KSP Interstellar Extended Continued Development Thread

[Profit-]

@Freethinker: Radiators miss-reported convection heat dissipation (I looked up how to compile the files so I could test and change things). I created a pull request to fix.

[FreeThinker]

Excelent fix with the Convected Radiator.

[FreeThinker]

have you considered adding a nuclear salt water engine? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_salt-water_rocket

it could use the existing water and uranium nitride nano-particle resources rather than adding a new resources (a post-mix rocket rather than a pre-mix rocket )

they sound like an interesting high thrust, high isp option, similar to the VISTA, with the benefits of having water as a propellent rather than hydrogen. however i can't see how you would throttle the engine much; there needs to be a minimum amount of fissionable material for the chain reaction, and there needs to be enough propellent flow to keep the rocket cool since it uses open cycle cooling.

i'm not sure it would be conductive to having a gimbal either, if i had a pipe with a constant nuclear explosion going off in it i think i would want to be cautious about turning it.

there is also no way to use it to produce power as far as i can see.

so a powerful high isp non-throttle-able engine, with dense fuel, and lower cooling and power requirements compared to the VISTA.

Yes, but there are several reasons why I'm hassitant to add them

A: The do not with existing KSPI part technology and resources. They would require custom build partModules and resources

B: They are highly toxit and dangerous . If you think Orion was crazy, Salt Core Reactor are absolute madness.

C: They are too powerfull for an early technology and too expansive for a late technology

D: I got enough unfinished work in KSPI who need attention as well.

Edited November 6, 2015 by FreeThinker

[FreeThinker]

BUT they do - a lot of the KSPI engines have some inverse relationship between thrust and isp, and the max thrills the per physics tick changes as a function of a number of factors.

If3chjeb is indeed working as you described, what is needed is a special KSPI modul to handle PIDs for these wngines e, like they have for FAR or that gimbal module. That would need some collaboration between here and the mechjeb people -why don't you suggest it to them on their thread?

There is another possible sollution which is to make the danamic Isp into seperate throtle, instead part of the main throtle. This would stop confusion in MechJeb. The disadvantage is that manual control would be more difficult as players would have to adjust the Isp manualy. The main reason I integrated it into the main throtle was ease of usage.

[ABZB]

There is another possible sollution which is to make the danamic Isp into seperate throtle, instead part of the main throtle. This would stop confusion in MechJeb. The disadvantage is that manual control would be more difficult as players would have to adjust the Isp manualy. The main reason I integrated it into the main throtle was ease of usage.

I like it the way it is, for that reason.

hmm - at the moment, it sounds like KSPI is changing the max thrust when you change the throttle - is it possible to report the max theoretical thrust independently of the throttle (i.e. assuming the max thrust/min ISP setting), and change the actual ISP & the current thrust when the throttle changes?

Wait, is the throttle to thrust function even linear? that would be a separate problem to solve...

Furthermore, perhaps the engine module's menu could have some kind of sliders to restrict the permitted engine states to a certain range of ISP? That would prevent mechjeb (and players by accident) from going full throttle and burning the fuel less efficiently than desired.

wait, the thrust limiter thing basically does that anyway. nevermind.

[FreeThinker]

hmm - at the moment, it sounds like KSPI is changing the max thrust when you change the throttle - is it possible to report the max theoretical thrust independently of the throttle (i.e. assuming the max thrust/min ISP setting), and change the actual ISP & the current thrust when the throttle changes?

Pre 1.0, it used to function this way, but after 1.0, it no longer worked. The only way to control thrust is by modifying the maxthrust and set Isp by modifying the isp flow curve. I intend to add a button which allows you switch beween integrated and external Isp adjustment. The intergrated method will use the exisitng throthle while the external Isp will fix the max thrust depending on a external Isp throtle. Players that which to use Mechjeb auto landing would have to switch to external Isp mode and set the desired Isp setting.

- - - Updated - - -

Wait, is the throttle to thrust function even linear? that would be a separate problem to solve....

