KSP Interstellar Extended Continued Development Thread

[FreeThinker]

Thermal receiver configured as radiator and 1 MW solar panel producing 1 GW+ solar power in low Kerbol orbit

Edit, notice that turning in this position becomes impossible, as it would expose the sides and it would immediately overheat

 

Edited November 27, 2016 by FreeThinker

[SpaceMouse]

3 hours ago, FreeThinker said:

Thermal receiver configured as radiator and 1 MW solar panel producing 1 GW+ solar power in low Kerbol orbit

KSPI needs a Dyson's sphere.
Have there been any concepts for ultra high capacity energy storage? Since we've sort of been on the topic. I mean way bigger than chemical batteries or capacitors.

Edited November 27, 2016 by SpaceMouse

[Blackline]

7 hours ago, SpaceMouse said:

KSPI needs a Dyson's sphere.
Have there been any concepts for ultra high capacity energy storage? Since we've sort of been on the topic. I mean way bigger than chemical batteries or capacitors.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Energy_density pick something 

What I want to say with that: with RealBattery I can make any EC storage you'd like, just give me the specs you want (how many GWh per kg and GW per kg)

Edited November 27, 2016 by Blackline

[FreeThinker]

10 hours ago, SpaceMouse said:

KSPI needs a Dyson's sphere.
Have there been any concepts for ultra high capacity energy storage? Since we've sort of been on the topic. I mean way bigger than chemical batteries or capacitors.

A Dyson sphere it pretty much impossible, due to stresses, but the start of Dyson swarm is certainly possible, it basically comes down to putting a lot of large power satellites in low orbit of Kerbol/Sun

Using big solar array panels is certainly not the most ideal way to do it as they only convert about 21% of received solar power into effective electric power. That means that 79% of all solar energy is reflected or turned into wasteheat which requires quite some effort to get rid off.

Edited November 27, 2016 by FreeThinker

[raxo2222]

@FreeThinker from where you got minimum sizes of various reactors and engines?

Why for example Antimatter Initiated fusion reactor can't be smaller than 2.5 meters?

Also what does this " Neutral Plasma / Non Neutral " in fusion reactor modes table mean?

Edited November 27, 2016 by raxo2222

[SpaceMouse]

5 hours ago, FreeThinker said:

A Dyson sphere it pretty much impossible, due to stresses, but the start of Dyson swarm is certainly possible, it basically comes down to putting a lot of large power satellites in low orbit of Kerbol/Sun

I also feel a dysons sphere is a tad impractical. That was most of the joke.

[FreeThinker]

22 minutes ago, raxo2222 said:

@FreeThinker from where you got minimum sizes of various reactors and engines?

Why for example Antimatter Initiated fusion reactor can't be smaller than 2.5 meters?

Well this is because any design I have seen for a antimatter initiated fusion reactor was quite big. It is technically still a inertial fusion reactor, which requires a significant amount of space.

22 minutes ago, raxo2222 said:

Also what does this " Neutral Plasma / Non Neutral " in fusion reactor modes table mean?

Well the idea here was that it would allow you to minimize Bremsstrahlung by creating a non neutral plasma, this would require more power to maintain but cause less bremsstrahlung which would result in less wasteheat being produced. It was never implemented

Edited November 27, 2016 by FreeThinker

[raxo2222]

Can we have whole interstellar tech tree table somewhere?

It would be nice to see what where upgrades/unlocks at which tech node.

 

[FreeThinker]

Thermal receiver now also works with solar power,  producing a steady amount (6 MW)  of power in low Kerbin Orbit

Edited November 28, 2016 by FreeThinker

[FreeThinker]

for beamed power, Bigger is better, presenting new Mirror Thermal Receiver by Raknark!

