GoSlash27

Absolutely. I have a fuel hauler SSTO spaceplane that could do 2 trips on Kerbin If I burned the fuel it's delivering. With some mods, it could bring a few Kerbals as well. It's not that big, either. About 13 tonnes. If you want, I'm positive I can build you one. *edit* It's not VTOL, though. I have a design that could *maybe* do 2 trips VTOL, but that's a bigger job. Best, -Slashy

"Two Steps From Hell" is a studio in LA that specializes in movie trailer compositions. They have an album out that really sets the mood for KSP. I just play their stuff on random when playing KSP.

Space exploration takes gas. Lots and lots of gas and oxidizer. So how do you get that fuel into orbit cheaply and reliably? Presenting the Mainway Aerospace SX-D Tanker! Craft File This little guy will launch into orbit, correct inclination, intercept, rendezvous, and dock. Then it will unload 6 tonnes of fuel and oxidizer. After it's done, it can de-orbit and fly back to KSC under power for a gentle landing for full fund recovery. The entire mission costs just √350 in supplies, or a paltry √58.33 per tonne! Total cost (including payload and supplies) is a shocking √28,705; about half the cost of the competition! Action Groups: 1) Toggle intakes 2) Toggle docking port, docking lights, and solar panels 3) Disable rockets Flight Procedure: space bar Once clear of runway, raise gear, pitch up 20*, and full throttle Pitch to maintain 100M/sec airspeed until 40* pitch At 10KM altitude, reduce pitch to 30* At 15KM altitude, reduce pitch to 20* Pitch as necessary to maintain 100M/sec climb rate At flameout, reduce throttle until restart achieved Repeat flameout/ throttle down/ restart process until ship is no longer accelerating. space bar and #1 Burn as necessary to establish apoapsis #2 Burn as necessary to establish periapsis Reentry/landing procedure Retroburn as desired #1, #2, #3 After reentry heating subsides, throttle to 20% for cruise Maneuver as necessary for final approach CAUTION: Aircraft is very light and may go out of control if maneuvered aggressively. Gear down under 100 M/sec airspeed and throttle to 1 tick mark for final At touchdown, throttle to zero and brake. Taxi as desired.

My best one yet! SX-D Tanker This one costs √28,705 with stores and payload included. It delivers 6 tonnes of fuel and oxidizer to stations in LKO at a cost of √58.33 per tonne. It returns to KSC under power, so full recovery is assured. SX-D Tanker craft file

I think you're on the right track with this approach, though the intakes probably aren't helping. You need lots and lots of wings for this challenge, because your top speed is fixed by the engine. The higher your lift coefficient, the higher you can fly at 1KM/ sec. You really only need enough intake to keep the jet running at altitude. Any more than that is a mass and drag penalty. I won't be participating in this one anymore, as it's essentially a wing- spamming exercise, but I'll pass on a couple suggestions that should help your effort: #1 You don't need all that gas. It's just dead weight and drag. Probably 2 Oscar 2 cans with the O2 drained are adequate for this job. #2 Try the strakes as wings. They have the best lift/ drag. Good luck! -Slashy Best, -Slashy

Aragosnat, Your ride is ready! http://wikisend.com/download/167192/SX Generic.craft 33,287 rooties, 52 parts, 10.97 tonnes. It's got a 2 man flight crew, cabin for 4 more kerbals, and a double-length cargo bay for 3 tons of whatever cargo you need to carry. Action groups: 1) Toggle intakes 2) Toggle cargo bay doors, docking port, docking light, and solar arrays. Profile: Pitch to maintain 100 m/sec until 40* pitch At 10KM, pitch down to 30* At 15KM, Pitch down to 20* At 20KM, Pitch to maintain 100 m/sec climb rate At engine cutoff, throttle down for reignition Repeat cutoff/ throttle down/ reignition until speed is no longer increasing space bar to engage rockets and #1 to close intakes Burn as necessary to establish orbit and circularize. #2 for orbital configuration. Best, -Slashy

All stock. That's what came with the game... -Slashy

After looking at it the same way, I came to the same conclusion and went to the radial scoops instead. The problem is that this challenge doesn't require much fuel, so efficiency during the flight isn't important. You just want enough scoops to keep the engines lit until the wings give out, and as little drag as possible. Even though the structural intakes are better for most of the flight, the radial scoops are better for the critical phase. Best, -Slashy

That's do-able. Flight crew of 2, 4 Kerbals, and about 3 1/2 tonnes of payload is in that price range. What kind of payload are you looking to haul? -Slashy

They both carry 5 1/2 tonnes payload, but it's in the form of transferrable supplies. AFA why they're so cheap, probably because they are designed to be as efficient as I can make them, so they require less engines, wings, fuel, oxidizer, and structure to do the job. I hadn't thought about it before, but apparently this makes for a decent buy- in cost savings as well. If you'd like to build one of your own, the directions are here. Best, -Slashy

The more I look at this, the more I'm convinced that the real problem is an imbalance between wings and control surfaces. I think the only thing that makes your CoL appear correct is that pair of delta deluxe winglets up near the nose. If you remove all the control surfaces, your CoL will be well- behind your CoM. Using control surfaces (especially canards) to correct balance often leads to airplanes that want to fly backwards. The proper way to do it is to balance the wings to the CoM, then add your elevons/ rudders, then add canards to restore the original balance. Best, -Slashy