Whether it uses a linear scale or not depends on the difference between min and max Isp. If the min Isp is less or equal then a 10 th of the max Isp, it will apply linear scale. If it's more, it will use a progressively exponential scale. This is can clearly be observed with the Magnetic Nozzle. The Magnetic Nozzle connected with Fission Fragment Reactor scale is more linear than when connected with a Fusion Reactor which has a bigger dynamic Isp range. For the Open Field Magnetic Confinement I plan to create a Isp dynamic range that lies between Low Isp and High Isp (3500 - 35000s). Anyone observant should have noticed that Thermal Nozzle are no longer capable to produce higher than 3000 Isp except with the Antimatter reactor. This is intentional as a Thermal Nozzle connected with a Antimatter reactor represent an Plasma Core Antimatter Propulsion while Magnetic Nozzle with Antimatter Reactor represent Beam Core Antimatter Propulsion.

Edited November 6, 2015 by FreeThinker

[Funky Dare Devil]

This may seem like a noob question, but I recently researched all the available technologies for the KSPI Extended 1.5.16, but I can't find its version of the Alcubierre Drive anywhere in the VAB or SPH, even though said drive is visible in the research lab. Does having Roverdude's version of the same somehow override the other, or am I doing something wrong so as to render it unusable? Any info on the matter would be most helpful.

[Nansuchao]

Interstellar Extended is compatible (or it was) with RoverDude's Alcubierre Drive. If you have it installed, you'll have just the Alcubierre Deive instead of the Interstellar one.

[okder]

feature request: fusion reactor auto shutdown feature (option inside reactor "settings" is recommended) :

fusion reactor shutdowns if it produces less useful energy(after applying all losses in reactor/generators) than required for supporting its reaction(assuming that it's thermal/particles output is not using for engines in that time) in average for 5 sec.

feature needed because auto turn on reactor feature already there, i.e. reactor starts when thermal power is needed for engine.

and it's very easy to forget turn it off before timewarp (and reactor will burn all its fuel just to support its reaction)

Edited November 7, 2015 by okder

[Threadsinger]

Yes, but there are several reasons why I'm hassitant to add them

A: The do not with existing KSPI part technology and resources. They would require custom build partModules and resources

B: They are highly toxit and dangerous . If you think Orion was crazy, Salt Core Reactor are absolute madness.

C: They are too powerfull for an early technology and too expansive for a late technology

D: I got enough unfinished work in KSPI who need attention as well.

Orion is crazy. As much as I know chemical rockets are a dead end for space exploration, I'm still glad we don't use Orion drives (or other, open cycle nuclear engines.) Jeebus.

[Nansuchao]

SpaceX is pushing for nuclear engines and also NASA finally has presented a roadmap to the nuclear propulsion. They seems safer engines obviously, but great by performances.

[Threadsinger]

Yea, I know. Cool stuff. But as an environmental scientist, the idea of spraying fissionable products everywhere for propulsion unnerves me greatly, (and strikes me as unsustainable). I'm more ok with fusionable materials instead of heavy elements.

Then again, given the laws of physics as we know them, that might be the only viable method of heavy lift engines in this universe. I hope not.

(Good thing KSPI uses other speculative engines for its endgame....)

[Nansuchao]

Technically it's not "so difficult" to find good and almost healthy ways to move in vacuum. A real problem is find a good and healthy way to lift ships in vacuum. Sadly, only SpaceX at the moment is researching in that direction, while Boeing and Airbus continues to do ever the same olds unhealthy engines.

[TK421d]

as a relative newcomer to this mod, reading this last page or two makes me feel like Ricky Bobby "i just wanna go fast"

[Nansuchao]

Consider that my last Interstellar ship was able to come back from Eve in a retrograde Kerbol orbit to Kerbin in just 22 days, without WarpDrive. Is this fast enough?

[sashan]

Consider that my last Interstellar ship was able to come back from Eve in a retrograde Kerbol orbit to Kerbin in just 22 days, without WarpDrive. Is this fast enough?

