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The KSP is developing a new extremely lightweight SSTO design. They need your help to create one! (I know this is probably a common challenge but it would be nice to revive it) Rules: 1. The SSTO can take off from the runway or the launchpad, but not from anywhere else (this will be noted in your entry) 2. The SSTO can be manned or unmanned (there will be two leaderboards for this) 3. The score is solely based on mass (the size of the craft doesn't matter) 4. No Kraken drives, use of eva packs (this counts as a second stage) or other cheaty methods 5. The apoapsis and periapsis of the orbit must be above the Karman line 6. The SSTO doesn't have to be able to deorbit and land itself 7. If it wasn't already extremely obvious, it is a Kerbin SSTO 8. As evidence, you must have a video or screenshots of key events in the mission with fuel gauges left visible (leave the UI on) 9. If there's anything you think I should add to the rules tell me (criticism and feedback will be greatly appreciated) Smallest Manned SSTO Smallest Unmanned SSTO 1. TheFlyingKerman (3.687t) 1. TheFlyingKerman (0.985t) 2. Vyznev (3.984t) 2. 3. 3. 4. 4. I will start to design a craft of my own soon!

using only rover wheels get into orbit around any body, secondary thrusters can be used to keep the craft on the ground longer but not to increase the craft's acceleration directly. the tiers are: easy: use rover wheels on a moon to get into orbit around a planet medium: use rover wheels on a planet or moon with atmosphere to get into orbit hard: use rover wheels to generate enough speed to get into orbit around the sun good luck to all, this challenge may be impossible.

The Mindri is a cute little SSTO I made a few months ago that can haul 30t to LKO in a Mk 3 form factor. Due to an optimized design, it uses only four Rapier engines, which helps keep the cost down. The Mindri had no crew accommodations, relying instead on a probe core for control. It handles well in flight and is quite controllable during reentry and landing. Attitude control on orbit requires planning, since the onboard reaction wheel is quite small and the RCS system is intentionally under-powered in order to keep propellant requirements down. The Mindri has no provisions for docking to a space station or fuel depot, but it can be used to recover hardware with either a Clamp-o-tron or Clamp-o-tron Sr., as long as it fits in the cargo bay and isn't too heavy. The max downmass for this design has not been tested, although it should do fine with anything less than 15t. KerbalX link

