ForScience6686

No. The distance did increase to some 20km or so, not sure of the exact distance. So it is better, but I don't see it ever going away.

Sky cranes are my go to just because they're fun. I love watching them zip off, after dropping the load, and have them self destruct into the surface.

I present to you, The Arrow. Crew transport SSTO space plane for 6 to LKO then beyond. Re-fueling options allow for (almost) limitless travels. Included mining package. Welcoming feed back. Too many pictures so I've linked it. Hope you enjoy! http://imgur.com/a/Vuzac Planned alterations: -Adding full RCS package. -Upgrade with limited science package.

Well that eliminates my concern. Can you not rotate after holding alt? I can't recall if it allows that.

Get an a highly elliptical orbit and change at the ap. At minmus this is a very cheap maneuver.

What are you attaching the docking port to? Could it be, like for a cargo bay, that it's trying to attach to the inner node?

Correct. Also keep in mind that pushing the vectors in, instead of pulling away from node, allows finer control of adjustment. Generally I don't make the maneuver node perfect, just close. Then make the burn and fine adjust after.

I set the node until an encounter is made. Focus on the target and adjust the node from there. You'll have to much trouble setting the node placement from the targets view, plus even the slightest adjustment of the node placement well make dramatic end results. So I find it better to adjust the node to finalize the desired trajectory after setting the node for an encounter.

Hold off on transmitting until you can recharge the batteries. Otherwise you'll be dead in space, or you'll bee lugging around a hefty mass of batteries. Just save the results until recovery.

Your center of lift changes based on control surfaces and aoa. So the tools you see in the sph only apply to horizontal level flight. If you tilt control surfaces or the entire craft you will see how that affects col.

Hmm good to note. I have not dealt with very large loads so far in this version. I would guess at that point you may be better off with larger gear though. As far as using girders and other parts, I just don't see that as acceptable. I like some bit of realism here, and the bugs haven't cause much problems to consider that route.

Another benefit of the rear mounted chutes is they help keep you pointed the right. But use the drogue chute as it will stay with you until you stop fully. Beyond that, real planes don't just dive down to the runway. Generally they have a positive aoa on the descent. Which will usually mean a powered landing to keep your speed above the stall limit until you reach the runway. Another critical item is flaps. These induce drag while providing more lift for better low speed flight. I love them plus they look cool. On my most recent space plane, I used what I'm guessing would be considered a spoiler. This design has the wings at rear, the outer control surface is for elevator and roll, but is deployed in reentry causing the nose to pitch up. The result causes the remaining elevators to try and push the nose back down increasing drag without any added parts, and it helps keep a positive aoa on descent. Beyond that you have air brakes, or reverse thrust options.

Think about how they are used on cars. A heavier vehicle needs stiffer springs. And the dampener helps prevent the oscillation of the spring, i.e. the bouncing. I generally increase the dampened to reduce the side to side sway in planes and reduce the bounce back on legs. Stiffness will be determined by how heavy the load is. By adjusting these and setting up the gear correctly, I haven't had t to many issues with them.

A couple things I notice. Your landing gear are at an odd angle. They should be pointing straight down. You have such little wing area. I would also guess you have to much elevator. I would get rid of the horizontal stabilizers at the rear. Make sure your control surfaces are set properly as well. As a space plane, I think you'll have issues on re entry with that cockpit and nose. I could be wrong but it looks like the v tail has incidence pushing the nose down.

Just keep running new missions, but keep an eye on your ongoing missions. I like to send probes to other planets as soon as I can. No need to wait for perfect launch windows, you just need the required dv. And sending tiny probes can be quite easy. You don't need all that fancy tech to get it done, and you'll have plenty of time farming the kerbin system while you wait for the encounter. Or you can just go to sandbox if you're looking for a quick trip to a planet to try out a design.

So in that case, wouldn't it be better to use the 450 engine with less mass as well as some srbs to make up the needed thrust? Maybe I've learned incorrectly, but srbs have always been my first stage as they are cheap and only really useful in the denser atmosphere. Sorry to derail this discussion a bit...

This is the first time I'm hearing that you should limit throttle on ascent. I've always heard that you're bringing too much engine if you aren't running at full throttle. However, I'm generally only on srbs until at least 10km, then full throttle from there.

I don't consider it to be a big drag on lift off from kerbin. You're talking about a 5 minute trip through the atmosphere, and the rest of the craft will cause much more drag then your cocktail umbrella. But I would ditch it once you've slowed down enough to pop chutes.

Torque is easier achieved when applied further from the com. So put them as far away as possible. Or another option is to increase the drag at the rear. Attach a girder to the top and place air brakes at the end to deploy on re entry. I've used this technique for dropping large items inside fairings. It looked like an egg with a cocktail umbrella sticking out the top.

This is something a lot of people miss. In the upper atmosphere you generate a lot of heat, but due to the thin air you cannot radiate that heat off the vehicle very well. That's why getting to the lower atmosphere helps remove heat while also providing more air resistance to slow you down faster. You get better drag as you shed weight, since your drag profile stays the same while having to slow down less mass. This is also why reducing ablator to only what you need is a good idea. Otherwise you have that much more mass reducing your drag ratio. One thing to try is holding normal while above 45km. This greatly increases your drag ratio before you start getting to the heavy heating, hopefully reducing your speed sooner.

Another option is to adjust after capturing into a highly elliptical orbit. Wait until the ap, when you'll be moving the slowest and make the changes needed.

I prefer steeper re entries, but that comes at the cost of the needed fuel to slow down enough to bring the pe well below the surface. Now it all depends on your drag ratio of the craft, but generally I burn at the desert to the west of ksc, and bring the trajectory to just before the island in booster bay directly east of ksc. Then use aoa to adjust the descent. Works much better with space planes as there is more drag and lift available depending on how the return is going.

So I completed the first test of this scenario this morning before work. Coming in with a very steep reentry. Now it wasn't a shuttle but I survived with hardly a temp bar showing up in the gigantors. Dropping from just above 75km to splash down in between ksc and booster peninsula. Had control issues at 900 m/s but held course for a runway landing. This design could not hold radial very well, but still did very well with heat. Had to use jets to make the final leg, but I had plenty of fuel for that. Tonight I'll run it through a shallow entry and post the pictures in hopes to show the in ability to radiate heat in the upper atmosphere, and why I choose steep for heat issues as well as targeting the landing strip.

That's not a needed fix for this. His reentry profile is what needs work. It was even stated that the shuttle used an aoa of 40° and he is using 20 and below. Spins can be avoided by staying off the stick. When traveling at such high speeds, control deflection is exaggerated and most often too much input is given. I had the same issue with a space plane, I had to keep it set to radial until below 500 m/s before making course changes. Otherwise flat spins would ensue.

You must pitch up more than that to get the best drag. For space planes that's usually above 30°, depending on design. At that low of pitch, you're hardly generating drag and only slightly improving lift. Staying in the upper atmosphere has the problem of generating heat with very little air resistance. So you need to get down to the thicker air to help slow you down faster, as well as allow the heat to radiate into the surrounding air. I've had better luck with steeper entries myself, but I design for a light re entry weight and hold aoa at 90° for maximum drag. I then adjust aoa as needed for glide to the runway.