Enjoying the little things.

[WillHop]

The Ion. 1 kerbal VTOL SSTO, 52 parts only, capable of undocking from 120km, landing at KSC on top of the VAB roof no less, and then returning to orbit, and docking back at 120km, all without refueling. Shed the computer core and sacrifice its capability for autonomous flight, and you get 51 parts.

-snip-

That thing is adorable

[blackfire83]

Really digging that VTOL SSTO. Might have to see what I can do about replicating that.

I've been fiddling around with making a 'science packet lander' which is just a QUBE probe body with all the scientific instruments and a small antenna. But I'm struggling with how to land the sucker on it's bottom without other parts still attached. I've created a separatable 'box' of structural panels but am having difficulty landing it. Just figuring out the minimal delta-v needed to land from orbit. Would it be better (i.e. more size and weight efficient) to rely on just RCS for de-orbit and landing?

[DMagic]

Thanks for making this thread, I would add to your rep, but apparently I've given away too much:kiss:. I always like it when people go for simple and efficient crafts instead of needlessly complex vessels that make everything more difficult.

This is my little one-Kerbal Minmus lander. It has more than enough to get there and back. I can't remember what the total mass is, but this is my 5-ton payload launcher. I think I can do better though, I made this to demonstrate to someone that their Minmus lander was way too big.

[TYRT]

Sorry, what mods are you using in first and second photo? thanks:rolleyes:

[Spartwo]

1.01 tons

Curiosity(ish)but on a falcon heavy

Tylo capable lander

Itsy rover

Macrostation

[were71]

However the biggest enabler by far is the ability to fold satellites, seriously, how did I survive before? This particular example was one of my first attempts and I am still proud of it.

http://imageshack.us/scaled/medium/822/92m9.png

how did you make that work?

[inigma]

From: http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/46574-SHOWCASE-Bring-out-your-LANDERS!!?p=680354&viewfull=1#post680354

My Minmus lander. Has everything you need to get from Low Kerbin Orbit to Minmus and Back:

[TheIncredibleDalek]

I made a 15-part mercury analog the other day. Orbit and de-orbit capable.

Edited October 10, 2013 by TheIncredibleDalek

[Shania_L]

inigma

Nice compact system there. A smaller lander than mine,(shown on page 1) but I dont use an orbital section, thus no docking port needed. Are you using a lot of clipping on that ship? I see mono-propellent listed and RCS blocks but no sign of a tank, also there is a parachute in your staging list, but none visible.

were71

That satellite uses a central piston, and then each arm is on a hinge with its own sliding extender piece, and finally the pair of dishes are sat on opposing hinges allowing them to rotate to 90deg from the arms yet lay flat while launched. I have made each arm and the main body to be the same length as the 6x1 solar panels so when I deploy them they cover the length of the arms.

Here are some "In process" shots to help explain the design

Spartwo

Wow, great selection of craft there. I particularly like the rover, that thing is tiny!! How is the control on a rover that small? I found with my robot rover on the mun that I had bouyancy problems whereby I wasnt heavy enough to get traction and the most minor of bumps would send me airborn.

TYRT

The parts visible on the ship are Procedural Fairings, the menu bar is Ferram Aerospace, (no robotics present in those images).

DMagic

Then I accept your virtual, virtual rep with a smile

Nice compact launcher, are those KSPX tanks/central engine and stock on the boosters?

In other news, I pity the fool who crosses my debris re-aquisition craft!!

For some reason I think of this little craft as having the personality of MrT, I do not know why....

TheIncredibleDalek

Care to show us it?

[inigma]

Nice compact system there. A smaller lander than mine,(shown on page 1) but I dont use an orbital section, thus no docking port needed. Are you using a lot of clipping on that ship? I see mono-propellent listed and RCS blocks but no sign of a tank, also there is a parachute in your staging list, but none visible.

I have one rcs tank in the empty space between the command module in the fuel tank, created by the separator itself. Not really part clipping from an ethics perspective, but technically yes. I also have a battery stashed in that space too. Both parts bleed into the fuel tank slightly.

