ALR-M2 lunar mission

[fausto]

Second Antares LR manned mission in low lunar orbit. A crew of 4 will fly the FOI realistic capsule to a lunar orbit rendez-vous and docking with Verrazzano Automated Vehicle, already in lunar orbit since April 2013. These two docked vessel will form a space habitat for the duration of one month.
This is the most complex FOI simulated mission ever, with the maiden flight of Jarvis M block 2 manned version.

Mission specifications (UTC time)

Vessel: Antares LR

Crew: 4

Launcher: Jarvis M block II Manned

Launch base: Capo Passero Pad J B

Launch date: Sunday, September 1st at 17:33 UTC

Lunar orbit inserction: Thursday, September 5 at 19:30 UTC

Antares - Verrazzano docking: Saturday, September 7 at 22:00 UTC

Trans Earth Injection: Saturday, October 5 at 20:41 UTC

Splashdown
(Indian Ocean): Thursday October 10 at 20:39 UTC

mission will be broadcasted live on Orbiter live Missions:

http://www.livestream.com/orbiterlivemissions

 

[IronRain]

Awesome :thumbup:

 

[fausto]

http://youtu.be/2cDWBm6UuaQ

Jarvis M rocket on its launch pad and ready for pre flight tests before launch.

T - 10 days and counting

 

[fausto]

Launch T - 7 hours

Mission intro video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=pmLNf5RKhHQ

Live coverage starts at 17:00 UTC

---------- Post added at 04:36 PM ---------- Previous post was at 10:21 AM ----------

Live coverage started:

http://www.livestream.com/channels/studio?autoLogin=true&channelName=orbiterlivemissions

---------- Post added at 05:42 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:36 PM ----------

Mission scrubbed a T - 04:43 due to core stage leak. A new launch date will be set soon. The most probable is early October

 

[Pipcard]

Is there a real life reason for the scrub or is it just arbitrary?

 

[K_Jameson]

In Orbiter Live Missions, a special software is used to simulate random failures before the launch.

 

[fausto]

New launch window opens Sunday, September 29 at 15:46 UTC. Soon a new mission plan!

 

[K_Jameson]

A screencap of the Jarvis M awaiting on the launch pad:

 

[K_Jameson]

A brief note: in these days, a big work was started with Fausto and our new programmer Fred18: the Jarvis dll! :thumbup:

 

[Urwumpe]

A brief note: in these days, a big work was started with Fausto and our new programmer Fred18: the Jarvis dll! :thumbup:

Finally! :lol:

The lack of a DLL version was always what I disliked on the Jarvis, in general, the SC3 or MS2 add-ons are just terrible in terms of usability, even when they look good and often fly good (with tons of additional modules, that all have different user interfaces). SC3 add-ons, I usually fly once or twice and then forget them... while stuff like the Themis/Hyperion family sticks, because it takes you just a few minutes to prepare a flight for the evening.

 

[K_Jameson]

It's a matter of habits and priorities. A space enthusiast is not, necessarily, a programming enthusiast and Vinka allows the space enthusiast to express its fantasy without months wasted in programming every maniacal aspect of the vehicle. Also: not every dll addon is a well programmed addon.

Said this, Jarvis is one of the most popular addons of all times, judging by the downloads, and at this point the dll version is... inevitable. ;-)

 

[Urwumpe]

It's a matter of habits and priorities. A space enthusiast is not, necessarily, a programming enthusiast and Vinka allows the space enthusiast to express it's fantasy without months wasted in programming every maniacal aspect of the vehicle.

It is simply great for prototyping. You can test animations and some aspects of the vessel already before you write the first line of code. The thruster placement is a problem in both, what is pretty annoying for flight testing. Same with aerodynamics. TVC is not supported by any of them.

(I usually get pretty soon to the DLL phase, because I am more interested in flight testing a design.)

Also: not every dll addon is a well programmed addon.

Well, I would like to disagree there, but damn, you are right. But the number of really bad DLL add-ons is pretty low. If you look into the sources, some add-ons are REALLY badly programmed, but you don't notice it as long as you follow the manual to the letter. :lol:


But still...SC3 and scenario editor is a pain. I think the LuaVessel interface is more interesting there.

 

[BruceJohnJennerLawso]

A brief note: in these days, a big work was started with Fausto and our new programmer Fred18: the Jarvis dll! :thumbup:

Thats awesome :thumbup:

Any word on what sort of features the DLLed version will include?

 

[K_Jameson]

One for all: a configurable autopilot with really surgical precision :thumbup:

 

[Urwumpe]

One for all: a configurable autopilot with really surgical precision :thumbup:

Can the precision also be tuned down? Like having +/-50 km orbit altitude, but deliver much more payload because less fuel is needed for controlling the state vector tightly?

 

[garyw]

A screencap of the Jarvis M awaiting on the launch pad:

Looks great! Where did the countdown clocks come from?

 

[K_Jameson]

Can the precision also be tuned down? Like having +/-50 km orbit altitude, but deliver much more payload because less fuel is needed for controlling the state vector tightly?

we will see later...

sure, jarvis family has plenty of payload capacity, even with a fine-tuned autopilot. :hmm:

 

[Urwumpe]

we will see later...

sure, jarvis family has plenty of payload capacity, even with a fine-tuned autopilot. :hmm:

Well, it is in the simplest form just making it possible to tweak some guidance constants in the scenario file, like attitude dead-bands. :lol:

 

[fred18]

Hi all,

I just saw the thread, i was working on the DLL, the first version of the smallest kid of the Jarvis family is almost ready

Can the precision also be tuned down? Like having +/-50 km orbit altitude, but deliver much more payload because less fuel is needed for controlling the state vector tightly?

Well at the moment the Jarvis dll that is in progress uses the complete PEG algorithm to get to orbit. The change in pitch is slow and homogeneous, and by carefully controlling the aoa in the atmosferic flight it looks like the payload capacity has already increased, but a lot of more testing is needed

 

[BruceJohnJennerLawso]

Hi all,

I just saw the thread, i was working on the DLL, the first version of the smallest kid of the Jarvis family is almost ready



Well at the moment the Jarvis dll that is in progress uses the complete PEG algorithm to get to orbit. The change in pitch is slow and homogeneous, and by carefully controlling the aoa in the atmosferic flight it looks like the payload capacity has already increased, but a lot of more testing is needed

How will the DLLed versions handle payloads?