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Challenge: A Heavy Lift Vehicle

Rotten194
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Rotten194

Rotten194

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With the addition of space stations and other planets to KSP, rockets able to carry heavy payloads and other rockets are needed.

The idea was this thread could be a central discussion for the development of standardized heavy lift rockets.

Resources:

Table of stock parts/thrust/weight

Falcon Heavy (example of an HLV)

Want something to lift? Here is a comsat mod, try and get it into orbit and return home! It's tricky, as not only does it add dead weight to the top of your rocket but also extra weight for a return stage above that. Good luck!

Suggested submit format:


  • [li]Rocket name[/li]
    [li]Picture/video[/li]
    [li]Quick description/layout of rocket[/li]
    [li]Rocket it's based on (if any) [/li]
    [li]Lift capacity [/li]
    [li]Stages (don't include dummy decouplers/tanks used to prevent the sticky bug)[/li]
    [li].craft file (if you want. Try to use a nice upload site, like the Repository, attachment (under posting box) or Dropbox. Mediafire is evil)[/li]
    [li]Mods needed[/li]

I'll try and keep this page updated with the most liked designs, etc. The idea is this is the place you can come to grab a nice base for you rocket to lift your orbiters and such with. No use reinventing the wheel! Feel free to also use it to discuss heavy lift vehicles in general, though.

I'll start:


  • [li]Name: Orbiter MK1[/li]

ksp-hlv1.png

  • [li]Description: It uses a layout of 6 'stacks' around it's central payload. Each of these stacks is two stages, a two tank chemical engine followed by an SRB.[/li]
    [li]Lift capacity: 3 tanks, 1 engine. Can lift more.[/li]
    [li]Stages: 2 + 1 (orbiting stage)[/li]
    [li].craft file:
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/9540090/Orbiter%20MK%20I.craft (the fuel tanks on the bottom are just to keep it off the pad. Just hit space 'till it shoots. Should be an easy orbit.)[/li]
[li]Mods: none[/li]

Also: first post! :D

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P.Funk

P.Funk

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I posted this in another thread. My version of a Saturn V.

saturnmockup.png

Staging breakdown in the picture of course. Uses the Wobbly Rocket parts, Wuff's parts, and thats about it.

This thing can get you into the 100s of KM high by default. It is heavy though so you have to manage your tilt right for horizontal velocity pickup or else you'll end up using up too much Third Stage fuel just to get into orbit if you have ambitions of doing more than one orbit and a reentry.

Was fun making this one cause it feels like a real life rocket. Looks like one.

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SVB

SVB

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Omega-5 Rocket

4 Stage Rocket made out of 100% Stock parts.

Capable of achieving stable orbit, while having a fuel tank to spare.

Evolved from the earlier Omega I (1 stage) - II (2 stage) - III (3 Stage) - IV rockets (4 Stage).

Most produced, reliable Heavy lift rocket of the Omegadorian Space Program. Out of date as of this day.

Updated version includes another fuel tank on the top stage, to aid with heavy lifting, as well as an extra SAS module for the top stage.

Based on the Soviet/Russian Soyuz rockets.

KSP2011-07-1718-42-59-39.png

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P.Funk

P.Funk

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Both those rockets are awesome, I tried to make a Saturn V myself but failed miserably. If it's ok I'll add them both to the main post.

I'll give it once over to make sure its not buggy and whatnot and I'll upload the ship file w/ proper list of mods used.

@McLuv

I should call it the Cronus V because Cronus is the Greek version of Saturn.

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McLuv

McLuv

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I'll give it once over to make sure its not buggy and whatnot and I'll upload the ship file w/ proper list of mods used.

@McLuv

I should call it the Cronus V because Cronus is the Greek version of Saturn.

Deus ex machina 8)

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fawker

fawker

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Omega-5 Rocket

4 Stage Rocket made out of 100% Stock parts.

Capable of achieving stable orbit, while having a fuel tank to spare.

Evolved from the earlier Omega I (1 stage) - II (2 stage) - III (3 Stage) - IV rockets (4 Stage).

Most produced, reliable Heavy lift rocket of the Omegadorian Space Program. Out of date as of this day.

Updated version includes another fuel tank on the top stage, to aid with heavy lifting, as well as an extra SAS module for the top stage.

Based on the Soviet/Russian Soyuz rockets.

KSP2011-07-1718-42-59-39.png

I have one very similar to that. I think you could get away with anther fuel tank on the last stage. Makes it a little tricker to steer, but you get a lot more velocity out of it. Of course, I was just trying to break gravity at the fastest rate. I was also able to get another set of boosters that mirrored the first set, only coupled by the three in the middle. http://i.imgur.com/D232X.jpg

The liquid fuel engines seem to be able to burn at full throttle at the higher level of altitude those boosters provide.

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Minthos

Minthos

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Name: M15-7 rev. 1

Lift capacity: 8 full fuel tanks + 1 engine to orbit (70 km, 2300 m/s)

Mods: none

Pics:

m15-7-001.hangar.jpgm15-7-001.flight.jpg

.craft: http://files.minthos.com/KSP/M15-7-001.craft

Based on: Battlespire - http://kerbalspaceprogram.com/forum/index.php?topic=962.0

Stages: 4 (2 hybrid + 1 solid + payload stage)

Description: Simplified version of Battlespire. It has the same payload capacity, but less delta-v.

