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Possible Virgin Galactic Project

J

JohnLattanzio

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3
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australia
Hi All
I am involved with Virgin in some ways and I suggested a FS project connected to the Virgin Galactic initiaitive. They are initially interested but wanted some information.

The VG project starts with an aircraft (White Knight Two) that takes off and climbs to 60,000 feet and then launches the spacecraft Space Ship Two which continues the climb to 100km or so. Then it glides back to Earth.

I thought there was a lot of potential here - flying White Knight Two up to launch, launch of the ship and flying it and then the long descent home! I think this might be a lot of fun and potentially a very popular add-on.

Also, a pre-recorded flight could be used for paying passengers to see what they will be doing.

As I say, Virgin are interested and wanted some info. Such as:

-can you estimate the number of sales?
-what would they sell for?

I was thinking of an add-on for FSX/2004 but I wonder if it could be done as a simple standalone version as well?

Looking forward to learning some answers !

thanks

JohnL
 
Nice idea,
but I have following questions:
- Two planes, one pilot....how came? Presume I want to fly both, can I jump from plane to spacecraft and if I do, what will happen with the aircraft which I left? Or maybe second AI pilot will land it...
- Is this one way mission or have varieties?
- When I simulate flight in FS I am the Pilot in comand and I can chose my t/o and landing strips. What choice of airstrip will have with this plane?

best regards
Nick
 
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MSFS is pretty much useless for flights beyond "standard" regimes.

I'd suggest another platform for visualization, such as X-Plane, FlightGear or even Orbiter.

Those platforms would offer more capabilities in terms of spaceflight as well as greater extendability with mods.
 
Yes, If I remember well Orbiter had exactly that kind of vehicle :D, but certainly the graphic quality of fsx is not that of Orbiter but very cool.
 
Exactly how the piloting is done is a minor choice that can be made later. AI can land the spacecraft or the plane if the gamer wants to fly one or other.

Would an addon for Orbiter decrease the market?

Should it be a standalone product perhaps?

JL
 
JohnLattanzio said:
Would an addon for Orbiter decrease the market?

Should it be a standalone product perhaps?
Click to expand...

Orbiter is freeware and a community cantered around a free simulator generally keeps the "free is best" mindset.

Same for FlightGear, with the exception that it's open source and GPL licensed, so a derivate centered on, tooled around and branded with Virgin Galactic's "modus operandi" is a possibility.

X-Plane is closed source and payware, so the market is fairly limited for it. Building a stand-alone sim will incur licensing fees for the engine.

The best use for this would be:

Either: In-house at VG for entertainment purposes in terms of an entertainment system for the younger family members (or any other interested people) in the waiting lounge at VG's space port to pass the time.

Or: A low-priced standalone product, complete in its own simulator environment for the broad masses as Virgin Galactic merchandise, but this is only viable when VG's assets take off commercially (pun intended) and gain more mass media exporsure.



Call your shot.
At the moment, and depending on the chosen distribution concept, sales can be anything from 0 to a few hundred thousand.


The best shot would be pitching it as a (free?) marketing gag, but that'd involve some serious convincing.



- Edit:

What would be your role in this?
Please don't say "Project Lead", as this won't get you very far with them.
 
Thanks.

My role is that I was working with Virgin on something else and thought this might be worth exploring. I am not leading anything :-)

I am trying to get some info for them so they know who to talk with...

So if anyone is interested in talking to them please PM me and I will put you in contact with them.

John L
 
JohnLattanzio said:
My role is that I was working with Virgin on something else and thought this might be worth exploring. I am not leading anything :-)
Click to expand...

Phew!

Nothing worse than this "I've got an idea for a project. It's very demanding and I need others to do the hard work while I basically kick back and crack the whip" stuff. (Hence, my initial question.)


Well, you know the rough market conditions now. And where to ask if VG is seriously interested in such a project.
 
Yeah, an interesting project really, make such a bird and sponsored by Virgin, techinically don't know how could be done in Fsx but it would be cool addon for fsx.
 
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I am seriously looking into creating a spaceflight module for FSX. I've had some successes so far - I created a SimConnect module that turns off the FSX's flight model and imposes a custom one, in this case a simple newtonian orbital path. I also found a comprehensive physics library that will do everything I need and it is open-source, so no hinderance there. The next thing I have to wrap my head around is staging (shedding rocket stages, which would be also applicable in VG model) and some funky coordinate transformations which I need to do to have my physics engine and FSX talk to each other (they are in Quaternions - not as scary as it sounds but still a bit of a challenge).

I wonder what kind of a following would there be for an add-on like this?

Misho
 
Remember Microsoft Space Simulator? I bought it, but never got into it. Even though you travel at extreme speeds, you need to travel over extreme distances to gain any perspective, and the whole thing ended up feeling boring to me.

It didn't have a long shelf life.
 
