KSP Interstellar Extended Continued Development Thread

[The-Doctor]

Please note the ship is ridiculously stable and fairly maneuverable despite its size.

[FreeThinker]

18 hours ago, The-Doctor said:

 I actually did overkill and recently dumped some fuel, it has a delta v of 2.8 MILLION at full tank capacity.

That might sound impressive until you realize it is  still less than 1% the speed of light (2.8 / 300 = 0.0093). If you also realize you have to reserve 50% of that to slow down, your effective deltaV is less than 0.5% (0.0046%) meaning a travel to Alpha Centauri at 4 Lightyears would require 857 years, which is much too long, even for a sleeper ship. I think you going to need to increase the amount of deltaV by a factor of 10 to give it a good chance of success

Edited May 4, 2018 by FreeThinker

[The-Doctor]

58 minutes ago, FreeThinker said:

That might sound impressive until you release it is  still less than 1% the speed of light (2.8 / 300 = 0.0093). If you also realize you have to reserve 50% of that to slow down, your effective deltaV is less than 0.5% (0.0046%) meaning a travel to Alpha Centauri at 4 Lightyears would require 857 years, which is much too long, even for a sleeper ship. I think you going to need to increase the amount of deltaV by a factor of 10 to give it a good chance of success

ok, well I didn't think of that, plus the ship is meant to use lasers to kick it up to speed, something I am waiting for. I could increase the ships fuel capacity and increase the delta v, maybe also increase the engine size, but I chose not too cause the acceleration was too slow for my liking, even with maximum phsyical time warp, which it is super stable in, even better than some of my interplanetary ships

[FreeThinker]

37 minutes ago, The-Doctor said:

maximum phsyical time warp, which it is super stable in, even better than some of my interplanetary ships

Physical timewarp? why don't you make use of regular kspie acceleration durring timewarp feature, that way you can speed up to full speed in a matter of minutes. Its just a matter of hitting full speed and then time accelerate. How else do you intend to complete a burn of a few years in less than a few minutes? KSPE has been specifically designed to operate at high time warp, so you better profit from it

Edited May 4, 2018 by FreeThinker

[The-Doctor]

3 minutes ago, FreeThinker said:

Physical timewarp? why don't you make use of regular timewarp acceleration feature, that way you can speed up to full speed in a few seconds

how exactly do I do that?

[FreeThinker]

1 minute ago, The-Doctor said:

how exactly do I do that?

Just go full throtle and active time warp like you always do. Almost all high isp kspie engine can do it now...

Edited May 4, 2018 by FreeThinker

[The-Doctor]

but doesn't that cause engines to shut down? Or say I can't time warp with engines on?

[FreeThinker]

4 minutes ago, The-Doctor said:

but doesn't that cause engines to shut down? Or say I can't time warp with engines on?

Nope, it has a special feature which overrides this behavior. Perhaps I forgot to mention it but I recently added it. I currently limited currently to 2g but I can make it much higher.

Edited May 4, 2018 by FreeThinker

[The-Doctor]

Which version of this od exactly? I'm testing what you said out and no joy, it isn't working. I have the latest ckan version, is there a github link with the latest?

[FreeThinker]

3 minutes ago, The-Doctor said:

Which version of this od exactly? I'm testing what you said out and no joy, it isn't working. I have the latest ckan version, is there a github link with the latest?

Beta KSPIE 1.19 can be downloaded from here

[The-Doctor]

A thousand years in cryo isn't impossible

[FreeThinker]

 @SpaceMouse  and I have been working on a Mach Effect Engine drive for KSPIE. Spacemouse has made double fully rotatable engine model of the Mach Effect Engine. The idea is to fit a vessel with at least 2 engines, allowing it to make any maneuvers in space while keeping the vessel in the direction of travel

There is any interesting video on the topic of using the Mach Effect drive for interstellar travel

Now we need help converting the equation found Mach Effect thruster Model pdf into a usefull formula which I can use to calculate thrust given electric input power, engine capacity and speed of the vessel. Any help would be appreciated.

