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

[Robdjee]

K-Prize entry: Syrvannia SSTO

 

Dear Kerbonauts, K-Prize committee,

The other day i came across this old K-prize thread. I thought ''Yeah!''. So i unmothballed my best SSTO spaceplane and decided to take it for a literal spin.

I would like to submit the following for your consideration.

Today i present:

Syrvania SSTO

Main view:


The Syrvanna SSTO is named after a faction in my favourite Ravenfield Mod. It can haul 5T of payload into LKO. This vehicle is also capable of mining and processing resources. Today, however, it deliveres a Spacecab to my LKOSS (Low Kerbin Orbit Space Station). I have cut some waity, fiddly and boring bits from my video. I hope this will give you a concise but complete account of the mission. One day i will post a more comprehensive document about this craft at the spacecraft exchange. This will do for now.

Self sufficient SSTO.
Includes Space Cab.

Specifications (without Spacecab):
Crew capacity: 4+2
Cargo capacity: 5T
Weight fueled: 87.455T
Dry weight: 43.765T
Part count: 118
Cost: 223.307
Length: 26.3m
Width: 23.7
Height: 9.3

Launch:
Hold a pitch of 20dgrs until 20km. Switch engine mode and reduce thrust 30% until 70km<Ap<100km and circulize @ Ap.

Re-entry: Set Pe=50km (or below 20km), Toggle brakes and maintain pitch of 20 dgrs.

Fueling: Fill Mk3 LF tank to 1500. Fill all other tanks.

1:Toggle engines
2:Ladders, ramp and cargo bay
3:Toggle scanners and antenna
4:Deploy drill
5:Mine
0:Decouple
 

Youtube footage:

Side view:



Front view:



Interior:



Docked at LKOSS:


A stripped-down cargo version, named Syrvania SSTO-C, is also available at the Steam Workshop and KerbalX. That version lacks the self sufficiency but can haul a payload of 10T to LKO.


KerbalX entry: https://kerbalx.com/Robdjee/Syrvania-SSTO
Cargo Version: https://kerbalx.com/Robdjee/Syrvania-SSTO-C
Workshop page: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1660186863
Cargo Version: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1871125619
Reddit post: 

 

Kind regards,

Robdjee

Edited October 1, 2019 by Robdjee
Missing pictures?

[boolybooly]

Congratulations @Robdjee on completing the K-Prize mission successfully with your interesting tri-hull design Syrvania. Docking with a space station earns the coveted Advanced Pilot Precision Award (APPA) and delivering a payload to orbit earns the esteemed Utilitarial Commendation. Well played, thanks for your mission report video and welcome to the K-Prize roll of honour aka the K-Prize party guest list. See you at the Dog and Booster!

[Robdjee]

@boolybooly Thank you very much!

[benjaminlamont]

Dear K-Prize commitee and fellow kerbonauts,

This is my first time doing a challenge like this so my first working craft was far from optimal I'm sure, nevertheless I made it to orbit (and with about 1.4% fuel remaining, no less ). I thought I'd share my final workingish design along with some of my failures along the way! The final craft is at the bottom if you just want to see that.

I actually lost my first real attempt at the save because it was some time ago and I never had the foresight to take screenshots or anything as such before my hard drive failed a few days after. As they say, hindsight's 2020 and I'll be using SSDs from here on out! It was, iirc, a fairly simple design using a mk2 body using 2 vectors for high altitude thrust and two whiplashes with precoolers and ramp intakes for atmospheric thrust. As you might predict, it never had anywhere near enough delta v at high altitude to make it to orbit. So I figured I'd try a new design with a larger body to hold all of that juicy rocket fuel. I used the mk3 form factor to design a new ship with fuel for itself and a couple cities to boot. The original design consisted of 4 vectors and 2 goliaths, however, this suffered from several different issues, not least of which a missing set of landing gear! 

After correcting that and adding more goliaths to increase thrust, I started having problems with the entire wing sections falling apart! 

