bhauth

Mesklin: Are you using a recovery mod there? You seem to be going back in time when you switch craft.

OK then, here's my tech 3 entry. http://imgur.com/a/QpPTm This wasn't in career mode so recovered parts aren't counted, and I didn't go to the trouble of landing at KSC, but going by the assembly cost of what was returned: 7330 - 3573 = 3757 net cost

That's not the version with manual staging. It's just tweaked solid boosters and hitting spacebar twice. I'll probably get around to getting screenshots of a Mun trip with it at some point.

Here's a tech level 3 entry. √7655, with a bit over 2700 m/s ∆V remaining in LKO. Without the landing legs it's √7255, and I'd also made one with manual solid booster staging that's slightly cheaper than that. picture craft file

Here's what I got: http://imgur.com/a/vQI52 (Mechjeb wasn't needed at all.)

I thought I'd try designing a cheap craft with no techs costing more than 15 science. I ended up with a craft costing √7655, with a bit over 2700 m/s ∆V remaining in LKO, which makes it (barely) capable of a Mun return mission. (Of course, it would benefit from some solar panels or radial batteries, but those are >15 science.) picture craft file What kinds of cheap, low-tech craft have you guys made?

Here's something with lower cost but lower payload fraction. 351.476 tons 39.49 tons payload = 11.2% √45394.5 cost 1149.5/ton http://i.imgur.com/LLUdyxU.jpg bhauth.com/files/big_dumb_booster.zip

btw, I'm sure it's possible to do things cheaper by using more large solid boosters, because they're much cheaper than liquid fuel tanks. I just felt like using both solid and liquid engines.

I made a quick entry. bhauth.com/files/cheap_skater.zip 511.015 tons 424.275 w/o payload 86.74 tons payload 17% mass fraction √144882.5 √1670.31 / ton Mechjeb will take it to a 75km orbit.

Solid fuel rockets are cheaper than liquid fuel tanks. Huh.

Pecan: That thread is for docking aircraft in flight. AGU = Advanced Grabbing Unit = Klaw Yeah, balloons might be easier, but I was thinking about the possibility of lighter stock Eve landers. I made a craft with a lander that splits off from a fuel tank with parachutes, and tried testing it on Eve. I put a probe core on the fuel tank, and set it as a target while flying the lander, but I lost the target when it got ~1.5km away and I didn't see the fuel tank on the orbit map either. Anyone know what the problem is there?

Those problems only apply to suborbital rendezvous, not to docking with a non-lander with parachutes.

edit: The main idea here was docking to a craft slowly descending with parachutes, and that doesn't work because craft in atmo, even if they have pods, disappear at too short a distance from what you're flying. Nevermind, I guess. Something that's a challenge on its own and might make lighter Eve landers possible: "airdocking". Basically, use one craft for initial takeoff, and then rendezvous with another one before reaching orbit. Apparently "zephren-kerman" had this idea before I did ( http://www.reddit.com/r/KerbalSpaceProgram/comments/2196wt/seat_of_the_pants_presents_the_dung_beetle_it/ ) and was trying to land Kerbals on platforms on parachutes. I think it would be much easier to instead use the new AGU, and just fly the lander into the other craft. There are 2 options for docking: - suborbital rendezvous - lots of parachutes, detaching a lander that does a "suicide burn", quickly planting a flag, then coming back up There are several options after docking: - use enough control wheels to counter off-center mass - manual engine throttling to counter off-center mass - transfer a kerbal over - a fuel tank with parachutes, transferring fuel to the lander then detaching What do you think?

Eh, my spaceplane might be able to infiniglide, but I didn't. The deluxe winglets have more lift per mass than swept wings, and you can stack them closer, and you do need some control surfaces, but most importantly, without using them it would look less "Kerbal". I'm curious if anyone else managed to get metaphor's ion glider craft to orbit.

Did anyone else manage to get a <19 ton ion glider craft off Eve?