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For those early career high-altitude survey contracts, I, like many of you, have traditionally opted for a combination jet engine/rocket engine plane, where the jet engine gets me to the contract location and I then jump to the necessary high altitude using the rocket. It gets the job done, but it's tough to meet early game weight and part count limits, the craft is often limited in range, cruising speed, and number of high-altitude jumps, and I'm eager to ditch the whole design as soon as I unlock new tech nodes (especially the Panther). What if I told you there was a different way to fulfill those contracts, where all you need is...drumroll...curtains parting...the Juno? Though Junos are generally low thrust, low altitude engines, they're actually pretty capable when you use a bunch of them on a lightweight aircraft to get a high TWR. Using only four, I managed to get a craft to 1.5-2 TWR depending on fuel level, which was enough to reach a 600+m/s cruising speed, 630+m/s max speed (see second image below of the plane descending from cruise in preparation for a jump), and a max altitude of over 20km per jump (see third image below). Because it can cruise at over 10km and 600m/s, it's actually got a pretty big range as well, and if I need to reach a faraway target I can load up the Mk1 fuel tank (see image below), and by the time it arrives at the jump point it will have used enough fuel to get the TWR back up to the level where it can support a high-altitude jump. Some notes on the design (see first image below): This design uses well under 30 parts (so you can customize with the science parts of your choice), meets all early game runway/hangar limits, and doesn't use anything beyond tech level four. I experimented with using a longer tail/traditional front wing/rear tail body design to minimize the risk of flipping, but any gains in stability were offset by a lower max speed and more limited turning ability that prevented me from going fully vertical in the jump, and ultimately limited the plane's max altitude too much. The engines are placed as far forward as I can without limiting a pilot's ability to exit the craft, and the rear wings are as far back as I felt comfortable with, which enabled me to nudge the COL behind the COM. The COM is even more forward when the Mk1 tank is completely full, but I rarely keep it full so I can maintain a high TWR. In general, having the COL really close to the COM provides maneuverability that helps in transitioning from supersonic horizontal flight to a vertical high-altitude climb, and in any event the plane doesn't really have a flipping problem. Control Surfaces - I limited all of the control surfaces (especially roll) below their defaults, because otherwise the plane can be a bit twitchy at high speeds. I also recommend using fine controls for most if not all of the flight. I experimented with increasing the AOA of the rear wings to squeeze out a little more efficiency while cruising, but the plane kept flipping on takeoff. Leaving the wings horizontal eliminated the issue, and the plane is surprisingly efficient as is. Flight Tips: Be gentle when pulling up to take-off! The plane isn't particularly flip-happy, but the only time it would happen is when I pulled back too hard during takeoff. This thing builds up speed really quickly, so you should be able to nudge it into the air with relative ease. To repeat what was stated in the design tips: consider using fine controls for most/all of the flight. Use the lower atmosphere to build up speed. I shoot for an AOA of no more than 10 degrees until I reach 5-6km in altitude, and then 5 degrees or lower until I've reached around 600m/s and between 8.5-10.5km cruising altitude. I can usually get a fuel usage rate of .08 units per second or lower (visible in the resource app) under those cruising conditions. Once you approach the target location, descend slightly to max out your speed (I usually get around 630m/s), and then gradually (I can't emphasize enough that it has to be gradual) raise the nose of your craft until you're fully vertical at around 18km- you should be able to hit 20km in altitude like this, which should be sufficient for most high-altitude Kerbin survey contracts. The turn needs to be gradual; you're looking to convert horizontal speed to vertical speed, not rapidly dump speed/raise drag with a sudden attitude change. Keep an eye on your speed and g force meters. If your speed is jumping down rather than slowly descending, or if you encounter any high g forces, you're probably wasting energy, and your max altitude will be lower. Unlike rocket plane jumpers, where you try to go vertical as quickly as possible to make the most efficient use of your limited oxidizer, don't go fully vertical too quickly. You can only raise your apoapsis if the Juno is thrusting, so until you reach 18km keep shy of full vertical so you can squeeze out a few more seconds of thrust while climbing, or at least until your apoapsis display shows that you've exceeded your target height for the jump. Once your engines flame out, go full vertical to maximize the use your remaining airspeed which should nudge that apoapsis a teeny bit higher before it starts coming down due to drag. Landing: This plane handles just fine at 50m/s or below. When coming in for a landing I often have the throttle at about the 1/6 mark, which gives me just enough speed to get into position without needing to land at high speed. As an early-game craft, there are no airbrakes/reverse thrust capabilities, so you'll have to bleed off speed by maneuvering alone (from 600m/s to just over 100m/s) when approaching the KSC and then using the rear landing gear brakes only (there's no brakes for the front wheel). I haven't needed to deploy ailerons to improve low-speed handling but that's always an option. As you unlock more tech nodes/higher KSC levels, you can add more Junos, streamline the landing gear/wings, or make other improvements, but even without those this is a really capable plane that you can continue to use into the mid-game for as long as you continue to get Kerbin altitude survey contracts. Not only does it save you the need for a full redesign as the game progresses, but since it travels at 600m/s, these survey missions go by faster and feel a lot less tedious. There's still a place for combo jet engine/rocket planes, especially for part testing contracts where you're looking to reach far beyond 20km, as well as eventual SSTOS, but sometimes MOAR JETS on a lightweight body is all you need. I've written a bunch in this post, but the main takeaway is managing your TWR can squeeze a lot of performance out of seemingly unimpressive plane engines and parts. Link to full Imgur page with picture annotations