I decided to the, opt for a more space-shuttle esque design, with heavy thrust at the back (4 vectors and 4 whiplash) and flatter, shorter wings (big-s delta). This worked much better, in that it got off the runway, however, the shorter body didn't hold enough fuel to get itself off the ground and unlike a bee, this craft had to obey the laws of aviation and as such it set sail on a fateful voyage that (thankfully) ended in a safe landing back in kerbin's oceans, after a short, suborbital hop.

After this, started trying to using, as the old adage goes, more thrusters, however, this, rather predictably, didn't quite help with my predicament of not having enough fuel.

So, after all these failures. I gave up and moved onto greener pastures in some other games. The next day, however, I came back from work with a renewed sense of determination. I had 328 hours in the game and I'd be damned if I couldn't complete this challenge. So I sat down, taking in my knowledge of vectors not delivering enough thrust and big ships being too hard to lift and stay intact, and I came up with this.

This ship used a much smaller, LF only frame to get itself as high as possible with as low as possible mass. The total mass when fully fueled ended up being only 20t, almost low enough to build in the starting hangar and runway. The ship also featured two nerv enginges which provided the high efficiency thrust at high altitude that the ship needed to get into orbit. The following screenshots are actually from an slightly different early ship which had fewer parachutes which actually caused the loss of one of the nerv engines at touchdown, as the ship was travelling very fast and the wheels didn't allow much clearance.

And of course, my poor poor fuel tanks after *just* making it into orbit.

Sorry for the long post, I just thought I'd share my first-time experience with some of you veterans to remind you of the days when this was hard for you (it still is for me haha). I hope you like the design I finally settled on and rest assured that I'll be tinkering away to try and complete some of the sub-challenges soon, but for now, I'm happy with my ship actually making it to orbit and back. This is the first time I've done an SSTO successfully and hopefully it wont be the last!  

[boolybooly]

Spaceplanes are hard!

@benjaminlamont Thanks for your report on your several attempts to build and fly an orbital spaceplane, as you have discovered, its not as easy as it looks but I am glad to note your success with the all liquid fuel design which you stated made it into orbit and back. 

I am assuming you are well aware of the requirement for not losing parts and that "back" means safely landed without losing parts. If that is the case you have won the K-Prize. However on a technical issue before awarding the K-Prize listing I need to know if the craft made it back to the runway or not and what name you would like it to be known by.

EDIT I decided to go ahead and link the K-Prize listing without extra kudos and improvise a name, craftymccraftface, which I am happy to replace if you wish to provide a better one.  

Edited October 13, 2019 by boolybooly

[benjaminlamont]

@boolybooly sorry for the late reply! I've been really busy the last couple days and I completely forgot to check the forums!

 

I managed to land it without breaking any parts, however, because I had so little fuel, I ended up having to use the parachutes on the craft to make a landing in the highlands as I was unable to get enough speed to maintain altitude leading up to the runway.

If the craft needs to be landed on the runway, please let me know and I'll be happy to get started trying to land it properly on the runway. Otherwise, the name I've come up with is the Liquidescent (pronounced like pearlescent), after the fuel system I used.

 

If there are any problems at all, please feel free to let me know! Again, sorry I haven't been able to check lately, my final year of high school just started a few days ago in Australia and I've been focusing on that for the most part recently.

 

Thanks!

[boolybooly]

@benjaminlamont thats fine, no worries, it sounds like you are busy and have your priorities in the right order.

Those mountains can be tricky. FYI Landing wherever you want is fine as long as no parts are lost and a speed of zero is achieved so that you could recover the craft if you so wished. I only asked because it is one of the extra achievements possible and wasn't sure if I needed to add it to the listing in the OP. However, a successful K-Prize mission is kudos enough in its own right! 

Congratulations on completing the K-Prize mission with Liquidescent (name changed as per your instructions) and thankyou for your mission report. Welcome to the roll of honour aka the K-Prize party guest list.

[BeanThruster]

To K prize committee

 

esteemed president,

dear members,

 

please accept the attached mission report, which I am submitting to your attention in the hope of being considered as a candidate for your very valuable prize.

