NathanKell

I'll do you one better. Here you go. Go to the MFS calc spreadsheet here: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AvHneDAy4k99dHlhdktvZW1NS1lndlhNNnRwd3FEblE&usp=sharing Save as a copy for yourself, so you can edit it. Go to the "Volumes etc" sheet Note the Ratio Calculator on the right. Type in the white boxes (mass ratio o:f, name of fuel, name of oxidizer, tankage [in tons]) and the ratios and volumes will be calculated for you, based on the fuels and their densities on the left. You can even add more fuel types, between MMH and Solid, if you need to. Just make sure the name you add is the same as the name you use in the ratio calc. EDIT: Oh yeah, and Google Docs has trouble with hyphens in names. Instead of RP-1 you have to type ="RP-1" in the cell (WITH the quotes, mind; it's a text formula).

The Real-scale Gemini configs I released in the Realism Overhaul thread and frizzank's FASA thread has a LH2/LOX fuel cell, btw. I believe I have the values correct for what Gemini used. I don't think they were thinking more than just "let's make a Bill Gates joke." 1kW makes sense for one unit of EC in terms of both allowing low wattage devices (0.005EC/s as 5 watts is manageable) while still allowing reasonable battery capacity (Mercury would have 48600 EC, Apollo CM 270,000 [i think?] plus the SM's fuel cells).

Heh. Probably? You might have to increase the reflectivity percent. Since Real Gemini has just over 1/2 the ablative shielding the Mk1 pod does, the loss rate will be a little low and dissipation a little high. Here's what I've been testing for the Mk1 pod: @PART[mk1pod]:Final { @RESOURCE[ElectricCharge] { @amount = 48600 @maxAmount = 48600 } @MODULE[ModuleReactionWheel] { @PitchTorque = 0.01 @YawTorque = 0.01 @RollTorque = 0.03 @RESOURCE[ElectricCharge] { @rate = 0.001 } } @MODULE[ModuleHeatShield] { // change the Mk1 Pod heat shield for real-scale Kerbin @direction = 0, -1, 0 // bottom of pod @reflective = 0.05 // 5% of heat is ignored at correct angle @ablative = AblativeShielding @loss { // loss is based on the shockwave temperature (also based on density) @key,0 = 650 0 // start ablating at 650 degrees C @key,1 = 1000 160 // peak ablation at 1000 degrees C @key,2 = 5000 200 // max ablation at 5000 degrees C } @dissipation { // dissipation is based on the part's current temperature @key,0 = 300 0 // begin ablating at 300 degrees C @key,1 = 800 480 // maximum dissipation at 800 degrees C } } } Stick it in a new CFG somewhere, maybe call it RealPods.cfg The electric charge is to match Mercury's charge load of 13.5kW-hr. Given the pod lasted max a day and a half, I'm guessing average usage was in the 300 watt range (0.3EC/s). I also nerfed the reaction wheel for obvious reasons. Note that as of DRE v3, I fixed an issue where a shield might start ablating but not decrease temperature. Now you only start ablating when you start losing heat. Hmm. It's already the case that you're supposed to get full effects when velocity > fullThermal (default: 1100m/s) so Squad must be checking atmo density too. Not sure how to get around that one. But an unshielded craft _should_ burn up, always, 100%, with anywhere near realistic (Earth-level) reentry heating. It's because Kerbin is basically the size of the moon (just a bit denser) that we have the laughably weak reentry effects people are used to. If earth-level heating is too much, by all means don't use a multiplier for shockwave! (or use a smaller one). Please do! To get 1.17 I just messed around in Excel for about 10 minutes, trying to get the temperatures to match. So it was at best an off-the-top-of-my-head suggestion. Uh...they're only final in custom.cfg. They're not final in their original form in DeadlyReentry.cfg. The custom.cfg is there when you edit (and save) values in the debug window. If you delete it, DRE won't recreate it until you change the values and hit save. If I don't make them final, though, then one's custom settings, set in the game, may not be the actual settings being applied, which is also bad. So I suggest if you're setting them as Final elsewhere, just delete custom.cfg. But if it turns into an issue, we can try without :Final for a while and see if anyone else's workflow breaks.

