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Keldaria

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    Dayra Industries CEO
  1. Lol, TBH I was actually thinking, 116 parts? Damn Rune must be feeling sick, thats kind of up there for him on a craft like this =) Awesome stuff none the less
  2. Ok, First, Thanks to Rune for the input on control systems for my puller lift system. I haven't had a chance to experiment or even tinker with that design yet but its on my list and will be the next thing I work on. Second, I was able to build a crude proof of concept craft last night based on some idea's that were rolling around in my head. Normally when I launch payload into orbit I build whatever it is I'm making then I just slap some rockets under it and maybe setup an asparagus staging system if I truly need to maximize capacity or something. All essentially custom, generic and uninspired. I've only briefly toyed around with standardized lift engines or cargo hauling craft/shuttles (as seen from my last posting). The normal fatal flaw I run into is getting my payload to fit or meet the specifications of the rocket I built prior... Far to many times I find trying to strap a standardized lift engine or cargo hauler to ether require completely rebuilding the payload to fit, adjusting/breaking the size up, or not having the power to push an oversized load where I want it, which is why I normally revert back to generic, special made design. Well for this craft I wanted it to be different so instead of my normal "Hey lets throw some stuff together that looks cool and have lots of Delta V and hope it will be useful" design efforts, I've instead started with a list of requirements I want this craft to accomplish and with them a generic mission profile for the craft. This is the results Requirements Payload Launching Ability to carry Large Objects (Sized Bigger than MK3 Hulls or Extra Large Tanks) Ability to Lift 72-100 Tons of Payload to an elevation of 200-300k Payload to be shielded from Atmospheric Flight Capable of 100% Landing & Recovery in as few of pieces as possible (Fairings included if part of the design) Payload Recovery Ability to Launch SSTO without Payload Ability to Recover Objects of Large Size (Sized Bigger than MK3 Hulls or Extra Large Tanks) Ability to Recover Objects of 32-40 Tons Safely Secure Recovered Objects Recovered Payload to be shielded from Atmospheric Flight Capable of 100% Landing & Recovery in as few of pieces as possible (Payload included) [*]Multi-Mission Flexibility Ability to attach boosters in a safe manner to extend range or lift capacity on pad With those in mind this is the proof of concept craft. Tweaking is still needed and some of the items are still necessary to add to meet my goals.. but the core seems to be stable and successful at being capable of accomplishing all items of its mission. Standardized Lift, Launch and Recovery Platform v0.1 This is just after a successful launch to a 300k orbit and return to a safe landing. Please note no actual landing systems have been installed yet. As a result engines and drag provided 100% of the landing capabilities. The outer skin of the craft is still needed, I intend the outside will be completely covered so the payload which will go under it will shielded from atmospheric flight. Let me walk you threw a series of test flights and what I was testing. Here we are launching straight up with a 72 ton dummy weight.. yes it still has enough TWR to lift it off the pad And here we are at 267k Aposis with a full tank. No we aren't in orbit.. I just went straight up, I also held back 1k Delta V for reserve on landing needs.. so far MechJeb only needed about 250-300 to land but thats without any chutes soo I have hopes I can almost eliminate that. Point is I can get it up there and expect the finished craft could go further safely without jeopardizing the landing.. Technically the payload was still attached so that 1k Delta V was probably more like 1.4k after I dump the payload. Honestly the only limiting factor I'm seeing on this side of things is the starting TWR, its already pretty tight soo I could lift heavier cargo into vacuum but I'd have to play with fuel levels to conserve weight or strap a few boosters on for the starting life. Now I know what your thinking.. whats the point of being that high if your not doing a gravity turn and pushing yourself into orbit? Well I didn't really intend for this to be a SSTO hauler on the lifting side.. I actually envision it as more of a mobile launch platform... so I tested that. I'm sure they get toasty but with the mute button you can barely hear their screams Here is the liftoff with a small craft with a large 72T tank and Large Engine. Now this Vessel technically takes up the entire cargo length but in my next evolution I intend to nearly double my cargo length.. Just need to find a way to do so without destroying my weight... but thats a problem for tomorrow. Houston we have seperation Made it to elevation, Still a full tank of gas in the payload section. Now I cut loose and launch my "Real" rocket from the vacuum of space. This experiment I used one of the extra large engines, but you