Boring X-37B

[floral lantern]

The Boeing X-37, also known as the Orbital Test Vehicle (OTV), is a reusable robotic spacecraft. It is boosted into space by a launch vehicle, then re-enters Earth's atmosphere and lands as a spaceplane. The X-37 is operated by the Department of the Air Force Rapid Capabilities Office, in collaboration with United States Space Force,[1] for orbital spaceflight missions intended to demonstrate reusable space technologies. It is a 120-percent-scaled derivative of the earlier Boeing X-40. (Lifted directly from:- Wikipedia)

First image is it in orbit, very cool!

[idle void]

boring x-37b

[floral lantern]

:pain:

[grizzled flint]

so it can’t take off on it’s own?

[floral lantern]

technically any space shuttle can’t right?

yet we still have space shuttles we can fly

[heavy wolf]

That's because it's not a space shuttle though

It's an aerodynamics test vehicle

For the shuttle's development

[grizzled flint]

The Soviet space shuttle thing is different

[gloomy grail]

The X-15 cant take off on its own

[grizzled flint]

Just read over this https://discord.com/channels/820044095535185951/1343028735452119160

I’ve already had this conversation today

[floral lantern]

well I tried

[jovial spear]

the buran has jet engines on it

the actual buran doesnt

[floral lantern]

well, I tried

[jovial spear]

the jet engine one is just a testbed ig \

[floral lantern]

Well, I tried 😔

[open tinsel]

In that case should've added "planes that require a mothership to takeoff/cannot takeoff under its own power" to #rejected-suggestions & remove the X-15 because "it was added in 'the early days' & it violates Aero's policy on vehicles that can be added, by modern Aero standards"

And the latter should've been more of an "every action has its own consequence" type shit

[grizzled flint]

we’re not going to remove a vehicle first of all

[open tinsel]

MiG Spiral:

Jk

[open tinsel]

That one Star Wars spacecraft HA made i forgor the name:

Jk

But yeah you get the point

[grizzled flint]

those aren’t public vehicles

[open tinsel]

Ik

[grizzled flint]

we add and remove staff vehicles as we wish

we can’t just remove a public vehicle

[floral lantern]

Well, I tried 😔

[daring flame]

Its not a space shuttle, but an aerodynamic testbed, it cant get to space or even go supersonic

[floral lantern]

you won’t believe it

[daring flame]

Not the x-37b, I mean the space shuttle you were referring to ingame

[floral lantern]

oh ok

Well, I tried 😔

[wispy vessel]

thats

thats not a space shuttle

its a plane

[floral lantern]

Well, I tried 😔

[wispy vessel]

if i sent ok-gli into space itll implode and immediately disintegrate on reentry

[floral lantern]

electric boogaloo

[wispy vessel]

its a shuttle shaped plane not a shuttle

[mystic gyro]

We dont, NPO is not a space shuttle, it’s landing engines testbed

[mystic gyro]

Oh wow, just few mins delay lol

[floral lantern]

Well, I tried 😔

[next stream]

also the x-37 already exists ingame

not as a flyable plane but still

[next stream]

i mean its suggestions for a reason

you dont have to be sorry or anything lol

[modest lynx]

21 thousand ttw

[clever tundra]

What if it could be added as a separate job
The job is just a landing challenge, but without engines since it’s technically a glider when it lands like the shuttle

Kind of like the 787-8 job but it would probably be an epic so the job would have a 0.1 chance

[carmine kernel]

no

[floral lantern]

no.

[gloomy grail]

What about the A-40 that was just remodeled?

[modest lynx]

it, too, is quite old

also it handles terribly

[grizzled kestrel]

is it supposed to take off on it’s own? no
could it theoretically take off on its own? probably, it would just have to have less fuel so it’s lighter

solution: just reduce its fuel cap and give it a high stall speed

idk what’s so different about a space shuttle and a space shuttle shaped plane aside from one has a shitload more fuel

the avionics are going to be very similar

[grizzled flint]

The space shuttle shaped plane could actually take off

[modest lynx]

ok so apparently the american space shuttle did not have internal fuel storage

it relied on external fuel tanks for the entire flight

-# which seems kinda weird to me, like why would you have engines on the spacecraft if there is no fuel to use those engines

but even if a madman stole the space shuttle and drove away with it, there's no way to take off from a runway

[grizzled kestrel]

i'm just not understanding why it's not able to take off on it's own
surely it has ailerons and elevators right? so propulsion + wings + elevator = lift

[modest lynx]

the X-37 does have internal fuel however

[modest lynx]

ok let me read it again

the space shuttle

has no fuel on board

[grizzled kestrel]

you just said the x-37 has fuel on board

things like the x-37 are generally launched from other vehicles because it saves money on fuel and more booster stages (see the rocket thingy you can strap to the lockheed tristar)

that doesn't mean they cannot take off from the ground

[modest lynx]

