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Eagle-1 SSTO and 'Eaglet' Mun return Ion shuttle. *not working in v1.0+


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Hi all!

Today I am very happy to be able to show my first ever proper SSTO craft Eagle-1!

I have been playing with this craft on and off for weeks and I though it was about time to finish it.

The Eagle-1 is a LKO payload delivery SSTO and the cargo is the Mun return capable micro Ion shuttle, 'Eaglet'.

I spent a really long time perfecting the shape of the Eagle and I am really happy with the result! The offset tool is my new best friend. It has a few nice little design touches such as a belly entry ladder to the cockpit and closing 'flight hatches'.

The 'Eaglet' Ion shuttle is a real cutie that packs a big DV punch! Capable of traveling from LKO, landing on the Mun and returning to LKO to dock with the Eagle mother-ship.

The Eagle features a single turbojet engine and two Rockomax 48-7S orbital engines. It is also fitted with a '00' ejection seat. Simply press ABORT and you will be blasted free of the aircraft.

You are then free to deploy the chutes when ever you like. Before you hit the ground preferably!

Ok so before flight instructions I will show you some pics of the Eagle-1:

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I forgot to take pics on the Mun but the landing is in the video below.

HOW TO FLY

There is a pod containing the pilot at the rear, jump out and make your way to the belly entry ladder.

Climb up the ladder and into the airframe and then transfer the kerbal to the seat.

Retract ladder and close the flight hatches. (action groups below)

throttle to max and start down the runway, pulling up when around 90-100 m/s.

lift the nose to 45 degrees then sit back and relax!

When the Eagle-1 reaches around 600 m/s turn to your direction marker.

The Eagle will reach around 34,000 m before the turbojet cuts, as soon as this happens fire the two orbit engines and point to 45 degrees again.

when your AP is around 65,000 turn to your direction marker again. A good guide is try to cut the engines for the coast to AP when the rearmost fueltank starts to drain.

Then circularize your orbit. As long as you have around 40 units of fuel left you can deorbit.

If you are really good you will have some fuel left for the turbojet after reentry.

Once in orbit release the Eaglet ion shuttle and head for the Mun! this is not as hard as it may seem. Complete this during daylight hours.

Docking is quite easy too, even as there is no RCS on either craft! You can see this in the video.

After your Mun adventures simple redock close up and head for home. As I said before of you are good you will have fuel left for the turbojet to relocate the craft.

ACTION GROUPS

1- Belly entry ladder

2- Flight hatches

3- Belly light

4- Cargo bay

5- Cargo bay light

6- Turbojet toggle

7- Orbit rockets toggle

8- cockpit ladders

FLIGHT NOTES

The Eagle-1 is a cruiser not a fighter, treat her as such. When ascending, once at 45 degrees no input is required.

When reentering the atmosphere set her nose up and again, no input is require until you reach the lower atmosphere. When flying in the atmosphere turn and pitch slowly, its possible to flip if careless. Try to keep your runway approach as flat as possible, this will negate any negative results from having to pull up too sharply.

In fact a joystick would be suited to this craft over a keyboard.

VIDEO

Here is a video of a full mission to orbit, the Mun and return.

DOWNLOAD

Thank you all for looking and if you have any questions or need any help flying it I am happy to be of assistance!

MJ

Edited by Majorjim
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I am so impressed I can't express it to you in words... It is an absolutely beautiful craft, and it is functional as well. I can't wait to download it and try it out myself. Kudos to you! BTW, your photo and video presentation really hooked me :D

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I am so impressed I can't express it to you in words... It is an absolutely beautiful craft, and it is functional as well. I can't wait to download it and try it out myself. Kudos to you! BTW, your photo and video presentation really hooked me :D

He he awesome! I'm happy you like the look of it. Let me know how you get on and if you make it to the Mun and back! Aerobraking in Kerbins atmosphere after the mun visit really helps save some dv. As you can see I returned with very little to spare as I didn't aerobrake the Eaglet.

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Awesome job my man!

