A.A.T.L.A.S. Short Film

[-ctn-]

Hello everyone! As I may have mentioned in other posts, I'm a film school graduate and aspiring filmmaker.

I wanted to post a link to the Facebook page for my new short film - I figured the KSP forum is full of space enthusiasts who may have an interest in being a fan of this short. (Hopefully I'm not breaking any rules...)

We're now in Pre-Production, which means making, planning, budgeting, and finding everything for the film.

For those that want to know about it without going to Facebook -

What is "A.A.T.L.A.S.?"

It is a short film in development about space travel and different worlds.

What is it about?

Two rovers, sent years apart, to study and hopefully survive the climate of Saturn's biggest moon.

What does it stand for?

A.A.T.L.A.S. is an acronym and the mission name: Autonomous Analysis of Titan's Liquids, Atmosphere, and Surface.

Who is involved?

So far, only the two writers. Colin Thomas Nichols is an alumn of the Motion Picture Institute of Michigan and this will mark his third short film since graduation from the program. Danielle Lee Vokal is an aspiring writer and this marks her first co-written screenplay.

What are the goals of the film?

To create an enjoyable short about spaceflight and exploration. We are working very hard to make sure the film is educational as well - almost all of the science depicted will be factual.

What does "in development" mean?

That term means that the film has not been officially started, and we are still working on the concept and the script.

When will I see more content?

Soon - as each piece of the story is finalized and we move into pre-production we'll be posting as much content as we can.

What kind of things will be posted on this page?

Anything from behind-the-scenes photos and videos to promotional videos for the film. One of the things we want to do is upload images and videos from the point of view of the story - including "interviews" from the scientists and engineers in the film.

A.A.T.L.A.S. on Facebook

As of now, (4-14-15) we've received radar swaths from NASA to help portray Titan accurately, we've done most of the math involved and created a pretty solid scenario, spacecraft, flight plan, and rover designs for the film. We've begun to look for CGI artists for compositing and have been looking for model makers to help build our miniatures needed for the film.

Hopefully we'll have some photos of these things being built soon!

Edited April 14, 2015 by -ctn-

[-ctn-]

Hey everyone, I was hoping to also get some feedback - specifically on the spacecraft designs.

I see a lot of thread views but no comments, hopefully that's only because there's no "eye-candy" yet.

Here's the design for the cruiser/lander stage spacecraft for the film - Let me know what you think!

So it's propulsion is mainly the ion engine, which requires an obscene amount of electricity, hence the solar panels. On the "top" it also has six hydrazine thrusters for last minute corrections and attitude control. The middle part on the front is the heat shield for the actual lander part - the small craft that delivers the rover to Titan's surface.

So in orbit, either a physical mechanism or RCS/thrusters push the lander can out and into a descent trajectory.

Well into the atmosphere, the heat shield detaches and the lander's main parachute goes off, gliding down to the surface. At a certain height away, the parachute detaches and the lander free falls the last few meters, the parachute drifts away somwhere else, and a door/ramp opens on the lander for the rover to drive out.

What do you guys think? Plausible? Cool? Lame?

[Souper]

Love the idea of this. Afterwards, maybe i'll work with you to build up one on Venus! (In that, i'd have to be the writer...)

[-ctn-]

The setting was either going to be on Venus or Titan. They are both equally my favorite places in the solar system but it seemed more feasible to have a couple of rovers on Titan, without the pressing weight of Venus' atmosphere.

[Beowolf]

Sounds like fun. One of my friends is a published SF author who uses me to debug his ideas. So here's the deal: I won't be offended if you reject my ideas and you won't get discouraged over my incessant nitpicking. Fair enough?

For now, all I have to say is that isn't remotely enough solar panels. Sunlight at Saturn's distance is like 1% as intense as at Earth. That's why NASA used RTGs to power the Voyagers, and they weren't trying to run an ion drive. So, if you want to be realistic, we're talking a huge wall of thin-foil solar panels with a tiny space probe in the middle, like a spider in her web.

Maybe leave that part in orbit, as communications relays for the landers?

Alternatively, how about a small nuclear reactor? An ion drive's too big a job for most power options, including RTGs. It may actually be too much for solar power that far out from the sun. Hard to be sure; I saw an article just the other day where they'd made a solar cell that was only a few molecules thick. So you could get pretty crazy with light/thin solar cells and still be plausible. Maybe 3d-printed in space, over a cyanoacrylate spider web also deposited in space by a different robot?

How's the rover powered? RTGs do sound practical there, and have the advantage of keeping rover's electronics warm enough to operate. That would be a big problem on Titan. I'm guessing multiple RTGs, since they can only be made in a very limited range of sizes. (What do you call an extra-large RTG? Critical mass) -180C is going to be hard on all the moving parts, too, particularly wheels. I really have no idea how one would build wheels and a suspension that worked longterm in that environment, or what they'd look like. Just don't give it inflated rubber tires.

