An Affordable Space Program: making the reusable spacecraft pay off.

[Rune]

Take it easy, it's my first challenge!

Point taken. The rules are set in this one, so they won't be changed, but in future I'll try and avoid that.

Oh don't worry! I was just suggesting ways to make it reward the spirit of the challenge more. For example, right now bringing a new module (+1 point) is kind of useless if you refuel (-1 point), so you just end up with a rating based on mass. Cool if you go for that, but I think some complexity on assembly should be rewarded... I mean, if someone assembles a micro station with 30 modules using a single jet micro SSTO, I thin the should get more points than I do, just for the effort required, even if it's lighter! Otherwise the biggest SSTO that can get reloaded wins.

Also, I could have flown the Broadsword unmanned with a probe core back to the runway... but I'm totally cool with that, because having a dedicated pilot seat and needing crew capacity on the cargo SSTO is very much in the spirit of the challenge as I see it. Very NASA style!

Now what we need is new entrants... I'm still waiting on cupcake to provide the VTOL answer to my build!

Rune. If anyone want to check out the craft files, I'll be posting them on the spacecraft exchange on the Broadsword's thread at some point. This made for an awesome showcase mission.

[Stochasty]

I'm working on a Cupcake-style VTOL heavy lifter, but I have discovered that I am no where near the caliber of pilot that Cupcake is, and that controlling a VTOL with a keyboard and mouse is bloody hard. If I can just get the modules to dock I should have no trouble at all getting to orbit; the first five meters are harder than the last hundred thousand.

[vat21s]

Is InfernalRobotics Allowed?

[SirJoab]

Is InfernalRobotics Allowed?

Yes it is.

[Jasonden]

All right, well, here's my entry:

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I learned a lot on this challenge. One of the things that I learned is that while reusability SEEMS like a good idea, it reality it is a hellish and tedious grind that doesn't justify the savings. It took how many Space Shuttle launches before the ISS was as big as Skylab from a single Saturn V launch? I think that the answer is upwards of 30.

Anyway, I'm not into spaceplanes or jet engines, so my solution is VTOL with all rockets. I first tried a skycrane with Clamp-o-Tron-sr.s. But I just could not get those things to dock on the ground.

So my solution to ground docking is the 'fuel crane' that you see in the Imgur album. I made the flimsiest crane that I could so that it would bounce and bob and weave around on the end of it. This is a feature. The instability allows it to be flexible and respond to the magnets that pull the clamp-o-trons together.

The SSTO is all stock. The space station uses parts from PorkJet's inflatable habitats mod -- sorry, but I get bored of adding on hitchhiker modules pretty quick. Other mods used: MechJeb, TAC Fuel Balancer, HyperEdit. Let me explain that last one -- I used HyperEdit to refuel the fuel crane, and then had the fuel crane refuel the SSTO. Otherwise refabricating a fuel crane each time is just as wasteful as a new rocket every time. MechJeb was used in general when convenient, but it wasn't driving on landings or dockings. Dockings were flown partly manual with each side using Smart A.S.S. on Target+ until a few meters out, then going inertial for the final capture. MechJeb's autodockings are just painfully profligate with monoprop, and I didn't bring enough for it to do the job.

My estimated scoring: defining module as a part that a Kerbal can ride in, I have an Orbital Orb and MPL-LG-2 on Node 2, the Inflato hab for Node 3, and 2 centrifugal Inflatable habs on Node 4, so 5 modules. 16 Kerbals. -4 refuels. Up to SirJoab if this counts as all stock -- the SSTO and refueling system are, but 4/5 station modules are not. On the other hand, I certainly could have crammed more Kerbals in with a load of Hitchhikers, so it's not like the mods helped me score-wise. I actually do not know the mass on orbit; I'll check that out when I get home and get back to you It's not going to be huge, though: the capacity of my SSTO is only about 7-8t.

[Fengist]

Ignore this, I didn't see all the entry posts.

[SirJoab]

Jasonden! Nicely done.

Don't apologize for using mods! Your Spacestation looks very nice, and I do like those parts from Inflatable Habitats.

To the score! So I'm going to give you 10 points for doing it stock, because your SSTO is stock. When it comes to the spacestation tonnage is tonnage.

As per the rules, Kerbals can't ride in spacestation modules when they're being delivered... so I assume the stack of Hitchiker parts is your crew. That would be 12 Kerbals.

I'm giving you 1 point for style. I like the look of that Spacestation. Also, your crane mechanism is kinda epic in it's own way...

Since most of your score is tonnage, I'll need that before making this score official, but so far it breaks down like this:

+4 for 4 Modules

+22 for 22.4mT in Orbit (An estimate, I'll wait for you to post the tonnage before making it official.)

+12 for Kerbals on board

-4 for refueling 4 times

+10 for completing all-stock

+1 for style

Total : 45 points.

Nice Job!.

...I must admit, I haven't posted an entry because I haven't accomplished my own challenge yet...

Edited February 18, 2014 by SirJoab

[MarkoeZ]

Hard at work on this challenge.

Built a stock ssto that can take off horizontally, front load/refuel, and its quite not ordinary

It does not look like it, but without load it can do a barrel roll at 150 meter and a loop at 400.

Most images are from one of the first trial runs, i got the payload (in this case a lander can with solar panels shown in first image) to orbit, planned a return trajectory, but the craft went into a violent spin on reentry. Tumbled around a bit, and lost 4 engines, 2 nukes and jets. Gotta make a more reliable parachute braking system...

Managed to land it on the 2 remaining jets though, thats the photo series.

Last image is to show it can also take heavier loads to orbit, planning that to be the first draft of the rcs tug (read that somewhere here, great idea )

So yeah, working on it, and the images:

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Edited February 18, 2014 by MarkoeZ

[Jasonden]

Since most of your score is tonnage, I'll need that before making this score official

Okay: according to MechJeb station mass is just 22.4t.

...I must admit, I haven't posted an entry because I haven't accomplished my own challenge yet...

Slow and tricky going, isn't it?

[SirJoab]

...Slow and tricky going, isn't it?

Oh yeah. And SSTOs are my weak point. That's part of why I came up with this challenge... so I can learn from you guys.

[LordFjord]

Very impressive entries

I am still working on my SSTO and fiddling with a good concept to pick up new modules, but tests are slow and my comp hates me for trying to build them big (beyond 500 parts).

[1greywind]

My entry is in progress. 6 of 8 (may be 10) modules are installed:

Some additional images:

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Core module launch:

[MarkoeZ]

Wow, thought the one plane was an incident, but i see i have to go much larger to stand a chance at scoring

Awesome job guys

Might just continue this path for a small station though, still fun

[Rakaydos]

Hmm. Seing Whackjob's docking port-strut system, I'm considering trying a Build-a-Rocket design that VTOLs to the launchpad and reassembles between flights. Staging will have to be action groups instead of spacebar, but that can be worked with.

[LordFjord]

Here are some tests/attempts for my Megamoth SSTO series (Mk III right now).

To my surprise it could actually deliver a 40 ton payload to orbit on the second test flight. I better don't mention the 1st one, big mess of parts on the runway.

Reentry/landing didn't go well either. It went into an endless spin on aerobreaking, so I reverted it all. It will need more work on stabilizing the CoM/CoL when fuel is near empty and payload is delivered.

The ascent took me over 2 hours real time, constantly in the yellow, sometimes red area, so I will most probably accept defeat for the whole challenge, but I will attempt to get it to a proof-of concept stage where I do 2 runs to orbit and back, complete with refuel and attaching a new module.

I used the Kerbal Joint Reinforcements mod to save on part count due to less struts, kerbal engineer for the stats display and the station science mod for the payload. Otherwise stock. Still ~500 parts and it is far from finished.

For the final concept, I want to make the front/cockpit section detachable, so it can be used as a RCS tug to deploy the cargo and dock it to a station. Could be also used as an emergency escape/abort system.

Some pics:

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edit: I won't give up on this challenge, I'll try a more serious smaller entry. Something that my comp can handle.

