Eagle MkV. SSTO VTOL cargo shuttle. Rated for Duna and Laythe too!

[Rune]

So, some of you may remember my Eagle MkIII Munar Shuttle. Cute little thing, it was one of my most successful sleepers: even though it didn't generate that many comments (and let's face it, it wasn't terribly practical, it had a high part count, fuel consmption, and not so big payload) both it, and especially the base I built with it, have gotten close to 2k downloads, even though they also got pretty outdated a couple of versions ago. I doubt you remember the first one, though: that was like 0.19 or so! Anyhow, the Eagle lookalike has gotten to be one of "my things", which is curious considering I haven't even watched the show it's made from, and the think the whole design, while pretty, is pretty crappy . But this is KSP, I am pretty decent with the building tools, and the part selection now allows some pretty cool stuff. So without further due, the most sci-fish of my ships yet, and this time it turns out to be damn useful and powerful: meet the Eagle MkV!

No launch vehicle this time! Just good old fashioned air hogging, thrust, and lots of fuel. I've got to say, the performance has me a little worried: while getting a more than decent payload of about 20mT and the same payload dimensions as the old one, it is still capable of going to Munar orbit in a single stage to refuel there! The amount of fuel you use to drop the cargo on the Mun and get back up is truly ridiculous, BTW (as in, no need to put any fuel on the two main tanks). And sure, it SSTO'es from kerbin with 20mT loads mainly because of the unrealistic airbreathers, but check this out: it also gets 2km/s with full LFO mix in non-oxygenated atmospheres! So Duna SSTO is also covered, as well as most moons. There are chutes in case you have difficulty nailing good landings on airbreathing engines, too, though you can use the rocket setting on the RAPIERS to have a quicker response time. And of course you can use the nukes for incredible efficiency, so this can actually haul more than what you put in the bay between planets, thanks to the rear-facing docking port. Like, say, a whole base pack (sold separately! right now all you get is the fuel dump):

So you can guess that the testing implied plenty of landings on Mun. I'm setting a new base there with one of these babies, and probably make a lot of money in the meantime with all the contracts... only this time I got to a very scenic location. Would you believe I got a kethane deposit right there? Anyhow, if you don't play with that mod, don't worry about the fuel bill that much: so fay I've spent less than one orange tank in dropping three of the base modules! It also has tons of little details like a universal port in the bay, or one hanging from the CoM, so you put all kind of things there to suit your needs, or a landing light system that is synchronized with the landing gear without you doing anything and put in a separate action group so you don't deploy the landing gears in the payload by accident. It helps that I've been playing with it on and off for months! I have gone straight from MkIII to MkV due to game versions catching up on me... Anyhow, I think it was worth it, and hope you do so too!

And the huge tank size means that when you have a fuel source (and we are getting a stock one soon, right? ) it makes a more than decent tanker. So a true jack of all trades that will service any needs you space program might have. Want to have a satellite put into orbit cheaply? It might have a huge capital cost, but with an Eagle you only use fuel. Build base on Mun? Just say where and put an orange tank in orbit so it can refuel. take some modules to Laythe to set up a colony there? I've got you covered, just a matter of gas. Need a Kethane tanker to service said colony? Just build a kethane module for it, and this will also do it in it's spare time. Some scientific surveys on Duna's icecaps? Again, just stuff things in the cargo bay and have the depot system set up. If there ever was a definitive ship, ladies and gentlekerbs, I think this is it.

Oh, and if anyone needs a flight plan, I could write it up... but as a VTOL SSTO, it's pretty darn simple: get quickly to about 25kms up and make a speed run there, to a target flameout speed of about 1,400-1,500m/s at 27kms where you switch the RAPIERS to rocket, then above 32kms or so the jets give out. Play it by ear and don't let it flame out! You have plenty of rocket fuel to spare.

IMGUR ALBUM:

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DOWNLOAD:

http://www./download/mzqj1rw6gbqri4w/Eagle+MkV+Airbreather.craft

Rune. Sci-Fi and utilitarian! Who would have ever thought!

