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Chris_Pi

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Posts posted by Chris_Pi

  1. This - All-purpose RCS tug. Put it together ages ago when I got tired of using tons of monoprop and wrestling station parts around with other ships or undersize tugs. Been rebuilding the same basic layout as parts change since I can't remember when. RCS is symmetrical for thrust in all directions and fuel use doesn't shift the C/G, Which is a tiny bit high on the radial port on this one. Plenty of power, Nothing off-balance. All three ports lit up.

    Got it updated and waiting for my career game to catch up and be able to use again. Might need to move the spotlight for the radial port though. 1302 M/S worth of fuel @2260 kg. It'll drag around pretty much anything. Nice to be able to launch ships with no RCS and dock them to a depot with this.

    h9sjNUT.png

  2. So, I took the lazy way out and used an online calculator, But here's something -

    Using the tanker with the 6 vacuum motors replaced with sealevel ones it's looking like just barely to not terrible of an SSTO.

    So, Some assumptions:

    Depending on what slide you want to use from Elon's IAC presentation the SL motor's isp is either 334 (motor slide) or 361 (ship/tanker slide).

    DV needed is 8600+1800 drag losses+500 m/s for landing. I'm being less than optimistic on the last two to slant things towards underestimating payload.

    90T dry weight, 2500T propellant/payload. Payload taken out of propellant load.
    2590T liftoff weight. TWR 1.077 (310T/motor)
    361/334 isp
    10.9 km/s Target DV

    334 isp:    10904m/s with 2.8T payload
    361 isp:    10901m/s with 29.1T payload

    If the right answer is somewhere between those two it might be about right for tossing a Dragon capsule up to ISS. Probably not cheap but it could get test flights done while hauling paying payloads and without needing either the booster or the pad built.

  3. 8 minutes ago, Exoscientist said:

     

     I was surprised at how high the payload would be as an SSTO. Do the calculation using the rocket equation and the vacuum Isp.

     

      Bob Clark

    Got to go with sea-level isp. Running a vacuum motor too low doesn't work too well.

    Now I'm curious. Might just inflict some math on myself. Will report back if I survive.:(

  4. Someone over on NSF (Speculation: SFR (mini-BFR) as fully reusable Falcon Heavy thread) ran some numbers and apparently the tanker vehicle might be. Needs the outer engine bells swapped out for sealevel ones, But saying 50-75 tons to leo. Even if it's much less it gets the thing some flight history. Win-win if it can do it.

  5. 1 hour ago, Aegolius13 said:

    Are you sure it's actually asking for kerbals to be aboard?  Generally the space station contracts just require capacity to hold the specified number of kerbals, whether or not they are actually onboard.  So you can potentially fulfill these contracts even with an unmanned craft, as long as it has passengers on board

    Right from the contract: "Have a facility supporting at least six kerbals" Exact same phrasing in both.

    Reads to me like they're counting actual occupants. If it was just empty seats "capable of supporting" would have been there I think.

    19 minutes ago, Aegolius13 said:

    One other note.  If a contract asks you to build a NEW station, you might not be able to complete it by docking craft built before the contract is accepted.  But for contracts asking to EXPAND an existing station, you can generally use older stuff.  I can often complete these expansion contracts just by docking a shuttle at the station in question.

    Both contracts need new stations, Planning on building and launching everything that will docked after accepting. I'm assuming "Built for" means that company's flag on the station, which is different for each. Not sure if docking a third part to both at different times is going to end up looking like the assembly (Station+tourist ship) is built for the right company or not.

  6. A question about using tourists to fill out the Kerbal count on orbital stations contracts - Do they count towards the total for Kerbals not needing specific skills? I've got both Kerbin and Mun station contracts available, And the Mun one needs 9 kerbals aboard. As it happens there's also contracts for flyby/orbit for as many tourists. Can I fill seats with them to complete the contract? I'll need some actual crew, but not that many.

    Docking - I may or may not have anything but the Clamp-o-tron jr. available for a docking port. Since that won't transfer crew and tourists can't EVA can the contracts be completed by just docking the tourist-carrier to a station that otherwise meets requirements? The contracts are for two different companies and I'd like to use the same bunch of tourists to complete both.

       
  7. Putting the exterior structure on an adapter plate Sounds like the way to go - I usually decide whether or not to toggle it off on a rocket-by rocket basis rather than each individual wedge - This would do that regardless of what wedges were used. Especially useful for a cargo hauler going up to another vehicle - Exterior structure and fairing on the way up, Uncovered wedge once it's moved. I'm going to end up swapping out all my wedges again, Aren't I? :( ...With better wedges.:cool:

  8. Just did a quick sabatier test run on the pad. Something isn't working right. Ran during daytime for 3 (Kerbin) days converting co2. Used up 15 hydrogen, 3 co2. Produced 0.6 liquid fuel and no water. Unless my numbers from the earlier setup I put my spreadsheet together are wrong, That should have been <14 seconds runtime for the co2 used. I'll dig into the config later today, But I'm thinking a decimal point got misplaced somewhere or something. TAC has the Kerbals producing co2 at the same rate as before so that's not it. One sabatier should run less than half an hour an (Earth) day to keep up with three kerbals.

  9. Per the spreadsheet I've got that's slightly out of date (a couple versions ago) One sabatier reactor should be adequate for 150+ kerbals if you can run it non-stop. Three shouldn't be a problem. :D The Sabitier converts co2 and hydrogen into water and liquid fuel. It needs both inputs to run. Might that be your problem? Usually you have to run the elektron more than needed for oxygen production to make enough hydrogen for the sabitier.

  10. This is sure going to help with parts count on my fuel depot. Tons of little KAS wedges for bits and pieces on that thing. With the low orbit bigger recycler wedges will be helpful given enough solar power. I'll actually have a reason for a half-dozen big panels.

  11. That's an alternate external texture for the wedges? Looks pretty nice for install-and-forget, Don't have to mess with them setups. Is the door in that big retangular flat spot or are they simply left out? These with no internal models might make a nice super-low memory alternate texture.

  12. Would it annoy anyone if the main resource stickers were removed, and shrunk down to only appear on the "info" sticker (where the O2 hazard diamond is)? It'd make the tanks cleaner and less cluttered, but would make identifying what each tank holds a little harder in flight.

    Color-coding the top (and maybe bottom) end of each tank past the mounting bracket would keep them easy to ID without the big label. And you could always zoom in and eyeball the info sticker if you weren't sure what was what. The big Labels look nice but it's way more visual clutter than is needed to deliver the information.

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