WIP Project Longbow (Inter-Planetary Transfer System)

[Rage Baneblade]

Hello all, today I wish to announce my first large KSP project.

Dubbed "Project Longbow" by our design team, this will be a system of parts/vehicles designed to facilitate easy inter-planetary travel. Due to its inherent awesome, I'm basing this pack in a large part on the "Project Longshot" spacecraft from Civilization 5 (the ship you build for the Science Victory). Looking at it from a rocketry perspective, this craft makes sense for inter-stellar missions. My idea was to downscale it to ease inter-planetary missions in KSP. This was inspired in a large part by this thread. However, I fully plan to add in my own personal style to the ship.

The basic mission plan works something like this:

1. A combination of SRBs and Tordial Aerospike engines launch the Longbow system into Kerbin orbit

2. The large ion engine cluster fires, accelerating the ship towards its target

3. Halfway to its destination, the ship turns 180 degrees and begins firing retrograde

4. The ion engines are left in orbit around the planet as the Longbow Shuttle detaches from the ion engines

5. The shuttle lands on the planet/moon(s) and performs !!Science!!

6. Once its time to go home, the shuttle launches, reconnects to the ion engines, and flies back to Kerbin

Bear in mind this is both my first project in KSP, and my first time using Blender for 3D modeling. Expect the models to suck (at least at first).

Here's the rough concept for the Longbow Shuttle:

[MaverickSawyer]

Nice! what are you going to break the shuttle into, partswise? also, which docking clamp mod are you looking at?

[Rage Baneblade]

Nice! what are you going to break the shuttle into, partswise? also, which docking clamp mod are you looking at?

Right now, my preliminary plan is to break the shuttle into the following parts:

RCS thruster nosecone, ASAS, Command pod (carries 6 of the 10 crew of whole system), Fuselage fuel tanks, wings (possibly fuel tanks), winglets (for the end of wings), tailfin, control surfaces, landing gear, docking port, 2 radial engines for the back (think the current radial engine), and a large engine for the back.

Any way you slice it, I've got my work cut out for me.

[Lazurkri]

If this was going to go interplanetary distances by itself, it would be using either AM or some application of fusion technology, not Ion Engines; Ion engines are great for small ships. Full sized ships? Not so great.

also, something like this would normally be carried parasitically by a mothership, like the Valkyrie from Avatar.