N-1 Russian Space Race!

[HansBlix]

Well after my success with an Apollo analogue, and after being inspired by another post here, i thought i would give the Russian N1 and associated lander a go. As it turns out, it worked out much better than i expected. Naturally however, there where a number of mishaps and missteps along the way, in true Soviet form.

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Basic specs to start:

• 4 stage rocket (2 ascent, 1 circularize, 1 transfer) with lander module and command module sitting on top.
  
• Total Delta V is a little shady, as is the final weight, courtesy of procedural fairings and kerbal engineer not playing well.
  
• Delta V at best guess is in the 7000 range. Mission to mun left me with 1000m/s in the transfer stage, and on arrival back at kerbin still had another 1000m/s or so in the tank. Plus the lander had plenty of fuel to get down and back to orbit.
  
• 482 parts, gets a little choppy at launch but not overly so (gotta love having a good processor )
  
• KE thinks the final weight is about 330 tonnes, although that seems a little on the light side so there may be a stage or 2 not included (the only way to see weight/delta V is on the launch pad for some reason and it just doesn't "feel" right).
  

Mission profile:

Little wobbly on launch, its a hell of big fat rocket and the top half being unsupported by launch towers tends to let it get a sway on before launch. Once physics settle down and during launch though it seems to sort itself out, although taking off some of the gimbals is essential to stop it getting a pendulum effect on. I got lucky with the launch supports, they literally scrape the sides of the first stage, but it doesn't seem to cause any issues at launch :S

Interesting little note, my first attempt actually got a POGO effect going on pretty good, just like the real thing (saw it mentioned as i was researching N1 design/mission profile). Obviously the cause was not enough struts and too much power as apposed to fuel movement, but i'll take it!

Ended up with a shade under 2000m/s deltaV left on orbit so some interplanetary stuff is not out of the question. The angled stages are curious. It means lots of space for engines so more power, and a lot of fuel in a shorter package. Overall i would say the design is actually more efficient than my Apollo analogue even taking into account the lighter payload. Requires more testing!!

Until clear of atmo, it runs at about 2/3 throttle to keep under terminal velocity. At open throttle this thing really hustles!!

I got to the Mun, but realised after EVA and decoupling that i had left the damn RGU off the command section. The lander has no rcs (to keep weight down) so docking from there is a no go. I carried on regardless and planned to get close, eva back to the command section, and dock from there. The landing went well as did the ascent, unfortunately I ran out of fuel for the final intercept burn (assumed i would use the command section to do the final intercept and dock) so promptly eva'd thinking i could just leave the lander floating. Only problem was i had intercepted the spent third stage rather than the command section! I found it about 20km away and had no option but to try to eva all the way too it. Grabbed the ladder with under 1.5% fuel left in my jet pack ! \o/.

Easy trip back to Kerbin with plenty of fuel to spare.

Build notes:

• Just like the real thing, this thing is full of struts and fuel lines making it tricky to put together and susceptible to mistakes. Each of the first 3 stages has between 24 and 32 fuel lines in it, as well as internal strutting to keep everything solid. Add to that the obvious weak points between the stages and keeping this thing together was tough!
  
• Have used procedural fairings, KW rocketry and Novapunch mods to get the right engines (in terms of power, not looks unfortunately) and for the fuel tanks to keep part counts down/fit the fairings on each stage (just realised i probably could have used procedural tanks... damn!).
  
• Lander and Command Modules are 1.25m as apposed to my Apollo using 2.5m parts, figure that lines up with the real design which is about 1/2 the weight of the Apollo gear.
  
• The angled sections are procedural fairings with different sized base plates at each end as caps, and filled to the brim with as many tanks as i could squeeze in within the fairing outline.
  
• The first stage is slightly different. Proc fairings does not have a base wide enough (5m max) so used the procedural base plate at the bottom to get the desired width. At i guess i would put the base at around 7.5-8m or so. After that it was just add as many engines as possible and strut the hell out of the stages
  

Still some playing to do to get something bigger than a 1 man capsule on it, and see if i can get the engines more realistic in terms of numbers/layout.

As always feedback/suggestions welcome!

Hans