[FINISHED] Northstar's Collaborative Kerbal Career Campaign

Northstar1989 · October 19, 2014

Hey guys, I'm at it again- with ANOTHER Career Mode playthrough (after the save for the last one was accidentally corrupted I had to start over).

THIS TIME, I've decided to do something DIFFERENT!

I'm going to make this a Career Mode playthrough where YOU, THE COMMUNITY have a say in my upcoming mission-objectives.

To keep this simple, here's how it's going to work: any time I solicit idea for a new mission (which won't be all the time- otherwise this would drag on forever), the first two people to post will get to make an argument for two possible mission ideas. I will then choose between those ideas, or a third idea of my own (which I may or may not post about).

For the time being, I prefer if you guys post your ideas HERE (click "here" for the link).

Generally, I will give serious consideration to ideas posted, but they need to be PLAUSIBLE. That means, no suggesting a Jool-5 type mission when I've barely made it to orbit this time around. If you suggest such an idea, it will be ignored (or replied to telling you why I think it's beyond my current means- depending on how far out it is), and I will only compare the other community idea and my own for the next mission.

*HOWEVER*, I will be starting with a lot more Science/Funds than the default (focused mostly on plane parts, for realism), so it won't be as long as normal until I get to attempt some more challenging missions...

I will also be open to occasional ideas for new mods (suggest them, and I might install them). Here are the mods to begin with:

Mods (subject to change/addition)

Active Texture Management

Ferram Aerospace Research

Deadly Re-Entry: Continued

Kerbal Joint Reinforcement

Kerbal Attachment System

TAC Fuel Balancer

Kerbal Alarm Clock

Atmospheric Trajectories

Flight Manager for Reusable Stages

Standford Torus mod (science, solar panel, SRB, docking, and mass-accelerator parts ONLY)

NovaPunch2 (fairings deleted)

RealFuels + "Stockalike" config

Procedural Parts

Procedural Fairings

Procedural Dynamics (aka. "Procedural Wings")

KSP Interstellar

Near Future Solar

Precise Node

Firespitter (biplane wing and cokcpit parts, and "Le-Pt battery" deleted)

MechJeb2

Regards,

Northstar

Edited December 19, 2014 by Northstar1989

Northstar1989 · October 19, 2014

Here are the starting difficulty settings:

And here are the tech nodes I started things off with:

Note in particular that NovaPunch2 makes a single type of docking port available with the Space Exploration node. This means that I should be able to perform MUCH more advanced missions early on than otherwise...

Regards,

Northstar

Northstar1989 · October 19, 2014

Here are my first two flights (yes flights- not launches), to fulfill early altitude contracts and gather some !SCIENCE! around Kerbin:

By starting off with flight instead of launches, I was able to get offered some of the altitude contracts not normally available (reach 11000 meters, reach 22000 meters) if you just go straight for breaking the atmosphere right off- which is nice, because I expect I'll need the Funds for some of the early mission you guys will suggest (Funds are going to be short in this save early on, period, as Entry Purchases are not disabled).

So, next I begin work on a jet plane (propeller planes can't fly high enough) to meet the next altitude contract of 22km...

And thanks to the two flights, was able to unlock solar panels:

I'll soon begin constructing my first orbital and suborbital rockets, but in the meantime, the question for you readers is this: where to first?

The Mun? Minmus? Should I focus on constructing an LKO fuel depot for more ambitious missions down the line? (although I'd prefer to wait on this until I have more cost-effective rockets) Or would you guys find it more interesting if I continued to fly around Kerbin, collecting biome science? The question is for you guys to answer- remember, the early bird gets the worm here, only the first two responses will be considered in addition to my own opinion.

It would be HIGHLY PREFERABLE if responses were made on the separate thread I created for responses (I'll use it at least for the first mission, perhaps later ones as well if it seems to work as intended), so as to keep the first couple pages of this thread focused only on progress made.

http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/97427-Announcing-Northstar-s-Collaborative-Kerbal-Career-Campaign-what-to-build-next

Regards,

Northstar

Edited November 1, 2014 by Northstar1989

Northstar1989 · October 19, 2014

Jebediah Kerman launched atop the KSC's first ever rocket this save, netting another altitude record and some additional funding:

And then turned right back around, and became the first Kerbal to launch to orbit:

The launch platform for this mission was EXTREMELY robust, so I also packed in a payload for future missions. You'll notice my dropping it off in this next album:

This payload was comprised of a Science Jr. and two Mystery Goo canisters, with NovaPunch2 docking ports (designed for the Odin) on either end...

After dropping it off, Jebediah then returned home to the KSC with little incident:

I hope you guys enjoyed the screenshots!

By the way, some of you may notice I made a MAJOR mistake in this mission- I forgot to switch back to the lower stage and recover it (to be precise, I did a quicksave/quickload before trying to switch back to it, only to discover that doing so had eliminated my chance to switch back and pilot it using Flight Manager for Reusable Stages...)

That's going to cost me in the long run, although I guess it's actually somewhat realistic, since I will probably only be re-using that launch platform a few more times- and technically there would be no value in recovering a reusable launch stage on its final launch in real life...

My next major mission will be a Munar flyby (via a free-return trajectory if possible), per the suggestion on the mission suggestions thread. After that, I have some contracts for probe-sized engine, so I'm soliciting your guys' ideas of where to send a probe in/around the Kerbin system (the choices are the Mun, Minmus, and solar orbit- and the surfaces of either moon...)

