"Next Flight to Minmus," Episode 147 of Journey Into Space
2Jet engines just weren't doing it for us. For a truly jumbo (or dumbo) concept, we need MOAR ROCKETS.
The Minmus Shuttle II is loosely based on the British Aircraft Corporation's "Multi-Unit Space Transport And Recovery Device" or MUSTARD for short. This used 3 mostly identical rocket powered spaceplanes strapped together, with the central spaceplane continuing to orbit and the two side ones dropping away when empty to fly back to Earth. You can read about MUSTARD at: https://gizmodo.com/this-was-the-british-space-shuttle-concept-118746024
The Minmus Shuttle II is different from that in that the central core spaceplane is not identical to the two fatter booster spaceplanes and is nuclear powered. This has the disadvantage that the side boosters really need to do the vast majority of the work to get to orbit, with the nuclear-powered central spaceplane only having the thrust to circularize such an orbit. And then, the high mass of the spaceplane means we have to employ other tricks to actually get to Minmus, namely... a slingshot around the Mun.
And then all is well... assuming we have sorted out the trivial matter of docking port placements first... oops. ;)
Back in the Sixties nobody imagined that computer technology would improve so greatly that something like SpaceX's self-landing reuseable Falcon rockets would be possible. So for back then, spaceplanes would have been a logical choice for reusability. Now though, it is not clear that reusable spaceplanes could ever have the low cost to orbit that SpaceX's rockets can have, a reality that might eventually put an end to spaceplane projects like Skylon. That being the case, perhaps I will create a future version of the shuttle that is more Falcon Heavy inspired, though a long tubular lander is less than ideal for landing on very tilted mountainous surfaces.
Other Videos By Robert Dodd
| 2018-12-01 | Skyrim: Master Mage #1 |
| 2018-10-20 | Lunar Stories S01E01 That Last Step |
| 2018-10-12 | Introducing Lunar Stories |
| 2018-06-30 | From the Depths: Anatomy of a Submarine |
| 2018-01-20 | "Grand Tour Redux Pt. 2," Ep. 149 of JIS |
| 2018-01-17 | KSP: Shadowplay Test |
| 2018-01-16 | "Grand Tour Redux Pt. 1," Ep. 148 of JIS |
| 2018-01-09 | KSP: British Moon Shot #2 |
| 2018-01-07 | KSP: British Moon Shot #1 |
| 2017-12-31 | KSP Quickie: Minmus Toys |
| 2017-12-27 | "Next Flight to Minmus," Episode 147 of Journey Into Space |
| 2017-12-26 | "Brain Damaged Shuttle Pilot," Episode 146 of Journey Into Space |
| 2017-12-21 | Robert Dodd Art - workspace and artwork slideshow |
| 2017-11-18 | Bob Plays Quake III Arena |
| 2017-11-08 | Absinthe Drip ~ Jade Nouvelle Orléans |
| 2017-10-21 | Messieurs... c'est l'heure! |
| 2017-10-09 | "Jones the Smith," Bob plays Skyrim SE |
| 2017-09-26 | Bob Plays "Badiya" |
| 2017-08-14 | From the Depths: Suicide Squirrel. |
| 2017-08-12 | From the Depths #5: Suicide Speedboats and Airships Oh My. |
| 2017-08-07 | From the Depths #4: Death Throes of the Manatee |