HyperDart - A new spaceplane

[MJR]

Once I get the textures sorted out I'll do a new Beta release...no date in mind though, work and the two kids have a habit of blowing any date I set:lol:

Ha ha ha. You think you have it bad. I am one of the four teenagers living in my moms house right now and she always says things like that. Anyway, your addon looks very unique and creative. Good job and keep it up.

 

[CigDriver]

yeah, we're stopping at two!

I decided to do some tests with textures before I remapped the model, and I'm pretty happy with how they turned out. Don't look too close at the rivit patterns..they are an epic fail for accuracy, but they get the point across.

I think these textures are far superior to the ones I had before. Of course now the XL-70 will need updating There are subtle difference is panel colors, warning marks, and other small details that I think bring her to life much better than the old textures.

 

[Eccentrus]

The XL-70 is highly unstable, it took me 5 attempts just to fly it over 10 km without stalling and crashing to the ground first. And is it just me or the fuel in the Dart's part is depleting very fast?

 

[CigDriver]

The XL-70 is highly unstable, it took me 5 attempts just to fly it over 10 km without stalling and crashing to the ground first.

Wow, I'm sorry to hear you had such problems with it. I always found it very stable though. Two possibilities, are you ripping your wings off? The XL-70 (and the dart, but it's limits are crazy high) is effected by dynamic pressure. Go too fast and you'll start to rip parts off! You can damage elevons, rudders, the canards and each main wing (gear are on a seperate system). If you loose a wing she will be pretty much uncontrollable. The master warning light will come on when you get close to the max dynamic pressure, and secondary lights will illuminate if you damamge a system.

Second, check the trims on the display at the center of the panel, for take off they should both be near zero (neutral). Keep triming as you accelerate. I've found a 20 degree climb angle works good, but watch the dynamic pressure! Also, if you change engine power you will have to retrim. The engines location pushes the nose up at full power.

I've gotten her to fly across the atlantic completly hands off at mach 3.5 25Km.

And is it just me or the fuel in the Dart's part is depleting very fast?

The fuel in the dart does go fast, it will generally be only enough to get you to a high suborbital path. Once you reach apogee you can use the OMS engines to circularize your orbit. I've found launching with the XL at mach3+ at around 20Km works best. If you go higher the air gets too thin and there isn't enough lift to keep from crashing into the XL when you release. Trim to keep the nose about 30 degrees above the horizon and you'll get your apogee up to around 250Km with a bit of main engine fuel to spare. Use that fuel and the OMS to get into orbit.

 

[Eccentrus]

No sir, no wing ripping, and oddly, it seems that, in my orbiter, it always nose up, even when I'm taking off the control, making have to hold the stick all the time, it's just can't fly straight enough to be stable, I don't which one's wrong, my files, or your XL. And very oddly though, I can only get it as fast as 1,5 mach, But let's see when I do another round of it in orbiter.

EDIT: Did it through Mach 3 for the first time, but have to control the nose everytime because the nose was running, You see, even after take off, I have to take control so that the nose won't run anywhere and create a stall. (it will go "up" even after 90 degrees, making loops like crazy) but after 10 kms or so, the nose calms down a bit, and only after that my fingers can relax.

But the Dart itself is excellent, I would honor you by saying "Incredible Job", perhaps you can make the onboard computer functional in the final version.

 

[Tommy]

Have you tried adjusting the elevator trim? Use the Insert and Delete keys. Also, what altitude are you flying at, the air is very thick below 10k, you may need to get higher before the engine can push you faster, say around 25k.

 

[Eccentrus]

it's after take off, so yeah, still below 10 km, but it still feels odd for a plane to suddenly loop around automatically after just taking off.

 

[CigDriver]

I added a bit of downthrust to the main engines on the XL, I don't know if it will help Eccentrus, but it does make the XL not need to be re-trimmed when you change power settings. I've got a few more tweaks I want to do then I'll put out a new beta version.

 

[clickypens]

I downloaded this and loved it. Great fun to fly.

But I do have one question about de-orbiting. I followed your instructions of slowing down just 100m/s 3/4 of an orbit away, and then went with a high AOA, resulting in a skip-reentry. Even though I never got the dynamic pressure into even the green part, I'm just wondering if this is what you had in mind? Or do I go with a shallow dive over this whole period?

All in all, I think it's a great package. The XL-70 looks a little blocky, but you said you were gonna work on it anyway. Cheers, man!

 

[CigDriver]

She does skip a bit with a shallow entry. You can mitigate it some by banking and doing s-turns like the shuttle. If you don't have it get aerobrakeMFD, I've included the data file for it. It will show you your reentry path based on your current state, and is very helpfull to get down.

