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Description
1:RAPIER 2:boost 3:NERV 4:dock 5:legs 6:ladder
A space-plane/lander integrated system entitled Excalibur. Built in the KSP 1.6.1 SPH with 114 stock parts.
Spring-cleaning my Lab SPH, I found this, Excalibur (dated 2019/9/7), which launched a joint project with Brikoleur’s MIKS-01-KOS.
Excalibur makes a conventional runway departure and goes to orbit. At that point, the ascent stage is separated and left in LKO. The NERV-energized transit
stage then takes passengers to their next destination. Fully-fueled, this stage sports 4.8 km/s dV.
On the return journey, Excalibur redocks with its lander
stage, re-enters and makes a conventional runway landing.
Excalibur is able to make vertical moon landings by itself. It’s also an intention, with this system, that the ascent/lander
stage be taken to an atmospheric destination, such as Laythe, on the first such trip and stationed there in low orbit, so that the transit
stage can simply shuttle back and forth, re-docking with landers
at either end to make the descent.
A significant design factor is that passengers (32 + 4 krew) do not have to change berth at any point in the journey.
Excalibur is designed upon the Heinlein premise that, getting to orbit is halfway to anywhere
… Therefore: split the journey into two and tailor a solution to each.
