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

[Imca]

It's probably because the plasma thruster max thrust isn't set until you actually start the burn, I think it should work if you throttle up the engines up and down a bit before starting the autopilot but I'm not sure. I will investigate when I get chance.

How do you mean? Plasma thrusters produce a lot of WasteHeat so that could be a downside.

I built a single stage to laythe plane that bounces itself out of the atmosphere with thermal jets, then switches over to a QVPD.

I was wondering if there was any downside to leaving the QVPD running while in laythes atmosphere, or on kerbins so that it is easier to bounce out of the atmosphere to get back to space.

[Fractal_UK]

Now most used mono-propellant isn't straight hyrazine, it's actually a mixture of hydrazine and unsymetrical dimethylhydrazine, usually in a 50/50 mix called Aerozine 50. USDH has a molecular formula of C2H8N2. Still smack-dab in the realm of a FT fuel synthesis, just add CO2 ice to the mix and shake well.

Heh? Aerozine 50 is a hypergolic propellant used with an oxidiser - usually Dinitrogen Tetroxide. It has a higher density than pure UDMH so makes a good hypergolic fuel, it's inferior to pure Hydrazine as a mono-propellant though because it's more stable. Hydrazine will simply decompose on contact with a catalyst.

From what I've read on the subject, Hydrazine generally appears to generally be synthesised from ammonia and hydrogen peroxide or ammonia/sodium hypochlorite. Ammonia might be found in situ on particular celestial bodies (Ike and in Jool's atmosphere?) but the production of the other components, well, extends beyond my knowledge of chemistry.

I built a single stage to laythe plane that bounces itself out of the atmosphere with thermal jets, then switches over to a QVPD.

I was wondering if there was any downside to leaving the QVPD running while in laythes atmosphere, or on kerbins so that it is easier to bounce out of the atmosphere to get back to space.

If its using vacuum plasma, the quantum vacuum thruster doesn't work in atmosphere, so you could leave it running, it won't receive much power because your thermal engines will eat it all first but if you do leave it running, it will draw the power even though its producing no thrust and produce a lot of heat that you possibly don't want in the process.

You could switch over to liquid fuel mode but this is probably only useful if you want to tweak your effective specific impulse upward a bit when you already have plenty of thrust.

Edited October 27, 2013 by Fractal_UK

[Imca]

The jet itself actually has no fuel on board, which is the big reason why I like the design.

But it if eats power even while not making thrust, that's a simple fix, I will just bind it to the action group that shuts down the thermal jets to prevent a death spiral, thanks.

[localSol]

I uploaded a quick TreeEdit tech tree merge/balance of KSPInterstellar+KerbalAttachmentSystem(KAS)+Kethane+kOS+Firespitter+B9+graphotron+InfernalRobotics+ExtraplanetaryLaunchpads+MissionControllerExtended+KerbalEngineerRedux+ProceduralWings+ProceduralFairings

(A mod to the interstellar tree uploaded to the TreeEdit online list) .The B9, interstellar and firespitter balances are the author originals as included IIRC. I guess Engineer redux and missiontrollerextended added their parts in some other way, so they may not appear in my TreeEdit Edit itself. Most techs are in the nodes#3-6 areas as relative to interstellar's tree. No idea if it will load if you don't have all the parts, but I hope it helps anyone wanting to jump into all these in career mode or at least is a starting point for your own modding.

Looking again if I were to make another quick shuffle it would be to spread some more of the infernal robotics parts to Advanced Motors. Some are already in Field Science, the parent node. I set it to read only, hopefully it can be copied..I had no way of confirming anyone else can see it there. Anyway, exciting tech stuff lately.

Looking forward to trying the interstellar parts. Haven't got enough science for them yet! On to the science I go!

Edit : To anyone, to make installing and managing so many mods much more comfortable, use KSPModAdmin. It's greater than great, which is really great.

Edited October 27, 2013 by localSol

[DaveStrider]

Eeloo's supposed to be a future gas giant's moon, not a Pluto analogue. According to the KSP wiki it's more of an analogue to Europa.

