That Other Space Race || A 2.5x Scale Modded Space Race

[The Dressian Exploder]

That Other Space Race

A modded KSP race to the stars in a 2.5x scale system.

I, along with a number of fellows from the excellent discord server That Other Server² will be competing with one another to explore the solar system with the final milestone being settling Laythe.

Guided by the Career Evolution Contract Pack (as outdated as it is) we will have a series of milestones to complete, leading up to last goal, which is to build a base on laythe, which is then capable of constructing and launching a vessel that can take its crew to Kerbin.

 

The mods we're using are as follows:

Spoiler

Techo's Planet Revamp

Restock and Restock+

Near Future Technologies suite

Community Tech Tree 

UnKerballed Start

BARIS

Snacks!

Rational Resources

Extraplanetary Launchpads

Keridian Dynamics

Kerbinside Remastered

Far Future Technologies

DSEV

Buffalo 2

MOLE

Sandcastle

SSPXr

Moldavite Machines

Cryogenic Engines

Kerbal Atomics

HabTech2

Taerobee

Airplane Plus

Grounded

Modular Launch Pads

Cormorant Aeronology

Periapsis Motors

Apoapsis Motors

Universal Storage II

Psi Wedge

Stockalike Mining Expansion

Mk2 Expansion

Mk3 Expansion

OPT Spaceplane

(Dependencies and optional visual mods not listed)
 

Our competing space programs are as follows:

[TBD, people need to get them together]

 

If you'd like to join with your own space program, then go ahead! I'll add your program to the OP.

 

Let the best space program win!

Edited July 4 by The Dressian Exploder
Clarification for the progression

[Gordon Fecyk]

I haven't seen you active in a long time, and that's because I myself haven't been very active.

Would you consider linking all of the add-ons and mods in your original post? Preferably to pages with readily accessible downloads? I would like to avoid using CKAN. I'd also like to know if I may add Ferram Aerospace to this, just as a challenge to myself. 

I can't promise I'd join. I picked up a new hobby that takes up a lot more time.

[The Dressian Exploder]

You could add FAR, if you wish.

[Misguided Kerbal]

I have to say, it's really been quite the while since I've been active on the forums in any real capacity (I have definitely not been neglecting updating any of my existing commitments on the forums. Entirely unrelated, my accrued time on Steam in other games has shot up dramatically for no reason).

Anyway, as the owner of aforementioned discord server and having been involved in discussions regarding this particular space race (as I'm sure Dres can confirm, I have been quite a vocal advocate regarding certain components of this modset), I'm ready to throw my hat back into the ring - presenting:

Spoiler

Ahem, drum roll please,

Spoiler

I have to say, I forgot how fun spoiler boxes were. Now, without any further ado:

Spoiler

Presenting, the renowned, the acclaimed (winner of multiple Ker-bell prizes in name recognition), The Kermanian Space and Aeronautics Agency (KSAA)!

[Insert: award winning, professionally-designed space agency logo which definitely would not be just a variation of the beloved worm]

The proud star-spangled banner (it just so happens to be July 4th, haha) flies proudly over the nation of Kermania, ready to take to the stars! (considering it features a literal constellation on itself already, I dunno, that was perhaps just a slightly redundant statement)

To everyone else participating in this space race - good luck, and see you on Laythe!

 

 

 

[Angelo Kerman]

Looks like this will be fun Not using EVA Repairs for this?

 

[Mrpasta44]

I need an excuse to actually play the game, id love to join

[bobnotbob]

Alrighty then, I'm on the aforementioned server; but Dres told me that I should use the forums to log progress and whatnot.

I don't know what ill call my program yet, but it'll probably be something along the lines of "bobs aerospace research and space exploration". Doesn't really roll off the tongue though.

[The Dressian Exploder]

14 hours ago, Angelo Kerman said:

Looks like this will be fun Not using EVA Repairs for this?

 

We were originally going to use KCT and EVA Repairs for this race, but after facing issues with getting KCT to work, we thought the singular simple package of BARIS would work a little better for our purposes, old as it is. Plus @Misguided Kerbal just really likes BARIS. Oh, and the little in-game events BARIS adds are a fun extra thing that hasn't really been done by any other mod (wink wink nudge nudge).

[Angelo Kerman]

9 hours ago, The Dressian Exploder said:

We were originally going to use KCT and EVA Repairs for this race, but after facing issues with getting KCT to work, we thought the singular simple package of BARIS would work a little better for our purposes, old as it is. Plus @Misguided Kerbal just really likes BARIS. Oh, and the little in-game events BARIS adds are a fun extra thing that hasn't really been done by any other mod (wink wink nudge nudge).

Oh yeah, the event cards! The closest would be in Snacks. Snacks has the ability to generate random events based upon certain conditions. Stress does that, for instance.

[bobnotbob]

I guess I'll be the first one to post progress, but definitely not the first one to start. (looking at you techo)

Day 1:

I made a sounding rocket, which I have dubbed the 'Whistlebee', but I have to wait for integration.

Spoiler

(First time using taerobee, and I love it )

btw, a little unsure abt the fins; is this the right way? What do the descriptions mean by angling the fins so the craft spins?

Day 19:

Integration for the rocket is done, and the first launch highlights are the sustainer engine failing, and also the parachute getting stuck.

Spoiler

forgot abt the ui, sorry

I used some extra funds to test parts, which improved its reliability from 5/25 to 10/30. Thankfully nothing went wrong on this one, and we completed two of our first contracts.

Spoiler

We got up to about 50,000m

With our new science we were able to research new things, which means its time for a bigger rocket so we can escape the atmosphere.

A problem though: we don't have any parachutes apart from the taerobee ones, so making a new rocket will be harder. Luckily, our scientists came up with an innovative and simple idea:

Spoiler

MOAR BOOSTERS

Introducing the Whistlebee II, now with double the delta v.

After paying a little extra to rush integration, the rocket is ready! Needless to say it didn't go that well, multiple of the boosters failed and the also the parachute. Our scientists concluded that we may have gone too fast, so I lowered the thrust limiters. For extra safety we did another part test to be sure.

Spoiler

This time the booster stage fared much better, but sadly the parachute failed during the sustainer

the parachute fails about 5 seconds after this

I think that's all for now, I just remembered that I could have gotten science from the launch pad, lowlands, and lower atmosphere too - so this whole time I might have been able to get normal parachutes and didn't have to add more boosters. If you have any advice, please tell me; I'm still relatively new to mods like BARIS. 

[The Dressian Exploder]

The Space Program I am playing in this race is run by the glorious Empire of Grand Krozempf.

More specifically, it is the Grand Imperial Aeronautics Research and Development Institiute for Aerial Superiority (GIARDIAS). Most, however call it Paper Aeronautics, thanks to its extensive use of paper for scale test models during material shortages in the Second War of National Unity.  Unofficially, it uses a derivative of the Imperial flag reflective of this.

With the Second War of National Unity ended, in a triumphant victory for the Empire, a slew of new technologies developed for the conquest of enemies may now be applied elsewhere; the conquest of the stars!

Paper Aeronautics is still an aircraft agency though, and it has proper testing to run on the Air Force's designs, first.

The I-47 Rocket Interceptor is a fairly crude design from the Second War of National Unity -made most evident in its use of skids, as was fairly common for aircraft during the war as rubber was hard to source and ground vehicles generally took priority. This particular I-47 is being launched from Round Range, a reconnaisance and communications station built during the war, that was briefly used as a logistics hub in its closing stages before being turned over to Paper Aeronautics as a testing grounds and future rocket launch site.

The war austerity design also featured fairly crude wings bodged together out of low-grade sheet metal. It makes the stall speed fairly high -generally not an issue for landing due to the speeds involved with rocketplanes, but means that takeoff is assisted by a pair of solid rocket boosters.

Some data on the aircraft's performace would be recorded, along with noting some meteorological readouts from the interceptor's instruments. With that out of the way, it was time to land.

...The I-47 is a notoriously difficult to land craft, despite the robust skids. Thus the overturn onto the aircraft's fragile wings was not entirely unanticipated.

