Shuttle Challenge v5 - The STS thread [Stock and Mod Friendly] - MAJOR CHALLENGE ANNOUNCEMENT! - 30.3.2020

[michal.don]

Hi guys, sorry for the slight delay - for the first time since my spring surgery, I was able to do something "outdoorsy" and I went on a canoe trip with my friends, and had a great time. I don't know if it's common where you are from, but it's almost a traditional thing in my country, and since it is a ballance between the paddling and sitting around a campfire, singing songs and drinking beer, it is great fun and I recommend all of you to try it

So, let's get started:

On 24. 8. 2017 at 11:07 PM, Ourworldalpha1 said:

Just look at the pic's and be amazed

This looks very good, and I think it's pretty much as close as it can get to the real thing. Really looking forward to see it in action!

 

On 25. 8. 2017 at 11:07 AM, Speeding Mullet said:

Mun STS 2-4 complete   As normal totally stock and hand flown.

Great mission, and I absolutely love your compact payload designs - I would have never thought of using the lander can as a rover/truck cabin  I'm quite surprised by the "low" payload capacity though - the shuttle is really massive, and the ETs seem to separate just some 300-ish m/s left to LKO. Is all the additional crew/mining/electrical equipment so heavy, that the shuttle just makes it to the Mun with the 7.5 tons of cargo?

Anyway, I'm glad you enjoyed the mission, and here is your well-earned badge:

 

On 25. 8. 2017 at 3:20 PM, oAsAo said:

STS-5, STS-6, STS-7, STS-8

Very nice looking station, and from the report, all the flights look rather routine, with precise landings and no problems - it looks like you're getting really good with your shuttle (or there is a lot of quicksaving/quickloading going on, I can't know  ). Congratulations, here is your badge, and happy 'roid hunting!

On 27. 8. 2017 at 0:56 AM, Bottle Rocketeer 500 said:

Can I use a custom 40t fuel pod instead of the MulletDyne one, as I have one prepared.

Yes, as long as it weighs 40t (or more), has some sort of power ganeration/storage, and stays completely idle during the flight, I don't have any problem with a payload of your own design. Good luck!

 

8 hours ago, Ozelui said:

While i felt the cargo bay was too small for the station i had in mind and created this thing (still WIP) ...

Guys..... stop this madness!!!!

No, seriously, I'm curious how this ends, because the designs are getting more and more crazy. Jeb approves

8 hours ago, Ozelui said:

..i really want to see how far can my starting shuttle go before i have to switch to a new one.

Starting shuttles can get very far, sometimes even Laythe  

Nice reports, a really original station design and great payload engineering to fit it in a MK3 cargo bay. And great piloting, even from the "C team". Good job, here is your well earned badge:

Michal.don

[qzgy]

6 hours ago, Ozelui said:

The cargo bay is this big:

  Reveal hidden contents

Positioning the cargo well, i think it can hold two mk3 fusselages, but i didn't try yet.

Almost 800 parts (many of them struts), and almost 900 tons

So nice and big. Cool!

17 minutes ago, michal.don said:

Guys..... stop this madness!!!!

NEVER!!!

[Ozelui]

4 hours ago, michal.don said:

Guys..... stop this madness!!!!

Madness? What madness? I can't see any...

...

Oh wait, it must be hiding behind the 1000 ton shuttles

[Bottle Rocketeer 500]

@michal.don I will try to complete many missions in one shuttle flight. Is that OK with you?

[Natokerbal]

Here is my attempt I completed lvl 1 and 2 in one mission. Its a video for my craft on kerbalx. So not fully perfect.

 

[qzgy]

Hey @Natokerbal - You can do a much more efficient ascent, even without MechJeb or anything. Start your gravity turn almost after you takeoff. 30m/s or something. Then slowly pitch down. You should be at around 10,000 m when your craft is at 45 degrees. Almost level at around 40 to 50 km.