Have fun!

[-ctn-]

The ion drive is only used near 1AU-2AU; after burning the correct delta V the craft cruises out to Saturn, so the solar panels are really only needed where the sunlight is the strongest.

The rovers would be powered by RTG(s), although you're right about the material they are made of - it can't be aluminum or steel because those would be brittle and break at such low temperatures. So far the idea has been "super steel" aka suspension of disbelief from the audience.

[Beowolf]

"Super steel" sounds good to me. Even burning the ion drive near Earth, you'll need a crap-load more solar power. But at least you won't need 100 crap-loads like you would to run it near Saturn.

While falling asleep, I had this mental image of your rover on Titan, and a close-up of a methane snowflake delicately landing on the housing...and quickly sizzling into vapor from the temperature difference. I liked it.

[-ctn-]

The rovers are landing conveniently during a "wet season" so there will be methane rain. In the high atmosphere there will be some snow.

And we do plan to show some heat-wave / vaporizing of the methane as it touches the rovers / when the lander lands on the ground.

[-ctn-]

Just wanted to update, still working on the design and look of the Cruise stage. It's unclear at this point whether the actual model will be a miniature shot against a greenscreen or a CGI model.

Edited April 12, 2015 by -ctn-

[-ctn-]

Hey everyone! Just wanted to update again.

We've been working on the science and math involved and finally completed all of the trajectories and equations needed to design how much fuel and time would be needed for our purposes.

We've also been in contact with a few CGI artists and model makers for the visual effects. We've also been in contact with NASA about getting high resolution radar images of the location our little movie takes place.

We also went location scouting yesterday and found a couple spots that might work well - so I'm posting this quick little composite I made!

With Nertea's blessing, we are also using his Near Future models on our spacecraft - the ion engine and the solar panels. These may be 3D printed for our miniature model for filming.

Edited April 12, 2015 by -ctn-

[dryer_lint]

Wow, this looks really cool. Good luck man

[-ctn-]

Thanks!

Hopefully this week we can order some of the parts for rovers and start getting the live action robotic rovers going!

[*Aqua*]

Interesting project!

Just a quick question: How is that spaceship supposed to communicate with Earth? I mean it seems your movie is based on the Cassini-Huygens mission. Cassini has a 4 meter high-gain antenna and a 50(?) cm low-gain antenna (not visible in the picture).

I can't see any antenna in your sketch.

Edited April 14, 2015 by *Aqua*

[-ctn-]

Hey, thanks for asking!

In the script, the Cassini spacecraft has been converted into a polar-orbiting Titan satellite. When the rovers are on the surface, they relay information to Cassini, which relays it back to Earth.

When our spacecraft is in flight to Titan, it relies on it's AutoNav and Remote Agent software to fly autonomously, without needing constant contact to Earth.

While this is kind of far-fetched, I'm *really* hesitant about slapping a giant antenna dish on our streamlined, lightweight cruiser design.

If anyone wants to point out faults in this idea or provide some ideas, I'm all ears!

[*Aqua*]

You don't need to attach a giant dish to the spacehip. Your scenario appears to be in the near future so you can just declare there's some awesome spacemagical technology which allows to shrink antennas to matchstick size.

You can also make the antenna (seamlessly) retractable. If you want to show your viewers that the rover <-> satellite communication kicks in you can just display a quick antenna unfolding animation. This will help your audience to understand what's going on.

I also noticed there's a lot of symmetries. Depending on the point of view the audience might not be able to tell where the front and the back are. Yes, I know our eyes like clear patterns but they also need something which doesn't fit into the pattern to "grab" on as an orientation point.

And another thing which was mentioned before: The solar panels aren't enough to power that thing. If my calculations are right at Saturn they will only produce 1% (!) of the power than they do at Earth. The panels as they currently are won't even be able to power the computers on-board. Unfortunately this time you can't invent some spacemagic to compensate for that. The best solar panels have an efficienty of about 30%. At impossible 100% you might be able to power the computers but nothing else (communication, propulsion, sensors, etc.).

So what will you do? Increase the panels to the size of a football field? Or slap some RTGs (nuclear batteries) on it? Or something different?

[-ctn-]

The solar panels are only used to power the ion engine during the transfer burn, which is at 1AU.

The most efficient panels on earth produce 45% efficiency. Using math, the total square meter area of the panels on our spacecraft is around 5.5sq m. The amount of solar energy produced by the Sun at 1AU is 1,413 watts per square meter. 1,413 times 45% panel efficiency equals 635.85 watts per square meter of power. 635.85 times 5.5 square meters equals a grand total of 3.4 kilowatts of electric power generated by these solar panels.

