with the exception of KJR.  KJR would put you in a modded category, as there is skill required to build a Shuttle that doesn't shake itself to bits on takeoff or re-entry.  As mentioned by others though KJR isn't required with auto-strut feature now in the game!

You can chop and change your shuttle as much as you like.  Create a totally different one for each mission (which you will probably find is required for some of them) or use the same shuttle and iterate it as you need, or do the whole thing with one shuttle, it's totally up to you!

 

6 hours ago, Martian Emigrant said:

Hi again.

I have completed STS-1b.

The mission report was appended accordingly.

 

I claim the Badge.

Nicely claimed!  Yep this qualifies well and I will update the OP soon.  I'm interested to see what happens when people start trying to land this thing!

 

SM

[vladd148]

8 hours ago, Speeding Mullet said:

Another new entrant.  Welcome to the challenge @vladd148.  I've had a look at the Galileo planet pack OP and it appears to replace the solar system entirely so I'll have to award you in the modded category.  If you can provide assurance that the home planet where KSC resides is of identical characteristics, and KSC is in the same place etc then I'd be happy to change the modded to stock to reflect the stock nature of the shuttle.  

 

https://github.com/Galileo88/Galileos-Planet-Pack/wiki/Gael

As you can see, the planet Gael (which replaces stock Kerbin) has identical characteristics to Kerbin.

[XB-70A]

10 hours ago, Speeding Mullet said:

Woohooo! Thank you! It is the first time I engage myself in a KSP challenge. About the Saturn-Shuttle craft I saw it way before but never got any more interest than curiosity, then as you mentioned it, it's ZooNamedGame's project who gives me the desire to make one.

[Jestersage]

Probably can't do it since I still can't land my ESA Hermes clone... but how do you land a shuttle on KSC? I keep missing it!

Edited February 13, 2017 by Jestersage

[Martian Emigrant]

GRRR.

ARGGGG

Just finished STS-2a. Quite pleased with myself.

Got the 2 KEO sats in place. My firsts ever. Yes! Almost 180° apart.

Returned. Landed a bit short (22km).

But Jeb decide to "Taxi" it back.

Quote

Jeb: I know the way. I've been lost here before!

Then I read the requirement one more time...200km+...Arg...

 

Oh well.

Back to the drawing board.

I'll see if I can get 5  3 sats at the same time from above 350km and claim STS-2b completed and claim the commander badge.

If you can do 3 at 350km you probably can do 2 at 200km.

I have a short vid of my first KEO sat below VVVV.

Spoiler

 

 

 

 

ME

Edited February 14, 2017 by Martian Emigrant

[AeroGav]

1 hour ago, Jestersage said:

Probably can't do it since I still can't land my ESA Hermes clone... but how do you land a shuttle on KSC? I keep missing it!

This is my basic technique,  but shuttle clones won't glide as well as this thing, so not quite as much scope for stretching an undershoot.

[Shadow dream]

Ok, now it's time for my first badge! Here is my STS 1a+1b Mission stock:

As craft I have used a slightly modified version of an earlier ship I have released at 1.0.5: My Buran Kai.

Here is the gallery: https://imgur.com/a/i3IjY (How challenging it can be to do screen shots during ascent! Almost forgot to do some!)

 

So next one is 2a+2b:

I'm a little confused here. Did I get this right?:

1. Build 3 probes with min.1 relay antena each, reaction wheels and some propulsion
2. Fly the shuttle into a 350+km orbit - is it circular or PE > 350km ?
3. Deploy the probes one by one (i.e 2h appart in their orbit) and fly them into geostationary orbit (=2863,3 Mm)
4. Rondezvous with the 40t payload I have now sitting in orbit, dock with it
5. Land at KSC or equivalent

[Martian Emigrant]

7 minutes ago, Shadow dream said:

Ok, now it's time for my first badge! Here is my STS 1a+1b Mission stock:

As craft I have used a slightly modified version of an earlier ship I have released at 1.0.5: My Buran Kai.

Here is the gallery: https://imgur.com/a/i3IjY (How challenging it can be to do screen shots during ascent! Almost forgot to do some!)

 

So next one is 2a+2b:

I'm a little confused here. Did I get this right?:

1. Build 3 probes with min.1 relay antena each, reaction wheels and some propulsion
2. Fly the shuttle into a 350+km orbit - is it circular or PE > 350km ?
3. Deploy the probes one by one (i.e 2h appart in their orbit) and fly them into geostationary orbit (=2863,3 Mm)
4. Rondezvous with the 40t payload I have now sitting in orbit, dock with it
5. Land at KSC or equivalent

Hi.