[Alpha 360]

The Marsupial Shuttle Program 

Mods which are and aren't in use

Spoiler

1. All Y'all

2. Knev

3. Near Future Technologies

4. Kerbal Engineer

5. MOLE

STS Marsupial 

Spoiler

Introducing the Marsupial Version 5!

Isn't she a beauty! With those two Mammoths and the Rhino engine, this shuttle has plenty of thrust to weight as well as 6,500 raw delta-v. It can carry a variety of payloads with its open cargo storage. This is the first in a line of top class Shuttles and SSTOs from Genesis Inc.

 Top class shot, right? Launching is fast and hard but it is a dream to control and our photographer had no problem taking this shot. 

 This shuttle just go, go, goes! As you see we are still inside the thicker part of the atmosphere and we are having reentry affects!

The boosters are decoupled and are flung away from the shuttle in seconds! Instead of some space programs, Genesis Inc. takes care of its orbital trash. These boosters will fall into the Ketlantic Ocean shortly after decoupling. 

The main Rhino engine is firing up, pushing the crew members into orbit! We have still 2,500 m/s Delta-V left in the shuttle, which is an absorbent amount of Delta-V. But we like to keep things safe so that Delta-v's staying there. 

After several weeks in orbit, the Marsupial has completed its deorbit burn and is now headed for a trajectory to hit the Kacific ocean on the other side of Kerafrica. A specific engineer had attached the landing gear wrong and is now receiving punishment. No, don't you listen to that screaming and blubbering in the other room, here. Here's some cute cat videos to keep your attention. 

The Marsupial is in landing configuration right now. It will hopeful be right on course and probably nothing will blow up. If not, we can show you MORE cute cat videos. 

Shoot, we are overshooting slightly. If this shuttle lands in the wrong location, then the navigator responible for the mistake will be administered punishment!

SUCCESS!. Oh, success has never tasted as sweet as this!

I assume that this qualifies as a landing? If not  , I have failed once more. 

Edited August 30, 2017 by Alpha 360
This post qualifies as a success, the other really didn't.

[michal.don]

8 hours ago, Bottle Rocketeer 500 said:

 I will try to complete many missions in one shuttle flight. Is that OK with you?

Sorry, but that's a no-go. The missions must be completed in the given order, from STS-1. However, you might complete the "bonus" missions STS-1b and STS-2b on the same flight as STS-1a and STS-2a.

 

2 hours ago, Natokerbal said:

Here is my attempt I completed lvl 1 and 2 in one mission. Its a video for my craft on kerbalx. So not fully perfect.

Welcome to the challenge! A nice shuttle, and the jettisonable tower is a nice touch. I am not sure what you mean by completing the level 1 and 2 in one mission though - your mission seems to be a commander lever STS-1a. So, here is your badge, commander:

As @qzgy mentioned above - your flight profile seems to be really inefficient, as you climb too steeply. Your shuttle has a lot of thrust, you might want to go for a far more agressive pitchover. Looking forward to seeing more!

 

50 minutes ago, Alpha 360 said:

Does this count as a success? I made orbit (just barely) and I crash landed in the middle of the desert.

The orbit is just fine. Unfortunately, the landing not so much. I would probably allow it if it was the STS-9 with the asteroid, but since this mission is about building a shuttle AND learning how to fly it, I'm going to say no. Please, try to land it a little more intact  Regarding your modlist - does the shuttle use any parts other than stock? Thanks.

 

Michal.don

[Alpha 360]

Just the Knev rocket parts for the fuel tanks and the SRBs and pushatrons for the SRBs. Relaunching rocket and changing post soon!

 

Edited August 29, 2017 by Alpha 360

[Bottle Rocketeer 500]

4 hours ago, michal.don said:

Sorry, but that's a no-go. The missions must be completed in the given order, from STS-1. However, you might complete the "bonus" missions STS-1b and STS-2b on the same flight as STS-1a and STS-2a.

OK, the shuttle was having trouble taking off anyway.