The history of Eve SSTOs and reusables For a long time it was said, Eve SSTOs are impossible. Even going there and back reusable was unthinkable. But then a hand full of brave Kerbonauts put all their efforts in proving this wrong. This is their story. 03.09.2015 - V1.0.4 - First SSTO plane from Eve's surface to Orbit @astrobond was the first to do the impossible. He created this SSTO which was capable of getting from surface to orbit using stock parts and physics. To stay in the narrow margin, the control was given to KOS. 05.07.2016 - V1.1.3(?) - First reusable trip from Kerbin to Eve's surface and back @Stratzenblitz75 was the first who managed to do the entire trip from Kerbin to Eve's surface and back completely reusable. He is using a spectacular and never seen before suborbital catch of the lander, as well as massive SSTO launch systems. 19.08.2016 - V1.1.3 - SSTO rocket from Eve's surface to Orbit @Kergarin (I) was inspired and motivated by @astrobond's SSTO to start playing around with different SSTO designs. Coming to the conclusion, that SSTO rockets actually seem to work better than planes, giving a larger margin and payload. 23.08.2016 - V1.1.3 - First SSTO Lander from Eve's orbit to surface and back @Kergarin (I) was then able to scale it up to a bigger version, with enough payload to equip it with isru and seats for all our 4 brave Kerbals. Resulting in the first ever SSTO wich can not only launch from Eve but also land on its own in one piece. By being refuelled in low Eve orbit, this craft could have done the entire trip Kerbin to Eve and back reusable. My plan was, to do a reusable trip to all landable bodys in the Kerbol system based on this lander plus an orbiter, but this plan should be crossed soon... 11.10.2016 - KSP 1.2 release - an increase in Eve's atmospheric pressure changes the rules The pressure of Eve's atmosphere was increased, resulting in even higher drag and giving all engines lower thrust and Isp, making Eve SSTOs even harder... it seemed. The change in the Mammoth engine thrust for example: For reference Eve's atmospheric pressure in 1.2.2: After this change my SSTO lander stopped working, at least with the needed payload for ISRU. While the change in pressure made SSTO rockets harder, it will soon turn out that SSTO planes now work better again. 29.10.2016 - V1.2.2 - the first asteroid refuelling assisted SSTO plane from Kerbin to Eve's surface and back @EvermoreAlpaca built this craft initially in 1.1.3., and when 1.2 came out, this plane worked even better, opposed to SSTO rockets. This craft can get from Kerbin to Eve's surface and back to Eve's orbit independent. It then needs orbital refuelling, to get back to kerbin, which is realized by the craft itself moving an asteroid to low Eve orbit in before, which is then used for ISRU refuelling. 28.01.2017 - V1.2.2 - SSTO rocket from Eve's surface to orbit achieved again @Kergarin (I) managed to make my small SSTO rocket work again in 1.2.2. But scaling it up did not work as good as back in previous versions. The ISRU lander would have become unhandleable large. So I cancelled this concept. 20.05.2017 - V1.2.2 - infinitely reusable trip to Eve (and first ever to everywhere else) and back Since my Eve SSTO lander doesn't work in 1.2.2 anymore (and I didn't want to do this in an old version), I adoptet @Stratzenblitz75's concept of suborbital docking and developed it to a single ISRU ship wich splits in two for the Eve landing with his friendly permission (thanks again!). (Creating the first ever ship which can independently and forever travel between all 14 landable bodys. But that's on another page.) Skip to 3:40 for Eve landing (caution: flickering scenes in fast forward) 07.03.2018 - V1.3.1 - smallest ever SSTO plane from Eve's surface to orbit @astrobond the creator of the first ever Eve SSTO comes back to the game. Presenting us the smallest ever seen Eve SSTO. Also it's the first not to use the Mammoth engine, but the Vector with a slightly lower twr. 11.06.2018 - V1.3.1 - reusable two stage plane from Eve's surface to orbit and back to surface @OHara created this reusable two stage plane, which can be used for crew rotations of 4 Kerbals per flight. It launches horizontal and then transitions to vertical ascend pushing the ap far above Eve's atmosphere. The second stage then undocks and accelerates to orbital speed before the first stage reenters and glides back to its starting position. The second stage can also be landed and then redocked to the first stage. The craft then needs some external refueling to be reused. 29.10.2018 - V1.5 - First completely independent SSTO plane from Kerbin to Eve and back SSTOs to Eve's surface and back to orbit were now proven to be possible, and they seemed to be the limit of possibilities. All of them need some kind of orbital refuelling or catch to escape from low Eve orbit. But then @EvermoreAlpaca did the unthinkable. A massive independent SSTO from Kerbin to Eve's surface and back to Kerbin. He managed to raise the payload on Eve ascend that much, that there was enough margin to fit an ion drive with enough dV to escape Eve's gravity and then send the ship back to Kerbin using some gravity assists, without any dependencys. 04.12.2018 - V1.5 - First stock electric prop SSTO plane from Eve's orbit to sea level and back to orbit (plus from and to Kerbin by external refuelling) @EvermoreAlpaca continues doing the impossible by presenting us this stock electric propeller assisted Eve sea level SSTO. It ascends from sea level to above 19km sole on electric props, then continues its way to orbit on conventional rocket engines. It can also launch and land at Kerbin, but needs external refueling to do so. This craft uses clipping for the stock props as well as engine clipping, but is honored in this list for being the first of its kind. 28.01.2020 - V1.8.1 (+ Making History + Breaking Ground) - First Breaking Ground electric prop multi engine SSTO plane from Eve's orbit to sea level and back to orbit @realseek was the first to show us a working sea level SSTO using electric rotors and blades from Breaking Ground, packed into cargo-bays to reduce their drag, after switching to rocket engines. It reaches 16km on electric props (two EM-64S rotos with 16x R25 blades on each. The rotors run at 60% power and a max RPM of 400). To escape Eve's still dense atmosphere, it uses a combination of 3 Vector engines and 2 Nervs to circularize. As if an Eve sea level SSTO would not be enough, this craft can land fully fuelled from orbit , also carries the extra weight of ISRU quipment without even needing it, because it can launch from Eve below 100% fuel and stiff make it to orbit with hundreds of m/s dV left to spare, while the craft even looks good. This is just insane! More pictures and details: https://imgur.com/gallery/afVyAv1 15.02.2020 - - V1.8.1 (+ Making History + Breaking Ground) - minimalistic Breaking Ground electric prop single engine SSTO plane from Eve's orbit to sea level and back to orbit (+ to and from Kerbin with a separate tug) @Kergarin i was a little to slow on this, and humbly take the second place. Props alone work great, and rockets alone work great. But in combination the drag of props after igniting the rockets is horrible. The way to deal with this, is placing them inside cargo bays, to shield their drag when they are not used. It would be beautiful to use hydraulic cylinders to make them stick out, and while this would be possible in term of weight and drag, they sadly the flex way to much to even lift off. I've tried a lot of designs for this since BG came out, and while @realseek found the mixed engine design work best for him, I found a single enige design work best for me. This craft uses two EM-32 Rotors with 6 R25 blades on each which run at 100% torque and max RPM to climb to 17km. To escape the dense atmosphere, this craft uses a single vector Engine on full thrust, and then carefully throttle adjustment to not overheat and circularize. This was done as grand finale in my reusable career playthrough: 28.05.2020 1.9.1(?) First stock (no DLC) electric prop SSTO helicopter rocket to sealevel and back without clipping (+ from Kerbin and back) @Stratzenblitz75 returned to Eve, almost 4 years after he was the first to do a completely reusable roundtrip from Kerbin to Eve and back using suborbital docking. This time he uses an SSTO rocket which is first lifted by insanely large counter rotating koaxial like props to 39km, and then ignited to get to orbit on rocket power in a single stage. The props consist of stock bearings, but they are not powered by the usual way of using reaction wheels. To reach the record height of 39km, large rover wheels power the props, which is obviously way more efficient. The craft features ISRU, and can therefore land and launch unlimited often and completely independent on Eve. The craft takes of from Kerbin using a single reusable launcher, and is pushed to Eve and back by an orbiter. This far Kerbalkind conquered the purple monster as of the middle of 2020. Can they go even further? Disclaimer:

I was thinking that it would be good if there were more stock engines like the R.A.P.I.E.R or even and engine that could use Liquid Fuel and Air Intake or just Liquid Fuel or maybe an Atmospheric Nuclear Engine, Oxidizer only Engine for using up excess Oxidizer. If you have more engine ideas please put them below and maybe a Modder will reach out to us.

