SkyLab Program :: Crew Rotation Vehicles :: LKO Crew Shuttle

A (partially) reusable vehicle for crew rotation on LKO Stations.

Mark 0

Wondering if I could save some pennies by investing a bit more on R&D, I ended up getting inspiration on the Dream Chaser:

But, by the Krakens, I just could not managed to shove this thing on the top of a low tech, light and cheap Launcher Vehicle as it's done with Dream Chaser! So I ended up coming to this:

Notes:

• 6 Crew
  • But one need to be a pilot.
• This crap is terribly unstable.
  • I added a MechJeb2 AR202 to control the damned thing's ascent
    • I'm not masochist! 🙂
• You need to turn on RCS manually in the exact instant MJ2 starts the gravity turn (see next picture).
• You need to launch with both ailerons's authority set to 0, and remember to set them to 150 before reentry!
• Limit Q to 6000 pa
• Force roll climb to 180º and turn to 180º
• On the Ascent Path Editor:
  • Set altitude to 25Km
  • Set Velocity to something stupid as 1000Km/s to prevent it from kicking it
  • Set the turn shape to 75%
• Set Corrective steering gain to 0.3
• Once MJ2 reaches the Ap at 75KM high, you need to turn it off and rise the Pe to 75Km manually - I didn't managed to convince the thing to do the circularisation itself.
• The 2nd stage have some Sepratrons set to fire up in retrograde on staging it out. This is enough to send the stage to the atmosphere, and then burning it up - preventing polluting the LKO with debris.

All this black magic is needed due the wings. I think I will need a heavier (and more expensive) 1st stage to make the damned thing behave as an full grown launch vehicle while ascending. 😖

But since this thing will land back on KSC, I will recover the full price of the vehicle (less consumables):

So, we have a cost per seat at (47,769F - 23,074F) / 6 = \~4,115.83F.

Less than half, not bad! Once I have the SkyLab operational, unlocking the MK2 and the Big-S Delta Wing will be a priority!

With a service bay, this little bird can reach Mün and come back, but this will raise the seat toll a bit - she just can't land with a bay attached, so it will be disposable.

Downloads

• LKO Crew Shuttle.craft
• LKO Crew Shuttle Launcher

References

• Forum on What did you do in KSP1 today.