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The Skybax Single-Stage Heavy-Lift Mega-Shuttle

gabyalufix

By gabyalufix
in KSP1 The Spacecraft Exchange

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gabyalufix

gabyalufix

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For my first entry into The Spacecraft Exchange, I am proud to present to you:

The SS-HLMS/MHO Skybax, Mk I!

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Not the prettiest belle of the ball, but she has wide, payload-bearing hips.

Full title: The Skybax Single-Stage Heavy-Lift Mega-Shuttle, aka, the Many-Hyphenated One

Built using classic Gabyalufixian construction doctrine, it is a truly colossal beast. It features three pairs of oversized wings mounted on six stacks of six Mk2 fuselage sections, along with a Mk3 ASAS, 3x mk3 RCS tanks, and 12x Mk1 spaceplane tanks. It is lifted by 28 high-efficiency LV-B20 liquid fuel engines.

The idea was to make a huge, single stage, 100%-reusable space-plane, and lift massive payloads into orbit and beyond. I liked the idea of lifting from the front, as this improved the balance and allowed the Skybax to function as a Munar dropship. Therefore, Skybax has a huge 5-meter-wide cylinder-shaped empty space, behind the cockpit. The airframe is actually built around this cargo area, so that the payload can actually be nestled inside the plane.

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Do you have a space station that you just can\'t lift? Try the Skybax. My current record for payload is 160 ketric tons, composed of four 40-ton 3-meter fuel tanks (from sunday punch), fully loaded and released in low kerbal orbit, with a safe return for the plane. That\'s 40k units of fuel . . .

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No, that\'s not a stage. That\'s my payload.

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When it\'s tanks are empty, it glides like a dream. When they\'re full, somewhat less so, but it\'s still quite flyable.

I\'ve attached the craft file. You\'ll need the C7 pack, the novasilisko pack (just for the rcs and the heavy struts), the radial-mount drogue chutes, and the water-landing skids pack. (I\'ll link them up properly once the website stops freaking out at me). It is capable of landing on land, I just prefer the big angled skids.

Also: Using the skybax, I lifted my largest space station yet, sent it hurtling out at kerbal escape velocity, and returned safely to kerbal. The original plan was to land it on the mun, but I\'ve got some statistical simulations running in the background, and MS Word, and thunderbird, and eclipse, and mozilla . . . even my relatively-overpowered computer dragged down to 1 frame / second in the face of that sort of strain . . .

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The 2m habitation decks are something I modded up (with permission) from Slew in his Down Under Pack (I\'ll link to it when the website stops crashing on me). I\'ll post it to the mods section later too.

Also: landing on dirt is possible but not recommended, and may void your warranty.

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Also: I went back and added fuel lines to the huge 3m fuel tank stack. I broke stellar escape velocity, with 16 tanks of fuel left over. That\'s my first time out of the system. Woot.

So mods you need:

C7, obviously: http://kerbalspaceprogram.com/forum/index.php?topic=1172.0

Silisko edition

HSTW\'s landing gear: http://kerbalspaceprogram.com/forum/index.php?topic=4873.0

Slug\'s radial chute (I think this is the right version): http://kerbalspaceprogram.com/forum/index.php?topic=816.msg7619#msg7619

KW challenger pack (for the heavy struts): http://kerbalspaceprogram.com/forum/index.php?topic=2680.0

I thinkthat\'s it, but I haven\'t tested it yet.

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gabyalufix

gabyalufix

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The lifter only requires a few (You\'ll need the C7 pack, the novasilisko pack (just for the rcs and the heavy struts), the radial-mount drogue chutes, and the water-landing skids pack.)

The space station? Best just download everything.

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gabyalufix

gabyalufix

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When it\'s empty, it has some unbelievable lift from those 3 wings. I\'ve gotten down to 20m/s without stalling.

Once you hit the ground, though, you\'re gonna want to hit the drogue chutes, or it will (usually) tear itself apart. One time I landed without the chutes, but I think it might have been more luck than anything else.

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Herpderpsslerps

Herpderpsslerps

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The lifter only requires a few (You\'ll need the C7 pack, the novasilisko pack (just for the rcs and the heavy struts), the radial-mount drogue chutes, and the water-landing skids pack.)

The space station? Best just download everything.

Holy carp people use my shitty drogues (I need to go back and rework them or ask someone to work up a better chute for drogues)

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RedDwarfIV

RedDwarfIV

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Whilst the skids are very strong, and work very well for water landings, I have noticed that they can tear off whatever they are attached to, because unlike C7 wheel landing gear it doesn\'t have \'suspension\' and move around without putting much pressure on its host part.

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Tim_Barrett

Tim_Barrett

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Whilst the skids are very strong, and work very well for water landings, I have noticed that they can tear off whatever they are attached to, because unlike C7 wheel landing gear it doesn\'t have \'suspension\' and move around without putting much pressure on its host part.

Not to mention you can 'stack' the landing gear for a larger effect.

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RedDwarfIV

RedDwarfIV

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Not any in particular, but try landing with two or three C7 skids stacked. It works to well for this tip to go unnoticed.

I noticed that on your Falcon.

I still prefer the wheels though. Makes it look a lot more like its capable of taking back off, if only through aesthetics.

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Tim_Barrett

Tim_Barrett

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I noticed that on your Falcon.

I still prefer the wheels though. Makes it look a lot more like its capable of taking back off, if only through aesthetics.

It\'s interesting with what I use on planes, really.

The wheels do look nice, but since they are quite tall in relation to surface area on the ground, under weight they buckle and bend. Speedy landings also hinders the wheel landing gear effectiveness.

For larger craft, I like a double skid combo for suspension and really smooth landings.

The problem is, I don\'t ever have ships that fit the criteria for wheels because when they are light enough to use them, they are pretty small in comaparison to the wheels themselves. You don\'t want a top-heavy ship coming in at 80m/s!

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