Project ZTC Boeing X-37 C conversion

[n0mad23]

In an attempt to push past a bad case of writers' block and finally finish up my "prequel" to the sci-fi series I've been writing, I've been inspired to do a little modeling and spacecraft3 work again.

I really needed a little "space taxi" to play with and see if my ideas on a fictional Joint-Venture project was feasible, and to my delight found the X37C model Liber sent me a few years back sitting in my external HD archives! I've rescaled his original model, and then hacked it apart and redesigned things as per the descriptions I've written in my current draft.

The model is still pretty rough, but I've managed to get it imported into Orbiter for some testing and thought I'd share some info and some screen shots here. So far all tests have been done with my Daedalus B-52 catamaran aerial launch platform (the additional load requires a total of 6 velcro Jatos to get it up to speed from the Cayenne airport).

ZTC-X37MB (Microbus) holds 7 passengers and 2 crew members. A recycled/reused docking port has been taken from a Space Shuttle, converted and added to the rear of the X-37C's converted cargo bay, and is accessible via a cubicle mounted at the rear of the cabin. As the docking activity will be extremely challenging, I'm planning on using SC3's VC feature to use the docking port camera to assist.

The first stage currently uses a converted Ariane 5 EAP booster (P241) solid stage with a max g force of about 8.3 for the occupants of the Microbus for the last few seconds of the burn. I need to double check my calculations on ISPs and masses again, but initial tests have this 3 stage aerial launch achieving LEO of about 500 km with about 1/2 of the fuel left on the Microbus for deorbit.

 

[n0mad23]

Forgot to attach this one for some size comparisons:

 

[n0mad23]

I honestly forgot just how labor intensive making an addon is, regardless if you're using Vinka's Spacecraft3 or not!

I'm still working on the animations, and slowly working my way through all the thrusters currently. I've got the docking-port bay to open correctly, the auxiliary cabin door, and all the wing flaps, gear, etc. I'm still having issues with normalizing vectors and getting the rudders turning perfectly, but am way closer than I was at this time yesterday!

In order to thwart my own frustration along the way, I've gone ahead and done some testing of the craft using my Daedalus B52-catamaran as the launch platform. My last test last night before drifting off to sleep was a successful aerial launch and rendezvous with the ISS - still had over 1/2 of the fuel left on the X-37 C Micrbus when I arrived!

Here's a few snaps I've taken along the way.

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Docked with the ISS



Daedalus Catamaran with ZTC X37MB on the tarmac at the Cayenne Airport in Guyana. First stage is a converted Arianne 5 EAP booster - second stage is a Black Arrow inspired hybrid, and the third stage is a tiny hybrid tucked inside the cowling connecting the Microbus to the rocket stages.



Dansteph UMMU next to landed Microbus to show scale. It's mighty big for something so tiny.

Thoughts, comments, criticisms gladly welcome.

 

[BenSisko]

This looks great! I was aware of the C variant after the second DoD launch a few years back. I thought the crew compartment was a payload bay cargo packet and that the payload bay was windowless. The launch vehicle would be an Atlas variant.

http://www.spacesafetymagazine.com/aerospace-engineering/spacecraft-design/boeing-x-37c/

Ben

 

[n0mad23]

It was (re)stumbling across that SpaceSafetyMagazine article a few weeks ago that got me inspired to pull up Liber's anim8or model and drop him a note asking permission to hack it up and re-engineer it!

In my scenario (my addons are all "scene studies" for fiction I pick away at), the X-37C is only a partially complete prototype that ZTC buys from Boeing and then redesigns and finishes, hence the addition of windows and the placement of a docking port behind the crew cabin. I considered going the same route as the original design, and the one Liber had made, but I decided that since I was taking the design into a different route than originally intended that windows really should be added. My X37MicroBus is really now for getting a crew to its destination and not for hanging out in orbit for any significant amount of time (no more than 48 to 72 hours I'm currently thinking). It's an expensive taxi into LEO.

The scene study I'm doing this for is actually for facilitating the creation of the first large scale LEO metallurgy lab and vapor deposition workshop. The EFT in the following screen-shot is the space where TitanWerks Weyland Crucible is created. (Note to critics of the EFT here - I've relied on a bit of 'handwavium' to get the EFT into orbit, and have written TitanWerks into contracting Lockheed Martin into making 1/2 dozen of them for use in as many heavy lifting projects with a fictional private space company.) For anyone who's used my bondVaga derelict space station, the Weyland Crucible is reused and becomes the cargo bay-workshop for TitanWerks first Artificial Island construction station at L5 30 years later.

I've nearly got a draft finished of TitanWerks Weyland Crucible finished in Anim8or to play with now.

But next on the project plate is getting the rudder animations fixed on the X-37C (Microbus) and then put together some alternative 'traditional' launch scenarios with Vinka's Multistage before posting a beta up on Orbit Hanger.

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ZTC X37B Icaruses, and X37C Microbus rendezvousing with Ananke Tether-Sling component payloads and EFT for TitanWerks Weyland Crucible.

 

[n0mad23]

The ZTC Transportation X-37 Microbus has been busy transporting Titan Werks' crew to the EFT and its initial accompanying payload.

Phase One:
Removal of EFT nose cone and attachment of docking-port/airlock tube followed by attachment of temporarily configured life support/living modules. Crew then strip out the inside of the EFT and begin reconfiguring it for redesigned use.

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Phase 2 come from the next payload rendezvous and finishes off the reconfiguration of the interior of the EFT. The majority of the nose cone area is turned into the living space area. The rest of the EFT is divided roughly in two with half the area to be used as 3 sealed workshops, and the other half as the vapor deposition fabrication workspace. This area will open as a bay. To the side of the EFT a rigid truss structure is erected and encases a pressurized passage tube linking the workshop areas to the command module and the electrical station (some parts arriving with the final payloads).

