Flea SSTO (Jet/Fuel to LKO or Jet/Ion to anywhere in the Kerbol system)

[carazvan]

Presentation

Re-introducing the Flea SSTO series. These SSTOs are designed to function as shuttles between KSC and space stations (Basic) or between KSC and other planets or stranded ships (Ion).

The Mk.III version does away with extra unrealistically placed air intakes and creates a believable shape for the air/spacecraft (Mk.III uses 2 air intakes).

Download

v0.25

Flea SSTO Mk.IV (Basic) - 33 parts, 4.66t, 28.7k credits, ~1000 deltav in space - can take extra 2t

Flea SSTO Mk.IV (Ion) - 43 parts, 4.94t, 49.9k credits, ~1300 deltav in space - can take extra 1.5t

Flea SSTO Mk.IV (Cargo) - 33 parts, 3.97t, 22.3k credits, ~1000 deltav in space - carries up to 2.5t in cargo bay - default payload of 2x Ion Satellites

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Action Groups

Flea SSTO Mk. IV - all

1- toggle turbojet engines

2- toggle fuel/ion engines

3- toggle air intakes

5- toggle ladders

Flea SSTO Mk. IV - (Ion)

4- toggle solar panels

Flea SSTO Mk. IV - (Cargo)

4- toggle cargo bay

Ascent profile suggestion

The simplest way I've found to get the spaceplanes to orbit is to rise at 45* up until 15k then level off at 22.5k-30k altitude(depending on TWR) and as you reach terminal velocity pitch up to climb higher.

Keep this profile until you reach 30-35k and 2k+ speed or when you reach 10 liquid fuel. At this point pitch up to 45* and get your Ap as high as desired. As the engine flames out simply lower throttle until it restarts (this should allow you to keep the Jet engine going up to 50k-60k alt and an AP of above 120k).

Note: The Mk.III and Mk.IV models contain the bare minimum needed with any extra additions being left to the user

Archives

v0.23.5

Flea SSTO Mk.III (Basic) - 32 parts, 4.11t, 20.3k credits, ~300 deltav in space - can take extra 2.5t

Flea SSTO Mk.III (Ion) - 67 parts, 4.83t, 56.8k credits, ~1300 deltav in space - can take extra 1.5t

v0.22

SSTO Flea Mk.II (Basic) - 45 parts, 3.81t, ~300 deltav in space

SSTO Flea Mk.II (Ion) - 63 parts, 4.73t, ~3500 deltav in space

v0.21

SSTO Flea (Basic) - 55 parts, 5.15t, ~800 deltav in space

SSTO Flea (Ion) - 155 parts, 6.99t, ~4500 deltav in space

v0.20 (forum link)

(v0.20) Flea Ion SSTO

Edited October 12, 2014 by carazvan
adding new Mk.IV cargo version

[The Destroyer]

Oooh nice! Light too.

[carazvan]

New lighter versions available with a large reduction in part count for the Ion version of the SSTO.

[Ojimak]

So I see you have a docking port, and you say it's meant to be a crew shuttle, but no monopropellant?

-Ojimak

[carazvan]

So I see you have a docking port, and you say it's meant to be a crew shuttle, but no monopropellant?

-Ojimak

The docking port actually was there more for on-the-ground refueling/taxiing similar to my other SSTOs. The shuttle is more for getting close then EVA Kerbal and returning the SSTO using probe control (or ascending under probe control and getting Kerbal from station).

I built a version with RCS but the ammount of monopropelant needed for it to be fully useful for docking (8RCS thrusters + monopropelant for it) seemed like too much extra weight (it's about 1.5t).

(Also for the Ion version the thrust from the RCS would be 8x the thrust from the ion engine)

[Ojimak]

The docking port actually was there more for on-the-ground refueling/taxiing similar to my other SSTOs. The shuttle is more for getting close then EVA Kerbal and returning the SSTO using probe control (or ascending under probe control and getting Kerbal from station).

I built a version with RCS but the ammount of monopropelant needed for it to be fully useful for docking (8RCS thrusters + monopropelant for it) seemed like too much extra weight (it's about 1.5t).

(Also for the Ion version the thrust from the RCS would be 8x the thrust from the ion engine)

Ahh, that makes sense. Another random question, not really directed at you, but didn't the RCS blocks used to have PhysicsSignificance = 1? For some reason I thought I read somewhere that they were massless and dragless, but they aren't anymore according to the part configuration files.

-Ojimak

[carazvan]

Ahh, that makes sense. Another random question, not really directed at you, but didn't the RCS blocks used to have PhysicsSignificance = 1? For some reason I thought I read somewhere that they were massless and dragless, but they aren't anymore according to the part configuration files.

-Ojimak

Pretty sure the RCS engines keep their mass on the runway but need to check. They were probably massless and dragless back when they also had the bug where a RCS near the center of mass caused ridiculously high thrust

[carazvan]

Added Mk.III versions that only use 2 air intakes;

Versions are as basic as possible to allow for modification by others to add vertical landing legs/ RCS thrusters/ more xenon for larger deltav

[carazvan]

Added Mk.IV versions for KSP v0.25

[carazvan]

Added a large cargo bay variant for easy satellite and small lander delivery to space