[Cairan]

Here it is, Discovery One. Took 4 flights to assemble in orbit:

1) Warp drive and nuclear core/generator unit

2) Antimatter scoop and storage system

3) Antimatter core/generator unit

4) Docking bays/control cupola and quantum plasma drive unit

Assembly was performed first by a rendez-vous from the Cupola / Plasma thruster vessel with the warp drive and nuclear reactor core. The Cupola split up and stood by while the Plasma drive docked with the nuclear/warp drive assembly. Cupola then docked at the forward end of the warp drive. The whole assembly then met up with the antimatter storage and collection assembly. Cupola undocked out of the way so the drive unit could dock with the antimatter section. Cupola redocked at the forward end of the antimatter storage. Finally, met up with the antimatter drive and generator unit, the troublesome part which was so heavy I had to resort to Novapunch creativity... Cupola and antimatter assembly undocked from the drive section, which went on to dock with the antimatter reactor core. The forward end (cupola, antimatter scoops and pods) docked with the assembled drive section (antimatter reactor, generator, warp drive, nuclear reactor and generator, and quantum vacuum plasma thruster).

It weighs in at 177 tons, has a max acceleration of 0.29 meters per second under normal drive operation, but this vessel is meant as my "mothership" of long range planetary missions, designed to stay right on the edge of SOI except for antimatter collection, which can be accomplished by undocking the drive section. I'm building a fleet of support vessels (landers, orbital pods, small nuclear generator units) so that this vessel can split up as necessary while in orbit.

[Makeone]

Fractal, what about this:

Let's scrap Anti-Matter for time been. Yes, i know, it's big deal, but i just think that jump from nuclear power to AM is bit...steep'ish. So, you could convert current AM-reactors to fusion, using deuterium and tritium as fuel. If a little more difficulty is wanted, then how about re-heating the fusion reactors using nuclear reactors? That is, before start, so it would ideal to keep them running, so plenty of fuel.

Then there is current anti-matter farms...well, we could turn them as Exotic Matter farms and switch warp drive in such way, that it requires EM as 'fuel' and some MJ's for activation(s).

Then there would need a bit more efficient method of gaining MJ's out of fusion reaction, some kind of plasma-driven generator with decent efficiency, say 70%+

[DragonSlayer666]

Hi,

So i just updated this mod to the new version(with integrated KSP 0.22 support and tech tree). However, it prevents KSP from starting now. When i have this mod installed, it'll give a C++ runtime error during the loading of the parts. This happens during the loading of one of the original Squad command pods though, so i really don't get it.

Could someone help me with this one? as i really would like to use this mod in the career mode as well...

Kind Regards,

DragonSlayer666

[Yaivenov]

Heh? Aerozine 50 is a hypergolic propellant used with an oxidiser - usually Dinitrogen Tetroxide. It has a higher density than pure UDMH so makes a good hypergolic fuel, it's inferior to pure Hydrazine as a mono-propellant though because it's more stable. Hydrazine will simply decompose on contact with a catalyst.

....

*goes back and re-reads his notes* ...and that's what I get for just going off my memory. Aero-50, more shelf-stable, thus better for long duration missions, but not used as a mono-prop. Doh.

But by all means, go read up on FT processes. Seems like they'd be straight up this game's alley.

[DragonSlayer666]

Hi there,

So i today i updated to the new version of this mod so i can enjoy it in the career mode as well. However, since updating the mod i cannot start KSP anymore. During the loading of the parts KSP will come up with a C++ runtime error, which i cannot explain. If i deinstall the mod again KSP works like a charm.

So here comes the kicker: KSP doesn't crash during the loading of parts from the interstellar mod, no: it crashes during the loading of one of the command pods made by Squad themselves!

So is there anyone that can help me with this one? Or did i somehow managed to wreck a perfectly good mod?

Kind Regards,

DragonSlayer666

P.S. Yes, i tried reinstalling the mods, reinstalling kerbal, checking local file integrity etc. I've done it about a dozen times.

[Lalwcat]

-Added option to harvest Deuterium from Jool's atmosphere

How? Science lab in the atmosphere has an option to make Deuterium or something?

[forsaken1111]

Hi there,

So i today i updated to the new version of this mod so i can enjoy it in the career mode as well. However, since updating the mod i cannot start KSP anymore. During the loading of the parts KSP will come up with a C++ runtime error, which i cannot explain. If i deinstall the mod again KSP works like a charm.

So here comes the kicker: KSP doesn't crash during the loading of parts from the interstellar mod, no: it crashes during the loading of one of the command pods made by Squad themselves!

So is there anyone that can help me with this one? Or did i somehow managed to wreck a perfectly good mod?

Kind Regards,

DragonSlayer666

P.S. Yes, i tried reinstalling the mods, reinstalling kerbal, checking local file integrity etc. I've done it about a dozen times.

How many mods do you have installed? I'm guessing you've gone over the memory cap.

[Malsheck]

Hello, I just want to confirm something to make sure I don't have this mod installed wrong or some other issue. As far as I can tell, if you have a science lab in orbit, on the Mun, on Duna or where ever and your doing research for science points, you only get points for the lab your currently controlling. So you can have a dozen labs all over the solar system but if your not controlling one of them then your not getting anything. Does this sound about right? I'm thinking that this has more to do with the game mechanics than anything since my research probes aren't recharging unless I'm controlling them either. Was kinda hoping this mod added a plugin that would keep track but I guess that's not possible atm?

[forsaken1111]

People ask that question every page. If you'd looked back you'd have seen it.

Science labs make science even when not controlled but to get that science you must switch back to them once so that they can update your science total.

[DragonSlayer666]

How many mods do you have installed? I'm guessing you've gone over the memory cap.

I currently have 6 mods installed (excluding interstellar mod). These are: B9 Aerospace, Firespitter, KAS, LLL, Mechjeb2 and TSAS.

But the error occurs not only with all this installed. It occured with only the interstellar mod installed as well.

Kind Regards,

DragonSlayer666

[Malsheck]

People ask that question every page. If you'd looked back you'd have seen it.

Science labs make science even when not controlled but to get that science you must switch back to them once so that they can update your science total.

Ah, sorry about that. Not sure how I missed it but thanks for the reply. I guess I figured information like that would have been in the OP under the labs section.

Edit: I did the following to test it... I went to one of my probes on duna.... time accelerated for a few days just to see. Then switched to my two labs and then back to the space center and into the R&D.... no points were added. Then I tried a 2nd time only this time going to the lab first, then going elsewhere, time exaggerated, and then going back to the lab, then back to R&D.... still no points. So if it's suppose to work then it doesn't for me.

Edited October 28, 2013 by Malsheck

[RadHazard]

I've been playing with KSP Intersteller 0.7.2 in my career game. I've just started unlocking the early power generation and transmission tech nodes in preparation for building a plasma-engine based rocket. I was playing around with the plasma stuff and ended up making this:

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I call it the PlasmaJet^TM (I'm... not very good at naming things). It has a top speed of 30-60 m/s, depending on how your receivers are angled toward the transmitter tower, and it can't maneuver for nothing, but it flies. I'd probably get much better performance if I swapped fuel types, but I'm enjoying it's obscene fuel efficiency.

[Patupi]

I like the idea of microwave beamed launches, but there might be a simpler method to be used before that tech becomes available. Short range microwave (or laser) beaming straight up a launching rocket into the exhaust nozzle of an expendable, specialized engine. Someone (I forget who) has build a simple plastic mock up with this as a proof of concept. Fire a laser up, it get's focused by the shape of the engine into one spot where the engine material vaporizes at just that spot. In atmosphere you'd also get atmospheric plasma. This makes basically a pulsed detonation laser rocket. You can't make it continuous as the explosion would mask the laser causing it, and the beam must be directly below to focus correctly. Thus no gravity turn on this, it only thrusts straight up (or straight away from the laser at least)

The man doing this IRL wasn't planning on this being the final design. His eventual aim was to beam energy to 'Lightcraft' much as Fractal_UK was talking about. It was a while ago I read about this but I seem to remember he was actually talking about powering lasers via microwaves to use just atmospheric plasma and magnets to thrust this past the craft for thrust. A no fuel engine with no powerplant. Win win situation

[xchoo]

Hi! I am encountering an error when I try to stack multiple electric generator & reactor units on top of each other (or had multiple generator/reactor pairs on one vessel). They end up producing "Nan MW" output instead of some proper number.

Also, I find that if I had the generator on top of the reactor, the unit would not produce any power, but if I had the reactor on top of the generator, the unit would operate properly.

Is anyone else experiencing this problem?

