Is this possible?

[michaelphoenix22]

Is it possible in KSP to get a plane going fast enough that you can get a circular AP and PE within say the middle or upper atmosphere? I know you would have to be going wicked fast and you would have the keep the engines plowing in order to maintain it but is it possible? has anyone tried?

[Tank Buddy]

It is, and not even that difficult. You just have to be going ~2200 m/s @ 23 Km. You will have to boost at Ap for an orbital insertion.

[ComradeGoat]

Standard ascent profile for many of my spaceplanes: circular orbit at about 35K.

[Levelord]

It is, and not even that difficult. You just have to be going ~2200 m/s @ 23 Km. You will have to boost at Ap for an orbital insertion.

Pretty much this. This is standard procedure for spaceplane SSTOs.

[sporkafife]

It's pretty easy to do if you're a bit spammy on the intakes, and probably possible without that. The problem is, because the atmosphere will be constantly slowing you down, you have to continue using fuel to stay there.

[Kasuha]

It's not exactly a plane but it's propelled by a jet engine. 40 km Pe and 200 km Ap on jet engine alone.

It's not a problem to do the same with a plane. Except you don't really need wings at these heights and speeds.

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Edited February 8, 2014 by Kasuha

[Vlk]

Yeah, intake spamming, or small planes/sstos can do this. When you are high enough and go fast enough, you have to point your plane a little below the horizon, so your periapsis goes closer to you. With some planes i can make it so the apoapsis is 100 km+, and the periapsis is where i currently am, at 50 km. This way i can reach apoapsis using only liquidfuel and intake air. Then i just burn a little on apo to raise the periapsis. Doesnt feel very realistic, but it is still fun

[Claw]

It is, and not even that difficult. You just have to be going ~2200 m/s @ 23 Km. You will have to boost at Ap for an orbital insertion.

Yep, this is the idea. Except I aim to be around 32km when I'm reaching for these speeds. It makes it easier and less gas hungry (at least for my particular designs). I'm usually only going about 1000m/s at 23-24km, but it's all in how you prefer to fly. I can achieve what Kasuha demonstrates above with a single TurboJet and two radial scoop intakes (no ram intakes). I would argue you don't have to "intake spam" to get performance like that. Typically I use no more than three intakes per jet engine, but you certainly can use more and have better performance.

Again, it's all up to how you want to design. That's the awesome thing about KSP!

[Kasuha]

I can achieve what Kasuha demonstrates above with a single TurboJet and two radial scoop intakes (no ram intakes). I would argue you don't have to "intake spam" to get performance like that. Typically I use no more than three intakes per jet engine, but you certainly can use more and have better performance.

0.23 made these things way easier, at least if you use single engine (or odd number of them). My "plane" was no doubts overengineered, it was still able to produce "pulsed" acceleration at 60 km.

[Claw]

0.23 made these things way easier, at least if you use single engine (or odd number of them). My "plane" was no doubts overengineered, it was still able to produce "pulsed" acceleration at 60 km.

Hopefully you didn't take that as a poke at your design. I was just meaning to say that there are lots of ways to design things and I was trying to give another example that gave similar performance.

And actually I like your design. Sort of reminds me of the Tron solar sailer before the sails open (or maybe flipped around).

[Kasuha]

Hopefully you didn't take that as a poke at your design. I was just meaning to say that there are lots of ways to design things and I was trying to give another example that gave similar performance.

And actually I like your design. Sort of reminds me of the Tron solar sailer before the sails open (or maybe flipped around).

No problem, it's not really my design by origin although I did put some touches to it. But the basic structure (aircraft wheels, 4 intakes, 1 turbojet, small tank, seat) was shamelessly copied from one of the forum's old regulars. Maybe Numerobis, but I'm not sure.

And I never claim my designs are optimal. I only keep improving the design until it does what I want it to do.