The Grand Tour!

[Horus Lupercal]

Ha, thanks Altair. Yeah, we should work on a Solar Dyson sphere, but not in Low Solar Orbit, but in a 1000 km x 1000 km orbit!

Sounds easy enough.

I've just ran the numbers and sufficient satellites spaced 6m apart to cover the entirety of 1000km Earth Orbit would require 1,377,064 satellites and a combined mass of 6,196,791 tons.

This would need a launch system weighing between 32,107,552 and 49,259,311 tons just to get into orbit. Then put into a resonance orbit so you can evenly distribute them over 1.3 million cycles (roughly 99.99km).

I think it's entirely do able.

 

[TtTOtW]

Sounds easy enough.

I've just ran the numbers and sufficient satellites spaced 6m apart to cover the entirety of 1000km Earth Orbit would require 1,377,064 satellites and a combined mass of 6,196,791 tons.

This would need a launch system weighing between 32,107,552 and 49,259,311 tons just to get into orbit. Then put into a resonance orbit so you can evenly distribute them over 1.3 million cycles (roughly 99.99km).

I think it's entirely do able.

I like the way you think.

 

[SFSAbhishek]

Sounds easy enough.

I've just ran the numbers and sufficient satellites spaced 6m apart to cover the entirety of 1000km Earth Orbit would require 1,377,064 satellites and a combined mass of 6,196,791 tons.

This would need a launch system weighing between 32,107,552 and 49,259,311 tons just to get into orbit. Then put into a resonance orbit so you can evenly distribute them over 1.3 million cycles (roughly 99.99km).

I think it's entirely do able.

 

[Horus Lupercal]

View attachment 52637

Ha, i know this lag. The largest thing I've ever flown is 1/205th of the size of this project by mass. At rough guesses, I'd get 5 minutes per frame at launch.

 

[Blazer Ayanami]

Sounds easy enough.

I've just ran the numbers and sufficient satellites spaced 6m apart to cover the entirety of 1000km Earth Orbit would require 1,377,064 satellites and a combined mass of 6,196,791 tons.

This would need a launch system weighing between 32,107,552 and 49,259,311 tons just to get into orbit. Then put into a resonance orbit so you can evenly distribute them over 1.3 million cycles (roughly 99.99km).

I think it's entirely do able.

Entirely doable. All it needs is time and RAM.

 

[Thirdc14239]

Sheesh I didn't even know that was possible with out any one showing me

 

[James Brown]

Sheesh I didn't even know that was possible with out any one showing me

Ofc it's possible, you just don't have enough skill to do to

 

[Mars Pathfinder]

Ofc it's possible, you just don't have enough skill to do to

No skill needed, just patience and uh... Long lastin phone ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

 

[floatingfuel]

It's time to revive this thread by expanding it.

Here are my goals and restrictions:

- Single launch
- No refuel allowed from external sources (only fuel tanks that were launched by the rocket are allowed)
- No ionic propulsion (Now THIS is a challenge!)
- Space clean: no debris left in space
- Realistic throttle: throttle can't go below 30%

• I'm omitting the throttle rule.
• I'm doing non-DLC (nDLC) planets only, with nDLC parts and building grid limit.
• I'm doing all nDLC challenges at once.

So, additional objectives to achieve are are High Earth Orbit, 100km downrange, Moon landing on 3 landmarks, and Asteroid impact.

Spoiler: Rocket

Mission begin!

The rocket launched and reached orbit. Breadcrumb staging was used for the second/third stage.

Spoiler: Breadcrumb Staging

The first refueler to leave was the Moon Refueler. Usual TLI-Capture maneuver. After that, the Mars Refueler left, captured to Low Mars Orbit using aerobraking. It detached the heatshield, since it won't be used anymore.

Then the rest of the rocket burned for Venus. The trajectory was almost close to initial Venus aim for VEEGA, to deflect the trajectory of the Mercury Refueler close to the perihelion of Mercury, but also safe for the Venus Landing Craft and Refueler to do aerocapture.

Mercury Refueler went on its own to Mercury through a chained Venus flyby. It brought a heatshield for later use. The rest prepared for aerocapture. During aerocapture, the Venus Craft detached an empty tank.

Two Aerobrakes needed to bring the spacecraft close to Low Venus Orbit. While the Venus Refueler circularized, the Lander stayed in suborbital trajectory, prepared for landing.

The Venus Lander was pretty stable during reentry above 16km. RCS assisted its orientation after that. And the landing zone was bumpy. Almost tripped over.

The landing parachutes were detached, and then the rocket launched. The heatshields were detached midair, only one remained undestroyed. The ascent was steep, and the craft started turning at 8-9km. The Lander for the rest of the mission circularized its orbit.