I don't think you need to fly both 2a and 2b at the same time.

If you can that would save some work but if you are fuel limited after doing the climb to 350km+ just go home and do b later.

 

ME

[RocketPilot573]

I'm considering trying this challenge sometime. Maybe within a month or two. This looks really fun and I need an excuse to make a shuttle. 

 

-Rocket

[Haruspex]

Decided to try to build a shuttle. Botched - landed at KSC runway with vertical speed too high and damaged the main LF+OX engine. Never the less, here it is.

Vehicle used: Grouse Prototype 1 (Craft file)

Attained 105x88 km orbit, went on EVA, landed at KSC with minor damage to the orbiter.

Full album with flight data.

[Martian Emigrant]

7 hours ago, Jestersage said:

Probably can't do it since I still can't land my ESA Hermes clone... but how do you land a shuttle on KSC? I keep missing it!

Hi Jestersage.

 

I am still new at landing at the KSC myself.

I used to be just content that my ship got through the atmosphere without loosing parts or crew.

I looked at a few videos but nothing worked for me. I created my own.

 

I think the main thing is to do it exactly the same every time.

I will usually make it on my second try. So do a save first, try, adjust your aim and do it exactly the same way.

The first time I landed a spaceplane at the KSC I would be at 80km of altitude, would wait till my ship was over the small islands just East of the desert continent, apply full retrograde power until the orbit was in the water just East of the KSC. That would get me there.

Now with my current shuttle I have to apply power mid-desert continent (I use a mountain range) and have the orbit in the water West of the KSC continent. The orbit suddenly stretches. I never had that before.

I don't fly on the way down. I founds that I induce oscillations and cause the flight to never be the same.

I set the attitude and let the ship fly itself.

Another thing when I wait for a ground feature to apply power or stop the engines. I center that feature in the middle of my screen. The curvature of Kerbin induces huge errors. The middle of my screen has the manufacturers name. Middle of the name, middle of the screen.

 

Hope that this will help,

 

ME

 

 

[53miner53]

7 hours ago, Jestersage said:

Probably can't do it since I still can't land my ESA Hermes clone... but how do you land a shuttle on KSC? I keep missing it!

I use the trajectories mod to figure that out, though it does not take lift into account so it will be inaccurate to a degree. I've landed in the hills to the west of the KSC and rolled into the R&D complex, overshot and went past the island runway and turned the shuttle around while using all extra fuel to get back to the island runway, and landed but broke the runway in the process!

[vladd148]

STS 2A for pilot rank 2:

Same shuttle as previously, no modifications required. Plenty of fuel for the mission. Reentry and landing was a breeze.

http://imgur.com/gallery/NlRXf

And some teasers:

 

 

Cheers!

[Speeding Mullet]

12 hours ago, vladd148 said:

As you can see, the planet Gael (which replaces stock Kerbin) has identical characteristics to Kerbin.

Well then good fellow, have this badge instead   

 

10 hours ago, XB-70A said:

Woohooo! Thank you! It is the first time I engage myself in a KSP challenge.

Awesome!  Can't wait to see you progress into the other missions!

7 hours ago, Martian Emigrant said:

Then I read the requirement one more time...200km+...Arg...

 

Oh well.

Back to the drawing board.

I'll wait until you've run the commander profile mission then

6 hours ago, Shadow dream said:

Ok, now it's time for my first badge! Here is my STS 1a+1b Mission stock:

As craft I have used a slightly modified version of an earlier ship I have released at 1.0.5: My Buran Kai.

Here is the gallery: https://imgur.com/a/i3IjY (How challenging it can be to do screen shots during ascent! Almost forgot to do some!)

 

So next one is 2a+2b:

I'm a little confused here. Did I get this right?:

1. Build 3 probes with min.1 relay antena each, reaction wheels and some propulsion
2. Fly the shuttle into a 350+km orbit - is it circular or PE > 350km ?
3. Deploy the probes one by one (i.e 2h appart in their orbit) and fly them into geostationary orbit (=2863,3 Mm)
4. Rondezvous with the 40t payload I have now sitting in orbit, dock with it
5. Land at KSC or equivalent

Nice entry!  You are free to run the first two in one mission, so here are your badges      .  I will update the OP later.

 

Regarding your confusion:

1) build 3 probes
2) Circular
3) Deploy however you like as long as the are roughly equidistant in their geostationary orbit.  There's a number of ways of achieving this, through using the shuttles propulsion, or having the sats do it
4) Correct
5) Depends which badge you are going for.  For commander level yes KSC or equivalent

You don't have to run 2A and 2B at the same time

 

5 hours ago, RocketPilot573 said:

I'm considering trying this challenge sometime. Maybe within a month or two. This looks really fun and I need an excuse to make a shuttle. 

