[1.12.5] Bluedog Design Bureau - Stockalike Saturn, Apollo, and more! (v1.13.0 "Забытый" 13/Aug/2023)

[Blufor878]

Also made an automated version of the above craft. It went on a supply mission to the MORL station I made awhile back.




You know, Planetshine is a subtle effect, but worth it. Oh, and for those who are wondering, the Apollo truck is called DOT (Direct Orbital Truck), and the automated version is called ADOT (Automated Direct Orbital Truck).

Edited October 27, 2022 by Blufor878

[Socowez]

1 hour ago, Blufor878 said:

Remember the direct lander I made the other day. Well, the long shape had me thinking about other things...

Crewed AARDV? What would you call this?

[Blufor878]

39 minutes ago, Socowez said:

Crewed AARDV? What would you call this?

See above post.

[ballisticfox0]

[Blufor878]

21 minutes ago, ballisticfox0 said:

You know, if I didn't know things like TUFX and BDB existed, I wouldn't believe this is KSP. 10/10 sir!

[GoldForest]

Full album: Imgur: The magic of the Internet

Test launch of Orion Nuclear Propulsion Engine.

[DaveyJ576]

10 hours ago, ballisticfox0 said:

Is that a Monolith in the clouds near the Spot?  

[DeadJohn]

13 minutes ago, DaveyJ576 said:

Is that a Monolith in the clouds near the Spot?  

Taking artistic license: "I'm sorry Dave[yJ576], I can't tell you that."

[CobaltWolf]

You didn't think we were done, did you?

 

Axial docking ports for S-IVB size stages

 

Side docking "rail", with length switches and dedicated docking ports. The idea is to consistently be able to 3x dock stages together. Works for S-IVB and S-II.

Edited October 27, 2022 by CobaltWolf

[bigyihsuan]

22 minutes ago, CobaltWolf said:

You didn't think we were done, did you?

 

Axial docking ports for S-IVB size stages

 

yesss boeing integrated manned interplanetary here we cooommmmeeeee

Edited October 27, 2022 by bigyihsuan

[G'th]

4 minutes ago, bigyihsuan said:

yesss boeing integrated manned interplanetary here we cooommmmeeeee

That was my first thought as well lol. 

[GoldForest]

1 hour ago, CobaltWolf said:

You didn't think we were done, did you?

 

Axial docking ports for S-IVB size stages

 

Side docking "rail", with length switches and dedicated docking ports. The idea is to consistently be able to 3x dock stages together. Works for S-IVB and S-II.

Wait, so is it 3 docking ports that will all dock at once or 1 docking port with 3 visual docking ports? 

[G'th]

Some part of me feels like a MEM is in the works. 

[CobaltWolf]

1 hour ago, bigyihsuan said:

yesss boeing integrated manned interplanetary here we cooommmmeeeee

1 hour ago, G'th said:

That was my first thought as well lol. 

Not quite that ambitious... I'm not doing a full part set for these, just trying to make orbital construction for interplanetary stages possible. Probably will need to come up with some appropriate radiators and a way to generate power, but that's about it for these.

 

15 minutes ago, GoldForest said:

Wait, so is it 3 docking ports that will all dock at once or 1 docking port with 3 visual docking ports? 

Two separate parts, 4 when actually built. First is the structural part, with 3 nodes and length switches. Then the docking ports are placed in the slots. I don't know if that works as well in practice as it does in theory, but we'll have to see.

 

2 minutes ago, G'th said:

Some part of me feels like a MEM is in the works. 

I can confirm there is not, I am definitely waiting to tackle that.

(And before someone says something, I don't think I've ever lied about saying something isn't in the works)

[GoldForest]

9 minutes ago, CobaltWolf said:

Not quite that ambitious... I'm not doing a full part set for these, just trying to make orbital construction for interplanetary stages possible. Probably will need to come up with some appropriate radiators and a way to generate power, but that's about it for these.

 

Two separate parts, 4 when actually built. First is the structural part, with 3 nodes and length switches. Then the docking ports are placed in the slots. I don't know if that works as well in practice as it does in theory, but we'll have to see.

 

I can confirm there is not, I am definitely waiting to tackle that.

(And before someone says something, I don't think I've ever lied about saying something isn't in the works)

Ah. Gotcha. I've been able to successfully multi dock before, but I think a mod is required, forgot which allowed it.

Also, I just realized, your S-IVBs can't back up. 

[Zorg]

Voyager Mars in up on the dev branch for testing! Its still very much alpha. The lander might switch to all monoprop for one thing.

 

 

 

[G'th]

23 minutes ago, CobaltWolf said:

Not quite that ambitious... I'm not doing a full part set for these, just trying to make orbital construction for interplanetary stages possible. Probably will need to come up with some appropriate radiators and a way to generate power, but that's about it for these.

TMK these types of stages just ran off the reactors in the engines. But that could also have just been me misunderstanding. 

 

 

26 minutes ago, CobaltWolf said:

I am definitely waiting to tackle that.

[Pappystein]

2 hours ago, CobaltWolf said:

You didn't think we were done, did you?

 

Axial docking ports for S-IVB size stages

 

Side docking "rail", with length switches and dedicated docking ports. The idea is to consistently be able to 3x dock stages together. Works for S-IVB and S-II.

