Okay, this is the second component I needed to develop for the Jool mission: the Laythe escape crew SSTO. I’d like to say that this is not the best SSTO out there, is just… my very first, well, not actually my very first… is actually my second, but it is my first SAFE SSTO, if you guys know what that means .
Anyway, ladies and gentlemen, introducing… the Space Racer 2C:
View attachment 54557
View attachment 54655 It takes off using Ramjet engines, gains altitude and speed and as they go flame-out, due to extreme altitudes and speeds, it switches to rocket engines to get out of the atmosphere and circularize orbit.
According to Horus Lupercal, who helped me with advice and some tweaking (because I am new to all of this), balance-wise is really good, is controllable in almost any situation, including reentry, and is fast, really fucking fast.
Now, like I’ve said this is not the best SSTO out there, is just my first safe version of an SSTO, and first time working with realistic aerodynamics and controlling something with aerodynamics-only.
So, lets take out the Space Racer on a test mission to see what it can do! Let’s go to Low Kerbin Orbit!
View attachment 54656
View attachment 54658 There it is! We have reached orbit! Now, it doesn’t have much DeltaV remaining, true, but remember that this is actually designed to get out of Laythe, where the atmosphere is lower, the gravity is minor and the orbital speed is less, so it should work much easier there.
Anyway, time to return to the runway… Like I said, the plane is very controllable during reentry (but I forgot to take any pictures). The case is I overshot the runway of the KSC, so I had to turn 180 degrees and turn on the engines…
View attachment 54657
However, the mission isn’t actually completed there, because I wanted to show that this thing is perfectly capable of a safe STS-style unpowered reentry, as well as to land safely, undamaged on water. So I saved the game on the runway to return to that quicksave later, and loaded the save I made just before landing. Then I turned 90 degrees to the right, to make a water landing…
View attachment 54659
Now, is mission completed for real!
Anyway, ladies and gentlemen, introducing… the Space Racer 2C:
View attachment 54557
View attachment 54655 It takes off using Ramjet engines, gains altitude and speed and as they go flame-out, due to extreme altitudes and speeds, it switches to rocket engines to get out of the atmosphere and circularize orbit.
According to Horus Lupercal, who helped me with advice and some tweaking (because I am new to all of this), balance-wise is really good, is controllable in almost any situation, including reentry, and is fast, really fucking fast.
Now, like I’ve said this is not the best SSTO out there, is just my first safe version of an SSTO, and first time working with realistic aerodynamics and controlling something with aerodynamics-only.
So, lets take out the Space Racer on a test mission to see what it can do! Let’s go to Low Kerbin Orbit!
View attachment 54656
View attachment 54658 There it is! We have reached orbit! Now, it doesn’t have much DeltaV remaining, true, but remember that this is actually designed to get out of Laythe, where the atmosphere is lower, the gravity is minor and the orbital speed is less, so it should work much easier there.
Anyway, time to return to the runway… Like I said, the plane is very controllable during reentry (but I forgot to take any pictures). The case is I overshot the runway of the KSC, so I had to turn 180 degrees and turn on the engines…
View attachment 54657
However, the mission isn’t actually completed there, because I wanted to show that this thing is perfectly capable of a safe STS-style unpowered reentry, as well as to land safely, undamaged on water. So I saved the game on the runway to return to that quicksave later, and loaded the save I made just before landing. Then I turned 90 degrees to the right, to make a water landing…
View attachment 54659
Now, is mission completed for real!