[WIP] Vanguard Astrodynamics - Current project completed

[Randazzo]

Current Project: Resurrection of Custom Clusters [COMPLETE]

 

Edited February 18, 2022 by Randazzo

[Kartoffelkuchen]

The Conformal solar panels are a great idea! And the other parts are also looking very nice! I hope you will release this!

[Randazzo]

New engine added. Some parts retextured, and the RMA-3 clone model was redesigned.

[Randazzo]

I've been mulling this about for a bit, and I was surprised to discover that such a device actually has a basis in reality. As such, I promptly created a device with a similar design.

It consists of three parts: Kinetic Penetrator, Monopropellant Tank, and Engine. The main device is .3125m in diameter, with the tank swelling to slightly over .625m, the engine being .3125 as well. I went with monopropellant due to the small size. The penetrator device itself is a fully self-contained unit, the only external component necessary being airbrakes for atmospheric use (I added a scaled down version of the airbrakes for this purpose). The device currently contains stock Accelerometer/Seismometer and Thermometer devices, a micro-RTG (which of course you can't see. It's behind one of those panels there. ), a built in probe core with reaction wheels and batteries, and a deployable antenna built in.

It has a dependency on KAS (Kerbal Attachment System) for it's harpoon module, allowing the device to bury it's nose in the dirt. I wanted to shoot for ~200-300 m/s impacts as described in the above document, but that unfortunately seems to be an impossibility with current collision mechanics. At speeds over 100 m/s, the device invariably bounces first, which looks silly considering that rather sharp lawn-dart point on the front. This has necessarily limited the impact speed to avoid excessive ridiculousness. Still, 90 m/s is darn fast to smack into the ground. I'm going with the explanation that it's constructed from the same Miraculum alloy as Kerbal space helmets.

[Buzzou]

That kinetic penetrator is awesome!!! although i don't really like that round monopropellant tank, i think it would look much better if it was a cylinder the same diameter as the penetrator.

Can we get a download link?

[Randazzo]

That kinetic penetrator is awesome!!! although i don't really like that round monopropellant tank, i think it would look much better if it was a cylinder the same diameter as the penetrator.

Can we get a download link?

The tank it carries will out of necessity be larger than the rest of the assembly, or it would be half the diameter of the Oscar-B, and wouldn't be able to carry enough fuel to arrest it's descent velocity sufficiently before impact.

And soon... it's terribly inconsistent at the moment. Sometimes it works, sometimes it bounces, sometimes it explodes, and sometimes it halfway works and just lands nose down but doesn't stick.

[EladDv]

so i saw the word "penetrator" and just had to come in....well done sir...well done indeed

[Sharpy]

VX-O2 Big Impulse seems to really need a weight adjustment. 0.75t for what I assume goes onto Kerbodyne tanks?

[Randazzo]

VX-O2 Big Impulse seems to really need a weight adjustment. 0.75t for what I assume goes onto Kerbodyne tanks?

Nope, rockomax. Think 3-man pod size.

It is not precisely half-balanced to the poodle, but close. It generates about half the thrust at about half the weight.

Edit: The engines have actually been released now, link in my signature. I should probably change that completed header to "released".

[Randazzo]

Ok, there's an experimental BETA release available for the Kinetic Penetrator. It's still sort of iffy. Impacts up to about 70 m/s seem ok, but beyond that anything can happen.

If you decide to test this out, I'd appreciate the feedback get posted here. Please be detailed and as specific as possible. "It broke" probably won't lead to a solution.

[Buzzou]

The tank it carries will out of necessity be larger than the rest of the assembly, or it would be half the diameter of the Oscar-B, and wouldn't be able to carry enough fuel to arrest it's descent velocity sufficiently before impact.

Thats fair enough, i was just thinking something a bit more aerodynamic would work a bit better when strapped underneath a wing. I guess i could play around with procedural parts for an alternative...

Ok, there's an experimental BETA release available for the Kinetic Penetrator. It's still sort of iffy. Impacts up to about 70 m/s seem ok, but beyond that anything can happen.

If you decide to test this out, I'd appreciate the feedback get posted here. Please be detailed and as specific as possible. "It broke" probably won't lead to a solution.

Awesome, thanks heaps! i'll let you know of my results...

[Randazzo]

Thats fair enough, i was just thinking something a bit more aerodynamic would work a bit better when strapped underneath a wing. I guess i could play around with procedural parts for an alternative...

Awesome, thanks heaps! i'll let you know of my results...

Oh, I expect you might have problems strapping it to a wing. lol

Only one small portion near the base is surface attachable (to accomodate airbrakes) to try and prevent spamming other experiments on to it.

[Randazzo]

I'm a little disappointed that fully half of the external interest in this was due to the word "penetrator". Is this thing a horrible idea or what?

[wasml]

Saw a report on something like this a long time ago for a Mars mission (I think) and thought it was a neat idea - glad to see it implemented in KSP. I've downloaded for testing but haven't gotten time to load it yet - try to get to it this weekend. Thanks for making this.

[GeoPhizzix]

Instead of the gold foil, would you consider a more uniform appearance with the tank?

Thats fair enough, i was just thinking something a bit more aerodynamic would work a bit better when strapped underneath a wing. I guess i could play around with procedural parts for an alternative...

As written in his reports and through most of his presentations, the design (which I believe this mod is modeled after) that Dr. Gowen utilizes, is intended for low/non-atmosphere environments where aerodynamics would not be the concern.

