Mobile Operations Centre

[RedDwarfIV]

I plan to stick this on a rocket and fly it to Duna tomorrow. Oh yes.

The Goddard Engineering Intrepid T-50 Mobile Operations Centre is a vehicle capable of carrying eight Kerbals [more if extra seats], and speeds of up to 23.8m/s. It is fully lit inside, carries a rooftop communications array, and is reasonably stable during turns. Can also be driven using a probe core at its heart. It is recommended not to attempt piloting the vehicle from the capsules - testing revealed that the controls reverse.

Download:

http://www.2shared.com/file/oDxx6b1D/Mobile_Operations_Centre.html

[Procyon]

that's great. A motorhome for space. you gotta let us know how the launch goes

[7499275]

Wow, impressive looking, and as Procyon said you have to tell us how well it launches with pics of your launchers please!

[RedDwarfIV]

I'll probably put it on the same launcher that I use to put Duna transfer vehicles into orbit. I call it the Echo stack.

Once the vehicle is in orbit, I'll swap out the insertion stage for my interplanetary stage - effectively just an RCS tank, a single Jumbo-64 fuel tank with two NTRs, and a probe core with a Senior docking port on top. The mission will, like all previous Duneshot missions, use Munar slingshots to make the transfer to Duna. Munar slingshots, I find, are incredibly useful - I can send a Jumbo-64 tank to Duna using a sixth of its fuel that way.

I may also add a lander platform for the MOC, fitted with drogues, chutes and retro engines so that I don't have to put any of those on the vehicle itself. Aesthetics, not to mention shelter would be lost if panels got ripped off on descent by overzealous parachutes.

This reminds me, I need to build a VTOL object carrier for Duna. The Lilith spaceplane doesn't cut it. It's too heavy with too little lift. Landing it with parachutes next to the Pyramid Anomaly to act as a beacon for the base modules, I still lost one of its LV-45 engines, and it was certainly a hairy touchdown.