[0.25]KSP Interstellar (Magnetic Nozzles, ISRU Revamp) Version 0.13

[ABZB]

Um... You'd be hard pressed to build an antimatter storage that would have an appreciable effect on Earth from 1 AU. Keep in mind that 1 AU is the next best thing to eight and a half light minutes. Even from low orbit the danger of an exploding antimatter storage unit is pretty minimal, as long as you don't get large chunks of antimatter impacting the planet. That's a design issue. You can't subdivide a black hole to make it safer.

That's a good point... Admittedly that was a verbatim quote from the linked article... That should teach me to not do the math!

I think that the general point is relatively sound - that a containment failure of a charged black hole has at least the possibility of avoiding complete disaster, while a containment failure of antimatter results in an near-instant catastrophic explosion.

Especially, consider that the antimatter is essentially a cloud of anti-protons [all negative]- if the containment fails, they repel each other and accelerate each-other in all directions. The black hole, as a single point [ok, so no quantum gravity yet, so maybe not exactly a point] with charge will not do so. If the ship can be stopped accelerating instantly upon failure (and given that failure implies general power failure you likely will be (unless you are going with the parabolic mirror thing)) then the block hole will [hopefully] not be moving relative to the ship itself, giving at least some time to conduct repairs (that actually sounds like the start of a decent Hollywood plot - someone should link to Speilberg). One could presumably also have some permanent magnet fixture as a failsafe- as the black hole's charge and mass are going to be held more or less constant, and the feed will be [at least mainly] neutral material, such a set-up is presumably plausible.

For safety, perhaps the black hole drive should be left in outer-system trajectories only (at no point should the instantaneous trajectory pass inside a [n important] plaentary orbit) so that it if there is a failure there is a great deal of time to deal with it (even if it ends up pointing too sunward, there are plausibly years to divert it (Hollywood plot #2)).

Furthermore, with regard to subdivision, it is hard to see where that matters - except for an extremely large ship with multiple small containment sites, or for a spaceplane.

For the latter, the drive is obviously only intended for interstellar flight, and is in any case far too heavy to be useful for that. The safety measures I mentioned should be adequate. It is also worth mentioning that the whole point of the black hole is to convert matter to 100% energy (minus regular efficiency losses) - the antimatter is a storage medium unto itself. In deep space, there is not going to be a source for it. The black hole allows any matter one wishes to be converted into energy - space dust, stray asteroids, plutoids, etc.

For the former - The main safety gain I see now is as I just thought of above - that a collection of anti-protons tends to expand itself, while the black hole does not.

Edited July 1, 2014 by ABZB

[xfrankie]

Intresting in therory but I'm not sure I'd want to be on the same planet as anybody first experimenting with creating one of those. I didnt see anything in those links in how you would move the thing either. you cant physicly push as it would just eat any material comeing in contact. The only way I could see it working is if droping bits of mater into the same spot on the BH caused it to release enough energy in a single direction that the BH would move itself. AT that point it would be a mater of building a structure around the BH in such a way that the gravitational forces were self balancing. In effect you get the BH to go somewhere and you just hitch a ride.

If it should move around based on the emission of radiation, then the radiation itself has to have some mass (like exhaust gasses in rockets). But 606 kilotons is not that massive. To be able to "hitch a ride", you would have to be very close, because the gravitational acceleration at 1 meter around the BH would be roughly 4 cm/s^2 but at 1 centimeter, it would be 10000x stronger (beware the tidal forces).

By that point, most of the radiation would hit your ship, and becuase we already estabilished that it has to have some mass in order to move the BH, the impacts of the sub-atomic particles would push against the ship (sort of like a solar sail), canceling out any movement.

From the wiki article: One potential method involves placing the hole at the focal point of a parabolic reflector attached to the ship, creating forward thrust.

One way it might work would be pulling and fixing the black hole in place with some strong magnetic field in an engine-like contraption behind your vessel. The particles, presumably unafected by the field, would fly "pro-grade", pushing your ship in the desired direction, and also "retro-grade", acting as a reaction mass... A win-win scenario.

Assuming you have the technology to form a BH, creating a magnetic field strong enough to tow it around shouldn't be much of a problem.

[VaporTrail]

The point in subdivision of antimatter containment is that you get the antimatter to react before it becomes a danger to planets. It's not to make it safer for the ship. Any significant uncontrolled antimatter reaction aboard ship and the ship is toast anyway. If you have a large amount of antimatter in one place as a solid chunk, there's a higher likelihood that that chunk is going to stay intact. A big enough chunk of antimatter is a possible planet-cracker if it got enough dV to deorbit.

Honestly, once you get to the scale of "destroy the planet" the best thing you can do is keep them away from the planet. Antimatter at least has the scalability to be used at small craft sizes... instead of strictly for inter-planetary missions. A singularity drive is a bit further up on the "uh-oh" scale.

