Six Six Science - Space & Aeronautics Agency Archive [craftfile updated 2016-04-25]

[Majorjim!]

The Arrowhead X4B Nano SSTO spaceplane has just been added.

Now, THAT's a cool looking mini SSTO!

[ryan234abc]

Just downloaded myself an AT Rabbit. I can't make rovers for the life of me, and I was pleasantly surprised at the quality. Already tested it out, and I intend to bring it into active service. Wonderful craft, couldn't be in better hands!

[Frank_G]

You know? Pics or it didn't happen, so...

...

Rune. The power of gizmos is astounding, I'm not even using Ed Tools surface attachment feature anymore.

Thank you, i was hoping for a craftfile to check things out. I have just downloaded it (and returned from a very nice garden party, so testing will happen tomorrow... all that alcohol... you know...).

And thank you or the Kudos MajorJim . I really put some effort into that craft, so appreciation is... well... appreciated

A big thank you to you too, ryan234abc. Have fun with the rovers!

[Frank_G]

Crater-Flea Mk. IIb concept: approved - Tylo landing mission has been accomplished.

Descent started from a 45 km parking orbit, which was almost a suicide burn. Made it back up to a 40 km circular orbit with fuel to spare for orbital rendezvous. The Mk. IIb concept features additional fuel tanks for a total of 6.3 km/s of delta V, to leave a little margin for piloting errors. The craftfile will be uploaded today, just need to add some description text, prepare some pictures and stuff...

[Frank_G]

Crater Flea Mk. IIb craftfile is now available for download.

[Frank_G]

I started to work on a new SSTO spaceplane today. It made the insertion burn and then ran out of fuel. But hey... first testflight.

[Rune]

I started to work on a new SSTO spaceplane today. It made the insertion burn and then ran out of fuel. But hey... first testflight.

http://i.imgur.com/YAUyEhH.png

Probably the twin engine config killing you. That's two tons you are lugging that you could do without by switching to a single RAPIER.

Rune. Just my two cents.

[Frank_G]

Thanks for the hint! I am already fiddling with a single engine configuration, trying to get it light enough, so a single R.A.P.I.E.R can deliver the needed acceleration.

Getting above 10.000m as fast as possible, is a key requirement for very small SSTO craft. A craft that small with a TWR below 1.0 is simply not practical as you don´t have the fuel for long ascends.

Or tell me i am wrong... that would make things a lot easier .

[Rune]

Thanks for the hint! I am already fiddling with a single engine configuration, trying to get it light enough, so a single R.A.P.I.E.R can deliver the needed acceleration.

Getting above 10.000m as fast as possible, is a key requirement for very small SSTO craft. A craft that small with a TWR below 1.0 is simply not practical as you don´t have the fuel for long ascends.

Or tell me i am wrong... that would make things a lot easier .

You are wrong. Hehehehe. Now for the serious answer: depends on how do you want to go up. If you trust your wings, carry enough liquid fuel, and go very shallow, you can get a RAPIER to go supersonic (and therefore, accelerate to ~1,400m/s if you take your time), with TWR as low as 0.55 for low wing loadings (i.e: good gliders). That means a single RAPIER can push almost a 20mT SSTO if you pack enough fuel for it. OTH, forget about going vertical, and it'll take you a while to get there. But if you go for a more reasonable 0.7-0.9 TWR, you can still put a lot of liquid fuel to keep it lit, climb reasonably fast, and break mach and reach the same cutoff speed, with higher fuel margins on account of a heavier craft. The trick is finding the space to put all that fuel. Here, an example of just how much a single RAPIER can push to orbit:

I did abuse the wings-as-fuel-tanks strategy: no fuel tank is without a lift rating, and no lifting surface is without tankage space, unless it's a control surface. In any case, I have more than twice the liquid fuel for the ideal rocket ratio, and at takeoff it's about 18mT. It is a bit boring to get to space, but hey, hyper-efficiency has its costs.

Rune. I just noticed it's missing a RCS thruster.

Edited July 12, 2015 by Rune

[Frank_G]

To the drawing board then!

And thanks for the insight.

[Frank_G]

Aha... slowly climbing above 11.000 m and then entering a shallow dive to bring the engine beyond Mach 1 and up again you go while keeping a steady acceleration. No problem to reach speeds beyond 1km/s now... Piloting a spaceplane really needs some experience to be done right.

And here is a picture, of what i am trying to get into orbit.

Edited July 12, 2015 by Frank_G

[windows_x_seven]

-snip-

Can these wings carry oxidizer as well?

[Frank_G]

Nope, only liquid fuel.

[Rune]

Aha... slowly climbing above 11.000 m and then entering a shallow dive to bring the engine beyond Mach 1 and up again you go while keeping a steady acceleration. No problem to reach speeds beyond 1km/s now... Piloting a spaceplane really needs some experience to be done right.

And here is a picture, of what i am trying to get into orbit.

http://i.imgur.com/eCZL58S.png

There you go! You got the concept right.

Eyeballing your design, it should work, and if it lacks a bit of dV, you could always put a tapering LFO tank on the back... you can sink the RAPIER a bit so it doesn't look too long. Also, in the front, I would put half-sunk a a pair of little... "structural wing type D" (I have the game open right now) on the nose, to have a spot to put the control surfaces that looks nice. Try it, you can make it look like chines (like the SR-71 for example), and it'll put some extra lift on the nose, allowing you to move back the main delta and increasing the torque the rear control surfaces provide, so they have to deflect less. Note that I have much more wing on mine, which makes speeding up easier since you can maintain a shallower AoA for a given climb rate, which cuts on drag a lot.

Can these wings carry oxidizer as well?

Nope, you still have to carry some LFO tanks, but the Mk2 line has a cool shape and a decent lift rating, which makes them almost-wings.

Rune. I like helping people!

[Frank_G]

Incredible performance, that R.A.P.I.E.R. engine can deliver, when it is handled appropriate... 1.3 km/s on a single engine with only one radial intake on a 16 ton craft... I love it.

And 80 km circular orbit achieved, with a puff of oxidizer left for de-orbit and a full load of RCS monopropellant. On re-entry the remaining liquid fuel can help to land this thing nice and easy. Oh, and it is an excellent glider, regardless of fuel level. Actually the spaceplane keeps the prograde marker only 1 degree (or less) below the planes nose, so it has a very efficient low drag profile.

But still... no room for orbital acrobatics. That needs to change.

[Frank_G]

Small small small... today i needed to build something big. Performs like a charm. Reached 1.540 m/s on jet engines before switching to the closed engine cycle. Fun to fly when it is empty. Cargo tests will be made this weekend.

[Frank_G]

The new spaceplane is just awesome... put an orange tank into the cargo bay and it still reaches 1.5 km/s and an altitude of far above 20.000m in airbreathing mode. Then deliver the tank to a 110 km circular orbit in closed cycle mode with ease. This weekend it will see some detailed tweaks and optimizations. The craftfile will be released soon afterwards. Getting into spaceplanes is so much fun...

Edited July 16, 2015 by Frank_G

[YargJay9991]

PLEASE MAKE THIS A COMPANY!!!! IT'S FULLY AWESOME!!!!

You, sir, are a genius...

YargJay9991

[Red Dwarf]

Daaaaang, that space plane is rad as hell! I love the unconventional use of the big swept wings! What are you thinking of naming it?

[Frank_G]

@Red Dwarf - Thanks a lot! It hasnt a name yet - that is usually the last thing i do, before a worthy and useful concept enters its final optimization phase. So this will get its name very soon.

@YargJay9991 - Many thanks! I was asked to launch a company several times, but i prefer to just play the game and share craft and mission progress now and then. But feel free to ask for craftfiles or mission details whenever you like . Maybe this will change, when we get stock Multiplayer. By the way, you have some pretty interesting designs yourself!

[Frank_G]

Well... its Tweakendâ„¢ again (ok first official one)...

Returning to work on the new Moray Delta Mk. I Cargo SSTO spaceplane (yeah, i know its head looks like a platypus, but it really deserves a cooler name), it was time to add some cargo space. The new cargo bay is now 5 segments long (4+1). The current design is also two engines short of the original with a third being marked for deconstruction, if the tests today will say so. Following the deleted engines, two pre-coolers were taken from the underside of the wing, as the new engine setup requires far less intake air. Sadly, due to the intake loss it now has less drag on the underside, resulting in the plane wanting to raise its nose, which is not wanted at all... but a little wing tweaking should do the job...

I also added a compact RCS tug for orbital construction and cargo delivery, featuring a standard and a senior clamp-o-tron docking port.

1: Going with 2 less engines seems to have no critical impact on the flight profile so far.

2: Reaching 80 km circular orbit with a hell of a load of fuel left. Finally i have a spaceplane with real use.

3: The new Orbital Service Unit (OSU) deploying the cargo

4: Preparing for re-entry (i love this screenshot... threw in a little contrast and color saturation to make it look more beefy)

5: Overshot KSC for quite some kilometers... too good there was loads of liquid fuel left to return. The glide capabilities are really impressive. Next de-orbit will start decent much earlier (one-third orbit instead of one-quarter ahead of the target)

6: Ok... panicked a little and missed the runway... but hey... crew, craft and base are in one piece

Updates will follow.

- just noticed it lacks a docking port...

Edited July 18, 2015 by Frank_G
Typos, always Tpyos!

[Frank_G]

Getting there. I have 2 versions running, one with a 9 engine setup and one with a 8 engine setup. Both get 40 tons to orbit, but still the 8 engine version hangs a bit behind, considering fuel efficiency. If i can nail that, the design is considered finished.

Here the 9 engine version breaking 1.550 m/s airspeed. Notice the angle of attack... it can maintain the AoA at altitudes above 17.000 m, giving it incredible acceleration due to minimum drag...

[Frank_G]

Done. 41.5 tons to 85 km circular orbit with fuel to de-orbit and a bit of liquid fuel for a powered landing. The 8 engine configuration finally won the battle.

And if you launch only the orange tank without the tug, you get additional 400 m/s of delta V for orbital acrobatics. If launched empty, it can make a roundtrip around the Mün.

I got rid of a Mk. 3 Liquid Fuel Fuselage Short Tank, making the design a lot shorter, more stable in flight and easier to manage during ascent. To compensate for the lower fuel mass, 4 Mk. 1 fuselages were added.

Craft including fuel is weighing 111.3 tons, maximum load is 41.5 tons, resulting in a 2.68 : 1 craft : payload ratio. Launch TWR is 0.60, but the massive lift and low drag totally compensates. It still reaches 1.5 km/s in airbreathing engine mode, even when fully laden.

There is some action-group tweaking to be done for more convenience and hopefully even better performance during the ascent phase. I want to add another action-group that will allow to switch engine pairs selectively to closed cycle, to get the maximum out of the jet-thrust. But thats for tomorrow.

Here the final iteration of the craft and the payload it can deliver:

Craftfile will be up tomorrow evening.

Edited July 19, 2015 by Frank_G

[Frank_G]

And finished. The craftfile will be up within the hour. Here is the mission profile of the final test flight:

Javascript is disabled. View full album

[Frank_G]

Moray Delta II craftfile is now available.