Return of the Dropship

[evader]

Since aerodynamics were introduced in 1.0, I haven't seen any dropships capable of delivering rovers. There have been SSTO space planes capable of reaching other planets but their instruments were attached as one unit. Generally they were large with sleek designs.

Earlier I posted my frog jump ship variant G which, unlike variant A, no longer needed to take off like a rocket consisting of stages to reach LKO. However even that was not enough to land on any place outside of Kerbin. My target was to rival Halo's Pelican & all seemed lost until I discovered an extended version designed to carry troop or supply pods.

Using the same concept, the extended H variant was developed to hold 1 nuke engine along with the rover in a side-by-side configuration.

Now, with refuelling, the mun was within reach:

Unfortunately the nuke engine has to be jettisoned so the rover can exit the rear cargo bay door (but it's still SSTD capable even without doing this). It was designed this way due to centre of gravity issues.

VTOL capable in both Kerbin & when reaching its destination.

Rover can detach & re-attach so the cargo remains secure. Dropship kneels to enable re-loading.

I have to say that this has been my most over engineered & complex craft I have ever made. Who knows how far it will reach after researching the ISRU extractor (playing in science sandbox mode).

Edited August 20, 2015 by evader

[Rune]

I heartily approve new dropships!

Obviously this refuels in LEO. But it should be able to tackle the task of dropping 10mT on the surface of any body (except Tylo and Eve, of course), then take off again to orbit. Or the other way around.

Rune. And if the payload won't clear the bay, you just VTOL away.

[evader]

Impressive lifting capacity & range! I haven't been able to master reaching orbit after payload delivery. All those extras took a toll on my craft's range but I absolutely just had to have the rear cargo bay door for the aesthetics. With its 6 RAPIERs in a non-uniform vertical configuration, it also has a thrust balancing issue while in a vacuum, meaning the 2 outer outmost ones must be shut down. My rover had to be squished flat to fit in with the nuke.

Anyways, if anyone wants to try it out, they can get the craft file here.

Edited August 20, 2015 by evader

[Rune]

Impressive lifting capacity & range! I haven't been able to master reaching orbit after payload delivery. All those extras took a toll on my craft's range but I absolutely just had to have the rear cargo bay door for the aesthetics. With its 6 RAPIERs in a non-uniform vertical configuration, it also has a thrust balancing issue while in a vacuum, meaning the 2 outer outmost ones must be shut down. My rover had to be squished flat to fit in with the nuke.

Anyways, if anyone wants to try it out, they can get the craft file here.

Well, I've been at this thing for long. But if you look closely, you can find out the reasons, no magic involved. First and foremost, notice that I have 2/3rds of the engines, pushing a slightly higher amount fuel. That helps a lot with range, and it is the reason wings are actually useful, not just a way to look cool. Also, note that due to the weird way KSP calculates wings, you could put as much wing area as I have clipping wings into each other (to get closer to your replica goal). Feel free to take some inspiration form the way I put the cockpit in mine too, I posted it because I thought that would help you get it more like the goal.

Rune. The balancing part... it's complicated. too much for one post. Good luck with it!

[evader]

After many discarded iterations, the issue of having to jettison the nuke engine was finally solved. I made it part of the rover!

The ship itself has been refined as well. Better aerodynamics, more VTOL engines, more science experiments. All in a shorter structural frame. Now with less protruding fuel lines.

Rover aesthetics were sacrificed to squeeze it through the low rear ramp door clearance.

Fine print: rover manufacturer not responsible for ship crashes due to imbalanced weight.

Edited September 3, 2015 by evader

[evader]

Having recently barely scraping up enough science to research the ISRU converter, I managed to squeeze it, the ore container, and drill into the cargo bay of the standard size variant of the ship. However it proved to be too heavy to stay in orbit once its intended altitude was reached. Has this aircraft reached its limit? Could a SSTO VTOL space plane lift an ISRU converter to orbit?

After the design morphed into a runaway trend of more engines, bigger wings, and crammed fuel tanks, the Frog Jump Ship variant J5 monstrosity finally reached orbit.

With 10 R.A.P.I.E.R.s and 2 nukes, this craft reached 130x100km orbit. After refueling, mun landing and mining testing will begin.

Haven't tested landing through an atmosphere, though I expect the wings will snap off. Perhaps a well timed VTOL thrust will slow it down? (forgot to open rear door before deploying drill in the pic above, doh).

