Search the Community

Earlier today, I messed around in the SPH and built a rocket plane. As a dare to myself, I blasted off and decided to land it as far away from the KSC as I could - despite the fact that my Dart engine could only burn for 1 minute and 38 seconds at full throttle. That also meant a lot of gliding time, which paid off a lot since I managed to land 342.5 km away from the KSC (at a 45-degree flight heading after taking off from 0-9 KSC). I used MJ to check the distance by programming the KSC's coordinates as a rover waypoint. Do you think you can go farther than that? Here are the rules for the challenge. As the name implies, it should be a rocket plane. Which means rocket tanks and engines ONLY. No intakes or air-breathing engines allowed. If you use a RAPIER, keep it on rocket mode. (UPDATE) SRBs okay, but I wouldn't recommend it since you can't shut them off. All stock parts. May use certain mods ONLY for navigation (like MJ), including: Determining pitch and speed (surface and vertical) Finding distance from KSC Getting orbital aspects. No cheats (duh). Need 1-person crew capacity and probe core (for remote control) Be sure to have a battery and/or a power source. Since you'll be doing a lot of gliding, you won't have the engine's alternator. The RAPIERS also don't have alternators, either. Solar panels inadvisable since they get snapped off easily at high speeds. Must land and take off like a plane. Can only take off from Runway 0-9 KSC The runway you always take off from. May change heading after taking off. Land in one piece. Failure to do so may result in a disqualification. You don't need to make a complete orbit around Kerbin (or even leave the atmosphere). If you do achieve orbit, just be sure to get it back down safely. And be sure to include pictures of the orbit as proof to receive extra points. Scoring system to come later (and yes, it will include the price). Have fun.