SSTO Challenge

[Musicrafter]

Make an SSTO that can achieve a 72km Kerbin orbit starting from KSC.

Challenges:

IRL: A spaceplane launched from the SPH. (0 points)

VTOL: Self-explanatory. Launch it from the VAB rather than the SPH. (+5 points)

Universal I: Don't use air-breathing engines, even those that can use both (e.g. the RAPIER). (+8 points)

Universal II: Give it enough delta-V to land and ascend from Tylo (about 5 km/s). Emergency one-time-use staging qualifies for this category. (+15 points)

Come Home I: It must be able to de-orbit itself. Using emergency staging qualifies for this category as well. (+7 points)

Come Home II: Land successfully on Kerbin without damaging the ship. Must deorbit itself. Note that the ship is allowed to fall over after touchdown, but the touchdown itself cannot damage it. (+10 points)

Come Home III: Land successfully on Kerbin without using emergency staging. (+12 points)

Come Home IV: Land your SSTO at the KSC. (+4 points)

Almost Won: Give it over 11 km/s of delta-V. That's enough to escape from Eve, although the TWR to do it probably isn't possible on an SSTO. (+15 points)

Comfort: Use a proper capsule or pod rather than an external seat. (+1 point)

Company: Design it to carry more than one Kerbal. (+3 points)

Old Fashioned I: Use 100% vanilla KSP (not even MechJeb) to achieve orbit. (+3 points)

Old Fashioned II: Using 100% vanilla KSP, prove you didn't just guess and get it right, but actually did some math. (+8 points)

Ambition I: Send the SSTO craft to another planet and test it for real. All planets and moons in the stock Kerbol system qualify. (+10 points)

Ambition II: Send the SSTO to another planet under its own power and do a successful landing and takeoff. (+15 points)

Ambition III: Successfully send out, land on another planet, takeoff, and return your SSTO back to Kerbin. (+17 points)

Ambition IV: Send out, land on another planet, takeoff, and return your SSTO back to Kerbin, all under its own power. (+25 points)

Quick, Call NASA: Achieve the Come Home II challenge in the Real Solar System mod. (+35 points)

Hopper: Touch down more than once and lift back up again. (+5 points)

Lightweight I: Have your SSTO weigh less than 50 tons. (+4 points)

Lightweight II: Have your SSTO weigh less than 20 tons. (+6 points, but Lightweight I's points are not included)

All the Toys: Include more gadgets on the SSTO than necessary, such as remote guidance, SAS, RCS, etc. (+2 points)

Total points possible: 206

I did this challenge and my final score (having completed VTOL, Universal I, Universal II, Come Home I, Come Home II, Come Home III, Comfort, Lightweight I, and All the Toys) is 64 points, for a modest 31%.

[DancesWithSquirrels]

Here you go:

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VTOL (5),

Universal I and II (using some of the payload fuel) (23),

Come Home 1-III (29),

Almost Won (use the payload fuel) (15)

Old Fashioned (3),

All The Toys (vernor RCS) (3).

That's 78 points.

If landing within 3km of KSC is sufficient for Coming Home IV (one of my worst returns there) then it's 84 points. No Lightweight points, though - it's 1140 tons on the pad.

Edited April 1, 2015 by DancesWithSquirrels