u/VictorKerman

INTERPLAN - Test Flight (Phase 2 out of 2)

The interplanetary vehicle just completed its first aerobrake pass in Kerbin's atmosphere!

The ship stayed stable and survived reentry very well. However, it became clear that the docked crew capsules protrude outside the heat shield coverage area. They got noticeably hot but fortunately remained intact.

Bill will have to find a solution to tack capsules in closer to the ship... Still a solid success: we dipped down to 45km and lowered the apoapsis from 44,530km to 4,203km saving roughly 182m/s of Delta-V.

We'll definately need a few more passes to circularize at 80km. More data incoming as soon as it's available

INTERPLAN - Test Flight (Phase 1 out of 2)

After 17 long launches and preparations, the first interplanetary vehicle has lit 4 of its LV-N410 Cherenkov engines!

In Phase 1, the ship is raising its Apoapsis (Ap) to 44,530km above Kerbin in a series of 2 burns (~2 minutes long and requiring 460 m/s of DeltaV each)

Once the ship reaches its Ap in 8 days, it will perform tiny retrograde burn to lower its Periapsis (Pe) to 45km in the Kerbin's atmosphere

Once completed, we will be entering the second phase of the test flight: atmospheric reentry... Hopefully all goes well

Here you can find overview of the two latest launches which fully complete INTERPLAN assembly before its very first test flight:

Launch #17 - Solar Panels & Antennas Delivery

Once again powered by fully reusable Revival 9R, solar panels and antennas have been delivered to the INTERPLAN

Launch Breakdown:
Initial Cost: -$79,156
Booster Recovery: +$35,595
Orbiter Recovery: +$16,152
Net Cost: $27,409

Payload: $18,000
- Gigantor XL Solar Panels (4x)
- Communotron 88-88 (4x)

Launch Cost: $9,409

Bill Kerman has successfully installed the solar panels and antennas which marks a full completion of orbital assembly of the interplanetary vehicle

Next up: first test flight!

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Launch #16 - Crew Visit

Powered by fully reusable Revival 9R Crew Kraken, 3 Crew members have been delivered to the interplanetary vehicle INTERPLAN

Launch Breakdown:
Initial Cost: -$82,505
Booster Recovery: +$35,610
Orbiter Recovery: +$17,349
Net Cost: $29,546

Crew Capsule Cost: $18,975
DeltaV: ~2,200m/s

The capsule will be used as a "lander" at destinations, and will be recovered after missions.
Net Cost after Capsule Recovery: ~$10,571

The crew is now performing overview of the vehicle, doing general checkups on vehicle's systems and science equipment

The next launch will deliver solar panels and antennas to finally bring the ship to its final form

Launch #15 - Refuel

Powered by fully reusable Skipper 9R Fuel Tanker, we have successfully delivered 3,000 units of Liquid Fuel that evaporated during orbital assembly of the interplanetary vehicle INTERPLAN

Launch Breakdown:
Initial Cost: -$181,173
Booster Recovery: +$99,512
Tanker Recovery: +$56,007
Net Cost: $25,654
Cost per Fuel Unit: $8.55

In the next steps, we have scheduled 2 additional launches:

- Crew (Pilot, Engineer, Scientist) for general vehicle overview and checkups
- Solar panels and antennas delivery/installation

Detailed infographic of the interplanetary vehicle (IPV) INTERPLAN. Here you can find the following data:

DeltaV, Mass, Thrust, TWR, ISP, Crew capacity, fuel, length, module descriptions and build cost

Next step: refuel and first test flight with aerobrake around Kerbin

Mods used in the build: Near Future Technologies

Infographic made with Kronal Vessel Viewer mod

The most creative and original name... I know!

The vehicle is currently under construction, so far it took 11 launches to assemble 99% of the vehicle + 1 crewed launch to deploy the centrifuge, make initial setup and perform system checks

We will have to do one more crewed launch to make final adjustments and solar panel installations

Once completed, this ship will undergo its first test flight to raise its orbit and perform aerobrake in Kerbin's atmosphere

Only then will we consider this ship ready for interplanetary travel

Wrapped up with a fully reusable Fuel Tanker. The Skipper 9R family is now complete with 3 variants:

- Fuel Tanker (100% reusable)
- Crew Kraken (100% reusable)
- Cargo (100% reusable)

The fuel tanker is capable of delivering 41 tons of rocket fuel to the low Kerbin orbit. That's 3,700 units of Liquid Fuel and 4,522 units of Oxidizer

Short clip of the Trans Munar Injection (TMI) Burn

This is one of the most critical moments of the entire mission because the orbiter deliberately performs only 90% of the TMI burn, carefully saving fuel so the command capsule has enough delta-v left to:

- Circularize around the Mun
- Land safely
- Return to Kerbin

At the same time, the orbiter still retains enough fuel to make it all the way back to the launch site

This simple maneuver plays vital part in making the whole mission possible!

During the orbital insertion our Crew Kraken 1 encountered an object passing just 300m away... Luckily the tourists didn't notice as they were busy watching views of Kerbin in the illuminator

P.S. I would not be able to repeat that even if I tried a thousand times...

While the first commercial tourism mission is on its way to the Mun, the Skipper 9R booster has successfully landed completing its all objectives

In this short video you can view the flip maneuver, boostback burn, atmospheric glide, landing burn and soft touchdown

The Crew Kraken Mission will take 2 brave crew members and 5 paying tourists not just to the Kerbin's orbit, but straight to the Mun surface

The waivers are signed and snacks are loaded. Our team is hard at work preparing every detail: crew information, budget breakdown and Delta V estimations... which can be definitely fully trusted... Right, Bill? Bill...?

Key insight of the Trans-Munar Injection (TMI) burn:

To reach the Mun, the Orbiter (The upper stage) will perform the majority of TMI burn, providing 750 of the total 860m/s required

The Crew Kraken capsule will then complete the final portion of the burn, leaving it with around 2,300m/s of DeltaV

This configuration enables the transit to the Mun, surface landing, and return to Kerbin in one single launch without orbital refuel

Made a telemetry infographic for Starship Flight Test 12.

It shows a logarithmic plot of the flight trajectory from the launch pad to the splashdown in the Indian Ocean.

Interesting takeaways:

1. Due to one RVAC engine failure during ascent, Starship experienced a slight performance dip but was able to successfully recover and reach its target trajectory.

2. During peak heating on reentry, Starship performed a slight atmospheric skip (bounce) before fully diving in.