totm june 2018 Work-in-Progress [WIP] Design Thread

[WooDzor]

'Merica!

I suddenly realised that maaaaybe I should add an other stage to the Saturn V change the engine of the CM into a nuclear one, add half a tank (and a hitchhiker to be nice) and shoot it to Duna (Ike) and Eve (Gilly) and do a proper Apollo style landing there.. At the same time it feels unrealistic and I'd rather do a Kerbin Orbit Rendevous Mission to those places (with the same lander and launcher though).. Possibilities are endless *sigh*

[Cranium]

I've been working on a FAR-approved flying V-wing, but so far, haven't had much luck. It just can't take those hypersonic speeds, unfortunately. Not enough control authority.

Taking that design a bit further with the V-wings, I decided to make Zalmodia; a super stable SSTO designed to dock with my upcoming hyperspace ring, but I'm having trouble designing the ring properly.

So far, if I put anything on the plane where I could dock to the ring, it causes lots of aerodynamic problems.

[WooDzor]

This weekend will be known as the great Kerbal Genocide, a black page in WASA's history

a word I probably shouldn't be using for being where I am at the moment

Edited July 3, 2014 by WooDzor

[9t3ndo]

Really early WIP

Sorry here was a Mod-Craft in a Stock-Craft trhead...

Picture Link

Edited July 4, 2014 by 9t3ndo

[GoSlash27]

This is my family of modular surface exploration vehicles. Clockwise from lower left:

a pair of linked Habitation modules with a Tylo Rover, another Tylo Rover, 2 rovers with a generic lander, and the Eve launch vehicle.

All of these vehicles can be connected together and exchange fuel. The Tylo rovers work in pairs to place 5 tons of payload on the surface of any body or lift 1 ton to orbit (exception, Eve). They can bring habitation modules to the surface, drive them around and link them together. They can do the same with the generic lander and also launch to orbit carrying it.

The Eve launch vehicle is built to tackle the unique challenge of Eve. It can land, traverse and climb to a suitable launch altitude, refuel using Tylo rovers, and launch a Kerbal to orbit from 4Km or higher above MSL.

These are sent in "stacks" from a family of standardized lifters and transported to their destination bodies using a standard mass mover with dedicated tugs (not shown)...

Generic lander combo during terrain testing.

Edited July 4, 2014 by GoSlash27

[Claw]

Nice concept Slashy. I like it.

[GoSlash27]

Thanks, Claw

It just seemed the way to go to simplify the process. This is my standard launcher, "Shotput/ Courier". Shotput lifts 5 tons of payload plus the courier. Courier then establishes LKO, corrects for inclination, and conducts intercept, rendezvous, and docking.

I use this standard booster combo to lift all of the pieces in the preceding picture except for the Eve launch vehicle, which requires it's own unique launcher. Shotput/ courier also carries out the logistical lifts; 5 tons of fuel/ oxygen/ monopropellant per launch.

A shotput/ courier LV with a stack of Tylo rovers

A stack of Tylo Rovers in LKO aboard a Courier.

The mass mover also uses a Shotput lifter for launch but dispenses with the Courier LKO vehicle, conducting that phase autonomously.

[GoSlash27]

And finally there's Startrader/ Chiron; the mass driver and tug assembly.

A Startrader/ Chiron aboard a Shotput lifter for launch.

Startrader is a mass driver with sufficient delta vee to transport a 5 ton stack of modules to any body in the system. It's chiron tugs serve as "hands", disassembling and reorganizing components of stacks into landing vehicles.

Startrader/ Chiron in LKO

So that's the whole system, pretty much. There's a standardized group of surface vehicles that are used to establish a surface colony on any planet. They are lifted to LKO aboard a Shotput/ Courier. The Startrader/ Chiron is likewise lifted aboard a Shotput. The stacks are assembled in orbit and refuelled. Then the Startrader does the transfer. The Chiron tugs reassemble the stacks into lander modules in orbit around the destination and everything is assembled on the surface.

[xoknight]

Alright finally got around to making a Saturn V rocket and continuing with my cancelled N1 L3 project.

I still need to brainstorm a LEM design.

[LvL]

Alright finally got around to making a Saturn V rocket and continuing with my cancelled N1 L3 project.

http://i.imgur.com/9dv11zl.png

I still need to brainstorm a LEM design.

http://i.imgur.com/3uyRzoc.png

:O holy... *coughs* rep for you good sir!

[xoknight]

More testing ensues!

