[gurps] [VEHICLE] of the week 759 - OHI Automated Heavy Lift Shuttle

[Zan Lynx]

Onno Meyer wrote:
> Roger replied to me:
>>> The 
>>> shuttle needs starports with long, reinforced runways
>> [...]
>>
>>> gSpeed: 555   gAccel: 30   gDecel: 10   gMR: 0.25   gSR: 4
>>> Ground Pressure Extremely High. No Off-Road Performance.
>>>
>>> aSpeed: 3,875   aAccel: 40   aDecel: 0.5   aMR: 0.125   aSR: 6
>>> Stall Speed 400.
>> That looks to me like a 3,900-foot takeoff run and a 12,000-foot
>> landing. The former is well within the tolerances for a small airport,
>> so perhaps some sort of better braking system is indicated, either
>> Improved Brakes or a drag chute.
>>
>> Roger
> 
> A chute would be something to replace after each flight, 
> and hence bad for routine flight ops. Either smartwheels 
> or improved brakes would bring the landing run to less 
> than 4.5 miles, and both would bring it to less than 3.4 
> miles. (On landing, the tanks would be relatively dry.)
> 
> But four miles or six, the ground pressure of this bird 
> is 40 tons per sf. If 'extremely high' wasn't the last
> category, this would be three steps above 'extremely'.
> So I figured that the shuttle needs the facilities of 
> a major spaceport - and where else do you unload 3,000
> tons of cargo, anyway?

Could something slightly different work?  I am thinking maybe a 
reconfigurable wing and ground thrust redirectors.

As it flys in, when it comes below Mach 1 it spins backward, does a wing 
reconfiguration and applies reverse braking thrust with the main engines 
and instead of ground wheels, it lands on a ground effect thrust cushion 
and settles down on large skids.

Or maybe with fusion rockets that would melt the runway.

But 40 tons per sq. foot sounds awfully high and I think that would 
break any runway, let alone the wheel material.

-- 
Zan Lynx
zlynx at acm.org

"Knowledge is Power.  Power Corrupts.  Study Hard.  Be Evil."