OHM SpaceX launch vehicles and Dragon

[jgrillo2002]

Confirmed this too. I found a bug also. There is no crew elevator on all of the manned dragon missions.

 

[Tacolev]

Confirmed this too. I found a bug also. There is no crew elevator on all of the manned dragon missions.

Oh that's not a bug, the passengers are installed at vehicle processing.

Another one of those ways SpaceX is streamlining things and cutting down on unneeded overhead and infrastructure costs.

 

[jgrillo2002]

What are you talking about? Wasnt there supposed to be a small elevator?

 

[T.Neo]

Oh that's not a bug, the passengers are installed at vehicle processing.

Another one of those ways SpaceX is streamlining things and cutting down on unneeded overhead and infrastructure costs.

Really? Where did you read this? :blink:

That sounds really interesting. I wonder what would occur if there is a problem on the pad. Seemingly no quick escape option... but I guess you could use the LAS if it comes to that.

Still, might make riding out a scrub a pretty lengthy affair. They'd have to de-fuel the vehicle and I'd imagine roll it back into the launch hangar...

 

[Tacolev]

I was just making a joke, I figured the word "installed" would be a good tip-off. Sorry to have confused you.

 

[Tychonaut]

Though I've only flown one mission so far, this is an impressive addon. I'm looking forward to many more launches. :tiphat:

Noticed a solar panel bug using the standard 2010p1 Orbiter with a manned Dragon, where the folded panels protrude from the side of the Dragon, sticking out past the covers. Not a huge deal, but it looks kind of odd.
This is in addition to the previously reported problem with the panels being out of place upon deployment - which oddly clears up when reloading the scenario with the panels already deployed.

 

[sputnikshock]

Trunk rotation

I found a bug which has not been reported yet. After comparison with SpaceX images of dragon, the tunk in the add-on is misaligned in respect to the capsule by a 90deg rotation around its longitudinal axis (=90deg roll). The way it is right now, the antenna on the manned version points directly into a solar panel. Also the grapple point on the cargo version is dangerously close to the panels. This would be solved by rotating the trunk.

Keep up the good work. It's already a must have add-on imho.

 

[Gerdih]

when I run the scenarios there are white flashes. What can I do¿

 

[Grover]

when I run the scenarios there are white flashes. What can I do¿

go to video and tick the box for "Disable hardware Pageflip" and it should sort that out, but it depends on your graphics card and OS combination

 

[Tychonaut]

With regard to my previous post about solar panels sticking out from the sides of the Dragon: from a picture on this page, it appears in the third picture down that the solar panel covers do protrude from the side of the Dragon. I'm assuming that's the flight configuration.
Also, in the picture below that there's a hanging solar array. Maybe it's just because it's hanging in a full g, but the panels seem to be aligned more closely to the same plane than in SpaceX illustrations.

Another bug I came across involves the RCS. Landing on water with a Dragon-M, the RCS started firing as soon as the capsule hit water, and seemed to keep firing until it ran out of propellant, at which point Orbiter locked up and became totally unresponsive. I had to use Task Manager to kill it. On a followup flight I tried dumping all the RCS propellant while descending, and Orbiter locked up again when the level hit 0 kg.

Thanks again for this fine addon. Looking forward to my next flight!

 

[Gerdih]

I have more problems.
When the wasted stages return to the earth they disapear when they release the parachutes.
And when I try to edit any stage the orbiter shutdown.

However the problems, it's a fantastic addon, good job!

 

[Therius]

I think this addon is awesome so far. I love the autopilot input at launch, it's versitlie. This is one addon I'll be using for a while. Its good to have a realistic capsule craft to add to the vintage craft and the Antares, CTV etc. I also love the suntracking solar panels.

When you guys get to orbit with autopilot, is the correct procedure to raise the periapsis; fire up the second stage at apoapsis OR dump the second stage and use the dragon engines at apoapsis? I've tried both. Dumping the second stage and using the Dragon engine, lets it fall back to burn up. But I can achieve a stable orbit with the second stage, then after separation I can do a retro burn with the second stage to drop it back down. We have enough problems with space junk. I noticed on the SpaceX website they put the stage in a high apoapsis orbit. I'm not crazy about that in my Orbiter world.

Does this make since? I was just wondering what you guys like to do with your launch procedures.

Once again, great addon!

 

[Grover]

i use the dragon engines, then go straight into orbital sync (instead of circularising then raising the AP again) but if you have more than 1k or 1.5k fuel left in the second stage, then theres no problem with using that, after all, it saves wastage

just make sure to deploy the panels on the dragon. i do it as soon as the first stage cuts off

 

[Gerdih]

I deorbit the second stage when its far enough from the capsule

 

[Ark]

I tend to milk the second stage for every drop of fuel left in it for plane alignments and circularization.

Is that realistic? Can the F9 second stage even be restarted?

 

[Kyle]

I tend to milk the second stage for every drop of fuel left in it for plane alignments and circularization.

Is that realistic? Can the F9 second stage even be restarted?

Yes, it can and has done so before.

F9's maiden flight for example.

 

[T.Neo]

Is that realistic? Can the F9 second stage even be restarted?

I believe that the current MVac has the ability for two starts, but no more than that.

I'm not sure if propellant residuals are simulated here or not, but in reality you can't use all the propellant in the tanks, though of course when launching Dragon (for example) you will likely have excess usable propellant, propellant that you can then use in a second engine burn.

But the F9 upper stage is not built for fine manuvering. I'd keep the second engine start for deorbiting the stage, and Dragon's RCS for orbital manuvering as required.

 

[Tychonaut]

I finally tried out the Falcon Heavy. Very nice, but I did find what seem to be some bugs.
If I replace the Cylinder payload with something else - an ATV in my test - the autopilot will operate until the core first stage separates, but will never start the second stage Merlin Vacuum. I do get the "Merlin Vac. Ignition" HUD message, though. Works fine if I launch the Cylinder.
The ATV installs on top of the core stack, but when the fairing goes transparent I still can't see it, unless I move the camera inside the fairing. This makes it hard to correctly adjust the position of the ATV, leading to it appearing to hover above the second stage.
When the ATV is added and I then continue with the launch, everything seems to work, other than what I noted above. However, if I save the scenario and then re-start, I get a CTD while loading. I can avoid the CTD if I remove the line "ATTACHED 0:1,FH" from the ATV ship description in the scenario file. I assume Scenario Editor adds this line, but I don't understand what's wrong with it.

 

[sorindafabico]

I did the weirdest reentry ever with Dragon cargo.

I was testing a lunar flyby with the capsule and tried an Apollo 13-like return. But the capsule did not lose speed into the atmosphere. The AerobrakeMFD's L/D coefficient was zero.

 

[sputnikshock]

But the capsule did not lose speed into the atmosphere.

Tried a lunar return, and with a reentry angle of 5-6° (can't remember exactly, I believe it was close to 5°) reentry was nominal.