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SLS goes orange


monstah

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Must... have... link... to... mod.
Those are stock parts with a paint job. :sticktongue:

EDIT: Well, the biggest tank looks to be a mod, sorry. But the rest looks stock.

Yeah, I'd say Ven's Revamp for engine cluster + SRBs, and custom paints for SRBs and tank (possibly a modified Kerbodyne S3-14400).

Rest of the rocket doesn't look like Ven's Revamp though.

EDIT: there you go !

Edited by Gaarst
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I don't know... I really have no opinion on what looks "better". I'm all up for optimal dV configuration, so if that means no paint on the tanks, then don't paint the tanks. I like my gryo tanks orange in KSP, but the painted version did somewhat convey a Saturn-ish nostalgia feeling which was nice...

But in the end- whatever gets the SLS in space. Just... stop cutting NASA's budget. There's other things you can divert money from. *Looks at US military spending*

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What was exactly the reason why they painted this small piece? It seems kind of pointless.. (unless there is a good reason)

It had to be painted to avoid corrosion, so you might as well paint it the same color as the rest.

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Finally! <3

Orange adapter though really?

Even the guys at the Nasa Spaceflight forums don't seem to know yet, from the cursory peek I took into their site. We'll find out soon enough why, I suspect

Just to confirm again, the Launch Vehicle Stage Adapter (LVSA) is going to be insulated with foam as well, for whatever reason, as per the NASA.gov website

Edited by Budgie
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There was no need for painting it white, ever. It was pretty obvious it was gonna be orange, so I'm not sure why all the white paint in the earlier renderings.

Everybody knew from the start that it would be orange, but some stupid manager somewhere insisted that PR renders should show it with white print to differentiate it from Ares V and to associate it with Saturn V nostalgia.

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In the future rockets probably has to be orange to get respect.

Parallel, barns are red because red was the cheapest paint back then farmers was moving to one barn instead of multiple buildings.

Today you don't get popular if you tries to make an barn in another color :)

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The adaptor is foam-covered because the top dome of the LOX tank and the lower cryogenic tank of the ICPS are both inside the adaptor's cone

....And to prevent ice forming on the outside of the rocket, but this knowledge was not released when these posts were made. I wonder if the EUS adaptor will be orange too? (probably, since ICPS and EUS design are 'similar')

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....And to prevent ice forming on the outside of the rocket, but this knowledge was not released when these posts were made. I wonder if the EUS adaptor will be orange too? (probably, since ICPS and EUS design are 'similar')

This rocket is very quickly living up to its reputation as a space-carrot

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This is incorrect. I have been told directly by people involved that they will be painted white for protection against heat, like the filament-wound boosters would have been had they flown on STS. The raw material of the casing is composite giving it its black color.

That is usually the reason to use white (reflective) albative paint, to shield thermal loads. But where would those come from in this case? The RS-68's? I would buy that, only the core is subjected to the much higher heat load of both boosters, and it doesn't need a highly reflective exterior, even when the heat load would increase pressure on the tank due to boiloff of the fuel. In STS, they were obviously painted to protect form repeated saltwater immersion. Still, the hit in performance from a fancy paintjob must be quite minuscule in the case of the boosters, so you can afford to make it look finished, and not out of the 50's. Which personally would be cool to no end, shiny metallic rockets engineered for performance and nothing else.

As to the CaLV Ares V SLS paintjob in the slides, it is, and will continue to be, the one required to sell the rocket to Congress and (in a distant second place) the public. When it couldn't resemble Constellation, it went back to the glory days of Apollo. I guess the emphasis now is to link it to shuttle hardware, with a few stripes to "make it go faster".

Rune. Speaking without any first-hand knowledge here, let's clarify that.

- - - Updated - - -

Probably to limit the amount forming. Also, to prevent boiloff.

EDIT: Ninja'd

Nonsense. That insulation is there to keep the tank from blowing up form the increase in pressure caused by a few thousand tons of hydrogen boiling off as they soak ambient heat on the pad, without venting half your fuel. Pieces of the insulation will still break apart on launch and pose the same impact risk as the usual ice (that will also be present, I'd bet).

Edited by Rune
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The adapter will connect to (or just below) the orange part of the ICPS LH2 tank. Also, maybe its larger surface area and the fact that it is tapered mean it would receive much more heat than the straight adapter on the Delta IV without insulation?

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That is usually the reason to use white (reflective) albative paint, to shield thermal loads. But where would those come from in this case? The RS-68's? I would buy that, only the core is subjected to the much higher heat load of both boosters, and it doesn't need a highly reflective exterior, even when the heat load would increase pressure on the tank due to boiloff of the fuel. In STS, they were obviously painted to protect form repeated saltwater immersion. Still, the hit in performance from a fancy paintjob must be quite minuscule in the case of the boosters, so you can afford to make it look finished, and not out of the 50's. Which personally would be cool to no end, shiny metallic rockets engineered for performance and nothing else.

As to the CaLV Ares V SLS paintjob in the slides, it is, and will continue to be, the one required to sell the rocket to Congress and (in a distant second place) the public. When it couldn't resemble Constellation, it went back to the glory days of Apollo. I guess the emphasis now is to link it to shuttle hardware, with a few stripes to "make it go faster".

Rune. Speaking without any first-hand knowledge here, let's clarify that.

- - - Updated - - -

Nonsense. That insulation is there to keep the tank from blowing up form the increase in pressure caused by a few thousand tons of hydrogen boiling off as they soak ambient heat on the pad, without venting half your fuel. Pieces of the insulation will still break apart on launch and pose the same impact risk as the usual ice (that will also be present, I'd bet).

Well, this was my source: http://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2015/10/nasa-sls-milestones-converge-debut-flight/

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