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Yes that looks very interesting, thanks! There seems to be some numbers from their study on page 37 that might help.

Yes quite. Setting the gas density to 'zero' seems to work although the ballonet size remains fully inflated as the airship rises because the pressure on the envelope is negative. Do you have any idea of the equivalent areal density for the envelope of such a vacuum airship on Mars? From...

It's also possible to set the gas density to zero in the initialisation routine that calculates the size of the airship. Not sure that's any help. Things will become clearer over the next few days I guess.

So the code is designed to calculate the size the airship mesh and calculate structural masses depending on the pressure ceiling requested in the scenario file. Ballast mass is also used in the calculation. It's possible to put in a line of code to override the lifting gas mass in the...

I don't see why not. A basic approach could be to set the lifting gas mass and the structural masses could be set from the scenario file. Then by setting the lifting gas mass to zero you could have a vacuum airship. Mmm I wonder if it's really that easy. I can check if you like.

ok thanks!

I think I've figured our how to deliver the airship to different places in the Solar System and make it fun. The basic idea is that the airship is delivered in cargo boxes and then assembled at the destination with the press of a key. However for the airship to assemble itself the correctly...

After a short break (>1 year ...) I have managed to get the MAV launch working in Orbiter 2016. :)

The airship is sized so the airship has neutral buoyancy and zero ballonet volume at its pressure ceiling altitude. Ballast and payload mass from the scenario are used for this calculation. Payload mass isn't added to the actual airship because I've assumed the payload will be something attached...

Thanks that looks interesting. btw I have included the newest C++ code in the latest version addon. I have commented it the best as I can.

I have uploaded the latest version to post #1. I'm still working on the base building side of the addon. The buildings are not included in this version. Also cargo transport in general needs a bit more thought, i.e. perhaps adding a crane. I haven't really thought how it would be transported...

Thanks, I was thinking it looked similar to the graphics of a 1980s 8-bit home computer ...

This is what I have so far for the airship screen, i.e. the big MFD: Left indicator bar is ballast change, next indicator is for the gauge pressure and the next indicator is the apparent vertical force on the airship calculated from vertical acceleration and mass. This is useful for balancing...

No not annoying really. I wasn't expecting to get feedback so quickly but that's ok and appreciated.

Update: I have changed the HUD into a big MFD screen to print all the information clearly. I am thinking about making a proper virtual cockpit based on real airship instrumentation panels and controls. For now however I will try to upload this version soon for some test flights before doing...

Interesting idea. I have an MFD for the airship which displays some useful flight information. I'll have a look at modifying it for the buoyancy management.

Update: Working on a virtual cockpit at the moment. Everything else seems to be working fine.

That was great video, thanks! Now I know how to pronounce ballonet. It was good to see the inlet scoops for the ballonets. I'm starting to getting an idea of the general properties of the valves, i.e. ballpark size and quantity, for releasing air and fan systems for pumping air into the...

Update: Making some progress. At the moment the ballonet is automatically adjusted to keep the pressure difference inside the envelope at 500 Pa above the outside pressure. A warning is displayed at 600 Pa and the airship starts venting gas at 750 Pa. These 600 and 750 Pa values are guesses so...

Update: I have been working on some operational aspects for the airship. These have been 1) Landing gear and 2) Collecting and delivering cargo. 1. Landing gear For this I experimented with adding wheels to the gondola. I also came up with a few ideas such as deploying some kind of rigid...