Batz_10K

Well, if we're launching National Monuments.... I believe this is in the "ShowEmWhosBoss" class, 18m (with antenna extended!) x 5 = 90pts Full mission album:

Here you go: This is the same floatplane that I used to land on Laythe in the Jool-5 challenge (with one minor modification - the docking port was removed, as there's no need to dock in orbit to refuel for this challenge). Normally I would release the drop tanks once they are empty, but as the rules prohibit this, they stay attached.

Here's my go... Actually looking at the rules, I suspect I don't qualify as I didn't get out and plant a flag (Donald thought it was too cold...) - Also I presume 24-77s are OK for VTOL thrusters? Flying VTOL on jets is ... dangerous. Nevertheless, I had fun flying this, so thanks!

It might be possible, I was having a bit of trouble maintaining the proper ascent profile without control surfaces, but you can easily make it to space. With some oxidizer and a rapier it might also be possible to make orbit.... I managed to make 164km apoapsis on one of my test flights..but that one didn't go far. Here's the .craft file http://1drv.ms/17GL6qf [OneDrive]

Here's my entry for the 10 fuel challenge in the NCS division 1128km (not quite enough to take the title, but I think I've got the altitude record )

MircoMars - I started this challenge to see the different ways that this could be done, and I have to say, I am not disappointed! I'll wait for your full album (or I get time to try your craft out myself) before adding you to the leaderboard Starhawk - Haha, well as long as that collection of parts makes orbit and makes it home in roughly the same formation, that's all that really matters right? - The vessel information panel is closed on KER in your screenshot so I can't see how much delta-v you had on-orbit - Congratulations! you have completed the Low-Tech SSTO challenge GoSlash27 - With a nearly identical design to Starhawk (but un-exploded), and the luxury of an RCS system! - Interesting to see the old-style jet cockpit flying in 0.90. - - Congratulations! you have completed the Low-Tech SSTO challenge with 702ms delta-v I've actually got a couple of designs that can do this challenge, one of them is in the K-prize thread here and this is the other: I'll post a link to the .craft files later on

The Challenge Build an SSTO spaceplane that can be used without upgrading any of the buildings at the KSC. The SSTO must be capable of horizontal take-off and landing (you don't have to use the rough runway, the grass is fine). and must be capable of reaching at least a 70km stable orbit (Pe>69km), and have enough fuel to return to the KSC and land. The idea here is to have a reusable spaceplane that is good for 'Science data from space around Kerbin', Rescue missions, and light part testing in an early stage career game. That means: - Maximum part count: 30 parts - Maximum mass: 18 tons - Maximum height: 20m - Maximum width: 15m - Maximum Length 15m - Maximum part tech level - Tier 5 (essentially, any part you can research at the un-upgraded R&D center) What is allowed: - Informational mods (e.g. MechJeb/Kerbal engineer) or cosmetic mods (e.g. cloud mods, etc) - Clipping, except for fuel tanks and engines - Any and all abuse of the offset tool is not only allowed, but encouraged! What not allowed: - Upgrading _any_ buildings at the KSC - Any mod parts except for information only parts (e.g. MechJeb) - Dropping engines or any structure during the flight. This is an SSTO spaceplane challenge. Winning conditions - Anybody who can do this challenge is a winner. The grand champion has the highest delta-v on reaching orbit. - Please post a picture of your craft on the ground, flying and in orbit, and the F3 information screen once you have landed Some things to consider when designing your spaceplane: - No resource transfers are allowed at tier 1. Think about your fuel flow and balance, and whether you plan to restart engines for the approach into KSC. (if you're a hotshot glider pilot, that's ok too) - The runway is rough, the grass is a little smoother so plan your landing gear design with this in mind. Please include a link to your .craft file so that others (including me!) can try out your designs FAR/NEAR. I have no idea if this is possible in FAR or NEAR, but feel free to have a go. FAR/NEAR entries will be listed separately. Winners GoSlash27 917ms Batz10K 536ms Micromars Completed Starhawk Completed

Here you go: 25 parts, 1.7m high, 4.1m wide, 3.5m. Flight distance 5km

The Tiny-McTaterTot I have no idea how big it is, or how far it goes... (1 lap around the KSC seems to be about it before you run out of fuel...) I guess you could drive somewhere if I only I hadn't turned off the wheel motors... Seems to be impossible to land without breaking the wheels. (it won't fly slower than 34m/sec) oh well. I think this is the only time I have ever found the small gear bay to be too large.

