So I need some design help with mah spaceplane things.
The first is a theoretical SSTA (Single Stage to Anywhere) consisting of a rapier engine and two ions. The problem this one is having is that after a certain altitude, regardless of the state of intakes, mode of the engine, or seemingly any other variables, it flips the hell out. I've actually recovered and gotten it suborbital before, but I'm confident if I manage to keep it stable I could go full orbital and then go pretty much anywhere with the ions.
Could the problem be the odd positioning of the radial intake/ion structure? Its not balanced out on the bottom, so would that cause serious issues? If so, why doesn't this happen during my ascent?
Second is my "Duna Rove-Plane" which, obviously, is intended to be dropped from orbit onto Duna or Laythe, glide to the ground, and then be able to explore with its rover wheels. Its also intended to be able to take off again and hopefully get at least suborbital so that it can be retrieved by the insertion craft.
The problem with this one is that it is having...issues...landing. It was hell balancing the thing so it can actually fly straight, but I managed it, however now it pretty much flips out and explodes if its wheels touch down at any speed above 30 m/s, despite the wheels I used advertising a impact threshold of 100 m/s.
I..honestly don't know how the hell to fix this, my only ideas so far are "reduce the speed of touchdown" which would best be done by parachutes, but by that point we pretty much defeat the purpose of the design.
Finally, just for fun, share in the hilarity of the first thing I made in the ARM update:
Interestingly, its wings actually display a small degree of FLAPPING while in "flight"