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


CobaltWolf

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6 hours ago, Friznit said:

I tried to do a Gemini Mun mission using the stacked Centaur-Agena concept.  It didn't work out well.

I usually do early career Gemini landings on an almost-Titan IIIC with the lander wrapped in a fairing under the Gemini service module.  Admittedly it does look a little odd though.

That is pretty much what I do except I am launching with UA1204s instead of 05s due to the lower time in high thrust (gotta not Black out my pilots on the flight!)    And the Transtage is setup as a relay satellite  (a couple of solar panels and a relay antenna.

 

6 hours ago, GoldForest said:

Wasn't there a concept for a non-boil off fuel centaur stage that got scrapped due to costs or something?

Wasn't it the shuttle centaur? Or am I remembering wrong.

There have been several such proposals, the earliest was in the mid 1970s... well AFTER the Gemini lunar time-frame.   

And no, Shuttle Centaur was not designed with that as an option.   Given the compressed time tables and the need to focus on man ratting I am surprised they even pulled out better/larger tankage for Shuttle Centaur.   But then again, the Glenn/Lewis folks were wizards at making Centaur do new things.

If such a system had been developed I think we would still see Titan IVBs flying...  Or the Centaur T would be flying on a new rocket.

 

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Wanted to report back for others as I have an interesting twist...

I downloaded the craft files from the github page , but I was having issues where it would not display the part count for the craft file, nor would they load even in a sandbox save.  I got an error that the file was not compatible with KSP 1.9, however opening the craft file with Notepad++ I didn't see anything that appeared wrong to me.

So instead I went to the ZIP file of the mod that Ckan downloaded for me, extracted the craft files from the zip, and used them, and viola they are working just fine.

I hope this helps someone else out if you end up having any issues with the craft files.

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4 hours ago, rottielover said:

Wanted to report back for others as I have an interesting twist...

I downloaded the craft files from the github page , but I was having issues where it would not display the part count for the craft file, nor would they load even in a sandbox save.  I got an error that the file was not compatible with KSP 1.9, however opening the craft file with Notepad++ I didn't see anything that appeared wrong to me.

So instead I went to the ZIP file of the mod that Ckan downloaded for me, extracted the craft files from the zip, and used them, and viola they are working just fine.

I hope this helps someone else out if you end up having any issues with the craft files.

Gremlins.  I'll look into it when I do the next round of craft file updates.

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BEWARE - PIC HEAVY POST

As promised, GATV progress update...

I know a lot of people have been patiently waiting for the Gemini Agena Target Vehicle to get refreshed. I finally decided to throw myself into it and am honestly kinda having a great time with it....

lH24y8r.png

So as you can hopefully see here, there are unique models and textures for some of the existing Agena parts - the tank and avionics for example.

Remade are the Agena docking port, L-band antenna, materials bay, SPS packs and nose cone.

New are the spiral antenna, micrometeoroid detector, and running lights. Plus a bunch of dedicated ATDA stuff. There is probably still a couple more new things to come...

QevH9XR.png

 

Here's a look at the GATV with the new nose cone. I have a specific idea for this - it will attach via nodes to the docking port.

Those nodes will also match the nodes for the PFairing patch, AS WELL AS the PFairing nodes for the generic 0.9375m port - meaning you can use the nose cone for other payloads!

The textures and detailing on the node cone (and honestly the rest of the model) is, obviously unfinished.

JxoQWhd.png

 

A note on that red package above the materials bay - that's a micrometeoroid detector package. It's going to function as a standalone MM detector, but also be a required part for the materials bay to balance its smaller size.

I want to try and find a second experiment that would also work standalone, and as a required part for the materials bay.

As a note, the materials bay is ahistorical but was necessary to get the proper length, and I think it's a fun kerbalized interpretation of the GATV. :)

SvyPuqG.png

 

Lighting the GATV accurately is an undertaking. I'm working on adding placeable running lights in green, red, and amber (amber ones are still placeholder in these pics).

Those are using a trick from @Nertea to add an ambient backing glow to make them cast light, wherever they're attached, without needing to add light sources.

I'm still adjusting the falloff on them. The docking cone needs some more external detailing.

PQNjHdq.png
51g0APt.png

 

Additionally, there are two dedicated lighting systems in the Target Docking Adapter (the name for the docking assembly) itself - the Acquisition Lights and the Approach Lights.

I might try and bake light maps into an emissive for the Approach Lights - only way I think I can get the inside of the cone to illuminate through bounced light which is what they partially did IRL.

Quoted text below from GeminiGuide.com:

Quote

ACQUISITION LIGHTS

The acquisition lights (Figure Above) are used for visual guidance and tracking of the target vehicle when the vehicles are 20 nautical miles or less apart. Two lights are provided. They are mounted on the docking adapter and are held in the retracted position during the boost and insertion phases of a mission. The docking cone holds the lights in the retracted position until the cone is unrigidizedby the pilots via the Command Link.

Each light consists of a capacitor discharge flashing light system. The lamp flashes at a rate of 65 flashes per minute and has a minimum of 100 candles effective intensity through an included angle of +/- 90 degrees from the lamp longitudinal axis. A reflector increases the intensity so that the lamp is visible from 20 nautical miles with the intensity of a third magnitude star. The pilots turn the lights off and on via the Command Link.

Quote

APPROACH LIGHTS

Two approach lights are mounted on the docking adapter (Figure Above). They are positioned so that they shine through the rear opening in the cone to illuminate the notch during final approach of the spacecraft to the target docking vehicle. Some light, however, reaches the entire inner surface of the cone. The pilots turn the lights off and on by using the cone. Electric power is supplied by the target vehicle power system.

imgB10.jpg

O9eMSKu.png

qnuLRC8.png

I CAN'T GET THIS TO EMBED, BUT CLICK FOR AN EXAMPLE OF MY GOAL FOR THE TOGGLEABLE ACQUISITION LIGHTS

 

You can see in the above image the Status Display Panel. I'm going to try and have a trick animation to make some of them unlit until hard docking is achieved. Thanks again to @Nertea for some tips on the emissive.

Hopefully the little hooks on the bottom-inside of the cone will animate too.

Those weird little spikes you see sticking up from the edge of the cone are the Static Discharge Fingers.

img195.jpg

 

 

Let's see, what else what else...

Here are some pics from Maya from earlier yesterday, so a lot isn't as far along, but just because I don't have any good shots of the ATDA setup... Also, I've gotten the lighting tuned better in Maya...

41vHxS1.png

nwclrkw.png

 

Also the various GATV lighting systems look so good in Maya... I just hope I can match in Unity. Again, these are older than the images earlier in the post.

8n54YET.png
JpBZQdk.png
UoDSrOs.png
lhpLCpE.png

 

 

 

 

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Would it be possible for a mount to use the GATV nosecone as a fairing?

NVM, didnt see this
"Those nodes will also match the nodes for the PFairing patch, AS WELL AS the PFairing nodes for the generic 0.9375m port - meaning you can use the nose cone for other payloads!"

 

Edited by Barzon
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JSO recently added a spin table for the Juno I/Jupiter C via compatibility with Dock Rotate. Make sure you are controlling the rocket with the avionics core rather than the probe, spin up (180/s worked for me without introducing too much torque) and head off :). Tab over to the payload after staging.

 

 

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Was thinking about orbital vehicles that could be as capable as Shuttle, which led me to this contraption:

VeSFwFR.jpg

3A3Jvod.jpg

soEjedG.jpg

DJ0xTLC.png

cSobAXH.png

I did not realize the Tantares LES did not come with its own separator, so it remained attached. After building this thing, the thought occurred to me that if the Russians were going to build an equivalent to Starship, maybe it would look like this.

Reentry is... Not currently a feature. So I hope you like being in orbit.

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I stand corrected. This photo looks oversaturated, on others these bits are much more subdued. Fairly close to what you made them, actually, maybe a bit duller (though admittedly, space does weird things to colors).

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No one:

Absolutely no one:

Jeb Kerman: Direct Ascent Fat Atlas to the Mun!

raw

So uh yeah if you kitbash enough Titan, Atlas, and other early tech tree BDB rockets together you get this thing that can take two Kerbals and a boat load of science experiments to the Mun and back in JNSQ.

I used Titan engines for the first stage and a half:

raw

Here is the transfer stage which will take the rocket from orbit to the Mun and start the descent:

raw

The descent was continued with a SRB and finished with four Atlas vernier engines. Fuel margins were rather low, so I'll need to add another tank if I want to use this rocket again.

raw

Here is everyone on the surface:

raw

Time to head home

raw

And the final stage of the lander activates to push us back to Kerbin:

raw

 

@CobaltWolf, would it be possible to have a 1.5m version of the MOL cargo bay? I tweakscaled the 1.85m version to 1.5 and it was awesome for this mission but I would prefer not to have to tweakscale parts.

 

 

 

Edited by CDSlice
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19 hours ago, Dragon01 said:

I stand corrected. This photo looks oversaturated, on others these bits are much more subdued. Fairly close to what you made them, actually, maybe a bit duller (though admittedly, space does weird things to colors).

Yeah , the colors are very specifically *NASA IN SPACE* style -- but the red of the flag could be used as a bit of a reference point. :D

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OK this is one of my few posts in this forum topic being that I am still quite new to BDB's awesome rocketry parts as well as KSP itself but I did get a chance to upgrade my ksp 1.8.1 with the new JNSQ mod installed and started fresh. I figured I would use more of these great parts along with it. I did not know however until I got to do some serious career contract stuff in this new install that  @CobaltWolf rockets would not only be so much fun but he also has some contracts in it as well. Wow I was so glad to see that. I did about 8 or so of them so far and it is just great to do.

I made a quick Mercury-Atlas vehicle (which I have flown a few times with alot of enjoyment for other simpler tasks) but last night I got a contract from Gene Kerman to put on one of BDB's prometheus "Selene" SRB's and get it up to a low height and only a few hundred m/s. I said ok, I have the Atlas for a manned machine, lets try it.

Wow that sucker is very big!! So I strapped two of them side by side on that Atlas vehicle with Jeb as a pilot, cut back on the fuel amount and adjusted the thrust limiter of the SRB so I could allow the Atlas engines to guide it slowly up to the required altitude and speed. I thought I would have to do it a couple times but nope got it on the 1st try. Got the command module away from it at at around 57km and came back for a nice landing near KSC in the water.

80CWPrometheusSeleneSR.jpg

Spoiler

e28CWPrometheusSeleneSR.jpg

8d9CWPrometheusSeleneSR.jpg

It was kinda goofy though because back in the 60's, these SRB's would have been an amazing addition to our space program but with KSC and Jeb, just another day!  Talk about an upgrade tho! LOL!

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6 hours ago, CDSlice said:

No one:

Absolutely no one:

Jeb Kerman: Direct Ascent Fat Atlas to the Mun!

A) That rocket is awesome.  One of the better kit-bashes I have seen recently!

B) I could never fly that rocket as is in my game.   Running AZ50/NTO through the LR87s adds a bit of weight (and with the weight, more performance)   But sadly the Weight is the limiting factor.   I am estimating that I would need to run likely 4x Soltan SRBs to get the orbital performance you are getting with what appear to be Castor 2s

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