[inigma]

Reminds me of a fat guppy. Good job on making a tanker SSTO. Not easy.

[Cupcake...]

You're gonna put me out of job! Great work, love the looks, very classy.

Cupcake...

[Fearless Son]

Aww, it looks like a cute little mini-Galactica!

Regardless, I love it! Stylish and functional! You said it is an airhoger; where did you cram the intakes on this thing?

[Rune]

Reminds me of a fat guppy. Good job on making a tanker SSTO. Not easy.

Thanks! I also thought it looked fat. But you know, it short of fits in a transport vehicle. And the tanker thing is totally secondary... this was built to carry base payloads, first and foremost, between orbit and the ground.

You're gonna put me out of job! Great work, love the looks, very classy.

Cupcake...

Nah, to each its own, and you are the VTOL guy. But I think you will appreciate the "Turbo-RAPIER" powerplant... it's my first VTOL where I have your "chemical kick" throttle response trick!

Aww, it looks like a cute little mini-Galactica!

Regardless, I love it! Stylish and functional! You said it is an airhoger; where did you cram the intakes on this thing?

Thanks! And yeah, it's cheaty, I'll freely admit that: inside each of the two main tanks there is an intake assembly with... was it 16 intakes each? It works out to 4-1 intake/jet ratio, I know that because it's the ratio I always use. And let me tell you, selectig each one of them to put them in the relevant action group was a ...... Still, part count is still reasonable: 141 without payload.

Oh, and while we are at it, fresh from the press:

Rune. Now it looks properly base-y with the nodes and corridors.

[Yukon0009]

goddamn, rune, this is amazing.

[soulreaver1981]

you should call this craft the "Fat ......." LOL

hu???? i cant say bas-tard???

Edited January 17, 2015 by soulreaver1981

[Majorjim!]

16 intakes each?

Hey man,

I read a very good SSTO and plane tutorial on reddit the other day. You should take a look, he shows how adding more than about four intakes is unnecessary.

Also placing the intakes in a certain order will stop one jet from cutting out before another.

see here:

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[Rune]

goddamn, rune, this is amazing.

Thanks! One does one's best.

you should call this craft the "Fat ......." LOL

hu???? i cant say bas-tard???

This forum is very restrictive with words! But yeah, I see how that would be a good name. Still, it has a certain appeal. Like a majestic pregnant whale.

Hey man,

I read a very good SSTO and plane tutorial on reddit the other day. You should take a look, he shows how adding more than about four intakes is unnecessary.

Also placing the intakes in a certain order will stop one jet from cutting out before another.

see here:

http://imgur.com/a/3jrUJ

Two 16-intake stack feeding four two-engine pods... Yup, my standard 4-1 intake ratio. I derived it mostly through trial and error. And the air routing trick is indeed nice (there is a nice tutorial by Kashua in the drawing board, I think it was him that came up with it), but it still leaves a small differential that would make a design with the engines as spaced as this one have flameout-like issues. Besides, it would be hell to place the intakes one by one in that way as you fit the engines! But I've used the trick extensively in other designs where it makes sense (i.e: two jets+nuke configs).

Rune. Can't say I've come up with those tricks... but I was present when they were invented.

Edited January 17, 2015 by Rune

[Majorjim!]

Thanks! One does one's best.

This forum is very restrictive with words! But yeah, I see how that would be a good name. Still, it has a certain appeal. Like a majestic pregnant whale.

Two 16-intake stack feeding four two-engine pods... Yup, my standard 4-1 intake ratio.

Right I see, yes that's my Dyscalculia showing through..

[Rune]

So... no complaints from the early adopters? If so, I think tomorrow is the day this gets archived in R-SUV, and I roll out the next thing. I think that's going to be my tempo, if I can manage it, a new release when I archive things in order to not fall too much behind and minimize the time spent editing things and such.

