Recycling, It's Good For Kerbin

[DChurchill]

So, As I'm bolting on 3 or 4x orange fuel tanks each with a $13K Mainsail I'm thinking how much of a waste they are as scrap metal after impacting with Kerbin from a 25K foot fall, not to mention all the unburned hydrazine.

What are my options for reusing them? I can't just bolt a parachute to them, there's no way to trigger them is there?

Edited May 9, 2016 by DChurchill

[Moarmau5]

The mod Smart Parts has automated staging. You can set it up so when the tanks reach a certain altitude, it can deploy the parachutes. Also a bunch of other useful parts. Although I'm not sure if it works with 1.1.2 yet.

[Znath]

All my ships are made of natural biodegradeable aluminum and steel.   After a few hundred years, the scraps will return to the earth.  

 

Except for the nuclear bits.

[Greenfire32]

57 minutes ago, DChurchill said:

What are my options for reusing them? I can't just bolt a parachute to them, there's no way to trigger them is there?

You sure can! As long as the parachute is in the same stage as the separation, it'll trigger.

For me, even though by the time it really matters I'm too far away from the stage for it to be "real," I consider any stages with parachutes as "salvaged."

[regex]

I personally don't care about reusability but I have played around in the past with a Skipper-based launcher that brought 5 tons to LKO.  The reusable part followed the payload to orbit and then deorbited itself later, which was the easiest solution I found in the bone stock game.

[Sereneti]

1 hour ago, DChurchill said:

So, As I'm bolting on 3 or 4x orange fuel tanks each with a $13K Mainsail I'm thinking how much of a waste they are as scrap metal after impacting with Kerbin from a 25K foot fall, not to mention all the unburned hydrazine.

What are my options for reusing them? I can't just bolt a parachute to them, there's no way to trigger them is there?

ill play with "not-SSTO" shuttles.

I like drop-tanks

Drop-Tanks: decrease the Dead-weight, decrease the cost for the shuttle (you have less dead-weight, -> less fuel is needet -> less weight for tanks -> .... -> less cost)

I try to make the Spacecraft as much cost-efficient as possible.
A SSTO isnt always the cost-efficient way...

Drop-tanks can made from Paper, Glue and biodegradable plastic....
 

Edited May 9, 2016 by Sereneti

[fourfa]

Vertical-launch rocket lifters that can reach orbit in a single stage, and later make a safe targeted re-entry, are totally a thing.  People get confused when we refer to them as SSTOs for some reason.  In harder career modes, the cash savings from recycling them is pretty significant. 

edit: I guess if you want to get in the details, you should look at the expendable cost of fuel vs the cost of (for instance) drop tanks on simpler lifters.  I like the simplicity of SSTO lifters though

Edited May 9, 2016 by fourfa

[Sereneti]

a spaceplane istn always a SSTO, a rocket can be an SSTO.
SSTO only means, it reach orbit in one stage, no matter of Vertical or Horizontal launch

 

[regex]

2 minutes ago, fourfa said:

People get confused when we refer to them as SSTOs for some reason.

That's because people around here think SSTO means "SpeiSplain To Orbit" when it actually means "Single Stage To Orbit."

Same with the differences between aerobraking and aerocapture; nevermind that the aerospace industry has actual specific terms for these sorts of things, this is KSP!  

[fourfa]

2 minutes ago, regex said:

Same with the differences between aerobraking and aerocapture

...and the even more common 'aerobreaking'

[numerobis]

The twin-boar is a bit cheaper than the mainsail: a twin-boar is $17k, whereas a mainsail + jumbo is $18.75k. And it has a bit more thrust.

By the way, where's your hydrazine coming from? You normally only have any of that on your top stage.

Edited May 9, 2016 by numerobis

[DarkHawkGames]

You could also use the Stage Recovery mod. Within reason, if you put parachutes on your stages and they land on Kerbin, then you'll get a percentage of your investment back (not counting fuel.) For example, your first stage will usually net about 90%+ of your investment back, while your last stage when you're going into orbit around Kerbin will get little to no recovery.

[DChurchill]

6 minutes ago, DarkHawkGames said:

You could also use the Stage Recovery mod. Within reason, if you put parachutes on your stages and they land on Kerbin, then you'll get a percentage of your investment back (not counting fuel.) For example, your first stage will usually net about 90%+ of your investment back, while your last stage when you're going into orbit around Kerbin will get little to no recovery.

I'm good with that. I don't have to watch it land, as long as I make the effort required to recycle the parts.

17 minutes ago, numerobis said:

By the way, where's your hydrazine coming from? You normally only have any of that on your top stage.

LOL I know, I was only looking for something both highly toxic and rocket related. I wasn't terribly concerned with the details.

That's because people around here think SSTO means "SpeiSplain To Orbit"

So that's what that means.

Edited May 9, 2016 by DChurchill

[DarkHawkGames]

Yes, it does it even after you're out of physics range. Keep in mind, it does take speed into account, I think if the stage is going too fast, it won't be able to be recovered, i.e., it burned up in atmosphere

[DChurchill]

..

Edited May 9, 2016 by DChurchill

[Brainlord Mesomorph]

I build SSTO rockets.

Add a probe core, heat shield, a  load of parachutes and and extra three drops of fuel for a deorbit burn.

Land anywhere near the KSC for 98% value recovery!

[fourfa]

Currently I'm into the 10m heatshield on the top of the SSTO lifter (between the rocket and payload), giant fins on the tail, easy as pie re-entry

[Venusgate]

+1 for Stage Recovery. Very non-complicated way to save cash simulating something that ought to be pretty easy IRL, but KSP just hasn't programmed it into stock yet.

[RizzoTheRat]

Vertical SSTO's are a lot easier to design/fly than spaceplane SSTO's, but I always find it's not worth building them in the early game when I'm not not going to reuse the same design due to new technologies being unlocked, and I never bother in the later game as I'm not short of cash.

Edited May 10, 2016 by RizzoTheRat

[Warzouz]

17 hours ago, DChurchill said:

So, As I'm bolting on 3 or 4x orange fuel tanks each with a $13K Mainsail I'm thinking how much of a waste they are as scrap metal after impacting with Kerbin from a 25K foot fall, not to mention all the unburned hydrazine.

What are my options for reusing them? I can't just bolt a parachute to them, there's no way to trigger them is there?

You can build SSTO rocket and make them reusable. It's VERY cost efficient and easier to design than SSTO spaceplanes

Here is my design

 

16 hours ago, Sereneti said:

I try to make the Spacecraft as much cost-efficient as possible.
A SSTO isnt always the cost-efficient way...
 

Well, SSTO space planes are more cost efficient than reusable SSTO rocket. My SSTO rocket family is rate down to 370funds per payload ton (including the average recovery loss). I don't know much regular rocket that are under 1000funds per payload ton.

[Wjolcz]

The recycling isn't that important in the stock game as the parts are rather cheap compared to the money you can squeeze out of the contracts.

I remember once playing a custom super hard career where SSTOs were essential to run the space program. I had to land each shuttle everytime or else I would end up bankrupt really quick. It was quite fun at the beginning, but didn't get me any farther than the LKO and felt really grindy.