Jeb Retires! (Career Total Conversion) [PIC HEAVY!] - DISCONTINUED!

[Taki117]

D:

I thought you were using Space Shuttle Engines for it! Wow! That is impressive. Trust me, making asymmetrical designs is much more fun and much easier when you use SSE.

I am, my shuttle is just too heavy for the engines I have. Also the Polyus and Buran don't fire their engines until after they have separated from the main lifter. I don't know how the Russians do it, but I give them props. All those white rings are reaction wheels, as are the two under the nosecone. I also turned them up to max (20 per wheel) and I still had to add the boosters (thank you RCS build Aid). I must say that was the most challenging thing I have ever built.

Update: I just returned the second space tourist group (report coming soon). Then it's a course correction for my Eve Probe, followed by another tourist swap, then it's off to Duna!

[Deathsoul097]

If you are using SSE, why didn't you just put the "Space Shuttle" Engines on the Energia Core Stage? In a sense the RD-180 engines on Energia worked exactly like the SSME's, but they were on the Energia Core instead of the Buran Shuttle. This meant that the OMEs for the Buran and the Orbital Insertion Engines for the Polyus could be put in a place that maximises efficiency, along without having to deal with any ridiculous offsets.

Edited March 12, 2014 by Deathsoul097

[CalculusWarrior]

I am, my shuttle is just too heavy for the engines I have. Also the Polyus and Buran don't fire their engines until after they have separated from the main lifter. I don't know how the Russians do it, but I give them props. All those white rings are reaction wheels, as are the two under the nosecone. I also turned them up to max (20 per wheel) and I still had to add the boosters (thank you RCS build Aid). I must say that was the most challenging thing I have ever built.

Update: I just returned the second space tourist group (report coming soon). Then it's a course correction for my Eve Probe, followed by another tourist swap, then it's off to Duna!

Two words: Thrust Vectoring. That way you save on fuel too! I support Deathsoul's suggestion for the Space Shuttle Engine mod; it is really handy when building shuttle-type vehicles, as well as provides plenty of extra useful little parts.

[Deathsoul097]

Two words: Thrust Vectoring. That way you save on fuel too! I support Deathsoul's suggestion for the Space Shuttle Engine mod; it is really handy when building shuttle-type vehicles, as well as provides plenty of extra useful little parts.

A fellow Whovian I see, hello friend.

Also, yeah. Thrust vectoring from the SSME's will work in the exact same way on the Energia. I don't know why you felt you had to do it with stock-gimbal engines, as you had said that you have SSE.

[CobaltWolf]

Just created an account to say that I really love this thread! Definitely has inspired me, both in terms of design and goals but also in terms of restrictions. This thread is currently in my tab group that opens every time I launch Firefox.

[Taki117]

Honestly it was because of the name. Space Shuttle Main Engine...makes me think of the Space Shuttle as it's only use. I didn't even think to use them on the main lifter for the Energia. Will have to try that now... Anyway!

Neilbury's alarm went off, rousing him from sleep. "Alright Kerbals, it's time to go home! Pack your bags and head to the Discovery while we tidy things up here." He said as he floated into the habitation module. The passengers slowly woke among mumbles and grumbles about leaving such a lovely place. After they had all filed into the Discovery Jedlie and Neilbury settled themselves into the cockpit and began the undocking procedure. As per procedure the first step was to retract the heat radiator.

Neilbury sealed the hatch and undocked, giving a few puffs of the RCS thrusters to help push them clear of the station. Once they were clear enough Neilbury closed the Dorsal Docking port and disabled the docking lights.

Neilbury rotated the ship around and performed a small retro burn to bring them down near the Kerbal Space Center. Unfortunately no images of the maneuver survived reentry, citing data corruption. However, once that was completed Neilbury pitched the nose of the aircraft to a 40 degree attitude to expose the heat shielded underside to the heat of reentry. At 30km the window screens were shut to protect the passengers.

As the reached an altitude of 25km the aircraft pitched forward, atmospheric drag overcoming the reaction wheels and control surfaces. At this point reentry flames began to lick at the nose and leading edges of Discovery

At 19km Discovery was fully engulfed, and moving far too fast to make a safe landing at the Kerbal Space Center. This wouldn't stop Neilbury from trying though.

"WAVE OFF! WAVE OFF!" Came a shout over the headset as Neilbury tried to land at the KSC runway, unfortunately he couldn't lose altitude fast enough and ended up passing just over 1km above the complex.

(If you look closely you can tell the landing gear are down)

At this point he fired up the jet engines to provide enough power to make it to the Runway at the Island. A landing at the Island runway had never been attempted before, let alone one from an orbital return, at night.

At 5km from the end of the runway Jedlie lowered the landing gear again and armed the drag chute. With such a short runway they would need it if they didn't hit the end spot on.

At Touchdown the drag chute deployed and Jedlie hit the brakes. The Discovery then rolled to a stop a mere 200ft from the end of the runway.

Jedlie climbed out of the dorsal cockpit hatch and made his way to the rear of the Discovery to repack the parachute so that it could be used for their return to the KSC Runway.

Once Jedlie had returned to the Cockpit Neilbury engaged the Taxi motors and taxied the aircraft around so that it was pointing in the right direction for liftoff.

Once they were back on the runway Neilbury fired up the jet engines and took off at a much lower speed than normal, due to the decreased weight of having burnt almost all of the Oxidizer. Neilbury almost misjudged the distance needed for takeoff and nearly lost their control surfaces as he pulled up at the very end of the runway.

He then turned the aircraft to the proper heading for a landing at the KSC Runway where he would deposit his passengers.

Once again, at 5km from the end of the runway Jedlie lowered the landing gear. Because of Neilbury's inexperience landing after such a short flight the aircraft bounced, causing the drag chute to automatically cut once it was airborne again.

This had no affect on landing as the Discovery touched down gently and rolled to a stop, after which Neilbury taxied to the space plane hanger (Since a method of moving ladders had not yet been devised)

Once all the passengers had disembarked Neilbury pulled Leneny, Kenby, and Richlong Kerman aside and smiled at them. "How would you guys like to do that again?" he asked, a wry smile on his face. Their eyes lit up and smiles crossed their faces as they nodded furiously. Neilbury chuckled and led them into the Astronaut Training Facility. "Good, because your training starts now! The crash course you had to get you into space was only the first part. Now you'll get to learn how to fly the rockets yourself." he said before closing the door.

[Taki117]

Minor Multi-mission update!

So, After the successful return from the Hotel California Another crew was sent up, with the two newest Kerbalnauts at the helm. The crew for the Duna mission began their mission specific training (Meaning I'm not sending them on any more manned missions, it's about 9 days to the launch window.) The Polyus Satellite (Which is really just a squeezed down version of a mapsat was deorbited after it had completed mapping Minmmus.

Also, it was discovered that there was some debris left in a decaying orbit, so it was decided to track that down to verify that it did not fall into any communities.

It successfully smashed into the ocean, becoming completely destroyed on impact.

Shortly thereafter the Probe to Eve required a course correction to put it on an intercept with Eve.

So, Current Plan is as follows:

4 days until the change out of the Space Tourists (Unless something major happens I will probably not post a mission report, it's becoming routine now)

9 days until the Duna Crew launch to the Main Drive Section of the Duna Explorer in orbit.

14 days until the Eve Probe arrives at Eve.

Between now and then, to occupy my time, I plan on putting up a Microwave Power Relay Network between the Mun and Minmus. (I'm thinking about maybe a 36-48 hr orbit) and then doing testing with the Plasma Drive and powering ships with nothing but Beamed Power.

If you have any suggestions as to how to make it work, feel free to send me a PM, or post it here.

[Deathsoul097]

Having only ever used Interstellar once, in which I never actually did anything decent, I unfortunately can't help you there. Sorry. I really like the rest of what you are doing though. I guess the best thing would probably be to watch Scott Manley's Interstellar Quest series. He does a couple of Beamed Power rockets there.

[Taki117]

Having only ever used Interstellar once, in which I never actually did anything decent, I unfortunately can't help you there. Sorry. I really like the rest of what you are doing though. I guess the best thing would probably be to watch Scott Manley's Interstellar Quest series. He does a couple of Beamed Power rockets there.

