Air-Drop Cargo mod?

[stickman939]

Surely there's people out there other than me that wants to make care packages for my colonists on Duna, right?

I mean, I know you can do it with just stock parts but that's always a hassle, especially when it gets stuck inside the cargo bay and gives itself unto the Kraken.

 

[StahnAileron]

Is there anything special you want such a mod to accomplish? Any parts pack mod can help with creating a cargo drop-pod. Unless what you want is a simplified, integrated mod whose primary focus is creating cargo drop designs.

And if you have issues with drop them from cargo bays... Wait, why are you having problems with cargo bays? Are you dropping these from within the atmosphere rather than straight from orbit? Or using an SSTO/spaceplane derived design that carries cargo in a bay? I figure a fairing for launch (and maybe re-entry) would suffice, otherwise.

I'm just asking questions so you flesh out your idea more. It's really barebones with no real direction I can readily see.

[stickman939]

I was thinking the mod could have some sort "launch" system, that keeps it close to the bottom of the bay until it reaches the end, where a drogue chute could trigger.

The thing I've noticed when doing in the past (with stock parts) is after you release your cargo they'll violently collide into the walls of the bays. At least in my experience they have.

Kinda along the lines of a C-130, I should have said that first lol. So, yeah, an in-atmo drop system.

(look! Visuals lol)

Spoiler

Kinda looking like this 

 

[Van Disaster]

I think this might just be a design issue - the biggest problem I've had with dropping out the rear door is CoM shift. The odd occasion I actually want to airdrop I've just flipped a normal bay and opened the doors, because I don't need to load through a door in the SPH...

You're after some sort of dispenser system? Infernal robotics & normal docking ports should be enough to build one; it's such a niche I don't think anyone's made something specific.

[swjr-swis]

3 hours ago, stickman939 said:

I was thinking the mod could have some sort "launch" system, that keeps it close to the bottom of the bay until it reaches the end, where a drogue chute could trigger.

The thing I've noticed when doing in the past (with stock parts) is after you release your cargo they'll violently collide into the walls of the bays. At least in my experience they have.

I think you should be able to do this with stock parts. A combination of:

• Sepratrons to quickly push the cargo with a powered kick out of the bay and clear of the plane without damaging anything. Limit the solid fuel to the bare minimum so the kick is just the split second needed to push the cargo clear of the plane.
• Drogues/chutes that are staged at the same time. Since the sepratrons will only fire for a split second, they won't accelerate the cargo enough or burn long enough to damage the chutes.

I did a delivery system like this as a 'bomb' bay of sorts for a challenge recently, where I needed a fully loaded radial ore tank to be forcefully kicked out of a 1.25m service bay. There was no need for chutes, since it was playing the role of a bomb, but it was actually more complicated than your use case, because the tanks only barely fit in that bay and got stuck, and they have a very unhelpful asymmetric center of mass location that made them tumble. So with balanced cargo in a roomier bay, this method should work even better. Feel free to test drive and/or reuse it for your purpose.

The craft file that includes it: https://www.dropbox.com/s/qpjc4m43nn8yfiw/TwinJunoBomber-Mk3.craft?dl=0

Some pics showing it in action: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/82a7gw0w0ct8ks2/AAC4vl-poWwB81j4f8_zpPTfa?dl=0

[Van Disaster]

Yeah, I did a run for a challenge recently & just used the hydraulic manifold ( for the separation force ) - by the time the chutes actually deployed the cargo was clear of the aircraft. Video here ( it is the full video though so you'll probably want to skip a lot ).

Spoiler

 

All chutes for one item of cargo plus the decoupler in one staging group.

Spoiler

 

 

[andreasblom]

3 hours ago, Van Disaster said:

Yeah, I did a run for a challenge recently & just used the hydraulic manifold ( for the separation force ) - by the time the chutes actually deployed the cargo was clear of the aircraft. Video here ( it is the full video though so you'll probably want to skip a lot ).

  Hide contents

 

 

 

 

 

All chutes for one item of cargo plus the decoupler in one staging group.

  Hide contents

 

 

what mods are you using to change the colour other than b9 procedural wings?

[Van Disaster]

1 hour ago, andreasblom said:

what mods are you using to change the colour other than b9 procedural wings?

My own half finished mod ( talked about it in another thread here recently ). Kerbpaint would probably do the same with a bit more effort.

[DrLicor]

If you install FAR, the 'debris' won't experience any drag untill it reaches the open air. So it won't get stuck in your cargobay. There are also mods were you can time you action groups.

So for instance, you drop the parachutes in action group 1 with a timer of 20 sec. decoupler in action group 2 with no delay. you just pres 1 and 2 at the same time, package falls out of your craft, 20sec after decoupling the parachutes deploy and you have your on badass looking dropping mission   

(For the mods I should check, but I'm currently at work so can't look them up)

[stickman939]

Lol guys, I know it can be done in stock. I've done it before. I was just thinking a dedicated air-drop system/parts would be far easier.

 

8 hours ago, DrLicor said:

 There are also mods were you can time you action groups.

Yeah, I think that's the Smart Parts mod. But I haven't used it.

 

23 hours ago, Van Disaster said:

My own half finished mod ( talked about it in another thread here recently ). Kerbpaint would probably do the same with a bit more effort.

I wasn't aware Kerbpaint actually worked without editing the mods code?

[Van Disaster]

14 minutes ago, stickman939 said:

I wasn't aware Kerbpaint actually worked without editing the mods code?

In the thread somewhere is a link to a compiled-for-1.1.3 version iirc. I'm obviously not using it myself so no guarantees.

What we're actually missing is a cargo-rail or a palette component of some sort; docked cargo won't collide with the floor, and loose cargo can go all over the bay. The issue is the docking part - as soon as parts are part of the same vessel internal collision goes away, but how do you secure any cargo properly without docking it? this would be way wider use than just airdrop.

KAS might be one way, some sort of cargo straps with programmed release. The sliding palette system is a bit more awkward especially if it has to cross parts.

The other thing is to ignore any moving cargo & have a skeleton frame fuselage & load cargo containers into that.

Edited September 26, 2016 by Van Disaster

[stickman939]

16 minutes ago, Van Disaster said:

In the thread somewhere is a link to a compiled-for-1.1.3 version iirc. I'm obviously not using it myself so no guarantees.

I'll have to comb through it then.

A cargo-rail/pallet would be useful. But yeah, most of the problem lies in the collision. Maybe it could be circumvented by making a bay that has a built in rail system that just pushes it out past the ramp then decouples, but that seems really complicated.

[Van Disaster]

7 minutes ago, stickman939 said:

I'll have to comb through it then.

A cargo-rail/pallet would be useful. But yeah, most of the problem lies in the collision. Maybe it could be circumvented by making a bay that has a built in rail system that just pushes it out past the ramp then decouples, but that seems really complicated.

Well, it might be possible to do it with an IR piece - there is a rail there already & you can dock things with the moving ends of IR parts, so that wouldn't be a problem. Having multiple bits on one rail might be a problem though.

The best thing might be a U-shape bay bottom and special sleds as seperate vehicles with built-in wheels on all sides of the U, and extremely good brakes. Still, that is multiple vehicles in one which has it's own issues again.

[stickman939]

5 hours ago, Van Disaster said:

Well, it might be possible to do it with an IR piece - there is a rail there already & you can dock things with the moving ends of IR parts, so that wouldn't be a problem. Having multiple bits on one rail might be a problem though.

Yeah, it could be possible with the gantry rail, if scaled down. But then we have the problem of IR's finicky joint connections (even with KJR). Or at least in my experience they've been pretty finicky. 

 

5 hours ago, Van Disaster said:

The best thing might be a U-shape bay bottom and special sleds as separate vehicles with built-in wheels on all sides of the U, and extremely good brakes. Still, that is multiple vehicles in one which has it's own issues again.

Quantum Struts could make that possible, I think. I'm not too sure how it behaves with 2 different craft. Maybe a custom docking port could make that possible (see V8Jester's thread that's somewhere around here lol), but that still requires docking it and all when we really want to eliminate that as best we can.

A smaller cargo ramp, in terms of length, would be useful also, to reduce the chances of it hitting.

 

[Van Disaster]

Struts only connect docked vehicles - that's how I used to stick rovers inside bays. I'd line the floor with whatever strut-gun mod I was using, attach a KAS cable to the rover, drive it inside, turn the struts on ( after it's occluded the ceiling from the ones underneath it! )  and then hard-dock the KAS connection - that would instantly connect the struts under the rover.

I think the best bet is to have a guide channel in the bay, sledges, and custom wheels ( like the antigrav mods ), and then KAS-like dock them to the floor until you want to release. You'd have to dock the payload to the sledge somehow ( KAS -type cables again? ).