Search the Community

Ok, so you have built your 37th space station and keep needing larger stations. You have built monstrous craft to try and find a way to lift most of the station in one go. By the time the craft is done, it contains hundreds of parts. You launch it, and your system starts laughing uncontrollably, and finally manages to say “You want to go where?” That is without any payload yet. If that describes you, then this is for you. You have proved you can do what it takes, you now just want to move on and colonize the universe. This is a single part SSTO cargo hauler. It started out as a Delta Wing, I swear. Don't even ask how it ended up this shape. Any way. It attempts to be all things to all men at all times. It contains most of what you need to get to orbit. I was tired of long thin transport vehicles, so it has a large squarish cargo bay. Still on the flat side, the craft does have to be at least wingish in shape. The top opens up either as 2 gull wings, or as a whole. Some form of mod, like FS hangar Extender, which allows you to build outside the VAB or SPH is highly recommended. It has a large number of attachment nodes on the back to try and satisfy almost any engine configuration you please. Yes I know near the middle, there are 4 pairs of nodes very close together, the reason is so you can either have a circle round the center engine, or the first row in line vertically like the rest. Inside the bay I provided quite a few nodes as well on the front, back, sides and floor. If you have trouble using the nodes inside, I have found, that bringing the camera very close to the node, helps. This can especially be necessary when trying to detach parts once placed. The camera has to be at least inside the bay. Kerbals can enter the bay through the airlock in the bay. There are a set of nodes on the side, but they will most probably not see much use, it is merely as a reference for the one flat area on the center rim, but use it as you please. On the front the nose folds down to reveal more nodes for things like sensors and folded up dish antennas. The center is large enough to fit a standard clamp-o-tron. The front space is cabin and control space, and can hold 20 Kerbals. The sides are for fuel. The built in tanks can be configured with Interstellar Fuel Switch (in fact it is required.) Mono Propellant is always available. Battery’s are built in, as are Solar panels. Reaction Wheel built in, full SAS, and some transmission capability. The plane Body is obviously also a lifting surface. At the moment there are two versions, one that has no control surfaces, the area around the engines provides lots of space to attach such. The second model has the back protrusions removed, and are provided as as control surfaces that can be re-attached. There is only pitch control enabled. Enabling Roll control as well tends to cause problems. Yaw control is envisioned as being attached on the side. (reference .craft file included). Bearing in mind this is a cargo hauler and not a fighter jet, the flywheel does a reasonable job of handling roll control. I decided not to build the RCS into the craft, large payloads, could seriously change the center of mass, and it was better to provide separate RCS blisters. Also I provided rather large Air brakes. I Included wheels, designed for the craft, that can carry the weight. With wheels wells, that smoothly merge with the body, and have a low profile. Two types are provided, the back ones attach to the flat surface at the back. The front ones have their angle and height designed to optimally attachment on the angled surface just a little forward from the flat section which should give you a reasonably level craft. Depending on the weight of you payload, you may have to increase the strength of the brakes in the right click menu, and even maybe play with the friction control. The top and bottom have air scoops that open and close, it is just cosmetic, the air intake is available whether they are open or closed. (have not looked at programing) The Windows have covers to close them for re-entry or retract them, once again just cosmetic. Being one part only, has the draw back that you are very much at the mercy of the system to configure dry and wet Center of Mass and Center of Lift despite config settings. This is where the 3 strange blue blocks come in. They are purely for moving the CoM to a more appropriate point if your payload does not. For that reason I have made the craft lighter than it should be, so don't be shy add some weight if needed. What else? So the craft has pretty decent temperature resistance, because of the nice black coating on the underside and around the leading edge. In fact most of the values in the config files have been boosted quite a bit above the standard. This is a monster after all. That said, this is a Beta. I need feed back, Most chosen values are an attempt at best guess for what would be needed or is appropriate. Please be kind, this is my first attempt at any thing like this. In case it is not monster enough, all the config files have tweak scale statements included, so if you have tweak scale installed, you can scale it up to 400%. It wont fit on the runway, but have at it any way. No ITS yet, I have made the cabin, but that is it. Top View Back View Side View More Images on Imgur Download from Spacedock Download from CurseForge Also available on CKAN now. *********************************** I have recently added support for TAC life support. Unfortunately this ends up filling your resource list with unused clutter if you are not using TAC, so the default config files does not contain the resource statements. To enable it, go to your KSP installation/GamesData/FlyingWing/Parts in there rename the FlyingWingNC.cfg and FlyingWingC.cfg to something like FlyingWingNC.cfg.noTAC and FlyingWingC.cfg.noTAC. Then rename the FlyingWingNC.cfg.TAC and FlyingWingC.cfg.TAC to FlyingWingNC.cfg and FlyingWingC.cfg. Restart the game. **********************************

