Hawk's Spacecraft Emporium

[Yalin Hawk]

Welcome to Hawk's Spacecraft Emporium (name under development...). Here I'll be showcasing whatever crafts I end up creating that I feel are worthy of sharing with the general public. As my submissions grew and this thread got longer, I decided that I needed to organize things a bit. This post will be updated with new releases so that all of my crafts are easy to locate.

These .craft files are modded files. All of these ships can be easily created in the stock game, and if requested I will make stock versions. However, the main mod I use is welded stock parts, which reduces part count. Creating stock versions undoes that, resulting in an increase in part count on all ships. For that reason, you may want to consider downloading these great mod to use the original versions of these crafts.

Mods:

Welded Stock Parts

Kethane

Procedural Fairings

Okay, now onto the ships!

INTERPLANETARY VESSELS (IPV's):

IPV Osiris II:

The Osiris Project was an attempt by the engineers at Kerbal Space Command to come up with the workhorse to carry them into the far reaches of the Kerbol system.

It worked.

Osiris will take a payload to any planet in the system and return for refueling and refitting, making her a completely reusable interplanetary transport solution. Once in orbit, Osiris is designed to stay there for an extremely long time. She can be used either as an unmanned tug, or as a full interplanetary ship with a crew complement of 12. She's been to Duna and Laythe so far, both times delivering payloads between 70 and 140 tons (140 tons to Laythe). On each trip she has had more than enough fuel to return home, even off-window if necessary. Her design is also very part-count conscious. Her design philosophy follows the concept of form following function, and if your goal is to carry your awesome ground base with 2 SSTO planes and a Kethane miner, why create unnecessary lag by having a 400 part interplanetary ship to get it all there? Osiris has all of the features and amenities one would expect from a long distance starship. (Minus any sort of Faster Than Light engine system, Engineers are still working on that whole relativity thing.)

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IPSV Vanguard (Interplanetary Survey Vehicle)

The Vanguard project was built as the mission setting up the first manned missions to other planets. Vanguard is an unmanned survey vehicle equipped with 8 self sufficient probes, each one with it's own propulsion system, communications system, and scanning equipment. During her first operation, Vanguard deposited 4 probes around the moons of the Joolian System (Laythe, Tylo, Vall, and Bop) and during her return transfer to Kerbin she dropped two more probes (Eve and Gilly, which was pure dumb luck). She is currently being refueled and refit with a new cargo of probe rovers for scouting out potential landing sites on other worlds.

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ORBITAL FACILITIES:

Orbital Dockyard Hephaestus

Hephaestus was the greek god blacksmith, responsible for forging the weapons and armor for all of the Olympian Gods. It is fitting then that the Kerbal's first orbital repair and construction facility be named after this god. Orbital Dockyard Hephaestus is a fully functional and expandable space station architecture, with a large orbital gantry allowing maintenance on all but the largest spacecraft. Her spacedock has been rated for ships up to IPV Class, with IPV Osiris having docked for refueling and IPSV Vanguard currently docked for refueling and resupply. Hephaestus is currently still under expansion, with new modules being delivered regularly. She is currently equipped with 2 core modules:

The primary habitation and spacedock module

The primary power mast

Future expansion will include more habitation area, fuel depot, docking area for servicing multiple smaller vessels at once, and a docking rack for SrSKT space bikes.

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SSTO's:

SSTO-3

SingleStageToOrbit 3rd Attempt is a horizontal take-off horizontal-landing spaceplane, designed to fly from the KSC runway to any destination in orbit and return under it's own power and control. To that end it has proven very useful in ferrying single kerbals to orbiting stations, and it's low-gravity VTOL capability enable it to land on bodies that lack atmosphere, like Minmus or the Mun. These features make this craft a wonderful choice for servicing Munar bases; after a short refueling stop in orbit, SSTO-3 is capable of landing on the Mun and returning to Kerbin with fuel to spare.

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ORBITERS:

SrSKT Space Bike (Short range Single Kerbal Transport)

The SrSKT was designed as an orbital facility servicing vehicle, transporting single kerbals between/around orbital facilities. To that end, it works wonderfully. All space facilities are being updated with SrSKT "Racks" that hold 4 bikes per rack, providing stations with ways to rotate crews and light supplies between each other without requiring a large bulky spacecraft. They are also very useful for orbital maintenance and repairs, or kerbal rescue missions.

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More updates soon, have to leave for work!

Edited August 28, 2013 by Yalin Hawk

[wsielski]

I'd love that .craft file. Take her out for a little spin.

[Yalin Hawk]

I'm currently doing some small upgrades using her shakedown run to Duna as basis for improvement. But as a testament to her range, this is what her mission looked like:

Transfer from 100km LKO to Duna

Aerobrake at Duna

Fine-tuned her orbit to 100km x 100km almost 0* inclination

Dropped Cairo and Horus

Burned to Ike

Dropped Isis and recovered again

Burned back to Duna

Burned back to Kerbin not quite at her window

Adjusted orbit @ Kerbin aiming for a 0* inclination aerobrake

Dropped Isis for crew re-entry

Circularized into a 100km x 100km 0* LKO

And she still has 2.5 BOT's worth of fuel left (Big Orange tanks)

I'm going to upload the full Osiris -> Duna ship along with the fuel tanker I use to ferry fuel up to her. Make some small modifications, substitute your own SSTO lander for Horus, and you have yourself an easy Laythe operation. (Cairo also floats! Don't ask how I know.)

[Yalin Hawk]

Okay, I just finished a few upgrades to the Osiris. I'm going to release her .craft files now, with IPV Osiris II.

The whole goal behind the Osiris project was to build an Interplanetary Ship with as few parts as possible and yet be capable of doing anything you'd want. To that end, Osiris II uses fewer parts and is lighter as a result. Osiris I is certified Duna capable with a relatively large payload. Osiris II is virtually the same ship with some small improvements to lower part count and reinforce potential weak spots observed during the Duna shakedown run. Osiris II has only been to Minmus so far, but that trip was uneventful and proved that the ship's structure and propulsion systems are sound. Dock up your own payloads, and send her on her way. No exact dV calculations as in this playthrough I'm not using Engineer or Mechjeb, but if you read her Duna mission profile above you'll see she has plenty for most trips around the Kerbol system. Once I have Osiris II home and dock up her Moho mission package, we'll see if she can reach the closest planet to the sun. Like Osiris I, Osiris II can be separated into her two main components: the primary habitable spaces and the engineering section. This makes her capable of serving as a long range, unmanned tug if the need arises.

I also updated the crew module's launcher to be compatible with the Ra I-V reusable booster system. All boosters are equipped with parachute systems that will provide a safe landing so boosters can be recovered and reused. The central rocket of the crew module launcher is not intended for reuse, but it does have a probe core and plenty of dV to deorbit itself for a clean operational area when time comes to dock.

There is one warning.

I swapped out the Ra X booster rocket that propelled the Osiris I's engine section into orbit with a much larger, scarier launch system. Osiris II's engine section comes in at roughly 100 parts, but with her launcher she's more like 800. On my PC, it only slowed down a little. This new launch system, however, has the bonus of being able to deliver Osiris to orbit without having to tap into the ship's main fuel tanks. This means, once her launch cradle is ditched, Osiris II's engine section is in a stable orbit with 100% fuel ready for your missions to other worlds. The launch cradle also has a probe core and enough dV to deorbit itself. I tested it at 100km x 100km and didn't even need to drop the last set of boosters. If you planned things right, you could easily use the final booster stage and launch cradle engine to shoot Osiris off to the Mun, or Minmus, or maybe past Kerbin's SOI to some other destination? Without even needing to touch the ship's propellant stores.

Let me know what you think. Here are the .crafts. If you have a better launcher for the Engine section, let me know.

Isis MPV + Ra IV: https://www.dropbox.com/s/kt4la2p958bsx3k/Isis%20MPV.craft

Osiris II Engine Section: https://www.dropbox.com/s/h2ez40jjui6i2ja/IPV%20Osiris%20II.craft

Osiris II Crew Module: https://www.dropbox.com/s/md33tg0ufgujfpt/Crew%20Module%20Mk3.craft

See the list of mods in the OP to make sure you're compatible.

[Bigred2989]

Did you forget the .craft for the Cairo?

EDIT: Good news. I used mechjeb to get the engine section into orbit and it worked beautifully. The design of the launch vehicle is awesome, reminds me of a lotus plant. Also the engine stage has 10 THOUSAND dV. I'm not expert on interplanetary travel but I think that translates to 2 planets and back again.

