The Ark of Heaven - Building and flying a really really big ship

[rnt_hank]

So, I once again bit off a bit more than I could chew in a week for the Sci-fi challenge so I decided to document my progress after day 8 while I wait for my VAB to load.

The ship design is from the show Raised by Wolves, cancelled ahead of its time from HBO Max.

" The Ark of Heaven, commonly referred to as just Heaven or the Ark, was a starship built by the Mithraic to transport a small population of colonists from Earth to Kepler-22b. It had a sister ship, the Tarantula, which was hijacked by the Atheists. "   (https://raised-by-wolves.fandom.com/wiki/Ark_of_Heaven)

Progress Pics:

 

 

I plan to release a full video at the end, but for now I'm still trying to get to orbit.  1km is my record so far.

 

My current VAB:

 

So anyways, my mission is to stick it to all the nay-sayers on discord and get this to Orbit sometime this week.  Hopefully upper atmosphere today!

[BechMeister]

How many parts is this thing`?

[cocoscacao]

I'm always amazed what people can make with structural elements. My patience runs out very quickly, especially when working with panels.

[rnt_hank]

On 5/9/2023 at 5:29 AM, BechMeister said:

How many parts is this thing`?

"VersionString": "0.2",
    "Name": "Ark112",
    "VehicleName": "Ark_Of_Heaven",
    "Description": "Renew Raised By Wolves",
    "ThumbnailPath": "\\Saves\\SinglePlayer\\Mith04\\Workspaces\\Ark112.png",
    "Mass": 3600.17529,
    "SaveTime": 638191645283029976,
    "Parts": 2361

Bigger than I thought, it was only 1300 or so before I started strut madness.  This makes me want to check for duplication glitch now :S

Highest progress screenshot: 

I've gotten past 13 km but the game froze so badly Windows wouldn't even let me take a snapshot.  Further attempts today! (and maybe turning down atmosphere settings because I'm a hack and this is getting tedious)

[some_failure]

damn that thing is big : 0

[BechMeister]

2361 parts - How have your PC not melted xD - I admire the attempt, and i agree, good looking

[rnt_hank]

29 minutes ago, some_failure said:

damn that thing is big : 0

Some of my downfall so far I think is not going big *enough*, at least with mass.  The big wings are killing me with the drag, a bunch of structural parts where the rectangular wings go would have been a better choice I think, but I'm too invested to rebuild and repaint it now.

[rnt_hank]

Progriss

[rnt_hank]

 

Day 14 - Moar Progrisss  (Not enough thrust in upper atmo, need to go bigger...)

[BechMeister]

You dont plan/cant do a gravity turn?

[rnt_hank]

5 hours ago, BechMeister said:

You dont plan/cant do a gravity turn?

Well, you see part of my issue is that this craft tears itself apart as soon as I get any significant air resistance.  So I have to go slow through the atmosphere, like very slow. 

My engines are staged and grouped so I can easily shut them down in pairs when my speed starts getting to fast for my height.  Rough estimates:

at 2000km craft breaks at 42 m/s
at 7000km craft breaks at 78 m/s
at 18000km craft breaks at 192 m/s

Unfortunately this means I can't gravity turn until way late in the launch.  I still plan to turn once I get decent speed at 45km or so but I need a re-work of my launch staging to get me that high. 

[BechMeister]

that makes a lot of sense.. So you are forced to wait with the gravity turn until you are in space.

It must also just make calculating how much Δv you need xD

[rnt_hank]

8 hours ago, BechMeister said:

that makes a lot of sense.. So you are forced to wait with the gravity turn until you are in space.

It must also just make calculating how much Δv you need xD

You mean throwing delta V at it until it works?  Yeah lol.  I have been using engie report for the TWR on each stage, that's about it for calculations right now. 

I'm about to scrap the entire launch assembly to replace it with more stages and better strutting - I'm dreading this so much (hence I'm messing around on forums) but I know 5 minutes into the VAB I'll be enjoying it.

[BechMeister]

The forum gives me strenght to continue my struggles too - people responding to what im doing motivates me to go forward.. So - be motivated - Make it to the next milestone