Vessel Tanker version of the Shuttle A

[orbitingpluto]

A day or so ago I realized that my plans for orbiter required tanker craft. Thinking about it, it seems that taking the Shuttle A and modifying it would simply be the easiest way to fill the need. As it is a cargo carrier, it has the lifting power and the space on its frame to fit fuel tanks on. The reason why I thought of modifying a shuttle A is because it seems easier on the generous people who may realize this idea, as I doubt I could do it. Modeling it is beyond my artistic abilities, but I could do the coding if someone offers to walk me through it.

A big unknown is how big the tank(or tanks) should be, and how they would look on the model. I don't know how to answer this, but my gut says as big as possible. A limit to how wide tankage space would be the aux pods; upper limit(on top of the spacecraft) depends on much fuel the shuttle A can lift, as I guess one wouldn't be able to lift off long before the mass up top can cause flight problems. 'Course this is a layman's opinion, with nothing to back it up, so take it with a grain a salt.

 

[PeterRoss]

Well, in fact there IS ShuttleA-based tankere somewhere on the orbithangar. But it's rather old, and if you'll manage to produce something more advanced and configurable it would be great.

 

[Mindblast]

You can try Shuttle-A2. A bit aged addon but should still work in Orbiter 2010. http://www.nestadlinn.de/orbiter/

 

[Jamesep3]

It should be like a UCGO refuel vessel then. Like the ISS or fuel truck for example. then it would work and refuel and be able to be a tanker if you changed the mesh.:yes:

 

[orbitingpluto]

You can try Shuttle-A2. A bit aged addon but should still work in Orbiter 2010. http://www.nestadlinn.de/orbiter/

I took a look at it and its not what I want. Thanks any way:thumbup:

It should be like a UCGO refuel vessel then. Like the ISS or fuel truck for example. then it would work and refuel and be able to be a tanker if you changed the mesh.:yes:

I was thinking of UCGO from the start, but I forgot to put that in the first post. I like the UCGO fuel truck, but its ability to pull fuel from nowhere is something I don't want my tanker to have. Can that be coded out?

---------- Post added 08-04-10 at 02:59 AM ---------- Previous post was 08-03-10 at 11:29 AM ----------

I wouldn't want to be talking to myself but I think if I don't start this going nothing will happen. So here goes.

My earlier ideas suck, ignore them. To pull this off I going to simplify this big time. In the forward end of the shuttle A is two orange fuel tanks, port and starboard; copying them down the ship would put eight large fuel tanks on my proposed shuttle A-tanker. Whether the shuttle A can can carry them I don't know. I'm guessing this will be easier to do than my old idea because it will mostly entail taking the coding of the tanks it already has and copying them. Ditto about the model too, so it should be simple.

I've realized I not going to be able to do any of the work myself. Maybe I put this in the wrong part of the forums; I should have looked for the "N00bs beging 4 t3h helps plz" section.

 

[Izack]

There may be an even simpler solution. Must you use the Shuttle-A? How much fuel do you need? 'Cause you know, Orbiter isn't without tankers.
[ame="http://orbithangar.com/searchid.php?ID=4350"]Space Tankers, release 1[/ame]
[ame="http://orbithangar.com/searchid.php?ID=3105"]Jumbo Tanker v1.0[/ame]

 

[Jamesep3]

Well it would be nice if it was a Shuttle A. Then we would have a cargo and fuel version.

 

[orbitingpluto]

There may be an even simpler solution. Must you use the Shuttle-A? How much fuel do you need? 'Cause you know, Orbiter isn't without tankers.
Space Tankers, release 1
Jumbo Tanker v1.0

Mostly half-cocked plans for space exploration guided my choice of the Shuttle A; I was thinking of having a moon base that would be a fuel depot/refinery that would need a cheap fuel tanker for its customers, which would be mostly orbit-to-orbit ships. Since the Shuttle A already did moon freight I thought it would be perfect. Magic Moon Fuel prices aside, how many Shuttle A tanker conversions could one get for the price of one Energia or Nova launch? This tanker is for my fictional space company, and I'm wondering if three DGIV are too expensive for me:lol:.

 

[Jamesep3]

That sounds awsome I hope that is made into an addon. Mabey you could make it a UCGO cargo like the miner or miller that was all ready made. the cargo could produce crude oil which another cargo (refinery) could make into fuel which a final cargo (depo) could supply ships. Any one wan't to make this befor I try and fail at making it.:lol:

 

[garyw]

the cargo could produce crude oil which another cargo (refinery) could make into fuel which a final cargo (depo) could supply ships

Spaceships wouldn't run on oil and petrol/gas/diesel. They run on LOX and LH2. The problem with a depot for these gasses is all down to boiloff.

