SSTOs! Post your pictures here~

[miklkit]

Finally built a Starliner SSTO.  It is different..........

Loaded it up, which took all but 2 of my free Kerbals and went on a small tour.  Messed up on the Mun landing and am working on a rescue attempt with my 2 remaining Kerbals.

[Levelord]

I have a SSTO landed on Laythe with a nice interior hangar and a rover used for ground based exploration.

 

What we have below is the interior hangar bay with roof storage for research materials and repair kits. Towards the bottom of the loading ramp we have the general maintenance area where you can repair the rover that is docked securely to the SSTO via dual overhanging docking ports.

 

The main rover deployment bay can be lowered and the side rails opened up for the rover to move about.

 

Of course, the main hangar bay has ladder access for when the rover is away, so that the main team can use it as a mobile base of operations.

 

When the rover returns to the deployment bay, the structure folds up and lifts the rover into the hangar. Where the dual docking clamps magnetize and secure the rover into place.

Edited May 8, 2022 by Levelord

[Chakkoty]

On 5/9/2022 at 1:52 AM, Levelord said:

I have a SSTO landed on Laythe with a nice interior hangar and a rover used for ground based exploration.

 

What we have below is the interior hangar bay with roof storage for research materials and repair kits. Towards the bottom of the loading ramp we have the general maintenance area where you can repair the rover that is docked securely to the SSTO via dual overhanging docking ports.

 

The main rover deployment bay can be lowered and the side rails opened up for the rover to move about.

 

Of course, the main hangar bay has ladder access for when the rover is away, so that the main team can use it as a mobile base of operations.

 

When the rover returns to the deployment bay, the structure folds up and lifts the rover into the hangar. Where the dual docking clamps magnetize and secure the rover into place.

That ...is dope. 

[h3h3h0h0]

HC (Heavy Carrier) Mk. 2EL

~75 tons to maximum 400km orbit and return

Used a bit of part clipping and some minor exploits (shock cone intake behind the rapiers to reduce drag and make them look nice)

To fly, take off and climb at 5-10 degrees (depending on payload, steeper is for lighter loads) until about 20km and 1400-1500ms airspeed. Turn on wolfhounds, switch rapier mode, shut off whiplashes, and increase angle to 15-25 degrees (again, payload dependent). Climb on stabilize mode until around 35-40km, shut off rapiers and lock prograde until required orbit alt, then do a burn at apoapsis to circularize.

Edited May 14, 2022 by h3h3h0h0
added images

[vanlaukaus]

Just made this vid. Had a lot of fun swimming in Laythe's ocean, so will be happy if someone appreciates!

Cloudburst SSTO:
-170t
-2200 dV in orbit
-small ISRU onboard
-6 RAPIERs
-4 NERVs
-Obviously, eight-section Mk2 cargobay for the sub

[SingABrightSong]

Been working on-and-off on this for a long time. The Bottlenose, a VSSTO inspired  by the craft of an old forum member named Rune. The name is twofold; Rune often named designs after marine mammals, for one, and, well...

It looks like a Coca Cola bottle. 

 

Tested as capable of making a 100x100 equatorial orbit with up to 10 tons of cargo and making a powered landing afterwards. Relies on RCS for vacuum attitude control, use sparingly if you  intend to land back on Kerbin without refueling on-orbit. Has a tendency to spin during descent; I recommend utilizing some sort of fly-by-wire to actively kill rotation.

 

KerbalX link:  https://kerbalx.com/SingABrightSong/Bottlenose

[Emil Albert]

This is a VTOL SSTO. It uses Infernal Robotics parts to rotate the engines downwards, allowing it to land vertically:

The engines are pointing a bit outwards. That makes it self-stabilizing. E.g. if it tilts forward the front engines will be more vertical, the rear engines less, so it gets more upwards thrust on the front and less on the rear, making it fly levelled by itself.

 

Takeoff with maximum fuel is normally not vertical, but it's STOL, pointing  the engines downwards to reduce the takeoff speed:

It can go to Minmus using the Nerv engine. With refuelling from a refinery it can go from there to Laythe.

Here it is diving in the ocean of Kerbin. After landing on the ocean it can just go downwards:

I had no idea that it's possible to dive with planes!

[TheWanderer05]

The FreeRise Research Craft series of SSTOs were developed as a means of visiting multiple planets/moons in one go. They all consist of mk3 fuselages, a large ISRU, and a single Vector engine mounted in a pod under the fuselage for VTOL capabilities on mid to low-gravity worlds.

The earliest version of this craft, the Mk1, dates back to 2017. This was made just before I started using FAR, hence the terrible wing planform(s). Unfortunately, I didn't use this series for three years after switching to FAR...

The Mk2 and Mk3 versions (2020) are very similar to each other in that they share a more reasonable wing planform that reflects the switch to FAR. The Mk2's wings are slightly smaller, as it was designed around a homeworld with a lower gravity than 1.0 g.

The Mk4, which is the latest version (2021), features a much lower sweep angle on the main wing to improve low-speed handling. Dihedral has also been added to the outer wings to help with roll and yaw stability. The rear horizontal stabilizers have been removed to reduce weight and surface area. Excessive main chutes have been replaced by a smaller number of drogues and some other exterior parts such as science equipment have been moved into the cargo bay.

Edited July 30, 2022 by TheWanderer05
Edited mk4 section

[mister_goo]

Trying to make an SSTO with panthers and nukes. This turns out to be the worst SSTO I've made. It takes half an hour to reach orbit.

[Yellowburn10]

In my current career, I don't have access to rapiers or turbojets yet, so I made this VenturStar inspired SSTO. I say inspired because it's currently replacing the shuttle fleet that I have, and that it uses the shuttle engines as well. I'll post more pics of it in action soon.

 

Edited August 13, 2022 by Yellowburn10

[Yellowburn10]

I promised more pics, and here they are! I've decided to dub this ship the A-33 "Albatross" SSTO.  

 

It has the capability of bringing approx. 33 tons to LKO, making it perfect for my current needs of bringing up satellites, modules of space stations and, currently, helping to assemble a Duna mothership as seen in some of these pictures. It is definitely a brick in the atmosphere, but I'd say it flies surprisingly well for it's size. The hardest part about it is getting a proper reentry to land on a runway, I've yet to master it myself. The main trouble is once it stops slowing down from the atmosphere it starts plummeting like a rock, so you kinda have to keep a very steep angle of attack and pull up at the last minute if you want enough speed for a smooth landing. Despite that though it's still very fun to fly and looks good doing it.

[vanlaukaus]

This is my new flagman, A-1104 Seraphim.

• It is made in full stock.
• It is 108 meters long.
• It weights 433 tons.
• It has ISRU, mobile lab, crew bay, all the science and a nice semi-automatic solar array onboard.
• It has 425 parts.
• It costs almost 800,000.
• It has 3150 m/s of orbital dV and can reach 4850 m/s if refueled, making it able to go anywhere you need it to go.
• Imho, it looks pretty nice.
• I made a cinematic about it. Would be nice if you checked it out!

 

Edited August 16, 2022 by vanlaukaus

[Korsakovski]

Made an ion SSTO, should be fun, 7,2km/s dv

https://imgur.com/gallery/CgQ2U7Y

https://kerbalx.com/Korsakovski/IO2

Edited September 24, 2022 by Korsakovski
Stupid me can't seem to post pictures properly

[vanlaukaus]

So this is Phaneron, my new cargo SSTO.

Its maximum takeoff weight is 1240 tons.
Maximal payload is 530 tons with big fairing and up to 550 tons with smaller one.
It is propelled by 50 R.A.P.I.E.R.s.
It is made of 407 parts.
I made a cinematic about it as well.

550 tons is equal to:
-379 Toyota Prius cars;
-15,2 Jumbo-64 tanks;
-3,6 empty Boeings-747;
-1,27 fully loaded Falcon-9:
-7860 average people;
-55 000 20х0,5 beer crates;
-1,3 ISS.
KerbalX | Full video of 530 flight

Fin.

 

 

Edited October 9, 2022 by vanlaukaus

[sturmhauke]

  

On 10/31/2021 at 3:02 PM, linuxgurugamer said:

If you uploaded the plane to KerbalX, even if you don't save it, it will give you a list of the mods that it detects in the plane

You can also get KerbalX's Craft Manager mod, which (among other things) will tell you the mod list locally.

Edited October 9, 2022 by sturmhauke

[SWEArcher]

 

Two screenshots of my Vega SSTO, capable of sending more than 36 tonnes (haven't done a max test) to a 100km Kerbin orbit. This is the Vega Y variant, this one ditches the cargo aspect for range. Equipped with mining equipment and ore to fuel converters, this thing has infinite range as long as you don't crash it!

[Vanamonde]

6 hours ago, SWArcher said:

 

Two screenshots of my Vega SSTO, capable of sending more than 36 tonnes (haven't done a max test) to a 100km Kerbin orbit. This is the Vega Y variant, this one ditches the cargo aspect for range. Equipped with mining equipment and ore to fuel converters, this thing has infinite range as long as you don't crash it!

You'll need to upload your pics to a file sharing service, such as Imgur.com. (It's free.) Then copy the link they provide into your posts. 

Also, welcome to the forum.

[SWEArcher]

12 hours ago, Vanamonde said:

You'll need to upload your pics to a file sharing service, such as Imgur.com. (It's free.) Then copy the link they provide into your posts. 

Also, welcome to the forum.

That's what I've done? Are you not able to see the screenshots? Also I can't sign up for Imgur here in Sweden unfortunately

 

Edited October 11, 2022 by SWArcher
Added information

[Vanamonde]

The pics are not displaying for me. I get a broken link icon.

[adsii1970]

4 hours ago, SWEArcher said:

That's what I've done? Are you not able to see the screenshots? Also I can't sign up for Imgur here in Sweden unfortunately

There are other free picture hosting sites out there. There's photobucket and you can even host pictures from Dropbox and Outlook.  I am sure there are even more out there but right now, I simply cannot think of them.

12 minutes ago, Vanamonde said:

The pics are not displaying for me. I get a broken link icon.

The software will embed any URL as a picture as long as it is recognized as a legitimate image file. This means the link has to end in a .png, bmp,  or .jpg. I do not think that the forum software will support any other image types only because I have not experimented with them.

[SWEArcher]

15 hours ago, adsii1970 said:

There are other free picture hosting sites out there. There's photobucket and you can even host pictures from Dropbox and Outlook.  I am sure there are even more out there but right now, I simply cannot think of them.

The software will embed any URL as a picture as long as it is recognized as a legitimate image file. This means the link has to end in a .png, bmp,  or .jpg. I do not think that the forum software will support any other image types only because I have not experimented with them.

But my links do end in .png? It might be because I upload my images to Discord and then grab the link that way, all the other "photo to link converters" are paid subscriptions so I haven't used them. 

[adsii1970]

4 hours ago, SWEArcher said:

But my links do end in .png?

No. They do not. See:

On 10/10/2022 at 2:29 PM, SWEArcher said:

The forum software is treating them as a standard URL because it doesn't know they are images. If they ended in the jpg, png, or bmp, then the forum software would know what to do.

[SWEArcher]

That's weird, because I know that when I got the links they ended in .png. Maybe the forum software just treats it differently because it was a link from Discord. Doesn't matter, I found a working image to link converter and will use that from now on.

[Rutabaga22]

3 hours ago, SWEArcher said:

Maybe the forum software just treats it differently because it was a link from Discord.

If you use discord (Like I do) you need to right click the image and click copy image.

[miklkit]

Made it from Minmus to Dres.  The rover is out doing rover stuff.