The Neptune series of launchers was named because the first iteration had a pickle-fork layout to launch two Mk. 1 Command Pods, each with its own LFO tank and Reliant engine, plus docking clamp (and parachute) in parallel -- that is, one alongside the other. This was intended as an easy way to get two Command Pods, each with its pilot and ability to maneuver and navigate, into similar orbits with a single launch. Experience led to some modifications: duplicating the parachute on each pod seemed a good idea after a seemingly minor collision during a docking attempt turned out to have destroyed the radial parachute -- a problem discovered only after reentry had begun. Oops, sorry, Jeb. Also, building the second capsule stack upward from an inverted bi-coupler caused staging issues, in that when the capsule was staged off the tank/engine module, the focus stayed on the uncrewed portion. If that happens after you drop past 70 km, unfortunately, KSP won't let you switch to controlling the occupied Command Pod, but forces you to watch until the engine/tank stage crashes, leaving too little time to then go via Tracking Center to start "flying" the Command Pod and still deploy the parachute before impact. Valentina, you're a hero before all of Kerbin. Eventually, this led to changing to a stacked/tandem arrangement. RCS fuel shortages prompted addition of in-stack monopropellant tanks, the need to control (very cranky) early booster iterations during launch resulted in doubling up the RCS quads, taking advantage of the more than adequate RCS propellant supply. Heat shields prevent the RCS tank from exploding during reentry, after it was found that it was best to keep it with the Command Pod after staging off the LFO tank and engine. Excessive stack flex was controlled with struts -- both joining the lower Command Pod to the upper service module, and bracing that upper module to the top of the large diameter booster tank. Finally, with the stiffer stack now much more controllable, it was possible to add a fairing to neaten up the appearance on the pad and cut down on drag during boost, which could now be accomplished without RCS. The last modification to date was stretching the booster fuel tanks to a full 19,200 units (Twin Boar engine/tank unit, plus two orange 64 tanks), which gives the full stack "barely" SSTO performance -- in fact, there's just enough fuel to circularize, and still deorbit the booster (though the Command Pods must then recircularize, either together of individually; I need to come up with a way to extend the battery life of the probe controller in the booster long enough to handle the deorbit after staging). That's 16 T (the two Command Pod stacks and their fairing) orbited by a single booster. I'm pretty happy with that, given I've been playing the full version for about two weeks, and I'm still on Year 1, Day 4 game time (which includes a fair amount of warping waiting for maneuver nodes and such). Next upgrade on this is likely to be conversion of the uppermost orange tank to a stage, which ought to give enough additional dV to send the upper section to Mun and hopefully even do the Munar capture burn. That will be accompanied by conversion of the lower Command pod to a lander, while the upper command pod stage will push itself and the lander's Command Pod back to Kerbin after descent, ascent, and docking. Neptune One Mod. 3 Craft File 71 parts 132.8 T liftoff mass (including launch clamps?) 38.4 m high 2.6 m wide (2.5 m booster diameter, plus Twin Boar skirt) 3.6 m "long" (Twin Boar engine setup and skirt) Inline images don't seem to want to work from Dropbox -- but this is the first time I've tried to share from there, so it's probably me missing something.

