Wednesday, December 24, 2014

Happy Holidays! Have a Rocket

This is the same one from the other day, only dressed up with a nice logo and some stats.  These are realistic capabilities made courtesy of the charts and other information available from Atomic Rocket and inspiration from Rick Robinson's Rocketpunk Manifesto.
 
My PL differs from the one in Rick Robinson's article in a few key areas. The main difference is that it is not made for long hauls.  It only has a delta v of about 8200 m/s.  This will not get one far in the solar system but it allows a forward deployed Patrol Craft a sufficient "range" to perform many of the missions we discussed in the last post on Building a Space Navy.   Our little A-Class has Enough Delta V to shape a light-second orbit around a convoy in deep space, conduct SAR missions anywhere in cis-lunar space, or to reach any moon of Saturn from any other moon.  Obviously, this rocket is mostly propellant (mass ratio 5).  If you drew lines through the side view of the rocket that bracket the docking rings, you would encompass the entire pressurized volume.  I've got to say, it's nice to work on a warship for a change - I don't have to make it economical to run! 
 
One of the interesting things about this design is actually the freedom the little carried craft gives me.  It was a throw-away touch, originally - a design borrowed from another project.  But as I got to looking at the little thing, I realized that it's about the size of the Saturn V stage/Apollo/LM stack.  That means it should be able to go from Earth Departure to Lunar orbit.  That means that it has the Delta V to ferry crew to and from a Patrol Craft on station away from the convoy.  That means, like submarines, our Patrol Craft can have two crews and stay out for a lot longer than otherwise.  This is one of those realistic touches that I hope add to the charm of the rocket's design.
 
Anyway, I got sick kids and it's Chrismas Eve, so you all enjoy the Holidays and I'll post again later!

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