The K Prize - 100% reusable spaceplane to orbit and back

[Kagame]

Air intake on/in the nose generates so much drag, the second it goes off prograde upon landing phase it starts spinning

Dude, a ton of my designs do this. Just learn how to recover from a spin:

Power: Off. Adding more power to a spin just exacerbates it.

Aileron: Neutral. (What, you want your spin to be across all three axis? Madman.)

Rudder: Counter to the direction of the spin.

Elevator: Down. The reason you're in a spin is because your wings were stalled. A little more airflow should help.

It sounds complicated but it becomes instinctual pretty quickly.

[psyberduckling]

Dude, a ton of my designs do this. Just learn how to recover from a spin:

Power: Off. Adding more power to a spin just exacerbates it.

Aileron: Neutral. (What, you want your spin to be across all three axis? Madman.)

Rudder: Counter to the direction of the spin.

Elevator: Down. The reason you're in a spin is because your wings were stalled. A little more airflow should help.

It sounds complicated but it becomes instinctual pretty quickly.

Or just put some lift or control surfaces vertically as far back as you can on your plane, or increase the size of any existing ones, putting vertical fins on the end of swept wings is great for this, as the tip of the wing is often behind the main fuselage.

[sj176]

Here's my entry. I modified my circumnavigator and made it an SSTO.

[Starhawk]

I'm a bit late to the party this time, but here's my first entry for 1.0.

This is the Space Goose. It is as efficient as it is beautiful. OK, it's overpowered and the aesthetics are... questionable. But it gets the job done and it's extremely easy and quick to fly to orbit. Not too bad to land either.

Good to be back. I've been looking forward to a visit to the Dog and Booster for a while now.

Happy landings!

[bb-pio]

My entry: SR-71 Blackbird SSTO spaceplane.

Here's the full take off to orbit to landing video on youtube: http://youtu.be/bU6E7qwB5-g

Another video of it where I de-orbit and land on the KSC runway: https://youtu.be/_zJzoIipkhA?t=618

If anyone wants the craft send me a message. Nothing special about it, just wanted to make something that looked like an SR-71

Edited June 9, 2015 by bb-pio

[psyberduckling]

Here's my entry for the minimalist category the Asp Mk1.

Weight: 4.4t

Craft file here

Dissatisfied with the available cockpits from C7 aerospace and Kerlington Model Rockets, we built our own from a few spare parts we found lying around the VAB.

We are disappointed with the launch crew, they seem unable to park the plane on the runway with the handbrake on.

Our pilot bob did manage a precision landing on the KSC runway, though we are disappointed he couldn't manage it without a parachute.

Edited June 9, 2015 by psyberduckling

[NikkyD]

Can i have a clarification on the rules ?

Do i need to be able to LAND horizontally like a plane or can i just paradrop like psyberduckling, which would make things 10 times easier!!!

[netbumbler]

Ironically I couldn't get SSTOs to work in .90 (only been playing KSP since March), but in 1.0.2 no problem. Admittedly the payload fraction for this vehicle basically only consists of 4 Kerbals and some luggage, but I can put it around 90km and fly her home. Figure I will use her simply for crew transfers. I'll attempt something more useful later, but I really liked the re-balancing of the SSTO engines and stuff to make them more realistic (though I couldn't get them to work in .90 for some reason...).

Things I learned? 45 degrees to 10km, then 20 degrees to about 20km then just ride it slightly above prograde til about 2000 m/s and then circularize and all that when you leave atmo. The three engine type design worked for me because you basically have the RAPIERS helping in both modes without adding more engines. I do also have a nice 4 turbojet, 2 aerospike version that is legit, but I like the way the RAPIERS look and they are slightly more efficient with this configuration. Not proficient enough at design yet to make SSTOs for anything more than crew transfers or very small payloads, but playing around with them has been a nice diversion in the midst of my huge Eve return mission project. 2 weeks work so far and just one more huge technical problem to solve and I will go for my Eve Mission Return badge...

Apologies if I've made any blunders in posting etiquette: new to the site.

