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

[Rodger]

And speaking of the Shaddy patch, when it's working it looks pretty nice imho

The 3 blanket panels will have back-lighting: both versions of the EOSS experimental rollout, and the Skylab Power Module 25kW.

Requires all: TexturesUnlimited, https://spacedock.info/mod/3064/Shaddy and http://taniwha.org/~bill/Shabby_v0.3.0.zip

Edited August 5, 2022 by Rodger

[Socowez]

4 hours ago, Rodger said:

And speaking of the Shaddy patch, when it's working it looks pretty nice imho

The 3 blanket panels will have back-lighting: both versions of the EOSS experimental rollout, and the Skylab Power Module 25kW.

Requires both: https://spacedock.info/mod/3064/Shaddy and http://taniwha.org/~bill/Shabby_v0.3.0.zip

You, sir, change the definition of eye candy.  What body is that on?

[Rodger]

That's my Iota base in GPP

[Doc Shaftoe]

Man that looks gorgeous. I haven't been able to get Shaddy to work though, so it's the stock shaders for me! At least until Shaddy becomes more reliable. 

[zakkpaz]

hey @CobaltWolf I’ve been working on a more comprehensive patch for CTT, to spread out the part that would be late game with the vanilla techtree and push post-Apollo stuff farther down the tech tree

I started it just for my own personal use but it’s getting to the point where I’m wondering if y’all might want it?

It's a little sloppy but it’s mostly done I just have to figure out where to put the peacekeeper & minuteman based parts.

Edited August 5, 2022 by zakkpaz

[pTrevTrevs]

Pioneer Venus: Multiprobes of Madness:

And other sundry missions that don't deserve their own post...

 

June, 1978: The incident causing the launch failure of AAP-4 back in February has been resolved and appropriate measures have been taken to prevent a recurrence of the anomaly in the future. An investigation board concluded that a piece of circuitry inside the Saturn IU had been improperly attached and was broken off by the vibrations caused by the F-1A engine's spool-up and ignition. The assembly appears to have become disconnected at around T-0.5 seconds, preventing the IU from receiving confirmation of liftoff. For the rest of the flight, therefore, the Saturn believed it was still in a pre-launch state and acted accordingly. Aerodynamic forces then induced errant rates on the vehicle which the IU did not correct, leading to the subsequent abnormal trajectory and launch abort. IBM's manufacturing teams have responded to the failure of their hardware by increasing the strictness of their inspections and strengthening the soldering and welding work on all their future IUs. Having had its own IU cleared for flight the next available Saturn IC, serial SA-309, is quickly pulled from its original Skylab 8 flight and repurposed for the revised AAP-4A flight. One morning in late June, the original mission crew files into the white room atop LC-34 for another attempt to retrieve their orbiting target...

Quote

This time, the launch proceeds normally, and the crew make their target orbit with minimal deviations. Having received absolution, Saturn IC will resume its rapid launch cadence with the Skylab 8 mission, now delayed into August by the exchanging of its booster for SA-310.

Side note, I'm really liking the new F-1 plumes.

AAP-4A's command module Bunker Hill II performs a rendezvous in near-record time for a Block III spacecraft, arriving at the OPS target only three hours after launch. During the extended delays of the previous months, the spacecraft's attitude control system has failed, and the crew finds the spacecraft in a slow but manageable drift.

While a heftier Block II CSM may not have been able to match the OPS's yaw rate for a capture, but the Block III is less than half the weight of its predecessor. The weight reduction makes for an exceptionally nimble spacecraft which can maneuver in and retrieve the OPS with relative ease.

Later that day, the two monkeys aboard the OPS are forced into the twin retrieval capsules at the top of their cabin through the use of a sliding panel, and the right-seater Mission Specialist Pilot prepares for the spacewalk to collect the animals.

As another aside, I only recently noticed that the Kerbals' EVA jetpack has a control panel which is a near-identical copy of the Apollo Guidance Computer's DSKY. Neat, I guess...

Anyway, the spacewalk is filmed by a remote-controlled television camera mounted to Bunker Hill II's hatch.

