[WIP] Coatl Aerospace ProbesPlus Dev Thread [Beta] 10/19/2020 (1.8-1.10)

[CobaltWolf]

6 minutes ago, akron said:

I may just do the Russian-inspired SM a little earlier then. Some thing along the lines of the Russian Fobos-Grunt/Mars/Zond. If someone has another suggestion for a good Maneuvering system/SM/Upper stage design for probes, send it my way.

Like @VenomousRequiem posted, the "arms" fold back towards the kick motor which I believe is actually a Star 37E. Here's another pic:

An this is how I used to stack it on my test KSP install which has no other part mods except DMOS, so no BDB parts for the awesomeness:

>>using a Flea instead of a BDB Staara-37.

Some great info on early Soviet interplanetary probes is here on this website. I think I have local copies of all these pages, since I'm always afraid they won't be there the next time I need them. In particular, the KDU-414 engine seen on the top of this craft:

Would be great. Soviet probes are kind of interesting. Most of the Luna/Venera/Mars craft were based on a handful of designs, which themselves were very close to each other. They're all huge too, especially compared to contemporary US probes.

[akron]

22 minutes ago, CobaltWolf said:

>>using a Flea instead of a BDB Staara-37.

37 minutes ago, akron said:

my test KSP install which has no other part mods except DMOS, so no BDB parts for the awesomeness:

uhhh....

Anyway. I do have that site bookmarked, but may I should make a local backup like you did. I will have a Russian-inpired engine but I'd like an American/European one as well. And yes, Soviet probes were huge. I still think that the Soviets had the engineering advantage and it sucks that their space program fell behind due to politics/communism. Politics ruin everything...

 

Edited May 17, 2016 by akron

[rasta013]

31 minutes ago, CobaltWolf said:

Some great info on early Soviet interplanetary probes is here on this website. I think I have local copies of all these pages, since I'm always afraid they won't be there the next time I need them.

LOL I have this page marked also and just in case you ever do need them - they can also be found on the Way Back Machine archive:  https://web.archive.org/web/20160329134617/http://mentallandscape.com/V_Venus.htm  

Edited May 17, 2016 by rasta013

[akron]

Sorry it has been a quiet week, but I've had some RL stuff that will keep me busy until the weekend. I will try to have some work done on Sunday night.

 

Keep on testing!

~Cheers

[CobaltWolf]

All good @akron. I've got some screenshots to hold down the fort. Was wondering what the bare minimum was for a Sandstone to send a probe to the Mun (just an impactor, like Ranger). I clustered 12 of the Vicenza solids around it to give it TWR for liftoff, and then an Alphastar upper stage with an Aethra kick SRB. Probe features a lot of your newer experiments.

 

[akron]

2 hours ago, CobaltWolf said:

All good @akron. I've got some screenshots to hold down the fort. Was wondering what the bare minimum was for a Sandstone to send a probe to the Mun (just an impactor, like Ranger). I clustered 12 of the Vicenza solids around it to give it TWR for liftoff, and then an Alphastar upper stage with an Aethra kick SRB. Probe features a lot of your newer experiments.

Very nice! Thanks for sharing

[SpaceBadger007]

So reporting from testing and all i can say is that this mod is AMAZING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I made a probe with almost every coatl part on it (it looks horrible!) and every part works beautifully well! all science experiments work and all comm stuff transmit the science home and all the RTGs work! I love the beeping thats added when transmitting data, and the animations are wonderful!!!!!!

Just one thing tho, where are you meant to use the solar wind experiment? it doesn't work on the ground or low orbit, is it meant to be used at high orbit?   

[akron]

2 hours ago, SpaceBadger007 said:

So reporting from testing and all i can say is that this mod is AMAZING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I made a probe with almost every coatl part on it (it looks horrible!) and every part works beautifully well! all science experiments work and all comm stuff transmit the science home and all the RTGs work! I love the beeping thats added when transmitting data, and the animations are wonderful!!!!!!

Just one thing tho, where are you meant to use the solar wind experiment? it doesn't work on the ground or low orbit, is it meant to be used at high orbit?   

Awesome! Thank you so much! I am not sure what you mean about the beeps when transmitting, that is not my mod's doing. I think you might be using Chatterer.

I will check later on Monday, but I believe the SWIS is only usable in orbit, low and high. If it is not working on low, it could be a bug. None of ProbesPlus' science (Other than stock replacement) run on the surface. Everything is orbital except the ELIX, which is also high atmosphere. New ground and atmospheric science will come with the Ground Ops pack.

[SpaceBadger007]

1 hour ago, akron said:

Awesome! Thank you so much! I am not sure what you mean about the beeps when transmitting, that is not my mod's doing. I think you might be using Chatterer.

I will check later on Monday, but I believe the SWIS is only usable in orbit, low and high. If it is not working on low, it could be a bug. None of ProbesPlus' science (Other than stock replacement) run on the surface. Everything is orbital except the ELIX, which is also high atmosphere. New ground and atmospheric science will come with the Ground Ops pack.

Oh whoops i am using chatter sorry about that! hmmmmm ill try the solar wind experiment again in the near future.

Edited May 23, 2016 by SpaceBadger007

[CobaltWolf]

I found a thing. Halley Intercept Mission (HIM), as far as I can tell, the last US proposal for the 1985 intercept of Halley's Comet. It is basically a modified Voyager bus with different instrumentation, power, and communications, not to mention a couple big dust shields. More info here. I wonder how close someone could get using the current parts plus DMagic. Maybe use like the Ulysses dish for the HGA, the DMagic magnetometer for the, well, magnetometer... etc.

[akron]

47 minutes ago, CobaltWolf said:

I found a thing. Halley Intercept Mission (HIM), as far as I can tell, the last US proposal for the 1985 intercept of Halley's Comet. It is basically a modified Voyager bus with different instrumentation, power, and communications, not to mention a couple big dust shields. More info here. I wonder how close someone could get using the current parts plus DMagic. Maybe use like the Ulysses dish for the HGA, the DMagic magnetometer for the, well, magnetometer... etc.

*Cynthia Snippelton*

That looks cool! I will try to do a replica of this with current parts, replacing the dust-shield with a heat-shield.

[Delta_8930]

I have a book full of interplanetary probe concepts developed by Dr. Robert Farquhar in the late 20th century. Would you like me to send you some pictures?

[CobaltWolf]

6 minutes ago, Delta_8930 said:

I have a book full of interplanetary probe concepts developed by Dr. Robert Farquhar in the late 20th century. Would you like me to send you some pictures?

Yes. I'm answering for akron as well...

[akron]

49 minutes ago, Delta_8930 said:

I have a book full of interplanetary probe concepts developed by Dr. Robert Farquhar in the late 20th century. Would you like me to send you some pictures?

42 minutes ago, CobaltWolf said:

Yes. I'm answering for akron as well...

Good heavens, yes! Also, would you mind sending me the book's info? I've been looking for a couple in the local library branch so hopefully I can find it or others like it.

The next patch (after the science patch) will have some of the remaining probe buses so I'd love to get more designs in!

 

[Jeb1969]

The new parts are looking pretty slick. I especially like the deployment animation for the Gamma Ray Spectrometer, I was just wondering is the boom on that instrument slated to have a Kapton (Gold foil) texture or is it supposed to be flat white? besides that I have a two name suggestions for the Viking probe core: "Drakkar" and "Norseman", besides that have you thought about doing Microwave radiometer experiments to detect background radiation similar to the one used by COBE? 

[akron]

19 hours ago, Jeb1969 said:

The new parts are looking pretty slick. I especially like the deployment animation for the Gamma Ray Spectrometer, I was just wondering is the boom on that instrument slated to have a Kapton (Gold foil) texture or is it supposed to be flat white? besides that I have a two name suggestions for the Viking probe core: "Drakkar" and "Norseman", besides that have you thought about doing Microwave radiometer experiments to detect background radiation similar to the one used by COBE? 

Thanks! I'll have to remember the suggestions for when I get to Viking. I like Drakkar

The GRS boom is not supposed to be gold. I had reference picture that had it colored a silvery-white.

I was think about COBE a while back and this is another one of those experiments that I don't want to do without a plug-in. I thought about a reverse SCANSat where you scan the skies instead, but I can't code so I may have to look at other mods or modders for help.

 

[123nick]

sorry if ive asked this before, but can you add in or impliment RT support? so the antennas are compatible with RT?

[akron]

13 hours ago, 123nick said:

sorry if ive asked this before, but can you add in or impliment RT support? so the antennas are compatible with RT?

@rakol Did some RT configs for the mod. There is a link in the OP. I'd link it here but I'm on my phone, which is not very friendly with the forums.

 

EDIT: Updated the OP

Remote Tech configs by @rakol: Download

AntennaRange support by @rasta013: Download

Edited June 1, 2016 by akron

[akron]

"update"

It has been a while since I did some real work on the mod. I've looked at some of the requests for engines and tank suggestions. I will have some more alongside the H-II parts.

In the meantime, I have gone back to tweak the ELIX and the ROTFL textures and started to work on the RWPS texture. What do you think about this design for the RWPS computer? This dark texture seen in some of my other parts is supposed to be Carbon-fiber, I hope it looks right. I will try my best to not play KSP or the Witcher 2 too much to get more stuff finished 

 

[akron]

Update

I did some more sketching and research and laid out what RCS parts I am going to make. The Small ones will be a combination of a lot of things and my own design. The medium RCS will be based on Fobos and Cassini. The large RCS will be the HTV set.

I did some more tweaking of textures and part sizes. The IR spectrometer is now 25% smaller and ELIX is 20% larger (I think). ELIX also has an updated texture. RPWS is in-game and should be up in the Github repo fairly soon. Additionally, the RT, AR, and Tweakscale compatibility patches are now part of the repo. Thanks to all who contributed! Links will remain in the OP as well.

Here is a gallery of the re-sized stuff and the RPWS:

 

I also got to the dust collectors, which are the last two *new* science experiments for this next release. These are not completely new, however. These will be using @masTerTorch's KDEX configs. First up is a WIP of the collector, which has no onboard science and must be returned for any science gain. Next will be a second part that can run some tests in-flight, but still needs a sample return for full science. This makes it a bit harder than the original KDEX, which had 100% return. The DUST-C is inspired by the SRC from Stardust. It will have a fairing base for surface attachment (Not pictured). 

 

I am hoping to release this science patch very soon. please post any feedback or last minute requests that you've been holding on to so I can wrap this update up!

~Cheers

[SpaceBadger007]

Wow, this mod just keeps getting better and better!

[akron]

18 hours ago, SpaceBadger007 said:

Wow, this mod just keeps getting better and better!

Thanks very much!

[akron]

Update

DUST-X is now textured and both dust experiments are in-game.

The older science parts are also getting a small texture/detail update pass, starting with the Barometer. I continued to do more balancing tweaks and added part search tags to all parts

Here is some screenshots of the new stuff in-game. These should be up in Github later today with whatever else (if any) I finish.

~Cheers

 

 

Edited June 5, 2016 by akron

[Drew Kerman]

this is starting to rival DMagic. Keep it up. MOAR SCIENCE!!

[akron]

46 minutes ago, Gaiiden said:

this is starting to rival DMagic. Keep it up. MOAR SCIENCE!!

Haha. I find this very funny considering that DMagic is a pre-req for my mod. The players are the ones winning with MOAR SCIENCE! I've only re-done some of his experiments because I really wanted to have a different design, but for the most part I hope to compliment his and other mods.

Update 2

I updated the model and texture of the Gravioli detector. I am keeping the same original design because people might already have it in some active flights. This way it is less save-game breaking, plus, most players should be used to them by now. I will try to get this one updated with a spec map and in-game tonight along with the other stuff I posted, RL calls, though.

And a comparison with the original:

 

~Cheers