KSP: Project Jool

[Soyuzturtle]

Okay, this is the second component I needed to develop for the Jool mission: the Laythe escape crew SSTO. I’d like to say that this is not the best SSTO out there, is just… my very first, well, not actually my very first… is actually my second, but it is my first SAFE SSTO, if you guys know what that means .

Anyway, ladies and gentlemen, introducing… the Space Racer 2C:
View attachment 54557
View attachment 54655 It takes off using Ramjet engines, gains altitude and speed and as they go flame-out, due to extreme altitudes and speeds, it switches to rocket engines to get out of the atmosphere and circularize orbit.

According to Horus Lupercal, who helped me with advice and some tweaking (because I am new to all of this), balance-wise is really good, is controllable in almost any situation, including reentry, and is fast, really fucking fast.

Now, like I’ve said this is not the best SSTO out there, is just my first safe version of an SSTO, and first time working with realistic aerodynamics and controlling something with aerodynamics-only.

So, lets take out the Space Racer on a test mission to see what it can do! Let’s go to Low Kerbin Orbit!
View attachment 54656
View attachment 54658 There it is! We have reached orbit! Now, it doesn’t have much DeltaV remaining, true, but remember that this is actually designed to get out of Laythe, where the atmosphere is lower, the gravity is minor and the orbital speed is less, so it should work much easier there.

Anyway, time to return to the runway… Like I said, the plane is very controllable during reentry (but I forgot to take any pictures). The case is I overshot the runway of the KSC, so I had to turn 180 degrees and turn on the engines…
View attachment 54657
However, the mission isn’t actually completed there, because I wanted to show that this thing is perfectly capable of a safe STS-style unpowered reentry, as well as to land safely, undamaged on water. So I saved the game on the runway to return to that quicksave later, and loaded the save I made just before landing. Then I turned 90 degrees to the right, to make a water landing…
View attachment 54659
Now, is mission completed for real!

Are you planning to refuel it to get out to Laythe?

 

[Blazer Ayanami]

Are you planning to refuel it to get out to Laythe?

Nope. That’s why I tested on Kerbin, it ONLY needs to reach Low Laythe Orbit. The plan is to dock it to a space ship in low Laythe orbit, and transfer the crew and the science to that ship (Apollo-style). I really don’t know if I am going to deorbit the SSTO or bring it back to Kerbin.

 

[Soyuzturtle]

Nope. That’s why I tested on Kerbin, it ONLY needs to reach Low Laythe Orbit. The plan is to dock it to a space ship in low Laythe orbit, and transfer the crew and the science to that ship (Apollo-style). I really don’t know if I am going to deorbit the SSTO or bring it back to Kerbin.

Here's my advice for you. Use it for bringing payloads to and from Laythe orbit. Get manufacturing fuel on the surface. SSTOs are great for Laythe because they can use jet engines and so are preposterously efficient and you can use those engines almost all the way to orbit. Then , you can bring down supplies , parts , kerbals etc as you require.

By the way , TtTOtW says yours ass is grass!

 

[Blazer Ayanami]

Here's my advice for you. Use it for bringing payloads to and from Laythe orbit. Get manufacturing fuel on the surface. SSTOs are great for Laythe because they can use jet engines and so are preposterously efficient and you can use those engines almost all the way to orbit. Then , you can bring down supplies , parts , kerbals etc as you require.

Thanks, I plan to do that on a future mission. For now, just going in an out of Laythe is going to be an achievement for me. Guess I really should unlock the mining equipment and use it to refuel jets and other vehicles along the mission.