I have been, the issue I'm going to run into is pointing the transmitter in the correct direction. He uses Infernal Robotics, and while this would be useful, I don't have the memory for it. (Though if I can ever transport my saves over to my desktop I can run the Linux version and have access to 32GB of RAM)

[Taki117]

Herzer Kerman burst into Neilbury's office brandishing what appeared to be a very old tape. "Neilbury, I found this while i was cleaning out the archives. Apparently it had been mislabeled and put into the wrong draw. Maybe we should do a special?" he asked as he put the tape on Neilbury's desk. Neilbury's eyes glossed over as he picked up the tape and remembered that fateful day so long ago.

It was a normal day, like any other. The sky was clear, and the rocket sitting on the launch pad. The Newest recruit, Genefried Kerman made his way to the capsule. Once inside he radioed Mission Control. "Genefried to Control, Standing by to launch. All systems are green." he said once he had finished the pre-launch checklist.

"Roger that, hold onto your hat." Neilbury said as a last warning before the engines were fired up and the rocket shot into the air.

Once the main lifter stage had burnt out it was jettisoned and the orbital insertion stage fired. Genefried was pushed back into his seat at the acceleration, it wasn't very comfortable at all.

Safely in orbit Genefried planned his transit to the Mun. "Control this is Genefried, Standing by for engine burn." he said into his headset. Neilbury radioed back, a smile on his face. "It's going to kick like a mule, so you might want to hold onto something." he said right before the engines fired. "But there's noth-OOOF." came the reply as the engines fired, pushing the ship out towards the Mun.

"Nants ingonyama bagithi Baba." Genefried shouted into his headset as Kerbol crested over the horizon of the Mun. Neilbury nearly dropped his headset at the sound. Genefried chuckled before performing a circularization burn, selecting a landing site as he did so (Sice he came over relatively flat ground)

On his next orbit he made his de-orbit burn in preparation to land at his target.

Once he had begun is final descent he jettisoned the transfer stage and lowered his landing gear.

He then proceed to touch down safely and plant a flag.

Soon enough it was time to go, Genefried fired up his engines and ascended into orbit.

After making his burn to go home he just sat back and relaxed.

Once he hit the atmosphere he armed his parachute and jettisoned his lander stage.

He descended through the atmosphere, the heat shield protecting him from the flames of reentry, however due to a program glitch the parachute deployed too early and burned up. "Control, we have a problem! I've lost my chute!" Genefried radioed, panic filling his voice. "It's alright Genefried, keep your heat shield on we'll be there to pick you up." Neilbury said, a tear falling down his cheek.

Shortly thereafter Genefried hit the water, thr force of the impact completely destroying the capsule.

Genefried then launched an identical mission to plant a flag in his honor.

(This is not a recent mission, but a re-post of one that got lost in the re-organization. More missions to come! Also, I haven't lost a Kerbal Since)

[Taki117]

Neilbury walked into the hanger and smiled. "We're trying something new!" he shouted before rolling a new design on the table. "We will be making a Beamed Power Network." he said smiling. "We're gonna need a reactor, a generator, and lots of radiators. Let's get on it." He said.

Soon enough a new rocket was on the launch pad. Neilbury was worried that it would be too unstable.

Neilbury hit the button and watched as the rocket streaked skywards.

Because of how unaerodynamic it was the Gravity turn was not started until about 20km, so that there was minimal air resistance. On the way up the liquid boosters were jettisoned first because they fed into the main lifter.

Then the Solid Rocket Boosters jettisoned shortly thereafter. Separation did not quite go as planned, but no damage occurred to the main lifter stage.

Once the Main lifter had been burnt out it was jettisoned and the Orbital Insertion Stage fired up for the final push to orbit.

Once it had cleared the atmosphere the Radiators were deployed and the power transmitters were activated.

And here she sits in orbit. The Orbital Insertion Stage would be left attached so that the station could be de-orbited if required.

[Taki117]

So, with Kerbal Alarm Clock yelling at me to return my tourists from space I switch over to the Hotel California and undock the Discovery. Once it is clear of the station the dorsal docking port is closed and the ship prepared for reentry.

Once the Discovery was above the appropriate point in it's orbit the Rocket Engine was fired up and a Retro burn was performed. The crew were going home.

Once the burn was complete Jongas placed the ship at a 40 degree pitch and a 90 degree heading. Shortly thereafter Kerbol crested over the surface of Kerbin.

At 35km the aircraft pitched down as expected and the flames of reentry began to lick at the more exposed parts. At this point the window blast shields were shut to protect their occupants.

As they continued to descend the reentry flames became more intense, peaking at about 20km.

Once the Reentry flames had ceased Herzer fired up the Jet engines for a short puff to enlarge the safety margin over the mountains just to the west of the KSC, they passed overhead at an altitude of approximately 10km.

Once clear of the mountains the engines were shut down again, not being used for the rest of the flight. At 30km from the end of the runway Jongas picks up the ILS beacon and begins his final approach. (Thank you Mechjeb! The landing was done manually, but Mechjeb provides the meatball)

At 10km Jongas put the Discovery into a gentle descent to ensure a runway landing.

At 5km Herzer lowered the landing gear and locked them into place. There would be no turning back now.

About 100m from the end of the runway Jongas flared the aircraft, unfortuneately this caused the Discovery to begin gaining altitude again. At this time the Drag Chute Also Deployed.

The landing went smoothly, and soon the Discovery had come to a halt just past the Space Plane Hanger

Herzer engaged the Taxi Motor and Jongas made his way back to the Space Plane Hanger where he was greeted by the ground crew.

First up was the Ladder Vehicle, which would place a ladder next to the Discovery to allow it's passengers and crew to disembark.

Once the passengers had been collected the truck drove away and deposited them back at the terminal inside the Hanger. The truck then parked in it's designated area to await the next set of Tourists. Once the Ladder Truck had moved off the Fuel Transport Vehicle trundled around the corner of the SPH to refuel the Discovery for her next mission.

It carried enough fuel to fully refuel the Discovery twice, though it would refill it's own tanks after every mission. It drove past the discovery and backed up so that the connection port could be attached and a fuel line run between the two vessels.

Once it was in place Herzer attached the pipe end point and ran the fuel line while Jedlie began the fuel transfer from the Truck.

Once the Discovery had finished fueling Herzer disconnected the equipment and the Fuel Truck drove back to sit next to the large LFO Tank behind the Space Plane Hanger to refill it's tank.

[Deathsoul097]

Cool. Dem are some nice support vehicles you got thar, yall. (Hmm. Doesn't have quite the same effect in text, does it?) Oh well. Anyway. Nice, those are quite good looking. I had no idea the Discovery used so little fuel.

[Taki117]

Cool. Dem are some nice support vehicles you got thar, yall. (Hmm. Doesn't have quite the same effect in text, does it?) Oh well. Anyway. Nice, those are quite good looking. I had no idea the Discovery used so little fuel.

The Discovery has 3 of the B9 LFO tanks just behind the crew cabins, with the short LF tanks on the upper engines to help balance out the CoM. She can make a 200km orbit with about 200m/s dV left in the rocket stage. The section immediately behind the cockpit is a custom part. I added the monopropellant and reaction wheels from the approprate parts and put them into the structural part. This was done because with both parts there I was having collision issues with the dorsal docking port.

The hardest part of getting the Ladder Vehicle set up was getting the ladders so they work. With the Discovery in Orbit a mock-up was launched and fit-tested with the ladder. I'm also planning a Mun Anomaly Exploration Mission while the Duna Mission makes it way there, and back.

[WJDubs]

Wow. Those vehicles are just awesome. I wish I was as good as that....

[Taki117]

Wow. Those vehicles are just awesome. I wish I was as good as that....

What do you mean? I think the two most important mods I'm playing with (At this point I have 90+) are Mechjeb/Kerbal Engineer. Without those this project would never have gotten off the ground (Literally). Also, because I'm playing with FAR, DRE and TAC-LS (Links in first post) I have to take these things into consideration. Like FAR changes the Aerodynamics, so I have to have realistic looking rockets, and all of my pods have to have Heat shields to survive reentry. My Launchers come out of necessity, not any need for asthetics (Just take a look at the Duna Explorer Drive Section Launcher)

ANYWAY! BACK TO THE STORY!