Cool, look forward to seeing what you come up with!  Good luck

 

3 hours ago, Haruspex said:

Decided to try to build a shuttle. Botched - landed at KSC runway with vertical speed too high and damaged the main LF+OX engine. Never the less, here it is.

Vehicle used: Grouse Prototype 1 (Craft file)

Attained 105x88 km orbit, went on EVA, landed at KSC with minor damage to the orbiter.

Looks like a stock entry and welcome to the challenge commander!     These Buran style shuttles really are versatile, especially when you are not confident in nailing the re-entry.  Something for you to consider @Jestersage!

 

23 minutes ago, vladd148 said:

STS 2A for pilot rank 2:

Same shuttle as previously, no modifications required. Plenty of fuel for the mission. Reentry and landing was a breeze.

http://imgur.com/gallery/NlRXf

And some teasers:

Another very nice mission report!  Well done on successfully launching the sats!  Have fun developing the HST for your next mission!  Remember it also requires MMU's!  

 

SM

[vladd148]

25 minutes ago, Speeding Mullet said:

Another very nice mission report!  Well done on successfully launching the sats!  Have fun developing the HST for your next mission!  Remember it also requires MMU's!  

 

SM

So just to understand correctly, I have to develop 1 space telescope and 2 MMUs for orbital assembly for this mission?

 

Any other specifics? Or is the actual development of the space telescope up to us? Does it require an engine or anything else other than power and batteries?

[Speeding Mullet]

1 minute ago, vladd148 said:

So just to understand correctly, I have to develop 1 space telescope and 2 MMUs for orbital assembly for this mission?

 

Any other specifics? Or is the actual development of the space telescope up to us? Does it require an engine or anything else other than power and batteries?

The development of the space telescope is largely up to you, however:

You have to develop the space telescope and 2 MMU's.  The solar panels have to be docked (I'll say docked because that's how you'll do it in a stock install, by using the MMU's) to the telescope on orbit.

No other specifics apart from the ones listed in the OP for the pilot and commander version of the missions!  Its seriously good fun this one.

SM

[vladd148]

2 minutes ago, Speeding Mullet said:

The development of the space telescope is largely up to you, however:

You have to develop the space telescope and 2 MMU's.  The solar panels have to be docked (I'll say docked because that's how you'll do it in a stock install, by using the MMU's) to the telescope on orbit.

No other specifics apart from the ones listed in the OP for the pilot and commander version of the missions!  Its seriously good fun this one.

SM

And as for the telescope itself, I'm assuming this would involve a mod telescope such as the Cacteye correct? Also, would a modded telescope count as a stock mission still?

 

Sorry for asking so many questions!

[Speeding Mullet]

Just now, vladd148 said:

And as for the telescope itself, I'm assuming this would involve a mod telescope such as the Cacteye correct? Also, would a modded telescope count as a stock mission still?

Not a problem at all.  It doesn't have to be a working telescope.  Fundamentally it can just be a jumble of parts that look like a scope, but +rep if you use a scope mod and take a pretty picture for everyone.  A modded telescope would count as stock.

SM

[vladd148]

2 minutes ago, Speeding Mullet said:

Not a problem at all.  It doesn't have to be a working telescope.  Fundamentally it can just be a jumble of parts that look like a scope, but +rep if you use a scope mod and take a pretty picture for everyone.  A modded telescope would count as stock.

SM

Perfect, thanks! I may have to redesign my launch vehicle first, since I seem to have to rotate my shuttle engines almost every launch depending on the cargo weight in order to get a nice smooth launch.

[Martian Emigrant]

59 minutes ago, Speeding Mullet said:

I'll wait until you've run the commander profile mission then
SM

 

Just did.

A teaser before I go to bed.

Tug with 3 Satellites.

 

One of Three being released

 

 

Final constellation.

There are 5 satellites in there

2 from my Failled STS-2a Pilot (5 and 10 o'clock)

And 3 from my successful STS-2a Commander (1, 5 and 9 o'clock)

 

Good night all,

 

ME

 

Edited February 14, 2017 by Martian Emigrant

[septemberWaves]

I've posted another shuttle launch in my thread for this challenge. The launch doesn't actually contribute to any parts of this challenge beyond what I've already achieved, but since it's a shuttle launch (with the cargo variant of my entry for STS-1a) I think people in this thread might find it interesting. Full mission report is here.

