Realistic Space Station Ideas.

[kspbandit]

Hey I'm Dom, I'm trying to get more noticed on the internet, and i want to share my space station designs as well as seeing others. Also if you have any advice on getting bigger on forums/youtube, that would be appreciated.

[kspbandit]

Here is my realistic, yet "Progressive" station design, If anyone sees this, what do you think of it.

 

[James Kerman]

Welcome to the forum @kspbandit, your thread has been moved to our introduction area called Welcome Aboard.

I can't wait to see your designs and the only advice A great place to start posting designs is in the what did you do in KSP today thread - one of the most popular parts of the forum.

[kspbandit]

Just now, James Kerman said:

Welcome to the forum @kspbandit, your thread has been moved to our introduction area called Welcome Aboard.

I can't wait to see your designs and the only advice A great place to start posting designs is in the what did you do in KSP today thread - one of the most popular parts of the forum.

Thanks.

[overkill13]

If we are talking realistic designs, the fact that the habitation space cannot access the central core/docking ports, without a spacewalk, is an issue.  The spinning would be disorienting if someone were crawling along the frameworks.  Docking to the ports on the outside of the rotation would be nigh impossible and despinning the station for docking and docking to all 4 ports for pickups would be inconvenient and burn rcs fuel.  Despite the depiction in Hollywood, the spinning of the port in the centre would be dangerous for real world docking even if you did match the rotation prior to mating.

[kspbandit]

 

2 hours ago, overkill13 said:

If we are talking realistic designs, the fact that the habitation space cannot access the central core/docking ports, without a spacewalk, is an issue.  The spinning would be disorienting if someone were crawling along the frameworks.  Docking to the ports on the outside of the rotation would be nigh impossible and despinning the station for docking and docking to all 4 ports for pickups would be inconvenient and burn rcs fuel.  Despite the depiction in Hollywood, the spinning of the port in the centre would be dangerous for real world docking even if you did match the rotation prior to mating.

That's how i wanted it to be private hotel rooms. And in reality the spinning would be slower around 5 rpm, kerbals can with stand higher than humans and metal beams would be longer. Every 4 weeks when new capsules come the station will be stationary. And reply on the new capsules to use as thrusters to speed up rotation and keep balanced with different amounts of weight. But thanks for the feed back, really appreciate it.

Edited May 10, 2020 by kspbandit

[jimmymcgoochie]

While it looks nice, there are a couple of problems with your design- the solar panels are on the spinning section so they can’t sun track and will be less effective as a result, although with that station it wouldn’t really be a problem; you also can’t go from one section to another without doing an EVA which is a hassle you don’t want just to head over to another module for lunch.

If a space station was going to have any rotating sections they would most likely look like the Hermes from the film ‘The Martian’ or possibly the Nauvoo/Behemoth from ‘The Expanse’ or even the ship from the film ‘Passengers’: the important bits like the engines, solar panels and so on would be in the middle and wouldn’t spin, while the spinning sections would rotate along the ship’s long axis (the ‘roll’ axis, rather than pitch or yaw) and most likely with counterweights going in the other direction to prevent torque being a danger or making it hard to manoeuvre- a huge spinning ring is a giant gyroscope and would act like an extra reaction wheel that you couldn’t really control. And despite what some films/TV shows might have shown, it’s nearly impossible to dock with a port on the outside of a spinning ring and even docking to a spinning port in the centre would be a challenge and a risk that doesn’t need to be taken.

Accessing the rings would happen in the centre, whether that’s by sliding down a ladder as in The Martian or by an elevator inside the structural supports as in Passengers. Even if there’s no access between the sections at the outside of the rings, there should always be an airtight route between the ring sections and the core so people (or Kerbals) can get out in case of emergencies.

There are some mods that add rotating station parts, Station Parts Expansion Redux has some good ones, but making your own would most likely require robotics parts (spinning motors at the very least) and a lot of trial and error to avoid spinning it too fast or spinning the centre rather than the rings.

[kspbandit]

1 minute ago, jimmymcgoochie said:

While it looks nice, there are a couple of problems with your design- the solar panels are on the spinning section so they can’t sun track and will be less effective as a result, although with that station it wouldn’t really be a problem; you also can’t go from one section to another without doing an EVA which is a hassle you don’t want just to head over to another module for lunch.

If a space station was going to have any rotating sections they would most likely look like the Hermes from the film ‘The Martian’ or possibly the Nauvoo/Behemoth from ‘The Expanse’ or even the ship from the film ‘Passengers’: the important bits like the engines, solar panels and so on would be in the middle and wouldn’t spin, while the spinning sections would rotate along the ship’s long axis (the ‘roll’ axis, rather than pitch or yaw) and most likely with counterweights going in the other direction to prevent torque being a danger or making it hard to manoeuvre- a huge spinning ring is a giant gyroscope and would act like an extra reaction wheel that you couldn’t really control. And despite what some films/TV shows might have shown, it’s nearly impossible to dock with a port on the outside of a spinning ring and even docking to a spinning port in the centre would be a challenge and a risk that doesn’t need to be taken.

