Frank_G

Spark engines are the most underestimated units in the game i think... they are light, have a reasonable ISP and pack a pretty punch for their size. In most cases it is worth a try to exchange used Terrier engines in a design for Sparks, just to compare. It pays off pretty often.

That is quite interesting Sharpy... Time to send a probe to Eve in my latest career game And i love Foxters idea, having a return craft inside the cargo bay.

Not very crazy at all... just a bit massive. And the one Maccollo is presenting here is pretty interesting...

Spaceplanes and Eve... it was impossible back to version .90. It may be possible for a highly optimized system now (delta V requirements have been reduced), but honestly... the one i see here: no. You would still need to pack 8 - 9.000 m/s of delta V into a purely rocket powered plane. And going to Tylo by spaceplane? Very inefficient because the weight of the totally useless wings alone will increase your fuel usage immensely. In stock KSP i sense an early mission abort here...

Just go to your "saves" folder and open the folder, named after your game. Inside you will find a folder called "ships" and "subassemblies". Inside those folders you will find the .craft files of all your saved vessels. The ship folder is also divided into VAB (vertical assembly building) and SPH (spaceplane hangar).

Dräß

After miscalculating my entry in the payload fraction challenge, i... well... felt indeed pretty challenged... This is the first testflight of the Stingray Delta III short. It is down from 8 to 5 engines and has a reduced launch weight of 127 tons (instead 151.5 tons), while keeping the exact payload of 41.25 tons. So far, only atmospheric abilities have been tested. It reached Mach 5.5 on jet-engines, so the concept may actually work. Further tests and first orbit attempt are scheduled for tomorrow.

I like to play like this: - plan ahead - be precise and accurate - explode anyways - enjoy the show

I started playing around with space station layouts. I want something, that does not look like an ISS or a von Braun Ring while being modular and multi-functional. This will take some time for sure. I am planning on utilizing my new spaceplane for space station construction, so every part has to fit inside the cargo bay and must be dockable with help of an RCS tug.

Welcome, FungusForge! You,ve come to a nice place fr sure. Be seeing you in orbit.

Really made me laugh

Thank you! I set the empty craft in relation to the payload. Good you asked for the screenshots

That is true. Using reaction wheels sometimes feels like steering with a rubber band...

No problem. Coming up, just need to fly another round to take the screenshots [edit] The requested screenshots have been added to the album above. Thank you!

I dont feel cheaty about any feature the game offers. And so far, i have seen some impressive designs, that are powered by reaction wheels. Just do as you desire... and where are the pictures? The only thing i personally don´t do, is clipping tanks and engines.

My entry: Moray Delta II Stock SSTO spaceplane. The fully fueled craft weighs 111.3 tons and can carry additional 41.5 tons to an 85 km circular orbit, resulting in 2.68 : 1 craft : payload ratio. This is equal to 35.3% of the launch weight. The craft can be downloaded from my craftfile thread. Detailed mission report with visible stats as follows:

Ok... thought a reboot would be the actual thread. Thanks for pointing me there.

Today i finished the design of the very efficient Moray Delta II Cargo SSTO spaceplane. It can lift 41.5 tons to an 85 km circular orbit. The craftfile is available on my craftfile thread. Have fun

My entry: Moray Delta II Stock SSTO spaceplane. The fully fueled craft weighs 111.3 tons and can carry additional 41.5 tons to an 85 km circular orbit, resulting in 2.68 : 1 craft : payload ratio. This is equal to 35.3% of the launch weight. The craft can be downloaded from my craftfile thread. Detailed mission report with visible stats as follows:

Moray Delta II craftfile is now available.

And finished. The craftfile will be up within the hour. Here is the mission profile of the final test flight:

My latest creation, the Moray Delta II. It can deliver 41.5 tons to an 85 km circular orbit and has a craft : payload ratio of 1 : 2,75. Besides having a very low TWR of 0.60 when fully laden, it still reaches atmospheric speeds of 1.5 km / s on its 8 R.A.P.I.E.R. engines. I will make the craftfile available this evening in my craftfile thread. Here is the full mission profile:

Simply a beautiful craft, you´ve built there. I love the details...

Done. 41.5 tons to 85 km circular orbit with fuel to de-orbit and a bit of liquid fuel for a powered landing. The 8 engine configuration finally won the battle. And if you launch only the orange tank without the tug, you get additional 400 m/s of delta V for orbital acrobatics. If launched empty, it can make a roundtrip around the Mün. I got rid of a Mk. 3 Liquid Fuel Fuselage Short Tank, making the design a lot shorter, more stable in flight and easier to manage during ascent. To compensate for the lower fuel mass, 4 Mk. 1 fuselages were added. Craft including fuel is weighing 111.3 tons, maximum load is 41.5 tons, resulting in a 2.68 : 1 craft : payload ratio. Launch TWR is 0.60, but the massive lift and low drag totally compensates. It still reaches 1.5 km/s in airbreathing engine mode, even when fully laden. There is some action-group tweaking to be done for more convenience and hopefully even better performance during the ascent phase. I want to add another action-group that will allow to switch engine pairs selectively to closed cycle, to get the maximum out of the jet-thrust. But thats for tomorrow. Here the final iteration of the craft and the payload it can deliver: Craftfile will be up tomorrow evening.

Getting there. I have 2 versions running, one with a 9 engine setup and one with a 8 engine setup. Both get 40 tons to orbit, but still the 8 engine version hangs a bit behind, considering fuel efficiency. If i can nail that, the design is considered finished. Here the 9 engine version breaking 1.550 m/s airspeed. Notice the angle of attack... it can maintain the AoA at altitudes above 17.000 m, giving it incredible acceleration due to minimum drag...