Challenge Challenge: Rescue all crew, de-orbit dangerous ship

[george7378]

Hi all,

Here is a challenge for you:

Start with two ships at the ISS (I used DG-IVs), you un-dock a ship, and discover that there is a bomb on board, planted without the knowledge of the crew, to destroy the ISS! You must un-dock the other Delta-Glider, and find a way to de-orbit the dangerous ship to burn in the atmosphere, while not sacrificing any crew members to do the burn.

Return the rescued crew to the ISS.

Can you do it? I managed it after trying many methods.

Tip: Remote thrust or just leaving the engines on and ejecting don't work when there is no crew on board.

 

[Salamander]

i would undock the wrapped bomb, dock the other DG, then make a retrograde burn and undock the DG before hitting atmosphere

that a valid solution?

 

[george7378]

Yes, I suppose that would work, providing you lined the ship doing the burn up before docking, because one ship can't manouvre itself into the pro/retro position when docked with another. You could also probably un-dock the ship once the burn is complete (a long time before you even approach the atmosphere, with the ISS still in sight).

Here is how I did it:

The pilot of the 'dangerous' ship turned retrograge while I was on my way, we docked, I transferred the one passenger to my ship, left the pilot to do a retro burn which brought the periapsis to a below-atmospheric value, then transferred him to my ship (now, both docked ships have a negative periapsis, no-one on board the dangerous one). I force-undocked from the dangerous ship (destroys its airlock, but never mind) and burned back towards the ISS (I am only about 6km away). I can then dock with the ISS, and watch the dangerous ship burn up.

 

[Ghostrider]

Doesn't the DGIV have an autoburn option that allows to select time to burn and burn duration? Give it 5 minutes, undock it and let it burn the retros until the fuel is exhausted.

 

[george7378]

Doesn't the DGIV have an autoburn option that allows to select time to burn and burn duration? Give it 5 minutes, undock it and let it burn the retros until the fuel is exhausted.

Yes, but that won't work unless there is a crew member on board.

 

[Ghostrider]

Yes, but that won't work unless there is a crew member on board.

Oh yes, I forgot. Always wonder why put an autoburn of that kind there if you can't make it work without some dude on board.

No problem.

You, ensign Doe. Yes, you with the red shirt. Please come over here...

 

[ar81]

I have a different idea which is more challenging and realistic.

There are 2 DGIVs at Olympus Mons. The first one is a tourist charter flight which carries 3 passengers. It takes off in the morning, heading southeast to pass on top of Valles Marineris. Orbit is circular, 100km altitude.

A fire starts inside the ship. Unable to turn it off, DGIV points nose down, top of the ship points prograde, and then all people are ejected while an automatic distress signal starts being beamed by the damaged DGIV.

The second DGIV is turned off, a rescue ship with pilot only, is parked at Olympus base. Upon ejection, rescue protocol establishes 2 minutes response time to turn on the ship and take off. The goal is to rescue all 4 astronauts before they run out of oxygen and die.

It is very exciting. I have tried to make astronauts to save themselves with the turbo packs but it does not work, due to the lack of autopilots. I also tried to tie astronauts in pairs to make rescue shorter, but it does not work either.

Notice that as you approach astronauts you can't fire RCS upon them to brake or they will burn, so as you get close you can only fire RCS in directions that do not compromise astronaut health. A single RCS burn that points towards them would kill them, so you ned to approach them in a way that inertial velocity leads to them without firing engines in the proximity, or fire in a direction that does not compromise astronauts.

If you find a good way to achieve this, I'd be glad to know.

 

[Salamander]

i would simply make the final approach a couple metres lower than the target (in terms of ship's axis), after stopping forward motion relative to the target move up and break that motion, then a final burn to close the rest of the distance slowly

 

[ar81]

i would simply make the final approach a couple metres lower than the target (in terms of ship's axis), after stopping forward motion relative to the target move up and break that motion, then a final burn to close the rest of the distance slowly

You say what you would do. But I might like to see what you actually did.
If you approach too fast, you may kill the astronaut too in real life.

 

[Salamander]

can you give me a starting scenario?

 

[Captoman]

I would just need a paperclip, chewing gum, an old hair dryer and a few minutes.

 

[Mindblast]

I would just need a paperclip, chewing gum, an old hair dryer and a few minutes.

And adhesive tape !