This is with version 0.7.2

[SorensonPA]

Then there would need a bit more efficient method of gaining MJ's out of fusion reaction, some kind of plasma-driven generator with decent efficiency, say 70%+

I was thinking about this earlier as well, specifically in how the lost efficiency spills over into multiple problems like waste heat buildup and inability to fully utilize certain engines to their utmost. Being able to claw back that lost 40% would go a hell of a long way. Heck, not just in generators, but all sorts of stuff - plasma thrusters only get 72% efficiency according to the context menu, and taken against the 60% generator efficiency that means you're only getting 43.2% of theoretical maximum thrust out of the whole deal

Rather than build even more fixed component tiers upgraded to with certain technologies, would it be possible to do a system of scaled improvement that inch towards a theoretical maximum efficiency? Establish a set of point pools tied to specific component types (thermal generators, fusion/antimatter reactors, plasma/thermal/fusion thrusters, heat radiators, etc) that you can sink 1,000 Science into via part context menus and each investment bumps you along an improvement curve towards aforementioned maximum. That'd be a good way to extend R&D pursuits and keep players motivated to do more research and build bigger science complexes.

Taking the efficiency jump between generator tiers as a barebones example from them being triggered by a 1,000 Science drop, it'd take 6,000 to hit ~99% generator efficiency, 13,000 to hit ~99.99% - not particularly unreasonable given we're sidestepping the laws of physics at 10,000.

EDIT:

Hi! I am encountering an error when I try to stack multiple electric generator & reactor units on top of each other (or had multiple generator/reactor pairs on one vessel). They end up producing "Nan MW" output instead of some proper number.

Also, I find that if I had the generator on top of the reactor, the unit would not produce any power, but if I had the reactor on top of the generator, the unit would operate properly.

Is anyone else experiencing this problem?

This is with version 0.7.2

Can confirm the problem with multiple reactors in the gen<reactor<gen<reactor configuration and that a reactor<gen<gen<reactor configuration works.

Edited October 28, 2013 by SorensonPA

[AlchemicalAgent]

Hi! I am encountering an error when I try to stack multiple electric generator & reactor units on top of each other (or had multiple generator/reactor pairs on one vessel). They end up producing "Nan MW" output instead of some proper number.

Also, I find that if I had the generator on top of the reactor, the unit would not produce any power, but if I had the reactor on top of the generator, the unit would operate properly.

Is anyone else experiencing this problem?

This is with version 0.7.2

I'm seeing the same problem. With the addition that even if the reactor is on top the units won't work unless connected directly to an Interstellar part (Science lab, etc).

Edit: For additional information, resources like Waste Heat and Electric Charge seem to be transferred correctly across entire vessels while the reactor thermal load is not transmitted to attached parts.

Deletion and Reinstall of Interstellar has no effect. All mods with plugin components were also removed with no effect.

2nd Edit: I just realized xchoo was talking about multiple reactor/gen combos. The problem I described is with only one reactor/genset per ship.

Edited October 28, 2013 by AlchemicalAgent

[stevron]

I've also got that problem, having is one way works, but the other it doesn't. But I only seemed to occur when there there multiple pairs present.

For this plane I planned to have 2 jenny's on the AM reactor's but doing so would give me that NaNMW reading no matter which way I put them on. However what is strange is the process is actually occurring because the AM is being drained, there's just no output. So I removed those and put a small nuke/jenny combo in the cargo bay, however it failed the first time. I thought maybe it was in issue with how is was mounted, like no fuel crossfeed. I rearranged things and unintentionally reversed the order in which placed each part, jenny first, it then started to work.

Since getting this thing to work I have noticed something else, unless the antimatter is in the front tanks on the wings the reactors don't work, and they are for what ever reason reversed, front left tank powers the right wing reactor and vice versa. And one tank alone won't power both reactors, they only drained from those specific tanks.

Some seriously buggy stuff has been going on the last 2 days.

[Yaivenov]

Fractal, I'm trying to add the waste heat factor to the solar array wings from the KOSMOS add on (I could just use them as-is, but that would be "cheating"), but I'm apparently missing something.

I assumed I needed to add .cfg files specific to those parts in the Additions folder, with the appropriate part names, but I'm not sure what else needs to be added.

[Aghanim]

Is this current version of this mod backward compatible to 21.1? I don't upgrade yet because there is a lot of mods and I couldn't find any nice time to download the new version

[Sigma52]

can someone please pm me or link me a reduced texture pack for KSP interstellar, great mod but having a hard time running it.