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...and a little preview of Stage 3 and Titan Werks Weyland Crucible Station going online:

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[Pipcard]

A space factory!

 

[n0mad23]

Right you are Pipcard! The solar panel field generates approx. 9.9 megawatts, which I believe is ample for life support requirements and powering the equipment driving the vacuum deposition machinery.

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Paradigm shift for Titan Werks here is embracing the "nautic" side of astronauts. Trusses have been erected for using cable and pulley systems in addition to the 2 RMS units mounted near the factory bay (RMS meshes courtesy of NASA's 3d model site). The Weyland Crucible Station is designed to host approx. 20 full time crew members - divided between station support and the factory "floor".

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Two docking berths have been added in anticipation of something like Dragonflies being created for gathering derelict satellites and other space junk to be recycled and reused with the vapor deposition units.

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Titan Werks LLC. - "If it's not mega-massive, we didn't build it."

 

[n0mad23]

I'd say it's now official - the related side projects motivating the creation of the X-37 C Microbus are now totally out of control.

I got concerned about how the resurrected Lockheed EFTs were going to get into orbit, so ZTC has recruited engineers originally involved with the Energia Project and figured out a way to combine that tech with the Space Shuttle EFT. They, (and I) are still scratching our heads as to how we'll get the Energia engines safely back to terra-firma to be reused again...the dedicated "space craft" part of the Obelix is the solid blue area seen in the following pic.

Introducing ZanTar-Cheetah Transportation's Obelix & Obelisk delivery platform. This is also known as Titan Werks' "Factory in a Tube."

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All experiments done so far with Spacecraft 3, but he's now in shape for converting to Multistage. With the 4 boosters (I've been using Velcro for the testing) and the 4 - RD-0120 engines, it's no problem to take nearly everything needed for converting the EFT into the Weyland Crucible Station to a circular 500 km orbit.

He's as bulky and stubborn to maneuver as he looks. But what would you expect from Astrix's best friend?

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Sure do wish there was a way to combine the best of SC3 and Multistage. I'm finding things I want to do with this thing go beyond the capabilities of either. Still, I seem to be having way too much fun.


Seen here - the ZTC-Obelix with EFT Weyland foundation in circular orbit @ 524 km. with 44.8 k fuel remaining on board. Total payload taken up in the Obelisk Payload - 45,000 kg. Note: this is in addition to the 35425 kg EFT shell.

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[Pipcard]

Reminds me of the Space Island Group's proposal for a Dual-ET launcher.

 

[n0mad23]

Reminds me of the Space Island Group's proposal for a Dual-ET launcher.

I had totally forgotten about the Space Island Group! Rectified by adding to my bookmarks - cheers for that Pipcard


In a way, I'm glad I didn't know about the Duel-ET launcher, as it would have probably changed my design ideas right from the beginning, which wouldn't have been good for getting the factory parts up as I've done in the "studies." I'll now reconsider some things as the plan is to get a total of 6 EFTs into LEO for various station building plans that Titan Werks has on the table. Part of the ongoing design of the Titan Werks projects are an understood temporariness to each station - for example, the Weyland Crucible is only needed in LEO until ZTC gets its initial cislunar Tether-Sling Network operational. After that, there's no need for the Weyland to remain in an Earth orbit and will be moved to a Lissajous styled orbit at L2 and then reconfigured into the next design series which looks a lot like my bondVaga space station still up at Orbit Hanger (the bondVaga is what it looks like after a collision with a tug some 60 years after the Weyland Crucible first goes on line).

When putting more EFTs into orbit, especially those that don't need the additional payload(s) as required by the needs of the orbital factory, I think the Space Islands Group ideas are worth me visiting. Incorporating the engines directly into the EFT structure is something that never dawned on me.

Thanks for that, Pipcard. I really appreciate it.

 

[n0mad23]

I do believe it's just about time for me to start packing some of this stuff up and putting it up on Orbit Hanger for others to play around with.

Full circle time - here's the ZTC-Obelix taking another EFT with supplies to rendezvous with the TW-Weyland Crucible Station to complete phase III of the factory's assembly. The nose cone has been modified to attach the X-37C Microbus. Crew and supplies all in one package!

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I've got a couple versions put together with Multistage and have mostly been launching from Kourou in Guyana (I do love the proximity to the Equator there) but will include scenarios for Cape Canaveral for those of you who don't use the French Guyana addons.

Any suggestions for assembling these projects into a series of addons will be appreciated.

 

[n0mad23]

I'm currently assembling the add-on packages for these projects. The first up is the X-37C Microbus conversion. I'll have a beta add-on uploaded to Orbit Hanger Mods before I sleep tonight!

As I originally designed this as a scene study for a fiction writing project, I'm releasing it primarily as it's used in my story. In other words, as I designed this as part of the Daedalus Aerial Launch Platform, most of the scenarios included will require the Daedalus and add-ons required for that.

However, I've also created a couple Multistage2 versions, including launches from Cape Canaveral for those wanting the X-37C conversion and have no desire to install the required French Guyana add-ons.

If anyone wants to use any of this stuff for their own add-ons or scenarios, feel free to make it into what you want.

After the X-37C MB goes up, I'll turn my attention to the ZTC-Obelix Heavy Lifter and associated Weyland Crucible Station and rendezvous missions involving the X-37C Microbus.

Stay tuned - uploads to begin shortly.

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[n0mad23]

I'm currently double checking all the files and directories for the ZTC-Obelix / TW Weyland Crucible Station and trying to finish up the pdf documentation.

The rest of this project should be up at the Hanger either today or tomorrow!

:thumbup: