If I payed SpaceX to launch?

[dharak1]

Lol, dock a bus to the ISS... Just back it in using RCS and dock. Rendezvous is very complicated in real life and odds are if we do it we wont be starting any sort of bus station.

[hawkinator]

Thanks for all the great feedback, guys. I am working on creating a Kickstarter project for this, possibly under the category of technology. You've given me a lot of really great ideas, many of which will become part of the project. On a related note, is anyone willing to make an image (one which will make people want to spend money on this)/ video for the project? These are very important things if it is to succeed, and unfortunately, I have very little talent in this area.

Also, I have not heard anything back from SpaceX yet.

In the bus acquiring area, I actually have some personal connections from my church in that department. They have a ministry where they bring people to church in buses (old school buses, with the "school bus" replaced with "church bus" and the name of the church down the side of it.) They actually maintain a relatively large fleet of buses, and I happen to know some of the folks in charge of the bus ministry, so I would simply ask them about it.

[I.R.L.]

We need to get Squad to let us put their logo and the KSP logo on it. ALso what kind of orbit would we out t in? I assume inclined to some extent because (it should be cheaper due to no good equatorial launch sites) and also I think the Canadian, Russian, Australian, Southern Africa/South America might want a decent chance of seeing the thing.

[dharak1]

I have no PS ability and I am a poor drawer so I'll see what i can do.

[Kerbal01]

-snip

yay! This is finally going somewhere

[dharak1]

Soon the space bus will be real. If we put a docking port on it we can dock more to it lol XD space bus train.

[RocketTurtle]

If this happens...

[TheCanadianVendingMachine]

If this happens, put a camera, antenna and a feed to the main KSP Website.

[Aghanim]

Let me see... we have 5000 kg left for stuff

http://qdhipower.en.made-in-china.com/product/BbqmgvlwEXUA/China-Solar-Energy-Storage-Battery-LiFePO4-48V-500ah.html connected to several of this: http://forums.theregister.co.uk/forum/1/2009/02/24/coke_can_plasma_rocket/#c_436043 and 2 tanks of liquefied argon should do it for the propulsion system

With enough solar panel and patience this thing could go to moon and back

[K^2]

Let me see... we have 5000 kg left for stuff

http://qdhipower.en.made-in-china.com/product/BbqmgvlwEXUA/China-Solar-Energy-Storage-Battery-LiFePO4-48V-500ah.html connected to several of this: http://forums.theregister.co.uk/forum/1/2009/02/24/coke_can_plasma_rocket/#c_436043 and 2 tanks of liquefied argon should do it for the propulsion system

With enough solar panel and patience this thing could go to moon and back

The main purpose of the propulsion system is de-orbiting. Unfortunately, that puts strict limits on TWR that can only be fulfilled by a chemical rocket.

[metalmouth7]

Thanks for all the great feedback, guys. I am working on creating a Kickstarter project for this, possibly under the category of technology. You've given me a lot of really great ideas, many of which will become part of the project. On a related note, is anyone willing to make an image (one which will make people want to spend money on this)/ video for the project? These are very important things if it is to succeed, and unfortunately, I have very little talent in this area.

Also, I have not heard anything back from SpaceX yet.

In the bus acquiring area, I actually have some personal connections from my church in that department. They have a ministry where they bring people to church in buses (old school buses, with the "school bus" replaced with "church bus" and the name of the church down the side of it.) They actually maintain a relatively large fleet of buses, and I happen to know some of the folks in charge of the bus ministry, so I would simply ask them about it.

I'd be more than willing to shoot a promotional video, and I could also throw together a simple promo image. I could also set up a number of social media platforms for the project to be advertised from.

That said, what do we call the project? Spacebus? SchoolX?

[Aghanim]

Why de-orbit when you already put it in graveyard orbit?

[dharak1]

^ exactly what I was thinking, but that could drop the payload of the rocket.

[metalmouth7]

^ exactly what I was thinking, but that could drop the payload of the rocket.

Not really. It takes less payload mass from launch to enter a graveyard orbit, as you'd need to include the systems to ensure the Bus's engine would fire after a certain period of time. It's less of an insurance risk if you fire it before the systems are affected by any number of hazards. Also, that means we can bill it as an "Orbital Timecapsule," which we can use to drum up media interest.

[dharak1]

Sounds good. A memorial of culture too, as the yellow school bus is a great icon. And schools often have time capsules. This means we have to keep the bus in relatively bus like shape.

[metalmouth7]

Sounds good. A memorial of culture too, as the yellow school bus is a great icon. And schools often have time capsules. This means we have to keep the bus in relatively bus like shape.

That seems relatively feasible. The biggest issue is going to be figuring out where to stick the propulsion system and the communications system, without destroying the shape of the vehicle. I suppose you could stick the comms equipment and computers right in the engine compartment, and could gut out part of the back of the bus to stick the propulsion system in.

An issue I'm currently thinking about is the rotation control system. I suppose gases are an option, but they would require additional storage space, which will reduce how many backer rewards we can actually include in the spacecraft. Using reaction wheels is also an option, but that'd require more batteries, which is also a volume-usage issue.

