[CLOSED] Kerbin and Beyond: a Maturing Space Program

Geschosskopf · April 21, 2014

This thread continues to fascinate. Plus, now that I'm trying the Interstellar mod myself, I'm finding it useful to reread the earlier pages for tips and tricks.

Northstar1989 · April 27, 2014

I'm glad to hear that you're enjoying it man!

If you're looking for more information on KSP-Interstellar, there's a wiki on it, by the way:

https://github.com/FractalUK/KSPInterstellar/wiki

Regards,

Northstar

Northstar1989 · April 29, 2014

OK, so more images!

First of all, the Duna Science Module made yet another boring aerobrake pass:

Then, the Duna Crew Module adjusted its periapse for aerobrake (it was previously on a collision course) and caught fire beautifully in the Dunan atmosphere (even without atmospheric oxygen, apparently). The G-forces weren't allowed to climb too high, of course, as this design was less reinforced than the Duna Science Module, and I saw no need to black this crew out...

Following that, I came to two awful realizations:

(1) I had captured the Duna Science Module into a retrograde orbit whereas I had captured the Duna Crew Module into a prograde orbit. The two vessels were intended, of course, to orbit in the same direction- as I will eventually be scrapping the entire armada and reassembling the parts into a permanent space station in orbit around Duna (with the largest portion of the material' being sent to the surface to build a colony, of course).

(2) The Duna Science Module and the Duna Crew Module were going to reach their next periapse at nearly the exact same time. This, of course, presented problems for making sure that the physics were loaded for both craft to allow aerobraking, and neither possibly disappeared in the Dunan atmosphere...

I managed to juggle around the vessel loading such that both aerobrake maneuvers were simulated more or less accurately, however, and neither craft disappeared...

Both crews alive and well, a bit more time passed, and the Duna Crew Module made its second aerobrake. This is going to be a longggg wait until either vessel is anywhere close to ready for orbit stabilization:

The Duna Science Module is built for an Ike landing- which gave me an idea... It might cost less Delta-V to use Ike to reverse the Duna Science Module's orbit than it would to do so using a burn at apoapsis.

Alternatively, placing the Duna Science Module in a stable Ike orbit (a highly elliptical, retrograde Duna orbit is actually the best possible starting point for a transfer to a prograde Ike orbit) is also appealing, as this would position the Duna Scinece Module to land near future ISRU refineries on Ike's surface- where it could refuel its Aluminum Hybrid Rockets, as well as acquire a full load of Oxidizer from regolith electrolysis. This would enable it to perform its originally intended role of supplementing my initial fuel budget (which is intentionally LiquidFuel heavy) with Oxidizer, stretching my Delta-V until ice-mining and refining operations on Duna eventually supply me with all the fuel I could ever want...

Regards,

Northstar

Edited April 29, 2014 by Northstar1989

Northstar1989 · April 29, 2014

A note on the ISRU refineries, ice-mining, and its products for those not particularly familiar with them (such as Geschosskopf)

- Standard (NOT in-line) ISRU refineries can directly gather "LiquidWater" from subsurface ice deposits they are landed on, such as those found on Duna, the Mun (in the norther craters), Vall (assumed to be essentially a giant ball of ice), and Minmus (small amounts of ice are mixed with the crystal on the "lake beds").

- LiquidWater can either be used as a propellant for nuclear thermal rockets, or electrolyzed in the ISRU refinery (or in-line version) into LiquidFuel and Oxidizer (in the 8:1 mass ration dictated by water's stoichiometry).

- LiquidFuel can be combined with atmospheres containing Carbon Dioxide through the Sabatier Process (at the ISRU refinery or in-line version) to generate LiquidMethane and LiquidWater. If the byproduct LiquidWater is electrolyzed, however, it will not produce enough Oxidizer to burn all of the LiquidMethane. The excess LiquidMethane can either be burned with excess Oxidizer from LiquidWater electrolysis (useful if you are performing ice-mining), or Oxidizer from other sources such as regoltih electrolysis. It can also be passed directly through nuclear thermal rockets as propellent, as can pure LiquidFuel or LFO mix.

A sample ISRU operation:

Mine: 36 tons LiquidWater

Refining Step #1: Electrolyze the 36 tons of LiquidWater [2 H2O --> 2 H2 + O2] into Oxidizer and LiquidFuel. This will give you 32 tons of Oxidizer and 4 tons of LiquidFuel.

Refining Step #2: Combine the 4 tons of LiquidFuel (H2) with CO2 in Duna's atmosphere via the Sabatier Reaction [CO2 + 4 H2 --> CH4 + 2 H2O] to get 8 tons of LiquidMethane and 18 tons of LiquidWater

Refining Step #3: Electrolyze the 18 additional tons of LiquidWater to get 16 more tons of Oxidizer and 2 more tons of LiquidFuel

Utilization #1: Combust the 8 tons of LiquidMethane with the 32 tons of Oxidizer [CH4 + 2 O2 --> CO2 + 2 H2O] for Delta-V at a high thrust!

Utilization #2: Either:

(A) Pass the remaining 2 tons of LiquidFuel through a thermal rocket or plasma thruster for even more Delta-V at a high ISP! (either type of engine can be powered off a nuclear reactor on the craft, or for much better rocket performance, off a microwave beamed power network- which can work off either nuclear reactors in stable orbits or on the ground, or massive solar farms...)

( OR, run the LiquidFuel through the Sabatier Reaction one last time. Combust the LiquidMethane produced for even more Delta-V!

I hope this post is useful for those of you who are considering utilizing KSP-Interstellar's In-Situ Resource Utilization system.

Note that I've repeatedly nagged FractalUK, the creator of KSP-Interstellar, to include the Reverse Water Gas Shift Reaction [CO2 + H2 --> CO + H2O] to allow one to essentially strip just Oxidizer from Duna's atmosphere without consuming LiquidFuel when coupling it with electrolysis. This would be useful if you shipped LiquidFuel to Duna from Kerbin (like I did), as it would provide a means of producing Oxidizer for combusting the LiquidMethane you get by running your LiquidFuel through the Sabatier Reaction- you only produce half the Oxidizer needed from electrolyzing the LiquidWater produced. However, he's shown not yet shown any sign that he's going to include the RWGS reaction, ostensibly until a better system can be implemented for organizing the existing reactions than a right-click menu- if he ever includes it at all.

Regards,

Northstar

May13 EDIT: Corrected my math *AGAIN*, and changed the explanation to match. I don't know why it was so hard for me to balance a few chemical equations- I used to be GREAT at basic chemistry like this back in high school and my freshman year of college...

Edited May 13, 2014 by Northstar1989

Northstar1989 · May 6, 2014

OK, so more news on my Duna operations!

