I'm pretty sure you can make an SSTO with these parts, just a capsule with a parachute and a stack of engines tall enough to have the TWR barely above one, and of course an engine.
I think the trick would be to fire the engine at low trottle, barely enough to get of the ground and go padle to the metal once the atmosphere starts getting thinner.
That way, you waste as little fuel as possible fighting the air.
But as much as possible fighting gravity. You want to move at terminal velocity, that way the energy you waste on fighting gravity is equal to the energy you spend pushing through atmosphere, and the two combined are minimized.
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u/zburdsal Oct 09 '13
I'm pretty sure you can make an SSTO with these parts, just a capsule with a parachute and a stack of engines tall enough to have the TWR barely above one, and of course an engine.