Project Interplanetary Carrier - WIP

[icedown]

I am starting work on an interplanetary carrier ship. I just completed the basic mesh for the hangar module so I have something to build a ship around.

I have the G42-200 and XR-5 parked there for scale.
This module is 260m long, 110m wide and 30m tall. It can dock 2 XR-5s and 6 XR-2 or DGs.

From what I have in mind right now the final ship will be about 2x as long and a little wider than the hangar module. It will not have a 2d panel but several VC overlooking the ship from the stern. It will be UMMU and UCGO compatible.

The propulsion method is what I'm looking at to really set this ship apart though. Instead of conventional thrusters I'm going to be using an electrical based system. The ship will have a reactor that will produce a set, possibly slightly variable, amount of power. Instead of fuel tanks for the thrusters there will be capacitors. This will enable the ship to fire it's thrusters at full power for short times for orbital maneuvering but for the large delta-v required for interplanetary, you will fire the main thrusters at a reduced setting to keep from draining the capacitor. And yes, I will be making either an MFD or just a built in panel to help with calculations and autoburns.

This is my first attempt at a project in orbiter so it's probably going to take a while. What do you guys think about the concept?

I'm not sure if the propultion is even possible yet, still learning the SDK. My next step is getting the docking points installed and getting the door animations working.

 

[MaverickSawyer]

:jawdrops: That's.... that's.... AMAZING!

 

[Napalm42]

Electrical?

Ladies and Gentlemen, it looks like we may have a 2010 P1 replacement for the Vespucci-D. Can't wait to see this grow!

 

[Pipcard]

First attempt at a project in Orbiter? Mine is just making a simple cubical satellite, and you're making a giant interplanetary spacecraft?

I like to start small and work my way up.

 

[Cras]

Sounds like a great idea for an add-on. Look forward to following the development.

Good luck!

 

[Codz]

First attempt at a project in Orbiter? Mine is just making a simple cubical satellite, and you're making a giant interplanetary spacecraft?

I like to start small and work my way up.

Key word is "In Orbiter". He may have done projects for another game or simulator.

 

[icedown]

As far as the starting small, I am, in a way. I'm going to work it out in stages. Similar to your cube sat, the first thing I'm going to work on is getting animation and docking down. That's why I built the center hangar module first. Just a floating box with some doors and docking ports. Just my box is a tad bigger. As I learn I will build and add to it, refining the design. As I learn more about the sdk, more features will work their way in.

I'm a fan of the Arrow, but want a little more carrier capacity. I'm planning the propulsion so that while it takes a little more planning, it does allow for some mistakes also. It also allows for longer trips without having to refuel out where there are no supplies. It's built for establishing a major outpost in the outer solar system, possibly further. The other reason for carrying several ships is, unlike the Arrow, you cannot land on a planet.

On a side note, can you see the ship from a virtual cockpit? I can't recall a ship that has put you in a perspective where you would.

 

[Tacolev]

A little concerned about the propulsion you're suggesting. Are you suggesting an electric-thruster like an arcjet, hall-thruster, ion engine, or MPD thruster or are you suggesting using an electron-beam as the reaction mass?

 

[N_Molson]

On a side note, can you see the ship from a virtual cockpit? I can't recall a ship that has put you in a perspective where you would.

A ship is usually divided in meshes. You can set the visibility mode for each mesh, there is a dedicated function in the SDK doc. Almost everything can be done there.

 

[Scruce]

It is looking very good! :thumbup:

But you will texture it, right?

 

[squeaky024]

Today I see the Arrow's new rival for size

 

[HAL9001]

Looks awesome!
I'm already looking forward to the ready ship...
:thumbup:

 

[icedown]

Well, learning the animation was not near the problem I thought it was going to be. Finally got all the doors working properly, though my mesh has somehow shifted out of alignment during a conversion somewhere. Guess it's a good time to build the hinges and some supports for the main bay doors.

A little concerned about the propulsion you're suggesting. Are you suggesting an electric-thruster like an arcjet, hall-thruster, ion engine, or MPD thruster or are you suggesting using an electron-beam as the reaction mass?

I haven't really decided on just how yet. I'm doing some research into it but not sure on how much it's gonna take to push this thing around yet.

But you will texture it, right?

Due to my severe lack of artistic talents, I will not be able to. Doing the mesh alone is going to be hard for me to make look good. I was hoping that as I get the final shape down I could find some one to help me with that part.

A ship is usually divided in meshes. You can set the visibility mode for each mesh, there is a dedicated function in the SDK doc. Almost everything can be done there.

Thank you, just what I was looking for. One question though, when would you want to render during the external pass for an internal view?

