Single BURN to orbit?

[viila]

With all these threads about the new aero and when you should do your gravity turn, I'm curious if anyone has tried a realistic single continuous burn (apart from staging, if applicable) to orbit launch? Can it be done in KSP? In real life rockets have extremely limited restart capabilities; main stages usually can't be restarted at all and even most upper stages have very limited number of starts they can do.

Edited May 3, 2015 by viila

[Reddeyfish]

I remember Scott Manley did a 'space-bar-only-to-space' ship in a stream, so it should be possible.

EDIT: link: http://www.reddit.com/r/KerbalSpaceProgram/comments/1v19fj/scott_manleys_lazy_rocket_challenge_done_without/

EDIT: and a complete one-button-press-to-orbit by someone else (technically 4 because of max trottle, RCS, and SAS): http://www.reddit.com/r/KerbalSpaceProgram/comments/1dsvgk/i_see_your_singlestagetoorbit_and_raise_you_my/

Edited May 3, 2015 by Reddeyfish

[Blu_C]

It can be done and I have done it, depending on what you consider a continuous burn. I will sometimes for fun cut throttle back some and such, which real rockets generally are unable to do. To be honest, it isn't worth the effort since it really requires babying the rocket a lot during the ascent. Although you might think it would be easier in reality it is just a pain in the butt and probably too difficult for a new player to manage when contending with all the other things KSP demands you pay attention to.

[Requia]

I did it, single stage till api hit vacuum, cut throttle back (though not all the way) till 60k, then staged to a nuke which burned all the way to orbit.

If I can figure out the launch timing I wanna try to intersect with a moon or planet in a single burn, or at least to within very minor adjustments.

Edited May 3, 2015 by Requia

[Blu_C]

I did it, single stage till api hit vacuum, cut throttle back (but not off) till 60k, then staged to a nuke which burned all the way to orbit.

If I can figure out the launch timing I wanna try to intersect with a moon or planet in a single burn, or at least to within very minor adjustments.

This is actually pretty easy for the Mun. Wait until the moon is a bit more than 90 degrees off from the KSC and then launch, then continue your burn until you lift your apoapsis up to the mun's altitude. You may have to try a couple times to get a feel for how to do it, but it is actually pretty easy and modestly more efficient than circularizing in between. As a shortcut simply target the moon (so you are going to need some career building upgrades if you are doing this there), then end your gravity turn with your nose pointed directly at the Mun. Ideally it should be at or near the horizon, though the Mun's SOI is pretty big so you have a fair amount of fudge room.

[Feradose]

Have 5 kickback solid rocket boosters and tweak the thrust limiter to not burn up, use stayputnik as control and you should escape kerbin but it means orbiting kerbol, the star!

[xrayfishx]

Being an RO player I always try to do it this way. Basically you need a little more than half of your dV in the first stage and then you have a low TWR second stage which needs you to burn continuously or it won't reach orbit at all. That's how I try to design my rockets and it gives me a nice single burn to orbit if I follow a good trajectory. To be honest, it would be most efficient to make it a decaying orbit, because a single-burn 70+km orbit seems to require a bit more dV and be less efficient overall.

[Laie]

anyone has tried a realistic single continuous burn (apart from staging, if applicable) to orbit launch? Can it be done in KSP?

It can be done. If you're really curious, there is a "Realism Overhaul" Mod to give you a real-sized Solar system, real engines and stuff -- it tries to turn KSP into a simulator as much as possible.

Getting into space without throttle or restarts is a bit tricky, though. If you want to do it really real-like, you probably have to pre-calculate the ascent and then execute it with high precision -- the game interface doesn't lend itself too well to that kind of thing, and even MechJeb is of limited utility. If you do it the Kerbal way, by the seat of your pants, you have to adjust apoapsis by pitch. With some experience, this works surprisingly well.

[panzer1b]

I almost always go full power until proper AP, and full power to circularize, thats it.

I only use fine controls an throttle back for precision stuff like interplanetary, rendezvous, or craft where the full throttle would tear you in half.

[Woopert]

You probably could do it, but newbies might have issues getting circularised orbits with it. Pointing down usually helps that.

Most probably wouldn't want to do it because a: engines have infinite restarts and b: upper stage TWR's are quite high in KSP.