 The HovMoth or Hover Moth was my first attempt at a Moon (Mun) lander. I wanted to see a Hydrogen Ion driven, VTOL, single stage to orbit vessel capable of lateral atmospheric flight, but built to gently touch down and navigate multiple Lunar encounters. It took some adjusting but the HovMoth hit every mark as a prototype. It didn't have lights, airbrakes for reentry, and the thrust configuration wasn't the greatest, but worked as a first round draft. If you look close you can see that I changed the nose cones from the funky mandible looking ones, to a much smaller dome shape in the videos. I unfortunately don't have a hangar photo of that configuration. VTOL Takeoff to lateral flight "Skidding" to a stop Helipad landing The little ship was really stable as a VTOL machine, but was really unpleasant to fly aerodynamically. That was okay to me as I designed the optional wing functionality as a mechanism for Earth (Kerbin) reentry to fly laterally to a landing zone, once within atmosphere just in case reentry position ends up not being optimal.
The HovMoth touched down on and navigated Lunar encounters really well, but the thrust configuration angles were a little too aggressive in the slight gravity of the Moon (Mun). Between the thrust angles, and not having lights for better proximity orientation, there were few more Lunar crashes than I care to mention, but the successes guided me in my next Lunar lander design. More on that later. Enjoy. -NR Got lucky recently and was able to wander a little. I thought I'd share the views. I hope you get to explore as you'd like to, sooner than later, and more than you thought was possible. Wander wisely and enjoy. -NR
To those that inspire and urge us to carry on.
Check out: https://www.artstation.com/louarteaga9  An honorable mention is this little guy, the Fruit Bat. It was one of my early designs in KSP and is mostly aesthetic rather than innovative or extraordinarily capable. An all electric atmospheric plane, the fruit bat is not particularly fast and is not designed for orbit. It is fun to fly though, and performs like a solid little jet. It was designed to familiarize myself with the all electric propulsion systems in KSP and to proof the onboard electric generation systems for long range flight.
The Fruit Bat is reliable and fun to fly, plus it looks like something straight out of a sci-fi anime, and that was kind of what I was going for. -NR
If we seek to, we grow in many ways. Knowledge expands our perceptions and connects us to greater understanding. Through application of the lessons and repeated attempts at new methods of behavior, we find the wisdom within the lessons.
We look back on what we once were to recognize what we are now. Cultivating what we want and culling what we no longer desire within us. Seek out, and center in. Breathe out, then back in again. Allow your spirit to blossom and drape you in the petals of the past, to amend the soil of the future. The love remains, and so does the pain. Go with care. Love, -NR I have been doing fast paint studies from my own photos. One hour each, a single layer, and only one brush. These constraints help keep me flexible in my process, and keeps my hand moving so I don't get into analysis paralysis. I am also learning to push colors to be a bit bolder than the reference I use, and finding ways to display complexity and detail with less work.
This exercise is also helping me process some of what has happened in the past five years, and gain some orientation as to where I am now. Life throws us seemingly continuous lessons to be learned and maintaining healthy habits to integrate and move forward with these lessons is imperative. I encourage people to go outside, get close to nature, examine the way this world is in it's unabused form, appreciate the people (animals included) in your life, and transmute the difficult lessons we are taught into something beautiful. A photo on your phone is enough to record those moment s of divine beauty. -NR |
Nicholas RodriguezArtist, designer, musician, writer, craftsman, nature geek... Archives
September 2023
Categories
All
|
RSS Feed