SRS Sprite 2 TS-D

[SZDarkhack]

DISCLAIMER: If you do not approve of part clipping, this vessel is not for you.

Struts 'R' uS is proud to present our latest, minimalistic SSTO spaceplane:

Sprite 2 TS-D

Featuring:

-Revolutionary TurboSpike hybrid engine technology

-Incredible range, it can get into a low orbit around both of Kerbin's moons and return, as well as land on Duna.*

-Top atmospheric speed of >2.1km/s

-Flameout safety

-RCS and Docking capabilities, including shielding and lighting

-Autonomous flying (probe body included and powered by RTG)

Action Groups:

1. Activate Turbojet.

2. Toggle between jet & spike (intakes included).

4. Toggle docking port shield & lights (these lights do not light up with U).

0. Toggle the ladder.

Instructions:

Takeoff:

-Activate the jet (1).

-Pitch up, it will take off near the end of the runway.

-Carefully pitch up to 50 degrees (doing this too quickly can make you flip, so take it in steps, keeping the AoA reasonable).

-Fly up to 15km.

-At 15km pitch down to 40 degrees.

-At 17km pitch down to 35 degrees.

-At 19km pitch down to 30 degrees.

-Keep doing the above pattern until you get to 10 degrees pitch (at 27km).

-Hold that pitch, and correct for the pitching up due to your speed.

-Around 31.5km (1950m/s) pitch down close to 5 degrees (try to keep the vertical speed at or just above 10m/s).

-After hitting ~2050m/s (~32km) you should pitch almost horizontal and maintain the vertical speed at 10m/s (it will want to climb due to speed).

-When the intake air hits 0.0 (yes, it's one of those), pitch horizontal and stop correcting (let it pitch up).

-As soon as the jet flames out (~33km), toggle the engine mode (hit 2) and pitch up to around 30 degrees. Get an apoapsis of around 200km and cut the engine.

-Point back to prograde to reduce drag.

-When the apoapsis drops below your desired altitude, burn the engine a bit to correct it. Do this until you're out of the atmosphere.

-Coast to the apoapsis, circularize and you're in orbit, congratulations! You should have around 3/4 of the oxidizer left for a 100km orbit.

Landing:

Nothing special, bring your periapsis into the atmosphere (around 20km should do for low orbits), toggle the engine back to the jet (2) and keep your AoA below 30 degrees. After the reentry, land the vehicle normally. A good final approach pitch is 10 degrees, it should keep your vertical speed around -5m/s. Do NOT try to water-land.

The full imgur album can be found here.

The .craft file can be downloaded here.

Feel free to remove the docking port & lights if you don't need them, it should give you a few m/s dV (if you do remove them, remove the clipped octagonal strut on which the port is attached as well).

*Minmus is extremely tight and can be tricky to return from, depending on the position of the nodes. If you're unlucky, you'll have to burn RCS to make it back to Kerbin, but it should suffice if you've been flying properly. You can definitely get there, however. Also, make sure you have set the inclination properly for both moons prior to getting there. Changing the inclination of a low orbit will almost certainly eat up all your return fuel. Duna is easily possible with aerobraking or direct landing.

[spaceman1999]

Holy WOW I.. It... Cool can I use its design?

[Giggleplex777]

I have a VTOLSSTO with the same type of engine.

In fact, I've made lots of engines-clipped-together designs.

[SZDarkhack]

Holy WOW I.. It... Cool can I use its design?

Sure, no problem! I'm glad you liked it

[KerbMav]

I think I never understood/read anything about how KSP's drag calculation works?

Point back to prograde to reduce drag.