[1.12.5] Bluedog Design Bureau - Stockalike Saturn, Apollo, and more! (v1.14.0 "металл" 30/Sep/2024)

[CobaltWolf]

19 hours ago, Jacktical said:

Have you ever thought of adding the new atlas  GEM-63SRBs?

18 hours ago, Pappystein said:

Are the GEM-63s not in the BDB Adjacent Vulcan mod?     It has been a while since I have looked at those files so I honestly don't know

I thought the GEM-60XLs we made were essentially the same thing?

 

6 hours ago, blu3wolf said:

So, the bottom of the Leo-C Service Module has a flat base with a crew tunnel to it. Would it be possible to have a similar model for a Leo-A Equipment module? Either as a separate part, or as a part switch for the Meduci-E?

Im planning on building a Leo Modular Space Station, and the original series A plans seem to use a "Gemini Transport" which appears to be a regular Gemini capsule with a crew tunnel to a Ring Docking Mechanism - much like the current Leo-C part, but with the ability to separate the Equipment Module still and fire the Retro Module.

I think for now, my current LMSS plans will just use the Leo-C module, as its not like I really need the ability to use the Retro Module for my current Leo Transport design.

Edit: The first Leo Transport constructed has used the Leo-A modules, while I disregard the gap between the docking adaptor and the module

I don't see why not? But I'm not in a rush to work with the Gemini stuff right now, I'd have to dig those files up. Though, I guess since I'm doing the Big G I'll have to find all that stuff anyways...

(speaking of Big G, small update below)

Spoiler

 

1 hour ago, DaveyJ576 said:

I have been running some test missions with the Skylab dry workshop. After gathering data from the science experiments, I have the crew run science in the workshop. When the station passes into the night side, the electrical drain seems to be quite high, on the order of 10 units per second from the workshop batteries. A check of the batteries on the other station components shows a similar, but somewhat slower electrical drain. The rate of overall useage is so high that if I leave science running in the workshop the entire station will run out of power before it gets back to the day side and it will lose attitude control and drift. On one occasion the station drifted into an orientation that prevented it from charging the batteries from the solar panels for an entire orbit!

I fully understand that the station will use battery power while on the night side. But to me it seems as if the rate of useage is unrealistically high while running science. True, I can shut down science while on the night side, but would IRL astronauts have done this? Can this useage rate be adjusted down?

It is also distinctly possible that I am gooning up something very simple here. Please let me know if that is the case. 

I don't think that's user error, Zorg will have to take a look. He's still balancing the Skylab parts so this is good feedback. Let us know if there's any other issues like this where values need to be adjusted.

[Entr8899]

39 minutes ago, CobaltWolf said:

I thought the GEM-60XLs we made were essentially the same thing?

I thought so too, but they seem to have a strangely curved nosecap similar to the AJ-60.

[Jacktical]

36 minutes ago, Entr8899 said:

I thought so too, but they seem to have a strangely curved nosecap similar to the AJ-60.

As well as a longer nozzle like the AJ-60

[ballisticfox0]

How far are you guys planning to go with your probes?

I would love to see voyager in here .

[pTrevTrevs]

6 hours ago, ballisticfox0 said:

How far are you guys planning to go with your probes?

I would love to see voyager in here .

God-willing, they’ll add all the Titan IIIE payloads, Viking, Voyager, and that weird little satellite that went up (and down) on the first one…

[Clamp-o-Tron]

5 minutes ago, pTrevTrevs said:

God-willing, they’ll add all the Titan IIIE payloads, Viking, Voyager, and that weird little satellite that went up (and down) on the first one…

Do you mean Helios? We’ve got Helios already

[DaveyJ576]

@CobaltWolf, @Zorg, Something else to look into… since I downloaded the latest dev branch update, I have been having problems with timed MechJeb launches (Launch Into Plane of Target). I will send the rocket to the pad with hibernation on for for IU, I set my target and engage MechJeb. The game goes into warp and advances to the proper point before dropping back to 1x. I take the IU out of hibernation but the battery has run down to zero during warp and I do not get ignition. It has happened to me on an Atlas Centaur and the Saturn V.

To sum up, hibernation for the IU batteries doesn’t seem to be working now when it was a couple of dev branch iterations ago.   Has anyone else seen this yet? Running 1.11.

Thanks!
 

[Entr8899]

1 hour ago, Clamp-o-Tron said:

Do you mean Helios? We’ve got Helios already

No, they mean Sphinx, the test payload for the first Titan IIIE flight. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sphinx_(satellite)

Edited February 11, 2022 by Entr8899

[Invaderchaos]

9 hours ago, ballisticfox0 said:

How far are you guys planning to go with your probes?

