Atmospheric orbiter

[E. F. Kranz]

Short story:

Built a new jet-powered aircraft; one in a line of experiments attempting to discern the aerodynamic characteristics of planes in KSP.

Took off and headed at 90, with the convenient marker of the 'Next Continent Over' being used as my usual crapout point.

Ran out of fuel as I passed over the last 2 attempts, cruising at about 13km altitude.

Set my angle of attack to minimize rate of descent (about 10 m/s), and let it glide down just like I had been doing.

Except THIS time, I fell asleep. Oops.

When I awoke, I found that my craft was at 1250m altitude, maintaining 27-28m/s speed, with a descent rate of 0.

It had cruised right over the Next Continent, and kept on going. I suspect it would STILL be going now, had the program not crashed during an ill-timed ALT-TAB.

So..... anybody else created an atmospheric orbiter??? ;D

[Akaliwolf]

I haven\'t yet, Ill try to make one later though sounds...interesting :3

[E. F. Kranz]

This is actually quite shockingly easy. I\'m honestly not sure if this is a bug, or if I\'m the best pilot ever.

I\'ve just repeated the flight described above. I don\'t think I ever went above 4km, and for the majority of the flight, I maintained .96-.98 efficiency.

The powered distance was about 35% over any previous attempt, but that\'s not the shocking part.

The shocking part is that after the fuel was depleted, my craft continues to gain both velocity AND altitude.

I intend to let this run as long as it will run.

Note the time, fuel status, altitude, and speed.

[LaggyScout]

Are these only new parts (.15 released) or do you have any custom do-dads (technical Term) on it. Very cool by the way!

[White Owl]

This bug has long been known as infiniglide. It happens because wings in KSP have funky, not quite realistic behavior... yet. I\'m looking forward to the day it\'s fixed.

[E. F. Kranz]

Are these only new parts (.15 released) or do you have any custom do-dads (technical Term) on it. Very cool by the way!

Oh, I\'ve definitely got doodads installed.

I honestly couldn\'t tell you which ones anymore. With each successive version release, I copy my /parts and, more recently, /plugins folder right on over into the new version.

On that particular craft, I know that the black canards at the wingtips is not a stock item. One or more of the control surfaces are probably not stock. I believe the ASAS is non-stock.

... etc.

[E. F. Kranz]

This bug has long been known as infiniglide. It happens because wings in KSP have funky, not quite realistic behavior... yet. I\'m looking forward to the day it\'s fixed.

Thanks for the info, I hadn\'t heard of that.

In this case though, strictly speaking, I\'m not 'gliding.' I\'m accelerating, and climbing!

Where does it end?

[leopardenthusiast]

Thanks for the info, I hadn\'t heard of that.

In this case though, strictly speaking, I\'m not 'gliding.' I\'m accelerating, and climbing!

Where does it end?

You\'re gonna hurtle PAST the sun! Have fun in another galaxy!