Unexpected landing results and Big Lightweight Boosters.

[Galane]

Parachutes are for wimps. Or. Stuck the landing by smashing a Skipper.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/27748767@N08/9550456375/

I thought for sure there was no way there was enough fuel in that tank to come down from 100 kilometers... I haven't yet tried dropping from 200KM without manually staging the tank. It just keeps coming down and not dropping it with the little bit of fuel left.

That's a several revisions past version of BLB3 or Big Light Booster 3. By now it should be BLB5 or BLB6. Stacking two of the orange tanks with a mainsail on the bottom and a skipper in the middle requires some inventive design to keep the rocket together through shock of launch then the gravity turn. After that the thing will stay together.

I finally decided BLB3 was Kerbal-rated and it'll go to at least a 200KM orbit with fuel left in the upper orange tank, with a three Kerbal pod and associated accessories. I'll post a launchpad pic of it here later.

BLB1 and BLB2 were tests to see what could be done, trying to make a large yet fairly lightweight booster. The answer? Not without a much stronger automatically created coupling between the stack separator and between the skipper engine and the tank above it. Try it without struts and it falls apart on launch. Even with struts it folds in half about half the time in the gravity turn. Struts just don't seem to cross over engines from one tank to another very well.

[BostLabs]

That is pretty interesting.

btw; what rifle is that. (I flicked through to a couple of other pcs.)

... Light saber? Sweet!

Edited August 20, 2013 by BostLabs

[Longsok]

MechJeb seems to be true to it's name, only Jeb would be crazy enough to land like that.

[Capt'n Skunky]

Okay, let's try this again, only without the off topic and snarky comments.

Cheers!

Capt'n Skunky

KSP Community Manager

[wilt57]

Good Job. I use MechJeb to land all my orbiters back at KSC too. I figure, why leave its engine and fuel tank to disintegrate in the atmo when I can power land it and reuse it along with the capsule. Problem being re-entry heat, but that's not in KSP yet, is it! Of course, neither is reusing parts, so it's a wash really. It requires a surprisingly small amount of fuel for the last deceleration burn. Kerbin's atmo does a good job decelerating it alone. Although, I believe MechJeb's landing module was designed around this, it would make sense to do it this way. Problem with the Skipper engines is that they are too long for stock landing legs. When I feel like trying to save my boosters, I pack some parachutes on them and I time my ascent profile for them to drop with enough lateral velocity so that they land "softly-enough" in the ocean. It's all for fun anyway.

[jebisanaggie]

Good Job. I use MechJeb to land all my orbiters back at KSC too. I figure, why leave its engine and fuel tank to disintegrate in the atmo when I can power land it and reuse it along with the capsule. Problem being re-entry heat, but that's not in KSP yet, is it! Of course, neither is reusing parts, so it's a wash really. It requires a surprisingly small amount of fuel for the last deceleration burn. Kerbin's atmo does a good job decelerating it alone. Although, I believe MechJeb's landing module was designed around this, it would make sense to do it this way. Problem with the Skipper engines is that they are too long for stock landing legs. When I feel like trying to save my boosters, I pack some parachutes on them and I time my ascent profile for them to drop with enough lateral velocity so that they land "softly-enough" in the ocean. It's all for fun anyway.

But wouldn't it be awesome if in career mode you got money back (assuming there is money) for returning parts back to KSP for recycling?

Edited August 21, 2013 by jebisanaggie

[Galane]

OK, posted a pic on the pad and one at liftoff.

BLB3 came to nearly this configuration before I set a manned pod on, added ladders and lights. The lander engine is a Poodle. I flipped the couplers upside down for BLB3b so they'd go with the upper tank sections to drop more weight. The four liquids daisy chain the fuel top to bottom and the top two levels get tossed as they empty.

The small liquids on the bottom drop quickly. Later the topmost tanks drop followed immediately by the big solids, partway into the gravity turn. Those tanks are structurally important,with their struts they keep it from coming apart between the Rokomax 64s. I'd like to be able to also toss the second from the bottom tank sections but there are struts from them to the bottom of the top 64. Lose those and it goes to pieces in the turn.

There's still one glitch with it in MechJeb. It doesn't like to stage off the upper 64 automatically. The deorbit burn from a 200KM, zero incline orbit takes *exactly* the amount of fuel left in the upper 64. I should just let it go and see if autoland will pop it off or crash it.

P.S. The rifle is a .303 Savage, model 1899. This example was made in 1910 so it's 103 years old. The light sabers I made in 2005. Took me a few hours each, designing as I went. I made them using pieces of electrical conduit as the core. Those beefy ones like the originals built on a flash holder are just way too large, completely unlike a proper sword handle size. Don't have the sabers, sold them back then at the art show and sale at Fandemonium.

Edited August 21, 2013 by Galane

[DisarmingBaton5]

Well done, SpaceX! (No, really well done)