Kerbal Dynamics Lawn Dart Lifting Body SSTO

[Scoundrel]

So, I'm not exactly sure if it's a spaceplane or an SSTO since it's really just me experimenting with various lifting-body designs. This one is, by far, my most practical iteration of the concept... which actually isn't saying much. The plus side is that it's only around $35k, which makes it relatively cheap to operate for an SSTO/spaceplane, and it is surprisingly satisfying to land.

Download the KDX Lawn Dart

To get to orbit, simply accelerate past 200m/s and rotate until you're about 45° pitch. Go up until 10km altitude, then reduce pitch to 15-20°. Don't touch anything - just let it accelerate. Don't worry about the heat, it can take it. Once velocity starts to decrease (you should be getting between 1250m/s and 1350m/s), hit ABORT to toggle the RAPIER mode to closed cycle and go to space.

Reentry is easy and can be done one of two ways: maintain 30-35° pitch until velocity has become manageable; or don't worry about it and just use the airbrake.

This sucker is tricky to land, so I added a pair of carefully balanced chutes for those who prefer to hedge their bets. Just deploy, disable SAS, and the craft will gently land with no problems. Unless you're over mountains. Then you'll have problems.

To land on the runway, hit ABORT to toggle the RAPIER mode to air breathing cycle and toggle BRAKES so the airbrake is on all the time. The landing speed is pretty high so all you really have to worry about is your descent rate, which you want to keep under 10m/s - the craft is almost pitch neutral wheels down, so just let it do its thing. Kill the engines once TD occurs because this baby is super slick and it has the annoying habit of shooting off the end of the runway because it is going too fast.

Or so I heard.