parts [1.12.x] Asteroid Recycling Technologies

[RoverDude]

Download Link:

https://github.com/UmbraSpaceIndustries/ART/releases

Background:

What's more awesome than asteroids? Asteroids you can put stuff in! Asteroid Recycling Technologies (ART) allows you to remove asteroid mass and attach multiple reconfigurable storage tanks to the asteroid's surface. ART is a collaboration between myself (plugin code, configs, and Unity), and WaRi (modeling and textures).

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How it works:

First, Attach (via the same mechanism as the ARM Claw) a mass extractor to the surface of the asteroid. This device (aka the Jaw) uses a high powered laser to vaporize asteroid mass, transforming it into rock (a new resource) and prepare the interior space for use.

Next, attach one of several reconfigurable storage tank hatches to the asteroid. Each of these contains a specific resource (LiquidFuel, Oxidizer, XenonGas and Karbonite are included, mod creators and players are encouraged to create more!). These begin with zero capacity, but can be inflated once attached to the asteroid and take advantage of the space created by the Jaw.

Better yet, these storage tanks can be reconfigured on the fly based on your needs - need more Karbonite space and less XenonGas space? no problem - just compress and expand the different tanks. There's even an option to bleed off the contents if you need to make room for something else.

What do I do with all of this rock?!

You can bleed it off - just select 'Vent Rock' on your asteroid's right click menu to toss some out into space. Or, use one of our handy low-yeild extractors (ones for Karbonite, Minerals/Water, and Substrate/Ore come with the release) to transform rock into useable stuff.

Example:

Using the Jaw, a player can create available space of, say, 50,000 units. They could then attach tanks for Karbonite, Liquid Fuel, and Oxidizer, and distribute that 50K capacity among all three, and change it as needed (i.e. reduce Karbonite space and expand LFO space during conversion, etc.)

There's some extra stuff too!

Lastly, there are two new parts for other rocky goodness: a nifty mass driver engine that runs off of Rock, as well as an accompanying storage tank. These are similar to ion drives, but with much higher thrust at the expense of ISP (so they sit somewhere between the nuke and the ion drive).

I'm still lost... can you make an awesome video or something?

Ask and ye shall receive.

 

 

License and stuff

License is All Rights Reserved.  But if you wish to use some code or a model, etc. toss me a line!  

In the event of my absence from the official KSP forums for 120 days or more, the license will revert to CC 4.0 BY SA NC.

Uses the FireSpitter plugin by Snjo

What's next:

Habitable modules that let you turn your asteroid into an ant colony. More complex high-yield mining technologies, and integration with Freight Transportation Technologies (FTTP)

ChangeLog

 

 

0.6.0 - 2014.12.16
[LIST]
[*]KSP 0.90 Comatibility
[*]Converted most parts to Regolith
[*]Boosted Jaw efficiency by tenfold
[*]Fuel hatches and the Jaw must be directly attached to an asteroid to function
[*]Deprecated ORSX
[*]Updated DLLs - including TEMPORARY FireSpitter patch for 0.90
[*]CTT Integration. Mass driver and rock tank are under Resource Utilization, with the balance of the parts under Off-World mining.
[/LIST]

0.5.4 - 2014.11.01
[LIST]
[*]Cleaned up resources
[*]Moved out some dead code
[*]Converted all TGAs to PNGs
[*]Updated USI Tools/ORSX/ModuleManager
[*]Moved to full version of CRP
[*]Moved rock to the CRP as it will be multi-mod
[*]Updated FireSpitter DLL
[/LIST]

0.5.3 - 2014.10.10
Fixed name for Crew Hatch, added DRE config

0.5.2 - 2014.10.07
[LIST]
[*]KSP 0.25 Compatability
[*]Added the Crew Hatch! Latch on, stuff with Kerbals! (for phase 1, this will not take away from space - we assume they use existing caves).
[*]Crew Hatch automatically expels Kerbals in the event of disconnection
[*]CRP and USI DLL refresh
[/LIST]

0.5.1 - 2014.09.28
[LIST]
[*]ATM configs
[*]DRE support
[*]MFT support
[*]Added FireSpitter version file
[*]Updated to ORSX
[*]Updated Module Manager
[*]Updated USI Tools
[*]Increased JAW laser strength and energy usage
[*]Fuel hatches now have a top node so they can be stacked for delivery
[*]Updated CRP resources
[/LIST]

0.4.5 - 2014.09.12
[LIST]
[*]Updated KSP-AVC info
[*]Updated FireSpitter plugin
[*]Updated USI DLLs
[/LIST]

0.4.4 - 2014.09.02
[LIST]
[*]Fixed resource issue that caused a Karbonite conflict with cost and flow type (yay for shooting myself in the foot)
[*]Updated version info
[*]Updated DLL dependencies
[/LIST]

