trekkie_

now available on KSP Port, reworked and tweaked to basic final version. second version soon to follow. http://kerbalspaceprogram.com/kerbomax-galliant-lf-engine/

even then....how would you know it's a mirror? it'd just primarily be reflecting empty space.

I've just been playing around with a possible solution to manage space debris. Its function is basically to be attached to an unmanned probe of some sort (just for guidance and thrust/maneuver). the probe will have 2 parts, a fuel tanker type system to keep it fueled, which it can detach from to do its duties without risk of harm to other equipment that doesn't need to be in harms way. essentially what this is, is a scoop that allows the probe to deflect or guide or even hurtle debris toward the atmosphere. now if we had a material that could withstand impacts without matching speed, it could just align itself with the debris orbit and wait for it to pass by, letting it slip in through the bottom slit and deflecting it into the atmosphere...most fragments will still be headed on the same relative trajectory due to the deflection. in space, even if debris impacts could be withstood, that debris would most likely explode in all directions, the trick is to make it funnel out in the direction you want it to, and shape plays an important role in that. even if debris was traveling at just 100mph toward the earth when it deflected, it would take mere hours for most debris to deorbit. another more costly but more 'realistic' function would be to match speed with an object and 'catch it', where it can either be nudged out of orbit, or possibly even trapped inside the arm and rotated at a fast enough speed to fling the object (or again, collected). this would probably be more useful and cost effective for larger more dangerous debris currently in existence. even the highest altitude objects could be brought down in a relatively short amount of time. Since man made debris is generally traveling at a slower speed, matching orbit shouldn't be as much of a challenge....you only have to do it, oh say.....19,000 times for the larger debris (5cm+). but if you had a whole group of these things working around the clock taking care of multiple debris per day, you could produce real results in years. if you're just matching orbits, and it's only 5cm object, these probes could be pretty small, especially if they have a refueling station in orbit. Probably completely flawed (and similar to current ideas), but fun to ponder

yeah it's hard to do that without making the thing too thick, or having to select the thousands of interior faces by hand and removing it. I use a separate simple low poly model for the interior, since the outside blocks have only an exterior face. it doubles as a collision mesh, since it's low poly. I could probably reduce that in size a little and it'll be smooth on the inside. that's why I'm in no hurry to release it, because there's still some polishing to do....and I've even been experimenting with some other details. it is somewhat irrelevant though, after all this isn't based on any known engine like most are, and how often do people look up the tailpipe of their rockets? I wish I could release mods quick, but I just don't have much time per day to tinker with making stuff and polishing it off, and some days no time. Plus I don't even really play the game anymore, I just make mods for it.....that makes it a little harder to come up with configs....not to mention with all the other engine part mods out there, you've got to make it fill a useful place without overlapping over the popular ones.

just some numbers off the top of my head... 315 thrust 2.75 tons 310 atmo 420 vac (basically an lvt45 and t30 in weight, minus 100 thrust, with slightly better efficiency. or a slightly heavier poodle but more thrust and better ISP) maybe that can be for the other version though, because it actually more resembles a poodle. still not sure whether to paint the skirt and what color....maybe a neutral one. - - - I've been coming up with a name to call it, and something I came up with was the kerbomax (a pun on rockomax) segway or garrant. garrant, being a nautical term like "mainsail". and segway being descriptive of its in between capabilities (of course, it's actually spelled segue). probably all stupid lol.

well if I popped a few minor details on the pod, it'd be done now.....but then there wouldn't be a custom IVA or anything. It's basically going to be a re-textured version of the stock apollo based pod, as you can tell, but made from scratch. It's not going to be done anytime soon since I'm working on a bunch of other stuff, and I'd like to have them polished looking rather than be a quick release. I don't like having to make updates or changes down the line, so I make sure what I make is what I want it to finally be, then I can move on without being tied up with old releases. You've got 3 phases in development; 1) coming up with ideas and refining those ideas 2) making those ideas a reality 3) polishing for the final result....even little details can make a huge impact. Then you're talking multiple parts that all have to follow this same path, and be somewhat cohesive with each other. I will say I won't discourage anyone from making any junk themed parts of their own.

mini aerospike just for fun. I shall call it the hornet

that's sort of helpful, and similar. kw rocketry all seems to follow the RAO variety....but the only difference is the bell on KW is longer than in this graphic, with the curve essentially being the same as RAO.

it would appear that way, but I think it's more visual trickery than anything else. what changes mostly is the color/pattern of ridges or other items on the throat and nozzle itself. but the bell shape never changes. in fact, I did a blow up and overlay.....they match exactly. the curve of the bell is exactly the same on both the wildcat and vesta. this is the vesta overlayed with some transparency on top of the wildcat...

I noticed that if you look at KW rocketry, virtually all the bells are I think, exactly the same, regardless of engine type. just something I noticed when looking around for some proper shapes. at 1.25m I wouldn't mind the original being a heavy lifting vacuum engine, whatever it looks like it suits best. but I'm still set on releasing at least 2 different style and configurations, that are at least worthwhile config wise to use. I think what the model mostly reminds me of are the ones on the space shuttle.

I always welcome suggestions.....It's just with the base itself, it doesn't look right and I;m not sure what to do to make it look right yet... basically, it's a struggle between the size/shape of the base, vs the skirt. you balance out one, and it throws off the balance of the other. after all, this model is sleek, but simplistic. there's not a bunch of little equipment and tubes protruding from the body to help balance things out or shift focus. this shaping balance kind of feels better though, but still not sure. maybe even better... but remember, you've gotta consider the angles people will be viewing them from.

is it that far fetched that it could be a nozzle though? I could see it as possibly something like a feasible load bearing design measure. or if you look closely at the angles, it could even be something like a shock absorber where it retracts into the base, either from landings or sudden max thrust. not functionally in-game though of course lol. also I think with this minor change, they could be a color coded set.. and I still have no clue what to name them either heh.

what I'm saying is, that the nozzle you see externally, may look like it would have a wider neck than what it actually could be. the nozzle itself doesn't necessarily have to start from where it begins to protrude externally. also while the neck may look wide in relation to the base, that doesn't necessarily mean that the neck itself is large in relation to other things. for example, if I shrunk down everything above the nozzle on the stock atomic engine, the nozzle would look a lot wider at the neck. also you've gotta leave some room for creativity for a unique look if you think about it, the internal shape could easily be different from the external shape.

ok, I think I came up with a compromise...

the issue is that it's hard to make look right, especially since the base is more wide than long. shrinking the neck doesn't look right, but neither does enlarging the base (because then it just looks like a high thrust payload to orbit deliverer) you could always imagine that maybe there's some cone on the inside that attached to the neck, so that the neck doesn't have to be that small visually. or I'm sure it'd be useful as a sea level optimized rocket with the correct settings, perhaps for medium thrust landings or winged flight, especially if it was 0.6m here's an example of what I mean. it kind of look like the base is just teetering on the skirt.

they are aren't they? I mean, I could probably just bump map them lol. I could play with the idea, but the triangles really aren't a problem unless you're putting tons of these on a single ship. I'm not sure if it would look as detailed being bump mapped, especially on the lighting side. there's a lot of good angles where the specular catches it just right and gives it depth.

here is what the vacuum variant currently looks like.

see, that sounds good....but it's soo much larger than the mainsail at the 2.5m sizing, it just doesn't seem realistic for it to put out less thrust unless it had an ISP to make up for it. then you've got to consider weight of the engine itself into thrust/isp, otherwise you could end up with something that either guzzles fuel to the point of no incentive to use it, or makes it too cheaty. the only reason why I'm shying away from the 1.25m sizing is because there's soo much detail, it gets a bit of shimmer from all the small geometry when viewed at a distance. but 1.25m probably will be the final sizing. that way people can use it for landers the thing about thrust, is I can always increase the weight with thrust so it's a bit more realistic. for example, say I make it 300 thrust...but with a relative weight to match compared to the 200 thrust engines, but with some efficiency that allows you some extra fuel to play around with. as for the high isp version....perhaps 100 thrust at a 1.25m level or 50 thrust at a 0.6m level (clustered for greater effect)

ok anyone have any suggestions for thrust/isp at 1.25 or 2.5m sizing? I also have a 1.25m or 0.6m high vacuum isp variant, and suggestions on that would be welcome as well. basically, something in line with what's out there without being cheaty. I don't play the game much anymore, which makes it difficult to figure out fair configs. I always like for people to be able to have a bit more efficiency than regular stock parts. I have been pondering high-ish atmo isp, and really low vac isp.....but this causes a problem because the last leg of getting to orbit out of the atmosphere can really eat into fuel. but that might be an interesting mechanic to have to work around, possibly having to jettison the first stage before you've even reached orbit or risk excessive fuel usage, then using service engines to get you the rest of the way there. that's if it was a 2.5m part though.

If people want IVA, that would take some time I'm still not entirely sure of the final design of the pod itself, that's just the base. it's just meant to be an ultra light weight manned pod, like probe weight. It'd be quicker to have the mentos fuel and engine released than the pod itself. but there are still no decisions made of what the sizing/config of those parts will be, after all, I'm just working with what people are throwing out there. I suppose the easiest thing to do is make it an ultra light weight lander that would only have enough DV to land on mun then return by parachute. that's more believable than say, taking off into orbit, without being too cheaty. would be even cooler if there were engine fx or sounds. if someone has a bunch of parts in mind that they'll make themselves, I would release the fuel and engine models with their pack just to consolidate the theme style parts. one thing about ideas though, is they take time to polish.

I've never been much of an animation guy, but any pro animator is more than welcome to offer to animate things I could probably figure it all out myself, but I really don't have that much free time, I have enough problems as it is with unity and my modeler (for example, some geometry combinations crash my modeler, some settings in unity magically work one minute then not the next or vice versa, and tons of other issues here and there that crop up to disrupt progress)

I don't think it should go beyond the 1.25m territory with themed parts, otherwise they'll be ridiculously big. there's a lot of variations it could have that are hard to choose from. 1) sodacan+mentos = just fuel tanks 2) sodacan+mentos = fuel+engine alone (solid booster or not) 3) sodacan+mentos = fuel tank for 2 liter bottle engine here's what I've got so far combined, not necessarily in this sizing or configuration. ...and more of course it would be nice to have some alternative sizes/configuration possibilities, for high/low thrust, and high atm/vac operations, so that way a person can build atleast a ship with the possibility for a smallish lander.

I actually pictured a spatula as the throttle lol. that oughta be enough to get to mun

soda = liquid fuel mentos = oxidizer I had pictured as far as something like a cardboard engine as well, but would be cool to have a bunch of wacky parts that work in concert with each other.