Help with SSTO's

[Penguinhero]

hi i've been playing ksp since 0.16 and i have yet to build a working SSTO spaceplane that can bring a small payload to orbit

Can i get some help

thanks in advance

[Jod]

I happen to have a good list of all the things that can go wrong with an SSTO in the Tutorials section.

http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/showthread.php/33681-Jods-list-of-aerodynamics-issues

In short - you will need to balance 4 centers instead of the usual 2. Mass, Lift, Drag and Thrust. +There is fuel tank balancing.

-Thrust is the easiest and should be aligned to be exactly on the same horizontal line as mass just like for any other spacecraft.

-Lift is more or less easy, the Center of Lift should be somewhere close to Center of Mass, usually on the same horizontal line, and it is easy to check its balance when taking off the runway - if you nose up and loop it is too far front, if you dive then it is too far back.

-Drag is absurdly vague, there is no marker for where it is, but keep things symmetrical and place more low drag(0.1) parts in front and more high drag(0.3) parts in the back and you should be fine. Most common high drag parts are air intakes, most common low drag parts are aerospikes.

-Fuel tanks should be around the center of mass or symmetrically distributed along the craft so that when they are empty Center of Mass would not shift, preferably at all.

Also as a side-note - if you use jet engines use ram air intakes, the radial ones don't work well for some reason.