[WIP] Coatl Aerospace ProbesPlus Dev Thread [Beta] 10/19/2020 (1.8-1.10)

[akron]

6 hours ago, davidy12 said:

Are you going to start Surveyor soon?

Surveyor is planned to be part of the Ground Ops pack. I wanted to finish the original pack before moving to the lander stuff, but this is not set in stone. Would a lot of you guys and gals prefer to have some of the lander parts before the rest of ProbesPlus? 

One of the reasons I wanted to delay the lander stuff is that wheels and landing gear are both glitchy and not well documented. I'd be willing to give it a shot a little earlier though. 

[4nxs]

Ideas for solar panels: Phoenix lander, MRO, Stardust, Hershel/Spitzer/Kepler (could be combined solar/radiator), MER/MSL (the flight stage). On http://historicspacecraft.com/ in the space probe section there are lots of diagrams depicting space probes with their solar panels unfolded, maybe you can find some inspiration there?

I would first focus on the space probe part before moving on to ground ops / EDL. Mixing them would involve a lot of different styles or purposes for the parts and I would have a hard time staying focused then.

[Virtualgenius]

I would love some lander parts

[davidy12]

I'd rather have surveyor. 

[CobaltWolf]

My advice would just be to work on whatever you feel like.

 

[akron]

I am looking at how to do landing gear. If I can get something working I may add it to ProbesPlus. I have planetary probes on the P+ list, like Huygens and Venera, but I wanted to save the actual lander and rover stuff to its own pack. Surveyor was always going to be one of the first I did for that and I already have a lot of reference for it. I do want to work on lander parts (anything that's landed on Mars, really) but I was abstaining so that I remain organized. 

I plan to have propulsion and utility parts on this next patch 0.14, in addition to HTV and more probe cores (MAVEN, Kepler/Juno, others). Patch 0.15 is where I can probably add anything lander-related I can get working.

[rasta013]

16 hours ago, akron said:

Would a lot of you guys and gals prefer to have some of the lander parts before the rest of ProbesPlus? 

My 2 cents...I'd love to have lander parts also.  However, the landing gear and wheels are so screwed up at the moment that I'd recommend avoiding it no matter how much I want lander parts.  Personally, of all the pieces for landing that I'd like to see available from you, I'd want the tank/engines and experiments.  Those are the easy parts...

All this said - CobaltWolf said it the best: 

3 hours ago, CobaltWolf said:

My advice would just be to work on whatever you feel like.

 

[akron]

19 minutes ago, rasta013 said:

My 2 cents...I'd love to have lander parts also.  However, the landing gear and wheels are so screwed up at the moment that I'd recommend avoiding it no matter how much I want lander parts.  Personally, of all the pieces for landing that I'd like to see available from you, I'd want the tank/engines and experiments.  Those are the easy parts...

I believe I can circumvent the problem with the landing legs by just using a static animateGeneric mesh. The legs won't have suspension and will not be considered "Landing Legs" in the game code, but it may be a compromise until a proper fix is achieved.

EDIT: I need to figure out how to import animated joints in KSP. This will be done with the Galileo antenna. Then I'll be ready for fancy landing gear

Edited July 7, 2016 by akron

[rasta013]

Just now, akron said:

I believe I can circumvent the problem with the landing legs by just using a static animateGeneric mesh. The legs won't have suspension and will not be considered "Landing Legs" in the game code, but it may be a compromise until a proper fix is achieved.

I saw that RoverDude had done a similar thing with the Landing Stabilizers he put in and as such, I've actually used them as strictly landing legs with radial engine setups.  So long as you're on a lower-G body they work great even without the suspension.  Landing on Tylo with them...well, we won't talk about that. 

[CobaltWolf]

 

[akron]

Mariner! Lovely!

[CobaltWolf]

I'm trying really hard not to work right now, so have a geostationary satellite launch.

 

[akron]

STREAM UP!

EDIT: Stream has ended. After a really long time... Gotta work on keeping it short. I was told to blame @Sgt.Shutesie

Edited July 9, 2016 by akron

[Drakenex]

On 7/6/2016 at 1:43 PM, akron said:

Sorry things have been a little quiet lately. Work and vehicle repairs have taken a bit of a toll. The current plan is to get back to the swing of things on Friday. I plan another stream at the usual 7pm EST to finish up what I have on my plate and get another solid Github update.

I may take a little break from the RCS and engine parts to get some solar panels and thermal parts done. I was looking at Juno (Go Juno!), MAVEN, OSIRIS-REx, HTV, and Venera/Fobos panels. Any other suggestions?

Yes! Juno panels!! (Sorry )

[Foxxonius Augustus]

On 7/6/2016 at 0:43 PM, akron said:

~snip~

I may take a little break from the RCS and engine parts to get some solar panels and thermal parts done. I was looking at Juno (Go Juno!), MAVEN, OSIRIS-REx, HTV, and Venera/Fobos panels. Any other suggestions?