[Rune]

Wow, competition is starting to shape up! Now is when I start to doubt six flights were enough to secure the first place... too late now! And Jasonden, yeah, it becomes tedious pretty fast. Especially considering that you could launch the whole thing easily if you could just use MOAR BOOSTERS! But when you later look on the station, boy do you feel good knowing what was involved in making it. Kinda like the real-life ISS. And I'm glad you gave the alternative to winged designs! Nice crane you built yourself there, and yeah, bendy things are your friend, I found myself removing struts from my crawler, not adding them. :S

Rune. Good luck everyone!

[Kasuha]

While I hope I'll get a try at this challenge when I get back to my KSP later this week, there are several things about it which don't seem to make much sense. First, it's mostly a 'point per ton' reward system so if you want to make 1000 points, you just need to build sufficiently heavy station as number of flights is limited only by your patience.

Also, what exactly counts as refueling? What if the lifter draws fuel directly from its payload? Restriction on visiting VAB/SPH clearly doesn't apply on the refueling craft, what if the lifter takes part of it (e.g. fuel tank) along to orbit? What about parts that may be needed to hold the payload stable during ascent, but are not part of the lifter or the final station? Should they be returned to KSC or can they be left to disappear in atmosphere?

[SirJoab]

...there are several things about it which don't seem to make much sense. First, it's mostly a 'point per ton' reward system so if you want to make 1000 points, you just need to build sufficiently heavy station as number of flights is limited only by your patience...

I agree, the scoring system could have used some marked improvement. My thought behind tonnage was that increasing the payload size makes it exponentially more difficult to achieve an SSTO. As for patience, I figured no one here would board enough to make more than 10 trips.

...Also, what exactly counts as refueling? What if the lifter draws fuel directly from its payload?...

Ok Sherlock [Kasuha], this is a solution I hadn't thought of... nice job looking at it from every angle. However, I have to say no. You may refuel from the payload once it has been delivered to the spacestation, but no drawing fuel from it on ascent.

...What about parts that may be needed to hold the payload stable during ascent, but are not part of the lifter or the final station? Should they be returned to KSC or can they be left to disappear in atmosphere?

Yes, you may use disposable parts to hold the payload stable, but they must be limited to Struts, Beams, Truss Sections, Micronodes, etc. Stuff you could find in a Kerbal hardware store. No parts with any function other than structural support or decoupling.

[Rakaydos]

I think it would be easier to simply have a ratio- say, the cost of the reusable booster section, divided by the cost of all the fuel tanks and docking port disposable boosters that you have to spawn to refuel and ready not just the launcher, but all the support equipment.

Not sure how to work the payload in.

[LordFjord]

Finally managed to do something that maybe qualifies as a honorable mention for this challenge, but definately out of leage of the other submitters, to who I can only bow and respect their endurance and design skills

Wasp Mk 5

Mods used/affcting the mission:

Kerbal Joint Reinforcements ( not really necessary for this design, should work with a few struts on stock as well and I don't wanted to uninstall the mod for this challenge)

KerbPaint

A few words on the SSTO design:

Wanted to make something visually appealing, with the payload below the vessel instead of docking it into the back as with my previous designs. The wings give it a nice overall shape, the huge tailfin is necessary. Without it, unpredictable rolls happened (marked Mk 3 as a "failed" attempt cause of this). I tried not to spam intakes. There are a total of 8 (2 are hidden behind the 2 inner ones).

The CoM is usually behind the CoL, so it is quite stable. At higher altitudes it needs a bit pulling up assistance but in general it flies stable. The docking port Jr. is quite on top of the CoM.

CoT balance was also a bit tricky as the engines are not in line -> the middle engine is needed also in space or it couldn't fly straight.

I used a little bit clever part clipping, but never the debug menu, only whats possible with the editor. Initially the design had 5 turbojets and 3 LV-T45 engines clipped inside them (via cubic octagonal struts). I replaced those with rapiers in the MK 5.

