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Hello everyone,
So I'm working on a launcher for my Andromeda Space Program project. I decided that I wanted to do a DLLed launcher for my XR2 launches, as opposed to using velcro, multistage2, etc. The current launch configuration looks like this:
The core stage runs 5 LOX/LH2 engines, with the whole stage coincidentally resembling a Saturn V SII (not intentional, but it ended up being remarkably similar anyways. Maybe these are just "good proportions" in rocketry). The stage will have a TWR less than one at launch, so 4 SRBs will be used to provide additional thrust, maybe more depending on how things go. The XR2 vehicle itself is slung on the rack seen at the top of the photo. If feasible, the launch abort system will work like a railgun, accelerating the vehicle off of the rack as quickly as possible.
One of the first tricky questions that I am struggling with is how to attach the payload. Of the possibilities, I can currently think of three, one of which wont work for this case:
-Direct payload creation: Ie directly create a new Orbiter vessel at staging & transfer user focus to it. Generally not good, because its somewhat hacky, requires the transfer of a lot of parameters, UMMU data, and the launcher is left with a lot of wasted memory space after it all gets cleared out & transferred to the new vessel. It also wont work in this case because the XR2s mesh is encrypted, and I dont plan on wrapping it in a full fairing to hide it before getting spawned.
-Attachment point: Pretty simple, just attach a payload child point to the parent launcher one with the right id. This would be fine for this case, but somewhat tricky because it would require getting the handle of the attached XR2 by attachment for the payload vessels mass, and it might be messy when working with the abort system (hard to do the rail movement when the attachment point is slaving the XR2 to the same position on the booster all of the time.
-Direct updating: Almost as tricky, but all it would involve would be asking the user for a string name of a vessel, getting the handle of that vessel by string name, then sending it direct position/state updates on the fly (ie telling the XR2 object to set its position to a point relative to the launcher every frame). Not sure whether any of this will work well
I was just hoping to get some feedback & ideas on how best to proceed with this project.
So I'm working on a launcher for my Andromeda Space Program project. I decided that I wanted to do a DLLed launcher for my XR2 launches, as opposed to using velcro, multistage2, etc. The current launch configuration looks like this:
The core stage runs 5 LOX/LH2 engines, with the whole stage coincidentally resembling a Saturn V SII (not intentional, but it ended up being remarkably similar anyways. Maybe these are just "good proportions" in rocketry). The stage will have a TWR less than one at launch, so 4 SRBs will be used to provide additional thrust, maybe more depending on how things go. The XR2 vehicle itself is slung on the rack seen at the top of the photo. If feasible, the launch abort system will work like a railgun, accelerating the vehicle off of the rack as quickly as possible.
One of the first tricky questions that I am struggling with is how to attach the payload. Of the possibilities, I can currently think of three, one of which wont work for this case:
-Direct payload creation: Ie directly create a new Orbiter vessel at staging & transfer user focus to it. Generally not good, because its somewhat hacky, requires the transfer of a lot of parameters, UMMU data, and the launcher is left with a lot of wasted memory space after it all gets cleared out & transferred to the new vessel. It also wont work in this case because the XR2s mesh is encrypted, and I dont plan on wrapping it in a full fairing to hide it before getting spawned.
-Attachment point: Pretty simple, just attach a payload child point to the parent launcher one with the right id. This would be fine for this case, but somewhat tricky because it would require getting the handle of the attached XR2 by attachment for the payload vessels mass, and it might be messy when working with the abort system (hard to do the rail movement when the attachment point is slaving the XR2 to the same position on the booster all of the time.
-Direct updating: Almost as tricky, but all it would involve would be asking the user for a string name of a vessel, getting the handle of that vessel by string name, then sending it direct position/state updates on the fly (ie telling the XR2 object to set its position to a point relative to the launcher every frame). Not sure whether any of this will work well
I was just hoping to get some feedback & ideas on how best to proceed with this project.