My Janky Panther powered SSTO

[Soda Popinski]

Playing Career mode in 1.2, and still getting use to some of the new mechanics.  I haven't unlocked the ramjet, much less the RAPIER yet, so best that I have is the Panther.  I found I was having too much aerodynamic drag with radially mounted engines, so I did what I could with having my engines in line, using the parts I've go unlocked so far.  Obviously, I needed bilateral symmetry for the engines, but couldn't make it fit having two engine types - a Reliant and the Panther.  So I went with symmetry on a 45° angle.  

For some reason, I couldn't get this thing to go down the runway in anything close to straight, so I ended up launching it off clamps, which required a quick boost from the rocket engines.

I've since worked out a better SSTO, but thought this was interesting enough to share.

 

Something else interesting, is I've been playing with kOS, and created an Ascent Sequence Program, where I input different altitudes, what angle to pitch to, and action groups to activate.  After many different ascent profiles, I've managed to get this thing into orbit with a whopping 42 m/s delta-V to spare.  I was able to rendezvous and rescue two lost astronauts.  Problem was re-entry.  Turns out, I'm not use to the new heat mechanic, and the cockpit would overheat and explode when entering prograde.  I even tried keeping my angle up and slowing down as much as possible in the upper atmosphere.  It's possible I could have eventually figured something out, but I eventually tried going in retro so Jeb wouldn't melt, then tried to flip 180°.  That flip didn't happen, and instead I plummeted tail end first, but fired my engines slowing me to about 55 m/s when I hit the ground.  Jeb and the rescuees survived!  Good enough for now.

 

[Soda Popinski]

My new version flies a bit better, but I'm still having some trouble sticking the landing.  It can re-enter prograde now without blowing up, so that's an improvement.  The flight control surfaces were minimized when I was designing this thing for launching, but the lack of control is proving a problem during atmospheric flight.  At least Valentina got it close to KSC before losing control and crunching.  Still, all hands survived.

Here's a video of the new version launching from the Runway (of all places).  It's zoomed in, as I wanted to show the autopilot I programmed in kOS.