[challenge] land a spaceplane at KSC after one orbit

[plazmaXIII]

ok, so with the new experimental we have been given moveable flight surfaces meaning that its easier (ish) to fly and glide objects down to kerbin!

some people have been flying for a while and i was wondering if anyone has been able to get a plane into space then glide it back to the new runway

my early attempts havent gone so well as the wings seem to tip my rocket over! if anyone has a workable desgin post it here!

[Tim_Barrett]

Does it have to be a SSTO ship or can it have stages like a shuttle strapped to rockets?

[plazmaXIII]

think it would be fair to say that you can use disposable stages if you need.

The main problem ive found is keep the rocket stable with fins so high on the stack. Maybe i just need more SAS 8)

Will try this later on tonight when i get back

[DoctorEvo]

I've already gotten winglet-based 'spaceplanes' into space and then crashed into the launch tower with them, even with earlier versions.

I've attempted several times to repeat this after performing one orbit, but given the uncontrollable ballistic nature of Kerbin orbital reentries, I've yet to reenter close enough to glide back to the space center (though I'm nearly always within sight of it). With further attempts, I'll probably get it eventually - I just find it exhausting having to sit through a 30-minute orbit for every attempt.

[foamyesque]

Gliding is for sissies. Real men loft enough fuel to fly back riding a torch of exploding kaboomery. >

[plazmaXIII]

my thinking was that with a spare tank of fuel and moveable fins you could compensate for the inaccurate method of landing at KSP. if you aimed a litle short with a transfer orbit you could fly the rest of the way back.

i cant test this yet as im still having problems getting a spaceplane into orbit any suggestions?

[DoctorEvo]

my thinking was that with a spare tank of fuel and moveable fins you could compensate for the inaccurate method of landing at KSP. if you aimed a litle short with a transfer orbit you could fly the rest of the way back.

i cant test this yet as im still having problems getting a spaceplane into orbit any suggestions?

Yeah. Use more boosters.

No, but seriously - use lots of winglets down low, and as few winglets as you can get away with up high. My only (semi) successful orbital spaceplane has only two AV-T1s on the final stage, and six AV-R8s on the bottom of the core stage - and it STILL becomes unstable as fuel burns off unless you get out of the atmosphere first.

Also, my 'automatic orbiter' used three winglets on the base of the upper stage simply for orientation (rather than maneuvering) purposes. Again, I had to use several winglets (I think 8) on the lower stage to make it stable, PLUS some nose-ballast consisting of a single useless liquid-fuel engine mounted atop the command pod. It also used two SASs on the lower stage - not as a crutch to make up for instability, but only as an autopilot so I didn't have to touch the controls at all. (And just so you know, it worked - the only control I touched during the entire ascent was the spacebar.)

[Niarro]

Also, are we talking vanilla parts only, or the C-7 stuff? O.o

[MyNameIsNotPa]

Getting my plane into orbit isn't bad, what is is landing the darn thing.

[MyNameIsNotPa]

I put 2 solid boosters under my spaceplane. I'm slingshotting around, not really in orbit, just to see where I can land. Getting there! ;D

[frenchie16]

I have done this with C7, SIDR&SD, and Wobbly Rockets parts in 0.10, which is obviously a lot easier than in earlier versions and/or with stock parts. I used a single-stage spaceplane, did one orbit around Kerbin, and then, halfway-through my orbit, entered a hohmann transfer down to 34,500m. This put me in a perfect position to glide in, using the rest of my fuel as necessary to stay in the air, landing on the 'special' space center grass, which is MUCH easier to land on than regular terrain, or, for some reason, the landing strip.

[Niarro]

Oh god this runway is so bouncy XD

[Rotten194]

I got pretty close with my attempt. Flew the plane up to 35km and sped into a ~60km orbit, went around once, passed over KSC and deobited towards it, but ran out of fuel and undershot a bit, causing me to crash in the mountains. Still very close.

