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[NS] Valkyrie Shuttle [contest winner]

A big cargo shuttle.
⨴ Ensure cargo is balanced or the vehicle will auger into the ground like a nuclear-powered dinosaur-killer asteroid. Rectangles mark the correct placement for contest containers.
⨴ The engine throttle also serves as pitch trimming in horizontal flight.


The Valkyrie was developed due to a need for a less disruptive heavy-cargo lifter than the Seraph (a rocket-powered orbital lifter). It could only lift approximately half the weight and volume, but was significantly quieter and more fuel-efficient - and half the weight is still six Mjolnir tanks. Or four hundred panicking evacuees.

In the early stages of the Collapse, the Auraxians often arrived before evacuations could begin, and Valkyries almost always had to take flight in the middle of battles. The vast majority did not make it, targeted specifically and ripped to pieces in midair. It quickly became clear that evacuating was pointless - no matter how far they ran, the Auraxians would hunt them down. And even if they escaped, where would they go?


Won RLM #43 - High-speed VTOL Transport Aircraft!
Unlike most of the other entries, this vehicle is rated for the maximum contest cargo load and it's possible to actually load the containers onboard (with a bit of finagling).

The main load-bearing surface (the floor) has most of the props and thrusters attached to it, and is attached via non-surface blocks to the main airframe. This minimises the loads applied to the (relatively) fragile surfaces, allowing enormous weight savings - which are critical for the vehicle to abide by the contest spec.

I originally wanted side doors as well, which would potentially have been more practical - but it would have also looked a bit too unbelievable.

The logic-stabilised engines on this vehicle don't use any PWM, and are fully analog, resulting in smoother and stronger stabilisation.

Shuttles are dedicated cargo and crew transport craft.
They carry their payloads to and from orbit and beyond. While planetside shuttles are typically the smallest of practical spaceships, their orbital counterparts are often the largest.

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