I'm working on my first add on made from scatch. It's a small craft with no real purpose other than testing and learning. The mesh is made in Blender and I have managed to make a DLL file for it with VC++ 2008 free express edition. It does fly pretty much like I have expected. It can dock and fly around, only powered by thrusters, no main engine propulsion. The ship is powered by 8 thruster clusters. each cluster can thrust in 3 directions. The craft is pretty much cube shaped with the clusters in the corners, (imagine Dragonfly without the boom and thrusters on each corner) Each thruster is delivering 32N with 2 separate nozzles ( a 22N + a 10 N)
This results in 128 N max thrust for translation in X,Y and Z directions.Max torque is 256 NM for rotation. (can be doubled since I only use ½ the avalible trusters for rotation) I imagine a mass incl fuel around 1000 kg pending installed equipment. It's a bit sluggish, but not unflyable.
I'm basing the propulsion on what is readily availible. The basis is thrusters from this site : http://cs.astrium.eads.net/sp/SpacecraftPropulsion/BipropellantThrusters.html#S22-02
First question : Can the isp from the website be used directly in the dll for isp value. The values on the website is around 300 s, but most values in the Orbiter SDK samples are much higher numbers. Do I need to make a conversion on the numbers for a realistic fuel usage or are they in the correct range?
Second question: The fuel is MON/MMH. Is this hypergolic or is there a some kind of ignition system in the burning chamber for this kind of thruster? (This is mostly info for making the panels)
Third question: Fuel and fuel tanks. I belive both fuel and oxidizer will be in liquid form under most conditions, even with out cooling. how is it possible to make sure only liquid is entering the pumps. Are there a bladder in the tanks or?
This results in 128 N max thrust for translation in X,Y and Z directions.Max torque is 256 NM for rotation. (can be doubled since I only use ½ the avalible trusters for rotation) I imagine a mass incl fuel around 1000 kg pending installed equipment. It's a bit sluggish, but not unflyable.
I'm basing the propulsion on what is readily availible. The basis is thrusters from this site : http://cs.astrium.eads.net/sp/SpacecraftPropulsion/BipropellantThrusters.html#S22-02
First question : Can the isp from the website be used directly in the dll for isp value. The values on the website is around 300 s, but most values in the Orbiter SDK samples are much higher numbers. Do I need to make a conversion on the numbers for a realistic fuel usage or are they in the correct range?
Second question: The fuel is MON/MMH. Is this hypergolic or is there a some kind of ignition system in the burning chamber for this kind of thruster? (This is mostly info for making the panels)
Third question: Fuel and fuel tanks. I belive both fuel and oxidizer will be in liquid form under most conditions, even with out cooling. how is it possible to make sure only liquid is entering the pumps. Are there a bladder in the tanks or?
