KYLON Challenge: SSTO to the next level!

[quasarrgames]

Your challenge is to create an SSTO that works as well as the fabled SKYLON spaceplane.

AKA an SSTO that can get to low orbit (bonus points for being able to take cargo, but i doubt anyone will be able to do it)

to do this, you will need these mods:

RSS Kerbin (6.4x bigger kerbin works too)

FAR or NEAR

Realistic Jet Engines Mod

Of course you can use other mods, but you have to list them, and they have to be relatively non-OP.

Also, no cheats.

No other rules. Go Wild and Good Luck!

PS: if you are one of the skilled few who do accomplish this challenge, you will get a very, very shiny picture medal that will be custom-made by me and my amateur drawing skills!

Edited October 19, 2014 by quasarrgames

[Starwhip]

Um, sir? I'm fairly certain that people can get cargo into space with an SSTO. I saw one that could carry an entire orange tank.

[MarvinKitFox]

Um, sir? I'm fairly certain that people can get cargo into space with an SSTO. I saw one that could carry an entire orange tank.

um sir?

his challenge specifies the use of RSS, *and* Realistic Jet Engines. Also FAR(or NEAR, same thing, almost) which does very slightly ease the difficulty.

Getting a whole Orange Tank worth of cargo to orbit, in an SSTO, under both RSS and RJE, would be.......impressive.

[Pds314]

Your best bet would probably be either KSPI thermojets, or SABREs.

[Cmdr. Arn1e]

So this is just a specific-mod version of the other Skylon Challenge? (http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/94730-The-Ultimate-SKYLON-Challenge-open)

[Starwhip]

um sir?

his challenge specifies the use of RSS, *and* Realistic Jet Engines. Also FAR(or NEAR, same thing, almost) which does very slightly ease the difficulty.

Getting a whole Orange Tank worth of cargo to orbit, in an SSTO, under both RSS and RJE, would be.......impressive.

Oohhhh. *hides in corner*

It would indeed.

[quasarrgames]

So this is just a specific-mod version of the other Skylon Challenge? (http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/94730-The-Ultimate-SKYLON-Challenge-open)

Basically, yeah. However, it doesn't matter if you do it economically. if you can do it AT ALL, then you are quite possibly a KSP deity.

[Vigelius]

How close are people getting to this? I thought I'd have a go, having put together a Kerbin-capable Skylon prototype wih FAR and B9 without too much difficulty.

Wow this is frustrating! I'm now using Advanced Jet Engines, Real Fuels, FAR, B9 and MechJeb, and really not having much luck at all! All I've found so far is that bigger seems to be better. My best result claims 7km/s dV, all of which gets binned into the atmosphere by the time I get above 20km. Here's an in-flight screenshot. Not that well lit I'm afraid:

Javascript is disabled. View full album

It flies reasonably well, at least...

[edit: fixing picture]

Edited November 2, 2014 by Vigelius

[Fox62]

Are those HL fuselages cargo bays or fuel tanks? Cuz' if those are empty, that's a metric crap ton of wasted space and mass.

[Vigelius]

Are those HL fuselages cargo bays or fuel tanks? Cuz' if those are empty, that's a metric crap ton of wasted space and mass.

Ok, I've updated the pics with the answers to that. Trouble is, with the SABRE engines running on H2 and O2 the fuel is really space inefficient. Great for slowing down on re-entry, but a real nightmare here! There is already a bit of tail-droop on the runway, I'm not sure how much bigger this thing can reasonably get.

I'm beginning to wonder if it might be better to switch out for bigger engines with denser fuel. But then there isn't the mode-switching option, so I'll be carrying a metric crap ton of engines.

[incidentally the newer pics show a couple of extra small-sized SABREs, because I thought being underpowered might be exacerbating my atmospheric losses. Turns out the small ones are too weak to make much difference...]

[Wanderfound]

I don't typically fly RSS/AJE, so I haven't had a go at this yet, but y'all might have some luck if you took something like this and swapped the passenger cabins for fuel tanks:

Get up to Mach 5 and out of the breathable air on the jets, then cruise through the near-frictionless stratosphere on the nuke until orbit. Keep the RAPIERs off as much as possible. Worth a try.

[Roflcopterkklol]

Have a few SSTO's, here are some of my newer ones.

And i use no mods for KSP.

Titan Hunter SSTO,

capable of transporting 3 FL-t800 fuel tanks into a 200km+ orbit

SR-73,

not exactly sure what i want to do with it yet i am still in the tweaking stages, but it reliably goes to a 200km+ orbit and returns to kerbin.

White lightning mk1

And just because it can be done, this is a single stage to Mun (and beyond) while being able to return to kerbin, theoretically you can take this to the mun, then to minmus then back to kerbin and land.

[SSSPutnik]

Shouldn't the OP also show it can be done? Also the above is not valid since it does not use the mods specified?

[Roflcopterkklol]

Shouldn't the OP also show it can be done? Also the above is not valid since it does not use the mods specified?

idk if OP was saying you have to use those mods or if OP was saying it is not doable without them to be honest lol

[Vigelius]

idk if OP was saying you have to use those mods or if OP was saying it is not doable without them to be honest lol

The real solar system mod means that instead of just over 2km/s at 70km, the lowest orbit is over 7km/s at 180km (as it is for earth)

The realistic jet engines mod nerfs air-breathing engines massively (bringing them in line with reality)

The challenge requires the use of these mods because they make it really, really hard!