How do I plan a gravity assist using Kerbin similarly to how Juno used Earth to get to Jupiter?

Alguem conhece esse mod, que tem os paineis solares igual da sonda juno???

Trying to build a HTHL SSTO powered only by Sparks and Junos as part of my campaign to win this challenge: I assembled a semi-Grand Tour ship in LKO and it's already on its way around the Kerbol system, but I wanted to build an SSTO spaceplane to pick them up my four explorers when they return, since they have no heat shields and only a single drogue. My payload, then, is merely a probe core, a battery, and four empty command seats. If I can get into LKO, they can take care of the rendezvous and then the return should be easy enough. I've gone through about four different design iterations so far, all to no avail. The best I've gotten is the following: In case you can't tell, the eight Junos are attached to the rear node of the Sparks and then translated forward, to reduce drag. Yes, it looks like a Skylon. No, that was not intentional; this shape was the result of a LOT of iteration. I've tried a lot of different ascent profiles but I'm consistently burning out at around 40 km and roughly 500 m/s short of orbit. That's if I use the Junos for takeoff and then stage in the Sparks almost immediately, pitch up rapidly, and slowly lower the nose to keep my acceleration positive. Some of my early iterations had a Terrier on the back end or other adjustments, but this particular iteration has been the closest so far. Any tips?

https://kerbalx.com/AeroGav/Juno-basic-ssto I don't think I can 100% take the credit for this, because jets were buffed in 1.2 i think. 30 parts and a whopping 11.2 tons . It gets transonic at 10km with 4 Junos, a quick burst from the Terrier gets it to 1.4mach where upon it can supercruise on jet power alone up to 15km while maintaining 1.4m. After that it's just a case of open it up and hope for the best.

Junkers Juno Tournaments This Season: (seasons end when we don't have a new winner for 1 month, then we assume no one wants to play, or that the best craft that will be submitted, has been.) Build a aircraft powered by 1, 2, or 4 juno engines. PLEASE HAVE A PILOT The objective is to build a aircraft capable of the old Kerman specifications for a single, and double engine jet fighter, or bomber, as well as 4 engine bombers. Here are the specifications, and point systems. Single Engine Fighter: -Top Speed of 250 m/s. -25 second turn time or less. -Climb to 7000m in less than 6 minutes. -150 units of fuel. Twin engine fighter: -Top Speed of 260 m/s. -30 second turn time or less. -Climb to 7000m in less than 5 minutes. -400 units of fuel. Twin engine bomber: -Top Speed of 220 m/s. -40 second turn time or less. -Climb to 8000m in 10 minutes or less. -Bomb load of 4 fully loaded small ore tanks. -600 units of fuel. Quad+ engine bomber: (Don't use over 8 engines) -Top Speed of 200 m/s. -60 second turn time or less. -Climb to 8000m in 10 minutes or less. -Bomb load of 6 fully loaded small ore tanks. (Radial ones) -1200 units of fuel. POINT SYSTEM: Whoever has the best stats according to the specifications above has the best aircraft, so don't JUST do the specifications, try to exceed them. LEADERBOARD: (TOP 3) Single engine fighter: 1.) @swjr-swis 2.) @Cunjo Carl 3.) @He_162 4.) @qzgy 5.) @hempa2 Twin engine fighter: 1.) @swjr-swis 2.) @MiniMatt 3.) @qzgy Twin engine bomber: 1.) Quad engine bomber: 1.) @He_162 2.) @DoctorDavinci 3.) Allowed Mods: (Suggest one if you want it on the list) B9 Aerospace Pack Procedural Parts BDarmory SXT (Stock Extension) Any Mod That Doesn't change game mechanics or modify the Juno engine (not including texture). Heinkel's Attempts: La-174: http://imgur.com/a/iDJY3 Junkers 4: http://imgur.com/a/Jbhrp

