Prometheus Family (Launch vehicle subassemblies)

[Kurotenshi]

I made the first few of these LVs when I was playing trough career mode, and I decided to expand upon the design and share them. The 2nd stage of the core has solar panels and a probe core for deorbiting, if the seperatrons prove insufficient. All versions share the same 2-stage core, except for the IB, as I designed that earlier, but proved better in almost every aspect that the I version (which was derived from the II, actually). The IB also comes closer to the 15% payload I was trying to achieve. To increase the capacity, I used two kinds of boosters, small and large, in different setups. Also note that I tried avoiding asparagus staging, using it only in the IV and VI, although one could argue that it isn't classic asparagus, as it drops four boosters at once instead of the usual 2 =P The given payloads are guidelines, they are the maximum payload weight to a 75km orbit, tested with mechjeb. All subassemblies have 6 empty stages, to reduce staging conflicts when you slap it under a craft. The Family may be expanded upon later.

I also included two versions of a command module that I use often when designing orbiters, one stock, one with a hidden mechjeb case. The pod weighs in at 4.8t with a partcount of 35, and has 3 semi-hidden parachutes and a small probe core for unmanned control.

When using the subassembly, action groups will already be bound. I avoided using action group 1, because I always bind solar panels on that. The used action groups are:

Abort: detaches the pod and fires 8 seperatrons

2: Jettisons the LES, using 4 seperatrons

0: deploys antenna on LES, just for looks

Specs and pics:

[table=width: 500, align: center]

[tr]

[td][/td]

[td]Payload (t)[/td]

[td]LV (t)[/td]

[td]Total (t)[/td]

[td]Payload fraction[/td]

[td]Parts[/td]

[td]Stages[/td]

[td]Boosters[/td]

[/tr]

[tr]

[td]I[/td]

[td]7.5[/td]

[td]72.1[/td]

[td]79.6[/td]

[td]9.42%[/td]

[td]55[/td]

[td]2[/td]

[td]0[/td]

[/tr]

[tr]

[td]IB[/td]

[td]8.3[/td]

[td]56.6[/td]

[td]64.9[/td]

[td]12.79%[/td]

[td]35[/td]

[td]2[/td]

[td]0[/td]

[/tr]

[tr]

[td]II[/td]

[td]15.5[/td]

[td]113.4[/td]

[td]128.9[/td]

[td]12.02%[/td]

[td]87[/td]

[td]2+1[/td]

[td]4[/td]

[/tr]

[tr]

[td]III[/td]

[td]22.3[/td]

[td]152.9[/td]

[td]175.2[/td]

[td]12.73%[/td]

[td]95[/td]

[td]2+1[/td]

[td]2[/td]

[/tr]

[tr]

[td]IV[/td]

[td]30.2[/td]

[td]194.4[/td]

[td]224.5l[/td]

[td]13.45%[/td]

[td]121[/td]

[td]2+2[/td]

[td]2+4[/td]

[/tr]

[tr]

[td]V[/td]

[td]36.9[/td]

[td]233.8[/td]

[td]270,7l[/td]

[td]13.63%[/td]

[td]127[/td]

[td]2+1[/td]

[td]4[/td]

[/tr]

[tr]

[td]VI[/td]

[td]45.2[/td]

[td]275.1[/td]

[td]320.3[/td]

[td]14.11%[/td]

[td]159[/td]

[td]2+2[/td]

[td]4+4[/td]

[/tr]

[/table]

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For those who want to use or test them, here's the whole family in an archive

Feedback is always appreciated, happy flying!

Edited January 20, 2014 by Kurotenshi

[Captain Sierra]

The progression style is clearly there and really defines the family. I absolutely love it. It's not really clear, are these onion or asparagus staged? In other words, do you have boosters feeding boosters, or does it all feed into the core stage?

[Kurotenshi]

The small boosters always feed into the large boosters. Take the IV for example: two small ones feed into one big tank, which then feeds into the core

So I guess that's onion staging, hadn't heard that before, only parallel and asparagus

[Captain Sierra]

If the smalls feed the large, which feed the core, then you technically have asparagus. Asparagus is where some boosters feed other boosters until they are empty. Then the first set of boosters drops and the next set remains perfectly full. Typically, it's done in 4x and 6x symmetry with orange tanks but you seem to have a nice design using 2x and 4x symmetry.

Looking at your fuel lines confirms that.

Now, Onion is when you have a design like this:

Where all the boosters feed the central stack and drop at the same time (the above picture is a unique asparagus serial hybrid design that I would not recommend attempting to replicate).

Edited January 20, 2014 by Captain Sierra

[Kurotenshi]

Oh, I just call that parallel staging, instead of onion staging, thanks for explaining

And I didn't really deny it wasn't asparagus, but it was my goal, so yeah, I made a little joke about it to hide my reluctance

[DerekL1963]

Nice designs, but what's the orbit for payload delivery? (I.E., the -I can lift 7.5 tons, but to where?)

[Kurotenshi]

I usually put them in a 75 to 80km orbit. I'll add that bit of info to the OP

[DerekL1963]

Thanks! Different people use different standard parking orbits and even though 75km is the most common it's nice to know.