Hearts Chevron 96 [EHEV] *STOCK* Extra Heavy Extra Volumetric Cargo Lifter. [Carries ~12.5m wide and 60meter length cargo. Can lift ~1495 Ton into LKO/~1.5Kiloton @ 28.5Ton per rapier.] For only 368 Parts which includes stock cargo! Includes flight instructions below and on KerbalX https://kerbalx.com/Aeroboi/Hearts-Chevron-96-Cargo-Lifter-25MCP https://kerbalx.com/Aeroboi/Hearts-Chevron-96-Cargo-Lifter-2375MC https://kerbalx.com/Aeroboi/Hearts-Chevron-96-Cargo-Lifter-75MC 1. Front side. 2. Belly with 2x3.75m fuel tank cargo setup. 3. From above. 4. Using the 2x5m wide fairing setup. 5. Takeoff. 6. On it's way to orbit. 7. From below 8. Nearing Orbit Introduction The name "Hearts Chevron" relates to the exotic rapier engine blocks. "The" Engine block on one of either sides is a 3x5meter engine mount each holding 16 rapier engines (48 total) on either side (makes 96) In view of them they look either like a "heart" or a "chevron" (depending on ones viewpoint) In flight they distribute that unique engine exhaust effect in it's contrails. The 2375MC version for reference comes with only 368 parts, but mind you, that includes the 1450 Ton payload itself. Explanation I have been trying to build the largest, most part and aerodynamic efficient Rapier based cargo SSTO that can haul very heavy and very large payloads into LKO. Most SSTO's are limited to cargo size either due to the space planes setup or being limited by cargo bays due to CoM, CoT and cargo width/length limits. Usually people like myself build specific space planes for different cargo types for destined destinations. Typically a space plane can never carry more then a specific type of cargo weight or by volume based on the layout of the space plane or the cargo hold parts available in the game. While this space plane can have unique restrictions it should be able to haul anything into orbit that you could desire. Even if the payload should consisted of drag inducing outer parts that couldn't be faired the native engine thrust should be able to accelerate past 400m/s. I require 96 Rapier engines to accelerate to Takeoff speed using the length of the level 3 runway at MTOW. But that amount of Rapiers is more then the required thrust required to break past 400m/s. In theory/practice the space plane can always achieve past 400m/s even if it were to climb at 10° at MTOW so some minor drag shouldn't be an issue. To meet it's specifications I tried to make a layout that can carry universal payloads both in weight and volume/dimension. I reiterated this design many times. Each wing segment is placed locally so it can absorb the greatest aerodynamic stress. All elements of flight on all 3 versions are tested and the space plane can perform all the requested takeoff and landing procedures you'd expect from a decent SSTO. Directly under it's belly it can fit a 12.5m width rocket or space plane, even wider if it can stick out down below the outer mk3 fuel tanks until as wide as the closest engine block while being 60m long. This space plane can be used with reasonable frame rates depending on amount of parts added as cargo assuming you use a modern computer. Parts in fairings will not be succumb to drag and will ignore many aerodynamic physics calculations. You should be able to carry a several hundred part payload along with it on most modern computers when it's shielded inside a fairing. I made this space plane so I can effectively haul very massive and heavy cargo for a very high fuel and cost efficiency to haul mother ship parts or fuel depot parts into orbit.When payload is properly faired it can carry 1495 Ton into orbit. For reference, in total it can carry 17 x Kerbodyne S3-14400 fuel tanks on the 2375MC version. I have already created this space plane some time ago and have further optimized it's design characteristics and made 3 versions with several cargo attachment points. I consider these cargo attachment setups reasonable for most cargo weights and sizes.Tell me if you got any cargo you are unable to haul and I'll see if I can optimize the space plane further. Why would I need such a space plane you'd ask? You'd say lesser efficient or less heavier space planes can haul the required cargo to orbit also! However, if you want to build fuel stations, send space stations into orbit or haul ssto's into orbit using another ssto then this vessel should be able to do that. Physical Time Warp You cannot only use but are advised to use Physical timewarp. I'd suggest to use 3x physical timewarp during takeoff roll (change back to 1x during takeoff itself) Use 2 to 3x physical timewarp until reaching orbit (depending on computer hardware) If your computer is faster 3x should be the choice. Instructions Important *If you use no mechjeb or any other autopilot you want to use pitch trim so the space plane wants to stay level. As speed increases the nose wants to pitch up in the thicker parts of the atmosphere so you want to adjust trim for this. *In the upper atmosphere the CoT can be unbalanced with payloads that shift the CoM down. You can toggle on/off engines on the engine blocks with the action groups 2 through 6. This can be necessary if the weight of the cargo is further down when using a lower attached and/or wider shaped cargo. The combinations of action group 2 through 6 offers several dozen variations of engine setups. It's at your own leisure to find out the variety of engine combinations using a combination of action group 2 through 6 to be able to find the right balance. For most payloads the natural setup of all 96 engines should be centered so that you can maintain orientation up until the upper atmosphere in most cases. If your cargo's mass is hanging low though it is often better to find a better engine setup by toggling one, two or more sections on/off using the action group keys. *Use mechjeb *Stock SAS can be a bit wonky in the lower atmosphere due to natural pitching moment at higher speeds, the pitching moment can be to great under SAS input or very draggy cargo may succumb the pitching moment. If this happens there are 2 options. Firstly try to figure out which engine group to shut down using the action groups to re-balance the center of thrust at higher speeds to negate this effect in the upper atmosphere. If this happens in the lower atmosphere use action group 7 to toggle front spoilers for aerodynamic re-balance. If you do not remedy this when this occurrence occurs it can cause a RUD when pitching to great at higher speeds while carrying the heavier payloads at speeds above 500m/s. This shouldn't be troublesome as above 500m/s the rapiers have gained enough speed so that you do not need to have them running all at once. Above 10km you can turn all engines back on as the atmospheric stress is much less at this altitude and this problem shouldn't appear mostly. *Know that it is important that you know how to attach your cargo properly. Action groups. 1. Switches modes on all engines. 2 through 6. toggles different engines on either side for CoT rebalance. RCS toggles the fuel cells to generate electric charge (if you need it) 7 Toggles front spoilers for aerodynamic rebalance past 400m/s (isn't necessarily required but depend on cargo drag and weight) Facts: Make sure payload is centered so that the Com is centered at the CoL. Version 1 carrying a 7.5m wide center fairing. Version 2 carrying 16 x S3-14400 3.75m tanks in parallel formation with a 50.5% payload fraction. Version 3 carrying 2 x 5.5m(11m total) fairings next to one another. Make sure the payload across both sides is evenly matched. If your payload can't be distributed such way you should add dummy weight on one of either sides. NOTE: I would be happy if people could point out complaints or ways to improve the vessel. Happy flying

