Claws and SSTOs

[NFunky]

Hey guys,

So I've been playing this one career game for a while, and I'm finding an inordinant number of asteroids on Kerbin impacting trajectories. Seems like every "week" or two, another one comes along that I have to redirect. I've been launching ordinary unmanned disposeable missions to deflect them, but it's really starting to break the bank. So, of course, I figured I should just design a reuseable, preferably SSTO, asteroid nudger.

I haven't designed many SSTOs or spaceplanes, but the few that I did have been pretty decent winged, partially jet driven planes. Problem is, I have NO idea where to attach an AGU. I've always just put them at the very front of the spacecraft and (I'm using FAR) just thrown a fairing around it. This approach won't really work with a reuseable craft though. So far, I only have access to the Mk2 parts, so I don't have any of the really big cargo bays either.

Any suggestions would be very much appreciated. Am I going to need to keep launching disposeables until I get the Mk3 parts? Is this whole idea just not really feasible?

Thanks

Edited March 12, 2015 by NFunky

[worir4]

I think an idea would be to make an asteroid tug in orbit that is reusable. Then just refuel it in orbit after each mission. That way you could just make an SSTO refueling rocket/plane without the claw.

Good luck.

[SmallFatFetus]

You could get Infernal Robotics and have it rotate out of the cargo bay of a plane, then have vtol style Engines on the bottom to push it. You could also do a rocket style ssto w/ the claw at the top.

[Pecan]

Idea 1: Ignore the asteroids. If you don't track them they just disappear ^^. They're there to be tracked IF you want to do ARM missions.

Idea 2: Pulling is always more stable than pushing so put the claw at the back.

Idea 3: Use anything but a spaceplane, if you have the slightest interest in efficiency. A SSTO rocket or spaceplane is fine for delivering the intercept vehicle to orbit but why clutter-up space with all those useless jets, wings and wheels by carrying them all the way to the asteroid and back? A SSTO rocket will at least have all the space-based parts and power you need for shifting big rocks around.

[capi3101]

Going to direct you to this tutorial by Claw. The little probe he builds is good for Class A and B taters and will easily fit inside a Mk2 Cargo Bay or two. For larger rocks, you'll need a bigger probe.

I have noted that with Claw's probe design, replacing the 909 with an LV-N is one of those rare cases where you get more thrust and more delta-V. Of course, the probe becomes longer and two tonnes heavier in the process.