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

[Steel Starling]

Having played this game for years, I was shocked to realize that I had never actually built an SSTO, so, after some work, I built my The Sky's the Limit series of SSTO's

The one I am entering into the K prize is the SI-SSTO-4 "The Sky's the Limit Cargo Edition"

Link to Imgur Album

https://imgur.com/a/OeLyx

 

Also wow. Congrats on Thread of the Year! Amazing job!

Edited January 9, 2018 by Steel Starling
Didn't read the news....

[Just Jim]

Congrats on getting TOTY!!!  

[adsii1970]

Would like to congratulate @boolybooly for achieving thread of the year! Way to go!

[Marschig]

From nearby thread:

12 hours ago, Marschig said:

https://kerbalx.com/Marschig/Cruise-Plane-Mk2  https://imgur.com/a/bvEHK

49.836 t
SSTO 0.95
Bodies: Laythe 0.95
Moho-in-one: 0.9
Science Package 0.9
Six Kerbals 0.9
Quick Start to Joolian Moon 0.85
63 parts 0.9

49.836*0.95*0.95*0.9*0.9*0.9*0.85*0.9=25.083

 

 

[Laie]

Once more, with gusto: a kinda-sorta flying wing to Duna and back, LF only.

 

Many thanks to @Cupcake..., who gave me the idea of flying wings, and @herbal space program with his Duna Moth who gave me a destination: being dependent on the MJ clicky-thingy, aerobatics are totally beyond me. I needed a mission to perform.

This is actually the fourth or fifth time I've done that mission now, also with a proper flying wing over in the Modded K-Prize thread. So I was able to do the flight in a single afternoon, almost without saveloading (almost... landing in the wild was much easier with the bigger vessel). Coming to terms with video editing took the better part of a week, though. My first flick! I hope you'll like it.

[Magzimum]

I finally got a Spaceplane into orbit and back using Mk3 parts! Since its purpose is to ferry groups of Kerbals to and from space stations and motherships, I called it the Spacebus.

I didn't have an entry in the v1.3 Spaceplane challenge yet, so this is my entry. (I already proudly display the badge from a 1.2.1 entry though).

I'll be putting the whole mission up here in spoilers, with a few key pictures in the main post.

Spoiler

I play a stock game with 3 mods: Galileo Planet Pack, KER and KAC. The plane is therefore all stock parts, and stock physics. I used no clipped parts, except for a small nosecone clipped into the RAPIERs. Other than that, what you see is what you get.

Happy faces

The plane reaches Mach 1 without a problem.

However, there the engines struggle to accelerate. This is overcome by putting the plane into a 1000 m shallow dive.

At 500 m/s, the pilot can pull up, and although that maneuver will cause the plane to slow to about 420 m/s, the plane will now continue to accelerate as the shock cones feed enough air into the engines.

At about 24 km altitude, the plane switches to rocket-mode (RAPIER Closed Cycle).

Spoiler

From there on, it is quite a standard exercise to get into orbit: Apoapsis to 75 km... glide into space, and raise the Periapsis too. The only trick is to turn off the central 2 RAPIERS, because they are not aligned with the Center of Mass. This is by design, and made easy by pressing "3" (action group 3).

The KSC in the Galileo Pack is not located at the equator, so I had to correct 9 degrees (7 degrees left in the picture below).

Once in orbit, the Space plane had a little rendezvous with a lost Kerbal.

Spoiler

The poor soul must have had a space plane too, but it totally disintegrated and only the inline cockpit was left.

Doodwin (I like that name) boarded the functioning space plane...

Doodwin got to travel back home in economy class though.

After picking up Doodwin Kerman, the Periapsis was lowered to 30 km...

The plane comes with a couple of rather pointless RCS thrusters at the nose to keep the nose up a little longer in the atmosphere.

With the size and mass of the plane, these 4 thrusters were insufficient to make much of an impact. But that didn't matter much because the Kerbals entered the atmosphere a little early and didn't want to slow down at all.

The plane was wonderfully heat-resistant. Only one control surface got really hot (which was surprising).

At around 14 km, the engines were ignited again to fly to the KSC.

A left turn was needed to get to the KSC (because of the earlier plane change).

Final approach. Not really aligned with the runway, but whatever... At least it's heading towards it!

Spoiler

The Galileo Planet Pack KSC is surrounded by mountains, but their height was slightly overestimated. A rather steep dive was needed before the landing...

Finally the plane was somewhat aligned with the runway.

And back home, with 1 new crew member.

Spoiler

For the hell of it, I made the plane taxi to the SPH, and let the Kerbals climb out. (Otherwise, why put ladders on the plane?).

