The New Colonial Alliance

[The-Doctor]

Welcome all to the New Colonial Alliance (N.C.A). The mission of the NCA is to conduct interstellar colonization as part of the Icarus Initiative. This will involve colonization of every habitable world in the RSS Constellation pack. The NCA is made up of a collection of sponsors. Each sponsor is a manufacturer, who built one of the critical mission components. Right now the NCA has 2 manufacturers, but more are needed before the ARC Destiny can be launched to colonize the stars. Right now the NCA is seeking manufacturers to build one key component for the mission, that is the landers. We are seeking  SSTO cargo lander for RSS Constellations. Minimum payload of 100 tons, Delta V of 15000, does not need to be a space plane but that would be ideal. Mod's that may be included, SMURF, Kerbal atomics, Near Future Engines and OPT space planes. The docking ports that it must be able to dock to is clamp o-tron senior docking port and the clamp o tron docking port, the senior docking port either has to be on its belly or back as it will be used to dock it to a mother ship. VTOL abilities is a plus for the space planes but not a requirement. if it is a space plane. If you build it and it works, then you'll be part of the Icarus Initiative and we welcome to the New Colonial Alliance as we embark on the first ever interstellar colonization of RSS Constellations.

 

Be advised, you don't need to install the entire mod list I provided to build your assignments. Example, if you're working on lander's, you can just install the lander mods provided in the mod list, and create your craft in stock KSP. When we are ready to cast of, then, you'd install the entire mod list. This applies to all manufactures. 

Edited May 22, 2017 by The-Doctor

[TSLA15]

I'd be willing to be a manufacturer. I'm quite new to the Forum, however, I post lots of my work to my KerbalX account and KSP Facebook page where I go by the name of Cam Byers on the Facebook page. I have roughly 2300 hours in the game (excluding playing it out of steam) which I think can make me a good candidate. I tend to focus on reusable vehicles, as well as vehicles that have good looks and good capability. 

Link to KerbalX: https://kerbalx.com/ElectriCam

[The-Doctor]

The NCA is proud to announce our first sponsor, the Aries Company, which will be manufacturing the heavy SSTO's for the Icarus initiative

 

[The-Doctor]

The Mod List for the NCA is out, but not finalized, additional mods may be added in if manufacturers really need them to accomplish mission objectives 

 

 

Community resource pack

DeepFreeze

Kerbalism

RemoteTech

JX2Antennae

Kerbal Engineer

MechJeb

Kerbal Alarm Clock

KAS

KIS

Epstein Drive (The manufacturer is currently creating this mod, intended to be used in sync with KSPIE for propulsion)

KSPIE (Only for antimatter reactors, other necessities and a powerful engine TBD)

Procedural Wings

Procedural Parts

Window shine 

Near Future Construction

Near Future Electrical (Depends if the creator of the Epstien drive includes a reactor)

SMURF

SMURF Vens stock revamp

RSS

RSS Constellations

Trajectories

TextureReplacer

Poods DeepStar Map

RasterProp Monitor

Tweakscale

Vens stock revamp

Keridian Dynamics (For base building)

Extraplanetary launchpads ( for the runway only)

Planetary Domes

Hanger Extender

 

(The mod called Mother if it releases would replace Near Future Constrution and Near Future Electrical)

Edited May 11, 2017 by The-Doctor

[The-Doctor]

@TSLA15 Welcome on board, we definitely need reusable launchers, mainly SSTO's that are VTOL's, but dont necessarily need to be VTOL's 

[Skylon]

Remember rule 2.2j about no company roleplay, especially one with hierarchy 

[Vanamonde]

Yes indeed. Taking on jobs for others, hiring/firing people and that sort of thing caused no end of trouble on the forum and led to a ban on roleplaying. If you want to work together, that's fine. But no promotions or contracts or any of that sort of thing. 

[lordcirth]

Why use RemoteTech when Kerbalism has a comm system?

