Project Hyperion HCLV

[Loru]

Joint Aerospace Systems proudly anounces Hyperion class launch vehicle.

Overview:

It's an expendable heavy cargo LV able to put up to 120 tons into LEO indended for "in orbit" construction projects or hauling cargo to other destinations (Moon, Mars).

Vehicle data:

Cryogenic LH2/LOX core stage powered by 2 upgraded RS-68 engines.
4 Side Kerosene/LOX LRBs powered by RD-171 each.

Estimated payload to LEO: 120 metric tons


Planned features:
Launch Autopilot
Flight control MFD - similar to ThemisMFD
Multiple fairing support
Fully configurable via cfg files
Adjustable height over ground
Payload manager

Some visual effects like glowing nozzle, maxQ vapor effect, condensation trails in stratosphere.

More to come when we have more to present.

 

[MaverickSawyer]

Wow. Fast turnaround after Themis-A. Good looking rocket already, guys. :tiphat:

 

[blixel]

Looks cool.

 

[Interceptor]

Really Great work Loru:thumbup:
BTW that's a great name.

 

[Loru]

Some initial testing:

 

[Donamy]

One nit-pick. I think you would want to be inverted, to keep positive g's.

 

[santy86]

Looking at the screenshots, you may even add 2 additional boosters to increase Payload capacity.

 

[Eccentrus]

Absolutely beautiful, reminiscent of Energia.

 

[Loru]

One nit-pick. I think you would want to be inverted, to keep positive g's.

Yeah - that's not even alpha testing. I used buran mesh as boilerplate for testing heavy payloads.

Looking at the screenshots, you may even add 2 additional boosters to increase Payload capacity.

Not in this case. I want to avoid launchpad/MLP issues I encountered with Themis-A. Also in this case closed design will simplyfy developement process.

Absolutely beautiful, reminiscent of Energia.

Thanks. They're even sharing booster engines.

 

[santy86]

The glowing nozzles are really nice :thumbup:

 

[Loru]

Small update - after rescaling of main guidance variable, AP ripped from Themis achieved indended orbit with 100 ton payload and 20 tons fuel left in core stage.

I'm quite amazed since all that was changed from Themis-guidance was only one variable describing trajectory steepness

 

[MaverickSawyer]

How much can you get to LEO? 140 tons opens up the possibility of using Hyperion for Mars Direct... :hmm:

 

[Loru]

Estimated payload to LEO is 120 tons. I'll be testing it today to determine if my calculations are correct. As for 140ton I'll investigate performance with additional kick stage for it.

---------- Post added at 12:29 PM ---------- Previous post was at 11:39 AM ----------

Just tested and strangely my estimates were spot on. 120 tons to LEO (launch from equator - heading 127) with 3.3 ton of fuel left. Accuracy isn't the best but rocket has no yaw/roll control during coast and circularization burn phase yet.

 

[MaverickSawyer]

Hmm... I know Fregat is a decent kick stage on Themis-A... What's a similarly squat stage that's bigger than Fregat?

 

[Loru]

hmm... I'm not sure there is a kickstage already modelled/released but you rough test gave me this:

If you can squeze remaning dv from 10 ton kick stage (total mass) you can put 140 tons into 250x250km ecliptic orbit.

 

[MaverickSawyer]

Now, IIRC, the Mars Direct mission was direct ascent, and you just need the capacity to put 140 tons into orbit. The payload was less than half of the rated capacity.

 

[Loru]

you can either create kick stage (although it would be hard ~400dV out of 10 stage with 140 ton payload) that will allow it or redesign MarsDirect a bit (modyfying it to add those remaining dV).

 

[MaverickSawyer]

If memory serves (since my copy of The Case for Mars isn't handy right now ), the actual payload delivered was 48 tons, and the kick stage was never specified as to dV, thrust, mass, etc.

 

[Loru]

200km x -144km ecliptic from equator with 130 tons.

Not bad.

 

[MaverickSawyer]

Ok, that's probably able to pull off Mars Direct if you cut out some of the payload mass... I'll take a look tonight and cut out about 4-5 tons from both launches and see where that gets us...