Your goal is create Solid Rocket Booster SSTO and upload it here. No RCS system allowed. But you can use reaction wheels. Your SSTO must to be a plane. And if you can, it must deliver tiny cargo (300-500kg) You don't need to de-orbit ship. Just get the Kerbin Orbit Good luck!

This is my SSTO, the Neophron VI (named after a genus of vulture), capable of going to the Mun and back. Specifications: Part Count: 88 Mass: 72.560t Height: 4.6m Width: 22.8m Length: 20m Here it is on the Mun. It can make the trip no problem. Here it is after a successful Mun trip, back on the runway. Here it is in the SPH. Here you can really get an idea of its shape. This flies nice and stable, and I really like the wing shape, it might be my new favorite craft.

I'm getting a little bored with my 1.2.1 career save, and want to start a new 1.2.2 save built on the Galileo planet pack with accompanying mods to mix up this KSP career. However, I just spent the last two months intensively learning SSTO spaceplanes, and I'm really proud of my newfangled proficiency. Spaceplane folks: What do you think of your Galileo career experience, and how different is it from stock? Will my normal, working SSTO spaceplane designs fall flat in this new mod pack? Will my tried and true design philosophies just need gentle tweaking, or ground-up overhauls? Do SSTO spaceplanes even have a place in this new solar system, or are they made obsolete and inefficient by its unique features and limitations? Will I be able to build intuitively and enjoy the science payouts from my efficient and handsome ships, or will I have to learn an entirely new way of building around entirely different engines and planetary requirements? Thanks!

Hello! I decided i would create a sped up version of my 2 hour mission to dump a rover on Minmus for later (MK3 SSTO with a base payload will send up a communications tower on Minmus). But something went wrong..... ENJOY!

The X, Y, and Z series are Xperimental SSTOs. They are heavy, sometimes a little unstable with the older crafts, but they have a much more massive range and capacity than any other SSTO. THIS REQUIRES THE EXCELLENT KSPI- Extended mod by Freethinker (and its requirement, Tweakscale) And: Near Future spacecraft, Solar, and Construction. USI-LS and Konstruction also present (I'll try to edit it out later ;_;) Guide to the class: X: Fission powered. Early craft, requires maximum tech in fission reactors, heavy. Usually LKO transporters. Y: Fusion powered. Requires maximum tech in fusion reactors. Usually heavy LKO cargo SSTOs Z: Antimatter powered. Expensive, godly SSTOs. Grand tours, huge delta-v, massive payloads to orbit. Now, let's begin. X Series X-5 Desc: The first succesful heavy SSTO, but certaintly not the first entry in the X series. With impressive TWR and delta-v to spare, it can take just about anything that fits in its cargo bay to LKO. 1: Toggle engine 3: Switch propellant Download X-6 The Succesor to the X-5, the X-6 features an extended range and cargo bay, making it ideal for carrying moderate payloads to orbit. It is still used today by some agencies as a passenger aircraft, provided the cargo bay is refitted. 1: Toggle engine 3: Switch propellant Download X-7 The X-7 is a hastily put together interplanetary craft, primarily designed for minums. It tanks that are jettisonable, which means it's not entirely a SSTO anymore. Its down-facing cargo bay makes it ideal for deploying rovers. 1: Toggle engine 3: Switch propellant Download The X-8 was the last of the X program, designed to be interplanetary, even to Duna. With a large cargo bay, and closed cycle gas core engines, it was also designed to refuel itself, if you equip drills. Otherwise, it makes a good long range cargo carrier. It also features a thermal electric generator, allowing the ship to run for a long time. 1: Toggle Ramjet 2: Toggle Gas core engines 3: Switch propellant Download Y Series Y-4 The Y-4 was the first succesful fusion SSTO. Capable of carrying 100 tons to LKO, half its weight, it then detaches its wings to safely fly back to the KSC and be mostly re-used. The Y Program is still greatly under development, with more focus on the Z series 1: Toggle engine 3: Switch propellant Download Z-Series Z-2 The Z-2 was the first antimatter spaceplane, with fantastic results. Despite its small size, it packs a massive 10 km/s of delta-v, meaning it's possible to do a return trip to laythe, if your kerbal is willing to sit in the cockpit that long. 1: Toggle engine 3: Switch propellant Download Z-3 The Z-3 was the first warp-capable spacecraft, and with a magnetic nozzle, a long range. However, due to the sheer antimatter usage of the plasma core, collecting antimatter from Jool will be a top priority. 1: Toggle turbojet 2: Toggle magnetic nozzle 3: Switch propellant Download Z-4 The Z-4 Utilized an antimatter initiated fusion reactor, giving the antimatter a much longer lifespan, allowing for long term missions. With a D-T drive and plenty of cargo space for habitation and drills, this ship is technically capable of a grand tour. However, difficulty on landing on Duna and difficulty taking off from planets meant the Z-4 never did. 1: Toggle ramjets 2: Toggle D-T Vista 3: Switch propellant Download Z-5 Still WIP. Z-6 The Z-6 is the pinnacle of engineering. With communication, refuelling capability, long term fuel storage, cargo space and most importantly, a VTOL system, the Z-6 is capable of a grand tour of the solar system, and any others. Note that the VTOL system is configured for Kerbin takeoff, and thrust will need to be limited during the voyage. 1: Toggle ramjets 2: Toggle D-T Vista 3: Switch propellant 4: Toggle Plasma wakefields 5: Toggle VTOL Download Z-7 The Z-7 is very similar to the Y-4, except antimatter powered. Using 1 gram of antimatter, it's expensive to run (100,000 funds) but it can easily take up to 500 tons to LKO. 1: Toggle engine 3: Switch propellant Download It's been a long time since I've shared a craft on these forums (I think it was 0.15, a B747), so report any problems or feedback here. Cheers!

Hi, all! After a lot of help and guidance from you wonderful people over the last month or two, I went from building Single-Stage-To-Nowheres to building compact and capable Mk1, 2, and 3 spaceplanes that happily deliver station modules into orbits all over the Kerbin system--and look good to boot. With active stations and surface bases on Kerbin, Mun, and Minmus, my 30+ Kerbonaut fleet is finally put to use, and the time between transfer windows is actually as fun as the interplanetary stuff. Life is good. Thank you! ...But now a Jool window is coming up, and I want to take my new Bachelor of Science degree in Spaceplane Engineering and apply for a Masters program. If I have a spaceplane that can take a 10t payload to LMO and return with 5% fuel left, could I just put an ISRU in one half of the cargo bay and extra fuel in the other--enough Delta V for a Jool transfer, etc--and make the Laythe trip, simple as that? Or does a spaceplane need to be designed with Laythe in mind? How does a spaceplane behave differently there? Is the ascent profile the same, with slightly different altitudes in mind, or is it fundamentally different? How do engines behave? What did YOU learn about spaceplane design when you started going interplanetary that you think might not be obvious to a Kerbin-system SSTO builder? What did you learn when you started going to Laythe? Thanks!

Hello! I'm designing a mission to eve, and it'd be great if I have a SSTO for this. I know that there were several SSTOs, but I want one which doesn't need any precision manuever and fuel mining time. It'd be better to have long range for science purpose. Is there ANY way to do that? EDIT: I mean, completely stock SSTO without debug-cheating in flight. Other than that anything is okay.

Remember that time you wanted to launch 100t of fuel to your orbital fuel depot, but the rocket was so big that the pad exploded? Well now you don't have to rebuild that stupid pad (you didn't like that thing anyways) because ol' Werner von Kerman and the crew at the KSC Badger Works have gone and outdone themselves again with the all new Pteradactyl Mk2. Capable of delivering 100t+ to 100km orbits and returning to the runway, the Pteradactyl Mk2 will revolutionize your space program. With cheap and easy access to space you will be able to colonize the crap out of wherever you feel like going. Single launch, 10 kerbal base to Eeloo? Sure, just make it fit in a 3.75m fairing and bang it on the front. Kerbin-Duna reusable cycler? Why not? Seriously, there's nothing you can't do in one launch with 100t, so go crazy and post pics. Download craft from KerbalX

