Rocket Design Agency - A Playtesting Quest

[4WheelSword]

NASA
Brad L. Whipple - Director, New Alleghany Space Administration

Payload Design - +1
Rocket Design - +2
Engine Design - +3
Mission Planning - +1
Flight Control - +2
Damage Control - +0
Spacecraft Activity - +0
Extravehicular Activity - +0
Experimental Activity - +2

Flight Objectives
- Continue scientific launches, progressing to probes into the space beyond orbit by year end 1959.
- Begin experiments which will allow a progression to human spaceflight before year end 1960.
- Cooperate with the Armed Forces in developing their abilities through the application of spaceflight.

Mission Schedule - Current Date: January 1960

Spoiler: 1958

- Low Orbit 1 (Summer 1958) - Hope-2 (Partial failure)
- Re-entry test 1 - Sub-orbital - Full Success, August 1958
- Low Orbit 2 - Partial Failure, Hope-3 , October 1958
- Re-entry test 2 - Failure, November 1958
- Military Communications - Success, ARTS, December 1958

Spoiler: 1959

- High Orbit 1 - Success, Hope-4, January 1959
- Re-entry test 3 - Success, March 1959
- Bio-sciences - Launch Failure, July 1959
- Discovery 1, Success, September 1959
- High Orbit 2 - Success, Hope-5, October 1959
- Lunar Probe - Launch Failure, Artemis-Lunar, November 1959
- Bio-sciences - Success, Astrocaphe-Chuck, December 1959

- Discovery 2 - Failure, January 1960
- Astrocathe test - Success, animal in space, February 1960
- March lost due to Artemis redesign
- NAN payload - April 1960 - First Hermes Flight
- Crown 3 - Spring/Summer 1960
- Commercial payload - Summer 1960
- IRVOS 1 - Summer 1960
- NAA Communications - Summer/Fall 1960
- Space Camp test - Summer/Fall 1960
- NAN payload - Fall/Winter 1960
- Commercial payload -Winter 1960
- Astrocathe test - Winter 1960
- NAA Communications - Spring 1961

- Astrocaphe phase 1 (3 crewed flights)
- Astrocaphe phase 2 (3 crewed flights)

Hardware
- Prometheus (1M to LEO)
- Hermes-L (6M to LEO)
- Hermes-B (8M to LEO)

Spoiler: EPL

Andre Larkin - Team Lead at EPL
Rocket Design 0
Engine Design +2


EPL Design Team
Antony Miratha, Aerodynamics
Susan Stone, Astrophysics
Michael Cole, Rocket Engineering
Amy Mathews, Trajectory Planning
Simon T. Harrison, Chemical Engineering

+2 Rocket Design, +2 Payload Design +1 Engine Design, +1 Fuel Selection, +1 Flight Planning

Side Characters
Dr. Evan Hart - Research Director at EPL
Arthur Ley, proponent of Lunar flight.
Franz Haber, Doctor and researcher.
Dieter von Markand, Pacifist and astrophysicist.

EPL Facilities
Design workshop
Chemical research laboratory
Launch analysis equipment
(Please note that EPL has neither rocket nor engine manufacturing facilities)

 

[notgreat]

Even THAT is a little more involved than what you seem to be understanding. Mind you, it might shave some effort off what it would take to make a new engine, but modifying something to the extent you're talking about IS basically a whole new engine.

Click to shrink...

Just to take the simple example of 4x our second stage (1-E light)

Stage 2 Mass - 77 Mass (19.25 tons)
Stage 2 Thrust - 241kN

x4 = 308 mass, 964 kN

Compared to our existing Stage 1:
Stage 1 Mass - 249.49 Mass (62.4 tons)
Stage 1 Thrust - 983.1kN

So if we just stick four of them together, and we'll be moderately close to our original design (but not quite there). We can then do a bit of mass savings on the infrastructure since not all the parts need to be duplicated (shared fuel tank/avionics/etc) and other small tweaks.

edit: on a funny side note

Not cheap, and not light - but reliable and tested.

Click to shrink...

Yeah... turns out it really really wasn't.

 

[Ash19256]

Yeah... turns out it really really wasn't.

Click to shrink...

Well, in fairness, the engine wasn't really what was letting the party down - it's the corrosive fuels giving our tanks hell that was the problem.

 

[brmj]

[X] Aerozine 50/N2O4 - Hydrazine mix for hypergolic results.
[X] A new small engine to cluster

Under the rules as they stand, aerozine is strictly better than RP-1 for a first stage. Higher ISP, higher thrust, denser, and no penalties. You even get restarts for free, not that it's particularly useful on a first stage if you aren't spacex.

