NathanKell

I was trying to show that the current map-view interface _is_ very much like what Mission Control would have. As a counter to the "it's doing too much!" thing. Every time I ask MJ to create a maneuver node I imagine I'm telling the plotting team to calculate my intercept on the Cray, and when I hit execute...etc. I'd much rather do that through kOS. Even closer to real life.

Project Aquarius Part 1 Little Koe Wikinger I signaled the dawn of the Space Age, but no one doubted that an even bigger prize was yet to be claimed--and was just around the corner. Who would be the first to place a Kerbal in orbit? Each Power had a number of programs. The most advanced, at the time of Paul Twiss's historic flight which made him the first Kerbal in space, was the KSA-led Aquarius Program. While the KU Air Force had its own orbital program relying on technology and architecture similar to the Kritish, the KSA took a different route: wary of the problem of reentry heat, and well-knowing the blunt body theory discovered only a scant few years prior, they decided on a ballistic reentry with a sphere-cone reentry capsule. After AURORA put a Kerbal in space, funding and speed only increased. By executive order all other crewed-space projects were combined under the leadership of KSA. The KU Navy, also relying on ballistic capsules derived from high-altitude balloon experiments, accepted this with only the slightest demurral, but the KUAF project was kept open by the sleight-of-hand of claiming it was merely high-speed/high-altitude research, and the need to keep pace with the Kritish. Aquarius was a far-sighted project. KSA studied numerous approaches before settling on ballistic reentry, but the fact that the capsule would not be more than minimally controllable during reentry meant little for its time in space. Aquarius would not be mere "spam in a can"--instead, the designers set out to create nothing less than the first spacecraft. The pilot would have manual-override control at all times. Small cold-gas thrusters would control spacecraft orientation, while a restartable hypergolic engine and fuel system derived from the Explorer program OMS would allow handle orbital insertion, maneuvers, and deorbiting. This was touted as the final level of safety for Aquarius: since the OMS would handle orbital insertion, if the system failed entirely, no deorbit burn would be necessary to get the capsule out of orbit. No astronaut would be stranded in space. So ambitious was the original Aquarius project that it quickly ran into problems. First, it hit feature creep: soon KSA was well over the original 1.5 ton estimate, and was heading up fast. KSA designers wanted two crew for safety, the ability to exit the capsule in space, enough delta V for orbital maneuvers, a fuel cell and large quantity of life support systems for week-long stays in orbit...the list went on. With increased weight came increased launcher requirements, and that brought the second problem to the fore. The KUAF-run Prometheus Project was still behind schedule and behind on performance. While the first successful test of an all-up Prometheus was a year past, the missile was still not ready for service. KSA had originally hoped to launch their capsule on top of the massive Prometheus missile, but even if KUAF and Consolidated could work out the kinks and get repeatable successes, there was little chance the system could be crew-rated. At burnout the LR18 gave tanks-dry Prometheus with even two tons on top well over 5.5Gs of acceleration, and the missile suffered massive POGO problems--acceptable, barely, for a warhead, but unacceptable for a crewed capsule. A drastic solution was needed, someone to cut the Gordian knot, and cut someone did. By executive order Project Aquarius was split into three separate projects. Project Aquarius would continue with a mandate to create a simple, one-Kerbal capsule with just enough delta V for orbital insertion and deinsertion. Project Argo would be tasked with development of the original, fully capable Aquarius spacecraft, designed to be 75% system compatible with Aquarius. Finally, Project Herakles would develop a crew-rated booster capable of lofting either Aquarius or Argo into orbit. Given the successes of the Koddard launcher and high-altitude, high-speed ignition of its LR32 engine, staging was deemed safe enough for use, and with staging came much lower peak acceleration at burnout. By the point of Aquarius’s division, KSA had decided on a naming convention for its projects: while existing equipment and projects would in the main retain their prior names (like Granite and Aquarius), forthcoming equipment and projects would be given Ancient Kellenic names. As Ancient Kellas was known as the font of Western science (and democracy) this seemed highly appropriate. The Prometheus Project might also have been an inspiration, taking as its name that of a Kellenic deity, Prometheus the light-bringer. Aquarius-Little Koe Mission: ALK-6 Mission Control: Kerbican Space Agency Crew: Kris the Chimpanzee Launch Vehicle: Little Koe Objective: Escape system test of all-up Aquarius capsule at Max Q Description: Launch Aquarius capsule on Little Koe booster, activate abort system at Max Q, and recover capsule safely offshore. Outcome: Success Details: LV used is the Little Koe solid booster, a cluster of two pairs of solid rocket motors, one pair 30s burn time, one pair 60s burn time. Flight path can be changed by varying ignition time (if any) of SRM pairs. For ALK-6, all four will ignite at launch, putting maximum aerodynamic stress on capsule. LES will trigger at Max Q (which will closely coincide with max acceleration in this launch configuration) to demonstrate capability in toughest circumstances. Aquarius capsule will then separate from LES and descend on ballistic path, slowed by parachutes, to splash down offshore. Background: The Aquarius spacecraft would have to be tested before it could be used, and testing is expensive. While large solid fuel rockets were nowhere near safe enough, let alone burned cleanly and regularly enough, for crewed use, nor were they as mass-efficient as liquid-fueled rockets, they had one main advantage: they were cheap. KSA's Max Koget, who had taken the lead at in spacecraft design for Project Aquarius, sat down with his team to rough together a cheap booster to test various Aquarius systems: capsule aerodynamic stability in powered flight, during separation, and during freefall; the TPS designed to protect the capsule from reentry; and the Launch Escape System (which used a similar clustered-solid approach, also designed by Koget). Given its squat, cute shape, looking like a toy rocket, it was natural that the team nicknamed it Little Koe. The name stuck. Project Aquarius needed a number of Aquarius-Little Koe launches to test aerodynamics and safety. The first flights, after a booster-alone test, would use a boilerplate mass/shape simulator of the Aquarius capsule, and test its aerodynamic properties and its thermal protection and recovery systems. Later flights would be devoted to testing the LES, and finally tests of the actual capsule in flight and under abort conditions. ALK-6 was the final Little Koe test: it would test the real Aquarius capsule with an abort under the harshest possible aerodynamic conditions. To verify crew survivability, a chimpanzee, Kris, donated by the KUN, would be strapped to the pilot's acceleration couch. Aquarius-Little Koe Program to date: QTF-1: Launcher qualification test flight. LK launcher performs admirably. Success. ALK-1: Booster test. Launch of boilerplate capsule on LK booster, firing only first two SRMs. Success, apokerb 12km. ALK-2A: Booster test. Launch of boilerplate capsule on LK booster, firing pairs of SRMs in sequence. Failure, second pair ignites early, booster overstresses and breaks up. Apokerb 13km. ALK-2B: As ALK-2A with strengthened booster internals. Success. Apokerb 57km, capsule recovered. ALK-3: Launch escape test. Boilerplate capsule and real LES. All four SRM ignite at launch, LES fired at Max Q. Success, apokerb 16km, capsule recovered. ALK-4: Capsule reentry test. First test of real Aquarius capsule. Launched without LES. LK launched as ALK-2B. Success, apokerb 74km, capsule recovered. ALK-5A: Launch escape test. First test with real Aquarius capsule and LES. Failure, short triggers on-pad activation of LES. Once ignited LES works flawlessly, apokerb 900m, capsule recovered. ALK-5B: Launch escape test. LK launched as in ALK-2B, LES fires just before second stage burnout. Success, apokerb 68km, capsule recovered. Notable Flight Events for Aquarius-Little Koe 6: T-01:00:00 Aquarius with Launch Escape System on Little Koe booster. Note four clustered solid rocket motors at base. T+00:00:00 Liftoff! All four SRMs ignite to provide maximum possible dynamic pressure. T+00:00:23 Test of LES at Max Q. T+00:00:26 Capsule reorients and stages away LES. Smoke trail of Little Koe booster can be seen in background. Capsule rides up to 16km apokerb. T+00:2:42 Drogue deploys at 7.5km. T+00:03:59 Main deploys at 500m. T+00:05:14 Splashdown!

