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Rune's Slightly Used Vehicles


Rune

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Not to tease or anything, but I just thought up a rather funny acronym for the family of vertical takeoff, vertical landing SSTO family that I have accumulated over the years. Check it out: Ssto Transports Expected to Land Like A Rocket. I wouldn't even have to change the Heinlein's name because that is the whole inspirtion for the naming convention. Get it?

And it is turning into quite the complete family, ranging from just 3 crew all the way to 50+ mT to orbit, with very discrete payload improvements 0-2,5-5-10-20-50mT. Six different models! Of ehich two are brand-new, BTW. I think I have all of them either updated on KerbalX or just awaiting an upload, but since I'm AFK all weekend, that'll have to wait untill monday/tuesday.

 

Rune. Now I want to do a cool graphic or something to go with it!

Edited by Rune
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  • 3 weeks later...

A bit of an update:

1.4.4 works, and it fixes things. That is good. I'm also pretty sure @Cupcake... is ecstatic his kerbals no longer fry on cargo bays. ;)

Yes, I am slow on uploading more things. Trouble is, now I want to offer things that are really polished, so I can take out old stuff, and it gets some time to test everything... plus I'm mostly playing my own save with the limited time I have in KSP. But, things do move slowly forwards. For example, the vertical takeoff, horizontal landing family may not be finished (I'm stuck doing the small one in a manner I like), but the big one is doing stellar service lifting a little bit of everything:

Lc1cRfl.png

And speaking of 'a little bit of everything', here's something that will also eventually get its own release and fanfare: my latest mothership configuration. Technically, pretty much nothing in this is new. Files for 90% of it are actually already on KerbalX, or at least old versions of the same thing. But this time, I think I have figured out the bestest way of putting them together, and want to tell you guys how. Here, this is what I'm talking about:

246KMu9.png

The name of the first one, currently being assembled in LKO (see previous picture again), is Argos. And yes, it could go anywhere. It could also do a Grand Tour. Heck, depending on how you load it, it could colonize any rock on the kerbol system, then stay as orbital spaceport while the crew return to Kerbin in their own rocketship (there are backups on the backups). And, it is comprised of things that fit in the cargo bay of the universal lander (and Kerbin SSTO) that it carries around. Yup, the ultimate word in standardization. Doesn't it look... like a proper spaceship? Tractor design, capable of severe aerobrakes (the crew arms can be 'retracted' to do so safely), 4km/s lander, ISRU self-refuel capability, labs, and just thrown in there for fun, a Base Pack of the latest design. And still, it has almost 4km/s of dV... without touching any of the lander's fuel, and at a reasonable 0.16 TWR ('cause the Wolfhound is so OP). Without the base pack, it goes significantly over 4km/s, and if you use the lander's fuel, it can do over 6km/s before running dry and having to refuel somewhere. Because it can, of course. And obviously, you could load less fuel tanks, and need less flights to put together a shorter-range version. Here, a better view of the payload section:

XxVplTY.png

But isn't it a pain in the ass to put together, I hear you ask? Well, not really. I mean, stay away if you can't do docking and rendezvous, but little more. I recently discovered Dock Rotate, so the docking alignment is child's play, and can be done after docking. And thanks to the oversized launcher (though 50mT is not really big by most kerbal standards, when talking about reusable chemical SSTOs it's nothing to sneeze at), the whole thing will take around eight flights to put together, plus the lander. For an 'ultimate' kind of mission, of course (the inaugural one is going to Eeloo!). A mission to Duna without dropping bases would probably fit in two or three big launches, but don't worry, I will work out those things for you and offer sample configurations, with and without surface base modules! :)

And speaking of the lander... it will also be new! Yes, I can't leave good enough alone. And this reminds me more of the old Luckluster than any of the other I've done recently, it also has that nice 'can flip from stable pointy-end-first to butt-first in an instant' characteristic that I loved, and is almost as simple and well rounded, only much more heat resistant and with a usable payload (the weak point will be a 2300º part!). More on it on a future post, but I'm loving it so far, might be my best one yet in its category (5~10mT to orbit).

AbGHZGu.png

 

Rune. That is all... for now! (I know, I know, I'm a tease)

Edited by Rune
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  • 4 weeks later...

So... It's up! I should do a proper photo op for it, but I've teased it enough. Besides, long time no post nothing. So without further ado, the Altair, the latest and bestest light vertical takeoff/vertical landing SSTO in the fleet. This is its KerbalX page.

diZH750.png

 

Rune. I don't even have a 'proof of orbit' pic. But you guys believe me, right? ;)

Edited by Rune
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Hmm, you sound trustworthy. Stranger. :)
Or as Profs like to say: Well, that part is trivial.

Interestingly, for a similar take-off mass of roughly around 90t, the Altair's payload is only a quarter of the Javelin's.
Altair: 86.92t at take-off, 5t to orbit
Javelin: 93.16t at take-off, 20t to orbit with 1200 m/s dV left.

That is a good example how wings in combination with high-effciency airbreathing engines / nuclear engines result in different payloads to orbit. 

Just my thoughts.

Mephisto.
(Any brick will fly with enough thrust. Or, you can put the brick in a fairing, for far less thrust.)


Oh, and Rune: the link in your signature is broken. ;)

 

Edited by Mephisto81
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  • 2 months later...
  • 3 years later...
2 hours ago, tremonthedgehog said:

how do i put your payloads into the spaceships

Typically you'd put them in in the VAB, though if you're talking about one of them with a cargo bay I recommend the Claw Pod.


Yours is the first post in this thread in three years, I will note. Do hope Rune is in good health.

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