[Showcase - Stock & Mod] Motherships and Interplanetary Stuff!

[The Error]

So I tried my hand at building a Venture Star-styled IP ship (and being the genius I am, forgot to screenshot). But it got me thinking: How does the community design their muthasheeps?

So post yer motherships, auxiliary craft, and interplanetary stuff here! I'll screenshot mine and put it up later today.

[Ravenchant]

http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/64382-SHOWCASE-dems-muddahships!

You could find some inspiration here, for a start I'll post some of mine later as well.

[John Crichton]

This requires the interstellar mod. The total weight amounts to 161t on the launchpad. Since taking this screenshot I have fit senior docking ports between the main thermal turbojet, antimatter reactor and electric generator. That way I can use that part as my new general lifter. It's technically on par with the largest "Munshine" lifter. Drop a few watertanks (as you don't need that many to reach orbit...not even close) if all you need is LKO. That way you should be able to lift 200t.

And yes, the entire thing reaches orbit with that single turbojet. In fact, until around 25-30km you don't even use any fuel. You end up with 35-40k deltaV in orbit...but that's just used to circularize orbits since the Alcubierre drive is used for interplanetary transfers. The tradeoff is having to get antimatter, which is a major pain until you get a larger collector ship like this one to Jool.

Thanks to fitting those senior docking ports allowing me to split off the thermal turbojet stuff, I can now replace it with a plasma engine in orbit and basically free-roll in space. First trip is always to Jool to refuel antimatter...once that's done this mothership can get anywhere it wants and back to Kerbin. Enough TWR/deltaV to dock multiple SSTOs/landers/rovers to it.

I'm also abusing this as mini-stations. Currently busy dropping one of these around every planet (and the sun).

Ignore the fuel depot at the tip...it's just one of several floating around Kerbin. Using them to refuel before heading out...even if it's not really necessary, got enough fuel after reaching orbit to get anywhere I want.

I'm mostly using this as a convenient mobile mothership base for SSTOs.

Edited March 27, 2014 by John Crichton

[The Error]

I...wow. Dat's huge.

I went for the engines, fuel, and solar arrays up front, with the cargo and such trailing behind design. Not jsing Interstellar, the thing is a major fuel hog. But carrying 50t of cargo with 9k delta-V isn't too bad.

Note to self, do not attempt to land nuke-powered ships on planets. Not even Bop.

[John Crichton]

I...wow. Dat's huge.

I went for the engines, fuel, and solar arrays up front, with the cargo and such trailing behind design. Not jsing Interstellar, the thing is a major fuel hog. But carrying 50t of cargo with 9k delta-V isn't too bad.

Note to self, do not attempt to land nuke-powered ships on planets. Not even Bop.

Yeah, I went a bit overboard. Every time I launched I noticed my TWR was still really high...so I just added more spare fuel.

As for arranging stuff, the mod constrains you a bit in that the turbojet has to be mounted on the reactor...and the electric generator needs to be fit directly to the reactor too.

Everything behind those air-intakes can be decoupled and used as a lifter. Really handy as it's actually pretty small.

This is my general SSTO docking with the mothership:

It has its own Alcubierre drive pod (dockable), so doesn't necessarily need to travel with the mothership.

Edited March 27, 2014 by John Crichton

[panfish5]

Here are some of mine.

Edited March 28, 2014 by panfish5

[problemecium]

May as well plug the Kerbatar again:

All stock save for Aviation Lights to give it a cool engine glow.

[The Error]

Neat. Can I reccommend Hot Rockets for that cool engine glow?

[KatzOhki]

The Nekomata, modular design built at a mini station in orbit around Kerbin.

Seen here leaving Lilith Station:

And here arriving at Mun for a mission:

Long range science vessel (pre-science update), equipped with 4 long range probes and 4 rovers capable of landing on most planets / moons. >More Info<

[Vaebn]

Can start from Kerbin Low Orbit, go to any planet. Do a Landing with a Rover. Recover the Lander and the Rover (well, except EVE obviously), and then return to Kerbin Low Orbit. It does that without losing any parts, therefore the lander is essentially a SSTO for all the planets it lands on, and the entire a Kerbin Orbit to Kerbin Orbit round-trip ship. Tylo included.

Edited March 28, 2014 by Vaebn

[TerLoki]

I don't have any pictures of my first interplanetary ship, but I DO have a few shots of my second and my currently in development third.

The Dyson, designed to perform an Eve flyby as a proof-of-concept for future interplanetary vessels using electric propulsion. It's a pretty simple design consisting of four parts: The core propulsion module, an extra fuel module, science lab and habitat module, and a separate orbital vehicle for its two-man crew to use. It was originally planned to use a proper crew return vehicle, but that proved a bit heavy so the "orbital rendezvous" return plan was developed. The mission was a success, but unfortunately the flight computer got a bit wonky once in Eve's SoI, so the crew had to wait there for a replacement guidance system and refueling mission. It had been planned to use the Dyson for at least one more mission, possibly a Moho flyby, but the current plan is to break down the ship and reuse its (nuclear powered) propulsion module as the generator for a ground base on Minmus or the Mun.

My next interplanetary design, the Oberth. Unlike the Dyson this ship is designed as a true mothership, carrying probes, landers, and its own crew vehicles for use on return to Kerbin. Currently its first mission is still in the planning stages, its target will likely either be Duna for a manned Ike landing, or Eve of a manned landing on Gilly, though Dres is also a possibility. Current planned compliment is six crew, two three-man crew return vehicles, a two or three man lander, spare fuel and life support module, two deployable mapping satellites, and two unmanned landers.

Ground-testing a mock-up of the Oberth's drive module. Unlike the Dyson, which used 8 Hall effect thrusters, the Oberth will use two 200kw VASIMR engines each drawing power from its own nuclear reactor.

Edited March 28, 2014 by TerLoki

[Wampa842]

Name: Valhalla

Designation: O-205

Owner: Midgard Space Exploration Agency

Sister ships: O-203 Heimdallr, O-204 Hel

Purpose: Manned interplanetary travel, extralpanetary reconnaissance and service

Missions so far: Test flight to Duna and back, repair on a stranded interplanetary probe

Currently: On parking orbit near Minmus, waiting for refueling

An expansion is currently being built, a hangar, housing two spaceplanes (Valkyrja I and II), and a medium-sized satellite.

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Edited March 28, 2014 by Wampa842