evader

I made a challenge for myself to see if I could create a SSTO that can carry a 4x4 XL3 wheeled rover in an internal cargo bay. Had to look like a plane and be able to load/unload the rover using some door mechanism (and no fairings allowed!). In trying to make a door mechanism, it ended up having 3 rovers inside, beyond what I was trying to achieve. KerbalX download link

Initially I thought having a rotating VTOL engine for my SSTO space plane would offer an improvement in efficiency over my fixed VTOL craft. Unfortunately this resulted in a craft that's twice as big and heavy while carrying the same payload. The only advantage it has is the cool factor of engines that can go from vertical to horizontal mode.

Was getting frustrated by my inability to make SSTOs spaceplanes that could go beyond Kerbin's SOI without orbital refuelling so I took my longest range SSTO (Super Biplane MKII) that had previously reached Duna without refuelling and put a tiny mining rover in it. Had to sacrifice 1 nuke engine to keep its weight down. Sadly this rover can only re-dock in low gravity environments if it can hover using its RCS thrusters but that doesn't stop it from refuelling with the rover still docked, as long as landing gear are retracted. This makes it my 1st proper SSTA (as in no orbital refuelling while still making it back to Kerbin). I didn't need to include a rover but I'm obsessed with including one in every SSTO I make (that and Kerbin VTOL ability which has been limiting me to orbital refuelling).

I always wanted to fit in a rover with XL3 wheels inside an SSTO but it was too big for a MK3 cargo bay. I read how this large wheel is impractical which only made me more determined to succeed. I built a custom cargo bay like in the old days before the aerodynamics nerf. First I built a box around the rover then thought the design would sort itself out. It kept failing when adding more and bigger engines and making it lighter so I did the opposite and added smaller engines and more fuel and incredibly it made it to orbit.

After researching, I found out that autostrut has been added to the menu in version 1.2. Boy I'm behind the times.

Yes, but does it carry a rover onboard? Lol, j/k. With enough descriptors, I can make any of my designs seem to be the 1st of their kind. It's true that I've seen that creation when it came out. I was still racing towards just achieving orbit with a rotating VTOL design at the time. I saw its build tutorial but decided to go my own route since I didn't want to tweak any files for auto struts or extra offsets.

You were right, my work was not a failure but an unfinished prototype. I simply didn't know it at the time. This may be the world's first swivel VTOL (from Kerbin's surface) mining rover SSTO cargo spaceplane. Phew, that's a lot of descriptors. I have tried studying other's swivel hinge designs (except for downloading them cause I'm too lazy ) but could not get the sideways facing symmetrical docking ports to attach at the same time which would cause wobbling with the resulting crashing into the ground. This design continues the use of independent self rotating engines that attach without switching to probes (though they're still there in case of emergency) thanks to 3 pairs of twitch engines located on each vector nozzle. They are the only dead weight when not in use, meaning greater efficiency (actually it's awful efficiency if counting the horrible drag from the sideways pointing fuselages on the wings, the downwards facing docking ports and rocket fuel tanks acting as hinges). The attach success rate is surprisingly high if time is given for wing wobbling to settle down. Just don't press z when taking off or the wings will fly away without the ship. Thrust must be applied steadily using shift. This design required stripping everything to the bone. Smaller cockpit, smaller mining rover that can only convert ore once docked and tiny tail fins to keep down weight. I also had to sacrifice the use of heavy nuke engines. Even the VTOL docking ports must double as refuelling lines. Aesthetics have suffered greatly as a result. The takeoff profile is also very tricky. I only got it to orbit once using a 45 degree takeoff angle once in horizontal flight mode. However I build all my ships without offset mods or file tweaks and fly without any mods like mechjeb so for others it may be easier.

An up scaled version of my swivel VTOL subassembly. This time with 4 pods, vectors instead of aerospikes & a heavy mining rover in the cargo bay. This VTOL is my most reliable yet in terms of transitioning to horizontal mode. Because I don't use any mods to aid in construction, I'm unable to reproduce such reliability in other models. Just don't pull back on the pitch or it will melt the internal docking ports used for engine attachment (I got lucky in this video & they didn't explode). Oh, and don't go above 50% throttle or the tiny docking ports will snap under pressure. The probes inside aren't used to control the swiveling, only to allow the small thrusters to remain on while rotating the engines. It only takes a (combo) press of a button to change flight modes. All 8 engines rotate independently so any number of these subassemblies can be duplicated for larger craft while still working with a single action group. Range has been increased a tiny bit too but it's still a long way off my goal of an infini range SSTO that carries a mining rover and can VTOL off kerbin and reach minmus without orbital refuelling (is such a feat even possible?). I'm proud of its ugliness. It screams I shouldn't be airborne yet I'm breaking all the expert's rules of good aerodynamic design.

My obsession with multi swivel VTOLs continues with a slightly improved model that has a more compact housing in exchange for having the engine exposed. A.I.R.B.R.A.K.E.S. Shovers push the engines into place when engine docking fails. My goal is to make a craft solely powered by swivel engines, eliminating the dead weight of fixed engines (though the tiny rockets used for rotation do not eliminate this completely). No vessel switching required and each VTOL engine rotates independently to dock either horizontally or vertically. This can be done multiple times as long as fuel is transferred to the tanks that are part of the VTOL engine. Now with twice the range (crashes slightly farther past the space center shoreline ).

They use 2 spark engines on one side & 2 pairs of spider engines on the other (need radial engines due to docking port obstruction used for engine re-attachment). With several group commands, they can rotate one way or the other, detach, or shut off (needed after re-attachment). I found out if thrust is set to 25% before detachment but after the spark/spider engine activation then they dock each time but require holding the throttle button since each aerospike may attach at different times and then thrust goes to 0 automatically. Since they're not separatrons, I can detach and change directions multiple times. The aerospike is the most powerful engine that I could fit inside. Unfortunately it's underpowered when combined with the housing. I was only able to attach 1 MK3 fuel fuselage while still do VTOL and that meant that fuel ran out when I reached the coastline. I was barely able to gain altitude as well. The nice thing about it is each housing is saved as a subassembly so I can combine them to increase lifting capacity (though it's by a small multiplier factor). I was even able to attach them in a 4 corner configuration (like a drone chopper) and somehow the front aerospikes didn't burn the 2 subassemblies behind them. It also appears as though those small landing gear used as guides while rotating the engines might not be needed. If I could remove those wheels and fit a splitter for 2 engines instead and add the reaction wheels to increase fuel efficiency then this might work (but still not get to orbit).

My greatest in-progress failed creation. Made up of 4 highly inefficient subassemblies consisting of independent, over-engineered tilting engines that change mode from a single button...sequence. With a whopping range of 1km.

Would refuelling in Kerbin orbit be allowed before flying onwards? If yes then my Moonraker v C8B should be able to make it back. It has a rover with large ISRU and drill size but trades it off for a smaller rocket, RCS, and ore holding tanks so it works better when docked back with the ship. The rover also carries the giant prospecting scanner, narrow band scanner, and surface scanning module. This MK3 sized ship fits all this while being able to do VTOL briefly but enough to take off from areas with no runways or clear hilly areas and reach Kerbin orbit.

I was wondering if my ship still works in v 1.2 after seeing the rover's wheels get stuck in 1.1.3 & thinking that was the end of this ship series. I'm pleased to say that not only does it work but the ship crams an even more cramped rover with bigger antennas, bigger wheels, (smaller fuel tank), bigger docking port, (no science equipment) but bigger charging capacity! This stubby ship flies in the face of those egg heads down at mission control who thought it would never lift off the ground. Moonraker v C8B.

Download link for my craft available now.

Not Spain if that's what you were thinking. I choose spacecraft names from the 1st random source that comes up in my head. I think I was watching a documentary about some caveman paintings and selected this name without realizing where I got it from. It just sounds good like something that would be used for a car model (like Nissan Altima).