Stock Craft [Brainlord Aerospace] YB101 “SSTO Flying Wing” 40 ton Sandwich Lifter

[Brainlord Mesomorph]

This one of several posts I have about the idea of a “spaceplane sandwich.”  If you haven’t, please read the General Discussion post first.
 

This vehicle is presented as a “proof-of-concept” or a technology demonstrator only . I am not claiming it’s the best spaceship ever, or anything like that. (That said the YB101, as a single plane, is by far the wickedest spaceplane I, personally, have ever built. She climbs at a 50 degree angle and accelerates like a rocket; Mach 1 at 3km, Mach 2 at 6. I actually have to nose down into a gravity turn.)

As a Spaceplane Sandwich it will lift 40 tons to LKO. Granted that, alone, is nothing to write home about, but 40 tons in any size of fairing is. And the technology is very scalable. Any two spaceplanes can do this with any size of payload.

DOWNLOAD HERE

Typical Accent Profile (as a Sandwich Lifter):

Takeoff and climb to 7km, level off as needed to breach Mach 1, resume climb as follows; attain 500m/s at 10km, 750m/s at 15km,  try for 1000m/s at 20km (if not that’s OK, do not nose down), switch to LOX between 20 and 23km, Jets will flame out around 25km, cut the burn when Ap reaches 69km. During coast phase:  plot orbital insertion maneuver(s), shed aero debris.

I like to do what I call a “Two-Step Orbital Insertion;” First a burn just before Ap, to push Ap forward  about 45 to 90 degrees around the planet and upward to about 72-74km (the Pe will be about 50km). Then a second burn at that Ap to round the orbit.  If the payload has engines, you can separate the payload before the second burn and it can reach orbit by itself, with even less debris.

Action Groups:
1. Toggle Jets
2. Toggle RAPIERS
3. RAPIERS Switch mode (switch to LOX at 23 km)
… (reserved for spacecraft)
0.  Airbrakes and fin deployment toggle;(Deploy before reentry begins, retract for areo flight)

 

 

Edited September 9, 2016 by Brainlord Mesomorph

[septemberWaves]

I like the looks of this vehicle, and the concept is very interesting. More pictures would be nice, however.

[Brainlord Mesomorph]

Brainlord Aerospace Announces Success of Heavy Lifter Spaceplane Concept
82 ton payloads in fairings now possible, plans for 160 within six months

“My friends, today marks the beginning of a new era in Kerbal spaceplane development.  Until today, spaceplanes were mainly used to transport fuel and Kerbals. The 32 ton Big Orange Tank was about the largest thing anyone could get into space on a SSTO Spaceplane, maybe two. But that day has passed.

“At Brainlord Aerospace we are now routinely lifting 40 ton, 60 ton, even 82 ton spacecraft in fairings to orbit with 100% reusable, horizontal take-off, SSTO spaceplanes, and we have plans to double that capacity shortly. We are delighted to be able to bring this ground-breaking technology to all of Kerbalkind. I give you the Dual Spaceplane Heavy Lifter, the DSHL, or as we like to call it, The Spaceplane Sandwich!”    

Note: for the purpose of this article “spaceplane” refers to a 100% reusable, horizontal take-off, SSTO spaceplane.  Yes, there are other kinds.

OK, you’ve heard it before; “You just can’t carry spacecraft to orbit on spaceplanes. Even if you can get them to fit in the cargo bay, you can’t line up the CoM, CoL and CoT. And even if you do that in the Hangar, by the time you burn half the fuel on the way up the CoM had moved.” All of which is true if you use a spaceplane. 

But not if you use two.

By putting a payload in a fairing and putting that between two spaceplanes, you can place any payload wherever it needs to be for its CoM to be above the CoL of the bottom plane. Then when you add the  identical top plane, The CoT and CoL both line up to the CoM automatically.  Since both planes burn their own fuel on the way up , the CoT, CoL ,CoM  stay lined up throughout the flight. Further, because each plane is only lifting half the weight, you now have twice the payload capacity of a single plane.

The Idea is simple, but the implantation in KSP is not and technically doesn’t fit into any one KSP forum, so I’ve had to make several threads for this:

You can do this with any spaceplane, but by default the SPH wants to put the top plane on upside down or sideways, so I have this tutorial: The Dual Spaceplane Heavy Lifter : How to make a Spaceplane Sandwich. Second, the shape and balance of the payload fairing is critical. So I have this tutorial: The Dual Spaceplane Heavy Lifter Part 2: Payloads: Putting the meat on a Spaceplane Sandwich. And The Dual Spaceplane Heavy Lifter Part 3 deals with orbital insertions and what to do with debris. Also I’ve posted two one technology demonstrator craft in the Spacecraft Exchange: the YB101 “SSTO Flying Wing” Sandwich (40 ton capacity)  and the B3F “ExoLifter” Sandwich (82 ton capacity).  The B3F has problems with reentry, so I’m not posting it yet.

And lastly, I’d like to have a general discussion of the idea, here in General Discussions.
I’ll start:

I’ve been working on this since .023 after I first did the K-prize. I finally figured the last bits (and Squad fixed a fuel flow issue) a few months ago, so now this works.  It is, in theory, the most economical way to launch ships to LKO. That said, my first attempt to prove how economical it is almost totally bankrupted my career game! 

I decided last week to send my next ship up on planes instead of a rocket.  The two planes cost half a million funds. Between that and the ship, it’s all the money I have. (But that’s OK, because I’ll get the half million back, right?)  Only after I get the whole package into orbit, do I realize that I hadn’t tested reentry on these particular planes since new thermo, and they do not want to come down! After several tries, I get one to splash down successfully. (I actually sent a boat out to get it and tow it back to the runway.) The other is still up there.

I’m on record in another thread about SSTO rockets, pointing out that between the higher cost and reduced payload capacity of an SSTO rocket (vs. a multistage disposable rocket) if you factor in losing one out of six of them (to bad reentry, etc) then all the profits of the other five disappear. Well, Heavy Lifter SSTO planes have that same problem IN SPADES!

 Losing just one of these planes could cost you a career game. (Fortunately there is F9) Physics is a harsh mistress.  Every time I think I making a profit in one place, I realize I’m costing myself almost the same amount (or more) somewhere else. So, just admitting that. But when it works, it works well.

Now I don’t consider myself to be a spaceplane guy. Some of you (ok, most of you) have much bigger and better planes than I do. But however large your biggest plane is, this method will double its capacity! And with fairings!  

I expect you guys to make some truly massive sandwich lifters now, and, I hope, you find cheaper ways to build them than I have.

Have fun!

Edited September 9, 2016 by Brainlord Mesomorph

[kunok]

You have the link to the third tutorial linking this thread.

Interesting stuff, tho. I already was working in something similar, but only for a first stage (I was looking into making something RO and RSS compatible) inspired by a Buzz Aldrin concept http://buzzaldrin.com/space-vision/rocket_science/starbooster/  so this is goof for me

Edited September 9, 2016 by kunok

[Rocket In My Pocket]

Nice ship, this prolly belongs in Mission Reports or The Spacecraft Exchange though.

The opening bit might be dangerously close to being considered Role Playing as well.

I've seen several of these designs where the payload goes in the middle but I'm not crazy about it personally. Seems over complicated when a typical rocket style heavy lifter would work just fine.

[Brainlord Mesomorph]

11 minutes ago, kunok said:

You have the link to the third tutorial linking this thread.

thx, 4 interlinked threads, its practically a website.

Edited September 9, 2016 by Brainlord Mesomorph

[Red Iron Crown]

Merged the KSP Discussion thread into this one.

[FahmiRBLX]

I'm worried if the upper plane tips over and exploded just before takeoff. Any guarantees? It feels unsafe...

[Bdyer]

I'm worries that it's not as super scaleable as described.  When your massive spaceplanes get past 400 tons x2 I feel that the whole thing is just going to fall apart on the runway or smush your cargo.