The Forgotten SSTO Pack. Three for the price of one!

[Rune]

Hello guys! After much anticipation and a couple of requests, here is the SSTO pack I promised, comprised entirely of old designs that I never got around to release in the end (I did test them on 0.24 and made some minor changes). Lets take a look at each one, shall we?

LONGSWORD

If you follow me and my SSTOs, you might have noticed that I always name those I release after pointy objects, particularly swords and such. Well, it's not that I didn't come up with the Longsword name in the line, but I was saving it for something truly special. So this is it, this thing performs too well not to give it the coveted name. Plus, it kinda fits, it's a general-purpose craft that is perfect to take a single kerbal around, yet it doesn't have any particular attribute in which it excels. A balanced generalist, IMO... but one that feels like a sports car in terms of performance and handling, and all of that looking awesome.

It won't take you extremely far (though 1.2km/s in the tanks upon reaching orbit is nothing to be sneered at, you could go cismunar or set it down on Minmus), but it will do so in style. The TurboRAPIERâ„¢ powerplant gives it awesome T/W on all stages of flight, being capable of verticlimbing and still having a more than respectable vacuum T/W while keeping engine mass to a minimum. And the atmospheric handling is just a dream, it handles better than the Dart even though it's almost twice as heavy! It also carries a STOVL rocket assembly to handle airless landings, and a cabin for passengers or as additional living space for long flights. Check it out, because words don't really convey the feeling of going under KSC's bridge before continuing on your way to orbit to rescue that stranded kerbal.

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Longsword

MOTH

This one comes by direct request, and so rushed that it doesn't even have the name of some pointy object. And after the last paragraph, that can stand for long! Perhaps you might want to help me with suggestions? Anyhow, 0.23.5 and it's OP ions got me into electric SSTOs, and this one is a beast.

It may not be able to land anywhere without an oxygenated atmosphere on account of the ridiculous T/W without the turbojet, but it burns 100 out of 360 units of liquid fuel to make orbit, so in oxygenated atmospheres you could go up and down 3 times, probably even four! And in space, you have more than 3km/s to play with, and that's lugging all that excess liquid fuel around, if not things improve beyond the 4km/s barrier and start being quite ridiculous. Oh, and it is also a very fast verticlimber that allows for quick rendezvouses in LKO, that comes as a bonus because the turbojet comes in such a big minimum size (I want a 0.625m stock airbreather!).

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Moth

JAVELIN

This one is more of an exercise in aesthetics that turned into an exercise on general rocketry. See, the idea going into this build was to make a big SSTO that looked good. Perhaps with a hint of the Valkyrie bomber in there. With a cool side-looking cabin to stick a shielded port laterally. But midway into the build, I started to think that with that much fuselage, I could explore the limits of the RAPIER engine. So, I exchanged the extra cabin for even more fuel, and I got a very good looking all-chemical SSTO that still managed to do 3km/s after making orbit! Considering the logarithmic nature of the rocket equation, that's impressive at least to me. It isn't lacking on T/W or wing loading either, I reckon I could slap a couple of drop tanks and/or ion propulsion systems and perhaps do a Duna mission from runway to runway.

Or alternatively, You could get a very cool looking two-kerbal transport that can take them to the Mun's surface without using nukes. That's also something .

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Anyhow, excuse the lack of images, this thing hasn't seen many flights, but as a compensation, you get both craft files: the good looking, two seater Javelin and the extreme performance Javelin LR.

DOWNLOADS:

Javelin

Javelin LR

...and that is all for the moment. The Spatha might get retro-added to this pack, because frankly it is quite "meh" compared to much of what is now on the R-SUV catalogue, and the recently released longbow will take its place. Anyhow, enjoy these in the meantime while I figure out how to put all this on my main thread!

Rune. R-SUV was lacking SSTOs lately.

Edited August 9, 2014 by Rune

[Halban]

Those look awesome! Especially interested in the Moth, and the aesthetics of the Javelin are Krazy Kewl. But... you did break a promise

[Rune]

Those look awesome! Especially interested in the Moth, and the aesthetics of the Javelin are Krazy Kewl. But... you did break a promise

That is only because of some quantum timeline instabilities, which I blame on gremlins. Anyhow, sorry and I hope you enjoy it!

Rune. Better late than never?

[Halban]

That is only because of some quantum timeline instabilities, which I blame on gremlins. Anyhow, sorry and I hope you enjoy it!

Nice! But Rune, how would a character marooned in the South Pole acquire such a vehicle?

That's right, it's unofficial and speculative back-story time!

[Rune]

Nice! But Rune, how would a character marooned in the South Pole acquire such a vehicle?

Oh yeah, the backstory bit. I had forgotten about that! I'll edit something in at some indefinite point in the future...

Rune. Elderly moment, it seems.

[The14th]

These are awesome, thanks for releasing them Rune!

I especially like this trend of 2-seaters you've been doing recently.

To me it feels "cheaty" to send up (or land) a spaceplane unmanned, so it's nice to have some that can actually do something useful once they're in orbit!

Have some +1 "Zen-Rep", since I can't give you anymore actual real rep than I already have!