KerbalX

Details

• Type: VAB
• Class: ship
• Part Count: 93
• Pure Stock
• KSP: 1.10.0

Description

A stock rocket called Kerbal X3. Built with 93 of the finest parts, its root part is mk1-3pod.

Yet another modification of the stock Kerbal X. This time around:

• The nose-mounted parachute has been replaced with a shielded docking port, with the parachute complement moved to the sides of the command pod.
• All of the booster Swivel engines have been replaced with Reliants, providing increased TWR and improved specific impulse in the lower atmosphere where the boosters are used and used up.
• The upper two of the three FL-T400 tanks in each of the asparagus boosters have been replaced by a single FL-T800, reducing cost and partcount without affecting mass or fuel capacity.
• The Kerbal X’s long core stage has been split in two! The stage’s Mainsail engine now has only a single X200-32 tank to draw from (one-third of the propellant supply that it had in the X), with the upper two-thirds of the core (a full Jumbo-64 fuel tank, replacing the X’s pair of X200-32s) being moved into a new stage powered by a single Poodle engine (the same engine model as that used on the upper stage).
  • This does have the side effect that the X3’s thrust-to-weight ratio is distinctly on the low side during the later portion of ascent, necessitating a significantly nose-high pitch attitude to buy the vehicle enough time to accelerate to orbital speed before falling back into the atmosphere.
• A pair of Thumper SRBs have been added, strapped onto the third set of Reliant asparagus boosters; the Thumpers burn out and separate after the second asparagus set, but before the third (which is why they’re attached where they are).
• A Communotron 16-S antenna has been added to the rear side of the command module, allowing two-way communications and data transfer even when the two deployable antennae are retracted (for instance, during launch, atmospheric ascent, or reentry).
• The pair of OX-STAT solar panels on the sides of the upper stage have been augmented with a set of SP-L 1x6 deployable solar arrays, considerably improving daytime electricity production. To make room for the new arrays, the upper stage’s battery packs have been moved around somewhat.
• The upper core stage has a set of four RCS thrusters mounted at its lower end, just above the engine, to allow for a (limited) degree of lateral RCS translation in combination with the command pod’s built-in thrusters and internal RCS supply.
• Cosmetic changes: the old-model Mainsail used by the X has been replaced by the newer version, and all the vehicle’s fuel tanks (as well as the nosecones for the six asparagus boosters, although not those for the pair of newly-added SRBs) have been changed to the Orange colour scheme.

Built in the VAB in KSP version 1.10.0.

The X3 is the DLC-free version; the Kerbal X3a swaps out the second-stage Poodle for a more-powerful-and-efficient Wolfhound, which adds a considerable performance boost but requires the Making History DLC.