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[Uriah]

This is a joint project between necro and myself. I haven't been able to work on almost anything in Outerra lately due to my job (sorry!), but rockets are still very much my primary focus in Outerra, and as discussed in other threads, I have an extensive set of related projects at various stages of progress. The major factor standing between Work In Progress (WIP) and being able to release Alpah/Beta versions of the numerous rockets, including the Atlas V/X-37B, Delta IV/Orion and Falcon9/Dragon, is the 3d modelling aspect. The other factor is I have a serious perfectionist complex, and don't like releasing mods with poor quality 3d models. The fact is, I don't have enough time to do both the JSBSim flight models and the 3d models, so I've decided to collaborate with people who are skilled 3d artists so that I can focus on the physics, navigation, guidance and various other simulation aspects. (It is rocket science after all!)

Below I've attached some screenshots of the Falcon 9 v1.1/Falcon 9 Recoverable (F9R) on the launch pad at SLC-40 (scenery by the one and only Acetone), and in flight during a launch from Cape Canaveral. I should note that the current 3d model is a temporary placeholder, and is not the work of necro.

This version is primarily demonstrating the flight model, successfully launching into Low Earth Orbit, validating flight model propulsion (extremely accurate Merlin 1D and Merlin 1D Vacuum engines, +/- 0.01% of spec thrust at sea level and in vacuum), aerodynamics, and giving me a better understanding of the guidance/navigation necessary for a realistic autonomous flight profile.

The guidance/navigation systems (JSBSim and JavaScript) are applicable to other rockets, and once released will give people a solid platform/tools for building additional rockets. I've developed them to be "plug-n-play", so all you do is include the files in your FDM/script, modify a few parameters, and everything works "out of the box" without having to understand the code or really have any technical understanding of rocketry. My objective with these projects is to provide the modding community with the resources and knowledge to easily build rockets, launch vehicles, and spacecraft for Outerra.

I do apologize for having so many WIPs!  After this month, I'm going to dedicate more time to Outerra.

Best regards,
Uriah

SpaceX Space Launch Complex 40, Cape Canaveral Florida.



SpaceX SLC-40 Horizontal Integration Facility (HIF).



Lift off of the Falcon 9!!!



GNC vertical rise mode.



GNC gravity turn pitch rate mode.



Aft facing camera view.



GNC zero alpha/beta mode.



After main engine cutoff (MECO), and just before first stage separation at an altitude of 390,000 ft (120,000 m). Apogee 74 miles (119 km), Perigee -3,652 miles (-5,877 km), ECI Velocity of 9,717 ft/s (2,962 m/s, 6,625 mph) before second stage burn.

[aWac9]

wonderful
Thanks for your time

[Acetone]

A rocket so safe they can launch it above the mainland 

Great job guys

[Uriah]

A rocket so safe they can launch it above the mainland 

Great job guys

... and Acetone with the bewildering attention to detail!!! Sorry, it was actually launched at the wrong launch azimuth so the flight took North/West heading into a retrograde polar orbit... you can blame mission control.

And at least it didn't do this!!!



... or this...



Although that would be pretty cool if we could have launch failures occur it OT! 

[HiFlyer]

Question (possibly of limited utility) but Langden in his integration with FSX thread showed planes following predetermined waypoints. Could it be possible for your rockets to also follow pre programmed sequences?

[Uriah]

Question (possibly of limited utility) but Langden in his integration with FSX thread showed planes following predetermined waypoints. Could it be possible for your rockets to also follow pre programmed sequences?

That is a great question! To the best of my knowledge, not currently. There needs to be something exposed so the interface allows a static object to be transformed and rotated via a plugin, although technically it shouldn't be difficult.

I do in fact have plans to write a plugin for rockets in Outerra, which will provide a GUI, HUD, as well as flight recording and playback. I can already output flight data to CSV format from JSBSim, and define the sample rate of the data, so in theory that could be used to play-back the flight, including all of the JSBSim properties that could be displayed in the console or a GUI, such as fuel, weight, speed, Euler angles, moments, as well as the flight vehicle's orbital elements, etc.

It should also be possible given the telemetry data source to play-back/stream real-world missions, which is something I've thought about for a long time. During the launch of a rocket, typically you'll see the live video feed from ground and even air based cameras, which track the vehicle until it is out of range. Once it is beyond visual line of sight, mission control usually switches to a virtual 3d rendering of the rocket which takes the live telemetry data and sets the position, rotation and animates stage separation events. With this telemetry data, it should be possible to view a real-world rocket launch in Outerra, and possibly if a company such as SpaceX or ULA would provide access to the live-stream for the telemetry down-link, we could visualize a launch in real-time during the actual launch. That would be absolutely incredible, but I also highly doubt SpaceX or ULA would provide this data, especially on launches for military/defense.

Regards,
Uriah

Here's an example of visualization for the United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket (AV-035)  LDCM Launch Webcast:

https://youtu.be/MkFZabeW0LY?t=7641

You can see some of the telemetry data displayed on the top left, (bad resolution), including Altitude, Velocity, Acceleration, Down-range distance and Flight Azimuth. Also, where it says STATUS: LIVE TLM DATA on the right, just underneath is a small window with a view of Earth and the flight path, this would also be a great feature, and something I'm considering building in a custom GUI, where there is a small 3d model of the Earth with a texture, and the Sketch API is used to display the flight path/trajectory/orbit.

[Uriah]

I got the opportunity to watch SpaceX land its Falcon 9 v1.2 first stage booster at Launch Complex 13, located in Cape Canaveral Florida. Pretty incredible moment to be sure. Not only did they launch 11 satellites for the ORBCOMM-2 mission, but were able to recover the 12 story tall first stage booster, which they will now carefully analyze and could possibly be refurbished to be used on a future launch. This marks the single biggest leap in space launch technology in the last 30 years, paving the way for a recoverable first stage program, which could drastically reduce the cost of each launch.

[SilentEagle]

I'm not sure if you have seen the different simulations people on the SpaceX subreddit have been performing with their own software.

TheVehicleDestroyer's FlightClub
His website for the tool.  I have never quite figured out how to use it properly.
Video of the latest CRS-9 launch simulated in FlightClub.
You might go through his reddit posts to see if you glean any technical data on what kind of aerodynamic coefficients he is using or his methods for proper thrusting.  I think most of the work in his simulation is going into trying to mimic the used returning first stage for landing.

zlynn1990's 2D Sim
Here is an open source code that has Falcon9 mission profiles and vehicle performance hardcoded.  As far as I can tell, this is a 2D only simulator.
Reddit post about comparing the two successful return to launch site (RTLS) landings and their mission profile.