Centauri Launch System

A long narrow rocket with conical boosters inspired by the Soyuz obviously. Her first stage and strap-on boosters burn RP-1 (I hate the term “kerolox”) however the rocket plume has been tinkerd with to suggest it is some other kind of alternate fuel type. The second stage is a liquid methane (or liquefied natural gas) and liquid oxygen burning stage. As for the CTS (crew transportation system) spacecraft on top, the engine plume has been tinkered to appear as though it’s burning some form of hypergolic propellants (but is of course just the kerolox that’s also in the booster segment). There are also multi directional RCS thrusters that are labeled “orbital thrusters”. Originally I intended them to be used for de-orbit burns however they took way too long to accomplish this task so I gave up on them. But I kept them on the service module thinking they’d be good for small orbital reboosts in very low Droo orbits.

You’ll prolly notice that I put on an extra window to the standard space capsule on the front. The docking port is sized at 100% but scaled up to 205% in the tinker panel (stock ports have never seemed to me like they’re actually big enough for a drood). And the Beacon light and docking light must be turned on manually by clicking on them during flight. There is also a HF dome like antenna on the service module that is not assigned an activation group but extends out using slider 4 (which is not used by any other AG so will not interfere with other components).

The launch escape system is from “Launch Escape System Pack” by CardZlol and works very well with this design. To use just activate AG “LES Activate” and at apogee “LES Jettison”. Otherwise the LES tower is staged to jettison after the (16) main engines and (3) side booster interstages are activated.

Launch:
Ignite at full (100%) thrust. At around 1000 meters ASL pitchover to 75° and wait till the green prograde marker meets the light gray heading marker then lock heading prograde for the remainder of the first stage burn. Once the boosters deplete, eject them. The trust will drop dramatically and the gravity turn will drop too almost horizontal by the time the first stage booster depletes. You should end up with an apogee between 97 and 110 kilometers depending on inclination. Discard booster and use second stage for orbit insertion.

If you want a higher orbital altitude then just hot start the second stage and burn until your apogee reaches the desired orbital altitude. You will most likely get into a transatmospheric orbit during this phase (maybe even a stable orbit), so only a very small burn will be needed to circularize your orbit (this can even be done using the CTS craft itself after separating from the second stage). For higher orbits (of 250-300 km or higher) there should be a good amount of excesses fuel in the second stage to accomplish them.

Reentry:
I have not rated the CTS heat shield for reentries higher than 230 km (or inclinations above 65°). A reentry profile of 230 km (or lower) x 68-71 km will be safe and leave a decent amount of protective heat coating on the heat shield (even at higher inclinations up to 65°). For reentries outside this envelope, I’d suggest testing first and then adding some ablative coating if necessary (as mentioned above, there is definitely enough propellant in the second stage to accommodate some added coating).

Once the drogue chutes fully inflate, lock heading up and arm the main chutes. My first 3 test flights with this craft I had issues with the main chutes deploying correctly! I suspect this was due to the main chutes opening to quickly (before the drogue chutes had cut away completely) and adjusted the deployment parameters accordingly. But I still lock heading to “up” before the main chutes deploy (to insure they deploy straight) and have not had a chute failure in the subsequent 20+ flights since.