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

[EndlessWaves]

I'm still trying to get a 200-300 ton spaceplane to work. I did build a design that got to orbit and back but unfortunately it didn't have two opposite flat surfaces for the parachutes and landing gear so I could never bring it down in one piece (plus it used tricouplers, which really don't like the shock of the opening parachute).

I've pretty much given up on flying on wings at this weight, the ones in game simply don't seem to generate enough lift unless you use hundreds of them. most of my current designs stick to a few dozen to get the nose up on takeoff.

[Suzaku]

IMHO I still think someone else should start up an advanced spaceplane challenge thread for 17.

I actually have a post that I made saved on my PC just for that exact reason.

Do you plan on keeping the K-prize going through .17?

[vXSovereignXv]

Here's my entry the X-2!

I overshot the landing by an ocean, but just managed to make it to the next continent. I have got to work on my accuracy.

[T10]

After about a week of work, I'm happy to announce success with my Defiant IVa!

The hardest part was making a rocket that was runway friendly; one that could take off horizontally and pitch up to a steep climb without losing control, and making one that could support it's own landing weight and not let the central engine smash into the runway. After a lot of tumbles on takeoff, and a lot of planes breaking apart when gliding them back onto the runway, this model can smoothly take off (if you're careful with pitching) and smoothly set down.

Attached are the schematics, a screenie of the Defiant landed back on the runway after a few orbits, and a screenie of the mission end data.

[boolybooly]

vXSovereignXv, that was a very worthy flight, orbit and landing right up to the point where your mechjeb blew up before you stopped. You are duly recognised as a fully fledged gate crasher!

I realise its not really your fault, it is because of the way that terrain beyond KSC destroys craft when you try to land because the wheels sink inside the collision surface, but thems the rules and this bug is the v16 downside to the v16 throttle/fuel bug advantage so IMHO we have to fly around it. I think the terrain must have caught the mechjeb slung underneath.

Suggest landing at KSC, it is flat there also suggest F5 just before reentry in case it goes wrong so you can F9 if it does. I feel sure you can complete the mission successfully with that craft if you so desire.

Suzaku, what did you have in mind? Would you like to integrate the K Prize into a spaceplane challenge with additional goals?

EDIT, T10, looks good, congrats on a precise landing earning you an advanced pilot precision award (I am assuming that you landed on the strip and did not taxi there!!) and a successful K Prize mission (I am assuming the orbit was at one point all outside the atmosphere ie PE > 70km).

Edited September 6, 2012 by boolybooly

[T10]

You assume both correctly. I doubt my plane could push it's way back up the edge of the runway without snapping the gear, and the distance traveled is probably about 4 orbits worth, PE of ~80km, AP of ~87km, cheers!

[Suzaku]

Suzaku, what did you have in mind? Would you like to integrate the K Prize into a spaceplane challenge with additional goals?

I was wondering if it would be possible to have the K-prize thread be modified by multiple people and updated to include new achievements for 0.17.

I do have a thread saved for creating a SSTO that can reach other planets in 0.17 but only for that.

[TheHengeProphet]

I realise its not really your fault, it is because of the way that terrain beyond KSC destroys craft when you try to land because the wheels sink inside the collision surface, but thems the rules and this bug is the v16 downside to the v16 throttle/fuel bug advantage so IMHO we have to fly around it. I think the terrain must have caught the mechjeb slung underneath.

Wait, you approve of using the fuel bug for the purposes of this challenge? I just completed this with a starfighter design I had, modified to do this utilising the bug, just to see if I could... Well, I guess my next run, I'll have to take screen shots and properly document it!

[boolybooly]

As for the rocket throttle glitch I dont think it should be looked on as a cheat. Its in the game, hasnt been patched and its almost impossible not to use it so IMHO its perfectly OK to use it and allowance has been made for the advantage it brings by creating a separate honours list for this version. In fact I would encourage players to understand and exploit it to the fullness of their ability because in v17 it will be gone so we may as well have some fun with it while it is here. I dont think the fuel use and thrust to mass ratios of rockets are properly balanced for 100% throttle anyway in v16 and will need rebalancing when the bug is removed so really its not as if the bug is breaking an otherwise realistic computer model IMHO, meanwhile I have made some weird ships fly exploiting this bug. Business as usual for v17 I hope.

Quoting myself feels weird... IMHO TheHengeProphet its OK to push that bug till it squeaks!

I was wondering if it would be possible to have the K-prize thread be modified by multiple people and updated to include new achievements for 0.17.

I dont know, if you want to help then your first task could be to ask a mod about that, as a principle. I am guessing the answer is not, unless you are given mod powers which probably cannot be restricted to a single post or thread but would be glad to be proved wrong. It would be nice to set up a cooperative thread which allows several administrators to do what I am doing with this one.