[merendel]

Especially, consider that the antimatter is essentially a cloud of anti-protons [all negative]- if the containment fails, they repel each other and accelerate each-other in all directions.

While bad for anything in very close proximity it also drasticly lessens the danger for anything further away. that cloud would vary rappidly disperse to the point of something as small as a ship haveing a very low probability of encountering even a single atom of the cloud after a short period of time. Earth or a similar planet would unlikely to be affected significantly. Antiprotons comeing in singly would either get cought up in the magnetic field of the planet or annihilate itself in the upper atmosphere in a realitively small detonation that might not even be noticed.

A blackhole that accidently got released on a crossing orbit has far more potential to cause bad things to happen. I dont even want to contemplate what might happen if you droped one into a star. Keeping trajectories in the outer system is prudent but not a sure thing. Jupiter prety regularly kicks random space junk all over the place, including into earth crossing orbits from time to time.

Edited July 2, 2014 by merendel

[EdisonMaxwell]

Had a little issue with the Aluminum Hybrid Rocket today. Apparently it reverted one of the models back to the standard booster size when I used time warp.http://i.imgur.com/uuxdDs8.png

This happens to me with the Argon tanks.

[WaveFunctionP]

This happens to me with the Argon tanks.

There isn't anything messing with part sizes in the kspi that I'm aware of. KSPI uses the same part module functionality that the stock game uses to create those parts.

Since it is a fairly new issue and kspi has not been changed during that period, your issue may lie elsewhere with other addons.

Edited July 2, 2014 by WaveFunctionP

[Warp11]

The usual suspect is that you are out of memory. Try using the active texture reduction mod. Beyond that you may have an issue with your install and may want to try removing mods until the issue goes away.

Ok, thank you. I wantet to remove Kethane anyway, because Interstellar and Kethane are OP together.

[ABZB]

While bad for anything in very close proximity it also drasticly lessens the danger for anything further away. that cloud would vary rappidly disperse to the point of something as small as a ship haveing a very low probability of encountering even a single atom of the cloud after a short period of time. Earth or a similar planet would unlikely to be affected significantly. Antiprotons comeing in singly would either get cought up in the magnetic field of the planet or annihilate itself in the upper atmosphere in a realitively small detonation that might not even be noticed.

A blackhole that accidently got released on a crossing orbit has far more potential to cause bad things to happen. I dont even want to contemplate what might happen if you droped one into a star. Keeping trajectories in the outer system is prudent but not a sure thing. Jupiter prety regularly kicks random space junk all over the place, including into earth crossing orbits from time to time.

My Concern is for the ship in question - with antimatter, the ship is likely doomed. The black hole has a chance for the crew to survive - also, even if the black hole has a trajectory that can result in such a crossing, a diversion mission is very possible, given the timescales involved (especially if use is restricted to outer system, (including initial creation of the BH -I would certainly not manufacture one anywhere near an inhabited planet.

Antimatter is arguably better/safer for in-system maneuvers - a colony ship, for example, would leave its BH drive section in a safe orbit far beyond pluto's.

[Angelo Kerman]

Interesting discussion on black hole tech. I remember reading the Star Carrier series by Ian Douglas, and the novels depicted using artificial black holes as propulsion methods. Basically, warp space in front of the ship to create an artificial black hole that the craft falls towards. As the ship falls towards the singularity, turn off the warp projector, then project ahead of the craft again. The spacial distortion is localized so you don't interfere with local gravity. Of course it needed a lot of power to do this...

Edited July 2, 2014 by Angel-125

[Atrius129]

So what kind of power output would one expect from a 606t BH reactor in KSP terms?

It would be very interesting to see some kind of planetary damage mod available. Once budgets are introduced it would be more incentive not to crash a tanker full of AM, BHs, or fissile materials onto an inhabited planet. I would imagine funding would start to dry up if you killed off half of the population of the planet with nuclear fallout. It would also make off world uranium/thorium mining much lucrative. It could include alarms if the projected orbit of a dangerous craft drops below a target altitude.

[bartekkru99]

I've got a problem, I can't really mine any aluminia and next to "Alumina Miner" option, theres "offline" sign.

[ScallopPotato]

Quick question: Do the upgraded fission reactors come with Basic Nuclear Fusion or Particle Accelerators?

[ArcFurnace]

Quick question: Do the upgraded fission reactors come with Basic Nuclear Fusion or Particle Accelerators?

Relevant portion of first post:

• [basic Fusion Power] Nuclear Reactor: Solid Core Reactor ----> Gas Core Reactor (3x power output)
  
• [basic Fusion Power] Particle Bed Reactor ----> Dusty Plasma Reactor
  

[Spearka]

is there any good reason as to why we don't have a 62.5m thermojet?

