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

[Neil Kerman]

Hi, I’m having problems getting the Saturn 1B into orbit with an Apollo CSM. Both the first and second stage have full fuel but the second stage doesn’t seem to have enough thrust to punch up to say 80km before reentering. Please help me!

[Zorg]

11 minutes ago, Neil Kerman said:

Hi, I’m having problems getting the Saturn 1B into orbit with an Apollo CSM. Both the first and second stage have full fuel but the second stage doesn’t seem to have enough thrust to punch up to say 80km before reentering. Please help me!

Make sure you switch the SM to the orbital configuration which reduces the fuel load for low kerbin orbit operations. The Saturn IB is a difficult rocket to get into orbit but its doable even on a 2.7x scale system. Have read through here;

There is a guide to using MechJeb Primer Vector Guidance as well as specific settings for MJ PVG for the Saturn IB as well as how to fly it manually

https://github.com/friznit/Unofficial-BDB-Wiki/wiki/Launching-and-Trajectories

43 minutes ago, Pappystein said:

Looking Great,   Does this mean we are going to want to have FRMS so we can land those probes?

I suppose so? Leaving it up to the user to decide how to go about it. The bay is quite configurable and custom probe landers could be quite fun to do as well. I've seen some interesting designs for the Venus Mars dual flyby mission with kitbashing potential. 

https://commons.erau.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2704&context=space-congress-proceedings

Anyway some updates:

[Kuiper_Belt]

1 hour ago, Zorg said:

Beautiful! Can't wait to do a mission with these! I love the telescope too!

1 hour ago, Zorg said:

I love the idea that Kerbals just strapped an off the shelf Celestron  Stellartron™ telescope to their craft.

[NateDaBeast]

3 hours ago, Pappystein said:

Looking Great,   Does this mean we are going to want to have FRMS so we can land those probes?

No, this is REAL NASA stuff not ETS alt timeline stuff

Although you could use the parts for an ETS game

Oh wow, didn't even know about this. Will be exciting to see still!

[DeadJohn]

2 hours ago, Kuiper_Belt said:

I love the idea that Kerbals just strapped an off the shelf Celestron  Stellartron™ telescope to their craft.

Not quite off the shelf. That scope has a 4-vane spider up front, and an unusual focal point on the side-rear. I don't recall any "Stellartron" which that arrangement.

Considering Kerbal design techniques, the scope might just be the small tube with wires, while the orange tube is just a balancing weight. MOAR balance!

[Pappystein]

46 minutes ago, NateDaBeast said:

Oh wow, didn't even know about this. Will be exciting to see still!

Venus Flyby was in the old Saturn Parts as well (although it did not have anywhere near the detail.)    I use the parts for Venus Flyby quite often for alternative space stations so I am glad they are continuing.  

 

Also an alternative to the Venus Flyby was the Eros flyby which would have involved a "Big Apollo" if you will.  It WASN'T APOLLO but it was a 6 man capsule that was Apollo shaped.   It did not have any relation to Apollo other than it was launched on a Saturn V Rocket and was conic in shape... by that standard Gemini and Apollo are obviously related !!!!!   It is ALMOST as bad as calling a Saturn C-8 proposal NOVA (it isn't NOVA please stop calling it that!  Nova is a paper Rocket AND WAS NEVER MEANT TO BE BUILT!!!!)   **OK I got off the soapbox**

 

The Eros Command Module would turn and dock with the "EFB" Module just like Apollo would turn and dock with the Venus Flyby module.   The biggest differences were Eros Flyby was launched with a S-IVC stage and wetlab (yes S-IVC existed in real life even if it wasn't built.  THIS IS NOT ETS!)  There were 3, that I have found, proposals.   A near duplicate of the Venus Flyby excepting a different docking mechanism and the longer S-IVC wetlab.   To a two part "extending" structure between the S-IVC-wetlab and the EFB module... (to allow solar panel deployment,) to my favorite, a S-IVC but only with S-IVB tankage and including a much larger "Radiation Shelter."   Unlike the VFB module Micrometeorite protection was in the form of a new skin coating...       Other proposals were more like the Venus Flyby... one being almost a duplicate except the EFB module would be built in space and outfitted with better creature comforts.     IIRC Eros Flyby was a 3.75 year mission, or about 2x as long as Venus Flyby.     

[j-tk]

Hello again to one of if not the best mod makers out there!  Back to the game after 2 years off for some pesky abdomen cancer, but knock on wood were all cleared up.  I used to use your Saturn V mod all the time to recreate Apollo 11, but now for some reason the upper stage just below the lunar lander disintegrates  at about 60,000 feet despite playing on "easy mode"  This follows with the main S section breaking off when outbof fuel leading to a full ship cascading destruction.  Any thoughts or ways to send trouble logs? Sorry, a little rusty being away so long

Windows 10 64 bit

All 3 ksp installed

Blue Dog and it's dependencies only installed mods

64 gig ram, game on its own 2 TB NVME, rtx 3080 ti latest drivers.

