He/Him. Space geek. 3D Artist. Author of Bluedog Design Bureau for KSP.
@saramaesquidgy
's husband. Father of four lizards. Possibly a cryogenic balloon stage
Agena B: America's off-the-shelf satellite
Agena really was an incredible piece of hardware. Both an exceptional upper stage, as well as a standardized satellite bus. They used these things for EVERYTHING.
F-1C is now up on GitHub. This is a new variant of the F-1 engine, based on
@Katniss218
's speculative 90s modernization of the F-1A. As such, I had a bit of freedom with how to translate it to BDB.
Ever wondered what Gateway's mass will be once fully assembled? ๐ค The next-gen space station will have a mass of 63 metric tons (63,000 kg). That's the equivalent of about 100 cows, 10 elephants, or 10
@NASAWebb
telescopes! ๐ฎ๐๐ญ
Quick poll of the room - how interested are people, seriously, in interplanetary stuff in BDB?
Earth departure stages, orbital depots, more Flyby designs, and maybe a crewed Mars lander eventually?
I know they're pretty difficult to plan and a bit of a pain.
Went looking for something I'd seen before, of course it was an
@UnwantedBlog
post... contractor's model of an Apollo Extension System lab module.
More pictures at
Recoverable S-IVB - probably much harder than recovering an S-1C or even an S-II. Note there are multiple proposed configurations, with some landing on the nose while others land on the tail.
If anyone doesnโt see it, Iโm referring to the Skylab post on the right. The text, the both solar panels, etc.
Not even touching the โspace program run by international assassin organizationโ on the left there.
The Vega kerolox upper stage was meant to be an interim stage until the hydrolox Centaur stage became operational. After cost overruns, it was cancelled following the Air Force's agreement to provide Agena upper stages to NASA.
This is a fully build mockup from 1957.
I believe this is a contractor's model of the "wide body" Atlas SLV-3X / Centaur rocket. By widening the core, they could increase the fuel load while minimizing changes to ground support equipment, as seen in the third pic.
The Apollo Telescope Module was originally planned to go in the SIM bay during a free-flight mission. Putting it on Skylab allowed the instruments room to grow, as well as greatly increasing the available observation time.
Work in progress speculative, modernized upgrade of the F-1A that I call the F-1CW (channel wall). Meant to be a 90s era upgrade.
Shout out and thanks to Katniss, who came up with the design for their mod. I liked it so much I asked for permission to recreate it in BDB.
Stream over, sorry I got tired and my mind wandered to other tasks I have to do today. A good start on the new Big G SM, still a lot of work to go on it though so stay tuned!
LASS - Lunar Applications of a Spent Stage. Somewhat unassuming name for a plan to get an S-IVB to the lunar surface. Cargo would be mounted on top; generally the plan was to find a way to lay the S-IVB on its side to use as a landed wet workshop.
Just uploaded a welded version of the LRV chassis, for people experiencing issues with the robotics (or don't have BG, I guess).
Expect an update on SheLab progress... this weekend I guess?
Alright, first BDB build challenge: I want to see your BDB Mun bases!
Have you tried the surface experiments and rovers? What about the shelters? Or the lunar flying vehicle?
I want to see what people come up with!
The only image I've ever seen of the Delta P upper stage, despite flying dozens of times. Note the smaller propellant tanks compared to the later Delta K. The engine is also different - the TR.201, derived from the LMDE! This flew on the XX1X Deltas.