Regards,

Northstar

Edited October 19, 2014 by Northstar1989

Norcalplanner · October 19, 2014

Is there a reason you're not using the MechJeb utility tab to limit acceleration? It looks like you're wasting a lot of delta V on aero drag by going so fast so low. I don't know how well the current version of MechJeb works with FAR, but you should at least be able to set a cap of 40 or 50 m/s acceleration and avoid the worst of the aero losses.

Northstar1989 · October 20, 2014

I'm not using the MechJeb utility tab because I haven't unlocked it yet.

That being said, I wouldn't actually need it anyways. I'm running FAR, so the terminal velocity of large, aerodynamic rockets (like my own) is MUCH higher than in stock. Like in stock KSP, the most efficient velocity to ascend at, more or less, is terminal velocity, as it minimizes the combined losses to gravity and aero drag during ascent. Actually, to be precise, the ideal ascent velocity is a little above terminal velocity- as you want to get out of the soup of the lower atmosphere quickly to improve your ISP. I was going nowhere near terminal velocity for that rocket shape/size and orientation...

I *DID* lose some Delta-V in my ascent profile though: by not pointing more along the orbital prograde marker (i.e. by not starting my gravity turn earlier/sharper) - however that was a necessary evil as I didn't want my lower stage to have to perform too large of a return burn to the KSC... (this is the main reason Space-X's Falcon 9 would have a lower payload capacity when in reusable mode- not because the return fuel actually weighs that much, but because you have to follow a suboptimal ascent trajectory to allow for lower stage recovery...)

Anyways, stay tuned, because in just a second (I'm uploading the pictures to Imgur now), I'll have screenshots of the launch of the Munar Flyby to Kerbin orbit, as well as rendezvous with a stranded Kerbal from a rescue contract (he'll be the pilot for the rest of the mission).

Regards,

Northstar

Northstar1989 · October 20, 2014

OK, so I know I promised I wouldn't show you guys any boring Contracts missions, but this one was technically an orbital launch, and helped to dictate the mission profile for my Munar Flyby mission (which I'll be showing you guys screenshots of in just a second)

I present, my "Mini Orbiter"

So-named because of its rather small size, this rocket was not my cheapest or most efficient launch yet by far, but it DID allow me to complete a contract to test a pair of large radial boosters in flight (which I wouldn't have gotten to for a LONG time otherwise- I'm not nearly pushing the limits of rocket height enough yet to need the extra thrust...) It also had a rather interesting and aerodynamic shape that might have potentially produced a fair bit of body-lift, although the demands of the contracts meant that I didn't actually pitch over while the SRB's (which gave it a plane-like shape) were still attached...

Anyways, after that was in orbit, and a few more short contract missions around the KSC (which I won't bother showing you guys- they weren't very interesting), I launched my largest rocket yet- a Munar Flyby!

The actual mission vehicle was a lot larger than it needed to be for a Munar flyby Delta-V wise (or at least it was designed to be), as I'd also like to take this vessel by Minmus before returning to Kerbin. That, and, I'm hoping to leave the majority of the mission mass in Kerbin orbit for future re-use: which will take a lot more fuel than just dumping the various parts in Kerbin's upper atmosphere...

This was a Space-X style launch, and this time a bit more efficient that before, as I had a heavier payload (I'm still over-engineering the launch stage a bunch: it landed with several thousand m/s Delta-V to spare after detaching from the mission vehicle). It also doesn't hurt that I actually remember to switch back to the launch stage and fly it back to the ground this time around:

After the launch-stage was safely landed again, saving me THOUSANDS of Funds over a disposable mission profile, I rendezvoused with the Kerbal who was stranded in orbit, and brought him on as the mission's pilot...

Precise Node came rather in handy for this, as I haven't unlocked the MechJeb Maneuver planner yet (and in fact, I can usually do a better job than MechJeb when I really try), as did Kerbal Alarm Clock (which I added to my game earlier today- and will add to the mods list shortly...)

Finally, I mentioned that the Mini Orbiter launch dictated the mission profile for the Munar Flyby in some ways, and next this is where that comes into play... I launched with so much extra fuel partly because I planned to swing by the Mini Orbiter and pick up its scientific data if it turned out it couldn't successfully re-enter (via an F5/F9 "simulation" of re-entry possibilities, of course). I also launched at such a time that I wouldn't have had to wait too long to stop by the craft after picking up the stranded Kerbal, if it should have become necessary.

Fortunately, no rendezvous or quick-load was necessary. I switched to the Mini Orbiter first, and it indeed was quite capable of re-entering as planned: with the engines and one of the fuel tanks being dumped in the ocean east of the KSC; but the science lab, guidance systems, and a couple of the fuel tanks making a successful soft splashdown on a parachute...

The one thing that DIDN'T go as planned here is that I messed up the staging a little, and dropped the heat-shield before deploying the parachute (fortunately, at this point I had no more need of it) where I meant to keep it attached so as to recover it (I had more than enough drag from the parachute that I could have kept the heat shield and still landed safely). But, no point crying over spilled milk- and it did LOOK rather cool seeing the heat-shield fly off towards the ocean below...