Also, we should add "MechJeb and Engineer for all!" to reduce part count.

I thought you said you didn't want to use KSP Interstellar Extended?  Constellations is trying to pull it in on CKAN.

Edited May 10, 2017 by lordcirth
MechJeb and Engineer for all!

[theJesuit]

20 hours ago, The-Doctor said:

The Mod List for the NCA is out, but not finalized, additional mods may be added in if manufacturers really need them to accomplish mission objectives 

 

(The mod called Mother if it releases would replace Near Future Constrution and Near Future Electrical)

I'm sure this would be a great showcase for Mother if the time frame works for @Bonus Eventus.  I'm looking forward both this and Mother!

[The-Doctor]

44 minutes ago, Vanamonde said:

Yes indeed. Taking on jobs for others, hiring/firing people and that sort of thing caused no end of trouble on the forum and led to a ban on roleplaying. If you want to work together, that's fine. But no promotions or contracts or any of that sort of thing. 

 

6 hours ago, Skylon said:

Remember rule 2.2j about no company roleplay, especially one with hierarchy 

This isn't any role-playing or hiring/firing people or promotions or contracts or that. I'm simply getting people to work together on a mission, I just like the term NCA and rather than just calling different folk that work on the mission "team mates" I rather call them sponsors and manufacturers, because everyone is contributing a manufactured part to the mothership 

[The-Doctor]

37 minutes ago, theJesuit said:

I'm sure this would be a great showcase for Mother if the time frame works for @Bonus Eventus.  I'm looking forward both this and Mother!

Definitely, especially since I've settled on replicating the ISV Venture Star

[The-Doctor]

Proud to announce that the N5 Aerodynamics and Space corporation has joined the NCA, and will be supplying 2 of the 4 SSTO's, and all of the winged SSTO's. The below is a work in progress

 

@nestor_d welcome on board 

[nestor_d]

 

[Drunken Monkey Style]

Hey all,

I'm the guy who's wrapping up work on the Epstein engine. But fair warning - This engine is designed to meet the specs of the Engines used in the Expanse series, which is a polite way of saying "It completely unbalances the game" 

As per the specs in the series: On a small ship (crew pod of 3) carrying a load of roughly 1/3 mass in fuel (99.8% water for propellant and .1% Lithium6 and .1% Deuterium for fusion) it's capable of roughly 7Gs acceleration and a total delta V of .06c (or 17,990,000 m/s)

Once you have that sort of tech... Who needs space planes? Heck, you can just hover in place for a few days using rocket power alone!

It's easy enough for me to Nerf this a bit, is all I'm saying

Edited May 13, 2017 by Drunken Monkey Style

[The-Doctor]

Welcome on board. The Epstein drive will be utilized by the mothership as the main drive with the antimatter engines being complementary drives. Antimatter engines will also serve to slow down the ships when entering a new system. 

I have confirmation from the DeepFreeze mod maker that the mod works in connection with KAC to wake the crew. This solves one major issue, now, I just gotta figure out how to can give the woken Kerbals command and control so that a connection isn't needed

Edited May 14, 2017 by The-Doctor

[Drunken Monkey Style]

A few notes on the Engine -

Ludicrous ISP (5,200,000) - But this matches the performance figures given in the short story The Drive - http://www.syfy.com/theexpanse/drive/ , matched up with further details from Atomic Rockets website http://www.projectrho.com/public_html/rocket/enginelist.php#epstein

Runs on "efficiency" - Just kidding - Fuel is 99.8% water, .1% Lithium6 and .1% Deuterium.

Requires power to start. Generates a modest amount of electricity when running (alternator module) but can also generate power when idle (reactor mode) Currently does not generate MJ

Works with tweakscale - Prefab sizes of 1.25m, 2.5m, 3.75m, 5m, 7.5m, 10m, 15m, 20m, 30m, 40m 

Here are some screenshots of the Epstein Engine (in its 2.5m size)  in action propelling a 'Yatcht' consisting of a 3 Kerbal pod with a ~1/3 vehicle mass fuel load. 