Thanks for that! I've been running Alpha 10 with it at 10x (2000) and it seems ok. I'll upgrade to Beta 2.

I do still want to change the saving system to use persistence files. Just been spread thin on like the five mods I'm working on, sorry.

Nonono, the new shockwave exponent and multiplier are if you want realistic heat on STOCK Kerbin, as FlowerChild and others were asking for. If you try to up it on rescaled Kerbin, you'll definitely burn up! Sorry that wasn't clearer. Here are the config options, basically: 1. Playing on Stock Kerbin, want traditional DRE functionality: don't change anything 2. Playing on Stock Kerbin, want realisitc levels of heat on reentry (i.e. faking an 8km/sec reentry): set the shockwave exponent and multiplier to taste; I suggest exponent 1.17 to start. You will likely have to increase the dissipation rates of heat shields (in the heatshield part.cfgs and in DeadlyReentry.cfg). For good values, you can check what I did for the Gemini heat shield in the Realscale Gemini I posted on the FASA thread. 3. Playing on Real-scale Kerbin, want traditional DRE functionality: set _heat_ multiplier to 12 or so. 4. Playing on Real-scale Kerbin, want realistic heating. Change nothing in DRE settings. However, as in 2, you will likely need to edit heat shields.

Excellent! Also, reposting here: the 1:1 size/mass rescale of Gemini-Titan II GLV Frizzank_Gemini_Realscale.zip Requires: FASA (obviously) Modular Fuels v3 full Deadly Reentry Continued FAR and Real Solar System (otherwise what's the point?) Supports RemoteTech 1 (otherwise your power draw will be low) Supports TAC Life Support with renamed resources (no _TAC at the end) otherwise your Gemini will be a hundred kg too light. INSTRUCTIONS: If launching to 0 inclination, a gauranteed to work MJ ascent path is turn start 1.3km, turn end 110km, end angle 0, turn shape 45. Note that neither the LR-87 nor LR-91 is throttleable. So if you want a lower apoapsis, you have to manually shut down the LR-91 (or set it to an AG in the VAB before launch for easy access). Electrical charge balanced for 300watt draw. Yields 20 days of power if you use the fuel cell. Due to not being able to make bipropellant RCS, all the OAMS thrusters (ingame both RCS and engine) use Monopropellant. But don't worry, the Isp and fuel mass is identical to real life. You will be shown > 222m/s dV, but that's because it can draw from the capsule's own supply. Shut that tank off until reentry. A perigee of 9km is survivable coming from a 360-380km apogee. When you're ready for your 101m/s retro kick, pointo retrograde, and stage to jettison equipment module and activate retro module. Stage again when retro exhausted. Stay pointed surface-retrograde on reentry. At 15km, stage to deploy the drogue. Drogue will fully deploy at 6.4km. At 3.2km, stage again to jettison nose section and drogue; main chute will semi-deploy. At 2.74km, main deploys.

Thankfully, she hasn't given up. Progress update: I hope to have the code for body changing abstracted today. ZRM, haven't had a chance to implement your fix yet; v4 may just include rescales for most bodies but no tilts yet. We'll see how much I can get done this evening.

Uploading. v3 === \/ *Added two more tweakable variables: shockwaveExponent and shockwaveMultiplier. shockwaveExponent is applied to shockwave temperature after it's calculated; then the temperature is multiplied by shockwaveMultiplier. To simulate Earth-level heating, use shockwaveExponent = 1.17 (can't be perfect, but it's close: you get a max shockwave temperature of ~6150C on reentry, a bit low; and 11800C on Munar reentry, a bit higher than Apollo 10). YOU WILL PROBABLY HAVE TO TWEAK YOUR HEATSHIELD DISSIPATION. Or you _will_ burn up.

