Broadsword MkII SSTO Shuttle (the payload bay kind of shuttle) - Update!

[Rune]

Hello there! 0.23 came, and with it the awesome RAPIER engine. Time to get some SSTOs going! I went for elegance and utilitarianism on this one: It is not only beautiful, but it actually does something useful! It carries with it up to 12mT of payload in a bay that is very accessible and spacious. In fact, to show this usefulness while I was testing the hell out of it, I went ahead and designed a bundle of subassemblies (included) to assemble a deep-space vessel/station with modular parts, and we will talk more about those a bit further down. I even documented it quite extensively, check out the imgur album for a somewhat chronological graphical account. Plenty of MMU action in there, since I designed the payloads without any kind of control to save on parts, and just a couple of docking ports to grab it with MMU's for assembly: I think I get points for "NASA style"!

Now some juicy details, because I'm proud at how well this all worked out: it's simple, it's elegant, and it performs brilliantly.

The traditional wing+tail arrangement gives it very good handling characteristics, and a low wing loading means it is an excellent glider, maintaining the agility of much smaller crafts. Combined with the clearance the raised tail gives you, it's very easy to take off and land, and flying it is a dream. The new ASAS doesn't always stick perfectly, but after a few tries I can usually lock >45º pitch headings with ease at all altitudes, and land her almost on a pin's head (I usually stop on the runway before the third perpendicular dotted line).

The fuel is a bit on the tight side, though, with the maximum payload: make sure you airhog below 30kms as much as you can before letting the RAPIERS transition to rocket power! That happens a bit after 30kms always, and by then you should aim to have >1600m/s speed, with a healthy vertical component (but RAPIERS give it such an awesome T/W on rocket power, you don't have to worry too much about that last one). Also, the part count is about 150 without payload, so pretty good on that front for potato computers.

Some more interesting details on the payloads... See the little docking ports along the spine of the brodsword? That's because the payloads are only supported by a double dock, so you can actually put them out and then back in, and return them to the runway without them wobbling to death or whatever. That means that if you design new ones, you either keep to the distance I use on one of the three different ones, or place anoter yourself (which is a bit tricky which ever way you go about it). You could, of course, add a few struts to forgo all that and be even more rigid, but you would lose the really nice feature: the Broadsword can be really reused! The second file here is called "Broadsword support crawler" for a reason: it can reload and refuel a parked Broadsword. Aweosme right? Well, it's actually not the most practical thing, but I recommend trying it at least once because it's really cool. And I bet someone finds a reason to modify the crawler and put it on top of a rocket so you can load modules on Laythe or something.

The payloads are also really part-limited, so the resulting space station/deep space vessel is also quite light, while still fulfilling pretty much any role you want from it, form fuel depot to crew transfer station and orbital laboratory, complete with full science suite. You could also use the skeleton of the one with the nuke to place other smaller components, or you know, whatever you want really, it's a very flexible set of parts... perhaps lacking a good lander in there to fulfil all roles, but hey, I've got to leave something to the imagination, don't I?

Also note that while the payload capacity of the Broadsword is only around 10-15mT, one of those payloads is a humongous orange tank. Obviously, it's not full, and in fact it is there as a yardstick so you can see what the maximum payload is (and length, with that inside, you have to use the drop at the end of the runway to pull up without scraping the runway with the payload). You are actually have to move some liquid fuel to the front of the ship, since the climb takes so long! But it will still manage 1,600m/s in the end, and make orbit just fine with excess liquid fuel on the red tank and not having touched the oxidizer in there. The rest of the payloads, it takes to orbits with ease without touching their fuel supply. Have fun running a reusable space program!

IMGUR ALBUM: (Full example space station assembly)

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DOWNLOADS:

Broadsword Mk II SSTO shuttle

Broadsword Support Crawler (Includes all the example payloads attached to the back, remove the ones you won't use before launching)

Rune. Like to LEGO in spaaace?

Edited March 3, 2014 by Rune

[xoknight]

I Like your variant of the MMU!

[Rune]

Glad you like it! It uses the "activate surface attachment" option of the mod "editor tools" to get by with the absolute minimum of parts I think. Nine parts in total! You can try to recreate it using an additional cubic strut, a lot of ingenuity (since the RCS tank has surface attachment by default), or just download to save them as subassemblies and use mine.

