Farnsworth Lemur & Mongoose SSTO

[Dr Farnsworth]

Good news everyone!

Farnsworth Rocket Surgery and rubber toast delivery is not out of business!

The new craft are all 1.1.3. compliant some are stock others have, well not-stock stuff.

First up is the Lemur SSTO. 

Capable of crew transport or cargo delivery up a 150k orbit and returning without needing to refuel at an orbital station. The Lemur was designed to facilitate crew transport duty for my orbiting station around Kerbin and it works like a charm.

Flight profile: After rotation off the runway, bring the speed up to about 300 m/s and slowly bring the nose up to about 45 deg. Hold that position until you get to about 8k altitude then bring the nose down to 10 deg. Hold that attitude until you explode or your out of air and need to change to closed cycle on your rapiers. If you fly it perfectly you can hit 1500 m/s before the engines start starving for air.

Action Groups:

1. Toggle engine mode (closed/Open cycle)

2. Toggle elevator deploy (helps hold the nose up on reentry).

3. Toggle docking port open and toggle engine on/off (it sucks to poke the wrong button and move your station out of circular orbit. So turn off the engine).

4. Toggle fuel cell 

Abort: Toggle cabin lights.

Rentry: Move fuel to the rear of the craft and hit action group 2 to deploy the elevators. Enter the atmosphere pointing straight up to present as much of the surface area of the craft as you can to assist in slowing down. Once you have dropped to about 1400 m/s, transfer all the fuel you can to the front of the craft. The craft will become unstable and is not capable of flight If you don't move the fuel or you are attempting to glide in without at least 80 units of liquid fuel in the nose cone.

Currently there is a bug that will cause sections of the craft to load out of alignment if the landing gear are retracted. This only happens when the game re-loads the craft with the wheels stowed. An example: When you release the docking port from the station you are attached to it will happen when the craft re-loads. The workaround is to un-dock with the landing gear deployed. Just retract them once you have detached from the station. 

Some pics:

The Lemur can be easily changed from a crew transport to cargo by simply changing out the center section!

 

 

Download Here:  https://kerbalx.com/Dr_Farnsworth/Lemur

 

Farnsworth Mongoose SSTO

Being a sister to the Lemur, I decided to include it in the same post instead of making a new one.

The Mongoose enjoys the same operational envelope as the Lemur and shares similar design cues.

With both crafts you need to be careful of tail strikes on take off and landing. They rotate at about 100 m/s and need to land around 150 m/s. 

The Mongoose is a much more stable craft in flight and reentry due to the mid fuselage mounted engines.

Reentry follows the same technique as it's sister. Move fuel to the aft of the spaceplane. Enter the atmosphere perpendicular.

Once the air thickens up you will level out to about 45 deg attitude. Good enough to keep everyone from burning to a crisp. When to slow to 900 or so m/s, move the fuel back to the forward tanks, un-deploy the elevators and head for the runway!

Removing the crew cabin and replacing it with a cargo bay makes it a dual function spaceplane.

 

Download here : https://kerbalx.com/Dr_Farnsworth/Mongoose

Edited July 16, 2016 by Dr Farnsworth
Added Mongoose

[septemberWaves]

This is an incredible looking spaceplane. I absolutely love the design. Vessels which have a cockpit at the back are usually some of my favourites for some reason (I have no idea why, I suppose I just like the aesthetic of it).