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I've built a prototype of a VTOL ion-drive "hover-raft" for lo-grav environments up to and including Duna. Gossamer Albatross 1.0 It's dual purpose is local tourism as well as commuter flights over about a 30-degree radius of the reference body's circumference. It could serve for rescue too. "Hover-raft" and "mono-prop commuter" are two nicknames for it. Unfortunately, I think I've reached the limits of my VAB capability with this project, so I'd like to open a competition. (Maybe something similar has been done before? Please let me know and provide a link and thank you!) Otherwise, I'd like to propose a challenge. Take a look at the craft file above. I want an 8-seater (6 or above). VTOL. Stays aloft on ion-power alone. Is only fueled with xenon and mono-prop. Is fun to fly and OK to require plenty of advance flight planning. You may use monoprop, e.g. OMS, to propel to speed or to initiate/augment ascent. It *must* be equipped with a refueling "spoon" (similar to that included in 1.0 above): a standard-size dock facing downwards for mating with a fuel-truck rover. Mono-prop is used for initial acceleration and final deceleration and the usual attitude adjustments. After that it should have at least 30 minutes duration aloft on ion-power. The v1.0 posted here needs weight reduction and I wanted to remove the stack bi-couplers and replace the retract landing gear with lighter-weight fixed gear. One last comment: "form follows function". I don't care how ugly the result is (check out my effort!!) as long as it is fun to fly and good for exploration, tourism and medium-distance commuting. Apologies to resorting to hoping other people would spend their own valuable time, energy and expertise working on this but I know that a) I am at the limit of what I can do with the VAB, and b ) there are rocket craftsmen out there who might revel in a challenge like this and enjoy producing something that I believe will be very useful and fun to a lot of others. Want to take a crack at it? Be my guest! Please post your work back in this topic and get some recognition/kudos for your ability!
