The Didactic Space Program [Picture Heavy]

[wally_kun]

"We've got scrap and something to prove. They've got cash and a place to be. Sky's the deadline, people! Let's make this happen."

A long time ago in a galaxy far far away I joined the BobCat colonization challenge. Since then the forum has gone to hell at least once, the challenge died, started back up, and died again, and I lost my information to my previous account. I'm going to pick it back up and start from scratch with an official theme. We're doing this legit.

The hierarchy of the program is as follows:

Program

-Project

--Mission

Essentially, within the program there will be several projects, each made up of several missions each. Simple. But let's move onto the guidelines of the challenge itself.

Didactic Space Program Parameters/Rules

* Deaths are highly frowned upon, but technically permissible. The total accumulative amount of deaths in the program in its entirety will cap at ten. If 11 Kerbals die, game over.

- A "catastrophic failure" is defined as any mission that results in Kerbal death. Even if it is only one death each, if two catastrophic failures occur consecutively, game over. The program can't tolerate that kind of failure.

- Likewise, there are deadlines to meet. The cap for total number of failed missions per project is four. If the fifth mission for the rest of the project ends in failure, even if no one dies, game over. We're on a contract.

* This is not hardcore mode. Every mission is allowed a total of five "simulation" flights to test the waters and see what's what. No penalties apply, just as the mission is still incomplete if all goals are fulfilled within that simulation. When the sixth vessel appears on the launch pad, it's real.

* Any Kerbal lost to space or that is left afloat for over a week is deemed KIA.

* While not technically a rule, every effort will be made to clean up space debris for the sake of tidiness.

Didactic Space Program Statistics

Completed Projects: 0

Total Flights: 1

Missions Launched: 1

Failed Missions: 0

Catastrophic Failures: 0

Death Count: 0

Debris Count: 0

Current Flights: 1

Colony count: 0

Current Project: Hermes Project

Mission Archive

Hermes I (simulation reports)

Hermes I (Successful)

Edited July 30, 2013 by wally_kun

[wally_kun]

Simulation 1 Report

Blueprint used: Communitron 1.0

Objective: Deliver payload (communication satelite) to low to medium-Kerbin orbit to establish communication network.

Summary:

Simulation begins. Vessel stable on launch pad.

Engines ignite, launch clamps release. Main liquid engine immediately cuts back to compensate for the amount of lift provided by solid rocket boosters.

Solid rocket boosters cut out at roughly 14 km. Liquid engine throttles up to full; stage launched. Boosters neatly drop away.

Standard flight profile follows. Delivery stage cuts out well above Kerbin atmosphere. Payload fairings dropped shortly after delivery stage separation before secondary engine ignites.

Secondary engines more than enough to establish near-orbit before dropping in the interest of preventing debris. Satelite opens solar panels and assumes proper angle for full exposure.

Payload engines ignite. Orbit rapidly established. Final orbit circularized at roughly 400 km.

Instruments deploy.

Simulation ends.

Notes:

*The amount of thrust provided from the initial launch stage was unprescedented. Far too much fuel wasted on secondary stage.

**Satelite noted to possess massive amounts of delta-v. The miniature Poodle engine noted for extremely effective delivery.

Simulation 2 Report

Blueprint used: Communitron 1.1

Objective: Deliver payload (communication satelite) to low to medium-Kerbin orbit to establish communication network.

Summary:

Simulation begins. Vessel stable on launch pad.

Engines ignite, launch clamps release. Engines set to 20 percent to compensate initial ascent. Vessel noted to acquire a slight spin that is compensated for effectively.

Solid rocket boosters cut out at roughly 14 km. Liquid engine throttles up to full; stage launched. Boosters neatly drop away.

Standard flight profile follows. Heading set to 0 as opposed to the usual 90 degrees for polar orbit. Payload fairings dropped at roughly 35 km.

Primary engine cuts out; vehicle stages and secondary engine fires, nearly completing the orbit before detaching the payload in the interest of preventing space debris. Satelite opens solar panels and quickly completes orbit.

Final orbit circularized at roughly 400 km to match the first simulated flight. Orbits appear to roughly intersect at a 90 degree angle.

Instruments deploy.

Simulation ends.

Notes:

* Fuel was reduced on the secondary stage, but is still excessive in the amount of fuel needed to deliver the payload. Satelite can likely deliver itself well out of Kerbin orbit.

* Slight spin during initial ascent was largely unremarkable but unexpected. No struts used on the vessel so it's unclear why splitting the secondary stage's fuel in about half would produce that kind of spin. Vehicle is perfectly symetrical.

