SM Aeronautics Release Thread

[SasquatchM]

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[td]Ducted Fan VTOL Engine

A simple add-on to provide VTOL support to my ducted fan series.

Requires Snjo's Firespitter plugin[/td]

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[td]SM-Bussard-Ramjet

Bussard proposed a ramjet variant of a fusion rocket capable of reasonable interstellar spaceflight, using enormous electromagnetic fields as a ram scoop to collect and compress hydrogen from the interstellar medium. High speeds force the reactive mass into a progressively constricted magnetic field, compressing it until thermonuclear fusion occurs. The magnetic field then directs the energy as rocket exhaust opposite to the intended direction of travel, thereby accelerating the vessel.[/td]

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[td]Pulse Detonation Engines

A pulse detonation engine, or “PDEâ€Â, is a type of propulsion system that uses detonation waves to combust the fuel and oxidizer mixture. The engine is pulsed because the mixture must be renewed in the combustion chamber between each detonation wave initiated by an ignition source. Theoretically, a PDE can operate from subsonic up to a hypersonic flight speed of roughly Mach 5. An ideal PDE design can have a thermodynamic efficiency higher than other designs like turbojets and turbofans because a detonation wave rapidly compresses the mixture and adds heat at constant volume.

Requires Snjo's Firespitter plugin[/td]

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[td]Ducted Fan Engines and Intakes

A ducted fan is a propulsion arrangement whereby a fan, which is a type of propeller, is mounted within a cylindrical shroud or duct. The duct reduces losses in thrust from the tip vortices of the prop, and varying the cross-section of the duct allows the designer to advantageously affect the velocity and pressure of the airflow according to Bernoulli’s Principle. Ducted fan propulsion is used in aircraft, airships, airboats, hovercraft and fan packs. Ducted fans normally have more and shorter blades than propellers and thus can operate at higher rotational speeds.

Requires Snjo's Firespitter plugin[/td]

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[td]Fission Fragment Rocket

The fission-fragment rocket is a rocket engine design that directly harnesses hot nuclear fission products for thrust, as opposed to using a separate fluid as working mass. The design can, in theory, produce very high specific impulses while still being well within the abilities of current technologies.[/td]

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[td]Sky Crane and Heat Shield Pack

Mars Science Laboratory represents the first use of a "soft-landing" technique employed at Mars. The sheer mass of Mars Science Laboratory prevented engineers from using the familiar airbags to deliver their rover safely to the martian surface. As rovers become more capable and carry more instruments, they become larger. So, in order to accommodate this advanced mission, engineers designed a sky-crane method that will lower the rover to the surface.[/td]

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[td]SM-S Plane Part Pack

SM-S Plane part pack contains 39 parts designed around a “stealth†look. Command pods, fuselages, engines, rcs, wings, control surfaces, asas, srbs and the list goes on. Version 0.5.1 includes several spelling corrections, grammatical fixes and 3 demo ships.[/td]

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Licensing:

Distribute derivatives only with accreditation and please ask prior to release.

Edited June 11, 2013 by SasquatchM
Added DF VTOL

[SasquatchM]

..........

[Capt.Joseph Kerbertson]

Absolute must have stuff.

[wasmic]

Just discovered your other mods. I was already using the PDE and FFR, but now I've downloaded them all.

[lyndonguitar]

Nice editing of the OP!

that sky crane gonna be very useful

[Scotius]

Good to see all your awesome mods in one thread .

[The Darkness]

Downloading now, was waiting for some free time, but I'm going to make some.

[rhoark]

Love the look of the SM-S planes. (The engines seem a bit OP though in terms of thrust and ISP).

I plan at some point to take a stealth ship on a tour of anomalies.

[SasquatchM]

Try throwing the rear mount PDEs on the SM-S planes, you'll need to use the adapter and run struts from the engine to help radiate heat. Add the compressed air tanks and air compressor parts with your intakes.. you make want to put the intakes and air compressors on action groups to enable/ disable.. but you can get to Mun and back. It is horribly unbalanced, but it is fun to have a sort of "space fighter" that you can cruise around in.

The engines included with the SM-S pack are also heavy and eat fuel like no-one's buisiness

Edited May 28, 2013 by SasquatchM

[Scotius]

Sasquatch, i get a weird bug sometimes. When two ships with FFR engines maneuver near each other, the one doing the burning at full thrust sometimes loses its thorium supplies in a moment. It looks like suddenly engine increases its fuel consumption a thousand times or so.

[UAL002]

Any updates to the Stealth plane parts pack or just .20 compatibility?

[SasquatchM]

Just .20 compatibility. I am considering a rework of the parts now that I have gotten a bit more modeling experience under my belt.

[SasquatchM]

Sasquatch, i get a weird bug sometimes. When two ships with FFR engines maneuver near each other, the one doing the burning at full thrust sometimes loses its thorium supplies in a moment. It looks like suddenly engine increases its fuel consumption a thousand times or so.

Is that using the Xenon injector or no? The whole thing is odd as the part is basically a SRB on steroids, at least that is how I have it set up.

I am wondering if there is a mod conflict of some sort. The FFR only has 10 units of thorium, and each unit is massive. I am wondering if some other part is using Thorium a a resource and somehow the resource definition gets a little wonky. If its denisty drops dramatically the burn rate will go up the same amount to maintain thrust.

Edited May 29, 2013 by SasquatchM

[Scotius]

That is possible i guess. Both ships in question used FFR/xenon injector combo. But it happened on two different occasions : one in LKO, one in Mun orbit. Curiously, after save load those same ships docked normally, and nothing unusual happened.

[SasquatchM]

I have had 1 comment on spaceport from a sililar issue - al lthe fuel vanishing in seconds - but I have been unable to recreate it

[Scotius]

Well, both times it happened to me active ship just finished a burn of over 120 m/s dV in preparation of docking.

[UAL002]

Exciting, if you have animations down, you should consider some landing gear with lower profile housing.

[SasquatchM]

Ya, I could probably manage something now.

[Gaius]

That is possible i guess. Both ships in question used FFR/xenon injector combo. But it happened on two different occasions : one in LKO, one in Mun orbit. Curiously, after save load those same ships docked normally, and nothing unusual happened.

Does the FFR have 0 ISP in atmosphere? I haven't observed the bug using an FFR, but I've noticed since the 0.20 update that my nuclear rockets occasionally drop from 800 ISP to 220 ISP while in space. It happens randomly, and after reloading from a save and repeating, it does not happen again. It may be the same bug -- suddenly the engine starts using atmospheric params, and burns through all its fuel in an instant.

[Scotius]

You might be on a right track Gaius. It's logical. Biggest strenght of FFR is its insane ISP. If it suddenly drops to 0, or near it and thrust remains the same engine will flame-out. And this is exactly the status report i got after right clicking on dead engine when bug hit.

[Senshi]

Nice creative ideas in your mods, and very well implemented (3D design, textures, gameplay...). I like it!

[Catsceo]

I am experiencing the vanishing fuel bug! It happened 5 times while on a Jool excursion, and I got screen shots for 4. What is so weird is that it only happens on 1 engine while I am doing a burn. It can happen at the beginning of a burn, in the middle of it, or near the end. I have no other mods that use Thorium as a resource and I didn't approach any other vessels.

Magic vanishing fuel.

[wasmic]

Hey, I just want to say that it is really frikkin' annoying that the PDE makes sounds when throttled down completely. Can't you make the sound linger for a bit after the engine is throttled down, then shut the sound down. Cuurently, I have to shut the engine down with action groups, due to the sound.

[SasquatchM]

Hey, I just want to say that it is really frikkin' annoying that the PDE makes sounds when throttled down completely. Can't you make the sound linger for a bit after the engine is throttled down, then shut the sound down. Cuurently, I have to shut the engine down with action groups, due to the sound.

To get custom sounds I had to use the Firespitter Plugin, which causes the sound not to turn off when throttled all the way down.

[SasquatchM]

I am experiencing the vanishing fuel bug! It happened 5 times while on a Jool excursion, and I got screen shots for 4. What is so weird is that it only happens on 1 engine while I am doing a burn. It can happen at the beginning of a burn, in the middle of it, or near the end. I have no other mods that use Thorium as a resource and I didn't approach any other vessels.

Magic vanishing fuel.

To be honest I have no idea. I have been unable to recreate this bug myself. I am wondering if it is actually a math error somewhere as there are only 10 "units" of thorium in the engine.