Reusable booster rockets

[Ragtag]

Hey there,

For getting into space, I plan to attach some detachable booster rockets to my ship by merge blocks. With no braking thrusters and a sensor to swich of the trusters, I plan to use the parachutes to softly land those trusters to the ground so I can use them for the next ship. BTW is plan to slow down past the 30km mark for the detachment maneuver, and then boost with my full hydrogen tanks.

Does this seem doable to you guys? I plan to launch a section of a large space station this way.

[ShadedMJ]

This has been discussed multiple times before.

It would look nice....

Not worth it though. The only reason to do so is to save a very small amount of hydrogen fuel during flight.

You would have to have a power supply and antenna on the booster, track the booster down, and bring it back to your station, and potentially repair it. Far too much trouble.

[Loues.S.Cat]

Yes it is doable.
But as has been mentiioned there is little to gain in doing so.
I'd recomend having a battery in the detachable boosters and powering down everything but the parashoots before detachment.
That way the battery should have more than enough power to make sure the parashoots go off without a hitch.

[JDaremo Fireheart]

It is do-able, you just need a retrieval flyer with landing gear on the front to lock on to them and retrieve them for re-use. Unless impact destroys them . . .
I landed a ship last night at only 5m/s and my ship exploded all over the damn place.

Originally posted by Loues.S.Cat:

Yes it is doable.
But as has been mentiioned there is little to gain in doing so.
I'd recomend having a battery in the detachable boosters and powering down everything but the parashoots before detachment.
That way the battery should have more than enough power to make sure the parashoots go off without a hitch.

Either RB's Compact battery mod https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=532433982
or Nikolas' updated version of it http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1138026294
Would be perfect for them

[Ragtag]

Well,

I've done a test, it seems they are usable and doesn't land too far from the base, around 500m from a drop of 30km. And that's only if you initially use a low amount of gyroscopes to minimise a course offset caused by you mouse.

So for lighters ships: beacon for retrieval after the launch offset. For large massive ones I at least recommend a ship starting from a platform vertical in the line of gravity. And with enough gyroscopes to slowly turn after boosters are dropped.

[antmutant]

Dont use it xD. use hover\ion combination.

[Ragtag]

Well, I can now it's just that I needed that to launch and orbital factory with cargo. And from that build a space station.