First of all, the Duna Science Module got an Ike encounter near apoapsis that decreased the eccentricity a bit and pulled the periapsis back above the atmosphere:

I actually kind of figured this would happen at some points- I just kind of hoped it wouldn't be quite so soon...

Regardless, I was getting impatient with how long the aerobraking was taking... Here's the Duna Crew Module after yet ANOTHER aerobrake pass:

So I decided to just screw efficiency and waste a bit of fuel lowering the periapsis further so I could get this over with already:

It looks like I lowered the periapse a bit too far though. Below the DCM is having to *RAISE* its apoapsis on the way back out of the Dunan atmosphere after it became apparent that at the rate its orbital velocity was decaying, it wasn't even going to make it back out...

(Duna's atmosphere is far too soupy compared to real life Mars- Duna's atmosphere is 20% as think as Kerbin's at sea level. Mars' is only 1% as thick as Earth's at sea level, by comparison. Duna does have a reduced scale height compared to Kerbin though- whereas in real life, Mars' atmosphere falls off more gradually than Earth's...)

I also plotted a maneuver node to bring the Duna Science Module's periapsis back within the atmosphere, this time much lower than before:

I decided to circularize the Duna Crew Module's orbit at about 100 km (though I changed the maneuver node to circularize at 104 after thinking a bit: so that I could maintain a constant 100 km+ time-warp factor with the vessel loaded)

After seeing how the Duna Crew Module played out with a 14 km periapsis, I might want to re-consider utilizing a 12 km periapsis for the Duna Science Module. Then again, its apoapsis *IS* much higher, so it has a lot more velocity to bleed off, and I don't necessarily mind spending a bit of extra fuel (I'll think of it as compensating for KSP parts, the lack of budget restrictions, and Kerbal's current lack of need for life support being a bit OP'd at times), but I *DO* mind spending a bit more time on this aerobrake... I do *NOT* want to have to go in for another pass after this one...

Regards,

Northstar

Northstar1989 · May 6, 2014

The saga continues...

So, as planned, the Duna Science Module lowered it periapsis to 12 km. However several F5/F9 *cough* "simulations" revealed that was far too low, so when the Duna Science Module was close to Duna, I raised the periapsis to 16 km:

Then, on the way out of the aerobrake, I decided to circularize the orbit then and there:

Why, you might ask? I had an idea. A brilliant idea. A most conspicuous idea!

I was to land the Duna Science Module on the surface of Duna here and now!

And, after many, many, many attempts to perform the entire landing with MechJeb, I realized an automated landing was all but impossible (MechJeb did everything from literally landing ON TOP OF the decommissioned probe used to mark the landing site to starting the deceleration burn late and smashing into the ground at 256 m/s to landing a couple dozen meters away at 36 m/s...), and ended up performing a hybrid landing where I took over the final part myself. I did manage to capture some nice screenshots before I took over though:

This constituted my first manned interplanetary landing! Though I had already sent an interplanetary mission to Jool before in a previous save right before an update forced me to abandon the mission (the poor Kerbals got to the system, but never got to use the landers...)

Further, this should also allow the 2.5 meter inline radiators of the Duna Science Module to effectively dissipate the heat from its reactors- heat convection is much more effective than heat radiation, but requires atmosphere.

Although the original plan had been for the radiators to dissipate the heat in space, an early bug or a later nerf to the inline radiators allowed them to dissipate the heat at first, but then suddenly proved inadequate for prolonged use in space after the Duna Science Module was already en-route to Duna... So, we'll just say that this was the plan all along...

In accordance with my newly-found ability to run the Duna Science Module's reactors and electrical generators as long as I want, I now claim POWER, UNLIMITED POWER!

In all seriousness though, this does finally allow me to run the Science Lab, on Duna, AS LONG AS I WANT! Or... until the nuclear fuel runs out.

Though, with nuclear fuel reprocessing at the same said Science Lab, that's going to be a LONNNGGGGG time from now... (by which time I should at the very least have a Uranium or Thorium-mining infrastructure up on Duna...)

The Duna Science Module doesn't have enough fuel to make it back to orbit again now, unfortunately... But that's not really a problem, seeing as it's already in the location where I plan to build my first Duna base... (when I'm done with it, I'll just recycle it with an appropriately-equipped rover)

The Kerbals can get back to orbit on one of my two Duna spaceplanes when they arrive, if so desired (though neither has room for more than one passenger, so it would take at least two trips...) Or, on a rocket built on Dunn- as the spaceplanes have had some issues with buggy collision boxes when loading/unloading passengers (don't forget the poor Kerbal strapped to the front of that fuel tanker, riding to Duna that way as a result of just such a bug...)

So long Kerbals! Talk to you again in a week or two when you have some results to transmit!

Regards,

Northstar

Edited May 6, 2014 by Northstar1989

Northstar1989 · May 8, 2014

A few minor things I kept busy with in my latest play session...

First of all, I brought the Light Munar Fuel Lander back to the Munar Spacedock, and recycled it with the Scrapper Ship there. I got some fuel from doing so, but didn't appear to obtain any RocketParts from the scrapped ship for some reason...

Then, I put some of that fuel to immediate use launching an impactor probe at the Munar surface, and transmitted the data for a bit more !Science!

Looks like it's going to be fun times seeing what happens when the rest of my Duna armada arrives. Hopefully I don't encounter the bug I did before with not receiving any RocketParts from recycled vessels... (this is a significant problem if it occurs when setting up my Duna colony- my strategy relies heavily on reusing some of the RocketParts from the armada to set up initial mining/refining/base infrastructure. I do have enough RocketParts between the DHEDP and Orion RocketParts Tanker to get by without recycling, however...)

Regards,

Northstar

Northstar1989 · May 10, 2014

More impactors! More science!

This will have to tide you guys over for now. Soon, the Eagle Mk2 will be arriving at Duna, however.

Regards,

Northstar

Northstar1989 · May 11, 2014

OK, one more distraction. I decided to a little landnav with my Mun Rover... Eventually I'll have to find the time to get it over to one of the major craters, but my experience showed it's going to take several hours of real-life time to get it anywhere... (it took almost an hour just to move past the rim of one small crater)

Regards,

Northstar

Edited May 11, 2014 by Northstar1989

Northstar1989 · May 11, 2014

The Eagle Mk2 and its transfer rocket have arrived safely at Duna, and are now in a low (decaying) orbit, preparing for deployment of the Eagle Mk2 onto a re-entry trajectory into Duna's atmosphere!

But before we get to that, a quick update. The second LiquidFuel Tanker that I launched towards Duna made its mid-transfer course-correction, and is now on an encounter trajectory with Duna, much like its sister tanker. Here's a screenshot of its finishing its burn:

Don't I just love teasing you guys.

