Orion aka "Ol' Boom-boom"

[nyrath]

No, tommygun, no it does not.

Awesome! Nuclear detonation engine that mechjeb can control! There is no way this can go wrong!

It does have a throttle for MechJeb, but I think there is still a problem with KSP not understanding how much thrust appears with each throttle setting. I'm not sure how to fix that, but it is on my bug list.

Thanks for all the effort you put into this. This is by far one of the best mods for KSP.

Thanks! That makes is all worth while.

Nyrath, you have done well, can't wait to play with it

Thank you, but be aware there probably still are bugs in it. Keep me posted if you find anything.

There ain't no stealth in space, or is there? Just kidding of course:) But i found this graphical glitch:

I'm not sure if its a problem of your mod or something else but i just post it here.

Do you mean the beads of light along the edge of the ship? I'm not sure what is causing that.

[Kerbal01]

This takes too much time to stack magazines, and symmetry doesn't work, how can I make it faster?

Edited June 2, 2013 by DarthVader
To/too

[nyrath]

This takes too much time to stack magazines, and symmetry doesn't work, how can I make it faster?

I know, I know. I'm not sure what is wrong with symmetry, maybe it is because it is because they are vertical stack not radial attach.

I will say that with the larger magazines, you do not need to stack them very high, they are concentrated thrust.

I'll look into it, but there are other more serious problems.

[Canopus]

Do you mean the beads of light along the edge of the ship? I'm not sure what is causing that.

Well the spacecraft was in direct sunlight but you could only see its silhouette and the rest was black.

[nyrath]

Well the spacecraft was in direct sunlight but you could only see its silhouette and the rest was black.

Oops. Well, that's pretty serious. I've never seen that happen before. Does it happen every single time?

[Canopus]

Oops. Well, that's pretty serious. I've never seen that happen before. Does it happen every single time?

It only happened once yet.

Edit: Other than that everything works nice.

Edited June 2, 2013 by Canopus

[RoboRay]

I've seen blacked-out parts before, but never a whole craft. Rebooting fixed it. It happens to stock parts, too, so it's probably not an issue specific to this mod.

[Canopus]

I've seen blacked-out parts before, but never a whole craft. Rebooting fixed it. It happens to stock parts, too, so it's probably not an issue specific to this mod.

Good to know that this is not a problem of this mod.

[nyrath]

[Canopus]

Nice pictures Have you seen Rareden's KSP art yet? If not here is the Link: http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/showthread.php/25231-kerbin-art

I send him my Orion craft file and he is going to make a picture with it.

[Leonov]

Those are some beautiful works of Art. I hope it turns out good. I am going to wait for a Long while to update the Craft, If it aint broke dont fix it ya know? lol

[Markarian421]

Well the spacecraft was in direct sunlight but you could only see its silhouette and the rest was black.

I don't have this installed (yet) and I've seen that -- several times last night -- so it's not a problem with this mod.

[Vebyast]

That "Rendezvous with Roche" challenge sounds an almost suspiciously good way to show off this mod. I'd try it if I could reliably get into kerbin orbit. Not that an orion loaded with nukes really cares about these "orbit" things in the first place.

Side note: Nyrath, your website is awesome and you should feel awesome. Been using it as reference long enough that I can't remember when I first found it.

[Splode]

That "Rendezvous with Roche" challenge sounds an almost suspiciously good way to show off this mod. I'd try it if I could reliably get into kerbin orbit. Not that an orion loaded with nukes really cares about these "orbit" things in the first place.

I had the same thought, but then I saw the bit about keeping the surface of the asteroid 'pristine'.

Perhaps thermonuclear explosions are not the best way of accomplishing this...

[Canopus]

I had the same thought, but then I saw the bit about keeping the surface of the asteroid 'pristine'.

Perhaps thermonuclear explosions are not the best way of accomplishing this...

If the passengers can survive this the asteroid should too i think.

I'm actually doing the challenge now but i haven't thought about using the Orion.

[Splode]

If the passengers can survive this the asteroid should too i think.

I'm actually doing the challenge now but i haven't thought about using the Orion.

Surely the pusher plate isn't large enough to protect the asteroid. I'm sure it'd hold together, but it'd probably be a bit crispy around the edges.

[nyrath]

That "Rendezvous with Roche" challenge sounds an almost suspiciously good way to show off this mod. I'd try it if I could reliably get into kerbin orbit. Not that an orion loaded with nukes really cares about these "orbit" things in the first place.

Side note: Nyrath, your website is awesome and you should feel awesome. Been using it as reference long enough that I can't remember when I first found it.

yes, the Orion would be good for the Rendezvous with Roche scenario. I fear it would be so good that it would take all the fun out of the scenario. Especially if you used the super-deluxe sized 400,000 kN nukes.

Thank you for your kind words. I'm glad you liked my website!

But since I am the "atomic rocket" guy, I couldn't resist making this mod. Even if I had to teach myself C# and Unity3D in order to make it.

[nyrath]

Ah, I forgot to explain about throttling.

With conventional engines, throttling alters the thrust. Thrust is defined as how many kiloNewtons in one second.

The Orion bombs have a fixed explosive size. Each bomb gives a fixed amount of impulse.