 

The mission purpose is the delivery of a biological research module, together with the assigned scientific personnel, to the LKO (120 km) station "Kerbin Gate".

The vehicle assigned to this mission is the medium SSTO airplane Godzilla II serials UX002 which, being powered by 8 rapiers, results a little bit overpowered for a 6 tons payload.

Spoiler

Personnel involved:

Matrbrio Kerman: pilot and mission commander in charge

Barmal Kerman: engineer (passenger to Kerbin Gate)

Limnea Kerman: scientist (passenger to Kerbin Gate)

Darwino Kerman: scientist (passenger to Kerbin Gate)

 

Valentina Kerman: pilot (passenger, reentering to Kerbin from Kerbin Gate)

 

Ascent 

Spoiler

KSC control: Godzilla Uniform Xray zero zero five, cleared for takefoff, runway zero-one

a rather beefy TWR allows for an agrressive ascent

At a 7 km, the pilot noses down to accelerate in thin air...

 

to reach a more than decent speed 

rapiers switched to closed cycle mode

until the engines cutoff.

 

Circularization and rendez vous

Spoiler

Takeoff was timely enough...

... to get circularization and rendez vous in a single burst.

Rendez vous and docking

Spoiler

Approaching the target

Godzilla UX005: this is Godzilla Uniform Xray zero zero five. approaching KG Station, heading zero – niner – niner, pitch zero-two-six, retrograde. Godzilla Uniform Xray zero zero five

Kerbin Gate control: roger that, Godzilla Uniform Xray zero zero five, Clearence to dock port zero- two, final heading zero – eight – five, pitch minus zero-one-zero.

Godzilla UX005: Wilco. Clearence to dock port zero- two, Godzilla Uniform Xray zero zero five.

Godzilla UX005: requesting permission to dock port zero-two. Godzilla Uniform Xray zero zero five

Kerbin Gate control: Godzilla Uniform Xray zero zero five, Clearence to dock port zero-two, docking velocity zero decimal two

Godzilla UX005: roger that, docking port zero-two, docking velocity zero decimal two, Godzilla Uniform Xray zero zero five

Godzilla UX005: docking coplete, port zero-two, Godzilla Uniform Xray zero zero five.

Kerbin Gate control: Godzilla Uniform Xray zero zero five, well done. Welcome to Kerbin Gate

Delivering the payload

Spoiler

After docking the biolab, scientists and technical staff are transferred to their final destination. Val boards Godzilla for his return on Kerbin

Undocking and reentry

Spoiler

Godzilla UX005: requesting permission to undockdock port zero-two. Godzilla Uniform Xray zero zero five

Kerbin Gate control: Godzilla Uniform Xray zero zero five, you have clearence to undock dock port zero-two. Have a nice trip back to Kerbin

Godzilla UX005: roger that, undocking port zero-two, Godzilla Uniform Xray zero zero five. See you soon.

Final destination is just below us. Periapsis is set at 75 km, just befor the big crater

from there, the actual reentry begins

KSC mountains are on sigth

Godzilla UX005: Approaching KSC, heading zero – niner – niner. Godzilla Uniform Xray zero zero five

KSC control: Godzilla Uniform Xray zero zero five, turn right heading zero-niner-zero, clearence to land runway zero-one, heading zero – niner – zero, maintain descent speed zero-one zero.

Godzilla UX005: wilco. Turn right heading zero-niner-zero, clearence to land runway zero-one, clearence to land runway zero-one, descent speed zero-one zero. Godzilla Uniform Xray zero zero five.

 

EDIT

Results from black box data analysis – footage from the Cockpit Voice Recorder

·        Val: what about relaxing and taking a nap in the backseat, Mat?

·        Matbrio: we’re landing in a few minutes, Val. Keep your seatbelt fastened, and don't bother me.

·        Val: well, I’ve got news for you. I’m gonna man the ship during landing. Move back and take a nap

·        Matbrio: don’t be ridiculous, you can’t man a ship. You’re a woman!

