The Hondo: Double Round-Trip SSTO Lifter + Munar Lander!

[Cruzan]

I made this design specifically for a reddit challenge that required going to the Mun and back twice, landing at a specific point without refueling!

Link to the challenge: Wait, Where'd I Leave My Wallet?

SPH PICS

Javascript is disabled. View full album

Hondo Lifter/Lander Combo

Part Count: 211

Classification: Air-Hogger SSTO and Nuke Powered Munar Lander

CRAFT FILE: The Hondo

If you try it out let me know what you think! I'm sure there are ways to improve it. This is my first lifter design

Flight Instructions:

Action Groups

1 = Toggle Nuke

2 = Toggle Middle TurboJets

3 = Toggle Outer TurboJets

4 = Toggle Landing Gears (Plane)

5 = Toggle Landing Struts (Lander)

6 = Toggle Floodlights (Lander)

0 = Toggle Extra intakes (use this below 10km)

I don't recommend presing "G" while the craft are docked together because the lander's legs will try to clip through the plane! Explosions may occur.

When you dock the lander back to the SSTO, be sure to "Control From Here" on the cockpit!

The Mission: Mun and Back to KSC x2. No refueling, one launch.

Javascript is disabled. View full album

I made a video for it as well. It was really hard to compress over 3 hours of footage in to a reasonable amount of time. It came out pretty well though

I had never designed something capable of doing two round trips before refueling. Most missions are one-way or roundtrip so this was quite the challenge!

Hope you enjoyed!

[inigma]

Could make round trip duna then?

[Cruzan]

My gut feeling is to say yes Maybe I'll test that out later!

The dV to get to Duna is similar since you have atmo for aerobraking.

[John Crichton]

First ship I downloaded after the Munshine rockets...it rocks!

I took the liberty of modifying it a bit. Added a docking port, so now I can link it with my main fuel depot & drive in orbit. Pretty cool because now I have a SSTO to land on planets and take off again, a lander for moons and a large drive allowing me to go pretty much anywhere I want. Got mobile fuel depots to recharge the drive if I run out while away from home.

Just need to add a heavy science lander, rover and escape pod and I'm good to go. The escape return pod is key, too many of my Kerbals ended up stranded in the past (they keep on smiling anyway though, I don't understand that...but it makes me feel less guilty)...and rescue missions can be a pain.

[Cruzan]

That's great to hear that you're getting a lot of mileage out of it! I'd be interested in hearing where you've tried going with it so far. I haven't personally had a chance to take it anywhere other than the Mun yet.

Send pics of your conquests! haha

[John Crichton]

That's great to hear that you're getting a lot of mileage out of it! I'd be interested in hearing where you've tried going with it so far. I haven't personally had a chance to take it anywhere other than the Mun yet.

Send pics of your conquests! haha

Your craft on its own has been to the Mun a few times only, just started playing 2 weeks ago.

Here's what I'll have on my "world ship that is small enough not to lag everything to a standstill":

1) Your ship & lander

2) Science & habitat module

3) Several satellites that will free up docking ports as I spread them out...despite satellites being pretty useless so far.

4) Drive for the entire thing...nuke powered for efficiency. Using a 3 orange tank setup. Got another drive to ship my main drive to wherever it needs to go if I run out of fuel.

5) Heavy lander (to start a base on moons/planets).

Will probably move one of these ships to every planet and leave it there as a mobile station. Tempted to add Kethane stuff in a later stage so I won't have to ship fuel back and forth all the time.

Your ship and the drive are already up in LKO (including a spare drive that will trail the main ship once it leaves). The science and habitat modules and satellites almost made it up to LKO last night but I ran to the shop for beer once it almost made it...which was a mistake as I got home to a crash. No Kerbals were hurt though, I only ship 'em up using your plane. In fact, I'm thinking about fitting outside seats to your plane so I can carry more than just 1 Kerbal into space at once. Bill & Bob strapped to the wings, pretty sure they'll love it

Will post pics before it leaves LKO. Need to pass by the Mun before heading to another planet though, Jeb's been stuck there ever since my first Mun mission. Was fooling around with your lander and kind of forgot to keep an eye on fuel. He's still smiling though, probably has a **** stash hidden in his little ship (no food though!).

EDIT: One suggestion though...I wouldn't use a single button to toggle all intakes at once. Splitting them up allows for a bit more efficiency in terms of drag I think.

Edited February 3, 2014 by John Crichton

[Hodo]

I have to say Cruzan I love this one. I am not one for many stock designs but you made a great looking craft here.