Simulation 3 Report

Blueprint used: Communitron 1.2

Objective: Deliver payload (communication satelite) to low to medium-Kerbin orbit to establish communication network.

Summary:

Simulation begins. Vessel stable on launch pad.

Engines ignite, launch clamps release. Engines set to 20 percent to compensate initial ascent. Vessel noted to acquire a slight spin that is compensated for effectively.

Solid rocket boosters cut out at roughly 14 km. Liquid engine throttles up to full; stage launched. Boosters neatly drop away. Vehicle noted to acquire a slightly more prominent spin that is easily controlled by additional winglets. Ascent slightly crooked at times but well controlled.

Standard flight profile follows. Heading set to 90 degrees for standard orbit. Payload fairings dropped at roughly 35 km.

Primary engine cuts out; vehicle stages and secondary engine fires, nearly completing the orbit before detaching the payload in the interest of preventing space debris. Satelite opens solar panels and quickly completes orbit.

Final orbit circularized at roughly 400km.

Instruments deploy.

Simulation ends.

Notes:

* Source of spinning still not clear. Winglets made the vessel much more touchy and initial gravity turn was a bit of a struggle until the air really thinned out. Recommend ditching the winglets, it was fine before.

* Amount of fuel wasted in secondary stage still excessive. Recommend ditching it entirely; satelite is extremely lively and can probably eject itself from Kerbin orbit all on its own. Don't need to waste fuel.

* Fairings are probably a bit too large for the payload. Recommend shrinking from 1.25m expanded to regular 1.25. Can tilt the antennae a bit more inward if necessary.

Simulation 4 Report

Blueprint used: Communitron 1.3

Objective: Deliver payload (communication satelite) to low to medium-Kerbin orbit to establish communication network.

Summary:

Simulation begins. Vessel stable on launch pad.

Engines ignite, launch clamps release. Engines set to 20 percent to compensate initial ascent. Vessel noted to acquire a slight spin that only slightly manifests during early launch. Easily compensated.

Solid rocket boosters cut out at roughly 14km. Liquid engine throttles up to full; stage launched. Boosters neatly drop away.

Initial launch stage carries payload to nearly 1,000km before premature cutoff. Stage launched; payload ignites engines and carries on at full throttle.

Payload continues to burn full throttle until fuel runs out. Un-removed flight marker reveals total delta-v produced to be near 4,500.

Simulation ends.

Notes:

* At first I thought Jeb was dicking around, but he proved his point: even without the secondary stage, the satelite itself is way too powerful for what we're using it for. Recommend removing the miniature FL-T400 and just sticking to some Oscar-B's and an Ant. Also cut out the smaller fuel tank on the launch stage. We're making a communication system in orbit, not journeying to the center of the universe.

Simulation 5 Report

Blueprint used: Communitron 1.4

Objective: Deliver payload (communication satelite) to low to medium-Kerbin orbit to establish communication network.

Summary:

Simulation begins. Vessel stable on launch pad.

Engines ignite, launch clamps release. Engines set to 20 percent to compensate initial ascent. Vessel is highly responsive but no spin noted during ascent.

Solid rocket boosters cut out at roughly 7.5km. Liquid engine throttles up to full; stage launched. Boosters neatly drop away.

Standard flight profile follows. Vessel resistant to turning but successfully completes a full gravity turn. Heading set to 90 degrees for standard orbit. Payload fairings dropped at roughly 35 km.

Primary launch stage cuts out at roughly 475km. Payload detaches and deploys solar panels.

Final orbit circularized at approximately 468km.

Instruments deploy.

Simulation ends.

Notes:

* We essentially halved everything about this rocket and still managed to get this thing not only above the target altitude with enough fuel to make course corrections, but did it with some of our most inefficient engines on the satelite itself. Total part count is 25. That includes launch clamps.

* I say we're ready to launch this thing. We could chop it down some more to save money but no point now. Get the crawler, our first rocket launches two days.

Simulation uses expired. Hermes I launch immanent...

[wally_kun]

Hermes I Mission Report

Blueprint used: Communitron 1.4

Objective: Deliver payload (communication satelite) to low to medium-Kerbin orbit to establish communication network.

Summary:

Showtime. First launch of the program. Here's to a good launch.

And frankly I'm not worried. This thing is minimalistic as hell and very effective. This should be done and over pretty quick. Simple mission.

Standard takeoff.

Standard staging. Also note the lack of a delivery stage. Initial launch stage is more than good enough.

Probably the biggest thing that happened in the entire mission: the action group borked up. But hey, not like we're getting graded on style.

Mission Status: Successful

Bit of a boring flight all things considered, but gotta start somewhere. Going to get about three more of these up in the air before we can do anything else. Should be pretty easy. Probably.