Raising the bar. 44,728M @820M/sec orbital. MachingFly, Wind in my hair, and Gnat. -Slashy

From front to rear: SX Kerboliner. 14T, 70 parts, √44,472+ √420 per mission. Delivers 12 Kerbonauts (not counting flight crew) to LKO and/or KSC as needed. SX Mono. 13.6T, 47 parts, √26,498+ √420 per mission. Delivers 1200 units of monopropellant to LKO. SX Tanker. 13.4T, 47 parts, √25,482+ √420 per mission. Delivers 450 units of fuel and 550 units of oxidizer to LKO. And then there's this guy, the ULS 2.0. √67,989, 21.3T, and 77 parts. It can deliver nearly it's own weight in outsized cargo such as ship segments and space station modules to LKO. It's fully reusable, but recovery cost depends on how close you drop it to KSC. Best, -Slashy

I have a family of "delivery van" SSTO spaceplanes that deliver either 12 Kerbals or 5 tons of various supplies to orbit (not counting the crew). They run √40-45,000 and cost √420 in supplies per mission. I also have a vertical lift SSTO for bulk- lifting of structures for assembly in orbit. It runs close to √68,000 and costs √43 per tonne to orbit to operate if you drop it back on KSC grounds. Best, -Slashy

The short version is there's not a "simple" equation. There's just the basic rocket equation and reorganized derivations of it. It can answer how much DV an assembly can generate, and deriving different forms of it can answer how much rocket you need to orbit a given payload. Best, -Slashy

Pretty much what Sniped just said. Wings are extremely low drag at low angles and high drag at high angles, which can make for wonky behavior. Don't get your col too far away from your com and don't treat control surfaces like wings. Your plane should be balanced before you add control surfaces. Best, -Slashy

I call 'em "rooties". Best, -Slashy

This collection of parts will create an SSTO spaceplane that will: -Achieve stable LKO -Correct for 2* of inclination error with a target -Intercept, rendezvous, and dock -Deorbit and -Land under power with roughly 50 units of fuel reserve. This is all assuming, of course, that it is properly designed and flown. I will leave that job to the user... Parts required: 14x wing strake 4x XM-G50 intake 2x 48-7S 1x Turbojet 1x Mk2 cockpit (fill the monoprop) 1x Mk2 Clamp-O-Tron (empty the monoprop) 1x Mk2 Liquid fuel fuselage, short (240 units of fuel) 1x Mk2 LF+O Fuselage, short (full) 1x FL-T100 (full O2, no fuel) 6 Tonnes of whatever you like. Remember to account for all of your additional structure as well as payload. This will yield a vehicle totaling a hair over 14 tonnes. It is also scaleable; you could double the parts (excluding the cockpit and docking port) and add 14.5 tonnes for a total mass of 28 tonnes, etc. General design tips: -Fuel tanks should go in the middle of the assembly so your CoG doesn't shift. -Intakes should go in the rear of the plane and on top to provide a stable nose-up tendency at reentry -Angling your wingtips upwards and attaching them as far back as possible will add dynamic roll and yaw stability. Generic takeoff profile: Launch under jet power at full throttle Pitch to maintain 100 m/sec until 40* pitch is achieved Maintain 40* pitch until 10KM altitude Pitch down to 30* Maintain 30* pitch until 15KM Pitch down to 20* Maintain 20* pitch until 20KM Pitch as necessary to maintain 100M/sec climb rate At flameout, reduce throttle until restart Repeat flameout/throttle down/ restart until climb rate is zero Shutdown turbojet, close intakes, and activate rockets (this should be an action group) Burn as necessary to establish and circularize. This formula will make an SSTO spaceplane as cheap and efficient as I know how to make it. Round trip operating cost is √70 per ton or √35 per Kerbal with full recovery at KSC. Happy flying! -Slashy

NaN is KSP's error message for "I can't divide by zero". Your match to the target's inclination is perfect. I always shoot for NaN when intercepting. Best, -Slashy

That looks like plenty of wings to me. Roughly 1.0 lift coefficient per ton is adequate. Probably just maintaining more speed will solve the problem. I'm usually doing about 900 when I cross 20km. -Slashy

I'll definitely second this suggestion. One of the most frustrating things about KSP is getting Kerbals to cleanly climb a ladder and step onto a ledge. I'd love to see an in- game fix for this. Best, -Slashy

There are no wrong answers Like the others here have said, I see nothing wrong with clipping to get parts to fit, but I wouldn't use it to do things like putting multiple tanks or engines in the same space. I also don't "enable" clipping in the debug menu. Best, -Slashy

http://s52.photobucket.com/user/GoSlash27/slideshow/KSP/ULS%202_0 ^ An example of an SSTO that is *not* a "spaceplane". I use this vehicle to transport subassemblies into orbit and assemble them in place. For resources (Kerbals, fuel, etc), I use reusable SSTO spaceplanes. Best, -Slashy

In that case, yes. There are all sorts of transfers that are worth doing without harnessing the Oberth effect. Specifically transfers within a single SOI where the new orbit is less than 12 times the radius of the old one (or vice-versa). There's also the case where missing a transfer window costs more in DV than a retroburn for Oberth saves, which happens fairly often. Best, -Slashy

I do agree 100% with this; "Spaceplane"<>"SSTO". While you can often use both terms to describe the same vehicle, they are not interchangeable. A spaceplane is an airplane that leaves the atmosphere, while an SSTO is a vehicle that achieves orbit intact. Best, -Slashy