Happy HAPPY S-IVC Noises!    We can do a Saturn C-2 + Saturn C-3 mission to the moon the correct way now YAY!

[G'th]

I'm just ecstatic at a potential future BDB MEM, and the impending IPP tugs. I don't mind kitbashing, but its always nice to have the real(ish) thing.  

9 minutes ago, Zorg said:

Voyager Mars in up on the dev branch for testing! Its still very much alpha. The lander might switch to all monoprop for one thing.

 

 

 

We really do have a severe shortage of proper aeroshell mods. 

 

[rockettime03]

2 hours ago, CobaltWolf said:

You didn't think we were done, did you?

 

Axial docking ports for S-IVB size stages

 

Side docking "rail", with length switches and dedicated docking ports. The idea is to consistently be able to 3x dock stages together. Works for S-IVB and S-II.

baxter voyage recreation, here we come

[CobaltWolf]

1 hour ago, GoldForest said:

Ah. Gotcha. I've been able to successfully multi dock before, but I think a mod is required, forgot which allowed it.

Also, I just realized, your S-IVBs can't back up. 

Crap, really? Guess we'll find out if it works...

And yeah. Like I said, probably need more parts for this to work. I might try and make a new APS unit that fits this sort of task better ie has a reverse thruster.

 

1 hour ago, G'th said:

TMK these types of stages just ran off the reactors in the engines. But that could also have just been me misunderstanding.

True, I don't know how our nukes are set up. But that might solve one issue. Some dedicated radiator parts that fit the look are  definitely still necessary.

 

1 hour ago, G'th said:

I'm just ecstatic at a potential future BDB MEM, and the impending IPP tugs. I don't mind kitbashing, but its always nice to have the real(ish) thing. 

I wouldn't say one way or the other regarding the MEM. It's something I'm open to looking into more, but there's no way we have time to attempt it now. And we're at a point where each day, it makes less sense to work on KSP1 and more sense to start learning Substance or something.

 

45 minutes ago, rockettime03 said:

baxter voyage recreation, here we come

Yep that's the idea for those side-docking ports. Not sure what else would be needed, apart from the MEM obviously.

[GoldForest]

15 minutes ago, CobaltWolf said:

Crap, really? Guess we'll find out if it works...

And yeah. Like I said, probably need more parts for this to work. I might try and make a new APS unit that fits this sort of task better ie has a reverse thruster.

Yeah, you forgot to turn them around in that image.  So it has no RCS ports facing forward. 

[G'th]

The main thing about the MEM I think is that a lot of artistic liberty would have to be taken to make it actually look good next to the rest of BDB or any other comparable mod, but also do it while not being an unfeasible nonsense design (in terms of it wouldn't have ever worked on an engineering level IRL), but while also, I think, allowing for the lego-ness of it. 

And that would take some informed artistry to really accomplish, as the MEM as originally designed technically wouldn't have worked, but thats only because NA never got to the point where they could redesign it after a presumed Viking program fed them more data on Mars.  Interestingly though, it wouldn't have taken much to do it. A slight diameter upgrade to 10m and some slimming down could have gotten the MEM into a suitable weight range, and at that point all you strictly need is the right engines.  Designing it for aerobraking in addition to retropropulsion would also have helped to allow for more payload weight.  Plus, there's also the other MEM derivatives to consider as well, as it wouldn't have just been the lander if they ever got built. Cargo and Habitat-only variants would likely have been designed as well around the same aeroshell/heatshield chassis. 

But there's also other ways to do it, though much less feasible. If you wanted to do something like Viking architecture, you'd actually have to scale up to a 15m diameter and would need a pretty beefy ballute/parachute (and I mean beefy). And there's also the option of doing nested heat shields, where one is used for aerobraking before being jettisoned, and then the interior one is much lighter; that could work and would be nice in KSP as you'd avoid all the struggles of not having that system destroy itself. 

The other big issue with the MEM too is the scaling of it, as even at realscale its a pretty cramped vehicle as designed, so some attention would have to be paid to how scaling it down interacts with kerbals. 

[Beccab]

54 minutes ago, CobaltWolf said:

Not sure what else would be needed, apart from the MEM obviously.

A dedicated crew habitat could be nice to have, given that the golden skylab looks fantastic but doesn't make a ton of sense unless it also came apart during launch and the shielded variant works conceptually but doesn't fit much due to how odd the pattern of black and white thermal paint was on it. Could be as small as a full white variant of the Skylab module, like in the IPP concepts

(obviously the one here is not Skylab and is functionally quite different, but you get the idea)

That said, even then it's basically down to cosmetics, so it's pretty much just the MEM

Edited October 27, 2022 by Beccab

[G'th]

24 minutes ago, Beccab said:

A dedicated crew habitat could be nice to have, given that the golden skylab looks fantastic but doesn't make a ton of sense unless it also came apart during launch and the shielded variant works conceptually but doesn't fit much due to how odd the pattern of black and white thermal paint was on it. Could be as small as a full white variant of the Skylab module, like in the IPP concepts

(obviously the one here is not Skylab and is functionally quite different, but you get the idea)

That said, even then it's basically down to cosmetics, so it's pretty much just the MEM

I think having pure white variants of all the Skylab parts and the the decouplers would be all thats strictly needed, if you don't want to make a bespoke version for this. That's what I used in my kitbash and all its missing is the white texture.