I would love to see voyager in here .

2 hours ago, pTrevTrevs said:

God-willing, they’ll add all the Titan IIIE payloads, Viking, Voyager, and that weird little satellite that went up (and down) on the first one…

Voyager will be made some time in the future. I have a couple more probes on the horizon (finishing Kepler, Mariner 3-5, and Landsat 1-3) but beyond that I don't have anything concrete. At some point I will also revamp Helios. No idea when any of this will happen. There are plans at all for Viking.

1 hour ago, Entr8899 said:

No, they mean Sphinx, the test payload for the first Titan IIIE flight. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sphinx_(satellite)

I don't think we'd make this in the future as well, as it was a test payload. It was also launched with the Viking Dynamic Simulator which we also will not be doing. However, I do think that the IIIE fairing base has a variant for the Spinx launch (part of the base is gold colored).

Anyways, the ASTP S-IVB Payload truss is now on github (as part of the SLA part)!

[Zorg]

15 hours ago, DaveyJ576 said:

@CobaltWolf, @Zorg, and the dev team,

I have been running some test missions with the Skylab dry workshop. After gathering data from the science experiments, I have the crew run science in the workshop. When the station passes into the night side, the electrical drain seems to be quite high, on the order of 10 units per second from the workshop batteries. A check of the batteries on the other station components shows a similar, but somewhat slower electrical drain. The rate of overall useage is so high that if I leave science running in the workshop the entire station will run out of power before it gets back to the day side and it will lose attitude control and drift. On one occasion the station drifted into an orientation that prevented it from charging the batteries from the solar panels for an entire orbit!

I fully understand that the station will use battery power while on the night side. But to me it seems as if the rate of useage is unrealistically high while running science. True, I can shut down science while on the night side, but would IRL astronauts have done this? Can this useage rate be adjusted down?

It is also distinctly possible that I am gooning up something very simple here. Please let me know if that is the case. 

Let me check on this. Are you using any life support mods? The dry workshop electrical balance is the same as it was before so I hadnt thought to change anything but definitely worth a look.

 

5 hours ago, DaveyJ576 said:

@CobaltWolf, @Zorg, Something else to look into… since I downloaded the latest dev branch update, I have been having problems with timed MechJeb launches (Launch Into Plane of Target). I will send the rocket to the pad with hibernation on for for IU, I set my target and engage MechJeb. The game goes into warp and advances to the proper point before dropping back to 1x. I take the IU out of hibernation but the battery has run down to zero during warp and I do not get ignition. It has happened to me on an Atlas Centaur and the Saturn V.

To sum up, hibernation for the IU batteries doesn’t seem to be working now when it was a couple of dev branch iterations ago.   Has anyone else seen this yet? Running 1.11.

Thanks!
 

I'll check on this too but I dont think the hibernation EC usage is configurable anyway. Plus shouldn't you be kept charged up on the pad? Can you see if hibernation is working on any probe cores, stock or BDB in your game? I'll take a look sometime soon as well.

On 2/8/2022 at 5:33 PM, Taaaa said:

Hi! I want to see H-IIA and H-IIB! There are MOD for H-II, the ancestor of H-IIAB, but there are no good H-IIA, B ...
This isn't an American rocket but it would be very cool.

 

 

 

 

 

 

On 2/8/2022 at 7:31 PM, Taaaa said:

This is why I asked here... 

There is no H-IIAB mod at good texture in KSP so far.

Its revealed finally . Still in early testing and balancing phase but very exciting and v high quality.

 

Screenshots above by the mod author @mcdouble

 

 

[Beccab]

3 hours ago, Invaderchaos said:

Voyager will be made some time in the future. I have a couple more probes on the horizon (finishing Kepler, Mariner 3-5, and Landsat 1-3) but beyond that I don't have anything concrete. At some point I will also revamp Helios. No idea when any of this will happen. There are plans at all for Viking.

I don't think we'd make this in the future as well, as it was a test payload. It was also launched with the Viking Dynamic Simulator which we also will not be doing. However, I do think that the IIIE fairing base has a variant for the Spinx launch (part of the base is gold colored).

Anyways, the ASTP S-IVB Payload truss is now on github (as part of the SLA part)!

