Project HASDA - Reusable Crew Vehicle (lifting-body spaceplane)

[Pipcard]

0.8 m

 

[Urwumpe]

Wait, so what's the diameter for a "typical" docking hatch, like APAS?

89 cm, the tunnel has a larger diameter, the outside of the docking adapter with the latches and connections has a diameter of 120 cm.

 

[Pipcard]

The probe and drogue hatch (of Soyuz) is 80 cm

 

[ISProgram]

The smallest circle in this is .6m, the same diameter as Pipcard's tunnel the smallest manhole in Germany. The next circles are .8 m and .89 m, representing the probe/drogue and APAS, respectively. .6m definitely seems a bit small.

If it doesn't impact on the structure too much, .72 m would seem like a compromise between being too small and being to big.

Urwumpe, what do you think of this?

 

[Pipcard]

My tunnel isn't 0.6 m, it has a maximum diameter of 0.9, and the hatch is 0.739 m.

Let me cite this interview:

"The Japanese [Hatsunese] are [ideal] for a confined spacecraft (laugh). Because we are used to small rooms with low ceilings, I don't think that our astronauts will be uncomfortable being in a confined spacecraft for a long time. They may even feel at ease in such a space."

But the main cabin will be roomier than the Soyuz's interior.

 

[ISProgram]

My tunnel isn't 0.6 m, it's 0.9, and the hatch is 0.739 m.

When I said tunnel, I meant hatch. Whoops....

Now while that's still small, it's only slightly smaller than the probe/drogue. I don't see the problem. Is the probe/drogue itself already giving astronauts the squeeze?

As in, being really small.

 

[Pipcard]

I found this while image searching for "JAXA リフティングボディ" (JAXA lifting body) or "有人 リフティングボディ" (manned lifting body)

X-37B-sized (i.e. fits within fairing) fusion of HOPE-X & LIFLEX?

 

[ISProgram]

I interpreted it more like X-37B + (small lifting-body spaceplane) = LR1 Skyhammer.

Incidentally, will this vehicle have a name?

 

[Pipcard]

It will be called the Reusable Crew Vehicle.

 

[Pipcard]

Okay, the hatches can now be 80 cm in diameter because I made room in the access tunnel. You can see the same thing in the Dream Chaser add-on.

 

[Pipcard]

 

[Pipcard]

Okay, so you may be thinking, "Oh no, not another Miku/Vocaloid-themed vehicle!" But that's to be expected with the Hatsunese space program.

Miku can and has been associated with spaceflight before. And the initialism "RCV" is supposed to be a modification of "CV" (i.e. Character Vocal series).

Here's some good news: since Sierra Nevada's Dream Chaser wasn't selected for commercial crew, Crypton Future Aerospace is planning to manufacture an export version of the RCV for NASA. All they need is a name for the mini-shuttle.

 

[K_Jameson]

That big engine appears a bit exaggerated for a LEO-only vehicle. Anyway, a good project: it reminds me our "Delphinus" mini spaceplane.

Your vehicle totally lacks a frontal windshield: the landing will be totally instrumental and automatic?

---------- Post added at 10:54 AM ---------- Previous post was at 10:50 AM ----------

That big engine appears a bit exaggerated for a LEO-only vehicle.

Ooops, sorry: it is a docking adapter!

 

[Pipcard]

It's going to be like Kliper.

 

[Pipcard]

 

[Nicholander]

Nice texture and model! Also, sorry if this has already been answered before, but when do you think this is going to be released? (Or enter some sort of Beta?)

 

[Pipcard]

This cannot be determined at the moment.

 

[Pipcard]

Size comparison with a person who is 1.58 m tall (symbol was recreated from here)

 

[Pipcard]

This seems to be JAXA's version of a manned spacecraft derived from LIFLEX:

Images were found here (graviton1066.tumblr.com). A reverse Google image search didn't reveal an original Japanese site with pictures as large as those. I would guess that those external tanks are detachable before re-entry.

It would be really cool if the pilot could look out of a large forward canopy window, but I was thinking that such a large window would compromise the structural integrity of the vehicle in a similar way to this, especially with the pressure differences between the outside and inside being much higher in vacuum than in atmospheric flight. I also didn't want to change the geometry and make it look more like the HL-20 or Dream Chaser's forward windows.

There's also the issue of mass (although the mass of my vehicle – about 9 metric tons – is completely guesstimated).

Even something as fundamental as windows depends on your perspective. Spacecraft windows have been an issue at NASA since the days of Mercury in the early '60s. Engineers would just as soon create Orion's capsule without windows. That's the strongest, most efficient way to design a spacecraft's structure and skin. The astronauts would prefer a pair of bay windows. That's the way to ensure vital visibility during launch, landing, and orbital maneuvering. Although Orion's flight will typically be automated, astronauts crave a sense of "situational awareness," the ability to orient themselves spatially, physically. That is critical when things start to go wrong. As astronaut Edward Lu told Orion's designers, "I'll trade food for larger windows."

Yet one square foot of spacecraft window--three panes of quartz glass--weighs more than a square foot of metal hull. Every inch of window is weight that has to be shaved somewhere else.

Note that the X-38 Crew Return Vehicle would've had an opaque protrusion resembling a canopy instead of an actual bubble canopy like the X-24 it was based on.

So instead, there is a Kliper-like system in which the pilot would look at a CameraMFD for forward visibility (and backward visibility during docking). However, the limitation of that would be that the framerate and image resolution of CameraMFD aren't optimal in the 3D virtual cockpit mode (it also doesn't work with the D3D9 graphics client, unfortunately). On orbit, astronauts would look through the relatively small portholes to get a view of actual space, as opposed to looking at a screen of space.

 

[IronRain]

Size comparison with a person who is 1.58 m tall (symbol was recreated from here)

1.58?! I'm 1.97, how will I ever fit into that beauty?

Great work Pipcard!