The monstrosity project

[AeroGav]

I tend to obsess over efficiency,   building SSTOs with svelte mk1 fuselages,  big S wing strakes, no oxidizer,  and clipping drag-reducing cones into everything.    But what if you need something BIG ??  What about part counts ?   Surely now is the time to ditch the silly little NERV engines and install a honking big Rhino !

This engine really is a beast - in terms of vacuum/high altitude ISP it is up there with the best, and better TWR than any other Vacuum engine.  Heck, this thing runs the Raptor and Mammoth close.

Jet engines ? Well my initial thoughts were to go Goliath,  since that's the largest jet available and keeps part count low.   Sure , it has a low top speed, but all this really needs to do is get us to an altitude where the Rhino can do what Rhinos do.  After an unsuccessful test flight,   I compromised on a config of 4 Goliaths and 4 Whiplashes.

Here is the beast -

Takeoff Weight 417T

Fuel Mass 242T

Dry Mass 175T

Fuel Fraction 58%

Parts 92

For comparison's sake,  i then tried to make a liquid fuel only version of this craft, with the same mk3 cockpit and 14 passenger cabins.  I'd never gone this big, and had doubts the approach would work on something so large.  I was also worried the part count would melt my pc, so it had to be Big S wings instead of strakes (they hold less fuel for their size)  and I had to refrain from my usual trick of putting cones on the back of engines.    Nukes were attached with Type B tail connectors, which are heavier than NCS adapters, larger, draggier, and don't hold fuel,  but save 1 part since you don't need a small nose cone on the front of them.

I swapped the Rhino for a mk3 engine mount,  put a tri coupler on the 2.5m node, for a total of 6 panthers.  Six RAPIERS are attached to the side of the fuselage amidships (economy cabin will be a noisy place).   Twelve nukes are bolted on, I had to redesign the tail and reposition the landing gear to clear the efflux.    The wing is enlarged significantly.

 

Surprisingly,  dry mass is unchanged at 175T.

Takeoff weight is greatly reduced,  since our fuel mass is now only 53T.

Fuel Fraction is 23%.    Both vessels squeak into low orbit with about 150m/s remaining.

Part count has gone up  to 124, about a third.

It was surprisingly well behaved,  with a less frightening takeoff (more wing, more engines  less weight ) and less prone to mid air breakup (those huge fuel tanks aren't trying to snap us in half).   Perhaps I didn't do a very good job on the chem ship - anybody want to make a better showcase for pure chemical 14 cabs to orbit ?   What is the largest you can go LF?

Rhino Goliath - https://www.dropbox.com/s/1uxskn61qadq4d1/Rhino Goliath.craft?dl=0

Nuclear Disaster -  https://www.dropbox.com/s/zpp5q2z04r66hgh/Nuclear Disaster.craft?dl=0

ag 1 pitch trim up  ag 2 neutral trim ag 3 trim nose down (note check orientation of trim flaps before flight, the deflection directions get messed up when you edit the craft)

ag 4 panther afterburner

ag 6 toggle nukes

[Loghogan]

Applause for being able to make it just over 90 parts, most of my SSTOs half that size are almost 150!

[AeroGav]

i've been doing some optimization of the Chemical fuelled Monstrosity,  got rid of the Goliaths for a mix of Panthers and Whiplash.  These can hit a solid 1200 m/s without using the Rhino,  and suddenly I found myself getting to orbit with about a third of the oxidizer unused.  So i remove one pair of orange tanks, and still get to orbit with almost a third left...   and so on.       Six iterations later, we've halved our rocket fuel tankage.  It's now got a TWR of 1.0 at the start of the Rhino burn and of course that only goes up as fuel burns off.   Perhaps this is simply the ideal TWR for a chem spaceplane (been a while since i built many) or perhaps the Rhino is simply too much engine for 14 mk3 cabins.   So I either got to go even bigger , or convert to RAPIER .

https://www.dropbox.com/s/22awnt4mz6dy26i/Rhino Goliath3.craft?dl=0

Dry Mass 213T (up from 175, must be extra jet engines)

Wet Mass 304T (OX capacity greatly reduced)

Fuel Fraction 42%

[FleshJeb]

Good god, man. I'm definitely going to try that after I finish my revised spaceplane ascent script.

I still owe you an answer on the Tylo thread from July. I had about three pages typed up, and then I burnt out.

[AeroGav]

Decided to graft the updated nose from the Chamical Monstrosity onto its NERV powered sibling - the mk1 inline cockpit recessed into cargo bay trick solves heat issues, but it does make the craft even longer.  Surprisingly stable in flight,  i think all the parts are cancelling each other's random torque vectors out making it fly straight.  Lots of inertia though, as you'd expect.  It really needs more than one reaction wheel.

You can see out of the bubble canopy just fine in IVA view,  but over the nose (and over the side) visibility is not great...  when it's climbing to space you can't really see the horizon.   Booster cushion perhaps?

https://www.dropbox.com/s/xmfebxxvbos8pt0/bigLL2.craft?dl=0