Accessing the rings would happen in the centre, whether that’s by sliding down a ladder as in The Martian or by an elevator inside the structural supports as in Passengers. Even if there’s no access between the sections at the outside of the rings, there should always be an airtight route between the ring sections and the core so people (or Kerbals) can get out in case of emergencies.

There are some mods that add rotating station parts, Station Parts Expansion Redux has some good ones, but making your own would most likely require robotics parts (spinning motors at the very least) and a lot of trial and error to avoid spinning it too fast or spinning the centre rather than the rings.

It would be put in a polar orbit to always face the sun. Also People aren't meant to move in between capsules, they are private hotel rooms, and during crew transfer the station will stop spinning.

[jimmymcgoochie]

Just now, kspbandit said:

It would be put in a polar orbit to always face the sun. Also People aren't meant to move in between capsules, they are private hotel rooms, and during crew transfer the station will stop spinning.

Kerbin orbits around the sun. Polar orbit or not, it still moves.

Personally I don’t much fancy the idea of going to a space hotel where you can’t get out if there’s a fire, or a hull breach, or another guest goes crazy, without first putting on a big, bulky, cumbersome spacesuit and then being flung off as soon as you leave the airlock due to the spin gravity. Even the poshest hotels still have fire exits!

[kspbandit]

3 minutes ago, jimmymcgoochie said:

Kerbin orbits around the sun. Polar orbit or not, it still moves.

Personally I don’t much fancy the idea of going to a space hotel where you can’t get out if there’s a fire, or a hull breach, or another guest goes crazy, without first putting on a big, bulky, cumbersome spacesuit and then being flung off as soon as you leave the airlock due to the spin gravity. Even the poshest hotels still have fire exits!

The re entry capsule will be  constantly attached whiles manned, and every time the passengers join it'll adjust its orbit to face the sun for that time of year, but i think i'm taking this concept too far. I only made it as a early concept for the gateway foundation as there early plans will still require a hundred rocket launches. I'd love to see your and other peoples designs.

[jimmymcgoochie]

This isn't technically a space station, it's an interplanetary expedition ship called Intrepid.

A lot of the parts come from the Station Parts Expansion Redux mod including those centrifuge rings, and it has a huge nuclear engine (kerbal atomics) attached to a HUGE 10m hydrogen tank (cryo tanks) for propulsion plus some big solar panels (near future solar) for power. It's currently in orbit of Duna with about half of its 42 crew slots filled and has seven docking ports; there were relays, landing ships and a mining ship attached to them originally but those have since been deployed.

My second expedition ship, Tenacity, is still under construction; it has space for 36 crew and has seventeen docking ports of varying sizes to dock lots and lots of... things. It's going to be venturing out to Jool or beyond so has both solar panels and nuclear reactors for power.

[kspbandit]

4 minutes ago, jimmymcgoochie said:

This isn't technically a space station, it's an interplanetary expedition ship called Intrepid.

A lot of the parts come from the Station Parts Expansion Redux mod including those centrifuge rings, and it has a huge nuclear engine (kerbal atomics) attached to a HUGE 10m hydrogen tank (cryo tanks) for propulsion plus some big solar panels (near future solar) for power. It's currently in orbit of Duna with about half of its 42 crew slots filled and has seven docking ports; there were relays, landing ships and a mining ship attached to them originally but those have since been deployed.

My second expedition ship, Tenacity, is still under construction; it has space for 36 crew and has seventeen docking ports of varying sizes to dock lots and lots of... things. It's going to be venturing out to Jool or beyond so has both solar panels and nuclear reactors for power.

That is so cool, with your mix of mods do you have to worry about habitat modules and green houses?

[jimmymcgoochie]

2 minutes ago, kspbandit said:

That is so cool, with your mix of mods do you have to worry about habitat modules and green houses?

I don't use any life support mods, so no. The station parts expansion mod does have compatibility with a few life support mods and provides some parts including greenhouses which work with those, for people who do use them.

There is a greenhouse module on Intrepid though because it has a science experiment on it and looked nice. I was about to challenge you to find it, but then I realised that the window shutters were all closed so you can't actually see the plants . It's the module directly to the right of the largest centrifuge ring (the one on the left that's side-on in the picture).

[kspbandit]

Kinda looks like a space station while not on the surface of the moon.

 

[kspbandit]

A cool interplanetary space station, shame it's impossible to launch as multiple realistically sized parts and docking them together.

 

 

[kspbandit]

Recently downloaded RSS (Real Solar System) and RO (Realism Overhaul). Built a space station with a slightly upgraded falcon heavy. Made a YouTube video on how I utilised a falcon heavy with 2 payloads, Science Module and Dragon 2.