You might like to update the rules a little. It's entirely possible to make orbit with such a small jet that meets the current rules and a little Kerbal ingenuity.... then you can go as far as you like ...Actually, it *does* help if you get out and push... I think jetpack thruster fuel refills should probably take away capsule monoprop as well...

Here's my entry - The Turbo-Finch-IN Leaving the KSC Climbing into orbit In orbit My vote is for the Eagle-1

What a difficult challenge. I think this is harder than Jool-5 ... 7 mins 54 sec. (with a nasty loss of control on the way back from the island and the lander fell onto the stairwell and I had to get it out on the VAB landing...) Aerodynamics: Stock

I had the exact same issue on my Jool-5 challenge... (gave me quite a surprise when my lander suddenly exploded). I ended up working around the problem by landing on a mountain ridgeline above 3100m. Interestingly it was in 0.25 just before I upgraded to 0.90.

Oh yeah, knew I forgot something... Working title is "KA-1 Suicide Sled". I guess that'll do. Weight is 3.1 tons (including Jeb) Thanks!

Well, in *that* case... Here's an attempt at the 0.90 minimalist record. (flame-retardant spacesuit required)

Thanks Ziv! Let's see if I can answer some of those questions... The ion lander isn't that heavy - about 12 tons fully fuelled and a little over 6 tons with just xenon on board (you get about 1900ms on ion without rocket fuel, so there's plenty to make it from Bop to Vall and rendezvous in Vall orbit. TWR on ion without rocket fuel is about 0.7 so it's not too bad. (unless trying to make a burn on the dark side...) Also, the plane and orbit changes in Vall orbit aren't too bad as it doesn't have anywhere near as much gravity as Kerbin, Laythe or Tylo. (also I didn't want to move the carrier around too much as I wasn't sure how much fuel I was going to have left...) I should have included this with my original posting - here's a copy of the save folder for this mission - There are quicksaves for most of the major milestones through the mission, and you can fly the planes if you like (and carrier if you are crazy) http://1drv.ms/1tOALxg [OneDrive] Planes are called: TFNG-T (Tylo version) TFNG-I (Ion version) (don't use the other one included in the save, it was for testing) TFNG-Float (Floatplane) Action groups are: (common to all planes) 1 - Toggle intakes 2 - Toggle Rapier AirBreathing/ClosedCycle 3 - Toggle Rapier on/off 4 - Toggle VTOLs on/off 8 - Toggle ions on/off (Ion version only) 9 - Toggle solar panels (Ion version only) By default they have enough fuel to make Kerbin orbit, but you need to refuel before trying to land somewhere else.. I had a lot of fun doing this challenge - I think the hardest part was coming up with a way of landing a small spaceplane on tylo (as they were never designed to land there) and coming up with a way of getting the rover onto the surface of Tylo (the original method used the skycrane as the landing stage with the spaceplane sitting on top... it worked but looked really strange, and I had nowhere to put the skycrane on the carrier) Cheers

