Has anyone got a spaceplane in orbit yet?

[ComradeGoat]

I managed to get a single seat RAPIER craft into orbit. Coming down was the easy bit. You need to kill as much speed as possible while still above about 40K. To do this, set up an entry angle that intersects the surface, and as you come in pitch up to about 20º. This will trade speed for altitude. Keep your nose up and you should be able to drop to 1.5km/s or so while still above 40K. Descend slowly, nose-up, washing off speed as you go, and if you do it right you will never even see reentry flames.

[KerikBalm]

1st design... the stability problem was simply when I lit the KR-2L, the CoM shifted too far back while wings were still producing significant lift. Got it into orbit by simply shutting off the flow from the front tank until the rear one was almost empty (V^2 lift + lower altitude when the rocket lights is the cause.. I'm used to balancing fuel before reentry, but not during ascent)

(Yea, it PE is still in the atmosphere, but its got plenty of fuel)

I haven't determined the payload capacity yet, it was tested empty. The mass of fuel left in the tanks is a good starting point.

Design #2 (the canard on the above one was a bit vulnerable to overheating, so I replaced it in the next design with part that had more tolerance... still, the previous design could re-enter safely)

https://scontent-fra.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xfp1/v/t1.0-9/s720x720/11150580_10103548412275183_8857780883844404207_n.jpg?oh=54fe885641f38322daae1b02c4054c80&oe=559EA654

https://fbcdn-sphotos-e-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-xpa1/v/t1.0-9/s720x720/11141311_10103548411940853_8862798995332673601_n.jpg?oh=6c44d3d9a1b5e3a7802f1b7ad8676109&oe=55998A2B&__gda__=1439955924_e1efd82a3b45e1ae8db4ecbe041f773e

This one got to an 80-somethingx 70-something orbit with a 25 ton test payload, adding up the test payload mass + excess fuel mass left over after the deorbit burn, it's got at least a 46 ton payload capacity... which is basically more than you'll ever stuff (without part clipping) in a mk3 cargobay.

Working on a new twin-pontoon design where the payload will be kept in an aeroshell (the 3.75m base one, that can accomodate much wider payloads).

If I am correct, due to the way the part works, even if it looks like the fairing was lost in a bunch of little pieces, I should be able to get full recovery as long as the base of the fairing is recovered.

The adjustment time to the new aero and engines was short... I like SSTO spaceplanes even more now, the ascent goes much faster.

[Batz_10K]

I managed to get a single seat RAPIER craft into orbit. Coming down was the easy bit. You need to kill as much speed as possible while still above about 40K. To do this, set up an entry angle that intersects the surface, and as you come in pitch up to about 20º. This will trade speed for altitude. Keep your nose up and you should be able to drop to 1.5km/s or so while still above 40K. Descend slowly, nose-up, washing off speed as you go, and if you do it right you will never even see reentry flames.

Yup. That technique seems to work pretty well. If you place your speed brakes in the right place you can do a hands-off re-entry attitude. Interestingly this one heated up mostly around the tail area, the cockpit and front intake never got above about 400 degrees. so I think having fins attached to a given part makes for much more heat on that part during re-entry.

[Stocchinet]

Here's my attempt:

It can reach 100km round orbit with about 500dv reamaining (if the ascent path it's done properly), docking port and a small cargo bay included, someone tell me if all those precoolers are actually needed....

[iVG]

Got it from first try but no idea if it would survive re entry.

Edited April 29, 2015 by iVG

[Brotoro]

I got my first 1.0 SSTO Spaceplane into orbit:

This took many attempts, and finally the addition of the precoolers, to thread the needle between exploding cockpit and falling short of orbital velocity.

To re-enter, I had to move all the remaining fuel to the rear of the plane so I could keep its nose up 30 degrees during entry. The retro burn targeted the periapsis at 48 kilometers.

Didn't end up at KSC, but there was a lot of jet fuel left, so I would have been able to fly somewhere else...but just landed deadstick as soon as possible.

[iVG]

Hey guys, I have a functioning SSTO 75x75km with 300m/s deltaV left for manoeuvring (If I tinker a bit more some RSC fuel would give me some extra orbital capability). It has just a single RAPIER engine, no other jet engines. I'm planning to stream tomorrow at 6 PM BST and I'll show some example crafts (and why they didn't work). I'll upload the craft for anyone to check out. I got it to orbit in my first try and I felt really lucky unfortunately it had only couple of units of oxidizer left, just enough to de-orbit it but 1 hour later I was able to squeeze another 300 dV

With 1.0 Mach effects and drag it's really tricky to get an SSTO but definitely not impossible!

[rob_of_the_robots]

So given that conditions are now partly reliant on the time of day, when would people say is best for spaceplane launching?

[viktor19]

Nope, spaceplanes are impossible now. Give up! Abandon all hope all ye who enter here!

If someone does get a SSTO working, (Spaceplane), I would be very surprised. I think Das wasn't able to.

First ship I made was a spaceplane that got to 75x75 km orbit on the first try. However, reentry is a completely different story.

[Roflcopterkklol]

First ship I made was a spaceplane that got to 75x75 km orbit on the first try. However, reentry is a completely different story.

Aero brakes

[Maelstrom Vortex]

She can't get orbit, but she gets close. Any suggestions on improvements? Reminds me a lot of a b-52 the way I've mounted the nacelles. Also, she can do just about anything, including mine resources.. see craft file. PS: She carries a massive and fairly unique payload. She survived re-entry without even using her drogue shoots on a 10 - 20 degree up-angle glide slope. However, her flaps burnt off her on the the wings on the way in.

Link

[control9]

Can anyone tell me, why do you need airbrakes at all? Just raising or lowering nose kills ultimate amounts of velocity even in upper atmosphere, so you can just descend with engines off at 45 degrees down, raising nose to 45 deg climb for speed kill, and evade getting red at all. My main problem with landing is that without turning engines on it's easy to kill all horizontal velocity in a hundred meters above the ground, resulting vertical fall with tens of m\s, breaking gear and possibly dividing aircraft into to pairs, not allowing me to ride it to the runway. Anyway, killing speed is easier than ever even without airbrakes.

[Red Iron Crown]

Got this fairly basic plane to orbit, first SSTO I tried in 1.0. It takes more fuel than 0.90, especially when airbreathing. Still had enough to deorbit and land safely.

[Blackswimmer]

Made it! First ever SSTO, and it took more attempts than I'd care to admit. Seems to me that angle of ascent is pretty critical - too steep and you don't get enough speed, too shallow and you explode due to heat. Right, now to build a big one!

[Merandix]

I'm doing something wrong on ascent, but I don't know what. I remember this feeling of utter helplessness from when I first learnt spaceplanes... me likey! I don't know why people complain about this being 'impossible' so much... Once I'll figure it out... ooooh that sweet feeling of victory

For now, anyone willing to share some additional information on their ascent profile? I've been to space occasionally, even at near orbital speeds... honestly, reentry seems to be the easy part. Managed to go subsonic without reentry effects or airbrakes at 25+ km. It's getting there (preferably with some portion of fuel left) that is the problem for now.

edit: Made it into orbit. It wasn't pretty, but it was an orbit, and a runway landing after it, with no parts lost.

Edited April 29, 2015 by Merandix

[Starwhip]

This SSTO consistently makes orbit, consistently blows off canards and intakes on ascent, and consistently explodes on reentry.

I is learning!

[Merandix]

I think for practice reasons it's a good idea to avoid canards. They stick out into the airstream, and heat up A LOT. Heat is your new main enemy in this game when it comes to space-planes or so it seems.

Main thing seems to be to not go too fast in the 15-20 km altitude region. If your craft starts glowing, it's time to throttle back. Glowing is a prelude to exploding. Also, I've found that I consume a lot more rocketfuel nowadays

Though I am by no means an expert at this yet. The way I get up there is probably still horrifyingly inefficient. But hey, I got there and back again without missing bits. Shows that it's at least possible And from how stuff handles, there's definitely huge room for improvement

[Cinocal]

Ok. I got it now.

You need enough thrust to do a 45deg accelerating climb out as soon as you leave the runway. Just maintain this 45deg climb all the way up out of atmos.

It's actually much easier than before, you just can't take as much Dv with you into orbit. The ride to orbit is less than half the time it used to take me in .90.

[RedDwarfIV]

Got back into atmosphere fine without airbrakes. Unfortunately, I looked away for a bit while I was flying jet-powered to KSC, and the cockpit overheated. Even with a drone core on board, landing became impossible.

[Stocchinet]

I'm doing something wrong on ascent, but I don't know what. I remember this feeling of utter helplessness from when I first learnt spaceplanes... me likey! I don't know why people complain about this being 'impossible' so much... Once I'll figure it out... ooooh that sweet feeling of victory

For now, anyone willing to share some additional information on their ascent profile? I've been to space occasionally, even at near orbital speeds... honestly, reentry seems to be the easy part. Managed to go subsonic without reentry effects or airbrakes at 25+ km. It's getting there (preferably with some portion of fuel left) that is the problem for now.

edit: Made it into orbit. It wasn't pretty, but it was an orbit, and a runway landing after it, with no parts lost.

Here's my ascent profile (if it can be useful):

-full throttle picthcing 45° till i reach mach1

-trhottle back to 50% stabilizing velocity to 400m/s

-at 10km gently pitch down to 20°

-at 15km full trhottle again hitting mach 3 just before 20km

-at 20 km switch 2 rapiers to LFO (my craft has four of it)

-squeeze all the remaining air with the other two and then switch to LFO

-SPACE!!!

With this configuration i can avoid to burn up, but around 20km it gets very scary with all those flames:kiss:

[Merandix]

The ascent profile I eventually got up with was remarkably similar, though my plane has only 2 RAPIERS, which obviously makes me skip that fase . Next objective is making a space plane that can do the same with cargo.

[Stocchinet]

The ascent profile I eventually got up with was remarkably similar, though my plane has only 2 RAPIERS, which obviously makes me skip that fase . Next objective is making a space plane that can do the same with cargo.

I don't know if my method it's actually efficent, i tought that using much air while it's possible it's the trick, i'll investigate more, maybe i can reduce the number of engines....

[Hadza]

Da best (kinda) SSTO you can get. This is the only craft I managed to orbit, apart from Aeris with its miserable 70-80 km. It even has the functionality to drop dead weight on ascent!

[UnusualAttitude]

There is a ghost story they tell to little Kerbals who won't go to sleep in the evening; a story about a headless spaceplane endlessly orbiting Kerbin's upper atmosphere in a halo of plasma and belching fire and smoke from its nuclear engine, haunted by the spirits of Jeb and Valentina Kerman...

[Captain Sierra]

There is a ghost story they tell to little Kerbals who won't go to sleep in the evening; a story about a headless spaceplane endlessly orbiting Kerbin's upper atmosphere in a halo of plasma and belching fire and smoke from its nuclear engine, haunted by the spirits of Jeb and Valentina Kerman...

http://i.imgur.com/rNE5i36.png

Chalk up another two victims of the Mach 2 heat spike.