Launching from saturn

[Horus Lupercal]

That could make a beautiful Saturn V indeed. Even if the fins are useless, because the launcher is so massive that it's practically immune to drag

Yep. It's a weird thing about such massive craft. I experienced only minimal drag losses launching a 64 metre wide rocket even on 1.4.06 super bugged aerodynamics.

By the way, you didn't have that issue with the Komodo? My launcher is still lighter, but because it's designed for Jupiter's gravity we should have a similar number of engines...

I experienced huge problems with the assembly and launch phase. It crashed many times, especially if I tried going to the main menu to turn gravity off to stabilise assembly after 'dock shock'.

Well, yes and no. We have a similar number of Titan engines (758 to 795 on (Komodo), but I also have 340 Frontier engines as well (1135 engines all up) cos 1.4 titans are less powerful and the frontiers helped make the third stage burn longer

 

[The epic chicken]

i kinda wanna share
''the most powerful launcher apperently''

 

[Horus Lupercal]

i kinda wanna share
''the most powerful launcher apperently''

How about you use it to try and complete this challenge, rather than this empty posing you're attempting here?

 

[RockerBrawler]

turning on all engines

Must be a pain

 

[The epic chicken]

How about you use it to try and complete this challenge, rather than this empty posing you're attempting here?

i will
if you tell me how to get saturn

 

[Pink]

i will
if you tell me how to get saturn

You can't, if you don't have DLC. But we accept screenshots token from Earth, in your case. We can use maths to figure out if it will work from Saturn.

 

[The epic chicken]

You can't, if you don't have DLC. But we accept screenshots token from Earth, in your case. We can use maths to figure out if it will work from Saturn.

i mean is there even a point
considering this vehicle is 2000 km high

 

[Altaïr]

Yep. It's a weird thing about such massive craft. I experienced only minimal drag losses launching a 64 metre wide rocket even on 1.4.06 super bugged aerodynamics.

Actually there's a logic explanation. A heavy ship has more inertia, and as drag doesn't depend on mass, it will be less affected.
In mathematical terms, the deceleration due to drag would be calculated that way:
m.a = -1/2 × ρ × S × v2,
So a = - ρ×S/(2 m) × v2

A launcher that you make taller has a similar cross-sectional area (S) while being more massive. The "m" at the denominator tends to mitigate drag.

But considering the broken drag of 1.4, I must say I'm surprised myself that you don't have any issue.

Well, yes and no. We have a similar number of Titan engines (758 to 795 on (Komodo), but I also have 340 Frontier engines as well (1135 engines all up) cos 1.4 titans are less powerful and the frontiers helped make the third stage burn longer

So I'm still below... I guess I need MOAR RAM!!!

My phone is already a decent one (Galaxy S7). Maybe I would be more lucky on an emulator?

Must be a pain

Ah, don't worry, all engines are turned on by default, you can parameterize this in the blueprint file.

 

[Horus Lupercal]

Actually there's a logic explanation. A heavy ship has more inertia, and as drag doesn't depend on mass, it will be less affected.
In mathematical terms, the deceleration due to drag would be calculated that way:
m.a = -1/2 × ρ × S × v2,
So a = - ρ×S/(2 m) × v2

A launcher that you make taller has a similar cross-sectional area (S) while being more massive. The "m" at the denominator tends to mitigate drag.

But considering the broken drag of 1.4, I must say I'm surprised myself that you don't have any issue

Yeah, density increases terminal velocity for a given force. That's how Tallboy bombs worked. Would you believe it only cost 3200m/s to get to orbit with that thing, even considering drag and losing speed every time I had to turn the engines off to switch to map view or zoom in to stage.
It's why I had so much left over to do a moon landing with it.

So I'm still below... I guess I need MOAR RAM!!!

My phone is already a decent one (Galaxy S7). Maybe I would be more lucky on an emulator?

I'm using the new S7 tablet. It's an absolute beast of a device with the latest processor and even then I'm getting several seconds per frame.

Ah, don't worry, all engines are turned on by default, you can parameterize this in the blueprint file

That is one thing about 1.5 I like. I had to turn on and check every single engine individually. It takes around 30 minutes to do.

 

[Altaïr]

i mean is there even a point
considering this vehicle is 2000 km high

The epic chicken
It's not the first thread you derail by bragging about your supposedly giant launcher. You've already been asked to stop, now you get a verbal warning.

If you have a super launcher to show us, you are free to do it (even if it's not on Saturn), it will be considered on-topic and will certainly be appreciated. Otherwise, please refrain.

 

[Horus Lupercal]

i mean is there even a point
considering this vehicle is 2000 km high

Yes there is. Because I want to see a 2000km tall rocket. Considering that would put the tip past geo-synchronous Earth orbit, I don't believe you.