 

[Jamesep3]

Well mabey the crude oil is for some other function on board. Any way that was't my point my point was we should have a full refinary process which would see the fuel go from crude beginings to final product. By the way SRB's run on THURMITE go look it up Mythbusters use it quite a bit.:lol:

 

[garyw]

You can only drill for crude on Earth. It's a fossil fuel and Earth is the only planet to have fossils (so far anyway!).

On the moon you'd drill the lunar ice and use it for water, Oxygen (via electrolysis) and fuel. On Mars you can get access to ice and to Methane.

There is a refiney on OH -> [ame="http://www.orbithangar.com/searchid.php?ID=4593"]GDI MkI Ore Mill[/ame]

And finally, the prop for the SRB's is APCP (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_Shuttle_Solid_Rocket_Booster#Propellant)

 

[cinder1992]

You can try Shuttle-A2. A bit aged addon but should still work in Orbiter 2010. http://www.nestadlinn.de/orbiter/

sorry to burst your bubble, but that add-on doesn't work with orbiter 2010.

 

[Mindblast]

sorry to burst your bubble, but that add-on doesn't work with orbiter 2010.

Whooops.. i apologize.. it needs a little overhaul to have it use the VESSEL2 class it seems.

 

[Jamesep3]

OK so they don't run on thurmite but mabey they will some day. Then well get loads of power. I think it burns 3xHotter than lava!:focus:

 

[Solar424]

OK so they don't run on thurmite but mabey they will some day. Then well get loads of power. I think it burns 3xHotter than lava!:focus:

If only we could contain it...

 

[T.Neo]

Spaceships wouldn't run on oil and petrol/gas/diesel. They run on LOX and LH2. The problem with a depot for these gasses is all down to boiloff.

That depends... more futuristic drives have all sorts of fuels (hydrogen comes to mind for a lot of them though), and current chemical rockets often use kerosene and LOX as well. Diesel fuel has also been suggested as a rocket fuel (by Robert Goddard, no less), but I don't know if it ever saw action...

 

[orbitingpluto]

Thermite would be bad news for propelling spacecraft. It burns really hot yes, but it doesn't cause the "equal and opposite reaction" that moves spaceships. It melts anything around it. Back in the day... :blahblah: ... the military used thermite to fuse an artillery gun's breach block together to make it unusable. And they still do, gosh darn the sonsabuzzards! So don't put thermite in your tail-bell of you will have the launch crew laughing so hard you gonna have to fix it your self. Now what was I thinking before I start started remembering things before my time.

OH NO!
:threadjacked:

Save me ! I even dabbled it it myself!

(P.S. its wikipedia but still,[ame="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thermite"]Thermite - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia[/ame], its better to look online than trust TV.)
(P.P.S. Orbiter is about realistic physics, and is challenging enough without making it about realistic fuels too. Though arguing about the subject is almost as fun as playing Orbiter....:facepalm: )

 

[T.Neo]

I've thought about thermite for rocket fuel, for heating liquid oxygen propellant (both iron and oxygen are abundant on the Moon). I don't think even that would be very practical though. A more realistic possibility might be a rocket powered by a heterogenous mixture of LOX and aluminium powder. Aluminium powder is apparently stable in LOX, but the minute you mix it with gas it'll ignite... :hmm:

The problem with using thermite for fuel is that just because something gets hot, does not mean it will produce useful thrust. You can use something hot to heat propellant, but that depends on the characteristics of the thing that gets hot, which in the case of thermite don't work out too well.

On Mars you can get access to ice and to Methane.

I thought you only got around 10.5 ppb of methane in the atmosphere of Mars...

Mars Direct created methane and oxygen propellant via the Sabatier reaction using hydrogen feedstock brought from Earth. If you have abundant Martian ice I don't see why this could be necessary, since LOX/LH2 has a higher ISP.

Then again, methane/LOX is easier to store...
The problem

 

[pattersoncr]

That depends... more futuristic drives have all sorts of fuels (hydrogen comes to mind for a lot of them though), and current chemical rockets often use kerosene and LOX as well. Diesel fuel has also been suggested as a rocket fuel (by Robert Goddard, no less), but I don't know if it ever saw action...

Diesel and Kerosene aren't too different from each other. Diesel is just the next grade of fuel heavier than Kerosene.
Kerosene is essentially the same thing as Jet fuel while Diesel is almost exactly the same as home heating oil.

[ame="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Distillate_fuel_oil"]Fuel oil - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia[/ame]