@akron If you are looking for interesting solar panels I would like to make the case for the OSO (Orbital Sun Observatory) Satellites (Wiki Link) (Astronautix Link). There were a few different versions of the solar panel assembly over the 8 satellite program, all of which would make interesting additions to KSP in general and Probes Plus specifically. Two main features that make the OSO solar array stand out, the first being that given that the main body was gyro stabilized, the array had to be able to rotate over 30 times a second. The second interesting feature was that science instruments that were designed for continuous observation of the sun were mounted in the solar panel assembly, on the basis that it had to be pointed at the sun all the time as well.

Experiments carried aboard;

OSO-1

OSO-3

OSO-7

Some pictures for scale.

This is P78-1, based on the same satellite bus. It was used as a target vehicle for and subsequently destroyed by a successful test of the ASM-135 ASAT.

 

Edited July 10, 2016 by Foxxonius Augustus
MOAR INFO

[akron]

2 hours ago, Foxxonius Augustus said:

@akron If you are looking for interesting solar panels I would like to make the case for the OSO (Orbital Sun Observatory) Satellites (Wiki Link) (Astronautix Link). There were a few different versions of the solar panel assembly over the 8 satellite program, all of which would make interesting additions to KSP in general and Probes Plus specifically. Two main features that make the OSO solar array stand out, the first being that given that the main body was gyro stabilized, the array had to be able to rotate over 30 times a second. The second interesting feature was that science instruments that were designed for continuous observation of the sun were mounted in the solar panel assembly, on the basis that it had to be pointed at the sun all the time as well.

Experiments carried aboard;

OSO-1

OSO-3

OSO-7

Some pictures for scale.

 

 

This is P78-1, based on the same satellite bus. It was used as a target vehicle for and subsequently destroyed by a successful test of the ASM-135 ASAT.

 

 

Good stuff there! And those are some good looking buses too. Even if not to make on their own, I could add some of their detail to others.

I will work on something new tonight. I was thinking solar panels might be a good set to work on.

Thanks!

[komodo]

Hey all! I'm going through a new career with PP, and having a blast with it. I'm also using RemoteTech for extra painfun. I have just unlocked the CA-A100 Small Dish Antenna and found myself head scratching at the range. It seemed way too low. If the description says it'll hit the inner system, (Mentioning Duna), I would have expected it to... have range past Minmus, etc

I went into the config and compared it against its medium and large brethren. My best guess is a copy/paste error occurred, and 16000000 (1.6*10^7) was put in when 16000000000 (1.6*10^10) was intended. (So, MM vs GM.)

ORRRRR, the description is in error and it is intended for use between Kerbin and Mun only. (or I just missed the joke >< ) I don't know what antenna it is based on to  guess its intended usage either... 

Either way, something seemed fishy in this one instance; enjoying the rest of it quite a bit! I made the adjustment on my config, but I thought I would toss it out there for other RemoteTech-ites.

Thanks much!

[akron]

4 hours ago, komodo said:

Hey all! I'm going through a new career with PP, and having a blast with it. I'm also using RemoteTech for extra painfun. I have just unlocked the CA-A100 Small Dish Antenna and found myself head scratching at the range. It seemed way too low. If the description says it'll hit the inner system, (Mentioning Duna), I would have expected it to... have range past Minmus, etc

I went into the config and compared it against its medium and large brethren. My best guess is a copy/paste error occurred, and 16000000 (1.6*10^7) was put in when 16000000000 (1.6*10^10) was intended. (So, MM vs GM.)

ORRRRR, the description is in error and it is intended for use between Kerbin and Mun only. (or I just missed the joke >< ) I don't know what antenna it is based on to  guess its intended usage either... 

Either way, something seemed fishy in this one instance; enjoying the rest of it quite a bit! I made the adjustment on my config, but I thought I would toss it out there for other RemoteTech-ites.

Thanks much!

I don't run Remote Tech or Antenna Range on my regular career mode so I don't catch stuff like this. Those descriptions were written without consideration to either, which is why it doesn't match. That antenna was intended to be operational out to Duna, so I'll update the AR and RT patches to match. Good catch, and good feedback! love it!

[akron]

Update

Over 4000 downloads on Spacedock and Curse combined! Thanks guys! I hope the mod has met your expectations!

Again, sorry things have been quiet but I have slowly been getting back in the swing of things. Linkor (Fregat) has been kinda kicking my butt, which makes me hope that I can get the other engines done much faster! Anyway, I intended to work on some solar panels tonight, but I wanted to wrap up the Medium RCS/Linkor first. The bad news is that I did not get any new cool solar panels done, but the good news is that Linkor is in-game! The Github repo has been updated.

