KerbalX

• March 2020 Note:
  I’m not sure about how the fairing behaves in KSP 1.9. Go EVA inside the dome with great caution, save before proceeding. Or just enjoy looking at the interior without actually going inside.

• See also: Version with delivery system and Reindeer rover

As a crucial part of the ambitious Duna expedition program, Nordkapp is a compact self-sufficient surface outpost designed for long-term surface operations on Duna north pole. It shall first of all study the utilisation of Duna soil and water ice for sustainable life support, which would lay down the foundation of permanent Duna colonization.
The design features a 3D printed dome structure to be made of local materials. It shall protect the crew from hostile Duna weather, cosmic radiation and meteoriod threat. It’s named after the Nordkapp (North Cape) cliff in Norway well within the Arctic Circle, often referred as the northernmost point of Europe.

ESA 2025 Moon Base concept is the inspiration of this craft. (3 pictures)

Key Features

• Compact and detailed all-in-one dome base with accessible interior.
• Self-sufficient: tested for continuous ISRU operation with solar power + fuel cell.
• Rocket fuel capacity = 0.76 Orange tank; 830 units of monopropellant, 1800 units of ore.
• Large room for growing food, storage or other purposes.
• Panels orientation optimized for polar regions.
• Has been successfully delievered to Duna north pole.(Lifter and skycrane available here)
• Uninterrupted direct uplink to Kerbin, even at maximum Duna-Kerbin distance (not directly through Kerbol of course - that is impossible).

Design Notes

• I am aware that putting noisy ISRU system and flammable fuel tanks inside a habitation dome isn’t the best idea. I used to have 2 different domes and seperate panel arrays, it looked great and functioned great, but was laggy AF. So once again, I decided to make the compromise. Just imagine they have fancy isolation materials for section seperation.
• For sake of realism (food supply ect.), this outpost is designed for a small crew of 6 (2x3 professions). But it can hold maximum 23 if they stay in airlocks / control rooms ect.
• I like the dish antenna unit a lot. It can be adjusted in VAB by rotating the contained-inside octagonal strut and the nose cone. How I wish it could rotate on Duna.
• Duna north pole is not rich in ore. Choose landing spot wisely and ensure mining is possible.
• If used in non-polar regions, you may want to redesign the solar panel.
• Be careful when doing time-wraps and when Kerbals are EVA inside the dome. I recommend you save often because surface operations are always pretty buggy in my KSP, no matter what kind.
• In case you want to build some similar stuff with fairing: Use interstage fairing instead of one that closes itself on the top. A closed fairing is treated as one solid object, nothing will be allowed to get inside.

My original Munbase complex. (2 pictures)

Known Issues

• Happened to me only once: the fairing loses its collision, so Kerbal won’t be able to walk on it, but will get through. This is very annoying but not lethal, they can always climb up und get back in. Reason unkown, maybe has something to do with buggy surface dockings.
• Happened to me selten: The dome becomes solid/massive and inaccessible. Happens after loading a save. reason unkonwn.

~ /noclip on

I’ve never used fairing to build something like this before, so any feedback or suggestion is welcome.
Wish you enjoy and happy colonizing!

Description

A stock aircraft called ESA Polar Outpost Nordkapp. Built with 140 of the finest parts, its root part is batteryBankLarge.

Built in the SPH in KSP version 1.7.0.

Details

• Type: SPH
• Class: base
• Part Count: 140
• Pure Stock