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

[Flying dutchman]

would it be an idea to have a category and badge for eve ssto's?

Edited June 26, 2022 by Flying dutchman

[OJT]

This SSTO with very creative name "PLEN GO UP" is gonna go to Minmus

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Landing was a bit sketchy, but nothing broke

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Gliding at hypersonic speeds until I reach KSC

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Approach and landing

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[boolybooly]

Congratulations  once again @OJT on successfully completing the K-Prize challenge and landing the functional, effective and instructively named PLEN GO UP on Minmus before returning to land safely at KSC runway.

Your mission earned the prestigious award of an Astrokerbal Distinction as well as the highly regarded Advanced Pilot Precision Award to add to your extensive trophy cabinet.

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- Advanced Pilot Precision Award,  Astrokerbal Distinction (Minmus) with PLEN GO UP.

Thanks for your mission report and welcome back to the K-Prize party guest list aka the K-Prize roll of honour.

[OJT]

Introducing PLEN GO DUN

Ascent is as usual. Ignore the wrong name in first couple of pictures: this plane was initially a failed "SSTO to Moho" concept and while making changes for Duna trip I forgot to rename it. I did rename it when I got to orbit

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Travelling to Duna. Transfer burn was split into several parts

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Approaching Duna, about to aerobrake

I did two aerobrakes, one to capture into Duna orbit and another one to get into suborbital trajectory

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I picked a spot to land: a huge plain near equator which is barely above the Duna Sea Level, so air is thick enough to get lift on wings

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My visual mods meant that there was what I could only describe as a dust storm at my landing site so visibility was not great. After a bit of gliding I raised my nose a bit to reduce descent speed as much as I could

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As soon as wheels touched the surface I engaged the brakes and slowed down

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And here we are! No Airbrakes, no parachutes, no reverse thrust, ultimate flex

Takeoff and ascent back to Duna orbit

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Returning to Kerbin after waiting for transfer window

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Two aerobrakes bring me into a suborbital trajectory

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After slowing down enough I point prograde and glide until I reach the KSC. I had to briefly engage the engines on the way

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Approaching KSC

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Smooth landing

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Jeb sends his regards

[boolybooly]

Congratulations @OJT on successfully taking the K-Prize to the next level and earning the prestigious Expeditionary Astrokerbal Distinction for landing the sleek but controversially named PLEN GO DUN on Duna and the highly regarded Advanced Pilot Precision Award for returning to Kerbin and landing safely on the KSC runway.

Thanks again for your mission report and welcome back to the K-Prize party guest list, aka the roll of honour.

Edited July 7, 2022 by boolybooly

[OJT]

Time for another "Kerbalized" replica. This time it is XB70

Initially I build the atmospheric version with 6 Panthers to test the in-flight stability and, seeing that it worked, I scrambled an SSTO version with 4 RAPIERs and 2 NERVAs

Ascent to orbit was a bit tricky due to low heat tolerance of Mk1 Cockpit. First part of the ascent was at relatively steep angle: high TWR from RAPIERs allowed me to raise the periapsis high enough while gaining good speed. After that I continued with NERVAs all the way into orbit. I actually was briefly falling back into the thicker atmosphere at one point, but we made it in the end

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After reaching orbit we are descending back down and landing on KSC runway

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At this point I have enough backstage passes to sell some off on the Internet for a quick buck 

[boolybooly]

Well that is at least a minibus full by now @OJT ! 

Congratulations once again on completing the K-Prize with the elite looking XB70 Valkyrie SSTO, convincing replica of the mach3 nuclear bomber prototype.

The mission earned an advanced pilot precision award for reaching orbit and returning to land safely at KSC runway.

Thankyou for your mission report and welcome back to the K-Prize party guest list aka the roll of honour.

[SkyFall2489]

I have a fully stock rocket-plane I'd like to show, but I need to do a little more testing for the full mission run-through. It is meant to fly to orbit, dock to a fuel station and refuel, fly to Gilly and land there, and then fly home. As refueling is not allowed, I way just fly to the station, not transfer any fuel, and head back down. I've only tested a vertical launch, but it should be able to have a runway launch and immediately pitch up. Would that be allowed? It is single stage.

Edited August 3, 2022 by SkyFall2489

[boolybooly]

3 hours ago, SkyFall2489 said:

I have a fully stock rocket-plane I'd like to show, but I need to do a little more testing for the full mission run-through. It is meant to fly to orbit, dock to a fuel station and refuel, fly to Gilly and land there, and then fly home. As refueling is not allowed, I way just fly to the station, not transfer any fuel, and head back down. I've only tested a vertical launch, but it should be able to have a runway launch and immediately pitch up. Would that be allowed? It is single stage.