I still have a "Medium" 45 degree RCS that is part of this set, but I will come back to it. I struggled a bit to get an initial balance of stats for these parts, so give me some feedback if you think some stats are OP or need a boost.

PS: No Specular map for these new parts yet. One will be done before release though

~Cheers!

 

Edited July 11, 2016 by akron

[rasta013]

12 hours ago, akron said:

I'll update the AR and RT patches to match.

Just so you know - under AR, that antenna already covers Duna.  Couldn't tell you about RT though, I don't use it.

Oh...and the new parts are LOVELY!!!!

Edited July 11, 2016 by rasta013

[akron]

15 hours ago, rasta013 said:

Just so you know - under AR, that antenna already covers Duna.  Couldn't tell you about RT though, I don't use it.

Oh...and the new parts are LOVELY!!!!

Thank you! on both accounts

Update

I modeled new stuff! And I worked two nights in a row! I wanted to do the MAVEN solar panels, but in order to get the scale correct, I needed to first model the probe bus that they accompany. Here is CA-Q04-M '"Tatsujin" the fourth probe for the mod. The model is not final, but I'm pretty happy with it so far. No texture, obviously, just a matte color to give an idea of where I am going. Thoughts welcome!

Reminder: No replicas, just inspirations.

~Cheers

 

[Jeb1969]

I swear this mod keeps getting better and better, as for the new probe core in development I like it, I'm assuming the solar arrays are a separate part? If so terrific.  I had a suggestion for a fifth probe core alongside another antenna. The probe core is inspired by Suisei and Sakigake which were space probes launched by Japan in the mid-1980s to comets. I was thinking of the possibility of adding in Cylindrical probe cores, but also Implementing in a new antenna.

I have provided a link to JAXA's Website that has a diagram of the Suisei spacecraft 

http://www.isas.ac.jp/e/enterp/missions/suisei.shtml

 

[akron]

25 minutes ago, Jeb1969 said:

I swear this mod keeps getting better and better, as for the new probe core in development I like it, I'm assuming the solar arrays are a separate part? If so terrific.  I had a suggestion for a fifth probe core alongside another antenna. The probe core is inspired by Suisei and Sakigake which were space probes launched by Japan in the mid-1980s to comets. I was thinking of the possibility of adding in Cylindrical probe cores, but also Implementing in a new antenna.

I have provided a link to JAXA's Website that has a diagram of the Suisei spacecraft 

http://www.isas.ac.jp/e/enterp/missions/suisei.shtml

The solar panels are indeed separate.  

Those JAXA probes are great! They remind me of Giotto, which I was more familiar with. I believe those style of probe are being done by @CobaltWolf for BDB. He's got the Giotto antenna already. If not, I can look at making something similar, if I can make it unique gameplay-wise. The next probe bus I am doing though will be the large, advanced hexa-core inspired by Kepler/Juno/others. It will be a progression up from Quetzal (Pioneer).

I also realized I have a lot of stuff named in Japanese, I gotta balance it out. I love the avatar, by the way. I'm a big Rush fan  

~Cheers

EDIT: By the way, has anyone had a chance to test the latest parts out? Any feedback on those?

Edited July 12, 2016 by akron

[CobaltWolf]

1 hour ago, Jeb1969 said:

I swear this mod keeps getting better and better, as for the new probe core in development I like it, I'm assuming the solar arrays are a separate part? If so terrific.  I had a suggestion for a fifth probe core alongside another antenna. The probe core is inspired by Suisei and Sakigake which were space probes launched by Japan in the mid-1980s to comets. I was thinking of the possibility of adding in Cylindrical probe cores, but also Implementing in a new antenna.

41 minutes ago, akron said:

Those JAXA probes are great! They remind me of Giotto, which I was more familiar with. I believe those style of probe are being done by @CobaltWolf for BDB. He's got the Giotto antenna already. If not, I can look at making something similar, if I can make it unique gameplay-wise. The next probe bus I am doing though will be the large, advanced hexa-core inspired by Kepler/Juno/others. It will be a progression up from Quetzal (Pioneer).

Da, I indeed have models of cylindrical probe cores, as well as the Giotto dish, prepared for UV unwrapping. But they are low priority right now.

[Jeb1969]

29 minutes ago, CobaltWolf said:

Da, I indeed have models of cylindrical probe cores, as well as the Giotto dish, prepared for UV unwrapping. But they are low priority right now.

No sweat mate, you can release them when you see fit, I am currently using AIES and FASA (FASA offers a probe core based on Pioneers 6-9 as my main source for cylindrical probe cores.) I think I also saw you also develop your version of Pioneers 6-9 correct me if I am wrong, but I am assuming those are low priority as well if so I am in no hurry.