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

Maxed-Rockets · October 4, 2012

OK, my interplanetary SSTO is ready to roll and in orbit around Duna, I will update when (if) I land.

EDIT: Spread my rocket out over 5km of hill, was quite a crash. I have another one in orbit, I will attempt to find a better landing location. If that doesn't work I'm going to Eve.

Edited October 4, 2012 by Maxed-Rockets

boolybooly · October 4, 2012

Maxed Rockets, the aerospike is a nuisance, will hardly ever go on craft properly but you might be able to use it on a tricoupler by connecting it to a small tank first and then alt select to copy and connect the whole assembly to the tricoupler x3, failing that, a full 400L tank. GL

iplop · October 4, 2012

Maxed Rockets, the aerospike is a nuisance, will hardly ever go on craft properly but you might be able to use it on a tricoupler by connecting it to a small tank first and then alt select to copy and connect the whole assembly to the tricoupler x3, failing that, a full 400L tank. GL

Agreed.

I'm far more proud of this than I probably should be:

Maxed-Rockets · October 4, 2012

Maxed Rockets, the aerospike is a nuisance, will hardly ever go on craft properly but you might be able to use it on a tricoupler by connecting it to a small tank first and then alt select to copy and connect the whole assembly to the tricoupler x3, failing that, a full 400L tank. GL

I redesigned my craft so that I don't need it on the tricoupler, now I just have to land on Duna. Failing that again will result in a demonstration on its Eve-going capabilities.

kepicness · October 5, 2012

My "NISP V.II" is curently duna capable. Will be posting screenshots as soon as I land it.

Hooligan Labs · October 5, 2012

I forgot to take a video! But here is a flyby of the Mun and Minimus (using gravity slingshots)

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More in the following post...

Hooligan Labs · October 5, 2012

The rest of the trip!

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boolybooly · October 5, 2012

The good thing about a MÃƒÂ¼n flyby Hooligan Labs is that not only do you get a Kosmokerbal Commendation, you also qualify for Kerbin orbit without having to get the PE over 70km. Oh happy day, you are hereby invited to the K Prize party at the Dog and Booster (aka roll of honour) because you finally won the K Prize. I am afraid I made up a name for your spaceplane, if you want to correct me I will change it! I also left your gate crashers entry links as they are piece of history but you are entitled to have them removed if you so wish. Thanks for your reports and congratulations on the success your persistence has won.

kepicness · October 5, 2012

I present the "NISP V.II" (basically an upgraded NISP V.I ). This spaceplane has interplanetary (or is it interstellar?) capabilities. It retains the features of the previous model while having an additional 200 units of fuel for the nerva engine.

Have not tried Eve yet but I am sure its capable of getting there. Plus, you got a demonstration of the emergency system .

Edited October 6, 2012 by kepicness

Hooligan Labs · October 6, 2012

Still trying to make a video of me succeeding at the K-Prize. Still failing.

boolybooly · October 7, 2012

Congratulations kepicness on your advanced pilot precision award. Well flown. Interesting to watch your NISP craft developing. The nuclear engine ploy defnitely informed my latest K-Prize mission below.

Hooligan, an heroic failure, c'est la vie, but thanks for your entertaining mission video to the strains of Zelda.

Here is a screen-toon of Moon Wing, a three Kerbal SSTO spaceplane taking off from Kerbin with inserts of a Minmus landing and a successful return to KSC terrain. (Slight snag, tends to tip backwards when empty so I retracted the gear for the picture so it would lie down and the crew could get out safely, but it landed intact and is now parked in my KSP museum along with my first Duna lander.) Thanks all for your inspiring craft.

RogueMason · October 7, 2012

Once again, I've managed to create an SSTO Spaceplane after many more hours of building, testing, getting annoyed when testing didn't go as I wanted, stress, and so on. Admittedly, I must thank Hooligan Labs for putting up that video just before this post. The technique he used to get into orbit was not one I was using, so when I pulled this design back out of semi-retirement and took off using this method, I was pleasantly surprised to see that the ship is in fact capable of orbiting.

