[Showcase] Launch Vehicles!

[Cranium]

So it seems like everybody has neglected the poor launch vehicle. You know, that thing that got you into space int he first place? As in, that giant mass of highly volatile chemicals sitting just feet away from your precious kerbals?

Yeah, those things.

I'd like to see what others have made to get those very beautiful payloads in the air. I want to see the brilliant, the idiotic, the beautiful, and the ugly.The simple, and the lag-monsters. I want to see them all.

[Giggleplex777]

This is my Atlas V 541 that I used to get a mini rover on Duna.

The whole Atlas V 500 series:

Atlas V 400 series:

I know the core stage is supposed to have two nozzles, but two mk 55s are too inefficient. Plus, the Atlas V only has one engine in the first stage anyways.

A full sized Atlas V 402 rocket with another iDan122's DreamChaser:

Edited July 16, 2013 by Giggleplex777

[Supernovy]

This should be all of mine:

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Or at least, all that I've uploaded. This album is notably missing the MELTING.

EDIT: Not any more, added the 'Medium Energy Lift and Transfer Into Geostationary' launch vehicle. 32 tonnes to orbit, 24 tonnes to GKO.

Edited July 15, 2013 by Supernovy

[GusTurbo]

My favorite lifter of mine:

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Same lifter, payload variation, which can send 46 tons to Jool orbit:

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[DaveofDefeat]

[minuseven]

My orbiter's launch vehicle:

[the_bT]

I got something for you!

The beautiful:

This is the MiniJin MLV (with an Escape Pod Module for my Station).

It proved to be very useful in a broad spectrum of missions.

The idiotic:

This is MiniJin's big brother, the Jin HLV with two orange tanks as payload. It probably could do 3, but I cant )

The center stack features an engine cluster with 13 LV-T30 and 6 LV-T45. Which wasn't as good an Idea as I had hoped...

The payload separates via its docking port, which cannot be seen due to the boosters. Besides the pretty chaotic handling (violent rolling in upper atmosphere, probably due to aforementioned engine cluster) that is the biggest flaw in the design. There is simply not enough space for any useful payload. I originally wanted to lift 150t to LEO but couldn't get further than this without compromising looks. It lifts maybe 100t if you push it. I then decided 100t is too much anyways and build the MiniJin.

[Giggleplex777]

Soyuz and Zenit with Kliper.

The Soyuz is a little too big and the Zenit is a little too small.

[Giggleplex777]

Delta II family

Can't stick 9 mini booster on so I stuck with 6.

Delta III

Delta IV

[-Velocity-]

Here's my heavy lifter (the lower half) with a large fuel tanker as a payload. It's a three stage rocket- the first stage uses 76 engines, the second stage is 38 engines, and the third stage is 9 engines. It can quite easily get 150 tons to low Kerbin orbit. I have been using it to build ~1000 ton interplanetary spacecraft (two launches are required for that- the huge payload helps to lift itself by feeding fuel to the third stage and also firing its own engines), and after expending almost all the fuel on board, it will make it to orbit.

And the aft:

I'm using KW Rocketry mainly.

The reason for the ridiculous number of engines is that you get MUCH higher efficiency and thrust by using clusters of small engines rather than one big engine. The downside is that the game runs at like 1/6 time compression when launching this thing.

[GusTurbo]

I got something for you!

The beautiful:

This is the MiniJin MLV (with an Escape Pod Module for my Station).

It proved to be very useful in a broad spectrum of missions.

The idiotic:

This is MiniJin's big brother, the Jin HLV with two orange tanks as payload. It probably could do 3, but I cant )

The center stack features an engine cluster with 13 LV-T30 and 6 LV-T45. Which wasn't as good an Idea as I had hoped...

The payload separates via its docking port, which cannot be seen due to the boosters. Besides the pretty chaotic handling (violent rolling in upper atmosphere, probably due to aforementioned engine cluster) that is the biggest flaw in the design. There is simply not enough space for any useful payload. I originally wanted to lift 150t to LEO but couldn't get further than this without compromising looks. It lifts maybe 100t if you push it. I then decided 100t is too much anyways and build the MiniJin.

I love how these look. It's kind of Soyuz-esque, except bigger and with more boosters.

[zombiphylax]

Here's my OPDV Werkhorse series that I use for space station resupply, Munar missions, and large payload delivery missions.

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