Jay Mission

Necro, Yes! Definitely read up on these things when you can find time. Pretty cool stuff. These are precisely the 260's that I was referring to in my earlier post. FYI, Thiokol was also working on a design as well, but had a case failure in early testing. NASA and the contractors were really thinking big back in those days when they thought they had all the money in the world. The full length was to produce almost 8 million pounds of thrust at lift-off. Now, imagine FOUR of these things strapped on to a S-1C first stage. I think nary a window pane in all of Brevard County would have been left unscathed.

To me, this seems like a good direction to go. For the record, I know nothing about Unity and what is/isn't possible. I also don't want to sound like I'm trying to tell you how to build your rocket. I'm just curious. Question: how thin do you think you could make the nozzle extension geometry before running into problems with it rendering correctly? I'm assuming that there has to be some amount of "thickness" so that the texture normals can face their correct ways on the inside and outside of the nozzle. Or is it possible to have a true 2D polygon that can have visible texture when viewed from either side? Question: Can texture/bump maps be animated in Unity? Would it be possible to model the extension as simple geometry that animates from cylinder to cone while at the same time have the texture/bump maps animate from "pleated" to "smooth"? Question: how do you achieve the engine "heat glow" effects in Unity? If the extension is part of the engine "part" would it glow as well? The real-world Sea Dragon nozzle extension was to be radiatively cooled after all. (maybe not enough heat flux to actually make it glow, but for KSP it might be kinda cool.)

Necro, While reading through this thread, I noticed all of the great suggestions made by others for your "to-do" list. Instead of suggesting a complete launch vehicle, I thought I would mention a few "parts" that might complement the work you have already done. 1) You have already made a 5 segment solid for Ares 1 and the core for Ariane 5. A different interstage and appropriate node on the bottom of the Ariane 5 would allow someone to build ATK Liberty as well. 2) Since I have solid first stages on my mind, have you considered making accurate(ish) half and full-length 260 inch solids? That would allow: a) combine with S-IVb to get INT-05/05a b) use as strap-ons to create one of the MLV configs. (probably would need a 10 meter I.U. too) c) combine full-length 260" solid with S-II to get that cool Boeing "hammerhead" concept. The only other config I can think of that is missing from the list of in-line "stick" launchers is the very, very pre-ESAS idea to use a 4-seg shuttle SRB with S-IVB/CSM in place of the 260. Anyway, just thought I'd throw this out there and see what you thought.

I was wondering if you had considered that the nozzle is all one piece like in the photo with the gentleman in the suit. Maybe think of the nozzle extension less as "turkey feathers" like you would see on a jet engine, and more like "umbrella". Or, maybe even more accurately, (I'm going to loose my man card for even mentioning this) a woman's pleated skirt. The nozzle extension looks to be on the outside of the first stage tankage, represented by the dark grey texture applied to your model. The blueprint also shows what appears to be three (pyrotechnically released?) straps that hold the nozzle closed against the first stage until staging occurs. If Sea Dragon has a diameter of 75 feet, then my math comes out to be about 166 feet for the nozzle exit diameter when open. Anyway, just my 2 cents, could be wrong. Feel free to ignore if you already knew this.