Three Stock Rockets and a Spaceplane [0.13] [0.15] and [C7]

[Tarmenius]

Salutations, good people of KSP! Allow me to present a few tried and true Mun-capable spacecraft. My design philosophy has been to create simple, stable, effective rockets with plenty of fuel margin without being terribly massive. In this, I believe I have been successful. It is my hope that these will provide newer pilots with a forgiving and controllable platform while giving the 'advanced beginner' a design or two to hone their skills with. Constructive criticism from the expert crowd is always welcome, too.

Without further ado, let me start with the two rockets compatible with the Demo version (0.13.3): Odin and Icarus

Odin is designed around a light Lander and is therefore the smaller overall rocket. I tend to begin a slow pitchover starting at roughly 8000m, aiming to be at 45deg aroung 25000m and 25-30deg by 40000m, maintaining that pitch until desired Apoapsis is achieved. I usually follow this ascent profile for every rocket I fly. Because Odin uses it\'s lifting stage for most of the ascent, it can be a little sluggish to maneuver, putting it behind the Icarus in ease-of-use.

Icarus is designed around a larger Lander, but is not that much bigger than Odin and even features an emergency Abort Stage that will get you home from at least Munar orbit. Surprisingly, despite being larger it\'s easier to handle. This is because the main lifting stage is separated around 14000 or 15000m, where pitch is still around 65-70deg.

The last of my rockets is only compatible with version 0.14.4

My most recent rocket design, Demeter features a relatively small lander (four half-tanks and two RCS tanks). Incorporating an Asparagus-stalk lifting Stage, it is efficient but can be difficult to handle if not oriented properly during pitchover. In order to prevent space junk, the last radial stacks should be separated before completing the circularization burn (likely with some fuel left). This will leave the central stack for finalizing the orbit, burning to Munar intercept, capture and some or most of the descent (or all if you\'re a better pilot than I am).

Finally, I\'d like to present a spaceplane following the same design principles as that of the rockets. Using the standard C7 pack, the Peregrine Mk2 is Mun-capable and glides like a dream at any fuel level. Simply activate the ASAS at +10deg when full and +5deg when empty for best results. With plenty of RCS fuel and thrusters, it is even capable of VTOL with at least one full main-engine tank. I have yet to test VTOL capability under a full fuel load, though I suspect that even when full it is capable of STOL. [Edit]: I should clarify that although it glides well with a full fuel load, I wouldn\'t recommend a landing attempt with more than half. Otherwise, you\'ll have too much forward speed on touchdown for the landing gear to handle.

And there you have it, folks. A huge thank you to any who took the time to read this, to Squad for making such a deep yet accessible game, and to the various board users who are the experts at orbital mechanics, maneuvers and rocketry. If I\'ve left anything out, or you have questions, ideas or constructive criticism, feel free to post them.

[2nd Edit for minor spelling]

[NeoHoltsky]

Pretty good ships, especially like the Demeter (and if I didn\'t know any better, I\'d say you ripped off my Alena Lander XD.) As for the Peregrine, great design, but the C7 pack is horribly over-powered in space, and basically cheat parts over 30km, so that is basically the limit I set for myself with Spaceplanes. I will admit, however, that my first Mun landing was using those 'cheat parts' :-[. As for constructive criticism, I do see a minor flaw with the Demeter, in that the regular SAS seems a bit unnecessary, but I haven\'t flow it yet, so it might actually be necessary. Next stop, the attachment on the bottom of the post. And then the Mun.

[Tarmenius]

Thanks for checking them out. I don\'t imagine the designs are terribly unique, but KSP isn\'t exactly known for it\'s 'practical' approach to rocketry, except in the case of minimalist designs. ;D So, I figured it might be a good idea to have some less-extreme examples floating around. I\'ve seen a lot of different designs on the boards, so I\'m sure these bear the influence of those who are better at this than I am.

The C7 parts definitely make getting to the Mun easier, but it was interesting to descend tail first then flip over at the last minute. At first, I wasn\'t sure the RCS would be enough to the land with. As for the extra SAS unit on the Demeter, I put it there as a spacer to prevent fuel flow through the stack decoupler. First time I took her up, the tanks in the Lander Stage were dry before I realized what was happening. I thought 'Gee, shouldn\'t the first pair of stacks be ready to ditch by now? Oh, crap'

[Tarmenius]

I have updated the Rockets for .15 (and named them 'Mk15' to distinguish them from ones compatible with the demo), but can\'t get an updated version of the Peregrine to work as well as I\'d like so she may need to be scrapped . The rockets are basically the same setup, but I swapped out the winglets for the landing struts. I also removed the extra SAS unit from the Demeter since it is no longer required to prevent fuel being drawn from the Lander. Here\'s some shots of the modified designs:

Demeter Mk15

Odin Mk15

Icarus Mk15

Additionally, I am including a slimmed down version of the Demeter called the Anteres 15. It\'s the same Lander, with 7 fewer fuel tanks in the lifting stage. It will still get to the Mun and back, but the fuel margin is (obviously) a bit tighter. Even so, I dumped the final two radial stacks with a little fuel left to avoid space junk, so the margin is still comfortable.

Enjoy

[Kymlaar]

Good work. I\'ll have to give them a try when I\'m off of work today (the .15 versions).

For the Peregrine you might want to consider making some adjustments to give it an aerospike for space travel, as it\'s able to run in space it seems. I hope that helps and we see a spaceworthy version of it soon!

[Tarmenius]

Thanks for the support. I\'ve come close to successfully converting the Peregrine, but wasn\'t quite able to achieve orbit. This got to an Ap of 75km with a Pe just below the surface; so with a little more fuel I can get to orbit, assuming it isn\'t too heavy to get off the ground.

I\'m going to try adding another fuel tank, and if that doesn\'t work, I\'ll remove the lowest along with the attached wing sections (which would make it about the same size as the original Peregrine).

The extra fuel tank worked and I now have an updated Peregrine (Mk15b). It\'s no longer Mun-capable, but once in a 72km orbit, there will be at least half a tank of fuel for maneuvers plus RCS. It also glides just as well as the old version (if not better) and if I launch vertically with a SRB stage, I might be able to manage a Mun trip. Of course, I\'m not the best pilot so others will likely be able to get even more out of it without adding extra stages and whatnot.