- from Space Systems Directory 2153 edition   The Burchismo Aerospace Heavy Utility Lander was developed in parallel with the company's Medium Utility Lander in the mid- to late-2020s. The prototype HUL made its first flight in 2030 after assembly in Earth orbit from components manufactured at BA's terran ground facilities. Components for all later production models were manufactured off Earth at various BA shops on the Moon and elsewhere. The HUL shares many common elements with other spacecraft in Burchismo's Local Space Transportation System, including the pressurized Command Module, the Docking and Adapter Module and general control and spacecraft management systems. The overall layout of components is similar to the Medium Utility Lander, but scaled up to accomodate and mate with a standard SSB Hab Module. The standard HUL's main engines are BA 311 LOX/H2 regeneratively-cooled motors, but the modular nature of the spacecraft has meant that some operators have used other powerplants as the years have gone by. As with the MUL, it isn't possible to determine a precise number of spacecraft that have been built or that are still in service. At least 20 operate in the lunar environment, and another 20 or so are known to be spread around other parts of human space. A large number -- probably more than ten distinct spacecraft -- have been seen in the Saturnian system over the years, but their current numbers and disposition are of course impossible to verify.

The two primary design criteria for the Heavy Utility Lander were a) the ability to accommodate a standard Hab Module as a pressurized cargo supported by the HUL's systems and b) Delta-v sufficient to make either a round-trip fully-loaded passage to and from low lunar orbit, or a one-way semi-ballistic transit between the two main near-side lunar settlements, Brighton Beach and Heinlein. These design criteria also allowed the HUL to carry up to three fully loaded full-size pressurized, non-mating cargo box containers (or six half-size containers) within the same energy envelope. Like the MUL, the Heavy Utility Lander requires a payload adapter to carry container box cargo.

"The three most important elements of real progress in space development were modularity, interoperability and audacity."

-- interview with Greg Burch, Goddard City, 2137

INTRODUCTION Installation and Basic Flight

The Burchismo Aerospace Heavy Utility Lander is based on Vinka's Spacecraft3.dll, which you must download and install prior to using this addon.

Both the Medium and Heavy Utility Landers have the "ROT" vector for their cargo attachment point correctly set along the Z axis. The first vehicle in the LSTS 2.0 series, the Local Space transport, and many, if not all of the elements of the Space Station Building Blocks 4.0 and 4.1 addons do not match this orientation correctly: Their corresponding attachment points are set along the X axis. Correcting this will be a job for updates to be releaed later. In the meantime, the one Hab Module included in this addon has the correct orientation. You can alter any existing Burchismo vessel or station element to correctly allign with the ROT axis of the MUL and HUL by changing the last triplet in the string of values defining the attachment points from e.g. this: P 0 2.225 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 X1 to this: P 0 2.225 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 X1

The HUL's primary propulsion is provided by its hover engines, so the majority of orbital velocity is achieved by pitching forward after liftoff. Standard lunar orbital flight involves achieving three-fourths or more of orbital velocity with the hover engines, then levelling off and coasting to an apogee burn with the z-axiz engines. Deorbit is achieved the same way: Begin with the MUL levelled to the horizon along the velocity vector, then pitch back to -90 degress to scrub off 75% or more of orbital velocity with the hover engines. Then pitch forward to level and use your map MFD to monitor your constant impact point as you control descent rate with the hover engines and continue to reduce forward velocity with the minus-z engines. AN IMPORTANT NOTE ABOUT ATTACHMENT

KEY MAP

G Landing legs retract K Docking tube deploy L-Shift-0 HUD stow L-Shift-1 Control panels stow L-Shift-2 Rear control panel stow L-Shift-3 High-gain antennae deploy L-Shift-4 Command module hatch L-Shift-5 Command module ladder L-Shift-6 Dorsal Docking Ring deploy L-Shift-7 Forward hatch L-Shift-8 Rear hatch L-Shift-9 Crew ladder A; L-Shift-0 Attachement system

VEHICLES, MESHES and SCENARIOS Three versions of the MUL are included in this addon. The meshes for these vessels vary in size, so that users can choose one that suits their computing resources. In addition one full-size Hab Module with the correct orientation of its attachment points, a box-container cargo adapter and a selection of cargo containers are also included. The following table contains information about the HUL vehicles and meshes: VESSEL POLYGONS NOTES LSTS2301 13,820 Unmanned lander LSTS2311 22,192 Manned lander, no crew figures LSTS2312 44,251 Manned lander, crew figures Unlike the MUL addon, in which an attempt was made to include an exhaustive set of scenarios covering a very wide array of settings and configurations, fewer scenarios are included with this addon. Because Orbiter's native scenario editor will not accommodate vessels based on spacecraft3.dll, users must manually edit the included (or other) scenarios to suit their needs. This involves simple cutting and pasting of text and saving scenarios with new names in Orbiter's scenario folders.

I began development of this addon in the late summer of 2008, and the project was significantly impacted by Hurrican Ike. This caused some delay, and some scaling back of my original plans for this addon. I had planned to include some more examples of representative payloads, but the energy drain of Ike and other things going on in the pesky real world intervened. As it is, this addon continues the process of recreating earlier elements of my "future history" series vessels and facilities in correct Orbiter scale and the current state of my modelling art. Astute observers will note that I've continued to refine the details of the common command module. I'm now developing the idea of eventually releasing some "LSTS 2.1" addons that will incorporate these refined details back into the earlier "2.0" releases, and will also address the galling attachment rotation vector issue noted above.

As always, I am deeply grateful to all who have contributed to continually raising the floor on the quality of the Orbiter experience, from Martin ("the Creator") Schweiger to all those who have contributed valuable tools, information and advice. Please post comments -- positive and negative -- in the "Local Space Transportation System Redux" thread on orbiter-forum.com. --- Greg Burch October, 2008