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

Speeding Mullet
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Speeding Mullet

Speeding Mullet

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7 hours ago, qzgy said:

Oh, @Speeding Mullet, for STS 3, are we supposed to make our own telescope or use a pre-made one? Also for STS 5-8, do the modules have to come up in separate flights, or can it be a single launch to orbit, assembly in orbit? Thanks!

Hi there!  You are supposed to make your own.  It used to be a provided sub-assembly, but I wanted to see what people came up with and so it's on you now :)  5-8 have to be separate launches...

SM

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qzgy

qzgy

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Posted
3 hours ago, Speeding Mullet said:

Hi there!  You are supposed to make your own.  It used to be a provided sub-assembly, but I wanted to see what people came up with and so it's on you now :)  5-8 have to be separate launches...

SM

Thanks.

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qzgy

qzgy

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I like these challenges a lot actually. Kudos to a well designed challenge.

Now I'm actually doing them in order. Also, this thing was a pain to land.

Modlist: PreciseManeuver, Scaterrer, KER, EditorExtensions, RCS build aid, CorrectCoL, Hangar Grid, Planetshine, Trajectories. No parts mods. This craft should work in a stock game.

Also, for STS 4 - Can I transport back a shuttle in the cargo bay, or do I have to eva the kerbals and such?

Another question - Do the STS-4 Shuttles have to be the same shuttle?

Thanks.

Edited by qzgy
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Alchemist

Alchemist

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6 hours ago, qzgy said:

Also, for STS 4 - Can I transport back a shuttle in the cargo bay, or do I have to eva the kerbals and such?

Another question - Do the STS-4 Shuttles have to be the same shuttle?

For the second question - I think I made the precedent of using different shuttles.

As for transporting it back, there also have been several entries of carrying the malfuncioned orbiter on top of a larger vessel.  Here's my entry with HRO.

But in the cargo bay? I'm intrigued

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qzgy

qzgy

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STS 4. With a shuttle in a shuttle.

So many pics. I have over 900 screenshots, apparently. So this mission report is about a ninth of my screenshot folder.

Edited by qzgy
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Alchemist

Alchemist

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I guess I take it back - my new orbiter is not an overkill. It's perfect for the desired mission profile. Had to replace jets for Rapiers for TWR reasons on orbital insertion, but it gets to orbit after separation at half the orbital velocity.
f03e6eb60cfa.png
And then it gets to Mun orbit with just enough spare fuel to get back (yeah, still kinda overkill, but it saves me a refueling run for what I was planning - so that's perfect).

And the launcher? Well, it's supposed to do this
ffd960792544.png
sill working on getting it fly any kind of reliably...

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53miner53

53miner53

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5 hours ago, qzgy said:

STS 4. With a shuttle in a shuttle.

So many pics. I have over 900 screenshots, apparently. So this is mission report is about a ninth of my screenshot folder.

Just warning you, the pics are of an STS-1b flight

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qzgy

qzgy

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3 hours ago, 53miner53 said:

Just warning you, the pics are of an STS-1b flight

Nope. What made you think that?

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53miner53

53miner53

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In the main response, the embedded imgur album has 21 pics for an STS-1b mission. My quoted response has the intended album though, so the forums are probably just glitched.

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overkill13

overkill13

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After a moderate redesign on the NukaShuttle, she's ready to take on the next challenge.  Also went with a less "lawn darty" approach.

Mods Used: All stock parts.  Kerbal Alarm Clock, Trajectories, Precise Node, KER

 

Edited by overkill13
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Alchemist

Alchemist

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Made it to work. On a script since there is definitely not enough time window to do everything manually anyway. So the launch sequence got 100% automated

Everything in order,
Everything alright:
Orbiter - to orbit,
Launcher - to launch site.

 

b0e05dc4f05a.png

1bd8eccda5b9.png

def8eb1fc4e3.png

A few interesting notes:

  • The ship can actually takeoff from horizontal surface (with rocket engines igniting near the end... and doubling the speed before takeoff) without need to jump from the end of the runway. But for efficiency reasons it happens at the very end anyway.
  • Launcher turns 180 degrees straight after separation and reengages its engines, while the orbiter continues accelerating (for which it uses Rapiers in rocket mode in addition to the OMS engines to have enough TWR)
  • The boost back burn of the launcher (ballistic trajectory aimed for 40 km undershoot) lasts exactly long enough for both ships to stay in loading range (it still happens in upper atmosphere). Yes, I know that kOS can increase that range - but it's not needed.
  • The orbiter finishes circularization just in time to switch back to the launcher as it drops into denser layers of the atmosphere.
  • And then it does something that would turn HRO into confetti. Literally. The turn from dive to cruise is 9 G. Also full throttle on jets + deployed rudder airbrakes for maximum pull up.
  • The distance from Island Airfield (reentry happens almost above it) to KSC is then covered in just couple minutes (and mostly unpowererd, the jets are reengaged only at the end for level approach of the runway). And that's why aircraft is better than rocket at this kind of return - no need too boost all the way back and even further, just drop down, catch the airflow and glide half the way.
  • This launcher handles quite terribly at airspeed below 200 m/s, so the most reliable way for automated touchdown is to do it quite fast.
  • Yeah, it was a bit tricky to make it reliably stop after such approach
  • And all of this is just about 9 minutes of flight time from standing on runway to stopped back on runway
Edited by Alchemist
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Cipher_077

