Harbinger Ace
Destroyer of Worlds
- Location
- Aloha, Oregon, USA
This is a version of a near-identical post on the KSP Forums.
For years, I have played the Kerbal Space Program. I have traveled world to world, exploring the very bizarre terrain scattered throughout the Kerbol system. From the space program's inaugural flight to the colonization of Laythe, my veracity was unbroken. Plans were finished and dreams were fulfilled, but there was always one world I never ventured to, one no Kerbal ever stepped foot on: The scorched ball of rock known as Moho.
First up, a Dawn-1B lifts off with an unmanned satellite. Known as the Vulcan OreSat, this satellite is to scan the planet for valuable resources and double as a reconnaissance orbiter. VOS will inject into Moho's orbit approximately two days before the manned spacecraft, entering a polar orbit four hours from then.
Next up is the interplanetary spacecraft. To carry a crew of three to Mohoboth safely and effectively, a nuclear tug must push a crew module and a lander to the planet. In this, I have opted for a near-minimalist approach while remaining in the general guidelines.
In the original plan, four launches were necessary to construct a spacecraft in orbit. Fortunately, I was able to shrink the nuclear propulsion stage and fit it into a single launch, lowering the total launches to three. This saved cost and time removes ~1000 ΔV from the spacecraft, leaving little room for error.
The first piece is the nuclear stage. Launched atop a Seraphim-II Heavy, the 200-ton Behemoth is injected into a circular, equatorial orbit of 125 km x 125 km.
This booster separation happened in a fashion like the R7's Korolev Cross; the bottom of each booster pushed outward, then the tops shot away, sending the boosters back in a spin.
Following the launch of the Behemoth Nuclear Stage, a lander, Haven, will attach to the forward berthing node. This lander is a two-stage unit with excess ΔV to carry the primary module home, should the BNS fail. It's launch vehicle is a standard Seraphim-II with a Taurus upper stage and Proprietary Avionics Package (PAP). The Taurus deorbits itself shortly after separating from Haven.
Several days after Haven berthed with the BNS, the Moho transfer window lies only one day away. The well-trusted Wyvern crew module is to be the crew's living space and escape pod, while Haven provides room to stretch their legs. The launch vehicle, the Sentinel-1A, is a partially-reusable rocket that works in a similar fashion to the Falcon 9; first stage is recovered via boostback or, in this instance, barge, while the second stage is expended.
Scatterer + EVE + EngineLight = AWFUL ENGINE LIGHT
Sunflare isn't working. Another conflict issue.
No docking screenies because I'm too stupid to take any.
With the vessel constructed, it was time to orbit thrice and then set off for the inner world. The crew were eager, Mission Control was prepared, the engines were ready for full-power. Only one more objective had to be fulfilled before the mission could commence, and that was... giving the ship a name?
Here's where my dumb ass shines bright: Throughout the entire planning, construction, launching, docking, and tracking of the spacecraft and planets, after giving every individual module a name, I never once considered to name the entire spacecraft. For basic communications purposes and being able to keep track of the damned ship, Ipaused the game rushed to create a true name, and fabricated one:
The mission continues. With other endeavors progressing along with Vulcan Verdict, I cannot showcase the entirety of the mission; it has not yet concluded. Check back for mission updates!
For years, I have played the Kerbal Space Program. I have traveled world to world, exploring the very bizarre terrain scattered throughout the Kerbol system. From the space program's inaugural flight to the colonization of Laythe, my veracity was unbroken. Plans were finished and dreams were fulfilled, but there was always one world I never ventured to, one no Kerbal ever stepped foot on: The scorched ball of rock known as Moho.
About half-way through, a few of my mods stopped working. The skybox, clouds and sunflare will change throughout images. The reason for the change is that I was experiencing oddly low performance and had to remove certain visual mods to find what the cause was. I later found that it was a conflict within both Scatterer and TextureReplacer. As of later images, these changes do not appear.
Screenshot resolution will appear to change from 1920x1080 to 7680x4320 in random sequence. Blame my stupid-ass for a faulty install of KSP; the Screenshot Supersize feature was not functioning correctly. This was fixed later on.
First up, a Dawn-1B lifts off with an unmanned satellite. Known as the Vulcan OreSat, this satellite is to scan the planet for valuable resources and double as a reconnaissance orbiter. VOS will inject into Moho's orbit approximately two days before the manned spacecraft, entering a polar orbit four hours from then.
Next up is the interplanetary spacecraft. To carry a crew of three to Moho
In the original plan, four launches were necessary to construct a spacecraft in orbit. Fortunately, I was able to shrink the nuclear propulsion stage and fit it into a single launch, lowering the total launches to three. This saved cost and time removes ~1000 ΔV from the spacecraft, leaving little room for error.
The first piece is the nuclear stage. Launched atop a Seraphim-II Heavy, the 200-ton Behemoth is injected into a circular, equatorial orbit of 125 km x 125 km.
This booster separation happened in a fashion like the R7's Korolev Cross; the bottom of each booster pushed outward, then the tops shot away, sending the boosters back in a spin.
Following the launch of the Behemoth Nuclear Stage, a lander, Haven, will attach to the forward berthing node. This lander is a two-stage unit with excess ΔV to carry the primary module home, should the BNS fail. It's launch vehicle is a standard Seraphim-II with a Taurus upper stage and Proprietary Avionics Package (PAP). The Taurus deorbits itself shortly after separating from Haven.
Lack of screenshots due to my stupid-ass forgetting to take them:
Several days after Haven berthed with the BNS, the Moho transfer window lies only one day away. The well-trusted Wyvern crew module is to be the crew's living space and escape pod, while Haven provides room to stretch their legs. The launch vehicle, the Sentinel-1A, is a partially-reusable rocket that works in a similar fashion to the Falcon 9; first stage is recovered via boostback or, in this instance, barge, while the second stage is expended.
Scatterer + EVE + EngineLight = AWFUL ENGINE LIGHT
Sunflare isn't working. Another conflict issue.
No docking screenies because I'm too stupid to take any.
With the vessel constructed, it was time to orbit thrice and then set off for the inner world. The crew were eager, Mission Control was prepared, the engines were ready for full-power. Only one more objective had to be fulfilled before the mission could commence, and that was... giving the ship a name?
Here's where my dumb ass shines bright: Throughout the entire planning, construction, launching, docking, and tracking of the spacecraft and planets, after giving every individual module a name, I never once considered to name the entire spacecraft. For basic communications purposes and being able to keep track of the damned ship, I
Shepherd of Fire
The mission continues. With other endeavors progressing along with Vulcan Verdict, I cannot showcase the entirety of the mission; it has not yet concluded. Check back for mission updates!
I would have included seven more images were there not a 20-image limit.
Last edited: