Just1ChanceFree

Tavert, thanks. Those were the formulas I needed!

Anyone know the exact altitude on Kerbin where LV-Ns become more fuel efficient then the 388-390 of aerospikes?

Here's some of the mods I've tried based on your recommendations and this is the best I've been able to come up with so far. At 10,000m I shut down aerospikes so I only have the LVT-45s (vectoring) and the nukes (vectoring) running and then turn on RCS before attempting the gravity turn. I'm able to stabilize after spinning laterally about 2160 degrees (6 full revolutions). I still feel like something odd is going on here. Also it is no longer SSTO but that might only be due to steering losses while spinning. You can also see how the center of lift is oddly displaced even though I have added is winglets on the external LVT-45 tanks using symmetry function.

I'm realizing I may have loaded the wrong image of the rocket I'm currently working on, the current one has 12x giant solar panels and everything else where it should. Good catch though. On fuel lines: It was something weird about the kethane mod and this specific design that when I have a fuel line that goes from outside orange tanks into the center converter, it uses the fuel from the top-part orange tank last and makes the whole craft overly top-heavy. As the fuel is currently set up, it does in fact drain from the top first, then the outer orange tanks, and finally the small tanks near the nuke. Not entirely sure why it does work correctly, but I've checked it by right clicking on tanks mid-flight. I think since each of the orange tanks is connected to each other and it won't drain from the same tank twice it will now finally see the top tank as the furthest away from the engines. On winglets: for some reason when I put winglets on the orange tanks at the bottom it will shift my center of lift outside of the center line (to the left). Even if I place them using the symmetry feature. The original design had 2 at the bottom of each tank on either side of the drill. No dice. It still acted like the top was receiving too much drag while the bottom wasn't experiencing enough air resistance to keep it aligned. My guess is what I'm experiencing is something odd from how the game calculates the drag on parts like the aerospikes.

Not really sure what I'm doing wrong here. SSTO works great up until 10,000m at which point it becomes almost entirely unstable whenever I attempt to make the gravity turn. If I wait until past 30,000m it is completely stable as well, but I don't quite have the fuel differential to wait that long to begin circularizing the orbit. Any ideas why I lose control and how I could fix it? I've done everything I can think of - adding wings to every part, removing parts, ect. Fuel drains out of the top first before the bottom orange tanks and finally the nukes. Main engines are all aerospikes which is part of why control is difficult, but it shouldn't be impossible right? Would SAS or ASAS help? if so, where do I put them? 7 units weren't enough to make me stable (on top of orange tanks and top of rocket). If you want the .craft just ask (uses kethane)

Maybe your right, what I'm looking to do is create a craft (using Kethane and Mechjeb) that is capable of travel to and from every solid planet in the system (save Eve). Then I intend to take Jeb on a grand tour. I'm building a SST0 that can function as a dropship on Tylo, down and up should need ~7000 m/s no? Its in part a "is this possible" question.

What's the most Delta V you can jam into a SSTO (rocket) on the launch pad? I'd maxing out at about 6.5 k/s and trying to design something with about 7.2. Any suggestions?

I was an idiot. Mods please delete.

Way to take an idea and run with it lol. At least we know an orange tank with little engines is efficient...

Grumble. Back to the boring aerospikes then

Working on this myself - shouldn't it be more efficient in theory to have both nukes and high-thrust engines that you fire in balance at different times and altitudes? I'm allowing myself Kethane mod to refuel once on the surface of Eve, jsut have to have a SSTO that can take off afterward and carry all the drills/converter.

Sorry to be unclear...ya I'm still a noob. SSTO is the idea, without using jet engines. Normal rocket fuel and oxidizer are cool, with no intake air.

Simple challenge, most tons to orbit using SSTO. Intake Air not allowed. Extra points for a SSTO on Eve (can start with full fuel) My idea is to create a lander that could fly from planet to planet with only mid-flight refueling, eventual goal for myself is to land on every solid planet in a single mission. SSTO on EVE is, I believe, being discussed elsewhere and as such this thread will turn into a straight "most tons to orbit using SSTO" challenge. I would edit thread name if it would let me. Current Leaders: ISTAS - Mass to orbit: 2343.67 tons.

Hey all, still a noob to KSP but need help with my Kethane-based Mun lander. Got there, got the tanks filled and I can't seem to get the to ignite. Always is "flame out" even though it consumes fuel it provides no thrust. I've searched around, and it seems these engines are supposed to work with no atmosphere, is that perhaps not implemented yet? What am I doing wrong?

I'll send ya my success as a contest entry. All stock parts save MechJeb. The plan was to get my space station rotational gravity housing for personnel into orbit but I never ended up needing to stage. Have to fly this behemoth by hand, mechjeb and even ASAS screw it up. Still, 857.7 Tons to stable orbit, albeit eccentric. 4022 tons on the pad. Had to send up a refuel-er to circularize orbit.