The X-26A, a small space shuttle system

[XB-70A]

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Hello everyone, here comes a terrible creation which had been sleeping for some time in the VAB and was about to be totally forgotten, the X-26A Eos.

 

The project was born some times ago of the desire to make a small craft inspirited from the U.S. Space Shuttle system but having no more than the Mk1 size for its parts.

Named after a Greek Titan and goddess of the Dawn, Eos was in my mind the symbol of a "new" way to build tiny shuttle... and I should have called her Hecate as she gives me so much troubles but the name was already taken.

 

Originally she was conceived to be a super cheap Space Shuttle and easy to access in a new career. For it the boosters were made of Thumper, but they were absolutely incapable to kick her to a good altitude before running out of fuel. 6, 8 even 9 Thumper offset into each other on both sides still were unable to made it... and the low launch cost which was one of the reason supporting the project just explode (it did reminds a true story).

So absolutely disappointed I opted for the Kickback and a total remodeling of the craft, changed the vertical stabilizer, placed more fuel inside the Orbiter. This made it more light and performant but still a test flight was needed...

 

 

The climb is surprisingly smooth, the whole system being just a bit sensitive during the SRB last seconds of operation. Once jettisoned the orbiter and its External Tank recover their good control.

 

The main problem appeared once close to the circularization altitude. The O.M.S imitation is consisting of just two Spark small rocket engines, those are totally underpowered for the mass of the orbiter even to start the maneuver about 2 minutes before the T time. The unique solution being to keep the E.T and start the maneuver with S.S.M.E Thud. For an Apogee of 140 km those are absolutely able to complete it with even some fuel still available in the tank, so I used to shut them down and eject the tank when just a 100 m/s are still needed and complete the maneuver with the O.M.S. At this point around 900/950 m/s of dV are still available.

(Four Sepratron will ensure a quick clearance off the fuel tank)

 

Once in orbit at 140 km the target was the traditional space station orbiting at 200 km :

 

The whole docking maneuver is simple with four RCS pods being placed around the CoM.

Then I don't know why but the X-26A remained abandoned for almost a year before finally returning to on the surface.

Once again I overshot the KSC. The unique solution was to land on the old island airfield.

 

 

Finally, what was supposed to be a simple system to ensure the transport of four souls for a very low price became a real luxury, costing more than 50 000. But it remains fun to control.

Edited January 6, 2017 by XB-70A