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

[overkill13]

Since Speeding Mullet is slacking off (I'm kidding, work is hell, I know), I'm going to give him some more work to do.

I've got your potatoroid right here!

Easily the most nerve wracking mission I've done in my entire KSP career.  I plan everything, test every ship, lander and probe, but you just can't plan for an asteroid.  I was shooting low at a Class A, but variances in mass, causing instability, and who knows what the drag is gonna be like, plus the orbit isn't complete so guessing delta-V requirements is a hack job.  Now that it's done I'm happy, but I was pulling my hair out on each maneuver wondering if I was going to run out of fuel, burn up or butcher the landing, even with quick saves.

Mods used:  KAC, KER, Trajectories, Precise Node

Shuttle and payload: All Stock

 

Edited May 29, 2017 by overkill13

[Agent Awesome]

I finally got my CPU!

ive already started working on my shuttle, but I've run into a small problem and I need help from the community 

whenever I detach the massive SRB units, my craft goes into a wild spin and I can't stop it

can someone help!?

btw: when it does work, it could probably carry two MD tanks 

 

[qzgy]

@Agent Awesome Pics? That would help. Is your CoM/CoT well balanced? That might be a reason for the wild spinning...

[Agent Awesome]

7 minutes ago, qzgy said:

@Agent Awesome Pics? That would help. Is your CoM/CoT well balanced? That might be a reason for the wild spinning...

Not ATM,

i think the reason is I have auxiliary tanks in the boosters and once they are gone, the et is still 3/4 full of fuel, which may be causing instability. Idk

[Alchemist]

12 hours ago, Agent Awesome said:

i think the reason is I have auxiliary tanks in the boosters and once they are gone, the et is still 3/4 full of fuel, which may be causing instability. Idk

And that's the reason why a spaceship has to be designed "from top to bottom" not the other way around. Or in terms of a shuttle, you first have to balance it in the state it has after booster separation (and in the way it stays controllable until the ET runs out), and only then tweak the booster balancing so that it's balanced when full and until the boosters fall off. It may be a little difficult to judge this in case of STS with main engines having quite tilted neutral position, but if you look at how the engines are placed on Energia (and positioning of boosters seems quite counter-intuitive at first glance, until you look closely at where exactly the second stage engines are placed) you'll see a quite clear demonstration of this design philosophy

Plus, if you go for NASA-style configuration, the further down the main engines are (that is - move the orbiter down relative to the tank) the more control authority they give (in case of Buran configuration, it may be wise to move the orbiter a bit up relatively to the rocket)

[armegeddon]

Shortly following on the heels of STS-2, we have launched STS-3. Little more interesting to set this one up as I upgraded to 1.3 and a couple of the design mods do not work yet. Still got it to work, and only took 3 attempts this time as I forgot to re-balance the orbiter for landing without the heavy fuel pod.  

Pictures:  No commentary this time.

Managed to get a decent video this time also.  Ignore the GUI flicker, that's automated screenshots making the above pics.

Mod list:

