OHM DarkEnergy Spaceplane

Max-Q

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Progress... Still a very long way to go, however.
Mode 1A and 1B launch escapes (up through first staging) are now possible! Although I hope no one needs to execute one... :cautious:

As you can see, I decided to go with a traditional escape tower and boost protective cover rather than the pusher escape system used Ion-4/LEO DarkEnergy to avoid having to pull the 28,000kg service module off a booster gone wrong along with the crew module.

From the pad, you can barely make the SLF runway if the parafoil is deployed right away. 🤞
Given an offshore wind, potential landing sites for a pad escape include the LC-39A/B crawlerway, or the beach in a very low energy situation.

de_les_1a.PNGde_les_1a (2).PNG
 

Max-Q

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@WolfAngriff Thanks for the naming idea! Deep Space DarkEnergy is officially named "DarkEnergy Expansion" :cool:

Question for DarkEnergy Pilots: I am working on the DarkEnergy Expansion flight manual at the moment.
Has anybody has customized the photo taped to the instrument panel?

I was wondering if the instructions for how to do it are clearly written of if I should rewrite for the next version since haven't really been happy with the way they read since I wrote it initially. I prefer writing code over writing english! 😉

Project updates:
All launch escape modes from the pad to orbit are finished and working
White room and other launchpad stuff is done
Checklists complete

Ion 6 secondary payload capability inside the SLA is in progress
Flight manual is written
Need to create missions
Misc. stuff & other things
 
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Max-Q

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v3.0 featuring DarkEnergy Expansion is released.
  • Added DarkEnergy Expansion and Ion-6
  • “VC Click-points lost at staging” bug fixed
  • Revised section seven in the flight manuals
New addon dependencies: PLEASE INSTALL THEM FIRST!
Ion-6 Launch Vehicle
LC39A SpaceX
IMFD/LTMFD

DarkEnergy 6.PNGDarkEnergy Cockpit 5.PNG
 
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Sloppyphan

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@Max-Q Houston we have a problem :) Was Playing around with the Expansion and noticed that at Separation post TLI and in scenario T&D there are Ion6/SLA1, through SLA4, but they are not in the ION6 addon and a hard crashout occurs. . . . I'm guessing it's debris from sep but it never got added to the downloads. Otherwise I love where you are heading with the DarkEnergy series.
 

Max-Q

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@Max-Q Houston we have a problem :) Was Playing around with the Expansion and noticed that at Separation post TLI and in scenario T&D there are Ion6/SLA1, through SLA4, but they are not in the ION6 addon and a hard crashout occurs. . . . I'm guessing it's debris from sep but it never got added to the downloads. Otherwise I love where you are heading with the DarkEnergy series.
Errr... yeah. :oops:
I knew I would miss a file in one of the releases eventually... Correct, they don't come with Ion-6 since they are DarkEnergy specific and I simply forgot to put them in the DarkEnergy download.
The attached zip contains the missing files. Sorry for the oversight!

Glad you're enjoying DarkEnergy Expansion!
 

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Max-Q

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And furthermore,do you have plans for EVA and/or cargo capablity for your Lunar lander?
The DarkMatter lunar lander will absolutely, definitely have EVA capability, as well as lunar rovers. :cool:
The astronauts will also be compatible with my LWLL addon, so crew form either addon will be able to get into either lander.
As far as cargo, there's really no place to put it, but I'll se what I can do.

Bear in mind, DarkEnergy took almost 2 years from start of project to a released version, and the lander is a similar scale project.
 

toto76math

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OK. Thanks. Because I'm very impressed with your Dark Energy add-ons. I'm even designing a multi-day lunar exploration mission using LWLL mod. (I would like to use it's Hab module for supporting astronauts during a 3 day mission, like Apollos 15 through 17.)
 