Sounds like that would be within the K-Prize rules.

As long as the initial direction of travel on launching is horizontal, a minimum distance of one craft length would be appropriate if there is any doubt, you can then pitch up as fast as you like. Hope that helps.

[SkyFall2489]

My entry:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1FrdV91iXzn_CFGXq-va4kzz6r6PepK6rfWBOVH1-if0/edit?usp=sharing

Pic heavy. Got to a 78KM orbit, and landed on the runway. MechJeb was used to precisely complete maneuvers in a vacuum. 1 kerbal capacity.

I have some similar, larger planes, but they are modded.

 

On 8/3/2022 at 3:50 PM, boolybooly said:

a minimum distance of one craft length

Hmm....

I have an idea: build a ship that meets every K prize rule except for that. Either make a plane with a lot of engine power and a lot of wing area, or find a way to make a vertically launching rocket take off horizontally. Perhaps add some wheels and a sideways engine, and then fire the mains once the rocket has started rolling sideways? Landing may be a challenge, as it is a vertical propulsive landing with intentional horizontal velocity...

This might be fun.

Edited August 5, 2022 by SkyFall2489

[boolybooly]

Congratulations @SkyFall2489 on completing the K-Prize mission successfully, reaching Kerbin orbit with Mini SSRT and returning to land safely, albeit sideways, on the KSC runway!

For which the mission earned the highly regarded Advanced Pilot Precision Award . Thankyou for your mission report  and welcome to the K-Prize party guest list, aka the K-Prize roll of honour.

 

 

[the_wizard]

Here's my submission many many years late!

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Simply called the BoxWing SSTO, the design is based loosely on one of Matt Lowne's SSTO to Minmus, and can deliver at least 18 tons to LKO. This mission involved sending a rover to my new Minmus gateway station and collecting the engineer who was sent with it to set it up!

Mods installed are Paralax 2.0, and KOS, however the craft itself is completely stock!

I realized after, most of my screenshots were taken without the UI, which if need be I can redo the mission and resubmit.

Preflight:

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Playing with  Paralax 2.0 always makes taking off very pretty.

Ascent and orbit:

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Pretty standard ascent for a spaceplane with Rapiers, stay level just after takeoff until 450+ m/s for the jets to really start kicking into gear, then angle up around 20 degrees. Ignite Nerva's around 20 km, and when the Rapiers need to be switched, angle up as hard as it'll go. Wait until the AP is over 70 and from there it's the same as any other rocket.

Transferring to Minmus:

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Burning on the way to the glassy moon:

And on the way!

Arrival in Minmus and completing the first stage of the mission deliverables:

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Nice and docked, showing off the small rover

Ultimately the rover ended up just floating away after I undocked and realized it didn't have any RCS. I didn't feel like docking the station to it, so it's just chilling up there for now! However, technically a payload delivered to Minmus orbit. We also picked up Podrick from the station, it gets pretty lonely up there so far from home. As you can tell the margins ended up being pretty slim for my return, and I ended up going through quite a few quickloads after aerobraking until I got close enough to the KSC to perform a landing.

Returning home:

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Like mentioned above pretty slim margins for a return, and this craft doesn't handle overheating very well. This of course made the reentry take a long time, both in game and out.

Had some spins on the final decent, but luckily I was able to correct pretty quickly and take it down for a nice glide.

Used up the last drop of fuel to extend our glide and get right on the runway.

94 days later the crew + Podrick have successfully returned to the KSC safe and sound, ready for some non-packaged rations!

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[boolybooly]

Hi @the_wizard better late than never  ... Congratulations on successfully completing the K-Prize mission with BoxWing SSTO to yourself, Podrick, Siging and Lenpond, who  have earned the highly regarded Utilitarial Commendation for taking a rover as payload to Minmus orbit, along with the sought after Kosmokerbal Commendation for achieving Minmus orbit and an Advanced Pilot Precision Award 1st class for both docking in Minmus orbit and returning to land safely at KSC runway.

The absence of UI is perfectly OK in this situation as it is not required where a simple statement in text or other evidence attests to the completion of the K-Prize mission. There have been gatecrashers bounced due to not providing any evidence or statements at all! However your descriptions plus the screenshots of Minmus orbit demonstrate that the K-Prize mission was completed, so thanks very much for your mission report and welcome to the K-Prize roll of honour aka the K-Prize party guest list.

