Darkstar II

Timeline for the Darkstar I has been changed to 2056

The Darkstar II is an unmanned, fully reusable single-stage-to-orbit spaceplane designed and manufactured by Nova Aerospace in 2061 to replace the Darkstar I. The Darkstar II has several advantages over the Darkstar I:

Interplanetary Flight
The Darkstar II is capable of interplanetary flight to Mars and beyond, it is even able to return to Earth. The cargo bay is also placed underbelly for releasing rovers or bases.

Increased Cargo Bay Size
The Darkstar II has a much bigger cargo bay than the Darkstar I, this allows it to carry more payload options than the Darkstar I.

Reduced Drag
A V-Tail, cropped Delta Wing design, Raked Wingtips and Canards reduce drag combined with a rather large wingspan, increasing aerodynamic efficiency.

Reentry Stability
Dihedral Swept Wings allow for increased reentry stability, combined with the large wingspan and the Darkstar II can easily slow down during reentry and glide for incredibly long distances.

The Darkstar II is much more heavier and expensive than the Darkstar I, reaching nearly 1 billion dollars in cost. Although those are 2 major disadvantages, the cost is offset by the full reusability of the Darkstar II and the weight is not much of an issue.

Main propulsion is 4 Full Flow Staged Rocket Engines using LOX/CH4, these engines are adapted for sea level altitudes, secondary engines are 2 LH2 fueled Rocket Engines adapted for vacuum. The vacuum engines use hexagonal intakes which generate electromagnetic fields to suck hydrogen atoms from space and converts it into liquid fuel, this allows the Darkstar II to travel distances longer than any spacecraft. This is a far cry from the Darkstar I's Aerospike Engines, which had an issue with overheating. For additional thrust, the Darkstar II can throttle all 6 of its engines at once. The amount of thrust the Darkstar II produces with all its engines at once easily slows it down from 13 km/s to 4 km/s in less than 2 minutes, allowing it to land on other planets in a ballistic trajectory, decreasing complexity during interplanetary and moon missions as the Darkstar II doesn't need to orbit a target planet/moon. 2 underbelly engines allow for vertical takeoff and landing capability.

The Darkstar II features Hexagonal Solar Panel Arrays and a long range fully deployable communication Antenna capable of contacting Earth from the planet Ceres.

The Darkstar II is shorter than the Darkstar I. The fuselage of the Darkstar II is a silicon carbide reinforced titanium space frame surrounded with a Ceramic Composite Skin. Multiple layers of titanium foil thermal insulation are sandwiched between the skin snd frame to protect the inside of the Darkstar II from the heat of hypersonic flight. Due to hardly facing reentry heating the Darkstar II lacks a heat shield to protect the engines.

The Darkstar II is slightly heavier than a double deck Jet Airliner, however it is able to takeoff from regular runways. This reduces cost and complexity as well as adding more options for takeoff/landing as there is no need to construct a specialized runway.

The range of the Darkstar II is not limited to just planets in the Solar System as it is able to even orbit the Sun in extremely close proximity.

The Darkstar II has far more TWR than the Darkstar I, producing a whopping 36,004 Kilonewtons of Thrust at sea level with just its main engines alone, this allows it to carry a payload of well over 1,000 tons into Low Earth Orbit however payloads of this weight will make the VTOL Engines practically useless.