New Release Interplanetary Modular Spacecraft RC9

[Capt_hensley]

Try a sunshade shapped like an umbrella, deploy it from the body. Theres no drag in space so it should work without issues.

 

[Dantassii]

You have no idea how big of an umbrella that would be...

Try a sunshade shapped like an umbrella, deploy it from the body. Theres no drag in space so it should work without issues.

You don't have any idea how big my ship is do you? Something that is to an Arrow what the XR5 is to the Dragonfly?

I think I could use Demos as a shadow maker......

I mean I've even gotten a rather interesting response from Jedidia when I posted photos of my Lunar Station next to an XR5 and an Arrow Freighter. My SSTV is nearly as big as my Lunar Station....

Dantassii
HUMONGOUS IMS shipbuilder

 

[Dantassii]

SSVT Version 2.0 Still under construction....

I still have a lot of cargo bays to add plus it's getting a little short on power and cooling (BM230s and BM222s). I also am trying to figure out what sort of reverse thrusters I should put on this monster and where to attach them.

But anyway, a request was made to see this thing under power, so I've attached a few screen captures of the ship in 'design' orbit of Earth w/out any cargo or XR5s attached. It took nearly 80 minutes to integrate this beast as it kept CTD every 10-15 modules once I hit about 400 modules. According to my IMS directory, there are a total of 831 integrations...

If you look at the stats screen captures, yes that's 9.5 MILLION kgs mass. Under full power I have 1.1 Gs with a significant delta V budget even under the mains. That will go down a bit as I add the 6th, and 7th layers of BCCH's plus a few other components and when there are 2 XR5s docked to it.

There are a total of 5 of the hyper engines in the engine array. Can you find all 5?

The 3 under power photos are:

1. Under main power
2. Under hypers only power
3. Let there be light!!! power

Now who said that wasn't a moon?....:rofl:

I probably won't post any more photos of this thing until I've completed all the known additions that still need to be added. When it's all done I estimate it will be around 1400 modules, not including the 2 XR5s and all the BG modules that will be docked to the freight area.

Anyone know a FAST way to create/dock over 700 full size BG modules to BCCHs? :facepalm:

Dantassii
HUMONGOUS IMS shipbuilder

 

[BruceJohnJennerLawso]

I still have a lot of cargo bays to add plus it's getting a little short on power and cooling (BM230s and BM222s). I also am trying to figure out what sort of reverse thrusters I should put on this monster and where to attach them.

But anyway, a request was made to see this thing under power, so I've attached a few screen captures of the ship in 'design' orbit of Earth w/out any cargo or XR5s attached. It took nearly 80 minutes to integrate this beast as it kept CTD every 10-15 modules once I hit about 400 modules. According to my IMS directory, there are a total of 831 integrations...

If you look at the stats screen captures, yes that's 9.5 MILLION kgs mass. Under full power I have 1.1 Gs with a significant delta V budget even under the mains. That will go down a bit as I add the 6th, and 7th layers of BCCH's plus a few other components and when there are 2 XR5s docked to it.

There are a total of 5 of the hyper engines in the engine array. Can you find all 5?

The 3 under power photos are:

1. Under main power
2. Under hypers only power
3. Let there be light!!! power

Now who said that wasn't a moon?....:rofl:

I probably won't post any more photos of this thing until I've completed all the known additions that still need to be added. When it's all done I estimate it will be around 1400 modules, not including the 2 XR5s and all the BG modules that will be docked to the freight area.

Anyone know a FAST way to create/dock over 700 full size BG modules to BCCHs? :facepalm:

Dantassii
HUMONGOUS IMS shipbuilder

:blink:



Dantassii, will you do me a favor? Youre doing this all with parts lifted from the moon, no? Keep a running total of how much mass youve lifted in this manner, and update your Moon.cfg file to reflect it.

119000 km/s...

(falls off of chair, then falls through floor)

:hail: DANTASSII!!!

 

[PeterRoss]

...
Dantassii
HUMONGOUS IMS shipbuilder

Just wow...:OMG:

 

[Dantassii]

:blink:



Dantassii, will you do me a favor? Youre doing this all with parts lifted from the moon, no? Keep a running total of how much mass youve lifted in this manner, and update your Moon.cfg file to reflect it.

119000 km/s...