I haven't tested it enough to tell if it has the same issue as Battlespire has, with the first stage sometimes bumping into the second stage on separation. I hope it doesn't. If it does, it may be better to make a rocket based on Iteron 6 instead: http://kerbalspaceprogram.com/forum/index.php?topic=696.0

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sneakeypete

sneakeypete

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(internal) name: 'orbital heavy lifter'

mods: none

Capacity: 15 'kg' to 50km circular orbit. Shown lifting two stages to orbit, (fuel tank and motor plus SAS, 2 tanks and a motor). Will also lift 4 tanks and one motor with the SAS module.

Stages: 4.5/3.5, depends on configuration of payload

First stage is 6 sets of 3 solid boosters. The second stage is 6 mirrored stacks of a solid booster and 3 fuel tanks+motor around a central stack of 4 tanks+motor. second and a half stage is the solid motors firing after the outer liquid ones have been spent. After solid motors have been jettisoned, there should be just enough propellent left in the main stack to reach orbit. The stages above can then be used for maneuvering, and with 3-4 fuel tanks... a lot of that could be on the cards.

Notes: surprisingly stable rocket. Without the first stage of boosters, and the sticky launchpad bug, this rocket would probably be able to still get the payload into a lower 35km orbit.

Pictures:

orbiter-1.jpg

Orbiter-2.jpg

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P.Funk

P.Funk

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I decided to make a family of heavy rockets just cause I read some wikis about rockets and saw the families and how they were all staged up one after another.

Maybe I can use that comsat deal to make these useful.

periclesfamily.png

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shadowfax

shadowfax

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Someone's made a satellite as a payload. This thing is heavy.

http://mod.gib.me/kerbal/mods/Dirty/commsat.zip

I'm having a hell of a time getting that thing to orbit. I'm only allowing myself to use the commsat itself from the aftermarket parts bin. Everything else is vanilla. So far I've gotten to within 200m/s of orbital velocity before running out of fuel. Still working on it.

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shadowfax

shadowfax

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Yes, the bendy rocket thing is hurting me. I suspect the stack I have now would be capable of doing it if I could just control the yaw oscillations I get in stage 3, when a lot of weight is off the bottom from the SRBs dropping off, but that big heavy satellite is sitting on the top amplifying any attitude changes, which are hard to control because the rocket itself is wiggling around. That usually ends up making my nose pitch too high right when I'm supposed to be nearly horizontal to gain speed. I figure if I could just control the pitch a little better by not having the rocket itself amplifying the oscillations by acting like a slinky I'd be able to get that last 200m/s.

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Xivios

Xivios

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I'm not posting this because it's a good heavy lifter. I'm posting it because it's a bad heavy lifter :D

It can put the capsule into orbit with more than 3 full liquid fuel tanks remaining, so it does have a fair payload capacity, if you sacrificed the excess fuel for payload. It also took 5 tries before it made it without exploding.

It's a very unstable design. Takes some cohones to climb into it. Does make it quite fun though. Problem is, the first stage really isn't powerful enough, it does climb, but only slowly. SRB's 'fixed' the problem, but have a tendancy to shred the rocket. Heh. Reached a stable 2000Km orbit with enough fuel left to bring it to a complete stop, turn towards the planet, and reach another 1500m/s towards it for a quick re-entry though. So it's got some balls on it.

screenshot6mq.png

If you do decide to take her for a spin, the SRB's separate differently from the liquid fueled engines. You don't have to worry about holding onto them once they burn out, space to drop them. There are two lower sets fired sequencially plus a kick stage to help get you into orbit after the two main liquid stages run dry.

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Andras

Andras

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I just got it up. Just passing 200km altitude and 2063 m/s. Still have a ton of vertical speed and 1/2 of SPs double sized tank.

ring of 8 medium SRBs, 5 LFRs, 2 3m tanks, cone, LFR, 2 double tanks, sat, cap

Actually I didn't give the capsule any recovery methods since I'm running it as an unmanned satellite mission.

As I was typing it just passed 300km at 1980m/s, still going up fast though.

ETA- alright I did a -Z burn to stop the ascent and it's stable at 413.5k, 1866.4m/s

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shadowfax

shadowfax

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I'll give it a whirl when I get home. I'll be interested to see if it gets mad about the satellite sitting on top from a stability standpoint. Then, one of the problems with getting the satellite up there is that to be totally non-cheating about it, you must have an engine stage above the satellite so that you can do a de-orbit burn and not kill the kerbonauts. So not only do you have the weight of the sat, but the weight of a full tank of fuel and engine that you have to loft into an orbit. That means your rocket is going to have to do a lot more work than it's been doing so far. I'll be interested to see if it'll do it. :)

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Ground Control

Ground Control

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I've got the com sat up at 222k right now, looks like my orbit is going to stabilize around 250k. I THINK I have just enough left in my last liquid fuel tank to make a transfer to geosync. If I can pull that off, I do have two small tanks on the capsule to allow me to deposit the sat in orbit and get these intrepid adventurers home. Maybe. But I have a feeling this will all end in tears.

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