The Lander docked with the Refueler. Then it was timewarped until the Venus was at a certain position. The craft burned to escape Venus, aiming for 1:1 resonance. The Refueler was deorbited. Meanwhile, during the 2nd Venus flyby, the Mercury Refueler detached the empty tank.

This next part was the most frustating one of this mission: juggling the two craft to Mercury.

The Lander's next assist coincided with the last Venus assist for Mercury Refueler. That assist didn't lower its perihelion enough, so a powered assist was conducted. After that, the Refueler did a DSM to initiate Mercury encounter. After that encounter, the Refueler lowered its aphelion further with more flybys.

Eventually, the Refueler satellized in low Mercury Orbit, while the Lander was still lowering its perihelion through Venus assists.

After several assists, the Lander used one strong Venus flyby to sent it below Mercury's perihelion, aiming for encounter with Mercury.

Continued on the next post

 

[floatingfuel]

After several Mercury assists, the Lander was satellized on Low Mercury Orbit. It was refueled, then landed on Mercury, and went back to orbit. After refueling and passing the heatshield, the Refueler was deorbited. The Lander escaped Mercury and started chaining gravity assists, aiming Venus.

The next destination was Mars. Using Venus, the trajectory was aimed to Earth level to gradually increase its orbit. Then, an Earth assist prepared the trajectory to Mars. After several turns, the opportunity to Mars arrived.

The Lander was captured using aerobraking, and then refueled. It swapped a parachute pack from the refueler with the heatshield, and prepared for landing.

The Lander descended, did several burns to slow down, opened its parachute, and landed safely. It launched back to orbit not long after that.

The Lander detached the parachute pack and refueled, preparing for Phobos and Deimos landing. First it went to Phobos, and then to Deimos. After landing on Deimos, a bug happen. (The bug is specified at the end.)

From Deimos, the Lander went back to Low Mars Orbit via aerobraking, then took all the fuel from the Refueler.

The Refueler was deorbited after that.
The transfer window to Earth arrived, the Lander aimed for an aerocapture trajectory which set its path to the Moon.

Prior entering the Moon, the heatshield was detached for disposal to the Moon. The Lander did the capture burn and circularized. It then docked with the Refueler.

Then three Moon landings was conducted. It landed on Copernicus Crater, Ocean of Storms, and Sea of Tranquility. The landing was done separately, not at once.

After completing those landings, the Lander docked with the Refueler. When the transfer window for the Asteroid arrived, the rocket set its trajectory there.

The Refueler was brought as an impactor. It was accelerated until around 230 m/s, and then detached. The Lander took the parachute for Earth reentry, and slowed down. The refueler crashed successfully, while the Lander touched down safely. Then the Lander burned at the Asteroid's apogee to return to Earth.

Few kilometers above the atmosphere, it burned all the fuel left, and detached the fuel tank. The capsule reentered, and landed safely.

It's been a crazy mission, with plenty of planning and trial and errors, especially the errors. Special thanks to Altaïr, Astro826 and Axiom. Discussions about gravity assist and resonance orbit calculations involving them which scattered in several threads have helped me navigate my ships, especially during the Venus-Mercury phase of the mission. I also borrowed Altair's path and flight concept from his Grand Tour missions.

Regarding the bug, it happened after I landed at Deimos. When I create a quicksave from that point and open it, the mission log of the Lander is gone, and the game unselects the current ship (the Lander). The game also deletes all rocket on the Martian system only, in this case, the Mars Refueler. Felt like crap when it happens, I couldn't get the complete achievement list.

Anyway, here's the mission log and achievement:

 

[Altaïr]

It's time to revive this thread by expanding it.

Here are my goals and restrictions:

• I'm omitting the throttle rule.
• I'm doing non-DLC (nDLC) planets only, with nDLC parts and building grid limit.
• I'm doing all nDLC challenges at once.

So, additional objectives to achieve are are High Earth Orbit, 100km downrange, Moon landing on 3 landmarks, and Asteroid impact.

Spoiler: Rocket

View attachment 129270

Mission begin!

The rocket launched and reached orbit. Breadcrumb staging was used for the second/third stage.

View attachment 129272
View attachment 129273

Spoiler: Breadcrumb Staging

View attachment 129271

The first refueler to leave was the Moon Refueler. Usual TLI-Capture maneuver. After that, the Mars Refueler left, captured to Low Mars Orbit using aerobraking. It detached the heatshield, since it won't be used anymore.

