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[Putnam]

You're supposed to do that right as you take off, not as you reach the blue part. Also, east, not west.

[Aseaheru]

I meant east. Frickin brain...

Also, I find doing it as the atmos changes layers reduces chances for the ground to try touching you or the rocket from getting confused asto what end should point to space.

[flabort]

I have no idea what that means.

Anyways, thanks to this first orbit, I'm actually going to be able to encounter the Mun.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Thanks again for all the advice!

[Putnam]

I meant east. Frickin brain...

Also, I find doing it as the atmos changes layers reduces chances for the ground to try touching you or the rocket from getting confused asto what end should point to space.

Watch the whole video I posted, it explains pretty well why that happens.

[FArgHalfnr]

I have no idea what that means.

Anyways, thanks to this first orbit, I'm actually going to be able to encounter the Mun.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Thanks again for all the advice!

So your first orbit accidentally takes you to the mun? Wow. That's actually pretty awesome.

[Aseaheru]

Putnam, I think I had, that or an earlier version.

[nogoodnames]

My quest for a single-stage-to-Laythe-and-back is nearing its conclusion. I just tested a 30T SSTO which could fly to orbit, land on Kerbin and almost make orbit again, all while carrying an ion engine, enough RTGs to power it and enough xenon for transfers to Jool and back. And it only failed to make the second orbit because I underestimated the amount of liquid fuel it needed. With Laythe's lower orbital velocity and the excess oxidizer removed, it should be just barely enough to complete the mission. I think I'm ready to stop messing around with testing and designs and just get on with it, so here goes nothing!

And here it is, ready for transfer. Aesthetically it's nothing special, but you can only do so much when working with such tight performance requirements. I only hope I haven't left it too little fuel for Laythe orbit. I would be very disappointed if I manage to get so far only to be stranded.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

[miauw62]

I'm surprised you managed an intercept on such an eccentric orbit.
Your apoapsis for orbit should rarely be over 120 km, after that you can just burn straight towards the the horizon, it's much more efficient.
You want to circularize ONLY on apoapsis and periapsis, until there's almost no difference anymore (I usually manage within 1 km)

[BigFatStupidHead]

Aesthetically it's nothing special, but you can only do so much when working with such tight performance requirements.

Actually, I think it's pretty nice looking. I'm still haven't figured out how to SSTO in 1.2, so that makes your ship extra impressive.

[nogoodnames]

Aesthetically it's nothing special, but you can only do so much when working with such tight performance requirements.

Actually, I think it's pretty nice looking. I'm still haven't figured out how to SSTO in 1.2, so that makes your ship extra impressive.

Thanks. I didn't mean I thought it was ugly or anything. I just wanted it to have a bit more distinctive look, but it ended up kind of generic because of weight minimization.

I think I should do another launch and try to optimize my ascent a bit more. This one should have enough fuel, but I'd prefer a bit of a safety margin and it still has too much oxidizer.

For SSTO spaceplanes you really just have to keep in mind how jet engines work now. Instead of giving you a flat thrust, their thrust varies heavily based on speed and altitude. Once you break the sound barrier (340 m/s) your drag will decrease and thrust will rapidly increase, but it can be hard to break it if you don't have the TWR. Toggling your rockets on just for a moment to push you over can be helpful but obviously doesn't work with RAPIERs. Jet engines will only get you to a certain point before they stop producing thrust, so intake spam doesn't work anymore. This will generally be around 1000 m/s at 20km for turbo/ramjets and 1400m/s at 25km for RAPIERs. You can try to go faster by using lots of jets and building up speed lower in the atmosphere, but you run the risk of burning up. And finally, since the jets can't get you as fast as they could previously, you need more rocket fuel to get into orbit.

[Akura]

Spoiler: Somehow got this thing into orbit (click to show/hide)

It's a space station! Still gotta put more modules on it. Had to do some bizarre finangling with some of the stages to get it to work, but it did work. With a fair amount of fuel to spare(though not so much as to remove stuff). Damn thing cost me over half a million.

Now, if only I knew how to operate some of those MKS modules...

[MarcAFK]

I guess I'll be sending launch clamps down with my duna colony parts then, they seems great at keeping my modules from hopping all over the place.

[BFEL]

I guess I'll be sending launch clamps down with my duna colony parts then, they seems great at keeping my modules from hopping all over the place.

Launch clamps cannot be launched. They are IMMOVABLE.


Except by danny.

[Lightningfalcon]

I guess I'll be sending launch clamps down with my duna colony parts then, they seems great at keeping my modules from hopping all over the place.

Trust me when I say that will require very, very, very precise math.  You have to align the positions of Duna and Kerbin perfectly, so that once you destroy Kerbin the launch clamps fall precisely into Duna some months later.

[etgfrog]

This may sound a bit silly, but can you use an asteroid as an infinite source of fuel to go wherever you want?