Thanjs!

[Zorg]

4 hours ago, DeadJohn said:

Not quite off the shelf. That scope has a 4-vane spider up front, and an unusual focal point on the side-rear. I don't recall any "Stellartron" which that arrangement.

Considering Kerbal design techniques, the scope might just be the small tube with wires, while the orange tube is just a balancing weight. MOAR balance!

yup its not really a traditional Celestron design by any means. The side focus is a Nasmyth focus which is common with large research telescopes.

3 hours ago, j-tk said:

Hello again to one of if not the best mod makers out there!  Back to the game after 2 years off for some pesky abdomen cancer, but knock on wood were all cleared up.  I used to use your Saturn V mod all the time to recreate Apollo 11, but now for some reason the upper stage just below the lunar lander disintegrates  at about 60,000 feet despite playing on "easy mode"  This follows with the main S section breaking off when outbof fuel leading to a full ship cascading destruction.  Any thoughts or ways to send trouble logs? Sorry, a little rusty being away so long

Windows 10 64 bit

All 3 ksp installed

Blue Dog and it's dependencies only installed mods

64 gig ram, game on its own 2 TB NVME, rtx 3080 ti latest drivers.

Thanjs!

Would definitely need to see the log if you can find a way to post it, google drive, dropbox etc. This is with the current release of BDB or a version from github?

[Invaderchaos]

soon

[Neil Kerman]

@ZorgThanks!

[Pappystein]

7 hours ago, Invaderchaos said:

 

soon

PEGASUS!   NOICE!

[AmateurAstronaut1969]

God I love the new Saturn parts! Can't wait for the historical stuff to be finished so we can get the new ETS stuff!

Saturn M02 Crew

Spoiler

A little teaser for the next launch of my space station Freedom replica...The US Laboratory, Discovery, coming later today.

[MashAndBangers]

More Sealab Skylab and Gemini!

Also experimenting with Gemini Ferry:

 

Bug Report time:  Launched the Skylab, and jettisoned the fairings around the workshop to show the gold.  I went back to launch a GemFerry, and upon arrival to the station, the fairings were back on.  No beautiful gold

KSP Verison 1.12.2 with JNSQ, textures unlimited also installed for that glorious gold.

[Zorg]

2 hours ago, MashAndBangers said:

Bug Report time:  Launched the Skylab, and jettisoned the fairings around the workshop to show the gold.  I went back to launch a GemFerry, and upon arrival to the station, the fairings were back on.  No beautiful gold

KSP Verison 1.12.2 with JNSQ, textures unlimited also installed for that glorious gold.

Does this happen every time you reload the craft? Or sometimes? 

I think a log will be needed for further investigation. Or if it can be reliably reproduced need to know the exact conditions.

[Adam-Kerman]

Wanting to Conformal Decals over the current letters on fins for Regular Letters, so what's attachment rules for the fins to allow Conformal Decals?

[MashAndBangers]

21 minutes ago, Zorg said:

Does this happen every time you reload the craft? Or sometimes? 

I think a log will be needed for further investigation. Or if it can be reliably reproduced need to know the exact conditions.

Happens when every I reload.  Quicksave and quickload, and the station has it's shielding back.  Can't jettison them again, so had to launch a couple of skylabs to make sure.

Link to my KSP Log I just made.

[Zorg]

2 minutes ago, MashAndBangers said:

Happens when every I reload.  Quicksave and quickload, and the station has it's shielding back.  Can't jettison them again, so had to launch a couple of skylabs to make sure.

Link to my KSP Log I just made.

no rush since I wont have time to go over it till sometime tomorrow but could you verify if the same thing happens with the Centaur D?

[AmateurAstronaut1969]

US Laboratory, Discovery, from Space station Freedom - @Zorg’s great new SIM bay and Skylab science parts look amazing for external science on the module!

Also, Saturn H03 Kitbash - Using the LDC parts for the S-IVC Tank extension. 

Spoiler

Talking about the Saturn H03 / Multibody. When the ETS parts get made, will the S-IVC be a separate tank extension like last time, because I think it makes more sense just to have one long tank, that way you can match up all the piping. Also, will the S-1F cores be SOFI, or will they be an Atlas V like material like they are supposed to be (I believe)?