Edited August 10, 2013 by Bigred2989

[Yalin Hawk]

I did leave out Cairo and Horus, but I can add them if people would like to play with them. Cairo works well, but I wanted to redesign my base concept using Temstar and Rune's modular base systems. Using a rover that docks underneath the base components to move them around/place them. I also left Horus out, but that's because it was a quick cobbled-together Duna lander

Give me til tonight to finish refining the Cairo/Horus .crafts and I'll upload them, and you'll have a full mission profile: Duna and back with Osiris. Feel free to add your own payloads though, I'd love to see what you guys transport using my ship.

One other word. I noticed during my Duna mission that contrary to what I normally do with big docked ships, Osiris works best if you leave fuel crossfeed enabled. The ship's main engines will drain the fuel tanks on your payload/docked ships, but that'll reduce their mass and make the whole thing easier to control. Once on station at the target, simply refuel your baby ships/payload out of Osiris's outboard orange tanks and send them on their way.

In case anyone has any issues flying Osiris, here is basically exactly what I would do during my burns to Duna and back:

Drop a node, fine tune it for where I wanted to go

Line up on the node (using RCS or not, ship has plenty of torque)

Engage RCS/SAS and hit timewarp once you hit the node. Kind of a cheat, since time warp instantly stops your movement, but if Mechjeb is allowed to do it so am I

Come out of time warp and throttle up.

With RCS engaged she produced no visible wobble provided I didn't try and correct course mid-burn. With a ship this big, carrying a large payload and multiple smaller ships on outstretched docking arms, tapping timewarp to stop any fishtailing is very useful. If you drift off your node during the burn, throttle down and repeat the process again: Line up, engage RCS/SAS and hit timewarp, come out of warp and burn. Remember, in interplanetary travel, shooting from the hip results in less than satisfactory transfers. It's best to stop your burn and correct 4 times vs just pushing through it. Even though as Bigred has pointed out, this ship has plenty of dV to push through it and somehow recover an encounter.

[Bigred2989]

Go ahead with the redesign. I think we can wait. I'm very impressed so far.

[Yalin Hawk]

I took Osiris II to Laythe today before having to leave for work. Her payload was an entire modular ground base and a crew lander courtesy of Runes modular base system. I'll post pics and such when I'm in front of the PC next.

[Bigred2989]

Friendly bump

[Yalin Hawk]

Sorry, was out on a camping trip and the updates to Osiris's deployable base payload are taking longer than expected. I'll be posting something up by tomorrow night for sure.

[Bigred2989]

Did you make any progress?

Polite bump

[Reapercore]

Would love the Cairo and Horus .crafts, loving the rest of the ship though.

[Yalin Hawk]

Okay, so after a lot of trial and error and some playing around, I've got some stuff to share.

First off, due to popular demand, I present the .craft files for Cairo and Horus:

Cairo: https://www.dropbox.com/s/j76jrrmbbdzvg2q/Cairo%20%2B%20Launcher.craft

Horus: https://www.dropbox.com/s/yn49ujiot0lqpk7/Horus%2BLauncher.craft

Both Cairo and Horus have been updated with more efficient landing systems, Cairo retaining it's "Constellation-Esque" aeroshell and Horus remaining a no-frills Duna capable lander. Horus can land, get back into orbit, and still has roughly 2k dV left to play with. Talk about going places, eh?

And now for the big kahuna. I can't take full credit for this guys. 98% of the credit goes to Rune and his Modular Base System, all I did was modify it a bit and slap it on my ship. Here is his original thread: CLICKY

Check out the album for the juicy pics:

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I call this Operation: Laythe. Over the past few days playing KSP I've been developing a reusable, constant ferry operation to support a permanent Kerbal habitat on Laythe. The results are promising. I went from never making a working KSP plane in my life to developing a few SSTO's JUST for this operation. I've included one, SSTO-3, in the craft files below. Using Osiris II (And her older, less advanced sibling Osiris I) to ferry modules, cargo, and personnel to Laythe, you can easily build and expand a large ground operation. Deliver a few SSTO's, ground rovers, short-hop jet planes, and you've got yourself a LAYTHE CITY.

You go from bare necessities as a frontier outpost to straight up colonists. This is serious stuff guys.

If you build a base using 1 of each modified module I provide, you'll have habitat space for 8 kerbals just in the hab module alone. You'll have fuel storage for refueling ops. You'll have a communications center for talking to ships in orbit, and ultimately calling home to Kerbin. And most importantly, you'll have a Kethane mining setup that'll keep those fuel tanks full. Combine this base setup with KAS and you're golden.

I cannot stress enough. Rune is awesome, his base is awesome, and it's awesomeness got me on this Laythe mindset. Once I realized Osiris II could take his full base system to Laythe and return for another load, it opened the door.

Have fun kids. I'll be creating more base modules and stuff for the Kerbin -> Laythe architecture soon. These modules also all have their own propulsion systems, so you don't HAVE to go to Laythe. You could just as easily drop these bad boys on Duna or Eve. (Getting back off Eve is the fun part.)

The only downside, is that with all of this payload, expect LONG burn times. We're talking 24 minutes of burn to get Osiris out of Kerbin's SOI and on her Jool intercept. I did it in 4 6 minute sections, to try and get some Oberthy help.

.Crafts! (All credit for the Modular Base System goes to Rune, PLEASE check out his thread and leave him a comment if you are going to use these modified .craft files.)

Communcations Hub: https://www.dropbox.com/s/kqahj1etzuiskb6/Base%20Comm%20Osiris%20Ready.craft

This component is designed to dock to Osiris's large aft docking port. The fuel tank is a fuel reserve, before undocking at the destination make sure any leftover fuel in the 2.5m tank is transferred to Osiris. No use carrying it if you're gonna just ditch it. Once landed, hit the last stage to ditch the landing system for fewer part count.

Fuel Depot: https://www.dropbox.com/s/qj2kji7l1amnhyw/Base%20Fuel%20Osiris%20Ready.craft

This module, along with all the others below, are designed to be carried by their "belly" docking ports on Osiris's 4 docking arms. As per standard Osiris procedure, make sure fuel crossfeed is enabled. It's easier on the docking arms if all the weight of that fuel isn't there, and if you really want to drop these modules full you can always top them off with Osiris's fuel tanks. But it's a fuel tank. Whats the point of dropping a full fuel tank if you've got a full fledge fuel refinery/production system on the ground? I would however leave SOME fuel in these tanks, so the engine systems can assist in the final landing if necessary.

Habitat Section: https://www.dropbox.com/s/jeuttxuqkrn194b/Base%20Hab%20Osiris%20Ready.craft

Same as above. Crossfeed enabled, let the ship suck this modules fuel tanks dry. However, make sure you fill it back up so it's engines can assist in landing.

Kethane Module: https://www.dropbox.com/s/lftmrao0259udo0/Base%20Kethane%20Module%20Osiris%20Ready.craft

Same as everybody else. Make sure it has some gas left to land, but otherwise let it get sucked dry by Osiris.

SSTO-3: https://www.dropbox.com/s/tna4vb729jcx7yk/SSTO-3.craft

This is my FIRST SSTO. Thank you, thank you. She's decently stable, and her one turbojet makes asymmetric flameouts a problem of the past. She also has low-grav VTOL capability by using action group 4. If you have a refueling station over Kerbin, this makes it possible to SSTO to orbit, dock, refuel, and land on the Mun. She can make it back from the Mun on the one refuel. AMHIK. Typical SSTO ascent profile. Get off the ground, pitch to 45-50. Hold until your vertical speed is right around 100. Slowly level out to pick up as much speed as possible. Right at about .07 intake air, engage the rocket engines and throttle back to the turbojet after the initial flameout to keep her running. Once you start throttling down too much, kill the jet and throttle up. Burn to orbit. Should have PLENTY of fuel left once you're in orbit for docking and such.

(Also, Mechjeb may appear in some screenshots, but is NOT on any of the .crafts. If you find a mechjeb module, let me know. I manually pilot each vessel/plane/module into orbit to ensure it's capabilities. After that, if I need to launch it again (like launching one of each module to dock with Osiris for the test flight to Laythe) I let MJ handle it. On my main save I don't use MJ at all.)

[Rune]

Rune. Is feeling pretty good about himself right now

Edited August 22, 2013 by Rune

[Yalin Hawk]

Sneak peak at my next ship. Started a new save file for what I would consider my "true" game. This will be the legit "real life" save file, with a second save being used for craft development and "testing simulations". This means before sending out a manned mission, we've got to do some probing.

A few guesses as to what this contraption does...

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[Yalin Hawk]

Added the IPSV Vanguard and a bunch of new stuff to a completely revised first post. I know there aren't any .craft files yet, be patient, I'll be adding them once I get home from work, along with some already released stuff that I missed.