Parachute can be seen where the radio antenna attaches to the command module. It sticks through a corresponding solar panel. The panel/antenna combo is squished next to the parachute. Kerbal Engineers figured out a way to pack a parachute around a telescoping antenna body radiating through a solar panel.

You can see how its configured by looking at the craft profile below. Look where the antenna attaches to see the solar panel it sticks through, and the parachute container below that.

The corresponding transfer stage is autonomous, and actually for Minmus, it carries one small tank too much of fuel. This lander by itself should even be capable of landing and taking off from the Mun.

And I always put a docking port and computer core on every craft. You never know when you need to rescue something that is stranded.

Edited October 10, 2013 by inigma

[TheIncredibleDalek]

Care to show us it?

Sure. I apologize for the lack of photographs, as i de-orbited the first module to see how it would fare in the atmosphere (I test things to their limits...)

here ya go.

enjoy!

Edited October 11, 2013 by TheIncredibleDalek

[Cmmndrme]

Using my new found appreciation for small craft, I got my first constructed space plane into orbit (got the 4a out before).

[inigma]

Here is the new Ion (the old Ion was a quick slap around of parts never meant for distribution) that I finally finished tonight and is now going through Shuttlecraft Systems Inc. trials:

VTOL SSTO, capable of undocking from 120km, landing at KSC (at the Helipad), and flying back up to 120km and redocking without refueling.

48 parts, 7.7 tons of pure joy.

See more pics and get the craft here:

http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/41898-Shuttlecraft-Systems-Inc-%28SSI%29-NOW-HIRING!?p=689559#post689559

[Cydonian Monk]

In defense of the little things....

This is the Kestrel, one of my earliest launch vehicles. I'm guessing many players end up with a rocket in this configuration at one point when learning the game.... pretty simple basic orbiter. The Kestrel (with the Lacha payload) is capable of placing the capsule into a Munar Free-Return orbit (and could probably land, if you didn't care about coming back home). Total mass: 14.44t in current configuration. Part count: 20. I could probably get rid of the winglets with the capsule torque added by 0.21, but I think it looks better with them.

Once I discovered the Kestrel was overpowered for placing little green dudes into orbit (and once the smaller LV-1 rocket motors arrived with 0.20), I trimmed it down to the design shown here, the Peregrine. Same payload - the Lacha powered orbiter (there's an LV-1 and a toroidal tank hidden in there) - just it's only capable of LKO. Enough to use as a crew taxi to station altitude (130km). Total mass: 11.06t in current configuration. Part count: 20. It could definitely do without the deorbiting retros on the orbital insertion stage, reducing part count by another 2 and mass by 0.145t. You could drop the winglets, too, but again I like how they look.

Both my shortest and heaviest in the army of the small is the Wren. This is the oldest and simplest design in my book, and one I've been using since the demo. Spotted here with a microsat. Total Mass: 17.42t (all thanks to the SRBs). Part count: 26. The wren needs the winglets, as the torque in the tiny probe core is not enough to have authority over the LV-T30. You could definitely ditch the nosecones, since they're useless with the current atmospheric drag model.

The dudes in the SkunkWorks X-Plane division sent over the following picture. They call this "tiny," and specify that it's incapable of reaching orbit, or much of anywhere, really. (Point straight up and you might reach space.) It's also a bit tough to land, and no longer flys straight as of 0.21 (maybe if you play around with the posisitoning of the wings?). No idea on the mass, but the parts count is somewhere around 8 or 9.

Edited October 7, 2014 by Cydonian Monk

[The Destroyer]

Time to make an absoloutley very small minmus lander

...that's a size of a kerbal.

[TMS]

Yep - except it wasn't the cloud mod where it added clouds to all planetary bodies, it was just a Kerbin HD Cloud pack, so only Kerbin looks this good. I'll see if I can find where I got it from.

EDIT: Here ya go http://www./download/ysne40basz7boo5/Kerbin8k-clouds.rar

Thanks for this. I really wish they hadn't made the decision to use Reddit to list the textures.