If you think that that 19 MW isn't much, think again. If you put this contraption in low orbit around the sun it can easily produce 1000 times as much power

Edited November 29, 2016 by FreeThinker

[Nansuchao]

@FreeThinker I just noticed that the Thermal Ramjet is not completely seen as an engine, but as a microwave receiver of some kind, and it doesn't provide any thrust.

http://imgur.com/3x4rSBA

[SpaceMouse]

So in my browsing of http://www.projectrho.com I came across the wakefield e-beam and thought it might be a interesting thuster to do, possibly for KSPI. for it's crazy thrust/power thrust/weight for a electric engine. Although admittedly at a ISP of only 2000 it might just be more practical to use a higher end nuclear rocket.
I had a tough time finding anything terribly useful picture-wise for what it might look like. Anyone able to provide assistance?

[SpaceMouse]

I don't like much engine with my batteries personally, but perhaps @FreeThinker or @Blackline would.
I may change the texture.

 

[Nansuchao]

4 hours ago, SpaceMouse said:

I don't like much engine with my batteries personally, but perhaps @FreeThinker or @Blackline would.
I may change the texture.

 

Is the engine just that little things on the side? How much thrust thay can provide?

[SpaceMouse]

1 hour ago, Nansuchao said:

Is the engine just that little things on the side? How much thrust thay can provide?

That has two varieties of power hungry engines. My large em drive is up in front, and it has 8 vasimr engines in back. This isnt kspi and i have them balanced against the ion, combined total is probably around 25kn. Very optimistic.

[FreeThinker]

10 hours ago, SpaceMouse said:

So in my browsing of http://www.projectrho.com I came across the wakefield e-beam and thought it might be a interesting thuster to do, possibly for KSPI. for it's crazy thrust/power thrust/weight for a electric engine. Although admittedly at a ISP of only 2000 it might just be more practical to use a higher end nuclear rocket.
I had a tough time finding anything terribly useful picture-wise for what it might look like. Anyone able to provide assistance?

If you look carefully, you will noticed it is already in KSPI-E, just hidden...

[FreeThinker]

11 hours ago, SpaceMouse said:

I don't like much engine with my batteries personally, but perhaps @FreeThinker or @Blackline would.
I may change the texture.

 

I still think the only reason to have a lot of batteries/super capacitators would be as a temporary buffer, for instance to startup a fusion reactor, or make a big data transmision. For propulsion that require continious power for long durations, it doesn't make a lot of sence, unless you need high power for very short burst, like when you need to land on a moon or something using electric engines.

Edited November 30, 2016 by FreeThinker

[SpaceMouse]

1 hour ago, FreeThinker said:

I still think the only reason to have a lot of batteries/super capacitators would be as a temporary buffer, for instance to startup a fusion reactor, or make a big data transmision. For propulsion that require continious power for long durations, it doesn't make a lot of sence, unless you need high power for very short burst, like when you need to land on a moon or something using electric engines.

While in reality you would probably be right, i still think you could find a use for large battery banks and just charge them with solar, or perhaps a reactor. @Blackline's mod actually makes this arguably practical. I made it largely for the purpose of running high power engines to climb out of orbit, a large battery on a planetary base would be another practical use. It juat uses stock textures, only took a hour or two to make. Im not sure i like the squareness on a cylindrical ship though. I actually tested my emdrive landing on minmus, although i expect that wouldn't be possible in KSPI.

*edit* this whole thing kind of snowballs. I made i high power reactionless drive, i had to make batteries and a power source for it, now i really should make radiators. Do radiators really need to face their smallest profile to the sun? Seems to me like the devs wanted to get extra use out of solar tracking.

Edited November 30, 2016 by SpaceMouse

[markinturamb]

Wide version with a few more corrections and specific Electricity info. There might still be mistakes though.

For the Thrust/Isp map, I still plan to fill in the details about fuel. If anyone know an easy place to find it, especially info about density that I'd also like to include, would be very helpful

Any input is very welcome

[SpaceMouse]

8 hours ago, FreeThinker said:

I still think the only reason to have a lot of batteries/super capacitators would be as a temporary buffer, for instance to startup a fusion reactor, or make a big data transmision. For propulsion that require continious power for long durations, it doesn't make a lot of sence, unless you need high power for very short burst, like when you need to land on a moon or something using electric engines.

