IPV Oberth - Capital Ship - SSTO Tanker

[Redshift OTF]

(Not sure if the images will scale to your browser. Hey ho)

...

They said it could never be done...

...They, obviously didn't include Wernher Von Kerman.

Introducing the Inter Planetary Vehicle - Oberth.

Inspired by the Munshine class of Heavy Lifters and completely rebuilt by Wernher's own hands as a single stage to orbit craft, this is a fully reusable transport ship, pusher vehicle or giant fuel tanker. This ship will reach a 100Km orbit ready to be refuelled and used for whatever purposes the user sees fit.

Stats:

Part count - 493

Take off weight - 1461 tons

Take off TWR - 1.78 (Kerbin gravity)

Take off DeltaV - 4761 m/s

End TWR - 4.14 (Kerbin gravity)

Dry weight - 350 tons

Fully fuelled weight - 2135 tons

Fully fuelled TWR - 1.22 (Kerbin gravity)

Fully fuelled DeltaV - 5993 m/s

Operational notes:

Turn on SAS as soon as the ship has loaded otherwise the sway on the top tanks will cause the ship to collapse and explode on the launch pad. Probably recommended to use Mechjeb to pilot with a turn start of 10km and a turn shape of 32%. Once she's in the air she's pretty rock solid. Turns like a bus in space but not bad considering her size.

It's probably not the most practical of ships but it is reusable and given it's weight, pushing massive loads will barely make a dent in the DeltaV. Should be able to push 200 ton loads through space with a decent TWR, although I haven't tried it yet. Could make for a good Eve lander transport. If you don't fancy pushing anything with it then it makes for a pretty massive fuel tank to park around a planet that may host future missions.

It also has a lot of scope for modifications. If I replaced each Mainsail with 4 x LV-N's I think you would have around 14,000 DeltaV, (with a horrible TWR of 0.07). You would need to empty it of all fuel and strap booster lifters all around it but I think it would be do-able.

To be honest it is more of a showpeice ship than something truly practical but it has some uses. Hopefully it will be of use to you!

Download Here!

[zekes]

WOW! Amazing, and impressive. Would make an awesome first stage for a Heavy Lifter.

[Redshift OTF]

Lol, thank you. It doesn't actually make for a very good lifter as it can barely lift itself and I think it would collapse if the upper set of 27 tanks where fuelled at launch. It's more for space use really. And showing off.

Edit: I forgot to add that the fuel lines aren't really optimal. The work pretty well put the central stack of tanks will burn first meaning the central Mainsail engine will cut out first but it doesn't affect performance much. Towards the end the inner 8 Mainsails cut out leaving just the outer 8 but it still gets into orbit fine.

Edited December 29, 2013 by Redshift OTF

[sal_vager]

Woah that's a lot of fuel, also, I added the Stock tag for you

[Redshift OTF]

Thanks friendly neighbourhood Mod!

[Redshift OTF]

Just trying to re-fuel this beast. This should put this thing into perspective:

The inner tanks are a bit of a pain to refuel although you could probably miss them out as it burns them first without too much of a DeltaV hit.

Edited December 29, 2013 by Redshift OTF

[Wayfare]

That is one beautiful beast of a machine! I like the strutwork between the stacks in particular for some reason. It looks really cool.

[Kinglet]

...........

I'm speechless.

[Redshift OTF]

Thought I'd take a trip to Duna...

She handles pretty well in space. Obviously turning is an issue at first but it is a capital ship so it is realistic. No signs of the ship falling apart at full throttle with the 17 Mainsails . I even tried landing on Duna and it was absolutely fine except right at the end when the ship couldn't turn fast enough to point downwards. Maybe more SAS will help.

[Stone Blue]

Nevermind....Seems my issue is with an installed mod...Sorry...

Edited December 30, 2013 by Stone Blue