Still, it was a succesful flight, and provided useful information that would be used in a subsequent redesign, one that Paper Aeronautics were keen to test the capabilities of.

While most of the staff of Paper Aeronautics was busy overseeing the construction of a new rocket launch pad (right), the I-47 Mk.II would be tested for the first time. Immediately noticeable were its improved handling thanks to englarged control surfaces and higher production quality wings. This version of the I-47 did not require its solid rocket motors for takeoff, but would be used on this flight for a different purpose...

This I-47 would use its solid rocket motors to increase speed once in level flight -assuring the Empire that its interceptors would continue to be effective as other nations began to field jet aircraft capable of breaking the sound barrier. Indeed, the I-47 Mk.II easily surpassed the sound barrier, continuing to reach a speed just in excess of 500m/s -it would be a while before any jet aircraft could match this speed in level flight.

Landing back at Round Range reveals the other feature pilots will be relieved about -proper wheels with tyres. Now that the war is won, greater access to rubber has been secured and mass production of vehicles using rubber tyres is once again feasible.

But the Empire is not done yet! Paper Aeronautics has a rocket to launch.

On the new 4MA-TOR launch pad at Round Range stands a rocket. A fairly common sight during the Second War of National Unity, an LRB-16 Long Range Artillery Rocket. Rockets like this were used extensively as they were simple to manufacture, and could be configured in a variety of different ways for different purposes. Costs and production times were kept down by the use of a single solid rocket motor throughout all versions of Grand Krozempf's artillery rockets. Many would only use one, but for longer range attacks more were clustered together in multiple stages. The LRB-16 here used by Paper Aeronautics is pretty much the longest range configuration used, though this will not be used to bombard targets, rather it will pierce the heavens and return a scientific payload from beyond the Kerman Line. 

The night launch made it a little difficult to see the rocket once it was out of the glare of 4MA-TOR's floodlights. Still, stage separations were successful.

We'll reach the Mun someday.

But for now, space just above Kerbin will have to do. Much science was done.

Before re-entering the atmosphere, the payload was turned on its side and spun up to evenly distribute the heat. This ensures a nice, consistent cook and makes serving a more pleasant experience for everyone. Some have voiced concerns about the heat of re-entry damaging experiments, but clearly they do not know the strength of Grand Krozempf's glorious materials.

The payload made it down successfully, leaving only one way for Paper Aeronautics to go: upwards!

Quite useful then, that given all the new technologies we've just researched, the Air Force wants us to design some new modules for future rocket artillery. Something about city-destroying bombs being sent across a continent to distant rivals. I'm sure it won't amount to much.

 

Glory to the Grand Empire!

Edited July 11 by The Dressian Exploder

[bobnotbob]

I seem to lagging behind.

Bobs aerospace (ill be calling it that for now), made a few more launches with the whistlebee I, only one resulted in a crash. As I mentioned before, I forgot about other places I could get science from; so i did those now.

 After all that though, were one away from unlocking those parachutes, so the Whistlebee II is back on the drawing board.

This time I spent a ton on part tests to try and ensure its success. 

The airframe holds at the high speeds...

And we make it! In fact, the Whistlebee II preformed so good that it reached up to 180km! However, thats not great - because without heatshields...

It cant survive atmospheric reentry. We did complete the contract, but no science survived

Try #2! this time we just put less fuel, which means less delta V.

Boosters and sustainer stage worked, getting us to 80km.

This time the reentry was much smoother, and the parachute deployed with out a problem.

At the end of the day, it netted us around 24 science, putting us at a total of 41 science! I used that to research survivability and mystery goo.

Our next goal is to reach orbit.

 

 

[Ultimate Steve]

I would really love to join, it has been a while since I've done a space race, however pretty much every time I have tried to use BARIS it has broken on me... Parts (and consistently the same ones) will break in the VAB, limiting me to a few command pods. If I can get KCT and EVA Repairs working, what would be the best settings to emulate BARIS?

If not viable as an official entry I can at least do something vaguely parallel.