·        Val: you sexist fool! Hand over the command to me right now, that’s an order!

·        Matbrio: You can’t give me orders! I’m the commander here!

·        Val: oh yeah, and who’s the vet, here?

·        Matbrio: I don’t give a damn about who's the vet. I’m the captain of this ship!

·        Val: so do some captaining in the backseat and leave the stick!

·        Matbrio: uh-uh, the stick (CVR perceived distinct air fluctuations due to massive winking)

·        Val: your last chance, you moron

·        Matbrio: my last chance or what? Step back and sit down!

·        -THUD-

·        Matbrio: YOU HIT ME! YOU HIT ME!

·        Val: yeah, I hit you, and I have to admit you, what a satisfaction!

·        Matbrio: THIS IS A MUTINY! KSC CONTROL, CAN YOU HE (-BONK-) OUCH! YOU HIT ME AGAIN!

·        Val: ahah you hafta see now how funny you are with your big nose!

·        Matbrio: ENOUGH! I’M GONNA SHOW YOU WHO’S FUNNY, YOU (Beep) (Beep)

·        -SLAP-

·        Val: HOW DARE YOU ! YOU DIRTY LITTLE (Beep) (Beep). GONNA KICK YOUR (Beep) (Beep) UNTIL (Beep) (Beep) (Beep) (Beep)…

CENSORED

 

Landing gears out. Prepare for landing

Touch down

KSC, sweet KSC

EDIT

Last CVR recording

·        Val: here we go. How’s your nose, Mat?

·        Matbrio: mind your own fat lip, Val.

And this ends the story.

Hope that the documentation I'm providing here is sufficient to make your decision.

Regards

BT

 

Edited December 12, 2019 by BeanThruster
a few typos. Added some crew chatterig.

[boolybooly]

The president and committee of the K-Prize, having sat in plenary session at the snug bar of the Dog & Booster would like to offer heartfelt congratulations to @BeanThruster on successfully completing the K-Prize mission with an effective flight plan earning an Utilitarial Commendation for transferring a biolab to orbit and an Advanced Pilot Precision Award 1st Class for docking in orbit and landing back at KSC runway. Thanks for your thorough mission report and welcome to the honoured ranks of those who have succeeded in completing the K-Prize mission aka the K-Prize party guest list.  Well flown!

Edited December 11, 2019 by boolybooly

[sturmhauke]

At first I thought I was in the STS thread and I was like, "Wait, are we allowing runway launches now? Hold on, that's an SSTO, those are definitely not allowed - oh, right."

[BeanThruster]

2 hours ago, boolybooly said:

The president and committee of the K-Prize, having sat in plenary session at the snug bar of the Dog & Booster would like to offer heartfelt congratulations to @BeanThruster on successfully completing the K-Prize mission with an effective flight plan earning an Utilitarial Commendation for transferring a biolab to orbit and an Advanced Pilot Precision Award 1st Class for docking in orbit and landing back at KSC runway. Thanks for your thorough mission report and welcome to the honoured ranks of those who have succeeded in completing the K-Prize mission aka the K-Prize party guest list.  Well flown!

Thank you, president, thank you committee members for including me in the K-prize party guest list

So proud to be there.

After-mission debriefing revealed that the mission itself has been put at risk when Val and Matbrio started quarrelling about who was in charge for landing. In the resulting mess, pilots forgot to swich engines in open cycle mode, and rapiers flamed out a few kilometers away from the runway. Situation was promptly recovered, but responsibles has been assigned to paperwork duty for the next two years.

All's well that ends well, anyway...

[έķ νίĻĻάίή]

Dear the dear K-prize members,

I present to you, the first member of the MEV family, the MEV1!

Spoiler

Thank you.

The MEV1 aims to give an easy way of getting to low kerbin orbit with extra fuel. The four reaction wheels make reentry easy without spinning out of control.

The craft has no decouplers, and is completly stock, made out of the KSC's janky parts, found lying around.

Here below, we have made an montage of photos , along with the display of how fast it's going, and etc.

Spoiler

On runway

After takeoff

After rapier flameout, NERV activation

Orbit burn

https://i.postimg.cc/j5Qz9rtB/65.png

In orbit

Reentry burn

 

Reentry

Runway landing

https://i.postimg.cc/ZnW6qvrz/72.png

https://i.postimg.cc/Vs2KCz5W/74.png

https://i.postimg.cc/bNNw1fMd/75.png

https://i.postimg.cc/Tw0XPpT0/76.png

 

Yes, we did land it on the runway (see montage)

We recovered it for another day.

 

 

Also, before I forget, here is the download link- https://kerbalx.com/jeb_/MEV1

Thank you.

 

Edited December 14, 2019 by έķ νίĻĻάίή

[boolybooly]

έķ νίĻĻάίή congratulations on completing the K-Prize mission successfully, thanks for your mission report montage and well done for landing on KSC runway which has earned you the special kudos of an Advanced Pilot Precision Award, welcome to the K-Prize party guest list aka the roll of honour.

[Mars-Bound Hokie]

@boolybooly, here's my first entry for the K Prize

THE MUN HOPPER

(KerbalX Link is for the current model. Pictures below show a previous variant in action)

Below is the album for the first successful test run

Spoiler

• Getting into orbit

 

• Stable 90-km orbit with ~2,500 m/s of delta-V to spare

 

• Re-entry

 

• Gliding over the desert

 

• Since this model was intended to fly to Laythe, I landed in the desert and began refueling before taking off again.

 

• After refueling, we were airborne again. 

 

And I didn't stop at LKO. For more details on the Mun Hopper's performance, feel free to read the Neptune Mission Files.

 

Spoiler

• Flying through Laythe, with a nice shot of Jool in the sky.

 

• The Neptune III in polar orbit above Laythe.

 

After refueling on Pol, the plane waited a while before flying back to Kerbin, establishing an orbit at 150 km, and re-entering. I had to establish an orbit first since experience has shown that those who don't re-enter Kerbin from Jool without orbital insertion or inflatable heat shields tend to end up extra crispy.

 

 

• Not a scratch on the plane.

 

What do you think? Also, I have plenty more working SSTOs where that came from.

 

[boolybooly]

I think its a great mission and a versatile ship due to the refuelling capability. As you are no doubt aware @Mars-Bound Hokie, due to the way you compartmentalised your mission reports, refuelling is a mission breaker in the K-Prize rules but your craft completed the K-Prize because it returned to Kerbin before going on its grand tour after refuelling in the desert. So congratulations on  completing the K-Prize successfully, thankyou for your mission reports and welcome to the K-Prize Roll of Honour aka the K-Prize Party Guest List

 

[Mars-Bound Hokie]

1 minute ago, boolybooly said:

refuelling is a mission breaker in the K-Prize rules but your craft completed the K-Prize because it returned to Kerbin before going on its grand tour after refuelling in the desert

The desert landing was merely a test run, since I wouldn't have the luxury of runways when I was flying through Laythe.

• I DELIBERATELY missed the KSC that one time so I can determine if that plane was suitable for Laythe.
• The Neptune III itself (the real deal) both started and landed at 0-9 KSC.

 

7 minutes ago, boolybooly said:

welcome to the K-Prize Roll of Honour aka the K-Prize Party Guest List

Thank you, I'm honored.

 

I got more SSTOs ready, including what I am hoping to be a small docking-capable Laythe plane. You want to see them?

[Mars-Bound Hokie]

I got tired of waiting and decided to show my small docking-capable Laythe SSTO prototype.

 

If I had to pick a name for it, I'd go with Hermes. Like a messenger of the gods, he flies up to the heavens and comes down on Earth while carrying scientific data.

 

Spoiler

 

• That's a lot of delta-V for a high parking orbit. 
  • Probably enough to land on Minmus and return without refueling.
• This is so that I won't have to wait as long to make an intercept burn to my target.

