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So I've been messing around with spaceplanes in RO and I'm starting to think the maxtemp skin values of 1800 make it impossible to do a mk1 spaceplace. The MK1 stuff explodes trying to exit or enter the atmosphere at orbital velocities. The mk2 stuff is at more like 2273 to 2500. Can we give MK1 higher temp values? Or is this all moot once 1.05 and 1.1 come out?

This is the lowest tier tech minimal SSTO I could come up with. Initial climb and boost to 75m apogee in less than 2 minutes. Full orbital insertion about 3 minutes from cold start on the runway

Duh, hyperedit for the win! I don't care if others consider it "cheaty", I've landed these spaceplanes 100's of times, I can do it in my sleep, I have nothing to prove to myself or anyone else by landing them manually over and over.

I have some awesome space planes that can haul tons of stuff to orbit. I'd like to use them as the backbone of my fleet, but flying the return to KSC is getting tedious. I can do it perfectly 100% of the time, I would just like to not have to waste 20-30 minutes of my life for every launch recovery.

I'm pretty sure a ground based refinery is the most efficient, as your tanker can drop from orbit with a minimum of fuel. These 3 crafts allow you to have full refinery and science capabilities on most bodies in the Kerbin system. The tug can drop and recover the science and refinery trucks to and from orbit and provides for a healthy fuel transfer vehicle as well. Just drive the truck under the tug and align the docking ports, set the brakes, switch to the tug, and retract the landing gear. Now you are mated! The refinery truck has a claw for refueling random vehicles as well. The CG of both trucks is aligned both both horizontally and vertically with the docking ports for ease of launching/recovering.

These 3 crafts allow you to have full refinery and science capabilities on most bodies in the Kerbin system. The tug can drop and recover the science and refinery trucks to and from orbit and provides for a healthy fuel transfer vehicle as well. Just drive the truck under the tug and align the docking ports, set the brakes, switch to the tug, and retract the landing gear. Now you are mated! The refinery truck has a claw for refueling random vehicles as well. The CG of both trucks is aligned both both horizontally and vertically with the docking ports for ease of launching/recovering.

Wow, some great stuff in here. Here's some spaceplane tips. 1. The Center of Mass should always be forward of the Center of Lift, usually the two spheres just touching is good balance. 2. Make sure to distribute your fuel tanks as evenly as possible around the Center of Mass. Verify the Center of Mass does not change as the fuel is consumed by removing all the fuel from the tanks in the SPH. CoM should be the same (or very close) when full and empty of fuel. 3. Try to keep all engines in-line with the CoM. This prevents any unwanted pitch/thrust coupling.

Help with RO re-entry? Is there a guide/tutorial or other help with designing ships to survive re-entry in RO? I can survive an LKO re-entry in MK1 pod, but can't seem to find any combo of parts and decent profile to survive a direct lunar re-entry. Shallow re-entry requires 1/2 dozen orbits, a re-entry deep enough to slow down in one attempt = death. Some example craft and flight profiles would be useful. Hopeful Scott Manleys series will cover this soon, but I am too impatient to wait Any advice appreciated.

What exactly does "RP-0 nocost" mean in the descriptions of some of my parts? I understand they are not in the "base" version of RP-0, but is it OK to use them?

Thank you sir!

Launch clamps spawning in the center of my craft while ascending? I've had numerous spontaneous disassemblies due to launch clamps magically appearing in/next to my ship while launching. I can see them, and the flight logs shows "collision with launch clamp" usually between about 5 and 10km. Thoughts?

Any way to determine delta v available from RCS? Mechjeb doesn't seem to work for this.

I have the same issue. It's the 1st "upgraded" runway, haven't tried the fully upgraded yet. I just drive off the runway onto the grass and takeoff from there On a slightly different topic. Are there any successful space planes in RO? I haven't found any from any recent version. I have a rocket plane that does mach 6 but it just starts getting crazy to engineer something that stays stable past that. I don't know how to make something that will stay stable at re-entry speeds. Any help/tips would be appreciated.

Yeah sorry, was a typo, your numbers are correct. Also, I did eject my gear after liftoff (same as Nao, I think) which maybe counts as a stage? Staging order was wonky in 1st screenie, I eject the gear after liftoff, and decouple the payload once in orbit

My latest attempt. Der Snorkenklugen @ 47.7% Not as good as Nao's, but pretty good for a larger launcher. Might be interesting to split the categories by size (1.25, 2.5, etc...) of payload, I think there are peak efficiencies achievable by each size. Might also be interesting to have standard payloads, forcing the design of the launcher to accommodate the payload instead of the other way around. Just thinking out loud, what a fun challenge! FYI, I renamed the craft after the flight (called test2 in the screenshots)

Nao, thanks for the clarification, what a marvel of engineering, I am amazed it works!

except it also says " All reaction wheels, batteries and fuel tanks in the payload must be disabled via tweakables." which would leave his craft without battery or SAS.