Is it available as a separate part too? It's unique enough that it would be very useful for all kinds of construction, like landers or platforms

[Invaderchaos]

1 hour ago, Beccab said:

Is it available as a separate part too? It's unique enough that it would be very useful for all kinds of construction, like landers or platforms

Interesting idea. Currently the AO is baked as if it was in the SLA, but it is possible I can modify this. I will have to think about this

[GoldForest]

Imma just leave this here, wishing that an actual version of this was in BDB... *Nudge nudge wink wink* 

Full album: Imgur: The magic of the Internet

[TruthfulGnome]

Loving the new goodies!
 

[septemberWaves]

When building the Mariner B probe, there's a minor issue with the electrostatic analyzer experiment. The angled fold clips into the top of the taller Mariner B probe core, while the straight fold clips out of the Ranger/Mariner fairing. Using the angled fold and adjusting by 15 degrees avoids the aforementioned clipping, but doing this means the deploy angle isn't right. It'd be good to see an intermediate fold angle for this part to avoid the clipping while preserving the correct deploy angle with Mariner B.

[Taaaa]

7 hours ago, Zorg said:

これを確認させてください。ライフサポートMODを使用していますか？ドライワークショップの電気バランスは以前と同じなので、何も変えようとは思っていませんでしたが、一見の価値があります。

 

これについても確認しますが、ハイバネーションECの使用はとにかく構成可能ではないと思います。それに加えて、あなたはパッドで充電され続けるべきではありませんか？ゲーム内のプローブコア、ストック、またはBDBで休止状態が機能しているかどうかを確認できますか？近いうちに見ていきます。

 

ついに明らかになりました。まだ初期のテストとバランス調整段階ですが、非常にエキサイティングで高品質です。

 

上記のmod作成者によるスクリーンショット@mcdouble

 

 

This is amazing!!!! thank you so much!

[DaveyJ576]

@Zorg, For the dry workshop electrical issue, no I am not using any life support mods, just BDB. I don't think this is related to a recent change. I actually first noticed it quite some time ago but wrote it off to user error as I was fairly inexperienced at the time.

For the IU electrical issue on the launch pad: I am using Modular Launch Pads and the trick of putting the IU into hibernation to wait out the launch delay has always worked before. I was having trouble with a Saturn V launch so I right clicked the IU and watched the electrical drain down while in warp, with hibernation set to on! So far I have seen this issue with Saturn V and Atlas Centaur. I haven't tried other rockets in this condition yet. Will do so today.

I recently moved my entire KSP installation to a new computer. Could this be an installation issue? Frankly I am mystified. Thanks for your help.

[OrbitalManeuvers]

59 minutes ago, DaveyJ576 said:

For the IU electrical issue on the launch pad: I am using Modular Launch Pads and the trick of putting the IU into hibernation to wait out the launch delay has always worked before

Just one person's data point: this doesn't and has never worked for me. Stock probe cores also use EC while in hibernation. I use MLP's generator when I have to wait for a plane alignment launch window.

[DaveyJ576]

32 minutes ago, OrbitalManeuvers said:

Just one person's data point: this doesn't and has never worked for me. Stock probe cores also use EC while in hibernation. I use MLP's generator when I have to wait for a plane alignment launch window.

Have you ever had one of those moments when you feel pretty dumb? After reading your reply I had one of those.

I have been running KSP for two years and using MLP for most of that time and I honestly didn't know that mod had that feature. It seemed pretty dumb to me that KSP would be set up to allow a rocket to run out of power on the launch pad, but I thought "Well, they can't think of everything." But apparently @AlphaMensaedid just that. I never had a reason to check the launch platforms once I had a vehicle on the pad. Now, I really wish I had!  That dull thud you may have just heard was the sound of my palm striking my forehead! Duh!  Thanks for the insight @OrbitalManeuvers. I appreciate it.

@Zorg, please disregard my earlier post concerning this. It appears to be a bad case of operator error.

[Zorg]

I guess its worth asking how long you're warping. Hibernation reduces EC usage but doesnt eliminate it

Edit: just saw your reply.

Edited February 11, 2022 by Zorg

[AlphaMensae]

9 hours ago, DaveyJ576 said:

Have you ever had one of those moments when you feel pretty dumb? After reading your reply I had one of those.

I have been running KSP for two years and using MLP for most of that time and I honestly didn't know that mod had that feature. It seemed pretty dumb to me that KSP would be set up to allow a rocket to run out of power on the launch pad, but I thought "Well, they can't think of everything." But apparently @AlphaMensaedid just that. I never had a reason to check the launch platforms once I had a vehicle on the pad. Now, I really wish I had!  That dull thud you may have just heard was the sound of my palm striking my forehead! Duh!  Thanks for the insight @OrbitalManeuvers. I appreciate it.

