Multipurpose exploration/mining vessel: Recycling Point Express

[king of nowhere]

Recycling Point Express (RCE for short) is a multipurpose ship that can serve as both exploration and mining vessel.
RPE can land and take off on any planetary body except Kerbin, Eve, and Laythe. It can resupply itself on the ground. It can collect all science and transmit or bring it back.
Once launched, RPE can explore most of the system on its own

DOWNLOAD LINK: https://kerbalx.com/king_of_nowhere/Recycling-Point-Express-RPE

Features

• 5000 m/s of deltaV when fully loaded
• 2 mining drills and a convert-o-tron
• enough solar power and cooling to keep it effective from Moho to Dres
• full science equipment (with light for ease of night use)
• 3 kerbal crew. one scientist to refresh experiments, one engineer to increase efficiency of fuel production, and one free place for whoever you want (possibly a stranded kerbal you went to rescue)
• probe core for automated flight
• 3 medium and 2 small docking ports, placed for easy access by ships and rovers alike
• night landing assistance: only a masochist would try to land amid Moho’s hills in the night, but with this advanced system of floodlights, it becomes easy feasible not completely hopeless
• lots of reaction wheels for easy manuevering (necessary when you need to dock and you never learned to use the RCS)
• additional ore tanks, for those contracts requiring you to grab ore (you can always take off with them full and squeeze some more propellant out of them along the way)

Launch system

• launcher is already angled to launch itself with no need for steering.
• Activate SAS. Accelerate to maximum. Launch
• At exactly 65 m/s, activate hold prograde
• you should reach 300 m/s at a 60° angle, and 450 m/s at a 45°. Check your progress to see if you need manual corrections
• boosters should end with a 60 km apoapsis
• coast for a while after the big boosters are spent. you need to clear some more atmosphere, and you may as well keep their momentum
• activate wolfhound as soon as there are no more flames
• discard aerodinamic covers on the tanks over 55 km
• this sequence will put you in a 70 km circular orbit.

Check your inclination and speed during ascent. If you hold prograde too early or too late and your values don't match with the ones given above, you will need manual corrections. Shouldn't be a problem, RPE has good manueverability and plenty of spare fuel.

Limitations and future upgrades

• on the bigger planets, if you land on biomes without ore, you may be unable to take off and land again. RPE does not have a remote resource scanner. On exploration, it is recommended to bring one along (possibly on a smaller, docked probe)
• energy management is not excellent, and fuel production does not reach 100% efficiency. I was lacking some key technologies in this area. Will upgrade on later models. Anyway, it works, just not as fast.
• probe core is limited in functionality. Will upgrade with an advanced model when available.
• lacks an RCS. I never learned to use them
• lacks magnetometer. It was too heavy for its usefulness

 

 

 

Edited July 9, 2020 by king of nowhere

[king of nowhere]

Now updated with the most recent technologies: Recycling point express 3!

- solar panels refurbished. Solar power generation greatly increased. the extensible panels can be retracted to protect them during dockings.
- added four RTG. Recycling Point Express 3 now remains functional on Eeloo, or during a long night on Moho, if at a lower efficiency.
- batteries replaced with the more compact version. Power storage capacity tripled over the previous model.
- radiators improved. can now conduct ISRU at 100% efficiency, unlike the previous model.
- probe core updated: now using HECS2, with all its advanced functions.
- added some Vernier engines for RCS. I may want to learn it in the future. Even now, the propellers pointing forward are useful to brake in the last phase of a docking without turning the whole ship around. Warning: RCS propellers are not available for pushing forward: use the main engine. Warning: you must retract the radiators before using the RCS
- added a M4435 narrow band scanner. now you can determine where you can refill your tanks before landing.
- added extensible ladders for convenience during EVA

On the downside, those improvements added a bit of mass, so RPE3 lost 170 m/s of deltaV budget over the previous version. Not a real issue, it still has enough to go anywhere.

Also, those changes impacted negatively the aerodinamics, and the launch with it. It is now advised to activate hold prograde around 80 m/s, which is a bit later than the previous model. atmospheric performance also decreased. It is advised to hold prograde later rather than sooner: RPE3 can capsize if you attempt to steer it at maxQ. Ending up in a high orbit, on the other hand, only wastes some fuel, which you can replenish at the first stop anyway.

 

download link: https://kerbalx.com/king_of_nowhere/Recycling-point-express-3