P.S.: http://arc.iki.rssi.ru/conf/2009elw/presentations/presentations_pdf/session7/Gowen_ELW.pdf

Edited July 9, 2015 by GeoPhizzix

[Randazzo]

Instead of the gold foil, would you consider a more uniform appearance with the tank?

As written in his reports and through most of his presentations, the design (which I believe this mod is modeled after) that Dr. Gowen utilizes, is intended for low/non-atmosphere environments where aerodynamics would not be the concern.

http://i.imgur.com/1T85z3w.jpg

P.S.: http://arc.iki.rssi.ru/conf/2009elw/presentations/presentations_pdf/session7/Gowen_ELW.pdf

Something like so? This is just a quick job.

Looks like I need to apply some gun blue.

[GeoPhizzix]

Something like so? This is just a quick job.

Your quick job, is better than I could do in a year. IMHO, it looks better like this, as it draws the eyes away from the fuel storage and allows you to "see" the entire device.

I'm a little disappointed that fully half of the external interest in this was due to the word "penetrator". Is this thing a horrible idea or what?

As a geologist, we use words like Cummingtonite, Orogeny, Dry Hole, Penetration, and Rough Bedding in everyday discussions without smiling, so dont be disappointed or think it is a horrible idea. Okay, only partial truth there; Hearing an intern say they might have cummingtonite, still makes me chuckle.

[GeoPhizzix]

So far, not to bad getting her to stick. Hit at ~59m/s. The instrument shows up as debris, it looks as though it is missing the "vesselType = Probe" line in the file.

[Randazzo]

So far, not to bad getting her to stick. Hit at ~59m/s. The instrument shows up as debris, it looks as though it is missing the "vesselType = Probe" line in the file.

http://i.imgur.com/eFyGhS0.png

Ah, good catch. Thank you sir.

I believe I may have figured out how to put an end to the bouncing, right now it seems pretty reliable up to about ~115 m/s or so, however it relies on a badly butchered landing leg module and must be deployed to work*. I'll have to see if there's a way to set it deployed as a default, if not I'll have to add some sort of indicator light or something. Github repo is updated with the new changes.

*Edit: Perhaps not. It seems it works regardless. Shall have to test more tomorrow.

Edit2: It also throws tons of NRE's, so that's bad. I know why though, just not enough time to fix it now.

Edited July 9, 2015 by Randazzo

[Randazzo]

Next version up on Github. The NRE is fixed now.

I've adjusted the colliders to allow the device to sink farther into the ground, and it seems fairly reliable so far up to around 110 m/s. Occasionally the collision detection will miss the KAS harpoon point and the initial collider will fall through the terrain. There is a second collider near the rear end of the device that should catch it if this happens, and by all appearances it just looks as if the device sunk farther than usual. It will not actually be attached, but it shouldn't fall over either (not without considerable help). In the event this does happen, the log will spam KAS warnings about negative terrain elevation, but otherwise it doesn't appear to have any negative effects.

Additionally, I've twice ended up unable to recover the vessel or leave the scene while the device was ground attached as it was registering as still in flight. Both times were at low impact velocities. Right clicking on the device and selecting "detach" will then cause it to fall through the terrain on to the second collider and possibly explode.

[GeoPhizzix]

Sweet, I will take a look at it when I am able too and see what I can break...err..test

[Randazzo]

Sweet, I will take a look at it when I am able too and see what I can break...err..test

Try sticking it in the VAB.

---

Engine Update!

VX-O3 "Catalyst"

3.75m Orbital Operations Engine

I patched out the graffiti since this photo

Edited July 29, 2015 by Randazzo

[Randazzo]

I think I'm going to push the Kinetic Penetrator out tonight as a release, but still a beta. I've tested it on Kerbin, The Mun, Minmus, Eve, and Gilly and it seems to be working the vast majority of the time. Sometimes it explodes, but I supposed that's not entirely unexpected with a device that crashes for a living.

At any rate I think it's pretty much "feature complete", as it were.

[Whyspr37]

Man, I just wanted to thank you for this awesome mod, I've been trying to craft something that will do this for me the longest time and it would never work the way I wanted. This is perfect

[Randazzo]

The latest endeavor to keep me interested in KSP...

Customizable Engine Clusters

After having a friend (I was surprised I have one of those too) look over the VX series engines and request clustered engines for more available power, and the engine that resulted, I was struck by the grand idea of a parts pack that would allow players to have near complete control over their engine setups instead of relying on modders to guess at their needs. There are no shortage of engines available through many excellent mods, but to download them all and have an engine for every situation would require a significant portion of memory, which we all know is at a premium in KSP. With this pack I hope to make available the ability to create engines precisely suited to the needs of any situation with a relatively small number of parts (ten, maybe twelve).

Adapter Parts

Available in two variations: Standard diameter and Expanded diameter. The standard adapter also has a connection point to be included in stacks. Plans are to create 3.75m versions as well.

Surface Attachable Engines

In order to put the maximum amount of control in the players hands and reduce the number of necessary parts, the adapters will not have connection nodes for the engines. The engines themselves will be both surface attachable to allow custom cluster creation and have their own hidden adapters for use as any standard engine. There will be an array of engines available across multiple thrust and size ranges.

Those pistons actually work, too!

Naturally this is a work in progress and the parts presented here are subject to change.