• ABookCase Orbital Reference System (ABCORS 0.4.1.0)
• Alternate Resource Panel (AlternateResourcePanel v2.9.1.0)
• AmpYear (AmpYearPowerManager 1:V1.4.7.0)
• Astrogator (Astrogator v0.7.2)
• AtmosphereAutopilot (Fly-By-Wire) (AtmosphereAutopilot v1.5.10)
• Automated Screenshots & Saves (AutomatedScreenshots 0.8.0)
• BetterBurnTime (BetterBurnTime 1.5.4)
• Camera Focus Changer (CameraFocusChanger v1.0.1.0)
• CorrectCoL (CorrectCoL 1.6.0)
• CraftHistory (CraftHistory 2.1.0)
• Easy Vessel Switch (EVS) (EasyVesselSwitch 1.3.0)
• Editor Extensions Redux (EditorExtensionsRedux 3.3.13)
• Engine Lighting (EngineLighting 1.5)
• Environmental Visual Enhancements (EnvironmentalVisualEnhancements 2:EVE-1.2.2-1)
• Environmental Visual Enhancements - Stock Planet Config files (EnvironmentalVisualEnhancements-HR 2:EVE-1.2.2-1)
• Filter Extensions - Default Configuration (FilterExtensionsDefaultConfig 3.0.0)
• Filter Extensions - Plugin (FilterExtensions 3.0.0)
• Hangar Grid (HangarGrid 0.4.0)
• HyperEdit (HyperEdit 1.5.4.0)
• Keep It Straight (KeepItStraight 1.0.2)
• Kerbal Alarm Clock (KerbalAlarmClock v3.8.5.0)
• Kerbal Engineer Redux (KerbalEngineerRedux 1.1.2.8)
• KerboKatz - SmallUtilities - PhysicalTimeRatioViewer (KerboKatzSmallUtilities-PhysicalTimeRatioViewer 1.5.1)
• KerboKatzUtilities (KerboKatzUtilities 1.4.7)
• Kopernicus Planetary System Modifier (Kopernicus 2:release-1.3.0-1)
• KSP AVC (MiniAVC 1.0.3.0)
• KSP AVC (KSP-AVC 1.1.6.2)
• KSPDev LogConsole (KSPDev-LogConsole 1:0.14.0)
• MechJeb 2 - DEV RELEASE (MechJeb2-dev 2.6.1.0-701)
• MechJeb and Engineer for all! (MechJebForAll 1.2.0.0)
• ModularFlightIntegrator (ModularFlightIntegrator 1.2.4.0)
• Module Manager (ModuleManager 2.8.0)
• Navball Docking Alignment Indicator CE-2 (NavballDockAlignIndCE 1.0.2)
• NavHud (NavHud 1.3.3)
• Olympic1's ARP Icons (Olympic1ARPIcons 1:v0.10.3)
• Part Commander Continued (PartCommanderCont 0.1.2)
• Real Plume (RealPlume 2:v10.5.1)
• Real Plume - Stock Configs (RealPlume-StockConfigs v0.11.4)
• ReCoupler (ReCoupler 1:1.3.0)
• REPOSoftTech-Agencies (REPOSoftTech-Agencies V1.4.7.0)
• Slingshotter Reslung (SlingShotterReslung 1.1.1)
• SmokeScreen - Extended FX Plugin (SmokeScreen 2.7.4.0)
• Toolbar (Toolbar 1.7.13)
• Trajectories (Trajectories v1.6.6)
• Transfer Window Planner (TransferWindowPlanner v1.6.2.0)
• TriggerAu Flags (TriggerAu-Flags v2.9.1.0)
• Waypoint Manager (WaypointManager 2.7.0)
  

 

[Agent Awesome]

Here is some pics of my shuttle after some minor tweaks

Note it is incomplete because I forgot to keep taking screenshots
http://imgur.com/a/MrYwH

[The Moose In Your House]

Hello Kerbonauts, this is my entry for the challenge. I didn't make the shuttle (Inigma made the shuttle/payload) but it was my first successful STS flight and deployed 2 comsats. (Shuttle link:https://kerbalx.com/inigma/STS-7-Space-Shuttle ) (Payload link:https://kerbalx.com/inigma/STS-ComSats-STS-5 )

(STATS)

Weight: 341.866t (without payload)

Fuel:  Monopropellant, Liquid fuel, Oxidizer, and Solid fuel

Payload: 2 Comsats

Delta V: 4466 m/s (without payload)

STOCK

 

 

 

Photos of my first STS mission, STS-1

 

 

 

 The boring "orbit stuff".

 

Edited May 30, 2017 by The Moose In Your House
Adding on

[armegeddon]

@Speeding Mullet is going to be spending a whole week just getting caught up with this thread.

Here is my STS-4/4R submission.

Story would be STS-4 is an low weight science shuttle for conducting high orbit/inclination experiments, with the ability to dock with future space stations for resupply. Due to an engineer misplacing a decimal point, the crew discover, after they finish conducting the experiments, that they do not have enough fuel to de-orbit safely.  

