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

[doggonemess]

On 5/9/2018 at 5:37 PM, beomagi said:

Thanks Booly  Decided to roll another craft, trying to push the DV higher.

This space plane has nearly 6000dv after getting to LKO. So I visit every station I've made in Kerbin's influence with a dock.

I dock with 5 stations and land on minmus without refueling. 

 

Images resized to 500px wide to keep it easier on DL - or just use link below.

https://imgur.com/gallery/YGaB6BS

Very cool mission! A suggestion, it would be easier for everyone if you put the images in a "spoiler" tag so that people don't have to scroll so much to go through the forum.

[beomagi]

Thanks. Updated the post.

[boolybooly]

@beomagi in spirit  I believe your mission is a K-Prize winner. Though there is one point of technical difficulty with it which perhaps you could clarify. Where did the fuel come from to move the "base mun" station plus SP 6000 (is that the right name?) around Minmus into a higher orbit? 

If the fuel came from SP 6000 then it is an interesting precedent, using it as a fuel supply boat. If it came from the space station then it technically ought to break the docking rule but it is not covered by existing rules. However I am minded to overlook it on this occasion because the SP 6000 went on to land on Minmus which was the opposite direction to the assist, so it actually cost dV and did not add towards a kudos achievement. However I will need to devise a rule to exclude docking to boosters because in order to compare craft capabilities they must proceed using their own thrust and fuel, which is the same reason the K-Prize is stock only. 

 

Edited May 19, 2018 by boolybooly

[beomagi]

50 minutes ago, boolybooly said:

@beomagi in spirit  I believe your mission is a K-Prize winner. Though there is one point of technical difficulty with it which perhaps you could clarify. Where did the fuel come from to move the "base mun" station plus SP 6000 (is that the right name?) around Minmus into a higher orbit? 

 

 

Hmm A bit of both I believe. I hadn't paid it much notice. 

Looking at the before and after docking, the dv dopped by 42. While I am using main thrusters for docking, 42 is a lot for that. I generally use 0.5-1.5m/s when docking. Assuming multiple tries, say 15-20dv ? The station orbit change of ~5k average to ~12k was maybe 10-20 dv.

Running the station thrusters looks like it pulled fuel from both. I haven't changed crossfeed settings.

[boolybooly]

Thanks for clarifying @beomagi , as I said I think at a practical level the mission is a K-Prize winner (and I need to work on the rules), so thanks for your detailed report of an extensive mission and congratulations for ...

- Astrokerbal Distinction (Minmus), Advanced Pilot Precision Award 1st Class with SP-6000.

and welcome back to the K-Prize party guest list aka the role of honour.  (FYI the Astrokerbal Distinction includes the Kosmokerbal Commendations for visiting SOIs since you have to visit an SOI to land on another planet/oid.) 

 

[doggonemess]

I built a bunch of SSTOs a couple years ago and discovered that it's REALLY hard to actually get them to orbit and back. I figured I'd give it a shot again. And it worked!

Spoiler

I used a modification of my ship, the Mk2 SSTO Quad. I've uploaded it to KerbalX: https://kerbalx.com/LevAerospace/Mk2-SSTO-Quad-A 

Spoiler

I made it to orbit with a little fuel left, which was great because I would've landed in the mountains otherwise. The great thing about this plane is that it's very stable. I glides very well, too, which is very helpful when landing. Not great for high speed, though. It was a chore getting it out of the atmosphere.

My Kerbals looked very proud afterwards. Good thing they don't know about their alternate universe selves who died horribly over and over again.

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I'm going to keep going with it - maybe earn one of the more advanced distinctions!

Jamie

 

Edited May 25, 2018 by doggonemess

[boolybooly]

Thanks for your mission report @doggonemess , you are right, spaceplanes are hard but that is why we do these things. Congratulations on completing the K-Prize mission successfully and returning to the KSC runway safely, which merits kudos ... 

... Advanced Pilot Precision Award with Mk2 SSTO Quad.

Welcome to the role of honour aka the K-Prize party guest list. If you would like to report more advanced missions they will be very welcome.

Edited May 28, 2018 by boolybooly

[doggonemess]

On 5/27/2018 at 4:53 PM, boolybooly said:

Thanks for your mission report @doggonemess , you are right, spaceplanes are hard but that is why we do these things. Congratulations on completing the K-Prize mission successfully and returning to the KSC runway safely, which merits kudos ... 

... Advanced Pilot Precision Award with Mk2 SSTO Quad.

