Orbital fuel storage

[RIGAMORTIS -AGW-]

Been tinkering around with something that doesn't wobble, has lots of docking ports, power generation, a crew cabin, and can store a large amount of fuel.

Edited April 26, 2013 by RIGAMORTIS [AGW]

[Darth Lazarus]

lovly clusterengines!

[Rune]

That's SSTO, right? If so, I would recommend clustering aerospikes instead of either the LV-T30's, or even better, those inefficient mainsails (switch to LVT-45's then for control). Plus, you don't need that much gimbal... and are you sure you are not overdoing it on the thrust department?

Other than that, nice idea, big SSTO's make good orbital fuel depots.

[RIGAMORTIS -AGW-]

Rune, yes it is Single Stage To Orbit (SSTO). Each cluster is 1 mainsail with 6 LVT-45's ringed around. I burned up almost every liter of fuel just getting it into orbit, but now that it is there, I can fill it up in short order. I've seen a few other posts where the tapered tail section from aircraft was used to add radius at the base of the fuel tank. I tried many times to duplicate it, but couldn't get them to attach. Then I put 6 large I beams around the base and then they snapped into place. The 2 side engines are attached to a box of I-beams that extend either side of the main tanks. I covered the area with plates and mounted the battery bank then attached the 6 smaller fuel tanks to the crossbeams. 4 of the smaller tanks feed the center tank and 2 feed the outboard tanks.