Thanks @boolybooly for keeping this challenge alive for so long. It's a great source for inspiration to see what all the other people have created.

Edited January 21, 2018 by Magzimum

[boolybooly]

Congratulations to...

 

@Steel Starling  Utilitarial Commendation, Advanced Pilot Precision Award with SI-SSTO-4 "The Sky's the Limit Cargo Edition".

@Laie- Expeditionary Astrokerbal Distinction (Duna), Advanced Pilot Precision Award with Flying Wing Kind of Thing.

@Magzimum Advanced Pilot Precision Award with Spacebus.

 

... for successfully completing the K-Prize challenge. Thanks for your mission reports and welcome new arrivals and returning prizewinners to the K-Prize roll of honour aka the K-Prize party guest list. 

 

Among the gatecrashers  sorry to say @Marschig because although Cruise Plane Mk2 is an accomplished, extensive and entertaining mission in its own right... it nevertheless refuelled by mining & refining fuel at Laythe etc and used the fuel as propellant which breaks proviso C. So it is linked as a gatecrasher on the OP with a quip as below. FYI it is the K-Prize tradition you can have the gatecrasher listing expunged by completing the K-Prize mission successfully if you so wish but can also retain the listing if you prefer. Thanks for participating  .

 Marschig glossed over refining-refuelling at Laythe, denied being a rulebreaker saying, "the rules were like that when I found them".

 

[Aiden.J]

Can i still do this 6 years later?

I'm aiming to launch a mission to Duna, achieve orbit, send another spaceplane, dock at Duna, and land back at KSC (only orbiting Duna) (landing with the vessel which has both space crafts docked). What would that award me with?

Edited January 28, 2018 by Aiden.J

[boolybooly]

On 1/28/2018 at 8:34 PM, Aiden.J said:

Can i still do this 6 years later?

I'm aiming to launch a mission to Duna, achieve orbit, send another spaceplane, dock at Duna, and land back at KSC (only orbiting Duna) (landing with the vessel which has both space crafts docked). What would that award me with?

Only one way to find out !

Its a Kosmokerbal Commendation for entering Duna SOI and an Advanced Pilot Precision Award for docking, '1stClass' if you return to the runway as well.

The rules are all laid out in the OP fyi

[dvader]

Am I correct that no one has tried the Altitudinalist record? I can't find any such awards.

About the requirements, is it full orbit (both Ap and Pe) beyond Eeloos orbit or just the Ap?

[boolybooly]

17 hours ago, dvader said:

Am I correct that no one has tried the Altitudinalist record? I can't find any such awards.

About the requirements, is it full orbit (both Ap and Pe) beyond Eeloos orbit or just the Ap?

AP only, its intended to be a kerbolar system altitude record and it hasn't been achieved by any entries in recent versions to the best of my knowledge.

Edited February 2, 2018 by boolybooly

[dvader]

Are you allowed to use slingshot maneuvers once out in the solar system or is it more of a max dv challenge only?

[boolybooly]

Any which way you can, there are no rules about slingshots, except that they qualify for a Kosmokerbal Commendation.

[XB-70A]

I just discovered this topic despite its age, and would like to present this work:

(A year old project now)

 

 

Despite its appearance, Pallas is able to carry five consent subjects on a low Kerbin's orbit, one of the Mk1 Cabin being offset in the Mk2 adapter.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here is the album of the whole flight (a bit long).

Being a henchman of the F2 key it is often not possible to see the fuel level, and also it is impossible to check the level on the single screenshot taken while being docked at the station, but the only transfer I made was to exchange one of the Kerbal on board with a scientist lying in the station for a long time.

[boolybooly]

Thanks for your mission report @XB-70A on the flight of the Pallas, which has been linked on the front page as per the (ancient ) traditions of the K-Prize, congratulations on earning an Advanced Pilot Precision Award 1st Class for docking in orbit as well as returning for a runway landing. Welcome to the K-Prize party guest list and roll of honour. 

Edited February 24, 2018 by boolybooly

[icantmakemodels]

Oh snap I could be the first 1.4 K-Prize.

 

HMB.

 

Edited March 9, 2018 by icantmakemodels

[Dark Lion]

So the Storm album took longer for me to figure out than the mission itself to complete.  Still. I'm very proud of this little bird. 
Click above for K-Prize entry from 1.4, vicariously.

Click below and don your brown pants for the whole experience.
https://kerbalx.com/DarkLion/Storm

[Dark Lion]

14 hours ago, icantmakemodels said:

Oh snap I could be the first 1.4 K-Prize.

