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The K Prize - 100% reusable spaceplane to orbit and back


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I have made a few medium cargo SSTOs for testing satellites and a few prototypes.  Here is my K Prize entry, Orbit Adapter4 on a mission to launch a new Ion personnel transport.

 

 

 

Edited by PointySideUp
Updated flight landed at runway
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Here is my orbital spaceplane. It's not able to land safely, but it can get to orbit! I'm working on retrorockets to help it slow down more during reentry.

Edit: Monopropellant retrorockets don't seem to be slowing it down enough, any advice on how to get it slowed down to a reasonable non-explosive velocity?

The only thing I can think of is using the bigger spaceplane pods, as they have higher temperature tolerance.

Edited by cubinator
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Took a few tries to get the landing perfect, but finally made it!  Payload was a full orange tank with probe core, docking port, and a few solar panels(mostly just so I could switch control to it to verify the tank was still full).

 

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So, I was able to land that plane I made the other day by using a very, very shallow reentry, then firing the aerospike upwards to stay at high altitude, then flailing around wildly during the most intense part to slow down more. Here are some pics:

 

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Question: Is it allowed to submit missions that were originally done for another challenge, if they also conform to the rules of this one?

 

8 hours ago, JEF_300 said:

This thread has been running since 2012? And I didn't know it existed? Huh.

This thread is so utterly epic, I always want to do something for this challenge.

Since I missed the opportunity of "Yay-my-first-spaceplane", and since there are so many people here that are WAY better than me with efficiency, I always think I should do something that is at least exceptionally, spectacularly silly.

The ideas I've tried so far didn't really work. Most likely because they were too silly. But I've got one more profoundly bonkers idea up my sleeve, and already came very close to building a working design with it.

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10 hours ago, n.b.z. said:

Question: Is it allowed to submit missions that were originally done for another challenge, if they also conform to the rules of this one?

Yes.

And also tqvm for your appreciation, please rest assured that all are welcome and any craft which completes the mission is good enough for this thread. :)

 

Also congratulations to...

PointySideUp Utilitarial Commendation, Advanced Pilot Precision Award with Orbit Adapter4.

Cubinator with Spaceplane 0.

... on completing the K-Prize mission. Thanks for your reports and welcome to the roll of honour aka the K-Prize party guest list.

Cubinator well done on finding a way to complete the mission. As you discovered the reentry angle (speed v altitude) does seem to make a difference, I sometimes find a judiciously placed radiator panel or two can help quite a bit as well, though that uses electric power and can add some drag. 

Edited by boolybooly
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On 09/03/2016 at 11:12 PM, cubinator said:

Edit: Monopropellant retrorockets don't seem to be slowing it down enough, any advice on how to get it slowed down to a reasonable non-explosive velocity?

The only thing I can think of is using the bigger spaceplane pods, as they have higher temperature tolerance.

Hi cubinator, I couldn't help notice your overheating problems during re-entry. Like what boolybooly says, the angle of attack of the plane is really important, that's how you can massively increase your drag. It also spreads heat to other parts of the plane rather than just the front.

I see in your explody pictures the angle of attack is almost zero. You should still have a high angle (about 30 degrees is good) as you go below 40 000m, and keep it there until you get below 1200 m/s in velocity. You should be able to get to that speed roughly above 15 000m in altitude.

If your space plane can't hold that angle for you, check your centre of mass and centre of lift in the SPH, (check with full and empty fuel tanks), maybe add a canard. You won't need retrorockets or firing rockets in the atmosphere. 

Good luck and I like the look of your space plane, like a bat-space-plane!

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1 hour ago, iLikeRovers said:

Hi cubinator, I couldn't help notice your overheating problems during re-entry. Like what boolybooly says, the angle of attack of the plane is really important, that's how you can massively increase your drag. It also spreads heat to other parts of the plane rather than just the front.

I see in your explody pictures the angle of attack is almost zero. You should still have a high angle (about 30 degrees is good) as you go below 40 000m, and keep it there until you get below 1200 m/s in velocity. You should be able to get to that speed roughly above 15 000m in altitude.

If your space plane can't hold that angle for you, check your centre of mass and centre of lift in the SPH, (check with full and empty fuel tanks), maybe add a canard. You won't need retrorockets or firing rockets in the atmosphere. 

Good luck and I like the look of your space plane, like a bat-space-plane!

Thanks! I have learned that reentry for spaceplanes is very different from reentry for simple command pods. Now I think I understand the basics of flying these ships, so I might start trying to design one that can do something useful, like ferry crew to and from orbit or launch a payload.

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4 hours ago, boolybooly said:

Yes.

And also tqvm for your appreciation, please rest assured that all are welcome and any craft which completes the mission is good enough for this thread.


Thank you.

Encouraged like this, I submit the "MMC-30P" ("Minmus/Mun Cruiser - 30 Parts"), which I built for the 30 Part Challenge. During its design phase, this vehicle decided that it really wanted to become a spaceplane when it grows up, and it seems that it managed to get there.

Easy, carefree handling and fuel to spare for a Minmus return mission (documented below), a bit more tricky and tighter margins for a Mun trip (not documented).

Notable spaceplaney peculiarities:

  • externally mounted RTG - the only heat protection is vehicle angle of attack (see bottom edge of vertical stab)
  • no fuel lines from wing parts, because of 30-part budget. (I almost forgot to transfer the fuel on the mission!)
  • brake chute for landing, a feature that I strongly recommend for novice plane designers because it makes landings much easier
  • design flaw: when trying to board, interesting collision physics emanating from the air intake may deny admission to the cabin by catapulting the pilot across the scenery. (Barely managed to board, took a few attemps!)
  • rear landing light implemented by mounting the front landing gear backwards

 

 

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So this is my new and fancy 20t Duna Cargo SSTO

It can bring 20 tons of payload to the surface of Duna and then fly back, of course after refueling. 