So to vary the thrust, I vary the delay between bomb detonations.

The USAF 10 meter Orion that I am modeling had pulse delay times that varied from 0.8 seconds to 1.5 seconds between detonations.

So I set it up such that throttle setting between 10% and 30% made the pulse delay 1.5 seconds, 30% to 60% made the delay 1 second, and 60% to 100% made the delay 0.8 seconds.

This means that if you are using the 3500 kN bombs, 1.5 second delay gives an effective thrust of 2300 kN, 1 second gives 3500 kN, and 0.8 seconds gives 4400 kN.

[droolsan]

I was surprised this wasn't posted here before

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v4k_YZAXSEI

quite interesting and very related

[hoojiwana]

yes, the Orion would be good for the Rendezvous with Roche scenario. I fear it would be so good that it would take all the fun out of the scenario. Especially if you used the super-deluxe sized 400,000 kN nukes.

Thank you for your kind words. I'm glad you liked my website!

But since I am the "atomic rocket" guy, I couldn't resist making this mod. Even if I had to teach myself C# and Unity3D in order to make it.

I've been streaming myself using the fantastic Orion engines, and yes, it seems like the 400MN nukes would make it trivial. I managed to launch an 873 ton rocket using a few of them. Each one on that vessel has about 900dV. With an extra 600 tons I don't imagine it'll take too many to get back to Kerbin. The rocket has a backup few thousand dV in NTR's, as well as a huge stack of 3.5MN nukes. I left the mission during rendezvous with Roche, and will continue it later.

I might try to do an Eve liftoff with them as well, just to see how easy it is.

I have noticed that after switching between engines the Orion doesn't launch with the throttle. I have to manually launch the first nuke before the throttling kicks in again.

The G meter on end of mission and F3 seems to enjoy breaking as well.

[nyrath]

I have noticed that after switching between engines the Orion doesn't launch with the throttle. I have to manually launch the first nuke before the throttling kicks in again.

The G meter on end of mission and F3 seems to enjoy breaking as well.

Glad you are having fun with the big block-buster nukes.

The "switching engine" problem, do you mean when you switch from Orion to NTR then back to Orion? Or when switching between different types of Orion nukes? I just need the info so I can try to fix it.

And can you please describe in a bit more detail how the G meter breaks?

[hoojiwana]

When I disable all nuke feeds to the engine, and then enabled NTRs on my rocket to do fine manuevering, and then disable the NTRs and re-enable bomb feeding, the first one must be launched manually.

The G meter just doesn't seem to display G force from the 400MN nukes. I don't know if it's overflowing and can't show all the digits or whatever, but it displays 0G instead.

I've also just discovered another bug. If I have the nuke feed disabled, quick save, and then quickload, the nuke feed re-enables itself. The engine also seems to fire, playing the animations, using a bomb, applying no thrust, but still destroying anything nearby. I just had it blow up Roche on an attempted docking with a quickload.

Edited June 3, 2013 by hoojiwana

[Canopus]

When I disable all nuke feeds to the engine, and then enabled NTRs on my rocket to do fine manuevering, and then disable the NTRs and re-enable bomb feeding, the first one must be launched manually.

The G meter just doesn't seem to display G force from the 400MN nukes. I don't know if it's overflowing and can't show all the digits or whatever, but it displays 0G instead.

I've also just discovered another bug. If I have the nuke feed disabled, quick save, and then quickload, the nuke feed re-enables itself. The engine also seems to fire, playing the animations, applying no thrust, but still destroying anything nearby. I just had it blow up Roche on an attempted docking with a quickload.

The engine firing after Quicksafe isn't a Orion specific bug. It actually happens with stock engine too.

[Leonov]

The bug just seems to be a little more noticible when you factor in the perpulsion system.

[nyrath]

When I disable all nuke feeds to the engine, and then enabled NTRs on my rocket to do fine manuevering, and then disable the NTRs and re-enable bomb feeding, the first one must be launched manually.

That's a new bug, and I will do my best to fix it.

The G meter just doesn't seem to display G force from the 400MN nukes. I don't know if it's overflowing and can't show all the digits or whatever, but it displays 0G instead.

That's a bug I'm trying to find a solution for. You'll also see this in MechJeb. You see, the G meter and MechJeb look in your vessel for parts that are ModuleEngines. They show data in the G meter and in MechJeb.

Unfortunately the Orion is not a ModuleEngine, nor can it be one. It does not use liquid fuel, have constant thrust, have an exhaust plume, and quite a few other things. I had to program an entire new propulsion system in the plugin to handle pulsed propulsion.

I'm looking into somehow spoofing the G meter and Mechjeb into thinking that Orion is a ModuleEngines.

I've also just discovered another bug. If I have the nuke feed disabled, quick save, and then quickload, the nuke feed re-enables itself. The engine also seems to fire, playing the animations, using a bomb, applying no thrust, but still destroying anything nearby. I just had it blow up Roche on an attempted docking with a quickload.

The feeds re-enabling themselves is a bug, that should be easy to fix. The feed state is not being stored and loaded.

The engine unexpectedly firing has already been fixed, it will be in the next version (hopefully soon).