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ES-45 "Moon-Maker" Class-E ARM

ES-45 "Moon-Maker" is a powerful spacecraft designed for Asteroid Redirect Missions (ARM). It’s rated for and tested on class-E (huge) asteroids. Too small ones might be unable to provide enough ore for ISRU.

"Moon-Maker" isn’t a random bland name. It refers to a pretty unusual 1916 American sci-fi novel The Moon-Maker, in which an atomic-powered spaceship with a similar design is used to divert an asteroid from an impending collision with earth. For those who are interested, here is a brief book review with a summary of the plot.[skullsinthestars.com]

Gradually reach 45deg pitch @ 15000m and hold prograde till circularization. I rely on MechJeb for the rest.

- Simple, stylish and rigid design
- 2800m/s dV @ 75x75km LKO
- Successfully tested on near-Kerbin class-E asteroid - intercepted it outside of Kerbin SOI, mined it for dozens of days for fuel, then made it a new moon of Kerbin.

- Recently I’m having fun digging into early spaceflight concepts, and this amazing design immediately caught my eyes. I can’t believe it’s from 1916. The original ship seems to be a manned, atomic-powered SSTA…well, I built a more reasonable version instead.
- It seems to me that placing the engine on the top is not only unique but also practical for ARM, because:
1) this way the engine is very close to the asteroid which minimizes the trust torque and therefore bending forces on the connecting point (sometimes it’s a bad thing due to limited rotating torque, but its RCS works fine despite being a bit weak with a class-E attached. I don’t think it’s a big problem);
2) relatively light and fragile fuel tanks and ISRU equipment are "dragged" behind engine+asteroid, which eliminates the possible bending forces applied to them if they were between the engine and the asteroid. This allows for lighter reinforcement structures;
3) Ring-formed fuel tanks and ISRU equipment as a whole promise better structural strength compared to separate installations.
- Why use a Vector engine which has a rather low vacuum Isp? Because it's compact enough to fit the design (Rhino), and powerful enough to propel a class-E (Nerv).

I’m by no mean good at physics, so if these assumptions are not correct, please let me know!! (I am aware that put-on-top rocket motors don’t provide any better stability than ones on the bottom, but the situation seems to be different here. I look forward to some discussions about this xD)

Wish you enjoy and happy ARMing!

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100% Stock, 197 parts. Root part is the Vector engine.