Can someone that knows what they are doing please fly this SSTO I made?

[ouch]

Here is a link to the plane:

https://sites.google.com/site/ouchsdownloads/home/downloads/Big%20Space%20Plane.zip

I don't think I'm flying it right. The most I can get out of it is about 700m/s deltaV left one in an orbit of around 80k. It just feels like I'm wasting fuel or something and could get more out of it. The roll of this thing was to be an all encompassing craft. Something capable of lifting 13.5 tons into orbit, having a bunch of fuel to refuel a station onboard all the while still having enough lift and all the sensors and experiments to go to other worlds built in.

There is also the problem of me being about half way in the tech tree which severely limits what stuff I can actually build this thing out of.

The craft itself is stock. But it has scansat, protractor, kis and kas accessories. If you guys need a mod less version just let me know. (Mod less version added in to the file)

Anyway here are some pics of it for those that want them:

This one shows total DeltaV on that launch when you enable the fuel tank payload for use.

Edited May 21, 2015 by ouch

[Jaeleth]

I don't have those mods installed, if you provide an unmodded version, I could give it a try. I have an SSTO which sort of resembles yours but it is slimmer, smaller and ends up with less dV on a 80km orbit, It was tweaked from a previous, smaller, version which I had in 0.90 and I had to increase its fuel capacity and use the new intakes to get it to orbit again, in 1.0.2 so, I would guess there is nothing wrong with the way it flies, things are, simply, tougher in 1.0.2

Anyway, one thing that matters when climbing is to trim the aircraft for a constant, not too steep, not too shallow, climb angle, I find that a 25 to 30 degree pitch up optimal for my SSTO, this will keep a fair climb rate while, at the same time, allow speed to build up for as long as possible while using air breathing engines only, the later you switch to close circuit the more fuel, thus dV you save, since air breathing spends much less fuel. Even if you get your SSTO through lower layers of atmosphere at hypersonic speeds, heating up the fuselage ( as long as it doesnt' blows up), and wasting energy to drag, with air breathing engines it is still more optimal than to keep speeds lower untill you get to high atmosphere and turning your rocket engines on too soon and at lower speeds.

if you put your unmodded craft here I will give it a try. As soon as it is possible to me

Edited May 20, 2015 by Jaeleth

[ouch]

Ok I uploaded a new version of that file with both the modded an modless versions in it.

[SignalCorps]

Why have tanks in cargo bays when you can just use MK2 Fuel tanks?

[Alshain]

Download isn't working, but you have a massive amount of intake drag far from the center of mass, I can see that just from looking. That drag near the front is going to grab the front end of the plane and rip it around backward, especially when you attempt reentry.

[Old Foxboy]

rather than using a tricoupler with 3 smaller engines, i would go with a mainsail on the back. The tricoupler adds a lot of drag, and part count matters, too.

[ouch]

Link is fixed folks. Sorry!

SignalCorps: because I haul cargo in those cargo bays... The tanks are there just for a simple ballast without increasing the part count too much.

Alshain: that doesn't seem to much of a problem in my experience. All the weight in the back is though. that's why you can jettison the the tricoupler engines to move the center of mass more towards the front if if you get into a flat spin. (I have only needed to use that once however.) The brakes in the back also keep the thing pointing forward quite easily.

Old Foxboy: A main sail really? The thing would burn for like 2 seconds and then be out of fuel... Those things have terrible isp in a vacuum.