Spaceplane Speed Challenge IV: Up and Down

[Wanderfound]

I don't use FAR and I don't do spaceplanes, but, I'm good at Delta-V's, math and trajectories.... Stock entry is almost ready, and I'm still tweaking my FAR entry.

Cool.

It's been the turning around that's the hard part so far.

[xtoro]

Cool.

It's been the turning around that's the hard part so far.

That and trying to get a good trajectory back to the runway. I hit a learning curve with FAR in this aspect because it treats the atmosphere differently...

[Wanderfound]

A new time for the Benchmark!

Off we go.

Up.

And away.

Rocket time.

Done.

Back.

Down.

Turn, turn, turn.

Just about.

Done.

Zoom.

Get some approach room.

And slow back down.

Lined up?

Nah.

24 minutes, 16 seconds. Obviously still room for improvement.

Edited September 26, 2014 by Wanderfound

[xtoro]

Got you beat using the benchmark and FAR. Only other mod used was MechJeb.

Stock benchmark painted "Neon Ghost"....

And we're off!

Burning up through the sky!

Coasting to AP

Circularized

Dropping PE

Down we go! Yes, tail first!

Slow it down!

And there you have it ladies and gentlemen! A perfectly balanced turn on his tail! What a feat!

Burning back towards KSC

Long way to go!

GO! GO! GO! FASTER FASTER!

Slow it down... Out of gas!

Slow slow slow, glide it to the runway, which I still had gas!

Almost there, line it up!

Aaaaaaaaand....

Landed!

23 Minutes and 56 seconds!

I can definitely improve this by quite a bit. My return trip was botched a bit and my AP got too high so I had to correct it. I also had some wobbles when I tipped on my tail doing the turn-around maneuver. I can definitely optimize my return and probably shave off another 30-60 seconds. But for now, I have a mission story line to work on

I'll do another run, but not today.

Edited September 26, 2014 by xtoro

[Wanderfound]

BTW, those of you having fun with the Benchmark, keep in mind that it's the test ship for these as well:

http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/91544-Spaceplane-economy-challenge

http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/90354-Spaceplane-speed-challenge-shortest-elapsed-time-from-runway-to-orbit?p=1346130#post1346130

http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/91511-Spaceplane-Speed-Challenge-2-Fastest-time-from-orbit-to-runway

I'd be particularly keen to see some competition on the economy challenge. That could finally settle all of the "which is the best way to fly to orbit" arguments.

Edited September 26, 2014 by Wanderfound

[Wanderfound]

Stock benchmark painted "Neon Ghost"....

BTW, it looks like you're actually using the alternate designed-for-stock-aero Benchmark. The FAR version had advanced canards on the nose and a pair of AV-R8's behind them.

[xtoro]

BTW, it looks like you're actually using the alternate designed-for-stock-aero Benchmark. The FAR version had advanced canards on the nose and a pair of AV-R8's behind them.

Hmm, does it really make a difference? I've never used FAR until now so I really don't know...

By the way, I DID NOT autoland! I was only using it for the navball indicator to find the runway. If I was using autoland you'd see an abort button...

Edited September 26, 2014 by xtoro

[Wanderfound]

Hmm, does it really make a difference? I've never used FAR until now so I really don't know...

By the way, I DID NOT autoland! I was only using it for the navball indicator to find the runway. If I was using autoland you'd see an abort button...

Yup, just caught that; leaderboard fixed. Sorry 'bout that.

The designed-for-FAR version will probably be a touch quicker if anything. The CoL on the version you used is a bit further back than it should be.

How'd you get it back up to Mach 7? A bit of oxidiser left? FAR-nerfed air breathers top out around Mach 6.

[xtoro]

Yup, just caught that; leaderboard fixed. Sorry 'bout that.

The designed-for-FAR version will probably be a touch quicker if anything. The CoL on the version you used is a bit further back than it should be.

How'd you get it back up to Mach 7? A bit of oxidiser left? FAR-nerfed air breathers top out around Mach 6.

Yep, I purposely left about 800 delta-v after dropping my peri so that I could get back quicker. You can see the oxy in the pic where im burning down backwards, look at the resources. Next time I'll use the right plane!

Edited September 27, 2014 by xtoro

[Wanderfound]

Let's have one more go.

Briskly up as usual.

Quite briskly. Love a supersonic climber.

Up.

And around. 4 minutes 27 seconds.

Flip.

Back down.

Dive to get down quick.

And keep the gas on through the turn.

Throttle off and turn to slow when the target gets near.

Dump some more altitude and speed in a hurry.

Line it up.

And down. 23 minutes, 23 seconds.

Sorry, Jovus.

[Heagar]

There is a slightly room for improvements with this craft, but not so mutch.

Time is 14min, 35 secs. Totally stock.

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[Wanderfound]

Y'all were having so much fun with the Benchmark that I thought I'd do a tuned-up version.

I'm still working on the perfect trajectory with this, but it can definitely get well below 20 minutes. Anyway, I thought I'd let y'all have a play with it now to keep you busy until 25 drops: https://www.dropbox.com/s/qv9v27spfkzlgub/KSV%20Benchmark%20GTHO.craft?dl=0

Needs SP+.

Edited September 30, 2014 by Wanderfound

[Wanderfound]

So let's see how good the KSV boys are...

Ready to go.

Up.

Away.

Steep to begin with.

But flatten out as soon as the air thins.

Time for rockets.

Proof of up. Hard to get circular when you don't have time to wait.

Flip, burn and straight back the other way. Enough juice to reverse orbital direction.

Get the jets back on as soon as they can breathe.

Pulling some G's.

Some serious G's.

Actually, that's getting a bit alarming.

But made it! Up and away.

Running out of gas, need to throttle off.

Dive in.

Line it up.

Gear down.

Final approach.

And down. 17 minutes, 24 seconds. A new champion!