could easily and quite effectively use some nukes which benefit the most from being launched in vacuum. Burn baby Burn And to orbit with my test rocket.. don't mind its uninspired design or the use of mechjeb as a nose cone (honestly I just slapped it together as a quick test, my actual payloads I like to think are slightly more thought out). Unfortunately this time Mechjeb's landing protocols picked a bad spot for the launch vehicle (something I'll be able to adjust manually when I add in a proper landing chute system).. but I won't deny you guys a good explosion And it bounced.. Whoops there goes the pad... well shoot now I launched 3 Kerbals to orbit on a test craft that I never bothered to setup landing or docking systems on, and now my launch site is in ruins so I can't roll out another rocket to rescue them... I hope they packed snacks because I didn't really plan for that ether =P Now, don't get me wrong. I still have a lot of development to do here and many systems to install (Landing Systems, Skin for Atmospheric Flight, RCS, Payload Length Extension, Safer Landing Procedures, Aux Recovery Craft/Systems), Ideally when finished I'd like the landing sequence to enter the atmosphere head first using the skin as a "heat shield" then slowing with chutes and flipping the craft with chutes when under 8km to land vertically with slight engine power. However as a test vehicle, I think the proof of concept is valid enough for me to push on with the next stage of development. Hopefully I'll have some real time this weekend to install and tweak a good chunk of these systems. Overall, I'm satisfied with the test flight results given the time I put in.
  3. I will say that it did seem like sometime the controls seemed like would flip on me and left would be right and up would be down in mid flight.. but it was strange because for a good deal of the flight everything always seemed to function appropriately then the controls would all the sudden seem to flip. I do understand what you mean however, I had wondered the same thing but dismissed it because it wasn't until well into the gravity turn that control problems developed and I had figured that when my lifters main tanks were partially drained that the CoM just shifted down even further or something. .. I think I'll revisit the design with a few refinements I've made to the standard format model I was crafting... Ideally I was hoping to keep all the control functions with the lift unit on top so I wouldn't need to worry about adding and tweaking the cargo's control systems and that way the lift unit would be plug and play with cargo. Do you think thats still a possibility or will control elements be needed at the base to avoid that programming issue? Also, I started a sketch this morning for a new multi purpose launch system.. hoping to have some time this afternoon to build a test rig and see if the core concept is a functional one (I know, I'm being sketchy with the details but I want to flesh out the base of the concept before one of you masters shows me something similar and I end up trying to recreate it =P ) Anyways, Thanks for the info Rune.
  4. In a slightly related topic, I've recently been experimenting with a "Puller" type SSTO for launching payload into LKO. I was hoping to create a new, unique type of lifter that would launch mounted on top of its payload, something that with minor adjustments could also be used to return cargo or land cargo on the various planets. The prototype I was developing was based on a jet / rocket hybrid lift booster I had developed to augment other lifters when I routinely overloaded them (essentially my last resort before completely ripping the lifter apart and rebuilding it for a higher capacity). Unfortunately, as I'm sure you guessed, it becomes unstable while performing the gravity turn, I think the CoM just catches up with it when attempting to do the turn eventually causing it to spin out of control if I'm not careful, or it gets stuck at too high of an angle. I had tried to slap on some RCS thrusters and additional SMS systems to compensate, but they just didn't cut it. So I decided to flip the design instead and go back to a traditional rocket. Although, I did like the look of this design better I still need to tweak it some. It will carry an orange tank into an 80k LKO with only sipping like 100-150 Oxidizer from the orange tank (no fuel since I drained most the oxidizer from the crafts standard tanks to save weight due to jet power being used most the lift.) I'm sure I can tweak the oxidizer levels in the standard tanks to compensate or even a better refinement in my gravity turn might do the trick, but I figure I should just add some more Delta V anyways since I still technically need to add landing systems for craft recovery. EDIT: Oh, and if you didn't catch it the lift system completely separates from the cargo section. I'm intending to set this up to be able to launch a full cargo container, detach in orbit and reattach to a used (old) cargo container already in orbit and return (or return without one). The cargo containers are also intended to be utilized as a swappable mission module for interplanetary missions.
  5. I must say, the simplicity of the design is nice and ever since you started posting these pictures I've been following this. I like the idea of using that as multimission interplanetary craft with configurable cargo and such (which I'm sure has been done before), but its soo nice to see one designed with such a sleek looking primary hull (so used to seeing mine looking like its pieced together from generic spacestation parts with no thought of design). I think I'm going to try redesigning an old craft of mine with the shuttle parts similar to yours, while I like your overall design, I think something a bit more flexible and interchangeable in the engines department would better suit my needs. The 4 Nukes are nice, but I'd rather have the flexibility to pop them off and replace them with another engine configuration (less nukes if you don't need to carry the weight of 4 or even other types of engines). Not entirely sure what it will end up looking like as I know you've got the creative juices in my head flowing but they are going in every direction right now =P
  6. Thanks for the better explanation. I knew it had something to do with the moderator que and that makes much more sense since I never remembered VBulletin behaving that way on any of the forums I admin, but then again I normally don't have this kind of setup that attracts enough attention to actually need to put a moderator que into place so I must admit my experience with that aspect of Vbulletin is somewhat limited to basic functionality of it all =)
  7. Actually, originally your post was stuck in the moderation que because you're new to the forums so until the moderators marked your post as OK, all everyone else seen was a topic with no message or post, AKA a blank post. After the Mods marked your post as being ok, it appeared above ours. Check around the forums, I doubt you'll find anyone bashing anyone over what seems obvious. This community is generally pretty helpful and supportive of new players so don't be too quick to rush to judgement.
  8. Rune has unsatisfiable desire to minimize part counts. Mind you Rune knows his stuff and have developed quite a few craft that I myself love, but his motto is always do more with less. While it might not seem as fun at first slapping together minimal parts and calling it a day, the true challenge is in how you make the most out of those hand full of pieces. I myself tend to start building a craft and have it end up large and complex, there is ultimately nothing wrong with that approach. I find it truly difficult to refine my concepts down to the minimalist approach like Rune is famous for. I guess what I'm saying is Rune is Rune, he will always try to maintain a practical and functional approach. If thats not what you're going for, then just say so and ignore any sounds to the opposite. Just keep an eye on the suggestions as I've seen quite a few elegant design choices and suggestions come from Rune that I'd never have thought about otherwise. Build what you love, I always find your crafts worth a look Rofl, just like I find Runes crafts the same way.
  9. I like the engine air intake system on this.. I might have to borrow this idea for a future design. +rep
  10. I can relate to that comment right there. I always start out small and precise then I add a few pieces for style or because I want a different type of functionality, and before I know it I've got another monster sitting in my hanger that I can't seem to get off the ground or make it fly right. I'll be the first to admit some of my favorite rockets are the ones where I force myself to squeeze functionality into small packages resulting in small lights loads, but for some reason when I start making planes I can't help but make them huge.
  11. My suggestion would be to try not running fuel lines between the 2 outer rockets. If they have the same fuel there shouldn't be a need to run fuel lines between them. Then I would try simplifying your routing on each of the boosters, run a line from the central tank into each of the side tanks so the central tank feeds them, then run a line from each of those tanks to the central engine so they can feed it.
  12. Hmm, I honestly can't see the craft in enough detail to tell how you have it fuel routed =P I usually just refer to this post from the tutorial page whenever fuel flow is funky on one of my rockets and it usually helps me sort it out (usually me doing something stupid with my routing). Although I'm sure you're already well aware of that post and other advanced fuel routing soo I'm probably not much help =(
  13. what mod lets you name the vessels? cause I like it.
  14. Interesting.. It honestly didn't occur to me that nuclear engines generated enough thrust to weight ratio to lift off on kerbin, so color me amazed.
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