Project CST-100

Cosmic Penguin

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So with CST-100 officially confirmed to carry ISS crew by 2017....what is left to be done for this add-on to be released?

(no pressure - my own add-on project is still in the "forever 9 months from releasing" stage :p)
 

RonDVouz

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Worked on the last textures that Francisdrake sent me (thanks !! :tiphat:). This time I begin to be really happy of the effect.

33tQrZ7.jpg


NYrI2Ex.jpg


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---------- Post added 11-23-13 at 12:49 AM ---------- Previous post was 11-22-13 at 03:01 PM ----------

That untextured fairing was certainly a bit dull... Better now :p

gk65FLu.jpg


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This is fantastic!

In doing a bit of reading up on the CST-100 I saw that it's designed to also launch on the Delta booster and even a SpaceX Falcon 9.

But in any event when this is done I'd really like to fly it. :thumbup:
 

N_Molson

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Atlas : Resurrection

It's Halloween, so time for some thread-o-mancy :stirpot:

After months spent working on another project an learning a LOT of things, let's try to resume work on this one.

Ideally I'd like to try to implement a sort of VAB interface, with some similarities with KSP in the concept of mixing parts, but with limitations to stay in reasonable limits.

Right now starting with the Atlas V family would be a nice beginning, and the good part is that I have most of the meshes and textures.

Just had fun with Blender (learning this one, huge improvement over Anim8tor I was previously using), and got this draft VAB interface design. Of course, all the photographs/drawings would be replaced by renders of the in-Orbiter parts. Allowing to see the model in 3D would be awesome, but I don't see how to do that yet. For now, I see the interface as a "2D panel", with the central viewport showing Orbiter. Could be a scene with a "blueprint" plane background (giving size indications) to begin smoothly, rather than a complex VAB model à-la-KSP. It could evolve to a "3D cockpit". Do you think it worths the cost going directly for a "3D cockpit" inplementation ? I'm not very aware of the possiblities and limitations there. Anyway, here's the rough idea :

pNj274s.jpg


The letters on the left would be "button filters", allowing to display :

L : the Launchers (in fact the "core" part, which would be very dependant of the rocket. For Atlas 400 or 500 it would be only the first stage, but for let's say a Proton-M, it would include stages 1, 2 and 3, or for a Saturn V, stages 1 and 2. Everything that is not an upper stage or a strapon booster.

E : the Engines. The availables ones would depend of the active element. The choice would probably be very limited for "Launchers" in order to keep a reasonable amount of realism (for the Atlas V, RD-180 or engines using the same propellants and comparable in thrust / size / weight ; for the Centaur you could have 1xRL-10 or 2xRL-10, etc...).

U : the Upper stages. Probably a bit more flexibility there. In that category would fit the Centaur, ACES, Fregat, Breeze, S-IVB, Block-D, whatever...

P : the Payload(s). There you could select 1 (or more) payload(s), position them, and select one of the available fairings. Of course, the ideal would be a system that is compatible with most of already existing payloads. But that's easier said than done ! "Fairings" would include say the CST-100 adapter, Apollo CSM abort tower, etc...

So that's quite a bold concept that involves a lot of coding, but it seems it would be interesting. ;)

Edit : oh and I would need a "B" button for the Boosters, solids or liquids, that would be one of the most "mixed" categories.
 
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N_Molson

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So, a snapshot of the thing in 3D (that's not a virtual cockpit view yet), low res with D3D7 inline client :

QdY0wuW.jpg


The scene should be set during night, maybe in a place like Mercury farside (which rotation is tidally locked to the Sun, AFAIR) so that it will be possible to use "artificial" spotlights only, without being hindered by the Sun's light. The physical location in Orbiter won't matter at all, as this is only a sort of "GUI".

Still, of course, the "GUI" will be defined as a "Vessel" itself, that's where lies the trick.
 

N_Molson

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Now we're in Virtual Cockpit view :)

kpDpGn6.jpg


Its now all about rotating the thing a bit, putting it on the night side of Mercury, making some background and playing with lights ;)
 

romanasul

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When this thing gets released I might get fired from my job for too many sick days.
 

ky

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It's been a while guys, but I'm going to pick back up where I left off with work on the VC, that was one of the few major components that needed to be worked on. Other than that, I'd say this is a good ways along toward being complete.
 

N_Molson

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I've been playing a bit with the Atlas V stage 1 code, it still compiles as it should after all these years, that's a good new (well, all the project compiles). I've been adjusting the SRMs attachment points as they were a bit misaligned with the rocket, and got the result I expected.

Now I think that the priorities are :

- Finish the Centaur V1, allowing to use the "XY1" configs.
- Add an "internal adapter" on the top of the 1st stage tank, in order to have the Centaur secured on it (currently it is magically floating in the interstage).
- Some Stage 1 autopilot woes, mostly mis-timed autothrottle settings.
- Adapters & fairings for the 400 configs (including the CST-100 adapter).
- Fix some adapter separation bugs.

That should be a reasonable basis for a v1.0. Then we'll look at fancy stuff like the Atlas-VH.
 

N_Molson

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How about a Vulcan?

That would be a logical sequel, indeed. Well, if I get this one working as well as I want, a Vulcan would almost be a mod with new meshes and some data tweaks ;)
 

ky

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Spent some time looking for the old VC files that I had, they still need quite a bit of work actually.
 

N_Molson

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Working (once again) on the Centaur aft, finished the LH2 feed line of the engine. There are still some details to add (though I don't want to spend 2 months on it). I checked, the line gets under one of the "arms" that holds the spherical tank (here in blue) in place.

VQ467tO.jpg
 

Cosmic Penguin

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In celebration of the Orbiter CST-100 project re-starting, Boeing has now named it.....

.....the Starliner.

 
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