I am glad I am not the only one that tries to implement stock internals and life saving ejection seats!

Yeah we have to look after our little green pilots!

Looking very sweet! The overall shape of it is just completely beautiful, and I like the open cockpit quite a bit

Thanks man, the shape took a while to get right!

:0.0: Wow! This must have take a while to build, great job!

Cupcake...

Too long matey.. I fiddle a lot before I'm satisfied!

Glad to see you are taking to the SSTO field! The more the merrier.

Rune. Now to do a true SSTM. It can be done... even without nukes ;).

Well, I thought I should make at least one! I still have things to learn. I'm still not sure if my ascent is optimal.

Awesome job, Marjorjim! Your Eagle is so nice and neat that it causes genuine admiration! :)

Thank you! your comments guys make it worth while!

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I just tried the Eagle out today, and it was pretty fun. The turbojet stayed on much longer than I expected and performed better than most of my SSTOs ever have. I had never landed on the Mun with an ion craft before, so that's a first. It wasn't too hard but fun none the less. Landing was a piece of cake with the trajectories mod, but it did not come out a dive quite as quickly as I expected so the Turbojet got slammed on the runway and exploded :c It was a little rambunctious on landing, but I'd give this craft a 10/10. Good job!

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I just tried the Eagle out today, and it was pretty fun. The turbojet stayed on much longer than I expected and performed better than most of my SSTOs ever have. I had never landed on the Mun with an ion craft before, so that's a first. It wasn't too hard but fun none the less. Landing was a piece of cake with the trajectories mod, but it did not come out a dive quite as quickly as I expected so the Turbojet got slammed on the runway and exploded :c It was a little rambunctious on landing, but I'd give this craft a 10/10. Good job!

That's great to hear man! Congratulations on your first Ion Mun landing!

Having heard you say that about the dive reminded me that I should have added to the flight notes that you should try for a flat-ish approach to the runway. For me this was to avoid having to pull up too hard before touchdown after a few smashed ailerons.

And as they say, any landing you can walk away from is a good one!

Thank you for reporting back!

MJ

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Well, I thought I should make at least one! I still have things to learn. I'm still not sure if my ascent is optimal.

It's easier than it seems. Basically the trick is to forget about everything except the the ascent speed indicator and the engine noise. Maybe the altimeter and velocity indicator once in a while, but that's it. Turbines about to cut off? Drop the nose until you are flying level-ish to gain speed. The speed not raising anymore? Raise the nose to climb to thinner air. Eventually you hit you maximum altitude or thereabouts (depends on your intake-engine ratio), and then you only care about hitting it with a lot of vertical speed built up, at the maximum horizontal speed your design can give. That is the 'skill' part, and it's mostly knowing your design and letting the ascent rate start rising a bit before you hit its ceiling to give the rocket the biggest possible running start.

Other than that you want to get to your speed run as fast a you can, so 45º climbs, or downright vertical climbs, are perfectly acceptable. The longer you run the jets without really speeding up, the more fuel you 'waste' climbing.

Rune. Now go forth and SSTO-fy some unlikely stuff. :)

Edited by Rune
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Really nicely done MJ!

Loving your new non-replica work and glad to see your finally turning your skills towards space planes too. very cool.

any plans on building something big using the new MK3 parts?

Cheers dude!

Maaaaybe. Something to make work first though.

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Well I added a bit more fuel and this happened:

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I ran out of fuel about 2 meters above the surface and so decided to fly the Ion shuttle back to kerbin:

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Sadly the Ion shuttle was not designed for atmospheric flight.. Jeb bravely fought the controls but there was no control. He fell into the sea and dieded..

I will continue to try to make this able to do a mun return.

MJ

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  • 2 months later...
this won't work as a download, its format is .txt it needs to be .craft

- - - Updated - - -

oh wait, sorry. the problem is its a plain text file instead of a document file, thats the problem

There shouldn't be any issues with the download. Does your last sentence mean you managed to download it?

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  • 1 month later...
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