Questionable Design Decisions

[SteevyT]

This thread is for design decisions that, although they work, are still somewhat questionable as to why you did it. Things like intentional collisions with previous stages, exploding engines, or just general weirdness.

I'll start with one of my more recent ones, a nuclear powered airplane. Flies very well, can't be very good for anyone in the area though, especially in the VAB. Oh, and I crash when I botch the landing.

[KAO]

this is my ship Jovian-1:

now this is my ship plowing itself through the atmosphere of Jool in an elaborate aerobraking maneuver.

it got kinda hectic when I reached periapsis, I thought the thing was going to rip itself and its cargo apart, especially seeing as how I used only the most delicate and breakable decouplers for the satellite

[MinerEdgar]

Radation posioning FOR EVERYONE!

[vexx32]

Questionable? The only questionable design decisions I've made we not adding enough SRBs >

[TheDarkStar]

Questionable? The only questionable design decisions I've made we not adding enough SRBs >

This made me lol.

My most questionable design decision was using excessive decoupling boosters. It creates about 30 pieces of debris, and has a chance of making the main ship another 50.

[pic will be up when I can get to it].

[AmpsterMan]

My most questionable design decision is a first stage separation that literally just blows up like half of my first stage... and yet the ship still works XD

[Trebuchet-Launch]

Behold - the Whalephant!

It was an attempt at building something that could take off from Eve.

[MinerEdgar]

that could take off from JOOL

[Sean Mirrsen]

Here's mine:

I wanted to design a "drop tank rocket", and I think I succeeded. The main body (in the last shot) can get to Jool orbit (in theory - I've yet to time the approach properly), and the top stage theoretically has enough fuel to return from anywhere the main body gets it to. The parachute for the capsule is hidden within the decoupler, as is customary for the MkI cockpit.

[Maxed-Rockets]

Here's mine:

-snip-

I wanted to design a "drop tank rocket", and I think I succeeded. The main body (in the last shot) can get to Jool orbit (in theory - I've yet to time the approach properly), and the top stage theoretically has enough fuel to return from anywhere the main body gets it to. The parachute for the capsule is hidden within the decoupler, as is customary for the MkI cockpit.

This is a very interesting design, I have never seen anybody put drop tanks on the inside of the rocket. Definitely trying it out later.

[bsalis]

I wasn't sure if I wanted to go there, but what the heck...

[SteevyT]

Originally the collision wasn't supposed to happen, but it made the rocket fly slightly better so I kept it.

[Whatshtisthis]

The ascent stage can only be flown by mechjeb, and this gets into a 100km orbit with about 24 fuel tanks to spare.

In case you're wondering, yes, those are SRBs, in fact, 18 of them per stage for 3 stages during the ascent.

[Tim_Barrett]

Made this a few days ago. Pretty good engines, although this is a poor example since it's so big and not as effective.

[EndlessWaves]

I was trying to launch somebody else's lander and interplanetary stage and came up with this:

It kind of worked but so was temperamental we gave up trying to nurse it to orbit and the next day I redesigned the interplanetary stage so I could attach something more stable.

[SNapple]

I strive to make all of my rockets extremely on-the-edge interesting. I suppose landing with tricouplers is pretty interesting.

Never managed to get the right timing to reach Gilly, though.

[Qumefox]

I'll start with one of my more recent ones, a nuclear powered airplane. Flies very well, can't be very good for anyone in the area though, especially in the VAB. Oh, and I crash when I botch the landing.

Actually, it seems to be a common misconception around here, but the exhaust of NERVA engines isn't radioactive. The propellant is heated via a heat exchanger. It doesn't pass through the core itself, nor does any core material actually get ejected from the engine (under normal circumstances), though your mileage may vary on on that on crashes.

[TheDarkStar]

Actually, it seems to be a common misconception around here, but the exhaust of NERVA engines isn't radioactive. The propellant is heated via a heat exchanger. It doesn't pass through the core itself, nor does any core material actually get ejected from the engine (under normal circumstances), though your mileage may vary on on that on crashes.

Although it won't be that bad during normal operation, it would certainly be bad when you crash at a hundred meters a second and explodes.

[Jason_25]

That is a beautiful space plane. It looks a lot like one of my designs. Do you have problems rotating on the takeoff roll with that extreme length?

[SNapple]

Never made orbit, let alone got the lander that I put on here previously to Gilly.

But it looked pretty and the launch was beautiful.

[Bluejayek]

Jeb refused to fly it because it did not have enough boosters

[Nuke]

Edited October 13, 2012 by Nuke

[SNapple]

This seems to have turned into a "Big rockets full of SRBs" thread. I ask of everyone just to post INTERESTING rockets, not SRB-filled junk that we would have guessed already.

[Nuke]

thumbing through my photobucket for more goodies.

similar design as above, but with the plan to get extra fuel into orbit to refuel my fleet of colonization ships. thats 3 5m tanks by the way. depending on where i park the thing (and im not given much of a choice because its very hard to steer the thing) i usually have between 10000 and 20000 units of fuel left for refueling operations. needs a re-design though as im convinced i can get 12 boosters (they're 1.75 meter tanks with large berthas) instead of 8 on there (spinneh station used 12, but with only 2 tanks each instead of 3, will work on that). i want a 2 kiloton booster, but the vab is kinda small for that.

im also starting to move away from magic refueling mods like the romfarer lazor system (they feel kinda cheap) and use docking mods and the like. id rather just send a kerbal out to run a fuel hose during an eva, but nobody has made a mod for that yet.

Edited October 13, 2012 by Nuke

[QuantumFlux]

If you use the Orbital Rendezvous and Docking Assist (ORDA) you can actually do that (running a line from one ship to another while they are docked)