Archangel Lucifer

Excellent work there RogueMason, the Ceres is indeed a mighty looking craft. It makes me wonder if it's the fruition of that idea you had after seeing the Space Wing? It's certainly more proof that the flying wing design is viable in KSP. I like your design boolybooly, all the way to Minmus with a 3 man pod and a single nuclear engine is a mean feat indeed. The placement of the wing makes it a truely unique looking ship. Interesting looking ship there kepicness, I'm looking forward to the mission debrief. I have yet another craft to submit - finally I can also claim the AstroKerbal and KosmoKerbal awards as this one has had a successful Minmus landing return mission (which takes much less fuel than a Mun landing and return mission). The mighty Hellfire in the Hanger. Takeoff. After a quick bounce off the ground at the end of the runway the Hellfire is airborne Engaging the Aerospike rockets and Nerva's. Shutting down the jet engines. Just nuclear power from now. Kerbin apopsis and periapsis. In orbit around Kerbin. Minmus Intercept. Minmus apopsis and periapsis. In orbit around Minmus. Minmus landing trajectory. Minmus descent. Minmus touchdown. Minmus EVA. Getting back into the ship. Target sighted. Kerbin Intercept. Almost home. I aerobraked too deeply into the atmosphere and couldn't make it back to KSC so had to go for an emergency landing in this valley but altered course at the last moment. Safely landed on Kerbin.. Mission results. The crew back on Kerbin. I tried several times to do a Mun landing return mission with this but there isn't enough fuel to get back to Kerbin so I decided to try a Minmus landing instead. It can also reach the inner planets and Duna but I'm yet to actually travel to them using it. Like RogueMason, this is probably the biggest SSTO I have that is capable of landing and returning from Minmus, totaling 147 parts. It has 6 jet engines, 4 aerospike rockets and 3 nerva's. If only the runway at KSC ended just before the water (where the beach begins to slope down) then the Hellfire wouldn't have to travel over such bumpy land before getting airborne. Having so many engines it was hard to balance all the weight around and after much R&D I've decided the best configuration is one that is nose heavy on takeoff that then turns into a nose light configuration on reentry which can appear...scary at times but the avionics package will compensate for it just fine. The actual landing itself was not all that hard. The Hellfire is a must for any budding fleet commander.

Wow! well done on actually getting somewhere other than Kerbin orbit with those SSTO's - especially the Vulcan traveling to other planets. I'll have to totally rethink my strategy and take the new nervas into account. Maxed Rockets - regarding the trouble getting aerospike rockets to attach to tri-couplers. It can be done but it's not straightforward and there seems to be a thrust issue when they are all finally on because depending on which way you angle the tri-coupler a mysterious force seems to push the ship off course when the rocket is activated. It's hard to explain how to do it but basically you have to be placing individual pieces (not in duplicate mode) and I find that if you attach an aerospike rocket somewhere on your craft and then quickly click it again (in order to place it again) it's often able to then be put on the tri-coupler. Also if it doesn't go first time just keep clicking and it should eventually attach. Not sure if that made sense but I can upload a picture tutorial of how I did it if anyone is interested.

Thanks once again for the commendations booly, Space wing - while not the most creatively named ship, had many untold hours of investment in figuring out how to balance the weight around and is a testament to the power of Turbo jet engines. Amazingly, 6 engines were enough to get it off the ground. I had hoped to figure out a way to get it to the Mun but the AstroKerbal and KosmoKerbal awards seem out of reach atm so I had instead used it to set the benchmark for SSTO size and altitude in 0.17. I'd imagine if it appeared in a Sci-Fi movie the forward facing tail sections would be some sort of weapon (Most likely Laser based but some sort of cool projectile weapon wouldn't be out of place either, dual rail guns would be a mighty setup indeed, but I digress...). Well done to Suzaku on creating such an efficient design, I didn't think a stable orbit was possible with such a limited amount of fuel. Congats on the minimalist award. Being consumed by SSTO fever atm, I have yet another design to submit that doesn't claim any awards other than a safe landing back on Kerbin but I think it looks cool nonetheless. In the hanger. Takeoff. Airborne. Aerospike rocket engage! In flight. Deactivating the jet engines. In orbit. Apopsis and Periapsis. Deceleration burn. Re-entry trajectory. Landing approach begins. Final adjustments. Touchdown. Parachute deployed. Mission results. The crew. I designed this one to take a 3 man crew to KSC2 but on this particular run I didn't save enough fuel to complete my re-entry burn and had to make an emergency landing on a small island off the coast and just south of KSC. It was my first SSTO design to use a parachute after landing which was lucky considering the size of the island I landed on. It's a robust design and extremely stable during re-entry - I am yet to loose control of it. KSC2 will have to have it's first crew assignment delayed somewhat while Mavericks crew are rescued and the ship is refueled. It's powerhouse is 2 turbojet engines during takeoff and a single aerospike rocket for orbital insertion and re-entry. I reckon I could make a single stage booster for it so it could go to the Mun or even further but ofcourse then it wouldn't qualify for the K-prize. I'd also highly recommend checking out wikipedia and reading about anhedral/dihedral type aircraft configurations and the various type of tailplane designs used on real planes. It helped me make my designs more stable.

Thanks for the minimalist award booly, Widowmaker was my first forray into 0.17 SSTO builds and uses four 400L and three 200L fuel tanks to spread the weight around. Its a well balanced ship, although a little back heavy during the reentry glide resulting in many failed reentry attempts during testing. The correct re-entry orientation was finally discovered at the cost of many a poor Kerbal, earning this craft its name. After many countless hours of testing I have another submission that meets both the Maximalist and Altitudinalist criteria. It also boasts a 3 man crew! Introducing the... In the hanger. Takeoff. Finally airborne! Gaining some height. Aerospike rocket engage! Deactivating the jet engines. In orbit. Apopsis and Periapsis. Deceleration burn. KSC sighted. Banking after KSC Flyby. Descent to KSC. Landing approach begins. Final adjustments. Almost there. Mission results. The crew. Weighing at least 87.65 tons (perhaps someone with MechJeb can confirm for me?) the Space Wing is capable of reaching a circular orbit of 1,200km and safely returning all crew back to Kerbin. With precision piloting this craft can also be sent on a one way trip for a Mun flyby but is incapable of returning or getting into Munar orbit. Flight is initiated with 6 turbojet engines and then the 4 Aerospike rockets are fired at around 10km. Having a Periapsis of just over 1,200km sets the benchmark for all budding Kerbanauts to beat and hopefully has gained me the 0.17 Maximalist and Altitudinalist awards. I'll also include both the Widowmaker and Space Wing craft files.

Nice SSTO there boolybooly, it does look mighty fragile though. It's sad that everything from 0.16 became obsolete but it's the price of progress I guess. I've also come up with a couple of SSTO designs for 0.17 and while the debate rages as to whether or not a new thread should be started I might as well post it here. In the hanger. Takeoff. Gaining some height. Aerospike rocket engage! Deactivating the jet engines. In orbit. Apopsis and Periapsis. Deceleration burn. Glide to KSC begins. KSC sighted. Landing approach begins. Final adjustments. Almost there. Touchdown. Mission results. The pilot. Coming up with an efficient design that can land on the Mun, Minmus and return in 0.17 is going to be a challenge.

I've been thinking - is there an award for the highest and perhaps most circular orbit with the smallest craft (by weight)? Kind of a mixture of both the altitudinalist and minimalist awards. Or perhaps one for the smallest craft to visit or land on both the mun and minmus and return safely.

Thanks Boolybooly, its a pleasure to be inducted onto the Roll of Honour. With some better mission planning I'm sure I sure I could visit Minmus aswell but I didn't budget my fuel well enough for that on that particular run. @Iplop - Thanks for the help but I still couldn't get it to work. Clicking on reply with quote copied your post but not the spoiler part @Matticus88 - Thanks man, using the tail part like that had crossed my mind a few times before but I couldn't figure out a cool design for it. However it worked great on this ship. It can kind of land on the Mun but its really hard. I land it like you would a normal rocket and at the last minute use RCS to tilt the nose down but currently I have more failures than successes (damn the lack of atmposhpere ). I'm working on using seperate downwards facing rockets but this is easier said than done.

Here is my Submission, The White Raven. In the hanger. Takeoff. Leaving KSC. Successful Kerbin orbit. Preparing to go to the Mun. Journey to the Mun. Successful Mun orbit. In orbit around the Mun. Returning to Kerbin. Back in orbit around Kerbin. Re-entry burn complete. Glide to KSC begins. KSC sighted. So close to home. Touch down and mission results. The crew. Sorry for all the images, I don't know how to do the spoiler thing. But they do tell the story well.

On takeoff - not very many, but after the drop tanks are done then the framerate is fine on my pc. I also set persistent debris to off to speed things up, other than that I play with maxed out graphics and its quite playable. As soon as it gets off the runway switch the camera view so the planet isn't visible, that should help too. Again once the drop tanks are jettisoned then you can look at the planet fine. I've also successfully circumnavigted Kerbin with a second craft that uses just 2 aerospike rockets. I only used 37 fuel tanks in this build and it's way more stable at higher altitudes than the Stingray - so stable that I have taken it to the Mun and also Minmus. I didn't design it for this challenge but I thought I'd see how far around the planet it could go at a height of 30km and with a bit of modification it went the whole way. Due to the weight of the drop tanks this one also uses a solid booster for a rocket assisted takeoff. Introducing the Hunchback Type 2a... In the hanger. The drop tanks. At MET 5:00. Approaching KSC after Pan Kerbal flight. Safely landed and mission results. Also, just to back up my Mun and Minmus claims here it is at the Mun. And Minmus. Aircraft name : Hunchback Type 2a Total time elapsed : 1:02:46 Comments : Concerned by the success of KSC and their Stingray Supercruiser and the lack of competition for Pan Kerbal flights, the researchers at KSC2 unexpectedly came up with this abomination after building a ship designed merely to traverse to KSC and back. The one man Hunchback prototype turned into the three man Hunchback Type 2 that, after successful high altitude and orbital tests, was capable of reaching the Mun. At this point the scientists realised the potential for a rival to KSC's Stingray Supercruiser and set to work achieving this goal, culminating in the Hunchback Type 2a Pan Kerbal variant. The unique twin aerospike rocket design ensures fuel consumption is kept to a minimum while still providing rapid speeds of +1400m/s at 30,000m, circumnavigating Kerbin in just over an hour. At this height a maximum range of 4500km can be expected although the Hunchback can also make the journey to the Mun or Minmus if needed, opening up a whole new range of Ker-tourism oppurtunities. And finally the craft file.

I had this on my title screen just before too! Can this be found on the Mun?

Figured it out, here is the ship.

Hmm, type "wunderwaffen" in wikipedia and it comes up with all the cool things Germany made during WW2 including all their experimental aircraft. Many of those seem appealing to make too.

The landing was rather easy, if I knew how to upload my ships I'd put it up for download so you can try for yourself. Thanks for appreciating the effort I put into it. If I could change one thing about the ship I'd set the engine pods in line with the main fuselage instead of a bit below it as then it could go to the Mun. Atm if I go much above 30km it starts to push the nose up even at minimum throttle. I'm working on another contender for this challenge that uses less fuel and can most definitely reach the Mun too.

He's most definitely sure about those numbers, looking at your mission results your ground distance traveled was 543km (or there abouts) which is nowhere near a third of the way around Kerbin. Taking off from KSC and traveling in the 90 degrees direction it takes around 4000km to make it back to KSC so it's more like 1/8 of the total trip you made. This challenge doesn't have the 500m/s by 5 mins rule so imo fuel consumption overall would be lower for the entire flight compared to the other Pan Kerbal challenge which I managed to complete with great difficulty. I had to use aerospike engines meaning that most of my fuel was consumed getting through the first 29km of the atmosphere after takeoff. Even with the fuel bug I still used 58 fuel tanks in that build but I am working on another model with only 3 aerospike engines and around 40 fuel tanks (avoiding the 200L and 400L LFT's where I can as they are overpowered compared to the MK fuselage parts imo. Although I used them in my drop tanks.) and it is also capable of reaching the Mun! Using jet engines this challenge would take well over 2 hours to complete although there is no altitude requirement other than you can't go above 69km or so. With 3 rockets and an altitude of say 60km I imagine this challenge could be completed rather easily.

Finally I can claim success! After a slight fin modification and adding 4 more LFT's I had more than enough fuel to make the Pan Kerbal journey back to KSC. The amunt of fuel rerquired is staggering - I used a total of 58 fuel tanks with only the drop tanks being LFT's. Unfortunately I forgot the cruise speed screenshot at MET 5:00 but this ship easily gets to 600 - 700m/s by that time. All the relevant photos are in this album but there are a few other Kerbal related ones too. http://s1170.photobucket.com/albums/r540/ArchangeLucifer/ Aircraft Name : Stingray Supercruiser Total Time Elapsed : 58:00 Comments : Powered by 6 Aerospike rockets and carrying massive amounts of fuel, the Stingray Supercruiser is able to attain Hyperspeeds up to heights of 30km but as of yet is untested at higher altitudes. With a range of 4000-5000km this ship is capable of reaching >700m/s after 5 mins of flight time and Hyperspeed within 30 mins. A Pan Kerbal flight in less than 60 mins makes this the aircraft of choice for all your Supersonic and Hypersonic transport needs (Kerbals cite a lack of competitors as the main reason). In my excitement I also forgot to take a screenshot of the mission results screen and when I went back to the flight from the tracking center the stats for the flight had reset so I'll have to do another run and take a screenshot of it then.

