Balboa - A lighter-than-air planetary explorer

[Xorth Tanovar]

In the news today:

Kerbin scientists have successfully reached Duna with the first of many planned exploration probes. The new design surpasses previously poorly-designed wheeled rovers by utilizing the Hooligan Labs "Ballute" (cross between a balloon and parachute). Aerobraking, flight across the surface of Duna were successful, with the added bonus of closely investigating one of it's few anomalies on the surface. It was also noted that Duna may possess mild winds, though this has not been confirmed as yet.

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Edited October 3, 2013 by Xorth Tanovar

[Geschosskopf]

Nice "ballute". I was flying around on Duna today and couldn't find any winds, even in places where you'd expect them like in canyons. I found this rather disappointing because I was hoping to be able to use the winds to do some ridge-soaring like earthly gliders and buzzards but no such luck .

I'm also highly interested in the fact we both went to the same anomaly today and it was buried for me but above the ground for you. It looks like you have fewer boulders on the surrounding ground than I do, which I believe is a graphics option setting. I wonder if that setting also affects how bumpy the ground is, thereby burying the thing if you have higher scatter set.

[Tangle]

Let me guess, the next one's named either Ike or Leo.

But seriously, this is wonderful.

[Pipcard]

Let me guess, the next one's named either Ike or Leo.

But seriously, this is wonderful.

Alien Planet, that was a cool speculative documentary.

But naming the probe Ike obviously won't be a good idea.

[Tangle]

Alien Planet, that was a cool speculative documentary.

But naming the probe Ike obviously won't be a good idea.

True, but how freaking cool would it be to build a reentry vehicle for one of these beauties?

[Xorth Tanovar]

Nice "ballute". I was flying around on Duna today and couldn't find any winds, even in places where you'd expect them like in canyons. I found this rather disappointing because I was hoping to be able to use the winds to do some ridge-soaring like earthly gliders and buzzards but no such luck .

I'm also highly interested in the fact we both went to the same anomaly today and it was buried for me but above the ground for you. It looks like you have fewer boulders on the surrounding ground than I do, which I believe is a graphics option setting. I wonder if that setting also affects how bumpy the ground is, thereby burying the thing if you have higher scatter set.

I posted a question to one of the other forum locations regarding the "wind"; general consensus is that it's not been implemented yet. Strange, though; I've repeated the attempt two more times, and I've experienced the drift at the same location each time. Dunno if it's embedded in my save file at this point; I'll have to create a new profile and try it that way. If it does show up, then all I can think of is (like in earlier releases) the code may exist in some form, but there's nothing specific written to call it into play yet.

Graphics settings I use: Terrain High, SM3 shaders and Terrain Scatters enabled, scatter density 50%, Rendering "Fantastc", Full Resolution, no fallback, Atmospheric effects Full, 1680x1050 Fullscreen, AA 2x, VSync at every VBlank, Frame Limit 60, Pixel Light 5, Shadows 2

[Xorth Tanovar]

Alien Planet, that was a cool speculative documentary.

But naming the probe Ike obviously won't be a good idea.

Exactly where I got the inspiration for this rover; I was tired of seeing the usual problems with wheels breaking or rover tendencies to tumble and thought about the probes used in AP.

Next version of this will include 1-3 droppable science pods for stationary surveillance of anomalies. Currently it's just an OCTO probe core with the four science instruments located in between 4 solar panes, with the upper portion supporting 2 Xenon tanks and Ion engine for propulsion, 2 1x6 solar panels, 2 battery packs with 8 more solar panels attached, and the balloon container. 4 simple antennae for esthetics.

[Tangle]

Half of me wants to build a huge airship and add a minirover or two to the bottom to put down, add camera disks, and a weather probe. The other half is saying "No don't, you'll find an Eosapien."

[Odo]

You dont know how happy this makes me.

I must make my own I just downloaded the mod lol wish me luck :3

[Odo]

Hey Xorth tower, I managed to get the balloon probe to Duna, but it is literally too floaty (Even at 1% boyancy) to decline to the surface of Duna. It cant get any closer then about 3.5km..

Did you have this problem or anything similar??

[Westi29]

Odo, there is a specific blimp for Duna, which is much smaller than the one for Eve. Make sure you have the small Duna one!

[Xorth Tanovar]

Odo, there is a specific blimp for Duna, which is much smaller than the one for Eve. Make sure you have the small Duna one!

actually, I believe the Duna one is larger, which makes better sense when using it as a parachute....thinner atmosphere requires bigger surface area for braking.

And I also enabled the Altitude Control for fine control of the balloon, just seemed to work better, especially during touchdown....made it easy to bring it down at only 0.1 m/s

Would you all like if I post the .craft file?

[Westi29]

Sure, you can check out my Hooligan Labs mission to Eve and back on youtube if you want! I used 4 cirrus envelopes to land on Eve and return to Kerbin.

[Odo]

actually, I believe the Duna one is larger, which makes better sense when using it as a parachute....thinner atmosphere requires bigger surface area for braking.

And I also enabled the Altitude Control for fine control of the balloon, just seemed to work better, especially during touchdown....made it easy to bring it down at only 0.1 m/s

Would you all like if I post the .craft file?

INteresting. When I put altitude control on it goes crazy and flies me back into the sky (even if I have it on descened)

I was however able to fix this by manually editing the buoyancy of the balloon. If you right click it, it gives you a ton of options. I have to fine tune it to float just above the surface if I set it to 0.0

So in the end I got it to work, just not quite as planned, Ill post pics today, I named my probe Elie. Its gone 81km so far

[Xorth Tanovar]

Figures....I finally have a reason to create an account on the Spaceport, only to find that it's not being updated until v2 releases.

Ah well.

Anyone know of a good spot to park the file? I don't want to post all the code in a "spoiler" window here!

EDIT: Nvm, Logged into my email this morning to find the Spaceport login confirmation email. I'll have the files posted this evening.

Edited October 8, 2013 by Xorth Tanovar

[Xorth Tanovar]

The files are now available on the Spaceport: http://kerbalspaceprogram.com/xorths-balloon-probes/