Note the total Delta V is roughly 6% c



Engine effects still need work.



Note - Note the 7 G thrust - Unlike other high ISP engines, this one is totally unbalanced as it also provides a high TWR



I'm still not totally happy with the texture maps, but it's a start.

[The-Doctor]

Very amazing work, definitely would need some good engineering to get the motehrships up to 70%c, but not impossible.Tweakscale integration is also fantastic, amazing work. 

[The-Doctor]

I've been doing a bit of testing with the super structure of the ship. I got some bad news, NFT doesn't allow me to increase the size of the parts with tweakscale. This causes me to have to stack the parts in a way that decreases the structural integrity of the ship, increases the part count and increases the likelihood of a major critical failure occurring. The ship also wobbles and explodes. The ship COULD be built using octo pars only, that would work but it would increase part count and take a long while to build, this is currently my plan, but I will try reaching out to the mod makers. I hope mother is out in time to help solve all of these problems. Here are some pics of the small test ship I made. 

 

 

[NISSKEPCSIM]

Maybe use DSEV by @Angel-125? It has all the parts you need to make some truly enormous vessels. (Like, 2001:A Space Oddessy size)

[FreeThinker]

On 17-5-2017 at 10:35 PM, The-Doctor said:

I've been doing a bit of testing with the super structure of the ship. I got some bad news, NFT doesn't allow me to increase the size of the parts with tweakscale. This causes me to have to stack the parts in a way that decreases the structural integrity of the ship, increases the part count and increases the likelihood of a major critical failure occurring. The ship also wobbles and explodes. The ship COULD be built using octo pars only, that would work but it would increase part count and take a long while to build, this is currently my plan, but I will try reaching out to the mod makers. I hope mother is out in time to help solve all of these problems. Here are some pics of the small test ship I made.

 

 

5

 

I agree you should try to minimise the number of parts from the start because even if you minimise it, it will still contain a lot of parts, especial the payload, which will have to consist of a lot of parts. For structural integrity KerbalJointReinforcement is your best friend, you can't go without it. Note that KSPI-E contains many structural parts which might be useful for your main spine of the interstellar craft. You should consider making use of balloon drop tanks for the storage of propellant which minimises mass and can be dropped after being empty. Remember that every gram counts, especially if you want to go fast!

Edited May 19, 2017 by FreeThinker

[FreeThinker]

On 14-5-2017 at 7:41 PM, Drunken Monkey Style said:

A few notes on the Engine -

Ludicrous ISP (5,200,000) - But this matches the performance figures given in the short story The Drive - http://www.syfy.com/theexpanse/drive/ , matched up with further details from Atomic Rockets website http://www.projectrho.com/public_html/rocket/enginelist.php#epstein

Runs on "efficiency" - Just kidding - Fuel is 99.8% water, .1% Lithium6 and .1% Deuterium.

Note the total Delta V is roughly 6% c



Engine effects still need work.



Note - Note the 7 G thrust - Unlike other high ISP engines, this one is totally unbalanced as it also provides a high TWR



I'm still not totally happy with the texture maps, but it's a start.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2

Great model but according to the atomic rockets site and expanse wiki, the epstein drive should have an isp of 1100000s not 5200000s. What is your justification to make it almost 5 times as high?

Also note that if you add 99.8% water, its Isp would be reduced to less a lot less. Ideally, the water/fusion mix should be adjustable

I would recommend to lose the water and replace the Lithium6 and Deteurium by LithiumDeuterite aka  Dilithium (a new KSPI-E resource), which is the same but more compact and easy to store (no cryo store needed)

I would also advice the following engine specs:

This would make the engine ideal for solar system travel. Once outside the solar system I would recommend switching to beam antimatter core propulsion which has an Isp of 20.000.000s, 40 time as high

Edited May 19, 2017 by FreeThinker

[KAL 9000]

I'll bite! Been meaning to do something similar (interstellar missions) for a while. 

