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

[Tiberion]

You can see the 2 tank pieces in the shots, the nosecone is right above the old orange one, and the tank segment is just to the right (its 7.5m long) and the rocket is the Engine, 2 tank segments and the nose section.

So yeah, you can definitely just leave off the top section and build a launcher. Also this time around the nose section will have a reactionwheel and probe module so it can fly on its own with a 'dummy' cargo strapped on, and maybe eventually some winglets for an Energia-II style returnable booster stage.

The engine itself doesn't have the built-in vector of 10 degrees anymore either (which required the gimbal range to go up a bit more) which means it can be launched like that, the current one really cannot.

Next thing though, is modeling the new SLS tank and boosters and maybe tweak the SSMEs again.

[7499275]

I've been watching this thread since I joined the forums more then 6 months ago. I would like to know is there more uses to this than just launching a shuttle up for its looks?

Most of my missions (all actualy) have a payload with a purpose weather it is a base piece, a station piece or a remotech satallite or for science of course. They all have purposes does this have a purpose?

[DasBananenbrot]

I've been watching this thread since I joined the forums more then 6 months ago. I would like to know is there more uses to this than just launching a shuttle up for its looks?

Most of my missions (all actualy) have a payload with a purpose weather it is a base piece, a station piece or a remotech satallite or for science of course. They all have purposes does this have a purpose?

Yeah of course they have a purpose. To launch those useful payloads of yours into space. I think that is pretty useful

[7499275]

Yeah of course they have a purpose. To launch those useful payloads of yours into space. I think that is pretty useful

So the "cargo bay" section can be opened and cargo placed inside etc?

[XNerd_Bomber]

It feels like the gimbal on the US shuttle is waaaay too high; can I lower it without having an issues, or will the thing be almost uncontrollable?

[DasBananenbrot]

So the "cargo bay" section can be opened and cargo placed inside etc?

Yes, of course you can do, like the real space shuttle. That is the purpose of the mod. To bring payloads into space like they did with the real space shuttle

[Tiberion]

It feels like the gimbal on the US shuttle is waaaay too high; can I lower it without having an issues, or will the thing be almost uncontrollable?

No you can't really lower it, or it won't have enough range to deflect properly as you lose mass from staging and fuel usage. You can turn on precision controls (capslock) during launch to dampen the gimbal responsiveness though, it really helps.

7499275: Yeah there is a cargobay with nodes to place docking ports or decouplers inside. There's also a manipulator arm using Romfarer's plugin that lets you grab and move cargo, but the plugin itself is currently bugged and causes things to go a bit crazy when you grasp things, so it may not be too useful currently. There's also a crew compartment inside the bay to haul some more guys (and eventually do some science, still trying to figure the best way to handle that)

Edited November 4, 2013 by Tiberion

[7499275]

No you can't really lower it, or it won't have enough range to deflect properly as you lose mass from staging and fuel usage. You can turn on precision controls (capslock) during launch to dampen the gimbal responsiveness though, it really helps.

7499275: Yeah there is a cargobay with nodes to place docking ports or decouplers inside. There's also a manipulator arm using Romfarer's plugin that lets you grab and move cargo, but the plugin itself is currently bugged and causes things to go a bit crazy when you gran things, so it may not be too useful currently. There's also a crew compartment inside the bay to haul some more guys (and eventually do some science, still trying to figure the best way to handle that)

Alright awesome! If my post sounded like discrediting your work that was not intended at all. I really love the looks of this mod and after finding out there is a useable cargo bay I downloaded it and I am impressed with the performance of the shuttle, thank you good sir!

[Tiberion]

I need some help - I am tired of describing the launchers as "NASA-like" and "Buran-like" - I want to come up with actual names for them. Keep in mind they're based on the actual parts, but aren't intended at replicas.

I am happy with the actual shuttle names of Odyssey and Intrepid, so its only for the booster/tank/engine packages.

NASA never really named theirs aside from the Shuttle names and the overall "Space Transportation System" (STS) while Buran's launcher was "Energia" and was a stand-alone booster which never matured into regular use.