[Cruzan]

EDIT: One suggestion though...I wouldn't use a single button to toggle all intakes at once. Splitting them up allows for a bit more efficiency in terms of drag I think.

2 weeks and you're already on the Mun? That's really good!

You can probably put command pods on the front of those inner tanks, on those reaction wheels. External seats would be funny to see though xD

If you're having part count problems you can get rid of like 25-30 of those intakes on the lifter. The original design was much larger with more engines. I scaled the design down, but never changed the number of intakes. It's overkill at the moment haha.

And ya it definitely isn't a bad idea to stage the intake opening, but for me on my slow comp the ascents take so long I just alt tab between major events.

1. Close intakes, take off, pitch to 60 deg. Alt tab.

2. Tune back in around 10-12km, open intakes, pitch to 45 deg. Alt tab.

3. Tune back in around 20km...etc. etc. lol

I have to say Cruzan I love this one. I am not one for many stock designs but you made a great looking craft here.

Thanks Hodo!

I had to do a double take since the names are so similar

I haven't been watching the forums as much lately, but how have your designs been coming along?

[John Crichton]

Thanks for the advice

Launch plans for my interplanetary ship just got delayed...got home from the pub and promptly got Jeb stranded in orbit. Told him to come home but he wouldn't listen and just floored the gas pedal until he ran out of fuel. I think he was in need of some space...

[Hodo]

Thanks Hodo!

I had to do a double take since the names are so similar

I haven't been watching the forums as much lately, but how have your designs been coming along?

I actually have been to busy in real life to play much. I haven't made anything new in months. When things slow down again I plan on getting back to designing a few new things.

[Cruzan]

Thanks for the advice

Launch plans for my interplanetary ship just got delayed...got home from the pub and promptly got Jeb stranded in orbit. Told him to come home but he wouldn't listen and just floored the gas pedal until he ran out of fuel. I think he was in need of some space...

He'll EVA his way home when he realizes there aren't any snacks on board haha

[John Crichton]

He'll EVA his way home when he realizes there aren't any snacks on board haha

He knows I won't let him die, so yeah, he will probably make a run for the atmosphere and I'll have to come save him before he burns up.

He didn't even bring snacks along, all he's got are 2 cans of Guinness, ****, and I guess he's own urine once beer runs out. I doubt that will keep him going for long.

I guess I'll be merciful and launch a rescue mission tonight when I get home.

[Javster]

Wow! Very well designed

[Cruzan]

I actually have been to busy in real life to play much. I haven't made anything new in months. When things slow down again I plan on getting back to designing a few new things.

Oh bummer I guess that's the problem with this game is that when you start getting in to making more complex designs and taking on bigger missions you start needing longer sessions to play. sitting down for 15 minutes doesn't accomplish much when designing some complex SSTO to Laythe or something eh?

He knows I won't let him die, so yeah, he will probably make a run for the atmosphere and I'll have to come save him before he burns up.

He didn't even bring snacks along, all he's got are 2 cans of Guinness, ****, and I guess he's own urine once beer runs out. I doubt that will keep him going for long.

I guess I'll be merciful and launch a rescue mission tonight when I get home.

Kerbals seem to be a hearty lot so he can probably manage. EVA Aerobraking while drunk/hungry? No problem for Jeb!

Wow! Very well designed

Thanks again Jav! Did you get a chance to fly it at all?

[John Crichton]

Jeb just spotted Sigemy in his tanker...seems to be pleased.

The extra docking port is on top.

Edited February 6, 2014 by John Crichton

[Penguinhero]

very clever i may copy the design a bit to make my own ssto

[Cruzan]

Jeb just spotted Sigemy in his tanker...seems to be pleased.

The extra docking port is on top.

Ah sweet. That docking port fits in the nicely

very clever i may copy the design a bit to make my own ssto

Go for it! What kind of mission is your SSTO running?

[CrazyOdd]

Not sure if this thread is dead, but do you think you (or i, even though i suck at sstos) could make a similar design(detatchable lander and everything) without using 200 parts?

[Cruzan]

Not sure if this thread is dead, but do you think you (or i, even though i suck at sstos) could make a similar design(detatchable lander and everything) without using 200 parts?

Absolutely! This thing has about...20 more air intakes than it actually needs, so it could easily clock in at around 190ish parts if you wanted. Keep in mind that this was designed to go to the mun twice without refueling, so if you made it smaller with a single round trip in mind you could cut down on the part count even more