The Rocket Javelin Challenge!

[Suprablaski4]

no i didnt cause my command pod didnt go anywhere so figured it wouldnt display an actual distance, after 100k i lost track, can try again but doubt ill ever get that stable a glide again lol

edit: i take that back lol relaunch put me back in the same direction just falling a little faster, will see if i can post up something similar with a proper final distance

Edited August 23, 2012 by Suprablaski4

[NetBlitzer]

Well, I couldn't achieve greater when launching from a perfectly level distance, but I decided to see just how 'javelin' like my craft really was. Turns out, it's very much like a javelin. Launching it at a 45 degree angle managed to go 85+km away.

I believe the OP should amend the 'Over 25km' height leader board to be 'Not Level Launch or Flight'. I mean, Treb's just delays the turn until after the first bounce.

If you do amend it, I'll post the pictures of my flight.

[SamNxGn]

Hmm, I might change the rules so that both gliders and space planes may be launched at an angle up to 45 degrees. The horizontal limitation was designed to prevent out of atmosphere flight, but there's a section for that now

Edit: Changed rules to allow for angled launches up to 45 degrees. All other rules still apply.

Edited August 23, 2012 by SamNxGn

[BillWiskins]

In before the 'bounce' technique is outlawed or sub-categorized, this:

Observing the wheeled approach used by others, I made some adjustments and added some landing gear. Largely by accident, what happens now is that everything but the SRB and the landing gear are destroyed on impact a hundred metres or so down the runway, leaving a nicely elevated trajectory and almost no additional weight. It is more or less what I was shooting for, but I'd be lying if I said I expected it to happen straight away...

[NetBlitzer]

Darn, bad time for Photobucket to have maintenance... I'll get my new photos up as soon as possible. I managed 89.1km, so that should put me in the leader board for both categories! I'll also redo my 'Under 25km' run to see just how far I can get in that altitude.

Edit: Got 90km, but Photobucket is still down. In another note, it's surprising how much of a difference the angle you start at has. At 35 degrees, my craft managed 42.2km and reached a peak altitude of 15.95km. At 40 degrees, my craft managed a distance of 62.9km, but just barely went over the altitude limit at 25,143 meters. At 45 degrees, my craft went 90,008 meters and rose up to 43.3km.

I may be able to make that 40 degree launch work if I wait perhaps about 1 second after igniting to disengage the thruster, so 60km should be possible under 25km height limit. And this is with my craft basically nose diving after it reaches max altitude.

Edited August 23, 2012 by NetBlitzer

[Trebuchet-Launch]

I had to go away for a bit, but I returned to stake my claim to a non-space launch.

Ground distance 44,348 m

Highest Altitude 4,282 m

Screenshot attached.

I'm going for the distance record for spaceplanes. Without needing to bounce I think I can really pile on the miles.

[NetBlitzer]

Dang Treb, that's far for very little height. If you're going for space planes, why are you not going up higher? And can we (I) see a picture of the ship at launch?

[Trebuchet-Launch]

And for space launching: I removed the landing gear, aimed at about 40 degrees, and let rip. The damage:

Ground distance traveled: 170,405 m

Altitude reached: 73,062 m

Screenshot of end flight screen attached. I'm going to fool around some more but won't post anything unless I make a nice improvement.

EDIT: screenshot42 is the spaceplane one I just fired 170km, now that we're allowed inclined launches. screenshot43 is my horizontally fired bounce-launch plane.

Edited August 23, 2012 by Trebuchet-Launch

[Suprablaski4]

got my screen shot jsut waiting on photobucket also, 133km, even managed to land within sight of my last place lol craft is more repeatable then i ever thought

[Trebuchet-Launch]

Suprablaski, now combine your good glider with my bounce-launching for superior height and see what happens.!

EDIT: Just had a fantastic bounce-launch with my horizontal one that topped out at just under 24,000 m. Gotta see how far it glides - if it glides.