Cipher_077

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Posted
20 hours ago, Alchemist said:

Made it to work. On a script since there is definitely not enough time window to do everything manually anyway. So the launch sequence got 100% automated

Everything in order,
Everything alright:
Orbiter - to orbit,
Launcher - to launch site.

 

b0e05dc4f05a.png

1bd8eccda5b9.png

def8eb1fc4e3.png

A few interesting notes:

  • The ship can actually takeoff from horizontal surface (with rocket engines igniting near the end... and doubling the speed before takeoff) without need to jump from the end of the runway. But for efficiency reasons it happens at the very end anyway.
  • Launcher turns 180 degrees straight after separation and reengages its engines, while the orbiter continues accelerating (for which it uses Rapiers in rocket mode in addition to the OMS engines to have enough TWR)
  • The boost back burn of the launcher (ballistic trajectory aimed for 40 km undershoot) lasts exactly long enough for both ships to stay in loading range (it still happens in upper atmosphere). Yes, I know that kOS can increase that range - but it's not needed.
  • The orbiter finishes circularization just in time to switch back to the launcher as it drops into denser layers of the atmosphere.
  • And then it does something that would turn HRO into confetti. Literally. The turn from dive to cruise is 9 G. Also full throttle on jets + deployed rudder airbrakes for maximum pull up.
  • The distance from Island Airfield (reentry happens almost above it) to KSC is then covered in just couple minutes (and mostly unpowererd, the jets are reengaged only at the end for level approach of the runway). And that's why aircraft is better than rocket at this kind of return - no need too boost all the way back and even further, just drop down, catch the airflow and glide half the way.
  • This launcher handles quite terribly at airspeed below 200 m/s, so the most reliable way for automated touchdown is to do it quite fast.
  • Yeah, it was a bit tricky to make it reliably stop after such approach
  • And all of this is just about 9 minutes of flight time from standing on runway to stopped back on runway

This is pretty amazing. Nice job man

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Fulgora

Fulgora

Posted
Posted (edited)

STS 1 & 2 with a fully automated launch {kOS}

I combined most parts of the first and second mission into a single one.

Quote

Not because it is easy, but because it is hard.

I hope this still qualifies :wink:

 

Mod-List is given in the Video description (totally not fishing for views here :p)

 

For those who can't / don't want to watch the video here are a few screenshots take from it: http://imgur.com/a/xLxwU

The screenshots are mostly PR shots without the GUI showing so it wouldn't qualify as an entry but yea...

 

The re-entry burn shown in scene @ ~12:20 in the video resulted in F5/F9 because I overshot the KSC by quite a bit on that run so thats why the runway landing shows more fuel then I had left after the adjustment burn I showed. Noticed that when the upload was 80% complete and I hope that this is still okay. Both the craft file and the script are provided. Additionally I had about 1000m/s more dV then needed so this was over-engineered quite a bit anyways.

 

Edited by Fulgora
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KroShan

KroShan

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Posted

Why not apply for an STS Bagde with the Squad Challenge 'SkipperShuttle'?
I made STS Rank 5 Commander (according to Wheaton's Law) but only have my Station/Gilly Base assembled at ~130km circular.

But to counterbalance this maybe my flying skills do good. I managed to deorbit two shuttles simultaniously and land them both on the runway :cool:

 

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armegeddon

armegeddon

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I was getting bored with my heavily modded career game, so decided to try some challenges.  I did not realize just how difficult it was to make a semi-realistic NASA orbiter in stock.  Took me over 40 hours, across two weeks, dozens of launches, and 8 iterations of my shuttle to figure out the engine alignment and how to control without any assist except SAS.  Ended up looking at a bunch of other shuttle designs and incorporating ideas into mine.

Finally got everything to work satisfactory, then computer crashed just as I was about to achieve orbit.  Reboot and try again, and decide the ship needs some more thrust. Another iteration and fine tuning.  Manage to get a successful launch, orbit and land for the first time. 

Here is the album of STS-1a&1b.  I was recording a Twitch video of it also using Radeon Relive, but for some reason, while it said it was recording in game, It did not appear to actually upload it, so no video, and I really do not want to have to repeat this yet again.