Also, you tell TtTOtW that I can go and put out his lava any minute, so he betters stays quiet

 

[Blazer Ayanami]

News about the project:

• I unlocked both the RAPIER and the Nerv Nuclear Engine, which is the standard engine configuration for SSTOs. I’m putting them on mine. So far, tests indicate performance is better indeed
• I’m dividing the whole big mission into separate, small ships instead of a single big ship, which was my original plan. The reason for this is to avoid both the lag and the kraken.
• I’m launching my first scout probes to Jool and Laythe tonight. I wanna build a comm network so the astronauts have direct connection with KSC at all times. I’ll post more things tomorrow

 

[Soyuzturtle]

News about the project:

• I unlocked both the RAPIER and the Nerv Nuclear Engine, which is the standard engine configuration for SSTOs. I’m putting them on mine. So far, tests indicate performance is better indeed
• I’m dividing the whole big mission into separate, small ships instead of a single big ship, which was my original plan. The reason for this is to avoid both the lag and the kraken.
• I’m launching my first scout probes to Jool and Laythe tonight. I wanna build a comm network so the astronauts have direct connection with KSC at all times. I’ll post more things tomorrow

Awesome!

 

[Blazer Ayanami]

I’ve got bad news... I managed to take my relay satellites to Jool, first arrival to the planet, and even made that famous gravity assist of Tylo to get captured... But... it turns there is a single line in the description of the probe cores I’m using that... apparently I didn’t read: SINGLE HOP ONLY.

This means that my satellites can’t communicate with a network, they can only communicate directly with the KSC, which means that they are... useless... all my 16 satellites are... useless... I’ve wasted 4 hours of my life placing the first 4 of them...

MISSION FAILED

All the mission left me is the experience. Like I said, my first arrival to Jool, first Tylo flyby, etc. as well some cool screenshots of the moons, but that’s literally it. That only lefts me with one alternative: solve the problem and try again!!!

 

[TtTOtW]

Well, I get reminded of that feeling often enough really takes the wind out of your sails. Looking forward to the next mission!

 

[James Brown]

Add oil Blaze!!

 

[Mars Pathfinder]

Oh darn.... *adds to checklist*

 

[Blazer Ayanami]

No! This thread is not dead! Lol, I’ve just been busy, very busy… and lazy… and prioritizing other missions as well. I have a LOT of screenshots an I’m gonna post a small fraction of them.

I’ve been doing a lot of experiments with SSTOs, and with airplanes in general, not spaceplanes, but jets, atmospheric jets. That means LOT of high-altitude tests, with several purposes. To understand how to optimize jet engines to operate at high altitudes, and to use that knowledge to reduce fuel consumption, and to soften that transition between ‘jet mode’ and ‘rocket mode’ is crucial to make longer range spaceplanes. That is because jet engines are ALWAYS waaaaayyy more efficient than rocket engines (Jet engines: 3200 s of ISP / Rocket engines: 300-350 s of ISP), so to do most of the orbital acceleration with jet engines saves A LOT of fuel.

This is the plane that I’ve been using the most in these high-altitude test flights:

In one of those test flights I set myself the objective to make a full tour around Kerbin. Yes, to go all around the world, on a jet. No refueling allowed.

Nope, that is not spaceplane in the middle of a reentry, that’s my jet going hypersonic, at 22 000 meters of altitude, almost the limit of jet engines (approx. 26 000 meters). That was the journey across the dark side of the planet.

Yay! As you can see, I managed to make a full circle around Kerbin, with only half tank. That is what is called fuel optimization.

Now, with this knowledge I decided to rework my spaceplane fleet. Anyone remembers my old Space Racer 2C, my Laythe SSTO? Anyone remembers that it could barely make it to Kerbin’s orbit? Well,

I managed to take it to Minmus. I actually kinda rebuilt the entire aircraft, now not only has better engines, but more solid wings and a better engine distribution. Is a little heavier now, true, but that mass is actually helping it.

Also, the structure you see on that screenshot…

Is my first settlement outside Kerbin. My first planetary base. Is definitively small and simple, but it has all it needs: It can mine for ore, and refine it into rocket fuel, meaning it can be used to refuel spacecrafts (what my SR2D was doing in the previous screenshot), it has ALL the science instruments in the game, and a lab to process their readings. It is entirely self-sufficient, doesn’t need any supplies and it can drive itself, without crew.

