You Are Having a Bad Problem and You Will Definitely be Going Into Space Today

[Nobody_1707]

So, after finally getting the Ferram Aerospace Research mod installed properly, I decided to see what aerodynamics can do for a rocket by building the simplest one I could think of:

I've used similar rockets before as the starting point when iteratively designing rockets, so I figured I could use it as the spring-board for a new rocket designed not just to look aerodynamic, but to actually be aerodynamic.

Well, Jeb was raring to go, so I hit the launch button and off he went. Looks like a good launch to me, and Jeb seems pretty happy.

A scant few moments later and things started to get interesting; we broke the sound barrier.

Wait a moment, that's starting to look a bit hot.

Oh, good Lord. We're getting reentry effects while leaving the atmosphere. On a single SRB.

It's a good thing Jeb was piloting this flight, or I think I might have fainted. I am so glad I uninstalled the Deadly Reenty mod before installing this one. We ran out of fuel, so I separated from the SRB. We were still getting reentry effects.

Holy hell, look at that apokee. I've never gotten performance like this from an SRB before, not even one of the big ones.

Well Jebediah, it seems that you are having a bad problem and you will definitely be going into space today.

Let's take a look at Jeb's helmet cam, shall we? What a wonderful view.

Look at our speed as we fell back into the atmosphere. Fireworks were coming.

Oddly, the heat didn't last as long coming in as it did going out. We might have even survived this reentry without a heat shield if Deadly Reentry had still been installed. We wouldn't have survived the ascent, but still...

As soon as we were moving slow enough not to rip it right off the capsule, we deployed the parachute.

After touching down safely, we took a picture of Jeb in front of the capsule. For posterity.

So, in conclusion, proper aerodynamics make rockets go up very quickly, at least if they're small.

PS. Not that it matters for such a simple rocket, but I've included the craft file for it: http://www./download.php?wq9s99pr1g0srdc

Edited April 26, 2013 by Nobody_1707

[ROFLCopter64bit]

*sparkes* MAGIC *sparkles*

[Tw1]

Yep, you can do a lot with a few SRBs. This seems a particularly good flight. Was it repeatable?

[Nobody_1707]

Just checked. Yes, it is repeatable. I love aerodynamics so much.

And I landed a mere 1111m away from the first capsule.

Edited April 26, 2013 by Nobody_1707

[SalmonellaDingDong]

FAR is a great mod. It makes planes so much more fun to fly and design and adds control surface axis customization, too. Proper air physics are incredibly nice.

Try some wings on a SRB:

[Nobody_1707]

So, essentially, the thing killing the performance of stock SRBs was the ridiculous drag implementation?

[Guest]

So, essentially, the thing killing the performance of stock SRBs was the ridiculous drag implementation?

Please keep in mind that "the ridiculous drag implementation" is merely a placeholder. Squad have already stated the atmospheric model will be radically changed in a future update.

Edited April 26, 2013 by Guest

[Pyre]

Technically you did go to space. Just not for very long.

I wish my internet would stop acting up long enough for me to download FAR, it looks like so much fun.

[Scottiths]

I would bet willing to be with an Ap of that height you probably could have gotten to orbit if you did a gravity turn...

*edit*

Bah, typos!

Edited April 26, 2013 by Scottiths
typos abound

[NeoMorph]

FAR is a great mod. It makes planes so much more fun to fly and design and adds control surface axis customization, too. Proper air physics are incredibly nice.

Try some wings on a SRB:

Oooooh. Pretty Prandtl–Glauert singularities.

[Nobody_1707]

I would bet willing to be with an Ap of that height you probably could have gotten to orbit if you did a gravity turn...

*edit*

Bah, typos!

Yeah, but then how would I deorbit? Maybe I can slap some sepratrons on it...

[llamatoes]

As far as I can tell, you basically made a little Joe, one of 'merica's first Spacecraft, and was entirely an SRB

[Nobody_1707]

Yeah, I did make a Little Joe. Now I have to strap the Mercury parachute and escape tower to it. And I can probably use the escape tower to deorbit too.

Slight problem, this rocket moves too quickly to do a gravity turn. The air resistance keeps it pointed relatively straight up until it runs out of fuel. The escape tower system works quite well though.

Edited April 26, 2013 by Nobody_1707

[ROFLCopter64bit]

Yeah, I did make a Little Joe. Now I have to strap the Mercury parachute and escape tower to it. And I can probably use the escape tower to deorbit too.

Slight problem, this rocket moves too quickly to do a gravity turn. The air resistance keeps it pointed relatively straight up until it runs out of fuel. The escape tower system works quite well though.

Did you try and put heaps of RCS on the thing and use that to turn?

[Nobody_1707]

Not yet, but I just learned something horrifying. Remember when I said that the launch escape tower worked fine? Well, only if you haven't ignited the SRB yet. If you have then the capsule will be glued to the SRB by the acceleration despite the best efforts of the escape tower.

[Nao]

So, essentially, the thing killing the performance of stock SRBs was the ridiculous drag implementation?

Yep the drag definitely "kills" the performance of already best high TWR stage 1 propulsion available in stock KSP (they are great even for Eve where you'd think their 225s ISP and 0.3 drag would loose to aerospikes and whatnot). As great as Ferram's mod is, it makes the game quite unbalanced.

[Noticeably FAT]

When I build rockets with emergency abort systems I end up sticking a couple sepatrons pointing sideways for just that reason. 1-2 on the nose seems to get the capsule rolled off the stack.

[Nobody_1707]

The escape tower already burns up and sideways. Also, as I stack more stuff on top of it the SRB seems to get closer, but never quite reaches, its stock performance so it's not too unbalancing considering that a payload light enough to go very fast on an SRB is basically unflyable when placed on an SRB.

I think I've built a light launch vehicle that can get into KEO, but I'm still not used to real gravity turns so I'm not quite sure. The escape tower does work on this rocket since it's heavier. I have noticed that on both this rocket and its immediate predecessor that I unexpectedly generated no reentry effects while hitting heavy atmosphere at ~1600m/s. Is this due to my angle of approach?

Light Launch Test Vehicle 2: http://www./?cwp90adw990g3wt The bottom stage is the SRB fin stage from my "Little Joe." If anyone could see if they can get this into orbit with FAR and give me some flight tips then I would greatly appreciate it. I would also be interested to know if the lack of reentry effects is supposed to happen. If it is then I'm going to be reinstalling Deadly Reentry.