Spacecraft Projects Never Meant to Be

[Noname117]

I created this thread so that people here could share about their older projects which, be it through design difficulties, updates, sudden loss of time, or obsolescence, were given up on. I'm curious to see what some people tried, and what could've been. (I most certainly have a whole plethora of designs and programs which have been left half-completed.)

Guess I'll start with one

The failed spacecraft I most focus on of my space programs is the Keburan, a shuttle project I began back in September based on my friend Jon's shuttles:

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The Keburan and Ktechka, despite being able to make it to orbit (almost*) NASA style 4 times, wound up being unstable gliders (too nose-heavy) and ultimately heavy craft. They could only land with the assistance of RCS to slow down, otherwise risking destruction of the cockpit.

Takeoff up to orbit would be relatively smooth if the directions were followed, until the fuel tank would start running out of fuel. The orbiter would start struggling to stay in control towards the end of the fuel tank stage. After the fuel tank would disconnect, the orbiter would be using 2 aerospikes, slightly unaligned with the center of mass, to propel itself into orbit. This also proved to be slightly unstable. Once in orbit, it would only have enough fuel to de-orbit.

The inherent instability of the Keburan and Ktechka led to the scrapping of the program, especially after a payload test showed more of the instability. However, this is my only orbiter that has even achieved orbit so far (though I do have a new one in the works), and the Keburan program did certainly inspire some future programs which will probably later appear in this post.

I always wonder about what would've happened if this program would've succeeded. I did make a placeholder forum page for it but never finished it, so I think it would've gotten some good attention (preceding Zeke's and Giggles designs which would come about a month later) if I could have gotten cargo into orbit.

*It had an engine on the fuel tank to curb its instability

So, now I'm curious what other people have worked on in the past, and how close we came to seeing some awesome spacecraft that were never to be.

Edited April 5, 2014 by Noname117

[MK3424]

You do know that the real Buran didn't burned it's engines to get into orbit: it was attached to a massive launcher called the Energia.

[Spartwo]

''Remember that one time I said more is more?''

''Yes...''

''And that's why I hate horizontal takeoff.''

This is the only one which I would call failed,the rest aged badly or didn't meet expectations.

[Noname117]

Eh, only called it that because it was competing with Jon's shuttles (named kerscovery, katlantis, keandeaver, etc.) I didn't design it as a replica.