Dark Star 2
by AeroGav
uploaded 2022-06-24
139 downloads /
3
points
SPH
stock spaceplane

A second take on Dark Star SR-72, using strakes and less fuselage parts. Performs worse at low altitude, but really well in the upper atmosphere. Tons of delta V - getting to orbit still leaves you with 50% fuel.

Is a little squirrelly just after takeoff due to rear CG with full tanks. Don’t worry, I’ve set the rearmost tanks to empty first so it settles down later on.

Action Group 1 = Toggle NERVs

Flight tips

  1. Keep supersonic below 10km, probably a climb angle of 10 degrees ?

  2. Level off to get to 440m/s (supersonic) once you reach 11km, then resume climb.

  3. Level off again around 17km for speedrun - should be able to do 1100m/s on jet power only.

  4. When you’ve had enough of that, start the nukes and set an angle of attack of 5 degrees. The way I do this is to take SAS off and use SHIFT + S (nose up trim) and SHIFT + W (nose down trim) so that the plane naturally settles with the nose pointing about 5 degrees above prograde. It should only need occasional roll corrections once you get this dialled in. SAS won’t be needed below 50km, the aerodynamics alone keep it straight.

Details

  • Type: SPH
  • Class: spaceplane
  • Part Count: 64
  • Pure Stock
  • KSP: 1.12.3

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