[0.24.2] TiberDyne Aerospace R&D Division - Shuttle System 3.6 Career Update!

[comradephil]

Not really, I just sort of make some canards that fit 'in line' with the shuttles wings

comradphil: the issue is getting the thing to fly straight with a variety of weights - either booster is heavy and the shuttle or payload lifter tries to tip it one way, or the tank starts emptying and the booster pushes the other way - it takes a high-range of gimbal to allow the whole thing to compensate for the weight distribution - and this is all without trying to make JUST the shuttle do the lifting in EXT mode (or vice versa in Energia-only booster mode)

Once we have fuel lines, the weight is going to shift differently again, so too much tuning is wasted at this point

I would be interested in a screen of your launcher to see how its balanced and what changes might be made.

Quack quack

Basically I have a rocket and satellite in the cargo bay beluga thing. On the shuttles I make, there\'s no real issue. Please note that this is also because I\'m using the nova pack ASAS, idiot that I am.

[Tiberion]

Its probably the different setting on the ASAS that causes it to shake so bad - the save file in the zip uses stock ASAS - you can see that the engine trails gimbal a lot, but not enough to break up.

I thought about making an ASAS module for it, but I figured that whatever you\'re launching would likely have and need its own, and having more than one would be bad.

[Tiberion]

Finally got some time to work on the Mk2 engine mount:

The engines aren\'t built in, the mesh was just there for measuring - you can fit any 1m engine in there.

[Herpderpsslerps]

Dude, you are awesome, I\'ve been wanting one of these for ages!

[NovaSilisko]

Who needs external tanks!

[Tiberion]

heh yeah - it\'ll work until fuel lines come out - no way around it

[venku122]

heh yeah - it\'ll work until fuel lines come out - no way around it

Will you be balancing your pack once fuel lines come out so the tanks don\'t give thrust?

[spawnofbill]

Will you be balancing your pack once fuel lines come out so the tanks don\'t give thrust?

The tank engine is a separate part from the tank itself. In fact he had the foresight to include tank endcaps for when fuel-lines do get introduced. So this pack should be GTG once they are introduced.

[Tiberion]

Indeed, it will be able to go Shuttle-only lifting, tank only lifting (ALA Buran/Energia) or a hybrid like it is currently - thats why the tanks come in chunks too, as you\'ll need varying amounts of fuel in the different setups (and depending on what you need to haul up, when cargo holds work.

The pod\'s engine mount will hold a small amount of fuel for final orbital maneuvers, but right now it holds a bunch to simulate pulling fuel through a fuel line so I can work on flight dynamics and you can mess around with it.

Also gonna do an orange tank (maybe even a STS-1 white tank too) and port over the SSRBs from NovaPunch - it should be a pretty comprehensive shuttle extravaganza based on the Mk 3 parts from C7.

Speaking of....

[Spoot Knight]

Oh cool. But what\'s the first image supposed to be?

[Tiberion]

Oh cool. But what\'s the first image supposed to be?

What were you seeing? One of them wasn\'t loading for me..

Should be seeing 2 pics of the nosecone WIP, before and after I cut it and added RCS ports. The very tip will probably be an ASAS unit so you don\'t need to use the huge fuselage-sized one - Unless someone else has an idea - maybe someday a docking clamp when we can do that

[Spoot Knight]

Okay I see it now. When I posted earlier it was a box with a red X.

[Tiberion]

Getting a coat of paint today:

(pics in various stages of completion)

[venku122]

das fancy!

[ultrasquid]

Just want to share something I put together with your kit and some C7 parts, plus Hellcat parachutes:

[Tiberion]

Hah very tricky, took me a minute to realize how you attached wings, and I built the thing.

nice work.

Refined the wings a bit more, and added the attachable ailerons - thats the last piece aside from a 0.5m jet engine for the mounts.

[venku122]

It looks nice. Can\'t wait for fuel lines to get your parts to work the way their intended

[Tiberion]

So.... Fuelines!

I had just about finished up work on the new parts, so the timing was decent. I just need to make the nose-RCS unit functional.

I did some quick rebalancing, made the fuel usage right and the tanks reasonable, and did a NASA-style launch:

Honestly, not bad for not having any RCS control. It should work.

[venku122]

YAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAY

[Guest Flixxbeatz]

Cool, might give it a try soon.

[Tiberion]

So, I had some trouble with the RCS nose block, with the limit on 6 RCS thrusters per part - I can\'t accurately model it. I\'ll probably have to leave off the bottom thruster (the two rotation thrusters will combine to handle nose-up)

Of course, RCS roll is messed up now anyway, so it may not work. Hopefully will release tomorrow with the new shuttle stuff.

[Guest Flixxbeatz]

Just one question.

How come it didn\'t veered off course when you flew it? ???

[Tiberion]

The engines on both pieces have a high gimbal rate, so they can vector the thrust to offset the weigh imbalance - you usually have to fly with ASAS on and kill engines to use RCS for turning, though with lower throttle and good piloting you can do it manually.

It is definitely a challenge

[Tiberion]

Got the RCS module working as good as its going to for now..

Also decided to finish the parts for the mini jet engine, it now has a tank mount, radially attachable of course:

[Tiberion]

Doing a little polishing and such, and then the new version will be out tonight.

Including the alternate tank and SRBs: