SSTO landing gear

[JebKeb]

I've been trying to make cost-effective rockets in my career universe for quite a while and came up with a reasonable design. Problem is, the landings are often rugged. I have enough fuel to land, but when I land, I tip over. I've been trying to make landing gear for it, but they all make the rocket wobble like crazy, tip over (I know about the new aerodynamics) and lose tonnes of delta v.

So, anyone got any ways of getting the gear on? I'm thinking of offsetting the mainsail, but that might cause thrust loss.

Edited May 24, 2016 by JebKeb

[Alshain]

Well if you make your rocket cheap enough, it doesn't necessarily need to be an SSTO.  It's not clear from the final image what you were attempting, but that rocket seems way overpowered to lift that little lander can (what is the mass of the payload?).

I like to build my lifters designed for a specific payload mass and save them as a subassembly.  The lifters end at the top decoupler and their only design is to get the designated payload mass to orbit.  Any extra-orbital engines and fuel are considered part of the payload (though sometimes to save engine cost I will add a little more fuel to the upper stage rather that put a second of the same engine on it, but I have to add that to my payload mass).  SSTO's are fun to do just to prove you can, but to have a cost effective career they are IMO not necessary and way too much trouble compared to a 2 stage disposable lifter and some SRB's.

Now, to answer the immediate question.  Landing gear isn't going to be large enough for the mainsail unless you extend it with some girders or something completely unaerodynamic.  You could just set it down in the water near KSC with parachutes, that would certainly get most of your money back on it.  Without a landing gear mod, I think that will be your best option.

Long and short in my opinion SSTOs are far overrated, unless you just really want to build them of course, but if all you want to do is save money there are much better ways.

EDIT: Just to drive the point, I could put that payload in orbit for under 10k in funds, not counting payload cost.  You have almost 6k in just fuel cost on those two Rockomax tanks, that's not counting the cost of the tank.  If you'd like to try out that lifter, here are the subassemblies.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/v2r04ocotli5foi/Tier%204%2C%2004%20Ton%20S1%20Lifter.craft?dl=0

https://www.dropbox.com/s/ev2kz9w91a9ifjq/Tier%205%2C%2004%20Ton%20S1%20Lifter.craft?dl=0

Edited May 24, 2016 by Alshain

[mk1980]

you could use aircraft wings on the bottom of the rocket (Structural Wing Type A for example) and either use them directly as landing gear (don't know if they have decent crash tolerance) or add landing legs or stuctural pylons at the low end of the wings. You also get a wider base this way, so the rocket is less likely to fall over, and the wings act as stabilizers during ascent.

also, that little lander can could probably be lifted SSTO by a skipper + 1 jumbo tank. i think the mainsail is a bit exsessive.

not really sure it's worth the effort, though. don't neglect real time (ie. the actual play time you spend) as an economic factor. the time you spend deorbiting and landing the lifter rocket could be spent doing other missions that probably yield more funds than the recovery value of the SSTO rockets. it may actually be more economic to use much cheaper "throwaway" rockets to get the job done and do a few simple high yield contracts to fund your operations. an average satellite contract within the Kerbin SOI yields something like 50k -100k funds and can be done with a rocket that costs little more then 5k funds (plus the cost of the science experiment specified by the contract)

[KerikBalm]

Heres a pic of his design since he wouldn't post it directly:

I concur with others, use long wings at the bottom.

 

Also thats a very big rocket for a very small upper stage.. .what is the payload fraction that you get with that thing?

Edited May 24, 2016 by KerikBalm

[bewing]

I get away with using type A and B swept wings as landing legs on Kerbin -- but IIRC the weight limit is about 5 tons per (wing) leg. The wings themselves are rated for 15 m/s crash, but they can fall off at lower speeds than that. I land my 10 ton landers on three legs at 10 m/s with three parachutes and that works fine.