Yes, I remember it - but it didn't cater to "sim heads" that much - it had a very simplistic user interface, no cockpits, boring gauges... it was more of a planetarium. I personally would love to design a new Orion or Dragon space capsules and then tinker with the interior layout and high fidelity gauges (which at this point woud be a bit of a guess). Also, there is a possibility of building structures in space, sharing them as add-ons and have folks visit your creations, and even re-surfacing FSX world and sending landers there (Moon, Mars, Asteroids...).
 
Misho said:
Yes, I remember it - but it didn't cater to "sim heads" that much - it had a very simplistic user interface, no cockpits, boring gauges... it was more of a planetarium. I personally would love to design a new Orion or Dragon space capsules and then tinker with the interior layout and high fidelity gauges (which at this point woud be a bit of a guess). Also, there is a possibility of building structures in space, sharing them as add-ons and have folks visit your creations, and even re-surfacing FSX world and sending landers there (Moon, Mars, Asteroids...).
Click to expand...

www.kerbalspaceprogram.com
 
HolgerSandmann said:
Hi guys,

perhaps this is relevant? http://www.sim-outhouse.com/sohforums/showthread.php?76620-Spaceflight-V2-0-released

Cheers, Holger
Click to expand...

Thanks Holger! Yes, I was aware of this. Hats off to the author(s), but this approach still implements "cheating" on the existing FSX flight model. As specified in their documentation, this addon has severe limitations, namely, a speed limit of that doesn't even come close to the orbital speeds. I am aiming for a true, "sim head" approach - exact physics, forces, re-entry, staging... the kit and kaboodle. :D

Heretic said:
www.kerbalspaceprogram.com
Click to expand...

Cute!!! But cartooney. A great learning tool for kids. We need an Orbiter-style sim with the graphics and fidelity of FSX, and of course, it's fans.
 
Here's a screenshot of the work I have so far... I have to admit I enjoy spacecraft modelling far more than computing quaternion coordinate transformation alghoritms. This simple flight model (implemented using SimConnect) accurately calculates the velocity for the orbital altitude, and it was used only as a proof of concept.
 

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Misho said:
Cute!!! But cartooney. A great learning tool for kids. We need an Orbiter-style sim with the graphics and fidelity of FSX, and of course, it's fans.
Click to expand...

Ah, bugger off. KSP is more fun than anything ever done outside of non-sci-fi space sims. :p :D

The cartoony appearance just makes it easier to bear when one of your designs explodes right on the pad and kills the crew.

The physics behind it are very sound, by the way. The only thing deviant from "real" spaceflight is the world (~1:10 scale), planet makeup and, of course, the main protagonists. Other than that, I've emulated most NASA missions from Pioneer to Gemini. I'm working on better parts for Apollo at the moment before I can do a Mun landing. Then it's Spacelab, the Shuttle and all the stuff NASA doesn't have the money for. Ha!


"We"...yeah, no. You. (So far.) ;)



Misho said:
Here's a screenshot of the work I have so far... I have to admit I enjoy spacecraft modelling far more than computing quaternion coordinate transformation alghoritms. This simple flight model (implemented using SimConnect) accurately calculates the velocity for the orbital altitude, and it was used only as a proof of concept.
Click to expand...

Well, it looks good so far.

If modeling is your thing, let your imagination go wild and do some parts for KSP to test them out.
Except for a few White Knight 2 equivalents I haven't seen much of VG's assets, so you might just have a starting point.
 
Heretic said:
"We"...yeah, no. You. (So far.) ;)
Click to expand...
Haha okay, but 1/10th of scale? NOT an option for a serious sim. And still, the characters kill it for me... :p

As far as "We", there are tons of people that followed/downloaded the "Spaceflight" addon, plus there were several other addons that tried to make it work, so, there are "Us" :D


Heretic said:
Well, it looks good so far.

If modeling is your thing, let your imagination go wild and do some parts for KSP to test them out.
Except for a few White Knight 2 equivalents I haven't seen much of VG's assets, so you might just have a starting point.
Click to expand...

Thanks! I need to get the bare bones of the actual flight model in. The physics portion is basically done - I have an open GL app for testing the physics portion, and it works flawlessly.

As far as imagination - I would concentrate only on existing (or soon to be existing) hardware. Just like FSX, but a spaceflight extension.:o ... no X-Wing fighters or Starships... :cool:
 
it's orbiting the earth that bird?
Just thinking a little about it I consider must be very complex thing.
Maybe Orbiter be the best space simulator out there ?
 
Tejal Bernardo said:
it's orbiting the earth that bird?
Just thinking a little about it I consider must be very complex thing.
Maybe Orbiter be the best space simulator out there ?
Click to expand...

Yes, it is orbiting at correct altitude and speed. The FSX speed limitation is in effect only if you actually use FSX flight model, which I (using SimConnect) turned off and imposed my own.

Misho
 
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