Author Topic: SpaceX Illustrations (Read 6540 times)

zlsa · « **on:** 04/11/2017 07:18 pm »

First off, let's start off with my rendition of a Falcon 9 booster landing on Of Course I Still Love You, SpaceX’s East coast droneship. This is a triple-engine landing burn; while SpaceX tries to avoid using these because they're inherently more risky than a single-engine landing burn, very heavy GTO payloads at the edge of Falcon 9’s capability may require triple-engine landings in the future.

In this image, the two outer engines have begun to shut down, allowing the single center engine to precisely control the vehicle during the final stages of landing on the droneship. Before landing, water was sprayed onto the steel deck; the engine exhaust instantly vaporizes it into steam and blows it off the deck.

Made with Blender and Gimp.

View on my website

zlsa · « **Reply #1 on:** 04/11/2017 07:21 pm »

My rendition of a Falcon 9 booster returning to Earth after a launch. The four grid fins are guiding it towards its landing pad as it hurtles downwards at supersonic velocities.

In this image, the Falcon 9 is at about 40km in altitude (with entry burn shutdown having occured seconds earlier) and is less than thirty seconds from the start of the landing burn.

Lots of people have noticed that the Falcon 9 appears to be flying over land; that wasn't my goal. The motion blur is actually zoom, not linear. On a similar note, the blur is very unrealistic; but I like the hyper-realistic feeling it gives.

View on my website.

meekGee · « **Reply #2 on:** 04/11/2017 10:11 pm »

Pretty, and it does not look over land at all...

CameronD · « **Reply #3 on:** 04/11/2017 10:53 pm »

They're great! Very clever indeed! Do keep posting these here

Lars-J · « **Reply #4 on:** 04/12/2017 04:46 pm »

Very nice!

Are you working on making a whole animation of it?

zlsa · « **Reply #5 on:** 04/22/2017 02:54 pm »

Quote from: Lars-J on 04/12/2017 04:46 pm

Very nice! Are you working on making a whole animation of it?

I plan to do so in the future, but currently my computer isn't up to the task.

cartman · « **Reply #6 on:** 04/22/2017 03:24 pm »

I can help with that. Do you have a render job or something that i can run with some instructions?

Archibald · « **Reply #7 on:** 04/22/2017 03:35 pm »

Excellent work !

zlsa · « **Reply #8 on:** 04/23/2017 03:32 pm »

Quote from: cartman on 04/22/2017 03:24 pm

I can help with that. Do you have a render job or something that i can run with some instructions?

I'd love to take you (and lots of others!) up on that offer, but at the moment it's very difficult for me because I have to manually organize the frames and upload/download the files. I'm working on setting up a renderfarm though, so anybody who wants to can donate computer time, but I need to build the software first

CharlieWildman · « **Reply #9 on:** 04/23/2017 04:03 pm »

Really nice work! Hope there's more to come.

Oersted · « **Reply #10 on:** 04/23/2017 10:10 pm »

Love your SpaceX blueprint and infographic illustrations too.

cartman · « **Reply #11 on:** 04/23/2017 11:31 pm »

Ok then, you know where to find me! My computers will be available (most of the time) when you have everything setup

Quote from: zlsa on 04/23/2017 03:32 pm

Quote from: cartman on 04/22/2017 03:24 pm
I can help with that. Do you have a render job or something that i can run with some instructions?

I'd love to take you (and lots of others!) up on that offer, but at the moment it's very difficult for me because I have to manually organize the frames and upload/download the files. I'm working on setting up a renderfarm though, so anybody who wants to can donate computer time, but I need to build the software first

zlsa · « **Reply #12 on:** 04/27/2017 10:56 pm »

SpaceX's Heart of Gold performing its first TMI burn.

More details, including the (fictional) background behind the image, can be found at my website.

Do you want to be one of the first to get access to illustrations like this one? Support me on Patreon, and you'll be able to get access to my illustrations before they're available online, provide feedback on works-in-progress, and even commission unique pieces. Or, if you have NSF L2, you'll already have access to my illustrations 24 hours before they're posted on the public side of NSF and elsewhere on the internet.

jpo234 · « **Reply #13 on:** 04/28/2017 05:31 pm »

Beautiful.
This reminds me: Falcon and Dragon have those cool logos. I think the ITS ships will have individual nose art. How about adding a Heart of Gold logo?

zlsa · « **Reply #14 on:** 04/28/2017 10:13 pm »

If there is a logo, I think it would be a fleet-wide logo, not a per-ship logo. I guess with the name, though, they might also have an additional per-ship logo (akin to mission patches today.) We'll find out in around a decade, I guess!