 

• The plane docked with the Interplanetary Travel Pod as a test run
• No fuel was given or taken - not that I needed any for my plane

 

• After I re-entered the atmosphere, I flew (but mostly glided) straight to the KSC

 

• VOILA
  • Okay, so I lied about flying straight to the KSC. If I wanted to, I could have made a straight landing - but I didn't for a reason.
  • I INTENTIONALLY landed somewhere else first so I can test its off-runway landing capabilities (since Laythe won't have any).

Spoiler

Quote

5. Landing on any KSC runway or docking in orbit. Advanced pilot precision award (1stClass for both).

 

If I recall correctly, that means I am qualified for a 1st-Class Pilot Precision Award since I landed at 0-9 KSC and I docked with something in orbit. Am I right?

 

 

[fulgur]

In a moment of serendipity, I decided that it was time to post one of my SSTOs in this thread, at the same time as the person I had built this SSTO as a demonstration to. (similarities: carries crew, ISRU-equipped, docking-capable)

Lifting off the runway. Note to self: remember to move rear wheels upwards so it doesn't need to go over the edge to take off...

Needs a bit of coaching (less than 5 deg) to go past 400m/s but then flies like a dream. A fast, fuel guzzling dream.

At 18km we engage the NERVA. At 25km we switch RAPIER mode.

Orbital insertion with almost exactly 2km/s to spare. Would have gone to Minmus but would have been tempted to refuel, which is against the rules. (It can do Minmus, but I'm not sure about the margins for return and a KSC landing).

De-orbit burn over the Desert coast... hang on this isn't the coast! Spent so long fiddling with prop planes I almost forgot that Kerbin rotates annoyingly when making de-orbit burns.

Coming in hot... too hot, we almost overshoot.

Almost a perfect landing! (Give me a break, I did most of it from map-mode because Linux makes everything fast except KSP...)

Landed at the KSC!

The Ilion can be found on KerbalX.

[boolybooly]

Yes that looks right @Mars-Bound Hokie APPA 1st Class and so noted in the roll. Thanks for another clearly illustrated mission report showing the capabilities of a carefully considered expedition vehicle on a test flight and well done on achieving these highly regarded K-Prize kudos goals.

Congratulations @fulgur on completing the K-Prize mission challenge successfully with the singularly sagittiform Ilion and landing at the KSC to earn a Pilot Proficiency Medal. Thanks for your mission report and welcome to the K-Prize Roll of Honour aka the K-Prize party guest list.

See you at the Dog & Booster

 

 

 

[linuxgurugamer]

Deleted, since it did not qualify for this challenge

Edited January 29, 2020 by linuxgurugamer

[boolybooly]

Hi @linuxgurugamer I like your barnstormer but while I was looking it over I noticed the twin Rapier engines appear to be a different size to stock so it would be remiss of me not to remind you to read the small print for the mission which is in the first post. In particular rule#3.

Quote

3. All fuel tanks, wings (ie lift generators & aerodynamic environments) and engine parts must be stock, for fairness.

Gatecrasher listings are the alternative for those who want to break the rules and come with a free quip  but you can redeem the gatecrasher and expunge your record by completing the mission successfully. Your call, I will wait for your incoming mission report. FYI

 

[linuxgurugamer]

Yup, I'll move it  To the other thread

[boolybooly]

13 hours ago, linuxgurugamer said:

Yup, I'll move it  To the other thread

OK great, do you want a gatecrasher listing for the above or should I discreetly let it pass as undocumented !?

[linuxgurugamer]

3 hours ago, boolybooly said:

OK great, do you want a gatecrasher listing for the above or should I discreetly let it pass as undocumented !?

Leave it for now.  I'll see if I can rebuild it using stock tanks & engines.  If I can, I'll post a video of the before and after versions

 

Edited January 28, 2020 by linuxgurugamer

[linuxgurugamer]

Just to confirm, I can use the opencockpit part, as long as it doesn't have any fuel