How to fly a spaceplane with FAR and DRE

[InterCity]

Hello, guys.

How can I fly a hypersonic jet SSTO to orbit under FAR and especially DRE? I seem to start burning up as soon as I hit 1300 m/s speed at 20 km...

EDIT: Thanks for answers, I'll try them right when I stop messing with my minisumo robot.

Edited March 17, 2015 by InterCity
Question answered

[Random Tank]

Well, for a start, higher is better... You want to be getting up to at least 1700m/s at 30-35km before you even think about switching to rocket engines; if the jet engines cut out before that, either use less engines (if possible), turning off sets of jet engines, adding more intakes or using better intakes (the inline shock cone is the best one).

Also, when you say "burning up", do you mean Re-Entry effects, or DRE destroying parts? If it's just Re-Entry effects, ignore them... You should only be worried when the temperature actually increases to 800degrees or above, but regularly it will happen where RE FX will start, but the crafts outside temp is still -5C

[Wanderfound]

Climb more steeply, basically.

You want to be hitting a bit over Mach 4 when your air runs out, which should be happening between 25,000 and 35,000m. Climb to about 20,000m, level off and accelerate from there.

[InterCity]

Also, when you say "burning up", do you mean Re-Entry effects, or DRE destroying parts?

By burning up, I mean pieces of my craft exploding and forcing me to do an emergency landing.

- - - Updated - - -

Also, when you say "burning up", do you mean Re-Entry effects, or DRE destroying parts?

By burning up, I mean pieces of my craft exploding and forcing me to do an emergency landing.

[eddiew]

I may be cynical, but I'm not sure that DRE and spaceplanes are a good mix... bear in mind that we don't have any on Earth either - that's how hard they are to make! ^^;

[Taki117]

You need to be going that fast higher up. You're not going to be able to do the "Standard" spaceplane ascent (Where you reach almost orbital velocity in atmo) simply because either DRE is going to destroy your aircraft, or FAR is going to cut your engines (Jet engines stop producing meaningful thrust at approximately Mach 3) What I suggest is (Assuming you are on rockets at this point) strengthen your wing connections (If you have turned them down) hit your rockets (If you aren't already) and pull up to about 30-45 degrees. push out that apoapsis to target orbit +50km and then coast.

[eddiew]

FAR doesn't alter the jet engine max-speeds, afaik... B9 on the other hand will cut turbojets and rapiers-on-air down to mach 3.2 max, unless you kill that config file and reclaim the right to breathe!

[Random Tank]

By burning up, I mean pieces of my craft exploding and forcing me to do an emergency landing..

Ah that sucks; the solution is hold back on the throttle when you're at 20k and gain more height (as others have said), when you're in the higher atmo you won't generate anywhere near as much heat, so that's the opportunity to really build up speed. With DRE the limit is gonna be about 1800m/s at 30-35km, any faster and it will burn up... but 1800 is plenty enough to get you into orbit, just a short burn with your rockets (you could even use Nukes at that height and speed) and that will put you up to orbital velocity, which will make your AP rapidly rise (and appear on pretty much the other side of the planet).

You CAN make a SSTO Plane that ignites its rockets at 20-25km, but you will need much more fuel due to the lower speed and the fact that the burn will have to be a long one to stop you overheating... I would recommend going higher

[Chewy]

The trick is definitely to increase your altitude as your speed increases. If you're burning up at a given speed/altitude then you should be at a higher altitude when at that speed. Eventually you get to the point where your jet engines can only maintain your current speed (i find for me its around 30km and 1700-1800 m/s) and that is when you fire the rockets to kick your AP up the last bit.

Personally I've had more difficulty with re-entry using DRE and FAR. There I try to bleed of as much speed as I can at higher altitudes and I'm usually happy if the only parts that explode are my RCS trusters (usually its more but I quick save before entering). Regardless, it is very difficult to slowly bleed off speed without exploding wings and control sufaces and still be in the vicinity of KSC for a landing.

[Taki117]

FAR doesn't alter the jet engine max-speeds, afaik... B9 on the other hand will cut turbojets and rapiers-on-air down to mach 3.2 max, unless you kill that config file and reclaim the right to breathe!

FAR does in fact limit jet engine thrust at near hypersonic velocities.

[Hodo]

I may be cynical, but I'm not sure that DRE and spaceplanes are a good mix... bear in mind that we don't have any on Earth either - that's how hard they are to make! ^^;

I run DRE and do SSTO space planes all the time. The trick is simple. Mach 4 at 20km no faster than mach 6 at 25km.