So I'm partway through my 0.90 career game, and I decided to see if it was possible to build and fly an SSTO SpacePlane within the constraints of the tier one KSC buildings.... Basically that means, a maximum of 30 parts, 18t weight, and maximum dimensions of 15x15m by 3.8m high. Most importantly, since the R&D buildings cost so much to upgrade, only parts up to tier 5 can be used. (the maximum allowed by a tier-1 R&D centre). In addition this plane should be able to take-off and land on the very rough tier one runway. (although as we know anybody sane uses the grass with a tier-1 runway...). Also, there are some interesting constraints imposed by the fact that at this tech level, manual fuel transfers don't work and there are no action groups. Ideally we'd want at least 3-400ms of delta-v on-orbit to be able to do rescue missions with this plane, and make sure there's enough fuel left to run the jet on the way back to landing at the KSC. The most interesting issue is that with the tier 5 parts, there's no turbojet. This means a very different ascent profile than is normal with a spaceplane, and a lot more rocket fuel is needed than usual. The answer is, with lots of testing and some abuse of the alignment tool it is indeed possible... Full mission album:

Here's my entry for the Jool5 Challenge - Level 3 Wernher Von Kerman: Jeb, we need to do a Jool5 mission. But there's a problem, we need to go with something that will look like it'll actually fly. You know how those conspiracy nuts are about the Mun landings. Jeb: Well, we do have 3 old spaceplanes and a carrier left over from the last war... how about we use those, and do the mission Hollywood style? WvK: Excellent! get on it! - Which game versions did you use? 0.25.2 and 0.90 (upgraded partway through) - What mods did you use, if any? KER only. - How many Kerbals are on the mission? 5. - How many launches was needed to start your mission from Kerbal? 10 (1 carrier, 3 landers, 5 refuelling, 1 crew transport) - Did you needed a refueling mission? Yes. (Lander refuelling on the surface of Tylo) - Did you bring a Living Quarter (Hitch-hiker's Storage) for the guys during the long journey? Yes. - Did you bring additional stuff like satellites, rovers, etc? No. - Share the delta-V informations too, if you tracked it! - Any additional note or description? * KER seems to have serious issues calculating dV for my ship designs oh well. I've tried to keep the resource panels open as well as showing the state of the main tanks on the carrier after each transfer. (seriously, the lowest estimate was about 450ms, the highest over 10k. I think this is mainly due to the use of disconnected fuel tanks on the carrier, and lots of xenon gas reserves for the ion lander. ) * I'd suggest looking at the full album on imgur at full resolution if you need to read anything. The Plan: - Orbital assembly of Carrier and landers, then refuelling - Carrier brings lander to the Jool system and goes into orbit around Laythe - Laythe lander lands and returns from Laythe, and docks with carrier - Ion lander has about 4500ms dV when fully fuelled with Xenon and LFO. This should be enough to go to Vall, Bop and Pol, land and return to Laythe orbit. - Ion lander goes to Vall, lands and returns to Laythe orbit (docks with carrier and refuels) - Ion lander goes to Bop, lands and returns to Laythe orbit (docks with carrier and refuels) - Ion lander goes to Pol, lands and returns to Laythe orbit (docks with carrier and refuels) - Carrier then moves to low Tylo orbit (20km) - Tylo lander lands and is refuelled by a fuel rover on the surface of Tylo. - Tylo lander re-orbits and docks with Carrier - Carrier returns to Kerbin. Landers return to KSC. Shuttle picks up last crew member and returns to KSC 1 - Assembly - Carrier launch Asymmetric ships are _really_ hard to fly. It's stable enough while full of fuel, but a handful when empty. Also the CoL is way ahead of the CoM. So basically the easiest method is to fly straight up until we are in space, then turn eastward and accelerate. http://imgur.com/a/kXEfL 1 - Assembly - Spaceplane launch Spaceplanes are flown into orbit and docked with the carrier http://imgur.com/a/GYbBQ 1 - Assembly - Refuelling I had to design a larger tanker so that I could refuel the carrier's 9x Kerbodyne 14400 tanks in a reasonable number of launches. The resulting rocket flew suprisingly well, and was easily able to deliver a 288t (3xKR14400 tank) payload to orbit. http://imgur.com/a/wEOpy 1 - Assembly - Crew delivery There are only 4 Kerbals on the carrier, we need 5 for the level 3 challenge (although with hindsight it would have been easier to just send them up on the initial launch with Jeb...oh well). This shuttle is a modified Von Braun Ferry. http://imgur.com/a/JCZAy 1 - Assembly - Transfer to high orbit and last refuelling An interplanetary burn on an 800 ton vehicle with 6xLV-Ns will take a long time. The original idea was to go to a higher orbit and accept the oberth losses for much less tedium. All tanks are topped off http://imgur.com/a/WcEan 2 - Kerbin to Laythe We are off! So yeah, a 1 hour burn time is not going to happen. Light the KR2Ls! http://imgur.com/a/UhHXY 3 - Laythe So the Laythe lander didn't fly anywhere near as well as it did on Kerbin. Dropping the (partially full) drop tanks helped, but the margins for making a safe landing on the water were very thin. Bob taxis to the shoreline and has a _very_ cold swim to get ashore (although the lander is fully amphibious, the ladder only extends to the top of the floats, so he can't get back in if the lander is on land. Bob plants the flag and gets back in the lander. takeoff and ascent is normal and he rejoins the carrier.... and discovers that the high-speed landing has torn off the docking port on the bottom of the lander. There's no way to dock or refuel. Oh well. We abandon the lander in Laythe orbit and spacewalk back