WtV: Faction Asgard: Shuttle Silverdove, side view

The side view shows the Silverdoves main body, which follows the lines of a lifting body.
It also shows the fully extended aerolance, which is a consumable item.
It's function is to keep the re-entry plasma in an umbrella-fashion away from the shuttles main body.
The lance is easily field-replacable and is during athmospheric flight pulled into the shuttles nose.

The Asgard Silverdove is a rugged shuttle craft.
It is based on the Silbervogel design by Dr. Eugen Sänger from around WW2.

The entire airframe is more lightweight then the original, and its thrusters are a bit more efficient.
Long landing legs with relatively large wheels allow the Silverdove to land on most meadows and beaches.
As a result of its better power-to-weight ratio, the Silverdove can achive a stable orbit at about 400km altitude,
whilst carrying a cargo of about 4 metric tons along.
Whilst doing so, it is capable to carry two refuels for its solid/gas hybrid fuel auxiliary drives ( one reload per drive ).
With these, the Silverdove is capable of reaching and even landing under its own power on the moon Asgard.
However, such a trip cuts the safety margins very thin and is not adviseable with a full cargo load.

Wingspan = 17,5m
Lifitng body length = 30m
Length with fully extended aerolance = 34,5m
Maximum Speed before Brennschluss ~ 30.000km/h
( Sufficient for a stable earth orbit )
With one reload for the two auxiliary boosters, a Silverdove can reload whilst in orbit and then make it to the moon.

Color Coding:
Yellow = Fuel and Engines
Orange = Control Systems ( Cockpit, Radar, Deorbiting Aerolance )
Brown = Athmospheric Control Surfaces
Light Gray = Thrusters
Red = Docking Collar / Airlock
White = Human for size comparison

A default flight path usually is as follows:
Catapult start from a habitat or a space station.
Athmospheric braking for reentry to Midgard.
Unassisted launch using the main booster and the two auxiliary thrusters.
Reload auxiliaries in orbit.
Boosting to the moon Asgard.
Using most of the remaining fuel for a pre-landing slowdown.
Landing on a magnetized runway or catcher-sled on the surface or
slowing to a hover and over a landing pad and doing a gravity assisted vertical landing or
slowing for a rendevouz with a moon-orbitals docking bay.