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[BFEL]

You do realize that the engines you have in the back are aerospikes? Specifically, Toroidal Aerospike Rocket Engines?

They kind of need oxidizer.

Ah....that probably explains it.
I had no idea those counted as rocket engines, I thought they were just another jet engine.
WOOPS

[ank]

Also, what is up with the nuclear engines?

[Sean Mirrsen]

Change the turbojet engine to a toroidal aero spike and turn the toroidal aero spikes into turbojets 

He won't have enough power for egress then. A single turbojet can get him in the air, but a single aerospike won't pull him up into orbital-ish altitude so that the NERVAs can complete the orbit.

[Girlinhat]

I've found a somewhat unusual way to bring spaceplanes into orbit.  Raise to ~20km and hold to gain speed, then aim downwards JUST a little and slowly drift down to 10-15km, then aim nearly straight up.  When you exist atmosphere, stage over to rockets.

The idea here is to gain as much horizontal speed while near 20km, then lower to enter more atmosphere (lose some speed but that's fine) and rise up again, so you have your existing horizontal speed, plus the vertical speed you'll be gaining with airbreathers.  If you can get your apoapsis above 70km then you can usually use your rockets to pick up a stable orbit.

[BFEL]

Also, what is up with the nuclear engines?

They are probably the best space engines.
They're like 10x more efficient then other liquid fuel engines with a lot more thrust then that weird probe engine.
Basically they have it all once the atmosphere is out of the way, and that's what the jet engines are for.

Also the small plane with the turbojet is for landings.
Its like a more sane version of this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rYy_XJpI6uk

[Lucidvizion]

I think a lot of the rover low gravity stability problems would be corrected by have a throttle for the rover wheels... not the digital, full speed controlled wheelies that the WASD keys give you.

I wonder if that's something that could be modded in.  Or is this something we can already do with action groups and I just never noticed?

[Sean Mirrsen]

Hold on, were you planning to make it to the stratosphere with just those six aerospikes and a standard tank of fuel for each?

Sorry, but no. Not happening. Even with the aerospikes being as efficient in the atmosphere as they are, there is just not enough delta-V in that to get up high enough. Not with two NERVAs and two long tanks riding on top of that.

The biggest point in favor of SSTO spaceplanes is being able to use high-efficiency turbojets for most of the way through the atmosphere.

[Girlinhat]

Hold on, were you planning to make it to the stratosphere with just those six aerospikes and a standard tank of fuel for each?

Sorry, but no. Not happening. Even with the aerospikes being as efficient in the atmosphere as they are, there is just not enough delta-V in that to get up high enough. Not with two NERVAs and two long tanks riding on top of that.

The biggest point in favor of SSTO spaceplanes is being able to use high-efficiency turbojets for most of the way through the atmosphere.

As said, he thought he was using jets.  Which is well enough engines for a set of turbojets.

[Sean Mirrsen]

Well, yes. But not really enough for using NERVAs afterwards. And there are really not enough air intakes either way. Six engines will flame out way too soon without at least as many intakes.

[BigD145]

Also, what is up with the nuclear engines?

Low power, high efficiency in a vacuum. Maneuvers will take half an hour to finish.

[Dutchling]

Also, what is up with the nuclear engines?

Low power, high efficiency in a vacuum. Maneuvers will take half an hour to finish.

Also very high mass.

[ank]

Also, what is up with the nuclear engines?

Low power, high efficiency in a vacuum. Maneuvers will take half an hour to finish.

Also very high mass.

Also terrible for getting to orbit.

Gimmy the craft file I'll make it go orbital!

[Rakonas]

I hate nuclear engines, if only for the awkward way they decouple when I stage to them. I'm forced to make an exterior structure to extend my landing gear to the ground due to their length, and then their covering gets wedged between the engine and the structure.

[Putnam]

...Why are you using the nuclear engine for a lander? I always have:

1. Launch stage. 6 skippers, 1 mainsail. Skipper all fed by rockomax 32, which all feed into Mainsail's 64.
2. Mainsail stage for good chunk of gravity burn and circularization. Fed by a rockomax 64 and 8 (so no overheat)
3. NERVA stage. Fed by five T-400, two on top of each other and 3 radial.
4. Lander. It's a pod, a science jr. (covered entirely with batteries, science implements and two large solar panels) and a T-400 feeding into an LV-909. After detaching the lander, it can be reattached by a docking node.

This is how people manage to land on other bodies and get back, btw; they have an intermediate stage with way more isp than the lander.

[sluissa]

I've found a somewhat unusual way to bring spaceplanes into orbit.  Raise to ~20km and hold to gain speed, then aim downwards JUST a little and slowly drift down to 10-15km, then aim nearly straight up.  When you exist atmosphere, stage over to rockets.

The idea here is to gain as much horizontal speed while near 20km, then lower to enter more atmosphere (lose some speed but that's fine) and rise up again, so you have your existing horizontal speed, plus the vertical speed you'll be gaining with airbreathers.  If you can get your apoapsis above 70km then you can usually use your rockets to pick up a stable orbit.

That sounds really familiar from something I've seen/read. I remember it was fiction and thinking "no way that would work like that. The thick atmosphere would kill all the speed." Maybe it's closer to possible than I thought. Seems like it would be pretty stressful craft/crew wise.