Vertical Launch SSTO thread.

[NSEP]

Oi peeps. I really like to build Vertical launch SSTO's and since im a rocket person in KSP, for me, they are easier to fly. I have built a few in my Mammoth series of spacecraft (wich im bringing back to life). Do you have anything to say about VSSTO's do you have any you want us to see? Feel free to discuss!

 

[NSEP]

Anyone?

[Spacetraindriver]

Maybe this belongs in the Spacecraft Exchange..?

[HvP]

I'm not great at designing spaceplanes and even worse at flying them efficiently, so vertical rocket engine SSTOs are my preferred method to do tourist contracts and orbital rescues once I have the parts I need to make them. I find that I can do just about anything I need to do in low Kerbin orbit with the right amount of Vector or Aerospike engines for ascent and a sufficiently excessive number of parachutes to land.

Of course, the law of diminishing returns tends to limit the size of such craft for my games. I usually skip the command pod and go with a 2.5 meter service bay full of command chairs and a probe core. Hint, rotate the command chairs so that the head points radially out the door of the service bay and they are facing the forward end of the craft. Your Kerbals won't spawn on top of your rocket stack when they get out. This also saves you the pain of the control points being reoriented to the command chairs when the Kerbal boards the seat. Since the seats are facing prograde you won't be accidentally burning in the wrong direction if you forget to fix your "control from here" point. Stick an inflatable heat shield on top and reentry becomes a lot more manageable.

Edited April 30, 2017 by HvP

[Alshain]

I can do vertical SSTO's, I've done them before, but I don't see the point in them.

[TheEpicSquared]

8 minutes ago, Alshain said:

 I don't see the point in them.

They're usually at the top of the rocket.  

[Foxster]

25 minutes ago, Alshain said:

I can do vertical SSTO's, I've done them before, but I don't see the point in them.

Kinda with Alshain on this. 

They don't have the advantage of rockets (staging to drop used mass, high payload) or spaceplanes (low TWR, the isp of jet engines and the lift of wings). 

Which is not to say they aren't fun to build. 

  

[NSEP]

37 minutes ago, Alshain said:

I can do vertical SSTO's, I've done them before, but I don't see the point in them.

Bassicly like any other SSTO, send stuff into orbit, maybe go interplanetary, i mean, i have built a interplanetary VSSTO. They can also land back on Kerbin, and be reused. And im sure you can do more with VSSTO's than you think!

Edited April 30, 2017 by NSEP

[Planetace]

PREPARE!

TO!

BE!

BLOWN!

DA DADADA DADADA DADADADA DA DADADA DADADA DADADADA DADADA DAAAAAAAA DADADADA!

2250 MOTHER-*CENSORED*  TONS TO ORBIT! THIS BEAST WILL BLOW YOU'RE EYES OUT!

ITS JUST LIKE ITS ACTUALLY THERE IN FRONT OF YOU!

WOW LOOK AT THAT SOLAR ARRAY!

MY EYES, EARS AND MOUTH ARE WATERING WITH ITS GLORY!

IT BREAKS 2 WORLD RECORDS TO THE GROUUUNNDD!

[NSEP]

10 minutes ago, Foxster said:

Kinda with Alshain on this. 

They don't have the advantage of rockets (staging to drop used mass, high payload) or spaceplanes (low TWR, the isp of jet engines and the lift of wings). 

Which is not to say they aren't fun to build. 

  

Some VSSTO's can send high mass payloads. Have you seen the video of Marcus House, its a very impressive thing!

And the lift of wings is the main thing that makes me avoid spaceplanes in general, they launch just fine but flip out all the time at reentry. Wich i dont know how to handle. But everyone has their own opinion!

And i do agree that they are fun to build. Yet there is a "more fuel, wait now i need more engines now, and now i need more fuel, nope more engines" kind of loop, wich can be annoying.

5 minutes ago, Galacticvoyager said:

PREPARE!

TO!

BE!

BLOWN!

DA DADADA DADADA DADADADA DA DADADA DADADA DADADADA DADADA DAAAAAAAA DADADADA!

2250 MOTHER-*CENSORED*  TONS TO ORBIT! THIS BEAST WILL BLOW YOU'RE EYES OUT!

ITS JUST LIKE ITS ACTUALLY THERE IN FRONT OF YOU!

WOW LOOK AT THAT SOLAR ARRAY!

MY EYES, EARS AND MOUTH ARE WATERING WITH ITS GLORY!

IT BREAKS 2 WORLD RECORDS TO THE GROUUUNNDD!

This it a bird? Is it a plane?

3 hours ago, Spacetraindriver said:

Maybe this belongs in the Spacecraft Exchange..?

Maybe.

[Planetace]

But I am serious guys, nobody can beat my 2250 ton SSTO lifter, its just... Hard... For you guys

[Amechwarrior]

Made a 500t payload SSTO rocket.  I'm not great at space planes and my conventional rocket plans ended up dropping too much $$$ in the ocean.  So, I just added more vectors and kept all the side cores.  Now it costs me less to operate than my more conventional 275t launch vehicle, about 200,000 funds net cost.  Joolian V craft file in my kerbX sig.

 

[KerikBalm]

11 hours ago, Foxster said:

Kinda with Alshain on this. 

They don't have the advantage of rockets (staging to drop used mass, high payload) or spaceplanes (low TWR, the isp of jet engines and the lift of wings). 

Which is not to say they aren't fun to build. 

  

They have the advantage of generally being simpler to build.

Also, they have the advantage of not having any "useless mass for space" - ie wings and air breathers. Thus if you refuel them after getting them to orbit, they'll probably have better vacuum performance than a spaceplane SSTO. Of course, in that case I generally prefer to use a spaceplane just to get stuff to orbit, and if I need a ship with good vacuum performance, I lift it as the payload on a spaceplane SSTO or staged rocket... but not always:

 

 

Recovery of the first stage happened before we could autostrut parts, and I didn't have the chute deployment timing tweaked right... some parts were pulled off but the stage still landed without any other damage:

Even so, all parts were recovered (this wasn't in career, so I didn't care about timing the deorbit to get >90% recovery).

But I've abandoned plans for that huge craft which I indended to move surface base modules. The plan was I could use another ship to take modules down the the surface, set up a surface base, then disconnect the modules, pack them on that mothership, and move to another body and redeploy the surface base... but I'd rather just send another surface base rather than deal with loading all the stuff in orbit, and making a SSTO mk3 cargobay dropship that works on every body except Eve/Jool.

 

Also... I've given up on the stock sized system, and I'm now playing a 3x re-scale (with 1.5x rescale of the atmosphere and elevation). I can manage 10-11% payload fraction on my airbreathers, but SSTO rockets just barely make it to orbit and have almost no payload fraction (so... basically like real life today. 3x seems to be where the smaller size is offset by heavier dry masses and generally lower non-LV-N/ION Isp).

There is no payload in that payload fairing. By the time I add chutes, some structure to land on, and save fuel for a deorbit and possibly a little fuel for propulsion to cushion the landing, I think the rocket would have less than a ton of payload capacity