Reentry - An Orbital Simulator (and a lot more!!!)

[jztemple2]

I've come across a game I've never heard of which is weird considering what a space nerd I am:



I've come across several videos done by someone called N9 Gaming, I'll post a few of them here. They are rather long so I recommend just skimming through them at first to get a feel for the game.







The dev has also posted some tutorial videos. Check out the thirty-four minute video on how to do an orbital burn


Or a simpler, twelve minute video on how to charge your batteries on the Apollo spacecraft.


Finally a last video from N9 Gaming, where the host experiences an on-ascent abort (NOT planned)

[Hrdina]

Apparently I marked this as "Following" on Steam a long time ago, but honestly haven't been following it very closely.

[Daehawk]

That 2nd video of the Saturn V launch was awesome. haha That guy really has all the details down doesn't he.

[Kraken]

I don't want to watch all those videos, so I'll just ask: Is the player merely replaying history, or rewriting it?

[jztemple2]

I don't want to watch all those videos, so I'll just ask: Is the player merely replaying history, or rewriting it?

Since apparently there are malfunctions in the game that were not in the history, I'm guessing you can be rewriting history. That last video is an ascent abort which did not happen in the Mercury program.

I've purchased the game and am downloading right now. I'll do some impressions later on or tomorrow.

[jztemple2]

Just my first little run in Reentry. I just wanted to see how things looked. My attempt to launch my Mercury/Redstone failed because I didn't position any switches before launch, duh. I just wanted to post a look at the graphics.



A screenshot of the introduction from the dev that explains things a bit better


Main menu page with some other pages that show what is available in the game

[Blackhawk]

You forgot to light the fuse.

[jztemple2]

This video contains the Mercury Academy Pre-Launch lesson. It does a good job explaining how the views work, how to move switches and how to move the camera.

[jztemple2]

This is the next lesson in the Mercury Academy. You will learn the steps needed to go through launch and ascent, including more information on the various switches and gauges.

[jztemple2]

One nice little touch in the game, put in some time ago to celebrate getting a certain number of folks on their Discord channel, is an Exhibition that allows you to actually walk around the base of a Saturn V on the MLP (Mobile Launch Platform) on Pad A of Launch Complex 39. Even cooler is that you can go up the stairs of the tower and get a close up look at the different umbilicals and crew access arm.

What is even cooler for me is that you can look across to the Liquid Hydrogen storage area where I first went to work in 1977. You can even see my trailer . Extra points if you can identify what that square structure with the "W"s is in the upper center left.

[jztemple2]

Another lesson, this one teaches you how to use checklists and also explains the differences between the Redstone and Atlas launch vehicles.



In this video we learn about the electrical systems in the Mercury spacecraft.

[jztemple2]

The final four:

In this video we learn about the Mercury spacecraft attitude control systems, both automatic and manual.




In this lesson you learn all about the Mercury ECS, the Environmental Control System, what it does and what you need to do if it doesn't.




In this lesson we learn about the sequencer that controls the sequence of events from launch to landing of the spacecraft, including displays and switches.




In this, the final exam, we go from pre-launch to launch, ascent, retro burn and landing, mimicking the Mercury suborbital flights.

[jztemple2]

This evening I completed three more Mercury career missions. I did record them on video, but won't upload unless requested, since I haven't gotten any feedback on my previous videos

The first was just a dress rehearsal, bringing the Mercury spacecraft from a T-90m C&D (Cold and Dark) configuration to a T-5m configuration. The next mission was an actual sub-orbital flight, from pre-launch through launch, ascent, a short sub-orbital arc, then a retro-fire, entry and landing.

The third mission was the fun one. Instead of launching on the simpler Redstone rocket, we launched the Florida Explorer I spacecraft on an Atlas rocket for an orbital flight. From pre-launch to launch and ascent, which of course was longer than the sub-orbital flight. Ascent was fine and interesting, this being a "stage and a half" rocket.

Once on orbit we had a bit of a hiccup, as ground control believed I might be having a problem with my number two battery. I had to do troubleshooting to verify it was dead and do some switch throwing to take it off-line. Fun stuff!

Once on orbit I did some manual flying to point the spacecraft towards the booster to practice station keeping. Then some more pointing around with the thrusters which I wasn't very good at. And I managed to almost run out of fuel for the automatic system, leaving me almost at the point of having to do an Apollo 13 and manual point the spacecraft for the reentry burn. Happily I had just enough fuel and all went well... almost.

The reentry looked good:


But instead of landing well off the east coast of Florida, I landed off the west coast up in the Big Bend area near Tallahassee. If you take a good look at the screenshot, you'll notice where I landed.


But it is all a lot of fun for a space nut like myself

[Unagi]

Extra points if you can identify what that square structure with the "W"s is in the upper center left.

I think that is the burn pond?
Used to dispose of vented hydrogen gas...

Is that right?

[jztemple2]

Extra points if you can identify what that square structure with the "W"s is in the upper center left.

I think that is the burn pond?
Used to dispose of vented hydrogen gas...

