Ion Orbit

[TJMcCaust]

Hey Guys TJ here, I have something that's Scott Manley level today. Ok so I was messing around in KSP the other day and I thought, hey I wonder how hard it would be to put something in orbit using only ion engines, well... for starters planes are easier than rockets, and planes, as any KSP fan would know are hard to put into orbit. So the challenge is to put something into orbit using only ion engines, and no cheats. Good luck.

[GoSlash27]

http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/75704-Reach-for-orbit-with-an-ion-glider%21

http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/89485-0-24-X-The-Easier-Ion-to-Orbit-Challenge

http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/85728-Ion-glider-collier-trophy%21

[Oafman]

I've been trying to get into this in recent weeks, and it is kind of hard, for a few reasons.

Firstly, it takes ages. Your acceleration is very slow, so reaching orbital velocity takes much longer than with jets. And of course 4x time acceleration does funny things to planes. There is apparently a mod which enables you to 4x without the 4x fizzics, which I keep meaning to try.

To compound this issue, you might get a slow FPS, because once you've spammed the plane with all the little solar panels it needs, you can slow things down due to parts count.

One issue I had at the beginning was just getting the thing moving on the runway. Your TWR is so low that this is not simple. The key is to build small and reduce parts/drag. This might be better with FAR or NEAR, as I gather they deal with drag better than KSP aerodynamics (which is very silly when it comes to drag)

I got a lot of help and ideas from the threads Slash linked to, and especially from the stuff he built and his explanations for the designs.

[TJPrime]

http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/75704-Reach-for-orbit-with-an-ion-glider%21

http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/89485-0-24-X-The-Easier-Ion-to-Orbit-Challenge

http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/85728-Ion-glider-collier-trophy%21

Too much Ion challenges. Try something a little more original, like... oh, I dunno, something to do with Eeloo? Maybe?