Electric planes are awesome, so why not an electric SSTO? Well, the wet mass may be WAY lighter, but the dry mass isn't much better than a well engineered jet SSTO. The main advantage is the sustainablity, as you only need the infrastructure for refueling with water, and you have a much more forgiving re-entry window when retuning from orbit. Plus, this craft is an incredibly fun and perfectly balanced plane when the water is drained off.
Controls:
- Flight controls are normal
- Yaw controls front wheel
- Roll steers back wheels (reversed, so both sticks left can cause a diagonal translation)
- Pitch controls wheel speed up to 50 m/s (pull back to go forward, push up to go backwards)
- Vizzy takes care of RCS, Gyroscope, Motors, Control Surfaces, Landing Gear, and Solar Panels
- Autopilot makes re-entry easier. Hold between 60° and 90° with re-entry turned on.
Data:
- Sea Level top speed: 744 m/s
- Takeoff speed (dry): 44 m/s
- Takeoff speed (wet): 104 m/s
- max eccentric orbit altitude: 5700x100 km
- Cargo Capacity: 7000 kg to 100x100 km. Good luck exceeding that weight limit in the space in the cargo bay!
Admissions:
- there is park clipping for aesthetics, but it has a minimal impact on performance.
- I used the tinker panel only to turn off stage activation on the nuclear engines
- I know my Vizzy code is TERRIBLE. I had to name the parts individually so the AGs didn't get cluttered with things you can't control anyway.
Cool craft