[sdj64]

Just for fun, I've been developing a new shuttle with a new goal: high volume to orbit, rather than high mass to orbit.  Launching heavy fuel tanks is fun, but I find myself usually wanting payloads that are much bigger but less dense.  I'll probably use it for the Mun base missions.  Huge cargo bay is about 7.5m diameter and runs the whole length of the ship.  It actually does protect the parts inside from drag, though the fairings and all the radiators have lots of drag by themselves.

Now it just needs a launcher.

[Natokerbal]

16 hours ago, qzgy said:

You can do a much more efficient ascent, even without MechJeb or anything. Start your gravity turn almost after you takeoff. 30m/s or something. Then slowly pitch down. You should be at around 10,000 m when your craft is at 45 degrees. Almost level at around 40 to 50 km.

I know I didn't use mechjeb for piloting I have a mod I don't use called mechjeb for all. it puts mechjeb in all command pods even without the part on the craft

[armegeddon]

Finally after 2 months I have completed the Jool Mission.

There are a total of 4 videos/image gallerys because my computer kept crashing after so much time.

First off, Mod List:  No part mods, just several design, informational, and visual mods.

Spoiler

ABookCase Orbital Reference System (ABCORS 0.4.1.0)
Alternate Resource Panel (AlternateResourcePanel v2.9.2.0)
AmpYear (AmpYearPowerManager 1:V1.5.0.0)
Automated Screenshots & Saves (AutomatedScreenshots 0.8.1)
BetterBurnTime (BetterBurnTime 1.6)
Camera Focus Changer (CameraFocusChanger v1.0.1.0)
CorrectCoL (CorrectCoL 1.6.0)
CraftHistory (CraftHistory 2.2.0)
Editor Extensions Redux (EditorExtensionsRedux 3.3.13.1)
Environmental Visual Enhancements (EnvironmentalVisualEnhancements 2:EVE-1.2.2-1)
EVA Enhancements Continued (EVAEnhancementsContinued 0.1.10)
Filter Extensions - Default Configuration (FilterExtensionsDefaultConfig 3.0.4)
Filter Extensions - Plugin (FilterExtensions 3.0.4)
Hangar Extender (HangarExtender 1:v3.4.9)
Hangar Grid (HangarGrid 0.4.0)
Keep It Straight (KeepItStraight 1.0.2)
Kerbal Alarm Clock (KerbalAlarmClock v3.8.5.0)
Kerbal-Konstructs (KerbalKonstructs 1.1.0)
Kerbin-Side Complete continued (KerbinSide 3:1.4)
KerbinSide Core (KerbinSideCore 3:1.4)
KerboKatzUtilities (KerboKatzUtilities 1.5.0)
Kopernicus Planetary System Modifier (Kopernicus 2:release-1.3.0-6)
KSP AVC (MiniAVC 1.0.3.0)
KSP AVC (KSP-AVC 1.1.6.2)
KSPDev LogConsole (KSPDev-LogConsole 1:0.15)
Landing Height Display (LandingHeight 2.1)
MechJeb 2 - DEV RELEASE (MechJeb2-dev 2.6.1.0-738)
MechJeb and Engineer for all! (MechJebForAll 1.2.0.0)
ModularFlightIntegrator (ModularFlightIntegrator 1.2.4.0)
Module Manager (ModuleManager 2.8.1)
Navball Docking Alignment Indicator CE-2 (NavballDockAlignIndCE 1.0.2)
NavHud (NavHud 1.3.3)
NavUtilities continued (NavUtilitiesContinued 0.7.1)
Part Commander Continued (PartCommanderCont 0.1.2)
REPOSoftTech-Agencies (REPOSoftTech-Agencies V1.5.0.0)
scatterer (Scatterer 2:v0.0320b)
scatterer - default config (Scatterer-config 2:v0.0320b)
scatterer - sunflare (Scatterer-sunflare 2:v0.0320b)
Slingshotter Reslung (SlingShotterReslung 1.1.3)
Stock Visual Enhancements (StockVisualEnhancements 3:1.2.5.0)
Stock Visual Enhancements-High Res Textures (SVE-HighResolution 3:1.0.1)
ToadicusToolsContinued (ToadicusToolsContinued 0.22.1)
Toolbar (Toolbar 1.7.14)
Trajectories (Trajectories v1.7.0)
Transfer Window Planner (TransferWindowPlanner v1.6.2.0)
TriggerAu Flags (TriggerAu-Flags v2.9.2.0)
VOID unVoided (VOID 1.1.5)
 

