Fencer: the RAPIER SSTO shuttle

[1greywind]

Fencer is SSTO plane utilizing 3 R.A.P.I.E.R. engines to take off from KSC runway, reach ~30 km altitude in horizontal flight, and then burn to LKO with 900-600 m/s of dV left for orbital maneuvering and deorbiting.

Plane has 2 docking ports: one medium sized on plane's back and small docking port under pilot's cockpit. Smaller port can be used for ground refueling and as pushback tug adapter.

Plane's fuel and monopropellant tanks are positioned in such way the plane's Center of Mass (CoM) is not shifting during flight. Plane has 4 RCS thrusters that are perfectly positioned around CoM making precise maneuvers and docking easy.

Payload to orbit is 3 passengers + pilot.

Maximum stable horizontal flight speed is 1700 m/s at altitude 29-30 km.

This video shows short mission profile (from KSC to LKO and back):

And this video shows design mission profile (from KSC to LKO, then to space station, :

download .craft file.

Actions group setup:

1 - toggle engines mode and open/close air intakes (you don't need intake air in closed cycle mode anyway).

2 - toggle all egines active state

3 - toggle radial egines active state

4 - toggle central engine active state

0 - toggle engines gimbal on/off

Typical flight profile:

1: Press SPACE to start engines. Set throttle to 100% and then plane reaches ~90 m/s takeoff.

2: Climb to 14-15 km altitude maintaining ~45 degree pitch, then reduce pitch to ~20 degree.

3: Wait until plane speed up to 1600-1700 m/s while altitude reaches 28-30 km. Reduce throttle in case of engines flameout.

4: Press 1 to switch engines mode to closed cycle and rise pitch to 45 degree.

5: Burn until your apoapsis reaches ~90-100 km mark (your will loose 5-10 apoapsis altitude to air friction). Set throttle to 0 and coast to apoapsis.

6: Then turn plane prograde and burn until you are on circular orbit.