to the carrier. http://imgur.com/a/dolCP 4 - Laythe to Vall On the first test of the ion lander, it turns out that although it is possible to fly the lander to Vall, land, and return to Laythe orbit, it is extremely tight on fuel (and takes forever to pump up the orbit using ion on the way out of Laythe...). So we fly the carrier to Vall and will do the Vall landing from orbit. We have about 3 full tanks remaining on the carrier. http://imgur.com/a/BlOxh 5 - Vall The landing is uneventful, being well within the capabilities of the ion lander. Bill plants the flag and returns to the carrier. http://imgur.com/a/kHwJk 6 - Bop I totally forgot to take pictures of the trajectory out to Bop and back again. Hopefully these pictures will give some idea of the fuel consumption. As Bop has low gravity we can use the rapier for the initial transfer burn. Ions will be used for course adjustments and the return to Vall and rendezvous with the carrier. This is the first full long-range flight for this lander. Joedo does the flying this time. http://imgur.com/a/OApkq 7 - Pol Much easier to get to than Bop, I did run into some issues with the lander exploding above the surface and the log claiming I had crashed into Pol. So the actual landing shown was done on a ridgeline above 3100m where this effect was occuring. Fortunately the low gravity made for easy flying and easy transfers. Jorlan takes the controls this time. http://imgur.com/a/U6CU4 8 - Vall to Tylo As originally planned, the Tylo landing will take place from as low an orbit as possible, in this case, Pe is around 20km. We move the carrier into position. The initial transfer burn didn't take too much dV, but the insertion burn at Tylo was a little over 800ms. I made a mistake in making my periapsis too low, so that meant I couldn't use an extended braking burn on the LV-Ns, so the KR-2Ls were used for the second and last time of the mission. There is approximately 2 tanks worth of fuel left in the carrier. This should be plenty to return home (the lander was already fuelled up at Kerbin) http://imgur.com/a/M6Kd9 ** 0.90.0 upgrade arrives ** 9 - Fuel Rover to Tylo The Tylo refuelling mission has been sitting in LKO since the start of the mission. Now we need the rover in Tylo orbit. It turns out that a 27m burn time on the LV-Ns of the transfer stage is going to be ... annoying. In this case, I can flip the lander/transfer stage vehicle and use the LV-T30s on the skycrane as they have a much better TWR (and we have enough fuel, as it doesn't look like I will need to refuel the carrier.) The rover arrives in Tylo orbit. http://imgur.com/a/zEifS 10- Tylo landing The crew wakes up with a massive hangover after drinking Jebs munshine at the 0.90 release party, and promptly discovers that everybody except Jeb has forgotten how to fly a spacecraft. Fortunately this isn't a mission-ender as everybody except for Jeb has already done their landings, *and* there's an advanced probe core on the carrier. Jeb gets into the Tylo lander. This one is modified from the standard version with slightly larger drop tanks and extra VTOL thrusters to cope with Tylo's strong gravity. It turns out that the fuel lines from the drop tanks don't seem to be working after the upgrade. A load and save of the lander in the SPH solves this. Our best, (and only!) pilot, and general all-around top gun - Jebidiah takes the controls for this one. After several attempts a successful landing is made (on fumes!) http://imgur.com/a/ISTcF 10- Tylo fuel rover landing A fuel rover seemed to be the most interesting way of refuelling the lander without adding extra mass to the lander or carrier. The skycrane has about 3300ms dV, and there's some fuel left over in the transfer stage, so the landing is a bit easier this time. Just need to be careful not to break the wheels of the rover, as they can't be repaired. Also, we need to get close to the landing site of Jeb's lander, so the drive on the surface to reach it isn't too long. http://imgur.com/a/J4cbl 10- Tylo refuelling and return to orbit After an eventful drive through the mountains, the fuel rover eventually reaches the lander. It turns out that due to vernor use on the transfer stage, we are short some fuel (with hindsight I should have checked this, as there was fuel remaining on the skycrane which could have made up the difference). Never mind, hopefully we have enough fuel to make orbit even if there isn't enough for rendezvous with the carrier. In true Apollo style, Jeb accidentally knocks over the flag as he manouvres for takeoff. ...There's enough fuel to make orbit, and we didn't get burned by the decoupler bug during the climbout. (yay!) There isn't enough fuel to rendezvous with the carrier, so it has to come and get us. (at this point I am _really_ glad I added a probe core). Docking is successful. Tylo complete! http://imgur.com/a/djZWU 11-Tylo to Kerbin So it turns out the the 0.90.0 upgrade has done some damage to the carrier. The fuel lines aren't working. after a load/save in the VAB, on closer examination, they have dissappeared completely (!). However, we can still use the LV-Ns by manually transferring fuel to the FL-T400s that are directly connected to them. If we get Jeb to hold course on the manouvre node, we can rotate through them filling each in turn before they run out. The plan, then, is to escape Tylo orbit into a high Jool orbit that doesn't intersect with any of the moons, warp to the transfer window and then head home, as it looks like we have more than enough fuel. The plan works, and we arrive back in Kerbin orbit some 15 years after leaving on the mission... http://imgur.com/a/kaG74 12- Kerbin orbit to KSC The carrier isn't designed to land, so we need to send a shuttle to pick up the crew (with an extra pilot to bring back the ion spaceplane). This goes uneventfully, and the crew arrives safely back at the KSC. http://imgur.com/a/W196K

