Project SpaceX SuperHeavy

[BrianJ]

Are you sure you installed correctly and overwrote the old Modules/spacex_starship/starship.dll?
Of course, it will not apply to Tanker variant or "double" starship launch scenario.
NOTE I forgot to mention - the reentry autopilot expects an initial trajectory of:
IMFD "Base Approach" parameters
ReA 1.5
Alt 120km
Ant 45

 

[Marijn]

Of course, it will not apply to Tanker variant or "double" starship launch scenario.

Oh.. I was trying to recover a Tanker..

 

[Marijn]

Is it correct that the user has to put the aerofoil steering into flight mode and enable the Skydive and land mode? What would be the best moment for that? Or is the ap supposed to activate that?

 

[BrianJ]

Is it correct that the user has to put the aerofoil steering into flight mode and enable the Skydive and land mode? What would be the best moment for that? Or is the ap supposed to activate that?

Correct, the Reentry autopilot only controls bank and AoA (constant at 70deg) from 120km to 15km.
Since it currently "overflies" (goes "long") at the moment you can try switching aerofoils to flight mode and engage Skydive ap at ~5km distance to target - but you can get some nasty g-forces from that!

Reentry autopilot is only just functional - still much work to do.
Starship is far less manouverable than Cargo Dragon, I may need to make the autopilot more sophisticated (somehow!).

 

[Marijn]

Ok, thanks for your efforts!

 

[Jeremyxxx]

and speaking of some scenarios, I think there needs to be hypothetical scenarios like the Orbital Mega Tanker (based on fictional concepts from the YouTube channel SpaceXVision).

 

[LynchGaming]

Any chance we will get an updated version of the Starship/ Falcon Heavy Booster in the future I have noticed some bugs when I go to the replay system and I have tried to record a cinematic for the Starship but the replay system was not working it kept crashing while upon t-0 for booster ignition.... Appreciate it you guys hope you get back to me!

 

[Jeremyxxx]

Any chance we will get an updated version of the Starship/ Falcon Heavy Booster in the future I have noticed some bugs when I go to the replay system and I have tried to record a cinematic for the Starship but the replay system was not working it kept crashing while upon t-0 for booster ignition.... Appreciate it you guys hope you get back to me!

It is currently unknown as of this time. I have been wanting a Moonship in a future update with landing gear and docking nose cone animations.

 

[BrianJ]

Any chance we will get an updated version of the Starship/ Falcon Heavy Booster in the future I have noticed some bugs when I go to the replay system and I have tried to record a cinematic for the Starship but the replay system was not working it kept crashing while upon t-0 for booster ignition.... Appreciate it you guys hope you get back to me!

Hi and
I'm not doing anything with Falcon Heavy at the moment, but still working (slowly) on the Starship/SuperHeavy.
I've run into a "brick wall" with the Starship reentry autopilot, so have recently switched to working on the SuperHeavy booster and launch tower "catch" mechanism - which is more fun since I can actually make some progress!

I'm not sure why the replay system (you mean Orbiter's Flight Recorder function?) is crashing at liftoff T-0 - but I'm not very familiar with the Flight Recorder.

The SuperHeavy is "detached" from the launch pad at T-0 - could that cause the problem?
Maybe someone with more experience with recording flights can help?

Cheers,
BrianJ

 

[BrianJ]

It is currently unknown as of this time. I have been wanting a Moonship in a future update with landing gear and docking nose cone animations.

Give @francisdrake a shout Any Moonship variant is a fair way down the road for me.
Cheers,
BrianJ

 

[Jeremyxxx]

I have also thought of an idea for a Crew Starship mission to Ceres.

 

[LynchGaming]

Hi and
I'm not doing anything with Falcon Heavy at the moment, but still working (slowly) on the Starship/SuperHeavy.
I've run into a "brick wall" with the Starship reentry autopilot, so have recently switched to working on the SuperHeavy booster and launch tower "catch" mechanism - which is more fun since I can actually make some progress!

I'm not sure why the replay system (you mean Orbiter's Flight Recorder function?) is crashing at liftoff T-0 - but I'm not very familiar with the Flight Recorder.