Edited May 5, 2018 by FreeThinker

[The-Doctor]

19 hours ago, FreeThinker said:

Beta KSPIE 1.19 can be downloaded from here

I scaled up the fuel tanks and engines and the best I can do is 42 million delta v, with a solid hydrogen tank at max scale. Based on my calculations, I need 150 million delta v to get to 50% c. If your planned laser system sends it at 50% c or even 70%c like in Avatar, I can't slow down, so the best I can do, is, rough calculations here, about 25% c. Scaling up other tanks or the engine doesn't give me better delta v

[totos_totidis]

On 5/4/2018 at 4:33 AM, The-Doctor said:

This pic should be on the first page showcasing the mod. I made it with the engines you suggested, I actually did overkill and recently dumped some fuel, it has a delta v of 2.8 MILLION at full tank capacity. I don't think ANYONE has built such a fully functional and lovely looking starship in KSP, EVER.

Could you please post a .craft file? I have some intrest in this starship.

[The-Doctor]

Ok I got it up to 54 million delta v

I will post the craft file soon

[The-Doctor]

64 million delta v tops

[The-Doctor]

I think if I ditch a bit of realism and go for matter-antimatter reactions I can get to the goal of 150million delta v

[The-Doctor]

Welp, I was searching for an antimatter engine but no joy, I think I will add the far future parts you suggested

[FreeThinker]

1 hour ago, The-Doctor said:

I scaled up the fuel tanks and engines and the best I can do is 42 million delta v, with a solid hydrogen tank at max scale. Based on my calculations, I need 150 million delta v to get to 50% c. If your planned laser system sends it at 50% c or even 70%c like in Avatar, I can't slow down, so the best I can do, is, rough calculations here, about 25% c. Scaling up other tanks or the engine doesn't give me better delta v

Well you could use the magnetic scoop to slow down, if you think that is OP I an make a low tech version without UV light which can only function as a magnetic sail and not collect any hydrogen.

[The-Doctor]

230 million delta v

[The-Doctor]

350 million maximum delta v, but I am scaling down for appearance purposes

[The-Doctor]

I think there is something wrong, I have a delta v of 221 million, letting me get to 35% the speed of light, acceleration and deceleration, with your laser power, it would let me go up to 70% the speed of light, final, but the engine isn't producing thrust while in space, idk why, you stated that this new updated enabled it to be active during time warp, but this isn't occurring. @FreeThinker

what fuel exactly does the antimatter engine need? I have liquid hydrogen and it gives me the figure of 221 million delta v

Edited May 5, 2018 by The-Doctor

[FreeThinker]

Next release will introduce the Mach Effect engine, which performs similar a as kspie EM drive but will perform more effiientient when mass fluctuations are higher, which happens when traveling a decent percentage of the speed of light

Allthough it is propellant-less it still consumes fuel for the reactors. Its effective isp is therefore linked to the  efficiency of the reactor

Edited May 6, 2018 by FreeThinker

[The-Doctor]

Welp I put the engines back to front lel

@FreeThinker is the antimatter engine you told me to add, also a reactor? That would help me with mass a bit

And does it use antimatter or just liquid hydrogen

yh the time warp is not working as you said

[FreeThinker]

2 minutes ago, The-Doctor said:

Welp I put the engines back to front lel

@FreeThinker is the antimatter engine you told me to add, also a reactor? That would help me with mass a bit

And does it use antimatter or just liquid hydrogen

THe Beam Core Reactor is indeed a standalone reactor, it can be connected with either a magnetic nozzle, thermal power generator or  charged particle power generator. When used for interstllar travel, put a magneti nozzle on the back and a thermal power generator on the front to generate electric power which you need to power the magnetic nozzle to direct the rw energy in a anti proton - proton reaction