Arrow SSTO + combined rover, with interplanetary ring!

[Assault Bunny]

EDIT: I'm now officially asking for help tweaking the Arrow's design, in particular to assist with the atmo-space transition.

Latest variants (not fully tested): Arrow MkIII and Longbow MkV

Updated for .22, it's my combo SSTO spaceplane-and-rover-in-one! The Arrow! Now with SCIENCE!!

It can be quite difficult to get into orbit, but it can reach there. And once it does, it can dock with it's sister ship, the Longbow!

The Arrow is able to land vertically (on the Mun at least), then drop down onto it's wheeled landing gear. The front wheel can then be lowered to allow the rover wheels to gain traction, allowing the entire craft to act as a rover! One problem is you can't stop the control surfaces from moving, so turning while in rover mode can be an issue in atmo. Also due to some of the parts used it can be a rather late-career ship.

The Longbow is essentially an engine booster the Arrow plugs into, and can refuel from. It has additional ports (all shielded, cause they look cooler) for docking refueling craft, lighting for making it's docked Arrow look pretty, and an emergency escape vehicle if for some reason things go horribly wrong, but that could never happen, right? Also comes with a launcher (not single stage). If it breaks apart on the pad, or partway into orbit, just reset and try again. It'll work eventually Make sure to launch with no pilot!

Action groups!

1: Arrow jet engines toggle

2: Arrow rocket engines toggle

3: Arrow front landing wheel toggle

4: Arrow ladders and docking port shields toggle

5: Arrow landing strut toggle (so you can stow them and not the wheels!)

6: Longbow landing strut toggle (to help secure the Arrow for interplanetary flight)

7: Longbow docking ports (the central ones for the Arrow) undock and shield toggle (should also be Arrow docking ports undock, will fix in next iteration)

8: Longbow solar panels and outer ladders toggle

9: Longbow engines toggle

0: Arrow rover wheels steering and motor toggle

ABORT: Launches the escape vehicle, and toggles it's ion engines and solar panels

More pictures, and craft files here(Arrow) and here(Longbow) --ORIGINAL VERSIONS, OUT OF DATE!

Feel free to post thoughts, suggestions, test flights (I'm not the best plane pilot, haven't tried landing on Kerbin yet...), etc.

Edited November 23, 2013 by Assault Bunny

[KissSh0t]

Ohhh wow/////

I love the Space Dock that is Sexy...

[Assault Bunny]

So I guess things changed a bit since I last launched the Longbow, since I couldn't get it into orbit again. So here's an upgraded version with a slightly better launcher: http://www./?w5z4qyb45fzogf8

[StoneTJwall]

Do you have any pictures of it docked with the ring? I'd love to see that.

And how does it perform while docked? Is there a lot of strain on the two docking ports?

[Assault Bunny]

I actually just tried to get those said screenshots. Seems I don't quite have the knack for flying spaceplanes, so I can't reliably get the Arrow into orbit. (Feel free to help with the design!) So I turned on infinite fuel and hard burned all the way, got into a rendezvous, and managed to dock successfully. Then the SAS started freaking out, so I turned it off, and the Arrow cockpit flew off for some unknown reason Will try again later once I've had some food.

[Woopert]

Awesome job on this. The second part of the plane reminds me of the booster rings from the Jedi starfighters in Star Wars.

[Assault Bunny]

That is indeed part of the inspiration

I decided to cheat to get the screenshots:

The Longbow MkIII with docked Arrow. In atmo (with gravity off) it doesn't pitch very well...

Bonus pic: The escape capsule, which I found out got the action grouping bug so only one engine activates.

[Assault Bunny]

<shameless bump>

Any takers on finessing the Arrow design?

[Assault Bunny]

It has occurred to me that putting science stuff on the Arrow is a touch useless, since you'd need most of the tech tree unlocked anyway just to build it...

I think that's the biggest flaw with the tech tree right now; once you've done enough to get all the parts you want, there isn't anything else to do

[KissSh0t]

Tried your Arrow out and just thought I'd say some things about it.

It is quite twitchy to fly... you can lose control very easily by simply pulling up, It can also not take off from the runway before the end of the runway which means it can only take off from the runway conventionally.

Things I liked.. The change into a rover was pretty cool, it's size and shape are nice.

With some tweaking it could be even cooler :>

*edit*

I could not load the Longbow MkII... It says I am missing something..

: /

Edited November 1, 2013 by KissSh0t

[Assault Bunny]

I might have left Kerbal Flight Engineer on it... Grab the MkIII, it's a bit better anyway.

[Assault Bunny]

So here's something interesting. I tried replacing the nukes with extra fuel tanks and aerospikes, assuming that A: They would be better for the upper atmo-space transition, and B: That I could rely on the Longbow for all interplanetary transport. It worked quite well, though fuel consumption was a bit higher than I'd like, since it was getting close to empty when I managed the rendezvous. Unfortunatly, once I'd docked (which I think I'm getting better at) the Arrow was pitching worryingly while still attached, so I turned off SAS in the hope that things would calm down. A few seconds later, the Arrow's cockpit flew off.

... The hell?!