Takeoff:

The Munney shot:

Orbit map:

Overshooting KSC and almost out of fuel...

Gliding in to save fuel for powered landing:

11 units of liquid fuel left!:

ETA: the parachute stage was a drogue chute that wasn't really necessary...

Edited June 10, 2015 by netbumbler

[Mister Dilsby]

@netbumbler, welcome to the Forum and I'm pleased to give you your first +rep for that sweet-looking spaceplane. Am curious where/how you use the turbojets since they don't seem to be running at liftoff.

[spikes2020]

I would like to submit my space plane for the K prize as i lifted an orange tank into orbit and returned landing at KSP... I didn't get the logs to prove that nothing exploded but honestly i don't have much to explode and took front and back shots...

The only mods i have are Mechjeb, Engineer and TAC lifesupport. I did use Mechjeb only once during the flight, only to help plot when i should do a retro burn to re-enter and land at KSP. Engineer is there just to show AP, PE and time to AP so i know when i have a circular orbit while flying.

http://imgur.com/a/9EgmM

Edit:

Other mods are all visual enhancements as the reason i am running on linux 64

Edited June 10, 2015 by spikes2020

[Warpedone]

I would like to submit my space plane for the K prize as i lifted an orange tank into orbit and returned landing at KSP... I didn't get the logs to prove that nothing exploded but honestly i don't have much to explode and took front and back shots...

The only mods i have are Mechjeb, Engineer and TAC lifesupport. I did use Mechjeb only once during the flight, only to help pot when i should do a retro burn to re-enter and land at KSP. Engineer is there just to show AP, PE and time to AP so i know when i have a circular orbit while flying.

http://imgur.com/a/9EgmM

Edit:

Other mods are all visual enhancements as the reason i am running on linux 64

My God that's a big plane...

[spikes2020]

My God that's a big plane...

Lol its my medium lifter, able to lift a full orange tank in to LKO and land back at KSP =)

I plan on getting one to lift 2 or 3 orange tanks stacked end to end... but that's still in the works...

Edited June 10, 2015 by spikes2020

[netbumbler]

Hey Kuzzter thanks for the rep! Yeah the turbos are firing, I just think the RAPIER plume is masking it. I have action-grouped the RAPIER switchover to rocket mode and the aerospike activation. IIRC I run the turbos to about 20km...basically I run the RAPIERS in air-breathing mode and the turbos until I start losing speed (seems to take me to about 850 to 1000 m/s depending on how my piloting goes), then I switch the RAPIERS to closed mode and kick in the aerospikes. And though the asymmetric flame-out bug seems to be gone, I still shut down the turbos right before they completely cut out.

And I found a sweet way to auto-bleed speed when reentering: just have SAS and RCS on and keep a slightly nose-up profile when hitting the 30 to 32km mark...you know when the drag really starts to kick in... and just hit 'radial' on SAS. Then, while the craft struggles to maintain a radial angle, it creates a series of nose pops that slow you down super fast. Note of caution, though: if you don't have the fuselage strutted together properly the plane will fall to pieces.

Thanks again for the nice welcome...

[NikkyD]

You should do that from 50km downwards, playing "umbrella". It works quite well even at higher altitudes with little but still existing atmosphere.

[spikes2020]

I missed the KSC.... http://imgur.com/a/9KUrP

Does this still count?

[boolybooly]

Congratulations to...

Terh Utilitarial Commendation, Advanced Pilot Precision Award with SSTO Haron Mk2.

LittleBlueGaming Advanced Pilot Precision Award with Pugio Mk 1.

sj176 Advanced Pilot Precision Award with K-Prize SSTO.

Starhawk Utilitarial Commendation, Advanced Pilot Precision Award with Space Goose.

bb-pio with SR-71 Blackbird SSTO spaceplane.

psyberduckling Advanced Pilot Precision Award with Asp Mk1 (minimalist record holder 4.4t).

netbumbler Advanced Pilot Precision Award with Munney Shot.

spikes2020 Utilitarial Commendation (>36t), Advanced Pilot Precision Award with SSTO-5 (maximalist record holder 253.5t).