"Yeah but the--"
 

 

14 hours ago, icantmakemodels said:

HMB.

*Drinks it; crushes mug; belches loudly* Pardon me.

[HamnavoePer]

My entry, The Kerbero V. It is my first cargo SSTO and is capable of putting small satellites or ion probes into an LKO. It makes a gliding approach back to the KSC from orbit, and often does not need to use it's engines after re-entry until it taxis back to a hangar on the ground.

https://imgur.com/a/TgRUv 

And yes, 1.4. How many others so far?

Edited March 10, 2018 by HamnavoePer

[boolybooly]

Congratulations to...

@Dark Lion Advanced Pilot Precision Award with Storm.

@HamnavoePer Advanced Pilot Precision Award with Kerbero V.

... on completing the K-Prize challenge in v1.4. Thanks for your mission reports and welcome to the roll of honour aka the K-Prize party guest list.

Noting the release of 1.4, this is great news and fortunately does not drastically change craft or environment physics so it is appropriate for the Roll of Honour to continue to compare like with like regarding the remarkable achievements of illustrious K-Prize winners, from v1.2 onwards.

[Dark Lion]

1 hour ago, boolybooly said:

Congratulations to...

@Dark Lion Advanced Pilot Precision Award with Storm.

@HamnavoePer Advanced Pilot Precision Award with Kerbero V.

... on completing the K-Prize challenge in v1.4. Thanks for your mission reports and welcome to the roll of honour aka the K-Prize party guest list.

RAH! Self-imposed "Most Stylish" commendation. 
A belated 'grats to TOTY @boolybooly ! And a fine way to get it, too. 

A quick question: any reason I couldn't come back in a month or two, with a better vessel, for more (and legitimate )commendations?  

[HamnavoePer]

2 hours ago, boolybooly said:

Congratulations to...

@Dark Lion Advanced Pilot Precision Award with Storm.

@HamnavoePer Advanced Pilot Precision Award with Kerbero V.

... on completing the K-Prize challenge in v1.4. Thanks for your mission reports and welcome to the roll of honour aka the K-Prize party guest list.

Noting the release of 1.4, this is great news and fortunately does not drastically change craft or environment physics so it is appropriate for the Roll of Honour to continue to compare like with like regarding the remarkable achievements of illustrious K-Prize winners, from v1.2 onwards.

And I clearly get a "Best Design in 1.4" award

[boolybooly]

22 hours ago, Dark Lion said:

RAH! Self-imposed "Most Stylish" commendation. 
A belated 'grats to TOTY @boolybooly ! And a fine way to get it, too. 

A quick question: any reason I couldn't come back in a month or two, with a better vessel, for more (and legitimate )commendations?  

Thanks very much  & self assessment is perfectly permissible even if not always entirely congruent with the rules  

All K-Prize mission controllers are very welcome to publish further mission reports as they wish. If you look over the front page roll of honour you will see additional award links included beneath original mission reports with a dash in front. Please feel at liberty to pursue and report any challenge kudos missions you find interesting.

GL, HF and thanks for participating.

 

Edited March 12, 2018 by boolybooly

[dvader]

While waiting for the Expansion with a big E, I set out to finally help that unloved Altitudinalist record which no one seems to care for. (I also wanted to practice my slingshotting skills)

I wasn't planning on anything excessive, but 2340 years mission time could perhaps be considered a bit silly. Thanks to BetterTimeWarp it was perfectly enjoyable though. By the way, does that put me in the modded category or is that just for mod parts? I also had KER, KAC, PreciseNode and PlaneMode installed (no MechJeb, trajectories or autopilots).

Here's the full story with plenty of screenshots:

https://imgur.com/a/FNvvs

Here's the nothing special plane taking off. Liquid fuel only (and stock parts only). About 4000 dV left after Kerbin orbit.

I slingshotted past Eve and Kerbin a couple of times (and got a tiny Jool flyby on the way back).

And 1161 years later, we are at 4753 Gm! Kerbol is bigger than expected.

Going back required even more slingshotting. But I finally landed (after two reloads which should be blamed on a crappy pilot with a poorly calibrated joystick).

Not much has changed in 2340 years. I guess Kerbals aren't the progressive types...

The maximum Ap was 4,753,783,667,685 m.

 

[The Moose In Your House]

Made my first SSTO in Making History (Probably the first one on this thread), since Making History is a DLC its not a mod, right? (The images where edited with imigur)

I had a little trouble with Imigur so i gave you the link. The album can be found here: https://imgur.com/a/VxPJs

Edited March 15, 2018 by The Moose In Your House
Fixing the Imigur link