Can someone help my Unbork my SSTO?

[llamatoes]

I was designing this, and I've done everything I have, but why doesn't this work?

Com/Cal are on the same spot, and no, I've sorted that issue.

Edited July 11, 2013 by llamatoes

[Whirligig Girl]

Well for one thing, the Ramscoops are ugly, and cheat-y. The CoL (don't know what Cos is) has to be behind the CoM.

[llamatoes]

*Col is proper and I'm not to worried about looks.

[Colonel_Panic]

Well for one thing, the Ramscoops are ugly, and cheat-y. The CoL (don't know what Cos is) has to be behind the CoM.

...what?

No, there is nothing 'cheat-y' about using air intakes, and in fact he really should be using more of them.

For an effective SSTO you want to have a minimum of 4 or so air intakes per jet engine, and preferably the ram variety where possible, or you won't get the necessary flight ceiling to break the atmosphere when transitioning to rockets.

Where's your rocket engine? I don't see it in that picture. An aerospike works well for that, though if you need thrust vectoring, consider using LV-Ns or LV-45s, and if you need more thrust:weight consider an LV-30.

You also want to be sure you have the right ratio of liquid fuel to oxidizer for your ascent, that you're not carrying extra liquid fuel into orbit that your rockets can't burn due to lack of oxidizer. You have a lot of jet fuel in that picture, so that could be unnecessary weight.

EDIT: finally, check you have enough lift... if you have to angle up steeply to stay in level flight at higher altitudes, you need more wing surfaces.

[exbyde]

*fixed*

Just kidding. I'll give it a look over. But in all seriousness, this is an ssto.

okay, what kind of engine is on the back for exo-atmospheric flight? its either not present or hidden behind the rudder. If its toroidal, you might consider changing your placement, or making the thing a 2-jet and 2 toroidal (or even normal due to weight and thrust vectoring concerns). using a splitter on the back of the wide jet body and putting a toroidal behind the 800s. In all honesty, it would be 1000 times easier to diagnose if you could either post the video (on youtube) or a .craft file.

Edited July 11, 2013 by shadowsutekh
Inappropriate image

[llamatoes]

Sorted, now with 9 intakes.

[bsalis]

Congrats llamatoes on your SSTO. I was going to suggest a few more intakes would probably be enough.

Having said that though...

For an effective SSTO you want to have a minimum of 4 or so air intakes per jet engine,-snip-

Minimum of 4? Effective?

I managed to get an SSTO Spaceplane to Duna, land, and get back to KSC runway again with no refueling, and only a 16:5 ratio. I think that is effective enough!

[KerbMav]

How is air "transported" inside a plane anyway?

I started building some of my own - the air "reserves" fluctuate between 0 and full like crazy, but KerbEngi shows almost 100% TWR.

In some of the designs I downloaded the "air fuel" dropped gradually.

[Colonel_Panic]

Congrats llamatoes on your SSTO. I was going to suggest a few more intakes would probably be enough.

Having said that though...

Minimum of 4? Effective?

I managed to get an SSTO Spaceplane to Duna, land, and get back to KSC runway again with no refueling, and only a 16:5 ratio. I think that is effective enough!

Which is more than 3:1 and pretty close to 4:1, wouldn't you agree?

I was just offering it as a baseline. Drag and lift also play a part.

[Colonel_Panic]

How is air "transported" inside a plane anyway?

I started building some of my own - the air "reserves" fluctuate between 0 and full like crazy, but KerbEngi shows almost 100% TWR.

In some of the designs I downloaded the "air fuel" dropped gradually.

You have to be pointing in the direction of your movement or air does not enter your intakes right, which can cause fluctuation while maneuvering.

All intakes are just added up and distributed to all engines. available air depends on speed, thickness of atmosphere, number of intakes, type of intakes, and direction of travel with relation to the intakes.