Missionlog: The giant construction of the LISA detector! (Mk2)

[Urben]

LISA Mk2: Laser Interferometer Space Antenna

(Note: I've already started a thread about a LISA mission, but I will restart it because I did huge design

changes and want to change the style of the presentation. Enjoy! Mods: Pls close my old thread. Thanks!)

This is my second attempt of a replica of LISA: Laser Interferometer Space Antenna.

The antenna might be the first device which will measure gravitational waves. Why?

Because laser interferometers on Kerbin's surface failed at doing so.

The length of the arm(s) are too short or the seismic activity of the planet are too strong.

So we will put it to space!

The design will be three satellites, arranged to a huge triangle.

To set them into a locked position to each other, they will be connected.

The real-life counterpart isn't doing that, because they hold their positions with RCS.

KSP cant simulate this behavior, so I'll change that by adding "girder-elements".

Sadly, the distance between the satellites is heavily decreased this way.

But it will be still a giant spacecraft!

Arm lengh comparison: (distance satellite-to-satellite)

• Real-life LISA*: 5.000.000.000 meters (almost ten times of the Moon orbit diameter)
  
• Real-life eLISA: 1.000.000.000 meters (more than 40 times of the Mun orbit diameter)
  
• My first LISA*: 40 meters (4 girder-elements)
  
• My second LISA: 360 meters (36 girder-elements)
  * = canceled
  

The girder element:

• 3x M-Beam 200 I-Beam + 2x Clamp-O-Tron Jr.
  
• Length: ~10 meters
  
• One element is strengthened by 4 EAS-4 Strut Connectors.
  
• One element weights 1365 kilograms
  

Yes - my versions are incredibly tiny! But imagine my first try 9 times larger!

Unlike my first attempt, this time, a kerbonaut will help us to construct LISA.

But in case something terrible happens to himâ„¢ every craft is equipped with a computer.

Including a brand new RCS-powered constructor bot! (EDIT: it looks different in the final

version, you will see it in other pictures in this thread)

Mission plan:

1. Bring the main module into a low Kerbin orbit
   
2. Bring a engine module to the main module and dock it
   
3. Bring the constructor bot and the satellites to the main module and dock them
   
4. Bring six girder-element-carriers one by one to the main module and dock them
   -> In case the fuel is low, refuel it at a sub-mission
   
5. Move the apoapsis as close to a nearly Kerbin-escaping position as possible
   
6. Follow the construction plan
   
7. Bring the kerbonaut back to Kerbin
   
8. Bring LISA into a Kerbol orbit
   

Constructing plan:

(Animation by Geschosskopf, thanks!)

LISA Mk2 stats: (expected final construction only)

• Triangle design with a edge length of 360 meters
  
• Total weight: ~160 tons
  
• Total number of parts: 1005
  
• Total Mono propellant: 1500 units / 6 tons
  
• Total Xenon gas: 6600 units / 0.66 tons
  
• Electrical charge: 3120 units
  
• Engines: 6x PB-ION Electric Propulsion Systems
  
• Energysource: 24x OX-STAT Photovoltaic Panels
  
• Manned: No
  

You might be asking why LISA will be constructed at such a elliptical orbit.

The reason is, we do not expect a very stable system with LISA.

Bringing LISA into a Kerbol orbit with stronger engines, it might be ripped apart.

So we've installed ion-engines to kick the apoapsis out of Kerbins orbit. As soft as possible.

The problem is that out-of-plan mission-modules are harder to bring to the construction area.

But we have to deal with it! Hell yeah! For science!

The only mod which will be used is a docking mod to dock in the right angle.

The launch might happen the next days. The rocket still needs to be designed, but the main-module is done. Ill show it later!

Edited November 26, 2013 by Urben

[Urben]

(deleted because the mission was restarted)

Edited November 15, 2013 by Urben

[Urben]

After messing up everything (loaded a quicksave of dozen ingame-years ago), I just restarted the mission and changed some design details.

Early in the morning, the main module began its journey to the orbit.

But nothing of it will follow LISA to the Kerbol orbit once its builded.

Well maybe nothing but some litres of monopropellant.

It is the core of the orbital construction area.

