Escape Velocity: The Hypersonic Race

[AdmiralTigerclaw]

Could always just have records for each direction if the challenge changes up that much.  Show me what madness you concoct with the change in params.

[Cunjo Carl]

Just a PSA. It turns out FAR has occasional troubles with the inflatable heat shield (=serviceable hypersonic nose cone), where its drag and lift will occasionally increase by an order of magnitude after alt-tabbing out of KSP. It took me ages to figure out why my craft were sometimes working and then suddenly not! The problem is persistent, but will sometimes be cleared by heading back to the VAB, or alternatively reloading the quicksave 5-10 times.

As long as I'm here, here's a progress update! The new ship is about 10% faster than my previous ship in the prograde direction, and 20% faster in the retrograde. The retrograde direction is pushing the heat limits of the nose cone, which is the next problem I'm aiming to attack. I'm hoping to pull a hat trick with little radiator panels, but we'll see how it goes!

[RocketSquid]

I would love to do this if not for FAR. I have way too many mods already.

[Cunjo Carl]

Admiral, if it makes a difference, stock is easier but notably slower than FAR. If you decided to open a stock side-catagory, I don't think FAR players would feel overshadowed.

[He_162]

Which mods are allowed? Because I could get a vehicle to get an intercept course with the mun whilst still in the atmosphere using mods a while back.

http://live.warthunder.com/post/338622/en/

 

I also got a vehicle to go 7,204 m/s in a re-entry by accelerating towards Kerbin. (It could still steer, and maneuver, as well as land.)

I consider this viable, since at that speed, the only way to get to that speed quickly enough is through space, and then you are going too fast to accelerate to that speed in the atmosphere, and stay in the atmosphere.

http://live.warthunder.com/post/326769/en/

 

I also made a mach 4.2 capable interceptor, not hypersonic, but close enough. (STOCK) <--- with some editor mods, and Kerbal Engineer Redux.

 

Keep in mind those aren't contest entries, just my attempts at high speed. I will see if I can do the challenge in stock to any good extent.

Edited June 20, 2016 by He_162

[Cunjo Carl]

22 hours ago, He_162 said:

Which mods are allowed? Because I could get a vehicle to get an intercept course with the mun whilst still in the atmosphere using mods a while back.

http://live.warthunder.com/post/338622/en/

Sweet, that's a bit over 3km/sec, yes? AdmiralTigerclaw hasn't made an official statement on mods in general, but he has stated "No orion pulse drives" and nothing with 'absurd' Isp- the prohibitions, leaving us to assume that other non-cheat mods are ok. It might be good to get an official weigh in on that, but that's my take. I personally avoid them because I learn a lot more working within the system, but mod magic would certainly make things much easier! AdmiralTigerclaws's ambitions are 3.5km/sec and beyond, and that won't be happening in stock without several breakthroughs- I'll be working on it, but it'll be a while! In the meantime, mods could make the "escape velocity" part jump to life now, so that's exciting.

The rules are clear that FAR's a must, but I think that's his only requirements, mod-wise. FAR's a great mod, but I'm a stock physics/parts guy, so I just install FAR when I want to work on this project, and remove it when I'm done. KSP makes it really easy.

22 hours ago, He_162 said:

I also got a vehicle to go 7,204 m/s in a re-entry by accelerating towards Kerbin. (It could still steer, and maneuver, as well as land.) ... the only way to get to that speed quickly enough is through space

Sounds like fun! How'd it not explode? I have a lot of experience with accidental explosions, and those conditions sound like explodey ones. Fortunately, this challenge makes no stipulations on how much velocity your initial booster stages start you with. You can start the run at 7km/sec and maintain it for as long as possible, enjoying the speed while you have it. Read as written in the rules, we need to develop our speed in atmosphere, but I suspect it's not a sticking point- You should totally ask. That said, 7.2km/sec should take something around 10g of lift to hold at a given altitude. That'll take some sturdy lifting surfaces!

22 hours ago, He_162 said:

I also made a mach 4.2 capable interceptor, not hypersonic, but close enough. (STOCK)

Cool! Sadly stock jet engines won't be appearing in this challenge. As I figured out the hard way, they all stop working at mach 6 or below (except the wheesley somehow).

 

Edited June 21, 2016 by Cunjo Carl