CEV Orion, 606 update

[Zachstar]

NICE Job francisdrake!!

Are you thinking about porting these features to CEV1 and CEV2?

 

[francisdrake]

New version with cockpit & UMMU

I have uploaded the new version 0h
http://home.arcor.de/francisdrakex/download/CEV-Orion-0h.zip

Features:
Virtual cockpit with working MFDs and a HUD.
UMMU compatibility.
Tweaked the SRB thrust curve.

Currently the UMMU astronauts appear in the right places only, when the CEV is in orbit configuration.
UMMU error detection works, so if it is not installed on your
system, you should only get an error message (no crash).

I do have problems with the visual representation of astronauts on board. It crashes, when showing more than 1 astronaut mesh (my code problem, not Ummu). Will look after that.
_________

Please report also about your impression on the viewpoint inside the virtual cockpit. It is a compromise, with the line of sight 15° angled downward, to have the docking target in sight, as well as the MFDs.

 

[Woo482]

The selected Crew member Name is not shown when you press the 1 and 2 Keys

 

[Cale]

Looks good, great to have the HUD/MFD in the virtual cockpit...

Franz, you've done an excellent job with this. Any chance you'll re-visit the LM that you were doing with the CEV-E?

Cheers,

Cale

 

[Cale]

Noticed one more thing...as "D" is used to display ship/EVA status in UMMU, CTRL-D doesn't seem to work for undocking. I either have to switch focus to the other docked vessel or use the Scenario Editor.

BTW, the viewpoint from the VC looks fine. What would help with the MFD's is to have access to the button/page controls.

 

[Cale]

Noticed another issue at splashdown...UMMU message said "Oooh No, Crash! Crew all killed". Chutes deployed as per normal. Wonder if the vertical speed tolerance for UMMU is too low, or descent rate of CEV under chute deployment is too high...

 

[francisdrake]

Here is a short progress report:
- Changed SRB pitch and yaw control to thrust vectoring.
- Found a method to show the correct number of astronauts on board
(Previously crashed when showing more than 1 astronaut on board;
method is now to reload the astro-mesh from file before every single use).
- Made the D-key working for undocking
- Increased the allowable limit for ground impact speed.
- Output of the UMMU messages is now on the HUD
(not to the debug string in the lower left screen corner).

Have to think of a better HUD text interface, the messages
do not look profesional ...

Made a flight from the Cape to the UMMU-ISS, transfered the crew to the ISS and back, did an EVA and finally landed back on earth. Worked well

 

[Woo482]

you shold make it so that you can Eva after landing

EDIT: Cool I am a Addon Developer !!!!!! (Sorry for going off topic in that edit)

 

[Urwumpe]

Have to think of a better HUD text interface, the messages
do not look profesional ...

Made a flight from the Cape to the UMMU-ISS, transfered the crew to the ISS and back, did an EVA and finally landed back on earth. Worked well

Well, you could maybe move non-flight-critical text display from the HUD to a dynamic texture in the VC.

 

[Cale]

Franz, did you change any of the flight dynamics? I've tried to do a few re-entries to Edwards using Mikey's LaunchCEV, but I overshoot the base by over 1000 km.


**EDIT** Ok, figured this out...need to be in a roughly circular orbit of 350km for the de-orbit burn to work properly**
Thanks,

Cale

 

[Master of Blades]

Great AddOn mate, bloody wonderful.

Will you look into creating similar AddOns for the rest of the Constellation project? (Altair lander, EDS etc).

On a different account, the capsule still seems to yaw left during re-entry (this whilst not under the influence of anything, no autopilots, nothing), this has occasionally put me into a spin, which causes problems with the parachute.

Another "bug" i found is that you have to open the hatch to be able to transfer your crew to another vessel (the ISS for example), prhaps it could be solved by adding another airlock? Wich would also solve the problem of not being able to perform an EVA whilst docked.

And while i realize this is only a beta, i still wonder, will you improve the VC, and the interior in general? Right now it looks very bland. Then again, without details released concerning the cockpit of the Orion Spacecraft, that might be difficult to accomplish.

Anthows, great AddOn, keep up the good job :speakcool:

 

[francisdrake]

Thanks everybody for the feedback!
Here a few quick answers to your questions:
- Yaw to the left on reentry: You are probably coming in from a "Orbit -" attitude.
Cancel the autopilot and roll to heads down, this gives the capsule a little lift during reentry.

- Other vessels of the Constellation project:
Yes, I will include them, although not that detailed. I will take the LM and Cargo Launcher from the CEV-E and include them in the addon. Maybe adding the UMMU capability to the lander also.
Actually I'd like to start this last weekend, but see further below ...

- Virtual cockpit appearance: Yes, will work on that (not too detailed, because information is still quite fluent on that).
______
Got caught by a computer virus last weekend. Worm Bagle32 something, with this srosa.sys thing. Mainly my fault. The power of this worm is phenomenal: It shut down the firewall, stopped virus scanner and Windows built-in safety functions, triggered blue screens to force restart, etc.

In short, I had to wipe out and re-install the whole system. Data is safe, but I have to install and configure each and every program, and Orbiter development software is not on top of the list, unfortunately. Estimate to continue development next weekend.

 

[Cale]

Welcome back, Franz...that sucks regarding the virus, though glad you didn't lose any data.

Having UMMU capability for the LSAM would be superb and really add to the lunar missions (which I'll do with Simcosmos' Direct Add-on).

Is there any chance you could change the airlock (or add another one) to the docking port on the nose? That way I could transfer crew to/from the ISS (or any other UMMU-compatible addon) without opening the hatch.

Looking forward to the next beta!

Cheers,

Cale

 

[francisdrake]

The problem with the crew transfer is already sorted out. I was not aware the UMMU looks for itself if a connected docking port is available, so I intercepted the EVA-key if the hatch was closed.

This intercept has been removed and you will be able to move to a docked UMMU-vessel without problems in the next release.

 

[Cale]

Very cool...looking forward to trying it out.

BTW, just wondering if you're in touch with Mikey451...I've now got his LaunchCEV working with DIRECT/CEV scenarios...as I'm going to be doing some lunar flights, am wondering if it would be possible for the re-entry autopilot (which works amazingly well) to work on a trans-lunar arrival. I really like the way that the autopilot manages the trajectory so that G-loads are pretty reasonable (3.5 max on a earth-orbit re-entry) and the only autopilot that does this for a hyperbolic approach is Project Apollo version 7.X. Hopefully, Mikey can do some more of his wizardry!

Cheers,

Cale

 

[Cale]

Another thing that should be looked at is attitude control when the CEV is docked with another vessel. It's VERY sluggish when docked with the LSAM or a satellite. Dunno if there's a way to make this more robust, but it's something you should be aware of.

 

[Master of Blades]

I was thinking about something the other day, what about a working Launch Abort System (LAS)/Max Launch Abort System (MLAS)?

 

[Cale]

I was thinking about something the other day, what about a working Launch Abort System (LAS)/Max Launch Abort System (MLAS)?

I know that Antonio Maia (aka Simcosmos), is working on developing both for his next version of DIRECT (which also carries the CEV). He's the uber-talented guy behind the Ares I launcher and DIRECT v.01. Check out his website for some pics:

simcosmos.planetaclix.pt

Franz, with regards to sluggish attitude control when the CEV is docked to another vessel, maybe there's a keyboard control that can switch from normal RCS values to double RCS values. I know that earlier versions of NASSP had this ability. Somehow, IMFD's autoburn program is able to maneuver the stack effectively, but doing it manually or using the default Orbiter autopilots is very sluggish, takes a long time and uses up a LOT of RCS fuel. I'm sure you'll be busy this weekend recovering from the virus attack, but it's something to be considered for a future beta release.

Cheers,

Cale

 

[francisdrake]

Hi guys, you are a somewhat ahead of me , as I did not yet try to maneuver a docked stack with this CEV.

I see 2 major problems:
- The 45° thrust vectors of the 'forward' RCS pods point nearly through the COG of docked stack. The lever arm is so short (or maybe even negative) that this kind of RCS is nearly useless for a docked stack.

- The other problem is the autonav-modes seems not to recognize the increased inertia moment of the stack, so they overshoot the targets by far and burn a lot of fuel.

Possible workarounds (just ideas):
1) When docked to the LSAM switch control to the LSAM. It is the bigger vessel, with the RCS thrusters far out on booms, so they are better suited for maneuvering a docked stack.

2) Increase the RCS thrust by a key command, or when a docking event is detected. This is possible, easy to program, though not too realistic.

3) Let the autonav know the moment of inertia has increased. This could be done by creating a combined vessel (using meshes from both vessels and adding masses and inertia moments). This might be somewhat difficult to program, and would probably work only with a predefined vessel (like the LSAM).
A variation to this could be getting the name of the docked vessel, read its mass and inertia moment, add this value to the main vessel and set the values of the docked vessel to 0. This has also some trickyness in it, as COG has to be shifted, the values have to be saved to the scenario file, etc.

Will have a look into these methods, or other methods proposed by you.

 

[Master of Blades]

I think i found a bug...

Hint: It's the Orion D: