INTERKOSMOS

Work is going well. Right now I'm in the process of fitting my SSTO with equipment she'll need in deep space. RCS thrusters, docking ports etc. Thank you for interesting facts, AeroGrav. I assure You, that this spaceplane can and will visit other planets. It has no problem reaching orbit, both with empty cargo bay or with few tons of equipment. When empty, I can circularise at 350 km with ~370 units of LF left. With 4,5 ton cargo, ~320 units (I expect these parameters to drop a little after fitting over 0,5 t of extra equipment). BTW 350 km is my parking orbit for interplanetary travell. This is where I've put my orbital refueling station. (any of my interplanetary carfts must be able to reach that orbit - that's one of key requirements). At this altitude, 370 units are enough to pass Mun orbit (and potentialy I could use it's gravity to leave Kerbin system). But after refueling.... wooo hooo! With 2000 units of LF on board i can visit Laythe's orbit, leave some satelites there, and still have enough fuel for something like half way back (if my estimations are correct). But when I will get my interplanetary network of ISRU and orbital refueling up and running, my spaceplanes will rule the Kerbol system! Buwahahahaha!! Uhm.... sorry.

That would be great, but I belive the only reasonable way to implement this, is to make Kerbol a binary star system. It would still take many years to reach other star, but with proper part selection (something useful for real colonisation, like ability to build advanced base with simplified version of VAB and SPH) this would totally make sense. And they don't have to be very far from each other, In fact K and M class stars (each having I'ts own stellar system) could be in a distance of less than 4 AU from each other (less than semi-major axis of Jupiter). Scale it down to usual 1/10 scale used in the game, and we have something like 50-60 mln km, very much within range.

Ok, I've built my own version of your twin T-fins. Here's how it looks. Val seems to be very enthusiastic, but Bill is not so sure.... Close up: Overal look: As you can see, I have placed Big-S elevon's 1 to increase lift, and it works like a charm. Plane is highly maneuvrerable, very stable and pleasant to fly. But i'm still not fully convinced about it's new look. But I feel we are making a big progress here. Craft file, second prototype: see Or-11 IMCS V4X on KerbalX.com

Wow, now that's something I would not invent myself... Nice! Thank you, Mr. Speed, I'll test your configuration, that's for sure. And it looks quite interesting. At this last screenshot, It's silhouette looks very much like MiG-29's, i like it.

I just removed these intakes, they were nothing more than a decoration, but on the second thought - I don't need so much clutter on it. 3 precoolers are more than enough (third is at the very end, 90% of it is clipped into mk2-1.25m adapter.). As for reaction wheels, there is only 0.1 t of them inside, clipped into fuselage, very near COM. I need it to maintain good flight characteristics with heavy cargo on board. This SSTO maybe doesn't look like it, but it's VERY manoeuvrable and pleasent to fly.

Ok, I see I have to clarify something. I have 3 years of experience in KSP and I'm kind of Obi Wan of SSTO designs. I have started with building spaceplanes and refueling stations before I even touched typical rocketry. HOWEVER, even Obi Wan needs to consult with Yoda in some cases, because there is always someone better, more clever, with head full of fresh, never-ending ideas. I know exactly what would make this spaceplane work like a charm. If I would only throw this configuration right into trash bin... But I don't want to. And this is why I have sooo much difficulties with this one. I want to combine it's PRESENT aesthetics with performance. I don't want to make another delta, I've built tons of them before, and even now I have light, delta-winged interplanetary cargo in active duty. I want to keep that wing configuration at all costs, because I like it soo much! That's why I asked for ideas for tail fins configuration ONLY. I don't want to redesign the whole thing. Perhaps a magic solution i'm looking for simply doesn't exists. But my experience in KSP tells me, that there is ALWAYS some way to solve almost any problem. Ok, back to the point. Air intakes. Yes, It's an overkill. But I had to place 3 precoolers in this way to balance this thing out and to maintain fuel balance, which is almost perfect at the moment. COM shift in flight is negligible. As for ramp intakes - these are here for teh lulz. They are very light, and since intakes do not generate almost any drag in current version of the game, they do not make any noticable impact on performance. Yesterday i have replaced Whiplash with Panther engine. Taking ~5 t of cargo into orbit takes more fuel now, but after refueling, I have 600 kg less of dry mass to carry around in space, plus the tail is lighter at the very end, which is good, because I don't need AS much lift at the back right now. Still, I have a lot of thing to do here, and I'm still open for suggestions.

Sure, here you go: I tried V-shaped fins before on some other designs, but controlls was never as good as with conventional ones, or delta wings with double vertical fins. That's why I was allways a bit suspicious about V-shapes. Maybe my older designs was faulty, or maybe that's fault of aerodynamics model in KSP? I don't know. But I will do some testing. Right now I suspect, that amount of lift I'll get from V-fins won't be high enough. I would be forced to use really big, bulky fins, or redesign my craft completely, which is not an option at this moment. Butl I will try. I saw that picture before, when I was looking and googling for some kind of inspiration. Thank you for your idea. I never tried triple tail or anything like this. I have doubts that stock selection of parts is good enough to build such tail, and make it look like an actual spaceplane tail, not like something that was salvaged from a decommissioned airliner.