[THermodynamik]

If you were going to use compressed gases for attitude control, would it be possible to mount the tanks on the underside of the bus? There would be plenty of room there after you removed the gas tank and all other unnecessary elements. Or am I missing something?

P.S. I'm pretty much a forum noob so if i just messed up can you please tell me.

[metalmouth7]

If you were going to use compressed gases for attitude control, would it be possible to mount the tanks on the underside of the bus? There would be plenty of room there after you removed the gas tank and all other unnecessary elements. Or am I missing something?

P.S. I'm pretty much a forum noob so if i just messed up can you please tell me.

Welcome to the forums!

No, you're right about the gas tanks. The problem is, they need to be specially insulated, which may be too bulky. Right now, I'm leaning heavily toward a redundant battery system being the most realistic option for a satellite like this.

[Nibb31]

How long do you want the bus to live in space? What are the basic requirements? Is it going to LEO, do a couple of orbits and then perform a controlled deorbit, or are you planning to send it into a higher "permanent orbit". GEO graveyard is not really practical with such a heavy payload. Remember that Falcon 9's 13t capability is only to LEO. If you want to go higher, you're going to need an upper stage of some sort, more shielding and more resistant hardware.

Do you really need it to be a real bus? Since you're going to be stripping everything from it, including windows, seats, wheels, engine... why not simply make it a space-rated fibre-glass shell that looks like a bus?

[hotmailcompany52]

Maybe on the bottom of the bus we coat it in solar panels as they wouldn't take up much space then and we would also have power generation. And then we could fill in spare spaces with tanks with a gas for propulsion.

[Kerbal01]

You could stick the propulsion suystems nozzles in the rear headlights, wouldn't impact much.

[Aghanim]

No not the bottom the top! So we could align the panels with the sun and the sides of the bus makes great heat radiator

My thruster design:

http://www.alibaba.com/product-gs/1454501646/12V600AH_LiFePO4_battery_pack_for_electric.html : 12 VDC, 600 Ah, 53 kg

MPD thruster = 4 4 cm internal diameter, with persistent superconducting magnet for external field, 30 kg? >110000 m/s exhaust velocity

Power converting circuit: Still not sure with the design that can elevate 12v toward like 10kv, 20 kg max, radiator inclusive?

Capacitor bank: 1 megawatt firing every 1 minute? 50 kg?

Tank mass: 500 kg

Argon mass: 1200 kg

Assuming school bus weight is 9 metric tons, then

Total dry mass: 10153 kg

Wet mass: 11353 kg

Delta-v = 12288.41 m/s

Unfortunately wikipedia dV chart for low-thrust engine doesn't include LEO to GEO, but LEO to low lunar orbit requires 8 km/s

So in short this bus could go to moon! Yay

Reaction/rotation control system:

3 magnetorquers

Several rotation and translation RCS ports using argon from main tank

3 control moment gyro

Edited November 29, 2013 by Aghanim

[andrewas]

Do you really need it to be a real bus? Since you're going to be stripping everything from it, including windows, seats, wheels, engine... why not simply make it a space-rated fibre-glass shell that looks like a bus?

That would take all the fun out of launching a bus into orbit. But yeah, that's far more practical than buying a bus, stripping if of everything we don't need, and stripping or sealing all materials that should not be exposed to space. The structure of a spacecraft is the cheapest part, its the avionics, navigation, propulsion, power and so on that are expensive. So buying a bus and stripping it for the outer shell is not much of a saving and may wind up costing more depending on how much work needs to be done, plus the result would weigh more than it has to.

[hotmailcompany52]

How long do you want the bus to live in space? What are the basic requirements? Is it going to LEO, do a couple of orbits and then perform a controlled deorbit, or are you planning to send it into a higher "permanent orbit". GEO graveyard is not really practical with such a heavy payload. Remember that Falcon 9's 13t capability is only to LEO. If you want to go higher, you're going to need an upper stage of some sort, more shielding and more resistant hardware.

Do you really need it to be a real bus? Since you're going to be stripping everything from it, including windows, seats, wheels, engine... why not simply make it a space-rated fibre-glass shell that looks like a bus?

Also it would mean we would lose PR.

You could stick the propulsion suystems nozzles in the rear headlights, wouldn't impact much.

Yeah, this sounds like a good idea aswell. We need somewhere to put all the ideas into.

Edited November 29, 2013 by hotmailcompany52

[bigdad84]

Thanks for all the great feedback, guys. I am working on creating a Kickstarter project for this, possibly under the category of technology. You've given me a lot of really great ideas, many of which will become part of the project. On a related note, is anyone willing to make an image (one which will make people want to spend money on this)/ video for the project? These are very important things if it is to succeed, and unfortunately, I have very little talent in this area.

Also, I have not heard anything back from SpaceX yet.

In the bus acquiring area, I actually have some personal connections from my church in that department. They have a ministry where they bring people to church in buses (old school buses, with the "school bus" replaced with "church bus" and the name of the church down the side of it.) They actually maintain a relatively large fleet of buses, and I happen to know some of the folks in charge of the bus ministry, so I would simply ask them about it.

No point in starting a kickstarter project, if we haven't heard back from SpaceX yet.