[WIP][1.8.x] SSTULabs - Low Part Count Solutions (Orbiters, Landers, Lifters) - Dev Thread [11-18-18]

[Sudragon]

When in doubt...More boosters Komrade! 

[tater]

Dunno if you've addressed this before, but the CRG parts have just Ore as a supply. Seems like they might as well have variant tank types, from fuel, to Life Support, KIS storage, etc.

[ComatoseJedi]

2 hours ago, Shadowmage said:

Noted and added to the todo-list; you have any stats on what the real thrust of it would be?

Instrumentation Module

Image: NASA

Length	2.26m
Diameter	2.72m
Launch Mass	2,900kg
Habitable Volume	None
Main Engine	SKD (Redundant)
Trust	2,942N
Attitude Control	28 DPO Thrusters
Thrust	26.5N/130N
Oxidizer	Nitrogen Tetroxide
Fuel	Unsymmetrical Dimethylhydrazine
Propellant Mass	800kg
Power Generation	2 Solar Arrys
Span	10.6m
Area	10m²
Power	1000W
Flight Computer	TsVM-101

The instrumentation or Service Module is located underneath the other two modules and houses equipment necessary to support the vehicle during its mission. It has a liftoff mass of 2,900 Kilograms, is 2.26 meters in length and 2.72 meters in diameter.

A pressurized container includes systems for thermal control, electric power supply, communications, telemetry and navigation. The unpressurized portion of the Instrumentation Modules contains the Main Engine and the liquid-fueled propulsion system. The Propulsion System is used for attitude control maneuvers, Rendezvous and Orbit Adjustments as well as the deorbit burn.

SKD, the Soyuz Main Engine, provides a thrust of 2,942 Newtons. The entire Soyuz Attitude Control System is comprised of 28 DPO Thrusters. Two clusters of 14 DPO Thruster are mounted on the spacecraft with 12 of these jets providing 26.5 Newtons of Thrust and the remaining 16 providing 130 Newtons. The Propulsion System uses Nitrogen Tetroxide as Oxidizer and Unsymmetrical Dimethylydrazine as Fuel. A total of 800 Kilograms of propellants are carried aboard the SM Tanks. Tank Pressurization is accomplished with high-pressure helium.

The Service Module also includes the power generation system consisting of two deployable solar arrays and batteries. The instrumentation module is outfitted with the main flight computer that is in charge of all aspects of the Soyuz Mission up the point of Module Separation when the KSO 20M Computer of the Entry Module takes over.

 

 

 

Hope this helps

[JoseEduardo]

10 hours ago, Shadowmage said:

Someone wlll probably like this one:

btw, about the thing we talked on PM yesterday... a communist nine finger bearded frog was forced to testify to the brazilian federal police this morning, so... I might delay the stuff a tad bit because I kinda want to check this historical moment

[MrMeeb]

Before I try and find out myself, does anyone have an idea of the amount of RAM SSTU uses in its latest form?

[tater]

I'm unsure on the RAM, I haven't tested, but it runs just fine for me with several other mods installed, and I need to keep my mod count low on my Mac (hoping 1.1 will improve things).

Edited March 4, 2016 by tater

[MrMeeb]

1 minute ago, tater said:

I'm unsure on the RAM, I haven't tested, but it runs just fine for me with several other mods installed, and I need to keep my mod count low on my Mac (hoping 1.1 will improve things).

Thanks I agree. It doesn't seem so bad

Also, @Shadowmage, what's the possibility of adding colour switching for the engine mount too? It'd be nice to have more options :3

[Shadowmage]

15 minutes ago, MrMeeb said:

Thanks I agree. It doesn't seem so bad

Also, @Shadowmage, what's the possibility of adding colour switching for the engine mount too? It'd be nice to have more options :3

Possible - yes.  Something that I want to spend my time on (creating yet-more-textures)? No.  If anyone else is interested though, I will gladly provide the model and texture files so that they can do it themselves; and I'm always open to PRs for such things.

[MrMeeb]

3 minutes ago, Shadowmage said:

Possible - yes.  Something that I want to spend my time on (creating yet-more-textures)? No.  If anyone else is interested though, I will gladly provide the model and texture files so that they can do it themselves; and I'm always open to PRs for such things.

Ah right. That's fair enough. If I had more time I would happily do it myself but alas I am chronically short of time. Keep up the good work anyway  

[Jimbodiah]

@MrMeeb If you are running OpenGL then there is no worry about RAM. I use SSTU and 15+ other mods, and hartdly ever crash with memory problems like without OpenGL.

[ComatoseJedi]

@MrMeeb The beauty of this pack part is the fact that it can almost replace every engine/tank mod out there. Covering all your lifter needs and SOI transport ops. I found myself deleting redundant engine/fuel tank packs, because this mod covers them all. I would make a test copy of your game and with just stock parts, this mod and it's dependencies (also KJR for good measure) and check your performance. As far as ram is concerned, running just this mod with it's dependencies, opengl and perhaps a few other mods to add into the mix will cause hardly, if any, crashes and performs beautifully. I use Linux, so mod count isn't an issue with me. 