I know this is all in the future, but I’m just wondering 

[pTrevTrevs]

Faith 7, a two and a half day orbital flight to prepare ground crews and astronauts for the long-duration flights planned for Gemini beginning next year:

Quote

"The Mercury program was over. Four years later Astronaut Grissom was killed, along with Astronauts White and Chafee, when fire swept through their Apollo capsule. But on that glorious day in 1963, Gordo Cooper went higher, farther, and faster than any other American. 22 complete orbits around the world, he was the last American to go into space alone, and for a brief moment, Gordo Cooper became the greatest pilot anyone had ever seen!"

 

KH-4A launch on TAT-Agena:

Quote

 

Syncom-1 launch on Delta-D:

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I need to ask again about aerodynamic problems on Thor. You can see in the second photo above how the Castor SRBs seem to spiral off in random directions after jettison, despite being fully burnt out. I'm wondering if this is related to the horrible aerodynamic stability I get when flying Thrust-Augmented Thor rockets.

We now return to your regularly scheduled screenshot tax.

Titan-IIIA development flight:

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Saturn-Centaur development flight:

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I'm still trying to think of a payload which would actually give me an excuse to launch this thing. Best ideas I've had so far is a MOL or Centaur-derived (headcanon) proto-space station for the later Gemini flights to use, and a KH-7 Gambit-derived lunar orbiter to produce high-resolution visual maps before Apollo gets into full swing. Does anyone have any information on what NASA actually planned to launch with S-V-equipped Saturn 1s?

 

Speaking of, KH-7 Gambit launch, Vandenberg AFB:

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Finally, Mariner 1 and 2 Venusian flybys:

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I would show Mariner 3/4 and their Mars flybys, but since they aren't in BDB (yet) I'm stuck using the Coatl versions.

 

Anyway I think I made a couple of movie-poster-worthy screenshots this time; really loving my new computer.

[MashAndBangers]

3 hours ago, Zorg said:

no rush since I wont have time to go over it till sometime tomorrow but could you verify if the same thing happens with the Centaur D?

This does not happen to the Centaur D.

Also found out that you can just load craft on the pad, jettison shielding, go back to space center, then back to craft on the pad, and shielding on the workshop is back on with no option to jettison.

[Guest]

On 9/4/2021 at 2:49 AM, KeaKaka said:

I also noticed that on the Wikipedia page for the Saturn V,  It states "For the first two uncrewed launches, eight solid-fuel ullage motors ignited for four seconds to accelerate the S-II stage, followed by the ignition of the five J-2 engines. For the first seven crewed Apollo missions only four ullage motors were used on the S-II, and they were eliminated completely for the final four launches". How did the S-II generate ullage without the motors on the interstage?

That's the reason for shutting down the centre F-1 engine on the first stage approximately seven seconds before MECO and staging. It caused the launch vehicle to slow slightly, allowing the second stage fuel to settle and ensure proper flow to the J-2 engines for ignition.

[Starwaster]

1 hour ago, Jack Wolfe said:

That's the reason for shutting down the centre F-1 engine on the first stage approximately seven seconds before MECO and staging. It caused the launch vehicle to slow slightly, allowing the second stage fuel to settle and ensure proper flow to the J-2 engines for ignition.

The center engine was shut down to reduce accelleration but that's not going to settle the propellant any more than it's already settled. The reason for limiting acceleration is to reduce stress on rocket and crew which otherwise would have been pushing up to 5g

[Pappystein]

3 hours ago, pTrevTrevs said:

I need to ask again about aerodynamic problems on Thor. You can see in the second photo above how the Castor SRBs seem to spiral off in random directions after jettison, despite being fully burnt out. I'm wondering if this is related to the horrible aerodynamic stability I get when flying Thrust-Augmented Thor rockets.

We now return to your regularly scheduled screenshot tax.

 

I can't speak to aerodynamic problems because I am not experiencing them.  I would look at other mods being the culprit there.   However I **CAN** speak to the SRBs since this is something I brought up years ago.   It is the Decoupler that is causing them to spin out of control.   It offsets the COM by an appreciable amount when the SRM has burnt out.

 

[braxfortex]

3 hours ago, pTrevTrevs said:

Finally, Mariner 1 and 2 Venusian flybys:

I would show Mariner 3/4 and their Mars flybys, but since they aren't in BDB (yet) I'm stuck using the Coatl versions.

I'm eagerly waiting for Mariner 3/4, too.  I've got my historical spaceflight missions waiting for as soon as it drops.  I started to put together the Coatl version, but when the size didn't match up with the BDB launch craft, I decided to wait.

[alberro+]

Really off topic, but I just wanted to mention the insane difference from the beginning of BDB to where it is now. The amount of detail in the latest releases is genuinely jawdropping. Big thank yous to everyone who’s worked on this.