XR5 Conquered...sorta

[Kaito]

w00t!
The first ship i trained with was the Stock DG. Eventually, I just gave up after I reached orbit and went directly to the DGIV. In the DGIV, i learned how to dock, go to the moon, and return back to earth. 95% of my time was spent in the DGIV. But today, I've added a new ship to my Arsenel: Vanguard XR5.

First, I started with it at Brighton Beach. The, I used IMFD to bring it back to earth, and for some unknown reason, I de-orbited. Using my knowledge from the DGIV, I set the hold attitude to 40 degrees, then held tight. I landed someone in the Atlantic ocean, no where close to my target...but I wasnt planning on landing on my target anyway, i just wanted to survive. That was part 1 of my good day: Winging a de-orbit.

Part 2 was docking. After a hellish ascent (25% main fuel remaining...still need to figure out the SCRAM powered ascent), I was in a pretty good plane for ISS. A quick plane change burn, match altitude, SyncOrbit....DTMin = 2.001K. Dang. So, after orbiting earth about 10 times, i was able to get it on 0. When ISS Came, I lined up, opened the docking port...then rotated. Took me 3 seperate times to get the docking port to actually DOCK with ISS (that docking camera is useful, but my fingers kept pushing the wrong buttons, and i was going in places i didn't want to). On the 3rd attempt, I actually docked. I'm so proud of myself ^_^.

Now, just gotta figure out that SCRAM powered Ascent...

 

[MeDiCS]

Congratz!

For scram, I use trim to keep ascending at 100m/s starting at 25Km alt at Mach 4 so that I can use most of the scram fuel instead of main fuel . But wooh, 10 orbits!? You could kept burning to overflow the timer :lol: (well, this depends if you are burning retrograde or not ).

 

[dbeachy1]

When ISS Came, I lined up, opened the docking port...then rotated. Took me 3 seperate times to get the docking port to actually DOCK with ISS (that docking camera is useful, but my fingers kept pushing the wrong buttons, and i was going in places i didn't want to).

When you switch to the docking camera view, switch the RCS jets to docking config mode by clicking the RCS Docking Config button on the panel or by pressing ALT-J. That will make it much easier to dock the XR5 since the RCS jets will behave as you are used to. [It will also reduce RCS jet power to 40% of normal so you can make very precise adjustments.] For more information, refer to page 57 of the XR Flight Operations Manual.

Now, just gotta figure out that SCRAM powered Ascent...

For a SCRAM ascent tutorial, refer the section titled Walkthrough: Launch from KSC to Low-Earth-Orbit on page 28 of the flight manual.

Congratulations on docking the XR5!

 

[Kaito]

I did eventually read the manaul. Very useful stuff

 

[RisingFury]

I usually leave SCRAM engines at full thrust from ground to overheating in XR5. XR2 has a little less SCRAM fuel and I usually end up burning it all before reaching orbital velocities, but in XR5, I burn the fuel to lower the ship mass... and get an idea of how much thrust they provide.

I usually shut off the main engines at around 20 km altitude and glide up on the edge burning up to burn up as much SCRAM fuel as possible and gain as much velocity from SCRAMs. Still, once the SCRAM temperature reaches critical, I have to dump the remaining 10 - 20% of fuel that was left, to increase the acceleration produced by main engines and burn less main fuel.

 

[Tachyon]

Scram profile was a challenge for me as well and this was what I'd come up with.

1) Take off - engage auto speed at ~200km/hr and turn to orbital inset heading.
2) Nose up to 45 degrees via the attitude autopilot and go throttle up 100% on mains. While climbing open scam doors but don't throttle up scam just yet.
3) At ~15,000 feet nose over to ~2.5 degrees. Depending on cargo you should be between mach2 and mach3. Throttle up 100% on scrams and watch their performance. As they increase in efficiency start throttling down the mains.
4) Switch to thermal display and throttle down the scams to maintain yellow temps. At about 32k feet you should be back to 100% on the scrams.

If all goes well you should be at about 75% on the mains and should be left with ~1 to 2% on the scams when the diffuser goes red .....CTRL-G closes the scam doors and kills the scram throttle for you. Remember to throttle up on the mains and I usually go to ~25 degrees for my final orbital altitude. .

This works for the XR2 but the XR1 and XR5 are nearly the same but you usually can engage the scams while in the 45 degree assent due to the earlier performance envelope entry.

note: this might not be text book nor the "best" way but it works for me every time.

 

[EliNaut]

Heheh I just recently re-aquired the XR5, and forgetting its acent profile, I use basically the same one as the XR2, by holding at 70 until ~20km, then leveling out to around 5/10 and punch the scrams until they become self sustaining, then I just glide into orbit with two main engine burns, one to replace the scram in the last few bits of the atmosphere, and another to raise my Pe. Works out wonderfully - If I don't mess anything up, I can make it with at least 60% fuel remaining.

I got my saitek linked up to XR settings. It kicks asteroids. =D