 

A rescue mission is quickly devised, using the partially prepped STS-5 shuttle that was going to be used for launching the first part of the Kerbal Space Station, with a docking port on the nose for crew transfers.  The station parts are quickly replaced with a hitchhiker module to hold the STS-4 crew.

For some reason no pictures of the shuttle landed were captured, but you can view the end of the video to see it actually did land.

 

 

The engineer that misplaced the decimal point is reprimanded and informed that he will be put in the roster for the next attempt of the science shuttle, and his pay is reduced until he covers the cost of the lost STS-4

[battlekruiser]

My entry for STS 3, 4 and 4R. No SSTOs were used.

Part mods: KER (part not used)

Physics mods: none

Information mods: Trajectories, KER, Transfer Window Planner, Docking Alignment indicator, NavHUD.

[overkill13]

Back again for the Mun STS mission.

Mods used:  KAC, KER, Trajectories, Precise Node

Shuttle and payload: All Stock

 

[battlekruiser]

a tip with Trajectories - take a look at the Descent profile, by default it assumes that the spacecraft is always pointing prograde and therefore gives incorrect prediction

[overkill13]

My ship was supposed to be pointing prograde, the first image indicated I should crash beyond KSC in the ocean.  From there I vary my AoA to ensure I slow down enough not to burn up and at the same time drag the marker back towards KSC.  As soon as I time warped to a node just before reentry, the trajectory glitched and indicated I would skip through atmo again.  Technically that was correct, it glitched when entry was originally set as I was never going to reenter with that orbit profile.

Edited June 4, 2017 by overkill13

[telomce]

Here's a shot of my new & cheapest (in the long run) creation.

It's fully reusable (if you have stage recovery mods), orbital, and the orbiter only uses solid fuel and monopropellant, and costs 12k funds!

Click on the album since the embedded album has arrangement issues.

It's stock by the way. 

 

Edited June 4, 2017 by telomce
Rearranged the photos.

[battlekruiser]

This probably was asked a short time ago, but i didn't found it, so:

May we use the requisites from past launches in future missions? As in I built the station with some fuel tanks and during the missions left them with the spare fuel. May I use it, say, on Moon or Jool STS? Or does that count as a "Supply package"?

[Speeding Mullet]

Hi everyone sorry for slacking off, been mega busy with annual reviews for my team and myself.  Will try and catch up either tonight or tomorrow when I return from work

 

SM

[The Moose In Your House]

After days of testing I flew my first successful shuttle I made:

(It has wobble issues with mechjeb though)    (got Inspired by ingima with the external fuel tank nose)

Edited June 5, 2017 by The Moose In Your House

[Speeding Mullet]

Standard cup of tea in hand - Maybe I should invest in a thermos so it doesn't go cold while reviewing this thread!  Apologies in advance for the brevity on the comments, but I'll try and be nice.  Just got a heck of a load on working towards the end of the financial year is all:

 

On 5/24/2017 at 11:54 PM, battlekruiser said:

STS2a / fail-ish STS2b

Yeah yeah, the amount of times I've heard the atmospheric refraction on a methane leak excuse!    Well done on completing the mission, as I'm in a good mood I will pass your "sort of 2B" mission too!   

 

On 5/27/2017 at 8:04 AM, Fulgora said:

My submission for STS 3:

Another beautifully produced video @Fulgora.  Seriously your entries are a joy to watch, and give me plenty of tea sipping opportunities.  It's just a pity they aren't more widely viewed on YT to be honest .  Very nice stock entry once again, and that was also a seriously nicely put together Hubble so well done:  

 

On 5/27/2017 at 11:37 PM, overkill13 said:

STS 5-8 with a test of a new shuttle (don't worry about badges for the new one).

You know where they are if you particularly want them   For STS 5-8 that was seriously nicely done, and I do particularly like the OMS pods you designed there, that's an intelligent use of parts, as it is across your station too, which is equally nicely designed.  Well done, hope you enjoyed designing and assembling the station!  

