SP Madrid ssto space plane. Has the looks to chill.

[Jakalth]

I present to you all the SP Madrid. This ssto space plane has enough fuel to lift an external payload to high altitude. From there, it may need a little assistance to get it orbital. But with looks like this, who cares, right? Right?

She has a lot of control surface so steering is no issue. Her fuel load lets the Madrid get herself into orbit with plenty left for a nice leisurely(long) flight back to KSC. She only needs help getting orbital when loaded with a large payload. The twin turbojets and rapiers in air breathing mode are enough to get even her max payload to between 24Km and 26Km altitude, possibly higher with a skilled pilot, even before switching to rockets and closed cycle mode with the rapiers.

The SP Madrid has a nice thin profile as well.

Stats:

Weight: 41.5 Tons

Part count: 137

Max payload weight: 12 Tons unassisted. 24 Tons if payload has lifting surfaces(wings).

Max to orbit payload: 10 Tons unassisted with orbital refueling. 24 Tons if payload has rockets to assist orbital insertion.

Balance: weight, thrust, and lift are all balanced to between the two cargo docking ports.

Balanced Fuel: 2,940 units of liquid fuel, 1,760 units of oxidizer, and 315 units of monopropellant.

Max Fuel: 4,695 units of liquid fuel and 2,805 units of oxidizer. Note: her balance is not correct with this much fuel unless the payload is shifted forwards to compensate.

When attaching cargo to the Madrid, using the upper or lower docking ports as the mounting point is recommended, but not necessary. Just keep the combined center of mass as close to the center point between the two docking ports as you can.(trusses attached to the ports to make them easier to see)

It may also be necessary to alter the landing gear to increase ground clearance. Feel free to do so.

Action Groups:

1 = Turbojet engines activated, Rapiers activated.

2 = Deactivate turbojet engines, switch rapiers mode.

Just make sure the Rapiers are set to manual switch or they will auto change mode too early, and that they are set to air breathing initially.

If the payload adds engines to the load out, just add the appropriate engines to the correct action group. 1 being atmospheric engines, 2 being orbital engines.

Example of a fully loaded Madrid with 22 tons of payload. Each payload craft having a single rocket engine to assist orbital insertion.

Download: SP Madrid ssto

[Jakalth]

Would this be more interesting if I made this craft into a modular ssto system? I can see several ways to do it. Have the base Madrid be the main power unit with modular addon parts for different missions? I believe I can link at least 4 of the Madrids into a single heavy(ish) lifter unit without much modification.

[Azimech]

Yeah, put a turboshaft on it :-P

[Jakalth]

Yeah, put a turboshaft on it :-P

I can't get any of my turboshafts small and powerful enough to move this craft as is, I'm afraid...

I have a quick mockup(that's fully flyable and nearly orbital already) of the idea of linking multiple Madrids into a single vessel. Looks interesting and the flight results are looking good. As I said, it's only a mockup right now, still need to make the central linkage into a single piece instead of two, but it holds together nicely so far with no struts needed to hold the Madrids in place. Which would make this a fully modular attachment once I refine it a bit.

I have plans for a passenger module(16+ Kerbal capacity), a cargo module(limited cargo capacity but all stored in a cargo bay), the twin link module(mockup shown above, allows for attachment of any type of cargo to the module), a quad linkage module(for 4 Madrids and more lifting capacity), a high performance module(ZOOM!!!), and a fuel tank module(hopefully for refueling other craft in space, not just the Madrid). Other modules will be made once I prove this idea viable and have ideas for the other modules.

[Jakalth]

Well, got the modular SP Madrid pretty much working now. I still have some little issues to work out of it but it's a fully functioning modular system now. It has the 5 initial modules already made and in testing as well as a modified SP Madrid "core" ship with stilt landing gear to allow underbelly module attachment. The Madrid can hold two modules at a time and they do not need to be the same module. Their weight balance should be good enough that any two will work together.

The modules are as follows:

Top center: Twin coupler module. Allows two Madrid craft to be linked as a single craft and has some rocket fuel and an engine to assist them. Can only be attached to the top of the madrid(s). Cargo is attached to this module anywhere there is room to tie it down.

Center left: Cargo module. Has both a full size and a half size MK2 cargo bay, to hold your cargo, and some rocket fuel and engine to help get the cargo orbital.

Center right: Passenger module. Has the capacity for 16 Kerbals to ride to orbit in comfort as well as some rocket fuel and an engine. This is the largest module.

Bottom left: Refueler module. Has two full size MK2 rocket fuel tanks as well as the two adapters and a monopropellant tank. Has it's own rcs thrusters, a probe core, and solar panels so it can be left in orbit as a refueling pod for other craft to use. It also has a second docking port so other craft can use it even if it is still attached to the Madrid.

Bottom right: Performance module. Has two Rapier engines, two intakes, and plenty of fuel, of both types, to improve the performance of the Madrid. This module is for going faster.

It is entirely possible to use both the Twin coupler module to connect two Madrid together and then use two more modules on each of these to increase module count past two. I have not tested this yet to see how this turns out but it should work. I still need to figure out if I need to add wings to the Twin coupler module and how I should have the layout for the module that links 4 Madrid together.

[soulreaver1981]

Nice looking craft sir. have some rep

[Jakalth]

Much closer now. Have a quad coupler module now that links 4 Madrids together. Pretty much just the twin coupler module with 4 more docking ports.

This is pushing the modular concept to its limits. I got it to orbit but it was not easy at all. In the pic I have 5 modules plus the quad coupler attached to the 4 madrid craft. It added up to a total of 774 parts and over 200 tons of weight... Frame rate was bad enough on my computer to make it take 2-3 times longer to do anything. But, this does prove that it is doable. The top 2 modules are two refueler modules, the center one is the performance module, and the bottom two are cargo modules. All I can say is, struts are needed for this to stay in one piece. And RCS becomes a requirement once the atmosphere is left. It gets hard to balance this many different parts on the fly.

A few more tests on the single craft and duel coupler modules and I should be able to upload a SP Madrid modular craft pack with the modular Madrid and all it's modules.

[Jakalth]

I uploaded the modular Madrid and gave it it's own thread to make it easier.

SP Madrid modular topic.