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High-Altitude Base Idea


TheOtherDave

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I recently came across an article (http://www.citylab.com/design/2012/08/there-limit-how-tall-buildings-can-get/2963/) which claims that, theoretically, it should be possible to construct a building around 59km tall (for reference, that's way taller than Mt Everest). On Earth. Assuming the article is correct, this means that we could theoretically build a building that reaches into the mesosphere (which starts at 50-60km, depending on atmospheric conditions: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atmosphere_of_Earth). Obviously, the first thing that popped into my mind when I read that was "I wonder how much easier it'd be to get to orbit if you could start from that high up?"

To find out, I want to make a KSP mod that puts an alternate launch location on some mountain at whatever Kerbin's equivalent altitude is. I'd probably have to lengthen the runway, too, so that planes have time to build up enough speed to offset the reduced lift from the thinner air. Is this a plausible first mod? Also, what would the equivalent altitude be on Kerbin? I've heard it's anywhere from 1/10th Earth scale to 1/3rd, depending on how you measure things. Or should I just build it off of Realism Overhaul and not worry about it?

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58 minutes ago, TheOtherDave said:

I recently came across an article (http://www.citylab.com/design/2012/08/there-limit-how-tall-buildings-can-get/2963/) which claims that, theoretically, it should be possible to construct a building around 59km tall (for reference, that's way taller than Mt Everest). On Earth. Assuming the article is correct, this means that we could theoretically build a building that reaches into the mesosphere (which starts at 50-60km, depending on atmospheric conditions: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atmosphere_of_Earth). Obviously, the first thing that popped into my mind when I read that was "I wonder how much easier it'd be to get to orbit if you could start from that high up?"

To find out, I want to make a KSP mod that puts an alternate launch location on some mountain at whatever Kerbin's equivalent altitude is. I'd probably have to lengthen the runway, too, so that planes have time to build up enough speed to offset the reduced lift from the thinner air. Is this a plausible first mod? Also, what would the equivalent altitude be on Kerbin? I've heard it's anywhere from 1/10th Earth scale to 1/3rd, depending on how you measure things. Or should I just build it off of Realism Overhaul and not worry about it?

The air is thin enough to make the higher ISP engines plausable.  Below, Kerbal Konstructs is the mod you want to make bases.  Just find yourself a site that you like a voila!

As for how high, there may be a discussion around that tells you how high you need to be to make the LV909 or the Nuke engine word efficiently.  I'd go for that altitude.

Peace.

 

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I got KK and Kerbin-Side installed and put a 4x scaled-up runway at the top of that really tall peak just south of the Everkrest base. At least with the Sabre-M engines, it's a lot harder to get airborne. With the spaceplane I was trying, it takes about 2x the airspeed to get enough lift to actually gain altitude, and starting from that high up it takes probably 15x the distance to get that airspeed. Fortunately, being at the top of the world means you can lose a lot of altitude before crashing :-)

That said, it did seem a bit easier to actually get into orbit... dunno, maybe it's just in my head.

Edited by TheOtherDave
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