Well, enough work for the day. Time to go work on getting my Starliner in to orbit a little more efficiently. :leaving:

 

[Izack]

Taking the Borg approach to spacecraft? :lol:

You said you wanted to refine it - does this mean it will become more than a large box?

 

[Tacolev]

I haven't really decided on just how yet. I'm doing some research into it but not sure on how much it's gonna take to push this thing around yet.

The only reason I mention it is because your description says "instead of" having fuel tanks you will have an electrical system. Rockets need to have fuel (to provide energy) and propellant (to provide reaction mass, otherwise the rocket goes nowhere). In a chemical rocket, the two are the same, so they're not the best example. In a nuclear rocket, the reactor provides the fuel, and the propellant is energized by it (by whatever means).

Nuclear thermal rockets typically use hydrogen because, as the lightest element, you get the best exhaust velocity out of heating it up with the reactor. Liquid hydrogen is difficult to store and also not very dense, so because nuclear electric rockets (which use a variety of methods to energize the propellant just using the reactor as a power source) typically beat nuclear thermal rockets by leaps and bounds for exhaust velocity, they often compromise and use a noble gas like argon or xenon as the propellant since they're much easier to store and work with.

 

[icedown]

Well, after a couple trips to orbit and back I decided to flesh it out a little more.

And here is one from what will be the bridge

This is just the basic overall shape. Will start adding more detail soon.

 

[Keatah]

nice! vaguely reminds me of the cygnus from black hole..!

If we're going through all this trouble, I'd add in another bay or possibly two.

---------- Post added at 11:31 PM ---------- Previous post was at 11:21 PM ----------

Definitely 2 more large bays and 1 more set of 6, ya gotta do it!

 

[icedown]

Ok, been trying to figure out just how I'm going to push this thing around. I've looked at several, Ion, hall effect, and the VASIMR to name a couple of em. The VASIMR looks to be the one that I'm going to scale up. This is my first time dealing with these kind of calculations so PLEASE point out if my figures or estimates are wrong.

The vessel:
Size: 788m Long x 380m Wide x 197m High
Volume: 7,947,500 cubic meters
Empty Mass: 635,932 tons based on density of 0.08 ton/cubic meter.

I'm wanting to produce a maximum of 2.5m/s of acceleration. That should take about 1,590MN of thrust, or about 265MN per thruster for an empty ship. That amounts to about 32 tons/sec of propellant and 63,600 GW of power if scaled up directly. Like I said though, my experience with these calculations is extremely limited, please tell me if I'm wrong. Which I probably am.

Here is the thruster in use today:
Energy: 200kW
Thrust: 5N
Isp: 5000s
Vexh: 50,000m/s


Modern Nuclear power generator can produce about 2GW. So, to fire the thrusters at full power for one minute is my goal for now. That would be 63,600GJ/sec or 3,816,000GJ of power. :blink: I hope my figures are way off. I know they are probably wrong low and not high.

Given those all these figures are correct, and planning 2 full, upgraded reactors in the ship with a total of 6GW output, here are the other details.
4mil GJ capacitor. At maximum output, which is not advised, a full recharge on the capacitor will take just over a week if drained. If those number are all correct, which I highly doubt, I'm probably going to have to tweak them for playability.

To make up for probably butchering those numbers, here is a screenshot from today.

 

[Keatah]

It looks like it can dock 4 xr5's now.. ?? yes? I already see other uses for this, like planetary intervention and near-interstellar space exploration. Also, I thought about a cargo carrier too. But I don't know..?

And what goes up-front. In the first 1/4th of the length..the bow area..? is that fuel and engineering? What kind of crew complement? Defense? Top speed? roll/pitch/yaw rates? redundant systems? What about hardpoints for extra attachments? or towing stuff? All things to work out. Now let me think on the electrics for a bit!

Wait! Wait! Wait! Wait wait.. Holl'up a minute..we have to have a launch song to go with this when finished. I've got a few in mind to evaluate.. Classical? :headbang:rock? What'll it be? I already have one classical sounding piece, grand in scope and quite appropriate for a maiden launch.

Hall effect or Ion thrusters?? I'm not sure that these are appropriate unless we look to futuretech. These types of reaction engines are designed for low output over a long period of time. Like the dawn spacecraft. Or to assist in satellites stationkeeping. The hubble uses hall effect magnetic torquing for positioning - I believe.

But I do like the romance of an electric ship!

 

[icedown]

Ok, I've been pulling my hair out trying to get the VC working until I finally realized something, it's mesh visibility, not group visibility. :beathead:

So tell me if I've got this right, once my vessel loads, get the meshgroup pointer for my VC and create a new mesh based on it. Flag it MESHVIS_VC, then set the rest of the ship (MESHVIS_ALWAYS | MESHVIS_EXTPASS). Or would it be better to load the VC from a separate file and flag the other mesh extpass?