Idea Mercury and Gemini add-on improvements

[kino_astroboy]

The Wikipedia article about MA-6 has the following picture from Celestia: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/6/6c/Mercury_Friendship7_Bassett_Celestia.jpg
Would it be possible to have a "normal" version of the capsule and an optional "high poly" one as this? That would be cool !

The only difference I liked was the detailed retro pack, straps, and connectors. 4throck's textures in the capsule's body are better.

 

[Urwumpe]

The only difference I liked was the detailed retro pack, straps, and connectors. 4throck's textures in the capsule's body are better.

Still no reason to invest a few more polys IMHO. But I personally would prefer a higher quality Gemini add-on over Mercury, because I feel too much like a passenger in Mercury. :lol:

 

[DaveS]

because I feel too much like a passenger in Mercury. :lol:

"Spam in a can!"

 

[insane_alien]

SBut I personally would prefer a higher quality Gemini add-on over Mercury, because I feel too much like a passenger in Mercury. :lol:

i'll get on the systems for that after mercury if i can find an indepth source describing them in some detail.

need to do that for mercury too i supose.

 

[Lunar_Lander]

I think the Gemini Familarization Manual should give you some of the needed info: http://www.geocities.com/bobandrepont/geminipdf.htm
(Scroll down to "Gemini Capsule")

But I still think that Mercury is a great spacecraft. At least you could do more in it than in Vostok .

As I understand it, you now do the "logic" behind the displays...Once I considered to simulate the Manhigh balloon capsule, would it be possible to use the temperature/electricity logic there too?

 

[insane_alien]

that site looks good.

would it be possible to use the temperature/electricity logic there too?

should be possible with a few parameter tweaks although the one i do for mercury would be based entirely on mercury's systems and probably wouldn't be too relevant for anything else.

can i take it from this that there would be some demand for generic electrical and environmental systems then?

 

[4throck]

The only difference I liked was the detailed retro pack, straps, and connectors. 4throck's textures in the capsule's body are better.

The more polygons you have the harder it is to texture them accurately. The present Mercury model is good in my opinion and supports the different capsule variations between missions. The Celestia model is generic. Also, our orbiter model has animations for the different mission phases. All that must be taken into account. So it' better in my opinion to improve on the good working models we have and not try to create something new from scratch.

Gemini can be improved in this way, perhaps with some minor model tweaking. A better astronaut would be a plus, for example. But that would require some coding, at the very list an editing of the configuration files.

Perhaps the best thing for now would be to start compiling a list of ideas that can be done based on the current add-on and what would require work from scratch.

 

[Lunar_Lander]

As far as Mercury is concerned, I would go for the following list:

Can be done now:
-The new temperature/battery depletion logic
-More batteries and more oxygen for MA-8, MA-9 and MA-10
-Tweaking the retro time for MA-9
-Occasional Malfunction of the systems(?) (other than the possible malfunctions of the tower, retro pack, parachute, which are already in)

Need to be done from scratch:
-Individualizing the interior of the capsules (Rob Conley himself has proposed this IIRC, and every capsule should have different switches and so on), partially done on MR-3 (the porthole instead of the window)
-Implementing experiments (IIRC, the beacon of MA-9 is in, but there were many others, as the balloon carried on MA-7 to MA-9), this would also need doors and so on which open up on the outside of the capsule
-Implementing the periscope (so that it actually can be seen in outside view) and the extension/retraction of it (maybe also disabling it during the ascent, I think it was only deployed after BECO/SECO)
-Replacing the periscope in MA-9 with the other visor mechanism

That should be all from my POV.

 

[kino_astroboy]

A really good picture of the balloon experiment:

For the nice information and images of the flashing beacon experiment in MA-9:

Click on http://hdl.handle.net/2060/19640016501

(Make sure you have Adobe Reader!)

 

[Lunar_Lander]

The picture and the PDF are both reall helpful, thanks for looking them up !

As for Gemini, I tried to set up a list too, but in my opinion, there is a lot to be done in the capsule. Now we have a "pseudo" panel with only one working autopilot switch. I would say that a completly new panel must be made, which then could employ the Mercury Logics for the dials and so on (only tweaked for two astronauts of course). Then also we have the Gemini Computer which also should be modeled one day. I would say that Gemini would be more difficult to improve than Mercury.

 

[Urwumpe]

The picture and the PDF are both reall helpful, thanks for looking them up !

