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[WIP] Real Scale Boosters

NecroBones

By NecroBones
in KSP1 Mod Development

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NecroBones

NecroBones

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1 hour ago, VenomousRequiem said:

I'm still having trouble flying the Delta IV... the second stage has such a low TWR I always end up just dropping back down to earth... how did the real one fly?

That's a good question. Most of these rockets seem to have weaker upper stage engines than I realized before starting this project. It's a real eye-opener. It must have a fairly steep ascent so that it has time to burn before apoapsis. But I haven't read anything specific about the ascent profile it uses. I suppose if it gets too difficult, there's always the option of throwing a more powerful engine onto it. ;)

34 minutes ago, Sequinox said:

Woah, didn't know there was a build for this already.

Download time.

Yep. :) I'll have another build out soon. The Atlas V is almost ready for some playtesting. I haven't decided when I'll do the wider release. Maybe with 0.3.

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Kartoffelkuchen

Kartoffelkuchen

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1 hour ago, VenomousRequiem said:

I'm still having trouble flying the Delta IV... the second stage has such a low TWR I always end up just dropping back down to earth... how did the real one fly?

It pitches up. Same goes for Ariane 5s second stage for example. Though they always fall back at some point, but it's actually what they do in real life. :)

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NecroBones

NecroBones

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Still lots to do of course, but I figured I'd let people start poking around with the Ares I and Atlas V parts. I updated the sample crafts too.

 

I'm contemplating going ahead and starting a release thread and get it onto KerbalStuff for wider testing.

 

Download link: http://ksp.necrobones.com/files/RealScaleBoosters/RealScaleBoosters-0.2.zip

  

0.2 (2016-01-26) - Alpha development.
 - Added Ares I parts: Upper stage, fairing base, associated decouplers/interstages, J-2X engine.
 - Added Atlas V parts: RL-10A-4-2 and RD-180 engines, Centaur upper stage, Common Core Booster, adapters/interstages, strap-on SRBs, etc.
 - Added a generic "GEM-60" SRB radial decoupler. Works well for strap-on booster cores too. 
 - Moved Delta IV fairing bases to the Etc folder.
 - Fixed radial attachment radius for the Saturn S-IVB tank.
 - Improved atmospheric ISP of the Saturn S-IVB auxiliary propulsion.
 - Specified sea level ISP of the Delta IV SRMs, using numbers from the Atlas V SRBs which use the same propellant.
 - Updated the sample craft files.
 - Updated TweakScale config to set most parts to "free" scaling.
 - Various Tech-Tree updates.

 

Edited by NecroBones
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VenomousRequiem

VenomousRequiem

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7 minutes ago, NecroBones said:

Still lots to do of course, but I figured I'd let people start poking around with the Ares I and Atlas V parts. I updated the sample crafts too.

 

I'm contemplating going ahead and starting a release thread and get it onto KerbalStuff for wider testing.

 

Download link: http://ksp.necrobones.com/files/RealScaleBoosters/RealScaleBoosters-0.2.zip

  


0.2 (2016-01-26) - Alpha development.
 - Added Ares I parts: Upper stage, fairing base, associated decouplers/interstages, J-2X engine.
 - Added Atlas V parts: RL-10A-4-2 and RD-180 engines, Centaur upper stage, Common Core Booster, adapters/interstages, strap-on SRBs, etc.
 - Added a generic "GEM-60" SRB radial decoupler. Works well for strap-on booster cores too. 
 - Moved Delta IV fairing bases to the Etc folder.
 - Fixed radial attachment radius for the Saturn S-IVB tank.
 - Improved atmospheric ISP of the Saturn S-IVB auxiliary propulsion.
 - Specified sea level ISP of the Delta IV SRMs, using numbers from the Atlas V SRBs which use the same propellant.
 - Updated the sample craft files.
 - Updated TweakScale config to set most parts to "free" scaling.
 - Various Tech-Tree updates.

 

Woot! I'll test this whenever I get home today! 

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KerbonautInTraining

KerbonautInTraining

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Something you can do to combat the low TWR upper stages is to perform start a regular gravity turn on the first stage and stop turning with the nose higher than you usually would. It prevents the massive gravity losses associated with going straight up and pushes your Ap quite a ways ahead of you. Be careful not to push it higher than your desired orbit altitude unless you plan to drop down, but such a maneuver is really hard to execute reliably.

Add KER's vertical acceleration readout to your display. When on the upper stage, watch the vertical acceleration and the stage's acceleration (TWR). If you're nearing apoapsis and the vertical acceleration is negative more than your stage can accelerate then you're going to fall back down. It's best to keep the nose of the upper stage high early in the burn to give yourself more time to burn fuel and increase TWR. The losses of raising the nose are negligible compared to a failed launch or botched orbit insertion caused by negative vertical speed.

And, of course, practice helps a lot.

Edited by KerbonautInTraining
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