... for completing the K-Prize challenge successfully. Thanks very much for your mission reports all and welcome to the K-Prize party guest list. See you at the Dog and Booster.

bb-pio can you confirm the second video occurred after reaching a full orbit ? As the video shows PE at the 30km mark at the start so it would be assuming too much to award the K-Prize without your word on the matter.

spikes2020, sorry your second mission doesn't count since it appeared to end on Laythe not Kerbin which is unfortunately the wrong planet. If you can get back to Kerbin then it would count, doesn't have to be KSC. First one looks fine.

NikkyD you can land whichever way you prefer for the K-Prize as long as the craft is in one piece, only the take off has to be horizontal.

netbumbler, I allocated your pun for a ship name. Hope that is OK.

Thanks all

Edited June 12, 2015 by boolybooly

[netbumbler]

netbumbler, I allocated your pun for a ship name. Hope that is OK.

Thanks for the prize! And no problem on using the Mun pun...

[rudi1291]

Here´s my entry. Made this in career mode, so i don´t have all parts and all buildings upgraded

Mission: Take a scientist to my LKO station and pick up some tourists

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[juzeris]

I'd like to submit my long range spaceplane - the Krau 6 - for consideration for the K Prize.

It's a clunky thing with no fuel lines (lots of manual fuel transferring and eyeballing the delta-v) and 150% more parts stacked in the cargo bay than it should be able to hold (still it contains only about 15% of all the fuel carried). It can get you as far as Laythe and back in return for all the hassle, though.

In case all that is acceptable, I'm adding some photos from the flight.

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[g00bd0g]

Delivered 51 tons to LKO and landed at KSC with "MK3 SSTO Cargo 1 Bay"

Super practical and easy to fly cargo plane.

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https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=0B4zLBUio4kInZzA5Z3VnVThjR0k&usp=drive_web&ddrp=1#

Edited June 14, 2015 by g00bd0g

[Evanitis]

After some failures and consulting with the experts, I did it too! Well, I couldn't take the payload I initially planned, but the final version of the craft will do for rescue missions. I should test how many Kerbals I can cramp into the cargobay.

It was a close call though: reached a periapsis of 70.007 with 1m/s dV remaining. Though I had RCS to correct it, but I planned to use it for deorbiting, keeping stability and providing a nice CoM-placement on the way down. Not sure if my landing counts - gears touched grass first, but the inertia was enough to reach the runway.

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PS: Kerbals stuffed into the hold tend to escape on the slightest time acceleration. Think I should add seats or klaws or something.

Edited June 25, 2015 by Evanitis

[spikes2020]

spikes2020 Utilitarial Commendation (>36t), Advanced Pilot Precision Award with SSTO-5 (maximalist record holder 253.5t).

... for completing the K-Prize challenge successfully. Thanks very much for your mission reports all and welcome to the K-Prize party guest list. See you at the Dog and Booster.

spikes2020, sorry your second mission doesn't count since it appeared to end on Laythe not Kerbin which is unfortunately the wrong planet. If you can get back to Kerbin then it would count, doesn't have to be KSC. First one looks fine.

Thanks all

Thank you for the prize and continual updates!

Good luck to everyone

[Triop]

My smallest ssto design, here we go:

Building up speed.

Ready for the burn.

Orbit.

Ready to go home.

Not enough fuel...

Landing..... "ow, hi tree !"

Ready for a walk, Jeb ?

I hope this counts even if I did not land back on the runway, believe me this was not my first try ;P

Edit: Small detail, I did not use any intakes, only a cooler.

Edited June 29, 2015 by Triop

[Triop]

MiG 15 into orbit, I had to do it.

Edit: With a little boost I even made it to the Mun ;

Edited June 29, 2015 by Triop

[Kagame]

Woo! First 1.0.3 K-Prize entry!

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The new aerodynamics and heating are now tuned to perfection, in my opinion. I'll be back soon with something worthy of more Commendations!