SSTO updated Tutorial?

[Firedtm]

I am looking for a SSTO tutorial, I never have build any type of SSTO spaceship/spaceplane. and so far most if not all the tutorials I have found are old .18 or older.

does any one know where I can find a SSTO tutorial ?

Edited January 4, 2015 by Firedtm

[Anquietas314]

Here's one for 0.25, but it's still pretty much the same in 0.90. The only real difference is that now we can build bigger spaceplanes (with difficulty).

[Wanderfound]

If you're tempted by the FAR side, see http://s1378.photobucket.com/user/craigmotbey/Kerbal/Tutorials/Hangar%20to%20Landing/story

[Rakaydos]

If you're tempted by the FAR side, see http://s1378.photobucket.com/user/craigmotbey/Kerbal/Tutorials/Hangar%20to%20Landing/story

Is there one of these that's been updated with FAR's new skin drag?

[Wanderfound]

Is there one of these that's been updated with FAR's new skin drag?

Try this:

Speed and altitude are both important. An orbit is a speed more than it is an altitude, but, OTOH, from an aircraft perspective altitude is speed in the bank.

So long as you can continue to gain speed without rockets, keep the nose down and the climb rate low. Try to avoid losing altitude, but don't panic if you do; so long as you keep your nose a bit above the horizon, a dive should eventually turn back into a climb (reductions in altitude and increases in speed both reduce the AoA required for level flight; it's all about how many air molecules hit your wings in a given time).

Previously, a flat-as-possible ascent was the most effective and efficient in FAR, and Mach 5 was easy to reach on jets alone. With the improved skin friction effects introduced in the latest FAR, things have changed a bit. You still want to maximise your jet speed, but you also want to get above the drag (>50,000m) as soon as possible. And it is now much more difficult to accelerate above Mach 4 with jets alone. So, as flat as possible while maintaining a shallow jet climb, but pull the nose up as hard as you can without losing control as soon as you light the rockets.

1) Climb steeply (but not so steep that you lose airspeed and stall) up to about 15,000m. The steep climb also helps to keep your speed down in the dangerously thick lower atmosphere.

2) Flatten off and pile on as much jet speed as aircraft and pilot patience allow.

3) Try to gain as much altitude as possible, but don't pull up so hard that you start to lose significant amounts of airspeed. Shutting down surplus jets and gradually throttling down can increase your flight ceiling substantially. I've only just lit the rockets in the picture below; you can see the altitude increase over the previous pic, as well as the fact that I'm slightly throttled down.

4) Pull the nose up hard after lighting the fireworks to get above the drag. Push the apoapsis over 70km as fast as you can without losing control.

[Firedtm]

Thank you for the replies, i will try some of this. i hope to be able to report back soon with good news

[Pecan]

I am looking for a SSTO tutorial, I never have build any type of SSTO spaceship/spaceplane. and so far most if not all the tutorials I have found are old .18 or older.

does any one know where I can find a SSTO tutorial ?

The first rocket in the tutorial linked in my signature is a SSTO.

Almost any engine can be used to build a SSTO.

Put a command-pod or probe core, a fuel tank and an engine together and launch.

That's the 'spaceship' side taken care of. For the spaceplane side, I'd wait until the next update or concentrate on FAR guides because we know stock aerodynamics are going to be changed in 0.91.

[Firedtm]

Update, my first SSTO spaceplane,

Going up 1 of the engines cut out due to the setting i had

i forgot the solar panels, deorbit burn was done with the RCS, i nailed the landing, no broken parts but grasslands is not the KSP space center

[Hodo]

Congrats, good looking craft there.

And hey any landing you can walk away from is a good one. Any landing you can use the aircraft again later is a great one!

[Firedtm]

Here's a Link to a Tutorial on Basic and Intermediate Plane Design that I found REALLY usefull

[Alshain]

Looks like I'm a bit late, but congrats.

For the engine cutting out asymmetrically, you can fix this by placing the engines and intakes separately. Engine -> Intake -> Engine -> Intake

If you place them using symmetry mode, all the intakes are given to one engine, and then the overflow is given to the second. So when you start to run low, there is no overflow and only one engine has air. If you place them as above, that gets fixed. You can insert more intakes of course, just have an even number after each engine.

Alternatively there is a nice mod called "Intake Build Aid" that lets you change them after the fact.

On your RAPIERS, it won't matter for asymmetric thrust since they switch together, but it will still help you get further before switching to rockets, which saves fuel.

Landing takes practice. I've done it without mods, but after the first several times, I found it was easier just to use the NavUtilties mod for that.

[Firedtm]

I try to play with only a few mods but i will look in to that, its just that tutorial that I linked REALLY help me out, I tried out some of the design stuff and I got a "trainer" type plane do a sub orbit of around 150 km.

The feel of being able to do that is beyond great. With some of the design ideas I will try to do something bigger.