Mods: C7 pack, Silisko pack, and maybe a few wobbly rockets parts.

For other people trying this: try my method and fly into orbit. It uses way less fuel and you gain a huge amount of horizontal speed you'd otherwise need to get outside the atmosphere, plus rockets with planes on top are hellish to control.

[plazmaXIII]

thats awesome. a few more goes and you could probably get that!

shame your kinda cheating though with those jet engines, wasn't somebody supposed to be making a space shuttle that would work on top of a rocket?

[Guest LoSboccacc]

Trying the challenge now... how do I know where the space center is? I know there is that purple thing, but the fact is... I'm on the vertical of that, but I don't know which half off the planet I am! :

edit: I'm here!

[Jarnis]

Trying the challenge now... how do I know where the space center is? I know there is that purple thing, but the fact is... I'm on the vertical of that, but I don't know which half off the planet I am! :

edit: I'm here!

Dark side = You are on the back side of the planet. Half way to go...

[Guest LoSboccacc]

thank you! off I go

[Guest LoSboccacc]

...and then, failed, somewhere at 3/4 of the orbit.

I was mistaken in thinking that I would encounter more gliding and less drag. Oh, well, better luck next time.

[MyNameIsNotPa]

Everything was going great, until I spun my ship around a bit to speed up my orbit...

...And my ship unceremoniously split into a lot of nice, drifting little parts.

[move]ffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUn times.[/move]

[plazmaXIII]

did you fly that plane into orbit?

the best way we know how right now is to fly dead north/south (or east/west) and get into a stable orbit. Then use a transfer orbit down to about 32,000m when you are directly behind KSC by using your navball (other side of the planet - a purple indicator on your navball will show you.

however, this isn't particularity accurate . . .

[Guest LoSboccacc]

did you fly that plane into orbit?

the best way we know how right now is to fly dead north/south (or east/west) and get into a stable orbit. Then use a transfer orbit down to about 32,000m when you are directly behind KSC by using your navball (other side of the planet - a purple indicator on your navball will show you.

however, this isn't particularity accurate . . .

yes, it had a couple boster attached but it worked pretty well. it's unstable past 50k as the fuel get used up, but nothing the nose mounted sas could not dampen. I can share it if you want.

[plazmaXIII]

BREAKTHROUGH!!! :D

i have finally come up with a solution to getting a space plane into orbit via rocket with minimal modding.

this is just a prototype design but im sure with a few modifications i can get this to land at KSC!

It seems that the hardest part is getting your rocket past the 10,000m mark, once you have managed that the issue of the wings throwing your rocket off-course is negligible. the way i got past this is to use LOTS OF TAIL FINS on the first stage so that the rocket didn't veer of course. i also tried to use a design which places the flight wings as far away from the top of the rocket as possible, this reduces the rotational force on the rocket.

On the way down to kerbin i tried to keep the plane in line with its vector until i lost most of my speed (you cant really use your wings at high altitude / speed. you just spin out of control). once i had slowed down to about 300m/s i took control of the space plane and it was easily controllable.

im fairly confident that if i can get lander gear on this plane i can get it to KSC.

will post my attempt at getting to KSC soon!

[Guest LoSboccacc]

im fairly confident that if i can get lander gear on this plane i can get it to KSC.

ehehe I'm facing a similar problem right now: built a pretty balanced staged plane, thanks to capt slug radial boster, but the gear just killbounce me on landing

[plazmaXIII]

is it possible to land with one gear you think? perhaps someone needs to mod a lighter smaller set of gear . . . (hint)

[Guest LoSboccacc]

is it possible to land with one gear you think? perhaps someone needs to mod a lighter smaller set of gear . . . (hint)

if you need something smaller there are the sleds, they works the same, but give you less error margin (less height) so you need a pretty rigid plane overall.

I'm trying with two front gears sideways:

but it explodes as soon as it touch land, even whit extremely slow vertical speed :-\

I think one needs both low vertical and horizontal speed to reduce glitching.