(Apologies for the thread drift everybody) Well, if you don't mind a bit of clipping, something like this might work... Flies like a pig... We can continue this in another thread if you like.

My vote in the Stock Aero - Best Looking category Methodology - Essentially the same as I used for the Light Cargo category Low alt handling - flying around the KSC, and some general manouvering. Then out to the Island runway. Orbit testing - Fly into orbit, circularize at 75km, orbit a couple of times Orbital Rendezvous and docking (if applicable) - Fly into orbit, dock with station in 100km Orbit, return to KSC Jeremy, Richard and James Kerman discuss the relative merits of their spaceplanes. General - A demented airplane designed by an unholy union of M.C Escher and Picasso. - I wonder if it will fly.. Low Alt handling. - ...Nope. - Severe left hand roll on takeoff. - Extremely unstable when airborne. reducing the fuel load mitigates this somewhat. Doubles flying time to approx 20sec before you crash Orbit testing - Not tested Orbital rendezvous and docking - Not tested General - Needs updating for 0.25 - *lots* of clipping - Interesting use of I-beams to protect the engines against over-rotation on takeoff - Control surfaces are correctly set for their axes - Pretty heavy for a small fighter-type aircraft. - doesn't carry much fuel - very short landing gear (clipped inside tanks) Low Alt handling. - Medium takeoff run. flies without a high AoA - Flies brilliantly, stable yet controllable and manouverable - easy to land, need to be careful on the flare to ensure the landing gear hits first. - good under brakes, and good ground handling. Orbit testing - Not tested (aircraft) Orbital rendezvous and docking - Not tested (aircraft) General - Looks to be a multipurpose small spaceplane. - MK1 Lander can looks odd on a spaceplane. - CoL slightly ahead of CoM... hopefully that's OK - No action groups in description (need to go look at web page for AGs) - General old-school design, without extra strakes or control surfaces - Non airhogging, and a refreshing lack of clipping - Everything you need, nothing you don't - Fuel lines nicely placed - Not sure how to use the landing struts as there doesn't seem to be a matching pair at the top of the aircraft. Low Alt Handling - Short takeoff run. flies without high AoA - Very manouverable, is possible to spin if you are not careful. - Easy to land. good under brakes, good ground handling. Orbit testing - Easy ascent profile. Was able to recover from asymmetric flameout (at 24km) and continue climb to orbit - Stable at all speeds. - On-orbit dV is 3344ms (nice!) Orbital rendezvous and docking - RCS is well balanced - supplied RCS fuel is plenty for docking. - There is a risk of damaging/breaking the solar panels as they are reasonably near the docking port - A handy light is provided for docking in the dark General - Interesting design - No action groups in description - Quite a bit of clipping. - Not sure if this is the 0.25 version. - Control surfaces are set to their proper axes - A lot of control surfaces for such a small spaceplane - A lot of antennas and lights Low Alt Handling - Very short takeoff run - Extremely manouverable. twitchy even - Very easy to spin if you are not careful. can be a handful to recover (I almost crashed it on my first flight) - A little tricky to land, she wants to fly - Poor braking performance (front wheel brakes disabled- reasonable considering how far back the front gear is) - Ground handling good. care needs to be taken not to tip over if turning at speed Orbit testing - Very easy to make orbit. nearly hit orbital velocity at 36km - small circularization burn needed (150ms) - 1439ms dV on-orbit Orbital Rendezvous and docking - No issues. Well balanced RCS. The docking light is a nice touch Wasp - Tested previously Serpens - Tested previously Space Goose - Tested previously Sleazy Weasel 7E - Not tested due to B9 parts. I had to quickly build an extension to the station as I don't use Jr docking ports... Conclusion - Another close one. This time the vote goes to the Space Goose

My vote in category Stock Aero - Best Light Cargo SpacePlane After a round of testing consisting of these tests: General observations - Examine the ship in the SPH, the construction techniques used, and general design Low altitude handling - flying around the KSC, and some general manoeuvring. Then out to the Island and land on the runway. - This is to test general handling. Is it easy to fly? is it possible to spin and crash accidentally? how easy is it to land? Orbit testing - Fly into orbit, circularize at 75km, orbit a couple of times, land at KSC (on the runway) - This is to test the ascent into orbit - does the nose drop at speed or any kind of trim problems Orbital Rendezvous and docking (if applicable) - Fly into orbit, dock with station in 100km Orbit - This is mainly to test the placement of the docking ports, and how balanced the RCS is, and whether there is enough RCS fuel Cargo Carrying. - Can it carry 5t into at least a 70km orbit? The Space Goose and Serpens docked at a station Detailed testing notes: General - Needs updating for 0.25 - No action groups to close intakes (but probably not really required) - No action groups to shut down turbojet on orbit - All control surfaces active for all axes. A lot of control surfaces for such a small craft. I guess you can always infiniglide home if you run out of fuel :/ - Lots of clipping - No ladder? - No cargo bays? how do I attach cargo? Is this the right category for this craft? - could remove monoprop from cockpit as there is no RCS fitted. Low Alt handling - medium takeoff roll. Risk of tailstrike on takeoff. Tracks straight on the runway, generally easy takeoff - nice and manouverable, and spin recovery is easy. can get a little squirrely if forward tank is empty. - Lots of power due to it's small size - tailstrike risk on landing, but can take heavy landings quite well. - Braking behaviour is good. (can apply full braking without issues) Front gear not unlocked Orbit testing - Nice and stable on climb. No handling issues at high speeds. - 748ms dV on-orbit (75km) - Stable when firing rockets on-orbit Orbital Rendezvous - Not tested (No docking port, or RCS) Cargo carrying - Not tested. No means of carrying cargo. Modifications I'd like to make... - It would be interesting to see if it could be made to fit into a cargo bay. Possibly then it could be used as a Laythe lander General - Wow. spiky. I think I'm going to accidentally cut myself if I go near it - No action groups to close intakes. (and there are a lot of them...) - All control surfaces active for all axes. - cargo bays open downwards. (well if you need a bomber...) - missing wing strake (and control surface) on the bottom of the left hand pair of turbojets (looking from the back). - has a *lot* of monoprop but no docking ports? - very high part count. noticeable lag Low Alt Handling - Medium takeoff roll - tracks straight. nosegear locked. - nice handling, stable and generally pleasant to fly. flexes a bit during manouvers. Was afraid I might break it by manouvering hard. - handles well on the approach, easy to line up and land on the runway. No issues with full braking on landing. - very difficult to manouver on the ground. Orbit testing - Nice and stable on climb. slight drag to the left (due to missing strake, I suspect). Need to roll slightly to keep 90 degree heading - Not an ascent profile I have flown before. Made it into orbit OK - 1037ms dV On-orbit (77km) - Not much SAS torque ... *Now* I understand what all the monoprop is for.... Orbital Rendezvous - Not tested. No docking port. Cargo Carrying - Easily made orbit with 5t test cargo - plenty of fuel left for the return journey. - Cargo did not have a significant impact on handling. (placed in forward cargo bay) Modifications I'd like to make... - remove some of the wing strakes and wings to reduce the part count somewhat. I am not sure if the backwards-facing strakes have any effect - Add bracing to eliminate the wing flex in the atmosphere. - maybe add some probe cores or SAS units and remove some of the monoprop. - add a docking port General - Nice looking. I especially like the small details