Hello everyone,
Just thought I would keep a record of a particular mission I'm planning on here. Where I am now with KSP is I've just completed my first interplanetary mission at Duna and looking to visit another world. Techwise I am fully researched out on the tree thanks to my orbital stations around Mun and Minmus incorporating mobile processing labs, landers and a large refuelling tank. I am playing essentially stock with KER, Hyperedit for testing and a couple of visual mods, version 1.0.5 for stability.
Recently I've discovered the joy of SSTOs and had a great time designing different sized ones for various purposes. From a small 7 ton MK1 model that I use to rescue kerbals stuck in orbit, to my largest MK3 SSTO that I use to haul up entire satellites inits cargo bay.
So I thought the next natural progression for my space program is to fly a plane on another world and even better if its an SSTO that can land and then return to orbit. This is the mission I am planning now, which means I get to go to Laythe!
Day 1
Day 2
I have tested the plane design above and found it sorely lacking. =/ Currently it cannot lift off before the runway ends and struggles to get into my target LKO of 75x75. I now realise that design may have been a prototype I was working on previously. Well not to fear, after considering some advice I have redesigned the Laythe SSTO based on the prototype concept and here it is!:
Going through the changes made:
Larger Wings: There was not enough wing area on the previous design leading to the plane being unable to take of from the runway even at 190m/s. I thought about adding more normal wing parts to build a composite shape but decided to go with the Big-S delta wing and strake to reduce part count. The effective wing area has more than doubled and the plane now takes off at a much slower 130m/s.
The Big-S parts can hold liquid fuel which conveniently allowed me to dispense with the Mk2 short rocket fuel fuselage! A good side effect of that is a shorter plane that is probably easier to land. Furthermore potential fuel tanks further forward allows better control of the CoM during the mission.
Installs the science module in a cargo hold. Contains all possible scientific data recording equipment.
Addition of a rear parachute to help with the landing, this should slow the plane quickly, tested on Kerbin and working well.
Addition of a ladder so Jeb can get out and walk on a new world!
Addition of RCS control jets and a small monopropellant tank. As I was adding this I realised I have no way to dock with the transfer vehicle. Perhaps I can use a grabbing claw but I'm hoping you guys can suggests some ideas.
That concludes the progress for this day. Next time I will try to make a video of this plane's performance and systems being testing on Kerbin. This will be a first for me so wish me luck!