Welcome, ladies, gentlemen, and anyone else who happened to stumble upon this forum topic, to... Here, you will find a blooming aerospace program, just starting to get a foothold in the market that consists of vehicles able to transport you to space! Shop now, and a round-trip ticket to Kerbin Orbit and beyond is just around the corner! Come take a look at our inventory... NOTE: Some craft flags and names might be inaccurate if the screenshots were taken before the mass class reorganization. SEE THE GALLERY HERE SPACEPLANES Note: Only spaceplane classes Angel through Power are available at this time. Higher-class spaceplanes will be added as they're created.) DOWNLOADS AND ACTION GROUPS Third Triad (Eleven spaceplanes) (Class 9: Angel) FS-A Gardia The result of when an team of engineers decided to strap RAPIERs onto a fighter jet and partially fill it with rocket fuel. Gardia is surprisingly orbit-capable, fit to be a trainer vehicle for young spaceplane pilots. Note: Ejector seats were swapped out for normal seats in the name of weight savings; pilots have to bail out manually in case of an spin-out they can't recover from. FS-A Angel The next step up from Gardia, Angel is a Mk2 spaceplane that has roughly the same range as her elder, smaller sister. Additionally, she has a cargo bay with space for a small space probe, so possibilities are prone to increasing exponentially. FS-A Tyrfing When plans to make a sword-shaped SSTO were first revealed, people thought AAAE's engineers were crazy. "Are you nuts? A giant sword could never make it into orbit, let alone in a single stage!" they said. Oh, they were so wrong. Not only that, FS-A Tyrfing, with its aggressive ascent profile and docking capability, quickly became the go to luxury SSTO for most daring of pilots in transit to kerbin space stations. NOTE: Like with Apollo, take special care when reentering Kerbin's atmosphere. (Class 8: Archangel) FS-A Mystletainn An SSTO spaceplane capable of carrying an orbital missile to low orbit and then deorbiting once the missile has hit its target. She has attained her rank due to her stylish looks and rapid response time. FS-AA Archangel The first Mk3 spaceplane, designed straight after FS-A Angel, and later on redesigned following numerous failures with returning subsequent prototype MK3 SSTOs from orbit. Like with all MK3 SSTOs listed after her, land with care. FS-AA Ferrybot Jr The younger sister of Archangel-Class Spaceplane FS-AA Ferrybot. Ferrybot Jr comes equipped with a docking port, RCS, twin nuclear engines, and capacity for 8 kerbals. She requires speeding up to 440+m/s at sea level due to heavy weight at takeoff, but is incredibly maneuverable, capable of even recovering from a spinout when almost dry. FS-AA Ferrybot Ferrybot Jr's aforementioned elder sister. She is capable of sending 32 kerbals to space stations in Low Kerbin Orbit. Check regularly for signs of sentience. (Class 7: Principality) The first class of spaceplanes to presently lack a spaceplane named after the class itself, instead having a reusable rocket having the class and name. (listed after spaceplanes). FS-PR Spectre When Spectre was first built, she was not granted a classification or a name because the head engineer thought he was building a Minmus Trainer. Luckily, this error was corrected when a plucky intern informed him of its landing legs, rover cargo bay, and "twin tail fins". The intern would later correct a head scientist when he first discovered Laythe, but mistook it for Kerbin. FS-PR Journeystar An ambitious SSTO built with a mining and ISRU rig pre-installed. She is capable of munar landings, but consumers may want to have engineers install extra batteries depending on their electricity needs. After first successful test runs, she received additional tuning from an SSTO manufacturer called Arctic Aerospace (headed by Arctica Frostbite, forum account link unknown.) FS-PR Wyvern A magnificent beast with an interesting wing design, Wyvern is tested and confirmed for the ability to send a small rover to the Mun and return safely to Kerbin. Wyvern might also potentially be capable of Minmus returns, though she wasn't designed and built with Minmus in mind. FS-PR Apollo Returning to the MK1 cross-section, Apollo is the first of AAAE's spaceplanes able to take a round trip to the mun. Dissatisfied consumers suggested renaming her "Icarus", but our engineers insist on not being afraid to use Apollo's on-board RCS and/or focus intensely on not letting her blow up on final reentry. Second Triad (Seven Spaceplanes) (Class 6: Power) FS-PO Ancile Vaguely shield-shaped (but not really), Ancile has sufficient delta-v for Minmus landings and interplanetary flybys and returns. With an additional front docking port, she also is capable of docking to Tyrfing, the sword-shaped SSTO, because why not? FS-PO Phoenix Following the revamp of a previous iteration of this craft by AA, AAAE was still determined to make a version not heavily modified by AA. And thus a couple iterations later, under the codename of Mystletainn, Phoenix finally rose from the ashes of AAAE's failed attempts. Their engineers insist it should be able to get to Duna and back if flown correctly. PS-PO Perseus A cargo SSTO designed to carry ten tons of cargo to either the Mun or Minmus, drop the off, and return safely to Kerbin. With her surplus fuel, her range can potentially extend to other bodies, given that she's refueled somewhere along the way. FS-PO Heracles The prototypes of Heracles, first of the three successful Power-Class SSTOs, were met with crash after crash when test pilots found themselves unable to regain flight control. With contractors and investors furious, AAAE turned to Arctic Aerospace - who would later offer slight tweaks to the Journeystar - for help, and so with major redesigning and tuning, the first successful version of Heracles was engineered, tested, and ultimately landed successfully by even AAAE's remaining pilots following the previous disasters. Heracles is capable of sending a full orange tank to Low Kerbin Orbit, and comes equipped with a single NERV for extended range. FS-PO Aegis Weeks after the failed landing of the yet-unreleased FS-PO Phoenix's first prototype, and during extensive testing and reiterating of further prototypes thereof, AAAE's backup engineers thought it would be a good idea to create a heavier cargo SSTO so FS-PO Heracles wouldn't be so alone in the Power SSTO class. After one prototype failed to get off the ground and another's wings fell off on the runway, the Aegis was born. Currently the heaviest cargo SSTO, and bearing a similar nose design to her little sister, Aegis is able to carry 78.8 tons' worth of payload into LKO and return to Kerbin safely following the release of said payload into space. She even has a built-in docking port in her cargo bay so she can rendezvous and dock with space stations. You know, so she doesn't drift off while her cargo is being re-positioned and docked. (Class 7: Virtue) FS-V Phoenix Anger The Phoenix Anger is the superior successor craft to Phoenix. With over 5,200 m/s of Delta V in Low Kerbin Orbit, our engineers have projected round trips to Laythe to easily be within reach of skilled pilots! Comes complete with capacity for 6 kerbals and the .95 ton "Virtue" rover. FS-V Iris After the success of Ferrybots Sr. and Jr. and the failures of various Duna SSTOs, AAAE felt like they needed more practice, and, furthermore, an additional means of staying afloat. And so Iris, codename Minmus Rex, was built with one mission in mind: Ferry a substantial amount of kerbals to Minmus and back. Luckily, she can easily do just that, though a round trip to the Mun might require slight refueling, if not only excessive aerobraking on the trip home. REUSABLE ROCKET "Rocket" instead of "rockets" because we only have one vehicle at the moment. DOWNLOADS FSR-PR Principality Principality is the sole reusable rocket sold by AAAE. Capable of reaching and returning from LKO like all of AAAE's current spaceplanes, she has been projected to be able to lift up to 30 tons worth of payload to low orbit, and potentially serve as an ascent stage for heavier payloads with their own propulsion. Note: Factor the payload's fairing into the payload's total weight. FLAGS: The classification flags currently in use, along with two versions of AAAE's company flag, can be found HERE. UPCOMING SPACECRAFT: Short-Range VTOL SSTO (LKO) Long-Range VTOL SSTO (Mun/Gilly(?)) ...Duna Cargo SSTO? REQUESTS: CLOSED, BUT SUGGESTIONS ARE OPEN  Mystic Labs A new subdivision of AAAE that focuses on less conventional forms of transport in general, from Jet Rovers to Weird Shuttles, and to more conventional forms of space transport such as tried and true rockets! While SSTO Spaceplanes are still mostly found in AAAE, Mystic Labs will cover anything else... just as long as you don't mind the inherent flaws in wackier craft. GALLERY CRAFT FOLDER Ursa Major - An SSTO spaceplane with an experimental two-stage design - the first stage is designed to carry you into orbit, while the second stage undocks from the main ship and is able to go anywhere in Kerbin's satellite system and return to the main ship afterwards. It tends to torque upwards in RAPIER mode in a vacuum, and in both modes in high time warp, so, watch for that. Be sure to shift all remaining fuel to the front of the spaceplane when returning to Kerbin! SSTO-11 Twintails - A private SSTO with capacity for 3 crew, but with two rather pointless plane tails in the back, hence the name. She was designed when two drunken engineers moved to Mystic Labs decided to poke fun at Fox Kerman's seeming obsession with vulpines. Launch Vehicles Colt and Pony - An super-ultralight reusable and a light semi-reusable launch vehicle, respectively. While Colt is only really useful for sending small probes into orbit, Pony can send payloads of up to around four-and-a-half to eight tons to low orbit and still be able to land its center stage. Mustang - A medium reusable launch vehicle that was built with sending orange tanks to orbit in mind. SSTO and landing capable like the Colt! Note: Fire up the engines to point retrograde during late re-descent due to on-board vernors and airbrakes giving insufficient control. Integrity - A Minmus rover previously only available by purchasing/downloading FS-PR Spectre. Virtue - A prototype Laythe rover previously only available by purchasing/downloading FS-V Phoenix Anger. Expeditioner Duna - Not just a titan of a rover, but a fully-functional base on wheels at 98 parts. Launch and transfer vehicles sold separately. As always, thank you for browsing through and potentially even ordering some of our craft for replication and delivery. We hope to see you again soon, as the number of available craft is bound to increase further overtime.

