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Made a two-staged version of a Dragon-based Lunar lander. Structural weight and fuel are on the very edge! This is as much as a single FalconHeavy can carry to the Moon. Still you might run out of fuel during landing or when launching back into Lunar orbit. Scenarios include launch, Trans Lunar...

Being a bit frustrated with the overweight single-stage lander, I look into a two-stage concept. The ascent stage is a Crew Dragon pressure vessel (without the outer skin), a ring of fuel tanks and a single ascent engine. The descent stage is the body of a DragonXL with fuel tanks, two engines...

I use the PursuitMFD for landing from orbit. This is quite reliable, and is much better than landing manually. Welcome to the Lunar slipping-and-sliding contest! :) Orbiter does not support static friction. So even with a slight inclination the vessel slides slowly. Workarounds: - Land on...

Give me a few days. The launch requires a cradle, which I 'borrowed' from my LEV Lunar lander, but need to make one for the DragonLL with the folded legs.

Yes, but that does not bring you to the Moon. The 30 ton payload exceeds the 'throwing capacity' of a FalconHeavy, even in a fully expendable configuration. And there is the need to add a ~10 ton cruise stage to capture into Lunar orbit, which would even worsen the situation. I think, this...

Made a simple cfg-style lander, called it DragonLL (Lunar Lander). It is basically a DragonXL with torodial fuel tanks stacked on top. It has a start mass of 30 ton. The lander and scenarios are in the attached zip-file. Two scenarios are included, to land on Brighton Beach or Ukert crater. I...

Just saw this on X: The cargo dragon on CRS 33 has an independent fuel tank and two additional Draco thrusters in the trunk to support ISS reboosts. This may be a first step towards a 'service module' trunk version, which could significantly boost the dV of a Dragon capsule.

I wonder how the stack inside the payload fairing may look like. :unsure: Could it be like in the picture above? Here each satellite is stacked on its own payload attachment fitting (PAF), which is connected to the satellite below, and finally to the Centaur stage. While this stack is pretty...

Yes, you are doing it the right way! The circularization and inclination change burn are usually combined. Problem is, Orbiters MFDs do not very well support this. You need to have one eye on the inclination value and one on the perapsis height. When I tried this, I usually goofed it up...

Attached is a scenario, with a simple EspaStar satellite, designated as NTS-3. Scenario name is "VC4S USSF-106 to GEO.scn". The VulcanCentaur addon needs to be installed before adding this scenario. The satellite mass is 1489 kg dry + 310 kg fuel = ~1800 kg. The launch azimuth in this scenario...

Playing around with a launch scenario for the USSF-106 mission on a VulcanCentaur VC4S, using the Centaur for direct insertion into GEO. For now, it will be for the NTS-3 satellite only. There is no information available on the other payload.

I made some calculations for a DragonXL-based Lunar lander. The vessel has a dV of 3.2 km/s, down and up in one piece. It is for 2 astronauts with provisions for 10 days on the Lunar surface. Any heavier payload would need to go separately on a dedicated cargo lander. Kept the diameter of the...

I fully agree, it would be an interesting concept to make a Lunar landing architecture based on 'Dragon-derived' vehicles. Still, the Dragon and the DragonXL are orbital vehicles. They are not built to land and ascend. On the DragonXL very little data have been published. When I did the...

Making a Dragon lunar lander would probably need so much modifications, that in the end not much of a Dragon would be left. I tried to land the normal Dragon DM2 on Brighton Beach, but had to "top off the tanks" twice during the approach, cheating by modifying the 'current state' scenario file...

Very nice work! (y) I did not realize the sheer size of the telescope until I saw it on the launcher.

Very nice gold texture and bump map! Can I order orbital home delivery? I think, the candy should last for at least a week ... :giggle:

Some time ago, Orbiter 2024 crashed, and I found this workaround: Remember - in this case - to run Orbiter as Administrator.

I have both Orbiter 2016 and 2024 installed. But more and more I use the 2016 only for quality control = testing new addons with the old version. Actually I am quite happy the community made a new Open Orbiter! The visuals are great, old addons either run directly, or with minor adjustments. I...

It looks like aliens made a very successful Lunar impact mission, with an impactor at 99% lightspeed! :)

I have to confess, I am a bit lost now. 😢 How to reach the Moon, when all of the Lunar flight architecture is cancelled? While I fully understand the dire economic situation requires the termination of the most expensive programs, it would have been better to make this decision eight years ago...