KerbalX

Description

Ghost is designed to be a fully reusable spaceplane for carrying up to 18t to LKO.

Flight Instructions:

Phase 1: Carry
Fly the aircraft like any other aircraft. You want to get it in line with the runway about 10km and 6km altitude away before moving onto the next phase.

Phase 2: Launch
1. Pitch up to 45 deg
2. Press the [Abort] Action Group - This separates ghost from the carrier aircraft and enables its control surfaces
3. Switch to Ghost
4. Press [3] to enable the main engines
5. Pitch Ghost up to 80 degrees
6. Switch back to the carrier aircraft once ghost’s velocity vector is >70deg

Phase 3: Landing the carrier aircraft
1. During separation the Goliaths were set to thrust reverse. Press [1] to switch back to fwd thrust
2. Land as fast as you possibly can. You can use I/K and J/L to deploy flaps and spoilers to slow down. The goal is to keep Ghost within 20km of the carrier aircraft until Ghost gets above 24km. Youre trying to land fast so you can switch back without it passing AP

Phase 4: Orbital Insertion
1. Switch back to Ghost when the carrier aircraft hits 0m/s
2. Perform orbital insertion with a combination of the main engines and OMS engines. Main engines are toggled with [1] and oms are toggled with [2]

Phase 5: Reentry (Trajectories mod highly recommended)
1. Set descent in trajectories mod to prograde and angle of attack to 55 deg
2. Set body flap to 180 deg
3. Burn retrograde until the trajectories indicator is just off the coast of KSC
4. Once at entry interface turn OFF SAS, turn ON fine control (Caps Lock), and let Ghost settle into its reentry angle of attack around 45 deg
5. There are 2 stable angles of attack during hypersonic flight: 45deg and <5deg. 45 deg is very stable, and it will want to return to it from nearly any perterbation. <5deg will need SAS and RCS to maintain stability. Its stable, but very VERY sensitive.
6. Under mach 1 the body flap should be set as low as possible for you to maintain angle of attack. It should be able to hold ~ 5deg with little trouble.

Come watch me work on builds like this live on Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/demo_revolution
Built in the SPH in KSP version 1.12.5.

Details

• Type: SPH
• Class: ship
• Part Count: 710
• Pure Stock
• KSP: 1.12.5