KerbalX

Description

Elvira is the support and supply craft for the BAK-9011 Raphael. Its job is to recover the orbiter stage, fly it to the lifter stage and mount it on its nose, then refuel both of them. She is equipped with a remote-controlled crane and an drill + ISRU pack for these jobs.

Mission profile:

Launch from KSC as a rocket. Refuel in LKO. Then transfer to Eve. Burn any remaining fuel until you have reached a safe entry speed. Inflate the heat shield on the nose and jettison the rockets; separation is safer if you leave them burning their last few m/s at low power when you stage the decouplers. Then fly down.

To jettison the heat shield, fly into the lower atmosphere and apply reverse thrust with the engines, then decouple so it falls away from the plane, then recover from your dive by applying forward thrust.

Fly to the orbiter, land, use the crane to remove the extra fuel tank in the cargo bay, recover the orbiter, and mount it on the Docking Port Jr. installed for the purpose.

Then fly to the lifter, use the crane to mount it on its nose, dock with the lifter using the Klaw on Elvira’s nose, and refuel it with the ISRU.

Action group sets

Default - Plane controls

1 - Good compromise pitch/RPM setting, usable for take-off, landing, and cruise at around 150 m/s
Main throttle - Motor power
F/B - Propeller blade pitch
U/D - Motor RPM limit
5 - Bay doors
6 - Loading stance (toggle main gear)

Krane - Crane controls
Wheel throttle: pitch Klaw
U/D: raise/lower crane
L/R: rotate crane
0: Toggle Klaw arming and control from Klaw
1: Control from probe core

Space - Booster controls
- standard, but throttle does not apply motor power to props

Notes

You will likely damage some wheels when docking the orbiter. Be sure to have an engineer on board who can fix them.

This craft file is packaged for launch. She has about 3900 m/s of dV, so she will have to be refueled in low Kerbin orbit before the trip to Eve.

A stock plane called BAK-9012 Elvira L. Built with 204 of the finest parts, its root part is mk3CargoBayL.

Built in the VAB in KSP version 1.7.3.

Details

• Type: VAB
• Class: aircraft
• Part Count: 204
• Pure Stock