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

boolybooly
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boolybooly

boolybooly

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Timewarp overshoot is stock behaviour because 1.9 allows high multiplier warping close to planets now and whatever stock does is OK.

Congratulations @Space Nerdon another successful mission with a scaled up SSTO Mk1b which in flying past the Mün earnt the special kudos of a Kosmokerbal Commendation. Thanks for your mission report and welcome back to the roll of honour aka K-Prize party guest list.

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boolybooly

boolybooly

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3 hours ago, ralanboyle said:

Here is my 50 seat SSTO in career mode with paying tourists on board. Of course with a landing back on the runway.

Thankyou for your mission report @ralanboyle. May I ask, could you kindly explain why the passenger parts shown in the video have prefixes like a CM14 Mk2 Cockpit and likewise a UT13 Mk3 Passenger Module?

Its just these are not stock names and suggest modified parts and the cockpit is a lift generator so it counts under rule 3. Are these and all relevant parts in the SSTO stock parts or exact physics clones of stock parts? Or have the physics or resources been modified?

Also is the planet using stock Kerbin physics? :)

 

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minerbat

minerbat

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https://postimg.cc/069fGn13
my orbit

https://postimg.cc/Z03S0P43
ready for launch (picture made afterwards)

https://postimg.cc/FkxC3HPt
landing (i cant land horizontally :( )

https://postimg.cc/LJqKKjCn
after landing and rotate it on its wheels by retracting landing gear

i am gonna try the eve rocks challenge or a jool 5 mission now :)

Edited by minerbat
my :) didnt change into a kerbal
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ralanboyle

ralanboyle

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On 2/18/2020 at 1:31 PM, boolybooly said:

Thankyou for your mission report @ralanboyle. May I ask, could you kindly explain why the passenger parts shown in the video have prefixes like a CM14 Mk2 Cockpit and likewise a UT13 Mk3 Passenger Module?

Its just these are not stock names and suggest modified parts and the cockpit is a lift generator so it counts under rule 3. Are these and all relevant parts in the SSTO stock parts or exact physics clones of stock parts? Or have the physics or resources been modified?

Also is the planet using stock Kerbin physics? :)

 

Yes, all of my physics and parts are stock. My parts look a little different because I use "ReStock", I think that is also the mod that is changing their names. I also use "Better Order of Parts" which might change their names, I'm not sure. Kerbin looks a little different because I use "Scatterer" and "EVE."

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boolybooly

boolybooly

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Thankyou for clarifying @ralanboyle . Congratulations on completing the K-Prize with box shaped style and earning an APPA for stopping with one pair of rear wheels on the runway, doesnt get much closer than that!

Congratulations also to @minerbat for completing the K-Prize. I listed the mission but had to make a name up as I didnt see a name for the craft, which I will add if you can supply one. Also thanks for trying the image hosting. If I may make a suggestion, larger resolutions should be possible and would be much more informative about the craft and methods you have used.

Thanks for your mission reports and welcome to the K-Prize party Guest list aka the roll of honour. :) 

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minerbat

minerbat

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On 2/21/2020 at 7:01 PM, boolybooly said:

Congratulations also to @minerbat for completing the K-Prize. I listed the mission but had to make a name up as I didnt see a name for the craft, which I will add if you can supply one. Also thanks for trying the image hosting. If I may make a suggestion, larger resolutions should be possible and would be much more informative about the craft and methods you have used.

Thanks for your mission reports and welcome to the K-Prize party Guest list aka the roll of honour. :) 

it is called ikran 1. also how do i get a challenge completed picture by my posts?

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boolybooly

boolybooly

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5 hours ago, minerbat said:

it is called ikran 1. also how do i get a challenge completed picture by my posts?

You need to visit the sig badges by WafflesToo page linked here and on the first page and copy the appropriate image by right click menu then paste it into your sig and save so it displays when you next refresh or load a post of yours. Its very easy and even easier if you copy this one instead ;)

65JDmMo.png

Signature is accessed via your account settings, click on your name at the top right of any forum page header and keep going.

 

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Mars-Bound Hokie

Mars-Bound Hokie

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What's up, @boolybooly and friends? 

 

Backstory time (skip if you're not interested)

Spoiler

After a combination of seeing Lt_Duckweed's Nuclear Grace on KerbalX (check it out yourself) and watching Matt Lowne's Airplane-Launched Rocket Video, I decided to try my hand in launching craft from planes. I then took apart my Poseidon SSTO and put a Gilly lander in a cargo bay, but the plane spun out of control.

 

GFLI4xc.png

  • The Gilly lander after deployed from the first prototype.
    • Delta-V: 3,475 m/s
    • Thrust: 60 kN
    • Mass: 24.933 tons

 

However, after re-entry, I started to spin uncontrollably through the atmosphere. I eventually managed to regain control at 4 km above the surface (and land the plane), but that was unacceptable. I then DMmed Duckweed for help, and he told me how I can improve my design so that my CoM will stay in front of my CoL after using up most of my Lf+Ox (and losing the lander). More specifically, he told me to lose the tail-mounted NERVs and put a real aerodynamic nosecone there.

  • His advice did the trick; though I have to watch my thrust more carefully, it's worth it if it means I can control the plane again.

 

 

 

Here's my (fifth) entry for the K Prize, the Relay Carrier.

8om8vBj.png

 

 

U1oVFRS.png

  • Taking off from 0-9 KSC

 

 

mH8qn89.png

  • Just a normal day setting planes on fire at 25,000 meters
  • At least the relay's safe.

 

10gYsSl.png

  • Nice view of the sunrise.