Now, anyways, here are the screenshots I'm sure you guys REALLY want to see- those of the Eagle Mk2 making its capture into Duna orbit (complicated slightly by an encounter with Ike- which forced me to lower the periapsis back into the atmosphere)

Had enough? Haha, OK, here are the pictures for REAL though.

First, the approach and Ike encounter. Notice my use of RCS to make small adjustments to the periapsis (I could have used the NERVA engines, but I figured I'd use surplus Monopropellant first to maximize my total Delta-V, as the RCS has lower ISP...)

And the aerocapture (actually not too many G's pulled here, surprisingly)

I included several shots here showing my total loss of control of the vessel shortly after periapsis, due to running out of electricity for the SAS wheels (the sun went behind the horizon, cutting off electricity to the solar panels).

Fortunately, the rocket + plane combo had enough momentum to still exit out of the atmosphere despite the wings often facing at a perpendicular to the direction of movement (and may have actually served a useful purpose in increasing drag)- but I was worried the whole time that the plane might tear free from the rocket due to the forces on the wings (thus placing it in a potentially fatally steep re-entry orbit), or snap in half like its sister did during ascent from Kerbin... Neither happened, though, and you can see me regaining control with the RCS after exiting the atmosphere in some of the later screenshots.

The fun wasn't over yet, though. The periapsis still had to be raised, and rather than waiting entirely until apoapsis, I decided to use the rest of my surplus Monopropellant to raise it as much as possible shortly after exiting the atmosphere, by thrusting radially inwards towards Duna. This also had the desirable effect of lowering the apoapsis and thus reducing the time until apoapsis- which was great, as the phasing was already looking good for a direct re-entry on the next pass (the periapsis was on the light side, closer to the dawn horizon than dusk), and I didn't want to miss the opportunity while the Eagle Mk2 languished at apoapsis...

Also, as you can see, at first I left all RCS ports active- but soon I discovered that the placement wasn't ideal anymore, with shifting of the rocket's Center of Mass towards the engines due to fuel consumption. The lower RCS ports now were located close to the Center of Mass, whereas the forward RCS ports exerted strong torque effects. Therefore, rather than having the forwards ports thrust in both directions at once in order to maintain heading and stability, I soon took to switching the RCS ports on and off depending on whether I wanted thrust without rotation, or torque...

Finally, I decided to save the rest of the orbital adjustment for apoapsis as I started to run out of RCS fuel, and saved the last of the Monopropellant for a turn of the craft to face its solar panels into the sunlight (all of which are located on the plane module- the rocket originally was shaded by planes' wings on both sides, leaving few goods spots for panel placement- and it has enough electrical storage to stabilize orbit before it goes dead after the final plane module detaches...)

I was then able to utilize the SAS to orient for a prograde burn at apoapsis (also using the last fumes of the RCS before activating the NERVA engines), and then a retrograde burn at periapsis to bring the orbit down on the opposite side to a point where the vessel will undergo eventual re-entry if I do nothing. The point in the last screenshot is where I made my quicksave. This will allow me to experiment with a variety of re-entry profiles for the plane module, although my first attempt will involve bringing the periapsis down a bit further...

I hope you guys enjoyed this!

My likely next words will be "The Eagle has landed!" :cool:

Regards,

Northstar

Northstar1989 · May 11, 2014

OK, so maybe I spoke too soon... I promise though, eventually you guys WILL hear (or rather, read) "The Eagle has landed!"

First, there was the deployment phase for the Eagle Mk2:

This worked out quite beautifully. The Eagle was set up for a lower periapse by its transfer stage, released via the decoupler without a hitch, and then the pilot had no trouble getting out and re-activating the nuclear reactor which would power the Thermal Turbojet (remembering the bugginess of the collision boxes on the Raven Mk2 before, I decided to have the pilot perform this action- since there were more winglets around the navigator/co-pilot's seat that might have posed issues for him getting back inside the Eagle afterwards...) You might even have noticed my checking the function of the landing gears, checking the function of the solar panels, checking the function of the heat radiator, and even renaming the vessel as the "Eagle Mk2 Duna Plane" in the final two screenshots... Everything worked out beautifully.

Next, I began my first atmospheric pass. Taking a page from the real-life space shuttle program (and Scott Manley's video on his own space shuttle-style spaceplane), I decided to turn the Eagle's wings perpindicular to the direction of movement (keeping the long axis parallel to the horizon to prevent potentially dangerous head-over-heels tumbling which might turn out unrecoverable in Duna's lower atmosphere) to provide extra drag, and theoretically spread out re-entry heat more evenly. This *DID* work (even the stock aerodynamics module allows it) from the extra drag perspective, but it still wasn't enough to bring the Eagle's apoapsis down inside the atmosphere...

Things you might notice include my checking the inkerbolation (in real life, we use the term in-sol-ation for exposure to sunlight, as Earth's sun is called Sol) of the solar panels, the (steadily rising) temperature of the heat radiator, and just taking a look at how close yet how far away I am from the probable site of my future Duna base (although, due to one of the more, IMHO, inane requirements of the "Flying Duna Again" challenge, the initial landing has to be at over 2500 meters altitude- in my opinion it would have just made more sense to allow sea-level landings from orbit, followed by a requirement for subsequent landings at over 2500 meters. Anyways, I won't be landing there initially...)

In fact, at the current rate, I estimate it will take at least THREE atmospheric passes before the Eagle can finally attempt a landing. This is going to take a while...

Regards,

Northstar

Edited May 11, 2014 by Northstar1989

Northstar1989 · May 11, 2014

OK, long story short, the first attempt didn't go so well...

It was working BEAUTIFULLY until somewhere during my descent I decided it was taking too long to glide down to the surface (I was running our of sunlight, and didn't want to attempt a night landing)- and that it was a good idea to attempt a dive at near-orbital speeds...

The Eagle didn't have nearly enough torque between its controls surfaces and SAS to manage that, and, well, if you want to see how it ended just look at the last screenshot. The third-last screenshot was the last one of The Eagle in stable flight:

Thank God for the wonder of F5/F9! Next time around, I'll be keeping the rocket attached through the first pass without any of the fancy space shuttle-style high-altitude turns. That way, it can benefit a little from an additional aerobrake too- I want to set this future piece of space junk (the transfer vehicle) in a nice, low orbit so it has room to phase with the rest of my armada and the site of my future space station (which will probably be my first step in colonizing Duna- consolidating all my orbital assets into a single gargantuan space dock in the Extraplanetary Launchpads style- which requires large construction crews to be effective...)

