Wanderfound

Post screenshots for each ship with the FAR stability derivatives analysis showing, and we'll see if we can figure out exactly what the problem was. Do one set with temperature zero, density 0.5 and speed Mach 1.5 (this is the low altitude ascent one), another with temperature -20, density 0.04 and speed Mach 5 (just before the rockets go on) and a third set with temperature -20, density 0.01 and speed Mach 6 (just after the rockets go on).

Is the science rocket gone for good or just off for a remodel?

BTW, the guy who does the Bombs mod (http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/95510-Bombs-1-0) is now making air-launched science probes as well (download currently offline, but I think he's just revising it). Might be fun to include some "drop a research probe from altitude X at location Y" missions.

Carries more passengers than a De Havilland Comet, BTW. Not a lot of range, however; it pretty much empties its tanks getting to orbit, even with a high-efficiency shallow ascent profile. The long-haul version replaces the nacelle economy cabins with extra tanks, and the aerospikes and rearmost cabin with a pair of nukes. The pictured version will do interplanetary if you refuel at each end, though.

Doubt it. Moar struts. Or, with the new version, increase your wing mass/strength tweakable values.

Which particular features are you most attached to? You can probably hang onto them in one form or another. That basic rear-delta airframe design will work fine, you just have to do it right:

Look upthread for regex's PID Controller mod: http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/20451-0-25-Ferram-Aerospace-Research-v0-14-3-10-15-14?p=1473120&viewfull=1#post1473120 Cutting both pitch kp and clamp to 1/3 of default got rid of all of my SAS-induced wobbles. You may want to try something similar on the roll axis. Also: are you using the latest FAR release? There have been some aero bugs to sort out since 25 dropped; it appears to be fixed now.

1) FAR has been buggy since the 25 release, in ways that made planes fly badly when they shouldn't. The latest release appears to have fixed it. 2) What do the FAR aero analysis screens look like? If you look at the third post in the Kerbodyne thread linked in my sig, you'll find a guide on how to use them. If you post screenshots, I may be able to diagnose the problem.

More like Mach 5.5, actually (in FAR, that is).

FAR allows plenty of crazy designs, they just have to be crazy designs with functional aerodynamics.

Link missing, unfortunately. Thanks, though.

So build faster planes. Runway to orbit in under four minutes isn't hard to do with a specialist speedster, and serious cargo ships can do it in about six. http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/94343-Spaceplane-Speed-Challenge-IV-Up-and-Down

The standard solution is just to offset. On a vertical rocket, if your radial boosters are snapped to 90°, put the fins at 45°. On a spaceplane, if you've got wing-mounted engines, you usually want to mount the tailplane either above or below the line of thrust. Like so:

Still plenty of room for more:

As Ferram said. If you want to climb vertically, you need to gradually pull the nose up, letting the prograde marker keep up with you as you go. Ideally, you want to keep your angle of attack a hair's breadth short of inducing a stall until you reach the direction you're after. Lead the plane, don't force it. Planes like to fly in curves, not angles. If you want to maintain the vertical climb, you also need a TWR above 1. It definitely can be done, though:

Okay: now that the situation with Ferram seems to have stabilised, it's time for Kerbodyne to go back into production. So, first things first: the Kerbodyne Benchmark XXV. Classic Kerbodyne balance. Exceptional high-altitude stability. Tolerates high AoA. Craft file at https://www.dropbox.com/s/lmk9qnt9kyhtn7y/Kerbodyne%20Velociraptor%20XXV.craft?dl=0

Okay, the two lateral RAPIERs are within 4.5m of each other, so they'll be sharing heat. I suspect something may be miscalibrated somewhere: at full throttle, they're going from cold to exploded within a matter of seconds, and it needs to be pulled down to 50% throttle or less to avoid that. Pre-25, it would've been minutes rather than seconds, and 90% throttle not 50%. Is the cargo bay likely to be aggravating it? (edit: just saw upthread that y'all are investigating already; thanks)

Space can become several orders of magnitude less expensive (and hopefully will), but even if that happens it will still be insanely expensive. The economic equation isn't just tipped a bit towards unprofitable; it's so far off that end of the scale that the idea of the balance shifting is totally implausible without magic. Again, I'd highly recommend having a read through http://www.antipope.org/charlie/blog-static/2007/06/the_high_frontier_redux.html

No, you need to use aerodynamics. The fuselages need to point in the direction of flight unless that flight mode is limited to the low subsonic (i.e. VTOL style hovering). If you're fine with a slow hovering speed limit and it's just the horizontal-to-vertical flight mode transition that's giving trouble, again use the aero to help. Kill the engines and pitch up to trade horizontal velocity for vertical, and keep doing it until you stall at 100m/s or whatever. Then point the nose at the sky, power up the engines and start flying VTOL style.