As for Gemini, I tried to set up a list too, but in my opinion, there is a lot to be done in the capsule. Now we have a "pseudo" panel with only one working autopilot switch. I would say that a completly new panel must be made, which then could employ the Mercury Logics for the dials and so on (only tweaked for two astronauts of course). Then also we have the Gemini Computer which also should be modeled one day. I would say that Gemini would be more difficult to improve than Mercury.

I thought about using the SSU code base for implementing a Gemini VC - many Gemini subsystems are similar to the shuttle equivalents, the main problem would be the fact, that the subsystem and VC code is currently designed especially for SSU - but because of the usefulness of having the class library available for other vessels in the SSU project, I planned to change this soon after 1.25 is out.

 

[kino_astroboy]

The picture and the PDF are both reall helpful, thanks for looking them up !

Just Googled it! :lol:

 

[Lunar_Lander]

Cool!

What do you think of the Mercury List by me (see Post #48)? Is this a list as you suggested it? Is it complete or are there things that need to be added?

 

[4throck]

Cool!

What do you think of the Mercury List by me (see Post #48)? Is this a list as you suggested it? Is it complete or are there things that need to be added?

Yes, It's a good list. Here's my list of sugestions and what I'm working on. It's more of an update to the existing addons from the graphical point of view, but that's what I'm capable of doing right now.

Perhaps the existing scenery addons could be packed and integrated so that we could have a good basis for situations:

- Earth 1962 060506 - estar
- Launch Pad 5 High Detail; Launch Complex 14; Launch Complex 19 High Detail - kev shanow
- Splashdown - clive bradbury


Some easy to implement scenery improvements might include:
- Higher detail on KSC, with all the launch pads detailed and in the correct locations, using toghether several avaliable addons (I have a working version of that).
- Correct placement of landing/rescue areas for each mission.

Some changes/new scenery elements might be:
- Move some towers away from the launch pad for accuracy.
- Better carrier group and rescue helicopter


For the Mercury capsule and rockets I might sugest:

- Higher detail on the Redstone and Atlas rockets (working on that)
- Higher detail on the Mercury capsule (working on that)

 

[kino_astroboy]

One thing that really bothers me in Gemini is the wrong exhaust colors in the Titan II. They should really be updated.

 

[insane_alien]

good news everybody. i've started working on a temperature model for Mercury.

If someone cpable of implementing the model in the source could PM me that would be great.

 

[estar]

That is great news! Will the Mercury capsule environmental control system model be like DanSteph's awesome DGIV?

Somebody needs to supply the math on that. I approached Dan several times on getting access to that portion of the DG IV code but haven't had any luck.

---------- Post added at 12:08 AM ---------- Previous post was at 12:02 AM ----------

Also I specifically placed the Mercury and Gemini code and stuff under the BSD license so people are free to modify and improve without waiting on me. Believe me nobody will be stepping on my toes if they want to do this.

I still not sure when I will return to Orbiter development. At the moment my hobby time is still limited.


Rob Conley

 

[kino_astroboy]

- Higher detail on KSC, with all the launch pads detailed and in the correct locations, using toghether several avaliable addons (I have a working version of that).

I would be interested if you post the CFG file here.

- Better carrier group and rescue helicopter

Definitely. The UH-34 helicopter, hook, and the capsule snagging is really buggy. A fix to this would be to just similarly follow the recovery sequence in AMSO (hotkeys).

Improvements:

1. Allow astronaut recovery instead of just the capsule.

2. Special recovery capability in Liberty Bell 7, where the capsule is not recovered.

 

[4throck]

I would be interested if you post the CFG file here.

OK, will do when possible. As it is, the meshes have some offset from the pads, so the rocket position might need to be adjusted once the scenario loads. Another thing is that the pad numbering is completely incorrect.

I'd appreciate some help in sorting this out, so that perhaps we can put together an "Earth 1962 plus" that could be used with several early missions (Surveyor, Pioneer, etc) .

Right now I'm concentrating in getting a beta version of my Mercury textures, but It's hard without touching the capsule's mesh. Still, you can check my progress at my blog: http://orbiterspaceport.blogspot.com/ .

 

[Urwumpe]

If you can paint textures, could you also produce a few panel bitmaps? I looked at the MA-9 changes, I have not yet found accurate drawings of the new panel that replaced the periscope, but it would sure be possible to replace the periscope panel in Project Mercury with a new panel.

The panels are not perfectly accurate anyway.