Regards,

Northstar

Northstar1989 · May 13, 2014

At first, my attempts at landing the Eagle went pretty smoothly:

However, attempts to actually touch down all ended like this:

The Eagle had suffered greatly from updates to KSP-Interstellar nuclear reactors that had occurred since its design. The main issue was that a change of the scale of units for the nuclear fuel (so that consumption could more easily be observed) had led to the nuclear reactor's fuel load resetting to a *FULL* uranium load while en-route to Duna.

This was a MAJOR issue because The Eagle was designed to work with a PARTIAL uranium load. This wasn't just for keeping the TWR up and weight down- extensive testing on Kerbin had revealed that with a full reactor load, the plane was far too tail-heavy, and had major control issues in upper atmospheric pressures comparable to Duna's lower atmosphere at speeds slow enough for landing... (at even higher altitudes, the atmosphere would become thin enough for SAS to compensate, at even lower altitudes the atmosphere was thick enough for the control surfaces to compensate even at landing speeds)

Short of Hyper-Editing the reactor load back to a 10-15% reactor load, which would break all my reservations about HyperEdit and probably disqualify the craft for the Flying Duna Again challenge, I don't see any conceivable way to fix this issue. However, experiences during the re-entry attempts revealed that it was possible to kick the craft into a highly elliptical (but decaying) orbit with the Thermal Turbojets as long as the velocity did not fall too low...

(I am unsure of the Eagle's ability to achieve an extra-atmospheric apoapsis once it has reached normal flight velocities- though it is probably possible on Duna, unlike on Kerbin, due to the weak local gravity well and shallow atmospheric scale-height...)

So, I will probably at least "save" the Kerbals by setting a high extra-atmospheric apoapsis, and having the Kerbals bail out on EVA (the higher the altitude, the lower the orbital velocity- meaning it is easily possible to circularize or at least stabilize an orbit via jetpack on EVA with a sufficiently high apoapsis...) This isn't at all "realistic" to have the Kerbals wait in orbit with no spacecraft to protect or feed them, etc.- but neither is having hundreds of extra kilograms of uranium magically appear in the back of a lightweight plane during an interplanetary transfer...

The (abandoned) Eagle itself will probably be left to crash back into the ground on Duna- or perhaps I will have one brave Kerbal stay behind as a pilot to make a controlled crash-landing near the future location of my Duna base, to later be rescued by the Hornet Helicraft and ferried to the base facility (while safe touchdown proved impossible, in most of my 30+ crash-landings at least 2 or 3 of the 4 Kerbals passengers survived the crash. In one case of an almost-successful landing, the only part to break off at all was the Atmospheric Intake...)

It would probably be possible to save the mission with a sufficiently skilled pilot- but over 30 attempts have revealed that pilot just probably isn't me... (I'm actually pretty good with flying planes in KSP, but I'm terrible at landings...)

I'm sorry to have to break my promise to you guys. I *REALLY TRIED* to make a successful landing with the Eagle, knowing that after just one touchdown I could use TAC Fuel Balancer to dump (technically, to "Edit" out- the "Dump" function doesn't work with reactor fuels or SRB propellant) the excess reactor fuel that magically appeared in the Eagle during its interplanetary transfer. But alas, I couldn't get it safely onto the ground without any parts breaking off, due to my inability to (safely) pull the nose more than a few degrees away from the horizon...

Regards,

Northstar

Edited May 13, 2014 by Northstar1989

Northstar1989 · May 13, 2014

The Eagle Mk2, it turns out, can indeed manage to hurtle out of the atmosphere from the momentum of its Thermal Turbojet (which only works in-atmosphere) even after having descended to a normal flight regimen- in fact I took it all the way to a 148 x 25 km unstable orbit from an unpowered glide at 4 km... (after re-activating the Thermal Turbojet, of course)

It's too bad I couldn't simply land the thing as was, and get the Kerbals out that way...

However, while pondering over what to do with the Eagle and its crew before making this maneuver, a new thought struck me- why not just intercept the Eagle in an unstable orbit (like the one I subsequently achieved), and transfer some LFO mix over to the service module in the front of the plane to attempt to balance the extra uranium that magically appeared in the reactor at the rear?

It's ONLY 30 days until the Duna Heavy Equipment Deployment Platform (DHEDP) arrives at the Duna system...

I'll just leave the Eagle on rails until then, to prevent drag from slowing it down (I certainly wasn't going to keep it gliding/flying on Duna for 30 days straight- my computer would fry after a month of continuous running like that, or I would have to do it in maybe 100 or more quicksave/quickloaded sessions now that atmospheric F5/F9 is possible...)

This is in fact necessary, as without the atmosphere to convect heat away from its radiator most of the time, its reactor would just end up overheating and entering emergency shutdown (which requires a full cooldown cycle before it can then be reactivated- which takes several game days or weeks if I remember correctly...) if I kept it loaded in unstable orbit like this, though I could at least make use of time-warp (while outside the atmosphere) to speed things up then, and occasional boosts from the Thermal Turbojet near periapsis to keep drag from pulling it back down towards the ground...

I know it's not realistic to exploit the rails system like that- but as I've said before, neither is 100's of extra kilos of uranium magically appearing in the reactor of a lightweight plane in the middle of an interplanetary transfer...

Hey, it certainly beats bailing the 2 Kerbals in the (relatively fragile) service modules out in orbit; to wait for a month without food, oxygen, or even protection from radiation; and crash-landing the remaining two (safely in their relatively resilient/reinforced cockpits) on the surface of Duna...

In the meantime, the Duna Heavy Equipment Deployment Platform (DHEDP) inches towards the Duna system with its large cargo of supplies and tools to build a self-sufficient Duna colony (and originally also an Ike outpost for electrolyzing regolith- though I guess I'll just appropriate those supplies for other purposes now that, thanks to a KSP-I update since the DHEDP's launch, I can get all the Oxidizer I could ever want from electrolyzing water-ice on Duna...) When it arrives, I might as well appropriate some of the supplies to build a small unmanned LFO tanker- and use it to fuel up the Eagle's front service module to try to counterbalance the extra uranium in the reactor...

The low elliptical orbit of the Eagle and powerful engine the tanker will require for an elliptical intercept (which would also be good for a suicide-burn) should also make an excellent starting point for a targeted landing of the probe at the site of my future Duna base- I will need plenty of fuel, and RocketParts (from recycling the tanker), for my colony after all... All I need do is throw some landing legs on the tanker and I'll be set.