Anyways, that's all for major mission progress at this point- I'll be swinging by the Mun and Minmus a bit later (it's 4 AM on a Sunday night here). But, I thought I'd share just a couple screenshots I took at various points during these missions of the tech tree (I tend to stop by the Space Center whenever I fulfill a contract, to see if there aren't other contracts I can pick up and complete on the same mission that I didn't plan for originally- and so I often take the opportunity to spend my hard-earned science points as well...) just so you guys know just what kind of missions are possible at this point:

These screenshots weren't taken at precisely the same time, but they were both taken during recent mission progress. As you can see, I've already unlocked all the way through Very Heavy Rocketry (with the mod-heavy nodes Nuclear Power and Experimental Rocketry looming just tantalizingly out-of-reach due to unfulfilled co-requirements for those technologies), but have a LARGE number of parts that haven't been purchased yet within unlocked nodes. So, while research progresses somewhat apace, I seem to be substantially limited by the availability of funding... (It probably also doesn't help that I'm exchanging a good amount of Funds for Science via a low-level commitment to the Outsourced R&D administrative strategy)

I'm happy with the progress I'm making though- and honestly, I'd rather have a lot of nodes available without purchasing all the parts in them, over just a few nodes with all the parts unlocked. It allows me to leap-frog parts that are currently useless to me, like many of the various decouplers (Procedural Parts gives me a one-size-fits-all decoupler, which makes finding the right one for the job a LOT easier- and with some foresight would have probably led me to deleting some of the other mod decouplers to save memory), ladders (Kerbals can use their jet-packs to board landers on the Mun and Minmus- I won't need them until I reach Eve, Laythe, or Tylo), various fuel tanks (once again, ProceduralParts offers a one-size-fits-all that I can customize *exactly* to my needs- I only wish the mod were stock...)

Last, but not least, I an always get some of the parts I need via experimental-access contracts, such as one I already have for a turbojet (which should be useful for mopping up leftover high-altitude science, working towards eventual spaceplane designs, and even pioneering the way for Thermal Turbojet designs someday- TTJ's behave mroe similarly to chemical turbojets than standard jet engines...)

Feel free to suggest future missions after the Mun (and Minmus, if fuel allows) fly-by's over on the discussion thread. By advised, the next mission I'm looking for will probably be a probe mission (those can be rather ambitious however- for instance a Materials Study return-mission from solar orbit- and I may also be installing DMagic Orbital Science soon, since it makes probes MUCH more useful...)

Regards,

Northstar

Edited October 21, 2014 by Northstar1989

Northstar1989 · October 21, 2014

A whole bunch of screenshots for the Munar Flyby Mission here, which is now complete!

First of all, you guys remember that module I dropped on the First Orbiter mission? I certainly do! It formed one of the two science modules for this mission, and also provided additional fuel for the trip- AFTER I rendezvoused up with it and docked, of course:

After that, it was to the Mun!

But I wasn't done yet. Using the Mun's gravity to my advantage, next I was off to Minmus:

Of course, getting there is always the most exciting part of any voyage:

And thanks to my majestic double gravity-assist earlier (even when capturing to Minmus orbit I expended less fuel than it would have taken to circularize at that altitude around Kerbin), I had enough fuel to make it out to the Sun's Sphere of Influence and beyond the edge of Kerbin's gravity!

No trip is complete without a return home though...

The status of things is now thus: I have two science modules scattered around the Kerbin system- one still attached to the reusable transfer stage from before, and the other in Minmus orbit. Both are currently in inclined orbits- which means intercepting them will take a bit more planning in my launch/transfer windows to minimize/avoid excessive orbital plane-changes.

I also have access to a large number of new tech nodes thanks to this mission. I continued to focus on rocketry-related nodes, which means I've now unlocked up through Advanced Metalworks (Clamp-O-Tron Jr's and bigger Procedural Parts fuel tank limits) and Nuclear Propulsion;

With a few more nodes, I should (hopefully) be able to start setting up ISRU facilities (I've still got to unlock the ISRU refinery itself, and generators unless I want to power it with solar panels using the new Ec-->MJ functionality). In the meantime, I've got enough propulsive and rocket-building options to send nearly any payload anywhere. Oh yeah, and I also unlocked the Mk1 Lander Can, so I'm almost ready for some Mun/Minmus landings (I just want to unlock the Impactor experiment which KSP-Interstellar replaces the seismic sensor with first...)

And as always, the question looms- where to next? Feel free to post ideas for my next mission (likely a probe) on the discussion thread, which I've now linked to in the OP so you don't have to go searching for the other link in this thread, or hunting through the forum...

Regards,

Northstar

Edited October 21, 2014 by Northstar1989

Northstar1989 · October 22, 2014

I've finally been won over to the cause of using LH2/LOX for my launch stages rather than Kerosene/LOX or Hypergolics. The first vessel to see the benefits of this decision was my newest model of fuel tanker (built explicitly for refueling my transfer stage from the Munar Flyby mission).

The deciding factor was the low, low cost of tank volume in the new version of Procedural Parts (version 0.9.19), which finally makes the MUCH larger tank volume needed for such a low-density fuel cost-effective. Actually, it seems almost too low- I think the mod creators might want to look at increasing the cost of fuel tanks a little (real fuel tanks also have to act as structural elements capable of bearing the weight of the rocket above them- which greatly increases costs over a simple pressure vessel...)

It also makes me wonder whether in real life, shifts in the relative costs of fuel tanks vs. engines haven't favored one fuel over the other from time-to-time when it comes to rockets. More expensive fuel tanks obviously favor higher-density fuels, like Hypergolics (which tend to have lower ISP), whereas cheaper fuel tanks and more expensive engines strongly favor higher-ISP fuels (which also tend to have lower density...)

But, without further delay, here are the screenshots:

Another change in my tanker design was the switch from a monolithic 2.50 meter engine to a cluster of smaller engines. This wasn't driven by any good engineering balance reasons so much as that the 2.5 meter engine was providing far more thrust than I needed for the mission profile (which was to re-fuel my transfer stage from before- not to launch fuel as cost-effectively as possible or in large bulk).

The 1.25 meter engines are actually heavier and more expensive per unit of thrust- but I needed less of it than a 2.5 meter engine could provide. If I had access to a 2.00 meter engine, I would have made use of that instead, and it would have been more cost and mass-effective...

Anyways, the launch stage for this tanker was another Space-X style vehicle, and even with the cheaper engines, it still comprised the majority of the cost of the rocket:

One final note about this tanker design, which may be instructive for those of you attempting to build reusable rockets with FMRS and realism mods installed. I settled on a mission profile based on having three stages, the first and last of which are reusable, and the middle of which is disposable. The reason for this is simple- the first stage can return directly to the KSC, and the last stage can perform a full orbit or two before returning, but the middle stage is stuck in an unhappy medium- it neither has enough velocity to make it around Kerbin, but too much velocity to simply turn around and head back the way it came. It also has to deal with re-entry heat (with Deadly Re-Entry installed), which adds cost and complexity to building in recovery-capabilities. Which makes recovery far less worthwhile, when it travels halfway around the planet first...

All that being said, the main reason the middle stage wasn't worth recovering was simply because the parachute alone would have been almost as expensive as this part of the rocket- with a small engine (cost approx. 400) and a Procedural Parts fuel tank (cost less than 50), adding a parachute (cost 422) and a guidance system (cost 700 for a radial MechJeb unit- can be brought down a bit with inline fairings and an Okto probe core instead) would have actually LOST me money after recovery- and that's not even accounting for any reduced payload capacity...

As you saw, though, the middle stage was over-engineered, and actually made orbit along with the upper stage/payload. The problem is, without a larger-diameter rocket engine, or an engine-cluster (which I didn't unlock the Procedural Fairings part to allow me to build thrust plates for until AFTER this launch- all I had access to was a NovaPunch 2.75 meter thrust plate), I couldn't have built a monolithic upper stage with a good enough height-to-width ratio to not fall over and explode after landing... So I decided to concentrate all the expensive parts (guidance systems, docking ports, reaction wheels, etc.) in the upper stage, and just abandon the middle stage (I'll try to de-orbit it for roleplaying though, even if doing so is going to cost me...)

Enough analysis though. I tend to get a little carried-away with explaining the reasoning behind my decisions (sometimes I think I should work for NASA, where this kind of careful analysis is necessary- I already love space- but unfortunately I did not major in a field like aerospace engineering or physics...) Here are the final screenshots, of contracts offered after the fuel tanker mission (which fulfilled a launch clamps contract and unlocked a couple others), and my progress in the tech tree so far:

As always, I hope you guys enjoy. And I hope all the cost-analysis didn't bother you- trying to figure out the most cost-effective ways to get payload to space has become a passion of mine lately...

Regards,

Northstar

Norcalplanner · October 22, 2014

Nice mission photos on the flyby, and congrats on making it to Kerbol's SOI that early in the program.

If you've unlocked nukes and solar, then it's time for a multi-planet deep space probe at some point to start surveying other celestial bodies.

Northstar1989 · October 22, 2014

Thanks. I'm trying to keep it relatively simple this playthrough, but ultimately I tend to get very ambitious (in my first Fan Works posting, I eventually had an armada of over 20 ships heading to Duna before the 0.24 update eventually caused me to start all over...)

Haha, you've got a strange sense of humor. Do you *KNOW* how heavy nukes are in RealFuels mod with "Stockalike" settings? Because "Stockalike" attempts to replicate real-world TWR's and ISP's, but doesn't change engine thrust, they become ridiculously heavy (real NERVA engines had quite a bit less thrust). A probe mission would be far too small to justify using a nuke (other than one of the KSP-Interstellar particle bed reactors- which are based on later reactor designs for nuclear propulsion after NERVA that had better TWR than the original NERVA project. Look up "Timberwind Particle Bed Nuclear Propulsion Project" if you have the time- I linked to the Wikipedia article on it here.)

Not surprisingly, the New York Times did a TERRIBLE job of explaining the rocketry behind it to the public when the project was "exposed" in 1991. For one, they completely missed out on the distinction between high-ISP, low-TWR rockets, like almost any form of Nuclear Thermal Rocket (including Timberwind), and engines that are actually useful for launch vehicles rather than just orbital maneuvers and long-burn upper stages...

http://www.nytimes.com/1991/04/03/us/secret-nuclear-powered-rocket-being-developed-for-star-wars.html

If you read the Wikipedia article closely, you will notice that the Timberwind rockets, unlike NERVA, actually did have enough thrust to lift their own weight- a TWR of about 30. But the specifications PALE in comparison to the TWR (and raw thrust figures) for comparable-sized chemical rockets, which can easily reach a TWR of over 100 and more than 12 times the raw thrust of the largest Timberwind rocket designs. so definitely NOT a good heavy launch stage. The largest Timberwind design had a diameter almost as large as Saturn V (8.9 vs. 10 meters) and a sea-level thrust of "only" 1,912 kN, with an 8.3 metric ton mass.

Anyways, I currently have access to Timberwind-style reactors (my Kerbals, unlike fools like Mr. Aftergood, don't have overblown fears about nuclear rocketry- which is *FAR* less dangerous than atmospheric nuclear warhead tests), but I don't intend to use them for any missions just yet. The best-ISP fuel for a Nuclear Thermal Rocket is LqiuidHydrogen, and that has serious boil-off problems in RealFuels (even the alternatives, LqdMethane and LqdAmmonia, still boil off at a slow rate). My plan is to wait for generators and Dreadicon's final KSP-I/RealFuels integration config, and then send up LqdWater as a stable storage medium for hydrogen.

