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[Kanil]

Here's my Munar rocket, goes to Minmus too -- although I feel Minmus probably requires less fuel than the Mun, the lower gravity makes the return trip easier.

Spoiler: rocket! (click to show/hide)

It's very boring, but it gets the job done. Landing pod is a little fuel tank and little engine. Sits ontop of one of those new pointy engines and two fuel tanks. Four regular engines with two fuel tanks attach to the central section, and the whole thing is thrust off the launchpad with 12 SFBs. You can't see it, but fuel lines link the outer tanks to the central one, and all five engines fire at once.

Meanwhile in my spaceplane department, I've been struggling to reach the moon. It's hard once you get in the upper atmosphere to keep the craft balanced enough to fly straight. Sure looks cool, though.

Spoiler: large pics (click to show/hide)

[MarcAFK]

Ahh, glorious soviet rocketry, why you fail me so badly, I swear i will crack this 30 engine unnessicarily large/heavy behemoth soon.

[Peewee]

Mechjeb just updated, they "Fixed the Core coffee intake" (it shouldn't jitter as much when pointing the right way any more)

Any tips on making a stable jet? I'm trying to duct-tape a rocket to the top in an attempt to launch it into orbit after lifting it with the jet, but all my attempts so far end with the jet doing backflips 30m off the runway.

Scratch that, I moved the engines up with some pylons to move the center of thrust closer to center of mass, and now it only flips if I turn off mechjeb surface control... or set it to pitch up more than 20 degrees.

[Sheb]

I was wondering: would it be possible to rig a craft so that it can turn off its plane engine once out of the athmospher and then turn on its rocket engine, go to the Mun or wherever, come back and turn its plane engine on again?

[LoSboccacc]

Some tips.

Remember that thrust add a momentum if off center; you can place engine under the cog to help pitchig; this has the problem that engine output isn't constant: with the high altitude engines this is more evident, with the craft changing attitude abruptly.

If you put your rear carriage too far back, the rear control surface will have a very hard time in raising the nose. Put the rear wherls near the cog and you will be abe to push up the nose muh more easily

If you put the wing ahead of the cog, those will generate an unstable configuration (the greater the aoa, the greater the diverging force). This is very effective for canard, but will casue endless attitude issues for fixed wings. If you put wings behind cog the will create a contrasibg force trying to realign and reduce the aoa. This may cause problem if you need lot of lift: angle your surfaces like flaps to help this

[Sean Mirrsen]

I was wondering: would it be possible to rig a craft so that it can turn off its plane engine once out of the athmospher and then turn on its rocket engine, go to the Mun or wherever, come back and turn its plane engine on again?

Yep, that's called a SSTO (Single Stage To Orbit) craft. It's a challenge to do so, because rocket fuel and rocket engines are pretty heavy, but it's definitely possible. You can't, however, turn rocket engines off, so if you have fuel left by the time you get back (and your rocket tanks aren't separate from air-breather fuel tanks), you're going to have to use the rocket engines for flying back.

[Kanil]

If you had separate fuel storage for the engines, you could presumably cut the fuel for the rocket engine and re-fire the jet engines. I'm currently struggling with various problems with my design, but I hope to eventually fly to the Mun and back...

[Sean Mirrsen]

I'm currently just struggling to build a flyable SSTO.

Or at least one that can take off reliably. This one ends up losing a wing 40% of the time.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Though I admit, I am aiming for design more than function here.

[Sheb]

For a moment I tough the dark blue background was actually the night sky, and that your craft was so unstable as to be flying upside-down as soon as it took off.

[Sean Mirrsen]

For a moment I tough the dark blue background was actually the night sky, and that your craft was so unstable as to be flying upside-down as soon as it took off.

Heh, I get those often enough too. Many of the crafts I build are born rockets, and so meet their untimely demise through misguided attempts to fly them like planes.

Though most of the time, they're just victims of ridiculous design.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

This one is notable for being able to reverse direction on the spot. It has enough thrust to literally go head-over-heels and start going in the opposite direction without losing more than 100 meters of altitude. It's also known for its ability to automatically do that whenever ASAS is turned off.

[sneakey pete]

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

[Rose]

Do the wings do anything?

[dennislp3]

Yes they have full control with flaps and the like just like an airplane wing

[sneakey pete]

Yes. It glides in for a horizontal landing. Here's some pictures of the previous model.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

[Sheb]

Tsss. You didn't even land on the runway.