Pro-Chute: Lifters for the career minded [UPDATED]

[O-Doc]

Times are tough. Some space agencies can't even return their Kerbonauts from orbit! O-Dock Industries believes that high quality engineering doesn't have to been expensive or overly complicated. Pro-Chute is a range of launch vehicles that can help expert operators lift their payloads into orbit and return the primary tank with rocket cluster safely back to Kerbin for recovery. Now, that elusive one Kerbuck per one Kilogram payload ratio is closer than ever before!

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Notes:

• Start gravity turn for all launch vehicles at 15km altitude
  
• Increase payload capacity by 25%+ when attached to a rocket stage
  
• Empty tanks, switch off SAS, deploy chute, then detach probes to recover lifter
  

Download: Pro-Chute v3.0

Edited August 27, 2014 by O-Doc

[Fatal_Gam3er]

this looks awesome man.

[O-Doc]

This is a shameless thread bump. I've decided that rather than messing around with de-orbiter droids it was better just to go ahead and install a Stayputnik probe core inside each lifter so that they can be fully automated. So, here's the download link to the second release version of the Pro-Chute series:

Pro-Chute v2.0

I guess I should add more info about the craft files. They are subassemblies so just unpack into your subassembly folder and you are good to go. If you don't have Stayputnik researched then use version one, or, drop version two into your sandbox save and pull out the core located at the base of the second bottom fuel tank.

Each lifter has ten action groups spacing between your craft and the lifter which should be plenty. The parachutes are the exception which will always appear inside the last action group when attached.

The lifters are orientated on the 90 so rotate your craft before attaching the lifter, this is mostly an aesthetic option.

Payloads are as follows: 20, 30, 40, 50 & 70 tons to orbit with gas for de-orbit. You can carry alot more with additional rocket stages.

Have fun!

Edited August 19, 2014 by O-Doc

[KingPhantom]

does that work?

i read that the dropped parts will despawn when they are more than 3km away from my active craft. doen't matter if they have a probe in it. when they fall back to kerbin they despawn

[O-Doc]

The solid boosters with their fuel tanks will fall away and be lost but, the rest of the rocket goes into orbit and can be recovered. The main stage without fuel, which is recoverable, is worth about half the price of the entire lifter. You just need to get it back to a flat area for landing and let the parachutes take care of the rest. The good news is there is more than enough fuel left over in their payload rating to make a very aggressive de-orbit burn for maximum accuracy.

A decent pilot will get to orbit, stage their payload and re-enter into the lowlands west of KSC for a high recovery value. Batteries are optional but, not needed if you turn SAS off for the half orbit prior to your re-entry burn.

Edited August 19, 2014 by O-Doc

[O-Doc]

I've taken some feedback as well as having a good long play with these lifters in career mode. I've decided these lifters need batteries and reaction wheels to get more accuracy in landing so, the tech tree requirements for this series has been updated. Refer to the revise tech tree image in the OP. I think the tech requirement trade-off is worth it considering I'm employing these regularly even with a maxed out tech tree.

I've also undertaken a new battery of survivability and reliability tests which has resulted in some fine tuning of the parachute position to ensure they always land within a few degrees of level and the short girders are enough to take the weight of the main stage for full recovery. I'm getting a failure rate on landing at less than 5% so, they're pretty robust.