And they are actually useful! No more, having RCS subsystems on every station part and end up with a gazillion of RCS to refuel individually. Just a couple of small docking ports to grab it, and you save at least 4 parts on each module. With the new performance updates, I may be slightly paranoid with the part count, but hey, it's a goal to strive for.

Rune. Kerbal pilots entirely optional. I'm thinking of adding chutes and call them escape units.

[Woopert]

That is awesome! Great work on all of this.

Edited December 30, 2013 by Woopert

[xoknight]

I actually never thought of it that way... Yea it can save part count and you won't need to attach a RCS tug onto it or have any RCS on it...

[astropapi1]

That thing looks gorgeous. I.... I want it.

[DisarmingBaton5]

http://i.imgur.com/bJXYY9G.png

I... I thought that was showing scale...

[Rune]

That is awesome! Great work on all of this.

Thanks! Good feedback always makes you warm and fuzzy inside. But don't hesitate to come back after you try it with any complaints! Customer feedback is important to assure an improving level of quality on our products. We also like pictures and other such mementos of the exploits of customers at R-SUV... and be sure to grab a copy of our catalog on your way out! link in my sig as always, while we are with the self-promotion

I actually never thought of it that way... Yea it can save part count and you won't need to attach a RCS tug onto it or have any RCS on it...

Yup, and it is much easier to attach a couple of docking ports near the center of mass of each station piece, than to struggle with tugs thrusting off-center and such, too. Moving 5-part expansion orange tanks when they are full was never easier!

In terms of part savings, it really starts to kick in after the fifth station module or so (you need at least 2 MMU's at 9 parts each at a minimum), but each subsequent module has 4 parts less than it would with even the most minimalistic RCS setup I can think of (probe, battery, RCS tank and 4 thruster pods). And just 2 more parts than if it had no system and you had to dock it with the launch stage and never move it, on the other extreme. So a good trade in my book for station assemblies, especially if you want to complicate your life on purpose. And eventually, we all do

That thing looks gorgeous. I.... I want it.

Then it is a good ting you can get it! Quick, to the downloads!

I... I thought that was showing scale...

Nope, that actually shows you it is such a good glider, I could dick around taking screenshots without the UI, while putting it down on a runway already occupied by another copy of it. And I had it come to a full stop in time to turn it around to the airplane hangar, touching down just after the last landing mark on the runway (I wanted to come closer, but I' actually not such a great pilot and I didn't want to load back to orbit). Just because it could

Rune. Yeah, I "cheated" and used more than one copy, and didn't build some contraption to actually load the modules on the ground. But now I want to. Don't you?

[GusTurbo]

The Shuttle renaissance continues! I like the SSTO twist on the classic space shuttle form.

[Rune]

The Shuttle renaissance continues! I like the SSTO twist on the classic space shuttle form.

Just you wait. I do have a proper shuttle in the works (and my take on four segment solid boosters is quite literal), so I'll eventually join the party with a chibi STS replica. Right now I'm measuring how much gimbal I'm lacking... so, plenty of explosions but the last test ended in a nice return to launch site abort. Which is when I discovered it seriously lacked wing area, at least with the payload on. ^^'

And, of course, pretty much everything else getting on the way every time I fire up KSP or look up the forums. But it's getting there, slowly. Why would the Poodle have more than twice the gimbal range of a LV-T45, in the name of Kod?

Rune. I think of this more like a supercharged B-1. It flies too sweet for a shuttle!

[Rune]

Update! A new version is now available, the one depicted in the album. A bit cleaner on the lines, and new payloads. For support reasons, I won't change the OP, but here's the paragraph I have added to the R-SUV entry, to explain the not-so-big changes:

Payload redesign! Now you start with all the sample payloads glued to the back of the SSTO, and one on the bay. Pick the one you want to bring up, discard the rest, and rename and launch. New, fancy feature: the payloads secure themselves to the top of the payload bay with a Jr. Docking port that docks on loading, so don't mess with their position, and if you design new payloads, have that in mind, there are 3 supported positions for the docking port right now, and getting them right on a new payload is a lot of camera work to get them into position.. This helps to bring payloads down without being able to strut them to the back so they don't hit the runway.

Rune. To see more about the redesign, I have updated the entry on R-SUV. Check my sig!

Edited February 4, 2014 by Rune

[Rune]

Update of the update! Now you can get the Crawler I designed for the affordable space program challenge, and reload a Broadsword without recovering it! Wow!

Rune. There, I'm leaving it as it is for now.