So, I just created a new SSTO that has about 5,000 meters per seconds of deltaV, but I can't get it into orbit. It goes well until I hit the higher atmosphere, and then it screws up. Can someone please help? Craft Image

Can anyone give me some tips on how to build a successful ssto? I have tryed in the past but i run into certain fuel problems, (rip jeb) sometimes its oxidizer, other times its fuel in general. All tips are appreciated!

Hi folks, it's been a while since I've been on. For a little background, I'm a senior in high school. I've been in a program for three years now called Science Research, where students are given the opportunity to conduct original research, culminating in the writing of a research paper, as well as a variety of science fairs. For my project, I've been working on a design study for a single stage to orbit spaceplane (big surprise) that uses three modes of propulsion to get into orbit and back onto the ground. Here's an excerpt of my paper, to give a description of the craft itself: "The concept of this spaceplane is a hybrid three mode aircraft based on the design of the SR-71 aircraft. The aircraft is already optimized aerodynamically and structurally for high mach flights, and are proven designs. While it’s the basis for the design, the only visual commonality between the spy plane and spaceplane will be the bird’s-eye profile. From the side view of the SR-71, the design of the spaceplane will be different both above and below the chine of the fuselage. Below the chine, the fuselage will be squared, and covered with heat protective tiles. This has three purposes: one, to simplify the process of applying the tiles; two, to create a lifting body effect on the fuselage; and three, to increase the area inside of the fuselage for fuel. The wings will be lowered and thickened slightly, in order to meet the bottom of the fuselage, and provide more area for fuel. Additionally, the lift from the body will allow the wings to be shortened width-wise, creating a slimmer profile for more efficient high-mach flight. On the wings, housed in the nacelles of the Pratt & Whitney J28 engines used on the SR-71 will be pre-cooled turbojet engines, build to take the spacecraft from the ground to mach 6 and 20,000 meters. Halfway down the bottom of the spacecraft will be the intake for the scramjet, which will take the spacecraft from mach 6 to mach 17, and 70,000 meters. The scramjet will exhaust from the bottom rear of the spacecraft, with the engine also covered in protective tiles. Above the chine, the body of the spacecraft will be radically changed. The cockpit will be removed, along with the rest of the upper body of the Blackbird. In its place will be a large conformal tank, with a fuel and an oxidizer tank within. Between these two tanks will be a small cargo bay, with a 5,000 kg capacity. At the end of the conformal tank will be two Aerojet Rocketdyne AJ10 engines, proven as reliable vacuum engines over the past 60 years. (May be switched to one Merlin 1D vacuum engine)" I have the technology and math covered- what I need to do now is create a printable 3d model of it, both solid and cutaway. The images of the craft in KSP included are what amount to a rough sketch for me, as I have no skills in actual sketching on paper. https://imgur.com/a/4e7uexY (I don't remember how to embed albums, oh well). I'd really appreciate it if y'all could help me create models of this craft, as it would both aid my presentations at fairs, and provide a really nice final product for all the work I put into my research over the past three years. Thanks!