And I would like to use kOS like Mission Control. So being able to plot maneuvers using MC's supercomputers, then having it show up on the tracking screen, then sending the code to the probe...sounds good to me!

Yup. It'd be launching with the IIIM: http://www.astronautix.com/lvs/titan3m.htm

Can't tell from this angle/resolution, but the sixth might be in the lower-right Gemini capsule. I.e. they're halfway through embarking or debarking.

Wow yes that _would_ take a Saturn IB, wouldn't it!

Missile Development Part 2: ICBMs Prometheus, the Light-Bringer The Kerbicans had begun the development of an inter-continental ballistic missile during the Second World War. The Prometheus Project was created well before development of the SSM-4 Granite began; indeed, Prometheus was authorized by the same executive order which created the Pandora Project. Work on Prometheus slowed after the end of the war, but it never entirely stopped. Its early origins showed: Prometheus was a truly massive single-stage missile, designed for a very heavy payload--the first blutonium devices weighed nearly four tons each. Numerous challenges had to be overcome before even a prototype could be created, including: how to control it, how to design an engine powerful enough, how to make sure the warhead section does not burn up on reentry. By the end of the war, two of those questions had been answered: the massive (3.5 ton) LR18 engine delivered over half a meganewton of force in its first (non-explosive) static firing, and researchers at KalTech had discovered the blunt body theory: blunt nosecones have detached shockwaves at high speed which transfer less heat to the reentry body than a pointed one. Guidance was a challenge much harder to overcome. As time passed, however, the task grew easier. Advances in electronics miniaturization and the mathematics of missile guidance meant that challenge too, could be surmounted, and the mass of blutonium warheads shrunk. With that shrinkage, some guidance components could be placed in the RV along with radio receivers; these, combined with small cold-gas thrusters for course-correction, allowed a quite reasonable accuracy. After numerous failures, on the pad and in the sky, in various subscale test vehicles and in full-size demonstrators, Prometheus systems were finally getting reliable enough for an all-up test. By the time the Granite entered production and service--and was used to test a more advanced RV--Prometheus was ready for launch tests. Shown here is LACROSSE 3, the first successful test of the SSM-3 Prometheus. By this point the Prometheus was designed for a warhead massing 2.75t, leading to much better performance. Early models could barely be classed as intercontinental. Ignition! This time no problems detected in the LR18. Bus separation, approx 55km. Bus includes RV in the nose and guidance unit. Bus fires cold-gas thrusters for course correction. Booster can be seen tumbling in the background. Reentry. RV with thermal protection can be seen white-hot in the nose. Kerman ICBM Projects The Kermans took things more in sequence, only beginning ICBM work when the Wallarmbrust was finished. However, work remained desultory as at that time the Kermans did not think ICBMs were truly practical: their early blutonium warheads were even heavier than the Kerbicans', and they had not yet discovered the blunt body theory: even if one could loft a blutonium warhead halfway around the planet, the thinking went, it would just burn up on reentry. All that changed with reports of successes in the Prometheus Project. While the Kerman Empire and the Union of Kerbican States remained the best of friends, it simply wouldn't do for the UKS to be able to attack with no viable response from the Luftstreitkräfte. Emergency proposals were solicited, and three were selected. First and simplest was a proposal to add Repulsor II-derived boosters to the Wallarmbrust, yielding the Wallarmbrust-B. This would give it much