ArcAerospace Wyvern 5 Crew Capsule CKAN

** Introducing the Wyvern Crew Capsule.**

Industry newcomer Arc Aerospace unveiled their new crew capsule today. With modern computer-aided design practices and its state-of-the-art computer system, it's capable of fully autonomous flight without any astronauts onboard. Furthermore, thanks to its lightweight composite design, it's able to hold five astronauts while weighing less than the competition's Mk1-3 while still compatible with existing 2.5m launch vehicle infrastructure.

At the same time, Arc Aerospace announced a new form of capsule recovery: propulsive landing. When fitted with four Wyvern Engine Pods (sold separately), the Wyvern crew capsule is able to land propulsively. (Parachutes not necessary, but strongly recommended.) These engine pods also provide launch abort capability from the launchpad all the way into orbit. Each engine pod contains a full tank of monopropellant, so no external monopropellant is needed for vertical landing. (Make sure you set your fuel tank priorities correctly so that they're not drained while in orbit, leaving you to find no monopropellant in your tanks after reentry!)

With all of the extra mass afforded by the ultra-lightweight design of the crew capsule, Arc Aerospace says that the Wyvern has leading-in-class electric storage, data transmission capabilities, and even limited-duration crewed deep-space operations.

Kerlington Paper Planes and Model Rockets, Inc. contended that the Wyvern, as a clean-sheet design, was not fit to carry crew without an extensive safety record. Arc Aerospace responded with evidence of over a dozen uncrewed launches that demonstrated the reliability and safety of the Wyvern crew capsule, including a long-duration uncrewed deep-space mission. In unrelated news, Kerlington has slashed the price of their competing Mk1-3 crew capsule.

https://imgur.com/a/OBkxF

Requirements (Not Included)

B9 PartSwitch

RasterPropMonitor (Adopted) is required only for the IVA.

** Suggested Mods (Not Required)**

Connected Living Spaces (Adopted)

Indicator Lights

Community Tech Tree

RealPlume (NOTE: patch is WIP & has not been tested yet)

Ven's Stock Revamp is strongly recommended but not required. These parts were designed to fit in with Ven's style.

Works with Ferram Aerospace Research Continued

Installation

Just download the mod file (.zip) and unzip it into your GameData folder. Note that the mod's files are within the ArcAerospace folder. (However you manage it, just make sure the /ArcAerospace folder is directly a subfolder (like where the /Squad folder is), just inside your /GameData folder. Make sure you have B9 PartSwitch and RasterPropMonitor (Adopted) (for KSP 1.8.+) installed, available seperately.

Tested in both KSP 1.9.1 and 1.8.1

(Should be backward compatable all the way back to 1.4.0, with appropriate KSP versions of B9 PS & RasterPropMonitor (KSP 1.7.3 and prior)

Known Issues

• RCS atmo curve is optimized for vaccuum, needs to set for sea level
• RealPlume support patch is untested.
• Current engage/disengage plumes are, at the very least, over-sized
• Mass/Cost differences between the scaled engine pod variants, may cause issues with TweakScale

Credits

@zlsa for giving me their blessing to pick this mod up, and "continue" it. @Ven for Ven's Stock Revamp, for the models and textures for the top and bottom of the capsule (and an incredible art style to boot); @MOARdV, @Mihara & @JonnyOThan for RasterPropMonitor (Adopted) for the IVA props @EmbersArc & @damonvv for Kerbal Reusability Expansion (which inspired the idea of a modern crew capsule mod for KSP) @Tonka Crash for major suggestions (long/short & Mono/LFO engine versions), balancing, and especially reminding me of some long forgotten, unfinished work I had done on the mod. This "continuation" wouldnt have happened without them. Don't forget to credit Ven if you reuse the textures or models! The top and bottom of the Wyvern capsule are taken directly from Ven's Mk1-2 remodel.

And a HUGE shoutout to @JadeOfMaar for basically writing the B9 patch for me. ;)

License

CC-BY 4.0 International

Link to Original Release Thread

How you can help

Right now, Tonka Crash & I are looking for feedback on the overall balance of these parts. I play 100% sandbox, so I dont know much about balancing for stock, stock tech tree, contracts or upgrades.

Have a favorite mod you would like to see supported?

Go ahead and request it, with as much info as you can, and I will consider looking into it. (No promises, unfortunately, but I will try)