Mothership designs?

[Bunny Commander]

Im trying to travel to other planets but I want to do so with a mothership. What I mean by that is by docking small pieces of ships to create a really large ship in an orbit. Im sure you know that but just in case. Im struggling right now to even get my first piece into orbit. Can anyone show me some of their designs or creations for infulence?

Thanks.

Edited September 16, 2013 by Bunny Commander

[Thomas Cook]

Im trying to travel to other planets but I want to do so with a mothership. What I mean by that is by docking small pieces of ships to create a really large ship in an orbit. Im sure you know that but just in case. Im struggling right now to even get my first piece into orbit. Can anyone show me some of their designs or creations for infulence?

Thanks.

I tried to build a huge ship to get everything to Duna. However as I don't have a super-brilliant PC, the Framerate dropped like a stone once I had a serious ship. Ever since I dropped the idea of one ship and am now building a fleet of 5 ships and bring them to Duna.

So my advice: unless you got a really strong processor, I would advice to save your effort and build a fleet instead of one huge ship. Other than that, I'm always loving images of huge stations.

[Johnno]

Nearly all my interplanetary missions have been multi-part ships, but not quite sure they'd be classified as motherships. Then again, not sure of the difference and which you're really referring to.

The way I usually do things is to design my mission backwards:

- Return craft: What do you need to get your crew home? (Command pod, fuel/rcs, engine)

- Lander craft: What do you need to land and return to orbit? (Alternatively for multistage - what do you need to get to orbit + what do you need to land)

- Interplanetary drive stage: What do you need to get the payload to your destination (I put a dummy weight above the stage to simulate payload then build until I have enough dV)

I build those three separately, or sometimes lander and return craft can be launched together, then dock up in orbit.

Here's a few examples..

3 kerbal crew Eeloo mission, additional unmanned probe lander and polar orbit capable satellite.

2 kerbal crew solo landings on Laythe and Vall with rendezvous + transit inbetween landings.

Landers+return

With interplanetary drive stage

[Amoun]

Exactly how Johnno said: built it backwards. It helps a lot and much much easier to manage.

if you want to get very technical, the most difficult part (at least to me) would be making sure that your actual "drive" part of the ship would be powerful and efficient enough to move all of your other weight (ie: your lander, rover and return craft) But that is also the fun part, to see if your ship makes it or not and then rebuild if you need to.

[Skorpychan]

The hardest part is bringing enough fuel along, really.

I have a design for an interplanetary transfer stage that's basically a jumbo tank with a big docking port on each end, and a pair of nuclear engines on nacelles. My big mission plan is to hook two or three together, link the lander to them, and blast away for wherever.

The plan is that the transfer stage has enough fuel to get out there and back to Kerbin, and the lander is built well enough to get down and back up into orbit, hook up to the mothership transfer stage, and the whole thing goes back to Kerbin.

I've also got a few designs of tiny ion probes and landers to drop off at the destination, for more science.

The only problem is that I haven't figured out docking yet.

[capi3101]

A variant on the return craft/lander/drive stage idea is to do a lander/return craft combo (which is what I do). It does mean that you windup hauling hardware to the target that you don't necessarily need, but easier logistics.

Targets with larger delta-V transfer requirements may also need a "service" stage, an intermediate piece that sits between the drive and the lander for the sole purpose of providing extra fuel. This may or may not be advisable depending on your docking port setup; definitely don't add a service stage if all you've got is a medium-sized clamp-o-tron for docking on both ends unless you like wobbly ships.

My own interplanetary fleet was wiped with 0.21, but in 0.20 I had six craft. I've been slowly building it back up in 0.21 (been spending too much time on challenges) and I've got a series of interplanetary drive designs at this point (the Thunderbolt 7 series). The latest addition to the fleet is the Thunderbolt Very Heavy 7, which successfully flew for the first time on Friday - it's a large probe-core with a large batt and two medium solar panels, a RCS tank with a hell of a lot of blocks, a Jumbo64, 6 outboard X200-32 tanks connected to the main tank with fuel lines, and seven LV-Ns. The thrust sucks (particularly since the centerline NERVA tends to overheat to critical) but unloaded she gets 11,000 m/s of delta-V. Docks with a quad of clamp-o-trons.

Others in the series:

Thunderbolt 7 - an X200-32 with five NERVAs. Quad docking.

Thunderbolt Heavy 7 (by far the most successful of the line so far - the Eve, Ike and Gilly missions in my salad bar) - five X200-32s with five NERVAs. Quad docking.

Thunderbolt Superheavy 7 - an X200-32 with four X200-8s, hauling 25 NERVAs. Single Senior docking.

Thunderbolt Ultraheavy 7 - I don't remember the stats on this one. I do know I've never flown it successfully. More fuel than the Superheavy, slightly fewer engines. Single Senior docking.

I really need to take a picture of these some time...

[playec1992]

really nice Design, love all three of them.

[playec1992]

i use modular ship's.

you build a Standardized drive stage, crew module, return-vehice ect.

Help's alot and make you missions more dynamic.

You can also add alot of fueld with you can simply drop when empty.

Sry for my english :-)

[allmhuran]

Here's a few different designs that all have ridiculous amounts of delta-V. They all have some amount of assembly in orbit, and two of them tug along landers that can ascend again from just about anything you can land on, except for Eve or... Tylo? (I think Tylo, been a while since I did a grand tour).

The last one in particular is just bonkers.

[rhoark]

Keep in mind <1 TWR is fine for orbital maneuvers, and reducing engine weight saves fuel weight too.

I keep Kerbin reentry vehicles at a space station, so I don't need to haul them on interplanetary trips (that aren't bound for Eve or Laythe). Landers not also having to be reentry vehicles loosens design constraints and saves weight. (moreso since I play with FAR and Deadly Reentry, but there are benefits to vanilla also - for instance if your command module doesn't have to be cone-shaped with a drogue on top, it can have a clampotron sr and push fuel in front.)

[Talisar]

I'm planning on using this as a mothership for my next mission:

I'm planning on adding all the landers/base modules/satellites, and sending it on it's way. The added benefit is that the large nuclear rocket engine assemblies are modular and can be detached once the ship is at it's destination, converting it from a mothership into the main refueling and staging station for any further trips to and from that planet.

[Wayfare]

I humbly submit the MOdular Mission System which includes all the parts needed to go anywhere and do anything (except landing on Tylo or returning from Eve). Self-landing surface base, rovers, crew shuttle, propulsion modules and fuel tanks built around a simple, functional core:

[sephirotic]

Well, I like simple efficient designs. This is my favorite multi-puprose interplanetary nerva booster witch i use for pretty much any mission.

It can send a 3 manned-lander and ascent vehicle to jool and bring it back.

I used two of those for my manned eve-return mission, so it can pretty much send anything anywhere!

[Bunny Commander]

Great thanks for your help! The next problem Im having is getting the parts into orbit. either I dont have enough fuel or power im not sure but i can never get up there.

[Vanamonde]

Discussion of such ships: http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/showthread.php/37952-Round-trip-ships

My own 2 designs for download: http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/showthread.php/48610-My-roundtrip-ships-for-download