longer range, and combined with advances in thermal protection even its existing RV shape might serve. Second, an old project from Pfalz-Albatross Flugzeugwerke for a much larger ballistic missile was given the go-ahead under the name Balliste. Over three times as massive as the Wallarmbrust, it promised similar performance to the Prometheus. Like the Prometheus, it was a single-stage missile; it featured a massive C3 (uprated C2) engine. Despite its size, it was the most conservative solution, eschewing any kind of staging, unproven at the time. Finally, the Wallarmbrust design team (most former members of the Verein für Raumschiffahrt) proposed a much more radical solution: place a shortened Wallarmbrust main stage (the W-Kurz) on top of a much larger booster. This offered far greater performance--indeed, more than was necessary!--but staging, before the extensive Armbrust-Repulsor tests, was unproven and dangerous. To make it look more viable, it was presented as a small, logical step forward from the basic Wallarmbrust, rather than a new missile, and termed Wallarmbrust-C. To minimize time and difficulty, it would use a three-chamber version of the C2 with thrust-vanes for control, and other Wallarmbrust-derived hardware. Desperate for solutions, this too was approved. In addition to these projects, the Air Ministry asked researchers at the Kaiser Friedrich Institute to examine high-speed friction heating and ways to combat it. Their first RV design would be employed on the Balliste and Wallarmbrust-C. Wallarmbrust-B. Note four Repulsor II-derived boosters. Missile could never be flown on a maximum-range trajectory since the thermal protection system of the reentry vehicle would fail. Balliste. Over three times as massive as the Wallarmbrust. Note new RV design (narrower part at top), finless design (verniers are used). Balliste: the Kerman Empire's first operational ICBM. Note the massive thrust from the uprated C3 engine and eight B7-derived verniers for attitude control. Wallarmbrust-C. Note enormous stabilizing fins on lower stage, and far higher performance despite less than two thirds the mass of the Balliste. In fact, the performance is far higher than necessary--what other payload could those old VfR hands have in mind? Note the thrust vanes used to direct the engine exhaust rather than a more advanced (and unreliable) gimballing system. Stage separation. Using data from Armbrust-Repulsor tests, it finally works. RV separation. Both the Wallarmbrust-C and the Balliste share the same RV. The Kritish Get In the Game The Kritish, despite their many suitable locations for bombers--and, like the other Great Powers, despite any real hostility betwixt them all--finally embarked on a missile program of their own. Coming late to the game--developing an IRBM at the same time the others were developing ICBMs--meant they could avoid some early pitfalls, and the missile produced was far more capable than the Kerbican Granite or the Kerman Wallarmbrust. Given the Rainbow Code designation BLACK EQUITE by the Ministry of Defense and Ministry of Space, who jointly developed it, it featured a single high-thrust gimballing engine, the Decurion. While it had slightly worse sea-level performance than the C2, its closest competitor, it had much better vacuum performance, and this, combined with its higher thrust than the C2, led to faster, longer-ranged missile. In addition, due to ongoing research supporting MERCURY, the Kritish independently developed the blunt body theory, and applied it to the BLACK EQUITE reentry vehicle. This RV featured an early version of the ablative coating soon to be used in most RVs, civil and military. However, the state of the blutonium warhead program was not similarly advanced, and so the reentry vehicle needed to be far larger than a Kerbican one of similar yield. BLACK EQUITE intermediate range ballistic missile. Note higher performance, but also much larger RV. The reentry vehicle in its element.