like the angled outer intakes and the way the LVNs are lined up with the jets - lots of science instruments. Looks like it would be a good Laythe explorer - Yay! action groups listed in the description - Control surfaces are set for their correct axes - I like the probe core so that you can fly it unmanned. Just the thing for rescue missions - Quite versatile with cargo, science and passengers. Low Alt - No take-off roll (VTOL!) - very nice handling. you can pretty much throw it around like a fighter, it didn't feel like I was going to break it or enter an uncontrollable spin - well balanced on the lift jets, and plenty of SAS torque to stay stable - VTOL makes for safe easy landings at the island runway. - good ground handling, easy to manoeuvre on the ground Orbit testing - Wow. difficult to make orbit. requires very exacting flight profile to make orbit. Fortunately enough fuel to run the nukes into orbit for us mortals. - asymmetrical thrust issues between 28000-38000km. can be difficult to keep a straight ascent - 1603ms dV on-orbit. (76km) Orbital Rendezvous and Docking - Plenty of on-orbit dV for rendezvous - RCS well balanced and plenty of SAS torque makes for easy docking Cargo carrying - Smaller cargo bay than the others, was a bit of a challenge to fit 5t in there - Was not quite able to balance the CoM over the centre lift jet using ballast tanks, but this had pretty much no effect on the handling apart from a slight nose-down attitude on (vertical) take-off - Extremely difficult to make orbit with cargo on board. Took a *very* long time - but eventually did make it. - asymmetric thrust less of an issue with cargo on board. - was a bit surprised to run out of liquid fuel on the approach to KSC. (moving some from the ballast tanks solved the problem) Modifications I'd like to make... - try playing with the intakes/jet engine (removing then adding them in order) to reduce the asymmetric thrust - replacing the vertical basic jets with rapiers. That way it should be possible to do VTOL landings on any world except Tylo. Yes, this is my ship. I thought I would subject it to the same testing as the others... General - Clean and simple design - the only non-airhogging design in the group - Fuel lines and struts not concealed - Lights in the cargo bay - Action groups in the description - Control surfaces are set for their correct axes - Large cargo bay Low Alt - Medium takeoff roll. Extreme risk of tailstrike, need to be careful just after takeoff - Nice handling. A bit less manouverable than the others. Stable, and copes with heavy control inputs, feels like it won't spin - wanders a bit on approach. need to be careful not to strike the tail when landing. Lands rather hard. - braking is good, front steering unlocked. ground handling ok Orbit tests - Easy ascent into orbit, lack of intakes limits the performance somewhat. - 972ms dV (72km) Orbital Rendezvous and Docking - RAPIERs are fuel-hungry on orbit - RCS reasonably balanced although pitching also causes translation - Docking port directly behind cockpit means that care must be taken to avoid hitting the cockpit during docking - POWER ISSUES! can run out of power during rendezvous on the night side of the planet! Cargo carrying - Made orbit with 5t test cargo. 200ms @70-72km - Need whole runway for takeoff run when loaded - In this case, a girder was used to ensure that the test cargo was in the proper position - handling pretty much unaffected - climb profile was not as steep, and RAPIER switchover ocurred at 1300ms instead of the usual 1500ms - Made it home after de-orbit. 2 engines switched off to save fuel for the approach into KSC. Not much fuel left Modifications I'd like to make - adding an RTG so that you don't run out of power on the dark. - jacking the rear landing gear up so that there is less risk of tail strikes on takeoff. Conclusion The decision was tough, all of the ships here are of a very high standard. However, one stands out. The Titan Hunter mk5 SSTO - it simply is bigger than the others and therefore much easier to get cargo into orbit, combined with stable easy handling, it gets my vote.

