Bay 12 Games Forum

We've recruited a number of new partners to further our space stuff. Kyle "Kickass" Kerman of KW Rocketry has donated some designs for potential parts; Fractal "UK" Kerman, an author trained in astrophysics, has suggested some potential technologies for the far future; and Iannic Ann Od Kerman has given us good radios. With these tools, we should be better-off than ever before!

After dealing with those, and spending an absurd amount of time with something to be discussed later, we launch a communication satellite. Okay, before that, I spend some time in the Research Center clicking on research nodes so I can get the cool stuff from already-researched techs. But once that's done, we have some new engines, fuel tanks for stuff I don't think we have yet, fairings, and assorted miscellany. We don't use them while designing the satellite, which has a problem.


_{Hm...we need to research *checks wiki* whatever unknown technology unlocks radiators ASAP.}

Well, let's see how far the strategy of "cross our fingers and hope nothing explodes (or if it does, it's far away from KSSC when it happens)" goes, and look at the final launcher.


_{Many parts are from KW Rocketry.}

This is intended for final insertion. The next stage is supposed to nudge it from LKO to KSO.


_{Due to a quirk of something, it has a lower delta-v than the upper stage. Ah well, the top one's just overengineered.}

The next stage (a lot of fuel plus four LV-T45 engines) is supposed to finish getting us to orbit. The first jump is to be done...


_{Hi! Remember us?}

...via jet engine.

Anyways, let's get our satellite up into orbit. We're launching at night, which will make things...interesting.
...Why isn't it moving?
Okay, let's add more jets. Minor issue!

The new version has a Thrust:Weight ratio of about 1.11, which is plenty to lift off. Well, it's enough. Once the engines get up and running. Probably.


_{Is this a problem?}

Unless the engines explode before takeoff. Or simply don't generate as much thrust as the mechanical Jeb says they will.
Well, new model.


_{We added more jet boosters. TWR: 1.15.}

Here we go.
And what's this? Not much...


<sub>Just missing a perfect chance to screenshot a massive explosion thanks to Lightshot's slow upload speed.

Take two. Because we had to get a picture of the explosion. Only one engine fell off this time. Of course, right after this shot, a better explosion happened...

And now for the--hey, nothing fell off this time! What gives? It's not falling over, it's--CRAP GOTTA FLY THIS CRAZY THING!</sub>

Takeoff is painfully slow. Perhaps that second stage was overly large?
...It's really slow.


_{Almost a minute after we left the ground. If there was any crew onboard, they would be bored out of their skulls.}

We're burning about a few kilograms of fuel every second, or about one every RL second. The TWR will get better. A minute sixteen seconds into the launch, we're down to 106 tons! That's good.
Two minutes. 4500 meters. Despite dropping fuel, our TWR ratio has dropped! The efficiency just keeps dropping. If our vertical velocity starts dropping, I'm ditching these things.
Well, we're getting some perspective.


_{Not so far from base.}

Three minutes. 8700 meters. We're moving at a good pace now. TWR: 1.13. Fifteen seconds later, we hit 10,000 meters and need to begin the gravity turn. The turn is slow and clumsy. Moreover, as I turn, I begin to lose vertical speed. I reorient vertically. By the time I manage this, about 60-70% of our speed is horizontal.
Four minutes. 13,300 meters. The engines start making a funny noise within a second of the minute mark. We begin to lose vertical speed, so I ditch the engines. TWR 1.11 right before, 0.97 right after. I decide I can stand to burn vertically for a bit, until the fuel load drops enough to improve that ratio. And it's dropping fast, from 83.5 tons to 83 in under 10 seconds. Around 4:20, the TWR gets above one, so I'm about ready to start the gravity turn. I can only turn it a little, though. This is not an efficient ascent.
Five minutes. 18,400 meters. TWR 1.13. We're getting to first-stage levels of lift. I'm reminded of a note Scott Manley made that many upper stages started out with a TWR ratio just above 1 or something like that, in real-life space programs. I wonder if the TWR's tended to go up or down with stage. I could probably research this during the ascent if I wasn't busy micromanaging a rocket. Fuel's half-gone. I start to wonder if I should have gone at less than 100% throttle to start this stage with, but the air is too rarefied for it to really matter by the time the thought comes up.
5:20. 22,100 meters. TWR 1.24, mass 65,608 kilograms. Maybe 20-25% fuel in this stage. I'm worried about if I have enough delta-v to put this into orbit. MechJeb says I have a bit over 2500 m/s (in vacuum, almost 400 m/s less in atmosphere), but how much do I need to get from my current trajectory to orbit?
At 5:55, I eject my next stage to discover that my penultimate stage has a TWR of 0.34. That is...not good. I'm at a (three-kilogram mass of) hair under 15 tons, a (three-meter long) hair above 26,750 meters, with a total surface speed a bit over 373 m/s and a projected apoapsis under 30 kilometers. I shift from my maybe 15-degree turn to vertical, to preserve vertical velocity as much as possible. I'm not going to space today, but I might as well...oh, who am I kidding.


_{Or I could turn off the thrust and watch it crash into the ocean...but I'm not in the mood.}

So. Unsuccessful. Which means that you don't get to find out what I wasted half my morning trying to add.