I am confused about the rules. - Payload must be inert and contribute nothing but incidental body lift and command authority to the lifter (crewed pod or probe core is ok). All reaction wheels, batteries and fuel tanks in the payload must be disabled via tweakables. Nao's entry must be using the batteries and reaction wheels in the command pod, is this legal? Beyond this, I would like to see more data on his flight, I have a hard time understanding how this entry actually flew to space with no control surfaces and no SAS, including no vertical stabilizer and a highly variable CoM (due to fuel location). Additionally, how does this thing balance on the runway with the wheels as shown? It seems only possible with super-strong SAS. Nao, would you be willing to share your .craft file? I do not mean to doubt the legitimacy of this flight, I am just trying to understand exactly how the above challenges were overcome.

Latest attempt: I present "MK3 Cargo SSTO 1 Bay -record" which is a slightly optimized version of my standard MK3 Cargo SSTO 1 Bay cargo hauler. Weighs 158.5t at launch, delivers 51t to LKO. 32.17% Payload Fraction Had some oxidizer left over, could probably could do a better launch profile with less fuel loaded for a better ratio.

Opening my 1.02 save in 1.03 results in bizarre VAB behavior where I can't click on anything. Can only exit back out.

Putting airbakes on any vehicle results in a drastic change in CoL regardless of deployed state. CoL does not seem to change with deployed state. Seems to always affect CoL as if deployed. Subsequent airbrake installs do not affect CoL at all. Wierd... Edit: Further testing show it to be in the VAB only. SPH behavior seems normal. Pics! Same craft in SPH and VAB

Delivered 51 tons to LKO and landed at KSC with "MK3 SSTO Cargo 1 Bay". For my stock aircraft, AUW at takeoff was 174.2t so mass percentage was 29.2% to LKO with enough fuel to de-orbit and land at KSC. Super practical and easy to fly cargo plane. Removing all the extra fuel and practical parts got takeoff weight down to 164t, resulting in a 31% payload to orbit. I bet I could still do better. Download crafts here: https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=0B4zLBUio4kInZzA5Z3VnVThjR0k&usp=drive_web&ddrp=1#

Delivered 51 tons to LKO and landed at KSC with "MK3 SSTO Cargo 1 Bay" Super practical and easy to fly cargo plane. https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=0B4zLBUio4kInZzA5Z3VnVThjR0k&usp=drive_web&ddrp=1#

I present my line of stock MK3 cargo haulers for KSP, the MK3 SSTO Cargo series. 1 Bay is tested to 51t to LKO with enough fuel remaining for de-orbit and landing. 1.5 and 2 Bay versions can carry larger payloads, but lose a bit on total mass capability due to the extra mass and drag of the additional cargo fuselage bits. 2 Bay can still do 45t to LKO. Vehicles are extremely easy to fly with reasonable takeoff and landing speeds and handling characteristics. They are perfectly balanced with CoM at center of cargo bays, and all fuel evenly distributed to keep CoM unchanged from beginning to end. If you want a reliable workhorse that you can just throw a large payload into orbit with, and recover for only fuel costs, this is it. Extremely practical: Shielded Docking Port in front, Docking Port Sr. in back for docking with anything 8 RCS thrusters and 250 MonoProp for orbital maneuvering Large Reaction Wheel for orbital maneuvering 4500 Electric Charge and 2 small panels for power Quad Airbrakes for extreme re-entry angles and glide-path control Fore/Aft/Internal Lighting Standard flight profile: Takeoff Full Power in airbreathing mode, rotate at about ~80m/s, keep shallow climb until ~200m/s airspeed Increase climb to 30-40 degree AoA At ~10k go to a ballistic trajectory by keeping the nose inside the pro-grade marker, maintain until climb levels out and airspeed is around 400m/s Once airspeed is >400m/s begin gentle climb to ~100m/s Allow speed and climb to accelerate, target is ~1400m/s horizontal and ~150m/s climb as you pass ~22k alt Do not switch to closed-cycle until thrust is <40 per engine, should be ~28k alt for switch-over Burn at 20-30 degree AoA until climb is ~300m/s then put nose on or just above prograde marker until desired AP is reached Landing Approx 1/4 orbit from LZ perform retro-burn until impact is just long of LZ. Keep trajectory ballistic or slightly nose up Use AoA and Airbrakes to keep glidepath just long of LZ When LZ is ~30 degrees or more below nose, point straight at it using airbrakes to modulate airspeed Approach ~100m/s, landing ~60m/s with empty tanks and no cargo. Download Here: https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=0B4zLBUio4kInZzA5Z3VnVThjR0k&usp=drive_web&ddrp=1#