I've been building a lot of SSTOs lately. I'm fairly far into a career-mode game and it was annoying me that I didn't have a cheap way to get Kerbals into orbit and back down again, but while I have a good portion of the tech tree unlocked it wasn't complete yet and I didn't have access to the R.A.P.I.E.R. engines. Not to be deterred, I built the Grasshopper, a spaceplane based around a pair of Whiplash engines for atmospheric flight and a Toroidal Aerospike for space. The thing turned out fairly well, able to easily transport 4 Kerbals up to 250km orbits (which is where I keep my Kerbin space station) and back down again and, when pushed to its limits, can get up to a 500km circular orbit (although once up there I had trouble getting back down again, needing to use my RCS thrusters for that last bit of delta-V that I needed to get back into the atmosphere.) Today, after completing a successful mission with the Grasshopper (several, actually; I had four different Kerbals from four different rescue contracts on my station and brought them all down at once) I took a look at my new contracts and discovered that I'd been offered one to test the R.A.P.I.E.R. engine, effectively unlocking it for the duration of the contract without needing to invest the science points to get it normally. I immediately upgraded the Grasshopper with the new technology, replacing its Whiplash engines with R.A.P.I.E.R.s, ditching the Aerospike (putting a second shielded docking port in its place) and rebalancing my fuel tanks to better suit the new configuration. The new craft turned out to be slightly lighter than the old one (but also more expensive) and I immediately took it to the runway, got it into orbit and discovered that it performed... well... pretty much exactly as well as the old one. It could get to a 500km circular orbit but didn't have enough oxidizer to come back down again. The new design did have some advantages, with that second docking port meaning that I could attach a NERV tug to the back for long-range journeys and still have it dock with a station (where before I could only have it docked with one thing at a time) and I managed to fit a science container in where I used to have a small LiquidFuel tank, but it was also substantially harder to fly due to the R.A.P.I.E.R.'s poor low-speed performance and, as I said, more expensive. That got me thinking about the various SSTO designs I'd seen for this game. Nearly all of them are R.A.P.I.E.R.-based (with the occasional NERV engine for when you absolutely positively have to take a pair of wings and a set of air-breathing engines with you to Eeloo,) to the point where I don't think that a lot of builders are even considering the possibility of alternate designs. The R.A.P.I.E.R. is certainly convenient, being a jet engine and a rocket in a single package, but it has significant disadvantages in both modes, with its odd thrust curve requiring an exacting (and often tediously long) ascent profile in atmosphere and just being generally inefficient in vacuum. On the other hand, the Whiplash (and even the Panther) are still able to get a craft into the upper atmosphere with a significant fraction of its orbital velocity, are cheaper, get unlocked earlier and offer some significant advantages for in-atmosphere flying (with the Whiplash's smoother performance curve and the Panther's dry mode offering a very long cruise-time for when your re-entry falls wide of the KSC.) So what do you think? Is it time to re-examine the R.A.P.I.E.R.'s status as the be-all and end-all of SSTO engines?

I haven't made an SSTO in absolutely ages. In fact I haven't made one since before the significant aero changes occurred as I simply lost the ability to do it. That really had to change so I put my mind to it and over the last 3 days have designed and flown this mission in my spare time. First some stats: Name: Mullet Dyne Cross Wing (Variant 5) Parts: 86 (including payload) Mass: 43.155t Cost: 81,464 (including payload) Power: 3 x CR-7, 2 LV-N Mission Report - Click here Craft File - Click here So basically what I'm looking for is a bit of feedback if anyone wants to chip in. Since this is my first foray into SSTO's since before the major aero changes (although the design went through 5 iterations before I was happy with it) I've no real idea (beyond being capable of Mun/Minus return) whether I've got the balance, look, design, efficiency right etc. Feel free to download it and try it out, or just provide feedback based on what you see Thanks everyone! SM