Farmer Bobathan, there's actually a mod for that! Frederf, you're very welcome! SRFirefox: alas no. ModuleRCS will accept only one propellant, that's why I had to use MonoPropellant for all Real Gemini's OAMS thrusters. I was talking with ZRM, and when his exams are over maybe he could update his own RCS replacement module to allow bipropellant. (I was also looking at doing it myself, but it looks like I'd have to rewrite things from near-scratch rather than overloading a few functions, since much fuel-handling is private).

It's something that isn't in yet. I have to add it. To get DRE to work with an otherwise stock game, just unzip it per the readme. It just won't be that hard. Regarding Gs: I've set it up with roughly human tolerances for Kerbals, and much greater tolerance than ialdabaoth's version for parts. But if your parts are still breaking too quickly, you can up the G Tolerance multiplier. And if Kerbals are dying too fast you can either lower the exponent or up the kill threshold. Again, all settings can be on-the-fly edited by hitting ALT+D+R and changing them, then hitting save.

Heh, you never know--I looked through TACLS when I was doing G-force damage, very helpful! Yeah, when I get time <hollow laugh> I'd love to contribute, thanks! May be a while though...

Finally, an update. Note that this is the last update to not use rescaled Kerbin, and the first to drop all pretense at Kerbalness. Given time I will later retcon the early posts to remove Ks, and use real-size launch vehicles and orbits. Note: all persons named in this update are real (though their careers have sometimes differed, and in one case, a family did not decide to change their name).

Project Aquarius Part 2 America’s First Astronaut The First Astronauts: The Aquarius Eight The selection process for the first class of American astronauts had begun soon after the star of Project Aquarius. Selection and training was expected to take nearly as long as the hardware design and testing, and indeed it did. NSA, an outgrowth of the earlier National Aeronautics Agency, was used to working with test pilots, and it seemed that was a reasonable place to start. After all, Aquarius would involve flying higher and faster than ever before, even if it did not involve wings or lift. Test pilots, it was hoped, could adapt readily to yet another new craft with new instrumentation, could keep their cool despite unpredictable and dangerous conditions, and had existing relationships with NSA and with the contractors involved. While NSA had received bids from every major aerospace contractor (and many looking to get into the new field), it went with Grumman for the final selection, perhaps influenced by the heavy Navy involvement in Project Aquarius and Grumman’s Navy reputation for building nigh-indestructible aircraft. This influenced pilot selection, and along with the fact that the Air Force was continuing with its own manned high altitude program (space in all but name), meant that the pool of available military test pilots would be Navy and Marine Corps. The final cut demonstrated this: to a curious and soon-adoring public, NSA unveiled the Aquarius Eight. The Aquarius Eight were feted as the finest young people America had to offer. Five were active-duty USN or USMC aviators; two were civilian test pilots. They were on average in their early thirties; they were all highly educated, with masters and PhDs and genius-level IQ; they were all exuberantly enthusiastic about Aquarius and space in general. Corwin H. “Corky†Meyer was a natural pick. A graduate of MIT and Grumman’s chief test pilot for its “Cat†line of Navy fighters, he had been intimately involved in the design of Grumman’s Aquarius submission, and knew how the capsule was supposed to fly better than any man alive. Besides being chosen as an astronaut himself, he would help train the others. He was one of two civilians picked for the First Eight (Schwartz was retired Air Force, but still with active ties). Captain Alva Temple, USN, was the “Old Man†of the Aquarius Eight. A few years older than his compatriots, Temple had begun his flying career in the first integrated squadron in the Navy (VF-12, founded the year he was born), and rose to command it and lead it to distinction in the Second World War, the first African-American to lead a Navy squadron. After the war he served as an instructor and new technology evaluator at China Lake. Though his love of flying was as great as any in the Eight, he was renowned for how reliable and unexcitable he was when in the cockpit. Commander Albert Scott Crossfield, USN, also served during the Second World War, and after the war earned his master’s in aeronautical engineering; already having served as a flight instructor, this was a perfect combination and the then-NAA snapped him up. On secondment from the Navy, he was first to fly the X-4 (America’s own rocketplane, the Douglas Skyrocket) and the first American to break Mach 2. He was a natural fit for Aquarius. Lt. Coleman Alexander Young, USN, was a fiery naval aviator from the infamous VF-32 Redtails. The Redtails were a collection of radicals and misfits, home to various International Brigaders who had fought integralism in Spain before returning home to fight it on the world stage when the US entered the war (and who painted their aircrafts’ tails red in solidarity). Despite its reputation, VF-32 had one of the best records of a fighter squadron in the Second World War, and Young, the best pilot ever to serve with them, was the Navy’s first African-American double ace of the Second World War (counting his victories over Spain). Despite misgivings over his being something of a loose cannon, Young’s star power (and record of brilliance in the air) meant NSA sent him the invitation. To their surprise, he passed all tests with flying colors. Major John Herschel Glenn, USMC, had flown with VMF-155 in the War, then as an exchange pilot with the 4th Fighter Wing, USAF, flying early jets. After the war he served at NAS Patuxent River where he was appointed to Test Pilot School, and following graduation tested early Navy and USMC jets. While there he completed the first transcontinental supersonic flight in an XF3H Demon. Herschel had the least experience in Grumman aircraft among the Navy and USMC aviators, but made up for it with his solid record and picture-perfect image. He, like Temple, proved a balance to the hard-edged Young and flamboyant Schirra. George Lewis Schwartz was North American’s chief test pilot before NSA snatched him up, the first USAF ace of the Second World War, and the unofficial Air Force presence in Project Aquarius. While at North American he had flown the first swept-wing fighter in the world. He was the first American to break the sound barrier, and the first in the world to do so in a production aircraft. With an existing relationship with NSA he was already on the radar screen for Project Aquarius. Commander Walter Marty “Wally†Schirra, USN, was the youngest astronaut selected. Too young to serve in combat in the Second World War, he ended the war a junior officer on a cruiser. Trained as a pilot after the war, he was of the new breed of “jet jocks.†He served in the first active jet squadron in the Navy, but it wasn’t long before BuAer recognized his potential and had him sent to Test Pilot School at Pax River. Testing air-launched missiles at China Lake familiarized him with rocketry, and NSA invited him for interviews and tests early in Project Aquarius. Known as Aquarius’s prankster, Schirra quickly hit it off with Young and soon the two were inseparable. Nancy Harkness Love was a test pilot of long standing with the National Aeronautics Agency. A graduate of MIT and far and away the best pilot NAA had, its flying expert on jets, she flew every jet aircraft evaluated by NAA and helped train the Air Force and Navy/USMC aviators learning jet flight as production jets became available late in the war. She also regularly challenged those pilots to mock dogfights, and despite never being allowed in combat herself consistently outflew combat veterans. While NSA originally had intended to select only military test pilots, political and internal agency pressure lead to the testing of some women as well, many of whom proved more physically capable in high-G situations than the men. Love in particular was well known to Scott Crossfield, George Schwartz, Wally Schirra, and Corky Meyer, each of whom she had soundly beat in mock dogfights, and all of whom expressed a desire to see her in the program; Meyer in particular argued that if an exception had been made for him, one ought to be made for his classmate as well. Nonetheless she, and all the women, suffered fierce resistance from a still very-sexist NSA and aerospace community in general, and many expected that she would never actually fly Aquarius, instead serving as backup. Aquarius-Granite 4: Friendship 8 Mission: Friendship 8 (Aquarius-Granite 4) Program: Aquarius Program Mission Control: National Space Agency Crew: Alva Temple Launch Vehicle: Granite ALV Launch Site: Canaveral Space Center LC-8A, Florida, USA Objective: First American in space Description: Launch Aquarius capsule on a suborbital flight and recover at sea. Intended Orbit: Suborbital (150km apogee, splashdown 500km downrange) Outcome: Success Details: LV used is the Granite Aquarius Launch Vehicle, a derivative of the SSM-4 Granite missile. Granite ALV features radio-command guidance, Automatic Abort Sensing System, improved engine, and Aquarius Spacecraft Adapter. Flight path is suborbital arc, apogee 150km. Capsule will jettison LES after MECO, then test OMS to raise apogee to 150km. At apogee capsule will reorient for retrofire and OMS will initiate 100m/s retro burn. Peak reentry G will be approximately 11. At 7.5km drogue will deploy, followed by main chute deployment, reefed, at 1km and main deployment at 500m. Capsule will splash down in Atlantic to be picked up by USS Sumner, DD-692. Background: With successful tests of the capsule during launch aborts and reentry in the Aquarius-Little Koe program, and the reliability of the Granite not in doubt after years of service, Project Aquarius inched closer towards the goal of spaceflight. Mating of the capsule to the Granite booster proved uncomplicated; the slight overhang of the capsule did not provide much in the way of aerodynamic problems, and the takeoff thrust-to-weight ratio remained an acceptable 1.13. After a suborbital test with Beef the chimpanzee, NSA program administrators gave the go-ahead for the first crewed launch of the Aquarius program. Up until the day before the flight, no one in the press knew who would be the first American in space. Within the Aquarius program, however, the choice was clear: Alva Temple. The son of farmers in rural Alabama, Temple's career was perfectly representative of the New America shaped by La Follete and Roosevelt. Fascinated by a barnstormer he saw as a child, but too poor to learn how to fly himself, he showed promise at school and was secured an appointment at the Naval Academy by his Congressman, the military being the only way, he felt, he could learn to fly. Once there he continued to excel, and was commissioned an Ensign in 1933. He rose quickly, despite some lingering prejudice twenty years after integration, and after tours in VS-6 and VC-4 was reassigned to VF-12 as commanding officer upon his promotion to Commander. He led VF-12 with distinction through the early years of the Second World War, receiving both the Navy Cross and the Silver Star. After a tour stateside he returned to action commanding Carrier Air Group 4 aboard USS Petersburg CV-20. When the war ended he was stationed at NAWS China Lake (where he would later meet Wally Schirra) to help conduct trials of guided missiles, since CAG-4 had tested the first few examples in combat towards the end of the war. Despite being a brilliant pilot, Temple, unlike many of his contemporaries, was not flashy or brash; rather, he was steady and dependable in flight and on the ground, and soon came to be known as the "Old Man" of the Aquarius Eight. His peers unanimously selected him as who they thought should take the first flight, as did the more formal evaluations by Aquarius project leads. To symbolize their camaraderie, and as a symbol for friendship of all peoples, he named his spacecraft Friendship 8, starting a NSA tradition of astronauts naming their spacecraft. Aquarius-Granite 4 was the fifth flight of an all-up Aquarius spacecraft. The Launch Escape System, designed by Max Koget, a tractor solid rocket above the spacecraft, had been tested successfully in the Aquarius-Little Koe program, as had the capsule heatshield and recovery equipment, and AG-3 had launched Beef the Chimpanzee on a successful flight. As on AG-3, the capsule would be under automatic control during climb, suborbital extension burn, and retro fire; only during the short free flight between booster separation and retrofire would Temple have control. In later years he would sardonically remark, "I don't know whether I'm the first man or the last monkey." However, in case of emergency after escape tower jettison, Temple would have full manual control over all spacecraft systems, and he could also manually trigger an abort at any time prior capsule separation and LES jettison. Friendship 8 would launch atop a Granite ALV; the booster would launch it to an apogee of 90km. The LES would then jettison, and the capsule separate from the booster. The OMS would then ignite and burn for an apogee of 150km under ground radar guidance. After OMS cutoff, Temple would have 3 minutes of free flight before the turnaround maneuver. At apogee, the spacecraft would orient for retrofire, heading on orbital track and node 35 degrees down. The OMS would fire retrograde for 100m/s deltaV (as on an orbital flight). The spacecraft would then reorient again to heatshield-prograde and reenter, to splash down approximately 500km downrange. Aquarius-Granite program to date: AG-1: Booster test. Launch of boilerplate capsule on Granite ALV booster. Success, apogee 90km. AG-2: All-up test. Launch of all-up Aquarius spacecraft. The Four-Inch flight. Failure, apogee 0.1m. AG-3: Animal test. Launch of Beef the Chimpanzee. Success, apogee 110km, capsule and Beef recovered. Notable Flight Events for Aquarius-Granite 4 Friendship 8: T-06:00:00 Friendship Eight atop Granite ALV, during fueling in VAB at Launch Complex 8. T+00:00:00 Liftoff! T+00:00:23 Granite ALV begins pitching over at 2deg/s to 45 degrees. Passing Max Q. T+00:01:58 MECO, fuel exhausted. T+00:02:02 LES jettison. T+00:02:05 Capsule separation. T+00:02:15 OMS ignition. OMS burns until apogee of 150km. T+00:02:33 OMS cutoff. Capsule in free flight for next two minutes. Temple rolls and pitches capsule to view the Earth below him. T+00:04:45 After automatic reorientation to retrofire attitude, OMS fires 100m/s retro burn. T+00:5:09 Capsule reorients to reentry attitude. T+00:5:12 OMS jettison prior to reentry. T+00:6:12 Periscope retracts prior to reentry heating. Communication lost during reentry. T+00:7:47 Drogue deploys at 7.5km. T+00:09:16 Main chute fully deploys at 500m. T+00:10:42 Splashdown! Temple awaits recovery by helicopter from USS Sims.