Used all stock parts. Only mods are for design and information. I did have an idea of using KOS to automate the launch, but decided against it after spending a few hours (read crashes) being unable to get it to work right.  HyperEdit was just for initial testing.

MODS USED:

  • Action Groups Extended (AGExt 2.2)
  • Alternate Resource Panel (AlternateResourcePanel v2.9.1.0)
  • AmpYear (AmpYearPowerManager 1:V1.4.6.0)
  • Automated Screenshots & Saves (AutomatedScreenshots 0.7.9)
  • CorrectCoL (CorrectCoL 1.5.1)
  • CraftHistory (CraftHistory 2.1.0)
  • Editor Extensions Redux (EditorExtensionsRedux 3.3.12)
  • Filter Extensions - Default Configuration (FilterExtensionsDefaultConfig 2.8.1.2)
  • Filter Extensions - Plugin (FilterExtensions 2.8.1.2)
  • Hangar Extender (HangarExtender 1:v3.4.9)
  • Hangar Grid (HangarGrid 0.4.0)
  • HyperEdit (HyperEdit 1.5.3.0)
  • KerboKatz - SmallUtilities - FPSViewer (KerboKatzSmallUtilities-FPSViewer 1.5.1)
  • KerboKatz - SmallUtilities - PhysicalTimeRatioViewer (KerboKatzSmallUtilities-PhysicalTimeRatioViewer 1.5.1)
  • KerboKatzUtilities (KerboKatzUtilities 1.4.7)
  • kOS for All! (kOSforAll 0.0.5)
  • kOS: Scriptable Autopilot System (kOS 1.0.3)
  • KSP AVC (MiniAVC 1.0.3.0)
  • KSP AVC (KSP-AVC 1.1.6.2)
  • Landing Height Display (LandingHeight 2.1)
  • MechJeb 2 - DEV RELEASE (MechJeb2-dev 2.6.0.0-698)
  • MechJeb and Engineer for all! (MechJebForAll 1.2.0.0)
  • ModularFlightIntegrator (ModularFlightIntegrator 1.2.4.0)
  • Module Manager (ModuleManager 2.7.6)
  • NavHud (NavHud 1.3.3)
  • Olympic1's ARP Icons (Olympic1ARPIcons 1:v0.10.3)
  • QuickBrake (QuickBrake v1.32)
  • QuickExit (QuickExit v2.12)
  • RCS Build Aid (RCSBuildAid v0.9.1)
  • ReCoupler (ReCoupler 1:1.3.0)
  • REPOSoftTech-Agencies (REPOSoftTech-Agencies V1.4.6.0)
  • Toolbar (Toolbar 1.7.13)
  • TriggerAu Flags (TriggerAu-Flags v2.9.1.0)


EDIT:  Was just rereading the OP and realized I misread about atmospheric mods. This might have been easier with FAR installed, at least from a design standpoint.

Edited by armegeddon
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zpj

zpj

Posted
Posted

My entry for Level 1.

No mods on the actual craft, I will use the explosives from KAS to blow the wing off my Columbia stand-in during the setup for the rescue though. I waaaay overshot my KSC landing, so I am stuck with STS pilot lvl. 1.

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qzgy

qzgy

Posted
Posted
48 minutes ago, zpj said:

My entry for Level 1.

No mods on the actual craft, I will use the explosives from KAS to blow the wing off my Columbia stand-in during the setup for the rescue though. I waaaay overshot my KSC landing, so I am stuck with STS pilot lvl. 1.

Heeyyy.... I know I'm not the person running this, but mind giving a picture of the orbit? You don't have one. Also reentry pics would be nice.

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overkill13

overkill13

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Posted

Time for some theatrics and STS 3 & 4 for your viewing pleasure.

Mods Used: Kerbal Alarm Clock, Trajectories, Precise Node, KER, DPAI

Shuttle: All stock parts

MMUs: All stock parts

Telescope: Stock parts, Tweakscale, MSI Infernal Robotics

 

 

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zpj

zpj

Posted
Posted
9 hours ago, qzgy said:

Heeyyy.... I know I'm not the person running this, but mind giving a picture of the orbit? You don't have one. Also reentry pics would be nice.

Crap. I forgot to post the photo of the orbit. I will post it when I get home. I think it was 170x80, but with like 1500 lf left to power the nuclear OMS. 

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zpj

zpj

Posted
Posted
4 hours ago, zpj said:

Crap. I forgot to post the photo of the orbit. I will post it when I get home. I think it was 170x80, but with like 1500 lf left to power the nuclear OMS. 

Ok, here it is.

 

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qzgy

qzgy

Posted
Posted
6 hours ago, Speeding Mullet said:

I've got nothing on tonight and will review to get myself up to date with the challenge thread when I return from work in about 10 hours :)

SM

Yes! Hope you can actually drink tea before its cold!

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