 

[The epic chicken]

screenshots of my launcher
though this is the smaller
version it's still powerful

i don't want to share the more powerful version yet

 

[RockerBrawler]

View attachment 60978 View attachment 60979
View attachment 60980
screenshots of my launcher
though this is the smaller
version it's still powerful

i don't want to share the more powerful version yet

Ahem umh ah, If you call this big, please do have a chat with Horus Lupercal .
Calling rockets big is a risky game- Altair

 

[Horus Lupercal]

View attachment 60978 View attachment 60979
View attachment 60980
screenshots of my launcher
though this is the smaller
version it's still powerful

i don't want to share the more powerful version yet

Well, I hope the more powerful version is a thousand times more powerful than this. Because the rockets we're talking about can take a hundred of these as a payload to the surface of the fucking moon.

 

[The epic chicken]

Well, I hope the more powerful version is a thousand times more powerful than this. Because the rockets we're talking about can take a hundred of these as a payload to the surface of the fucking moon.

it is quite a bit more powerful but i'm not ready to share it

 

[RockerBrawler]

it is quite a bit more powerful but i'm not ready to share it

Going by the size of the smaller version, I sincerely do think that the 'powerful version' is just a farce

 

[Altaïr]

View attachment 60978 View attachment 60979
View attachment 60980
screenshots of my launcher
though this is the smaller
version it's still powerful

i don't want to share the more powerful version yet

I just see a rocket that weighs less than 300 tons and a grey rectangle hiding the bottom of the screen. It's clear that you're kidding us. Anyway, I've been very clear, you can't say you weren't warned!

Back on topic now.

 

[Altaïr]

Time to revive this thread!

The last time I tried to reach Jupiter's orbit, I designed a massive launcher. So massive that when lighting the engines the game crashed...

This is how this happened:

Ok, I retried with the Jupiter gravity. But I thought to myself, if I'm doing this, I should be able to make it leave Jupiter, the difference is not that much after all.

So I designed a BIG LAUNCHER:
View attachment 60951

No, I mean a really big launcher...
MOAR ENGINES!!!
View attachment 60952

I said MOAAAR ENGINES!!!

View attachment 60953

Better.

The first 3 stages have been designed as a whole thing. Because there's no chance I can light on so many engines quickly enough in flight when staging, all the 3 stages are lighted on pad. The first stage is simply dumped when it's empty, then the second and third stages are light enough to continue. The second stage runs out of fuel later, and when it's dumped, the third one continues alone. Then I can perform staging operations normally.

Overall, those are 758 engines firing at start, to lift a launcher that's slightly below 100 ktons.

Of course I was impatient to try that beast. Problem, turning on all engines... crashes the game

Didn't expect that issue...

At least I could give it a try by separating the first stage, and lighting the rest ("only" 278 engines):
View attachment 60954
Of course, without the first stage the rest of the launcher is too heavy at first, I have to wait for a while for the launcher to start lifting off:
View attachment 60955

Finally, here we go! I designed the rest of the launcher to have a good margin at each stage of the flight, but I wasn't expecting such a situation...

However the flight happens well until now:
View attachment 60958 View attachment 60956 View attachment 60957

Problem, I was expecting to be at least at 3000 m/s when that stage runs out of fuel. This is far from being the case!

But the rest of the flight happens surprisingly well finally:
View attachment 60959 View attachment 60960 View attachment 60961

Now we are using the latest stages. They were designed with less TWR as they were supposed to experience less gravity in the end of the flight. I've had to transfer some fuel from the last stage because that one would have really been too heavy otherwise.
View attachment 60964 View attachment 60962 View attachment 60963

And finally I'm short by a few 500 m/s!

Hopefully, the payload itself has some propulsion capabilities. I expected to send it full to orbit, but it will have to finish the job by itself. I'm playing my last card now!

View attachment 60965 View attachment 60966
Finally, orbit!

Mission accomplished! Even if in an unexpected way

Now there's a difference, I have a new phone that can survive the load of the more than 750 Titan engines firing at once. So I can finally try a launcher I made 8 months ago!

Here it is on the pad:


Let's launch the beast!


Problem is that I forgot that now we had heating ingame...

Bruh moment...

Well I'll have to do it with the "No heat damage" cheat...

So here we go again!


First stage separation:

The rocket color already starts changing...

Then second stage separation:

The game runs smoothly now.

Then we start with the upper stages.

Orbit!

And I still have 2 stages untouched! So let's go until where I can go...

Interstellar! The Voyager quest is possible when launching from Jupiter! You need a bit more than 250 tons though...

But obviously it would be more interesting to make it reenter again!

Hot!

Finally the biggest launcher I've ever made got his moment of glory!