Space Shuttle Turbo -- Stock Space Shuttle with Solid-only SRBs

[Gue__1]

Do you mean the new monopropellant engines? I think they're a little too small to be used for the OMS engines. Ironically, I had suggested that they be rescaled to be smaller and they were. They probably would have been perfect at the larger size. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

No no... sorry for the confusion. I mean that you use a lot of the old small RCS trusters for maneuvering... Why not use the new ones and save on partcount.

Gue

[GusTurbo]

Ah, I see. I basically did it for appearance purposes. The real shuttle didn't have the 4-way RCS blocks, so I went with the more "realistic" option.

[Rune]

Besides the "you must spread blah blah", I wanted to point out: I just looked at that wing in detail, and I'm really impressed. Looking really cool in a very subtle way! It's going to be very polished. A shame about the OMS engines, burning mono for orbital maneuvers is very fitting for a shuttle... have you thought about clipping them inside the others anyway? You know, ones for the aesthetics and the others (free of weight! They are physicsless) do the real job.

Rune. Come on! Every day I look for a new newbie to rep so that doesn't happen!

[GusTurbo]

Thanks for the compliment on the wings! I took a bit more care in their design this time. My first shuttle was a bit haphazard.

I'll think about using clipped mono engines for the OMS. It might actually allow me to make the OMS "pods" look better. Working around the Mk55 radial engines is a pain because of their weird collision mesh.

[Hydrazine_Soup]

In the real shuttle these things are control surfaces that aid a lot with pitch control, I think its called body flap

You should keep that part as in the first shuttle version, looks better IMO.

[ArcticX9]

Fantastic job, love the realism of the launcher!

[GusTurbo]

In the real shuttle these things are control surfaces that aid a lot with pitch control, I think its called body flap

You should keep that part as in the first shuttle version, looks better IMO.

Ahhh, right you are. I'll need to fix that.

[GusTurbo]

Progress on a payload version.

[Gue__1]

Progress on a payload version.

That's more that 2x the amount of boosters I used .

Gue

[GusTurbo]

I wanted to build in plenty of excess capacity for cargo. I may adjust that downward when I hit my mass target. I've also set the thrust limiter way low on them, so they're very slow burning. They provide most of the lifting power.

Edited August 4, 2014 by GusTurbo

[Rune]

I wanted to build in plenty of excess capacity for cargo. I may adjust that downward when I hit my mass target. I've also set the thrust limiter way low on them, so they're very slow burning. They provide most of the lifting power.

That will give you an awesome payload capability (Maybe you can even get close to the original's ~20mT, which wouldn't fit your bay), but increase the balancing problems in the stack by having more solid fuel disappearing during the burn. But you know, Vernors and acceptable losses in the core's fuel.

Rune. I have high hopes for this!

[Gue__1]

Just a tip/note I can give you. To increase the cargo capacity you want a higher maximun trust in your shuttle not your SRB's. Just like rune said you're going to get real balancing problems. It does look very pretty tho those booster.

Gue

[GusTurbo]

The balance is fine with the Vernors, to my surprise. Anyway, as far as the ratio of thrust provided by the SSMEs to the SRBs, mine is pretty close to the real thing. On the real shuttle, the SSMEs provided about 17% of the total thrust at liftoff. On mine, they provide about 19%, so the SRBs could actually stand to have a little more thrust.

[Majorjim!]

The balance is fine with the Vernors, to my surprise. Anyway, as far as the ratio of thrust provided by the SSMEs to the SRBs, mine is pretty close to the real thing. On the real shuttle, the SSMEs provided about 17% of the total thrust at liftoff. On mine, they provide about 19%, so the SRBs could actually stand to have a little more thrust.

Damn Gus! I cant wait to see the finished shuttle.

[Woopert]

That looks really nice. I like the boosters, since you made them a bit fatter like the real ones.

[GusTurbo]

Using mareczex's payload bay technique. It's really fussy, often opens slightly asymmetrically, which is super annoying.

[Woopert]

I just gave rep to you but I wish I could give it again, for this.

[Comrade Jenkens]

You must spread some Reputation around before giving it to GusTurbo again

sorry .

[Majorjim!]

You must spread some Reputation around before giving it to GusTurbo again.

LOL

This is great gus. Keep tinkering! The shape is so lovely. Any chance of seeing whats happening when it opens?

[GusTurbo]

Not today, unfortunately. I'm liking how it's shaping up though.

[GusTurbo]

Got something working!

Edited August 5, 2014 by GusTurbo

[Hydrazine_Soup]

Got something working!

OMG that is just too awesome

[xoknight]

That looks really cool, though if the doors can open wider that would be awesome-er.

[GusTurbo]

I might be able to get them wider. The limiting factor is a pair of docking ports that catch the doors as they try to snap shut. Basically how it works is there is a pair of airplane wheels inside there that push on some cubic struts inside the doors. The opening wheels are able to push the doors until the wheels lock into full extension, at which point they no longer collide with the cubic struts and the doors snap shut. The docking ports you see on the OMS pods are what keep it from shutting. That was the cleverest place I could find for the ports, since I don't want them to be too obtrusive.

The good thing is, it has the clearance for the payload to get out -- I took care to make sure of that!

Edited August 5, 2014 by GusTurbo

[Majorjim!]

Amazing work Gus. And yeah if the largest possible payload clears the doors then its absolutely fine as it is.

I'm amazed how detailed stock craft are getting now.

You're a true master Gus.