The entire procedure takes less than an hour, and with the subjects stowed safely inside the command module the MSP returns inside.

The rest of the day is spent running medical checks on the two monkeys. In order to prevent any unpleasantries from having two cabin-feverous live animals floating around the cabin, each monkey is stowed in a plexiglass cage in the lower equipment bay. Each cage is also outfitted with a monkey-sized flight couch into which the animals will be secured before reentry. On flight day 2, the OPS is jettisoned along with Bunker Hill II's docking equipment.

Poor weather in the recovery area delays reentry by one day, and the crew makes the most of it by performing impromptu observation exercises and further checkups on their primate passengers.

One activity of note on this mission is the use of the command module's navigation optics to observe the Earth. This is something NASA has been hoping to do for awhile, but which has never fit nicely into a mission plan. 

Using the 60-degree FOV scanning telescope, the CMP acquires a target for observation and centers it in the reticle before moving to the narrower sextant to capture a high-resolution photo. Seen here is the city of New Orleans at the mouth of the Mississippi River.

The process is repeated multiple times throughout flight day 2, and produces some of the best astronaut-taken photos of Earth ever seen at that time. One of the most popular is the above image of the Bahamas, the tip of Florida, and Cuba.

Reentry began at MET 2 days, 3 hours, 10 minutes, and the spacecraft splashed down in the Pacific off the coast of Baja California shortly thereafter. 

AAP-4A would be the last free-flying mission of an Apollo Block III spacecraft, as the Space Shuttle would begin flying in later 1979 and assume all future missions of this sort. Bunker Hill II would also be the last named Apollo capsule, as Skylab crews were not allowed to choose unique callsigns for their spacecraft. 

 

December: After a seven-month voyage, the twin Pioneer Venus spacecraft have arrived at their destination. The Orbiter is the first to reach the second planet, entering orbit on December 4...

Quote

The spacecraft is equipped with a Star-17A orbital insertion motor, which slows it into an elliptical orbit around Venus. At pericytherion, the Orbiter's maneuvering engines are ignited to circularize the orbit in order to allow constant radar mapping of the surface from here on out.

 

Days later, the Pioneer Venus Multiprobe comes screaming into the Venusian system carrying its four atmospheric probes. Three small probes are detached individually and directed to diverse locations on the planet. One probe lands near the equator on the daylit side of Venus, a second at a similar latitude on the night side, and the third at a latitude exceeding 60 degrees north. None of these probes are equipped with parachutes, but the Venusian atmosphere is expected to be so thick that the probes will fall to the surface very slowly, possibly at survivable speeds...

Quote

Each of the small probes experiences blistering deceleration in excess of twenty Gs during reentry, as they slam into an atmosphere much more vicious than Earth's.

Despite the incredible entry speeds and shallow descent angle, however, the small probes slow to subsonic speeds while still over twenty thousand meters above the surface. Once temperature sensors inside each probe determine that aerodynamic heating has subsided, the aeroshell is jettisoned and the sensors exposed.

For the next five to ten minutes, each probe will return data on the atmospheric pressure and composition, as well as light levels and temperatures deep into the eternal stormclouds which blanket the planet.

The day probe returns data until an estimated altitude of 4000 meters, at which point it is believed to have suffered a compressive failure from the extreme atmospheric pressure. The last data readings from the probe indicated a pressure exceeding 4000 kPa and an ambient temperature of over 800 degrees Fahrenheit (or, almost as hot as the average summer temperature in Alabama).

The night probe and north probe both survived until impact with the surface, although both signals were lost at that point. Recorded conditions at the surface of both probes' landing sites were roughly identical: some 8000 kPa and nearly 900 degrees Fahrenheit. This equates to roughly ninety times the atmospheric pressure at sea level and ten times the typical average summer temperatures on Earth.

 

Much closer to the planet, the single large probe is released. This probe boasts a small parachute intended to slow its descent and enable a much longer observation period. In addition to the instruments fitted to the small probes, the large probe carries a moisture sensor and geiger counter. While the primary focus of the multiprobe is atmospheric study, the possibility of the probe surviving the descent has not been ruled out, and to exploit this outcome a seismometer has been fitted to the probe as well...

