Heavy SSTO Carrier

[ice_t]

After a few weeks of solid spaceplane research, I present my 40-50 Ton capable SSTO carrier!

I'm rather proud of it despite its monstrous part count

Here she is.

Dropping off a payload

With 9 Tons of fuel to spare after lifting just over 40 Tons.

Re-entry

Landing

Other outfits

For interplanetary transport.

It uses 374 parts and the .craft can be found here.

The full album (49 pictures) along with annotations can be found here.

It isn't particularly frame-rate friendly, but the craft handles extremely well for something as big as it is.

The craft is 100% stock, but for the best results (and your sanity with low fps) I'd highly recommend Mechjeb's smart ASS and throttle control features should you wish to try it.

The jets and intakes are assigned to action group 1,

the rockets are assigned to action group 2 and

the docking port is designed to be decoupled with action group 9.

The standard take off procedure is to stage everything with space bar, then to disable the rockets before taking off. This ensures that the intakes and jets sync up correctly.

Edited May 7, 2013 by ice_t

[HoY]

Does it burn any of the orange tank on ascent? Or is the fuel part of the payload?

Will it re enter and land with the orange tank empty?

In any case, well done

[ice_t]

Thanks man.

The front orange tank drains readily to lift the nose up for the punch out of the atmosphere.

If you mean the central orange tank from the album then no, that is part of a 40ish ton payload. It can be swapped out for just about anything you want that fits in that space.

It's more prone to flipping out when it burns dry, but with the intakes open it still flies well.

[SecondGuessing]

For something as heavy duty as it is it looks absolutely gorgeous, though it does look like it'd snap at the tiniest hint of a micrometeor.

[ice_t]

It's actually quite shockproof

It doesn't manage to peel off the runway before it runs off the end with heavier payloads.

It's taken quite a few hard bump after dropping off and I'm yet to sustain any damage with this newer design.

[Broco]

Looks absolutely gorgeous. I like it alot.

[blazing angel]

useful, can i have the kethane one?

[ReconXPanzer]

Reminds me of Arkbird from Ace Combat.

Congratulations on making a behemoth of an SSTO Spaceplane

[Queue]

lol gotta love that reentry effect!

[automcdonough]

nice!

GJ landing that beast too!

[Ori41]

Now THAT is a big ship, very nice functional design there

[ice_t]

Reminds me of Arkbird from Ace Combat.

Congratulations on making a behemoth of an SSTO Spaceplane

I've never played ace combat, but you're not the first person who's told me that

Thanks a lot man

[ice_t]

useful, can i have the kethane one?

To be honest, that Kethane rig was more just an example of how to mount an awkward payload.

Its RCS thrust is strong enough to shift itself around once on the surface of Minmus (or any other small moon) providing your tank is empty, but it needs a lander to bring it down.

So basically, it makes more sense to launch it with the lander attached so that you can use struts to strengthen the connection.

I'm happy to share that particular .craft, but would you prefer the kethane rig by itself on top of a probe core instead?