Hello everyone, It's Trekkie148 here, I'm just wondering on how to make my space shuttle stable, get to orbit, rendezvous, docking with an object, maybe mun orbit, and mostly mk2 and mainly mk3. I am using the mod Kerbal Engineer Redux and for visual Planet Shine to see the ship from the dark side of a celestial body. When ever I make a orbiter that looks like and supposed to act like the NASA space shuttle and I also empty out the tanks of the orbiter and put on the CoM and CoL indicators and sometimes CoT all standing for Center of Mass, Center of Lift, Center of Thrust, and I try to make the CoL closer to the CoM, I seriously do not know about what is happening what is happening with my design because it keeps on flipping my spacecraft either while landing or Reentry. This thread will be updated tomorrow on Thursday November 22 2018. Stay tuned, But do tend to give me help and reply. This helps out a lot. Thank you everyone. Also Happy Thanks Giving!

As the title suggests, I'm building a space station that I can use as an interplanetary travel spacecraft - named the U.S.S. Enterprise after the famous ship from Star Trek. There's no way I can launch it all in one stage, which is why I'm assembling it in Kerbin's orbit before sending it to Eve (and who-knows-where-else). So far, my plans for it involve: MAIN COMPONENT: 5 crew capacity (1 cupola and 2 mobile processing labs), 4 RA-100 Relay antennae, 8,835 power units, well over 15,000 units worth of fuel, 4 docking ports between the two labs for other parts, MechJeb and a probe core, 1 Rhino engine and 16 Swivel engines (the swivels were mainly to help with ascent into orbit), 20 docking ports to hold escape pods/landers/other craft, 8 gigantor solar panels, 8835-V of power ULTIMATE SCIENCE: 6 crew capacity (1 Hitchhiker and 1 mobile processing lab), 2 Communotron-88 antennae, 1,085 units worth of monopropellant (to help with attachment, 4,000-V battery, 1 survey scanner, 1 narrow-band scanner, and a 2.5-m service bay with: 1 science Jr, 1 barometer, 1 thermometer, 1 gravioli detector, 1 mystery goo container, 1 atmospheric scanner, 1 seismic accelerometer, 2 experimental storage units. ORE STORAGE: 3,000 units worth of ore storage space (tanks will start empty), 72 fuel units (to save weight, can refill tank later), convert-o-tron 250, 4 medium extendable radiators, 20 monopropellant (to start - can be refilled later), 4000-V battery, extra 6-sides docking module at the other end. EMPTY CARGO BAY: 1700 monopropellant for the assembly stage, 1 empty Mk3 Cargo Bay CRG-100, 4 Gigantor solar panels, 4000-V battery, 1 Infrared telescope. SSTO DOCK: 4 crew capacity (1 Hitchhiker), 4,000-V battery, 750 monopropellant for assembly, 1 docking port for an SSTO I found on the Internet, (https://drive.google.com/file/d/1c1vkqUQ3RVFw2Pgqdo-vFpC2jDwMEsYN/view), SSTO ITSELF: (Check the link above). It's purpose is to dock on and off the Enterprise and get crews on and off planets as well as bring ore back. I plan to modfiy it so that it can easily dock with the Enterprise MOON LANDER: 3 crew capacity (Mk1-3 command pod), 914 Fuel Units, 750 monopropellant, 4 Mk2-R Radial-mount Parachutes, 4,000-V battery, 4 1x6 Solar Panels, 4 LT-2 landing struts, MechJeb and probe core. Also came with a decoupler. Should I remove it or not, since I obviously plan to send the moon crew back up. Pros of keeping decoupler: can also be used as a one-way escape pod Cons of keeping decoupler: it goes off, the crew is going to be stuck there. 3 ESCAPE PODS: EACH HAS (from top to bottom): 7 crew capacity (that's 21 in total), 2 docking ports (1 on top, 1 on side), 9 Mk2-R Radial-mount Parachutes, 4 1x6 Solar Panels, MechJeb and probe core, 10-m inflatable heat shield, 1 25-m decoupler, 2188 units of fuel, 750 monopropellant, Skipper Engine Basically, if you're going to a planet/moon, this is a one-way trip. If you're transferring crews to/from Kerbin or other stations, use only one pod at a time. Keep the pods locked at all times. Do not use all of them (or any of them, for that matter) unless it's a life-threatening emergency that warrants immediate evacuation. I haven't sent any of this up yet, since I wanted to hear your input on what the Enterprise could use. Any ideas, I'm open.

I want to be able to put an orange tank (36t) into a 100-200km orbit, but so far all my designs fall short in some regard. My smaller planes have good balance fueled/dry, but as I go bigger and add more engines, it becomes harder to keep them stable during re-entry. Additionally, for the bigger planes I'm having trouble getting enough TWR to do my insertion burn when laden (I typically run out of LOX for the rapiers before I have a circular orbit but after my apoapsis is in space). My most successful designs so far (last one is my best small lifter/personnel shuttle): https://imgur.com/a/vY4sDgk I've probably done a dozen or more iterations but none have worked to a satisfactory level, and I don't know what I'm missing. If there's an obvious flaw with my designs, I'd appreciate being appraised of it. Some extra miscellaneous questions: Are the "Tail Connector A/B" pieces appreciably more aerodynamic than the "Advanced Nose Cone A/B" and the Shock Cone? They're very pointy, but also kinda heavy so if anyone knows that'd be great. What do you guys reckon is the optimal mass/rapier? What is the optimal wing shape, and how much lifting area/t is recommended? Please rip my designs to shreds. I desperately need the more efficient price/t of a good heavy lifter SSTO so I can build my Duna mission in orbit.

this take off looks amazing. i'm planning to add more features to the craft.

