Alternate methods of space and space travel!

[Yeomans]

This was something that dawned on me when I read a fellow's Space Cannon thread on this here forum... Aside from space planes and rockets, what ways have you guys tried to get to space, or have successfully gotten to space with? I have tried cannons, another test I had tried was to use constant explosions below my spacecraft to do the trick, but that didn't work too well. Also, on smaller planets and moons, you could probably use the detonation blast from decouplers if you were smart, but I've never seen it done... so what have you guys tried?

Also, space travel! I am actually currently doing some tests to see the feasibility of using a rocket in LKO with a small space craft to propel it to interplanetary space, or into minmus orbit, where it can be propelled by another into a planetary intercept. It's a bit of a crazy idea and would definitely need some part tweaking and things like that, but I like toying around with it!

So what have you guys got goin'?

[XeroCoolUSN]

What about a long device that spins(think centrifuge) and then releases space craft at velocity.

[wrestlingforme]

I think a planetary cycler would be a good idea. I dont know if it would work in KSP. Like,one that cycles between orbits.

[XeroCoolUSN]

Um, not sure why I cant post on this, but I will try again. What about a Craft that spins like a centrifuge and releases the spacecraft at speed

[loppnessmonsta]

Elevators would be cool, but they're impossible with the current engine. The physics cut out on parts of it long before you can get to orbit. A giant mass driver would be fun, too, but as you've seen from the Space Cannon, it doesn't work very well right now. I have a hunch such options may be new features later on, since they would be interesting ways to advance your Career mode.

As for stuff that's actually possible right now... I tend to stay in Kerbin's SOI and putter with my space station. The decoupler sounds like it would be an interesting way to give a lander a little extra oomphf when taking off.

[Fel]

I once tried to build a ladder to space (by editing quicksave.sfs).. got bored fairly quickly though.

[Tokay Gris]

I do have an idea.... will try that next weekend... a kind of "slingshot"...

Just have to figure out how to get the thing to rotate.

[tom1499]

I do have an idea.... will try that next weekend... a kind of "slingshot"...

Just have to figure out how to get the thing to rotate.

Ive made on of these before, however it was short and I flung the test probe the wrong way, but it still made several kilometers orbital height difference..

[nyrath]

Perhaps a booster that was a large submarine, with the rest of the rocket on its nose. Dive to the bottom of the ocean, blow the ballast tanks, shoot to the surface, and launch the rest of the rocket as you breach the ocean suface.

You could call it "Sky-Diver"

[SecondGuessing]

Perhaps a booster that was a large submarine, with the rest of the rocket on its nose. Dive to the bottom of the ocean, blow the ballast tanks, shoot to the surface, and launch the rest of the rocket as you breach the ocean suface.

You could call it "Sky-Diver"

Surely you wouldn't really gain much, as the potential energy you'd start with would still be the same.

[The Jedi Master]

Stack separators fired in quick succession.

[Fel]

Surely you wouldn't really gain much, as the potential energy you'd start with would still be the same.

How do you figure?

The act of blowing the ballast tanks changes the potential energy from 0 to (Formula relating sea-pressure / ballast-pressure, and force). It is akin to trying to pull down a lifesaver, there is a large amount of energy being expended bringing a buoyant thingy below water. The only thing is that you'd be subjecting the submersible to extreme amounts of force and are quite likely to have the ballast tanks implode.

Of course, that force is differential:

the ocean provides a significant amount of force preventing your rise, and as you rise the difference between the forces decreases.... so you'd have to make the rocket EXTREMELY buoyant and able to resist the pressures being imposed upon it (though I guess you can have some kind of sheath to reveal the rocket once it breaches the surface).

[Yeomans]

These are actually all really interesting ideas.. Has anyone toyed around with sending kerbals on interplanetary trajectories? Because the cannon concept works alot better out of atmosphere and you can get anywhere from 500 to 1200 m/s if you do it right. The trick is you stick a rocket on both sides so that it doesn't really move anywhere in space. Or you can attach parachutes to it and only fire retrograde so the cannon just falls back to the atmosphere. I'm planning to build a rig that acts sort of like a loading gun, so you would dock a 2-part craft (one part is the "ammo" and the other is a small craft with rcs and landing legs) and use it like that. I've tested it and it works with capsules too for the most part, so that's an idea you can toy with.

[Yuka]

Although definitely not nearly as unconventional as the methods you have all described, I have been toying with the use of ramjets for lower stages of medium and small launch vehicles to get started. They barely use fuel compared to other lower stage alternatives and offer a significant TWR. The trick is to let them spin up and build up thrust before releasing launch clamps. I am typically able to get most of my launch vehicles to about 25 KM before engaging my liquid or solid motors.

http://rapidunplanneddisassembly.blogspot.com/2013/05/ramjets-for-launch.html

[Fel]

Yuka, the Ramjets and the Jet Engines are both CHEATS... added in to make spaceplanes possible.

I made a massive 80Mg "Tie 40 odd motors together" thing that easily got to space (not orbit) and subsequently ended all interest in ever using turbo jet engines again.

They produce far greater thrust than they should, use less fuel than they should, and seem to only care about having a TINY amount of oxygen (Or just blame the intakes).

[Atanar]

Drop a kerbal from the crew hatch of this vehicle

onto the launch pad and it can give you this:

I call it the "space kraken launch".

Do not try this at home. (really, don't, it corrupted my save file's orbital map)

[MR4Y]

Assisted lift, then being propelled with a solid booster, them decoupled till it enters orbit, leaving it to fly using it's own engines. This is useful for small probes and it's how scramjets are launched.

[Yuka]

Yuka, the Ramjets and the Jet Engines are both CHEATS... added in to make spaceplanes possible.

Absolutely. I'm just pointing out another way to get things into orbit that work that may or may not be realistic, just like other mentions in this thread such as stack separators.

[flyingpotato]

I once used a couple of sepratrons to help de-orbit an ultralight lander onto the mun, it saved some delta-v and gave me a wider margin for error when I relaunched it back into orbit