JAI: Bright ideas for a brighter tomorrow

Completed Crafts (The launch vehicles use SpaceY and SpaceY Extended, if the modlist can't be changed, don't use 'em!): 

Launch vehicles are to be used to loft other people's non-SSTO payloads and sections of the ARC Destiny (definitely big enough to necessitate in-orbit assembly) into LEO. 

-Condor 9 Launch Vehicle: Falcon 9 analog. Includes reusable first stage! Action Group 1 switches the Stage 1 engines to Landing Mode. .craft file: To be uploaded soon! 

-Condor 9 Heavy Large Launch Vehicle: Falcon 9 heavy analog. Same action groups as Condor 9. .craft file: To be uploaded soon! 

-Condor XX Superheavy Launch Vehicle: A supersized Falcon 9 analog. Same action groups. .craft file: To be uploaded soon! 

-Condor Über Big F**king Launch Vehicle: ITS first stage analog with a payload fairing on top. To be uploaded soon! 

In-Development Crafts: 

-Dart-series Scout Probes: It's an antimatter engine, a reactor, a probe core, an antenna, some sensors, an antimatter collector, and an antimatter storage unit, all attached to each other with sweat, tears, and duct tape. COMPLETELY SPACEWORTHY! It's supposed to arrive ahead of the mothership and scout out the planets in the system, make initial measurements, do terrain, resource, and biome scans, that sort of stuff. 

-WEREALLGOHNDIE Habitat Module: ARC Destiny component 

-DOPANIC Escape Pod Module: ARC Destiny component, escape pods. In the event of an emergency that will destroy the entire ship, there are enough escape pods for all crew to abandon ship. Of course, they'll be stuck in a tin can with dwindling life support and only 100 m/s of Delta-V, but they should have enough time to send heartfelt goodbyes to their loved ones before they starve, dehydrate, or asphyxiate! Oh, wait, we have DeepFreeze... They'll just go into cryosleep until rescue arrives... WHY DID YOU HAVE TO TAKE ALL THE FUN OUT OF THIS?!

-DROPPOD-series Planetary Supply Landers: They're one-time use landers that can land on any atmospheric planet, but can't take off. Don't put Kerbals on them, they're meant as supply drops. 

-MELTDOWN Reactor Module: ARC Destiny module, ARC Destiny main reactor 

---

JAI would also be more than willing to train the crew of the ARC Destiny for their daring and dangerous mission.

[Drunken Monkey Style]

8 hours ago, FreeThinker said:

Great model but according to the atomic rockets site and expanse wiki, the epstein drive should have an isp of 1100000s not 5200000s. What is your justification to make it almost 5 times as high?

Also note that if you add 99.8% water, its Isp would be reduced to less a lot less. Ideally, the water/fusion mix should be adjustable

I would recommend to lose the water and replace the Lithium6 and Deteurium by LithiumDeuterite aka  Dilithium (a new KSPI-E resource), which is the same but more compact and easy to store (no cryo store needed)

I would also advice the following engine specs:[snipped]

This would make the engine ideal for solar system travel. Once outside the solar system I would recommend switching to beam antimatter core propulsion which has an Isp of 20.000.000s, 40 time as high

Dilithium fuel makes sense! Originally I was going to try and model all the fuels that the Tri-Beam reactor can run off of, but in the spirit of KISS I'm fine whittling that down to just one.

Water is required for two reasons -

• Aneutronic fusion, specifically Deuterium–lithium-6, produces it's power primarily in the form of x-ray photons. You can either pass these through a large number of metal foils to create electricity or you need to absorb them with something to turn them into heat. In a hand-wavy physics way I'm going to guess this nearly magical engine does both - It collects some of the power output as electricity to power magnetic containment and the fusion process and some energy to throw material out the back of the rocket through a combination thermal & magnetic nozzle.
• Heat dissipation: This engine is, at its heart a 11 Terrawatt reactor! The best way to get rid of that ludicrous heat is to throw it away in the form of fast moving (hot) reaction mass. Basically the engine stays cool by using the kinetic energy of all that heat as exhaust moving at some fraction of the speed of light.

