GNIJ-11 Self Refueling Nuclear VTOL Ion SSTO

@CGYFNR I’m working on a new version. This craft was built before the heat-transfer update. The new update should fix any engine heating related issues

I have a probelm. It keeps blowing up.
Could you provide takeoff instructions so I can know what I'm doing wrong?

@Emmm42 it uses a modified ion engine that has negative fuel consumption. I set the fuel type to water. All engines in this craft use water

@lordvader0219 I meant how does it refuel ?

@Emmm42 you activate the refuel/dock activation group. You set the throttle to maximum. Then you fast forward

How does it refuel?

Almost forgot: while in orbit you can trick the refuel setting to recharge your engines by manually holding the throttle to max and wiggling it to allow refuel off the ground

This is beautifully crafted. I upgraded the internal cockpit setup utilizing control schematics I found all over the site. Also testing the VTOL I had to rebalance the craft for even launch under microgravity on the moon to prevent cartwheels. Balance the aft pair of VTOL engines, which are mirrored, to 31.3 Mpa and legs the front at 25Mpa and the craft will launch from Luna Base almost perfectly horizontal.

@IMULAerospaceIndustries there are some modified ion engines that have negative fuel consumption

@lordvader0219 Yeah but how does it do it? Is there a glitched fuel cell or engine that produces fuel?

@IMULAerospaceIndustries there is a refuel/dock action group. Turn that on and set the throttle to 1. Then set fast forward to 10 or above

@lordvader0219 Okay, I think I got the hang of it now. How does it self refuel?

@IMULAerospaceIndustries you use the ion jets

@lordvader0219 What thrusters do I use up until then?

@IMULAerospaceIndustries you need to reach mach 4 at 22km before firing the nuclear gas core engines

I’m finding it incredibly difficult to even enter orbit around Droo, is there a designated takeoff procedure or am I doing something wrong?

@lordvader0219
What is your suggestionnfor Earth re-entry and landing? Have you tried this craft in your Stellar Neighbourhood?

@sacr3dbac0n0 the lower thrust of the VTOL was intentional. This craft is meant to land vertically on Mars.

You did it!! The use of landing gear for the VTOL thruster covers is incredibly ingenious. The VTOL thrusters seem to be a bit underpowered for 1g though. Not sure if this is intended? Other than that, it's fantastic. One thing though. You can add pitch and roll inputs if you want to try thrust vectoring for the VTOL engines. So for example, you'd type in Throttle+Pitch+Roll. Minus signs if you want to invert the input. You'd have to break symmetry to get the roll to work. For yaw, you can just put the engines on hinges. I'm so excited to see what more you create!

@RedBlueMax this craft has enough delta v to reach Earth’s orbit when close to fully refueled.

@lordvader2019
This looks magnificent: may I try this in RSS?

The non functioning ion engine bug has been fixed in this new version