[Ultimate Steve]

The Notebook Space Program has joined the space race!

I very slightly trimmed the mod list for now as I don't need that many space station parts, at least for now, and RAM is a precious resource!

Science is on 60% like instructed on the Discord. Default BARIS settings. Quickloads and reverts are on but I will attempt to only use them for glitches and perhaps monumentally stupid moments like accidentally leaving the game unpaused.

NSP Log #1, through Y1 D29:

Spoiler

Y1 D5

The first launch of this save (there was an earlier save with an incorrect installation but the less said about that the better) is the Sumo 2. The launch is out of order, as the Sumo 1, a significantly more complicated rocket, was built in the VAB. It was realized that we have a second integration facility in the SPH, so we built a simpler rocket there.

Surprisingly, nothing failed on this mission. The rocket touched down successfully. This led to me thinking I had installed BARIS incorrectly as nothing had worked that well in the previous save.  It turns out I was just lucky.

Still, the mission was a partial failure as it did not reach space. It got frustratingly close, 69,399m.

Y1 D12

Flight 2 was the Sumo 1, which, given my experience with parachutes in the previous test save, was designed to transmit the data home instead of recovering it. It was not intended to reach space, only the high atmosphere.

However I went on autopilot and staged by mistake, decoupling the antenna and batteries before I could use them.

It was thus a failure.

Y1 D17

Flight 3 was the Sumo 3, a rebuild of the Sumo 1 with less fluff.

It succeeded in transmitting most of the science it was supposed to, though I don't think it got to the high atmosphere. The parachute once again failed and it crashed right next to the VAB, another partial failure.

Y1 D18

On this day, the X-1 Prospero, piloted by Jebediah Kerman, flew for the first time. Its goals were to return atmospheric science, some ground science, and break the sound barrier.

However, immediately after takeoff, two of the engines shut down and one of the engines got stuck on full throttle.

Despite this, with the assistance of the built in rocket, the sound barrier was broken in a dive.

The fuel flow was turned off for landing to cut off that stuck engine.

But, despite what I thought was an incredibly gentle landing, the landing gear broke, and Jebediah Kerman was killed. All of the science was lost. Fortunately, the contract completed. Return home safely checked for a moment as the crash took a long time and was gradual. Needless to say, a failure.

Bob channeled that trauma into resolve, though.

Y1 D20

Sumo 4 was up next with another attempt to reach the Karman line. It did so successfully, and completed some contracts, but the parachute once again failed on the way down, meaning we didn't get the space science. Another partial failure.

Y1 D29

Next up was the Sudo 1, because I'm no longer asking nicely. I had unlocked the next parachute node and stuck 5 parachutes on this thing so it might work. However, one of the SRBs exploded.

I decoupled the opposing SRB and lit the core, but with zero actual control authority there wasn't much I could do.

Sudo 1 flew sideways and didn't get very fast due to the huge amount of drag of its parts. I think the engine also failed non catastrophically, so it might have been a thrust loss or something, I didn't read the failure message.

But at least I'll finally be able to recover low atmospheric science, right?

Nope. All 5 parachutes failed.

Another failure.

The adventures of the NSP will continue! Some particularly severe weather is rolling in though and I might drop off the face of the Earth for a few days if the power goes out.

[Ultimate Steve]

NSP Log #2, through Y1 D87

Spoiler

Y1 D31

Valentina took to the skies in the X-1a Prospero for another attempt at what killed Jeb. The aircraft is pretty much identical to the previous. However, an attempt at the sound barrier is precluded by three of the four Junos failing seconds after takeoff. The aircraft could barely limp around using one engine but not particularly well.

The scientific mission was carried out to the best of the aircraft's ability, but the rocket had to be used to turn around due to low airspeed, and I wanted to make it back before sunset to have the best possible chance at landing. As shown above the aircraft was practically falling apart at this point.

After an attempt to bleed off speed bleeds off too much speed, Valentina stalls onto the runway... And once again, the landing gear immediately crumple at the slightest touch.

Fortunately, Valentina survives, but the science does not. Except for the crew reports, of course. That small amount of science is enough for the mission to be considered a partial failure.