0.4.3
[LIST]
[*]Updated USI_Converter
[*]KSP AVC Support
[*]Fixed missing transform on mass driver
[/LIST]


0.4.2
[LIST]
[*]Final configuration updates and licensing
[/LIST]

0.4.0 RELEASE CANDIDATE
[LIST]
[*]Split parts into two packs - ART and ART_PartPack
[*]RCS and 2.5m Mass Drivers are deprecated, RCS is coming back with a new model.
[*]Hollowing potential jumped up to 75% of mass.
[*]Simplified the converters at the expense of efficiency - now go straight from rock to resources.  Ratio is approximately 1000:1 to account for conservation of mass (asteroids are fluffy), and to leave breathing room for mining specialization.
[*]The probe now gives science.  Analysis results are non-game impacting for now, but there to support the next expansion.
[*]Some FX adjustments
[/LIST]

0.4.0 RELEASE CANDIDATE
[LIST]
[*]Mass drivers in 1.25/2.5 form factors along with a high-thrust RCS version. Yes, you can fly asteroids around. No, they have no more gimbals. Oh.. and the fade of the emmissive is prettier.
[*]The probe now requires direct activation to perform it's analysis. IT also shows analysis results (so does the asteroid).
[*]Turns out asteroids are very fluffy... conversion rates and hollowed out volume adjusted accordingly.
[*]A new part - Intermediary Separation Module - handles the separation of rock into the specialized types. It will attempt to do this when it sees you have a lot of rock. It also handles Rock=>RockDust conversion.
[*]Fixed the whole 'probe zooming in the VAB' thing
[*]Mass should now remain constant (until conversions start expelling waste).
[/LIST]

 

Edited May 30, 2022 by RoverDude

[WaRi]

This is the concept art of the mod

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This is the concept art of the Parts

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Edited October 5, 2014 by WaRi

[Ringkeeper]

and the next mandatory mod from Roverdude I need a stable 64bit client.... *cry*

[goldenpsp]

and the next mandatory mod from Roverdude I need a stable 64bit client.... *cry*

I was just thinking the same thing about the Freight mod (re:64bit)

[RoverDude]

This one is actually pretty light

[Jagzeplin]

ok im glad that you said rock will only convert into "trace amounts" of karbonite as frankly i find it kinda silly that you can pull like any resource out of rock. and speaking of silly the "mass driver" rock powered engine almost makes me not want to install this....but i will because it just looks so AWESOME!!! but seriously i hope you keep rock resource conversion inefficient and dial back the effectiveness of the rock powered engine cuz i get that its a game but i dont like when things get too easy.

[Ringkeeper]

This one is actually pretty light

yes... but as all of your mods are pretty much a "must-have" and there are also some other nice mods that fit with yours its getting a bit tight with RAM Not to mention all the "also nice but not must" mods ^^ So we have to sort now all the "non-roverdude" mods out

[panfish5]

Does hollowing an asteroid out lower its mass?

[itsme86]

ok im glad that you said rock will only convert into "trace amounts" of karbonite as frankly i find it kinda silly that you can pull like any resource out of rock.

Where do you think we get stuff like ore (and other goodies) in the real world?

[Jagzeplin]

thats true. it just seems kinda oversimplified though. like i can just turn any substance into any other substance

edit- i suppose im just trying to say i dont feel like one drill on one spot on one resource should be able to manufacture every resource in the game without some complicated conversions or something. it should be very difficult to get, say water, from rock. if i sound critical i dont mean to as the mod as a whole still looks cool as hell

Edited August 25, 2014 by Jagzeplin

[RoverDude]

ok im glad that you said rock will only convert into "trace amounts" of karbonite as frankly i find it kinda silly that you can pull like any resource out of rock. and speaking of silly the "mass driver" rock powered engine almost makes me not want to install this....but i will because it just looks so AWESOME!!! but seriously i hope you keep rock resource conversion inefficient and dial back the effectiveness of the rock powered engine cuz i get that its a game but i dont like when things get too easy.

harvesting is very inefficient - way less than 1%. The mass driver engine is actually pretty balanced. It's heavy, with a lower thrust but higher ISP than the nuke, with the negative of needing EC plus a weird resource.

Does hollowing an asteroid out lower its mass?

Yes, it's a direct 1:1 from mass to rock.

[The Pink Ranger]

Game balance aside check out this website on asteroid/comet mining:

While asteroids are rich in the metals and minerals needed for needed for building space facilities, comets are rich sources of the water and carbon-based molecules needed to maintain life. According to John Lewis (a University of Arizona planetary scientist), for example, the smallest Earth-crossing asteroid 3554Amun (see orbit) is a mile-wide (2,000-meter) lump of iron, nickel, cobalt, platinum, and other metals; it contains 30 times as much metal as Humans have mined throughout history, although it is only the smallest of dozens of known metallic asteroids and worth perhaps US$ 20 trillion if mined slowly to meet demand at 2001 market prices. Moreover, water ice in comets can be converted to liquid hydrogen and oxygen, two of the primary ingredients in rocket fuel today. Thus, some believe that that, as we begin to colonize the inner Solar System in this new millenium, NEAs will become convenient sources of the raw materials needed for building space habitats while NECs will become vital "watering holes" and gas stations for interplanetary spacecraft.