The 5 min deadline has helped slightly but Jet engines just don't cut it for this challenge. The only real option is to go for an aerospike rocket build but as always finding the right balance of fuel, lift and thrust is tricky - especially considering the fuel consumption of aerospike rockets. Sure the fuel bug is there but even so, I challenge anyone to make a craft capable of completing this task while staying below the upper limit of 30km (and no higher than 30,100m imo). This is by far the hardest challenge I have attempted thus far, which was unexpected to say the least! Here is my best attempt to date <a href="http://s1170.photobucket.com/albums/r540/ArchangeLucifer/?action=view&current=aa9c62a0.png" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1170.photobucket.com/albums/r540/ArchangeLucifer/aa9c62a0.png" border="0" alt="Best Pan-Kerbal Time 1"></a> With this as my current best design <a href="http://s1170.photobucket.com/albums/r540/ArchangeLucifer/?action=view&current=4d2e4b6a.png" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1170.photobucket.com/albums/r540/ArchangeLucifer/4d2e4b6a.png" border="0" alt="Stingray Supercruiser Revamp"></a> It has 6 aerospike rockets mounted into pods in the wings (the long Mk3 fuselage parts in the wings) and a main body 8 Mk3 parts long plus tail and cockpit and 16 400L liquid fuel tanks underneath in drop pods but this is still not quite enough. Although with some tweaking of my take-off trajectory I may be able to get it with no further modifications. Rather than add heaps of extra lift at the front to counter the weight of the drop tanks I opted for a rocket assisted takeoff using solid boosters as the rules don't say that that isn't allowed. So the challenge is out there - Surely someone can accomplish this fuel bug or not!

Well this is proving to be pretty much an impossible challenge atm, especially since I am trying to use only the Mk parts for fuel but I have a ship that can travel 1561.6 km at full throttle (just past those 2 lakes on the big continent about halfway around the planet) in about 45 mins and I'm sure I could get at least an hour or more flight time if I keep my cruise speed at 500m/s. While starting off reasonably small this ship has turned into quite the beast as I came to realise just how much fuel would be needed. I have 2 pairs of drop tanks each made up of 3 mk2 parts and the main body is made from Mk3 but it's still not enough. After the drop tanks are used up they - along with the two engines attached to them are separated from the main craft which then continues with 4 engines only. I fly this thing manually (with some help from the avionics module) and without MechJeb. Perhaps when the ram air intake parts become functional I'll be able to get it further but atm I can't see how I can carry more fuel without missing the 3 min 500m/s deadline. Anyway here is my ship. <a href="http://s1170.photobucket.com/albums/r540/ArchangeLucifer/?action=view&current=be17a651.png" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1170.photobucket.com/albums/r540/ArchangeLucifer/be17a651.png" border="0" alt="Stingray Supercruiser Hanger"></a> <a href="http://s1170.photobucket.com/albums/r540/ArchangeLucifer/?action=view&current=7951a686.png" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1170.photobucket.com/albums/r540/ArchangeLucifer/7951a686.png" border="0" alt="Stingray Supercruiser Cruise Speed"></a> Is anyone else even remotely close to getting all the way around Kerbin while keeping the 3 min 500m/s deadline?

Hmm, can anyone else confirm the absence of the fuel bug from atmospheric engines? Also, regarding the use of the rocket liquid fuel tanks - I'm aware that atm there is no separation of atmospheric and rocket fuel tanks but I think that the rocket ones are way too big (400L compared to 150L for the Mk 1 and 2 and 225L I think for Mk3).

I'm determined to do this without MechJeb and without using the 'rocket' fuel tanks (as only the Mk parts should be acceptable for fuel imo). I'm pretty sure I have a successful design but it will have to wait until tomorrow for final testing.

I've been working on this challenge today and am curious to know if the throttle should always be at 100% because of the fuel bug thingy? If not then in the current version this challenge will be somewhat easier than it should be. At 100% throttle my ship only makes it about halfway around Kerbin but that is with all 6 engines burning. if I add more fuel I can't attain the required cruise speed on time.

So I mucked around some more and came up with these baby's, they are similar to some I saw earlier in this thread but surely nobody has attained 1021 m/s with just 3 engines! And I'm pretty sure this is the fastest yet with a single engine, well posted in this thread anyway. Can anyone confirm this? This was all done using stock parts from v0.16

Hi all, here's my first entry into this mighty fun challenge. Top Speed = 1011.1 m/s. I tried not to just strap a whole bunch of engines together and went for something with a little more...style than the other entries I've seen so far. I'm sure there's room for improvement but it's not a bad start.