Well, I've made a start to the judging - This is the Stock Aero, light cargo spaceplane category, a quick jaunt around the KSC and a run to the island to test the atmospheric handling From left to right Wasp-2.1, Titan Hunter Mk5 SSTO, Space Goose VTOL and Serpens-C

Well, I tried... but it didn't come out quite right

Ok, Here's one for the Low-Tech spaceplane (no parts over tier 5) * Stock Aero * Best Low-Tech Spaceplane SC4A Kestrel This is a simple and easy-to-fly spaceplane for getting those science data around kerbin contracts, she's also ready for you to put some decent intakes and engines on, to serve you faithfully all the way up the tech tree. Could be quite easily modified for crew rescue missions if you swap out the science bay and mk1 cockpit for a mk1 inline cockpit and a capsule. Has plenty of spare liquid fuel to get you home after your mission http://1drv.ms/1xvlYKo [OneDrive] Action groups: 1 - Toggle Intakes 2 - Toggle Jets 3 - Toggle Rocket Instructions: As this spaceplane uses basic jets, you cannot fly it like a regular spaceplane and expect to make orbit, you pretty much need to fly it like a rocket. Takeoff speed is around 110m/sec. you will need quite a high AoA to get airborne. Be careful not to over-rotate and strike the tail. Once airborne, go to a 90 degree climb, and follow a general rocket ascent profile. Shut down jets at 21km and close intakes, and light the rocket. you should already have started your gravity turn, continue this and circularize as normal. Deorbit: Once you have completed your deorbit burn, you will need to transfer liquid fuel from the centreline tank into the two outboard tanks, unless you are a champion glider pilot (and manage to re-enter just before the KSC) On approach into KSC

Like this: Air intakes mounted on trusses have a very high impact resistance and high buoyancy. Although this plane is vtol capable, it can land and take off again from water like a regular aircraft.