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Old 11-22-2020, 04:46 PM   #1
AlexanderHowl
 
Join Date: Feb 2016
Default TL8 Spacecraft [Spaceships]

As we look at the last forty years, one thing that is obvious is that many of the predictions about technological progress ended up not being true. While our computing technology exceeds many predictions, our space technology has disappointed. In effect, we exchanged the entire solar system for smartphones, and we probably got the worse end of the deal.

One of the reasons why space technology did not end up progressing was a lack of economies of scale. Without economies of scale, the research and development costs could not be spread out across dozens of spacecraft, meaning that spacecraft ended up being ludicrously expensive. Because of that, the cost to reach LEO is around 50x higher than it should be according to GURPS. In addition, the lack of economies of scale prevented investment of the robust space infrastructure that would have supported the development of the solar system.

Progress could have gone the other way though. In that vein, I was wondering if people would be willing to share their TL8 spacecraft. I will get started with the following:

The Sparrow-Class Light Lift Vehicle (TL8)

The Sparrow-Class LLV is a reusable three-stage lift system capable of lifting 18 tons of cargo to LEO at a cost of $100,000 per ton.

First Stage (SM+8): Fuel Tanks (12; 600 tons HO; 2.52 mps; $3.6M); Chemical Rocket (3g; $2M); Soft-Landing System ($0.5M); Upper Stage (6)

Second Stage (SM+7): Fuel Tanks (12; 180 tons HO; 2.52 mps; $1.2M); Chemical Rocket (3g; $0.6M); Soft-Landing System ($0.2M); Upper Stage (6)

Third Stage (SM+6): Fuel Tanks (7; 35 tons HO; 1.26 mps; $0.21M); Hanger Bay (6; 18 tons; 3 tons/minute; $0.06M); Steel Armor (3; SL dDR 1; $0.06M); Chemical Rocket (3g; $0.2M); Control Room (C3; C/S 3; CS 2; $0.2M); Engine Room (CS 1; WS 1; $0.03M); Habitat (Bunkroom; $0.1M); Winged ($0.5M)

Capital Cost: $9.46M
Launch Cost: $1.494M ($0.142M for O&M, $0.652M for refueling, and $0.7M for resupply)
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Old 11-23-2020, 12:00 AM   #2
AlexanderHowl
 
Join Date: Feb 2016
Default Re: TL8 Spacecraft [Spaceships]

Another example is that of a high performance bomber capable of suborbital trajectories. It functions through accelerating to maximum velocity on a suborbital path and, after turning off its engines, coasting on the suborbital path until it returns to the atmosphere.

Demon-Class Bomber (TL8)

Mass: 100 tons (SM+6)
Hull: Streamlined
Components:
-Front Hull: Metallic Laminate Armor, Tactical Comm/Sensor Array, and 4 Secondary Weapon Batteries (4 fixed batteries with 10 16cm bombing bays each [15 16cm bombs each bombing bay]).
-Central Hull: Metallic Laminate Armor, Control Room (core), Fuel Tanks (5)
-Rear Hull: Metallic Laminate Armor, Engine Room (core), Jet Engines (5)
-Features: Winged

The Demon-Class Bomber is capable of reaching 5,600 mph (1.55 mph) because of its 5g acceleration, allowing it to exploit suborbital trajectories. While it only possesses an hour of fuel, it only requires a minute of acceleration to reach 5600 mph, meaning that a skilled pilot is capable of circling half the globe through 'skipping' (using a suborbital path to travel nearly 200 miles on a minute's worth of fuel). It will usually drop its bombs from the height of a suborbital path, 60 miles above the Earth, allowing inertia to guide its bombs. In an emergency, it can be loaded with 600 25-kiloton bombs, allowing it to serve as a counterstrike during a nuclear conflict.

Last edited by AlexanderHowl; 11-23-2020 at 12:24 AM.
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