Project Nova-C Lander

[BrianJ]

Hi,
I thought I'd have a go at the Intuitive Machines "Nova-C" Lunar Lander, launch on Falcon9 now delayed until 12 Jan 2024.

Intuitive Machines Nova-C - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

I'm including one of its payloads - "EagleCam" cubesat which can image the landing (if you're using latest D3D9 Graphics Client).
The real Nova-C has some on-board AI for selecting a nice flat area for landing, so I thought I might have some fun trying to make something like that for Orbiter - I'll see how that goes!
In the meantime, here are a couple of screenshots......

Construction in Anim8or


Texturing in Gmax


Test flight in Orbiter


Cheers,
BrianJ

 

[francisdrake]

The lander looks fantastic detailed!
Can't wait to shoot it to the Moon and try to land there!

Two questions:
- Why are you using two different programs for modeling and texturizing?
(I assumed to be the only surviving Gmax user around here. )

- When landing, do you experience a 'surface bounce and wild spin'?
I have this experience sometimes with smaller vessels.

 

[Urwumpe]

Nova-C always sounds to me like a mountain sized launch vehicle....

 

[BrianJ]

Two questions:
- Why are you using two different programs for modeling and texturizing?
(I assumed to be the only surviving Gmax user around here. )

Heh. No, I still like Gmax - it has all the functions I need for tweaking and texturing
But I prefer to construct stuff in Anim8or because I find the display and interface much easier to use when creating basic shapes and dragging them around.

- When landing, do you experience a 'surface bounce and wild spin'?
I have this experience sometimes with smaller vessels.

Often, yes. But I think I have usually managed to find some kind of stiffness/damping values for the touchdown points that works.
It can just take a lot of trial-and-error since I have never really figured out how the stiffness/damping works mathematically.
Sometimes its worth checking vessel PMI and mass - that can make things problematic on landing.

Cheers,
BrianJ