EDIT: Oh no Im wrong, we have added the girders with RCS port to it!

They will be part of LISA. We could need these thing to put the final

parts of the triangle together.

We had no troubles at the launch, and brought it to a 120km circular orbit.

The next module is the engine module. It will bring the construction to a very

elliptical, nearly Kerbin leaving orbit ... later.

Then we brought operational equpiment to the place: the three LISA satellites

and the construction bot. It looks a bit different compared to the first pictures,

but should now work even better.

This docking was a bit trickier. The angle of the satellites have to be right,

otherwise the construction would end into a huge failure. Just like LISA Mk1.

And the ion engines need to point to the same direction as the engine module.

Because once LISA is build, we dont want to rotate LISA for a Kerbin-leaving trust.

As I mentioned, every unnecessary rotation might rip everything apart.

After connecting the satellites to the station, Weve docked the whole transporter

to one of the backup-dockingports. There is plenty fuel left in this thing, so we

might need it later.

Then, the bot was undocked and put on its final parking position on the top of the

control module. Some fuel transport was done after that.

The last thing we did was to bring the first girder carrier to the station. Five other

will follow some time later. It was a bit tricky to dock it, so we docked the station

to the carrier instead. Looks like we cant change that fact with the next carriers.

But weve noticed three of the girders stuck to others. We will try to fix that with

the construction bot and might add some strut connectors to the next carriers.

We did that at LISA Mk1, but it generated much debris, so we tried it without it

this time. Well, now we know it's useful.

If the fixing fails, we will bring three more girders to the station.

All goes to plan...

Edited November 15, 2013 by Urben

[Urben]

Okay Ive added another girder carrier. As expected, the strut connectors

generating much debris. After the docking Ive noticed the sticky girders of the

first carrier are acting normal now. Looks like a reload works.

Thats good. So I dont need these things!

Another Upgrade is a small engine between the carrier and the launch-vehicle.

But it looks like the space between the first three and the second three

docking ports is too small. I think we have to use the backups ports at the bottom.

But there are 4 medium sized ports, not three... I could add one carrier more as

planned. The lag is hell already but who cares? For science!

C ya

[Geschosskopf]

This thing is a monument. I don't quite know to what, but it's definitely got enough monumentality to it to qualify as a monument. Great and impressive work

[Urben]

This thing is a monument. I don't quite know to what, but it's definitely got enough monumentality to it to qualify as a monument. Great and impressive work

Thanks mate! You have to stay until I begin the actual assembling

Now what have we done today... Lemme show you!

After recognizing the space between the dockingports for the carriers is too small,

we had the idea to use the backup ports at the bottom. Well - we did not done that.

The reason is, the carriers are too wide for this position. We have to use dockingports

which are positioned in a tri-symmetry. But dont worry, we came up with a Plan C!

The LISA satellites are using the same sized ports. And they are much thinner.

Now what we did, is tu redocked the carriers and the sattelites one level downwards.

This action took some monoprop' and we have transferred everything we had left in

the docked backupmodule (which was transporting the satellites and the bot in the

first place). After this we were able to finally get rid of this thing.

We raised the throttle of its engine a lil bit and undocked it.

Well bye bye. There it goes... It still had ~1500 litres of fuel (Liqu. + Oxy.).

But we didn't needed it. After it was out of sight, we continued with our work.

It may head its way to duna or something like this. Who knows?

The next thing we did is to connect a third girder carrier. We now have the half

of them. Oh and weve noticed a possible problem. The carrier #2 have some wrong

placed strut connectors. This may happened because of the construction we had

put on there to reduce the wobble at the launch. Now the next carriers wont have

this phenomenon, but it could make trouble at connecting them.

We will do some tests next time. If it is a problem, we will replace the 8 girders.

We will need a sub mission anyways to refill the mono-prop.

[popeter45]

nice

cant wait

[Urben]

As promised, weve checked the weird strut connectors. We used the bot for this task.

After docking, our kerbonaut Bilbas Kerman gone for a EVA and took a closer look.

The result is, everything seems to work just perfect here. No need for replacement!

So back with him, back with the bot and back to the routine: Adding the fourth girder carrier.

