KerbalX

Budget crunch got you down?

Need to get into orbit on the cheep?

Then Look no further, with the Knat Equatorial you can reach and return from a 100km orbit for less than 1500 bucks and have 350ms dV spare.

At 4.85 tons this is the lightest of the Knat class but still has the standard Knat ejecting cockpit and is equipped with RCS thrusters (but very limited RCS fuel).

• Type: SPH
• Style: spaceplane
• Part Count: 38
• Stock:

This is one of the easiest Knat SSTO’s to fly (the Knat Elite is even easier).

Ascent

After lift off pitch to 45 degrees and climb until the Ap is 12km, then pitch to 20 degrees. Climb until the Ap is at 20km then pitch to 10 degrees. You should be maintaining a vertical ascent of around 100m/s and gradually increasing. On Jet engines you should reach around 34km before flame out, then switch to rockets (action group 3) and raise the Ap to 120km (it will then fall back to ~100km).

Decent

After reaching orbit you should have around 350ms dV left, more than enough to deorbit. All Knat class craft will glide very well when returning with low fuel. If you get the deorbit position right then you will be able to glide to a landing. But if you do need engines, hit action group 4 to switch back to jet mode. Landing lights will come on automatically when you lower the gears.

Details

• Knat Equatorial
• Knat Elite
• Knat Executive
• Knat Ranger
• Knat Ranger XL