When I coded the dynamic pressure damage I invisioned crashing into the atmosphere like the shuttle, but I think the longer slower reentry. Plus the sharp nose on this thing wouldn't be good for a fast reentry. I think I'll lower the dynamic pressure limits a bit on the hyperdart to make it ia bit more challenging.

 

[CigDriver]

Work is progressing, but slowly. I've added a new feature, and it kind of works. Hopefully someone that reads this might know the cure, I've scoured the SDK and can't figure it out.

I added a switch to turn the cockpit lights on and off. At first I didn't think it worked at all, but after testing it I jumped back to the XL-70 trimmed it a bit (was seeing how far it could go almost unaided) and low and behold, the cockpit lights in the dart were off! So, my code works, but it only updates the visuals if you switch out of the hyperdart and then back. Going out of VC mode and back isn't enough. Anyone know a cure for this? I'm changing the emissive value of the material with oapiMeshMaterial. I wonder if this also relates to my elevons not disapearing when they are damaged. I'll have to look into that.

On a sad note the maxscript exporter doesn't like my new computer. Orbiter just crashes when I load it after exporting a new mesh. It also does not export the group names, they are all just named group XX I'll have to look into this a bit more, but I can get by without a new mesh, just the base of the cockpit light toggle moves with the switch...minor but very annoying!

I'll put out a new beta once I get this light thing figured out.

 

[Usquanigo]

Sorry to hear about the crashes. Did you change OS's? Or get more updates than you had before?

I hope you can get that sorted soon. Anything I can do to help, just ask. (may not be much, but I am in IT, so.... who knows. )

I've been away for so long that I forgot how good your stuff really is, and it's still just in beta! :hotcool:

I was just taking a trans-continental flight in the XL-70 from KSC to Re-Fuel. Very finicky aircraft (but that is GOOD). Very powerful, and very sensitive. It's tricky to get it up, pointed in the right direction, and up to speed. Of course... I only have a keyboard here too. With a HOTAS, or even just a simple joystick it would make life easier. All in all, top notch for sure.

Getting down is proving to be even trickier, trying to slow down from high mach at high alt, I figured I'd just dive it down... um, no. lol I clearly have to start whoa-ing it in sooner and watch that dynamic pressure.

It's worthy to be an addon unto itself!

 

[CigDriver]

I've had a good bit of scope creep on the XL. It was orginally only supposed to be developed enough to fly the HyperDart up to launch it. Over time it developed it's own VC, true air breathing engines, and the dynamic pressure damage from the HyperDart. Now, with the assistance of Mindblast, it has a full atmospheric heating system. It is quite advanced, Mindblast has done some incredible coding! I've added a temperature gauge below the dynamic pressure one, and a delta heat guage so you can see how fast you are heating up or cooling off. It is quite fun trying to balance all the factors when flying it. The hyperdart likes to be launched at 20Km around M3.5, but you'll quickly overheat your airframe at that speed and altitude, so you need to judge it just right to dive down to get the speed and altitude right, get the Dart off on its way, and then get back up into cooler air without ripping the wings off the XL-70. It is gonna take some practice!

I've also coded a bit more into the wing fold so it isn't purely cosmetic anymore. Now as the wings fold the wing area reduces and the vertical area increases. You can definitely see it with the loss of vertical speed as the wings fold, the decrease in drag, and the increased stability when you use the rudders. On the real XB-70 the wing fold was designed to capture the shockwave and add a bit of lift as well as increase the vertical are for more high-speed stability. I'm looking for a way to add the lift without the drag, I need to dig through the SDK a bit more and see what options I have. I also added a speed brake to help slow on descents. I need to adjust the canard a bit to help calm some flight instability that has crept up with my wing changes though.

Next up is the final tweaking to the heating/cooling rates and then adapting the heating system to the Dart. I need to add some modifiers to account for AoA. I didn't think that was too important for the XL since you are never at a very large AoA, and if you are at a large AoA your in more trouble than the heating would cause you anyway On the HyperDart it will be critical, just like the XR series and the DGIV.

Once this package is done I'm going to build a small sub-orbital plane for use in the racing league, can't always have the field filled with DGIV's and XR2's! It will be a small 4 passenger VIP transport vehicle similar to the previously mentioned craft. But, like I said, it will only be sub-orbital, so no rocket motors, only standard jets and ram/scramjets. I hope to work out code for swing wings on it, but time will tell on that one I just hope I can get this one completed a bit faster than how long I've been working on the HyperDart/XL-70 combo! Of course I will not have to teach myself basic C++ this time

 

[clickypens]

Awesome! I'm looking forward to the next release and can't wait to try out your new suborb plane. I've always liked making quick trips to different places on the globe. I imagine it will be at least as good as the Hyperdart, which has really turned into a favorite of mine. Keep up the good work, man!

