Space Plane Fleet - Osiris, StingRay, Magellan, and Vulture

[Jett_Quasar]

Osiris

The Osiris is an SSTO Cargo Shuttle capable of easily transporting a full orange fuel tank to LKO.

Osiris Cargo Shuttle by Jolly Roger on Sketchfab

Flight Instructions:

1) Stay on the ground to the end of the runway – this enables you to get as much speed as possible to start your run

2) Nose up to just under 20 degrees

3) At 7 - 10 Km altitude drop the nose to 15 degrees

4) At 20 - 22Km altitude engage nukes, switch to closed-cycle mode on the rapiers and nose up to 30 degrees

5) When the apoapsis hits 60 - 70km face prograde

6) When the apo hits about 75 set up maneuver node

7) Should get to LKO with about 100 LF & 700 Ox

8) De-orbit maneuver should use nukes only KEEP SOME LF & Ox for RCS thrusters

9) On decent deactivate nukes & engage whiplash & rapier (air breathing mode)

10) During high re-entry (70-30KM) nose up 35 deg above prograde

11) At around 500-600m/s (25-30KM alt) nose up to just above horizontal

12) At around 10KM alt keep noes 5 deg above prograde and do a slow glide to your destination

13) 1/3 throttle on engines should be enough

14) Fine controls (Caps-lock) will help in getting her down on target.

Hot Keys:

1) Toggle Whiplash Turbojets

2) Toggle Rapiers

3) Switch mode for Rapiers

4) Toggle LV-N nuclear engines

Download the Osiris craft file HERE

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StingRay

The StingRay is an unusual design which is capable of delivering a crew of 5 to LKO.

StingRay by Jolly Roger on Sketchfab

Flight Instructions:

1) Allow the craft to lift off the runway on its own

2) Once in the air retract gear and nose up to 15 deg

3) Above 7-10KM drop nose to 10 deg (carefully – USE fine controls (caps-lock))

4) At about 20Km nose up to 30 deg and engage nuke then toggle to closed cycle on the rapiers after that shut down turbojets

5) Burn out the LF & Ox completely with the rapiers and use the nuke to finish getting into orbit.

6) Re-entry nose up about 20 deg above prograde and engage air breathing engines and airbrake

7) At about 35Km point auto-prograde – tap the “W†key to nose 5deg above prograde

8) If you lose control, don’t worry the craft has lots of lift and power in the lower atmosphere – point prograde under 10Km altitude and hit main engines

9) Shallow glide path to landing – keeping nose on auto prograde works well

Hot Keys:

1) Toggle Whiplash Turbojets

2) Toggle Rapiers

3) Switch mode for Rapiers

4) Toggle LV-N nuclear engines

Download the StingRay craft file HERE

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Magellan

The Magellan is an SSTO capable of delivering a full orange fuel tank to LKO. It is an interesting design because it utilizes tri-symmetry on a space plane.

Magellan by Jolly Roger on Sketchfab

Flight Instructions:

1) The only way to get this craft off the ground is to fly off the end of the runway

2) Nose up to just under 15 degrees

3) At 7 - 10 Km altitude drop the nose to 10 degrees and engage the nuclear engine

4) At 20 - 22Km altitude switch to closed-cycle mode on the rapiers and nose up to 30 degrees

5) When the apoapsis hits 60 - 70km face prograde

6) De-orbit maneuver should use nukes only KEEP SOME LF & Ox for RCS thrusters

7) On decent deactivate nukes & engage whiplash & rapier (air breathing mode)

8) During high re-entry (70-35KM) nose up 20 deg above prograde

9) At around 800-900m/s (30-35KM alt) nose up to just above horizontal

10) At around 10KM alt keep noes 5 deg above prograde and do a slow glide to your destination

11) 1/2 throttle on engines should be enough

12) Fine controls (Caps-lock) will help in getting her down on target.

Hot Keys:

1) Toggle Whiplash Turbojets

2) Toggle Rapiers

3) Switch mode for Rapiers

4) Toggle LV-N nuclear engines

Download the Magellan craft file HERE

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Vulture

At this time the Vulture is just an aircraft capable of carrying a total of 6 Kerbals to pretty much anywhere on Kerbin. Great for tourist runs.

Vulture by Jolly Roger on Sketchfab

This is a basic aircraft with a unique design, there are no instructions for getting it into space

Hot Keys:

1) Toggle the Whiplash turbojet engines

"Lights" button will toggle cabin lights

Download the Vulture craft file HERE

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Hope you enjoy the craft! And as always you can download ALL of my designs by clicking on the picture in my signature.

JR

[Raptor9]

Those are awesome! I really like the Osiris and Stingray

[Red Dwarf]

I love seeing such unorthodox designs on here. I really love the Vulture!

[Jett_Quasar]

I love seeing such unorthodox designs on here. I really love the Vulture!

I like to do things differently, unfortunately radical designs and space planes don't really mix well and usually result in poor performance. I avoided building SSTOs for a long time but I realized that my fleet needed more ships that could take-off and return from Kerbin so I went on a design bender for the last week or so and this is the result. I'm glad you like it.

JR