Is that right?

Ding!! Ding!! Ding!!

Correct . Over a thousand standpipes with "bubble caps" on each so that the hydrogen would bubble up and be burned off. Each cap had to adjusted on a threaded rod; too low in the water and there would be too much back pressure in the pipe, too high and in a breeze the waves in the pond might cause the hydrogen to burn without being broken up into bubbles, damaging the standpipe.

Every few months the height of each cap would have to be checked using a surveying theodolite. Some poor smuch junior engineer would have to stand in the water next to each standpipe with a measuring staff and adjust the height of the cap. Not a lot of fun in the winter . I managed to avoid this job thanks to my programming work.

[Rumpy]

Yow, that looks complicated. I think I'll leave it to the experts!

Though I do remember a sim by the name of Orbiter from years back, and this looks along those lines.

[jztemple2]

Since I was asked to provide some narration to my Reentry videos, I decided to do one with me describing things as the mission goes along. This is a free play Mercury/Atlas mission, but with a difference. In the settings I have changed the Failures value to 100% per cycle, a cycle being two to five minutes. So every few minutes I am guaranteed a failure, which one I do not know.

Things start off well at first, but then end badly. Enjoy the show!

Also, let me know how the voice volume sounds to you. This is my first narrated video with a new headset and I'm not if it is too loud or not loud enough.

[WYBaugh]

jz, you are a natural! Really enjoyed the video and it's good to put a voice to the cow.

Was the main issue that you were not at the correct attitude when doing the retro burn?

[jztemple2]

jz, you are a natural! Really enjoyed the video and it's good to put a voice to the cow.

Was the main issue that you were not at the correct attitude when doing the retro burn?

Thanks for posting about my video! Always good to have feedback.

Yes, by accelerating time I missed my planned retro burn time and apparently the gyros weren't properly aligned. And perhaps this might have been a failure as well. I'm thinking I'll do another Mercury free play mission but this time turn off random failures and see how things go.

It is also possible to insert specific, chosen failures. This would be good for training and for video demonstration purposes.

[Unagi]

Loved the video. I was a little worried about hearing your voice, and well - not liking it (like when a movie uses 'the wrong' actor with a character from a book you know and love...) but - nope, it's almost exactly how I expected you to sound in my head.

I wondered; when you -will- have a malfunction every 5 minutes, were there not quite a few undetected problems afflicting you?

Also, I loved your casual professional input/narrative on the whole thing. Well done.

[jztemple2]

Loved the video. I was a little worried about hearing your voice, and well - not liking it (like when a movie uses 'the wrong' actor with a character from a book you know and love...) but - nope, it's almost exactly how I expected you to sound in my head.

I wondered; when you -will- have a malfunction every 5 minutes, were there not quite a few undetected problems afflicting you?

Also, I loved your casual professional input/narrative on the whole thing. Well done.

Thanks for the compliments

Yup, there probably are some undetected problems. That's why next time I'm going to instead specifically insert known failures to show how to deal with them. It will probably be more interesting that not uncovering a problem . Also I'm going to some editing to try to trim out the dull stuff and maybe put more than one mission in a single video if it is appropriate.

[Isgrimnur]

Your descent meter never moved off the green peg.

[jztemple2]

Your descent meter never moved off the green peg.

Yup, the retro fire would have seemed to be in the wrong direction. I need to spend some time learning more about the gyros and the automatic attitude system.

[Isgrimnur]

Even during launch.

[jztemple2]

Even during launch.

Maybe that was another failure! Yeah, random failures when I'm trying to learn the systems is a bit much.

[Unagi]

Even during launch.

Maybe that was another failure! Yeah, random failures when I'm trying to learn the systems is a bit much.

Also, @9:52

"Well, while we are waiting for something to go wrong, let's have a little fun..."

[jztemple2]

Another Mercury free play mission with narration. This one includes T-5m pre-launch through ascent and then to orbit. I demonstrate sleep mode (red cabin lights, shutters closed). And then I switch to flight control manual mode and throw the capsule around, then recover and realign the gyros. I also included a number of external views of staging and on orbit.

[Isgrimnur]

Show me some gimbal lock, baby!

[Unagi]

If we can put in requests...


I'd like to see you take a mission and simulate there is any failure (doesn't need to actually have a failure), but that the mission must be aborted - and the challenge is to put yourself down for recovery as close to the coast of Africa as possible.

[Hrdina]

I'm glad you did your homework on the gyros between videos. That second one was very edumacational.

I liked your videos better than the N9 ones. He spends too much time laughing and not enough time following procedures.

[Unagi]

I can do the Mercury program, but the Gemini stuff may be getting out of reach.

This guys video made me feel like I wouldn't be able to handle it (he's quite impressive with his natural ease in the capsule).

[WYBaugh]

He needs to learn how to pronounce Gemini

[Unagi]

He needs to learn how to pronounce Gemini

LOL! totally, I had the same thought (over and over).

I wondered if he (thought he) was talking about the plural of Gemini... Geminii...