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[1.3] KerBalloons v0.4.2 - Balloons for KSP!

JoePatrick1

By JoePatrick1
in KSP1 Mod Development

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JoePatrick1

JoePatrick1

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THIS MOD HAS MOVED - PLEASE GO HERE

 

v0.4.2 Released
Returning soon to CKAN

73TDJPR.png

Ever wanted Balloons in KSP?
Now they're here! I am working on this mod KerBalloons which will bring balloons that can be sent up to collect science.
There will be special science parts dedicated for this as well as balloon based contracts (hopefully).
The balloons will come in various sizes with different lift capabilities allowing simple science balloons or the ability to lift small rockets.

The Plan

v0.1:

This release will have 3 balloons; 1 standard balloon, 1 higher altitude balloon and 1 heavier payload balloon. In this release all 3 balloons will be 0.625m size and will be designed for use in Kerbin's atmosphere. The balloon will expand as air pressure decreases (as altitude increases) as well as lose lift. When the air pressure it too low, the balloon will burst - no parachute on these balloons.

v0.3:

This release will bring all new balloons, they will have varying lift capabilities and minimum pressures. Balloon sizes will range from 0.625m up to 3.75m, for each size there will be the same 3 variants as in v0.1.

v0.4

Even more balloons coming in this release! Some will be designed for use in different planet atmospheres and higher tech balloons will come with a parachute as well to protect your glorious science.

v0.5:

This release will include some new specialised science experiments for use with the balloons such as an atmospheric analyser. A service bay will be included as well for 0.625m and 3.75m balloons as they are not included in stock KSP.

v0.7:

The big one! I hope to get contracts included into the mod at this point. Such as take an atmospheric reading at 5km, 10km and 15km with a KerBalloon.

v0.9:

If I can find a way to get it to work, I will add the ability to tether balloons to the ground in this release. A use for this could be for RemoteTech ground relays.

v1.0:

For 1.0, I will add any last features and fix any remaining bugs. After 1.0, I will still update KerBalloons to work with the latests versions of KSP as best I can.

 

Media

http://imgur.com/a/uPnxb

http://imgur.com/a/bOIRr

 

 

Download
Returning soon to CKAN
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Source Code

The MIT License Copyright (c) Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"), to deal in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions: The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in all copies or substantial portions of the Software. THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.

You can also create your own balloons with KerBalloons, click here for a tutorial

 

Known Bugs

None at the moment - Please report any you find

Old version available here
Source Code
All Rights Reserved

 

 

Edited by JoePatrick1
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LORDPrometheus

LORDPrometheus

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So is this like a tech level zero science Addon? I think it looks very cool and if you can make the balloons "pop" once they hit 70km that'd be awesome! Make its so you have to go get the dropped capsule for your sweet sweet science

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JoePatrick1

JoePatrick1

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So is this like a tech level zero science Addon? I think it looks very cool and if you can make the balloons "pop" once they hit 70km that'd be awesome! Make its so you have to go get the dropped capsule for your sweet sweet science

The pictured balloon currently bursts when the pressure is below 4kPa (which is at about 17km) - Balloons don't really reach heights as high as 70km!

- - - Updated - - -

Do they work like real balloons?

Well, yes

Edited by JoePatrick1
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JoePatrick1

JoePatrick1

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Can you switch back to SpaceCenter once started? would be very interessting with RemoteTech as "singal relay baloon" or maybe for flying refueling Stations? :D

No, this is not possible with the way KSP works with vessels in the atmosphere. Tethered balloons are planned though which will allow this.

- - - Updated - - -

Will this ever have an airship style balloon? I'd love to have a modern hooligan labs :P

This looks so cool :D

I am not really planing on making those kind of balloons - just weather balloons and science ballons

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JoePatrick1

JoePatrick1

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do these have an animation where they are inflated from a smaller package (as seen in the picture's i think) or is that down the road?

This is what it looks like before being inflated, with a barometer for scale

8ITck6d.png

- - - Updated - - -

Will it work with FAR?

I don't know, it's not been tested - should do though.

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Drew Kerman

Drew Kerman

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Will this ever have an airship style balloon? I'd love to have a modern hooligan labs :P

This looks so cool :D

Sounding Rockets from USI has a small blimp, it's been deprecated for now but RoverDude says it's coming back at some point. I've used it under 0.90 a few times

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JoePatrick1

JoePatrick1

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I wonder, how will these balloons work while in another planet's atmosphere?

With this. I'm thinking of slowly putting down rovers on Duna slowly with balloons. Like a balloon powered skycrane. Will these balloons also slowly deflate when punctured?

The plan is to have balloons specifically designed for each planet with an atmosphere - as all of their atmospheres are at different pressures - but all balloons technically work on any planet with an atmosphere. The balloons can be deflated but they are deflated in ~2 seconds. You could use them as parachutes though as they have very little lift, so not enough to lift a rover, but very large surface area so create a lot of drag - basically is a parachute

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pizzaoverhead

pizzaoverhead

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Excellent work so far! I'm looking forward to seeing where you take this.

The plan is to have balloons specifically designed for each planet with an atmosphere - as all of their atmospheres are at different pressures - but all balloons technically work on any planet with an atmosphere.

You could use tweakable parameters to allow customising the balloons for different atmospheres, such as gas volume and type. This would allow easy compatibility with modded planet systems.

The balloons can be deflated but they are deflated in ~2 seconds. You could use them as parachutes though as they have very little lift, so not enough to lift a rover, but very large surface area so create a lot of drag - basically is a parachute

Are you planning on allowing the balloons to be destroyed by excessive airspeed? I imagine they would have difficulty surviving transonic speeds for example.

Will you be making a custom parachute for the radiosonde? Something that can be launched in a deployed state attached to the balloon would be useful.

weather_balloon_parachute_instrument_launch.jpg

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