The Skyliner SSTO is the latest and greatest in the KCS Badger Works line of spaceplane cargo lifters. This remarkably sleek looking craft can haul four kerbals and up to 36 tonnes to LKO and return to the runway from whence it came, and the best part is that you don't even need to wake up a pilot and nurse him out of his hangover to do it (I'm looking at you Jebediah), thanks to the CH-J3 Fly-by-wire avionics hub. The Skyliner is extremely stable in all flight regimes and maintains aerodynamic stability regardless of how much fuel you have, which is probably a good thing, since all the pilot kerbals are now on strike to protest the loss of their jobs. Warning: do not exceed 36t cargo mass*, warranty void if used as ICBM. Download from KerbalX here. *the RCS system is fully capable of de-orbiting the vessel should you find yourself sans fuel in LKO after delivering a heavy cargo

Hello everyone! I just wanted to share a little SSTO I made for fun, I call it the Banana Twins. It has two separate landers that can independently land on Mun/Minmus and return to the main craft. So really, this is 3 separate craft in 1. All 3 craft contain a probe core so they can be controlled remotely. 100% reusable design, nothing is lost except fuel. If you can manage to land it at KSC, it's even possible to refuel and do more missions. It's a bit tricky to fly, but it's perfectly balanced and provides just enough punch to get into orbit. The trick is activating the NERVs at 15,000m (while going close to 1,400m/s) and then switching RAPIER modes at around 20,000m. The Whiplash engines provide nice economy for transport and landings. The landers throw the main craft off balance when they deplete their mono-propellant, so there is extra mono-propellant to top off the landers when they return to the craft. It's capable of unpowered landings as well. 100% stock, v1.2.2. Enjoy! Image 1 Image 2 Craft File

My SSTO cannot build up enough speed to take off. It spins around and veers off in different directions. I can't upload images right now, but I can tell you it is three medium retractable landing gears. I am on sandbox.

What's the difference between using a shock cone, stack ramp intake or one of these diverter less intakes? There's not much info on the info panel. I've been using shock cones for SSTOs up to now since they look really cool! But are there benefits of using a ramp intake or diverter less intake? A possible benefit of a diverter less intake is that you can put a more heat-resistant part in front. So, I want to hear what you guys have to say!

Have you ever wanted to launch an entire space station into orbit, but you didn't have a big enough rocket? Luckily for you, the engineers here at the KSC Badger Works division have come up with a solution to that problem: the Pteradactyl. With it's 3.75m fairing and fuel tanks bigger than Valentina's closet, the Pteradactyl will put almost anything into LKO, or you could just launch it with full tanks to refuel a flotilla of motherships for a Duna window. Really, I don't know what those engineers were thinking when they built this, but hey, here it is. Download from KerbalX Use at your own risk. Any damage to property or loss of kerbals or payload is due to your bad piloting. Any awesome space stations or other cool stuff you get to orbit is only because you used this awesome spaceship.

This is my first spacecraft exchange, i have have always wanted to share my SSTO with the world. SSTO Lammergeier Specifications: Part Count, 93 Mass, 68.362t Height, 4.5m Width, 20.5m Length, 19.7m This my SSTO, the Lammergeier, seen here on Minmus Here it is in the SPH, and you can see its interesting wing shape. Here it is back on Kerbin after its voyage to Minmus, it has made the trip a couple of times and hasn't failed me yet. Thank you.