I was playing KSP yesterday and flying an probe to Jool (I called it Tekto), but because I can't get probe further out than to Minmus, I used infinite fuel Recent Juno Jupiter approach movie inspired me to do the same thing and take some print screens and then stack them together. Here it is: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ttNNhgNe04 Then I changed my orbit a lot of times to flyby different moons: First Tylo flyby: http://i.imgur.com/SBJmggz.png First Vall Flyby: http://i.imgur.com/s2eDEtD.png First Laythe Flyby: http://i.imgur.com/QdPIXDR.png Pol Flyby: http://i.imgur.com/88VgNAl.png I didn't do Bop flyby yet, so here is my best image: http://i.imgur.com/UOIHa7D.png I used HullCam mod for photos, Bop was shot at biggest magnification I could get with KerbPro.

as some may know juno reached its destination around jool this inderpendence day so i have a challenge Recreate the juno mission 1. must have craft just like juno = 4 points 2. score = if in very close spot from jupitor (jool) 5 points -if orbiting jool atleast= 2 points - if missed jool and did a flyby = minus 1 point 3 profit = low money = +5 points Used Not too much mony = +3 points A bit to high... minus 2 points 12 or over = great you must have done some reasearch! over 7 but under 12 = you less than 7 =ooh nice try

Hi, I enjoy recreating space stuff as much as the next Kerbal player, and with Juno in the news after its successful capture at Jupiter, I thought I'd give it a go in KSP. It turned out surprisingly good. This is what I would call a pretty quick and dirty recreation. I'm on a laptop where I have to turn alot of settings down, especially textures, so apologies for that. I don't have lots of hours to devote to research, and I don't really play KSP that way. I like to accomplish cool things,but I don't stress out about them. I think i did a pretty reasonable job on this one, with just stock parts and tweakscale. The greebling on Juno itself has about 3 minutes worth of looking at a google image and slapping on the science parts and anything that would look groovy. Don't blame me if the JIRAM is offcenter or something. Yes, there only 4 SRB's, I'm not gonna fiddle that much! Enjoy! Here is the final orbit, I forgot to include it in the album.

With the current excitement around the Juno mission approaching Jupiter after its earth-gravity-assist journey there'll be a lot of people playing around in KSP with similar goals. One thing that always holds me back in my interplanetary craft design is an efficient transfer as I always feel it is something akin to blind luck whether a planned assist will actually be useful or not since it is very difficult to set-up with options we have. Before launch we can use an orbital satellite say to set-up a practice node, and we can even edit the set-up files to show a couple more SOI changes in the patched conics but how do we set-up an encounter with Kerbin from within the Kerbin SOI? For reference this is the Juno gravity assist & an awesome video filmed from Juno of the earth fly-by Two years after launching and heading out beyond the orbit of Mars Juno returns to encounter earth again giving it the extra Kinetic Energy required to reach Jupiter. I know that there are a lot of complexities in achieving this, and KSP is just a game after-all, but so much has already been achieved with the 'Map' screen in making previously impossible concepts easily visualized and achievable that I wonder if there is some way I don't know. I've seen some videos of people setting up elaborate gravity assists that take 10's of years and minimal burns using precise node and Mechjeb ... but what can we do in stock (or near-stock)? Are there any tricks I don't know about? Improbable 34 stage wobbling skyscraper rockets screaming their way obnoxiously through atmosphere are fun and all ... but a trim efficient design can be much more satisfying.

It's like watching New Horizons closing in on Pluto.