OSIRIS-REx Asteroid Sample Return

[Mr. Quark]

10 minutes ago, IonStorm said:

 

xD sorry it got stuck there and I couldn't delete it but where is the free viewer?

3 minutes ago, IonStorm said:

And it ain't cheap.  But some universities have site licenses, perhaps you have access.  There is also a free viewer or something, but I'm on a Mac so I can't use it.  It is also overkill unless you want to launch it for real anyway.

Nvm then actually xD

[IonStorm]

24 minutes ago, Kandjk said:

 where is the free viewer?

http://www.agi.com/products/default.aspx

We'll also have j-asteroid for planning and modeling, but not quite yet.

Edited March 31, 2016 by IonStorm

[Mr. Quark]

Still need to buy a license

[IonStorm]

1 minute ago, Kandjk said:

Still need to buy a license

You still need to register, but "STK is a free 2D and 3D modeling environment to model complex systems and evaluate their performance in real or simulated time"

It is still limited in what you can do for free.  This is also drifting off topic, so 'nuff said.

[Jetski]

Wow!  Can I just say that the CAD drawings from the OP are fantastic!  I'm definitely going to try this again in RSS.  My OSIRIS-REx was way off on that first mission   Also I fully intend to pirate someone's Atlas rocket for this.

[Mr. Quark]

Well whats the tilt of Bennu?

[Matuchkin]

Hold on. STK- just how accurate is it?

[Mr. Quark]

4 minutes ago, Matuchkin said:

Hold on. STK- just how accurate is it?

Lets not go off topic but I'm guessing it's as accurate as the people controlling it are

[IonStorm]

4 minutes ago, Jetski said:

Wow!  Can I just say that the CAD drawings from the OP are fantastic!  

Joy!  

Don't forget to look at the photos and videos of the real spacecraft to get the colors when modding.

 

19 minutes ago, Matuchkin said:

Hold on. STK- just how accurate is it?

Professional grade

[Matuchkin]

2 minutes ago, IonStorm said:

Professional grade

Well, I can see. It asked me not to use it for nuclear or gas warfare purposes when I registered. Not like I'm going to... toootally... *evil grin*

Anyway, as excited as I am, I cannot go off-topic.

[KillAshley]

sooooooo had some issues with the scale of the body, at only 246m radius, the size brought some issues to the PQS meaning i couldnt implement the heightmap as well as i had hoped. I ended up scrapping it altogether and generating the body procedurally, keeping the shape as close as possible. There obviously some discrepancies however I managed to get a very similarly shaped body after a little fiddling. All of the data is there and is correct, however once again the mass caused more issues, being so small an intercept was almost impossible. So, ive left options for people in the download.

If you want accurate mass & gravity (well, as close as KSP will allow) then just install the patches in the Real Mass folder into your gamedata folder, however if you want a higher gravity to allow for ease of intercept and maneuvers, then install the files from the Gilly Mass folder, this will revert the mass & gravity to that of Gilly making it slightly easier.

this download will work in both stock & RSS. In stock the orbital elements are still there, however it's inclination is based off the KSP system's inclination, and is SMA is reduced 10%, leaving it in an orbit that has a peri slightly inside Kerbin and apo slightly inside Duna. In RSS however, these patches changes the epoch of the system to (hopefully) around Sept 2016, so you should probably not add this patch to an existing save or it could mess things up., as planets will be moved to their appropriate positions in time.

 

Simply install Kopernicus and then download the .zip file below and extract the version you want into your GameData folder. It will run by itself from then.

Download

 

Also i'd like to remind people that this is basically an on-rail body, as with all the other bodies in the system, and as such You will not be able to influence it's orbit at all.

Edited June 15, 2016 by KillAshley

[IonStorm]

39 minutes ago, KillAshley said:

Simply install Kopernicus and then download the .zip file below and extract it into your GameData folder. It will run by itself from then.

You rock!

40 minutes ago, KillAshley said:

the mass caused more issues, being so small an intercept was almost impossible.

Sounds about right then. Pity there is no way to add the solar pressure to make it a real challenge. 

[KillAshley]

1 minute ago, IonStorm said:

You rock!

Sounds about right then. Pity there is no way to add the solar pressure to make it a real challenge. 

yeah mass was a pain, its better to just leave it as Gilly's mass IMHO, as thenn it's still good to get to and around...as even with the upper limit of the mass estimates, it was almost impossible lol

[IonStorm]

8 minutes ago, KillAshley said:

its better to just leave it as Gilly's mass

If you want to cheat.  The real OSIRIS-REx will orbit the real Bennu.

