Warzouz

Woooh ! On reentry of the first stage, I had some oscillations, quite a lot (Even SAS or MJ wasn't able to suppress it. I supposed that it was due to atmospheric model. NO, it's due to part joints even if perfectly symmetrical and reinforced with struts. With Joints reinforcement, reentry follow retrograde without any intervention. The rocket is steady.

Air brake while ascending ? they cause massive drag.. I solved my problem with Joint Reinforcement. I'm fed up with those stupid docking ports. In beta 0.9, you could build stupid structures to reinforce you rocket. Now it's nearly impossible. The problem wasn't the first stage SSTO-rocket but th wobbling created by the SAS/course correction and docking ports even struted 8 times each.

Thank you for you WONDERFULL mod. I was fed up with those noodle docking ports which makes stations parts quite impossible to launch even with fairing. Magically, my rocket now goes straight and stop wobbleing. Thanks you again Ferram4

Hmmm, my test launches when smoothly, so I reduced the size of the bottom wing. I thought that having a very tall (4 stacked orange tank (+ bay and nose cone) payload would be a sufficient limit test. But using my launcher in real situation turned badly. I'm trying to orbit space stations elements. Even using struts, I can't avoid heavy wobble. I can't event add 2 orange tanks with docking ports and struts (I don't have the BIG ports) With wobble, the rocket tend to flip. I had to return to the big wings. Still struggling with ascent it seems. Suggestions ?

I also get mostly engineers. I got only 1 pilot, 2 scientists and 8 engineers

"Massless parts" are parts where "PhysicsSignificance = 1" in the CFG file. In Beta, those parts had no mass and no drag. In 1.0, those parts have drag. Their mass is now added to the parent part. So I have to protect them from airflow (bay or fairing) but I don't have to balance them. Am I right ?

You can use a SSTO rocket The 4 orange fuel tank are dead weight in that example, but adding some RCS would only add few tons. 140T of fuel to LKO. first stage is reusable. Trip only costs less than 700 funds per ton of payload.

Well, I tried a powered landing. easy, finally, except those western mountains of KSC aren't a safe place to land ... Ah, better edit : BTW, airbrakes are VERY usefull to tweak landing site. They really create a LOT of drag. I landed at KSC just after reloading my previous descent in the mountains.

I would recommend not to land it but to send it on a somewhat polar orbit with pile of fuel and use an small(est) lander/hopper with a scientist to get data back. You can strip Mun of science in one mission. I did that on Eeloo and brought back 18000 science in beta 0.9. All biome visited in kerbal 2 days. Simply just wait that you sation is nearly above the biome you want to visit to leave and land. Do some hops if you can (to save return fuel). then wait the "station" is above your lander to take off and you get a cheap docking

It's not a SSTO but a SSTM ! "single stage to minmus" Yep, those mamoth are great for athmo flight. Heavy but high thrust and decent ISP (atm).

Reentry from 75km orbit (2300m/s) : - Winglets exploded. - Rockamax adapter exploded, even with a heatshield covering the small size front.

From what I've understood : If you fall to horizon too fast - noser to heavy/long - TWR too low If you stay too straight/high - bottom to heavy/long - Too much fins at the back - TWR too high (reduce throttle) Am I right ?

I usually have fuel left after dorbit which I use to slowdown (usually nearly 300m/s). I could keep it for a near touch down burn. I'm not sure that 300m/s slowdown in upper atmo does much for heat protection. I don't have landing struts just because it's not too easy to target landing point. Let's say I've 50% to overshoot KSC. I'll try some tweaks. But tests are quite long to perform... (take-off, circularize, release payload, set deorbit node, manage renetry, final landing)... Also I'll try to ass some more aerobrakes. I've only added 1 per engine. Maybe I could save on heatshields.

Never trust ads . Don' forget you can wait to do contracts. Don't hesitate to upgrade mission control (recommended to get manover nodes) to get more contracts.

