bsalis

First K-prize (0.16)

Yes, it is quite good. People are very helpful. Though I think a few peeps didn't come back after the great forum derp

Sorry I never did any programming in Smalltalk. It was a bit before my time. I have heard that it was a great language to learn object-oriented programming. Or is this some other kind of smalltalk?

Probably a couple of reasons... 1. You have all the rocket fuel at the front with the dry mass of cockpit and engines at the back, so the CoM is moving behind the CoL 2. The CoM is all the way at the back end. From experience that seems to make flipping a problem. The CoD is probably in front of the CoM. To keep the design basically the same, try putting control surfaces behind the cockpit.

SSTO Spaceplanes are not very good for lifting payloads.

I just use lots of everything. It's all stock except MJ... Can get at least something to Eelloo (the central tanks are still full, with the outer tanks at about half)

Far from it. Regardless of how it is launched, you can still land it back on the KSC runway. Also, you can carry a decent payload too. It was good enough for NASA remember!

Done! All stock. EDIT: Did it again, on the VAB...

Nitpicking.

Perhaps someone can create a sequel to Disasteroid! Ahem, note the reigning champion.

Thorium fission works just fine though.

Thanks Mazlem, looks great. Using a docking port at the back end is a neat idea too. I'll start that Honors Roll now. Glad to see someone actually setting out to do the challenge, rather than posting a story like "This one time at Duna Space Camp..."

If you are just interested in getting to the surface and back to orbit, then you can try using legs...

I needs pictures.

Seems stable and ok so far. I tried it out see how the automated rendezvous and docking worked. It was wasteful of fuel and painfully slow. I think i'll keep doing that manually!

With a reasonably large SSTO using one or two LT-Ns it's not hard to get to Mun orbit and back. I have one that can land on the Mun and get back without refueling. I have also sent it to Eelloo, landed, and put it back in orbit all from a full fill in LKO. With some modifications it should do a Duna landing and return to Kerbin without refueling - others have done it.

5 parts 2.8t at launch 0.8t in orbit no jets

How will the government know (better than anyone else) that any given business venture will be profitable? They will not be able to re-pay the loan unless they make a profit right? Many new businesses routinely fail. If a business venture has a good chance of being a success, investors will lend money or buy shares (equity) to start it. No need for government intervention. If a government wants to help business, the best thing they can do is get out of the way. Such as reducing regulation, taxation and price manipulation. They should also put an end to rent seeking and other favorable arrangements for the big end of town that unbalance the playing field.

Bring back the fins! Also, the Saturn V had fins.

Well you *can* target it in map view. In the sense that the camera will center around planet you are orbiting. However for the maneuver modes, you cannot. Why do you want to do this anyhow? If you want to adjust inclination, use the Latitude readout from MechJeb.

Well you can use the Rocket Equation to work out the deltaV of a particular rocket. Knowing it for each stage is important as well. Then using a deltaV map and the ksp.olex.biz calculator, the only math you need to do is basic arithmetic.

There's changes in 0.20 to do just that. Hide and show what you want. In the mean time, best you can do is clear the debris by changing the Max Persistent Debris setting to zero, the restarting your game world. You can leave that setting on zero if you don't want to clear debris later.

It may not handle so well after you make the significant changes needed to make it an SSTO.