Regards,

Northstar

Edited May 13, 2014 by Northstar1989

Northstar1989 · May 14, 2014

While I was waiting for the next ship of my Duna Aramda to reach the Duna system (the Duna MagSat), I decided to browse the Tracking Station's asteroid function a little, and see what interesting objects I could come across... And then, by sheer chance, I found THIS:

I have discovered a Class C asteroid on a DIRECT IMPACT TRAJECTORY with Kerbin- estimated to impact the planet in 2 months.

I know this may not *seem* like a big deal, as Class C asteroids are "only" 7-10 meters- but if you do the math on its relative size to Kerbin's radius (600 km), vs. Earth's radius (6371 km), this equates to a 74-106 meter asteroid hitting Earth... Which would impact with a force of roughly 38 Megatons of TNT if it came in at a 45 degree re-entry angle... (according to estimates for a 100 meter asteroid on Wikipedia)

THAT is a big deal...

For comparison, the asteroid that caused the famous Tunguska event in 1908 was 60-190 meters, only entered Earth's atmosphere at a shallow angle with a LONG period of drag to slow it down (it most likely had what would initially be plotted as a periapsis in the lower atmosphere, rather than a direct collision course), and it detonated with a force of "only" 10-15 Megatons of TNT (low for an asteroid of that size) 5-10 kilometers above the ground. It flattened an area with a radius of between 55 and 70 kilometers, and generated a shockwave that would have registered as a 5.0 on the Richter Scale...

Now imagine an asteroid impact more than twice as powerful (due to much steeper angle of re-entry).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tunguska_event

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Impact_event#Frequency_and_risk

Clearly, an asteroid equating to a similar size range, of unknown composition (in real life, metallic asteroids are much more dangerous for their size, due to their higher mass and superior ability to penetrate the atmosphere), and on a DIRECT re-entry trajectory equating to what should be a steep re-entry angle of between 60 and 90 degrees into Kerbin's atmosphere CANNOT be allowed to impact. It would likely result in a TRAGIC loss of life should it impact a populated area... (it would cause greater devastation than Tunguska, but potentially in a populous area...)

Therefore, I have commissioned a secret program known as "Project Amadeus", to avert potential tragedy, and distract myself from Duna for a bit. More on this later...

Regards,

Northstar

Edited May 16, 2014 by Northstar1989

Northstar1989 · May 16, 2014

While I roleplayed in a bit of a delay between my detection of AST IXX-684, or as I shall hereafter call it, Asteroid-684, and the launch of Project Amadeus- which I hope will be a true masterpiece worthy of its namesake (Wolfgang Amadaeus Mozart, of course), the Duna Magsat arrived at its destination, and performed some !SCIENCE!

Of course, this doesn't avert my focus on Asteroid-684 one bit. It still hangs over my poor Kerbals like the Sword of Damocles...

Estimated time until impact is now less than 40 days.

Estimated loss of life if impact is not averted: 47,230 Kerbals (based on size-adjusted average population density comparable to Earth- casualties vary depending on impact location)

Regards,

Northstar

Edited May 16, 2014 by Northstar1989

Northstar1989 · May 16, 2014

P.S. Curious where I got my estimated loss of life? These are *conservative* estimates based on multiplying the area decimated by the Tunguska Event (2150 sq. km where all trees were cleared) by (38/15)^2, which assumes the Tunguska Event asteroid airburst was a full 15 Megatons. It was probably less- meaning *this* estimated 38 Megaton-equivalent impact (impact force would be MUCH less due to the asteroid's actual size if it were to hit Earth- but MUCH higher for its size hitting Kerbin, due to its thinner atmosphere. So I just use the figure for a 100-meter asteroid hitting Earth after a 45-degree re-entry angle. This asteroid is 1/10th the size, but Kerbin's atmosphere is only 1/10th as tall, and the predicted re-entry angle is much steeper: more than 60 degrees...) would be even more deadly by comparison. I assume that blast radius only increases linearly (it actually increases exponentially, but with a low coefficient). I then take Earth's population density, divide it by 4 (as Kerbals are 4 times larger than humans in relation to the radius of their planet), and multiply this number by the first number- which is the estimated area that would be obliterated.

Even if it's inaccurate to use the same blast radius as a 100-meter asteroid hitting Earth for a 10-meter asteroid hitting Kerbin, it's also entirely reasonable to assume Kerbals are more tightly packed in due to their smaller planet. And, even if not, I like to think of most things in this game as and analogy for Earth anyways in some sense (though if this were Earth with humans, and the asteroid size were increased proportionally, the estimated average casualties would be over 185k, as humans are smaller relative to their environment- and thus should be more numerous relative to their planet size.)

P.P.S. It's worth noting that if the asteroid hit a rural land area, casualties would be much lower, but if it hit the sea (which would cause a major tidal wave) or a metropolitan area, casualties would be MUCH higher...

Regards,

Northstar

Edited May 16, 2014 by Northstar1989

Northstar1989 · May 19, 2014

Northstar Kerman rubbed his forehead, hoping to ease his headache.

The past seven weeks had been a madhouse of activity. After the discovery of an asteroid known only as IXX-684, or Asteroid-684 more commonly, Kerbal Space Center had become busier than he could ever remember.

Desperate to avert the impact of an asteroid capable of decimating an entire metropolitan area, the Kerbal government had commissioned a secret project known as "Amadeus", though some engineers had started using the "more awesome" name of "Armadeus" for it already...

Northstar Keman himself was one of the few Kerbals subject to full knowledge of the plan- which consisted of sending an enormous spacecraft assembled in orbit to the asteroid equipped with twin grappling hooks, and attempting to pull the asteroid sufficiently off-course to prevent the impact.

If all went well, and the grappling concept proved successful, the vessel would also attempt to capture the asteroid in Kerbin orbit. If not... the remote-controlled vessel would back off from the asteroid, and then slam itself into the rock at high speed in the hopes of diverting it slightly off-course...

Northstar was worried about the mission- his engineers had expressed concerns that the grappling hooks might prove incapable of gripping the asteroid's surface, or that the vessel might have a difficult time thrusting while towing the asteroid without spinning our of control. Further, in the case of the backup plan of a high-speed impact with the asteroid, nobody was sure how much of the velocity of the spacecraft would be transferred to the asteroid in an impact, and how much would simply dissipate into space as debris and exploding fuel mixture- if the spacecraft could even manage to hit its target...

Today, however, the Kerbal Space Center had invested in the mission plan beyond the point of no return. Having manufactured the first half of the spacecraft for the mission in a record 7 weeks (faster than any other similarly complex spacecraft in Kerbal history), and also designed and built a reusable launch vehicle for the mission, the KSC had launched the first section of the mission vehicle in a magnificent launch earlier that morning, as well as recovered the first half of the reusable launch vehicle- essentially a giant reusable booster, with 37 nozzles of thrust:

OOC: There are indeed 37 nozzles of thrust lifting the first stage of this launch vehicle. The main engine is a 19-nozzle giant from Novapunch. There are 6 small Novapunch liquid boosters arranged around that, and 6 dual-nozzle large Novapunch radial liquid boosters located further up the lower stage.