Do you plan on keeping the K-prize going through .17?

I do have a thread saved for creating a SSTO that can reach other planets in 0.17 but only for that.

I will keep it going unless a better option turns up and someone worth their salt wants to take over or share the K Prize and make a decent job of it. I dont want to hand it over and watch it die of neglect. On the other hand I would happily give it up to someone who can look after it. I only did it because it is the obvious challenge for v15+ and noone else was doing it... as my duty to the human race and the future of space travel! IMHO we are rehearsing challenges here that could become elements of the campaign.

If you wanted to make an advanced spaceplane challenge 'beyond the K Prize' so to speak, then that sounds great and pretty much inevitable. That could either be entirely separate and have its own rules or it could integrate the K Prize within it as a first step. It strikes me that a total relaunch would give the opportunity to change some of the rules such as allowing mods as a default and simply giving kudos for stock as opposed to the stock only restriction. Also it would allow the redefining of rules to include payload drop and refuel missions etc which would be fine IMHO. I dont use mods so it would be better if someone who knows mods did that. Then this K Prize thread could be linked in that thread and this thread could be locked for posterity and I would become a happy spectator.

If noone wants to take it on then I will keep going because it is so obvious that this challenge should be here to give players who want to make a spaceplane something to shoot for, IMHO. Does that make sense?

[EndlessWaves]

You could split the challenges over the first few posts in a thread so that the organisers could all edit their own challenge. The first post would have an introduction and quick jumps to each challenge.

[T2Cross]

I musr cede the minimalist award to you Suzaku. I've tried a dozen different things and Can't get any less than your weight (though I've matched it a dozen different ways).

I suppose its time to move on to other goals.

[that1guy]

Introducing the Blue II... a SSTO

[Suzaku]

I will keep it going unless a better option turns up and someone worth their salt wants to take over or share the K Prize and make a decent job of it. I dont want to hand it over and watch it die of neglect. On the other hand I would happily give it up to someone who can look after it. I only did it because it is the obvious challenge for v15+ and noone else was doing it... as my duty to the human race and the future of space travel! IMHO we are rehearsing challenges here that could become elements of the campaign.

I'd be willing to do it, but only if you're too pre-occupied to take care of the K-prize.

[bsalis]

Sorry I know this is a bit off-topic. This is not an entry, since I had to use mods (damned robotics). However, for the SSTO enthusiasts out there, I thought I would post it here. I present to you, a VTOL SSTO! Now that's a lot of acronym. Could this be a first for KSP?

Was practicing vertical ascent and landing overnight, which is why it's not on the runway. Time to fill-er up and head to orbit.

[boolybooly]

I'd be willing to do it, but only if you're too pre-occupied to take care of the K-prize.

If you want to do it Suzaku then I will be happy to let you take over and improve on it for v17 according to your own lights. Since you are clearly interested by SSTOs I think you would be a good person to do it.

Blue II has nice clean lines that1guy, I see you got it into orbit, are you able to land it in one piece as well? (For a place on the roll of honour...)

Very nice VTOL SSTO bsalis, it does qualify for the K Prize if all the lift surfaces and tanks and engines are stock. Are they? Using damned robotics is perfectly OK as long as this does not include any flying parts, ditto mechjeb etc.

Edited September 7, 2012 by boolybooly

[EndlessWaves]

Not ready with the full entry quite yet, but I took this picture while on a detour with my large SSTO and just had to share:

[djnekkid]

Does this count for the K-Prize and "Advanced pilot precision award" ??

.craft in the video discription

The original capture was 16-some minutes long, I did edit it down abit with some 8xTimelaps inbetween the interesting parts. The finished product is 5:21 mins long with some fun (??) commentary. Altho it is text, as im not a native english speaker, it will be way too much norwenglish (norwegian english) accent. There is however music on the thing

ps. I know i ditch the aerospike, but its on the decent, so i can use the TurboJets to land, and as there is no known (atleast for me) way to disable rocket engines, i just ditched it

[blspblackdeath]

Here comes my entry for the K-Prize:

Going for: Advanced pilot precision award, Kosmokerbal Commendation and Astrokerbal Distinction with "Dubble V4 Shuttle".

Here you can see my pictures for proof, that I managed to Lift off, going to orbit, going to the mun, landing on the mun, returning and finally landing on the KSC runway.

http://imgur.com/a/Soazz

[djnekkid]

Here comes my entry for the K-Prize:

Going for: Advanced pilot precision award, Kosmokerbal Commendation and Astrokerbal Distinction with "Dubble V4 Shuttle".