Of course, the next thing is the updated base pack that goes with this, so the base got greatly expanded to show each module and yet another different configuration. Behold! (Actually, the node modules are a bit more compact now so you can fit two at a time in the bay if you know your stuff (like, you can add another universal port to the Eagle). Also, just because I use kethane doesn't mean this can't be done with the judicious application of about two or three orange tanks in Mun orbit. This way, I actually filled a couple in the process.

Rune. I don't get tired of this. As long as I do it between other things, that is. Busy save! Made my second million √ last week

Edited January 21, 2015 by Rune

[Millertime610]

Hey Rune,

I replied on your main thread but then i saw this one as well! Any way you can write up a quick flight plan to orbit? I dont have much experience with VTOL's and i cant seem to figure this one out. Is it not supposed to lift off without RAPIERS in closed cycle? also how do you build horizontal velocity with the nukes? Any help would be appreciated. Or if anyone has youtube footage of it would be even better!

Thanks!

[Rune]

Hey Rune,

I replied on your main thread but then i saw this one as well! Any way you can write up a quick flight plan to orbit? I dont have much experience with VTOL's and i cant seem to figure this one out. Is it not supposed to lift off without RAPIERS in closed cycle? also how do you build horizontal velocity with the nukes? Any help would be appreciated. Or if anyone has youtube footage of it would be even better!

Thanks!

I replied to you already in the other one, but basically there were tanks full that should have been emptied of oxidizer (I was probably checking the vacuum delta-v), and you shouldn't use the nuke until you are out of the atmosphere and almost in orbit. Otherwise, it flies like all VTOL SSTOs do, when you control from the top docking port.

Rune. I wrote a bit more about it in R-SUV.

[SPA]

does it work on its own, or do you need rockets, cus I can't launch it on its own

[Rune]

does it work on its own, or do you need rockets, cus I can't launch it on its own http://www.reactiongifs.com/r/fmc.gif

With full SSTO load (full tanks except the ones on the sides, those should only contain oxidizer), and the RAPIERs and turbojets going full blast, it has a TWR just above one. It takes a while to spool up the engines, though... is that your specific issue? For a while I had a version here with an incorrect fuel load, but that should be fixed now.

Rune. Unless I am being chased by the ghost of the kraken. I swear it works as advertised if flown right!

[SPA]

ok. I got to do a little work on the forums. And my spacecraft fails to duna (my OWN+downloaded stuff I try to look for in my history to give credit, but I can't find them.)

[hyfvenom]

any chance of getting a detailed flight plan or tutorial on getting this thing into orbit as no matter what i try i seem to run out of fuel fall back to kerbin

[Rune]

any chance of getting a detailed flight plan or tutorial on getting this thing into orbit as no matter what i try i seem to run out of fuel fall back to kerbin

It's not that difficult, if you don't try to do crazy things like building the horizontal velocity on the nukes. First, control from the docking port on top of the ship, and activate turbos and RAPIERS. You shouldn't touch the nukes before it's time to circularize orbit!

Then start up vertically until you reach about 10kms. From there to 20kms, tilt slowly down so that your vertical velocity stays under 200m/s, and you pick lateral velocity. When you go over 20kms and the air start getting really thin, pitch down even more to bring your vertical velocity to 50m/s or so, so that you have time to speed up to 1,500m/s or so before the turbojets start whining about lack of air at about 26kms. When they do, press "4" to switch the RAPIERs to rocket mode, but keep the jets going until they start flaming out. By the time the jets give out, you should be be at 1,800m/s (surface) and with an apo over 50-60 kms. A bit more push with the RAPIERs to get the apoapsis to about 70, and then you can switch the control point to the crew cabin and light up`the nukes for circularization and efficient in-space propulsion.

Rune. You wouldn't be the first one that gets fooled by the shape... this flies on atmosphere "sideways".

[Somtaaw]

Posting and bookmarking to check the Eagle out later. I had actually just finished off a random wikipedia binge and ended up looking at the "Space:1999" Eagles, and immediately came over to KSP Spaceport to start looking for any Kerbal models of it. This is pretty darn close