I would too, for the record, and do.

Um...how so? Other than both being upper stages (just as Atlas and Titan-1 are lower stages...) they look pretty different from the Transtage, at least to me. And certainly have different performance! The Centaur's twice the size and the thrust and much more dV. But you're the boss. Whatever you want to make, I'll appreciate. Though...could you at least rename the Transtage to be the Transtage, and not Centaur?

Mission Controller Extended. The mod that auto-generates costs for parts, among other things. The code I wrote, because so many parts don't actually have distinct modules and even if so, I don't want to have to hardcode support for every mod ever, estimates a part's cost based, in part, on what tab it's in. Science parts get obscenely high costs because, well, they should (compared to girders and struts). But the Comm Dish, for instance, has no module to detect to say "I'm expensive" compared to a cubic octagonal strut...hence why I went with cost based on part categories as a good hack.

So...for my own use I decided to add tracking of the length of the last leg, and the max length possible for the last leg. That's now shown in the GUI, so you no longer have to guess when you'll go out of range. While I was there I added support for multiple antennae/dishes, though you get much less bang for your buck the more you add. And I changed the range calculation so instead of just the minimum of the maxrange of the two nodes you get something properly additive, as a hack to simulate transmitter and receiver strength on both ends. (Formula at the moment is, for nodes with differing max ranges, min_range + sqrt(min_range * max_range), clamped to no more than 100 x min_range for antennae and 1000x min_range for dishes). Anyone interested? ETA: Example: a link between a node with 4x3000km antennae (equates to 5.25Mm), and a node with a 20Mm dish pointed at the first node, yields a max range of 15.5Mm. Note that because range is no longer clamped to min of the two nodes', I down-scaled antenna and dish ranges for my parts.

Tiberion, a request regarding them going forward--since at the moment MCE calculates costs based on part categories, they'll be ridiculously expensive if they stay in the science tab. Would you consider putting them in their usual tabs?

Any chance you could make a Centaur too? Or at least a round-at-both-ends tank, in the same style as the rest of these parts? Heck, you could reuse the same engines from the Transtage and I doubt anyone would mind. I'm already using your Mini-LR-91 as a fake RL-10 (and a minified LR-87 as the Dual-Engine-Centaur twin RL-10) and I'd love to have a proper tank stage to go with it.

That's ChestBurster's configs for various mods, right? They add RealFuels support to various mods' engines.

And can I just say how much I _love_ that you're sharing textures? Only thing better would be if you also shared those same textures with NovaPunch, since your remade NP engines share (some of) those textures.

Sounds about right. In MCE, NTRs cost 4x what they "should" if they were non-nuclear of the same Isp. The NovaPunch NERVA is ~250k, and it has a slightly lower Isp. Maybe I should change the multiplier to 2x, though, so they're not quite so dear.

It's stock too. Open the debug menu, that uses that skin. For toggles...you can just watch for F2 keypress. I know that's what MCE does, not sure if other mods do something more complex.

You "turned off" Alt-R? That makes radial attach disabled for whatever part you're currently "holding." So of course it won't attach.

Huh, I stand corrected. Never mind.

Left, I'd say. Cones are inefficient. /realism.

Sorry, you said heatshield pointed retrograde, above. Was that not what you meant? Because if you're entering with your craft pointed retrograde, then the bottom of the craft--where the shield is--should be pointing prograde...

FAR support involves calculating a few aerodynamic properties. On the FAR thread, someone periodically asks, and ferram answers very nicely. I think all you need is wing area, cL, and...hmmm. Don't recall the rest off-hand. But if you ask there, I'm sure ferram or others would be happy to walk you through it. It's pretty easy.

Um...that's far past simplified and into broken, I'm afraid. RT needs some way of queuing commands when probes are out of contact. Another stab at flight computer simplification would be to replicate (borrow?) MJ's "execute node" functionality. Then you just have to create your series of nodes, using existing KSP functionality, and flight computer will execute them. No new commands to learn, just stock KSP.

That's your problem right there. Heatshield is for where the heat is, i.e. prograde. frizzank, great to see Big G!

OMS used N2O4/MMH, actually, a hypergolic combination, very storable (though toxic). Importantly NOT hydrolox, which is cryogenic. The point of LOX/LH2 (hydrolox)--what the SSMEs used, fuel for which in the external tank, is that the fuel is very light for its volume. You need lots of tanks. Try seeing how much dV you get with a hydrolox engine with the _same fuel mass_ not the _same fuel volume_. Part of what's wrong with hydrolox (vs. kerolox) in Modular Fuels is that the Isp increase is proportionally too low. KSP's stock Isps are actually way too high for the liquid-fuel engines (NASA would kill for a 370Isp vacuum Kerolox engine! Let alone 390!). Although that's kinda made up for by the low TWRs. But considering the increase (~310s to ~450s going from kerolox to hydrolox) the MFS LOX/LH2 engines should be getting on the order of ~560s Isp Vacuum.