I can also use the Oxygen component for an afterburner-like effect to increase the thrust. Using LOX decreases the ISP substantially, but you actually get more Delta-V for the same fuel tank volume this way than just carrying LiquidH2 due to the much higher fuel-density (and substantially better thrust thane using the electricity for plasmodynamic engines- while still exceeding the ISP of LH2/LOX or especially Hypergolic chemical rockets...)

Regards,

Northstar

Edited October 23, 2014 by Northstar1989

Northstar1989 · October 23, 2014

My tanker mission was a success, and I've got a couple albums of screenshots to show you guys for it...

In the first album, I show rendezvous+docking, and the fate of the dropped middle stage:

In the second album, I show the recovery of the upper tanker stage:

All in all, a good mission. The tanker *was* a bit over-engineered (I could have made do with less fuel in the middle and upper stages), and that did add slightly to cost, and I also lost the MechJeb core on splashdown- but other than that things went fairly well. The main advantages of refilling the existing transfer stage, rather than launching a new one, were that it let me re-use the expensive reaction wheel in the existing transfer stage (which was more expensive than the rest of the upper and lower stages combined)- which was more powerful than the tanker needed- and it also meant I was able to recover whatever vessel I launched next without hauling a parachute all around the Kerbin system...

Finally, one last note. I've posted videos of my missions before, and I intend to do it again soon. Only, I've been sick since the day I started this thread (and still have a lingering cough), so I didn't want to make a recording where I would be wearing out my throat and coughing the whole time. I promise you guys, you'll see videos of my missions again soon .

Regards,

Northstar

Northstar1989 · October 24, 2014

I will be launching a Munar polar lander mission SOON , though I've decided to reneg on the part about leaving infrastructure there for a future base (mainly as KSP-Interstellar Aluminum Hybrid rockets are currently broken due to scaling issues- which makes building a mining outpost on the Munar poles MUCH less enticing than building such a base on the flats of Minmus...) but first I decided to do a little more with flyby missions around the Mun...

So, without further delay, I present my Munar Free Return Probe launch:

This isn't *entirely* unrelated to my future Mun landings, though- the (hypergolic) Munar transfer stage is over-engineered such as to also act as either the return stage or the return fuel (I haven't decided on specific mission details yet) for the command/service module of my future Mun landing...

Anyways, here the Munar Free Return Probe is making its Munar transfer:

The plan is that en-route the transfer stage and the probe will decouple, and the transfer stage will perform a burn so it makes a low pass on the *opposite* side of the Mun from the probe (the side of the Mun the probe will have to pass on for a free return would lead to a retrograde orbit) where it will perform a capture-burn...

Regards,

Northstar

Northstar1989 · October 26, 2014

I wish some of you had watched my Twitch broadcast last night!

I didn't have any viewers, but for those of you wanting to catch a glimpse of the latest gameplay, here are the available parts of it:

My recording started before this, but the first part's video is missing due to an error with the Chicago Twitch sever... (the closest one to me geographically) The main event of the recording is the capture of my Kerbin Return Stage around the Mun (which originally serves as the transfer stage for my Munar Free Return Probe), although you also get to see an attempted launch of my Mun Mission rocket that didn't go so well...

The main events were these, though. First, I captured the transfer stage of the Munar Free Return Probe into a low Munar orbit- where it will act as the return-stage for the Munar Mission's command capsule:

Then came some minor preparations for the eventual Mun mission... (namely separating the used science module from the Munar transfer stage and accepting a couple contracts)

And the recovery of the Munar Free Return Probe followed:

Finally, after accepting a few more contracts (only some of which are shown), and some launchpad parts-testing so as to get more interesting contracts and science points (not shown), I had enough Science to purchase a couple more tech nodes:

I now both gravity scanners and accelerometers (which can only be used for Impactor experiments with KSP-Interstellar installed), as well as Magnetometers and Gas/Liquid Chromatographs, IR Telescopes, and KSP-Interstellar Science Laboratories (which slowly produce Science when off-world and supplied with 5 MW of power...)

I also now have access to the refinery parts for KSP-Interstellar's ISRU system- although actual ISRU infrastructure will have to wait for, at the very least, bigger solar panels (with the Large Electrics tech node- and possibly also with installation of the updated version of the Multipanels mod for truly huge static solar panels...)

Next up, launch of my Munar CSM/LEM, and probably also a stock Mobile Laboratory... (so that I can re-use the lander)

Regards,

Northstar

Edited October 28, 2014 by Northstar1989

The Jedi Master · October 26, 2014

Is this at all inspired by the Community Aeronautics and Space Administration, by me?

Northstar1989 · October 27, 2014

I've never heard of it, so...

However, if you posted a link, I'd love to take a look at- maybe suggest some mission ideas of my own, maybe even steal some ideas from it on how to run this game...

EDIT: By the way, more news. I've decided to install the Stanford Torus mod, and created an up-rated version of the Mass Accelerator in it which matches real-world specs (the mod's accelerator only produces a force of 250 kN/s, whereas the generation-1 Star Tram magnetic launch system would produce 11760 kN/s- I uprated both force production and power consumption appropriately, reduced the costs by 90%, and added a hefty entry purchase cost...)

Currently, the up-rated Mass Accelerator is just for my personal use, but here is a thread where I try and figure out what I need to do to redistribute it for everyone, since the license (CDDL-1) allows it:

http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/98284-Creating-an-up-rated-version-of-the-Stanford-Torus-mod-Mass-Accelerator

Regards,

Northstar

Edited October 27, 2014 by Northstar1989

Northstar1989 · October 28, 2014

I present the launch of my Mun Mission:

This is also my first major launch to take advantage of the modified Mass Accelerators I forked from the Stanford Torus mod recently (and re-balanced to be more in line with real life mass driver designs- which are lighter, stronger, more energy-hungry, and more powerful than the ones in the original mod...)

Note that the force has been set to less than 30% of the up-rated maximum (11,760 kN/s, based on the real world Star Tram design proposal)- this is as the rocket design is not aerodynamically stable enough for an ejection at full-force... (I could have used a shorter stack of coils set at higher force levels, but a more gradual acceleration is gentler on the rocket and pilot...)

This was also a Space-X style launch (hey, look at that, I combined real-world better-launch ideas!) and the launch stage safely touched down in the ocean east of the KSC (the payload needed extra horizontal velocity, and touching down near the KSC would have been risky, as the electromagnet stack could have collapsed during physics-load...), although the use of LH2/LOX in the launch stage (with its associated boil-off issues) didn't allow for a "true" Space-X launch with a powered touchdown, so I had to rely entirely on parachutes...

The net result of all this: I cheaply and intelligently launched my Munar Lander to an elliptical orbit with its periapsis in the right place for an efficient Munar transfer...

However, inspection of what was supposed to be the Munar Transfer Stage revealed that a direct plane-change would have actually cost more Delta-V than going to the Mun, and using it for a plane-change. And the main mission vehicle (with the lander and CSM) had needed to launch into an equatorial orbit so as to deliver what is supposed to be a Munar fuel depot (the stage with the surface-attached Clamp-o-Tron Jr.) into an equatorial orbit around the Mun- stationing a permanent Munar fuel depot in a polar orbit doesn't make much sense. (Finally, the return-tug is also in an equatorial orbit, so the Command/Service Module should preferably launch to an equatorial orbit as well...)

I decided to re-purpose the "transfer stage" as a fuel tanker (the lander/CSM/depot had more than enough TWR and Delta-V to get to the Mun on its own), and launch it directly into a Munar polar orbit- where it will rendezvous with the Mun lander after the depot/CSM are delivered to an equatorial orbit, and top off its fuel tanks before I attempt a Munar landing (which will likely be two-part, involving a suborbital "hop" from the poles to an equatorial site before launching to rendezvous with the CSM- this actually being cheaper in terms of Delta-V than a plane-change from polar orbit, and netting me more Science points...)

The Lander/CSM, meanwhile, transferred to the Mun under its own power, using the small and rather efficient lander engine:

In the meantime, I'm working on a polar expedition on Kerbin as well (I felt bad co-opting the mission suggestion of a Kerbal polar mission into a Munar polar landing...), making use of a SpaceShip One style "mothership" launch:

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

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

Regards,

Northstar

Edited October 28, 2014 by Northstar1989

Northstar1989 · October 28, 2014

I wasn't having much luck with a SpaceShip One style "mothership" launch (even once I got it working correctly from the plane side, the rocket was having serious control issues after detachment, and the plane wasn't showing up under FMRS to be piloted back to the runway rather than simply disappearing...), so I went back to good ole' electric-propeller designs, and quickly threw together a Kerbin Polar Expedition:

This design made use of the Stanford Torus mod Sunforce NXT solar panels- which were quite handy, and looked much nicer than the Multipanels mod scale-ups of the OX-STAT. So much so, that I'm questioning whether I should even install the Multipanels mod...

Nevertheless, no solar panel, however powerful, can operate without sunlight- and as you'll notice from the final picture of the landing site, the sun at that latitude shortly after touchdown... I'll pick the mission back up after a cold polar night for the pilot and the completion of the next steps of my Mun Mission...

Currently, I'm also working on fixing the KSP-Interstellar tech tree, as the new tech nodes aren't showing up on it thanks to TreeLoader being broken. I've found a new Tech Tree manager mod called "Tech Manager" developed explicitly for KSP-Interstellar which I'm going to give a try. We'll see how that works out...

Also, I've deleted the Firespitter battery part you saw in the tech node screen on the final page of the Polar Expedition album (the one calling itself a "Lemon-Potato" battery in its description), as its mass-power density and cost-effectiveness are strictly inferior to stock radial batteries, ProceduralParts Service Modules, NovaPunch2 Yawmaster Service Modules (with RealFuels installed the ElectricCharge storage can be set much higher, at the expense of fuel tank volume...), or any of the inline batteries or capacitors from Nearfuture mod. In short, it's a completely worthless (and ugly) part- so I got rid of it...

Regards,

Northstar

Edited October 28, 2014 by Northstar1989

Northstar1989 · October 29, 2014

Another magnetically-assisted launch in my Mun Mission- this one of a Mobile Laboratory:

As you can see, this was a DIRECT launch to Munar orbit- not fussing around with a parking orbit first. Basically, I opted for this method because it was faster/easier, and only slightly less fuel-efficient than if I had waited for my orbit to come back around to periapsis before finishing the transfer...

The launch, once again, was a hybrid magnetic-assist/Space-X style deal; and the launch stage touched back down safely (because the launch stage had very light engines, relying on the launch-assist for the initial burst of speed, I used all my fuel to try and get as close to the KSC as possible rather than for a softer landing, though...)

The Mobile Lab is integrated with a pair of large fuel tanks, and will be added to the fuel depot module traveling with the lander/CSM when it arrives in equatorial Munar orbit.

The tanker/tug arriving in a polar orbit- which I forgot has a docking port incompatible with the lander- will transfer to an equatorial orbit (this will be cheaper around the Mun than at Kerbin- especially if I only capture into an elliptical polar orbit at first) and rendezvous with the budding station as well- after which it will return to Kerbin orbit. Beyond that, I still haven't decided what to do with it yet- as it is becoming increasingly outdated (not only is its reaction wheel much older/heavier than the advanced stock unit, but it also relies on an older/heavier docking port, and hypergolics for fuel- which I will eventually be replacing with more efficient propellants requiring additional infrastructure...)

