Mallard Tanker - an SSTO spaceplane fuel tanker

[MiniMatt]

Capable of lifting 360 units of liquid fuel (+oxidiser) to Kerbin orbit and returning safely home the Mallard Tanker is designed for simplicity and ease of use at every stage of it's operation:

Atmospheric qualities

~60m/s liftoff

Just 13.1 tons wet weight (inc 1.5 tons of landing gear which becomes massless on takeoff)

When fully dry the centre of mass moves just 6 centimetres

Control surfaces and lift tuned for easy safe handling

Front brake disabled to prevent squirrely landings

High altitude / space boundary qualities

Single jet engine allows for running till flameout

Ample air intakes allows for ~40km altitude and ~2.3km/s velocity before jet flames out

Who can remember which action group button does what? The Mallard Tanker has just one toggle button (action group 1) to toggle rockets on, jet off, intakes closed - press this same button again to return to atmospheric mode.

Space qualities

Shielded docking port is inline with probe core, avoiding confusing navball changes and allowing for intuitive RCS control.

RCS thrust is balanced so as to avoid torque reactions on any given direction change

Compact design allows for operation at crowded space stations

Design qualities

Just 52 parts

No part clipping (well, no debug menu clipping, editor allows for some wing clipping - all parts remain visible to the user for easy insight into operation)

Substantial safety margin of jet & rocket fuel allows for sub-optimal flight plans

No fuel transfer needed (aside from cargo delivery) - jet engine and rocket engines have their own individually attached tanks from which nothing else can draw. Untouched twin 180 capacity tanks without attached engines form the cargo.

In-game description field offers a suggested flight plan

Mallard Tanker 360

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(screenshots include Kerbal Engineer to demonstrate performance characteristics, craft file provided below is completely stock)

The Mallard Tanker was built for ease of use at all stages and uses lessons learnt by designing the regular (manned, non-tanker variant) Mallard SSTO for Xeldrak's BSC Aeries-4a challenge (vote Mallard!)

When the Mallard Tanker loads on the runway press SPACE as usual to engage engines (at this stage the rocket engines will auto shut-off leaving only the jet engine operational). Fly as usual (eg. steep climb to ~15km then levelling out whilst gaining horizontal velocity as air resource allows) then trigger ACTION GROUP 1 to toggle jet engine off, rockets on, air intakes closed. Action group 1, upon a second press, will toggle back to atmosphere operation (jet engine on, rockets off, air intakes open).

Craft file is here.

[guz667]

My biggest issue with SSTOs has always been this: how do you give them any utility (what is the point?!) other than single-person reusable luxury flight into orbit? I think you've done something great with this! You've accomplished one of the harder jobs of using fuel to bring fuel in to space...with an SSTO!! Good job, rep from me!

[MiniMatt]

Aww bless! Thank you! 360 units isn't a whole lot but it's a start. Fiddling with a double capacity version but things seem to get quite complex quite quickly Thank you again