Apophis SSTO with VTOL capabilities

[Broco]

So after my last spaceplane I posted here I wanted to go a little bit smaller and more practical. It is capable to get into orbit on its own and to land on mun and return to orbit (with refueling in orbit of course).

Testing return capabilities soon on Laythe.

Tested with the new SAS (works fine) I present to you the Apophis (click images for full size):

In Space:

Front View:

Rear View:

Craft-file:

http://www.file-upload.net/download-7886769/Apophis.craft.html

Action groups:

1: Toggle Aerospikes

2: Toggle Jet engines

3: Toggle intakes

4: Toggle vertical engines

Flight instructions to get into orbit:

- activate SAS and toggle jet engines (full throttle)

- pull up to a 45 degree climb

- once you reach 15,000 metres slowly flatten the ascent to about 5-10 degrees to gain speed and keep the air intake going

- try to reach ~23,000 metres with at least 1200 m/s

- activate aerospikes (1) but don't shutdown jet engines until you go below 0.18 intake air

- shut down jet engines (2) when intake air is below 0.18 (~0.16 will give you a flameout), don't forget to close intakes (3)

- once your speed is around 2200 m/s you can throttle down or kill the engines (1) and wait until you reach the apoapsis which should be around 100,000 metres, then throttle towards prograde marker to create a circular orbit

Edited July 26, 2013 by Broco