Water seems like a cheap material to meet that need. If it were to be a true magnetic/thermal rocket, there could be options for 'reaction mass types' but again, in the spirit of KISS we might as well make a proof of concept that just uses water first

As for the ISP figure. I'll be the first to admit that my math is probably off - But for a vessel with the specs of the Epstein 'yacht' I only get a final delta V of .06c if I plug in 0 5.2e6 as the ISP in the  atmosphereCurve of the .cfg file.

Might be an error in the Engineer Redux code, as this is what I'm using to see the max delta V.

Thanks for the feedback and interest everyone! 

[The-Doctor]

@KAL 9000 The mod list is in no way finalized, we're just trying to cut down on the numbers. The scout probes seem interesting, they would come in just a few years before the motherships, there are to be a total of 5 ARC's going to 5 systems, so far that's the aim, there may be more.

The DOPANIC Escape Pod Module seems like a nice idea, but ideally, what will be done is, the cryopods will serve as that, since they are to be docked to the mother ships superstructure. I like the idea of building the ship in orbit, I was a bit uncertain about it due to the mother ships structural integrity being compromised and initially I planned to just cheat it to orbit and have the lore be that it was built in space using ISRU, but we may launch them up, so your launch vehicles will definitely be used. We have 100 kerbals per ship, plus the civilian population mod will be included, I need to speak to the mod maker to see if the civilians can be cryofrozen.

DROPPOD-series Planetary Supply Landers: This is actually an idea I planned on having, you surely can build them, they would include the mining components from Keridian Dynamics, this phase would be called PlanetFall, once a colony location is scouted and initial landings are done, a temporary base will be made there to study the are for a while, then the main modules, primarily the mining moduels will be dropped, these are one time drops and would be the phase called PlanetFall. For redundancy there would be 3 copies of each planetfall module, making a total of 4 of the same modules. You can be the manufacturer for this.

MELTDOWN Reactor Module: This is meant to be provided by @FreeThinker his antimatter reactors should cover this, I'm unsure if you meant you were gonna build these

Last thing, what's JAI?

@Drunken Monkey Style I think @FreeThinker has a point with the antimatter reactors, combining his antimatter reactors with your engine, the main drive could be powerful, cutting down travel time to proxima b to 7-8 years. Also, I'm taking interest in different components of KSPIE, @FreeThinker does KSPIE have lasers and a solar sail? I have the idea of using a solar sail in the first stage and lasers to shoot at it to get it to speed, not that it is a must, just a concept I have. Beam power is somethings to I'm also interested in, not to power the ship, but to power probes in the new system. Like once around proxima b, with the colony in place, solar ships could be placed around proxima to collect power and beam it to probes and to the colony, part of the final objectives of the colony will be to launch an interstellar probe. Beam power will also be used to power the satellite network and space stations/outposts of the colonies. Beam power has become a core part now of the Icarus Initiative. 

[The-Doctor]

I would like everyone to know, that this will all be done in Career mode actually, cheats will be used to unlock the entire tech tree, upgrade the buildings and to pay for building the ship. The reason being, is career mode will enable new kerbals born in the colonies to start out without any skills, and also allow science to be beamed back to Earth, albeit it would take years, but it's something that an interstellar mission would do, they would send messages and data back home. I appreciate everyone's enthusiasm and participation, this will not be possible to achieve without everyone's input. 

@FreeThinker I was thinking of using the welding mod, but I know it causes part overload, I'll definitely look at KSPIE for parts for the superstructure. Does it have parts like the giant ball tanks of the ISV Venture Star?