[sal_vager]

Brilliant idea @IonStorm, your thread is pinned for Aprils threads of the month

[Moose Rocket Science]

On 3/29/2016 at 2:04 PM, KasperVld said:

@IonStorm Welcome to our forums, I need to post this image in relation to your challenge.

 

Just add Realism Overhaul and it will all be better (try not to explode!) very funny Kasper! #KasperVldForPresident

[MarkoeZ]

Tried this with real mass. Failed hard.. Spent years in-game and hours RL trying to get an intercept but alas...

Might give it a go with Gilly mass

Edited April 28, 2016 by MarkoeZ

[IonStorm]

1 hour ago, MarkoeZ said:

Tried this with real mass. Failed hard.. Spent years in-game and hours RL trying to get an intercept but alas...

Might give it a go with Gilly mass

As we often say, "if it was easy it would have already been done."   Sure practice with the Gilly mass, then when you are ready do it for real!

[IonStorm]

If you are looking for more spacecraft images for your models or other information, yesterday there was the social media event I mentioned last month. This meant that photography was allowed in the cleanroom viewing windows e.g.

• https://www.instagram.com/explore/tags/osirisrex/
• https://twitter.com/hashtag/ToBennuAndBack?src=hash
• https://twitter.com/hashtag/Bennu?src=hash

The night before I watched the TAGSAM sampler head was stowed for the last time before it is opened near Bennu!  It will not see light until it reaches Bennu and no artificial light until it is opened at NASA Johnson Space Center, September 25, 2023. 

The giant balloon in the background was used to offset gravity on the arm while it is being actuated (an effective but Kerbal sort of solution).  This work was done second shift to reduce other activities in the cleanroom which could be sources of contamination.

[MarkoeZ]

As awesome as this challenge is, is it already confirmed that it is POSSIBLE with the physics/rails/gravity/rendering/whatever system of the game to get an approach with real mass?
Because after various failed attempts i let MechJeb loose on it in various situations (from letting it make its own transfer to lining it up almost perfectly to Bennu and then engaging it), and even that did not give me a close enough encounter to actually see the rock or give give me a point to navigate to :S

Edited May 1, 2016 by MarkoeZ

[IonStorm]

2 hours ago, MarkoeZ said:

 is it already confirmed that it is POSSIBLE with the physics/rails/gravity/rendering/whatever system of the game to get an approach with real mass?

Obviously it is possible in real life, with two deep space maneuvers and an Earth gravity assist.  I have not had time to play since the Bennu model was released--sorry.  However, I have done the stock missions where you dock with space junk in Kerbolcentric orbit.  It shouldn't be much different from that.  

You will not be captured by Bennu's gravity, you will need to approach it as if trying to dock.  I'm not sure if KSP allows you to actually orbit once engaged in prox-ops, but that's not a big deal if you can't.  We both sit in a two different semi-stable orbits and move from station to station to observe at different lighting conditions.  Since KSP doesn't incorporate solar pressure your orbit won't precess properly so it won't be a perfect recreation.

 

[Jetski]

Just a suggestion - HyperEdit a probe core next to Bennu (outside its SOI, if it even has one) and then use that as a target to approach it like a docking is intended.

[Gojira1000]

Here we go. RSS working, KSP in 1.1.2, and at long last I can get really frustrated trying to get to Bennu

Edit - There's the easy bit done - forgive the clipping and kludge, but dry/wet mass is dead on, so that's a start

 

Spoiler

 

 

Edited May 2, 2016 by Gojira1000

[Phineas Freak]

4 hours ago, Gojira1000 said:

I can get really frustrated trying to get to Bennu

You tell me! I was trying for approximately 5 hours yesterday to try and eyeball the DV maneuvers and the gravity assist. Without proper tools it is a recipe for frustration .

[Gojira1000]

5 hours ago, Phineas Freak said:

You tell me! I was trying for approximately 5 hours yesterday to try and eyeball the DV maneuvers and the gravity assist. Without proper tools it is a recipe for frustration .

I played with it some last night and discovered 1) I scaled the probe wrong and need to rebuild it twice as big (easy fix) and 2) KSP depends utterly on gravity SOIs to determine course accuracy.

Number 2 is an issue, as we don't have a mathematical solution to intercepts - we have a physical one that's not in play here. I think what I may do is rig a third set of "fake" gravity data for Bennu (if I can figure out how) so the intercept is visible, then make course corrections, save and switch Bennu back to its default state of "no gravity for YOU" for the intercept.