At least in the context of KSP i think it's quite useful. It allows me to run my mega EM drive (or smaller ones that aren't exactly thrifty with power), It allows me to run Nerta's awesome near future thrusters, and it even allows me to run them in the shadow of a planet or moon. It also allows me to simplify ship designs, when your not trying to get as much useful surface area occupied by solar panels and radiators.

Edited December 1, 2016 by SpaceMouse

[FreeThinker]

14 hours ago, SpaceMouse said:

At least in the context of KSP i think it's quite useful. It allows me to run my mega EM drive (or smaller ones that aren't exactly thrifty with power), It allows me to run Nerta's awesome near future thrusters, and it even allows me to run them in the shadow of a planet or moon. It also allows me to simplify ship designs, when your not trying to get as much useful surface area occupied by solar panels and radiators.

Well I guess if you make it EM drive a 1000 times less power hungry, that might work

14 hours ago, markinturamb said:

Wide version with a few more corrections and specific Electricity info. There might still be mistakes though.

For the Thrust/Isp map, I still plan to fill in the details about fuel. If anyone know an easy place to find it, especially info about density that I'd also like to include, would be very helpful

Any input is very welcome

Very nice overviews and good enough to put them on the OP

I haven't studied in detail but I guess you mean Hydrogen and not Hidrogen, which I'm not familiar with

Edit:

Alright, I taken a closer look at some more serious mistakes were made

Plasma Noozle is technically a thermal nozzle without upper isp bound  (but in practive this will be about 10000s when connected anti matter reactor)

Thermal  launch nozzle, thermal ramjet and thermal turbojet all have about th same isp, which depend on connected reactor

Ablative Laser Nozzle is missing , it has a fixed Isp of 1450s) and thrust depend on avialable laser beamed power but it has a high upper limit.

 

 

 

Edited December 1, 2016 by FreeThinker

[RentedTritium]

Super capacitors can save some weight, right? You can set up some shoestring em drives without a good enough reactor if you use supercapacitors and fire your engine in short bursts. 

It sounds like a headache to fly but I could see some weight reductions for someone playing with low tech and tight money.

I can imagine a mission where the player wants to go somewhere far away with a recklessly tiny ship. They could rig up an em drive with twigs and spit and fire it until empty at periapsis over and over until they actually got the encounter they needed. 

Edited December 1, 2016 by RentedTritium

[SpaceMouse]

2 hours ago, RentedTritium said:

Super capacitors can save some weight, right? You can set up some shoestring em drives without a good enough reactor if you use supercapacitors and fire your engine in short bursts. 

It sounds like a headache to fly but I could see some weight reductions for someone playing with low tech and tight money.

I can imagine a mission where the player wants to go somewhere far away with a recklessly tiny ship. They could rig up an em drive with twigs and spit and fire it until empty at periapsis over and over until they actually got the encounter they needed. 

Thats more or less why i made it. You dont really need a big one and it almost seems less practical than a small one, as it needs a huge battery and a massive ammount of cooling.

Its not completely unbalanced though. Assuming you use one to go to duna and back you still need fuel for your lander. If you go more than one planet, you might still need a lot of fuel....

Also, even non em electric drives are arguably more useful with a big battery. I can get to the mun and back with one large xenon tank. LANDING though...

[twright439042]

So I'm  starting to get the swing of things in KSP:IE (the beginners' tech guide helped a lot here, folks). But when I started adding generators to my rocket plans, I found that selecting the generator in game will crash the game.  Anyone else having this issue? 

I can't wait to work all these kinks out... the IE stuff really adds a lot to KSP, and it was already a great game. Now I wanna get flying around Kerbol with a Daedalus!

[juanml82]

Mmm... I'm starting to use this mod for real and I'm trying to build a generator (first on the ground, to check if it's working) for a microwave network. It's not working, but I don't know if it's because I'm doing something wrong or it's somehow bugged. I had a setup in a clean install and I got it to work (with a different design).

The reactor seems to be working, but the thermal generator seems to only be getting power from the rtgs. Here's a screenshot