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

[Mr. Me]

@boolybooly do we get notified when our submission is judged?

[Joseph Kerman]

Just a little question before I submit. How do you stop a spaceplane from pointing retrograde? All my SSTO's do that when I pitch above 20 degrees, in which I cannot recover at all. 

[voicey99]

8 minutes ago, Joseph Kerman said:

Just a little question before I submit. How do you stop a spaceplane from pointing retrograde? All my SSTO's do that when I pitch above 20 degrees, in which I cannot recover at all. 

Use the buttons above the symmetry display to make sure your centre of lift is in line with or behind the centre of mass if that's not possible, else it will be very unstable and possibly flip and go into a death spiral. Check how the CoM moves as the fuel drains or you could be in for a nasty surprise come re-entry. I find it useful to leave a marker on the plane where the CoL is so you can move fuel around to re-centre it (the CoM is the camera focus point) while on-orbit before re-entry.

Edited April 24, 2017 by voicey99

[NoobTool]

I have a new submission. The Czar Galactica Mk 5:

https://kerbalx.com/NoobTool/Czar-Galactica-Mk-5

and my first video submission:

Starting mass is as shown in above image. Payload is 476.8 tons.

Edited April 24, 2017 by NoobTool

[voicey99]

56 minutes ago, NoobTool said:

I have a new submission. The Czar Galactica Mk 5:

https://kerbalx.com/NoobTool/Czar-Galactica-Mk-5

<schnip>

and my first video submission:

<schnip>

Starting mass is as shown in above image. Payload is 476.8 tons.

I like what you've done with the offsetting and the embedding of Mk2 parts. Very nice, although it does look like a bit of a jumble at the back.

[NoobTool]

9 minutes ago, voicey99 said:

I like what you've done with the offsetting and the embedding of Mk2 parts. Very nice, although it does look like a bit of a jumble at the back.

Thanks, The wings at the rear could definitely use some cleaning up. Previous versions used Big S main wings at the back, but they had heat tolerance issues. She's also obnoxiously over-engined, but I think that's part of her charm. It's also what allows for the high payload capacity. I have another version with a reduced part count and fewer engines, probably a more reasonable craft tbh.

[voicey99]

1 hour ago, NoobTool said:

Thanks, The wings at the rear could definitely use some cleaning up. Previous versions used Big S main wings at the back, but they had heat tolerance issues. She's also obnoxiously over-engined, but I think that's part of her charm. It's also what allows for the high payload capacity. I have another version with a reduced part count and fewer engines, probably a more reasonable craft tbh.

Also, I guess the fact that you're on 1.2.9 also means pretty much guaranteed mod-free since almost no mods are out for 1.2.9 yet. I find putting chutes on the back end of a craft greatly reduces its stopping distance in case you don't nail the runway exactly straight-on or land in some other place where a short stopping distance or being able to slow down prior to landing is crucial.

[Thor Wotansen]

I have another submission, the Róta.  She can deliver 36t to a 100km orbit and return to land at the KSC runway with a touchdown speed under 50m/s.  She truly is a joy to fly, requiring almost no control input to achieve a stable orbit.  The craft file can be found here.

 

[Joseph Kerman]

Hope it's good enough for you...

[voicey99]

2 minutes ago, Joseph Kerman said:

<schnip>

Hope it's good enough for you...

I don't think that one will count because all parts that go up must come back down too, and you lost the tail on re-entry (and crashed it) so you're going to have to try again without losing any bits or crashing for this to be a non-gatecrasher entry.

[Scarecrow]

Don't know if this challenge is still 'live' but I had Jeb on a station in LKO, and this challenge seemed like a good excuse to build a SSTO to go and fetch him.

 

Ready to go

 

In orbit

 

Docked to the station

 

Leaving with Jeb on board

 

Re-entry judged to perfection

 

Back at base

[voicey99]

1 hour ago, Scarecrow said:

Don't know if this challenge is still 'live' but I had Jeb on a station in LKO, and this challenge seemed like a good excuse to build a SSTO to go and fetch him.

<schnip>

The K-Prize is still going, @boolybooly occasionally checks back to judge submissions (I can't say the wait though, it could be weeks). As for the craft, I'm assuming you put a cubic strut or something on the end of the horizontal bicoupler and then offset the vertical adaptor/bicoupler into the craft. Also, what are the ARIs for? The two SCIs should provide enough air the four RAPIERs, and at the speeds where you need all the air you can get the ARIs are next to useless.

[Scarecrow]

No cubic struts, just part clipping enabled to allow me to attach it to a point that was already being used.  Intakes are there for aesthetics, as a lot of my craft seem to end up looking very similar.  Just thought I would do something different with this one.

[boolybooly]

Congratulations to the following intrepid space pioneers...

voicey99 Expeditionary Utilitarial Distinction (Duna) with Yate Haugan. @voicey99

Mr. Me Advanced Pilot Precision Award with Freebird SSTO.

ForScience6686 Pilot proficiency meda with Convertible.

@NoobTool - maximalist record holder (1325t), Utilitarial Commendation (476.8t), Advanced Pilot Precision Award with Czar Galactica MK 5.

@Thor Wotansen - Advanced Pilot Precision Award, Utilitarial Commendation (36t) with Róta.

Scarecrow Advanced Pilot Precision Award 1st Class with Jeb's Limo. @Scarecrow

... for completing the K-Prize with respective kudos. Thanks all for your mission reports and welcome to the roll of honour aka the K-Prize party guest list.    