1. Crafts must be able to safely land without parachutes. 2. Crafts must not require any building upgrades to build. 3. Crafts must be stock. Category A. Reuseable SSTO spaceplane limited to tech level 4. Bonus points if it's crewed and if it has scientific instruments on board. Category B Reuseable SSTO spaceplane limited to tech level 5. Bonus points if it's crewed and if it has scientific instruments on board. Category C Airbreathing Crewed crafts capable of reaching >20,000 meters required to have a thermometer and barometer on board. (intended to be used for contracts) Here are my entries, Category A: (okay I used a level 5 fuel tank, but I had a low enough part count that I could have replaced the fuel tanks with the shorter ones). Not even gonna share the craft file for this rather unimaginative design, this craft is capable of getting into orbit but it requires the operator to be rather precise. this one has all of the low tech science on board. Note I had to tilt it at an an angle and it was just barely short enough to fit the required 15m dimensions but upon startup if you hold the a key it will reorient itself in the right direction. (it seemed harder to get into orbit in vertical takeoff). Again, this is not optimized but it does reach orbit, not too proud of this one, here's one more to prove I landed it: Here's my Category C entry: Now this one I consider much more useful, this will enable you to complete any of the survey contracts I've seen: This thing will literally fly itself up to 22,000 meters just by hitting the prograde button. I posted this earlier now that it's a contest I will try to fly it again to post a higher height, here is the craft file: it's exactly 30 parts and doesn't even have a front wheel. http://pastebin.com/raw/eQWfQM6T

Well then, it's been a while since I submitted my first "K-prize" craft and it's been a while since I read my first "very big and fundamental" argument on how a winged SSTO should be built. So now it is my time (my first time indeed) to propose a challenge. This is a "stockish" challenge - MJ, KER and stuff like that is allowed. B9 and similar "part adding" mods are not exactly allowed but they will have a different roll of honor because I am very "including". "Da Challenge" You must build a winged SSTO. (it should take off horizontally from the landing strip) It must be powered by no more than 3 "standard" engines. (vernors, puffs and RCS are free for all) Your craft must be able to take off from Kerbin and reach a 150x150 orbit. It must be able to get back home. You must provide "proof of landing" (everybody usually does, but you know, for the sake of the challenge) Anything that has got a Mammoth, Vector, Rhino, Twin Boar or Mainsail goes in the Passionfruit table. Anything with a TWR lower than 1 goes in the banana table, anything with a TWR higher than 1 goes in the raspberry table. Score will be calculated as follows: (ln(1+TWR)*dV) - TWR and delta-v referring to the craft in a 150x150 orbit, only the engines providing vacuum propulsion will be taken into account - KER/MJ are encouraged due to the lack of in game data - remaining fuel might be taken into account if your faith forbids the use of any kind of in-game help of sort. For KER users, the data of interest is displayed under the name of "Surface TWR". Crew will be used as a "playoff" - same scoring crafts will "face off" on crew capacity. We expect comfortable crew lodgings, so "chairs" are not encouraged and will account for just 0.33 the crew number during this challenge. Docking capability is encouraged and it is going to account as a second "playoff". There are different lists based on TWR: lower than 1 will fit in the "Team Banana" while higher than 1 will be listed under the "Team Raspberry". Staging is forbidden - anything that goes up needs to get back down. Everybody will receive a feedback on his/her entry. Do not think your craft is not worth a submission even if it is "lacking" in your eyes - it may be a breakthrough for somebody else. Cheaters, if discovered of course, will be banned from the challenge. Messing around with the configuration files is bad. Photoshopping random numbers on a pic is even worse and it is not good for your ego either. (I've seen things you people wouldn't even believe...) So, please, gentlemen (or gentle attack helicopter) - on your marks and thank you for reading. Sample/example (wrong in many ways, but that is the kerbal way to provide an example) (Score: ln(1 + 0.52)*3325 = 1392.21 points) - Team Banana, for the records. Standings: "Stock-ish - Team Banana" 1) tseitsei89 - 1741.52 points (3282m/s - 0.70TWR - 1 pilot) ***1 rap + 2 nukes*** 2) AeroGav - 1353.87 points (3639m/s - 0.45TWR - 3 crew, docking port available but missing operative capability) ***1 rap + 2 nukes*** 3) Firemetal - 887.05 points (4285m/s - 0.23TWR - 5 crew, no docking) ***2 raps + 1 nuke*** "Stock-ish - Team Raspberry" 1) tseitsei89 - 2606.23 points (1880m/s - 3.00TWR - 1 pilot) ***2 rapiers + Skipper*** 2) Thor Wotansen - 2074.58 points (1936m/s - 1.92TWR - 1 Pilot) ***3 rapiers*** 3) ABalazs - 1490.22 points (1271 m/s - 2.23TWR - 3 crew, dockable) ***3 rapiers*** 4) Thor Wotansen - 1159.57 points (1008m/s - 2.16TWR - 3 crew, dockable) ***3 rapiers*** 5) Hodari - 1087.23 points (725 m/s - 3.48TWR - 1 pilot, dockable) ***2 rapiers*** 6) qzgy - 515.98 points (500m/s - 1.80TWR - 7 crew, dockable) ***3 rapiers*** *** Payload *** "Stock-ish - Team Passionfruit" 1) tseitsei89 - 3864.92 points (1995m/s - 5.94TWR - 1 pilot) *** 3 mammoths *** 2) Eidahlil - 3125 points (1357m/s - 9.01TWR - no crew/tech demo) *** 2 raps + 1 mammoth *** 3) Foamyesque - 740.21 points (348m/s - 7.39TWR - 20 crew, dockable) *** 3 vectors *** *** Largest crew *** Thanks again to all the entrants.

