[WIP] Rocket Ship Kalileo - SSTO VGR/Thunderbird 3/Pulp Fiction Rocket development thread

[Goddess Bhavani]

ROCKET SHIP KALILEO

Work in Progress Thread

Hi, due to work I've not been keeping up with craft development lately but recently found some peace and quiet.

I've been reading very old pulp fiction ebooks for some time and prior to development of the space capsule and blunt body re-entry theory it seemed a great many well-known sci-fi authors regarded large single-stage rocket ships as the choice of transport for protagonists in their amazing stories.

Some of them, like Robert Heinlein's Rocket Ship Galileo, go into some significant detail in operating such rocket ships and I thought to try my hand building a SSTO or TSTO craft that's fully recoverable. Now these ships aren't very practical or safe to attempt re-entry with but I think with some refinement I could end up with a Gerry Anderson style Variable Geometry Rocket or Thunderbird 3 type craft; the former with VG wings for safer super- and subsonic flight after re-entry, the latter to use air breathing engines to accelerate up to sub-orbital speeds before proceeding the rest of the way on rockets.

For now, the Rocket Ship Kalileo is something of a high school weekend project to test the feasibility of such a craft; it proved a delight to operate in the sub-orbital point to point role as mentioned in the early part of Heinlein's book. Before the protagonists purchased the craft, the Galileo was indeed a retired cargo rocket. Just like the actual novel, I'd like to see if given a few days, weeks, or months, our enterprising Kerbals could transform it into a working interplanetary SSTO craft!

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[pTrevTrevs]

Maybe you ought to try and use fairings to get a smooth, accurate shape. The biggest downside would be the abominable textures that Squad gave the fairings.

[Goddess Bhavani]

Appearances are not really the objective at this point. Over the past 2 days this absurd idea of having a non spaceplane SSTO borne fruit and resulted in several innovative new ways to use rocket ships.

Since there's little in the way of interest here I'll pursue development and sharing somewhere else, thanks to whomever rated a clearly labelled, for-fun. work in progress thread a 1.

If the community is going to be so negative with new ideas and experimentation I might as well go somewhere else.

[Majorjim!]

Appearances are not really the objective at this point. Over the past 2 days this absurd idea of having a non spaceplane SSTO borne fruit and resulted in several innovative new ways to use rocket ships.

http://i.imgur.com/r46AIVh.jpg

Since there's little in the way of interest here I'll pursue development and sharing somewhere else, thanks to whomever rated a clearly labelled, for-fun. work in progress thread a 1.

If the community is going to be so negative with new ideas and experimentation I might as well go somewhere else.

Dude I am totally with you on this. I don't understand this forum sometimes. I see no difference with this SSTO and the million other SSTOs that get good ratings and interest. If anything this is far more interesting than other SSTOs I see here.

Innovation is crucial in craft building otherwise you stagnate. I applaud your craft dude, and please don't let the trolls get you down. The star rating means absolutely nothing.

[BlueCanary]

Dude I am totally with you on this. I don't understand this forum sometimes. I see no difference with this SSTO and the million other SSTOs that get good ratings and interest. If anything this is far more interesting than other SSTOs I see here.

Innovation is crucial in craft building otherwise you stagnate. I applaud your craft dude, and please don't let the trolls get you down. The star rating means absolutely nothing.

Do the mods know who it is who always votes threads 1 star for no obvious reason? I wouldn't be surprised if it's just one lone troll. Very rarely does anything appear in the comments to correspond with the bad star rating.

Also, this craft is a great concept and looks like its only going to get more awesome in the future. Good luck developing it.

[Sharkman Briton]

Fine, BSP, take my five stars XD.

[Foxster]

Here's one I made a bit ago...

[Kagame]

Here's one I made a bit ago... (snip for brevity, pic is right above this post)

Oooh, that is making me feel things I.... I'm not sure if I'm comfortable feeling about a rocket...... *blush*

@OP: Very nicely done. I've got lots of experience with SSTO rockets- they're invariably the most efficient way to take a light payload into orbit, and since I normally play career, that's a good thing. I take it the "other place" is KerbalX?

Some feedback:

- Ugh, that service bay really interrupts the flow of the nosecone.