I'm still hitting the ground at 10m/s with 48 chutes (15m/s with 24 chutes) At that speed, the engins aren't detroyed but tanks can. How can I secure the rocket without adding more chutes ? For now, lateral engines and tanks are connected to the central tank at the topmost tank. Then I added tanks top to bottom and finally the engine. I fixed the engines with a single strut to the central tank, then added fuel line. Do you think that would matter if I attached the engine first (not even sure that I can)? or even the bottom tank. then build bottom to top and attach a strut at the top ?

Thx for that topic. I was wondering the same exactly as inbeta 0.9, I built a large station to explore Jool's moons with various SSTO. It was really fun to play ; much more than throwable missions which only leave debris floating in space.

Yes, the flat adapter looks best. Even the big docking ports won't create a "module" feeling. You'll end with a big cylinder in space. I tried many combination in beta 0.9 and ended with the medium docking ports. Big docking ports can be useful to increase a specific module (adding 2 more crew quarter), but that not quite often. EDIT : and for flying a space station to Jool, why not assembling it over there. I assembled a 13 part space station (400T total) around Laythe to explore all the moons (several times). I brought back 41000 science points.

Can you use them backwards and add decoupler on 3 engines ? In Beta I had a lot of trouble to use them efficiently. I ended using them as lateral engines support (for LVN). But with the new Aero, such a design might not fit in a fairing.

I did a 60m/s deorbit and hit water past KSC at 10m/s. The winglets survived (I added airbrakes and doubled the chutes - 48 now). Still, I broke something but I recovered most of it. Stage price with fuel : 439 600 Stage price without fuel : 366 900 Stage recovery : 340 500 at 94% Total loss in funds : 99.1k Per payload ton : 683 funds / ton Full rocket weight : 1138T Stage weight (fueled) : 994T Payload weight : 144.3T Weight efficiency : 12.7% TWR : 1.51 on launch pad dV for 145T = 3675m/s dV to deorbit (without payload) = 350m/s I'll do more tweaking tomorrow (click to enlarge)

OK, I used a doble heat shield. That worked First landing : damaged but nothing exploded. I need more chutes... I'll try a more shallow angle.

Yep, Further more 70km is not really realistic because you're on the edge on the atmo. Your orbit must be perfect not to detgrade. 75km would be much realistic. 3500 should be a minimum and 3600 more reasonable for most ships

True, that depends on the shape of the ship. In beta 0.9 that wasn't and only solar panels were in danger.

And a related question : how to aerobrake in 1.0.2. I did a lot a aerobraking between 115 and 120km in beta 0.90. That went very well.

In beta 0.9, launching rocket was finally dull. I usually used MJ to do the ascent and even staging while doing something else. With 1.0.2, at first I was unhappy because I wasn't able to send anything to irbit. I struggled a lot toi achieve it. Still, I fail sometimes. MJ can also fail to orbit rocket I can orbit myself. Well, struggling is mostly behind be. Orbiting and renetry is more challenging and interesting. You have to test more, not only getting the correct dV and TWR. Also flying planes is much more interesting. Sure there are some glitches on some parts regarding heating but that's marginal. I found new Aero a very positive thing to Kerbal SP.

Yes transmit is less rewarding. But to bring it back you must have a return vehicle. Probes are rarely return vehicles. Further more. When you get science, you want to have a scientist to remove science from equipement to redo science again. If you keep your data and you can't remove it, you can only do it once. And if you want to dock you probe on station, you need RCS equipement, which is usually not on probes (but nothing is impossible in KSP). If you want to collect science efficiently you have to send Kerbals. Further more, I suggest you send some kind of refueling mothership/station. Create a very light lander and do some multiple landing and refueling. I did that on minmus and landed on each of 9 biomes. I got 4 pilots or scientists planting flags. Refueled 3 times. Without gravity and sesmic detector, I did 4500 science on one mission. In beta 0.9, I did such a mission on Jool and brought back 41000 science points. (that was a really BIG mission)