Project Hius Interstellar craft for 2010P1 development

[Izack]

Exploring Hius in the cockpit view is neat, though the provided area is a bit limited. Using First Person Experience it's fun to go behind the 'locked doors' of the default camera controls and find a way to the airlock.

There's a very deep hole at the bottom of the stairwell... >.>

Feedback: A display of remaining delta-v for the various engines would be convenient, on top of the propellant mass.

 

[T.Neo]

Hg - HyperGolic, the RCS fuel (old, very old. Should be uranium now or something).

Not uranium, that would be used to provide the energy. The reaction mass- or most of it- would ideally by hydrogen, as that offers the best specific impulse (low particle mass).

 

[Urwumpe]

Not uranium, that would be used to provide the energy. The reaction mass- or most of it- would ideally by hydrogen, as that offers the best specific impulse (low particle mass).

Not automatically - I think there are better fuels depending on which mode you use. The thrust of the RCS suggests that it is an resistojet, heating a liquid/gas by moving it past hot coils. I am not sure about what reaction liquid was the best there, but I am not sure it was hydrogen. Other light liquids have better thermal conductivity and lower specific heat, reaching higher internal energy states faster.

For electrostatic thrusters, Hydrogen is actually even very poor, because it is hard to ionize. Xenon or Argon work better there.

 

[jedidia]

Targeting a star is pretty hard. There should be some kind of real navigation display, maybe with some basic astronomic functions like also determining the position relative to the sun and the other closest stars to the sun.

I didn't even know the Hius had the ability to target a star all by itself... You can do that in Orbiter Galaxy, although it won't show you more than the vector, distance to the sun and distance to the target star either.

For electrostatic thrusters, Hydrogen is actually even very poor, because it is hard to ionize. Xenon or Argon work better there.

but Hydrogen is a renewable propellant for the Hius...

 

[T.Neo]

I am not sure about what reaction liquid was the best there, but I am not sure it was hydrogen. Other light liquids have better thermal conductivity and lower specific heat, reaching higher internal energy states faster.

So their superior thermal conductivity and lower specific heat make them better propellants despite their higher particle weight?

but Hydrogen is a renewable propellant for the Hius...

This is also true...

 

[Wishbone]

Re: targetting stars... (not-so-humble plug) At least Precession MFD shows the difference between direction to the star and one's ship's attitude (thanks to fellow forum members and their code snippets).

 

[Urwumpe]

So their superior thermal conductivity and lower specific heat make them better propellants despite their higher particle weight?

It is at least possible that it is so. The lecture was mostly about electro-statical thrusters, but Resisto- and Arc-Jets had been mentioned in the beginning.

 

[jedidia]

Re: targetting stars... (not-so-humble plug) At least Precession MFD shows the difference between direction to the star and one's ship's attitude (thanks to fellow forum members and their code snippets).

I start to wonder if there's anything that thing can't do :lol:

 

[Urwumpe]

I start to wonder if there's anything that thing can't do :lol:

It can't calculate a VECTOR landing trajectory for Mars dirt strip landings.

(I want to have this feature in a project of mine, but the TVC system is still lacking proper calibration there for even just flying normal maneuvers without risking getting out of control).

 

[Artlav]

Targeting a star is pretty hard.

Hm? You point, you fly. What's the hard part?

When you retract the habs, the camera pitches down in external view.

Orbiter bug or misdocumented feature - changing internal camera affects the external one. Will investigate/report.

Exploring Hius in the cockpit view is neat, though the provided area is a bit limited. Using First Person Experience it's fun to go behind the 'locked doors' of the default camera controls and find a way to the airlock.

There's a very deep hole at the bottom of the stairwell... >.>

Most of it is incomplete. I was planning to make a full walkable and interactive interiors of both habs. And, i'm still thinking what to put into the cellar.

This thing have once collapsed from feature creep, there are dozens of incomplete and undocumented features (try putting something behind the main engine and turning it on, or dock something to either hab and transfer to/from centrifuge mode, for example), so now i'm taking things one at a time and with distinct priorities.

Feedback: A display of remaining delta-v for the various engines would be convenient, on top of the propellant mass.

Good idea, quite useful for DHD on braking.

I didn't even know the Hius had the ability to target a star all by itself... You can do that in Orbiter Galaxy, although it won't show you more than the vector, distance to the sun and distance to the target star either.

I wonder how the two would work together. How does OG deduce fuel usage in a vessel that have unlimited fuel and arbitrary fuel tank linking?
What flight profiles would there be? The only things been done is flying away, not coming back.

And what the hell is wrong with that texture generator...

 

[Urwumpe]

Hm? You point, you fly. What's the hard part?

Seeing WHERE you are pointing at.

 

[Sky Captain]

Looks like this is going to be a great Orbiter addon:thumbup:, hopfully tomorrow I will have some free hours to really put this vessel to the test.

The most important question is right now IMHO the following: what drinks are there in the bar?

The Space Beer obviously:lol:

 

[Mandella]

Well that was a fun ride! One way so far, had to break for work.

Only comment I can make is that although establishing a slight spin for stability works, it produces quite an uncomfortable strobe effect at high time accelerations.

 

[Axel]

Ok maybe a little bit off topic, but is it really possible to fly directly to a star (without jumping) by using orbiter galaxy? And is it possible to insert one of this star systems developed by orbinauts to orbiter galaxy?
What happens when you fly with Hius to a star? I used orbiter galaxy in jump mode, orbiter restarts then alltimes for the new star system. When does restart it at a direct flight, half the way or short before arrival?
I lose alltimes all my inventory after restarting of orbiter, when im in the new star system, attached vessels and payload, so its not very usefull for me.

 

[jedidia]

I wonder how the two would work together. How does OG deduce fuel usage in a vessel that have unlimited fuel and arbitrary fuel tank linking?

Orbiter Galaxy is pretty limited in those capabilities and relies on the user using standard tools like TransX or the Orbiter Navigator for the arrival burn. All Orbiter Galaxy gives is a vector and a burntime for the ejection burn based on the current engine specs and fuel supply, plus the option to specify a percentage of the propellant as fuel reserve. Once arrived at the new system it gives a rough estimate of the time to start the burn, also deduced from the engine specs, velocity, and propellant reserve.

Since at relativistic speeds a few hours can mean the difference between succesfull injection, overshooting and drifting out into open space or falling short a few deca-AUs carefull planning of the arrival burn with a more sophisticated tool is mandatory. TransX has a problem in that it has a limited maximum delta-v to plan in one go. The Navigator works exceptionally well, but does so exactly because it takes mass-decrease by propellant expenditure into account, and calculates with fixed full thrust. I'll have to see how the Hius performs with those, but my first guess it that it won't work too well (no mass decrease, and variable thrust).

And what the hell is wrong with that texture generator...

I'll be damned if I know...

Ok maybe a little bit off topic, but is it really possible to fly directly to a star (without jumping) by using orbiter galaxy? And is it possible to insert one of this star systems developed by orbinauts to orbiter galaxy?

Both are certainly possible and well documented in the manual (there's even a whole seperate manual in the download that describes how to add a custom system). Allthough I'm yet waiting to see the first custom systems supporting orbiter galaxy, noone has made a compatible release yet. Adding a system just to target it is just a config file with a few lines, but to get the system to display in Orbiter Galaxy's system overview is a bit more work, depending on how much of the data you want to provide...

Seeing WHERE you are pointing at.

That is pretty easy in Orbiter Galaxy, thanks to Jarmonics code for the Vector view.

 

[Artlav]

Seeing WHERE you are pointing at.

Isn't there a ^ at the HUD smack in the centre?
Point, zoom, fine-point, go.

Only comment I can make is that although establishing a slight spin for stability works, it produces quite an uncomfortable strobe effect at high time accelerations.

Can't see any other option - any other realistic stabilization method explodes into violent spin at 100000x. I can remove rotation at all at high time accels, but that would be lame.

 

[Wishbone]

Considering the zero-G condition at max speed, rotation is IMHO obligatory for the crew's comfort...

 

[donatelo200]

Allthough I'm yet waiting to see the first custom systems supporting orbiter galaxy, noone has made a compatible release yet.

Don't worry. I've just had a few major set backs including the discovery of a fourth planet in the system i'm making compatible and my computer blew up a week ago.(It's fixed now with a graphics card that is 4x better than my old)

 

[Artlav]

Considering the zero-G condition at max speed, rotation is IMHO obligatory for the crew's comfort...

Assuming the scoop protects from radiation... Yes.

 

[Urwumpe]

Isn't there a ^ at the HUD smack in the centre?
Point, zoom, fine-point, go.

Wasn't working when I tried it, I just saw a velocity marker there, but no pitch ladder or Z-axis marker.