Idea Awesome idea for a custom space programme addon

[Xavier]

We all know of Dan's DeltaGlider 4, how much effort was put into it, and how amazing of a system it was. It was very in-depth with how realistic yet simple an addon could be.

Now, I have an idea for an addon for any developer to ponder.

An addon for a custom space program, with a fully functioning lander. This lander could seat astronauts to land on the moon/mars or any other planet that a customized mission (that the player wants). A rover can be included, and be optional for later missions in your custom space program. O2 supply, fuel, payload, astronauts, etc could be modified for each mission. Missions could be made for experiments on whatever planet would be explored.

The idea of this addon would have to be compatible to customize a landing mission to any major planet or moon.
An autopilot and advanced computer system like the DGIV would be imagined.

 

[RisingFury]

What? You mean like UMMU and UCGO?

 

[N_Molson]

Except that the DGIV is a lander on itself...

 

[Xavier]

I'm talking about a spider lander, and a rocket booster. Something that is plausible with earlier technology than the DeltaGlider 4.
UCGO is an excellent addon, but I'm craving something a bit more of an Apollo like mission.

 

[BruceJohnJennerLawso]

I'm talking about a spider lander, something that is plausible with earlier technology than the DeltaGlider 4.
UCGO is an excellent addon, but I'm craving something a bit more of an Apollo like mission.

Ummm, well Id have to say the problem isnt that we dont have an addon for that so much as there isnt any way to create one vessel that can do all of that in real life. To land on mars, let alone return to earth, any mission plan is going to require at least 2 if not more vehicles, say a command module, a lander and a propulsion stage.

That being said, Hlynkacg is developing a pretty near tech lunar lander called Spider here http://www.orbiter-forum.com/showthread.php?t=28266

Its getting fairly close to a really nice 1.0 release, but one lander in itself is never going to get you to the moon or mars on its own. What you really need (especially in the Mars case) is launch vehicles (rockets like the Saturn V) which can launch individual spacecraft components into orbit.

 

[Loru]

1.) If you want something realistic forget about landing the same craft on moon, mars and other planetary bodies. For example moon landing is done pure "on the engines" while on Mars you can utilize aerobraking and parachutes. Carrying heatshield and parachutes to the moon would be waste of mass/fuel.

2.) There are some nice rockets to plan and execute your mission. For example you can use Energia, pack it with proper space tug, attach a lander to it , then dock Dragon to it and send it to the moon.

 

[N_Molson]

All the problem is, while the idea of a very futuristic fusion-cell-powered lifting body able to withstand a reentry and perform a landing in a variety of environnements (with/without atmosphere) is somewhere not completely unplausible, the idea of an "universal lander" is. I mean, there is a consistency somewhere.

If you need a separate lander and conventional chemical or even nuclear boosters (in opposition to the Arrow/DGIV - "classical" mothership/shuttles sci-fi approach -) then you lose that consistency. Because you enter Dv budget problems, and other economically plausible matters. Which means you won't send on the Moon a lander with a droppable windshield and enough Dv to land/liftoff from Mars. Plus a Mars lander would deal with more friendly temperature condition than a lunar lander. So if you sum up all the "hazard" factors that need to be taken into account to land on every satellite on the solar system (plus the time required to travel there), the result would certainly be a big big autonomous thing. An Arrow-like ship.

That the way I see it since several years. It seems to me there is little in-between a full sci-fi approach, where technology takes care of a lot of issues, and realism where each kilogram counts. When I try to imagine something between the two, it seems to lose any consistency to me. :2cents:

There are however already some addons that offer interesting near-future lunar mission proposals (at least 2 AFAIK).

Also you might be very interested by the awesome work Hynjckg (sorry for the spelling ) is doing on his "Spider" lander.

 

[Hlynkacg]

I'm talking about a spider lander, and a rocket booster. Something that is plausible with earlier technology than the DeltaGlider 4.
UCGO is an excellent addon, but I'm craving something a bit more of an Apollo like mission.

As other's have already mentioned, I'm working on it.

I'm actually rather flattered to see that my efforts have been noticed.

Right now it's the ony things standing in the way of a propper release are getting the ADI ball to work and debugging of the Autopilots.