They said it was impossible. That even considering the idea was a crazed fever dream. BEHOLD! (Not me.)

I present you a difficult engineering challenge: Build an SSTO that uses tier 4 parts and below, that can be launched using tier 1 facilities. You'll face juno jets, EC drain (no panels), tight flight envelopes, and toothpick landing wheels. Your only source of EC will be from your engines and those measly batteries. Special flight and re-entry planning is crucial. It took me a few hours, but this challenge is possible. If anyone wants proof or needs help, I can PM you my craft and some tips that worked for me. It meets all the requirements (and bonuses, except for the commnet one - that's untested). Hopefully I'm not the only one who finds engineering challenges thrilling... Rules: No refuelling or help from external spacecraft. No EVAs (tourists can't EVA, and crew can't EVA off the ground with a T1 astronaut complex). The craft should work on normal difficulty (regular reentry heating). Note: If you really want: You can disable commnet. Reach a stable orbit of at least 70 km using tier 4 parts and below. Have a payload of one tourist. This is the hard part! You can use building/pilot aid mods, but your craft and it's flight should be reproducible in vanilla. Note: If you really want, you can use SAS (in sandbox) even though the T4 stayputnik doesn't have SAS. You can build your planes in sandbox, but make sure they fit within the T1 facility restrictions (https://wiki.kerbalspaceprogram.com/wiki/Runway) Note: If you really want, you can use action groups even though the T1 sph can't do that. Note: If you really want, you can launch/land from the grass, or use the T3 runway, or ditch in the water next to the KSC. The craft must take off, fly, and land like a spaceplane. Land in one piece. This is a reusable SSTO, isn't it? Note: If you really want, you can jettison parts at/during launch as long as they don't get destroyed. Basically, this means that fancy launch rigs are allowed. (I've decided to edit in this rule because it allows for more design variety). Hardcore mode (optional challenges): These are only necessary for the #3/#4 win category (see below): No SAS (stayputnik has no SAS) or pilot aids. Takeoff and land on the T1 runway. No action groups (T1 facilities can't set up action groups) Absolutely no jettisoning of parts, not even launch rigs. Use commnet (normal difficulty) and set occlusion to max (you can use ground stations around kerbin). No unmanned control during re-entry if you aren't careful! Who wins? This isn't really a competition... If you want to compete, here are some milestones to aim for: Use as few parts as possible to reach orbit (my design uses the max amount of 30). If there's a tie in part count, the cheaper vessel wins. Whoever's vessel can achieve the highest orbit apoapsis AND RETURN wins (basically delta v, but piloting and aerodynamics matter). Whoever fulfills all the bonuses using the least amount of parts. Whoever fulfills all the bonuses and can achieve the highest orbit apoapsis AND RETURN wins (basically delta v, but piloting and aerodynamics matter). Use plenty screenshots or record a video to show your design. Good luck!

This was designed for transferring exchange crew to and from my stations in LKO. It has a capacity of 8 Kerbals and can be used for servicing stations up to a 250km orbit. Action group keys are : 1 - Toggle engine mode 3 - Toggle airbrakes 5 - Toggle the docking port and cargo bay doors Download craft file from KerbalX

I am having trouble thinking up rocket designs this thread is about giving design to the community and help people if they are stuck (like if they can’t get to a planet.) no real rules at this point in time but I will make some up in the near future. You can post wacky rockets or really cool planes, SSTO, really weird missions and stuff like that. Everyone is welcome. Be nice. If you what to tell a community if you made a mod you can post the link in the thread. Most importantly have fun

So, my SSTO is running out of fuel early. This is my first SSTO so I don't know if I'm doing anything wrong. I've watched lots of videos about piloting SSTO's and I've followed all instructions but I run out at like 33.3 kilometers SCREENSHOTS: https://imgur.com/a/0CYLa7x

I present to you fine spaceplane enthusiasts... the Kerbal Wind Tunnel mod! We all build spaceplanes to fly faster and higher, but how do you know how fast or how high your current design can go? In the real world of aircraft design, engineers calculate the flight envelope for their aircraft before the first test flight rolls out. This mod runs your spaceplane through a virtual wind tunnel while still in the SPH and predicts its engine and flight performance at every speed and altitude. It also gives you a readout of various performance curves, plotting against angle of attack: ... and velocity: Try it out and start building even better spaceplanes today! You can even output the data to a CSV file to incorporate knowledge of the performance data into a KOS script or the like! Check out this Imgur album for more details on these images and more: https://imgur.com/a/D2i4Fge Download it from GitHub: https://github.com/DBooots/KerbalWindTunnel/releases Or SpaceDock: https://spacedock.info/mod/1927/Kerbal Wind Tunnel Source: https://github.com/DBooots/KerbalWindTunnel Released under the MIT License (with sub-components under their own license). P.S. This mod incorporates a pretty sweet graph-drawing library I made. If anyone's interested in super-simple graphing of data, hit me up.

I've been playing about with some vertically launched SSTO's after a few weeks ago making my first of these. That one didn't have the ability to return (safely) to the surface, so I rectified that today. Mk1 Only a tiny payload volume inside a payload bay, that it shared with solar arrays, and parachutes etc. A crew of two takes this to orbit. Worked well enough for a first stab at this. Went for a land touchdown, rather than splashdown. The flat terrain allowing it to balance on the aerospikes. Mk2 A straight forward "bigger is better version, with a longer payload bay. As with all of these designs, a lare part of re-entry was a case of just letting the vehicle spin to pick up drag and spread heating, rather than a nice controlled descent... but hey, it works. Upper half of the open payload bay, plus another one (closed in this image) available for cargo. Plenty of heat on the return. And a comfortable 7.4m/s splashdown. Mk3 A payload only vehicle this time, that delivers 5 tons of playload to an 80km orbit. Launch was uneventful. Left with decent amount of fuel for circularisation. Separation of the payload. One orbital habitat, ready for business and for more deliveries to join it in the near future, to create a larger station. Another "wobble, wobble, but ok in the end" re-entry.

