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Race To The Pole

RedDwarfIV
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RedDwarfIV

RedDwarfIV

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4Iw6U.png

This has probably been done before, but oh well.

I watched Kutjmac's video of his trip to the pole. I made my own mission, and decided to try reaching the pole faster than him. I did so, by two (2) minutes. I was going to post the mission log in General Discussion, but I decided this would be more interesting. Stock and mod entries are effectively different competitions. Only stock records get put on the title image. Entries with mod parts used for aesthetics only may be entered as stock. Entries with MechJeb may enter as stock. Aircraft only - no sub-orbital trajectories.

My vehicle was a two-engined cranked-delta with a H-tail and quad drop-tanks called the Polar Venturer.

Imgur flight album: http://imgur.com/a/yPZzQ

Total time: 58 minutes.

Parts type: Stock.

==============

STOCK LEADERBOARD

==============

1/ SsTALONps [00:23]

2/ Klilidiplomus [00:29]

3/ Rampiro[00:34]

4/ Slboris [00:34]

5/ Olex [00:38]

6/ RedDwarfIV [00:40]

7/ Jfx [00:44]

8/ Kurtjmac [01:00]

==============

MOD LEADERBOARD

==============

1/

2/

3/

4/

5/

[Title image will be updated tomorrow, when I have access to my desktop. That has all my files on it, not my laptop.]

[COT: 'Crashed On Target']

Edited by RedDwarfIV
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jfx

jfx

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Plane: Ku-160 (Plane itself is stock + Mechjeb, "Missiles" are KW Pack boosters i dropped after liftoff to save weight):

Flight Time 44:25, cruising speed about 480 m/s at 17.000m

imgur is currently on maintenance :| no longer http://imgur.com/a/3J2QA

I'll post pictures up soon on imgur but. My mech 2 airplane can go about 400 m.s i tried it and i got there at 10 minutes with no mods but configed the small radial thruster to 100 so i got 4 so its about 400 thrust.

10 minutes at 400 m/s ... wat?!

Edited by jfx
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RedDwarfIV

RedDwarfIV

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Yeah, what's with the ten minutes?

Ok, due to flightpath errors on my part, the Cougar spent the first half of the journey at 6000 metres, bringing speed down to 250 m/s. However, in the other half I found that at high altitude it is capable of 450 m/s. With that, I estimate a 40 minute flight time.I'll be trying again soon.

Reached the halfway mountains in 18 minutes. Projected 37 minutes ETA.

http://i.imgur.com/47UpQ.png

Edited by RedDwarfIV
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olex

olex

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Took my old trusted long-range design out for this one. The Leviathan 2M is a stock+MechJeb 4-engine classical layout with a large wing area and a T-tail, with two drop tanks extending its range past 1000km (at full throttle all the time before the final descent, thus avoiding the 0.16 fuel bug). Cruising speed is ~400m/[email protected] with drop tanks and over 600m/[email protected] in clean configuration. It did it in 38:17, even though I falsely corrected my descent and overshot the pole, making the final touchdown ~6km away from it.

[ATTACH=CONFIG]31361[/ATTACH]

[ATTACH=CONFIG]31362[/ATTACH]

Full imgur album with flight images: http://imgur.com/a/8mgfC

Edited by olex
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RedDwarfIV

RedDwarfIV

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Nice. Will update title image tomorrow, but you're first on the leaderboard for now.

Outof interest, why did you put wingtip vortex displacement fins on the ends of your wings? They look a bit oversized for the wingtip itself.

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RedDwarfIV

RedDwarfIV

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They do look oversized indeed. No particular reason actually for them to be there... is "because I could" good enough? :)

Sure. Though I'd have used non-angled placement [Circle not hexagon] and I'd have put them further inboard on the wings. It would look cool and have aerodynamic aesthetic.

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ssTALONps

ssTALONps

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24:30 @ passing over North Pole, 26:34 @ after recovering from dreaded downward spin and safe landing!!!

my Tachyon high speed aircraft can cruise at amazing speed over 700m/s @ 15km, and uses innovative launch method for drastically reducing climbing time to cruise altitude...

after reaching North Pole, I realized I had plenty of fuel to spare so I'm planning to beef up the design with MOAR ENGINES!!!

here's link to album, note that I forgot to take a screenshot of take off and substituted it with another flight...

http://imgur.com/a/i4mZP#0

EDIT: reached half way < 12min with improved design, the original one passed half way point with 13min... I'll post the new record ASAP!!!

Edited by ssTALONps
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ramipro

ramipro

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Just a question, where are we exactly going? To 90º0`0"? or just where the ice starts? By the way, I´m getting 500m/s at a decent height, ETA 35 min

Edited by ramipro
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RedDwarfIV

RedDwarfIV

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You're right, Rampiro. That counts as a Did Not Finish.

Also, rocket engines are allowed, but only because if they are running the entire flight, you're not going to get very far. Quite how TalonOps managed to drop his rocket without a decoupler, I don't know.

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ssTALONps

ssTALONps

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Quite how TalonOps managed to drop his rocket without a decoupler, I don't know.

oh my aerospike RATO is intended to be collided into launch clamps and get smashed, such a Kerbal way :)

that specific flight (take off scene), however, didn't got its RATO destroyed... the flight that reached North Pole had its RATO smashed...

after many test flights, I concluded RATO is kinda surplus and removed it in my new Tachyon S design...

EDIT

21:00 @ over shooting North Pole, 25:05 @ after almost failed attempt to land near previous flight... the Tachyon S's crew miraculously survived :)!!!

I caught up with sun in this flight, cruising speed over 800m/s @ 15km...

had to cope with inertial coupling problem, this 11 engined beast is extremely sensitive to pitch input...

here's link to album... and RedDwarfIV, my nic is ssTALONps not ssTalonOps :)

http://imgur.com/a/5suE1#0

Edited by ssTALONps
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RedDwarfIV

RedDwarfIV

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One question before I update the leaderboard, and I'll only do that if you say 'yes'.

Is a plane still a plane if it smashes to pieces on landing?

If that was my plane, I'd have gone back to the VAB to work out how to get it to land properly. But that's my judgement, I'm letting you call this one.

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ssTALONps

ssTALONps

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If that was my plane, I'd have gone back to the VAB to work out how to get it to land properly.

while I totally agree with your opinion (aircraft must land in one piece), I think the crash was my fault not the design...

my strategy for fast landing was to pitch down extremely hard but even with large control surfaces, the inertial coupling always overwhelmed my control...

in other words, I could use much more gradual glide slope in exchange of time; aircraft at this size can't handle extreme maneuvers...

I actually had test run around KSC, accelerated to 770m/s at 15km, turned back and landed safely :)

conclusion; 21:00 record is still valid but as I failed to land safely, you can add my new record beside old one, like 'ssTALONps - 24:00 (unofficially 21:00 but landing failed :( )'

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Klilidiplomus

Klilidiplomus

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I managed to get to the pole in 29 minutes and 33 seconds. I could have done it a bit faster, if I hadn't had map view shenanigans and hadn't overshot the pole a few times. And I need to detach the external fuel tanks earlier to reduce drag. I think I will be able to beat the record next time, but for now I'll settle for second place. :)

I did use the fixed camera mod, but the plane is all stock otherwise, so I think it should count for 'stock' category.

Have some images:

uSSUf.png

RVL23.png

UFTcs.png

y0PFW.jpg

eCEzK.png

qliNN.jpg

fojTM.jpg

FTMYn.jpg
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