First suspect: is one of your mods Kerbpaint? It has an antique copy of Module Manager hidden in a subfolder that messes with FAR.

I assumed he was using Deadly Reentry, due to the desire to come in tail-first. Engines have high heat tolerances; you can get away with using them as improvised heatshields at times. What other reason is there for wanting to come in tail first? If you're worried about parachute shock, just spin it around immediately pre-deployment and/or deploy the chutes in stages.

'Fraid not. 1) Space is insanely expensive, and the expense is measured in $/kg terms. Mining gear ain't lightweight. 2) The highly valuable minerals to be found off-Earth are only valuable on-Earth because they are rare. The immediate effect of dumping a thousand tons of platinum or whatever onto the market would be to annihilate the value of platinum (or whatever). Space exploration is awesome and important, but space as a thing to be commercially exploited just doesn't exist beyond the orbit of Earth. The economics just don't add up.

Do you mean turbojet or basic jet? The basic jets are only good for subsonic low altitude stuff; they conk out at about Mach 1 / 20,000m. Turbojets and RAPIERs handle the high & fast stuff. Unless you're running a dozen engines or more, you have more intakes than you need. One intake per engine will get you to orbit just fine if you do it right. Intake effectiveness is a function of air density, AoA and speed. You can go a lot higher if you level off and crank up the speed as high as you can before trying to climb too high. You can go a lot higher if you keep your AoA minimised. You can go a lot higher if you shut down as many engines as possible to concentrate the airflow into a single jet. You can go a lot higher if you throttle back gradually as you climb, keeping the air requirement just below the flameout threshold. As you may gather from the preceding paragraph, it's as much about piloting as design. Kerbal Flight Data also gives a % of air requirement filled figure, BTW, as well as other useful stuff. Highly recommended.

1) Make sure you're using the latest dev build (look to post #6130 for where to find it), there have been some bugs to sort out that caused some craft to fly poorly. 2) See my building guide at http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/90747-Kerbodyne-SSTO-Division-Omnibus-Thread?p=1353891&viewfull=1#post1353891 BTW, have you tested to make sure that those lateral RAPIERs aren't going to melt your wings off when they switch to rocket mode? I know you can get away with sticking a linear RCS port in the middle of one, but I'd be worried about gimballed thrust hitting the wings.

1) Listen to Alshain. 2) Wanderfound's reentry/landing guide: * Send a Kerbal to the beach at the east end of the runway. Plant a flag. You now have a landing beacon. Set this flag as a target. * Burn retrograde until your trajectory intersects the ground on the west side of the KSC home continent. * As you descend, keep your nose within 10° of prograde and immediately correct any stall. You can afford a much larger AoA at higher altitudes, but you should still avoid stalls and close to prograde as soon as you start to feel the atmosphere through your controls. * Pull up as sharply as you dare. Aim to level out at ~25,000m. * Check your distance to KSC. If it's over 200km, slowly descend in order to hit 6,000m at the mountains west of KSC (which are about 5,000m tall). If it's within 200km, begin S-turns to wash off speed and altitude. * S-turns. First, decide how urgent the turn is and whether you also want to drop altitude. If the turn is urgent or you want to drop, stand the plane on its wingtip, keep the nose on the horizon and pitch up (carefully). If less urgent or you want to maintain altitude, roll to ~45° and pitch/yaw the nose around, monitoring climb rate and controlling it with pitch as you go. * Make sure the flag is still set as target. If your prograde and target markers coincide, you're heading for the end of the runway. If they aren't on a bearing of 90° while you're doing this, you're coming in at an angle. Fly to the side until the target indicator is at 90°. Then fly towards it. * Get lined up, low and slow as soon as possible. As soon as you're over the mountains, start doing S-turns and drop to the deck. Pull it down to <150m/s and <500m altitude, then point at the runway and level your wings. The shallower the approach the better. Keep engines on minimal throttle to hold speed constant. * Avoid any drastic manoeuvres over the runway. You'll probably overdo it and make things worse. * Watch your VSI (vertical speed, to the right of the altitude meter) and keep it to 5m/s or so. Triggering spoilers will increase it; balance the spoilers will gentle pitch-up. * Don't be afraid to wave off and go around again if it gets messy. Also remember that the paddock beside the runway is an easier landing strip than the runway itself. * Be ready to hit the brakes and do some delicate steering as soon as you land. Stick to the middle of the runway if you're using it. Trigger RCS and Vernors and use the "N" key for retro thrust.