Better Stock Crafts

[carazvan]

Presentation

Here's my series of probes, submission is Comm Sat (Ion LR):

Comm Sat (Ion LR) - 626 kg / 4866 deltaV / 0.08 TWR

Comm Sat (Ion VLR) - 745 kg / 8576 deltaV / 0.07 TWR

Comm Sat (Ion XLR) - 846 kg / 11473 deltaV / 0.06 TWR

vs

Stock - 675 kg / 4511 deltaV / 0.08 TWR <- Really the only problem with this is only having 5-10% acceleration after a short battery run and long battery filling time

(TWR ratios are given for Kerbin)

The first one is the main probe I use but others give up acceleration for deltaV, Launcher for it is a simple cheap design for 1t payloads (for when career mode kicks in)

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Action group

1 - activates the comm array & solar panels

Probe description

The panels and batteries give it full power for about 10 min burns in sunlight (runs about 75% power with fully drained baterries which if you need a longer burn than 10 mins you won't care about).

Under no sunlight the engine runs for about 2 mins at full power.

For slightly less TWR you can also get much more deltaV in the VLR and XLR configurations.

Only real worry is to extend the solar panels before probe core runs out of energy

Download

Comm Sat (Ion LR) (probe only)

Comm Sat (Ion LR) Launcher (probe and launcher)

Comm Sat Pack <- This file contains all 3 craft & launchers as in 1 zip archive

Edited July 20, 2013 by carazvan

[carazvan]

duplicate post - delete

Edited July 16, 2013 by carazvan

[maro]

Here's my entry.

It's fairly lightweight (gets 4374 dV according to a quick check with Kerbal Engineer Redux), and features enough solar panels to run at full throttle in direct sunlight uninterrupted. Action groups: 1 deploys the scientific instrumentation and antenna, 2 deploys the solar panels.

I tend to place yours on No1. - except the battery packs....if you have Nuke and enough solar panels for full power, what are they good for ?

[Person012345]

I tend to place yours on No1. - except the battery packs....if you have Nuke and enough solar panels for full power, what are they good for ?

Keeping the probe alive whilst the sun is hidden behind an inconveniently placed planet?

[Francesco]

I like this thread a lot, it's always cool to see the way people give their twist to this game.

Here's my entry, the Ion-Cross Deep Space Probe:

it has eight 1x6 solar panels, and carries 600 units of electricity (four small batteries are hidden inside the truss piece).

Delta-v: 4.9 km/s. It is put into orbit by this launcher:

From a 75km orbit, the upper stage has about 2.4 Km/s left, enough to send the probe anywhere in the solar system.

My idea is, since you're already making the effort of launching this thing into orbit, you may as well give it a push towards where it needs to go, and avoid hour-long departure burns from Kerbin.

You can use the ion engine later during your journey.

Protip: if your delta-v requirements are low, you can slap a probe and some electrical systems on the upper stage, and use whichever fuel is left after the departure burn to de-orbit it, leaving absolutely no debris in space.

http://francesc0.minus.com/mc1q8bcJyESW0

[Captain Sierra]

I whipped one up and it can get into Minmus orbit no problem with 3/4 xenon tanks. (a better probe pilot probably could do it a lot more efficiently). Expect pics tomorrow ASAP.

EDIT:

Here are some pics of the probe both in the VAB and in space. It has enough solar panels to power the craft indefinitely in sun. In shade it has 6 battery packs and 2 RTGs to maintain some power. It only uses a single engine and carries all the scientific equipment.

Fair to note that this image is slightly dated. I added the RTGs in place of two additional solar panels and two battery packs only after this was taken.

Edited July 18, 2013 by Captain Sierra
added pics and some stats

[Grim187]

Grim' date=' which of those designs were you planning to submit?[/quote']

probably going to submit 2 designs, a large ish one that is capable of kerbin to duna to eve transfer and a mini version.

i've learned quite a bit doing this challenge, thanks for posting it.

i should have something (im not going to say done but) ready to submit by saturday.

[Giggleplex777]

We have more than eight now.

[maro]

Keeping the probe alive whilst the sun is hidden behind an inconveniently placed planet?

The PB-NUK will enable this anyway without bats....

[Bob's Guardian Angel]

Alright, submissions are closed. Thanks to everyone who sent in designs, now please vote as soon as you can!

[Bob's Guardian Angel]

Next time the time limit WILL be smaller to make it more exciting/convenient. I'm thinking of going with Giggleplex, maybe making it two days.

[Giggleplex777]

I vote for stupid_chris' probe.

[Grim187]

Alright' date=' submissions are closed.[/quote']

I edited my post with my official submission (the mini version), hope you don't mind.

[Xeldrak]

Allright, since you all go the Ion-engine way, I'll take up the cudgels for good ol' chemical rockets!

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Yes, it's a tad more complicated than the standard-probe, but all you need to know is "if one of the tanks is empty - hit space". Also beginners can learn about droptanks and aspargus-designs. After all, how are they going to learn if nobody shows 'em? According to MechJeb it has a dv of 9992 m/s

Also, I want do disprove the myth (that many veterans seem to believe too) that you have to go nuclear to go farther than Minmus. I've succesfully but a probe like this into Moho orbit.

Hanbook:

-Push 1 to unfold antennas and solar pannel

-hit space if a tank is empty

Download

Edit: Meh, just saw, that submission were closed.....well, I'll just leave this here...

[Captain Sierra]

I have to vote for Spartwo's first design (with the two Gigantor panels). For sake of simplicity and effectiveness but PsuedoMonkey's HybrIon probe has to rank a close second for "[giving] ideas to new players on building craft without just handing out a perfect one".

[Grim187]

My Conclusion after testing;

so i'm voting for Comm Sat LR.

unless you let ChemRock 9000+ in.

sorry to all the people who forgot to include their craft file, i don't know how well it performs unless i test it and i can't in good conscience vote for something that has unknown performance.

if you would like to use my Open Office datasheet

[Spartwo]

I vote for captain sierras entry

how did you need to pay so much attention.

[stupid_chris]

I'm voting for Giggleplex's probe. Simple design, nice looking, I like it, wish I would've thought of making arms out of cubic octagonal struts myself.

[carazvan]

I'm voting for Francesco's Iron Cross DSP ... It was a close race between that and Giggleplex's design but think the RTG doesn't provide enough electricity alone to make much of a difference.

P.S. You're missing my entry in the first page list of Probes

[Xeldrak]

I vote for Captain Sierra's designs, I like the looks of it....

Also: I realy like this challenge, it should get more care.

[Bean]

Yeah, I'm sad I missed it last week, is OP planning to continue this thread?