Speaking of which, my next major push (after my first Mun landings- as many as hypergolic fuel supplies at the station and my own patience allow for) will be towards off-world infrastructure. I've decided to open that up for input on the associated discussion thread (up to 3-4 opinions will be considered) so please feel free to chime in.

Regards,

Northstar

Northstar1989 · October 30, 2014

It's launch season baby, and my Kerbals have got the fever!

But first, some pictures of the Mun Lander on high approach to the Mun:

Since I'm launching a Mobile Lab to the Mun, it only made sense to collect some science on approach...

Anyways, the next launch is of Bill Kerman and the Second Munar Service Module (also known as Munar Service Module #2)

The Service Module is en-route to the Mun (screenshots of the transfer further below), where Bill Kerman will rendezvous with the Munar Integrated Science Module and the fuel depot (which should be docked by the time he arrives), and transfer over to await Jebediah's return from the Munar surface with the first Mystery Goo and Materials Bay experiments to be reset (I won't bother processing experiments, as I'll be recovering them- the Mobile Lab only improves science yields when transmitting...)

It made economic sense to send a separate Service Module rather than upgrade the service module on the previous launch to 2-Kerbal capacity. The best part for a second Kerbal would have been a Yawmaster Service Module (the same type of crew cabin used on the Lander)- which would have cost almost twice as much (1400 rather than 800), and very likely *not* paid for itself in terms of being able to utilize a reduced number/cost of engines on the launch vehicle and upper stage (it would have probably also required a separate heatshield). Plus, the Yawmaster has terrible radiation shielding vs. the Mk1 Command Pod, and Bill Kerman doesn't need to be in orbit the whole time Jebediah is- so the separate service modules also made sense from a roleplaying/ radiation-exposure perspective...

Anyways, economics aside (they're a favorite topic of mine), this was another Space-X style launch: and the launch stage safely made a recovery to the KSC as planned. In fact, I managed to stick a landing ON THE RUNWAY, which was awesome: :cool:

Also featured, here are screenshots of the Service Module's Mun-transfer:

I hope you guys enjoyed the screenshots- and feel free to suggest/vote on which infrastructure project I should begin working on first/next over in the discussion thread- there are a lot of awesome ideas there if I don't say so myself...

http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/97427-Announcing-Northstar-s-Collaborative-Kerbal-Career-Campaign-what-to-build-next

Regards,

Northstar

Edited November 1, 2014 by Northstar1989

Northstar1989 · October 30, 2014

The Munar Lander made an uneventful capture into Munar orbit, and then Jebediah performed some EVA science:

But this was also one of those "DOH!" moments where you realized you messed something up before, but it's far too late to fix it. Namely, the "Kerbin Return Stage" captured into a RETROGRADE orbit. I thought I switched the side of the Mun it was approaching on when it separated from the free Return Probe before (which was definitely also approaching on the WEST side of the Mun- where capturing would have led to a retrograde orbit), but a review of the screenshots confirms that I was mistaken. The "Munar Fuel Tanker" (the heavier transfer/tanker stage from before) is *also* approaching into what should become a retrograde orbit as well...

Neither situation is a complete loss, though. The "Return Stage" can still act as a fuel tanker for the Munar Lander- which can freely switch between prograde and retrograde orbits by simply taking off again in a different direction after landing (although retrograde launches take more fuel), or could meet up with it in a polar orbit if it should prove necessary (prograde and retrograde orbits take the same Delta-V to make polar- though I should have captured into an elliptical orbit if I were planning on a plane-change maneuver...)

The "Munar Fuel Tanker", meanwhile, I renamed into the "Minmus Fuel Tanker", as the plane-change affected by the Mun's gravity will perfectly line it up for making multiple further Munar gravity-assists: ultimately culminating in it reaching orbit around Minmus for very little additional fuel... (a hypergolic stage is also the best-suited for such a slow process: as it doesn't have to deal with boil-off issues over the potentially months of game-time this could take...)

As always, I hope you guys enjoyed the screenshots. Remember to contribute ideas on what infrastructure projects I should pursue first.

Regards,

Northstar

Northstar1989 · October 31, 2014

The Munar Integrated Science Module is now in Munar orbit. It is a phasing orbit BELOW the Munar Lander (capturing into lower Munar orbits takes less energy), but will still take quite some time to reach the correct position for rendezvous...

In the final screenshots, you can also see the re-named Munar/Minmus Fuel Tanker shooting through the closest point of its first gravity-assist with the Mun. The plan is to keep making gravity-assists until it's just a small bump to get it onto a Minmus-transfer orbit...

Meanwhile, the Kerbin Polar Expedition rotated back into daylight on Kerbin, so I decided it was time to begin its return to the KSC. I got a little picture-happy on the way back, and made several landings- so the screenshots are split into two albums:

One particularly interesting stop was when I noticed a lake that still counted as being part of the Tundra biome. Areas like this have a distinct Science pool from the land version of the biome, so I decided to make a quick landing there...

Unfortunately, due to the several landing-hops, and not starting the return trip until noon (polar time), I didn't make it all the way back to the KSC before the sunset. In the final screenshots you can see where I touched the plane down for the night... (since it's solar-powered, it can't fly without sunlight- although it has enough battery storage capacity and glide-capability it probably could have made it back to the KSC if I throttled down far enough...)