The SuperHeavy is "detached" from the launch pad at T-0 - could that cause the problem?
Maybe someone with more experience with recording flights can help?

Cheers,
BrianJ

Appreciate it! Can't wait for future updates! More Camera positions would be really cool maybe add a tank camera where you can see inside the fuel tank! Like this view

 

[Jeremyxxx]

I have found some fun concept animations that might be fun to recreate on Orbiter.

 

[phucnguyen580754]

- I found the new orbital launch tower design with some animations show Mechazilla grabbing arm on Twitter. SpaceX CEO Elon Musk confirms how “Mechazilla” will Catch and Assemble Starship and Super Heavy for Rapid Reuse:

• The booster will likely use two pins for lifting and catching. Musk noted that “maybe it’s better to modify grid fins to take more load,” suggesting the plans are still in motion.
• The ship would sport “something” to flip out from the leeward side of the ship. Musk added that it’s “maybe it’s part of [forward] flaps, but prob[ably] not.”
• Tank treads on the arms will “slide” the booster out to line up with the orbital launch pad, ready to fly again. (Inverse.com)

- Musk let Erc X know how close he was to capture the tower. "Pretty close. Booster & arms will move faster. QD arm will steady booster for shipmate," he tweeted, followed by, "And the ship will be caught by Mechazilla too. As with booster, no landing legs. Those are only needed for moon & Mars until there is local infrastructure." (Phys.org)
-Hope this wonderful feature will be added to your Spacex Starship project for Orbiter.?

https://twitter.com/x/status/1422591623427461120

View attachment 26455

https://twitter.com/x/status/1426188761461841932

 

[Pioneer]

I have found some fun concept animations that might be fun to recreate on Orbiter.

The animation is top-notch. The commentary is... something else... ?

 

[Adduck]

Does it got cockpit?

 

[francisdrake]

I have also thought of an idea for a Crew Starship mission to Ceres.

That would be a great mission! Maybe you could start with a fully fueled Starship in a highly elliptical Earth orbit? Assuming the tanks were topped off after reaching the high orbit. This would reduce the dV required to leave Earth.
If you post the scenario file(s) we could then try to fly this mission.

 

[kerlix]

Are SuperHeavy and Starship a full-on balloon-tank design requiring constant pressurization? Or are they structurally sound enough to support themselves when running on empty?

 

[Jeremyxxx]

That would be a great mission! Maybe you could start with a fully fueled Starship in a highly elliptical Earth orbit? Assuming the tanks were topped off after reaching the high orbit. This would reduce the dV required to leave Earth.
If you post the scenario file(s) we could then try to fly this mission.

Not yet, as BrianJ has yet to model the Crew Starship. If SpaceX ever announce their plans to go to Ceres, the Crew Starship selected for that mission would be the first crewed spacecraft to visit the Asteroid Belt

 

[BrianJ]

Hi,
lots of interesting ideas and info here
However, I can't even keep up with what's happening at Boca Chica in real life! I watch the video feeds from there with increasing incredulity - it's quite epic. So I'm plodding on with what I can do. As ever, if anyone else wants to use/modify my stuff for their own ideas, go ahead (just try not to overwrite my OH add-on files with new/modified files).
Anyhow, I've done a little cosmetic work on the Starship (heatshield needs more work and canards are going to change, I know):

And the booster now has 29 engines and no reentry burn for RTLS:

And I have a working "proof of concept" Mechazila ;-)

Lots more work needs to be done even to get this working well (still have trouble with the "catch" if Orbiter wind effects enabled, booster engine shutdown bug needs fixing, mechazilla arm catch sequence needs tweaking, etc.etc.etc.)
Hope I can put at least a "clunky" operational version on OH soon.
Cheers,
Brian

P.S. Does anyone know of an example of Orbiter's oapiGetWaveDrag function I can look at? Is it even applicable where aerofoils have been defined already? (I still worry that the booster drag is way off - it hits the atmosphere hard at 20km!)

P.P.S I still haven't made much progress with the Starship reentry autopilot. If anyone has any good ideas how to do that, let me know!