Northstar Kerman continued to rub his forehead.

It was only 36 days until Kerbin's gravity would begin to curve the asteroid towards the planet, and though earlier estimates of time until impact had been overly-pessimistic, drastically underestimating the more than week of delay that newer estimates had calculated would occur between this point and when the asteroid would actually hit the planet, time was still running out...

The engineers also hadn't yet finished the second, more complex, section of the mission vehicle yet, either...

They kept quarreling over questions such as whether to angle the grappling hooks inwards towards a common point of attachment on the asteroid, in line with its Center of Mass, or outwards to create the widest possible base of attachment with the asteroid; whether to rely on RCS for docking the second half of the vehicle to the command section (which contained no RCS system of its own, to speed the process of manufacturing it), and if so what to do with the RCS system after docking... (some engineers had advocated making use of a detachable RCS system that could be ejected after docking, to save weight and reduce complexity on the rest of the mission)

Kerbal politicians on committees subject to knowledge of the mission flooding the KSC and manufacturing centers with an enormous influx of new money, and new engineers, to ensure the spacecraft could be designed and built before the asteroid's impact had only made the problem of design quarrels worse. Although nothing could conceivably have been accomplished in such a short time frame without massively increasing the KSC's budget and workforce, to unheard of levels, Northstar Kerman still worried that the engineers might not come to a consensus about the details of the second section of the rocket on time for the manufacturing center to finish fleshing out the frame they had already produced for the section...

And Northstar Kerman doubted there was time for a second attempt if this one should fail...

Scanning the folders on his desk, Northstar Kerman remembered something else equally disconcerting...

The tracking station had picked up another asteroid recently:

This one was not on an impact trajectory, but only an extremely close approach in roughly 169 days- but its extremely large size (a Class E asteroid) had led Kerbal scientists to worry what might happen if it should pass close to the Mun first... Should the Mun slingshot the large asteroid directly towards Kerbin, the results of the impact could be even more catastrophic than those of Asteroid-684... Fortunately, scientists estimated the probability of such a slingshot occurring at less than 1%...

As Northstar Kerman's headache worsened, he decided to call it a day and catch some sleep- wondering what would happen to Kerbal-kind should Project Amadeus fail...

OOC: Space is a dangerous place, apparently. Who knew?! As usual, I'm treating the asteroids in this game as if they were 10 times their reported size when it comes to impact events (as the planets are 10% real-life scale). That makes the newest asteroid 180 meters radius or more... Fortunately, it's probably not worth worrying about, as the chances of a Munar slingshot are very low.

Regards,

Northstar

P.S. I haven't forgotten about the Eagle or my other missions to Duna. You'll be hearing about those at some point, probably after I finish assembling Project Amadeus, and eject it towards its target...

Edited May 19, 2014 by Northstar1989

Northstar1989 · May 19, 2014

Northstar Kerman sat down with his lunch, reviewing the files on his desk...

The upper stage of the Amadeus' reusable launch vehicle had been recovered, having landed in the foothills west of the KSC. Now it was only a matter of designing the drive section of the mission vehicle and docking it with the command section, and refueling the completed craft before it departed for Asteroid IXX-684...

Meanwhile, the Minmus Spacedock had sent news that it had completed construction of a 2.3 megawatt Solar Power Transmitter, which it had been working on for several months:

Although he didn't see an immediate use for the technology, Northstar Kerman was sure that it would prove invaluable in the long run...

And, he still couldn't help but think of Asteroid-684 inching towards Kerbin...

Regards,

Northstar

Northstar1989 · May 20, 2014

Northstar Kerman rubbed his forehead yet again...

"This is beginning to become a habit" he thought.

Through extreme pressure on his end, the engineers had managed to agree on a final design for the Drive Section of Project Amadeus- even if it meant throwing out all discussion of adding an RCS system and hoping for the best in docking with only its NERVA engines for maneuvering. Even the launch had gone smoothly. However, the recovery of the lower stage of the reusable launch vehicle hadn't gone nearly as well...

The remote control center had ended up accidentally "landing" the stage in the ocean a few kilometers east of KSC instead of on solid ground.

"This is going to take WEEKS to scrub out the salt water, test the components, and replaced all the corroded parts" Northstar Kerman thought, reviewing the final mission report file on his desk... "And we don't have much time to spare..."

Although the Drive Section had been launched early enough that it might be possible to repair the salt water-damaged launch stage, and still refuel the assembled mission vehicle before the asteroid impacted Kerbin, Northstar Kerman knew that plan would be pushing things a little close for comfort... What's more, due to earlier KSC budget cuts after the launch of the massive Duna Armada, there were few spare launch vehicles available on standby- majority responsibility for construction of new vehicles had been transferred to the Kerbals sent to establish off-world colonies and outposts...

"The is one possibility, though" Northstar thought.

"Some of the engineers have been busy upgrading the Reusable Crew Launch Vehicle a bit to extend its range." Northstar remembered. "Maybe if we swap in an older crew capsule from one of the Munar missions, and throw a spare refueling winch meant for the Amadeus fuel tanker design under construction on top, we could siphon over the needed fuel from excess capacity on the new extended tanks."

It was worth a try, at least, thought Northstar Kerman, massaging his forehead again before moving aside the mission report and opening a new folder containing a planned speech for the next day.

Time waits for no Kerbal, and Northstar Kerman had to begin preparing for a Kerbal secret congressional hearing the next day on the progress of Project Amadeus...

OOC: I hope you guys like the (low-key) roleplaying so far... The accidental water-landing of the Amadeus' reusable launch vehicle is going to be a cause for some roleplayed delays in the mission progress. It's also going to be an excuse to try out the upgrades to the Reusable Crew Launch Vehicle I've been working on, and to time-warp forwards a few weeks if that doesn't work well enough... I look forward to reporting on more progress soon.

Regards,

Northstar

Edited May 20, 2014 by Northstar1989

Northstar1989 · May 20, 2014

Billroy Kerman, Northstar Kerman's loyal assistant, trembled as he dialed the security code to the mission control room.

Although his only role at the moment was to bring Northstar Kerman his snacks and coffee, he knew that the fate of thousands or even millions of Kerbal lives hung on the mission being carried out in this darkened room buzzing with activity.

Threading around several scientists in uncharacteristically nimble gait for a Kerbal, he approached Northstar, who was deep in conversation with several engineers, and waited for the busy Kerbal to acknowledge his presence.

"Yes, I know 0.4 meters per second is already a little faster than we designed the docking port for. But give it another burst of thrust to the side, or we won't come in straight and will have to try over..." rang Northstar's voice, addressing a pair of engineers.

"What is it?" he said, turning towards Billroy "Ah yes, Billroy- thank you for the coffee and kalmonds. I don't know how to thank you. I needed something to keep my edge..."

After nodding quickly and gratefully to Billroy, Northstar turned towards the control room's main screen, as Billroy beat a hasty retreat from the control room.

Visible on the screen, a small black-and-white feed from a tiny docking camera on the front of the Amadeus' Drive Section turned slowly to the side, and then began slightly more rapidly moving forward, as Kerbal engineers dictated a tiny corrective burn of a few hundred milliseconds to better line up the docking approach with the Command Section shortly ahead. The view then slowly angled back towards the Command Section- the Drive Section having made as much of a course correction as was possible before the docking ports' two magnetic rings began to interact...

"Black-and-white feeds may not make for the prettiest viewing, but they sure do add to the sense of importance", Northstar thought- though aware the feed's lack of color display was mainly in order to save on weight.

A few agonizing seconds passed, as the docking rings bumped into each other and for a moment began to drift back apart- but then the magnetic forces overpowered the residual momentum, and the two vessels locked firmly into place. The KSC control room erupted in a thunderous cheer, as Kerbals celebrated the completed assembly of Kerbal-kind's most high-stakes mission to date.

"We did it!" one engineer shouted. "That's right buddy!" another exclaimed, giving him a square slap on the back.

The mood was ecstatic.

After the earlier flub-up with the recovery of the Drive Section's launch stage, Northstar Kerman himself had supervised the docking and approach procedures, to make sure this critical aspect of the mission went according to plan.

But his presence turned out not to be necessary- the engineers seemed almost instinctively to know almost exactly how to handle this mission aspect, even having not actually hard-docked two rockets since the early days of Kerb-pollo Mun landings.

However, even as the triumphant Kerbals basked in their success, and gave either other Kerb-fives, Northstar Keraman ordered a status-check of the assembled vehicle, and re-allocation of the fuel supplies between the tanks, just to be sure everything was in order...

Later that day, when the Kerbals had recovered the Amadeus' upper stage, files left in a folder on his desk confirmed that all readings were nominal, and the Amadeus was go for mission-initiation after a simple soft-dock (hose-based) refueling- which few engineers suspected would be at all problematic, considering how many such missions the KSC had carried out in the past...

The recovery of the lower stage went smoothly as well- taking place near Lake Kerbkal in former Soviet Krussia, per a pre-arranged contract with local Krussian companies... (Kerbal national governments having recently put aside their differences and united in the Kerbal World Congress, so as to provide a united foundation for space exploration, and especially, interplanetary colonization- though not without great bickering and frequent protests by small-government and anti-government Kerb-activists everywhere...)

Sitting over his file at the end of the day, Northstar Kerman thought over Kerbal politics...

"I can understand the need for demonstrating to local Krussian companies that they can stand to benefit from the space program too, even as we moved the global space center to South Kafrica, but did we really need to land the Amadeus' upper stage halfway across the world, and pay for its transportation back here, just to show them we're all in this together?" Northstar thought.

"I understand that Krussia is a much bigger terrestrial landing target than the small area of South Kafrica, but it still seems wasteful- and a stupid way to endanger the secrecy of Project Amadeus. What if the press gets wind of the landing?" Northstar worried to himself, massaging his forehead as had become his habit.

"Oh well, I guess that's politics. Good thing I decided never to go into that field myself..." Northstar concluded.

"Now where was I- ah yes, cost reports on repairing the corroded electronics on the Amadeus' reusable launch vehicle... Doesn't look too bad- I guess the salt water didn't have time to do as much damage as I feared before the recovery crews managed to fish it out..."

Northstar Kerman smiled slightly to himself, and continued with his work...

OOC: I hope you guys have been enjoying the storytelling. As always, I'm eager to hear who's still reading this many posts to the thread.

I found many inspirations for these last couple bits- some of you might even be intrigued or surprised to learn that the bit about landing the launch vehicle off the KSC coast was partly inspired (or prescient to) my dropping my cell phone in a glass of water in real life while carrying out these missions tonight. Luckily, like the launch vehicle in my little story, I managed to quickly fish it out before it had sustained any apparent permanent damage... (or even wetted the color-changing moisture exposure indicators near the battery)

And, as promised several times, at some point I will be tapering off with the story in this thread, and re-continuing it in another one. I had thought previously about doing this with the beginning of my off-world colonization efforts in earnest, but lately I've begun to lean towards the more definable and logical point of when I eventually clear this save game and start a new one with 0.24- whenever that eventually comes, and enough mods I want to keep playing with are updated to match to enable my switch...

In the meantime, I hope you all continue to enjoy this thread- even if it is getting a little long... (maybe I'll break the colonization effort part of this career into a separate thread after all- if 0.24 doesn't come as soon as hoped or planned...)

Regards,

Northstar

Edited May 20, 2014 by Northstar1989

Northstar1989 · May 22, 2014

Northstar Kerman stood before the packed auditorium at the Kerbal Space Center, full of scientsists, engineers, and Kerbal media...

"Gentlekerb's, I have good news, and bad news for you all" he announced, in a loud clear voice.

"First, the bad news..." Northstar began, with a dramatic pause.

"Last month, our tracking station detected a large asteroid, assigned the identifier IXX-684, possibly as large as 10 meters, on a direct collision course with Kerbin. It is predicted to re-enter on a steep trajectory near one of our major urban centers- the name of which will not be revealed to avert potential public panic. Experts predict it could take over half a million Kerbal lives with its impact and shockwave..."

Kerbals gasped in the audience... Northstar steadied himself- he had been preparing for this moment for weeks.

"Over the past weeks, a secret Kerbal program codenamed 'Project Amadeus' was commissioned to intercept this asteroid, and redirect its trajectory- attempting to capture it into a stable orbit around Kerbin where we can study it further."

Kerbals naturally began to applaud at the news of another space mission, but Northstar waved his hand to quiet them down...

"This program was, until today, top-secret. Many engineers here at the KSC were unaware even of its existence. Fewer still were subject to the full details of the plan."

Northstar Kerman cleared his throat before continuing.

"Massive funding was directed to this program, and a reusable launch vehicle was quickly developed to launch the segments of a large ship designed for this mission. Over the past weeks, both segments of the vessel were successfully launched and docked to each other- one disguised as a fuel tanker and the other as an orbital tug..."

Northstar paused again...