More screenshots will be coming of both missions soon (the Kerbin Polar Expedition and the Mun Landing Mission). In the meantime, I suggest you check out my discussion thread on the Science Labs about utilizing orbital debris as reaction mass for mass-drivers in real life and in KSP...

http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/98615-Using-orbital-debris-as-reaction-mass-profiting-from-orbital-mass-drivers

I also suggest you make your opinion heard over on the discussion thread as to what infrastructure project I should begin on first:

http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/97427-Announcing-Northstar-s-Collaborative-Kerbal-Career-Campaign-what-to-build-next

Regards,

Northstar

Edited November 1, 2014 by Northstar1989

Northstar1989 · November 10, 2014

Sorry for the long delay. I've been making progress in-game, but hadn't gotten around to posting it yet...

Screenshots of all progress below- or you could just follow it it on YouTube. The link below is to the first new video of my Kerbal Collaborative career Campaign (and should link to the rest of the videos via a playlist on the right side of the screen on YouTube)

Anyways, for those of you just following the screenshots- first I finished the assembly of my temporary space station in Munar orbit (used for refueling the lander and cleaning out its experiments)

And then I performed some orbital science before attempting my first landing:

And made my first Mun landing, after several "simulations" (I was having problems with the lander bouncing on one side and tipping over...)

After that, Bill Kerman got back in the lander, and made the promised (if you've been watching the discussion thread and my previous videos) suboribtal hop to the Munar north pole:

And then, Bill hopped back to the equator, and ascended into a retrograde orbit from there:

At this point, while I waited for the lander to phase into position for rendezvous and docking, I landed my Polar Expedition plane from before back at the KSC:

And then after a bit of a wait, switched back to the lander and refueled it at the retrograde fuel tanker:

Here, a problem became apparent though. After taking every bit of fuel from the tanker I could spare (but leaving it with a bit to transfer back to Kerbin orbit), the lander still was coming up with a rather tight Delta-V budget for another Munar landing...

Nonetheless, I decided to go for the landing anyways, which turned out to be a mistake:

Bill Kerman is now trapped on the Munar surface, with no way to get back to orbit.

Well, that's not *completely* true- I COULD launch the lander on a suborbital trajectory, and have Bill bail out near apoapsis, circularizing the orbit with his jetpack (at which point the Service Module intended to carry him back to Kerbin would pick him up).

But that not only throws away a perfectly good reusable lander (which, admittedly, had stability problems due to its anemic reaction wheel, and I was looking to decommission sooner or later anyways), it also denies me the "recovered a vessel from the surface of the Mun" science points- unless I can also manage to push the lander's detachable probe core to orbit with Bill's jetpack... (the probe core is equipped with docking ports, and is designed to hitchike its way back to Kerbin with the Service Module)

More news soon- either I'll be launching a fuel-lander; or trying to push Bill, the data, and the probe core to orbit with Bill's EVA jetpack alone...

Regards,

Northstar

Edited November 10, 2014 by Northstar1989

Northstar1989 · November 13, 2014

I ended up going with a "Bail and Flail" plan, as I decided to nickname it- and have the lander use up all its fuel to launch on a suborbital trajectory before detaching its probe core (for "recovery of a vessel" science points) and Bill Kerman with all its stored experiments, to circularize with his jet-pack. Lacking sophisticated modeling algorithms to compute ascent trajectories (like NASA has), it took me a couple F5/F9 tries to determine the correct suborbital trajectory for this- but I eventually got it...

Of course, NONE of this would have been possible in real-life, where jet-packs don't hold NEARLY as much fuel- but no real-life space program would have so badly mis-calculated the amount of fuel it took to land and launch back to orbit, and stranded a Kerbal on the surface of the moon in the first place...

Anyways, after the Kerbal and probe core were successfully in orbit, I sent my Service Module to retrieve them, and prepare to head home:

I decided to recover Jebehiah as well. Technically, I could have just left the Munar station with only one of the Command/Recovery Pods, and left Jebediah Kerman in orbit for a few more game days or weeks until the next Mun lander (and corresponding Service Module) arrives to collect more !SCIENCE!, but I didn't feel like placing the pressure on myself of having a Kerbal still waiting in orbit (even if I'm not yet running any life-support mods...), and I figured I'd give poor Jebediah a break. It's not as if I won't be sending him up on the next rocket to the Mun anyways...

Regards,

Northstar

Edited November 13, 2014 by Northstar1989

Northstar1989 · November 13, 2014

The recovery operations went *mostly* smoothly.

As planned, the first Service Module detached after the first aerobrake pass, and safely recovered to Kerbin's surface (although a bit further downrange than planned...)

And the second Service Module also recovered smoothly. But, in the final screenshot, notice anything missing in the Tracking Station?

The "Retrograde Fuel Tanker" experienced a "control system malfunction" (i.e. I was too busy to switch to it and perform an adjustment burn to raise its periapsis) and burned up in Kerbin's atmosphere while I was busy landing the Service Modules...

Not that I'm terribly upset about it- that tug/tanker was extremely small/cheap, and more importantly, I was thinking about decommissioning it anyways, to replace it with ion and thermal rocketry-based tug/tankers...

Speaking of which, I managed to unlock several *extremely* useful tech nodes with this mission...

I've unlocked Microwave Beamed Power, Microwave Thermal Receivers, and Clamp-O-Tron Sr. docking ports, among other things...

Though on the gloomier side, I basically broke the bank with new part unlocks- and can't even afford the large solar blanket panels I desperately want for solar power-satellites...

Regards,

Northstar

Edited November 13, 2014 by Northstar1989

[FINISHED] Northstar's Collaborative Kerbal Career Campaign

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