@Zorg, please disregard my earlier post concerning this. It appears to be a bad case of operator error.

Unlike typical launch clamps, the EC generators in the MLP launch bases are manually operated--you have to turn them on from the PAW.  This was done so they could then be turned back off to simulate switching to the vehicle's internal power. This has tripped up others  

[pTrevTrevs]

Apollo 17 Part 2: Out of Sight, Out of Mind:

 

Here's hoping all of my uploads went through correctly...

 

This is an approximate traverse map for the Apollo 17 mission, based roughly on a hypothetical one I found somewhere on the internet. Challenger has landed north of Tsiolkovsky's central peak and is in range of a number of interesting geological formations. Firstly, the mare which covers most of the crater's floor has intrigued lunar geologists because most of the far side lacks such terrain. Questions abound about whether this mare was formed in the same way as the prominent near side lowlands, as well as whether its chemical makeup will be different from the otherwise similar areas sampled on the near side. The crater rim is slightly too far away to reach with the LRV, and even if that weren't the case its walls are likely too steep to scale anyway, but orbital photography shows evidence of numerous rockslides which have caused material from the crater's walls and rim to slide down onto the floor. The goal of the second EVA will be to reach the debris field of these rockslides and search for ancient highland material there. Apollo 17 will be the only mission to visit the far side, so it is imperative that the crew retrieve both mare and highland material to compare to existing samples from near side landings. Finally, the massive central peak of the crater, formed when rock pushed outward by the initial impact rebounded back towards its original location, is thought to be composed of extremely ancient deep crust material forced upward during the impact. If possible, the crew will attempt to summit the mountain, affording them an unbeatable view of the entire crater as well as some of the oldest material yet recovered from the Moon.

Quote

Shortly after landing and before the first moonwalk begins, America passes over the landing site and images it with the mapping camera. It's not quite powerful enough to make out the LM (at least I don't think it is), but it does provide the highest-quality orbital photography of the Tsiolkovsky region yet produced.

On the ground, of course, it's business as usual, and so as not to make this longer than it needs to be I don't have very much to say about it.

The first priority, of course, is unpacking the LRV, by now a routine procedure.

It's kind of funny, from orbit the central peak looks really steep and jagged, but up close it's just another mountain. It's low, rounded shape almost reminds me of the lower Appalachians of Tennessee. We shouldn't have any trouble climbing it in a few days.

With LRV-3 fully activated, the crew sets off on the day's excursion, termed by planners as the mare traverse. As per the map, they will make their way north and then west into the area between one of the outer marches of the central peak and the "shore" of the mare, as it were. This will take them about an hour, possibly longer.

The crater rim, invisible from the landing site, now appears as a long, low range of foothills as the rover crests a ridge. The mare terrain at Tsiolkovsky is proving to be much rougher than expected; I think even the land at Fra Mauro and Descartes was flatter than this.

Those mountains look pretty close, but that's probably just because the airless environment of the Moon makes everything appear much clearer and therefore closer. They're at least ten kilometers away, probably more like fifteen or twenty though. 

Back at the LM, the astronauts have time for a short break before setting out again to deploy the ALSEP.

It's really a formality at this point, since I've collected basically all the science from these instruments and the experiments are not biome-specific. I really wish somebody would make this feature more in-depth with a mod, I really do. It's so much more motivating when I actually have stuff to do on the surface. Apollo astronauts would spend up to seven hours outside the spacecraft doing stuff on the surface, but I have to stretch it to around three hours by just pretending... 

Maybe I should just try getting into Orbiter...

After than, there's only one more thing left to do today; raise the flag. For what it's worth, this flag will be the only one in existence which no human will ever have an actual line of sight to after Apollo ends. All other flags are on the near side and technically could be visible if someone ate enough carrots and had a big enough telescope, I suppose.

I'm not at the proper site for this, but since I like emulating historic photos here's my take on one of Gene Cernan on the real Apollo 17. Only so much I can do with little green men and post-processing, you know...

That wraps up EVA 1; tomorrow we start the hard stuff...

 

Quote

As a quick aside, one of the unique tasks of the Apollo 17 CMP is the high-power imaging of the Earth. The lunar phase required to land at Tsiolkovsky means that more of Earth is illuminated when viewed from the Moon than ever before, and America's cameras will exploit this opportunity by taking long-exposure and low-light photography of the planet using the Moon itself as a lightshade. The images produced are so good that a few stars are faintly visible in the background. Needless to say, I think I've got a TIME magazine cover right here, so chalk one up for the Command Module Pilots...