Welcome to the role of honour aka the K-Prize party guest list. If you would like to report more advanced missions they will be very welcome.

 Advanced Pilot Precision Award? Woah! Do I get a shiny medal to go with the title?

[mrhexed]

I did... I forgot about this video of my SSTO

Edited June 6, 2018 by mrhexed

[boolybooly]

Thanks for your comprehensive video report of your SSTO mission to Minmus @mrhexed. Recovering from the reentry spin encurred by the exploding air brakes showed skillful piloting, nevertheless the explosion itself unfortunately broke K-Prize rules, see rule 1 about not losing parts since exploding parts are considered lost. 

This qualifies the report for a gatecrasher link on the front page, on the list of gatecrashing infamy, plus quip and the right to display the gatecrasher logo. Which is quite a good deal.

However if you would prefer you also have the right to have the gatecrasher listing expunged (or kept, your call) if you complete a successful K-Prize mission. The choice is yours and I will hold off on listing the gatecrasher for a bit in case you decide you want to complete the mission.  

 

 

 

[mrhexed]

1 minute ago, boolybooly said:

Thanks for your comprehensive video report of your SSTO mission to Minmus @mrhexed. Recovering from the reentry spin encurred by the exploding air brakes showed skillful piloting, nevertheless the explosion itself unfortunately broke K-Prize rules, see rule 1 about not losing parts since exploding parts are considered lost. 

This qualifies the report for a gatecrasher link on the front page, on the list of gatecrashing infamy, plus quip and the right to display the gatecrasher logo. Which is quite a good deal.

However if you would prefer you also have the right to have the gatecrasher listing expunged (or kept, your call) if you complete a successful K-Prize mission. The choice is yours and I will hold off on listing the gatecrasher for a bit in case you decide you want to complete the mission.  

 

 

 

ok, thanks for telling me! I'll get back to work on making an SSTO to orbit

[Kerbal Design Bureau]

Kerbal Design Bureau's KDB-SSTO-1! 

"Kerbin's most polite SSTO"

Jeb didn't want to walk from the end of the runway all the way to the astronaut complex, so he decided to use the KDB-SSTO-I. Being Jeb, he decided to take a little detour. An orbital detour!

*NOTE: This SSTO made a 75x91 orbit, but due to Jeb being needed to terrorize motivate the interns,  the retro-burn occurred before a full orbit was completed. Had the interns not accidentally set fire to their own heads testing a new rocket motor, Jeb would've been able to spend more time in space. 

Images:

Spoiler

The SSTO-I on the runway

 

Final ascent, only about 30 seconds left until the closed-cycle engine kicks in

 

Retro-burn

Re-entry interface beauty shot. "That's no Mun!" 

Final descent

 

I really suck at judging glide slopes

 

Flare...

 

...aaannddd touchdown!

1

 

Edited June 14, 2018 by Kerbal Design Bureau
aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

[Loompar]

First post of a new account! Here's my submission:

Very very basic but hey, gotta start somewhere.

[Kerbolitto]

Hello, this my attempt to the K-prize

 

I present you :

Cheval mk4-3 (50t.)

I stuffed a little Mun land base with a Mem style exploration module, the whole payload wheighing 31t.

The ascent was a bit sketchy because I added thermal panels after building the fairing and did noticed them poking through, which I think added quite some drag.. ~~  Strangely they did not explode on the Mun.

Spoiler

Here the craft is orbiting at around 75x75

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Arrival around the Mun

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Deployement of the base

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I know the solar panels are occulting each other but I thought it'd look cool anyway

Time to return home !

Spoiler

First aerobraking

Spoiler

I thought I'd dive in Kerbin's atmosphere whilst coming down from the Mun at 45km high but I only managed to approach my Ap, so I set a rendez-vous with my Skylab attempt. At this point I had 350m/s left, 0.3° correction to make and only a 110m/s of retro-burn on target.

Spoiler

Should have put a Sr. dock on that ship... !

Second re-entry

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Approach

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And final landing !

It was quite tricky because the plane was very sensitive at more than 300m/s, the CoL being into the CoM when empty..

Spoiler

 

[XLjedi]

@Kerbolitto love the atypical design!   ...good mission, well done!

[Kerbolitto]

Thanks a lot ! I tried really hard to get a proper twin boom design (until I discovered auto-strut xD) with a big fairing in the middle !

This one is capable of landing 50t.+ on the Mun, it is a variation of my 30t. to Duna which is almost the same.

