Mockheed Lartin - New Fat Sparrow 3-man SSTO based on the KF-X Sparrow

[zombiphylax]

The FatSparrow SSTO:

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The fine folks at Mockheed Lartin saw the need for a 3-man SSTO and decided to do the only logical thing a Kerbal Aerospace Company could do: ripped the front off an existing SSTO platform, jammed a larger cockpit on the front, and reinforced the wing roots.

This thing is different on launch than the smaller Sparrows, it has greater lift so it relies on the ability to cruise ~25.6km with throttle decreased half-way to the first line down on the throttle indicator, and letting the jet take you to just shy of 1300m/s in order to lift the heavier payload into orbit. When your liquid fuel hits ~470 turn on the LFEs and ride about level until your jet suffocates, bring throttle to full, and kill the jet engine & close the intakes, then pull up to ~45 degrees until around 36km. Just like the other Sparrows, this has a very tight fuel margin. It's very stable to fly though, though it needs a smidge of trim to stay perfectly level after take off, but you'll adjust the back before you engage the LFEs.

(Download .craft file here (MediaFire))

Edited July 11, 2013 by zombiphylax

[Mekan1k]

You lie!

The kerbals would not have re-enforced the wing roots until tat least the SECOND test flight.

...

Anyway, well done. + Rep

[zombiphylax]

It was honestly around the 4th or 5th test flight...

Thanks for the rep! Has anyone tried it out yet? What do you guys think I can improve upon?

[NASI Director]

It took me a minute to understand the name. I thought it was spelled right at first.

[zombiphylax]

That's what makes spoonerisms fun.

[Draemar]

Great concept, gonna try right now!

[YarTheBug]

Dat name.

I'm running FAR and Deadly Reentry, so of course this thing flipped out and killed me. Surprisingly, just moving the rocket nacelles forward stabilized it enough to get off the ground. It was still a hair-raising ride until I got around 5km. Once there it was smooth sailing up to 29km where I kicked in the rockets. Sadly, though I left the air-breather open, so I had to alt+f12 it into orbit due to lack of fuel.

Reentry was much less exciting than I'd hoped. I guess the wings were the "right" size, because I had NO effects, and managed to cross-range away from the ocean and land "safely". Pic related.

Tomorrow I'll try taking it to Eve for a high speed fly-through.

Cheers to a great, little plane!

Edited July 11, 2013 by YarTheBug

[zombiphylax]

Haha! I hadn't bothered trying it with FAR, I'm amazed it just needed slight retweaking in order to fly. Honestly I have no idea if it'd make it to orbit at all with FAR though, it just barely does in a vanilla session...

Thanks for sharing!

[Parkaboy]

Loved this design so much I had to copy it. Here's the Doninha I!

Like I told you, it's bigger than the FatSparrow and has different engines. But it works! I'm still perfecting it, though. It flew great on the test flight, but I changed the fuel lines for the first "official" mission and ended up with a small unbalance that cost me some delta V. I had to steal a bit of oxidizer from the space station reserve to make up for it. I still have to find the ideal fuel line configuration, I guess.

[YarTheBug]

Delivared.

Full gallery here

[zombiphylax]

That looks great, Parkaboy, what is your launch profile like with those engines? I've never tried those jets before, just the ram jets...

Haha, that's excellent, Yar! I'm assuming that's still with FAR by the return landing? I still haven't brought my smaller Sparrows to another planet, pretty nice to see that someone took the Fat Sparrow sight-seeing.

[Parkaboy]

That looks great, Parkaboy, what is your launch profile like with those engines? I've never tried those jets before, just the ram jets...

I just fly it the way Scott Manley taught me, making sure to get as much horizontal speed as possible before turning on the rocket engines. I aim for a 75 Km orbit, which leaves me with just enough delta v to dock with my station. I did it a couple of times now - the first time I had enough fuel to deorbit; the second time I borrowed some oxidizer from the station. Both times I pretty much glided to land.

[YarTheBug]

Yes, zombi. I've become quite accustomed to that kind of landing. It seems with FAR you can design a plane to fly high and fast, or low and slow. Not both.

By the by, have a look at my new project and tell me what you think.

[burkinator]

I've made manned round trips to Gilly, Mun, Minmus, Ike, Dres, Vall, Bop, Pol, and Eeloo. I've sent probes into the surface of Jool and Kerbol, and one into interstellar space. All I wanted out of spaceplanes was an SSTO that can shuttle kerbals to my 250km orbit 24 Kerbal capacity station, and maybe also deliver satellites to orbit. But only one of the hundreds of spaceplane attempts I've made has gotten off the ground without flipping over and crashing, and it ran out of fuel before I even got close to orbit. It was nowhere near as small as your plane. I applaud you, good sir.

[inigma]

you gonna submit this to SSI?

[zombiphylax]

I've made manned round trips to Gilly, Mun, Minmus, Ike, Dres, Vall, Bop, Pol, and Eeloo. I've sent probes into the surface of Jool and Kerbol, and one into interstellar space. All I wanted out of spaceplanes was an SSTO that can shuttle kerbals to my 250km orbit 24 Kerbal capacity station, and maybe also deliver satellites to orbit. But only one of the hundreds of spaceplane attempts I've made has gotten off the ground without flipping over and crashing, and it ran out of fuel before I even got close to orbit. It was nowhere near as small as your plane. I applaud you, good sir.

Not to sound ungrateful, because I do appreciate the kind words, but I feel the need to point to mythmatics' post. I'll take credit for the Sparrows being balanced, but as far as the size, I wouldn't have known unless I saw mythmatics' Venom.

you gonna submit this to SSI?

I'm afraid I've been out of the loop; what's SSI?

[Bluntie]

Gorgeous little craft, will have to toy with that kind of design myself.