Hypatia II

[drewscriver]

Successor to the Hypatia I, the Hypatia II is a couple rungs higher on the tech tree, but has significantly increased capabilities as a result. With the use of docking ports, the Hypatia II has shifted to a modular science-pod system, and packs a rover in the cargo bay capable of transporting the pods to an interesting biome and back.

With LV-909s, it is both Munar and Minimus capable. The airframe can handle Duna as well, though I only tried the landing, and not the flight, so I suspect you'd need additional fuel.

There is a fair bit of clipping (especially the rover), but I still managed to keep it to 350 parts, so it shouldn't be too CPU-melty. Moderate airhogging at 5 ram intakes per engine, but I added them in careful order, in order to distribute the air evenly among the engines and minimize flame-outs. Unfortunately, when they do eventually happen, the wide positioning of the engines imparts a lot of yaw, so pilots must be vigilant.

In-atmospheric flight, the Hypatia II will not turn on a dime, but it's solid and well-behaved. One thing it does have going for it is perfect balance. There is zero distance between the center of mass, and the dry center of mass. Additionally, fuel is drawn evenly from front and rear tanks, so its handling characteristics are stable throughout flight. RCS is perfectly balanced as well, with virtually zero torque when translating (thanks RCS build aid!). The cargo bay is located at the center of mass, so you can leave the rover behind if you like, and it will still handle well. I would advise against ditching the science pods, however, as that will shift the balance.

The Hypatia II has a robust crew-escape system, capable of zero-zero, high speed, and even some extra-kerbin saves, thanks to the monopropellant thrusters.

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Edited March 20, 2015 by drewscriver
added download link

[hobbez]

drew, could you share the craft file of this beauty?

[Hobbes Novakoff]

Same as Hobbez, craft file please! Also, how many parts, and how much dV does it have?

[drewscriver]

drew, could you share the craft file of this beauty?

Same as Hobbez, craft file please! Also, how many parts, and how much dV does it have?

Wow, here I'd given up on anyone being interested anymore... I'm quite happy to add the Download.

Part count is 350; it was built prior to gizmos, so a few could probably shaved off now.

I'm not sure of the delta-v. I don't think it's the greatest, though there's plenty for mucking about the Mun. I've come to realize that it's hauling along a lot more mass in Monoprop and LV909s than necessary. Once 1.0 is out, I plan to revamp.