 

[Andetch]

@boolybooly The team here at Andetch X-Labs enjoyed our previous trip to the Dog and Booster so much, we decided we wanted to come again, but get better seats this time...... So we let the high tech team have a go. 

I am pleased to present the Skydart - My most heavily researched and developed SSTO. I put a lot of work tweaking this design. It lifts off at under 80 m/s a second, and arrives into LKO with 1,500 m/s of dV. There is a docking port equipped model in the late stages of development. The flight video I submit includes watching an eclipse (at 6:52) from The Mun's SOI on a "free return" trajectory" (so atmospheric capture was set up from the initial Mun burn, so I didn't need to use the engine again apart from assisting stabilization once deep into Kerbin's atmosphere) and a precision landing back at KSC

(Just wondering, for those with making history, does landing at the desert airstrip also count? The runway there goes North-South making the approach a bit more interesting, and it is higher above sea level giving less time to recover and set up the approach dead stick - but still ample time)

Enjoy the video (no sound track, only ambient KSP sound)

 

 

Edited June 21, 2018 by Andetch

[boolybooly]

Congratulations to ...

@Loompar Advanced Pilot Precision Award with The Challenger (video).

@Kerbolitto  Utilitarial Distinction (Mün), Advanced Pilot Precision Award with Cheval mk4-3.

@Andetch  Kosmokerbal Commendation (Mün), Advanced Pilot Precision Award with Skydart (video).... on completing the K-Prize.

 

Good luck to Loompar with The Challenger video series, the K-Prize is honoured to be among your chosen missions. 

Successful unorthodoxy is always interesting Kerbolitto, well played.

Welcome back Andetch, the spin redistributing reentry heating did not look entirely accidental, all the R&D at the Dog and Booster evidently paid off!

 

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

 

Edited June 22, 2018 by boolybooly

[Andetch]

2 hours ago, boolybooly said:

Welcome back Andetch, the spin redistributing reentry heating did not look entirely accidental, all the R&D at the Dog and Booster evidently paid off!

Ya, it was a happy accident - didn't managed to flip the radial out switch off in time before the, but it did turn out that it cut the speed with the KSC in just the right place to land - really happy accident seeing as I was on a "free return" so it was pure fluke that the KSC was in the right place for landing!! I was expecting to aero-brake into LKO and then set up the landing but, meh, it worked, don't knock it! 

Oh, and I should also point out that even though I didn't on the video, this can carry a small satellite with it. How much does it need to weigh to qualify as payload? 

Edited June 22, 2018 by Andetch

[boolybooly]

1 hour ago, Andetch said:

Ya, it was a happy accident - didn't managed to flip the radial out switch off in time before the, but it did turn out that it cut the speed with the KSC in just the right place to land - really happy accident seeing as I was on a "free return" so it was pure fluke that the KSC was in the right place for landing!! I was expecting to aero-brake into LKO and then set up the landing but, meh, it worked, don't knock it! 

Sometimes you get lucky

[Kerbolitto]

4 hours ago, boolybooly said:

Successful unorthodoxy is always interesting Kerbolitto, well played.

Thanks a lot ! It took me a toooon of time to figure how to make an SSTO flyable,  and it's a real pleasure to finally use something that works just fine, with a proper payload capacity xD

[TheFlyingKerman]

Another primitive SSTO, boring named HKA-4B... This one is built around the MK2 cargo bay and is powered by 2 panthers and a swirl

Spoiler

Taking off

Speed run with the rocket engine

Orbit

Just to make sure that the satellites' tanks are still full

Deploying payload. They are used for another challenge

Re-entry

Landing back to KSC

Profit!

 

Note: open pictures in new tab for higher resolution image.

Edited July 2, 2018 by TheFlyingKerman

[boolybooly]

Congratulations to...

@TheFlyingKerman Utilitarial Commendation, Advanced Pilot Precision Award with HKA-4B.

... on completing the K-Prize mission successfully with a neatly economical and professional looking mission, completing dual satellite launches as well as a safe landing on the KSC runway. Thankyou for your mission report and  welcome back to the K-Prize party guest list aka the K-Prize roll of honour. I added your listing beneath the previous entry for HKA-3A btw, as is the K-Prize way. 

 

 

Edited July 11, 2018 by boolybooly

[SpaceAdmiral]

Here is my entry:

https://imgur.com/a/6yS1Ywc

I think I should be eligible for the advanced pilot precision award.

 

[Scarecrow]

My X-Wing is SSTO capable, and I believe meets all the rules.