Hence, I present the Ceres SSTO Soarer:

Undoubtedly a more beautiful design than Heavy 1, I was overjoyed to get this into orbit. I feel that it at least deserved that.

Top view.

Front view.

Wilgan Kerman on EVA. The ship is probably the biggest I've ever put into orbit that doesn't have any decoupling stages, such as my Lunar 3-D lander design (a big rocket, but the lander is of medium size).

Safely down on the surface of Kerbin, on the other side of the planet in relation to the KSC. This actually makes for an extremely good glider, so bringing it down is incredibly easy, especially as it still had about 180 litres of fuel left for each aerospike engine, but I didn't use that fuel. There was no need.

Map view, showing the orbit. Apoapsis of about 120,000m, periapsis of about 100,000m.

A departing shot that will undoubtedly be made into a postcard picture by the guys back at the centre to help fund the program.

Maxed-Rockets · October 7, 2012

Success of the IP SST0 4.5.1 flight to Eve!

Check out the full album here: http://imgur.com/a/8s5le#0

Edited October 7, 2012 by Maxed-Rockets

Phoenix Aerospace · October 8, 2012

It's great to see the K Prize continuing into v0.17 Here are two of my latest designs.
This design design is almost identical to its predecessor, other than 63 tons of extra fuel. In total it weighs 453 tons.
I came in a bit shallow, overshooting the space center. Although this plane is more maneuverable than you might expect, it's still not easy to turn 180 degrees in this thing.
I made it, though.
The Vulcan is a long range spaceplane designed to land on Minmus.

While testing the Vulcan, I was surprised to discover that it can easily reach Duna. In fact, it hardly takes any more fuel than flying to Minmus! I've also flown it to Eve, and it might be possible to reach Jool with a gravity assist from Duna.

Excuse me, but when I attempt to download the Vulcan and place it within my save file's ships folder, the game says that parts are missing, and thus refuses to load it! Am I doing something wrong?

...Also, my laptop (which is running Lion OSX btw) decided to download it as a .txt file, and I changed the name to a .craft. Not sure if that has anything to do with it.

kepicness · October 13, 2012

My NISP IV just got back from a minmus mission. Now, dont wory, its actually pretty different (in design and performance) from the previous NISP entries, while only being about 3 weight units heavier. I'll put pics tomorow as it is getting quite late here. Here is a teaser:

btw, thats a very nice vraft you got there bolyboly. I'm impressed that you actually got a 3 kerbal ssto to minmus and back. Also great job on including that big fuel tank so nicely into the craft. And roguemason, that plane looks quite powerful, especially with the 3 jet engines.

Edited October 13, 2012 by kepicness

RogueMason · October 13, 2012

... And roguemason, that plane looks quite powerful, especially with the 3 jet engines.

Hey, thanks kepicness. Actually, I may have to do a slight bit of modification work because it needs almost until the sea to take off, which is a tad worrying really XD

Archangel Lucifer · October 13, 2012

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.

RogueMason · October 13, 2012

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 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.

Mother of Kerbin, the Hellfire is HUUUUUGE. Well done on getting that to Minmus and back!

As for the Ceres, that is indeed the idea that developed from your Space Wing

kepicness · October 17, 2012

It seems like the astrokerbal comendation is becoming increasingly easy to obtain... As a mather of facts I myself claim it with tne NISP IV. Btw, my previous ssto was called NISP V.II as in version 2. Seeing that it led to confusion (its named NISP VII as in 7) I decided to take out the V. in the name. The NISP IV is capable of carying out a mission to minmus and back with the equivalent of 11.5 normal fuel tanks (400L). Not sure about the weight but I would say its the lightest of the ships claiming the astrokerbal award (altough it only has a 1 kerbal cockpit and the vulcan might be lighter). It has a surprising gliding ability, probably due to all those extra wings, and managed to takeoff before the end of the runway (something the NISP II was unable to do).

gaining altitude
activating the rockets
finishing with the nerva
orbit!

intercept
orbit

slowing sown
is it going to crash?
nop, real kerbals dont need any stikin flat ground to land (more me being too lazy to target an ice lake) + vertical landing is good anywhere.

taking off vertically
pretty sure I get the altitude record
ajusting the orbit for aerocapture
reentry and landing

I did not feel like getting it into orbit again so I simply loaded a quicksave, hope it still counts.

I guess I'll try my luck with those massive 3 kerbal pods, altough I am terrible at building massive spaceplanes. I guess a carrier spaceplane to get the NISP IV into orbit. For those wondering, the NISP III is simply a less efficient version of the IV with a different wing design would be unessesary to post of because it is outclassed by the IV (even if it is orbit capable). The next challenge is actually to get an ssto to a planet AND back. Duna is probably the easiest to accomplish (if its not outright impossible).

Bolyboly, if you feel that the diference between the nisp I and NISP II is too small you can take out the NISP II (I dont want to take up the whole guest list with planes that are only slightly different). However I would like to keep it if you dont mind.

Edited October 17, 2012 by kepicness

G Addict · October 17, 2012

Hm, from kepicness' NISP line it seems like my problems with the Bifurcator design are a lack of wing and possibly piloting skill. Our planes are pretty similar in mechanics by the looks.

Edited October 17, 2012 by G Addict

boolybooly · October 17, 2012

OK some catching up to do.

Rogue Mason, good mission well flown, thanks for the picturesque screenies of your fine looking craft Ceres SSTO Soarer soaring around Kerbin. You are definitely an official K Prize winner and Kay Kool party invitee. Congratulations

Archangel Lucifer, Hellfire is a big ship obviously and I like the way it lands on those rear landing legs. Your AstroKerbal Distinction is duly recorded (and that includes a Kosmokerbal Commendation!) Thanks for your extensive mission report.

kepicness, the new NISP IV looks neat and effective and efficient and well flown, thanks for the mission report and congratulations on your Minmus landing and the AstroKerbal Distinction.

I have logged all successful missions and added Maxed Rockets' postcard from the planet of doom to the gate crashers list.

Thanks all for your comments on MoonWing. As previously stated it was designed with inspiration from all the K Prize entries in combination with a few ideas of my own. FYI the 3 man aircraft pod is actually very easy to move as it is only 1 ton but you get three times as many Kerbals for the photo ops. I found it hard to improve on the design but eventually came up with MoonWing XL with 800L extra and this managed a trip to Ike... and back ... which was nice! :cool:

Actually took a lot of very finicky piloting to keep fuel use down, required an aerobrake around Duna, very precisely timed and aimed return burn from Ike to intercept Kerbin and two aerobraking passes on Kerbin before dropping in on KSC terrain, completely out of gas. I missed the runway but settled for a place in my personal museum of successful 17.1 flights.
(I did try a Duna landing but though I landed by gliding into the lowlands I could not get back to orbit with the fuel I had left.)

Edited October 17, 2012 by boolybooly

kepicness · October 17, 2012

Wow, that is awesome! Interplanetary travel and return in an ssto! Think I need to get my planes bigger if I want to achieve such a feet. I dont think the NISP will be getting any more efficient (unless I come up with a revolutionary new system, witch I doubt).I am still going to try and keep the weight at the average a lifter rocket could carry. The main core of the NISP V is complete, am just debating on the number of turbojets I should use... Since it has more fuel, I doubt that its gonna have a chance with 2. But then again, 4 turbojets would add weight to drag around... Any advice?

Edited October 18, 2012 by kepicness

zekes · October 17, 2012

ZoPL 6 is going for Duna...

Just waiting for it to climb out of the atmosphere....

Maxed-Rockets · April 19, 2013

Now that we have lost some ground here are all of my entries for the current version:

SPO-18A Probe to orbit, 3 Kerbals, docked with space station and landed at runway.

http://imgur.com/a/D4Pmy#0

SPO-28 Medium lift design with three kerbals, should be capable of taking a 32 tank to orbit. Easy to fly.

http://imgur.com/a/ld6dT#0

SPO-48 Heavy lift design capable of taking an orange tank to orbit and landing.

http://imgur.com/a/GKhcw#0

Please post your designs to the Stock Repository! Thank you!

bsalis · April 20, 2013

Is boolybooly still tending to this?

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

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