Dakitess Corporation : DC - Scale (Aesthetic huge launcher)

[Dakitess]

Hey there, today i'm going to introduce you my last creation, a big stock launcher made to be compact and "realistic" (somehow...) while not sacrifying performance. I made a video of it, I hope you'll like it, even if you seem to generally prefer pics. Whatever, give it a try, this is short !

The whole challenge then was to develop the different stages dealing with aesthetic, reliability and capability. Here, in the presented version, you'll find a Refueler payload, more than 250t, which can be placed on a 1000km high orbit. Obviously, if you wanna use this launcher with a fairing and a "standard" payload made of pods or equipment and fuel, you'll extend a lot these numbers allowing you to use the last stage for interplanetary travel.

Well, let's go for pics since you like them more than videos And a bit of description, even if my english won't allow me to be as clear as I would like :

This is the successor of the DC - Mendacium, another launcher presented in topics and which you can find on my Youtube Channel. Huge, the aim was to obtain a kind of "very large diameter" rocket with stock parts, in order to offer a wide base for fairing and complet payload. Here, the version presented will carry a refueler, that is to say the heaviest kind of payload to show you the capabilities of this launcher.

Feel the ground vibrating !

First stage to jettison, the four lateral big liquid boosters. Isn't it beautiful ? Unveilng the hidden parts of the remaining rocket

You can now find the "gravity turn stage", with its important vectoriel specs. Did I tell you that each stage is made to perform the best at its situation ? ^^ Especially the speed, with should never be too important for maximum efficience while in low atmosphere.

Well, new jettison of this four liquid engines.

This is the occasion to free the area beneath the "upper thruster crown" and ignite them : this allow to distribute the load and avoid any structural disaster, regarding the huge head compared to the "thin" diameter of central column.

This central stage runs out of fuel and is seperated.

Right ahead, you'll find another central thruster, large and powerful, to ensure the continuity of the global thrust. Otherwise, after something like a minute of use, the "thrusters crown" can be seperated, the rocket has enough velocity. Thus, the main central thruster can show all its magnificent ISP of 380

Only the 4 remaining nukes and the central thruster are still here, and the efficicency is great to circularize around Kerbin.

Depending on the payload and its use, the central thruster is also separable. This is made to guarantee the best perfomance while using the last large orange stage in interplanetary context ! Most of the time, such interplanetary mission won't be carrying refueler, so we can assume that the payload, even big, would be much much lighter. In this condition, the fuel remaining in orange tanks can reach more than 2/3 of capacity, which is a lot when consumed through Nukes !

Here, this is not our goal, so this orange final stage is separated, to come back to Kerbin or be used as a refuelling station.

our payload, an refueller, is in orbit and weights 253t, not bad ! This is fully equiped, with power supply, antennas, and of course the three kind of docking ports for a maximum versatility.

Oh, and in the center, you can see a Nuke ! This will certainly be slow as hell but the gives the capability to be fully autonomous and reach targets by its own.

Did you notice that the 4 large docking port at the rear, are corresponding to the 4 others which belong to the orange fuel ? This is made to ensure a wide modularity. Imagine a mission with an autonomous head, like a big scout vessel. This launcher can extract it from the Kerbin SOI, with lots of remaining fuel in orange tanks, equipped with nukes. You get something to travel, detach, moving around, coming back to interplanetary stage, and coming back home, the whole in a single launch.

Well this is it ! A final important information :

Tanks that are "fusionned" with others see their fuel capacity decreased to fit the exact remaining. It would be to easy to "encrust" parts with no consequence ! As a consequence, the mass bilan is not in my favor since i'm carrying "tanks surfaces" that is not really used. But even with this, it is still operationnal of course

Do you have any question, any comments, regarding the rocket itself or the video ? Do not hesitate, i'm here to learn and progress, i'm not that familiar with the video media yet ^^ ! Once again, give it a try, this is really short and always different than pics. Mostly everything is about "motion" in this creation

Edited September 26, 2014 by Dakitess

[KandoKris]

Nice job

I watched the vid A+ on a smooth launch

I checked your link to KSPfr some nice craft there 2

I love the clean look and capacity of what you've made and will be shore to give it a spin when I can. Very Dakitess

[Dakitess]

Well thanks a lot ! My french thread is not really up to date, well not the first page, but the last ones are representatives

[Gaalidas]

I'm left utterly speechless (well, figuratively anyway) after that video. That's one pretty launcher. What's the part count come out to for the launcher portion alone?

[Dakitess]

Thanks a lot for having watch the video !

The launcher itself, without the payload, is about 680 parts... yeah, it's a lot, this is the cost when it comes to design and compacity :s

But after ditching the first 4 larges lateral column (about 10000m), the framerate goes up quickly since all the parts devoted to aesthetics flanks are gone

[Dakitess]

Hey there, I allow myselft to "double-post", I don't know if is okay, but this is directly connected to the subject

I just found in my footage an impressive explosion that lead one decoupler to go straight in the camera, it looks nice ! The video is about 10 seconds, and I think it may worth your attention

I think I'm gonna use it for my intro, as a "transition" ^^

[GusTurbo]

This is a really awesome craft.

[BDelacroix]

Impressive. Here I gave up trying to get that many large tanks into space in a single launch. The final orbiting part is about the equivalent to two of my large ship engine pods that I attach to large transports that I festoon with station parts for extra kerbin deliver.

I do it in two launches, you have found a way to do it with one. I bet the cost in kerbin dollars isn't cheap either.

[Dakitess]

Thanks, both of you

This is not exactly 4 big fuel tanks actually, since there is inclusion that bring me to reduce their fuel capacity accordind to reality.

[Gaalidas]

That's a lot of parts. I'm not going to be able to handle anything that large, at least not all at once, unless I really want to see my laptop melt. Still, that's a pretty amazing example of what can be done if you have the power to handle it.

[Redrobin]

Looks really good.

[Dakitess]

Yeah, don't even think about trying this on a laptop.

Well KSP on a Laptop is not really recommended, except for preparing Craft in VAB or testing small assemblies With some fresh air, you can flirt with the 300 parts even on a old laptot. Except if it is an ultrabook...

In other hand, even a low-powered office computer with a i3 3220 costing 100€ is really enough for KSP ! This is my processor, running at 12 FPS during this DC - Scale video. Lots of optimizations have been done since 0.18