Jump to content

First Flight (Epilogue and Last Thoughts)

KSK

By KSK
in KSP Fan Works

 Share

Recommended Posts

minepagan

minepagan

Posted
Posted

Alright, just got started on the mod.....KSPI is too damn confusing, scratch that. I'm having some odd texture issues with Tantares, so I am (currently) using only SXT and stock parts. I will, when I'm done with most every other part, add a *few* parts from Tantares, primarily the Vostok, re-scaled to be Rockomax's capsule.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
KSK

KSK

Posted
  • Author
Posted
Jesus, KSK. With all the socio/cultural, biological, and technical brainstorming you've put into the story, I don't think I am the only one here who would LOVE to peek into your notes for First Flight after you are done with it. Something tells me they might be as long as FF itself.

Goodness, that would be a project. Not necessarily for the volume of notes (you might be surprised :) ) but collating them from a motley collection of handwritten pages and text files into something vaguely coherent. Then I'd probably need to add a brief list of Internet sources and dig out some of the impromptu world-building asides from this thread.

Happy to do it though if folks are interested and on a practical note it would be quite useful to review some of my older notes before getting stuck into Part 4 of the story. Meanwhile, my very first set of notes were actually posted on this forum! Some of those ideas made it into the story, others not so much, which I still think was wise. :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites
KSK

KSK

Posted
  • Author
Posted
Alright, just got started on the mod.....KSPI is too damn confusing, scratch that. I'm having some odd texture issues with Tantares, so I am (currently) using only SXT and stock parts. I will, when I'm done with most every other part, add a *few* parts from Tantares, primarily the Vostok, re-scaled to be Rockomax's capsule.

Sweet! Looking forward to seeing how it turns out.

Couple of notes if you need them for balancing.

The Kerbal 1 was powered by a single LV-15 and four RT-5 'Trashcan' SRBs (coined before the official RT-5 'Flea' was a thing.). That combination was enough to push a three kerbal capsule (in my mind, a primitive version of the original 3-kerbal Mk1 capsule now found as an in-game museum piece at KSC) to 35 km.

That's probably about right for the in-game version, although I'll probably need to rescale it in-story at some point. The in-story Kerbin system is scaled to our Earth-Moon system - mainly for ease of research - most of the spaceflight facts and figures are borrowed from NASA. :) The trajectory details for Rockomax's Endurance launch, for example, are based on the real values for the Saturn V. Incidentally, Minmus would almost work in that context, using scaled up distances it's just about within Earth's Hill Sphere, although I took some liberties with its in-game appearance and made it a slightly more plausible captured 'dirty snowball' comet.

The Kerbin 1 (Kerbalkind's first artificial satellite) was launched on a two stage booster consisting of an LV15 powered 1st stage and an LV-902 powered second stage. The LV-902 was basically a smaller derivative of the '15 and still used turbo pumps (a re-engineered version of the less than satisfactory LV-9 pumps.). I think for this to work in-game you would need to assume a very light satellite compared to a very heavy capsule for the Kerbal 1.

The Kerbin 2 (heavier advanced satellite and re-entry test vehicle) was launched to orbit using a slightly updated version of the Kerbin 1 booster. Basically the same '902 powered upper stage but with the improved turbo pump technology that enabled the 902 applied to the LV-15. I don't think I said as much in story but you could call that the LV-20.

The Moho series of single crewed capsules (in-game Mk-1 capsule would be fine) were launched on a massively upgraded version of the Kerbal 1 booster. LV-T20 powered main stage, augmented by four pressure fed LV-905 powered strap-on boosters and a 905 powered upper stage.

The Eve series 3-kerbal capsule and accompanying service module (think Apollo CSM, in-game the Mk1-3 capsule plus a suitable command module would work) was launched on a vastly more powerful booster. Based on a core stage powered by three LV-T30 engines, with an LV-T20 powered upper stage and three LV-T20 powered strap-on boosters. The Eve service module main engine is an LV-909, basically the vacuum version of the 905. In practice, there's not a great deal of difference between the LV-905 and the LV-909 - think Space-X's Merlin C vs Merlin-Vac.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
minepagan

minepagan

Posted
Posted
I just realized that this story was the thing that motivated me to join the forums, so I am doing stock versions of these craft.

You are not the only one.....I'm currently trying to do a munar flyby....guess the probe's name. :-)

Link to comment
Share on other sites
KSK

KSK

Posted
  • Author
Posted

Pictures of any First Flight craft - stock or modded - would be cool! And I'm really stoked about the mod!

minepagan - provided it's not called Satellite 5 everything should be good. :)

Yukon - The actual KIS launch site is at KSC, Barkton is further west i.e. close enough to provide a feasible population centre but safely distant from the rocket launches. However, the KIS facilities aren't quite what you see in-game (at any tech level). The launch pad and VAB are out of town but all the admin buildings are back at Barkton as are the manufacturing facilities. This may change eventually but at the moment, all the KIS hardware is built at what used to be Jeb's junkyard*on the outskirts of town and then hauled out to the VAB for assembly, systems testing etc.

* Which, it's safe to say, has grown somewhat larger since it became Jeb's junkyard and spaceship parts company. :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites
minepagan

minepagan

Posted
Posted
Pictures of any First Flight craft - stock or modded - would be cool! And I'm really stoked about the mod!

minepagan - provided it's not called Satellite 5 everything should be good. :)

Yukon - The actual KIS launch site is at KSC, Barkton is further west i.e. close enough to provide a feasible population centre but safely distant from the rocket launches. However, the KIS facilities aren't quite what you see in-game (at any tech level). The launch pad and VAB are out of town but all the admin buildings are back at Barkton as are the manufacturing facilities. This may change eventually but at the moment, all the KIS hardware is built at what used to be Jeb's junkyard*on the outskirts of town and then hauled out to the VAB for assembly, systems testing etc.

* Which, it's safe to say, has grown somewhat larger since it became Jeb's junkyard and spaceship parts company. :)

Lol, nope it's Muna 1.

And also, a little slow on the modding: I just discovered an amazing game called 'Take On Mars'.

Now that the hype is (mostly) over, I will resume work tomorrow. :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites
minepagan

minepagan

Posted
Posted

I'm making them between size-0 and size-1. The tanks will be size-1, but the engines are sortof in the middle.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
minepagan

minepagan

Posted
Posted

I had them look more....incomplete....and exposed.....(the LV-9s)but nice job! I was trying to, (for simplicity later on), make engines one part, and since I can't model for crap......I'm pretty much limited to certain parts mods with specific licenses. For low RAM, I am choosing SXT (mostly)

Link to comment
Share on other sites
KSK

KSK

Posted
  • Author
Posted

Getting a bit choked here - great work both of you! Love the skinny LV-902 on minepagan's Kerbin 1 - that really does look like a souped up hobby rocket. Likewise, I love Yukon's use of stock parts to give the LV-15 that cobbled together look.

I've added a new section to the contents list...:)

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Ekken

Ekken

Posted
Posted

This story is amazing! It's by far the best fanfic I've ever seen and it's even better than some books I've read recently. I haven't finished yet, I'm only up to "The Best Laid Plans," but I can't wait to keep going. I actually think I like the Kermol sections better, because they're a unique addition to the KSP universe we already know.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
minepagan

minepagan

Posted
Posted
Getting a bit choked here - great work both of you! Love the skinny LV-902 on minepagan's Kerbin 1 - that really does look like a souped up hobby rocket. Likewise, I love Yukon's use of stock parts to give the LV-15 that cobbled together look.

I've added a new section to the contents list...:)

Thank you! I may or may not have blushed while reading that....:blush:

I thought you might like those. You should see the LV-1!

(NOTE: Not my models. They are Lack's, from SXT. Same for the LVT-15. credit for models goes to him: I merely edited configs.)

Link to comment
Share on other sites
KSK

KSK

Posted
  • Author
Posted
This story is amazing! It's by far the best fanfic I've ever seen and it's even better than some books I've read recently. I haven't finished yet, I'm only up to "The Best Laid Plans," but I can't wait to keep going. I actually think I like the Kermol sections better, because they're a unique addition to the KSP universe we already know.

Thanks very much! :blush:

Very glad you're enjoying it and the second chapter after 'Best Laid Plans' has my personal favourite opening lines of any chapter in the story so far. Too bad they're kind of borrowed from another author, rather than something I can claim much credit for myself!

And, yes, I know exactly what you mean about the Kermol sections. The spaceflight sections are fun to write but at the same time they're quite difficult to write - I think most KSP players will have a rough idea of where they're going although hopefully I can keep folks guessing about the fine details. There's much more leeway for storytelling with the Kermol.

Speaking of which, first draft of the next chapter is about done. It needs polishing, which is much easier on my desktop machine (rather than my tablet), so it'll be a few days yet before it gets added to this thread. But yeah - getting there. :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites
KSK

KSK

Posted
  • Author
Posted (edited)

There was an accident with a liquid lunch, a particle accelerator and a rogue autocorrect. :) Sorry about that - should be fixed now.

The 905s are pressure fed - there's a bit in 'Project Moho' after the crew selection scene, where Wernher and a couple of the propulsion team are testing the 905 prototype, that gives some background. The 903 was the original pressure fed version of the 902 (with upgraded combustion chamber) but it suffered from pogo problems. Wernher had to redesign the fuel lines to get rid of an unwanted resonance mode and after a couple of iterations that redesign was given the 905 version number.

Pressure fed engines are a thing incidentally. :) They're great for reliability because they have very few moving parts. Open a couple of valves and whoosh - hypergolics mix and engine fires. I think all the on-orbit engines for Apollo were pressure fed for that reason. The downside is that they - unsurprisingly - need quite a bit of pressurised gas to force the propellants out of their tanks, and that pressurised gas needs to be stored in a relatively heavy tank of its own.

Edit - they're also limited by mass flow - turbopumps tend to be better at shifting large amounts of propellant than pressurised gas. So I think they tend to have relatively low performance compared to pump fed engines.

They have been used a couple of times as atmospheric engines (so Wernher isn't completely crazy :) ) but their weight and performance makes them an outsider choice for that role.

Here endeth the lecture. :)

Edited by KSK
Link to comment
Share on other sites
minepagan

minepagan

Posted
Posted (edited)

Ok.....so (if you are fine with it) I will make the LV-905 have the same (or similar) model to the LV-909. (Since they use similar Tech).

And for the pre-LV-T30s.....what are they? And what do you imagine them looking like? And I've added gimbal to the LV-T30. I Remember you asking for that.

Specifically, what tech do they use (pumps, pressure, ect.) and what environment did they excel in? I assume they were mostly best ASL. :wink:

Man.....chrome is having a fit with all these abbreviations.....:D

Edited by minepagan
Clarification (minor)
Link to comment
Share on other sites
This thread is quite old. Please consider starting a new thread rather than reviving this one.

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
 Share
Go to topic listing
×
×
  • Create New...