X-313 "SpeedDemon" - The Kerbal Griller

Author Notes

Well, after a month I revisited this mission to test drive something I'm working on - and I need something simple and practical to do some quick and dirty reports about how the crafts are behaving.

This was the first "prototype" for that thing I'm working on: a Thermals Report for the X-313/0 , what will allow me to benchmark things properly with historical data.

So I essentially redid the mission, but registering the craft's figures during the whole mission. To my "horror", I realised I'm terribly more efficient on my ascents leading me to consider that I may be carrying about 100U more fuel than needed. Too bad, I'm not reworking the craft due it - let's see that extra fuel as Contingency Fuel. 😃

This chart is the result of this new test session, I managed to even blow up a part on landing again (the engine this time!!!! 🙃). But I changed the flight regime, I kept Mach 3.7 during the whole cruising instead of trying HyperSonic early on - this allowed me to do a harder last dash before reaching KSC from the other side, stressing a bit more the airframe and getting more compelling results.

The gray line is the Mach number the craft is travelling (at Angels 80); the dotted lines, the skin temperature of the hottest and the coolest parts; the continuous lines the respective internal temperature. The thicker red line is the internal temperature of the Cockpit, a crewable part. It reached about 896.8°K (623.65°C or 1'154.6°F) what, let's be honest, it's plain ridiculous for a crewed compartment! It's the reason I hacked the Cockpit to make the Kerbals wear the Helmet, it's plain impossible for any living being to withstand such environmental temperature!

Since I redid the mission, I edited the Mission Report to reflect the new values - but didn't cared to redo the screenshots. As a matter of fact, I would love to redo the Stage animation, I did a really beautiful scene this time - but, as usual, I'm on the clock and couldn't spare the time. This time. 😇

The raw data for the Report is here, and the craft file here (and on Kerbal-X!)

Cheers!