Space Plane runs out of Fuel before Orbit.

[Giggleplex777]

On the contrary... a key principle of rocketry is that "tiny goes farther."

I agree.

Duna Odyssey

New Horizons

DSR

[Tripod27]

LOOK MAMA, I'M IN SHPEYYYYYS

burned off almost 20 tons of fuel getting there, and for some reason my jet engines stole fuel meant for my main orbiting engine so I had to do most of it with the nukes when it ran out, but my 40 ton chunk of wing is up there and still has about as much rocket fuel left as most SSAOs start with on the ground, so I'm happy:cool:

[rodion_herrera]

LOOK MAMA, I'M IN SHPEYYYYYS

burned off almost 20 tons of fuel getting there, and for some reason my jet engines stole fuel meant for my main orbiting engine so I had to do most of it with the nukes when it ran out, but my 40 ton chunk of wing is up there and still has about as much rocket fuel left as most SSAOs start with on the ground, so I'm happy:cool:

Congrats

Now let's see you land it. *eager mode*

[Tripod27]

Congrats

Now let's see you land it. *eager mode*

tried making it to Duna, slingshotted around the Mun, got to an encounter, but the oxidizer that was wasted during my flameout in Kerbin atmosphere meant that I didn't have enough to get into orbit or land, and Bill was just stuck floating in space :/

I'll try again soon, or maybe might just give up and build a station to refuel it at to make sure I had the fuel to get there AND back. I'm not great at building rockets that carry anything heavier than probes though

[KissSh0t]

you want to be able to get to about 30KM on air while going at about 2000ms.. then push yourself out into space with a rocket.. then.. bam.. your in space..

here are two of my working designs.

[Barujin]

I've apparently figured out the problem with my design that is twice the plane of the Aeries 4. I had two aerospike engines next to each other in the center and four jet engines, two on either side of the aerospikes. I noticed that the overheat problem in the aerospikes was forcing me to lower the throttle more than if they are separated from each other. So, I reversed the positions of the rockets and the jet engines. Aside from making the plane generally unstable for flying, it also reversed my problem. Now, my jets were cutting out at 18Km instead of 22Km while the rockets ran at a higher throttle. If I can do a design that separates all engines from each other, then I might make the double plane work. The irony is that it's not worth it because it apparently does just as good as the Aeries 4. I figured that more plane would go further. Apparently not. Obviously, I'm new at this.

[KissSh0t]

The trick to getting higher on air is more air intakes.. also as you get higher, and faster, throttling down will mean you are using less of your air intake, so you will have more air for the engines. this coupled with less air resistance, means you will still be going faster..