[passinglurker]

is underground storage for planets and equally configurable storage for ships still being worked on?

[RoverDude]

is underground storage for planets and equally configurable storage for ships still being worked on?

Yep Just lower on the list right now

[passinglurker]

with all this mining and shifting resources around would it be possible to change a roid's center of mass to line up with a ships center of thrust? you know for those times you just can't quite get the klaw pivot to bend far enough and you want to use the asteroid you just bleed dry as a new exploration craft rather then let all that assembling go to waste

[montyben101]

Can I put this "rock" into my shuttle and ferry it back to kerbin? Ie: is there a rock tank? rock tank? XD

[Woopert]

Looks great man! This was the old Asteroidal Resources, correct?

[RoverDude]

with all this mining and shifting resources around would it be possible to change a roid's center of mass to line up with a ships center of thrust? you know for those times you just can't quite get the klaw pivot to bend far enough and you want to use the asteroid you just bleed dry as a new exploration craft rather then let all that assembling go to waste

Upcoming rock-powered RCS modules will help in that regard (part of FTT)

- - - Updated - - -

Can I put this "rock" into my shuttle and ferry it back to kerbin? Ie: is there a rock tank? rock tank? XD

There is. And a matching engine.

Looks great man! This was the old Asteroidal Resources, correct?

Correct - we did a forum poll for the name

[passinglurker]

Upcoming rock-powered RCS modules will help in that regard (part of FTT)

I trust we'll also get a rockdust fuel hatch and make all rock converters make rock dust as a byproduct out of the remaining mass that doesn't get turned into karbonite and life support cause it sounds like I'm gonna need a lot of this stuff

[forsaken1111]

Honest curiosity here: are these rock 'mass driver' engines based on any real world science* or just something you thought would be handy?

*(Science other than 'throw stuff out the back to make it go forward'. I mean is there a planned or theoretical engine which could actually use pulverized rock dust as reaction mass?)

Edit: Also, any chance you might make a rock dust -> substrate converter for use with OKS/MKS?

[RoverDude]

I trust we'll also get a rockdust fuel hatch and make all rock converters make rock dust as a byproduct out of the remaining mass that doesn't get turned into karbonite and life support cause it sounds like I'm gonna need a lot of this stuff

On the books

Honest curiosity here: are these rock 'mass driver' engines based on any real world science* or just something you thought would be handy?

*(Science other than 'throw stuff out the back to make it go forward'. I mean is there a planned or theoretical engine which could actually use pulverized rock dust as reaction mass?)

Edit: Also, any chance you might make a rock dust -> substrate converter for use with OKS/MKS?

It's a real thing... Rock qualifies as 'almost any matter'

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mass_driver

And it would be the other way around... substrate->Rock

[forsaken1111]

So the idea here is that the mass driver in KSP is using EM coils to hurl metallic rock dust out to achieve thrust?

[passinglurker]

Honest curiosity here: are these rock 'mass driver' engines based on any real world science* or just something you thought would be handy?

*(Science other than 'throw stuff out the back to make it go forward'. I mean is there a planned or theoretical engine which could actually use pulverized rock dust as reaction mass?)

Edit: Also, any chance you might make a rock dust -> substrate converter for use with OKS/MKS?

The mod has already demonstrated it has lasers to molten or even vaporize the rock so pumping it around is no more improbable than mining it. as for throwing stuff mass driver concepts usually seem to involve some sort of catapult but the way that should look is the engine is letting out puffs instead of a perpetual stream. we could assume the dust itself is magnetic instead but then extracting EL ore should be trivial and abundant, but if we have rock vaporizing lasers we can just force the expanded rock gas out a nozzle like a conventional rocket seeing as how the engine has a heat animation this seems to be what they are suggesting is happening

[montyben101]

Is there a 2.5 meter rock tank (sorry to be a pain in the but)

[forsaken1111]

The mod has already demonstrated it has lasers to molten or even vaporize the rock so pumping it around is no more improbable than mining it. as for throwing stuff mass driver concepts usually seem to involve some sort of catapult but the way that should look is the engine is letting out puffs instead of a perpetual stream. we could assume the dust itself is magnetic instead but then extracting EL ore should be trivial and abundant, but if we have rock vaporizing lasers we can just force the expanded rock gas out a nozzle like a conventional rocket seeing as how the engine has a heat animation this seems to be what they are suggesting is happening

Interesting idea. Instead of using an EM catapult mass driver you use high energy lasers or some other method to expel it as hot vapor.

It would be really energy hungry though...