EDIT: [fist shaking] Uncontrolled spin made it re-enter facing the wrong way and it is gliding towards the space center

EDIT: For bounce-launching, the height you hold the craft at really matters. Too high or too low will almost guarantee an explosion or knocking off your wings. A higher start gives you a more violent bounce and more elevated trajectory. It's possible to bounce-launch for less than 25km in height with the proper height, though.

EDIT: It seems that, if I put a nicely gliding one into the thin air, it spins uncontrollably and then ends up gliding forever in a random direction... I'm trying until I get one going where I want it to go!

EDIT: My gliders really miss home. They consistently end up heading roughly back to KSC after spinning all over the sky.

EDIT: This one is flying AWAY from KSC, so maybe it will be a new non-spaceplane record. Supra's record is going to be hard to beat for that, though.

EDIT: Just barely cleared 25km. Nuts.

Edited August 23, 2012 by Trebuchet-Launch

[NetBlitzer]

Well, so much for me being in the competition.

Just kidding, I'll be trying again tomorrow. I'll have to completely redo my design though...

[GOOMH]

Well for the glider category I have this little thing:

Distance:22,790m

Altitude:9,686m

It looks to me to be 45 degrees so I'm sure it's qualified. Too bad it looks like Trebuchet has me beat by a lot.

Edited August 23, 2012 by GOOMH

[Suprablaski4]

kk finally lol 133,022m highest altitude less then 5500 $$$ (launched fully horizontal)

<a target='_blank' title='ImageShack - Image And Video Hosting' href='

http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/832/screenshot2zd.png/'><img src='http://img832.imageshack.us/img832/9052/screenshot2zd.png' border='0'/></a><br>Uploaded with <a target='_blank' href='http://imageshack.us'>ImageShack.us</a>

Note my zoomed out view, the lake in the background, is where i landed on my last flight

<a target='_blank' title='ImageShack - Image And Video Hosting' href='http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/15/screenshot1voa.png/'><img src='http://img15.imageshack.us/img15/544/screenshot1voa.png' border='0'/></a><br>Uploaded with <a target='_blank' href='http://imageshack.us'>ImageShack.us</a>

[GOOMH]

Dammit SUpra I was just about to post a good one

Still it's pretty good for me.

Distance: 45,483

Altitude: About 20km

[Trebuchet-Launch]

OK, last hurrah for the evening.

Highest Altitude: 23,520 m

Ground Distance: 83,085

Supra's non-spaceplane record is going to be a tough one to beat. I'll see about taking another crack at it tomorrow.

[Praitaq]

Here is my entry:

Max Alt: 13,010m

Speed:897 m/s

Distance: 43,722m

[Suprablaski4]

ive managed my trip 3 more times now so no doubt the craft is repeatable just takes 3 or 4 launches to get the right angle then its set for an hour or so lol

[Fendleton]

I might go in for this later. I've recently been trying un-piloted "dead" launches to see how KSP handles vehicles set up to do true (or close enough) gravity turns with good reliability (so no control inputs are needed [or in this case, are even possible].... in theory, with a good enough vehicle, it'd go into orbit by itself) Of course, since I can't set up multi-stage rockets without a command pod, I can't really tell..... but it's looking promising. This challenge is more aerodynamics, but I might give it a go.

[ramipro]

Okay, so I decided to give it a go, and here it is!

[spoiler=]

Edited August 23, 2012 by ramipro

[SamNxGn]

Its awesome to see the amount of varied techniques being used here. When I first thought of the challenge I never thought it would be possible to achieve so much distance with a single SRB I'm just editing the leaderboards now

[puppy1305]

yeah well beat these

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[SteevyT]

Do I get style bonus points?

[SamNxGn]

Not sure about that but I shall put your name on the leaderboard

[NetBlitzer]

Dang, I've fallen low down on these leader boards!

Anyways, now that Photobucket is back up, I can post my new records that I did last night.

40 degree launch

57.8km distance

45 degree launch angle

View of the sun

Final distance of 90km

Now it's time to completely restart my ideas and find a better glider!

[redivh]

Mine blew up right after it launched...