White Dart 1.0. It was about time.

[SHiftER2O]

Mmmm... I'm curious, how would that go? Because my forum time is extremely limited these days... But yeah, in principle, I don't have anything against other people using my stuff for awesomeness.

Basically just promoting your craft, no need for much forum time spent I'm promoting noteworthy SSTOs, diggin through the forums

[Raptor9]

Very cool SSTO Rune, my RAC cell was giving my spaceplane, the "Valkyrie", a break for a bit. The cargo variant (with no payload) had barely enough dV to get to a 71x71km orbit and back, and the passenger variant came just short of circularizing it due to the slightly higher weight. Wasn't sure what else I could do with the design, seemed to be in a constant battle between carrying enough fuel and maintaining a decent TWR, and that was before addressing the payload fraction.

But after seeing the elegantly simple design of your White Dart, I'm going to reallocate more engineering time to my own spaceplane project.

[Jon144]

It is built as simply as the stock crafts but looks as good as planes with twice the amount of parts. Good work!

[Rune]

Very cool SSTO Rune, my RAC cell was giving my spaceplane, the "Valkyrie", a break for a bit. The cargo variant (with no payload) had barely enough dV to get to a 71x71km orbit and back, and the passenger variant came just short of circularizing it due to the slightly higher weight. Wasn't sure what else I could do with the design, seemed to be in a constant battle between carrying enough fuel and maintaining a decent TWR, and that was before addressing the payload fraction.

http://i1356.photobucket.com/albums/q737/raptor_9000/Placeholder%20Photos/SPH%20Showcase/SPH%20004%20Spaceplane%20Section_zpsweg97q06.jpg

But after seeing the elegantly simple design of your White Dart, I'm going to reallocate more engineering time to my own spaceplane project.

Well, you are trying to push a bit more weight than I am, but you could make use of some drag-reducing trick to eke out a bit more performance. Try putting shock cones on the back of the RAPIERs and offsetting them inside a bit, you should see a big difference going transonic.

It is built as simply as the stock crafts but looks as good as planes with twice the amount of parts. Good work!

Thanks! That's what I was going for actually

Rune. It is my entry-level SSTO after all.

[Tangle]

Breaking mach before going shallow AND not burning up are surprisingly hard to do.

Still getting into orbit though...

Margins are either smaller than imagined, or I'm a worse pilot than imagined. No LF left, used monoprop to get orbit. Only the default cargo. Tried using VTOLs to achieve orbit, maybe that's what caused me to run out but I was low anyway. Maybe I lingered too much in the "level" phase- I stayed until my speed started lowering.

Edited June 14, 2015 by Tangle

[Rune]

Breaking mach before going shallow AND not burning up are surprisingly hard to do.

Still getting into orbit though...

Margins are either smaller than imagined, or I'm a worse pilot than imagined. No LF left, used monoprop to get orbit. Only the default cargo. Tried using VTOLs to achieve orbit, maybe that's what caused me to run out but I was low anyway. Maybe I lingered too much in the "level" phase- I stayed until my speed started lowering.

Hum. Maybe you are a bit too afraid of burning up? As soon as you go over 17kms, don't be afraid to go to a lower AoA. It will minimize drag, and your vertical speed will be high enough that you will get out of the atmosphere before the heat builds up. And no, you shouldn't use the VTOLs to make orbit, they point entirely the wrong way. Just burn the RAPIERs (at the very same isp, but higher TWR) until you get a sufficiently high apoapsis. Using VTOLs in atmo, even rarefied atmo, means the whole wings is acting as an airbrake against them.

Rune. And it's a big wing. Hug prograde!

[Tangle]

Hum. Maybe you are a bit too afraid of burning up? As soon as you go over 17kms, don't be afraid to go to a lower AoA. It will minimize drag, and your vertical speed will be high enough that you will get out of the atmosphere before the heat builds up. And no, you shouldn't use the VTOLs to make orbit, they point entirely the wrong way. Just burn the RAPIERs (at the very same isp, but higher TWR) until you get a sufficiently high apoapsis. Using VTOLs in atmo, even rarefied atmo, means the whole wings is acting as an airbrake against them.

Rune. And it's a big wing. Hug prograde!

Nah, I turned off reentry heating... Sent a resupply ship up that might be used again somehow.

True Edit: I have attributed the loss of fuel to a failure in technique- I should have had a higher AoA. Did this using a Spatha and have enough fuel to make it to Mun encounter. Did you know that with the fuel cell at 50%, the Spatha can last about 54.8 kerbin days, 8.7 mun orbits, or 1.1 minmus orbits. Or .98 moho rotations.

E2: Launch of White Dart with a little MMU in the bay. No mechjeb. Made it to orbit by dumping excess oxidizer.

Edited June 15, 2015 by Tangle