Brandano

I don't know if I posted my earlier SSTO (s) in this, HUGE thread, but here's the family of SSTO's I am currently using to ferry stuff from KSP to a stable 120k orbit. They can reach higher orbits, of course, but I am not aiming yet for that mission profile. The first one does not really have enough wing surface to reach orbit with the tanks full, but the other ones can manage just fine My first SSTO, a few versions back, was based on this little spaceplane, replacing the liquid fuel tank with a small rocket tank and adding a couple of Rockomax 24-77 small radial engines. What you see in the picture is an accidental sub-orbital hop, but the periapsis was above 30k, using only an air breathing engine:

The reason I added a solar panel is because the small radial rockets don't generate power and the jet engine uses up almost as much power as it generates above 30k. With a probe core and a lander can it could be used as a single passenger taxi, I guess. Hmm, I think I might try and make a single stage to Minmus design, just to see if it's feasible. Just a hint: if the mission ceiling is under 20k you don't need to spam multiple intakes per engine, I bet a single intake for two engines will work just as well.

This probably breaks several rules. Assembled in the SPH, but launches vertically from the runway, has no wings or control surfaces, and a total part count of 4. 1744m/s in 4 minutes, but could probably do better with more care, a probe core in place of the cockpit (though it needs the reaction wheels for control) and a RAM intake. A derivative of this turned out to be my smallest SSTO with a part count of 8 (I added a bigger fuel tank, two small radial rocket engines, a solar panel and a parachute)

Or you could subtract a little point for every docking port used, since using them to replace decouplers will likely require more of them. Actually, subtracting points for decouplers or docking ports probably would be fairer than for staging, which is rather arbitrary.

An MK1 command pod, not a MK1 cockpit. Sorry, I wasn't very clear. One downside of using the fuel tank as root node is that now I can't easily swap it for a rocket fuel tank, to convert the design to an SSTO. Getting the wings and gears aligned properly isn't exactly easy. There ought to be an option to "swap" the root node if nothing is attached to it, I think.

I think I'll consider this to be outside the challenge, it seems unfair to have unlimited attempts, and I already have two entries. However, just for the sake of it: Flight is still in progress, so far I have conventional takeoff, conventional landing at the island, pic next to my 2nd plane that is still parked at the island along with Jeb, takeoff from the island and vertical landing (a bit hard, a tad over 10 m/s, but the wings held), vertical takeoff and zoom to altitude, 87k Apoapsis (periapsis never went positive, this one has only one air intake) and now I am coasting back down toward the desert. I'll try to get a landing near the pyramids, but I have never been there, so it might not happen, and then another hop back to KSC. Part count: 1 x cockpit 1 x jet fuel tank 1 x intake 1 x jet engine 4 x swept wings 3 x landing gears 11 parts total Will link the file once I recover it, though I guess I can grab the auto-saved ship. Surprisingly well behaved, though it tends to sideslip a bit. it helps limiting the engine thrust to 50%, it won't really limit the top speed either. (edit) Hep! Spoke too soon. I got close to the pyramids, but lost control while attempting to brake to a vertical landing, and I didn't have a quicksave handy.. I never even realized I was still under acceleration either. Even with that it managed: 100 : Success 90 + 50 : High Flier 70 : Islander 50 : Conservationist 250: VTOL So it would be 610 points even without the Lander and Magellan achievement. I think that getting all achievements except for SSTO and Whackjob in one flight is achievable with this design. Here's the .craft file: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B_Tszjgnsur4b2tGNGdIbUVRaWc/edit?usp=sharing I accidentally discovered that you can now build a plane without starting with a cockpit, and the root node of this craft is athe fuel tank. The first version model had a MK1 capsule to save weight, but I needed that intake and radial intakes just don't cut it at high altitude.

No, I mean, keep your design as it is, as a tail sitter, just shifting the rear wings back and the front wings forward. And place the ant engine so that it is aimed at the CG, since you only really need it when you are out of the atmosphere

You can place a single engine under the fuselage and aim it towards the center of mass. And use the wing tips and a single landing leg to VTO, with a lot of care. I see that the ANT engines have been seriously buffed up in 23.5

As far as I know ANT engines don't produce electricity, though

Hmm, you can take off horizontally, land vertically, then take off vertically... you just need to add another set of landing gears and give it an action group binding.

Actually no, it won't. It will just make the parabolic trajectory steeper, and the reentry angle will follow suite. You can reach a 100k apoapsis and then circularize with a rocket engine, and it doesn't really take much to circularize, as Aqua showed with his two ant engines. On the subject of ant engines, I do have a spaceplane that is ONLY control surfaces, so definitely not eligible for this challenge, here: http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/69053-My-tiniest-rocket-plane

*Aqua*, with three intakes and grossly overweight I managed almost 100k, by keeping the prograde indicator at 10° above the horizon from any place above 20k, and reducing throttle as the altitude increased. You can limit the turbojet thrust to get finer control on the throttle at high altitude. As the atmospheric resistance decreases the plane will keep accelerating even when barely above idle at 70k altitude, and you will find your camera in orbit mode almost with no warning. Slowing down is the real challenge, as it can be quite hard to get the thing back under control before it drops under sea level. I am going to try it again without the droptanks and with a single intake to see if I can make another "almost SSTO" hop, though outside the challenge. Oh, and getting there barely used two thirds of a tank, probably less if I had used a more careful climb profile. I think the best option is to zoom above 15k as fast as possible, and try to level off by 20k to a stable climb at reduced thrust.

Impressive indeed *Aqua*! As Keldaria mentioned you might even decide to ditch the LFO tank and the ant radial engines to get both Magellan (100 pts) and High Flier (90 + 50, if you peak over 70k ) achievements, while losing the SSTO (150 pts) achievement. That's 90 points more than the SSTO achievement alone.

I also did think about using multiple capsules as well, it's a trick already seen in career mode to obtain more battery charge early on in the tech tree. Actually, using the 1 place capsule in place of the spaceplane cockpit really helps keeping the weight down, but I like my planes to look nice

Does it count as an ssto if it can't achieve true orbit? My second plane can orbit the world, but it's doomed to reentry since the periapsis can never be outside the atmosphere