Hi I'm currently about 15 hours into the game and I am struggling a lot with SSTOs. I keep trying to build SSTOs based on youtube video ones, mostly using MK1 parts. However, they never reach space (and don't nearly get anywhere near!). I'm not the world's greatest pilot and I struggle to use Nerv engines when there is no air (When I tried to download one of Matt Lowne's 'easy' crafts. Does anyone have any advice on how I can get going with SSTOs? Thanks

I've been trying to fly the GN Drive powered (vertical) spaceplane over the Earth in Real Solar System for quite some time now. The problem, though, is that I never managed to really shed off the orbital speed during the atmospheric entry, and attempting to land the SSTO at that speed resulted in the ship itself blown up like fireworks. The only way I could find so far is perform a reverse-thrust with the GN engine in docking mode, but I'd like to find another way if possible. I'm using the stock parts for now, though I would like to have this problem solved before I install more advanced mods like FAR.

Stock Aero Grand Tour Demo: Kerbodyne Planet Hopper Album at http://imgur.com/gallery/ujLIL -- Stock Aero Grand Tour Part 2 Album at http://imgur.com/gallery/F3vzM

Hi everyone. I'm an experienced KSP player and understand most of the science behind the rocket-building aspects of the game, and have hundreds of happy hours landing all over the Kerbol system in stuff that rode tall pointy things to space. Spaceplanes, however, have always eluded me. Well, I've decided to tackle that challenge, and want your expert advice on the way. I've watched some tutorials, noted design features in other people's successful ships, and have tried quite a few iterations without any success. I don't have the RAPIERs unlocked yet in this career save, but I kind of want to solve the SSTO challenge without them. Feels like I'll know the art better if I do it that way. I have a ship I'm happy with, and it's struggling to get sub-orbital. I can reach about 25km and 1,100m/s with my air breathers (why can't I get it higher or faster?), and the nukes just don't cut it to take it the rest of the way. I'm conscientious of effecient ascent profiles, but I may not be doing it right. I climb at about 45 degrees until around 10,000m, and then gently lower my nose to 10 degrees and ride the air breathers until they quit--when they reach about 5-10% thrust, I engage the nukes. Here's a picture of my spaceplane. Not all the fuel tanks are full, and it's aerodynamically sound both wet and dry. Help me, oh mighty wizards of the SSTO world. (also, how do I embed imgur pictures into a post...?) http://imgur.com/FaQggff [edit by Snark: put image inline]

Okay, so maybe someone can help me out here. As you can see in this screenshot: http://imgur.com/a/1DNJ4 according to the stats I normally pull from KER, I should have an abundance of all the good things I need to get me into space (TWR, Thrust, DeltaV, etc.) But when I get to about 340m/s, everything just flatlines. I think drag may have something to do with it, but I don't remember how to pull up the drag overlay or calculate that... Here's the craft link if anyone's interested: https://kerbalx.com/KrisKolumbus/Stock-SSTO-Test