Crew to Orbit Transfer Shuttle (COTS) Mk. IV-d4/M

[tntristan12]

After dispatching with frivolus concerns for things such as "reliability" or "crew safety," the engineers at Munstak Industries, LTD. finally got the long-awaited COTS to get off the ground (and in quite a literal fashion). With some of the principle technologies shamelessly "borrowed" from Brotoro Kerman Industries, Munstak was finally able to integrate new reactive-intelligent software into their advanced new R.A.P.I.E.R. engines, enabling this state-of-the-art piece of orbital machinery.

In addition to the R.A.P.I.E.R., The COTS IV-d4M modified variant also boasts autopilot software developed by Anatid Robotics and contracted by R4m0n Industries. Although fully capable of being piloted by well-trained Kerbals, the Mechanical Jebediah (or MechJeb) unit installed is capable of reliably putting the COTS into a 100km x 100km circular orbit above Kerbin. When flying the unmodified variant (the Mk IV-d4), pilots are encouraged to refer to the COTS IV-d4 Flight Safety Manual (FSM).

The design isn't perfect. For one thing, there aren't enough parachutes to attempt a fully unpowered landing (i.e. parachutes only). In a pinch, you can hit even terrain with just parachutes and expect only to lose an engine or two. If you come down in water though... Well, let's just hope that you don't have any kerbals hiding in the hitchhiker storage unit. x_x In 9 out of 10 cases though, I'm able to de-orbit over a safe area with enough fuel to bring the touchdown velocity to <5 m/s, which is enough. Still hard to land with any precision though. I've pretty much just set the SOP to be to splash down in the sea just east of KSC, then recover the craft. I found that adding any more parachutes and you risk the spacecraft not being able to make orbit at all!

The other flaw that this design has is that it always ends up with a surplus of oxidizer though I guess in the future I could use a mod such as the TAC-9 Fuel Balancer to dump the excess oxy overboard when it gets into orbit. In the end, that only really saves a little bit of fuel for de-orbiting, but when you're cutting the margins as narrowly as this design does, every little bit helps.

Expect an additional post with the .craft file and FSM soon!

Edited December 22, 2013 by tntristan12

[tntristan12]

Please consult this Flight Safety Manual before attempting to fly! Munstak Industries, LTD. claims no responsibility for any death, dismemberment, or incineration that results from the use (improper or otherwise) of any of its spacecraft. Happy launchings!

Pre-flight Checklist:

1) Verify crew boarded, seated, and strapped in. Ensure all crew baggage is stowed!

2) Verify ladder is raised and properly stowed.

3) Check intakes open!

--> If intakes are NOT open, use the 3 key to open them.

4) Verify R.A.P.I.E.R. Engines in air-breather mode.

--> If R.A.P.I.E.R. Engines are NOT in air-breather mode, use the 2 key to cycle them.

5) Throttle ship to full before engine activation.

6) Engage A./S.A.S.

Post-launch Instructions:

1) Use either staging key (spacebar) or 1 key to activate R.A.P.I.E.R. Engines.

--> It will take a few seconds for the engines to build up thrust. Do not panic when the spacecraft does not lift off immediately.

--> Optional: Make rumbling noises with mouth.

2) Once v-vector becomes non-zero, use G key to raise and stow landing gear.

3) Ensure heading is set to 090 (due East).

4) Maintain steady vertical ascent to altitude of 10,000 meters.

5) Begin gravity turn to 35,000 meters.

--> Optional: If using MechJeb autopilot, ensure the following flight profile:

----> a) Initial gravity turn altitude of 10,000 meters.

----> Final gravity turn altitude of 35,000 meters.

----> c) Final up-angle of 10 degrees.

----> d) Profile curvature of 40%.

----> e) Enable "prevent overheats."

----> f) Disable "corrective steering."

6) At approximately 30,000 meters and velocity of 1,000 meters per second, ensure R.A.P.I.E.R. Engines switch automatically to closed-cycle mode.

--> If R.A.P.I.E.R. Engines do not switch, or controlling the spacecraft becomes too difficult, use the 2 key to cycle R.A.P.I.E.R. engine mode.

7) After R.A.P.I.E.R. Engines are in closed-cycle mode, use the 3 key to close air intakes.

8) Maintain up-angle of 10 degrees until apoapse reaches 100,000 meters.

9) Use X key to trigger Main Engine Cut-Off (MECO) when apoapse reaches 100,000 meters.

--> Optional: Use small (<10%) throttle bursts of the main engine to maintain apoapse at 100,000 meters until altitude exceeds 70,000 meters.

10) At apoapse, execute circularization burn or conduct rendezvous operations as necessary to reach desired destination.

De-Orbiting and Recovery:

1) Verify that spacecraft has at least 250 units of liquid fuel and the corresponding amount of oxidizer to de-orbit.

--> Optional: Use a mod such as TAC-9 Fuel Balancer to dump excess oxidizer overboard.

2) Fire engines retrograde until periapse drops below atmosphere.

--> Ensure that you leave at least 50 units of liquid fuel available for touch/splashdown operations.

--> Optional: Initiate de-orbit burn at 90 degrees west of KSC, and set ground intercept to just east of KSC.

3) Follow orbit into upper atmosphere, then ensure nose of spacecraft is pointing retrograde.

--> If using the deadly re-entry mod, ensure heat shield is fixed to the bottom of the spacecraft and inflated to provide best coverage.

4) Once past re-entry, use the 0 key to deploy main chutes.

5) Follow orbit to 700 meters in altitude (default altitude at which parachutes open).

6) When parachutes have opened, use the G key to lower landing gear.

7) Use 3 key to open air intakes.

8) Use 2 key to switch R.A.P.I.E.R. Engines to air-breather mode.

9) At 200 meters in altitude, throttle main engines to approximately 30% to reduce landing velocity to 5 meters per second or less.

10) Maintain velocity at 5 meters per second until touch/splashdown.

11) Rejoice!

12) Dispatch recovery team to bring back crew and spacecraft.

If you follow these instructions carefully, the COTS Mk IV-d4 should faithfully serve your remanning and resupplying needs for many years to come! If you want to play with this craft in your game, all you need to do is go here and copy the contents of this page into a blank .txt file, which you then need to rename to .craft and put into your KSP/Ships/VAB/ folder. I tried to upload the .craft file into this post, but the file was too large. If there are any issues with getting this to work then I'll try to figure out how to post it to Mediafire or something like that.

Enjoy!

[tntristan12]

So I finally caved and got a mediafire account. Well, to be more accurate it turns out I already had one that I completely forgot about! So here's the .craft file if anybody wants it. I also took some pictures of a really quick mission to LKO. Enjoy!

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