Radam

Also, mechjeb helps alot. Using Smart A.S.S. surface mode, punching in 90 degree heading and 20 degree pitch (thereabouts) results in a somewhat unstable (mechjeb is less stable than stock SAS) but handsfree ascent. At least until rocket mode.

36t of cargo and 120t craft at runway. Well I havent yet designed proper reentry systems.

Best way I found so far is have a rapier or turbojet for every 12t of the craft, minimise drag, and have about 1:4 lifting surfaces to mass. And then just race to 250ms at the end of the runway point up to 20 to 23 degrees or so. And just wait untill it switches, maybe even switch manually. Then point the nose down so that apoapsis stays below 70km for as long as possible. Btw my craft has 6 rapiers, 4 turbojets, 2 nukes...

Still in 1.02: Gear down: Gear up: Thing is, when its down, drag value is say 10. When you press retract it jumps to 20 and goes down to 10 while retracting. Then it jumps up to 20 when it locks up. I would say Acd values of both models are reversed. Small landing gear works correctly, I havent checked largest one yet.

Not in 0.9... Anyway, I managed to get an orange tank into orbit with a reasonably weighted SSTO. 120t at launch 36t to orbit, well it has some clipping. That fuel section seems to be better off inside... SPH view: http://images.akamai.steamusercontent.com/ugc/534018596492242389/6D6EE0B3AB8B867BBDA5D05A2AD3776FB671D78A/ 36/120= 30% cargo fraction for a spaceplane.

Finally!! Made it to orbit with this thing, 120t at the runway. 6 rapiers, 4 turbojets, 2 nukes, loads of clipping and 36t of "cargo". Need to rearrange the fuselage and include that extra section... Edit: Turns out that adding lenght to the fuselage increases drag more than sacrificing cargo space. Can make it to orbit with about 20t of cargo without that. Mechjeb reports drag coefficient of 7.5 on the runway. Is there a plugin for calculating drag in 1.02?

Also if you are using KER to display dV, make sure you are using vacuum values.

0.9502...

No, because someone posted a 20% cargo fraction spaceplane just a few posts earlier...

I just think the cargo fraction is low. 36/285 is like 12.6%. Look at what rocket sstos are doing. 20% cargo fractions for a mammoth engine, ok surely it will take some of it to return it down to kerbin.

Put yourself in a lotus position, meditate deeply, gather your energy into a single point and break the reality barrier? More seriously, ascent should be as fast as possible, top at highest speed with good apoapsis and low enough not to explode from heat. Some just stick to 19 degrees (with good twr), some go up to 11km and drop down to break the sonic barrier and back up again.

Maybe the OP is just mad about aero not modelling occlusion of clipped wings.

In comparison, the LV-N at 0.5 twr and 6000ms dv, has a payload fraction of about 16%

Lol, I add a random pair of wings to my design and suddenly im breaking the sound barrier at sea level.

Where do you get your lift to mass ratios? Directly from part coefficients?

Anyone wanna try getting this to orbit? https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B6nxlhq2hYQ5VEZ6WGNRY0NOeEU/view?usp=sharing Btw, I took my liberty of clipping the engines as thats the least I can do to fight the soup.

This is Space Turtle for!, a very streamlined craft for a mk3. It has like drag coefficient of 6 on the runway. Cannot break the sound barrier without dropping from 11k with some help. But I havent yet managed it to get into orbit with a full orange tank inside the hull. Anyone wanna try? https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B6nxlhq2hYQ5VEZ6WGNRY0NOeEU/view?usp=sharing Btw, I took my liberty of clipping the engines as thats the least I can do to fight the soup.

If designing spaceplanes, you have to breach the sound barrier either by high twr or dropping down from 11km. When you are faster that that, drag is going down and engine thrust is going up (for rapier it maxes out at mach 3.7 at 1180kN...). There is a drag curve vs mach inside shift f12 aero section. Its flat to 0.85 mach (0.5), then quadruples to mach 1.1 (2), and about halves by mach 2 (1.2).

Still feels its flying like beta.

Ion man, that plane is big. Im trying it with 8 rapiers and half the weight. With the same payload.

Well my mk2 spaceplane still works in 1.02, it has about 25% payload fraction. Same as in 1.0, then again mk3 stuff is harder, I did get to orbit with mk3 plane, 8 rapiers and 4 nervas. As it was pure fuel without a cocpit it still has 4000dv left.

I still have a feeling were in beta.

So I got a mk3 spaceplane into orbit in 1.02. I had to do a drag reduction by clipping some adaptors. Otherwise the drag would be twice as much. And I had to jump over the mach wall by climbing to 11k and dropping down for speed. Curiously this lifts off at the middle of the runway. Too many wings I guess.

Its a wall, it doesnt do anything