Here's my mission video. It should go over all my maneuvers. 

See my Spacecraft Exchange post for more info: 

 

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13 hours ago, boolybooly said:

Yes.

And also tqvm for your appreciation, please rest assured that all are welcome and any craft which completes the mission is good enough for this thread. :)

 

Also congratulations to...

PointySideUp Utilitarial Commendation, Advanced Pilot Precision Award with Orbit Adapter4.

Cubinator with Spaceplane 0.

... on completing the K-Prize mission. Thanks for your reports and welcome to the roll of honour aka the K-Prize party guest list.

Cubinator well done on finding a way to complete the mission. As you discovered the reentry angle (speed v altitude) does seem to make a difference, I sometimes find a judiciously placed radiator panel or two can help quite a bit as well, though that uses electric power and can add some drag. 

What about mine?

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Oops sorry Hodari, you were between the two Cubinator posts so I accidentally skipped over you. What was the ship's name, same as the payload?

 

Congratulations to ...

Hodari Utilitarial Commendation (36t), Advanced Pilot Precision Award with KSS Mk3.

n.b.z Astrokerbal Distinction (Minmus), Advanced Pilot Precision Award with MMC-30P.

...for completing the K-Prize mission with honours, thanks for your mission reports and welcome to the K-Prize party guest list.

 

manni01 very sorry to report that your fine video is linked as a gatecrasher due to the unfortunate refuelling episode... see proviso C. Hope you dont mind. You can earn the option to have the gatecrasher link removed if you complete the K-Prize successfully but you also have the option to leave it if you are happy with the quip! ;)

Edited by boolybooly
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12 minutes ago, boolybooly said:

Oops sorry Hodari, you were between the two Cubinator posts so I accidentally skipped over you. What was the ship's name, same as the payload?

 

Congratulations to ...

Hodari Utilitarial Commendation (36t), Advanced Pilot Precision Award with KSS Mk3.

Thanks, this was definitely a challenge I've wanted to complete for a while now.  And yes, KSS Mk3 was correct for the name.

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5 hours ago, boolybooly said:

n.b.z Astrokerbal Distinction (Minmus), Advanced Pilot Precision Award with MMC-30P.

Thank you!

In the meantime, I just spent a ridiculous amount of time creating a plane specifically for this challenge. It's not done yet. I guess it will probably work, but I'll need some more time for finetuning.
That craft is going to be seriously bonkers.

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6 hours ago, boolybooly said:

manni01 very sorry to report that your fine video is linked as a gatecrasher due to the unfortunate refuelling episode... see proviso C. Hope you dont mind. You can earn the option to have the gatecrasher link removed if you complete the K-Prize successfully but you also have the option to leave it if you are happy with the quip! ;)

Leave it. I'm fine with it. Its funny too :D

Edited by manni01
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  • 2 weeks later...

As we know, this challenge is for "single stage" vessels, and so there can't possibly be any place for a solid rocket booster. Unless...

What happens when the manufacturer of the shuttle SRBs wins a bid to supply a reusable SSTO spaceplane? All that leftover steel casing and ammonium perchlorate has to go somewhere. When all you have is a hammer, everything starts to look like---

Ladies and gentlemen, I'm happy to present the appropriately versioned Thiokol Orbiter 1.1

This was with a pure stock 1.1 pre-release install, so I had to guess about TWR, delta V, reentry trajectory, runway alignment, etc., but I had launched the same concept to orbit using Puffs instead of ions without trying to land it in a previous version. I was utterly unconfident in the reentry and landing, but the stable center of mass really helped with both, I think. I was amazed that the Gigantors didn't explode, though they came close; reentry heat must be modeling occlusion pretty well. The blooper slide at the end was caused by opening the chutes before touchdown.

Edited by HebaruSan
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Congratulations to... 

GGKSPMC did it! (unsubstantiated claim)

Spacebrick3 with Colonial Viper.

Fellow314 with MIN SSTO a NMJ.

HebaruSan Advanced Pilot Precision Award with Thiokol Orbiter 1.1.

... on completing the K-Prize mission successfully. Thanks for your mission reports... mostly... and welcome to the K-Prize party guest list.

 

GGKSPMC we are on the honour system here so "I did it" is kind of OK in principle but not ideal, since it doesnt really constitue a mission report and doesnt indicate which achievements were achieved or verify completion of mission parameters also there have been occasions where people broke the rules without even realising it. It would be nice to see a screeny of the ship and maybe get its name if you have a moment and in the meantime rather than disallow it I have allowed it on principle but added the truth in brackets, which can be removed in the case that you want to make a more specific report, which doesnt have to be images, can simply be text! Hope that is OK. ;)

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

Heavy lift SSTO (149.9 t) with an interplanetary transfer vehicle and a Duna space plane as cargo.
Took a space plane to Ike, Duna, Ike, Pol, and Minmus before returning to the parent craft for return to Kerbin.
Returned mined fuel (from Ike and Pol) to Kerbin
Docked in orbit
Landed on the KSC runway
 

Here's the same ship in a different configuration landing on Minmus and the Mun.  I mine for fuel so it doesn't count for this challenge.  I'm pretty sure this ship could go interplanetary with the removable nuke module.   
 

 

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