SSTOM3-R Spaceplane w/ Interplanetary Ring

[ThatGalaxyMan]

Introducing the SSTOM3-R "Zealous", an SSTO spaceplane with sleek interplanetary booster ring!

The Zealous:

The Zealous comes equipped with twin TurboJets and an Aerospike for your circulation burn, RCS, ladder, lights, 2 RTGs tucked into the wings, and an emergency escape setup to wrench the cockpit off of the plane. It has some pretty good handling; it can take off almost right away and landing is a breeze.

Note: If you are a good pilot it might not matter, but I fly with SAS on almost always to keep movements balenced and smooth

Now the glamour shot!

The Ring:

What's the problem with SSTOs? Not enough dV to get anywhere once you are up in orbit! Taking design inspiration from the Star Wars franchise's hyperdrive rings, my solution is a 6 engine nuclear tug that the Zealous docks in cleanly from the back. The ring has plenty of RCS and an array of solar panels to power the SAS, the Octo probe, and the intense blue lights. (maybe a little TOO blue)

The docking section of the ring has some panels and pieces such that when you are trying to dock, it's as easy as lining up the Zealous straight behind the ring and pushing the nose down into the docking port. The leading edge of the wing lines up with the gap and provides a nice aligned single port docking.

The ring also has extra torus tank to help distribute fuel between the two main tanks. It's important that the ship has balance, and the fuel moves so fast between them it is hard to perfect. You can use the little tank to move little bits of fuel at a time.

Getting the ring up there is a little hard, because the lift effects of the winglets push it around on the ascent. I drain the fuel from the tanks and refuel from the lifter or an extra tug in orbit.

Journey to Eve:

This album displays my test journey to eve with the Zealous and it's ring. (I really should have gone to Laythe, but I had never flown an aircraft on Eve before and I wanted to give it a try.)

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Zealous Flight Profile:

Pull up after launch at 45 degrees until you get up to about 10k (any angle really, you can pull in enough air to accelerate straight up if you like) Once you get up by 10k, start leveling out toward 5 degrees and keep burning to get your speed up. You can do 10 degrees, but it's less efficient and you are going to have to burn your Aerospike more to get orbit. I've gotten up to 30k at 1400m/s before flare-out.

Note: When I'm up at the end of the atmosphere I often turn on RCS and let the TurboJets burn out. It puts me into a flat-spin, but within one rotation it can be stopped and the Aerospike engaged. Maybe it's just me, but I like to get everything out of the Turbos.

dV:

The Zealous by itself has something around 2k dV

The ring by itself has 8.5k dV

Docked together, fully fueled, the Zealous with the ring has 7.5k dV

Action Groups (The Zealous):

1. Atmospheric Mode (Turbos on, Aerospike off)

2. Orbital Mode (Turbos off, Aerospike on)

3. Toggle Air intakes (I wish there where "open" and "close" options in stock KSP

4. Interstellar Mode (Turbos and Aerospike off, reaction wheels off)

Note: Interstellar Mode is for when you are docked with the ring. Turning off the reactions wheels and engines stops scary twisting of the Zealous in the ring.

Action Groups (The Ring):

9. Toggle solar panels

Craft files:

Ring: (as sub-assembly) https://www.dropbox.com/s/zel6ntvzthy9ncd/Booster%20Ring%20-%20Zealous.craft

My hastily made launcher for the ring: https://www.dropbox.com/s/ol9pc83hwf6cm3j/Ring%20Launcher.craft

(you can probably make something better easy)

The SSTOM3-R: https://www.dropbox.com/s/abnd1oiuafw9wmk/Zealous.craft

Feedback is greatly appreciated! I'm no expert, so give it a go and tell me how it flies! Thanks everyone,

[Naten]

Nice job!

[kidolvski]

Very nice job. Rep'd. Makes me think of the Star Wars hyperdrive for the Jedi fighter.

Keep up the good work!

[ThatGalaxyMan]

Nice job!

Very nice job. Rep'd. Makes me think of the Star Wars hyperdrive for the Jedi fighter.

Keep up the good work!

Thanks, I appreciate it!

Yeah, the hyperdrive ring was absolutely an inspiration here. Even that way that you connect to it via the horizontal peice, haha

[Pondafarr]

Downloaded!

[ThatGalaxyMan]

Downloaded!

Tell me how it flies if you give it a go, I'd love feedback