Modular 100-ton Duna Ship

[Wait- Was That Important?]

Hey KSP Community,

I'm trying to do a campaign- style run through of KSP, and have been using KW Rocketry among other mods. I've been self- enforcing my rule of building realistic LV's, and so far it's worked out great (the fairings in particular make designing ships a novel yet fun challenge, so I have to make them fit into certain spaces to launch successfully).

This 170-ton station was constructed using my launch vehicles, and proved that they work.

The launch of the first component- a fairly simple 25 ton command pod, strut section with solar panels, RCS, and battery, and two hab sections. That cylinder sticking out the top is the Launch Escape Tower, it's a relatively short payload so the fairing fitting is awkward.

The second component docking. It has two lateral docking ports for payloads, two hab sections, and a long central truss structure to allow attachment of large payloads along with over 4000 units of RCS. This was my first time using multiple docking ports- I didn't use subassembly loader, so it took some kajiggering in the VAB to get working, but it connected without much difficulty.

This is the launch of the third and heaviest component, weighing in at 57 tons. 40 tons of fuel and a 10 ton NERVA make up most of the mass, along with one extra hab space for engineering, requiring me to use my heaviest launch vehicle with 39,000 units of liquid fuel.

I didn't want to add to the mass by fitting RCS tanks or ports, so I actually just docked the two previously docked components with RCS and tankage to the propulsion section.

The fully assembled vessel, ready to receive a Duna colony module and additional external fuel tankage as ballast. With 3000 units of dV, I should be able to get to Duna. Since it's modular, I can ditch sections as needed, so if it's looking iffy I'll just lose the middle section as there's enough hab space without colonists on board and enough attachment space without a payload to not be required.

It weighs 105 tons and is probably 70-80m long.

As long as any modules use the three docking port arrangement, I can arrange the ship however I want- If, for example, I were to want to bring it to Jool and back, I'd dock two more fuel tanks sans engines on the center axis and another fuel tank/ engine arrangement. Preliminary estimates (screwing around in the VAB) give it 8,000 dV.

Questions, comments, and criticisms are all appreciated!

[Shuttle]

I like the way you installed triple docking ports A LOT, they look awesome! I personally don't like docking so I prefer to put all the payload I need into orbit with one launch.

Does this station wobble under 100% thrust?

[Wait- Was That Important?]

I like the way you installed triple docking ports A LOT, they look awesome! I personally don't like docking so I prefer to put all the payload I need into orbit with one launch.

Does this station wobble under 100% thrust?

The station only has single docking ports, so it's fairly wobbly.

The ship has very little wobble under full thrust- 400 kN with that 2.5m NERVA on the back there. I figure it could be twice as long and still fine.

[ROFLCopter64bit]

What mods are you using? Those truss structures look good.

[Wait- Was That Important?]

What mods are you using? Those truss structures look good.

Actually, I just used the KW 1.25m fuel tanks. The truss structures are just normal trusses attached to the sides of them, which I discovered look pretty cool. The white tanks attached to the side of them are the RCS tanks from the Soyuz pack.

[footman04]

Interplanetary Multimission Ship

Somewhere over 100 tons.

It's made of three modules. A mission module, a crew module, and an engine module.

The mission module is a Duna lander that is theoretically capable of returning to orbit. It would re-attach to the nose for the return journey, the two kerbalnauts onboard transfering back to the crew section prior to the return burn.

The crew module has a maximum capacity of 28 kerbalnauts, with all spots filled. The main crew section has a capacity of 23 kerbalnauts, with the other 5 coming from the lander and the engines.

The engine module has eight 1 metre Nuclear engines and a single 2 metre Nuclear engine from the KSPX mod. The module gives 600 mn of thrust and had above 3000 delta v before launch.

It is extremely bulky and hard to maneuver. It flexes at the docking points and has to be stabilized with time acceleration. It is capable of its mission, though.

Hopefully you can learn from my mistakes.

[iDan122]

Already did this, I made my ship out of two components, docked them with 3 ports,cthe living module stage has 2 ports, one has an orbital module just in case, the second one for a return lander. Anyway I sent a habitat to Duna, then a lander to orbit, then i sen my mother ship, now the crew is in the habitat with one of them 11km away in a rover. Not sure how much delta-v I had but I have still a few thousand units of fuel to return home. Also I have 3 nuclear engines whic did a great job, although to leave Kerbin I had to do the ejection burn after an orbit after raising it almost to a trans-Munar one. On the second orbit I succesfully escaped.

Await images soon....

[azazel1024]

Very nice.

I just finished my Jool Station (actually might end up being a Laythe station). I haven't been to Jool since .17 and I feel like it is time. Unlike my normal process of sending a probe first, I am going going mun rocks to the wall and just launching a Station there. I'll send a lander later (other than Laythe, I've never landed on any of Jool's moons). I have the Jool station on a 300->580km orbit waiting to kick in the main stage NERVAs. I had boosted it up with the remaining fuel in the fuel tanks and Atlas engine that was the final stage of the station after assembling everything in orbit. I should have more than enough dV to get to Jool. I used a similar arrangement to get to Moho with a slightly heavier arrangement (smaller station, but rover and manned lander were included in that mission) and had maybe 10-15% fuel remaining in the final tank, so I suspect I should be able to get there with 20-30% fuel remaining in the last tank.

Its 3 rockomax jumbos with a 2.5m NERVA on the end. Central tank/engine and two side tank/engines. At 33% fuel remaining, I cut out the engines, transfer all fuel from the side tanks to the central and jettison the side tanks. This time around I have the central tank setup so I can jettison the engine once I get a good orbit around Jool/Laythe and leave the tank attached to refuel future missions (for landers and/or Eyloo missions).

Pictures to come.

Edited April 22, 2013 by azazel1024

[Eric S]

The ship has very little wobble under full thrust- 400 kN with that 2.5m NERVA on the back there. I figure it could be twice as long and still fine.

That's not easy to judge until you've experimented with it, since the wobble isn't a linear function of the length. Without any reinforcement, just shortening one of my motherships by 25% took it from almost wobbling itself apart (it actually did once during testing) to almost no noticeable wobble. Not saying you're wrong, just that that problem comes on a lot faster than you expect.

[iDan122]

To reduce wobbliness I pumped all of the liquid and RCS fuel into the propulsion stage in the back which really helped so try not spreading fuel around your ship too much otherwise it's like a steel ball on a rope

[Swifty]

I find using a puller design works really well for very large ships to prevent wobble.

Your ship does look really good .

[musicpenguin]

Thats pretty awesome

[Moon Goddess]

Actually, I just used the KW 1.25m fuel tanks. The truss structures are just normal trusses attached to the sides of them, which I discovered look pretty cool. The white tanks attached to the side of them are the RCS tanks from the Soyuz pack.

I love those RCS tanks from Soyuz, they look so good I put them on everything. Wish Heat was an issue in this game so that the radiators mattered.

[magnemoe]

To reduce wobbliness I pumped all of the liquid and RCS fuel into the propulsion stage in the back which really helped so try not spreading fuel around your ship too much otherwise it's like a steel ball on a rope

This is common strategy. I even found that trim tanks are a good idea.

I would recommend using quantum or docking struts on your ship, it pretty much removes wobbling.

[laiod]

How did you make your first launch vehicle look so good?

[Vanamonde]

Hmm. This should have been moved to Mission Reports a while back. But it's here now, so it all worked out in the end.