Interplanetary explorer design...

[chd]

Here's my latest creation... probably could stand lots of improvement since I'm still a bit new at this, but here it is. Long range interplanetary explorer and cargo hauler; six nuclear engines, lots of fuel, can accommodate a crew of 13.

Six spots to add on landers, extra fuel, or whatever, at the front of each tank stack, and one more port at the bottom of the center column.

And, I launched this in one piece! :-)

[AndyMt]

Awesome! How did that even fit into the VAB ?

[Sharpy]

Six nukes + orange tanks... not all that efficient Lots of dead weight.

[mrclucks]

How did you launch that?!

I'm going to assume tanks not full and/or using a mod for bigger engines

[Hotblack Desiato]

How did you launch that?!

I'm going to assume tanks not full and/or using a mod for bigger engines

I assume, that this is quite easy: nail a rocket at each of those 6 senior docking ports, and do the launch. each rocket should consist of at least 2 of those big SLS-tanks + the 4 way engine, and a half SLS-tank + the big single bell engine as second stage. add 2-3 SRBs to each first stage, and you are good to go. maybe it's even a bit over-engineered, and would carry much more into orbit than necessary. the only downside: the cargo hauler would reach orbit "upside down", but with a click on that nice cupola in the middle and control from here, that issue gets fixed...

EDIT: you can bring it into space in the right way too, but then you have to deal with the rockets being attached to the nuclear engines, that might be less rigid than using the senior docking ports.

Edited July 8, 2015 by Hotblack Desiato

[Varsi]

Six nukes + orange tanks... not all that efficient Lots of dead weight.

MY first thought as well. mk3 liquid fuel tanks do wonders with nukes.

[Commander Jebidiah]

He may have the fuel switcher mod.

[Sharpy]

I assume, that this is quite easy: nail a rocket at each of those 6 senior docking ports, and do the launch. each rocket should consist of at least 2 of those big SLS-tanks + the 4 way engine, and a half SLS-tank + the big single bell engine as second stage.

Actually, quite small tanks (smallest flat Rockomax?) with Mainsails on them, and drawing fuel from these orange tanks. I believe that could even go as SSTO considering the only "payload" is three lander cans, six nukes, the cupola and a bunch of struts. A mainsail with two orange tanks can SSTO good 15 tons of payload. Here you have six times that meaning if the dry mass of everything except the tanks is 90 tons, it can get to the orbit on its own with no SRBs.

Of course now filling all these tanks is gonna be fuuuun.

[chd]

Yeah, I definitely have to work on efficiency---all suggestions welcome. Ion engines are just too slow though.

No mods other than MechJeb.

I launched it with the orange tanks empty; it took about four trips to fill them up after it was in orbit. I didn't attach anything under the nuclear engines; the launch stages all attached to the center column. Total launch weight was around 1280 t I think.

[TheTom]

Only mechjeb.... I think your nuclear engines do not need oxidizer. Wront tanks - wasting half the mass ?

[chd]

Doh! That never occurred to me.... jeez. Definitely still in noob-land. :-)

Thanks!

[Sharpy]

Not attaching anything to the nukes - docking the mainsails (with vestigal fuel tanks) to the docking ports!

[kiwi1960]

If nothing else.... you could use it as an orbital refuelling station.

[chd]

Ah, it looks like the LV-N not requiring oxidizer is a change in 1.0---that explains (partly) why I wasn't thinking in those terms.

[merendel]

Ah, it looks like the LV-N not requiring oxidizer is a change in 1.0---that explains (partly) why I wasn't thinking in those terms.

Its still a valid design choice if your bringing along landers with conventional fuel's rockets. You may want to consider changeing the center stack to a LF only tank however as your main fuel supply. Personaly I find going that large to be too laggy. That by itself wouldnt be bad but tack a lander or two on there and it adds up fast. That and I suspect the TWR of that thing is abysmal 2 orange tanks and a 16, is alot of weight for a single nuke to push even before considering the center stack and any extra bits. if I cant get at least 1m/s/s I add more engiens (and honestly I prefer a .3 or higher twr)

[chd]

I'll try some different tweaks and see how it goes... and yeah, it will handle like a cruise ship, I'm sure.

In general I'm still struggling with the fuel problem for longer trips; I can consistently reach a number of the other planets, but never with enough juice to get back. Maybe I need to start trying "bring less weight" rather than "bring more fuel."

[Vanamonde]

There is a subforum for showing off one's ships, and this thread now occupies it.

[chd]

Its still a valid design choice if your bringing along landers with conventional fuel's rockets. You may want to consider changeing the center stack to a LF only tank however as your main fuel supply. Personaly I find going that large to be too laggy. That by itself wouldnt be bad but tack a lander or two on there and it adds up fast. That and I suspect the TWR of that thing is abysmal 2 orange tanks and a 16, is alot of weight for a single nuke to push even before considering the center stack and any extra bits. if I cant get at least 1m/s/s I add more engiens (and honestly I prefer a .3 or higher twr)

I think this guy has been re-purposed as an orbital refueling station, after further consideration. :-)

If you're curious, its TWR is 0.08 and its max acceleration is 0.75 m/s/s. I think I definitely need to try building lighter.