Oh, that's not the point. In fact, I'm trying to move COL backwards (right now COL is only centimeters behind COM) by increasing overall lift area at the back of my craft. It has no problems with pitching up, in fact it can easly make unplanned kulbit manouver, if I'm not careful.

I have a small request for experienced SSTO designers. I have a problem with designing an efficient (and good looking) tail for my medium-sized SSTO. Everything is described in this post: I belive I asked my question in wrong (or rather - not the best) section of our forum, and I belive this is a thread I was suppose to visit first. My problem is, that I ran out of creativity. I need somebody to look at this design with fresh eyes and mind. Perhaps you will be able to came out with some interesting tail configuration for this craft? Because, let's be honest - I'm stuck here. Thank you in advance.

I'm currently in process of designing and fly-testing new medium-size interplanetary SSTO, capable of carrying about 4-5 tons of cargo. The results are very promising. However, I have problem with it's tail. Tail fins that i'm using right now are just temporary solution. They do not provide enough lift, and elevons do collide with each other and engine nozzle, as shown in the pictures. And that looks bad. I have tried to find some real life inspirations, but no luck so far. Perhaps some more experienced SSTO designer/engineer can help me with this one? New tail fins configuration must: - Look aesthetically pleasing and fit the craft's overall good look and proportions. This is most important! If it looks fine, it works fine, that's my motto. (i don't mind clipping parts for maintaining aesthetics, i'm doing this quite often). - Provide more lift force, but as little drag as possible! - Not collide with anything while moving - Not getting in the way of engines exhaust! SSTO without tail fins: Craft file: see Or-11 V4X on KerbalX.com

Most important? - Electrical propellers, so you can flight on the bodies that have atmosphere but do not have oxygen in it. - Some kind of rubber hosepipe for easy refueling, especially on the ground (with proper gas caps or something, smaller than docking ports). This is MUST HAVE and SUPER DUPER IMPORTANT! - More light choices! Both smaller and bigger, plus navigation lights (red, green, white) - Some parts to build ships or boats? That could be much useful on Eve or Laythe!. - Moar spaceplane parts! I feel a bit limited by current amount. - More structural parts of different shapes and sizes, for building walls etc.

My vote in category Stock Aero - Best Light Cargo Spaceplane Fenya - Wasp - I don't think this plane belong to this category, since it can't carry any cargo.... Batz_10K - Serpens-C - Solid SSTO, it can easly reach LKO, deploy cargo and return. In atmosphere, it's nose tends to go down, so SAS should be turned on all the time. It's also a bit clumsy and generally unpleasant to fly. But other than that, it's a good design. Roflcopterkklol - Titan Hunter Mk5 SSTO - Big and laggy plane. Ugly too, but suprisingly easy to control. It requires long runway to takeoff, but landing is easy, even in "less than optimal" conditions (honestly I trided to crash it at low angle with landing gear deployed, to see hundreds exploding parts, but plane took it like a boss). Reaching LKO takes some time, but I made it on 1st attempt. CocoDaPuf - The Space Goose VTOL - Oh, I wanted to give my vote on that plane so much! But not in this category... It's hard not to admire that great amount of work and attention to details, versatility, and beauty. But this is not the most efficiet cargo plane out there. It also have some balance issues (nose pitching down without SAS), and reaching orbit is... well, hard. So my vote in this category goes to Roflcopterkklol and his Titan Hunter Mk5 SSTO. Congratulations.

I'm not sure if my English is good enough to explain it, but i'll try. Struts are there only to assist in vertical landing (or rather: vertical-to-horizontal landing). Right after touchdown (with nose at about 80 deg up), you should slowly pitch down and go from vertical to horizontal position, and then place main landing gear on the ground. Of course, you should do that only on low gravity bodies.

My vote in category Stock Aero - Best Sporty Pleasure Craft I wasn't able to download all .craft files. Some links simply expired. So I tested only 4 planes. Pecan - Bantam - Obsolete design. In 0.25 this craft is incontrolable. FCISuperGuy - KSV Raven/KSV Swan - Almost the same thing. I was barely able to take off. In flight it was quite hard to control it and keep it's nose up. Roflcopterkklol - SR-72 White Bird - Very well made plane. It's pretty agile, very stable and easy to flight without SAS. Landing, however, is a bit harder than I used to, but it's not a problem. It had some.... realistic feel, so that's good. Fenya - Wasp - This one is also not "0.25 ready", but i was able to make it work. At least, i think so. It's kind of wild horse. Very fast, very agile, but hard to control. Fuel balance is major problem in this craft. After a couple of minutes i wasn't able to fly it without stalling. My vote in this category goes to Roflcopterkklol and his SR-72 White Bird. Well done, sir!

My SSTO wasn't entered in that category. I belive it was placed there by mistake.