Found something which could prove extremely helpful for those building large space stations:
I present, a method for attaching and detaching modules at will!
The basic idea is an outer ring of some sort; in this case, the 3 horizontal structural fuselages provide the holding ring. Inside this ring goes the module; this module has 1 or 2 sets (depending on how the ring is built) of heavy landing gear. These can be extended to lock the module into place in the ring. A series of craft which consist of a forward bit for attaching to a ring, and a backward bit consisting of a ring for the next craft to 'dock' with.
Shown in extended gear position, with stage separation having occurred:
As demonstrated below, it has enough tolerance for a decent amount of force; it should be sufficient for keeping a station together in any case.
So yeah; you can now build massive space stations by docking several craft together.
Edit: First version of pretty much the most basic version is now in orbit
Now comes the tricky part; inserting another and docking them. >_<
Edit 2: Goddamn; note to self: add RCS rockets next time. As you can see from the previous image, all they have is the main engines. Docking this is harder than I thought...
Edit 3: Bah; after several failed docking attempts, the craft does not have enough main engines left to dock with the other one. >_> I really need to add RC engines...
Edit 4: Well, I managed to successfully link up 2 of those craft in orbit. Though the design needs to be reworked, as they linked up incorrectly (due to fitting through spaces left in the design) and ended up connected at 90 degrees to one another. But still! 2 ship space station has now be created.
Author
Topic: Kerbal Space Program: Now Hiring Optimistic Astronauts for Dangerous Munission (Read 1501551 times)