"The Amadeus' reusable launch vehicle- the ARLV for short- was intended for re-use in launching two unmanned fuel tankers for the vessel- which would be connected to the vessel by Kerbals launched aboard our Reusable Crew Launch Vehicle- which would also provide supplementary fuel to the Amadeus Mission Vehicle if necessary..." Northstar took a deep breath before continuing.

"However, the ARLV's launch stage splashed down in the ocean East of the KSC during the recovery portion of the mission launching the second mission vehicle section. This damaged electronic components in the engine and guidance systems- which were not designed for exposure to sea water... Although damage was minor, as the vessel was quickly fished out of the sea quickly, and its interiors soon thoroughly sprayed down with deionized water to remove all potentially corrosive compounds from the vessel; it does not appear that the ARLV will be prepared to make another launch for over 2 months- by which time the asteroid will have impacted Kerbin."

Loud grumbling and concerned whispering began in the audience. Northstar waved his arm again in a quieting gesture, indicating he had more to say.

"In my meeting with a secret Kerbal Congress committee meeting yesterday, all this was reported. However, rather than allow this asteroid to impact Kerbin, the KSC was provided with a trio of heavy lifter vehicles built for a secret Kerbal Air Force program- the existence and purpose of which was classified, and I am not liberty to share with all audience members present here today..."

Northstar reached for the glass of water on his lectern, and took a sip before continuing. The room awaited what he had to say next in complete silence.

"By re-appropriating as upper stages several rockets originally designed for use as one-Kerbal reusable crew launch vehicles, which were mothballed when favor shifted to use of larger vehicles with longer range and higher crew capacity, and adding refueling hoses to them; we managed to quickly piece together three unmanned fuel tankers which were launched yesterday afternoon..."

Northstar took another sip of water.

"Although their guidance systems were old, and we were concerned that they would not all make orbit- hence the reason for the redundant launches- all three of them managed to make stable orbits around Kerbin. We are now prepared to refuel the Amadeus Mission Vehicle, and send it on its mission to save countless Kerbal lives..."

Northstar looked sternly at the audience

"Should the mission fail, Kerbal government officials have decided we will announce the revised impact location of this asteroid, and begin a mandatory evacuation of the nearby populace. Meanwhile, the KSC has been authorized to use the remaining fuel tankers as kinetics in a last-ditch attempt to re-direct this asteroid, once it enters Kerbin's gravity well."

Northstar looked about the room with a faint smile.

"That is all, brave Kerbals. May God bless us all- and I hope in our next such meeting I will have only good news to report about the success of Project Amadeus..."

OOC: I hope you guys enjoyed the storytelling. My next post will likely be on the refueling of the Amadeus Mission Vehicle, followed thereafter by its ejection towards the asteroid (I will attempt a gravity-assist around the Mun if appropriate- the mission vehicle is going to need every drop of fuel it can get), and adjustment burns as necessary... Meanwhile, the Duna Heavy Equipment Deployment platform will arrive at Duna before Project Amadeus is complete- so expect to at least see something about my capturing it into Duna orbit as well, and possibly rendezvousing it with some of the other ships in the Duna Armada (I might save the actual colonization effort for a separate thread, and roleplay the delay as time spent actually assembling the first permanent orbital station from the components aboard the DHEDP...)

Regards,

Northstar

Northstar1989 · May 23, 2014

The new extended-tank version of the Reusable Crew Launch Vehicle made a launch and rendezvous with the Amadeus Mission Vehicle:

The intention was to have it dock with the Amadeus via KAS winch and wait there until an unmanned fuel tanker could also rendezvous, so that the Kerbals on the RCLV could hook up the tanker...

However, due to an unexpected Kraken attack, that repeated itself after restarting KSP and multiple quicksaves/quickloads, I found that I was unable to keep the RCLV hooked up to the Amadeus for any significant period of time, because both vessels would begin to jitter around and then spontaneously explode...

Therefore, I did what I could, and after a number of attempts managed to transfer over some spare fuel from the RCLV before having to unhook it to prevent spontaneous combustion... I decided to recover the RCLV, and will have to try again with a slightly redesigned RCLV (since I believe the RCLV was the problem) or a manned tanker launch...

You guys will have to forgive me for the large amounts of text and lack of roleplaying- I didn't expect a Kraken attack to occur, and don't wish to try to roleplay it in-universe...

Regards,

Northstar

Northstar1989 · May 23, 2014

Thinking through how to refuel the Amadeus Mission Vehicle, a thought occurred to me that probably should have occurred to me before- what about the 350 km Spacedock I set up for precisely the purpose of refueling my missions leaving the Kerbin system?

And so, I rendezvoused the Amadeus with the 350 km Spacedock, and...

It worked! Yes, there was a little inexplicable jittering- but nothing on the order of with the RCLV- and I actually experienced more jittering from the 2.5 meter docking port holding the two 3.75 meter stack together than I did from docking with the spacedock...

I also noticed that the 350 km spacedock's fuel tanks were completely full- maybe I should have been making more stops there at the past...

So, the Amadeus Mission Vehicle is now fully fueled, and ready to save countless Kerbal lives. And I have a few extra fuel tankers in orbit to go send to my Munar Spacedock and Minmus Spacedock afterwards if everything goes according to plan...

Regards,

Northstar

Northstar1989 · May 23, 2014

The Amadeus Mission Vehicle began its journey to Asteroid-684 with a Minmus encounter designed to shift its inclination and simultaneously provide a gravity-assist:

This may be a bit confusing as to why I'm doing it, so let me explain:

Asteroid-684 is on a trajectory where it will be approaching Kerbin from south of the equatorial plane at a high inclination.

In order to intercept it, the Amadeus Mission Vehicle is using Minmus to raise it above (north) the equatorial plane, at which point it will perform a burn near apoapsis roughly analogous to the following (don't worry- it's not finished yet)

After aligning inclination perpendicular to Asteroid-684's approach trajectory as shown, the Amadeus Mission Vehicle will make a burn more or less directly towards the asteroid. This will eject the Amadeus on the correct side of Kerbin's SOI, but not necessarily on an intercept trajectory.

A further burn will be performed to correct the trajectory at the most appropriate point (so as to minimize Delta-V expenditures).

After a close approach is achieved, and velocity is matched, the Amadeus Mission vehicle will attempt to grapple the asteroid with its twin KAS grappling hooks, and begin towing it in such a direction shift its trajectory and create a periapsis in Kerbin's upper atmosphere for an aerocapture (though the Amadeus Mission Vehicle will likely have very little fuel left to actually shift the asteroid's orbit...)

Regards,

Northstar

Edited May 23, 2014 by Northstar1989

[CLOSED] Kerbin and Beyond: a Maturing Space Program

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