While the CMP is earning himself a spot in the scrapbooks of the twentieth century, the ground crew await what they consider the most boring part of the mission. Without the excitement of the first walk on the moon and lacking the wonder of the view from atop Mons Tsiolkovsky, EVA 2 is expected to be nothing but a long, boring drive to the distant crater rim. It's a boring job, but somebody's got to do it, and seeing as there are only two people on the Moon in the first place...

Before setting out, they visit the ALSEP, because early telemetry has shown the communications equipment isn't performing as well as it needs to be. One quick fix to the transmitter, however, and the scrambled ALSEP telemetry is coming in just fine once again.

This kind of drive will make one realize just how big craters like Tsiolkovsky can get; from the base of the central peak one can barely see the rim, and from the rim one can barely see the central peak. Probably got nothing on the sheer disappointment of standing on top of Olympus Mons and not even being able to discern the slope, however.

We pass by a lot of craters on the way, but per standard protocol the rover is driving out to its farthest stop first before working its way back home so as to work around the crew's ever shrinking walkback limit.

The drive along took me well over al hour,  but at last we finally reach the limit of our allowable range, some ten kilometers from the LM. There's a small canyon entering into the crater just ahead, hopefully some of the debris we collect here will have originated from whatever incident caused that.

You know, it's almost frustrating, this photo is taken from over twice as close to the crater rim as the ones from yesterday's moonwalk, and yet those blasted mountains don't look any closer. Lunar landnav is weird, man.

One of the stops on the way back is at a shallow but wide impact crater along the route. It's actually big enough to be visible in the traverse map, but it doesn't actually show up as much more than a slight depression when the area is actually rendered in-game.

Well anyway, Moonwalk 2 was a success; we reached the crater's outer regions, collected a menagerie of primordial highland material, breccia material left over from the impact, and additional mare samplings to compare to what was collected at yesterday's site. The last moonwalk of the mission will involve the scaling of that massive central mountain, but I'm gonna make that a third post in a few days, since this one is so long already.

 

Honestly I'm just ready to get to Skylab at this point, but I refuse to be outdone by NASA, we are doing Apollos 18 and 19 and that's final.

[JustDark]

8 hours ago, pTrevTrevs said:

we are doing Apollos 18 and 19 and that's final.

Why no Apollo 20?

[Starhelperdude]

did an Epsilon kitbash

Spoiler

also buildt this (idk about how to name it)

Spoiler

 

[DaveyJ576]

9 hours ago, pTrevTrevs said:

Apollo 17 Part 2: Out of Sight, Out of Mind:

 

Here's hoping all of my uploads went through correctly...

 

This is an approximate traverse map for the Apollo 17 mission, based roughly on a hypothetical one I found somewhere on the internet. Challenger has landed north of Tsiolkovsky's central peak and is in range of a number of interesting geological formations. Firstly, the mare which covers most of the crater's floor has intrigued lunar geologists because most of the far side lacks such terrain. Questions abound about whether this mare was formed in the same way as the prominent near side lowlands, as well as whether its chemical makeup will be different from the otherwise similar areas sampled on the near side. The crater rim is slightly too far away to reach with the LRV, and even if that weren't the case its walls are likely too steep to scale anyway, but orbital photography shows evidence of numerous rockslides which have caused material from the crater's walls and rim to slide down onto the floor. The goal of the second EVA will be to reach the debris field of these rockslides and search for ancient highland material there. Apollo 17 will be the only mission to visit the far side, so it is imperative that the crew retrieve both mare and highland material to compare to existing samples from near side landings. Finally, the massive central peak of the crater, formed when rock pushed outward by the initial impact rebounded back towards its original location, is thought to be composed of extremely ancient deep crust material forced upward during the impact. If possible, the crew will attempt to summit the mountain, affording them an unbeatable view of the entire crater as well as some of the oldest material yet recovered from the Moon.

 

 

Honestly I'm just ready to get to Skylab at this point, but I refuse to be outdone by NASA, we are doing Apollos 18 and 19 and that's final.

Outstanding work once again. Your KSP mojo is impressive! Love your LRV. I am still struggling with my design, mostly because of some weird Editor bug in the VAB/ SPH that scrambles the model when you reload it. There is another thread that is looking into that. In the meantime I just HyperEdit one to the surface. It’s cheating I know.