New method to send 4 Kerbals a Rover and SSTO into Orbit!

[Devinci]

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/qlruy23a9gxeh5h/T4D0VanBYF/LK2_SSTO_MK2.craft (Check bottom for mods used)

I am currently making plans for an upcoming Laythe Base project. I need to have a reliable SSTO that can get 4 Kerbals and a manned rover into orbit or anywhere on the planet. I've come up with this by coincidence and it seems to work

wonderfully.

[Video tutorial coming soon]

How does it work?

Basically I move the front section of the craft up by lowering the landing struts.

Then I decouple the rover which also has a probe.

The docking port of the rover uses a piston to allow it to move up and down.

Then I raise the nose landing gear so that the rover can back out and go for a drive.

The rest is self explanatory. The aircraft is very VERY stable (looks like I got lucky this time with the center of mass/center of lift positioning). The only issue I've noticed is that when I dock back the rover and fly back the SSTO it tends to yaw harshly on either side. I don't know what's causing it but I may only need to lock the wheels and see. The rover also helps a lot for landing as it absorbs some of the touch down as long as it's not the first to contact the ground. You want to make sure to flare to avoid that. But it's easy enough to control the pitch from my testing.

Please note that even though I'm using mods, it's possible to make this craft using stock parts only.

Mods

Edited January 15, 2014 by Devinci
Adding more infos

[Devinci]

Video tutorial: