Hey everyone! I have been playing KSP for a few months now ans I used to come here to find ideas about new challenges or funny missions to do (even if I never registered). Like most of you I am very excited about the new aerodynamics and stock parts even if most of my old SSTOs designs don't work anymore. I used to be able to bring up a to 100 tons of payload in LKO with a single rocket, but all that is in the past now ! I would love to start making new designs, unfortunately I have to study since I am taking exams in a few weeks. With the tests of SpaceX wanting to reuse the first stage of their Falcon9 rocket, I thought about a challenge that you guys might like and I made an account just to submit it, hoping to be entertained when I am not studying ! Objective: Design, build and fly a SSTO following a flight plan of your choice to put the largest payload possible in low Kerbin orbit, deorbit and then return to/land near KSC. Orbit: equatorial orbit , periapsis and apoapsis between 95 and 100 km. Landing: you must land on land ( not water I mean) and be able to see KSC from your landing zone. "Rules": Only stock parts (obviously), no mods/flight help. (old school pilot skills ) No parts being destroyed during ascent/descent or landing. Every thing that takes off must land and be ready to fly again with the exception of fuel (no sh*t) and ablator from heat shields! Basically, make something that seems possible to you ! Don't use any "clever" trick to fool the game's physics, it's not the point of this challenge... You are allowed to have payloads fairings, I don't consider it as real "staging". So you can use whatever you want, whether you go for horizontal or vertical take-off/landing, the winner will be the one bringing the heaviest payload in orbit. You can also decide how you want to fly your SSTO and the payload you take... Let the games begin ! (I'll give it a shot when my exams are over, end of June )