 

[Ash19256]

[X] Aerozine 50/N2O4 - Hydrazine mix for hypergolic results.
[X] A new small engine to cluster

Under the rules as they stand, aerozine is strictly better than RP-1 for a first stage. Higher ISP, higher thrust, denser, and no penalties. You even get restarts for free, not that it's particularly useful on a first stage if you aren't spacex.

Click to shrink...

... @4WheelSword that seems very broken if that is a thing.

 

[brmj]

... @4WheelSword that seems very broken if that is a thing.

Click to shrink...

It would appear to be a thing. It pretty obviously ought to be marked "toxic", since aerozine 50 is a mixture of hydrazine and UDMH, but otherwise I can't comment on issues with this. More generally, anything with anything hydrazine related in it probably ought to be marked toxic, and if the badness of NFNA crosses the threshold to be noteworthy, then it should also do so in combination with aniline.

That said, if the numbers are right for the real thing, I don't think it needs to be fixed in the name of balance. After all, hydrogen peroxide monopropellent is an option, but it isn't a good option, just like in real life, so people don't use it for a first stage. That doesn't mean it needs to be counter-factually buffed or that everything else ought to be nerfed.

Fuel Mix	Mix Ratio	Mass Ratio	Type	Effective Isp (Atmo/Vac)	Additional Information
RP-1/LOX	2.56/1	250/1	Bipropellant	300s/373s
Alc(25%)/LOX	1.43/1	250/1	Bipropellant	282s/297s
Alc(7.5%)/LOX	1.73/1	250/1	Bipropellant	284s/338s
N2H4/LOX	1/0.92	265/1	Bipropellant	313s/353s	Corrosive
H2/LOX	6/1	90/1	Bipropellant	439s/455s	Cryogenic
N2H4/RFNA	1.45/1	320/1	Hypergolic	283s/338s	Corrosive, Toxic
Aerozine/N2O4	2.15/1	300/1	Hypergolic	320s/342s
Aniline/RFNA	3/1	348/1	Hypergolic	260s
Hydrogen Peroxide	N/a	350/1	Monopropellant	164s/190s

 

[4WheelSword]

Yeah Aerozine 50 should absolutely be marked toxic. It's not the safest fuel out there but by damn is it good. Hence Titan using it for both stages.

 

[Strypgia]

[X] RP-1/LOX - Kerosene. Stable and easy.
[X] A new large engine as a single system.

 

[Pyro Hawk]

[X] RP-1/LOX - Kerosene. Stable and easy.

Don't know what option to pick for the engine size. Just that we really need to move away from corrosive fuels...

 

[4WheelSword]

The new stage would use RP-1, it was decided, the same kerosene derivative that the Artemis upper stage utilised to fly up into orbit proper. It was stable, it was safe and while it maybe wasn't the most efficient design it would hopefully not blow great holes in itself on the way up.

The redesigned rocket could still make orbit - just. On six of the smaller motors it had a little less thrust and a little less capability. But it could make it to orbit with the same payload and that was enough.

But it would take two months to get the new engine and stage design ready for flight and there were two more launches between now and then that would need the Artemis to fly, and that meant two more of the old design, the old fuel. NASA might get lucky and be able to put two more vital payloads into space. Or they could delay their launches, not waste the money or hardware. But that meant pushing back everything by two months. That was a hell of a long time to wait and waste. But it might prove so important, especially with congressional focus on their failings.

What will NASA do?
[ ] Fly the Astrocaphe test but not the Navy payload on an Artemis L.
[ ] Don't fly either, we're not wasting money.
[ ] Fly both. We can't cope with the delay.

EPL X-19 Rocket Motor

Spoiler

Fuel type: RP-1/LOX
Cycle: Gas-generator (1M, .3M mass flow)
Injector: Shower
Nozzle: Atmospheric (1.2M)
Upgrades: Single Axis Vernier (+1 control)
ISP: 255
Thrust: 160kN
Mass: 2.3
Cost: 4.5

NASA Hermes-L

Spoiler

Payload - 6 Mass (1.5 tons)
Stage 2 Mass - 77 Mass (19.25 tons)
Stage 1 Mass - 249.73 Mass (62.4 tons)
Total Mass - 332.49 Mass (86 tons)
Stage 2 Thrust - 241kN
Stage 1 Thrust - 960kN
Stage 1 Delta-V - 2655m/s
Stage 2 Delta-V - 6994m/s
Total Delta-V - At least 9,649m/s

