Project Carl Sagan Space Center (Banaba Island)

[Loru]

Carrier/Erector for Themis Lite is done. Now it's time for launchpad.

 

[Urwumpe]

Nitpicking: You would need a door at the rear side of the HAB as well, for the shunter to maneuver at the right end of the rocket car. Or more room inside the HAB for having enough rail.

 

[Loru]

Nitpicking: You would need a door at the rear side of the HAB as well, for the shunter to maneuver at the right end of the rocket car. Or more room inside the HAB for having enough rail.

Shunter won't change tracks. There is 1 straight line from HAB to Launchpad and IMO there is no need to do it. If I want to move carrier/erector inside HAB I can use roof crane and pulleys for that. Or add 2 hoist inside.

In the mean time I'm building launchpad:

---------- Post added at 09:49 PM ---------- Previous post was at 07:00 PM ----------

...and some progress

 

[Urwumpe]

The position of the arms is a bit strange, usually you would have them where the valves and connections are, this looks more like they are right at the tanks and for holding the rocket, which is not required, the holddown bolts/posts should do that perfectly.

 

[Loru]

The position of the arms is a bit strange, usually you would have them where the valves and connections are, this looks more like they are right at the tanks and for holding the rocket, which is not required, the holddown bolts/posts should do that perfectly.

I know holddown bolts/posts should do the job but I like that idea and I'm sticking to it.

Anyway. Pad needs some surrounding objects but basically main structure is done.

 

[Loru]

Update:

Some tweaks to surface tile, added few bulidings and VAB.

---------- Post added at 09:20 PM ---------- Previous post was at 07:45 PM ----------

... and XR-2 in SPF

---------- Post added at 09:54 PM ---------- Previous post was at 09:20 PM ----------

1 more overview:

 

[Interceptor]

OH WOW! how cool,I am really looking foward to this Loru,thank you.

 

[Loru]

Doppler radar dishes for landing aid:

 

[Urwumpe]

I like the bistatic dishes. Would be really cool, if the antennas would be animated and you could follow the track of a rocket during launch with them (instead of just using them for landing).

 

[Loru]

I think I can place 2 sets closer to launchpads (along with camera) to track rocket. Also programing is possible I think - DG-IV antena does that. Mesh is already prepared to animate.

 

[Urwumpe]

I think I can place 2 sets closer to launchpads (along with camera) to track rocket. Also programing is possible I think - DG-IV antena does that.

It sure is, a simple azimuth-elevation mechanism is a no-brainer. (Having a 45° rotated joint then, is pretty mind boggling)

If Woo482 is too busy implementing the stuff, I can get you a simple DLL in no time.

A generic control center building would also be possible, if you plan to coordinate multiple sensors and have sensor schedules and the other stuff. Just a matter of specification.

 

[Woo482]

I don't think we're going to be needing a control centre building, but if you don't mind throwing together some code for the tracking antennas that would be big help

 

[Urwumpe]

I don't think we're going to be needing a control centre building, but if you don't mind throwing together some code for the tracking antennas that would be big help

No problem, i can do it this evening, need to relax a lot from everything. The last weekend was nasty. :lol:

A control center would also be not too hard, I can reuse some code snippets here. :lol: Also, I need an generic one anyway one day.


I'll make the module for the antenna generic, then you can use it easier in the project.

 

[ptfcrowley]

Banaba re-development

Hi

In real life I am leading a project ro rehabilitate and develop Banaba Island. When the landscape has been restored to its pre-mining condition, we will be looking for options to develop industry. It is a very small island of only around 2000 acres. I am interested to know more about why you think it is an ideal location for space launches?

 

[Urwumpe]

I am interested to know more about why you think it is an ideal location for space launches?

I am now not Loru, but I can maybe help you in general about the geographic requirements of space launch facilities.

• Rockets get better performance by launching eastwards and exploit the rotation of earth, which is 469 m/s at the equator.
• So, you ideally want to be as close to the equator as possible for most launches (except launches into polar orbits, where this velocity of Earth is an penalty). Banaba Island is about 1 degree South, that is even closer to the equator than the ESA Kourou spaceport.
  • This is especially important for launches into geostationary orbits, which are the bulk of the commercial launches.
• Next, you want lots of unpopulated surface east of the launch site. Nobody likes stages dropping on his house. Ideal is ocean, since ocean also simplifies recovery of spend stages or launch aborts of manned spacecraft. There is almost nothing east of Banaba Island for the next 2000 km in various azimuths, enough even for the typical flight profile of three stage rockets.
• Finally, launching rockets makes a lot of noise. While the pure chemical pollution of a spaceport is even on a busy spaceport low, the light and noise pollution can be extreme. Thus it is better to have some distance between population centers and the spaceport. The current population of Banaba island is a much smaller problem than for example doing that in Kenya or Japan.

This here is a fictional spaceport, which is artistic, but not really engineered. The distance between port, residential areas and launch complex is much too short, you would need to evacuate them before every launch. It would be possibly a better solution to move the launch complexes on platforms in the water.


Here in the simulation, this doesn't matter. Virtual citizens don't complain about noise, even if you expect them to actually be engineers living in the hotel complex of the spaceport and no normal citizens who would never leave the island.


And the 0.6% chance of a real rocket exploding on the launch pad or during the initial meters of flight is not that bad, since a restart of the simulation fixes everything.



Still, you can sure find lots of aerospace reasoning for choosing Banaba Island. Its pretty remote location helps filling some gaps in tracking station coverage. It is close to the equator and could for example also serve as base for SeaLaunch-like operations, if you would just have a long enough runway there to permit getting rockets delivered and assembled on the island.

 

[Dores]

This looks fantastic!

I can't wait. Keep up the good work!

(I've been hoping for some sort of processing thing in a base for ages, and here is one!)

Will Energia Project be able to be attached to the train too? (I assumed yes because you were including it in the pad support).

Best,

Droes

 

[Loru]

This looks fantastic!

I can't wait. Keep up the good work!

(I've been hoping for some sort of processing thing in a base for ages, and here is one!)

Will Energia Project be able to be attached to the train too? (I assumed yes because you were including it in the pad support).

Best,

Droes

The train is only for Themis Lite launch vehicle and goes to small pad in the east part of island. You can stick on it another vessel but arms are designed for 4 meter wide rocket.

As for Energia: if you create proper Crawler/Transporter for it it can be rolled out from VAB and moved to bigger launch complex.

Update:
Main dll of the island is completed. Module activated in orbiter launchpad spawns ground objcets listed in ini file.

Other news: Tracking radar is working.

 

[Dores]

Ah! Sounds great!

Does that mean there will be an energia crawler/transporter?

Looking forward to the release!

Dores

 

[Loru]

Does that mean there will be an energia crawler/transporter?

I'll investigate that possibility

 

[Interceptor]

Loru,how about a universal crawler that way you could move just about any rocket to the pad.BTW, the base looks incredible.