Now, this is my first base, but also, my first mobile base. Now, Minmus has very low gravity (0.4 m/s^2), which means that although rovers are possible, they are EXTREMELY UNSTABLE, and they tend to fly off the ground. So I thought, how about if instead of a mobile base, I make a hovering base…? Fully fueled, Tenacity has over 2000 m/s of deltaV which means it can liftoff, and go basically ANYWHERE on Minmus, collect some data, do some science, process it on its lab and broadcast the results to Kerbin, and it can do this with every single biome on Minmus, so… small? Yes. Ugly? Maybe… But it can do basically everything what your largest hovering colony can do, and even more, with the added function to be able to visit every biome.

Shortly after, I went for a more traditional base… on the Mun. And why not name it after the first human to walk on another world? Meet my Munar Base Armstrong:

It houses 10 kerbals, and It can everything Tenacity can do, like mine for ore to refine into fuel, gather and process science, but it doesn’t has the ability of fly (obviously). However, to compensate that it is accompanied by two great vehicles. One of them is my Space Racer 7.

My first certified Mun-and-back SSTO! With enough room for 10 kerbals. It does NOT need any refueling to do the full mission to Mun and back. However, I did refuel this one, so the astronauts can use it to travel to other biomes on the Mun, gather data, bring that data back to the base and process it there. In case of emergency, it is also the escape ship of the base.

There’s also this:

The MCM can be used to go close places, as well as to save and refuel crews and ships stranded near the base, or that simply land too far away from it. Like the other bases, can do everything a planetary facility can do in the stock game, as well as to transport the entire crew from the base, across the entire surface of the Mun, which means, you cannot hide from this monster.

Anyway, continuing with the topic of off-world facilities and SSTOs, here’s my Kerbin Space Station, Aurora III:

My third space station, and the biggest of the three. It is mainly there to help me practice docking SSTOs to space stations. Do you think docking in 2D in SFS is easy? Try 3D docking in KSP. Trust me on this one guys, that third dimension and the ability to move the camera freely, complicates things 20, maybe 30 times. My first 3, maybe 4 dockings on this game were… horrendous.

Once I learned to dock properly, I tried docking spaceplanes to stations… And that was a whole new world of pain… If docking a small Apollo CSM was hard… imagine docking a shielded docking port on the upper fuselage of a plane… That is why the last 2C was sent up there, cause it is very important to learn how to dock spaceplanes properly, cause I’m gonna be using these machines A LOT. You can see that I finally did it.

After that small refreshing view, I decided to try something different, something more challenging. How about docking an SSTO, that barely has enough fuel, to a station that is on a FRICKING POLAR ORBIT, that way I can, not only practice again, but to learn how to launch in the same orbital plane, when my target is not on a perfectly equatorial orbit.

Actually, polar orbits are good to cover the entire surface of a planet, cause the planet is rotating perpendicular to the plane of your orbit, so every time you get to the same point the planet has rotated slightly, so after a few orbits, you can see its entire surface.

 

[James Brown]

No! This thread is not dead! Lol, I’ve just been busy, very busy… and lazy… and prioritizing other missions as well. I have a LOT of screenshots an I’m gonna post a small fraction of them.

I’ve been doing a lot of experiments with SSTOs, and with airplanes in general, not spaceplanes, but jets, atmospheric jets. That means LOT of high-altitude tests, with several purposes. To understand how to optimize jet engines to operate at high altitudes, and to use that knowledge to reduce fuel consumption, and to soften that transition between ‘jet mode’ and ‘rocket mode’ is crucial to make longer range spaceplanes. That is because jet engines are ALWAYS waaaaayyy more efficient than rocket engines (Jet engines: 3200 s of ISP / Rocket engines: 300-350 s of ISP), so to do most of the orbital acceleration with jet engines saves A LOT of fuel.

