ForScience6686

Better maneuverability = col on com. Other than that you're trying to make a airliner a fighter so you will struggle. Add more thrust as you should expect to lose speed in high g turns.

I used to use rolling to protect the landing legs. It also would induce a wobble ( SAS off) that exposed more area to the air flow for increased breaking.

I would shoot for at least 30 above prograde as that is generally the best angle for lift from the wings. In the upper atmosphere I'm generally 90 from prograde and adjust down as required to make it to the runway. at 20 you're not putting much resistance to the airflow. Conversely, I have also tried the steeper descent and it has been successful, but I was deflecting as much as possible the entire way down, and with a light craft. Remember the heavier the craft the harder it is to slow down.

That is one method. Or you could limit the thrust in the engine right click menu, if you don't have rcs.

I have just finished start up of space k at the island. Includes a mining rig and fuel truck, shuttle jet to bring astronauts to and from the island, and a panther ssto space plane that has now completed 3 successful trips to orbit. the island will serve as base for all reusable craft and will handle lko rescues and station transfers. The worst part about this operation is lag, so I can't wait for 1.1 update. Other than that, very small wheel base for taxi abilities makes landing difficult. But being able to taxi properly means no tug needed.

I am guessing you are using this for landing reference. If the objects are so close together does it matter which is selected? One you get close enough you should be able to eye ball the landing. I use a marker for landing as well but disable makers about 25 km out and eye ball the rest.

I like the small hard point and tend to use it more often. I like the streamlined look better

Sure just pack enough dv for a quicker transfer.

I would try and lift off solely on Srbs, that will give you cheap power and you can save your engines for higher altitude where they are more efficient and more powerful. Add a couple more Srbs and throttle them down to prevent going to fast to low.

For small sub assemblies, I'll start building from my desired connection point so I don't have to mess with the root tool. I would also agree with the fairing, less space restrictive and not necessary for a one use rocket. Plus you can mount many more probes. I used this method to haul 9 probes to eve.

Trim is only worthwhile if you aren't using SAS in a plane. Mainly used for pitch to set level flight at cruising speeds. Alt+directional input will set trim, alt+x to reset. It basically holds the control surface at the set trim level.

Work to reduce payload mass, this will make huge savings as the dv will increase for every stage. Nukes are heavy and should only be used on the interplanetary voyage. Smallest engine possible otherwise. Twr is not as important as dv. Dv is king as you won't be going anywhere without enough. Empty tanks should be discarded to improve both dv and Twr. 36t is not that large so I would focus on improving your launch and interplanetary stages.

Try and arrive at the an or dn. That way you can save on the inclination, but it limits when you can make the journey. I haven't made a shot for minmus from mun, but have done plenty the other way around. Try not to worry to much on trip duration, go start another mission while you wait.

The only time the advance really makes a difference is early career. I expand mission control for more available contracts and use the advance for more building upgrades. Early contracts are usually cheap to complete so I'm not too worried about using up the advance.

I had broken ships. Anything on structural pylons vanished, which was my entire duna fleet. New career was started

You know I did not try the two terrier setup, that should give me the power plus better efficiency. As well as less hazardous with shorter engine hangingoff the back. Looks like I will making more changes to it tonight. Thanks for the idea slash.

I'm not a fan of clipping like you describe aero. And I was quite impressed it made orbit. My design does not drop engines, and I tried with the terrier but it didn't have the power needed. It's planned to be completely reusable and can only rescue or drop off at the station. I plan to refit it for Sat deployment, but I'll have to devise a method of getting the satellites to the island runway and loaded in. Space-K has purchased the island airbase and will be taking over low orbit duties as they advance their fleet. They will only use ksc for new construction and repairs.

I had great results with shortening the wheel base. But in order to get the agility needed on the ground I had to sacrifice some landing stability. But more practice with the plane has made it easily and a parachute on the rear if I start to get off track. It looks a bit funky but after looking at real world planes the gear tends to be rather closer than I normally design. Thanks for the idea snark! And I do use stick so proportional steering is available, but a shorter base makes huge improvements.

So here is my goal, to setup a reusable fleet at the island air base that is self sufficient ( except for fuel tankers in case I can't get a suitable mining setup there). So this adds the requirement to taxi. I would disagree with real world planes, they can actually be quite nimble on the ground. My current plane is my first ssto, so rover wheels are not an option, as that would add too much drag.

Snark that is a great idea, I will give it a shot tonight. The ship I'm dealing with currently does have a very long wheel base as the wheels are mounted on therear to prevent smacking the engine on the ground. II'd like to change that but i'm testing its other abilities at the moment.

So it just sucks at steering? Is it limited on it's steering range? I have tried activating and inverting the rear gear with no improvement. I was guessing that my best option would be a ground tug, but I'm not sure how to go about it in stock.

Is there a trick to the steering for the small landing gear? I'm trying to setup a fleet at the island base, but it is a pain to move things around. Yes I have unlocked steering but it does not provide much agility for taxi operations. Multi point turns is also qquite a hassle without engines that can reverse. This is a problem on all my crafts, but it has never really been an issue until I've needed the ability to taxi for island operations. Any ideas?

I managed to build my first ssto space pane last night using 2 Panthers and a swivel. Was surprised it actually made orbit, nor much fuel to spare but with more practice flying it I should be able to squeeze some dv out. I've got a question, would it be better to get into a steeper climb and ignite the rocket sooner, or build slightly more speed at a low aoa. I am thinking I had better results with the higher vertical speed to escape the atmosphere sooner. I can barely get to 800 m/s on the Panthers once at altitude at about 5 degrees.

It should default to on, which means it will be in the staging lineup. So make sure it's in the right order and press space bar. You can hover the mouse over it and it will highlight the staging icon for it. If that doesn't work, chances are you placed it improperly attaching to the wrong node, or you already staged it and it didn't have the power to push your payload up and off.

Angle your ship on reentry to cause more drag. Work on slowing down as much ad you can before coming into the thicker atmosphere. I had a similar ship but only one science Jr and a heat shield below and I would disable SAS to allow the ship to rock and never had issues. I'm guessing the heat shield helped keep the mass lower.