SP-38 Starwhale + Deployable Support Vehicle

[Zacspace]

SP-38 Starwhale

I've been working on this one for a while. Actually I've been working on the Eve return vehicle that's supposed to share it's cargo hold with some other equipment for a grand tour, but I've grown frustrated with it and decided to just release the plane with a different vehicle instead. The plane has the lifting capacity and range you'd expect of something designed to do a grand tour, owing largely to it's low-drag construction. It's able to land on Duna which I consider to be the most challenging environment for an aerodynamic vehicle like this to land in after Tylo. It remains balanced at all stages of flight so that it never becomes aerodynamically unstable, however it may be desirable to manually pump fuel around in some situations to improve handling, or to induce instability.

Spoiler

Ascent on Duna. Requires little oxidizer, maybe none at all. NERVs doing work here.

Low Laythe orbit. Reference payload on display, solar panel extended. RCS only functions when the doors are opened since it's thrusters are inside.

Touched down on the red planet. being refueled by the rover from it's holds. I almost forgot to include a picture of it landed. It can, in fact, land and i can prove it, see?

Deployable Support Vehicle

I built this in part just to have something to release the Starwhale with, but I've also wanted to come up with a vehicle with this approximate size and capability for a long time. I really like the way this one came out, it's sort of like a small version of my Heavy Refueler, but with science. Very industrial and compact, and the way it folds out into a drilling platform is pretty cool. It took a lot of experimentation to arrive at that solution. Due to it's size and construction, this should be pretty easy to slap onto a mid-sized rocket and bring anywhere.

Spoiler

Bill regarding the sun beneath Deployable Support Vehicle. The sun, in turn, regards him. It's wrath seething. In time the sun will consume this planet and all around it, reducing all life to it's elements leaving not even memories behind. Bill is unconcerned.

Full deployment, Refueling the Starwhale that brought it here. The science boom is doing it's best

Deploying on the beaches of Laythe. Jeb recalls Normandy and grins maniacally. He never talks about what happened that day, he just smiles.