This is the plane that I’ve been using the most in these high-altitude test flights:
View attachment 56481


In one of those test flights I set myself the objective to make a full tour around Kerbin. Yes, to go all around the world, on a jet. No refueling allowed.
View attachment 56482

Nope, that is not spaceplane in the middle of a reentry, that’s my jet going hypersonic, at 22 000 meters of altitude, almost the limit of jet engines (approx. 26 000 meters). That was the journey across the dark side of the planet.
View attachment 56483

Yay! As you can see, I managed to make a full circle around Kerbin, with only half tank. That is what is called fuel optimization.

Now, with this knowledge I decided to rework my spaceplane fleet. Anyone remembers my old Space Racer 2C, my Laythe SSTO? Anyone remembers that it could barely make it to Kerbin’s orbit? Well,
View attachment 56484

I managed to take it to Minmus. I actually kinda rebuilt the entire aircraft, now not only has better engines, but more solid wings and a better engine distribution. Is a little heavier now, true, but that mass is actually helping it.

Also, the structure you see on that screenshot…
View attachment 56485

Is my first settlement outside Kerbin. My first planetary base. Is definitively small and simple, but it has all it needs: It can mine for ore, and refine it into rocket fuel, meaning it can be used to refuel spacecrafts (what my SR2D was doing in the previous screenshot), it has ALL the science instruments in the game, and a lab to process their readings. It is entirely self-sufficient, doesn’t need any supplies and it can drive itself, without crew.

Now, this is my first base, but also, my first mobile base. Now, Minmus has very low gravity (0.4 m/s^2), which means that although rovers are possible, they are EXTREMELY UNSTABLE, and they tend to fly off the ground. So I thought, how about if instead of a mobile base, I make a hovering base…? Fully fueled, Tenacity has over 2000 m/s of deltaV which means it can liftoff, and go basically ANYWHERE on Minmus, collect some data, do some science, process it on its lab and broadcast the results to Kerbin, and it can do this with every single biome on Minmus, so… small? Yes. Ugly? Maybe… But it can do basically everything what your largest hovering colony can do, and even more, with the added function to be able to visit every biome.

Shortly after, I went for a more traditional base… on the Mun. And why not name it after the first human to walk on another world? Meet my Munar Base Armstrong:

View attachment 56486

It houses 10 kerbals, and It can everything Tenacity can do, like mine for ore to refine into fuel, gather and process science, but it doesn’t has the ability of fly (obviously). However, to compensate that it is accompanied by two great vehicles. One of them is my Space Racer 7.
View attachment 56487
My first certified Mun-and-back SSTO! With enough room for 10 kerbals. It does NOT need any refueling to do the full mission to Mun and back. However, I did refuel this one, so the astronauts can use it to travel to other biomes on the Mun, gather data, bring that data back to the base and process it there. In case of emergency, it is also the escape ship of the base.

There’s also this:
View attachment 56488

The MCM can be used to go close places, as well as to save and refuel crews and ships stranded near the base, or that simply land too far away from it. Like the other bases, can do everything a planetary facility can do in the stock game, as well as to transport the entire crew from the base, across the entire surface of the Mun, which means, you cannot hide from this monster.

Anyway, continuing with the topic of off-world facilities and SSTOs, here’s my Kerbin Space Station, Aurora III:
View attachment 56500
My third space station, and the biggest of the three. It is mainly there to help me practice docking SSTOs to space stations. Do you think docking in 2D in SFS is easy? Try 3D docking in KSP. Trust me on this one guys, that third dimension and the ability to move the camera freely, complicates things 20, maybe 30 times. My first 3, maybe 4 dockings on this game were… horrendous.

Once I learned to dock properly, I tried docking spaceplanes to stations… And that was a whole new world of pain… If docking a small Apollo CSM was hard… imagine docking a shielded docking port on the upper fuselage of a plane… That is why the last 2C was sent up there, cause it is very important to learn how to dock spaceplanes properly, cause I’m gonna be using these machines A LOT. You can see that I finally did it.
View attachment 56501

After that small refreshing view, I decided to try something different, something more challenging. How about docking an SSTO, that barely has enough fuel, to a station that is on a FRICKING POLAR ORBIT, that way I can, not only practice again, but to learn how to launch in the same orbital plane, when my target is not on a perfectly equatorial orbit.

