Project Athena family

Post Vacation.

Not dead, just delayed...

Last night I stared at the monitor for so long I got one of those headaches that makes you feel like you're going to hurl. You know the ones...

Anyway, I've scrapped some of my earlier work and reworked several of the meshes, using the U.S.Patent as a guideline. So, other than me STILL not being happy with the OAM, the rest of the rocket looks pretty sweet.

Still have a lengthy 'honey-do' list, but I'm sneaking stuff in when I can. But for now, here is a shot anim8tor view (sans textures) of the never to be built Athena III (LMLV3-6) The fairing is the smallest available, I forgot to add it for the picture...



Boosters- 6x Castor 4A, thrust (vac) 478.3 kN
Stage 1- SR118, thrust (vac) 1,606.9 kN
Stage 2- another SR118
Stage 3- ESBM with 189.2 kN
Stage 4- OAM with a paltry 882N (honestly only good for tweaking an orbit)

This rocket was advertised to be able to launch 9100 lbs into LEO. Once I've finished we'll see how she does in Orbiter.
 
I never knew that it would take so long to renovate such a small bathroom....

Then Orbiter '10 was released and I had to "play" with all the new things associated. Even so, I managed to fiddle around with the project a bit more. I've got this working pretty good in Orbiter '06, but something strange is at work in '10. The rocket won't stage properly (at all actually), I've reworked the .ini, rewritten from the ground up nearly the whole thing, but to no avail.
The good news is that it works fine manually, or using the amazing Universal Autopilot (UAP).
Somehow or another my textures got mixed up, I can't decide if I like the darker or lighter shade of grey. The only thing left (for this model) is a strut ass'y to "hold" the payload, and to position the exhausts properly on the OAM.
I've got three different fairings for different configurations, but I'm thinking of adding different "nose art" to them, the one pictured here get mis-shaped when streched to fit the other sizes.
 
I'm cooking tonight (shrimp enchiladas), if I have the time I may be able to cobble together an alpha release of the Athena I and II. I've got loads more work on the COTS version, but she's a beast compared to the I or II. Almost as big as the Falcon9, but a 2 1/2 segment SRM from the shuttle as a first stage gets off the pad quick.
 
A few more tweaks to the rocket, if I could just figure out why I can't get it to stage correctly in Orbiter '10...
Anyway, I'm slowly starting work on the "portable" launch-pad that Lockheed had in mind from the patent that I've been studying. In the meantime I've got a few preliminary meshes for some payloads. All fictional of course, but anything could be added with a few lines to a config file eh?
Here's the telescope...

I'm also working on a communications sat, a recon bird, and a cargo hauler. If I can figure out animations using SC3, these will all have deployable solar arrays.
 
No really, I'm not dead yet...

I feel happyyyy!! Thunk! (scene from Monty Python....)
Nope, the Athena "Project" isn't dead, it was on life support for a while, but it's breathing on its own now and doing much better.

I wound up with a .pdf of ATK and managed to get a few pretty good pictures of the 2 1/2 segment booster, the castor 30 and 120. Using these, plus the patent applications, I think I'me about as close as I can get with the modelling of this thing. I've spent the last few hours of free time with the Athena III (COTS version) trying to get a 9100 Kg payload into a GTO. Turn out it won't do it. And after doing some reading, the real one wouldn't do it either, so I really don't feel all that bad.

On the "to-do" list is to clean up some meshs still, and come up with a few textures (tried to scan a piece of aluminum foil, and it looked OK, may use it...). Also need to make the livery a little more generic. The PHANTOM on the side is for my own personal VSA, and I figure it anyone wants to put their own logo on there I'd be proud that someone wanted to use my rocket.

The last picture is an older one of the -II with 6 strap-on boosters. It didn't make the "rocket park" because I've goofed up the booster names. I still have to orient the meshes so that the exhaust nozzles point outboard. As you see in the picture they are pretty messed up.

rocket_park.jpg

Untitled_11.jpg

Athena_II-6_launch1.jpg
 
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Well, I've got them loaded as per the patent application. The smallest vechicle can lift 2200 pounds to LEO. The "block-II" lift 2200-4000 lbs. As the boosters are added, the weight of course should increase...
2 boosters = 5400
3 boosters = 6060
4 boosters = 6600
6 boosters = 7700 (and it seems like my math was messed up earlier, the "book" says it can lift 8000)
The COTS demo is said to have been able to lift 6.71 tons to LEO, 2.7 tons to GTO, 1.8 tons to the moon and 1.3 tons to Mars. Haven't messed around with it enough to validate those numbers yet. Gimme time ;)
 
Nice, a fleet of light/medium launchers, there aren't much of them in Orbit hangar, and they look great, thanks
 
Hey Phantom, you might be interested in that not only the Athena I and II are coming back with a new second stage (probably from the Cape and Kodiak), it appears that the Athena III may have a chance to fly out of Alaska after all!

Lockheed Martin press release
 
Sweet! I've been plugging along on the first stage work (what would have been the COTS model). I got some pretty good pictures from the Lockheed Martin catalog.

I need to win the lottery so I can bail on my real life job, and get back to developing.

Speaking of which...
 
I got that one working too, still twiddling with the project but real-life is taking priority ATM.
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Night_pic.jpg
 
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