Edit: though this variant can no longer be considered a drop ship since its cargo is attached, it is designed to act as a fuel tanker/support ship for the other variants that carry rovers.

Edited September 17, 2015 by evader

[evader]

After barely landing on the mun using the last drop of fuel in a well timed VTOL burst, the refuelling ship made it about 20km from the other ship containing the rover. After mining fuel, I learned the hard way that a ship must always have sufficient SAS thrusters. It handled like a brick so I gave up and attempted my 1st round trip with a kerbal from another stellar body (the mun) in a SSTO plane. After many tries the kerbal finally survived landing but only by jumping out of the cockpit in the last second from the ship which didn't make it.

What started as a promising refueller has forever limited the rover version of the ship to a 1 way trip to the mun. This was still a milestone for me since a kerbal from a SSTO trip from another planetary body survived the trip home.

Edited November 8, 2015 by evader
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[mythic_fci]

Cupcake's so jealous right now...

[evader]

With KSP 1.05 I thought I'd replace the communicator antenna cargo bay doors from the previous version with a proper cargo ramp.  Little did I know that it would lead to a personal distance record for a SSTO design.  Able to take-off using VTOL while carrying a full sized ISRU, drill, and all science equipment up to the gravioli detector from the tech tree, this space plane was able to refuel in orbit, hop to Minmus to extract fuel, and make it to Duna (after many failures & quick loads of course).  Sadly for the rover driver, he had to be abandoned with the rover to make it back to Kerbin.  At least a surface sample was brought back.

Although longer than the extended cab version due to the cargo ramp and having only the internal cargo space of the standard type, it's able to lift a heavier payload than the 12 engine jumbo jet winged version shown a couple of posts back.  It does this all with a 3/4 of the engines.

The ISRU, drill, antenna, and science equipment are all contained in the rover.  This means it can visit multiple biomes for extra science points.  It can even perform ore conversion while detached using its small holding tanks but works best when docked back with the mothership.

Its main flaw is the NERVA placement on the tail which can only run at 2.4kN when in a vacuum and no monopropellant is available.  That's almost as low as an ion thruster but many times heavier.

I have further tweaked the craft since these screenshots were taken to include an external type seat for the rover driver for the return trip and better placed parachutes to land the craft on its wheels rather that doing a faceplant.

Edited November 30, 2015 by evader

[evader]

Thought I'd refine this some more to eliminate a problem where the rover would get stuck getting out of the ramp.

• Drill moved to front in order so it doesn't get cought on ceiling when rover rolls out on ramp.
• The NERV engine is now internal allowing full power to be used without center of gravity issues.
• 2 PB-NUKs added as well for outer solar system travel (1 on rover & 1 on ship).
• Liquid fuel tank in tail fin replaced by Rockomax X200-8 fuel tank as part of rover and rear thuds replaced by additional tandem aerospikes for increased aerodynamics and fuel.
• Added gravioli detector to hold all science equipment there are (except for prospecting instruments).
• Eliminated extra weight by removing pair of rover wheels, external command seat, and replacing rover cupola with probe core (crew size reduced to 1).
• Replaced deployable heat sink and 1x6 solar panel by the big sail solar panel which has a built in heat sink for the rover when drilling & making fuel.
• Z-200 replaces 2 Z-100 batteries.

I think I reached the limit of this air frame's design since I'm close to having unlocked the entire tech tree.  I cannot claim this as single stage to anywhere because I meticulously test my craft to know its limit.  The farthest I got was a flyby of Moho after refuelling in Kerbin orbit, Minmus, and finally Gilly (though that was nearly impossible due to its low gravity).  The farthest successful return trip was from Duna.

Moonraker v C7 can be downloaded here.

Edited December 28, 2015 by evader
Added download link

[evader]

I was wondering if my ship still works in v 1.2 after seeing the rover's wheels get stuck in 1.1.3 & thinking that was the end of this ship series. I'm pleased to say that not only does it work but the ship crams an even more cramped rover with bigger antennas, bigger wheels, (smaller fuel tank), bigger docking port, (no science equipment) but bigger charging capacity!

This stubby ship flies in the face of those egg heads down at mission control who thought it would never lift off the ground.

Moonraker v C8B.

 

Edited October 19, 2016 by evader