We had some trouble to connect the carrier, some mono-prop was wasted. No big deal.

Sidenote: working with 5 times slower ingame time and ~2-3FPS now. But it wont stop me!

[Geschosskopf]

Can't wait to see the assembly happen. My computer is having sympathy pains .

[Urben]

Here we go, we have added the last two carriers!

Now whats on the list... Yea, refilling the mono-pro. and modify the orbit. Alright!

Thats what you will see in the next update. And an accurate plan for the assembling.

Now at 1FPS

[Geschosskopf]

Now at 1FPS

Better open your computer case and aim a big fan into the guts

[Urben]

Update!

We can't say we have done much work the last days, but we are doing some steps forward!

Our checks showed us that ~3000 units of mono-prop. need to be refilled. So we have sent something

to the construction place to do that. It takes some time to refill several dozens of RCS fuel tanks.

We didnt finished this step jet, but it will be done in the near future.

Meanwhile the whole construction was rotated to its final position. From now on, it will remain like this

for the whole main assembly. Right before the assembly starts, we will change its orbital properties.

For doing so we only need to trust forward. But we will come back later to that point.

[Urben]

Now let me present you the assembly plan!

1. 2.

On (1) we see the starting point. On (2) the first 36 girder-modules are put on one of the LISA satellites.

3. 4.

On (3) one of the two yet unused satellites are undocked from the main modul and put on the end of the

first completed arm. On (4) the second arm with the second 36 girder elements will be builded.

5. 6.

On (5) the third satellite is getting connected to the second arm. On (6) the last arm is built.

7. 8.

On (7), the third satellite will be pushed down or up via RCS to be connected to the last arm. The hub

might be something like 2 or 3 metres maximum, depending on the hundredth degrees we cant see on

our docking tool. So the bend on the second arm (bottom) and the wrench on the first arm (right)

are going to be not more than 0.15 degree in the sum. On (8) LISA is finished.

(Animation by Geschosskopf, thanks!)

Thats it for first. You know what is coming up to you in the next updates, so keep lurking!

Edited November 26, 2013 by Urben

[Geschosskopf]

EDIT: Who wants to create a nice gif out of this?

You mean an animated GIF of the construction plan? I can do that. PM me with the individual pics.

Are you still at 1 fps? Geez, this is total dedication.

[Urben]

Yep 1FPS, takes about 3 minutes to refill a empty RCS tank, so thats why I didnt finished the refilling yet. But there are only the satellites to do.

I think the framerate will increase abit once the complexity decreases. If I would be the engine, I would love to calculate 36 girders in a row other than as free bouncing ends.

The posted pics are all individual pics I have, you might add the description under them to the animation if you want. But it would be super cool Thanks!

Edited November 26, 2013 by Urben

[Geschosskopf]

EDIT: Removed because Buggy now has the pic in his original post.

Edited November 26, 2013 by Geschosskopf

[Urben]

This is awesome, thanks! Ill add the gif to some posts

[User Unrelated]

I love space construction! You should totally fly spaceships through it when it is finished haha

[Urben]

Thats a nice idea! I will do that with Bilbas Kerman when I bring him back to the surface.

[Urben]

Sorry for letting you waiting for so long Just installed the update after some hollidays and noticed the massive FPS increase!

Now on 3-4FPS instead of 1. That means: 300-400% more motivation!

The refilling of the Mono Prop was a long and anoying task. There are just so many containers!

But every free space was filled with this stuff. Should be more than 10k units now!

We have undocked the ship and let it crash into Kerbin. No big deal.

It was burning time now! After burning all our fuel for the orbit we had to deal with a new problem:

Not enough fuel!

So... Next Submission! A quick design was made and sent to LISA. Weve pumped the fuel into the three empty

containers near the engines and got rid of this ship, too. After the next burning the final construction orbit was

finally reached: Its just a small push to get LISA out of the SOI of Kerbin or its just another small push to get

the Kerbonaut back to the surface. Pretty isnt it?

[KeithStone]

Looks great so far! I cant quite tell what you are using for the lasers? Also, you might want to look in to partwelder to increase FPS in the future...Eagerly awaiting the construction of this beast!