Mephisto Metalworks and Aeronautics. The Future is now. Link to Kerbalx-Hangars: https://kerbalx.com/Mephisto/craft XR-Series: Go everywhere - Kerbol Exploratory Latest Version is the XR-06 Ranger Mk III SSTA with attached Javelin Eve Landerfor four Kerbals https://kerbalx.com/Mephisto/XR-06-Ranger-Mk-III-Grand-Tour-with-Javelin-Eve-Lander Older Version is the XR-02 Ranger Mk I https://kerbalx.com/Mephisto/XR-02-Ranger-XR-04-Agamemnon-SSTA-and-Eve-Lander Four different crafts in one package: Ranger is a powerful SSTA, Agamemnon is a lightweight Eve lander and ascent vehicle, Tycho is the final stage of the Eve lander and can be docked into Ranger's service bay. Brahe is a moon truck addon for Tycho. Both can fit into Ranger's Service bay. The XR project was built upon results the older X-84 Akkadian / Ishtar project: Fly to every moon and planet in the stock solar system as well as in the outer planets mod and collect science with three Kerbals. The take-off-weight of Ranger SSTA / Agamemnon Eve Lander Combo is 30 t lower than the Akkadian / Ishtar at 120t. XR-01a Tycho Space Sledge https://kerbalx.com/Mephisto/XR-01a-Tycho-Space-Sledge XR-01b Brahe Moon Truck https://kerbalx.com/Mephisto/XR-01b-Brahe-Moon-Truck XR-02 Ranger https://kerbalx.com/Mephisto/XR-02-Long-Range-Scout-Moho--Tylo--Laythe--Kerbin XR-03 Ninsianna Eve Lander and Ascent Vehicle (32t, for Beginners) https://kerbalx.com/Mephisto/XR-03-Ninsianna-Eve-Lander XR-04 Agamemnon Eve Lander and Ascent Vehicle (26t, for advanced Players) https://kerbalx.com/Mephisto/XR-02-Ranger-XR-04-Agamemnon-SSTA-and-Eve-Lander XR-01 a/b Tycho / Brahe combo XR-02 Ranger SSTA XR-03 Ninsianna Eve lander with 32t Ascent Vehicle XR-04 Agamemnon Eve Lander with 26t Ascent Vehicle XR-02 /04 Ranger SSTA with Agamemnon Eve Lander - 120t take off weight. Enough oooomph for every planet and moon. XR-08 Behemoth Multi Mission SSTA 30t to Minmus, 10t to Tylo surface and back (with ISRU...) https://kerbalx.com/Mephisto/XR-08-Behemoth XR-08 Behemoth with Space Station https://kerbalx.com/Mephisto/XR-08-Behemoth-with-Station Dolphin Mk V Mini SSTO https://kerbalx.com/Mephisto/Dolphin-Mk-V XS-Series Extra Small to orbit: Small is the new big, thought the marketing guys. Here's to space on a budget. XS-01 Viper - upload pending- Viper is a lightweight, single use crew transfer system with a rapier and an ion stage. At 30 parts and 5.5t take off weight, it brings one Kerbal into orbit with 7.600 m/s dv left. This should suffice for most destinations in the Kerbol system. Fancy stuff like landing gears or parachutes is omitted. Just power up the engine and fly. TWR in orbit for the ion stage is 0.3, which is fairly reasonable. In order to not only bring pilots into space, it has drone core equipped. XS-02 Sparrow - upload pending - Sparrow is a light weight single stage to orbit concept with one rapier and one ion engine. At 6.3t take off weight, it brings one Kerbal to orbit regardless of profession. As the ion engine only has an TWR of 0.07 in low Kerbin orbit, getting somewhere is a game of patience. XS-03 Sparrowhawk https://kerbalx.com/Mephisto/XS-03-Sparrowhawk-RapierIon-SSTO-to-Minmus An improved version of the Sparrow, the XS-03 Sparrowhawk has significantly greater ranger and twice the thrust in low orbit. Now even with landing gear.The larger battery pack as well as the quad ion engines allow for sustained ion burns of app. 250 m/s. The TWR of 0.12 in LKO is fairly reasonable for ion engines. XS-04 All-Seeing Eye https://kerbalx.com/Mephisto/XS-04-All-Seeing-Eye The latest excrements in ore surveillance technology. Also knows your bad habbits and browser history. Comes equipped with ressource scanners, regular and relay antennas as well as repeateable science experiments. Powered by "a excrementsload of batteries and some spare ion engines", as the designers at the Kerbal Space Center put so eloquently. Comes with solar panels. Has roughly 15.000 m/s dV with ion engines, so evading it by moving to Dres or Eeloo seems kind of futile. Better use that incognito mode in your browser more often.... XS-05 Mighty Flea https://kerbalx.com/Mephisto/XS-05-Mighty-Flea-3t-Micro-SSTO 3t to orbit in a single stage. Kerbal included. No science experiments, no shenanigans. Mephisto. (To infinity and beyond.)

Hello, to anyone who is reading this post. I have ideas for Laythe SSTOs & I need need some help in fixing my crafts so they can live up to my expectations. Feel free to reach out to me & help me on my goals!

I always thought that with the use of ions and gravity assist that an exoplanet mission wasn't too far out of the question. So I gave it a try and... Big thanks to @AndrewDrawsPrettyPictures for making the Extrasolar system pack which is used to add the exoplanet into the game. You did a very good job with everything, from the design to the visual enhancements.

MODS: KSPIE, KJR, Space Y, B9+legacy packs, SVE, scatterer, navhud, kerbal engineer, procedural parts, procedural wing, nebula decals, kerbal foundries continued, simple construction, TAC fuel ballancer, TAC life support, hangar extender, distant object enhancer, DiRT (for changing the skybox get it!)