The Ion Engine is a bit of a cheat, but not by too much. Combining stats from the NEXT ion engine and the HiPEP engine, here's the breakdown: running the HiPEP engine throttled down to 3.4kW produces a thrust of 61.84 millinewtons. We are exaggerating that by a factor for 10, so running our fictional ion engine at 3.4 kilowatts gives us 618.4 millinewtons with an Isp of 9,260 s.

This keeps the craft fuel efficient enough to weigh under a ton and the engine powerful enough to complete the transfer burn in a lengthy but reasonable amount of time.

The only onboard computer is the Rover's computer, which is powered by the Rover's RTG. Similar to Curiosity, when in spaceflight the Rover computer was in "flight mode" and controlled the cruise stage. There were no other computers on the spacecraft.

[-ctn-]

Update:

Media Relations Specialist, Preston Dyches, over at NASA JPL was kind enough to provide us with a ton of information on te area our film takes place, even searching through the SAR images to find the radar swaths for us. This means the miniature "diorama" we create for the background mattes and EDL sequence will be very accurate to the actual topography of the area.

He also mentioned that the Cassini team would like to see our film once finished.

Very exciting!!!

[Bill Phil]

Interesting idea.

My one gripe with this, is that solar panels will do very bad out at Saturn. Juno has some pretty big ones, and at Jupiter it'll get 1/25 the energy it would get here near Earth. At Saturn you'll get ~1/100 the power you get near Earth.

Maybe nuclear reactors...? Or GINORMOUS solar arrays...

[-ctn-]

Again, the solar panels are used to power the ion engine for the initial transfer burn, which occurs in a geosychronus transfer orbit around earth.

By the time the craft reaches Saturn, the solar panels won't be used and the Lander capsule will use its hydrazine thruster to perform correction maneuvers and descent.

[Bill Phil]

Again, the solar panels are used to power the ion engine for the initial transfer burn, which occurs in a geosychronus transfer orbit around earth.

By the time the craft reaches Saturn, the solar panels won't be used and the Lander capsule will use its hydrazine thruster to perform correction maneuvers and descent.

Then, what's the point?

Seriously, why is a standard high-energy upper stage not good enough here?

[-ctn-]

Low weight and high efficiency. The transfer burn for the fictional mission is a whopping 27 km/s. This burn would be impossible to make with traditional rocket engines but is well suited for a high efficiency ion engine. The crazy delta V transfer also reduces the transfer time from almost 7 years down to 2.2 years, with an average speed of 21 km/s during the transit.

The story calls for an "absolute minimum time" trajectory with an added bonus of being cheaper than chemical rockets.

We're working on a mock documentary video giving insight into this aspect of the mission, as well as other issues, as a crowd-funding tool. It should be uploaded and ready to view within a couple of months.

[Bill Phil]

Low weight and high efficiency. The transfer burn for the fictional mission is a whopping 27 km/s. This burn would be impossible to make with traditional rocket engines but is well suited for a high efficiency ion engine. The crazy delta V transfer also reduces the transfer time from almost 7 years down to 2.2 years, with an average speed of 21 km/s during the transit.

The story calls for an "absolute minimum time" trajectory with an added bonus of being cheaper than chemical rockets.

We're working on a mock documentary video giving insight into this aspect of the mission, as well as other issues, as a crowd-funding tool. It should be uploaded and ready to view within a couple of months.

Except that it probably wouldn't be that much cheaper. Xenon ( I assume you're using Xenon) is pretty expensive. I would recommend a staged design, even if electric propulsion is used.

(By the way, this burn would take years, right? Wouldn't power drop off pretty fast?)

[-ctn-]

This burn would take 354 days, all while within 1-2 AU.

To use chemical rockets, you would need a whopping 5 million kilograms of rocket fuel (liquid hydrogen/oxygen). This would cost 19 million dollars.

The same burn, using an ion engine and Xenon gas (using our fictional ion engine) takes 198 kilograms of fuel, costing $230,000.

The staging idea is something I hadn't considered, but showcasing an ion engine on a film and the super high efficiency seemed like the best option to me.

If time wasn't a factor, it's totally more plausible to use chemical rockets, at a fuel cost of $36,000.

Edit: I don't mean to come across as "snotty" if I am. I enjoy the questions and feedback, I'm just backing up the technical stuff as best I can with my understanding of all this crazy science and math.

Edited April 15, 2015 by -ctn-

[Bill Phil]

But why 27 km/s? Honestly I don't know where you got that number from. Absolute minimum time is almost never needed ever for space craft.

Yes. But how much does the Ion engine cost?

In the time, have you accounted for the drop in energy?

[-ctn-]

The unique and unorthodox transfer is because of the story - as I said, the story calls for a "hurry up and get there" mindset instead of the usual "let's save as much money as possible" mindset.

As far as I knew, ion engines were cheaper and less complicated than chemical rockets to create.

And as for the power dropoff - I didn't calculate that in - the burn would be completed well before even 2AU range which in the long run, I figured was a negligible difference. Maybe I should look into that and adjust accordingly.