HYuy

Hello everyone, I just had the idea this morning to throw together a special tribute for our servicemen and women as a Memorial Day Special. All models are stock parts (and built mostly in the past 24 hours).

It's possible, however I don't have any of those mods so I don't know much about how practical it is. If you were to land on any of the low gravity moons like Tylo, Bop, Gilly, Ike, or Minmus (or maybe even the Mun), you should have more than enough deltaV left in your tanks to get back even using the NERVA's small thrust output. It doesn't have enough to overcome most planets gravity (especially those with atmosphere), but low gravity celestial bodies shouldn't be a problem. To be able to land on one of the main planets and be able to return however, you'll likely need a drastic re-design of your ship and lander, and knowledge of bizarre but super-efficient configurations like the "asparagus engine fueling model". It's definitely possible to make a landing and get back without going too insanely large even with stock parts, it's just difficult depending on the planet. Eve is by far the most difficult to land and still be able to return from. In it's case, simply returning back into orbit even with a 1-man capsule is an impressive feat. Just for a frame of reference and size comparison, my first rocket that managed to pull it off looked like this: Launch Pad: http://i.imgur.com/AwC2c.jpg On Eve's Surface: http://i.imgur.com/n6PIh.jpg In Eve Orbit with barely fuel to spare: http://i.imgur.com/xSaYc.jpg EDIT: Oh, and here's the gallery of a guy who managed to land his ship on Eve and have enough fuel to return. Note the significantly larger size of his ship: http://imgur.com/a/HHPog#0

Mechjeb's ASAS capability stems from utilizing whatever modules you have on the ship. So yes, you still need at least one. What you have to realize is you want DeltaV, not necessarily thrust to weight ratio when it comes to engines and fuel tanks. It's incredibly inefficient to have so many engines with only a comparably small amount of fuel to feed them. And in regards to your ship with 9 NERVAs, each of those weighs a LOT, so by reducing it to 3 from 9, you're lightening the load the lifter has to carry CONSIDERABLY, and thus, you don't have nearly as much trouble getting it into space. Thrust to weight ratios are kind of weird..... you don't want to have too little, but having too much usually means you're sacrificing fuel efficiency big-time. And that means you won't get very far since you can't burn nearly as long.

Well, first off, you shouldn't ever need this many NERVA engines. One, Two tops, is plenty to get a lander of that size where it needs to go, even to the farthest reaches if you give it enough fuel. The NERVA's proportional thrust-weight ratio just isn't worth using for much else beyond navigating in space since it's rather inefficient in the atmosphere, even moreso for the first few km on Kerbin. Even if you were intending to use the whole NERVA stage as part of your lander, it'd be extremely difficult to get down in one piece even with mechjeb help. When it comes to lifting stages, most people just make the fair mistake of not putting enough fuel tanks per each engine. With the 1200 thrust 2m engine, typically 4-6 double tanks is optimal, and the same number applies to 1m engines. I've attached a version I made using your lander (with a few modifications) that can get into orbit for you to see what I mean. All I changed on your lander stage was I reduced the NERVAs from 9 to 3 (still a bit excessive, but it keeps the symmetry this way) and added an ASAS module. Steps to get into orbit manually (since I didn't put a mechjeb module on it): Set throttle to full, fire first stage. Upon reaching 15000m, angle 45 degrees in whichever orbit direction you want (you should be going roughly 350-400m/s at this point). When your Apoapsis is at the desired altitude (check via Map view), rotate to 0 degrees and continue burn until the stage finishes. Then, when you're a minute or two out from your Apoapsis, fire the second stage aerospikes to circularize your trajectory into a complete orbit. It should be MORE than enough fuel to do it if you're aiming for a 100-200km orbit.

