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pioneerspacesim / pioneer

A game of lonely space adventure
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The Case for Tail Landing/Launching Rockets #1178

Open Baobobafet opened 12 years ago

Baobobafet commented 12 years ago

In case it needs to be made...

I have tried out Gernot's rocket - aside from the (hopefully soon to be corrected) sideways thrust vectoring and counter thrust control issues. I really enjoyed it and even managed to dock it at Gates Spaceport :O

Using the Mains for lift-off: This type of rocket could hold a unique roll in the Pioneer universe. The fact that it would rely on the main engine for planet fall all the

way to the surface opens up some interesting possibilities. Lateral thrusters would still be essential to positioning your ship over a

target landing pad or location.

Ships like this would make planets with very high gravity & thin atmospheres accessable to landing and take-off ONLY by such rockets. These types of planets could only be visited by ships with extremely powerfull main engines.

Perhaps for some super high grav planets only, AI robot ships need only apply - since the grav is far too great to support any type of biological lifeforms. Might make for a great AI controlled ore transport convoy system for heavy metals and other elements from such worlds to a nearby station.

It would be a ripe target for interception by an adventurous pirate :)

Brianetta commented 12 years ago

Would be fixed by #1065

AaronSenese commented 12 years ago

I might make #1065 a goal of mine to implement for this.

I'm a big fan of tailsitters in general. Any non-atmospheric liftoff via a non-atmospheric craft makes more sense tail-down so that the main engine can be used to provide upward lift. Ships under constant ~1g acceleration could also use it to simulate gravity (not that the player's going to experience this ingame, likely.)

It would be a good configuration for space-duty ships. Stuff like rocket buggies (ultralights in space. Basically a platform with a cockpit, a main engine, RCS and little else) or cargo rockets. That way they could land with their mains facing down when under gravity but still handle like a normal craft in space.

Baobobafet commented 12 years ago

I've loved tailsitters since the 1950's movie "Destination Moon" or 1955's "Conquest of Space" Here's a few real "tailsitters" (-w- no tail) that never made it off the launch pad. Part of the Orion Project back in 1957 until 1964. Considering their size it's no wonder that the project was cancelled. The concerned to the evironment about the amount of radiation using the thrust created by such atomic bomblets, ultimately doomed the project.

It's a good thing Pioneer has much cleaner burning engines :)

Here's a pic to show some scale as well as the link:

Photobucket

http://highpowerrocketry.blogspot.ca/2012/03/orion-nuclear-pulse-rockets-from-10.html