 

I launched a support mission ahead of time too place communication satellite around Jool, a ScanSat around Laythe, and left the the boost section in low Laythe orbit for refuelling the shuttle after lifting off from Laythe.

Spoiler

 

 Now the actual shuttle launch and landing on Laythe. Launch was a direct to Jool burn with gravity assists at Tylo to use a little fuel as possible. I had a little mistake getting the miner/plane out of the cargo bay so had to do a reload.

Spoiler

 

My computer crashed shortly after lifting off from Laythe, so the launch and first part of the return journey is in this second video. I used Tylo as a gravity assist to boost me out of Jool orbit and Duna for assists to bring orbit down near Kerbin. I mis-timed my Jool departure, so the return journey took about 35 years.

Spoiler

 

Computer crashed again on one of the Duna gravity assists, so last part of the return journey is in yet another video.

Spoiler

 

 

[Alpha 360]

The Marsupial Shuttle Program 

Mods which are and aren't in use

Spoiler

1. All Y'all

2. Knev

3. Near Future Technologies

4. Kerbal Engineer

5. MOLE

STS Marsupial 

Spoiler

Introducing the Marsupial Version 5!

Isn't she a beauty! With those two Mammoths and the Rhino engine, this shuttle has plenty of thrust to weight as well as 6,500 raw delta-v. It can carry a variety of payloads with its open cargo storage. This is the first in a line of top class Shuttles and SSTOs from Genesis Inc.

 Top class shot, right? Launching is fast and hard but it is a dream to control and our photographer had no problem taking this shot. 

 This shuttle just go, go, goes! As you see we are still inside the thicker part of the atmosphere and we are having reentry affects!

The boosters are decoupled and are flung away from the shuttle in seconds! Instead of some space programs, Genesis Inc. takes care of its orbital trash. These boosters will fall into the Ketlantic Ocean shortly after decoupling. 

The main Rhino engine is firing up, pushing the crew members into orbit! We have still 2,500 m/s Delta-V left in the shuttle, which is an absorbent amount of Delta-V. But we like to keep things safe so that Delta-v's staying there. 

After several weeks in orbit, the Marsupial has completed its deorbit burn and is now headed for a trajectory to hit the Kacific ocean on the other side of Kerafrica. A specific engineer had attached the landing gear wrong and is now receiving punishment. No, don't you listen to that screaming and blubbering in the other room, here. Here's some cute cat videos to keep your attention. 

The Marsupial is in landing configuration right now. It will hopeful be right on course and probably nothing will blow up. If not, we can show you MORE cute cat videos. 

Shoot, we are overshooting slightly. If this shuttle lands in the wrong location, then the navigator responible for the mistake will be administered punishment!

SUCCESS!. Oh, success has never tasted as sweet as this!

I assume that this qualifies as a landing? If not  , I have failed once more. 

 

Edited August 30, 2017 by Alpha 360

[michal.don]

21 hours ago, sdj64 said:

Just for fun, I've been developing a new shuttle with a new goal: high volume to orbit, rather than high mass to orbit.

Not exactly "beautiful", but very, very impressive  And I'm quite curious how the launcher will look like, but I suppose it will follow the recent trend of insane large things  Good job!

 

14 hours ago, Natokerbal said:

I know I didn't use mechjeb for piloting I have a mod I don't use called mechjeb for all.

Even when flying by hand, quite efficient launch profiles are achievable. BUt worry not, I'm sure you'll get the hang of it during the missions, there are plenty of them

 

6 hours ago, armegeddon said:

Finally after 2 months I have completed the Jool Mission.

Good job, welcome to the elite group of Laythe visitors  A nice mission, even if a bit on the long side. I really like the deployment method of the base and aircraft, that's a nice piece od engineering.

For the next missions though - please, please, try to select fewer pictures for the galeries - It was quite difficult to navigate in the 600-ish screenshots and several hours of video

Nevertheless, here is your badge:

 

42 minutes ago, Alpha 360 said:

I assume that this qualifies as a landing? If not  , I have failed once more. 

I think you are going to start to hate me soon.... I'd forgive the lost nosecone (who needs those, anyway.....), but it seems you lost your enine, too. Which, again, is a substantial damage for the 1-a mission. I really like your design, but I can not award the badge until you manage to land (mostly) intact. Sorry about that.

 

Michal.don

[Alpha 360]

Bummer . Luckily I am determined to get this badge  or I would have quit long ago. Sorry for not double checking whether or not I'm actually succeeding. 

 

Spoiler

Alright. Genesis Inc. has now thrown all their weight into building a fleet of SSTOs which will carry Kerbalkind into the Future. To those who have heard rumors that the last test of the shuttle resulted in a complete and utter failure, you have been misinformed greatly! Genesis Inc. got a shuttle into orbit, through reentry, and onto land with only the minor and forgettable loss of the main engine bell. Genesis Inc. has been working on a more cargo focused shuttle, now named the Opossum.

The crew are Stelford, the pilot, Dudfurt the chief engineer, Kagard, the secondary engineer, and Gwenbo, the payload operator.

Launch was nominal in the sense that nothing went wrong.

Insertion burn also went nominally. Unlike the Insurmountable, the Opossum has two belly ports where two communications satellites are held to be tested for the geostationary relay contract coming soon. 

A beautiful view of the atmosphere, Scatterer and EVE, I love you. 

Decoupling boosters. These will be dragged down into the atmosphere by orbital decay in several months, coming down in the Keltanic ocean. 

There you are. There are two communication sats in the cargo bay which We deploy here.

We preformed a deorbit burn a short while later and started to descend into the atmosphere. 

 Starting reentry. Isn't that beautiful!

Stock KSP lacks significantly in eye candy, demonstrated here. Whenever I play "stock" again, I will include visual mods, definitely.

 Coming down over the city lights. They must be pretty bright the illuminate the bottom of my shuttle. 

Genesis Inc. checked the spacecraft heavily after the landing, and if the destruction of the two bottom tail fins counts against me, I have failed for the third time. What happens if I fail the third time? I'm afraid that I might be thrown out of the topic for taking up valuable space.  

 

 

Edited August 30, 2017 by Alpha 360

[michal.don]

14 minutes ago, Alpha 360 said:

Genesis Inc. checked the spacecraft heavily after the landing, and if the destruction of the two bottom tail fins counts against me, I have failed for the third time.

I'm not that cruel  I think losing two fins is reasonable damage, and within the mission parameters. So, third time seems to be the charm, and I'm glad I can finally award you the pilot badge for STS-1a. Congratulations!

If you want to get the nice and shiny commander badge, you'll have to work on your landings a bit - especially hitting the runway, and possibly keeping the fins

 

Michal.don

[Bottle Rocketeer 500]

17 minutes ago, Alpha 360 said:

-snip-

If you want to get good at landing stuff, fly some aircraft and practice RTLS aborts.

[Alpha 360]

Genesis Inc. has accepted a contract to put three satellites in Geostationary orbit. We have adapted the Opossum model with several extra Mk2 cargo bays. 

Here is the Koala Bear sitting on the launch pad. 