It's not the most effective SSTO I've built so far, but it gets the job done. Fully loaded ~40 tons. Should be able to get maybe 5 tons to orbit.

I could get it to ~1200 m/s at 25km altitude before pulling up and switching rapier mode.

The 2nd module was attached between two identical tugs, as simple ( = cheap? ) as possible. Extending the legs raised the payload module to a height where it could dock. This worked surprisingly well.

The cargo truck was a lot harder to dock, because lowering/raising the docking port also changed the angle, so it wasnt perfectly matched to the plane's docking port. After a lot of fiddling around, it eventually docked...

The "station" if you wanna call it that, has lotsa electric power, some xenon and a handful of ion engines. I haven't calculated its dV, maybe I'll send up a Kerbal Engineer module up next time...

It is small and it is light. Mission control filled one of the xenon tanks with helium and rerouted the ventilation systems, the Kerbals are having a blast up there.

Here are some pics I took. Sorry for the many night pics...

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[1greywind]

Finally! Construction of Kerbal Science Station One is finished! Station consists of 11 modules with total mass 83.3 ton and circles Kerbin on 250x250 equatorial orbit. Launch vehicle - Burlak-M cargo SSTO did 12 flights to deliver and assemble station parts on orbit (last flight was crew transfer mission). Instead of series of screenshots, I present video coverage of each flight. Total real time spent on all missions: ~8 hours over 5 days. Average time per flight: 40 min. Best roundtrip flight time: 22 min.

(click to view larger image)

+11 for 11 Modules

-11 for refueling 11 times

+83 for 83.3mT in Orbit

+12 (of 20 total crew capacity, I don't count 3 kerbal flew with escape pod #1) for Kerbals on board

+10 for completing all-stock

Total: 105 points.

Video of each flight (some videos not uploaded yet):

1 -

2 -

3 -

4 -

5 -

6 - lab module #2 part1 part2 part3

7 - escape pod #1

part2

8 - escape pod #2

9 -

10 -

11 -

12 -

Pictures:

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Edited February 22, 2014 by 1greywind

[Rakaydos]

I'm working on my 2 stage fully reusable lifter. I've got pretty solid lower stage that can land itself at KSC after giving the second stage plenty of time to circularize- but I still need to work out the bugs with the second stage and the reassembily crane.

[Rune]

Finally! Construction of Kerbal Science Station One is finished! Station consists of 11 modules with total mass 83.3 ton and circles Kerbin on 250x250 equatorial orbit. Launch vehicle - Burlak-M cargo SSTO did 12 flights to deliver and assemble station parts on orbit (last flight was crew transfer mission). Instead of series of screenshots, I present video coverage of each flight. Total real time spent on all missions: ~8 hours over 5 days. Average time per flight: 40 min. Best roundtrip flight time: 22 min.

http://i.imgur.com/ZUfEfDf.jpg?2

(click to view larger image)

http://i.imgur.com/hRCpD9wl.jpg

+11 for 11 Modules

-11 for refueling 11 times

+83 for 83.3mT in Orbit

+12 (of 20 total crew capacity, I don't count 3 kerbal flew with escape pod #1) for Kerbals on board

+10 for completing all-stock

Total: 105 points.

You had to go 7 points over my score, didn't you? Man, that could start a cold war of "who can endure the most repetition of flights" if I hadn't said already enough is enough (the station is en route to Mun). I guess I could start a new one and do a full dozen flights... Anyhow, awesome entry! While you take less payload than I did on each flight, you sure took a lot of time to do this, and that deserves a lot of kudos. And of course, I think the crawler method reloading from the back is the most elegant solution possible...

And if the rule of the crew having to go up on the unloaded SSTO was enforced...

Rune. Great minds think alike, right?

[Jasonden]

Finally

Finally!

It sounds like we all agree on this point. Nice stations and spaceplaces, guys!

[SirJoab]

LordFjord: Is this a Work-In-Progress? Your spacestation isn't up to spec for an entry, but I have to say that is a beautiful SSTO! I like the under-slung payload. I'd love to see that station continued so I can put you on the board.