- I love the fin shape, though!

OK, now I've got to make one of my own. I'm going to try giving it a *proper* cargo bay though....

[Mad Rocket Scientist]

Appearances are not really the objective at this point. Over the past 2 days this absurd idea of having a non spaceplane SSTO borne fruit and resulted in several innovative new ways to use rocket ships.

http://i.imgur.com/r46AIVh.jpg

Since there's little in the way of interest here I'll pursue development and sharing somewhere else, thanks to whomever rated a clearly labelled, for-fun. work in progress thread a 1.

If the community is going to be so negative with new ideas and experimentation I might as well go somewhere else.

Looks like the fireball XL5.

Also, rating seem to attract trolls, I try to ignore them.

[Rune]

Since there's little in the way of interest here I'll pursue development and sharing somewhere else, thanks to whomever rated a clearly labelled, for-fun. work in progress thread a 1.

Every one-star thread gets a five-star rating from me... just as stupid, but it does offset the trollism somewhat. ALL of my threads get a one-star vote... and it's never stopped me sharing stuff with you guys!

Rune. The internet demands a though skin.

[Goddess Bhavani]

Oh I didn't know it was such a prevalent problem, sorry for the rant and it's great you guys already are taking steps to try and mitigate whomever's doing the uncouth stuff; a craft dev thread to me is like a 'home' to come to after work to see if a certain idea or project could take flight faster than others in the pipeline (no pun intended).

On an offtopic note it was nice to see a Super Kerbonaut on Reddit take action against the rampant downvotes as well. Hell, I wonder why it happens in the first place, there being thousands upon thousands of ways to make all sorts of craft work in Kerbal. Don't like a craft? Different design tastes? Build and share!

Back on topic...

SSTO rockets are absurdly fun because of the thrill and speed of ascent, although good fuel and payload planning is something I've yet to learn. My 'training' rocket has a rather rough descent profile too but I played along with it being a ship for space cadets and junior captains seeking their first commercial rocket pilot license.

Without further ado, I present the

R-1T "Corporal" Suborbit Trainer.

The R-1T is a precursor to a new generation of retro-styled rocket. With near-SSTO capability, this handy "little" machine is perfect for space cadets and pilots seeking commercial transport rocket certification. The R-1T is configured uniquely for (conventional) vertical takeoff, supersonic glide and horizontal landing at the target spaceport.

Now available on KerbalX in its outdated yet fairly efficient form; capable of rapid point to point suborbital travel or even SSTO with a good grasp of rocket engine management and ascent profile.

It has virtually no cargo capacity at this point, being an aerodynamic testbed with seats for just one instructor and cadet pilot.

Oooh, that is making me feel things I.... I'm not sure if I'm comfortable feeling about a rocket...... *blush*

@OP: Very nicely done. I've got lots of experience with SSTO rockets- they're invariably the most efficient way to take a light payload into orbit, and since I normally play career, that's a good thing. I take it the "other place" is KerbalX?

Some feedback:

- Ugh, that service bay really interrupts the flow of the nosecone.

- I love the fin shape, though!

OK, now I've got to make one of my own. I'm going to try giving it a *proper* cargo bay though....

I hear you on the service bay! I'd rather hide the RCS sphere tanks and spare batteries inside the SB than to leave them outside the craft though; enough stuff stuck to the skin and it does lose some aerodynamic efficiency. I thought the 'rough' shape of the craft reminded me very much like very old US space program rocket designs, like the Vanguard, with its odd but charming tapered shape and blunt nose.

I intend to gradually upsize my rocket projects and make cargo and commercial variants for each "size" class. I don't think I'll be building anything smaller than Size 2 due to obvious need for as much fuel fraction as possible. A body shape like Foxtster's excellent design would be optimal.

Edited November 4, 2015 by pandoras kitten

[Fizwalker]

I just came across this, and I think it's awesomely cheesey! =D Thank you!

[Goddess Bhavani]

Omg this was one of my pre-haitus craft projects. I might re-create in 1.2 for extra cheesiness. I no longer have the originals and they will be reimagined with salt and pepper to taste.

[Fizwalker]

Think you'd have to find new landing gear for the back end tho.... I don't remember seeing them in 1.2.1