Delta-glider
| Delta-glider | |
|---|---|
| |
| Delta-glider in atmosphere | |
| Description | |
| Role | Glider |
| Full name | Delta-glider |
| Crew | 1 |
| Passengers | 4 |
| First flight | date unknown |
| Entered service | date unknown |
| Manufacturer | unknown |
| Dimensions | |
| Length | 17.76 m |
| Height | 4.93 m |
| Wingspan | 17.86 m |
| Wing area | 160 m2 |
| Masses | |
| Empty | 12,000 kg |
| Fuel | 14,400 kg |
| RCS fuel | 600 kg |
| Max. take-off | 27,000 kg |
| Inertia PMI | 15.5 / 22.1 / 7.7 m2 |
| Performance | |
| Max. delta-v | 31.5 km/s |
| Max. accel | 20 m/s2 |
| Stall CL | 1.0 |
| Stall AOA | 20° |
The Delta-glider is the ideal ship for the novice pilot to get spaceborne. Its futuristic design concept, high thrust and extremely low fuel consumption make it easy to achieve orbit, and it can even be used for interplanetary travel. The winged design provides aircraft-like handling in the lower atmosphere, while the vertically mounted hover-thrusters allow vertical takeoffs and landings independent of atmospheric conditions and runways.
Despite accomodating a maximum of 5 crew, including the pilot, the Delta-glider features a relatively simplistic cockpit layout and is intended to be piloted by just one. This makes it a very versatile craft for multiple missions, and increases its viability as a passenger shuttle.
It comes with the stock Orbiter install, in which it is named using the conventions of DG-## and GL-##.
The scramjet variant, Deltaglider-S, splits its main fuel tank into 10,400kg for the main drives and 4,000kg for the scramjets. Their effective operating range is Mach 3-8.
Related spacecraft add-ons[edit]
As the most well known spacecraft in Orbiter, flown on almost every Orbiter users first flight, the Delta Glider has spawned many similar vessels based on the original mesh & design concept. Examples include:
- DeltaGlider-XR1 - an enhanced Deltaglider with damage model and complex subsystems [1]
- DeltaGlider IV-2 - An enhanced Deltaglider spacecraft with damage model and complex subsystems [2]
- Deltaglider EX - A bigger Deltaglider-like spacecraft with advanced propulsion system [3]
- Deltaglider HR - An enhanced Deltaglider with high resolution meshes [4]