Project Themis-A launch vehicle

[Loru]

Joint Aerospace Systems proudly anounces Themis-A class launch vehicle.

With experience we've gathered over last years we're developing new launch vehicle. Since prevous Themis wasn't the best in terms of performance, stability etc. We're making new incarnation of it.

Overview:

It's an expendable LV able to put up to 27 tons into LEO. Our goal is to create vessel that will be easy to configure (2nd stage type, no. of boosters, fairing size) with features that may prove usefull for different users (manual/full auto launch, adjustable height over ground - for different launchpads)

Rocket consists of:

Core Stage:
Kerosene/LOX fueled, powered by RD-171 engine

either

Low Energy upper stage:
Kerosene/LOX fueled, powered by 900kN engine

or

High Energy upper stage:
LH2/LOX fueled, powered by 900kN engine

+ optional SRBs
2, 4 or 6 - each is roughly eqivalent to GEM60

All possible configurations can be achieved by creating custom config files (for example only core stage with 2 boosters and no upperstage and fairing at all.)

Launcher has implemented Payload Manager so defining payload is very easy.

Planned features:

- flight computer with launch autopilot & external interface (for controling launcher either from ground or from capsule on the top)
- adjustable height over ground
- fully configurable via cfg files
- Robotic Lunar Rover mission (lander + rover) as a sample payload
- Moon Sample Return mission as a sample payload

Project is currently in alpha stage and lots of work ahead.

And finally here are some pics:

Themis-A H6 (High energy stage + 6 boosters) launching from CSSC

Climbing into orbit:

Booster separation:

Themis-A L0 on the CSSC pad:

More to come as we make more progress.

Design, Meshes & Textures: Loru
c++ coding: Woo482

 

[Dores]

Looks great!

Looking forward to launching lots of things!

Dores

 

[Loru]

While LV is being coded I started work on robotic lunar rover

 

[Loru]

Some data on moon tug and lander:

 

[Woo482]

Now that most of the basic framework for the launcher is done I've started work on the visual aspects of the launcher:

Currently only a very basic Max-Q effect is present but I'll eventually add staging and launch effects.

As well as upgrading the visual effects of the launcher I've started work on allowing additional fairing types to be added to the vehicle through a configuration file. As well as making the fairings configurable I'll also be adding the ability to change the fairing used by a vehicle through the scenario editor.

 

[Loru]

Thrust Vectoring Control works!

 

[Woo482]

The fairing configuration feature I mentioned in my last post has now been fully implemented. It's now as simple as adding three or four lines to a configuration file and creating a mesh to add extra fairings to the vessel.
Config file example:

; Themis-A global configuration file


;Fairing types:
; All meshes are relative to the "Meshes/Themis-A/Fairing" folder
; NOTE: Fairing mass is total, i.e. for both halves of a fairing and in Kilograms
; 
;Auto switch is used to determine if the fairing should separate automatically
; 0 = No auto separation
; 1 (default) = Auto separation
; This function can be used to implement payload specific interstages in place of the fairing, for example for use with capsules

[Fairing1]
Mesh = "f4-5x5"
Mass = 500

[Fairing2]
Mesh = "f4-5x8"
Mass = 500

[Fairing3]
Mesh = "f4-6x7"
Mass = 500

[Fairing4]
Mesh = "f4-6x12"
Mass = 500

;Example capsule interstage
[Fairing5]
Mesh = "dragon_interstage"
Mass = 250
Auto = 0

This feature can also be used to add interstages or adapters for capsules in place of a normal fairing, the adapter used for the Dragon capsule in this image for example:

Other than this there hasn't really been much progress, as I've been incredibly lazy with coding the project for the past few weeks

 

[Loru]

Update 11-08-2012:

We've added G-force limiter to allow manned missions.

We've determined best method for remote LV control. It's custom MFD interacting with Themis' internal flight computer. The idea is to allow control of LV systems and "switches" from every vessel.

For example if you're launching Dragon capsule, you bring Themis Flight Computer to one of MFD screens and you can control LV from inside Dragon. Or you can control it from ground.

Overall idea is that MFD is only User Interface for Themis' Flight Computer.

Here overview logic of the system:

And here is actual MFD:

 

[N_Molson]

Very good idea ! :thumbup:

 

[Loru]

rough sketch of capsule:

 

[Pipcard]

rough sketch of capsule:

What's the big white space in the middle? Cargo?

 

[Loru]

What's the big white space in the middle? Cargo?

That's space similar to orbital module of Soyuz. It will have airlock for EVA (probably some form of reinforced inflatable structure), astronaut space for orbital operations etc. That's bigger SM for longer flights (Moon or NEO). "ISS Shuttle" version will have smaller SM without this additional space and smaller engine.

Those are rough sketches. I need to make precise calculations for further design.

---------- Post added at 10:17 PM ---------- Previous post was at 07:05 PM ----------

And rough model of capsule:

 

[Loru]

Progress update:

While Woo is struggling with AP I made a payload for it (so Woo is struggling with two vehicles now.)

It's a space telescope with 4 meter mirror and instead of reaction wheels set of Nano-particle field extraction thrusters

---------- Post added 11-29-12 at 12:37 AM ---------- Previous post was 11-28-12 at 07:28 PM ----------

and better pic:

 

[Loru]

Some progress has been made! Most features are implemented, many bugs has been removed and rocket flies pretty good now (still on manual control but we're working on it)

Here is small video to show HE6 version (High Energy upper stage and 6 boosters)

 

[Woo482]

Instead of struggling with the autopilot I decided to take a break and work on some more interesting (and easier to code ) features for the Themis. First up is a small utility to help with configuring the launch vehicle, though it's not entirely finished yet I think this shows the rough functionality of it:

It should hopefully help with creating custom configurations of the vehicle when it's finished without having to mess around in the .cfg files by hand.

As well as this I've finally got around to adding Orbitersound support to the Themis, it now has proper sounds for the SRBs and sound effects on stage separation.

 

[Cosmic Penguin]

Instead of struggling with the autopilot I decided to take a break and work on some more interesting (and easier to code ) features for the Themis. First up is a small utility to help with configuring the launch vehicle, though it's not entirely finished yet I think this shows the rough functionality of it:

It should hopefully help with creating custom configurations of the vehicle when it's finished without having to mess around in the .cfg files by hand.

As well as this I've finally got around to adding Orbitersound support to the Themis, it now has proper sounds for the SRBs and sound effects on stage separation.

Which of the two upper stages was named Rigel?

 

[Woo482]

The lower energy stage, used mostly for delivering lighter payloads to LEO:

 

[Loru]

Some minor work on eyecandy - logo:

 

[Loru]

Autopilot works.

It can roll to desired launch heading and perform whole launch process up to final circularization. It's controlled via MFD independent of vessel so rocket can be launched for example from ISS in orbit or capsule payload on top of the rocket.

In pic: 15 ton payload launched with 2km APA accuracy:

---------- Post added at 10:46 PM ---------- Previous post was at 10:41 PM ----------

Thanks to Woo482 and Zatman we're one step closer to the release.

 

[Loru]

Some performance data from pre-beta tests:

7 tons to GTO (36 000 x 154 km) with HE6 (high energy stage + 6 boosters) with 1,5 ton of fuel left.

15 ton to LEO (200 x 200km) with HE4 (3 tons of fuel left)

Slowly getting rid of minor bugs.

---------- Post added 03-08-13 at 12:23 AM ---------- Previous post was 03-07-13 at 11:26 PM ----------

20 tons to LEO (200 x 200km) with HE6

---------- Post added at 01:41 AM ---------- Previous post was at 12:23 AM ----------

HE6 prior to launch: