Finishing what Scott started!

[ryan234abc]

So, on Tuesday, Scott Manley did another livestream. He played KSP for the most part of it, and in the first section he tried to create a spaceplane that could reach orbit using the assistance of the stratolauncher. Now, not denying he did a good job. But when it didn't reach orbit, I just saw a bit of wasted potential. So I took a few hours to scrap together this.

So, what I realised with Scott's design was that the efficiency and power were in the wrong places. You see, the stratolauncher was based on efficiently using fuel to reach 10k meters or so, then the spaceplane should detach and activate the aerospike, which powered it into space. Now, the problem with this is that the aerospike, although rather efficient for an lf+o engine, just isn't going to cut it. It has way too high of a fuel consumption for its size.

So here's what I did:

Step one: Change out the landing gear. I don't really like to use fixed landing gear on spaceplanes as it ruins that sleek look they have, so I swapped those out right off the bat.

Step two: Electricity. The spaceplane itself didn't have any electric generation as far as I could tell, so I put an RTG in the nose and a small solar panel on the top of the cabin. I also attached two battery packs to the back underside.

Step three: The stratolauncher. So, as I said, this thing didn't need efficiency; we aren't going to be needing that in the end, it'll be jettisoned. So, I swapped out the intakes for shock cones and the wheesley's for panthers. I didn't lose too much efficiency, and as I said that won't matter; we're throwing away that entire bit anyway. And for safety, I plopped in a couple more units of fuel into the wings. Wider margin for error I guess.

Step four: The Spaceplane. So I recognized the aerospike as a problem right off the bat, and swapped it out for the terrier. That gives me efficiency, and since the stratolauncher will be giving me a lot more force into orbit than before, the spaceplane won't be needing the insane 180kn the aerospike spits out. It makes it to orbit almost like that, so I threw in a few Torodial tanks for good measure, used the offset tool to push it in a little, and that was that.

Step five: Oh yeah. It needs a name. From looking at the stratolauncher I saw similarities to the Ramnstein song Engel when performed live. The wing shape at least. So that what it is. The Engel.

 

And that's it! I put a parachute on for landing, and despite how close together the back wheels are it seems to be pretty stable. I strapped a radiator to the bottom to help with re-entry, and it tends to take that quite badly, but I'm not making something that's perfect; I'm just finishing what Scott started! I'll try to leave a craft file below so you can use it yourself. I'm sure with a little more editing you can give it docking capabilities. Thanks to Scott Manley for inspiring this project. It's been a nice little adventure for me.

The livestream (on youtube) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=axSxIUHs_No (Note: The link is bugged a little, it starts at the bit where the spaceplane building bit ends, so just send it back to the start. Apologies for that inconvenience)

The craft file! (Please say this works!) http://www.mediafire.com/download/gbbf0rm3q7zbg31/Engel.craft

And Scott's Twitch channel! He's a great KSP Youtuber and streamer, along with other space related content, if you haven't heard of him, where have you been! https://www.twitch.tv/szyzyg/profile

Thanks for taking time to read this, try this, comment etc. It's always appreciated! In the words of Scott Manley...

FLY SAFE!

 

(The craft link works, just you have to copy paste it. Sorry bout that.)

Edited April 16, 2016 by ryan234abc

[ryan234abc]

Just landed it again. Fuel margins are very tight, 75km orbits are practically the limit if you wanna get back again.

[YoeriCookie]

Engel means 'Angel' in Dutch, and German. Very nice craft though.

[Majorjim!]

@Mad Rocket Scientist made an excellent spaceplane1 replica a while back. Not sure if it has survived updates though.

[ryan234abc]

33 minutes ago, YoeriCookie said:

Engel means 'Angel' in Dutch, and German. Very nice craft though.

Yea, I found that out from the song. I thought it was fitting also because of how easily it soars in the clouds.

[Mad Rocket Scientist]

Looks great!  I really do know how hard building a SpaceShipOne replica is.

7 hours ago, Majorjim said:

@Mad Rocket Scientist made an excellent spaceplane1 replica a while back. Not sure if it has survived updates though.

It *might* work.