Y-1 Flight... IN VR [VR Video]

Time for our first rocket-plane flight! I will be performing this flight in full virtual reality, using the amazing Kerbal VR mod. I've had to reduce the graphics somewhat (disabling scatterer, specifically) in order to maintain VR compatibility. Unfortunately I haven't yet unlocked one of the plane cockpits which supports all the fancy buttons either, so I'll be controlling it using the Oculus Touch controllers for now.

The objective of this mission is to drop launch our Y-1 rocket plane from our mothership, maintain level(-ish) flight at a speed of at least 343m/s for at least 30 seconds, then touchdown on the Saharan desert. In the cockpit is heroic test pilot Matt Clarkson.


You'll notice that after I turn off the engines I start performing banking turns. Generally, in flight, you control your speed with your throttle and control altitude with your pitch. However when your engines are off and when you are in a state of gliding, you have to control both by maneuvering.

If you go downwards you gain speed and lose altitude.
If you go upwards you lose speed and gain altitude.

In order to lose both speed and altitude it is necessary to do something to bleed off the speed as you descend. By turning the full body of the plane against the direction of travel, I create a lot of drag from the air which in turn slows down the plane dramatically, without affecting the altitude. This puts a lot of strain on the plane (especially with the steep bank angles), but as our plane is equipped for supersonic flight it doesn't faze it too much.

The margin for error when landing is also quite slim. I needed to bleed off a lot of speed, while landing at a particular pitch (to ensure all landing gears touched down at roughly the same time) and maintaining a very specific angle of attack that I would lose if I lost too much speed too quickly or pitched the nose incorrectly. You can see me wrestling with rather imprecise Oculus Touch controls as I come close to touchdown.

Regardless, the mission was a roaring success! Our test pilot Matt has become our first Kerbal to get in one of our creations and has broken the sound barrier! We're now ready to go back to sounding rocket missions and take stock of the bigger picture.

Next Post: The long road to orbit

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