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v3.1 with a bunch of bugfixes is released.
  • Ability to control the Ion launch vehicle without switching focus off DarkEnergy
  • Add landing light for easier night operations
  • Mission timer stops automatically after landing at wheel stop
  • Add docking floodlight for DE Expansion forward IDA
  • Minor cockpit lighing improvments in DE Cargo
  • Windows no longer cast shadows on the interior when in external view
  • Docking floodlight bugfix
  • Touchdown points bugfix when scenario reloaded in some situations
  • DE Expansion nosegear animation bugfix
  • NaN battery bugfix (I thought I had that one fixed before release... I guess not!)
  • DE Expansion MPS/RCS power usage corrected
  • Lighting system power usage corrected
  • Some functions taking the log10 of zero when airspeed is null bugfix
  • LOX venting plumes bugfix
  • Several other minor bugfixes
 

Sloppyphan

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Speaking of LWLL, I've been trying to "attach" that to the ION-6 as a replacement to the ballast in EXP-1, I've been able to modify the lwll.cfg enough to get through T&D, but then I CTD when I attempt to release from the ION6? I know it's still docking at where the ballast was vs the lander. I'm not a developer so maybe I need to adjusting something on Ion6 cfg vs LWll but I realize this is above my understanding of the cfg options . . I've attached the cfg and scenerio files in case anyone interesting in helping. Was just trying to figure out a landing option while waiting on "DE 4.0"!
 

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Max-Q

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Well, undocumented "feature" in the LWLL addon.
So in order to get the launch & docking on FalconHeavy to work, I had to cheat a bit with the LWLL docking stuff.
IIRC, the LWLL lander vessel deletes it's docking port when attached to something... and when the Ion-6 tries to release LWLL it it calls an invalid docking port handle.
If you put the line "LAUNCH_FEATURES = false" in the LWLL cfg file that will make it work fine with Ion-6. But it will break the support for the original mission on FH...
This really should be documented in the LWLL addon, but I honestly forgot about it. ;)
 

Sloppyphan

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Well, undocumented "feature" in the LWLL addon.
So in order to get the launch & docking on FalconHeavy to work, I had to cheat a bit with the LWLL docking stuff.
IIRC, the LWLL lander vessel deletes it's docking port when attached to something... and when the Ion-6 tries to release LWLL it it calls an invalid docking port handle.
If you put the line "LAUNCH_FEATURES = false" in the LWLL cfg file that will make it work fine with Ion-6. But it will break the support for the original mission on FH...
This really should be documented in the LWLL addon, but I honestly forgot about it. ;)
Well I did think things like that were possible/probable . . Would be happy to help with QA when you get there with the next lander! :) So I tried that and still getting the CTD on final sep and have no clue how to correct the docking point, attached cfg and the current scn right before attempting to release the lander, using the DE LV sep button, vs j from the ION6 . . Thank you for thinking about it! I did try the cfg file with and w/o the docking point added to the file.
 

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Max-Q

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Well I did think things like that were possible/probable . . Would be happy to help with QA when you get there with the next lander! :) So I tried that and still getting the CTD on final sep and have no clue how to correct the docking point, attached cfg and the current scn right before attempting to release the lander, using the DE LV sep button, vs j from the ION6 . . Thank you for thinking about it! I did try the cfg file with and w/o the docking point added to the file.
After banging my head against the metaphorical brick wall for a while on this one... :mad:
It's PursuitMFD.
Apparently it keeps a handle to the Ion-6 docking port, which that port gets deleted at separation.
So, CTD. I guess either don't use PursuitMFD in docking mode for transposition & docking, or closing it before sep might work.
This isn't a bug with DE or Ion-6, but with PursuitMFD so there's nothing I can do about this.

You don't need the docking port in the cfg, in fact having it there may mess other things up.

Also, you should set DOCK_OFS to 3.035 in the Ion-6 portion of the scenario to move the docking port to the right location.
 

Max-Q

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Slight update on the DarkMatter lander: Some good, some not as good.
I'm making good progress, but I still have all the systems and VC stuff to do.

Just so you all know, I start college in August and won't have much time for Orbiter after that.
On the other hand, a lot of the systems and VC stuff can be just copy/pasted from DarkEnergy, so not as much effort involved as doing them the first time.
We'll see. I'll get it done sooner or later, if not by August then it'll be a while, but I'll finish it.

1.PNG2.PNG
 
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