selfish_meme

Updated to address some of Clivman's feedback, thank you for that.

I had a rover that was made using Venn's, worked great, loaded it in stock and it exploded on load.

Inverness was really nice, lots of scotch distilleries, my castle is there, Cawdor Castle, long story

Currently it is a combined upper stage/service module, will revisit it when I have some more time. Thanks.

Finished off the Ares 1 to a workable level, docked it with a station and landed. Testing done right?

I have a smallish smooth bearing, I can send you the craft file, it would only be one axis rotation. You can see it in use here.

Ares 1 replica 2/3rd scale for LKO (100km+) operations with a crew of up to 6, SRB first stage LFO second stage. This is a great rocket, delivering the Orion capsule with Service Module flawlessly time after time. Update 1: Less Parts, less crew, separation of Service Module and Second stage, more range, flies better, more fun, more solar panels arranged more like Orion solar panels (not the circular ones, the four in a cross). Update 2: More parts, more crew, closer to scale, this has been reworked and optimised for 100km LKO, originally I went to fix a height issue because I based the SRB height on the 4 segment Shuttle SRB's not the 5 segment ones planned and used in the test launch, that led to a paint job, a video, lot's of launches, and sad to say lots of fixes. Stuff you don't really notice till you test it A LOT. It is now pretty bulletproof, even Mechjeb can fly it to orbit no issues and look good doing it. I recommend a 2 to 3 second delay between stages, especially when filming to give that NASA separation footage. Parts: 83 Mass: 405t Height: 63.1m Width 1: 2.5m Width 2: 3.75 Operating Instructions Activate SAS and RCS (verniers to turn against SRB torque), stage SRB's and ascend as normal, gravity turn at 100m/s, slowly keep pitching over until at around 70 degrees by 10km. When SRB's are exhausted stage second seperation. Follow prograde marker until 100km apoapsis is attained. Stage fairing and LAS and then circularise as normal. The second stage should be exhausted or nearly so and can be detached. Continue on Service Module. Launch Abort System - hit abort button Action Group 1 is for chutes, if you abort on the pad it takes too long to stage through and the LES does not take the Capsule far. Action Group 2 is for Solar Panels. Thanks to Majorjim for some help with the craft and to CommanderSpock for testing an earlier version. Also Clivman for some feedback. Download Don't take any notice of the LES still being attached, twas piloting error

Do the turrets move?

The only test launch did not have orange tanks anyway https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/proxy/aqBfzhzQ6bSS095QqKvJqpymUpNVH0UP-dLU62hhw-ule7Znl_GcvvFf1O_4mYuY5Jf5ocoMCJwJJi3EtoLgJY8974U-XGNBFTvEhW18AgyYKy31qo1unS1M_UuaroZ6-VE=w313-h470-nc

I am not going for a scale replica, more of an functional/aesthetic one, if they happen to coincide then that's good but not necessary, the only reason I mentioned it was it happened to be close and the second stage was looking short. Functional first, aesthetic second and scale last.

I have been doing some work on it as well, you may want to test this version, it's 2 stages (like the original) it's much lighter and flies much better. 75 parts, 166t the SRB's will push your apoapsis to 100km and then a skipper (closer to the J-2X than the poodle and and not as overpowered as the Rhino) to circularise. It's close to the 2/3rd scale as well (it's 10m short, from the silhouette it's the upper stage that is short). Might need an empty tank to extend it a bit. Download

I have read the book several times, I don't remember it specifically, and I am not sure it is necessary as part of the game play. I am reading it again to fill in details so I will see. Wikipedia says it was launched on a Pegasus XL. I would be ecstatic if you fixed issues and uploaded the craft file.

Not unless it is in the book. I did notice some of these problems, was just glad to get it into orbit for the first time really. If you fix anything let me know so I can include you in the list, thanks for testing! I let it rise naturally on the SRB"s and then pushed it gently over at the end. The second stage is a bit wobbly right now. When I hit staged the second stage it was already around 30km up so the fairing was just deadweight by then.

Woohoo! were riding a big fire cracker into the sky boys New Ares 1 Rocket Crew 8 Stages 3 almost 400t parts about 150 or so Download If you want something that looks accurate but does not fly as well Download

Ah thanks I can wear my stubbies in peace now. They would not know my tag so I wouldn't expect them to say anything.

I worked out one big problem with it, the clipped orange tanks, they do horrible things to the drag. With them I am sideways at 7000m and only get to around 500m/s. with only one orange tank and a full second stage fairing 29km and 1000m/s. It's not weight, they are empty, and only add about 24t total. It's feels like a whole new spaceship now and works beautifully, it just does not have the orange color tank second stage. Aesthetics may have to take a back seat on this one.

As a fellow Aussie I just wanted to know if you used my launcher, plus I sent people there, I'm in Melbourne so could not go.

have fun, but 2 weeks for 1.1, they haven't even sent it to testing yet.

It's just I was watching you burn off speed in the atmosphere and thought, could have just used a heatsheild rather than engine and tank, but it was probably just leftovers anyway.

Hey Majorjim, I have been working on the Ares 1 (OK I rebuilt it) and it is much better aesthetically and functionaly (has Orion capsule), performance is meh, if you want to take a look. I am not happy with the performance but you can get it to LKO which is the objective. Download - - - Updated - - - Edit: action Group 1 for Parachutes, if you abort on the pad it takes too long to space through the empty stages

Here is a picture , dude it will work everywhere except Eve, Kerbin, Laythe and Tylo. Not really universal, but not bad. You might make it on Laythe but only because you have so much dV (4900m/s) you can afford to cruise slowly to orbit. Not enough TWR for Eve obviously. It's not really aerodynamic enough for going fast in atmosphere so Kerbin is out and maybe Laythe as well. On paper it will do Tylo, in real life probably not, the craft below, much simpler with 5300m/s dV will just about make it from 80km and back to 80km on Tylo, I would top it off with another 100 tank just to get it above 5400m/s dV. On paper you can do it with less, but not many people can do really efficient suicide burns.

I think Eve is a lot easier these days, you can send small ships down empty on airbrakes and parachutes with an ISRU, engine first you don't even need heat sheilds at orbital velocity. Coming up is harder but more so that you don't overheat.

Thanks for helping with the Ares 1, is it OK if I pinch your Ares V for The Dunatian pack?

You sir are a saint, Thank you for that.