[Donziboy2]

is there any good reason as to why we don't have a 62.5m thermojet?

What is the reason you want it for?

And you can always make one, just make a new part config for a smaller one..... Then you will need 62.5cm intakes and precoolers....

If I had to guess I would say mod part count.

[BigD145]

It's likely more about the minimum size involved in the engineering OR a different model is being considered.

[merendel]

There isn't anything messing with part sizes in the kspi that I'm aware of. KSPI uses the same part module functionality that the stock game uses to create those parts.

Since it is a fairly new issue and kspi has not been changed during that period, your issue may lie elsewhere with other addons.

Not realy new I'm prety sure I reported it months ago. My experience has been that some KSPI parts will sometimes get a weird scaleing bug if they are the root part of the vessle. It will be fine on first load but if the vessle is unloaded and then returned to the bug has a chance of happening. I first noticed it with the argon tank myself, made a ground power station and used argon powered thrusters to help boost it away from the runway. First time I went back to the station the root argon tank had shrunk down to the size of a probe core without changeing the spaceing. Cant remember if I first saw it in version 11 or if it was in v10 as well. I know its been around since before the ARM patch.

[technion]

I'm trying to understand what occurred here.

I put a series of probes in LKO with Thf4 fuelled fission reactors.

The system quite successfully pushed a small Atilla powered rocket out to Gilly. Problem is now that I'm there, although I do have some power, all three of these reactors are in decay heating mode. They all have fuel, so it's not a matter of running out. They were unmanned, so no kerbal shut them down. What would have put them in this position?

[BigD145]

Lack of proper radiators would cause them to shut down. You are closer to the sun now. There's a slider in VAB shows heat radiation at different distances from the sun.

[Donziboy2]

Thorium is best used on manned missions since it needs more maintenance. Over time the actinides build up and the amount of power you get goes down. Unlike normal uranium reactors in which the output is the same up until they run out of fuel.

If you use alot of that power even when not running engines its possible to overheat the ship during time warp. Since the thermal power needs will increase because more waste is building up.

[stellarator]

I have a little suggestion and i don't know if here is te best place to post it, but... here it comes:

I saw there in a book... I think that it was from Arthur C. Clarke. Well, in these book, apears a motor that combines two of the motors that ksp interestellar come with: the nuclear turbojet and the nuclear rocket motor. In fact, thre was a nuclear version of the rapier, I think.

Why don't you include it on the new version. I supose that it will costs time and work, but... I think taht could be a good motor to add to KSP Interestellar, we could save with it mass, and delta V (and nuclear reactors).

Thanks for this mod.

[Mikare12]

Best addon ever.I did a interpanetary plane, but i have problem with precison with warp drive .I cant wait for 0.12 version.

[ArcFurnace]

I have a little suggestion and i don't know if here is te best place to post it, but... here it comes:

I saw there in a book... I think that it was from Arthur C. Clarke. Well, in these book, apears a motor that combines two of the motors that ksp interestellar come with: the nuclear turbojet and the nuclear rocket motor. In fact, thre was a nuclear version of the rapier, I think.

Why don't you include it on the new version. I supose that it will costs time and work, but... I think taht could be a good motor to add to KSP Interestellar, we could save with it mass, and delta V (and nuclear reactors).

Thanks for this mod.

The upgraded Thermal Turbojet is exactly this- a thermal turbojet that can switch into thermal rocket mode. Add reactor to taste. Upgrade unlocked with the Basic Fusion Power node. It is indeed very handy.

[physicsnerd]

I have a little suggestion and i don't know if here is te best place to post it, but... here it comes:

I saw there in a book... I think that it was from Arthur C. Clarke. Well, in these book, apears a motor that combines two of the motors that ksp interestellar come with: the nuclear turbojet and the nuclear rocket motor. In fact, thre was a nuclear version of the rapier, I think.

Why don't you include it on the new version. I supose that it will costs time and work, but... I think taht could be a good motor to add to KSP Interestellar, we could save with it mass, and delta V (and nuclear reactors).

Thanks for this mod.

Which book? You might be talking about 2010: Odyssey 2. The Alexei Leonev from that book has a fusion-powered thermal engine system, which I think is closest to the thermal rocket.

[NeoAcario]

Impactor Science Bug?

So I've started collecting the last science I have left in the Kerbolar system: Impact Science. I have 5 tiny lander probes with an RTG and 2 Seismic Sensors each. For the final lander I use my warp tug with a couple Seismic Sensors and 88-88 transmitters out of the KAS box. The 'problem' is that I was able to get 3 readings per impact. I'm going to assume this isn't normal or intended? Made me able to clear out Moho with only 5 impacts.

Ideas? Known issue? Exploit with multiple seismic sensors?

~Steve