Question: when are you starting your gravity turn? Answer: about 500m off the pad. Question: what's your max angle off the surface-prograde marker? Answer: 1-5 degrees. If either answer is not your own....there's your problem right there.

Well, there's the _old_ 5x Bearcat. Though that by rights is 3.75m. But...yes, please, a J-2-alike and a 5x J-2-alike would be awesome! But could they be vac-nozzles?

Apologies. Fixed.

Sorry, I mean break_ing_ force and torque, for the parts themselves, not the joints. Then when you multiply them by your constant to get breakForce and breakTorque, you'll get sane values. But if it's not necessary, no worries. (I found that if I use a tractor LES with a high thrust, a high breakINGForce is necessary for both it and what's under it, or it'll rip off. Zander's post reminded me of that experience, and Starwaster mentioning at some point that many (stock!) parts lack any breakingForce and so might have wonky values.)

That's...weird. I'll deal with it; apologies!

ferram, have you considered, instead of multiplying breaking force and torque, and otherwise using existing values even as a base, just replacing them with sane values and then using those in your calculations? So many are so screwed up... Apologies if there's a really simple reason not to that I'm missing, or you already considered and rejected it for good reason...

ferram, (1) since everything moves east when you go on then off rails on the pad, I'm guessing it's the translation from polar to Cartesian. Stab in the dark, but since rescaled Kerbin is at a larger radius and rotating faster, might be that. (2) re: stretchytanks, ah, cool. Well, I meant to do that fix anyway, eventually (now you can use on as the bottom of your vessel!) so all's good. SRFirefox: are you using SAS or MechJeb? They can't really handle the delay FAR adds to control surface activation. Try with your control surface maximum deflection set to 0 but more reaction wheels. EDIT: Ninja'd by ferram.

Tiberion: I was getting that problem months ago, long before KJR and anything else. A decoupler force of 2000 is liable to pull off whatever the decoupler is attached to, and possibly even the thing below that. Took me ages to figure out just going back below 500 or so was what was required. KJR might actually _solve_ the problem, eventually, dunno. The other thing might be making sure that a part's breakingForce is higher than the decouple force? And you're welcome; let me know if it's unclear or you need it tweaked for your use.

No problem.

You can use :Final after the @NODE[name] tag to specify doing that change last. i.e. other mods may have @PART[mypart] { @dostuff } but yours, if it has @PART[mypart]:Final { @dofinalstuff } will be applied last.

Sorry, link fixed. Thanks, AbeS.