Y1 D54

Why the long delay? Well, you see, I got an event card that said the workers were going on strike for 16 days. I could do nothing except for pay salaries during that time. Unless I wanted to launch unintegrated vehicles, which, that would probably not work very well.

Nevertheless, eventually Sudo 2 reached the pad.

It once again experienced an SRB failure. I countered by jettisoning the opposite SRB, but it was yet again not enough.

The vehicle tipped over and did not reach space. It was also too aerodynamic to deploy its chutes, and lawndarted into the ground at about 300m/s.

It was, thus, deemed a failure.

To add insult to injury, Sudo 3, which I think was the upgraded design, was destroyed in a VAB high bay collapse.

Y1 D61

Valentina flew the X-1b Prospero on yet another repeat of the earlier 2 plane flights. It was modified to have 3 parachutes, one of which was earmarked for a parachute test contract that was supposed to be completed by one of the earlier Sudo rockets (sadly they all failed). Miraculously, everything worked flawlessly. Valentina is shown here breaking the sound barrier (not that it matters, the contract was already completed, but Jeb has been avenged) in level flight with four fully operational jet engines!

The rocket was instead used in a zoom climb demonstration. I think this might have been the last ever flight of that small Taerobee engine, at least for now.

Parachute deployment went well, completing the contract.

And, landed! After eight failures and partial failures, the NSP has its first successful mission!

Y1 D70

Sudo 4 is a redesign from the Sudo 1 and Sudo 2, moving the boosters down for less torque if one fails, and angling various components on the upper stage outwards to increase drag to slow down faster.

While it tipped over and went sideways a lot, it reached 85.94 kilometers and collected science from space.

The re entry heat burned off the fins asymmetrically, leading to a sideways stable orientation that slowed the craft down enough for chute deployment. The Sudo 4 splashed down successfully, finally completing the Karman line contracts.

Also on Y1 D70, the Sudo 5 launched.

It was similar to the Sudo 4, but carried mystery goo with the intent to do mystery goo science in atmosphere low and high and space.

It successfully reached space.

However, the engine was used to slow it down a little, and it wasn't going fast enough to burn off the fins, thus, it was too stable and lawndarted into the ground.

Y1 D78

Ponder 1 was launched with this absolutely epic cloud shot. Our first attempt at reaching orbit. BARIS cooperated for the most part, and... I got to orbit with a few km/s of Delta-V remaining going only 2.2km/s? It turns out that I had just assumed the rescale was working properly and didn't bother to check. I reverted the flight to launch.

After some messing with the mods, I got the rescale working. It doesn't change the atmosphere height, so none of my milestones up until Ponder 1 should be very affected.

The rescale teleported me a ways East, and the terrain isn't as epic, but no biggie. Ponder 1 was launched again.

The first stage SRB and one of the third stage SRBs both failed, but those failures were manageable.

Major electrical failures on stage 3 were also counteractable.

What was not counteractable was that I had underestimated the rescale and had not packed enough Delta-V. Thus, Ponder 1 is a failure and did not reach orbit.

Y1 D79

Sudo 6, the last rocket in the Sudo series, took off to again get mystery goo from space.

Included was a set of counter rotated fins (basically 4 wedge rudders) to increase drag. The radial chutes were angled out a little more.

The mission was a complete success save for 3 of the 5 parachutes failing. Fortunately, we only needed 1 for a successful mission. A fin broke on touchdown but those don't matter. What matters is that we got the science and maybe the suborbital return contract, I don't remember when we did that.

Y1 D87

Ponder 2 was launched. If I remember right it was a direct copy of Ponder 1 that we knew wouldn't work but we had already integrated so might as well fly it, if for nothing else to get data on the parts.

Multiple SRB failures doomed it from the start. Or would have if it was ever actually capable of reaching orbit.

Even more catastrophic failures.

The third stage, however, worked just fine and managed to touch down under engine power, recovering science from Kerbin's oceans. So, seeing as the mission wasn't expected to get to orbit in the first place, I'm going to call this a partial success.