 

@Mr. Me Notification seems like a worthwhile innovation. I guessed your entry had qualified for the K-Prize and did reach orbit because it looked like it did, also your linked page did discuss the capability, but FYI your report did not state that orbit was achieved during the mission or provide any screenshot evidence of this. So I have assumed this, please let me know if this was not in fact the case and I will give the mission a gatecrasher listing instead. 

@ForScience6686 kudos for multipart craft missions counts while the craft is entire, anything achieved by a lander etc like your dropship does not count as a capability of the entire ship, though it is very interesting as a method and certainly slick and good looking in the case of Convertible.

Edited April 29, 2017 by boolybooly

[voicey99]

1 hour ago, boolybooly said:

Scarecrow Advanced Pilot Precision Award 1st Class with Jeb's Limo. @Scarecrow

Was it called Jeb's Limo? I don't recall it getting named at any point. Sounds good, though.

And P.S. @Scarecrow you can press F2 to hide the UI and take cinematic screenshots.

[Scarecrow]

I know, but often feel that leaving the UI in allows people to see fuel levels. altitude, AP/PE etc.  I didn't name the craft Jeb's Limo, but given that's what I built it for, it does seem rather appropriate, so thanks to @boolybooly for that.

[JoeNapalm]

 

This is done using KER, Procedural Wings, and Tweak Scale:

 

Wish I still had the save so I could see how much this old girl weighed! (The Roc Super Heavy SSTO was back in 'the day' as they say):

 

-Jn-

 

 

 

 

[Fulgora]

Another minimalist submission - coming in at 3.945t wet / ~2.8t dry (with a Kerbal):

I did use infinite fuel in order to speed up the re-entry, but the re-entry itself was legit with a 69 peri / 70 apo. I did not feel like spending the whole day waiting for the craft to come close to the surface so I hope that this does not qualify as gate-crashing. (Its explained in the pictures as well) #fullDisclosure

(Also if I would have payed more attention going into orbit this problem wouldn't have occured in the first place)

 

Full album: 

 

Edited April 29, 2017 by Fulgora

[boolybooly]

3 hours ago, Scarecrow said:

I know, but often feel that leaving the UI in allows people to see fuel levels. altitude, AP/PE etc.  I didn't name the craft Jeb's Limo, but given that's what I built it for, it does seem rather appropriate, so thanks to @boolybooly for that.

I took a little license there, glad you like it goes without saying that if you would prefer a different name you need only say so.

 

PS @JoeNapalm I am sorry to say procedural wings comes under gatecrashing because it is a modified lifting surface. FYI it will be a week or two until my next update so if you want to avoid the gatecrasher listing you can complete the mission or if you say so I will ignore it else I will set about finding a suitable quip!

 

Edited April 29, 2017 by boolybooly

[Scarecrow]

Nope, Jeb's Limo suits perfectly.

[JoeNapalm]

 

7 hours ago, boolybooly said:

PS @JoeNapalm I am sorry to say procedural wings comes under gatecrashing because it is a modified lifting surface. FYI it will be a week or two until my next update so if you want to avoid the gatecrasher listing you can complete the mission or if you say so I will ignore it else I will set about finding a suitable quip!

 

 

Oops! I wasn't thinking about that -- I had those mission pics from my previous save. I'm running a clean stock build, right now, so I threw together a little SSTO grip-it-and-rip it build.

She performed so well on her test flight that I just did the mission, so here you go!:

Spoiler

 

 

Edited April 30, 2017 by JoeNapalm

[JYNg]

Here's my entry for K-Prize: Kaiser 4

Kaiser 4 is my first SSTO and it's capable of reaching a 100km orbit with sufficient fuel for docking and returning to KSC. Unfortunately there were no screenshot taken during the ascent as I was too obsessed with getting the ascent profile right. 

 

This craft uses purely stock parts, weighs 31t and is capable of returning to KSC without refueling. Below is the album containing more images but the sequence are a little jumbled up.

 

[Joseph Kerman]

On Thursday, April 27, 2017 at 6:01 PM, voicey99 said:

I don't think that one will count because all parts that go up must come back down too, and you lost the tail on re-entry (and crashed it) so you're going to have to try again without losing any bits or crashing for this to be a non-gatecrasher entry.

You may, but lemme tell you, that can land, it's just a bit hard. 

[Skylon]

I give you....

STP-2 'Javelin' Trainer Spaceplane
The plane shown is the B variant, designed for docking. It is designed to train newbie pilots in spaceplane flight as well as rendezvous and docking in the case of the B variant. This sleek aircraft can pull some very high-G turns and is very manoeuvrable. Here is a test launch, piloted by none other than Jeb himself:

 It needs to be updated to have more monopropellant, less liquid fuel and solar panels before it is ready for commercial release.

[EliteGuy3]

Hey, remember me?

No, I'm not here to do another throw down, but...

I present the Corinthians I

 

This was surprisingly simple. What I did was, from the looks of Kolibri 2, made tweaks so it used less fuel. In doing so, I fitted in a reaction wheel with batteries. One of the problems was that circular intakes were too heavy, so I replaced it with a nose cone and 2 radial intakes, shaving off ~0.5 tons (correct me if I'm wrong).

I always like making tiny craft because of how simple they are, instead of having massive cargo SSTO with a certain fuel tank with this much fuel and so on. It's also quite easy to improve, because of how little parts there are. You know which part effects what. I also do small because my head isn't big enough to all that TWR stuff.

oh, It looks like I'm too late...

Edited May 4, 2017 by EliteGuy3