 

[Foxworthgames]

I have made an SSTO an named it TechnoPlane.  In honor of the late Technoblade. But here is a video I made. I go out to Minmus deploy a small relay.  Return to Kerbal and land at the KSC. I have visual mods and use Trajectories. 
 

 

[boolybooly]

Congratulations @Foxworthgames on successfully completing the K-Prize mission with Techno Plane flown by Techno Kerman, in tribute to the late Technoblade of Minecraft fame ( https://youtube.fandom.com/wiki/Technoblade ), earning the highly regarded kudos of the Kosmokerbal Commendation for entering orbit around Minmus, a Utilitarial Commendation for releasing a relay into Minmus orbit and an Advanced Pilot Precision Award for returning to land safely at KSC runway. 

Your successful mission kudos has been listed and linked on the roll of honour aka the K-Prize party guest list, in accord with the longstanding traditions of the K-Prize, along with a discretionary notice of your intended tribute to Technoblade.

Thankyou for your mission report and welcome to the halls of K-Prize fame and glory within the heavenly mansions of the KSP universe. RIP Technoblade.

 

EDIT - FYI - In the expectation of KSP2 in one months time the K-Prize thread will continue to be available to participants with a self service paradigm and I will no longer be curating the challenge manually.

Participants are welcome to continue making mission reports and self assess their kudos achievements.

I want to take this opportunity to thank everyone who has taken part in the challenge. It has been fun for me and I hope it was fun for you.

See you all at the Dog & Booster!  

Edited January 24, 2023 by boolybooly

[Vanamonde]

I hope that you continue or restart this challenge for KSP2.

[Vanamonde]

Going to update or restart this for KPS2? 

[Martian Emigrant]

Hi there.

 

I finally have an entry for the Prize. The K-Prize no less.

The ship with the unimaginative name "Cargo Plaine" gets to orbit drops a Micro-Sat and return to the KSC without using the atmospheric engine again.

 

 

Thanks for watching,

 

ME

 

Edited January 3, 2024 by Martian Emigrant

[boolybooly]

Thanks for your mission video @Martian Emigrant which is very welcome. I think you can award yourself a K-Prize plus an Utilitarial Commendation, congratulations, as always.  

@Vanamonde thanks for your encouragement, much appreciated. I like to think people will be doing this for real one day, when SABRE becomes fully functional, if someone else doesn't get there first! I feel sure spaceplanes are going to become an important method for getting stuff into space. Which is why I feel the K-Prize is bigger than one challenge thread or curator.

TBH my secret hope is that for this reason the K-Prize mission or equivalent, to fly a space plane to orbit, will be adopted by Intercept and added as a side mission in KSP2. 

So for that reason I feel it is best to let go of the K-Prize and let it take on a life of its own, which it deserves.

Also I am not in a position to take it further, due to difficulties created by a longstanding medical condition involving immune dysfunction diagnosed as ME CFS, which has become worse after COVID, possibly due to longcovid plus ME.  I just dont have the boosters to take it on and would love to see someone else take the idea further in KSP2.

What do you think?

[Vanamonde]

Well, I appreciate that you've kept it going so long. Another could take it over or revive it, but it wouldn't be the same.  

[sturmhauke]

That condition sounds terrible @boolybooly, I'm sorry. Thank you for running this thing, it was one of my first forum badges.

[Scarecrow71]

Is this still a thing?  Can we post for modded versions here too, considering the last post in the sister thread was in 2022?

[boolybooly]

13 hours ago, Scarecrow71 said:

Is this still a thing?  Can we post for modded versions here too, considering the last post in the sister thread was in 2022?

Sure go right ahead. Feel free to make your report and explain what you would like people to know.

The thread is intended for sharing.

The K-Prize is anarchy self assessment now so you can award yourself the kudos you feel you deserve ! 

[Mr. Kerbin]

@boolybooly, despite this being a anarchy  self-review challenge, I’d like to ask- are we allowed to refuel at the surface of Kerbin, and launch again?

[boolybooly]

4 hours ago, Mr. Kerbin said:

@boolybooly, despite this being a anarchy  self-review challenge, I’d like to ask- are we allowed to refuel at the surface of Kerbin, and launch again?

Sure, the precedent exists. Each relaunch after refuelling on Kerbin is treated as a new mission but for creative refuelling solutions discretionary awards may apply.

A mission count can accrue if multiple missions are completed without refuelling. See Harry Seaward, Camacju and Dman Revolution on the first page.