An unusual SST

[SabreHawk]

Ok I decided to give this craft a thread of it's own, and since it is a fictitious one(tho based on a real one which I will show also) I thought it belongs here since it is also freeware as well. It was featured in the last stages of "Battle of the Airlines" 2003 in which virtual pilots from all over the globe battled in a race that took place in 8 stages over an 8 week period and this was the plane we flew in stage  7 where we were to transport a shuttle craft on it's back to Kennedy Space Center Florida to be launched on a flight to the moon in the final stage.

[Travis]

I can see that its spindly and weird, but other than that the pics too small.  Try resizing it to 800x600.  We'll be able to see it better that way!

[SabreHawk]

Now this is the real SST that it was based on,(well, sort of) and is built by as I believe, Rockwell. And is operated by NASA & the USAF. A very talented fellow who goes by the name of "Ace Lomcevack" designed and made the "SR75" pictured in the post above and he has a site where these and many other projects he has as well as some cool scenery is called "Aeroworks" at http://www.simviation.com/aeroworks/
I was proud to have been a contestant in that race, and to have had the oppurtunity to know Ace, and his work. Also to have known the 1500 or so pliots who competed in "Mission Moon":D

[Travis]

I recognize that!  I have flown it in FS, under the name XB-70.  Look for it around here on SimV and on AVSim.com.  I (personally) consider it better than the Concorde.  It may not look as spiffy, but it sure does respond better!

[SabreHawk]

Hmm, ok how bout this one.............

[Travis]

That's right . . . the XB-70 Valkyrie!  That one looks a little like the X-15 with a VERY LARGE fuselage!  Kinda interesting, although large-bodies aren't my type.  I like 'em real slim, but juicy . . .

[SabreHawk]

I had to fly this thing with an engine out, and land it in Havana, Cuba of all places Heh, heh,......when that engine blew I bout jumped through the roof and had to change my britches when i got to Cuba!!

[Travis]

HEHEHEHEH!  I might want to try that, just for the challenge of it!  Where can I download that kite (with shuttle attached)?

[SabreHawk]

Well this is weird, I saw these files on several sim sites awhile back, in fact the whole Mission Moon pkg. was availible, and you could do the whole race yourself. But I just did a search and cant find any of them.............Hmmm, I'll have to do some digging.
You might try at the Aerowoks site from the link I put in the second post, and e-mail him, but heck I couldnt even find the planetaviation site that hosted Battle of the airlines..............weird

[Rifleman]

question on the image ?........it looks as if the shuttle is beyond the point of TLI and still has the SRBs attached ?
The question is, can the SRBs operate in the vacuum of space on their own, or do they need an external oxidizer (air, containing oxygen) ?
I believe this isn't your image, but the question still begs me to ask it......I am unsure if a " Solid " contains its own oxidizer in the make-up of its propellant ?

[Scorpiоn]

While I don't really know, the name suggests it needs air.

[RIC_BARKER]

question on the image ?........it looks as if the shuttle is beyond the point of TLI and still has the SRBs attached ?
The question is, can the SRBs operate in the vacuum of space on their own, or do they need an external oxidizer (air, containing oxygen) ?
I believe this isn't your image, but the question still begs me to ask it......I am unsure if a " Solid " contains its own oxidizer in the make-up of its propellant ?

SRB's contain a hard packed propellant - they need no external source of oxygen to burn. Just like a big underwater flare really!

Ric B.

[SabreHawk]

I knew this would draw your attention Rifleman,
Well this was just an image to advertise the race, we didnt fly it to the moon in that configuration, the only time we flew it in this cfg. was at launch just as the real one does. And even then, there was no actual boosters propelling the launch vehicle, you see these flights were being controlled by a program written by the team that invented the race, and it had complete control of things as it were.
The flight actually was in slew mode, and when you reached 100,000ft the program running the flight simply loaded a new flight at that point, and then you found yourself in orbit, which actually you weren't but rather somwhere over Africa, at night, with no moon in the night sky, at about 40,000ft and in slew mode so it seemed like you were in orbit. It was an ingenious thing really that these talented individuals did with this program which ran fs2k2 from outside fs2k2, using FSUIPC and the visuals that they had in front of you it really was like being in space After we docked with the ISS in orbit, we then made our flight to the moon thru a "Worm Hole" which was actually just a piece of scenery that you flew to, and then the program would again load another flight in and then you seemed to come out on the other side just above the moon's surface. But once again, you really weren't, you were still in the same place 40,000ft over Africa at night but with moon surface tiles(daylit) overlayed on the ground.
As I said, it was simply ingenious what these talented fellows did with it.

[Rifleman]

So then Ric, you are saying that the oxidizer is contained in and is part of the propellant ?......

...........then once combustion is initiated, it could be a good way to burn in space ?......it would override the need for hypergolics then, or is it a form of that ?......and on second though, I guess not, as the " ignite on contact" properties of hypergolics wouldn't allow any storage of the fuels until needed.........?

My appologies for straying the original thread...but I was thirsty for info......the concept of the dark continent of Africa being camouflaged as lunar proximity is a neat one....good going on the developers part !

[SabreHawk]

No problem Rifleman, hehe, i strayed someone else's with this to start with (an unusual Concorde) heck yer welcome to my threads anytime and since yer thirsty, here.......have a drink, it's Jawa juice courtesy of the pub I visited on that moon trip.