They did name some things derived from those parts though, namely the Ares rockets from Project Constellation, though sadly they want back to no specific name with the SLS (which is actually more shuttle-derived than Ares)

And there was a "community driven" alternative to the Ares rockets called Jupiter DIRECT, and it had a common core booster which would have used shuttle hardware directly. So both Ares and Jupiter can inspire a new name.

While I was modeling it, I was using the standin name "Blizzard" for the new 'Buran' booster - mainly because Buran translates to Blizzard or Snowstorm in english. I also considered Hurricane, which was the name of the followup to the Energia booster (another one being Vulkan)

Obviously I could just use Blizzard for one and Hurricane for the other, but it seems weird to use the name on a NASA-style thing. Also considering just using "Jupiter" in honor of the never-realized Jupiter DIRECT but I'm not sure it's right.

Ares is the Greek god of war, and his roman counterpart is Mars, which would be weird. His Norse counterpart is Odin (which I already used in Novapunch along with Thor) or possibly Tyr, which I sort of like.

Anyway, I am sure someone can come up with something cool.

Blizzard or Hurricane for the Buran launcher? Or something new?

For the NASA launcher; Jupiter, Tyr, or something else?

[Spica]

Jupiter for the NASA launcher, and Blizzard for the Buran. That is my opinion though. Tyr should be used for another, possibly bigger size orbital module. Styled after the odin, but beefed up for interplanetary missions.

[Tiberion]

We've got 6-man 3.75m crew/service modules based on Orion and Boeing's CST-100 on the drawing board for Novapunch, but I hadn't even though about names for it yet, that's a great idea.

[Fredonia]

We've got 6-man 3.75m crew/service modules based on Orion and Boeing's CST-100 on the drawing board for Novapunch, but I hadn't even though about names for it yet, that's a great idea.

YES!

Anyway, I like Blizzard for the Buran style and Jupiter for the NASA style. Although, you could just go with an in-game name for it, like Jool or something... Just whatever tickles your fancy I suppose. ha

I definitely think you should name the 6-man crew pod Tyr, though. Maybe Váli? A Norse god anyway... haha

[wasmic]

YES!

Anyway, I like Blizzard for the Buran style and Jupiter for the NASA style. Although, you could just go with an in-game name for it, like Jool or something... Just whatever tickles your fancy I suppose. ha

I definitely think you should name the 6-man crew pod Tyr, though. Maybe Váli? A Norse god anyway... haha

No, not a norse god... everything gets named after either greek, roman or norse mythology these days. On the other hand, the Odin pod and Thor lander already use that naming scheme. Tyr was the god of war, IIRC. He was the guy who got his arm bit off by the wolf Fenris (no idea if it's written differently in english, it's called Fenris in danish).

Try to name it after some less known god if you do name it after norse mythology. That rules out Freja, Heimdal and ESPECIALLY Loke.

EDIT: About the shuttle launchers... you could call the STS Duna-5 and the Energia Eeloo-7.

Edited November 5, 2013 by wasmic

[Thourion]

... Ares is the Greek god of war, and his roman counterpart is Mars, which would be weird. His Norse counterpart is Odin ...

Deffinetly not Odin, since he is more like the counterpart of Zeus than Ares.

Anyway Id go with Jupiter for the Nasa like the others here, but Zeus or Cronos/Kronos/Saturn for the Buran launcher.

[wasmic]

deffinetly not odin, since he is more like the counterpart of zeus than ares.

Anyway id go with jupiter for the nasa like the others here, but zeus or cronos/kronos for the buran launcher.

I'VE GOT IT! Call it the batmobile!

[Tiberion]

Robin: Batman, that fiend the Joker has set up a base on the Moon!

Batman: Quickly Robin, to the Bat-Launching System!

Pretty much got the orange tank done tonight - it won't have any of the mounting brackets or external lines modeled into it since its pulling double duty as a regular rocket stage eventually, but I'm gonna make a new decoupler that should look cool with it.

[Wahgineer]

Dont you just hate it when the school computer wont let you see images, so you have to guess what they are buy looking at the other posts?

[Guest]

This looks really lovely. It'll be possible to create Mars DIRECT, Ares and Vulkan rockets with it, too. Just make sure the SRBs aren't fused with the nose cone. Maybe even put a set of separation boosters and a chute in there.

[Tiberion]

Yeah, I am making an all new modular SRB; the segments are separate .mu files so you can call them via MODEL{} nodes in the config and make 4 or 5 segment boosters pretty easily. The nose section will be a separate part and could have the chute and a separation booster built in. May not include a chute yet, because parts still disappear when 2500m away from the active ship, so the boosters never hit the ground usually. But I'll leave room for them to be added anyway. (mostly I just hate modeling and setting up chutes )

Here's the basic setup in blender; thats obviously just 4 of the same segment and then the base segment with cowl and expansion nozzle built in.

[Tiberion]

Came out pretty good, I think;

4 segments without nosecone.

(And yeah, its development name is Jupiter )

Aaaand in game:

5 segment there. Welding is swell.

Nosecone tomorrow

(note, the SRBs are 2m and not 2.5, they were too big at 2.5m. But it'll look alright because the upper stages of Ares I were bigger than the SRB anyway so 2-2.5m should be fine.)

Edited November 6, 2013 by Tiberion

[mcbmaestro]

I just wanna say I love this mod! When you get a working shuttle up and running, they are really great, tons of extra fuel, nice big payload size, glides down to nice easy landings. I've done about 20 shuttle missions now, putting stuff in orbit all over kerbin, and there hasn't been a single fatality. XD

I'd add the only minor issues I'm having is sudden intense spinning at high altitudes with the main tank still attached and when I try to put anything 2.5m in size in the cargo bay, it tends to break.

Edited November 10, 2013 by mcbmaestro

[Guest]

I have a feeling that the SRBs look a bit too thick, or the ET is too small. Are you sure the proportions are correct?

[Tiberion]

mcbmaestro: Thanks. Try hitting CAPSLOCK to go to precision control mode during launch, it'll keep the gimbals from deflecting too far, too fast. And you'll definitely need to strut in larger or heavy cargo

Dragon01: Yeah, I actually scaled it back to 1.75m, which is closed to the right ratio (the real tank is 8.4m and the SRB 3.7m for a ratio of 2.25:1)

For A 3.75m external tank, the right ratio would be 1.66667 (1 and 2/3rds) but that would be pretty awkward.

1.75 should work, it'll be close to the right ratio for Ares 1 too, if the upper stage is 2.5m.

[Guest]

Well, as long as it looks good in both configs, I suppose it's good. I think you should try to get as close to the average of the two ratios, that would yield the most visually pleasing effect.

Also, would that be possible to make a more Shuttle-like cockpit with a custom IVA? Your Mk3 IVA doesn't fit anymore, anyway and TBH, I think this cockpit shape doesn't look very good.

Oh, and another engine mount for Buran-style OMS would be great. On those designs, Shuttle-type OMS is useless and looks silly.

Edited November 10, 2013 by Guest

[Tiberion]

I didn't make the IVA, its a separate mod made for the stock Mk3 cockpit - the shuttle is based on those same parts, just upscaled (and textured uniformly) I don't make IVAs myself, so a new one isn't likely anytime soon unless someone wants to do it. There was an all new shuttle under development by Pirate, but he seems to have moved on. So thats something "down the road"

And to be honest, I currently find IVAs a waste of effort, KSP isn't very fun played in 1st person. You can see how much work has went into the Kerbin Minishuttle by helldiver and ZRM, and I'm not sure the end result of lots of HUDs and such will ever be worth 6 months of development, since no one is really going to fly from in there anyway. We'l need more KSP development in that area before I'd make it a priority.

Not sure what you mean by another engine mount; there is already a 2nd one without the built-in engines to use with the Buran snap-on engine. Both shuttles still had the RCS "pods" sticking out to the rear with the maneuvering jets - really the only change I could make would be to remove the "hips" from the top of the mount, but I think those are pretty important to the shuttle silhouette.