How do you launch things which Mr.Aerodynamics hate?

[omelaw]

like T shape space staion or obital ring, ... that won't fit in fairings.

Edited January 12, 2017 by omelaw

[hms_warrior]

Lots of control-surfaces at the end of the rocket and keeping the speed low while under 30 kilometers.

Edited January 12, 2017 by hms_warrior

[Birdco_Space]

You need to keep your accent sub sonic until the Aero forces are low enough for your Rocket gimballing and SAS to manage the draggy load.  Also, lots of wing area low on the rocket.

in practice, this is a very steep accent a sub 300m/s (edging higher as altitude increases) to 25-30km, then a rapid transition to a climb angle 30 degrees above the horizon and pouring on speed to orbital velocity.

Budget 4km/s delta V for this type of accent, as your aero and gravity losses will be much higher than a normal launch.

Also, building wide rockets may be your friend on this, as gimballing engines with lateral separation from the COM of the load will be better positioned to handle aerodynamic torques.  Thuds are great engines to use to assist in rocket stability in this case

 

[Sharpy]

- keep draggy parts low, heavy parts front. Say, your T-shaped module should fly upside-down, with boosters on the sides.

- steep ascent, don't try neat gravity turn.

- plenty of delta-V, not too much TWR at least early on.

 

Personally, I prefer manufacturing or assembling them on-site using KAS, OSE Workshop, and/or Extraplanetary Launchpads.

[Kryxal]

Personally, I don't agree with going straight up then turning ... just keep the TWR relatively low, make sure your gravity turn is shallow then glue your ship to prograde when it catches up, have lots of fins (or full-up delta wings) for aerodynamic stability, and drain fuel tanks from back to front.  It might take a few trials and some extra delta-v, but you should be able to make orbit well enough.

[Val]

This is how I launched the foot of my Minmus Tower entry.

I guess, pretty normal launch even with something so light and draggy,

 

[katateochi]

I'm not a fan of using lots of control surfaces on rockets (or things vaguely resembling rockets), I prefer using rockets with more gimbal. As others have said, keep TWR lower and don't deviate away from prograde too much.  With this ring I followed a fairly standard gravity turn, asparagus staging, no control surfaces, 4 large SAS modules.

 

[regex]

Follow a normal launch but hit "caps lock" to engage fine control. This helps immensely with controlling wobbly or very draggy payloads.

[foamyesque]

Tow it.

[fourfa]

Another (harder?) strategy - get creative about making things fit in fairings:

http://imgur.com/a/5FgTZ

[Magzimum]

Some advice to launch tricky objects in an easy way:

1. Go straight up until at least 25 km (i.e. no gravity turn!)
2. Easy on the throttle: Below 14 km you keep it below 150-200 m/s. Keep it below 300 m/s until 20 km. If you don't, it will flip over.
3. Add large wings at the base of the rocket. I have once used the largest airplane wings as disposable stabilizers.
4. Bring some extra dV (i.e. Moar Boosters)

I read the comments that suggest you can do this in a normal gravity turn, but a deviation of just a few degrees would flip this thing over. I could have engineered it so that it does not flip, but frankly, I rather add a few more boosters than to fiddle with it for days until it is balanced. In my opinion, sometimes is it just easier to go straight up and accept the extra costs.

I managed to get this thing to Minmus:

Original post here.

 

Edited January 13, 2017 by Magzimum

[bigcalm]

11 hours ago, Magzimum said:

Some advice to launch tricky objects in an easy way:

1. Go straight up until at least 25 km (i.e. no gravity turn!)
2. Easy on the throttle: Below 14 km you keep it below 150-200 m/s. Keep it below 300 m/s until 20 km. If you don't, it will flip over.
3. Add large wings at the base of the rocket. I have once used the largest airplane wings as disposable stabilizers.
4. Bring some extra dV (i.e. Moar Boosters)

All truly excellent advice.  I launch crazy unaerodynamic things a lot -- if you use MechJeb, it can be handy to use Smart A.S.S - and set to "Surf Up" for the first whatever number of kilometres (With big unaerodynamic things I tend to stand my gravity turn at around 12k rather than 25k but do be gentle).  On starting the turn, change Smart A.S.S over to "Kill Rot" which should hopefully prevent (too much) flipping.