 

[the.punk]

Yeah. Can't wait to fly it.

 

[CigDriver]

I have a new build out to my tester. Once I get the ok from him I'll put out another public beta

I've added the heating system to the HyperDart, and improved the damage system a bit. Now it uses exponential function to increase the chance of damage from heat based on the amount of time you are in an overheat state. Hopefully before the end of the week he'll get back to me sat there is no major issues. The big thing I'll be looking for this time is comments on the flight model.

 

[the.punk]

I have a new build out to my tester. Once I get the ok from him I'll put out another public beta

I've added the heating system to the HyperDart, and improved the damage system a bit. Now it uses exponential function to increase the chance of damage from heat based on the amount of time you are in an overheat state. Hopefully before the end of the week he'll get back to me sat there is no major issues. The big thing I'll be looking for this time is comments on the flight model.

Cool to hear.

 

[eveningsky339]

I have a new build out to my tester. Once I get the ok from him I'll put out another public beta

I've added the heating system to the HyperDart, and improved the damage system a bit. Now it uses exponential function to increase the chance of damage from heat based on the amount of time you are in an overheat state. Hopefully before the end of the week he'll get back to me sat there is no major issues. The big thing I'll be looking for this time is comments on the flight model.

Looking forward to it! How is your baby doing these days?

 

[CigDriver]

Another Beta Release!

The baby is doing good, she is a total terror

Time for another public beta:

http://www.animatedexistence.com/orbiter/hyperdart/HyperDartPB3.zip

A few notes:
You need UMMU from DanSteph, and [ame="http://www.orbithangar.com/searchid.php?ID=3373"]URMS[/ame] from Yuri Kulchitsky.
the heating rates and limits are not 100% yet, so I'm looking for feedback

The XL is a finicky B1tch! She is super powerful and will easily rip apart her airframe at low altitudes. Once you get her off the ground she will hesitate a bit as she climbs then soar like an eagle. Let her climb at about a 30 degree angle if you are using max power, adjust the angle with CoG and Trim adjustments. Level off around 9-10Km and accelerate through M1. At M1.15 lower the wingtips and she will acclerate at a good rate again. Once you get up around 20KM heat become more of a problem than dynamic pressure, so keep an eye on it. She will cruise at 30Km, M3.65 with the heat in equilibrium, but it will be right against the limit. If you get her close to trimmed out you can use the altitude hold of AerobrakeMFD quite effectively. If the trim isn't close to level flight that autopilot will bounce her a bit.

To launch the dart drop down to about 20Km and M3.5+, pull into a slight parabolic flight path and release the dart (hit J or double click the "release payload" button). At that speed and altitude the Dart should fly off nicely. Any higher and it will hit you due to lack of lift The Dart will fly hands off to a reasonable sub-orbital path, if you fly it you can get it to a much more reasonable trajectory.

Heating on the Dart is AoA dependent. I've done a few reentrys with it and she likes to fly back out of the atmosphere. Bank her hard and do S-turns like the shuttle. Keep an eye on the heat levels and let her climb a bit if you need to. The heat damage is exponential based on your time in an overheat state, at 15 seconds there is a 100% failure rate.

I gave the dart a bit of an ISP boost, so you should be able to get up to a 450-500Km orbit with the main and oms engines.

Some of the VC displays are hard to read, actually the VCs are a usability nightmare, but it will require a major rework of the models to make them better. That will be something for a later date.

I'm reworking the manual I made before to reflect all the changes, so one is not included. The important switches in the VCs work (autopilots, MFDs, HUD modes, Gear, Baydoors, Wing position) On the Dart there is also switches for thruster mode, aero control surface mode and OMS or Main engines. both craft also have small readouts (center for the XL, Right side for the Dart) that show heat levels (and Delta Heat on the XL), Dynamic pressure level, fuel levels, Trim level (with buttons to adjust), CoG Position (with buttons to adjust), and a jettison payload button). The CoG and Trim levels will be your best friends in the XL

I'm especially interested in how you launch the Dart, what type of profile you flew, and feedback on reentry with the Dart. Remember, the entire package is supposed to be a semi-realistic design based off updating 1950-60 technology demonstrators. This isn't a Delta Glider or XR series craft, more like the space shuttle in capabilities.

Enjoy!

 

[the.punk]

Cool. I'll try it.