KOIL Telescope Launch

[Souper]

Deciding to challenge myself, I finally took on the task of building an all-solid-fuel-to-orbit (SFTO) launch vehicle in the hope that it would be cheaper due to not using complex liquid-fueled equipment. But after a few tests, it was quickly realized that solid fueled engines sucked in space compared to liquid fuels: not only were tiny liquid fueled stages more controllable, they were much more efficient and thus small as well. To minimize launch costs to orbit, it was decided to begin development of a new launch vehicle that used a fully solid-fueled core stage in conjunction with a highly efficient liquid-fueled upper stage. While developing this, I also made the observation that a very long core stage is aerodynamically stable without the use of fins due to how the vehicle's center of mass shifts upward as fuel is burned, which allowed me to eliminate fins from the design altogether. The product, the Caker-III launch vehicle, had a liftoff acceleration of 2.2g in vacuum (about 2g considering air pressure) and could place a small three-ton payload into low Kerbin orbit.

Above: The KOIL Telescope mated to a Caker-III launch vehicle prior to launch.

After I had finished the final prototype run, I needed something to use it with. The Caker-III vehicle was built to be cheap and easy to use, so it followed that it would be used to launch an equally cost-effective payload. I thought about a worthwhile payload to launch for a moment before producing the concept: a very low-orbit space and ground imaging telescope. Such a machine could not only provide basic astronomical data but also allow for surface imaging and mapping. for all of the myriad anomalies on Kerbin, this was perfect. I would not need to fly all the way out to them to know what they were anymore.

And so, the KOIL (Kerbin Orbital Imaging Laboratory) telescope was built: from the HullcamVDS mod, a PictoZoom telescope was mounted onto the top. The vehicle including fairing and stationkeeping engine weighed almost exactly a ton.

The launch (which I regrettably did not think to screenshot) went off without a hitch, and in fact, I had over a thousand m/s of dV with the upper stage due to launching significantly under the launch vehicle's payload capacity. KOIL circularized with just an extra 1.5-2km of clearance over 70km for its orbit dimensions. 
 

Above: The KOIL telescope orbiting over Kerbin's primary desert

The telescope was then used to image several anomalies. The most significant achievement of the telescope was its imaging of the Dessert Launch Site, during which it was powerful enough to detect spinning wind turbine blades.
 

Above: Dessert Launch Site, as imagined by the KOIL Space Telescope

The best part is, of course, that this entire mission costed about 13k funds!

Edited September 13, 2022 by Souper