The launch profile consisted of a high-speed suborbital trajectory that drained the outer tanks which were detached, then enter orbit at 1,000 kilometers above Kerbin. 

Then after releasing a test satellite and another satellite accidentally, the Koala Bear used the Rhino main engine to raise the orbit to roughly 2,800 kilometers. I then released another satellite in that orbit and time-warped to the highest point of the orbit. I circularized the orbit and released another satellite. 

I repeated the process and ended up with three satellites in Geostationary orbit, two in circular orbit at 1,000 kilometers, and one in elliptical orbit.

I de-orbited later and landed without anything exploding except only one tail fin. 

Edited August 30, 2017 by Alpha 360

[Ozelui]

@Alpha 360 Nice one! Keep practicing more landings until you get used to your shuttle's personality.

Spoiler

Here's my secret recipe for shuttle / spaceplane landings:

From a 70ish km circular orbit, lower your periapsis to 36 km, above the ocean west of the KSC continent. It's low enough to slow down but doesn't put you into the dense part of the atmosphere. Engage SAS and select prograde.  Also engage aerobrakes if your vessel has them.

Retract brakes before they explode!

Around 45 km high, start raising the nose to around 15- 20º ( i usually do it by just selecting stability assist and waiting ). This part of the atmosphere is more dense and your wing's lift is going to push you up.   Keep the nose there until you stop loosing altitude.  For me, that's usually around 40 mk high.  Once you start climbing again lower the nose a bit and try to make your trajectory end in the mountains west of the KSC.

From that position, just keep gliding into the KSC.  As you go down the lift is going to push your trajectory closer to the KSC.  Add small burns or brakes as needed, you'd want to arrive to the runway close to 100 m/s (again depending on your shuttle's personality).

Add salt and pepper.

 

[Alpha 360]

Thank you for that tip. But I have sadly adapted the habit of coming in hard from 100 kilometer+ but I am getting closer to the KSC every time I do it! Next mission, I'm aiming for gold leaves. 

[qzgy]

1 hour ago, Alpha 360 said:

Thank you for that tip. But I have sadly adapted the habit of coming in hard from 100 kilometer+ but I am getting closer to the KSC every time I do it! Next mission, I'm aiming for gold leaves. 

Actually, can I also give a tip? Try downloading the trajectories mod. It gives a rough estimate of where you should end up after reentry. I usually overshoot substantially according to it, but I have landed at the runway fairly consistently using it.

[Mukita12]

is TweakScale Allowed for the External tank ?

[michal.don]

12 hours ago, Alpha 360 said:

Genesis Inc. has accepted a contract to put three satellites in Geostationary orbit. We have adapted the Opossum model with several extra Mk2 cargo bays. 

NIce mission, I'm glad to see you are beginning to get along with your shuttle. Even though I guess a re-design is coming, I don't see any way to take Hubble up without MK3 cargo bay. Anyway, a well earned badge:

 

12 hours ago, Alpha 360 said:

I de-orbited later and landed without anything exploding except only one tail fin.

Well, that's a progress, but I'd prefer if you did not lose any parts. The original space suttle didn't either

 

12 hours ago, Alpha 360 said:

Next mission, I'm aiming for gold leaves.

I guess the new badge system is a bit confusing. If you land on the runway, you'll get the commander badge, which has a gold star. The gold leaves are for stock entries, the grey are for modded entries. It might not be the best solution, since the gold leaves admittedly look better, while modded category is not in any way inferior to stock.

 

5 hours ago, Mukita12 said:

is TweakScale Allowed for the External tank ?

Yes, tweakscale is allowed. You will be placed in the "modded" category (which is absolutely fine, there were many great shuttles using lots of mods in the previous versions of the challenge). Good luck!

 

Michal.don

[Alpha 360]

Is it okay if I post my submissions in my mission reports post called Genesis Inc? They will be just a detailed as these are and I would like to post my progression through these challenges as well.

Edited August 31, 2017 by Alpha 360