Spacecraft names

[softweir]

The Culture novels by Iain M. Banks are full of interesting and amusing names for vessels. My favourite is "I said I've got a big stick" - which is a joke on the saying "Speak softly, and carry a big stick" by President Theodore Roosvelt.

[DuckZero]

I use famous physicists

e.g.

Sagan

Tyson

Hawking

Euler

...

Admittedly, some of them (Einstein, Maxwell, Faraday, Feynmann etc etc) don't make very compelling names.

[LaydeeDem]

Odin, Zeus, Athena, Demeter, Hera, Hermes, the list goes on.

Also ALWAYS name your craft headed to Kerbol Icarus for obvious reasons.

[royying]

Mun Walker

[MissStabby]

The Kraken

Comet

Spirit of Caffeine

Regolith Muncher

Arizona

MunBird

Hysteria

Traveller

Balrog

Flashbang

Candlestick

TheHulk

Longbow

Medusa

Galeforce

Mercy

Hyperion

Strider

The Ark

Megaton

[Maddmatts]

I like "Smouldering". That way if it fails on take-off you get to see "Smouldering Debris already on launchpad" next time you prep a rocket/plane.

[KAO]

I tend to name my ships after Russian spacecraft

Zond, Lunokhod, Zvezda, Liyner, Sibir, Sputnik, Almaz, Salyut, Mir, Venera

[khenness]

Mine are all "MoonBaker" and a number, after the shuttles from the James Bond film where he goes into space. I don't know why.

Edited August 11, 2012 by khenness

[djnekkid]

So far its been rather boring names, with basic "what does it do" - "mk x" ... With the three noticable ones "Lun Lander mk8", "Lun Lander XL-5" and "NS1". Where the latter one is a sliiiight Star Trek refrence, Near Space 1, its a "Space station" with about 3 or 4 full size 1m tanks in radius, I'll post a screenshot of it. Its at a roughly 150-160km orbit around Kerbin

[musketeer]

Name it "Kerman". If a manned rocket blows up on the launchpad you'll have "Kerman Debris" all over it >

[Plaatinum Aerospace]

I tend to name thing after cosmic events (Hypernova, Quasar, etc.)

[Candre]

I name my launch vehicles as following: (Bird/God) + (engine count) + (variant)

As for the spacecraft themselves, I opt for acronyms like CORI (Charr ORbiter and Imager).

[MurderOfAKiller]

Call one Flug. (German for flight, voyage, journey, etc.)

[Accelerando]

Rambottom Buttmunch.

Blast Hardcheese!

[Stupititykills]

I have a " thriller" series of one man mun rovers

[BurningSky93]

I normally name my manned missions after some sort of mythical being, with each iteration being given a "Mk. n" suffix, so, for example, my first three-kerbal mission to the Mun was the Colossus Mk. II (unfortunately Colossus Mk. I had to be aborted as there wouldnt have been enough fuel for a round trip).

My spaceplanes are normally named after birds. My first Mk. I cockpit spaceplane was the Swift Mk. I, the first Mk. II cockpit spaceplane wa the Swallow Mk. I and the first Mk. III cockpit spaceplane was the Albatross Mk. I.

My unmanned probes are normally given fairly normal, what you might call "first" or "christian" names. The first Munar lander probe was Marcus Mk. I, and the first Minmus lander probe was Misha Mk. I.

Anything that is a utility spacecraft is given a purely descriptive name. For example my kerbin orbiters are all jsut called "Kerbin Orbiter Mk. I" with their orbital inclination afterwards (0, 30, 60, 90, 120 and 150). My orbiters for the kerbins satellites are named a similar way (Minmus Orbiter Mk.I for example). My kerbosynchronous orbiter is just "kerbosynchronous orbiter".

[Atimed]

I have a strict naming convention that can support around ~50'000 different crafts..

Gen-Number / Element From the Periodical Table of Elements / Tipe (Pod,Lander,Spacecraft,Airplane..) Mk (variation number)

---

Example:

Gen-III Helium Pod Mk-2

Edited August 12, 2012 by Atimed

[MrHallESQ]

I started with the USS Enterprise NCC-1700-A. This ship took me to space but could not reach low orbit. USS Enterprise NCC-1700-B did take me to a low orbit though. Im working on a ship with better payload and improving my orbiting and de-orbiting technique with the NCC-1700-C. The final ship I plan to use before venturing to celestial bodies is the NCC-1700-D which I will practice Hohmann transfers and attempt a geosynchronous orbit. Once im ready to explore the final frontier, the NCC-1700 series ship will be retired and the USS Enterprise NCC-1701-A will take flight.

[Millst0ne MK II]

On that website, I got Jesus' Carnage.... sounds good.

I got "The Romantic Angel, The Death Cube, The Berserker Fish, The lively pill, Rickeys Humility, and The Romance Bull!

Great site

[Tommy521]

After "Curiosity" I've decided to go with things like:

Ambition, Courtesy, Dignity, Diligence, Fortitude, Impulse, Integrity (Which fell apart, ironically), and Virtue.

[Maxed-Rockets]

I do boring names. I have a system worked out that goes like this:

-

Designators: Indicate general class.

-

ST= Standard rockets

SS= Big rockets

SP= Extra-atmospheric spaceplanes

-

Modifiers: Letters added after the designation to indicate modification from the basic design.

-

Any letter counting up= Standard small design changes

M= Version designed for Mun or Mimmus landings

SS= Space station carrying version

Sat= Satellite carrying version

-

Example:

So if we had a our third big rocket design (SS-3), but we modified it twice (SS-3B) and we added some lander legs for going to the Mun we would get SS-3BM. May not be very fun, but it really helps once you have a ton of rockets.

[royalkingofgames]

I started with the USS Enterprise NCC-1700-A. This ship took me to space but could not reach low orbit. USS Enterprise NCC-1700-B did take me to a low orbit though. Im working on a ship with better payload and improving my orbiting and de-orbiting technique with the NCC-1700-C. The final ship I plan to use before venturing to celestial bodies is the NCC-1700-D which I will practice Hohmann transfers and attempt a geosynchronous orbit. Once im ready to explore the final frontier, the NCC-1700 series ship will be retired and the USS Enterprise NCC-1701-A will take flight.

Enterprise gets dull after a while, try these

Aventine,Titan,Defiant,Voyager,Prometheus,Nova,Sovereign,Phoenix.

you can tell my favorite series cant you

ps sovereign has no space the forum put one there for no reason

Edited August 14, 2012 by royalkingofgames

[asdeqw]

I use Latin a lot.

Solar satellite- Sol (Sol I, Sol II, etc.)

Solar probe- Icarus (Who doesn't?)

Munar rover/lander- Distantia (Distance in Latin)

Munar/Minmus base- Adytum (Sanctuary in Latin)

[SRB_Freak]

I have sort of a system, but it's a little restrictive.

The names correspond to the type of craft, and the numerals are for different iterations of said craft.

Exploration Craft: Marathon I... Odyssey I...

Lifters: Atlas I... Hercules I... Zeus I...

Orbiters: Iris I... Concentria I...

Jets and Spaceplanes: Hermes I... Lightning I...

Etc.

[Korona Korm]

I use the naming convention of [basic Model Name] [Mission][Generation][Designation]

Some of the base names I have so far used have been Titan, Templar, Unmanned (take a guess) and Korm as base names, with Korona, Shepard, Granite, I.N. Cubator, Omega and Oblivion all planned for future craft.

Mission is a simple one-letter code for what I was designing the craft for. M is my lander code, originally stood for Mun, but after I got to Minmus with Korm M1 I changed that. O is for a Kerbin Orbit and E is for something that achieves Kerbin Escape with no particular other use.

Generation doesn't kick in until the second generation when I put a 1 on the end, and increase from there with each generation being a design overhaul of a stage or layout change, and Designation is a letter code to separate simultaneous missions using the same ship.

For a time I flirted with naming a series Icarus, but after I had overheating problems I decided that it was perfect, retired it, and promptly lost the file.

I tend to change naming conventions after every update, for some reason.