[Assault Bunny]

Just tried it again. Got the Arrow into orbit nicely, very close rendezvous, and my most perfect dock yet. Kissed all 4 ports together and got an instant seal, not even a wiggle. The Arrow then proceeds to torque wildly inside the Longbow, and once again tears the cockpit off. I'd even turned off the cockpit's torque wheels! Seriously, what the hell is happening here?!

[Assault Bunny]

Finally managed to get it to dock safely by quickly exploiting stability during time warp. Therefore, I can now provide screenshots of the Arrow docked in the Longbow!

And that there is why I like the shielded docking ports

Unfortunately, there is a bit of a problem when the Longbow is throttled up:

I figured I'd test the Arrow out with a Mun landing. Got the Longbow into a nice low orbit (around 40km) and undocked the Arrow, and immediately the cubic struts mounting the left rover vanished. At this point I gave up. Until we can get stock telescoping docking clamps, stronger clamps (of that size, preferably shielded, cause pretty), and/or and option for more rigidity without several tonnes of space tape, I think this concept is benched.

In the meantime, feel free to tinker with my designs, use them for inspiration, or even try and complete my vision!

[Fox62]

Make this a stock-ish craft with the Quantum Struts mod. It will make your life oh so much easier.

[Assault Bunny]

I would, but I want to keep my KSP as stock as possible, with the exception of info providing things, but that's just for me.

So inspiration stuck me, and I've mostly fixed the tilting problem by adding some space tape to the inside docking ports, and a pair of LT-2 landing struts to the bottom which when extended push against the Arrow's ASAS module. Should do the trick till more parts are added. Testing is still annoying and very time consuming, so I haven't done most of that yet. It's very frustrating when you spend upwards of 20 minutes trying to move a test vehicle somewhere, the something randomly explodes for no reason.

[Levelord]

Finally managed to get it to dock safely by quickly exploiting stability during time warp. Therefore, I can now provide screenshots of the Arrow docked in the Longbow!

And that there is why I like the shielded docking ports

Unfortunately, there is a bit of a problem when the Longbow is throttled up:

I figured I'd test the Arrow out with a Mun landing. Got the Longbow into a nice low orbit (around 40km) and undocked the Arrow, and immediately the cubic struts mounting the left rover vanished. At this point I gave up. Until we can get stock telescoping docking clamps, stronger clamps (of that size, preferably shielded, cause pretty), and/or and option for more rigidity without several tonnes of space tape, I think this concept is benched.

In the meantime, feel free to tinker with my designs, use them for inspiration, or even try and complete my vision!

The main challenge here is that the Arrow looks far too heavy for the frame it was designed to transfer with. The interplanetary ring also has 4 NERVA engines each, which provides a thrust that is paradoxically too large for a craft that needs to be accelerating at a steady rate given it's perpendicular docking arrangement.

The heaviest variant of my VTOLSSTO planes is slightly pushing the limits of what it can actually do, but it works with a single NERVA engine on each nacelle so that the acceleration forces are small. Then I perform several Hohmann maneuvers to escape planetary SOI. Note that it only uses a single docking port to anchor the craft in place.

I also run several variant light versions of the VTOLSSTOs, one uses the same interplanetary ring as the heavy craft, and the lightest of the ships using it's own specialized light ring. The thrust from the NERVA on a light craft like this is large proportionally; but because the craft is light, the magnetic forces of the docking ring is also proportionally large, so that it balances out. Here's a pic of the lightest craft I have:

Naturally, I've opted for scientific equipment to be carried and jettisoned once the science transmissions are completed. Which still yields the same amount of science if the device were to be returned, but with the added bonus of surface samples, EVA reports and a lighter return vehicle.

Sorry if this sounds a bit spammy with shameless self-promotion, but you are free to take ideas and design philosophies from these crafts and incorporate them into yours as you please

Edited November 6, 2013 by Levelord

[Assault Bunny]

Actually Levelord, yours was the initial inspiration for mine. I also try to use as little clipping as possible in my designs. I connect it with two docking ports partially to increase docking strength, but also to make sure the Arrow is pointing in the right direction.

Latest variants (not fully tested): Arrow MkIII and Longbow MkIV

With the Arrow I went back to NERVAs, as the aerospikes chewed through too much fuel. I also added two LV1Rs on the nose of the craft to correct the NERVA thrust profile. Good news is I have tested the vertical landing system (on the Mun at least) and it works perfectly as long as you don't hit the ground too fast.

The Longbow MkIV is the one with the extra struts and landing gear to stabilise the Arrow. It will behave oddly in the VAB, since it was actually designed in the SPH, so I recommend doing any editing in the SPH then copying it over to the VAB folder.

[Assault Bunny]

--- Sorry, checked this thread to see if there was something new, didn't realise I was still on the first page!

Edited November 22, 2013 by Assault Bunny
fixing derpage

[Assault Bunny]

Actual new stuff this time! I've juiced up the Longbow launcher, and modified it back down to 3 NERVAs per nacelle, since from what I've read more engines does not equal better, in this particular case. Using MechJeb I was able to get it into a stable 120km orbit on just the launch sections with a few seconds of fuel left over, though there's still a small chance of collision when dropping the second lot of inner rockets, as doing so causes a massive flex in the craft. I added a few separatrons to try and lessen it, but it still needs a little tweaking. I've also changed around the action groups a little, which I'll update on the first post. Here's a link to the file and a picture of the new Longbow MkV, sitting in the VAB: