[0.15 Stock + MechJeb] Albatross: WhiteKnight/SpaceShipOne style HTOL TSTO

[silent_prtoagonist]

Been wanting to make something like this for a while.

In finest kerbal tradition the separation is VERY sketchy Almost lost it here.

My first all MechJeb, no joystick landing )

Makes orbit with a nice fuel margin for maneuvers. No RCS as yet, so not really usefull for crew rotations, etc (whenever those come around). The mothership is amazingly nice to fly, the orbiter on the other hand is a bit squirrely, treat her gently and she\'ll get you home though.

Operational Instructions Loose Suggestions

Take-off: Set MJ to Surf, heading 90 pitch 15. Throttle up and go. Has an amazingly short take off run. Have ascent ap set up with you\'re profile of choice, but don\'t engage yet.

Climb/Cruise: Climb to ~10-12km, then level off and accelerate to ~500m/s.

Separation: Engage ascent ap at ~12km and ~500m/s. Mothership should pitch up dramatically. At ~15km separate. You may want to set some up trim before separating, of give a brief push forward on the stick immediately after, to reduce the chances of kerbalstrophic recontact. Engage rocket when clear. You may need to assist ascent ap in regaining nose up attitude after separation.

Orbit: Let ascent ap take you the rest of the way into orbit. Make a sandwich.

Reentry/landing: I like to use the landing ap, set to a point a few km west of KSC, to do the deorbit burn. Once you\'re in the atmosphere land like any other space plane.

[Joshmo]

This is a much more elegant version of something I made back in .11 or something. Nicely done.

[JanoFett]

That is a beautiful ship! I\'ll have to try it out when I get home from work. Have you tried to pilot it manually from start to finish?

[Pingonaut]

Very awesome ship you\'ve made there! Well done!!

[silent_prtoagonist]

I\'ve thought about swapping the MechJeb for an ASAS and flying it manually, but I haven\'t gotten around to it. I have gotten her to orbit with only Smart A.S.S. however, which is close.

Doing it fully manually would be tricky, at certain fuel loads the orbiter flirts with instability. Nothing a PID can\'t handle, but I\'m not quite that good Should be possible though.