[grizzled kestrel]

i understand not the space shuttle space shuttle but the x-37 would work

[modest lynx]

i can see many reasons why devs wouldn't want spacecraft added

[grizzled kestrel]

womp womp

[modest lynx]

but assuming the X-37B does have fuel on board, yes, in theory, it could take off from a runway

[modest lynx]

also i did not check TTW

[modest lynx]

i couldn't find the engine on the X-37B

[grizzled kestrel]

anyway

[modest lynx]

Later the propulsion system has been changed to a hypergolic nitrogen tetroxide / hydrazine version with a robust propellant load for maneuvering in space and for the deorbit burn.
doesn't tell its thrust

[grizzled kestrel]

I think the game who's selling point is having tons of aircraft, including lots of unique ones you can't fly anywhere else, should continue adding unique aircraft you can't fly anywhere else

how that is a hot take here is so fucking far beyond me

[modest lynx]

ok small question

if you were to add the space shuttle into the game rn

what speed would you give it

[grizzled kestrel]

the actual space shuttle or the x-37

[modest lynx]

[grizzled kestrel]

ok well no to the actual space shuttle because that literally needs to be strapped onto a 30 story rocket booster

[modest lynx]

well for the x-37b then

[grizzled kestrel]

not its orbital speed because there's no such thing as orbit in this game

[modest lynx]

[grizzled flint]

[grizzled kestrel]

7500-10000 knots maybe?

can it even do that speed in the atmosphere

[modest lynx]

[modest lynx]

it cannot

[grizzled kestrel]

ok so less

[modest lynx]

this is something the X-15 is already pushing the suspension of disbelief for tbh

[grizzled kestrel]

i'm trying to figure out how much heat the outside material can withstand

[modest lynx]

most aircraft barely go past mach 1 at ground level

[grizzled kestrel]

burning up in the atmosphere and/or drag are probably the main limiting factors in speed

[modest lynx]

but if we give a spacecraft the max speed of mach 1, people would complain

[modest lynx]

the problem is that this is dependent on altitude

there is much less friction at higher altitude

and this is something that aero doesn't simulate

[grizzled kestrel]

so then ignore the altitude

[modest lynx]

so

do we just give it a random speed

[grizzled kestrel]

no

its not getting it's orbital speed of 15000 knots because space isn't simulated in this game

there is a constant level of "drag" regardless of your height in the atmoshpere

it's hardcoded somewhere in the programming for aircraft mechanics so the devs should know

[modest lynx]

that's why spacecraft are rejected from suggestions

adding them would be complicated

we either forego any sensible limits of aircraft behavior, and give the public access to mach 25 missiles flying at sea level

[grizzled kestrel]

the latter is not really an issue because everybody can access the x-15 and yet nobody really uses it

occasionally you will see someone strafe over clarence 2 or 3 times and then that's it

[modest lynx]

or the devs have to recode the flight model to account for drag at altitude, heat reentry, orbital physics

which would take a lot of coding

we've got like 2 coding devs

[grizzled kestrel]

-# open contractor apps

[modest lynx]

[grizzled kestrel]

but nah that's not necessary

this game is not realistic and it should not try to push itself to be

[modest lynx]

adding spacecraft to an aircraft flight engine requires a little bit of thought

otherwise we can just make stuff up

wait
i have an idea

45 km max altitude
extremely high max speed
low range

like the current X-15 but even worse

this way you can :

• fly at low throttle in the atmosphere (like a normal plane)
• fly at high throttle for about 2 minutes
• fly at high throttle straight up, and sling out into space (ballistic trajectory)

problem solved

[grizzled kestrel]

i mean sure

the easiest way to add vehicles like this would be giving them arbritary numbers
i just am trying to get a semi-realistic set of numbers so that it's not crazy unrealistic

[grizzled flint]

guh

[grizzled kestrel]

Wawa_animated

[fluid mirage]

ok cool but it won't take off under its own power bcs its tiny and the engine is only used in vaccum settings

rice said no space plane for now

[wispy vessel]

no

vacuum engines dont work in the atmosphere

the nozzles are different so they produce basically no thrust in the atmosphere

but a lot in space

[open tinsel]

Center of thrust issues i guess?

But then again the Buran doesnt have engines that fire with the first stage

Idk if the Energia has a sufficiently high gimbal range that it can compensate thrust literally pushing towards the side of the CG

[grizzled kestrel]

nvm then

[mystic gyro]

Keyword aircraft not spacecraft

[daring flame]

Although a spaceplane that can takeoff from a standard runway like a suborbital craft or an SSTO would be really nice

[fluid mirage]

nihahahahha

my model