[Spartwo]

I haven't played KSP in a few days so this is all there will be for a while(I finally got burned out)

[jBeta]

I spent a lot of time designing a functional Eve ascent vehicle a few months ago. Having barely conquered that, I now am revisiting it to make it better.

This time I am using mechjeb for help. Also, I am using some limited part clipping (like fuel tanks inside size 2-3 adapters for example. The goal is to make it look more realistic at the price of extra weight, and offset that somewhat by the part clipping. I think that's reasonable.

I finally have an ascent vehicle nearly complete that should easily get from sea level on Eve to Kerbin without even docking for refueling. I considered docking for return, but It would actually add more stuff to send to Eve in the first place.

The end goal is at least a single ship from LKO to Eve's surface and back without assistance. I am also planning to try to launch the whole thing in LKO fully fueled and ready to go, but that may be asking a bit too much. We'll see.

Here's what I have so far. Eve-14:

You may notice there is a lot of room for cutting weight on this. Just getting rid of some nose-cones can add hundreds of delta-V to it. I plan to later design an altered version that can probably cut nearly a whole stage off, but it will not be "aerodynamic" looking.

Also, note there will be more drogues and parachutes probably attached to my Eve landing stage, which I have not designed yet.

Stay tuned

EDIT: If someone can suggest a small ion-glider that is already tested on Eve, I'd like to ship one with this. I am still not good at glider design, but would like to stow one in the landing stage.

Edited July 5, 2014 by jBeta
add

[BrightBritches]

Space pancake ahoy!

[Guard13007]

@GusTurbo (your first post) Ah, now I see why your interest in my mini Apollo. I really like your lander much better though. I think my lifter is better, but your lander is way cooler.

[Rune]

http://i.imgur.com/S06fxyv.png

I haven't played KSP in a few days so this is all there will be for a while(I finally got burned out)

We all let it go for a while every now and then. Perhaps 0.25 will bring you back with a vengeance, and enjoy other stuff while you rest from killing green dudes!

[Rune]

I have started out to work with a new kind of drive, and so it looks very promising awaiting some mathematical proofing. Especially indicated for those that don't mind at least one of the most popular mods and do mind lugging around 50 parts just to contain a couple tons of xenon (much less refuel them!):

So far it's working great! I still haven't run the numbers to figure out the specific impulse, but it took ten minutes running at night to go through 500 units of kethane with the eight ion engines blasting at full power, so anyone with a calculator can work it out themselves. And of course the performance would be greatly improved if you had access to some external power (i.e: it's tugging something with a lot of solar panels, like a station).

Rune. That's exactly what this is: a drive unit to relocate massive stations. Slowly.

[CavemanNinja]

Hey guys, I'm working on a Saturn-V replica and I can't seem to find the trick for a faring-less engine decoupler.... if that makes any sense.

could someone link me?

[xoknight]

Hey guys, I'm working on a Saturn-V replica and I can't seem to find the trick for a faring-less engine decoupler.... if that makes any sense.

could someone link me?

[CavemanNinja]

Thank you. Saturn-V testing photos tomorrow!

EDIT:

Creative location, xonight, although i prefer Mare Nubium.

Edited July 9, 2014 by CavemanNinja

[Majorjim!]

Yay my no fairing engine trick! Thanks Xoknight!

Hey guys, I'm working on a Saturn-V replica and I can't seem to find the trick for a faring-less engine decoupler.... if that makes any sense.

could someone link me?

If you click here. You will find my sub-assembly engine stack with both small decouplers and most of the engines with no fairing.

[CavemanNinja]

Here are the photos from my Saturn-V testing, in no particular order. (there were waaay too many photos to sort)

Javascript is disabled. View full album

Had some weird bugs and stuff, but it worked out okay in the end. I had a full third stage in orbit with extra in the second

Edited July 10, 2014 by CavemanNinja

[Cranium]

When posting imgur albums, you need to only include the album ID, which is whatever is after the a/, but without the page number

[xoknight]

Weird, album is still not working

[Rune]

Weird, album is still not working

Just use the final alphanumerical code dropping the #0 at the end and change the tags to [ imgur], like this:

Javascript is disabled. View full album

Edit: nope, can't even find the album on imgur with that id. And I thought I was being clever... anyhow, a correct imgur album insert looks like what I did, not the link they give you.

Edit2: Yup, now your album is public it fixed itself. Quote this message and look up the code to see how I did it, it's dumb simple.

Rune. It's generally useful to quote people that know how do stuff and take a look at their code.

Edited July 12, 2014 by Rune