(falls off of chair, then falls through floor)

:hail: DANTASSII!!!

Actually, the Lunar Station is being lifted from Brighton Beach 1 XR5 load at a time, the SSTV is assumed to be constructed at the Lunar Station from raw materials brought to the Lunar Station from all over the rest of the solar system (asteroids, moon, and Earth).

I am keeping track of the payloads lifted per mission on the Lunar Station, maybe I'll post a diary-like blog here when I'm done. I'm definitely thinking about posting a blog of the first mission of the SSTV when it goes from the Earth-Moon system to Europa and begins construction of the refueling/repair station (no construction) in orbit there.



---------- Post added at 05:47 ---------- Previous post was at 05:44 ----------

Just wow...:OMG:

... and it's still not finished yet...

Actually, when it's it is at 'initial construction complete', the Lunar Station is going to be around 4,500-5,000 modules. If I go ahead and add the 4 additional hab rings plus the 4 additional docking areas it may approach 10,000-15,000 modules.

When I view either of my HUMONGOUS IMS vehicles in full, my frame rate goes down around 14-18 FPS. When I zoom in, it goes up around 50-60 FPS. I'm tempted to post the 'final' version of the SSTV on a thread and ask people to post THEIR framerates when viewing the entire thing from various angles. Definitely would define 'high end' machines vs 'low end' machines.

Dantassii
HUMONGOUS IMS shipbuilder

 

[jedidia]

I have been able to reproduce what I by now consider the major problem with integrations in IMS2: Under certain circumstances, only one of the two vessels involved in an undocking get the dockEvent. Ergo the docking port on the iMS vessel points to a vessel that doesn't exist anymore, because it never got told that the other vessel undocked.

What I do not yet know is why exactly this occurs. I have a repro in one scenario, but am so far unable to narrow down the circumstances. The mistake happens somewhere within orbiter code, but might be caused by something I'm doing, although I am so far unable to see what, and whether the problem in IMS and IMS2 is really related. IMS2 works completely differently, so the chances that both make the same mistake that leads to this behavior is kind of slim...

 

[Athena]

over 700 full size BG modules

...around 4,500-5,000 modules...10,000-15,000 modules

BTW, i remember suggesting a "gyroscope" module that uses power for orientation instead of usual RCS, has it bee implimented yet? Or are you guys still rooting out bugs?

 

[jedidia]

BTW, i remember suggesting a "gyroscope" module that uses power for orientation instead of usual RCS, has it bee implimented yet? Or are you guys still rooting out bugs?

No, and it probably never will be. IMS is too much of a spaghetti monster and already seriously unstable, and I consider heaping up any more features to be highly irresponsible. I'll keep it in mind for IMS2, though.

---------- Post added at 06:03 PM ---------- Previous post was at 03:56 PM ----------

I tracked down the source of the docking port problem. I am a bit surprised that I didn't think of that before, but I only now have an environment that gives me all the necessary information without any of the unnecessary ones.

The problem seems to be, quite simply, that orbiter doesn't like it if you delete a dockport from within the list if there are dock ports with higher indices which have a vessel docked to it. I suspect that orbiter manages a global docking list and notes the docking connections as indices, and neglects to update that list when a port gets deleted.

The fix seems pretty straightforward: Undock ALL vessels before integration, not just the ones docked to the vessel that gets deleted, and redock the entire stack in the next frame. It's coupled with a few problems of itself, but I should be able to get it to work in both IMS2 and the old IMS.

 

[goaowonk]

Definitely would define 'high end' machines vs 'low end' machines.

Dantassii
HUMONGOUS IMS shipbuilder

I'd say computers vs exploded holes in the ground :lol:


And for Mr. MruceJohnJennerDasdfasdfasdfasdfasdfasdftoolargenick-binaut, i promise, I'll start working on what I promised on the docs yomorrow. I just don't know how I got myself so occupied when I have nothing to do.

 

[Dantassii]

YAQ (Yet Another Question)

I'm having a problem with radiators. Specifically if I have 2 radiators that physically appear on my ship in the same left-right and front-back position but separated in the vertical direction (direction determined from the default view out of the control module front) the radiators appear right on top of each other in the layout view in the engineering section and I'm unable to get both of them to deploy, let alone assign modules to both of them. Each time I click on that area, I can only click on 1 of the radiators.

Is this a bug in the layout view or am I missing some command to rotate my ship in this view just enough that I can distinguish between 2 radiators stacked vertically from each other? This is true no matter HOW far I zoom in on that location.

Dantassii
HUMONGOUS IMS shipbuilder

---------- Post added at 22:52 ---------- Previous post was at 22:25 ----------

One of the topics that I studied while working on my Ph.D. in Aerospace Engineering back in the mid 90's was calculating the optimum size for a manned spacecraft used in a freighter mode, as opposed to an exploration mode. Until we get warp drives and inertial dampers that allow us to ignore gravity and acceleration forces, we are stuck with having to wait until orbital alignments are just right to allow us to go from 1 planet to another in our solar system. This means that if you want to transport a large amount of material from 1 planet to another its much faster to send it all on 1 HUMONGOUS ship than to try and build a fleet of smaller ships and launch them all in the same launch window. Think of the HUMONGOUS container ships that currently ply the oceans of our watery planet. They have discovered that its most efficient to send your containers on 1 BIG ship than a whole mess of smaller ones, especially if you have a lot of containers that need to go from 1 port to another port.

As long as you can provide enough delta V to move the ship where it needs to go, the bigger the ship, the easier it is to get your cargo there.

My SSTV is designed to carry, in 1 trip, all the raw materials needed to construct a smaller version of the Lunar Station in orbit around any planet or moon in our solar system. Its designed to get itself and its payload to the destination world, and then stay on station to provide living space for the construction crew while the new station is built. Once the station is built, the SSTV will refuel itself at the station (first customer!) and then head back to the Lunar Station where another collection of raw materials will be collected and ready for the next station. It's also possible that the SSTV may make several side trips on the way back to pick up raw materials from other asteroids and planets scattered through the solar system.

I just wonder though.. with all the delta V I'm getting from the hyper engines, what kind of hyperbolic flight plan for a direct Earth to Pluto flight (with no planetary sling shots) could I come up with and still have enough delta V to stop in orbit around Pluto.

What's the no-gravity-assists speed record for LEO to LPO (Low Pluto Orbit) direct using Orbiter with limited fuel?

Anyone know that answer?

I do know that on a test run of an earlier version of the SSTV I was able to get into a solar ejection orbit from LEO with about a 5 minute burn of my hyper engines.

Dantassii
HUMONGOUS IMS shipbuilder

 

[Mandella]

Just a quick question for the curious, Dantassii.

How long "in game" has it taken to build that ship so far?

 

[jedidia]

This is true no matter HOW far I zoom in on that location.

Then that's a bug in the layout, yes... Will see what I can do about it once the more important issues are fixed.

---------- Post added at 08:18 AM ---------- Previous post was at 07:37 AM ----------

@Dantasii: Looking at the pics of your uber-vessel, I kind of think I get the problem...

You don't have any radiators in the alignement you mentioned. What you have is radiators that deploy in all four directions. They are still onle ONE radiator (you cannot have multiple radiators per module). Also, those radiators are a bit of a hack, since IMS doesn't really support multi-directional radiators (only monodirectional, two-sided ones). I.e. those radiators will only calculate sunlight infall from one direction. It is possible to align your vessel so they don't get any sunlight at all although half of their area visually points directly into the sun. On the other hand, if you realign the vessel by 90 degrees, they will get DOUBLE the sunlight, because they assume that the whole radiator area points in the same direction.

Anyways, I assume that your problem with the layout is simply that there is only one radiator in this place, not two as you think.

 

[Dantassii]

"In Game" time answer

Just a quick question for the curious, Dantassii.

How long "in game" has it taken to build that ship so far?

I've been building the SSTV using the Scenario Editor and it's been less than a day so far.

The Lunar Station I'm building using individual missions, but I'm taking some non-realistic short cuts. Elapsed time on the Lunar Station is about 31+ days.

Dantassii
HUMONGOUS IMS shipbuilder

---------- Post added at 05:52 ---------- Previous post was at 05:40 ----------

@Dantasii: Looking at the pics of your uber-vessel, I kind of think I get the problem...

You don't have any radiators in the alignement you mentioned. What you have is radiators that deploy in all four directions. They are still onle ONE radiator (you cannot have multiple radiators per module). Also, those radiators are a bit of a hack, since IMS doesn't really support multi-directional radiators (only monodirectional, two-sided ones). I.e. those radiators will only calculate sunlight infall from one direction. It is possible to align your vessel so they don't get any sunlight at all although half of their area visually points directly into the sun. On the other hand, if you realign the vessel by 90 degrees, they will get DOUBLE the sunlight, because they assume that the whole radiator area points in the same direction.

Anyways, I assume that your problem with the layout is simply that there is only one radiator in this place, not two as you think.

Actually, there are 2 dimensional radiators all over the place, but you have to really ZOOM in to see them. I have a few buried inside the tank farm in the rear, and there are some on the upper and lower BT101 trusses in the middle of the SSTV. I have some 640 m2 Radiators inside the tank farm (in between the tanks) and some BR020 radiators on the BT101 trusess in the middle part of the SSTV. The Lunar Station has only BR200's and doesn't have this problem because it is intended to always point in the correct direction for them to work.

I do not have any that stack up in the vertical because of the problem noted. I removed the stacked ones when I discovered I wasn't able to open them. The problem that is caused by what I've done is the SSTV is not ballanced according to the center of gravity calculation. It's off by just a little in the left/right direction because I don't have my radiators right on top of each other on the middle trusses.

The non BT200 radiators are for use during main engine burns, when the ship's orientation is not directly at the sun. The low temperature modules in the station overheat the main BR200 radiators if they aren't pointed edge first towards the sun. Since when the main engines are burning I can't force the sun to be in a particular location, I had in mind to have radiators pointing in all directions in the hopes that at least 1 direction would still be available for heat rejection.

Dantassii
HUMONGOUS IMS shipbuilder

 

[Capt_hensley]

You don't have any idea how big my ship is do you? Something that is to an Arrow what the XR5 is to the Dragonfly?

I think I could use Demos as a shadow maker......

I mean I've even gotten a rather interesting response from Jedidia when I posted photos of my Lunar Station next to an XR5 and an Arrow Freighter. My SSTV is nearly as big as my Lunar Station....

Dantassii
HUMONGOUS IMS shipbuilder

Yeah it's big. Interesting the guys in NSF hate my Gateway Station, and it's three times bigger than ISS, but would look like a pencil next to your IMS. I'm thinking NSF would rip you to shreds. I like it, looks cool. Glad your sorting out the bugs with docking and such...

 

[Dantassii]

Yeah it's big. Interesting the guys in NSF hate my Gateway Station, and it's three times bigger than ISS, but would look like a pencil next to your IMS. I'm thinking NSF would rip you to shreds. I like it, looks cool. Glad your sorting out the bugs with docking and such...

This is the sort of thing I always wanted to do when I grew up. Design HUGE manned spacecraft and fly them around the solar system. This is the closest someone with my health and physical ability will ever get to being an astronaut.

Actually, my first dream of what I wanted to do when I grew up was to become one of the first permanent colonists of Mars...

Dantassii
HUMONGOUS IMS shipbuilder

 

[PeterRoss]

Actually, my first dream of what I wanted to do when I grew up was to become one of the first permanent colonists of Mars...

I still dream about it sometimes :tiphat:

 

[BruceJohnJennerLawso]

Jedidia, could I make a request for IMS2? Given that my IMS use right now is almost exclusively based out of system at UPS Andromedae, would you be able to integrate that ability to read EPP parameters to get the right solar constants in extrasolar systems? I would really appreciate if that could be included in the new version.

How has the new version been going so far?

 

[jedidia]

Requests for IMS2 should be posted in the social group, to avoid confusion. EPP support is planned, and I actually could add it to IMS RC3. Since it was planned anyways, all I really have to do is get the loading straight... :shifty:

 

[NukeET]

Requests for IMS2 should be posted in the social group, to avoid confusion. EPP support is planned, and I actually could add it to IMS RC3. Since it was planned anyways, all I really have to do is get the loading straight... :shifty:

I thought you had to be a member of that group to post in it.

Nevertheless, I'd like to make a polite request for IMS2 here.

Yeah it's big. Interesting the guys in NSF hate my Gateway Station, and it's three times bigger than ISS, but would look like a pencil next to your IMS. I'm thinking NSF would rip you to shreds. I like it, looks cool. Glad your sorting out the bugs with docking and such...

WTH is NSF? National Science Foundation?