You absolutely must share the design

[Nansuchao]

Nothing really interesting in that case. I just re-made the Draco from the Scott Manley's Interstellar Quest as a memorial. I changed the VISTA to burn LiquidFuel instead of LiquidHydrogen for this mission.

The Vista is incredible efficient if you use it at low throttle.

It's the first time I tried this spaceplane, it's incredible how well it performs in 1.04 with Far, considering it was designed in 0.23.

[Sahadara]

Is there anywhere I can find up to date tutorials for this mod? I've found that the ones linked to on the homepage seem to be out of date.

The specific issue in having was with the pebble bed reactor and a thermal nozzle. I attempted to use them as a first stage. Supposedly they should have produced enough thrust according to the chart on the first page and according to the nozzle's readout. Yet when I fired the engine, the nozzle read 0 thrust. To verify that itn wasn't just miniscule thrust, I turned of gravity and found no thrust. Yet when the engine is first activated, it produces significant thrust. This happens for but a moment each time it is turned on, but then it vanished. Is this a bug or am I just doing this wrong?

[Profit-]

Is there anywhere I can find up to date tutorials for this mod? I've found that the ones linked to on the homepage seem to be out of date.

The specific issue in having was with the pebble bed reactor and a thermal nozzle. I attempted to use them as a first stage. Supposedly they should have produced enough thrust according to the chart on the first page and according to the nozzle's readout. Yet when I fired the engine, the nozzle read 0 thrust. To verify that itn wasn't just miniscule thrust, I turned of gravity and found no thrust. Yet when the engine is first activated, it produces significant thrust. This happens for but a moment each time it is

turned on, but then it vanished. Is this a bug or am I just doing this wrong?

Ahh crap.. I had a bunch of things typed out but I accidently clicked something looking for reference material and lost them. Picture is worth a thousand words anyhow. Everything works fine, very simply, do you have any odd mods installed?

[Nansuchao]

Talking about extreme designs, here's my last interplanetary ship. 306 good and wobbly parts to reach almost every corner of the Kerbol system (with OPM too). This design is experimental, I just want to try the Plasma Thruster for longs travels (actually for Moho).

[EnigmaG]

Ahh crap.. I had a bunch of things typed out but I accidently clicked something looking for reference material and lost them.

The "Lazarus addon" helps there.

Pebble bed reactor and thermal nozzle works fine for me, too.

But, Molten Salt and Gas Core do´t work.

[Kenken244]

Have you considered the possibility of adding a Reputation requirement for some of the more high powered or dangerous propulsion systems or microwave transmitters? I think it would add a nice balancing point, and a bit of realism, as you would have to be a well respected space agency before people will trust you with nuclear propulsion or ultra high powered microwave transmitters. Sure if you were well-respected you could have the nuclear salt water engine posted a couple pages back, but if you fire it in or near the atmosphere you will get such a large reputation hit that you won't be able to use one again for a long time.

Edited November 9, 2015 by Kenken244

[Weighates]

How do you get the VASIMR engine to work? I have tried numerous setups to get it going and always get 0 thrust.

Thanks

[Profit-]

How do you get the VASIMR engine to work? I have tried numerous setups to get it going and always get 0 thrust.

Thanks

You need a lot of energy... Beyond that it is not much..

Here is one I whipped up to use nitrogen (Because the air is full of it, it makes a good material to launch with)

[FreeThinker]

Have you considered the possibility of adding a Reputation requirement for some of the more high powered or dangerous propulsion systems or microwave transmitters? I think it would add a nice balancing point, and a bit of realism, as you would have to be a well respected space agency before people will trust you with nuclear propulsion or ultra high powered microwave transmitters. Sure if you were well-respected you could have the nuclear salt water engine posted a couple pages back, but if you fire it in or near the atmosphere you will get such a large reputation hit that you won't be able to use one again for a long time.

Actualy yes. Originaly Antimatter was a resource which could not be bought, you had to create /collect it yourself. For balance reasons, I would like to make Antimatter a scarce resource again. But instead of credits, you would have to pay with science or reputation (or a combination). This will give you some incentive to collect more reputation, which unless it becomes low or negative, useless.