Quote

The Multiprobe Bus, following a similar trajectory to the large probe, is also programmed to transmit data until contact is lost , although with no heatshield it will be destroyed during reentry.

The large probe's parachute opens at 15,000 meters when the capsule is travelling at transonic speeds, and is unreefed at an altitude of 7000 meters. Thanks to the chute the large probe's descent lasts upwards of fifteen minutes, compared to five to ten minutes for each small probe.

To everyone's joy, the large probe impacts the Venusian surface at a much slower speed than its smaller counterparts and continues transmitting. It will return data from the ground for over an hour, until the corrosive atmosphere tears into the capsule's systems and destroys the transmitter.

 

[Rodger]

9 hours ago, Doc Shaftoe said:

Man that looks gorgeous. I haven't been able to get Shaddy to work though, so it's the stock shaders for me! At least until Shaddy becomes more reliable. 

What issues did you have? They might be fixed by updating to the latest versions of both shaddy and shabby. It also requires TexturesUnlimited too

[MikoYurei]

Saturn-Shuttle with Strawman as experimental payload

[GoldForest]

3 minutes ago, MikoYurei said:

Saturn-Shuttle with Strawman as experimental payload

Not bad, though the S-IC is a little stretched. 

[MikoYurei]

Just now, GoldForest said:

Not bad, though the S-IC is a little stretched.

Thank you. yes, it's 9m stretched S-IC, that also using 6 F-1As instead of 5, because in other case it just couldn't make it to orbit. With this setup 40t payload in JNSQ in cargo bay and normal orbit insertion.

[DaveyJ576]

11 hours ago, pTrevTrevs said:

Pioneer Venus: Multiprobes of Madness:

And other sundry missions that don't deserve their own post...

 

June, 1978: The incident causing the launch failure of AAP-4 back in February has been resolved and appropriate measures have been taken to prevent a recurrence of the anomaly in the future. An investigation board concluded that a piece of circuitry inside the Saturn IU had been improperly attached and was broken off by the vibrations caused by the F-1A engine's spool-up and ignition. The assembly appears to have become disconnected at around T-0.5 seconds, preventing the IU from receiving confirmation of liftoff. For the rest of the flight, therefore, the Saturn believed it was still in a pre-launch state and acted accordingly. Aerodynamic forces then induced errant rates on the vehicle which the IU did not correct, leading to the subsequent abnormal trajectory and launch abort. IBM's manufacturing teams have responded to the failure of their hardware by increasing the strictness of their inspections and strengthening the soldering and welding work on all their future IUs. Having had its own IU cleared for flight the next available Saturn IC, serial SA-309, is quickly pulled from its original Skylab 8 flight and repurposed for the revised AAP-4A flight. One morning in late June, the original mission crew files into the white room atop LC-34 for another attempt to retrieve their orbiting target...

 

December: After a seven-month voyage, the twin Pioneer Venus spacecraft have arrived at their destination. The Orbiter is the first to reach the second planet, entering orbit on December 4...

 

Days later, the Pioneer Venus Multiprobe comes screaming into the Venusian system carrying its four atmospheric probes. Three small probes are detached individually and directed to diverse locations on the planet. One probe lands near the equator on the daylit side of Venus, a second at a similar latitude on the night side, and the third at a latitude exceeding 60 degrees north. None of these probes are equipped with parachutes, but the Venusian atmosphere is expected to be so thick that the probes will fall to the surface very slowly, possibly at survivable speeds...

 

Much closer to the planet, the single large probe is released. This probe boasts a small parachute intended to slow its descent and enable a much longer observation period. In addition to the instruments fitted to the small probes, the large probe carries a moisture sensor and geiger counter. While the primary focus of the multiprobe is atmospheric study, the possibility of the probe surviving the descent has not been ruled out, and to exploit this outcome a seismometer has been fitted to the probe as well...

 

Great work! Very interesting main probe kitbashing. The parts for the Keyhole film bucket and recovery system are very adaptable. I even use them as warheads… oops, “reentry vehicles”  for Atlas and Titan ICBMs. 

[MikoYurei]

Was playing around with Saturn Multibody and noticed, that we have widebody H03 fairing, but there's no widebody SLA-type adapter, that was in ETS Artemis programm. Could we possibly get it?

[biohazard15]

37 minutes ago, MikoYurei said:

Was playing around with Saturn Multibody and noticed, that we have widebody H03 fairing, but there's no widebody SLA-type adapter, that was in ETS Artemis programm. Could we possibly get it?

Isn't this already there?

[biohazard15]

Yup, it's there (somewhat higher than this pic, though). Look for Sarnus-EXSP Super-wide SLA panel, and use the corresponding SLA base.

[Soviet_Velir]

23 hours ago, Rodger said:

There's one on the dev branch now:

https://github.com/CobaltWolf/Bluedog-Design-Bureau/tree/1.11-development/Craft Files

J-Class with LRV.craft or LRV.craft for a standalone craft

 

23 hours ago, GoldForest said:

@Rodger Has included one in the development download on Github. Download the zip and you'll find it in the Craft Folder.

Sniped me 

Awesome, Awesome, AWESOME!Very,very thanks!
Even though I forgot to put the TV camera in the trunk, the rover turned out very cool! Thank you!

 

[MikoYurei]

24 minutes ago, biohazard15 said:

Yup, it's there (somewhat higher than this pic, though). Look for Sarnus-EXSP Super-wide SLA panel, and use the corresponding SLA base.

oh, my bad, didn't noticed that

[Friznit]

51 minutes ago, biohazard15 said:

Yup, it's there (somewhat higher than this pic, though). Look for Sarnus-EXSP Super-wide SLA panel, and use the corresponding SLA base.

Reminder to self:  add to wiki

Let me know if you think there's any other specific bits missing from the guides.

[Doc Shaftoe]

7 hours ago, Rodger said:

What issues did you have? They might be fixed by updating to the latest versions of both shaddy and shabby. It also requires TexturesUnlimited too

Pink textures mostly. I've been using TU for a few years, but I'll have to try the new version of shabby.

[Jcking]

3 hours ago, MikoYurei said:

Was playing around with Saturn Multibody and noticed, that we have widebody H03 fairing, but there's no widebody SLA-type adapter, that was in ETS Artemis programm. Could we possibly get it?

The widebody SLA is in the game. Search for Sarnus-SIVB-BLAM Lunar Adapter Base for mounting plate and Sarnus-SIVB-SLAM Lander Adapter Segment for the panels (note that there are two bases, one in 6.25 and one for 4.25 as the panels can be switched for either size).

[Pudgemountain]

It took a long time but I finally did a manned mission to Pluto.

Originally the Lander was gonna be named Valentine because it was planned to land on the Tombaugh Regio aka the heart but due to the passing of Nichelle Nichols the KSP decided to rename the Lander Uhura.

No Saturn Launch System this time because it's meant to go into LEO and Rendezvous so a Saturn V works (Saturn I variants don't like me.)

I skipped posting the Crew launch since it's the same as the others.

After 4 years of traveling Mila has entered Pluto's SOI.

Spoiler

Undocking Uhura.

I love that view of Charon.

We have touched down on the Sputnik Planitia.

Some images on the surface which surprisingly for being so far from the sun is very bright even with Ballisticfox's Vintage TUFX filter which usually makes places dark.

Spoiler

There's Klingons on the Starboard Bow, Starboard Bow, Starboard Bow.

There's Bill wearing a red suit in honor of Uhura's uniform. (I miss the old Star Trek suit mods, they are too old and wont work with post 1.5 suit models.)

Jeb walking out from Bill's POV

Bananas are meant to be eaten in the ship not outside!

Time to fly.

In Honor of Nichols we decided to put a different flag up.

Time to head home.

Due to not having Breaking Ground I could not use the LRV but I do have bonus pictures of Science results which are hilarious.

Spoiler

Pluto is cool.

Decades? More like a Century or 2.

Awwww.

Kerbals aren't humans plus I think they stop aging at a certain point since Bill and Jed are well over 150 years old.

Honestly I am not sure what to do anymore. Try to land on Venus? keep playing and go to Neptune? or start a new career with a map compatible with GU or wait and see if I can get enough money for Breaking Ground? Only Time will tell.

Edited August 6, 2022 by Pudgemountain

[Friznit]

9 hours ago, Pudgemountain said:

Honestly I am not sure what to do anymore. 

Now do it with Life Support

[DA299]

31 minutes ago, Friznit said:

Now do it with Life Support

*with Kerbalism.

[Beccab]

Fun fact: in one of the NTRS docs that has been purged in 2012 (thanks again senator Wolf), there's an interesting LM variant proposal: using the LM ascent stage to go from a spacecraft in the orbit of mars (the baseline IPP highly elliptical orbit to salve delta V) to the surface of the martian moons and back using its 2100 m/s of delta v


An additional modification proposed for a second LM variant doing the same mission was making it a hydrolox vehicle: this way it could refuel from the tanks of the main spacecraft and do more than one trip, with another possible mission for the LM being going from the elliptical orbit to LMO to do high resolution photography of the martian surface. The report is here thanks to the fantastic archieve.org, and even then this report was almost lost; there's only a single capture of the document from may 2010. There's a lot more interesting stuff in it: one of them is the slide below, which appears to have survived the removal of this document and has appeared in other ones on NTRS on the S-IVC


There's also schematics of a soft lander, an atmospheric probe and other stuff I've put in the quote below
 

Quote

 

[GoldForest]

1 hour ago, Beccab said:

Fun fact: in one of the NTRS docs that has been purged in 2012 (thanks again senator Wolf), there's an interesting LM variant proposal: using the LM ascent stage to go from a spacecraft in the orbit of mars (the baseline IPP highly elliptical orbit to salve delta V) to the surface of the martian moons and back using its 2100 m/s of delta v


An additional modification proposed for a second LM variant doing the same mission was making it a hydrolox vehicle: this way it could refuel from the tanks of the main spacecraft and do more than one trip, with another possible mission for the LM being going from the elliptical orbit to LMO to do high resolution photography of the martian surface. The report is here thanks to the fantastic archieve.org, and even then this report was almost lost; there's only a single capture of the document from may 2010. There's a lot more interesting stuff in it: one of them is the slide below, which appears to have survived the removal of this document and has appeared in other ones on NTRS on the S-IVC


There's also schematics of a soft lander, an atmospheric probe and other stuff I've put in the quote below
 

 

Not going to lie, I thought that was... uh... something else... when I was scrolling through and only caught a glimpse. 

On a serious note, 2,100 m/s out of a lunar ascent module?! With just RCS?! How?!

Edited August 6, 2022 by GoldForest

[Beccab]

15 minutes ago, GoldForest said:

Not going to lie, I thought that was... uh... something else... when I was scrolling through and only caught a glimpse. 

On a serious note, 2,100 m/s out of a lunar ascent module?! With just RCS?! How?!

I'm 99% sure the artist just forgot the ascent stage engine considering the stats of the MMRM are supposed to be:
- total weight 11 500 lb;
- inert weight 6180 ib;
-  fuel weight 5320 lb;
- specific impulse 400 seconds;
- available deltaV 8000 fps (2400 m/s).

The standard LM ascent stage has over 2200 m/s and this proposal adds 618 lbs of fuel to make up for the "moon docking bumpers" and additional life support stuff to make the acent stage by itself for 5 days, so it seems feasible overall. The hydrolox variant would definitely need bigger tanks (and probably an RL10 derivative), but considering that the manned mars mission profiles NASA was most likely to choose back then were nuclear it wouldn't have been all that useful for refueling anyways considering they wouldn't have had that much LOX with them for multiple trips.
Side note: determining the gravitational attraction of something once you've already sent people there doesn't reeeally sound like a great idea, but maybe it's just me