View attachment 129274 View attachment 129275
View attachment 129276

Then the rest of the rocket burned for Venus. The trajectory was almost close to initial Venus aim for VEEGA, to deflect the trajectory of the Mercury Refueler close to the perihelion of Mercury, but also safe for the Venus Landing Craft and Refueler to do aerocapture.

View attachment 129277

Mercury Refueler went on its own to Mercury through a chained Venus flyby. It brought a heatshield for later use. The rest prepared for aerocapture. During aerocapture, the Venus Craft detached an empty tank.

View attachment 129278

Two Aerobrakes needed to bring the spacecraft close to Low Venus Orbit. While the Venus Refueler circularized, the Lander stayed in suborbital trajectory, prepared for landing.

View attachment 129279

The Venus Lander was pretty stable during reentry above 16km. RCS assisted its orientation after that. And the landing zone was bumpy. Almost tripped over.

View attachment 129280

The landing parachutes were detached, and then the rocket launched. The heatshields were detached midair, only one remained undestroyed. The ascent was steep, and the craft started turning at 8-9km. The Lander for the rest of the mission circularized its orbit.

View attachment 129281

The Lander docked with the Refueler. Then it was timewarped until the Venus was at a certain position. The craft burned to escape Venus, aiming for 1:1 resonance. The Refueler was deorbited. Meanwhile, during the 2nd Venus flyby, the Mercury Refueler detached the empty tank.

View attachment 129282 View attachment 129283

This next part was the most frustating one of this mission: juggling the two craft to Mercury.

The Lander's next assist coincided with the last Venus assist for Mercury Refueler. That assist didn't lower its perihelion enough, so a powered assist was conducted. After that, the Refueler did a DSM to initiate Mercury encounter. After that encounter, the Refueler lowered its aphelion further with more flybys.

View attachment 129284

Eventually, the Refueler satellized in low Mercury Orbit, while the Lander was still lowering its perihelion through Venus assists.

View attachment 129285

After several assists, the Lander used one strong Venus flyby to sent it below Mercury's perihelion, aiming for encounter with Mercury.

View attachment 129286 View attachment 129287

Continued on the next post

After several Mercury assists, the Lander was satellized on Low Mercury Orbit. It was refueled, then landed on Mercury, and went back to orbit. After refueling and passing the heatshield, the Refueler was deorbited. The Lander escaped Mercury and started chaining gravity assists, aiming Venus.

View attachment 129288 View attachment 129289 View attachment 129290 View attachment 129291

The next destination was Mars. Using Venus, the trajectory was aimed to Earth level to gradually increase its orbit. Then, an Earth assist prepared the trajectory to Mars. After several turns, the opportunity to Mars arrived.

View attachment 129292

The Lander was captured using aerobraking, and then refueled. It swapped a parachute pack from the refueler with the heatshield, and prepared for landing.

View attachment 129293

The Lander descended, did several burns to slow down, opened its parachute, and landed safely. It launched back to orbit not long after that.

View attachment 129294

The Lander detached the parachute pack and refueled, preparing for Phobos and Deimos landing. First it went to Phobos, and then to Deimos. After landing on Deimos, a bug happen. (The bug is specified at the end.)

View attachment 129295

From Deimos, the Lander went back to Low Mars Orbit via aerobraking, then took all the fuel from the Refueler.

View attachment 129296

The Refueler was deorbited after that.
The transfer window to Earth arrived, the Lander aimed for an aerocapture trajectory which set its path to the Moon.

View attachment 129297

Prior entering the Moon, the heatshield was detached for disposal to the Moon. The Lander did the capture burn and circularized. It then docked with the Refueler.

View attachment 129298

Then three Moon landings was conducted. It landed on Copernicus Crater, Ocean of Storms, and Sea of Tranquility. The landing was done separately, not at once.

View attachment 129299

After completing those landings, the Lander docked with the Refueler. When the transfer window for the Asteroid arrived, the rocket set its trajectory there.

View attachment 129300

The Refueler was brought as an impactor. It was accelerated until around 230 m/s, and then detached. The Lander took the parachute for Earth reentry, and slowed down. The refueler crashed successfully, while the Lander touched down safely. Then the Lander burned at the Asteroid's apogee to return to Earth.

View attachment 129301

Few kilometers above the atmosphere, it burned all the fuel left, and detached the fuel tank. The capsule reentered, and landed safely.

View attachment 129302

It's been a crazy mission, with plenty of planning and trial and errors, especially the errors. Special thanks to Altaïr, Astro826 and Axiom. Discussions about gravity assist and resonance orbit calculations involving them which scattered in several threads have helped me navigate my ships, especially during the Venus-Mercury phase of the mission. I also borrowed Altair's path and flight concept from his Grand Tour missions.

