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Best climbing angle for spaceplanes


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Currently i built a jet that should be able to climb to 15km before i dump the jetengines+tanks to continue with rocketpower

Though often just below 10km my jet keeps flipping over.

currently im climbing at an angle of 30 degrees.

Is this optimal? should it be steeper or more subtle?

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I think it might depend how it's flipping over. Is the nose going up, putting it into a backflip? Is the nose dropping?

You may need to re-balance the spaceplane so that when you dump the jet engines, the center of mass doesn't move too far forward or backwards. If the nose is pitching up uncontrollably, move some mass forward by adding extra fuel tanks near the front, or by moving the wings forward. If the nose is dropping, move some mass backwards.

Generally, you want it to be slightly heavy in the rear so that it naturally pitches up. I assume you're using the advanced SAS as well? If so, either pull up with the SAS still engaged (this might take a while as you force it upwards), or disengage and re-engage the SAS quickly while tapping S.

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I found the most common cause for a flipover in space planes is either a fuel burn imbalance. This often due to extravagant fuel tank setups, or thrust imbalance. If you engines off the z axis centre of gravity and not enough arial control surface, the trust alone will cause your vehicle to begin to rotate.

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Depending on your airspeed, there should be enough pressure at 10km to keep under control. I'm guessing you keep the 30° pitch angle all the time? As you get higher, the rate of climb will decrease. Eventually this means your angle of attack becomes too large and you'll stall.

Instead, climb steeply at first, and gradually level out to your ceiling altitude. The key is to keep going faster so that the engines are happy with the reduced air density.

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