My Spaceplane fleet

[Beachernaut]

Hey all. I've been running through career mode without transmitting any science (recovering everything), and found SSTO spaceplanes to be invaluable. I had a request to share these, and I figured I'd share with everyone.

Disclaimer: I am not a spaceplane specialist and have no idea how good these are compared to other people's designs.

Presenting the work horses of my space program.

From left to right: Hawk MK1, Squirt Rescue, Hawk Fuel, and Cargo MK2 (top).

Download link:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/q334r6zi0c1ov44/KSP%20crafts.zip

Info:

Each of these use Porkjet's Space Plane + mod.

http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/80796-0-24-Spaceplane-Plus-1-3

Note: I don't use any realism mods (Deadly reentry, FAR, etc) so I'm not sure how they will work with them.

Each of these spaceplanes (except Squirt) are capable of delivering their payloads to 150km orbits, and return to KSC with fuel left over for over maneuvering and landing (over/under shoot, off course, etc). I don't know what the maximum payload is for each, but so far each plane has packed whatever I could fit into the cargo bay. Squirt payload and reach is unknown, this was designed and used specifically for Kerbal rescue contracts (90-115k orbits). I've never used it for other cargo, so I'm not sure what it's capabilities are.

The ascent profiles rely on a balanced load. If your load moves COG to much the plane will either fly very sluggishly, or not at all.

Ascent profile for Hawks and Squirt, these are recommendations as each plane handles a bit differently based on cargo load.

Action group 1 toggles engine and air intakes

Take off: SAS on, full throttle, activate turbojet. Plane will lift the nose above 40ms, and should take off above 60ms. Take care not to smack the engine on the runway

Climb out to 10k: Climb as steep as you want (or can) up to 10k. I usually point the nose at 50 degrees for good climb and airspeed.

10k: Lower the nose to 40 degrees.

15k: lower nose to 25-30 degrees.

20k-30k: lower nose to decrease climb rate and increase air speed as much as possible (usually point the nose somewhere between 10 and 20 degrees). At above 25k it's a balancing act between climb rate and airspeed to keep the engine going. Keep an eye on your turbo jet thrust (right click engine). Let the plane slowly climb and gain airspeed until the engine thrust drops below 60 or flames out, you should be above 30k with airspeed above 1800ms by this point.

35k-Ap: Once you switch engines bring the nose up above 30 degrees, you can go to 50 degrees safely, not sure above that. Thrust to desired AP.

Ascent profile for Cargo MK2. Again these are recommendations, flight characteristics change depending on load weight.

Action Group 1: Toggle rapier mode

Action Group 9: Toggle intakes (I never use this one, but it is there if you want)

Note: leave Rapiers in auto switch mode for ascent.

Take off: SAS on, full throttle, activate Rapiers. Due to landing gear position (for stability) this plane does not take off until it leaves the end of the runway. Attempting to take off early only results in instability. Also, the nose may hunt left or right. Just keep the nose strait and pull up when it leaves the end of the runway. Be careful not to smack the tail.

Climb out: Raise nose between 30 and 50 degrees finding a compromise between climb rate and airspeed

10k: lower nose to 35 degrees

15k: lower nose to 20-25 degrees (again depends on cargo weight)

20k: Lower nose for slow climb rate (keep Pro-grade marker just above horizon line), usually nose pointed between 10 and 15 degrees. Keeping the climb rate slow, the Rapiers should stay in air breathing mode up to about 25k. As the Rapiers get close to switchig, you may experience some yaw left or right, but as long as your climb rate is still low it should be managable. Keep low climb rate, and give small yaw corrections until Rapiers switch to closed cycle.

25k-AP: Once engines switch to closed cycle bring nose up above 30 degrees. If your load is balanced you should be safe up to 50 degrees. Climb to your desired AP.

Note: If your only deliverig cargo to orbit (up to 150k) you'll have plenty of fuel. However, if you are rendezvousing and docking with a ship/station in 150k orbit be careful about fuel use during rendezvous (unless you can refuel after docking). The more fuel you use during rendezvous, the less you'll have for deorbit and landing. Also the RCS isn't balanced so small corrections and patience is recommended.

Decent profile for all.

Hawk MK1/Squirt balance: Before your deorbit burn, balance your plane by moving fuel from rear tank to front tank. With equal amounts in each tank your plane will have neutral balance (COG right on COL). Moving more to the front tank will increase stability for reentry if you chose. However, with neutral balance both planes are very stable so long as you keep the nose at or near your prograde marker.

Hawk fuel/Cargo MK2: These planes are harder to balance with multiple tanks. I recommend moving most of your fuel to the forward tanks. This produces a nose heavy airplane that will be sluggish but stable during reentry. You can further balance for better handling after most of your speed has been bled off.

Deorbit burn: I like to do my deorbit burn when my plane is about 90 degrees relative to KSC. Burn until orbit line comes down and is about level with the island NE of KSC, this will usually result in a bit of undershoot and you'll probably need to fly a bit to reach the runway. I usually prefer to undershoot a bit rather than overshoot.

Reentry: Keeping your nose pointed at or near your prograde marker should result in an uneventful reentry. The only time I've lost control during reentry with these planes was when I started to maneuver in 4x time accel (forgot I was in time accel).

Approach and landing: Most of these planes have quite a bit of tail behind the back landing gear. A shallow approach and landing is the best way to avoid damaging your plane.

I hope you enjoy my designs. Comments, questions, and suggestions are welcome.

Cargo MK2 docked with my station in LKO

Edited August 2, 2014 by Beachernaut

[romie]

very nice looking planes you got there