[Naito]

I can't seem to resist doing these STS challenges =p

For STS-1b full stock, via my Shuttle Resolution https://kerbalx.com/Naito/Space-Shuttle-Resolution---NASA-Replica

(KOS plugin is installed, but was not used for this challenge)

AP: 802,442m

PP: 802,428m

Full album: https://imgur.com/a/ziUS3

Edited February 14, 2017 by Naito
Added inline pics

[AeroGav]

13 hours ago, Martian Emigrant said:

Hi Jestersage.

 

I am still new at landing at the KSC myself.

I used to be just content that my ship got through the atmosphere without loosing parts or crew.

I looked at a few videos but nothing worked for me. I created my own.

 

I think the main thing is to do it exactly the same every time.

I will usually make it on my second try. So do a save first, try, adjust your aim and do it exactly the same way.

The first time I landed a spaceplane at the KSC I would be at 80km of altitude, would wait till my ship was over the small islands just East of the desert continent, apply full retrograde power until the orbit was in the water just East of the KSC. That would get me there.

Now with my current shuttle I have to apply power mid-desert continent (I use a mountain range) and have the orbit in the water West of the KSC continent. The orbit suddenly stretches. I never had that before.

I don't fly on the way down. I founds that I induce oscillations and cause the flight to never be the same.

I set the attitude and let the ship fly itself.

Another thing when I wait for a ground feature to apply power or stop the engines. I center that feature in the middle of my screen. The curvature of Kerbin induces huge errors. The middle of my screen has the manufacturers name. Middle of the name, middle of the screen.

 

Hope that this will help,

 

ME

 

 

To summarise from my video response to this question posted above ,

 

Spoiler

 

 

the idea is to hold the angle of attack  (difference between where the nose is pointing and the Prograde line, in Surface mode of the navball) near your best gliding angle when you want your impact point to move further downrange.      If you don't have angled wings / incidence ,  that'll be at about 5-7 degrees above prograde.  If the wings are angled up, it might be dead on prograde.

If it looks like you're overshooting,  pitch up to increase drag, even open cargo bay/deploy landing gear if desperate.

In the above video I did a very aggressive retro burn that had my PE below ground level, I adjusted gliding angle to make my predicted impact point appear on the west coast of the space centre continent.

It turns out my shuttle can't deal with re-entry heat as well as the above ship , on account of having cockpit further forward, smaller wings (falls deeper faster) and more mass (more momentum to convert into heat).    So that might be too aggressive.

For the shuttle, I commenced retro burn at the opposite side of Kerbin to space centre, so my PE was over the space centre, then held a high drag nose up re-entry attitude with landing gear out till my PE went below ground level.   When it started moving west into the desert,  I pitch down nearer "best glide again"

[septemberWaves]

Since there's discussion about landings, here's an example of something you can do if you overshoot the KSC (provided your shuttle has good enough pitch control and you're at a high enough altitude to pull it off):

Roll upside-down, and pitch up (up in this case being relative to the shuttle, not the ground).

It takes a bit of practice with flying planes, but that's why I always fly a prototype of my shuttles with some jet engines added near the center of mass to test them out in atmospheric flight and make sure they're capable of maneuvers like this one. I actually had to land both of my recent STS missions like this, and with the first one of them there was enough excess energy that I had to fly by the KSC and do another sharp turn to reach the runway (which was quite dangerous because it was much closer to the ground, but the landing was still successful).

Keep in mind though that maneuvers like this tend to result in high g forces (upwards of 10 gees for this shuttle, but different designs may vary) so it's safest to keep a probe core on board in case your pilot falls unconscious.

It's also good to quicksave before a landing approach.

Edited February 14, 2017 by eloquentJane

[AeroGav]

12 minutes ago, eloquentJane said:

 

 

It's also good to quicksave before a landing approach.

This !

Actually if you see my landing video of my challenge mission,  I have to perform a similar manuver.

I'd aimed my ground impact line so that it was over the mountains of the space centre continent, but as I dropped below 30km from my last bounce into the upper atmosphere, the wings begin to bite again and I got a whole bunch more crossrange.  Should probably have aimed further west.

This kind of manuver is pretty desperate though.  The higher and faster you are,  the harder it is to turn and the more altitude and speed you loose , and the further away you end up when you finally do the turn.    It's hard to judge it right.  I quicksaved just as I was crossing the mountains before ksc,  and only made it to the runway on 3rd attempt - first two times, I started turning slightly too late and couldn't quite glide all the way back to shore.  3rd time, you can see it was very close.  Ended up keeping the landing gear in till over the threshold, I turned SAS off and was using aero data gui and pitch trim trying to get the best possible glide rate.