Anubis mk2 SSTO

[Broco]

Since the old Design, the Anubis (mk1) had some serious issues (bad lag due to high part count) and HOC wanted me to make a playable design for his channel I got back to the SPH and started from scratch.

The outcome: The Anubis mk2 (well actually it's mk3 but the 2nd one doesn't count).

Improvements:

+ much smaller part count (298 compared to >500), which makes it actually flyable without or at least with less lag compared to the extreme framerate-drop on the mk1

+ 8 nuclear engines instead of just 2 and those are more balanced, thus MUCH more efficient once in space

+ more stability (doesn't break on restart flight anymore - you had to go to launch the old version from SPH always, dunno why)

+ less fuel tanks (to make refueling less of a pain in the a$$)

+ easier to take off (you'll still need the whole runway because the wheels are not that close to the center of mass)

+ inline clamp-o-tron instead of a normal one

Cons:

- smaller (and thus much less epic) :-(

- fewer engines (the engine set of 28 engines looked way cooler, now there are just 20)

But make your own decision:

After takeoff:

Full throttle:

Going for circular orbit just with nuclear engines:

Rear view with smaller engine set

Proof: stable orbit

I'm not really sure if I like it as much as the old one. I mean, before building mk1 I was like "How big can a spaceplane which is able to get into space become?" and it should look epic.

This one is much more practical (you could even use it as some kind of good looking long range tanker), but as I said: doesn't look that cool.

Craft file:

Anubis-mk2.craft

[Guest]

Man that things is sick. (awesome). I cant firgure out how to make an SSTO yet and I feel retarded.

[Von Gobble]

Noice mate. Wish I knew how to space!

[Broco]

Man that things is sick. (awesome). I cant firgure out how to make an SSTO yet and I feel retarded.

Thanks for the compliment :-)

Don't give up. I already spent more than 200 hours on KSP and that is just since the Steam version (I was with KSP since 2011) is out.

Making good SSTO spaceplanes is like a masterpiece and I have thrown away like 30 designs before I knew what I have to do to make a good one (e.g. I needed like 15 hours to build the first version of this craft).

That's what I love about this game, it always gives you a new challenge :-P

The problem is: I can just give you the standard hints: try to keep the center of lift on the center of mass, don't use too heavy engines (at least not for the start). Try to test your fueltank-engine-combination alone. That's what I did for this ship, too: one nuclear engine has not enough thrust to lift one tank, but two engines can do it and so you see a tank with a bi-coupler fired by two nuclear engines.

You are welcome to download my other (and smaller) spaceplane and play around with it, it may give you some hints (I used some tricks on it ): http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/showthread.php/42498-Apophis-SSTO-with-VTOL-capabilities