Managed to make a ship that meets the challenge. It can take off from Kerbin on it's own, fly to Eve, land, and get back into Eve Orbit. Sadly, it doesn't have enough power left in it to reach escape velocity and get back to Kerbin on it's own, and it's only a 1 man capsule. Originally did the mission over a week ago with advice from guys on the IRC channel, but I wanted to revise the early lifter stages to be more CPU-friendly. The EVE Exodus Mk6 On the landing pad: http://i.imgur.com/s8bEK.jpg On Eve's surface: http://i.imgur.com/n6PIh.jpg Back in Eve's orbit: http://i.imgur.com/xR06p.jpg (The Mk4 was the first to land and get back into orbit from Eve, but the Mk5 and Mk6 made the initial takeoff a lot easier)

Yeah, I COULD do that, however there are a few issues. 1) Potential Energy Mass Ratio Recoil. What this means is that due to the ship carrying the round having very little mass in comparison to the round (at least in comparison to the full size cannon stations), the mini-firing platform would absorb a larger part of the energy of the round compared to normal, resulting in the round flying much slower than it could. 2) Capacity. The Takemikazuchi can carry 16 rounds in one go. Can you imagine trying to make a ship that carries 16 different small rcs units with rounds attached? They'd probably all have to be mounted radially, and you can't mount RCS pods radially by themselves without a liquid fuel tank or something attached. It's not quite as efficient as you might think. 3) Targetting. When you've got multiple rounds on a single station, you can miss the first one or two and then figure out how to adjust accordingly. With a single shot disposable pod though, if you miss once, you have to use a different pod which will likely be pointed at a completely different angle.

I got the original idea from a TV series called "Legend of the Galactic Heroes" (aka "LoGH", which was what Bigred2989 was referring to). The weapon system in that series was referred to by the same name: http://gineipaedia.com/wiki/Artemis_Necklace There's an awful lot of fuel in the Takemikazuchi cause I was planning on eventually developing it to be able to get to other planets in the latter updates and be able to defend them. My latest version without a warp drive however, ends up using nearly half of that fuel just to get into a 100km orbit unfortunately, but that still gives it a considerable range. As far as atmospheric re-entry goes, I find if you decelerate and then fall capsule end first, you can pretty much maintain the entire ship in one piece all the way down, however with that approach you're obviously not going to be able to recover more than the capsule (assuming you jettison it in time). I like to build from a "build something cool and THEN worry about getting it into space" approach, and usually it ends with me going through about 5-10 tweaked iterations before I finally figure out a way to make it work. The Revolver surprisingly only took about 4-5 tries with re-balancing the center of gravity between the fuel tanks and the rates at which they burn, but the Takemikazuchi's taken CONSIDERABLY longer. It's paid off though, and now you can try the VLS variant for yourself. I recommend setting the throttle to 2/3 power till the SRBs are all used up and then hammering on the throttle. It's not so much to save fuel as it is a waste of power in the earlier launch phase, and you'll want to save that delta-v for circularizing your orbit. Oh, and keep in mind, if you rely on mechjeb for steering the Takemikazuchi, remember that the capsule on it is actually upside down, so you'll want to invert your pitch and heading figures.

Don't use full power for the main engines, at least not for very long. Whenever you make a ship with a certain mass above those engines, even stock, for some reason the creators made it so the engine overpowers the decoupler and pretty much smashes itself to pieces. Just so long as you keep it two notches down from max at least, it should be ok. And yes, I'm a LoGH fan. Glad to see a fellow one (I tried making the Hyperion once, but stacking that many railguns and having them all fire at once ripped the entire ship apart)

Assuming another rocket, debris, or pretty much anything is within 2.5km of the satellite you are targeting with, press numpad 7. That'll activate the auto-target, and continually pressing it will cycle through things in range. Pressing numpad 9 activates the laser sights so you can make sure you're aiming at the right thing if you wish, and pressing numpad 0 fires. Basically, it works just like the regular Sunbeam laser. It even has a manual targeting mode, and you can see Tosh's thread for it linked in the main post to read more about it.

Well, that one at the moment requires (*cough* cheating *cough*) using the Orbital Construction Spacedock mod, but the Revolver - which is about 2/3 the size - can get into orbit on it's own without too much trouble. However, I'm currently working the kinks out of a version that CAN get into orbit without using Spacedock. So far it works, it's just a bit finicky so I'm getting the kinks out of it before I make it go public. Also, it'll probably eat most computers alive, since, well, see for yourself: Short Answer: ^That's how.

How do you go about setting a pair of engines point at 80 degrees? And 80 degrees downward in the direction of the back or the front?

You want BIGGER? Here's a few options: http://kerbalspaceprogram.com/forum/showthread.php/20134-Lockweed-Mardin-Orbital-Defense-Solutions ^ One of just three very capable orbital defense systems.

UPDATE!: Lockweed Engineers have finally released the VLS variant of the Takemikazuchi, which does not rely on a warp drive to achieve orbit! Lockweed Mardin is now officially going public, unveiling three of it's latest declassified projects! Originally founded in the last century, the company specialized in the development of bipedal and aerospace defense systems. Now, they have officially expanded to protecting their home planet, assisting the Kerbin government in providing solutions to the evil influences of the Space Kraken and it's allies. Isometric Orbital View Targetting View The Takemikazuchi ("Honorable Sword of Thunder", very roughly translated) is the newest production class of magnetic catapult-based orbital defense systems. Sporting a 16 round capacity, it's clever design assists aiming and maneuvering. When it's reserves are depleted, it's descent engines may be activated to allow atmospheric re-entry - at which point the crew capsule may be jettisoned to allow a safe landing. Due to its significant size and mass, it requires a warp drive developed by Zorkinian to achieve orbit. UPDATE!: Lockweed Engineers have developed a variant which does NOT require a warp drive to achieve orbit! Download for the Takemikazuchi V.ertical L.aunch S.ystem variant (necessary parts minus mechjeb included): http://www./?1na6elawvh3qb5s (The warp drive version is still available for download in a link at the bottom of this post) Takemikazuchi Warp Drive and Firing Demonstration Video: On Launch Pad In Orbit The Revolver is a prototype system currently being developed by Lockweed Mardin to test the newly developed 0.4m Super MAC slug. Due to the extreme power and speed of the round, it is unable to be fired in a stacked configuration, and thus uses a revolving spindle to load successive rounds. It should be noted that this is still a prototype, and as such, requires skill to get into orbit, though it is quite possible. Excerpts taken from it's launch manual recommend using a straight vertical ascent until roughly 8km, whereby weight imbalance in the fuel tanks will require using a controlled spin to maintain ascent vector. Cargo Shuttle with 4 Satellites Closer view of a Satellite Satellites working together to target debris Artemis Necklace is the name for a planetary defense system formed from a collective of satellites armed with anti-ship laser cannons. A transport shuttle carries four satellites at a time into orbit, where they can be dispersed one at a time at calculated points for optimal cover. Each satellite can be controlled remotely, and provides a sphere of protection with a radius of 2.5km. ALL Lockweed Mardin Orbital Defense Systems require MechJeb: http://kerbalspaceprogram.com/forum/showthread.php/12384-PLUGIN-PART-0-16-Anatid-Robotics-MuMech-MechJeb-Autopilot-v1-9 Takemikazuchi ODS DL link: (Also requires Zorkinian's spacedock: http://kerbalspaceprogram.com/forum/showthread.php/9283-0-16-0-Plugin-Orbital-Planetary-Construction-V9-3?highlight=orbital+spacedock) http://www./?nc5k81u576nm742 Takemikazuchi ODS V.ertical L.aunch S.ystem variant DL link (necessary parts minus mechjeb included): http://www./?1na6elawvh3qb5s Revolver ODS DL link: (Also requires r4m0n's robotics pack: http://kerbalspaceprogram.com/forum/showthread.php/9675-v0-16-Damned-Robotics-Version-1-2-1?highlight=r4m0n+truss) http://www./?c33bjf66rwf8szm Artemis Necklace DL link: (Also requires Tosh's Sunbeam laser: http://kerbalspaceprogram.com/forum/showthread.php/6014-PLUGIN-PART-0-14-SUNBEAM-Laser-2-1) http://www./?g3m4c02c77qwxeh

Originally got the idea from the similar thread on the Addons forum, here's the proof of concept station I made. Currently it has a capacity of 8 rounds. WARNING: You'll probably want to back up your persistence.sfs file since a small percentage of the trials I put it through (>20%) it randomly exploded and the debris could cause significant lag. This doesn't happen often but I don't know what causes it, so it'd be smart to be cautious when launching it. Required mods: 2-to-1 Hull Bicoupler, Devastator Railgun, and Missile pack: http://kerbalspaceprogram.com/forum/showthread.php/4542-JellyCubes-Advanced-Weapons-R-D-Weapons-and-Other-Miscellanea Spacedock (technically optional, but you won't get it into orbit without it): http://kerbalspaceprogram.com/forum/showthread.php/9283-0-16-0-Plugin-Orbital-Planetary-Construction-V9-3?highlight=orbital+spacedock .craft file: http://www./?nab7va9sard23zz

Wow, those are pretty spot on with the originals! Very nice job!