Stage 1 Design
Engine - 6 x EPL X-19, ISP: 250 (13.8M/27C)
Stage - 11M (22C) Structural Steel, 220M fuel (58,300kg)
Avionics: Basic Beam Riding (2.45M, 4.9C)
Control: Small fins (1.24M, 1.24C)
Separator: Explosive Bolt (1.24M, 0.62C)

Stage 2 Design
Engine - 1 x LRM-4-V, ISP: 385 (2.2M/4.4C)
Stage - 3.5M (7C) Structural Steel, 70M fuel (17,500kg)
Avionics: Basic Beam Riding (0.92M, 1.84C)
Separator: Explosive Bolt (0.38M, 0.19C)

 

[tryrar]

[X] Fly the Astrocaphe test but not the Navy payload on an Artemis L.

 

[Rockeye]

[X] Don't fly either, we're not wasting money.

 

[brmj]

I'll admit to being less than satisfied with this replacement. I'd hoped the redesigned first stage would have more thrust rather than less, since removing the stability penalty would help make failures less likely.

[X] Fly the Astrocaphe test but not the Navy payload on an Artemis L.

 

[notgreat]

Not a fan of risking another launch, but I guess the middle option isn't horrible whereas a 2-month delay would be pretty huge

[X] Fly the Astrocaphe test but not the Navy payload on an Artemis L.

 

[Shadows]

[X] Don't fly either, we're not wasting money.

 

[Strypgia]

[X] Fly both. We can't cope with the delay.

 

[veekie]

[X] Fly the Astrocaphe test but not the Navy payload on an Artemis L.

 

[4WheelSword]

The most common armoured vehicle of the Cathayan warlords during the 1950's, the Caspian T-40-75 was a mid-40's design. The -90 upgraded the gun and radio facilities and, although slower due to the larger turret, it saw great use as a command tank during the same conflict.

 

[brmj]

The most common armoured vehicle of the Cathayan warlords during the 1950's, the Caspian T-40-75 was a mid-40's design. The -90 upgraded the gun and radio facilities and, although slower due to the larger turret, it saw great use as a command tank during the same conflict.

Click to shrink...

Very nice. You did a really great job suggesting the geometry of the turrets.

 

[4WheelSword]

Very nice. You did a really great job suggesting the geometry of the turrets.

Click to shrink...

Thanks! It was an experiment in making it work without hard lines and I think it came out well.

 

[4WheelSword]

It could have been worse. The delay could have been so much worse. But by April they'd have a more capable and in the meantime… Well there was only one payload they absolutely couldn't lose, the first Navy satellite intended to develop their orbital tracking program. Losing that would lose NASA the contract and the money and the experience - it had already been hard enough to convince them to come away from their 'Sea-Launch' plans.

Which didn't leave much to throw in late February and early March, but there were plans to fly another 'test' of the Astrocaphe. Manned flight might be off the cards, scientific flight might be off the cards. But surely, an experimental payload designed to make future crewed flights even safer couldn't be argued with?

So a capsule was outfitted with a brand new low-orbital science package, fitted with cameras and safety features, and one cold spring day 'Chuck' the chimp was walked up to his first ever spaceflight. Hopefully, everyone was thinking, he'd be luckier than Charles. No one particularly wanted to see 'Spanky' be the first Alleghanian in space.

The launch proceeded exactly as planned, as if the Artemis was trying to show NASA up just before its final flight. It was rocky going, but the capsule made it to orbit just a few minutes later, the second stage working exactly as well as it always had. There were so many cheers when the capsule disconnected and the cameras showed a living, breathing chuck in orbit but there was still so much work to do.

Astrocaphe Phase 3
Orbital Activities - 2d10+3
Entry Burn - 2d10+4
Atmospheric Entry - 2d10+2
Landing- 2d10+3
Recovery - 2d10+3
Please Roll The Above

 

[DannyboyZero]

Rolling for Orbital Activities.

DannyboyZero threw 2 10-faced dice. Reason: +3 Total: 11

 

[Rockeye]

Entry Burn +4

Rockeye threw 2 10-faced dice. Total: 12

 

[brmj]

Atmospheric entry +2

Edit: Damn.

Maybe too late to beg, but would the fact that the heat shield, parachutes and such are rated for a capsule almost twice as heavy be worth some kind of bonus?

brmj threw 2 10-faced dice. Total: 4

 

[brmj]

There are still rolls to be done. People should do them in the hope that they end up mattering.

 

[Shadows]

Landing!

15. Not bad.

Shadows threw 2 10-faced dice. Reason: Fucking spoiler-rolling this Total: 13