Neilbury smiles as he checks his watch during the last few days of training. "Alright boys, time to take this into space!" he said smiling. Soon they were riding the elevator to what would be their home for the next several years. This is the last piece of the Duna Explorer craft.

Neilbury hand picked the Crew, and Since he was the commander he moved along the walkway first, smiling the whole way.

The rest of the crew followed and the boarding ramp was retracted once they had all settled into their grav-couches.

Neilbury smiled and Jedlie hit the engine ignition switch and held on as the autopilot carried them into the sky.

Once the boosters had burnt out they were jettisoned, the radial separation motors fired and pushed the boosters clear of the main lifter to prevent damage.

"MECO, separating stage." Jedlie said once the constant push of the lifter stage had ceased. There was a slight jolt as the separation motors kicked in and the lifter was pushed away from the orbital insertion stage.

The Command section approached the rest of the ship and excitement filled the cabin as they drew ever closer.

At 200m the orbital insertion stage was jettisoned. The separation motors have enough dV to deorbit the stage.

At 5m the docking alignment guides were rotated into the proper orientation.

"And we're docked!" Jedlie shouted so that everyone in the command pod could hear. Neilbury nodded and jettisoned the docking assist module. It would then deorbit itself.

Neilbury then began to secure the connection between the living module and the rest of the ship, as well as the second lander. He also started up the reactor to provide power for their multi-year mission.

Next Episode: OFF TO DUNA!

[WJDubs]

What do you mean? I think the two most important mods I'm playing with (At this point I have 90+) are Mechjeb/Kerbal Engineer. Without those this project would never have gotten off the ground (Literally). Also, because I'm playing with FAR, DRE and TAC-LS (Links in first post) I have to take these things into consideration. Like FAR changes the Aerodynamics, so I have to have realistic looking rockets, and all of my pods have to have Heat shields to survive reentry. My Launchers come out of necessity, not any need for asthetics (Just take a look at the Duna Explorer Drive Section Launcher)

No, that's not what I meant. I meant I wish I was as good as you to be able to make those ground control vehicles.

[Taki117]

No, that's not what I meant. I meant I wish I was as good as you to be able to make those ground control vehicles.

Ah, PFFT, those I quite literally threw together. The Refuel truck is nothing more than a couploa attached to a fuel tank with some wheels (And other bits) the Ladder Truck body is from Wayland Corp. (As are the wheels) with a B9 ladder stuck in the bed (And batteries) Those two things are quite possibly the simplest things I've built.

UPDATES:

Shortly after Neilbury returned to the command module Jedlie fired up the engines to put them on course for Duna. They said good-bye to Kerbin one last time before reaching the emptiness of space.

MEANWHILE:

As this was going on the Probe to Eve was racing ever closer. After a mid course correction it was soon in Eve's Sphere of Influence.

After another small maneuver the probe folded in the exposed radiators and antenna out of the way as it plunged into the atmosphere.

Once it was deep enough the transit stage was jettisoned to expose the probes heat shield.

As it fell the probe took scientific readings and transmitted the results back to Kerbin.

At 30km the drogue chutes were deployed in reefed condition. Over the course of the descent they would slow the probe down to 39m/s

At 2.5km the main chutes were reefed and the drogue chutes fully deployed, at this point the probe was going slow enough that the heat shield could be jettisoned and the landing legs lowered.

1km from the surface and the main chutes fully deployed and the drogue chutes were cut. The probe slowed to 5.9m/s.

Shortly before touchdown the Probe fired it's decent engine to slow to 3.9m/s before touchdown.

This still wasn't slow enough as the increased Eve gravity took hold once the chutes had been cut and toppled the probe, snapping one of it's legs and damaging an instrument. Fortunately the fall did not damage the main communication dish and it was able to send scientific data back from the surface of Eve.\

[WJDubs]

Ah, PFFT, those I quite literally threw together. The Refuel truck is nothing more than a couploa attached to a fuel tank with some wheels (And other bits) the Ladder Truck body is from Wayland Corp. (As are the wheels) with a B9 ladder stuck in the bed (And batteries) Those two things are quite possibly the simplest things I've built.

Oh. (10char)

[Taki117]

Oh. (10char)

As will all my contraptions form follows function. I plan out what I want it to do first, then I go about figuring out how it should look to achieve that goal. An example: (And the next part of the story)

A new rocket sits out on the Launch pad. They had already sent a probe to Eve, it was time to go one step further and visit the closest planet to Kerbol. This probe would also be powered by the newly developed Microwave Power and Plasma Engine.

Orbin hit the button and the main engines ignited as the launch clamps released, sending the rocket skyward.

Steadily it climbed, and once the main lifter had burnt out the orbital insertion and transfer stage was ignited, pushing the lifter away.

Once clear of the Atmosphere the fairings were jettisoned to reveal a craft that was very similar to the Eve Probe.

The Radiators and backup solar panels were unfurled as the craft began its departure burn. The transfer stage was jettisoned at this point and the remaining fuel used to put it on a collision course with the Mun. (Once the probe had been jettisoned it had just over 1km/s dV left)

[Taki117]

So I think I'm going to stop posting my Space Tourism series unless something major happens. (I will still do them and they will still be documented, but I don't want to bore you all with the details)

Dunwig awoke to the sound of his alarm clock. It was time for the newest batch of Space Tourists to head back home. After waking Wehreny the two of them shuffled their charge back into the Discovery they undocked from the station and performed their retro burn. So far it was a textbook reentry for the craft and everything was going well, until they hit the atmosphere.

Dunwig tapped the panel as the "Low Electric Charge" warning came on. "Wehreny, something's not right." he said as he gave his pilot a worried look before everything went dark. They were out of power.

Wehreny yanked back on the stick to try and keep the nose up, and keep it up he did. The Discovery descended to about 36km before she began to rise again, reaching a new apoapsis of 41km. They were too close and too high up to land at either KSC or the Emergency Landing Strip on the Island.

With no other choice Wehreny becan a standard reentry profile, nosing down as they dropped altitude to present the heat shielded tiles to the flames of reentry.

Once the heat of reentry had dissipated Wehreny banked the aircraft hard to try and get it turned around to lessen the distance they had to travel to land. Naturally he found out how difficult it is to try and turn at Mach 2.

Eventually he made it around and leveled off while Dunwig fired up the engines to cruising speed. It would be a long flight back.

Confidant that the worst was behind them Wehreny began to relax as they neared their destination.

At 20km from the end of the Runway the engines were cut. Confidant that they could maintain a glide from an altitude of 5km Wehreny handed control over to Dunwig for final approach. Everything was going well and at 5km from the end of the runway Wehreny lowered the landing gear and armed the parachute in preparation for touchdown.

At 1km from the end of the runway the Discovery began to lose altitude at an alarming rate. Neither of them had been watching their speed very closely and now they were going too slow to maintain their glide. Wehreny fired up the engines on full throttle but it was too little too late. Dunwig yanked back hard on the stick to try and soften the landing as Wehreny sounded the collision alarm in the crew compartments. They touched down hard, causing the front landing gear to buckle before snapping off and slamming the nose of the aircraft into the dirt just shy of the runway. this caused the RCS in the nose of the aircraft to explode, destroying the cockpit and exposing the crew cabins. The Discovery soon disintegrated, debris covering the last 500ft to the runway.

Miraculously, as the smoke cleared, the two crew cabins were found intact, their occupants bruised and battered, but alive. It was decided by Orbin that until the cause of the accident was discovered and corrected that no further Space Tourist flights would occur.

[Taki117]

Due to a corrupted Save I am unable to continue this. The Kraken had effectively frozen my interstellar missions, causing any ship that leaves Kerbins SoI to be instantly destroyed (Even at the lowest of timewarps) so the Duna Explorer and my Probe to Moho could neither be controlled nor targeted. I will be restarting my game (As soon as I trim down my mods to a much more reasonable level) and will post more information (and a link to the new thread) when I get things up and running again. I thank all of you that have watched as my Kerbals have done great things, and some have given their lives in the process.