View attachment 56502

Actually, polar orbits are good to cover the entire surface of a planet, cause the planet is rotating perpendicular to the plane of your orbit, so every time you get to the same point the planet has rotated slightly, so after a few orbits, you can see its entire surface.

Wow you've already built a lot of stuff here!

 

[Blazer Ayanami]

Wow you've already built a lot of stuff here!

Yes, Thank you James

 

[Mars Pathfinder]

No! This thread is not dead! Lol, I’ve just been busy, very busy… and lazy… and prioritizing other missions as well. I have a LOT of screenshots an I’m gonna post a small fraction of them.

I’ve been doing a lot of experiments with SSTOs, and with airplanes in general, not spaceplanes, but jets, atmospheric jets. That means LOT of high-altitude tests, with several purposes. To understand how to optimize jet engines to operate at high altitudes, and to use that knowledge to reduce fuel consumption, and to soften that transition between ‘jet mode’ and ‘rocket mode’ is crucial to make longer range spaceplanes. That is because jet engines are ALWAYS waaaaayyy more efficient than rocket engines (Jet engines: 3200 s of ISP / Rocket engines: 300-350 s of ISP), so to do most of the orbital acceleration with jet engines saves A LOT of fuel.

This is the plane that I’ve been using the most in these high-altitude test flights:
View attachment 56481


In one of those test flights I set myself the objective to make a full tour around Kerbin. Yes, to go all around the world, on a jet. No refueling allowed.
View attachment 56482

Nope, that is not spaceplane in the middle of a reentry, that’s my jet going hypersonic, at 22 000 meters of altitude, almost the limit of jet engines (approx. 26 000 meters). That was the journey across the dark side of the planet.
View attachment 56483

Yay! As you can see, I managed to make a full circle around Kerbin, with only half tank. That is what is called fuel optimization.

Now, with this knowledge I decided to rework my spaceplane fleet. Anyone remembers my old Space Racer 2C, my Laythe SSTO? Anyone remembers that it could barely make it to Kerbin’s orbit? Well,
View attachment 56484

I managed to take it to Minmus. I actually kinda rebuilt the entire aircraft, now not only has better engines, but more solid wings and a better engine distribution. Is a little heavier now, true, but that mass is actually helping it.

Also, the structure you see on that screenshot…
View attachment 56485

Is my first settlement outside Kerbin. My first planetary base. Is definitively small and simple, but it has all it needs: It can mine for ore, and refine it into rocket fuel, meaning it can be used to refuel spacecrafts (what my SR2D was doing in the previous screenshot), it has ALL the science instruments in the game, and a lab to process their readings. It is entirely self-sufficient, doesn’t need any supplies and it can drive itself, without crew.

Now, this is my first base, but also, my first mobile base. Now, Minmus has very low gravity (0.4 m/s^2), which means that although rovers are possible, they are EXTREMELY UNSTABLE, and they tend to fly off the ground. So I thought, how about if instead of a mobile base, I make a hovering base…? Fully fueled, Tenacity has over 2000 m/s of deltaV which means it can liftoff, and go basically ANYWHERE on Minmus, collect some data, do some science, process it on its lab and broadcast the results to Kerbin, and it can do this with every single biome on Minmus, so… small? Yes. Ugly? Maybe… But it can do basically everything what your largest hovering colony can do, and even more, with the added function to be able to visit every biome.

Shortly after, I went for a more traditional base… on the Mun. And why not name it after the first human to walk on another world? Meet my Munar Base Armstrong:

View attachment 56486

It houses 10 kerbals, and It can everything Tenacity can do, like mine for ore to refine into fuel, gather and process science, but it doesn’t has the ability of fly (obviously). However, to compensate that it is accompanied by two great vehicles. One of them is my Space Racer 7.
View attachment 56487
My first certified Mun-and-back SSTO! With enough room for 10 kerbals. It does NOT need any refueling to do the full mission to Mun and back. However, I did refuel this one, so the astronauts can use it to travel to other biomes on the Mun, gather data, bring that data back to the base and process it there. In case of emergency, it is also the escape ship of the base.

There’s also this:
View attachment 56488

The MCM can be used to go close places, as well as to save and refuel crews and ships stranded near the base, or that simply land too far away from it. Like the other bases, can do everything a planetary facility can do in the stock game, as well as to transport the entire crew from the base, across the entire surface of the Mun, which means, you cannot hide from this monster.

Anyway, continuing with the topic of off-world facilities and SSTOs, here’s my Kerbin Space Station, Aurora III:
View attachment 56500
My third space station, and the biggest of the three. It is mainly there to help me practice docking SSTOs to space stations. Do you think docking in 2D in SFS is easy? Try 3D docking in KSP. Trust me on this one guys, that third dimension and the ability to move the camera freely, complicates things 20, maybe 30 times. My first 3, maybe 4 dockings on this game were… horrendous.

Once I learned to dock properly, I tried docking spaceplanes to stations… And that was a whole new world of pain… If docking a small Apollo CSM was hard… imagine docking a shielded docking port on the upper fuselage of a plane… That is why the last 2C was sent up there, cause it is very important to learn how to dock spaceplanes properly, cause I’m gonna be using these machines A LOT. You can see that I finally did it.
View attachment 56501

After that small refreshing view, I decided to try something different, something more challenging. How about docking an SSTO, that barely has enough fuel, to a station that is on a FRICKING POLAR ORBIT, that way I can, not only practice again, but to learn how to launch in the same orbital plane, when my target is not on a perfectly equatorial orbit.

View attachment 56502

Actually, polar orbits are good to cover the entire surface of a planet, cause the planet is rotating perpendicular to the plane of your orbit, so every time you get to the same point the planet has rotated slightly, so after a few orbits, you can see its entire surface.

is it the same plane in which the plane rejects its new engines eh?

btw its nice!!

 

[Blazer Ayanami]

is it the same plane in which the plane rejects its new engines eh?

The first one, yes, the high-altitude test aircraft. I tried to turn it into an SSTO and it refused to fly... So I gave it back its old subsonic engines

btw its nice!!

Thanks

 

[Mars Pathfinder]

The first one, yes, the high-altitude test aircraft. I tried to turn it into an SSTO and it refused to fly... So I gave it back its old subsonic engines

Thanks

must that plane a naughty one

 

[Blazer Ayanami]

Mars Pathfinder.

Look.
LEARN.

This is how you land safely a space shuttle

Spoiler: Pro move

 

[Mars Pathfinder]

Mars Pathfinder.

Look.
LEARN.

This is how you land safely a space shuttle

Spoiler: Pro move

View attachment 57075

That ain't SAFE Landing?! That's Yeet Landing! :3

 

[Blazer Ayanami]

That ain't SAFE Landing?! That's Yeet Landing! :3

You can see on the bottom right that they are alive, so it was a happy landing. Also, the shuttle itself is perfectly fine, all we have to do is reattach the wing... and the tail... and the nosecone... and everything else... BUT it will fly again

 

[Mars Pathfinder]

You can see on the bottom right that they are alive, so it was a happy landing. Also, the shuttle itself is perfectly fine, all we have to do is reattach the wing... and the tail... and the nosecone... and everything else... BUT it will fly again

pretty sure its a "realistic" reusable ship (detachable and reattachable )

and looks like kerbals wants another hecc ride

 

[TtTOtW]

Oh no... what are you guys teaching the kids?!

 

[James Brown]

Mars Pathfinder.

Look.
LEARN.

This is how you land safely a space shuttle

Spoiler: Pro move

View attachment 57075

Oof

 

[Mars Pathfinder]

Oh no... what are you guys teaching the kids?!

Grapes? :3

 

[Blazer Ayanami]

Oh no... what are you guys teaching the kids?!

gOoOpS.

 

[Sheepy]

I may have installed a bit too many mods :3

Edit: idk ifyou can see what it says but I have 124 mods on a potato of a pc