 

 

dwpEG5D.png

  • Relay deployed at 178 km altitude
    • It has a cargo bay with a lot of science in it since we got a contract mandating we carry stuff like goo and materials and a thermometer in a relay to Pol. I then installed all available scientific instruments into the cargo bay - as well as some RCS tanks so that it can separate from the plane easily.
  • Has 4,339 m/s of delta-V.

 

fiRJ82F.png

  • I overshot the target, so now I have to turn around and land at 2-7 KSC.

 

erjgv9T.png

  • SUCCESS!
  • 227,393 funds recovered from safe landing, as well as 0 debris left anywhere. 

 

OUTCOME

  • Science-equipped relay in LKO, ready for action.
  • Plane and crew safely recovered at the KSC.
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boolybooly

boolybooly

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Congratulations once again @Mars-Bound Hokie on completing the K-Prize challenge with the capable looking and evidently useful Relay Carrier, earning an Advanced Pilot Precision Award, and a Utilitarial Commendation by placing a large relay capable probe in LKO and returning to land safely at KSC. Zero debris is how we like things down at the Dog and Booster! Thanks for your new mission report and welcome back to the K-Prize party guest list, aka the roll of honour. :)

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boolybooly

boolybooly

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5 hours ago, ralanboyle said:

@boolybooly, I have decided to up my score with my new SSTMinmus. Video Here. Also, at 657Tons, I'm not sure what the current record is for Maximalist, but this is up there. The Cost is $747k. 

Thanks for sharing the video of Airline Minmus. She's a beauty @ralanboyle and your persistence is commendable and legitimate but at time 7:33 the parachutes disappear and I have to ask were they cut ?! Or did they vanish due to some kind of bug, since the velocity was still 80 odd.

I am sorry but I have to ask since I only recently pointed this out in a post to Space Nerd. It is rule 1 and the test is reusability. If they were cut then I hope  you can replay the landing without cutting the chutes and say so here and it will count and I can link your video in the roll of honour.

Also FYI the maximalist record remains with Aeroboi at an astonishing 2.75kt. Thats your target! ;) 

 

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boolybooly

boolybooly

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Well played, without doubt congratulations are in order @ralanboyle for the K-Prize winning Airline Minmus mission. Irrefutably a remarkable behemoth in its own right, which through trial and error and success earned a well deserved Astrokerbal Distinction for landing on Minmus before returning safely to Kerbin and the KSC runway, to earn an Advanced Pilot Precision Award for stopping with even more wheels on the runway than its predecessor! Thanks for your mission reports, now linked in the K-Prize roll of honour aka the K-Prize party guest list. :) 

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Mars-Bound Hokie

Mars-Bound Hokie

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Question, @boolybooly. 

For days, I've been trying to build a spaceplane carrier. In case you don't know what it is, it's a spaceplane that carries another spaceplane into LKO and drops it off before returning to the KSC. Below is a picture of the latest semi-successful prototype in action.

 

FK44sst.png

  • Taken at 160 km orbital altitude
  • Main spaceplane has ~4966 m/s of delta-V when detached.
  • Now you know why it's called a spaceplane carrier.
    • I won't waste the spaceplane's fuel getting ready for its ejection burns.

 

Once I get it working, I can send the main spaceplane to whatever planet I need to without having to stop at Minmus and/or Ike first. If I'm lucky, I can land and get back to the KSC without having to refuel - but I have ISRU just in case. As for the "carrier," I will send it back to the KSC immediately after detachment.

If successful, does this qualify as a K Prize entry? Yes, both planes will be millions of kilometers away and land years apart, but both should end up back home intact when they're done.

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boolybooly

boolybooly

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@Mars-Bound Hokie , interesting design and idea, reminiscent of Virgin Galactic's White Knight launcher.

I think what you are proposing would have to break the payload ascent rule, in proviso A for rule 1, because of using the lift surfaces if not engines of the payload vehicle on ascent.  

Please bear in mind these rules are intended to allow comparisons between different spaceplane designs and distinguish spaceplanes from staged rockets, it can get a bit tricky around edge cases, gamers being gamers!

If you wanted Utilitarial certification for moving a daughter vehicle to orbit as payload then the payload craft may not use engines on ascent or lift surfaces, because this is indistinguishable from staging, so if the lifter lands alone but uses the daughter vehicle propulsion or wings on ascent then its a gatecrasher. 

There have been precedents set regarding ships with detachable explorers and what seemed to make sense at the time was that the mission kudos only applies while the multipart craft is intact and as long as the other rules are also observed, especially no use of refuelling for kudos related propulsion. The kudos only applies up to the point they separate and after they recombine e.g. low orbit.

So the daughter vehicle can do what you want including visit Minmus to refuel and use mined fuel for missions, but nothing it does while separated counts for K-Prize kudos. Kudos begins to apply once they reunite to land as long as any mined fuel does not assist the combined vehicle. If the daughter used mined fuel to get to a rendezvous distant from the separation point then that would also break the K-Prize conditions, as that is using mined fuel to move part of the entire craft. Hope that makes sense. :)

Edited by boolybooly
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  • 2 weeks later...
Ksp Slingshooter

Ksp Slingshooter

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Here's my entry for the K-Prize, an SSTO that only weighs 9,208 tons.
It's called Phoenix mk-3.
It took me a few attempts to perfect the ascent profile (that's why you'll see different pilots in the pilot seat).

It only ends up having ~200 m/s of delta-V in LKO

w8CGwdV.png

Here's the full album: https://imgur.com/gallery/pW5W7q0

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