Project Sigma rocket

[N_Molson]

Well, the SSME is throttled back to 67% after 20 seconds of flight, then throttles up to 100% when the SRBs separate. This has not a big influence on the total thrust, though, but saves some fuel as the SSME Isp is much lower in dense atmosphere.

I get a maxG of 3.8G during ascent, thanks to the SRBs power curve I coded. Those things don't burn the same way all along, inside there are several layers of powder with different grain size. This way Thiokol engineers found a way to control the thrust they provide.

And the 10 last seconds before separation, when the boosters thrust/mass ratio would become insane, are the "burnout" phase, where thrust quickly drops to less than 1MN. This way the Gs keep into a man-rated range, if needed.

 

[N_Molson]

Uh-oh, we're going to need a new launchpad...



What's happened : currently working on the load/save variables, the Stage1 just "forgot" it had boosters on reload, and the SSME alone is perfectly unable to lift the whole stack. :lol:

The boosters, being Martins .dll, didn't forgot they had particle effects, though.

Picture taken with the D3D7 client, doesn't look so bad.

Range officer :



---------- Post added at 08:42 PM ---------- Previous post was at 05:35 PM ----------

K-Boom !



Severe fallouts !

 

[DaveS]

Severe fallouts !

Looks nice although a bit undersized for a vehicle with two SRBs. Look at the following video to see just how large a debris cloud gets when a LV with two SRBs gets when it self-destructs:

 

[N_Molson]

Wow, that's an epic failure !

Yes, a big fire cloud in the middle would be in order.

 

[ky]

Is it possible to make the debris contrails look yellow like in the video?

 

[N_Molson]

Yes but you'll notice that the debris contrail quickly turn to white. Also, I'm of course limited in the number of debris, as each one being a new vessel. So far I have 14 debris for the rocket + the payload.

But I plan to work on them anyway. Here I just reused the "debris vessel" I did for the Roscosmos Lunar Lander. Those "explosion debris" should behave differently than "reentry debris" : they should be more affected by the atmosphere (more drag) and maybe change of color over time (they could have a yellow/orange emissive contrail for 5-10 seconds, then a thinner diffuse white/grey one as they fall to the ground). Also I'd like to randomize the force vectors I apply to the debris to simulate the explosion.

Also I have to be careful with particles, as those tend to slow down Orbiter very much (even with the D3D9 client, at some point !).

 

[n0mad23]

This is such an awesome project! I really appreciate that it's so deliberately 'recycled'.

I'm curious if you're using Mesh Wizard after exporting from Anim8or. If so, you might want to experiment with the materials options within MW to fine tune your textures. I've found it's really useful that way as a kind of post-Anim8or tool, especially with specular and diffuse settings, without having to go back to Anim8or.

You've inspired me to play around with normal mapping after seeing what you've already accomplished here!

:thumbup:Outstanding.

 

[T.Neo]

It should be noted that the colour of the resultant cloud is due to the propellants within the launch vehicle and their combustion products. For this vehicle, which has hydrolox propellant, that cloud would probably be white as it would be composed mainly of steam.

If it were carrying the transfer vehicle, the hypergolic propellants in that could create a yellow or brownish cloud. I'm not sure but I think a similar cloud is visible in Challenger images, originating from the OMS propellant.

Titan used hypergolic propellant so that would obviously affect the composition of the resultant cloud.

Obviously boosters are another issue... boosters are pretty robust, so they might just keep on flying after the vehicle has disentigrated, as with Challenger. Of course, if this was a deliberate range safety detonation, the cases of the SRBs would be split and they would be destroyed.

 

[K_Jameson]

A good design, that seems a stretched Titan IV... perhaps "Titan V" could be a nice option for his name.

 

[N_Molson]

Obviously boosters are another issue... boosters are pretty robust, so they might just keep on flying after the vehicle has disentigrated, as with Challenger. Of course, if this was a deliberate range safety detonation, the cases of the SRBs would be split and they would be destroyed.

Yes, I was wondering about that. And in the video, it almost looks like as if the SRBs are used themselves as mass destruction weapons : by unleashing the destructive power of the powder inside, it is almost certain to break to small pieces the whole vehicle... And after the SRB separation, self-destruction might not be required, as the vehicle will be over Atlantic and reentry will do the job (if something goes terribly wrong and the vehicle fly eastwards, the autodestruction should be initiated as soon the vehicle is flying high enough). :hmm:

As for the name, it can't be a Titan, since the "official" successors are the Delta rockets. Also, it's more a HLV, so it's really a new class of vehicles.

---------- Post added at 12:15 PM ---------- Previous post was at 09:52 AM ----------

Looks better that way, no ?

Boom !



Almost 1 minute after :



I have a problem with the "fire" texture, though, on the first pic you will notice "square angles". Any advice on how to fix this ? :tiphat:

Explosion at 20 km of altitude, as seen from the ground (FOV10°) :



The thinner air allows the debris to spread more, seems realistic.

---------- Post added at 10:08 PM ---------- Previous post was at 12:15 PM ----------

Re-done the whole SSME and worked on the "white" parts (textures).

Still have to add the cameras, and the plugs for umbilical arms.

 

[ky]

You hit it right on the nail! Great work!

 

[Scruce]

Does all the debris travel the same distance outwards or is it random?

Great addon so far!

 

[Interceptor]

Molson,Really nice!

 

[N_Molson]

Does all the debris travel the same distance outwards or is it random?

I've entered different force vector for each debris. But no randomization for now, as I'm still making research on this. I fear to make things a little unstable. However, the debris have an important drag, so the results greatly vary depending on the air density, and overall, I think it's ok like that.

Molson,Really nice!

Honestly, a great part of the visuals should be credited to Jarmonik and the awesome new normal maps feature that allows to make textures lightning irregular and then much more realistic.

 

[N_Molson]

Still working on the random failures, as you can see...

Things go rather smoothly, I use a "failures tree" that gives an overall decent randomness.



Vapor/ice clouds at 200km of altitude... I wonder where they come from :

 

[communist]

i like it,great work on it

 

[N_Molson]

Uh-oh, I fear that this SSME is nothing but a timebomb :



Edit : to keep realistic, when a failure is triggered, you have a good chance (well, a little more than 50% !) to get a hold of the countdown before the SSME ignites. Safety systems. If that check fails, the countdown will proceed normally, and something will go wrong. Often very wrong.

---------- Post added 09-03-11 at 01:16 AM ---------- Previous post was 09-02-11 at 11:36 PM ----------

And this other (rare) case, a tribute to Challenger, had to be included :

SRB leak :



Explosion with the SRBs going their way...



---------- Post added at 09:25 PM ---------- Previous post was at 01:16 AM ----------

Those had to happen... Someone said DG-Launcher ? :lol:

The main point is that I got a way to allow attaching anything as a payload via the scenario editor, and allowing the user to set an offset / a rotation, a little like Velcro Rockets or others LV addons.

We have liftoff !



SRB burnout :



XR2 in orbit, default settings, 1 hab module + 2 fuel tanks (42 tons), in a completely effortless way ! One day I could design a 10-tons SRM LES adapter/stage, it would fit perfectly the launcher performance.



---------- Post added 09-04-11 at 11:12 AM ---------- Previous post was 09-03-11 at 09:25 PM ----------

The LV itself is "finished", at least ready for a first release. I have to add some custom sounds, clean up the HUD display, and that will be ok I think.

 

[Cras]

So then with the offset/ rotation capabiltiy for the payloads, I can also attach the XR-2 as a side mount?

I was already excited about this, but now add the ability to use it as an XR-2 launcher, very very nice.

 

[N_Molson]

So then with the offset/ rotation capabiltiy for the payloads, I can also attach the XR-2 as a side mount?

Oh, probably. I didn't tried, but there's no reason it wouldn't work.

On a more realistic perspective I'm thinking to add an hypergolic third stage, that would allow to send (lighter) payloads to GSO & Interplanetary trajectories, and also the capability to deliver multiple payloads (with that kind of launcher, that's a must-have).

Or maybe another LOX/LH2 stage, much like an extended Centaur... Depends if the payload can achieve orbit insertion or not... Maybe both...

But for now, I'm focusing on the bace... *coughs* base vehicle and the HCV. Working on sounds takes time (you have to find them in the first place), but it's rather the fun part.

 

[Cras]

Thanks, and the reason I asked about the side mounted XR2 is since the XR2 has quite the small payload by, I was wondering about having the plane attached to the side and then a payload up top, launch two things at once, and you answered that.

And a third stage for Interplanetary trajectory is a great idea as well. Cheers!