 

On 5/28/2017 at 9:36 AM, Cadet_BNSF said:

This is my first shuttle ever. It is crazy hard to fly once it drops the SRBs and almost impossible to get into orbit. However, it flew, and I consider that an achievement in itself. I think this should count for STS-1

That's awesome, welcome to the challenge!  Safe, sound, but upside down is just right for STS-1, and I can see from your initial design that you are well on your way to being an accomplished shuttle builder.  Well done!  

 

On 5/28/2017 at 4:43 PM, armegeddon said:

I had so much trouble with getting the alignment of LFO engines on the orbit correct I decided to do a Buran style shuttle instead.  Still ended up taking dozens of test flights to get the thing to land with the fuel pod.  

I figured while I was at it, and had some room in the cargo bay I would test out a simple MMU design for later missions. 

Everything was going perfectly fine with the mission until just before landing I pitched up too high and stalled and crashed.  Thankfully there was a random temporal anomaly that reversed time to just before landing and I was able to do it again and landed safely this time.   

Ah yes the temporal anomalies.  I do tend to experience them quite a bit!  Burans can in fact be more difficult to design, particularly if you are shooting for an original re-make.  That whole shuttle plus payload hanging off the side with no thrust to support it can really throw the balance off!  Well done with both missions - great run!!    

 

On 5/28/2017 at 7:51 PM, Alchemist said:

Finally got to make a video of it.

Always enjoy your videos Alchemist, they are very descriptive and interesting to watch.  Then there's your totally within the realms of possibility creations .  Thanks for sharing!!

 

 

[Speeding Mullet]

On 5/29/2017 at 11:58 PM, overkill13 said:

Since Speeding Mullet is slacking off

Since Speeding Mullet is no longer reviewing overkill13's posts .  Seriously though work has been super busy, so apologies for not checking in here that regularly!

On 5/29/2017 at 11:58 PM, overkill13 said:

I've got your potatoroid right here!

YASSSS!!!  Let me review the mission a second.....Firstly - Excellent mission report as always, the level of detail you put into missions is fantastic to see.  Secondly - Yup it's a mare of a mission for sure.  I had no idea it was even possible until my shuttle was on the ground, and even my attempt was at pilot level.  Thirdly - Ahhhh Brave Samford  .  Check out his smile when he's landed.  Relief, or he wanted to go and do it again!

Firstly - Brilliant work landing the potato to commander standards - 

Secondly - Amazing work landing Samford in one piece.  Wins the Patcan Kerman bravery award for sure, and also this little thing - (again  )

 

On 5/31/2017 at 3:56 AM, armegeddon said:

Shortly following on the heels of STS-2, we have launched STS-3. Little more interesting to set this one up as I upgraded to 1.3 and a couple of the design mods do not work yet. Still got it to work, and only took 3 attempts this time as I forgot to re-balance the orbiter for landing without the heavy fuel pod.  

Pictures:  No commentary this time.

Very nicely done indeed!  Commentary is not so important as long as I can tell what is going on.  You provided the information required so I will provide you the badge required!  

 

On 5/31/2017 at 7:18 AM, Agent Awesome said:

Here is some pics of my shuttle after some minor tweaks

Note it is incomplete because I forgot to keep taking screenshots
http://imgur.com/a/MrYwH

Cool!  not sure if you were shooting for a mission badge here, but obviously I can't award based on the gallery linked there.  Good to see the shuttle developing though!

 

On 5/31/2017 at 7:31 AM, The Moose In Your House said:

Hello Kerbonauts, this is my entry for the challenge. I didn't make the shuttle (Inigma made the shuttle/payload) but it was my first successful STS flight and deployed 2 comsats.

Hello there!  Thanks for entering the challenge!  For flying the above mission with someone else's shuttle I am pleased to award you the very rarely awarded Astronaut badge!  If you want more badges you will have to design your own shuttle and use it to fly missions, but this should definitely get you started!  