Regarding the bug, it happened after I landed at Deimos. When I create a quicksave from that point and open it, the mission log of the Lander is gone, and the game unselects the current ship (the Lander). The game also deletes all rocket on the Martian system only, in this case, the Mars Refueler. Felt like crap when it happens, I couldn't get the complete achievement list.

Anyway, here's the mission log and achievement:

View attachment 129309

A very good revival with an impressive mission!
I can imagine the amount of planning it required, especially that with the heating to manage you had an additional challenge compared to me.

Good job, congratulations

 

[floatingfuel]

Thanks!

The heating is definitely a challenge. Making the craft stable during reentry and aerobraking depth calibration is quite a work, often with many failure. At the design phase I thought heating would be a big problem, but surprisingly, it's the one on Venus that is. For Mars, it turns out quite easy to handle.

Probably because I'm doing this the first time, my most difficult moment was at juggling the Mercury Refueler and Lander. Many repetitive resonance calculations, v-leveraging, and keeping track of both crafts is more demanding. I built three calculation sheets to help me do it, based on the threads here.

 

[Altaïr]

Probably because I'm doing this the first time, my most difficult moment was at juggling the Mercury Refueler and Lander. Many repetitive resonance calculations, v-leveraging, and keeping track of both crafts is more demanding.

Yeah I remember how tedious it was when I did it too. I even remember that after that challenge I've got bored of the game for some time. Because after doing this there's not much you can do that compares with such challenge...

I built three calculation sheets to help me do it, based on the threads here.

You'll end up doing a mod if you keep following that way. Trust me, I know what I'm talking about

 

[Mars Pathfinder]

After several Mercury assists, the Lander was satellized on Low Mercury Orbit. It was refueled, then landed on Mercury, and went back to orbit. After refueling and passing the heatshield, the Refueler was deorbited. The Lander escaped Mercury and started chaining gravity assists, aiming Venus.

View attachment 129288 View attachment 129289 View attachment 129290 View attachment 129291

The next destination was Mars. Using Venus, the trajectory was aimed to Earth level to gradually increase its orbit. Then, an Earth assist prepared the trajectory to Mars. After several turns, the opportunity to Mars arrived.

View attachment 129292

The Lander was captured using aerobraking, and then refueled. It swapped a parachute pack from the refueler with the heatshield, and prepared for landing.

View attachment 129293

The Lander descended, did several burns to slow down, opened its parachute, and landed safely. It launched back to orbit not long after that.

View attachment 129294

The Lander detached the parachute pack and refueled, preparing for Phobos and Deimos landing. First it went to Phobos, and then to Deimos. After landing on Deimos, a bug happen. (The bug is specified at the end.)

View attachment 129295

From Deimos, the Lander went back to Low Mars Orbit via aerobraking, then took all the fuel from the Refueler.

View attachment 129296

The Refueler was deorbited after that.
The transfer window to Earth arrived, the Lander aimed for an aerocapture trajectory which set its path to the Moon.

View attachment 129297

Prior entering the Moon, the heatshield was detached for disposal to the Moon. The Lander did the capture burn and circularized. It then docked with the Refueler.

View attachment 129298

Then three Moon landings was conducted. It landed on Copernicus Crater, Ocean of Storms, and Sea of Tranquility. The landing was done separately, not at once.

View attachment 129299

After completing those landings, the Lander docked with the Refueler. When the transfer window for the Asteroid arrived, the rocket set its trajectory there.

View attachment 129300

The Refueler was brought as an impactor. It was accelerated until around 230 m/s, and then detached. The Lander took the parachute for Earth reentry, and slowed down. The refueler crashed successfully, while the Lander touched down safely. Then the Lander burned at the Asteroid's apogee to return to Earth.

View attachment 129301

Few kilometers above the atmosphere, it burned all the fuel left, and detached the fuel tank. The capsule reentered, and landed safely.

View attachment 129302

It's been a crazy mission, with plenty of planning and trial and errors, especially the errors. Special thanks to Altaïr, Astro826 and Axiom. Discussions about gravity assist and resonance orbit calculations involving them which scattered in several threads have helped me navigate my ships, especially during the Venus-Mercury phase of the mission. I also borrowed Altair's path and flight concept from his Grand Tour missions.

Regarding the bug, it happened after I landed at Deimos. When I create a quicksave from that point and open it, the mission log of the Lander is gone, and the game unselects the current ship (the Lander). The game also deletes all rocket on the Martian system only, in this case, the Mars Refueler. Felt like crap when it happens, I couldn't get the complete achievement list.

Anyway, here's the mission log and achievement:

View attachment 129309

Fudge somebody just revived this one! Nice flight over there!