Shadowmage has made this mod exactly for the reason to save ram and increase performance. But, a few workarounds and tips though.* 

• While this mod does support Modular Fuel Tanks, but doesn't support LH2 through Modular Fuel Tanks (LH2 support with MFT only works with RealFuels). SSTU has it's own LH2 configuration, so MFT really isn't required. But, if you want to use MFT with a stock configuration, you will need Nertea's Cryogenic Engine Pack for the functionality of LH2 (or write you own config, but it's not supported if something goes wrong).
• Remember, this is a developing mod. While you -can- make craft files, It's urged that you don't rely on them in the future since Shadowmage updates this mod frequently. I find that each time I update my craft with the new features, it helps me streamline rocket designs. Which is something I like to better myself at. I see a lot of "This is going to break my craft files" all the time. While you -can- make craft files, they will need to be updated. Shadowmage will give you plenty of warning to change your saved craft to the new updates. 
• If you run into a bug or something funky, make sure it's not an issue that's already been addressed on GitHub. Since we are actually testing the game for Shadowmage, this will help him greatly. 

*  This is my experience, while I am wrong sometimes and do make mistakes on how things operate in this mod, this is what works for me. 

Check the forums and the issue tracker regularly. Shadowmage documents everything he does to not only let us know what's going on, but I think it helps him set a time frame and keeps track of progress he's made. 

Happy Flying!

[Shadowmage]

14 hours ago, ComatoseJedi said:

Hope this helps

Yes; Noted, and thrust has been updated.

 

[Jimbodiah]

2kN now?

[Shadowmage]

Stand-alone landing-gear parts, using shuttle landing-gear geometry.

Nose gear:

 

Main gear:

Both are intended to be clipped inside a fuselage, or could be used as extruded pods; up to the user.  Ohh, and both have working suspension, steering, -and- rotating wheels   (not sure why the stock wheels are lacking those features...)

 

1 hour ago, Jimbodiah said:

2kN now?

1.225kN actually

[Jimbodiah]

Omg... Just rcs nozzles??? Opening my mm patch now.

Nice going on the gears.

What do the two AJs do on the shuttle, besides eye candy.

Edited March 4, 2016 by Jimbodiah

[Shadowmage]

12 minutes ago, Jimbodiah said:

Omg... Just rcs nozzles??? Opening my mm patch now.

Nice going on the gears.

What do the two AJs do on the shuttle, besides eye candy.

LoL, I actually had to nerf the RCS thrust to keep it from being more powerful than the engines (0.5kn/thruster down to 0.2kn/thruster, and 0.1 for roll).

It -should- now have properly scaled TWR; or rather the TWR should be very similar to the real spacecraft.

 

Shuttle - AJ-10-190s are the OMS engine -- the only means of on-orbit propulsion.  Basically they perform the RV burn, and the deorbit burn.  And yes, their thrust is anemic, and those burns can take a few minutes (also realistic). (fuel qty is not yet balanced; it -should- have ~400m/s total dV from the OMS engines if -all- monoprop is used, though some would normally be reserved for docking manuevers, with the shuttle OMS left with around ~350m/s).

[Jimbodiah]

Did I overlook how to activate them then, or is there no fx animation? Hmmm, must play with it some more

[Shadowmage]

8 minutes ago, Jimbodiah said:

Did I overlook how to activate them then, or is there no fx animation? Hmmm, must play with it some more

Hit 'toggle mode' on the fuselage to switch to the OMS engines (it uses stock MultiModeEngine to switch between SSME and OMS)

Could be the stock effects are bugged;  real-plume effects work though.

[Jimbodiah]

I never toggled, so that would explain it. Haven't really played with it much, more of a rocket man myself

[Shadowmage]

On Friday, March 04, 2016 at 9:34 PM, tater said:

Dunno if you've addressed this before, but the CRG parts have just Ore as a supply. Seems like they might as well have variant tank types, from fuel, to Life Support, KIS storage, etc.

Lander-Core parts rework/refresh is already scheduled; however there are a few things I need to get done/figured out first, such as dynamic module swapping (the current implementation only fakes it).

KIS will still probably be a no-go, as that requires special setup/modules in order to function.  Would love to, but until their storage can be seen as a standard resource to other modules, it cannot be swapped as a resource.

[Jimbodiah]

You could make a dedicated part for KIS. But in all honesty, I never use the Ore containers on my landers, I tend to use the stock ones.

[tater]

22 minutes ago, Shadowmage said:

Lander-Core parts rework/refresh is already scheduled; however there are a few things I need to get done/figured out first, such as dynamic module swapping (the current implementation only fakes it).

KIS will still probably be a no-go, as that requires special setup/modules in order to function.  Would love to, but until their storage can be seen as a standard resource to other modules, it cannot be swapped as a resource.

Ah, got it on KIS. Makes sense. They have said at some point KIS might allow connected parts to be stored... that will be a game changer for rovers of a small enough volume (way easier to snap 2 parts together that build one of individual parts).

[davidy12]

@Shadowmage: First off really excited for the Shuttle release.

 

Second, how exactly are we going to make rovers in SSTU without KIS/KAS?

[Jimbodiah]

Fly them there? I've never done it any other way. Why use another mod (KIS/KAS) when you can just send it there in one piece?

[JoseEduardo]

21 minutes ago, Jimbodiah said:

Fly them there? I've never done it any other way. Why use another mod (KIS/KAS) when you can just send it there in one piece?

to be fair, if you can store a one piece apollo rover in the lander, just like they did in the latter apollo flights, that would be handier than bringing a rover for the kerbals in a separate flight...

of course, I'm assuming he's talking about apollo style rovers, because robotic rovers would be pretty much useless with KAS, far better to send these in a aeroshell or something