 

On 6/1/2017 at 4:55 PM, armegeddon said:

is going to be spending a whole week just getting caught up with this thread.

Here is my STS-4/4R submission.

You are nearly not wrong there, it's taken a while to catch up!  A pleasure it has been though   So very satisfying flying this mission I find.  I know I say the same thing every time, but I really never get bored of looking at two shuttles in close orbit far above Kerbin.  Excellent work!  

 

On 6/3/2017 at 2:49 AM, battlekruiser said:

My entry for STS 3, 4 and 4R. No SSTOs were used.

Very nicely done indeed!  Here's your badges!      I hadn't considered the rescue mission also rescuing the telescope with updated parts, but that's truly in the spirit of the challenge, and the actual Hubble, so I'm very happy with this!

 

On 6/4/2017 at 1:03 AM, overkill13 said:

Back again for the Mun STS mission.

Mods used:  KAC, KER, Trajectories, Precise Node

Shuttle and payload: All Stock

Easier than the potato mission right?!  Still, heck of a payload you delivered to the Mun - Your shuttle will easily be capable of the Duna missions, and possibly Laythe also with minimal support!  Really interested in some more pictures of that Munar module if you wouldn't mind - really nice design work there!  

 

On 6/4/2017 at 6:12 PM, telomce said:

Here's a shot of my new & cheapest (in the long run) creation.

Very nice work - Seeing some of the smaller shuttles is also cool, even if they can only compete in the basic mission.  Thanks for sharing!  

 

On 6/5/2017 at 2:41 AM, battlekruiser said:

May we use the requisites from past launches in future missions? As in I built the station with some fuel tanks and during the missions left them with the spare fuel. May I use it, say, on Moon or Jool STS? Or does that count as a "Supply package"?

That wouldn't count as a supply package.  If you launch something as part of an earlier mission then you can use that separate to your allowed supply launch.  Just don't loft 5 orange tanks to orbit hanging off your space station, as that's not really in the spirit of the challenge.

 

Thanks for tuning in everyone - great entries!!!

SM

[battlekruiser]

STS 5-8: Meet the Wimshurst!

 

[battlekruiser]

Aaaand part 9: Wimshurst goes beyond the common sense. The same stock modpack as usual.

 

Sorry, no asteroid riding kerbals this time

Edited June 6, 2017 by battlekruiser

[overkill13]

5 hours ago, Speeding Mullet said:

Easier than the potato mission right?!  Still, heck of a payload you delivered to the Mun - Your shuttle will easily be capable of the Duna missions, and possibly Laythe also with minimal support!  Really interested in some more pictures of that Munar module if you wouldn't mind - really nice design work there!  

Quite a bit easier, but more importantly infinitely less hair pulling.  Here's some better lit pics in the hangar.

 

[Cadet_BNSF]

Testing out design for STS-2+. I present to you the Shuttle Matanuska. This is a heavy lifting shuttle that currently needs more boosters, as it cannot reach space, or 10,000 m, or 350m/s. But you know, details, right?

On the Runway

Engine ignition

Takeoff

 

Cruising

Touchdown

[overkill13]

Those 4 to 1 structural bits are terrible for aerodynamics.  Try nose cones or fuel tanks around a central core. That'll also get you more engines per stack.

Edited June 9, 2017 by overkill13

[zolotiyeruki]

Also, stick a shock cone intake on the back of each engine, then offset them inside the engine.

 

Finally, I have completed JOOL-STS-1, and in style, too!  There was extra space in my cargo bays, so in addition to the plane and the mining base, I also included a satellite network and two surface scanning satellites.  And I put the mining base on wheels, so it can move itself to the most ideal location.  And I landed back at the KSC.  After visiting Minmus and planting a flag on my way in.  Landed with a whopping 64 LF left in the tanks.

 

 

I'm glad I finally got that done.  It took *way* too many hours.  But hey, I understand gravity assists a lot better now!