Here you can see my pictures for proof, that I managed to Lift off, going to orbit, going to the mun, landing on the mun, returning and finally landing on the KSC runway.

http://imgur.com/a/Soazz

It is not that I do not belive in what you did, but:

Picture 1 thru 13 looks OK, with 10 fuel tanks, and they seem to deplete on a 'normal' rate, with 8 empty tanks, and aprox 1,5 tank left ... however:

On picture 14 you are landed on the Mun with suddenly 9,6 tanks (or so) are full ... ???

Then we go on, takeoff from the Mun, enter Kerbin atmosphere, and you spend about a tank or so, of the remaining ... 9 of 10 full tanks?

Then you seem to land, and the 3rd last picture have 1 empty tank, one aprox 1/3rd tank, and 8 full ones??

Then on the last picture, one aprox half full tank, and 9 full ones ... ???

As I said, I do not really disbeleaf you, but the pictures don't seem to tell the true story ... And as a refuel in orbit or on the Mun is neither possible, nor in the rules of the challange... There seems to be some owels in the moss

[blspblackdeath]

It is not that I do not belive in what you did, but:

Picture 1 thru 13 looks OK, with 10 fuel tanks, and they seem to deplete on a 'normal' rate, with 8 empty tanks, and aprox 1,5 tank left ... however:

On picture 14 you are landed on the Mun with suddenly 9,6 tanks (or so) are full ... ???

Then we go on, takeoff from the Mun, enter Kerbin atmosphere, and you spend about a tank or so, of the remaining ... 9 of 10 full tanks?

Then you seem to land, and the 3rd last picture have 1 empty tank, one aprox 1/3rd tank, and 8 full ones??

Then on the last picture, one aprox half full tank, and 9 full ones ... ???

As I said, I do not really disbeleaf you, but the pictures don't seem to tell the true story ... And as a refuel in orbit or on the Mun is neither possible, nor in the rules of the challange... There seems to be some owels in the moss

It is a bug on the display of the empty tanks. As you can see on the last 3 pictures on the runway. After EVA and Quickload the empty tanks are shown as full tanks. Didn't you have the same bug?!?

So because I was on EVA on the mun and on the runway for the pics for proof. This bug displaeyed my empty tanks as full. You can see that if you look at the pictures.

I would never had the time to refuel in 45 sek.

http://i.imgur.com/spi9Bh.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/4vsVUh.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/Xt0jDh.jpg

And as you can see in pic 11, I don't have any vehicle on the mun at the time of my flight. So I wasn't able to refuel at the mun either. Because you need at least 2 Rockets for refueling.

http://i.imgur.com/pGZgyh.png

As last proof my craftfile and my persistant with my Shuttle still on the runway, so you can see that my tanks are empty but shown as full.

You have to rename persistent.txt to .sfs .

There are 4 more crafts in the persistant which you shouldn't be able to load Spertnik I, ComSat I, ComSat II and Ikaros Interplanetary Prob. But they don't matter.

Oh please don't make me do this again, it was really really hard to land on the mun.

Edited September 9, 2012 by blspblackdeath

[boolybooly]

Does this count for the K-Prize and "Advanced pilot precision award" ?? ....

ps. I know i ditch the aerospike, but its on the decent, so i can use the TurboJets to land, and as there is no known (atleast for me) way to disable rocket engines, i just ditched it

Its a good mission and a very precise landing but a little rough and explodey, even if you landed without the fireworks ditching the aerospike breaks the rules of the K prize because then it is only 99% reusable, I am guessing you knew the answer before you asked the question! Very definitely qualifies as a gate crash event however. Thanks for the video, liked the music and thanks very much for the credit

blspblackdeath, that is a very compact and purposeful looking craft and you flew it well. I am perfectly convinced you did it all just as the pictures show and I am well aquainted with the full/empty fuel tank bug so I have no hesitation whatsoever in awarding you the highly prestigious Astrokerbal Distinction (v16) and advanced pilot precision award for a mission well flown. Welcome to the party guest list, aka K Prize roll of honour.

Edited September 10, 2012 by boolybooly

[EndlessWaves]

The Kerbin records bureau and Burwig Kerman are proud to present the first fully documented flight of EndlessWaves Industries new Single Stage to Orbit Plane, Model LXIII 'The Prancing Pony'.

Full set of images here, including closeups:

http://imgur.com/a/vsPcK

(mun trip was one way so it doesn't qualify for astrokerbal)

14 landing gear bays (14x0.5 = 7 tons)

18 Delta Wings (18*0.07 = 1.26 tons)

2 wing shaped boards (2x0.05 = 0.1 tons)

24 Turbo Jet Engines (24x1.2 = 28.8 tons)

24 200L Fuel tanks (24x1.125 = 27 tons full, 24x0.125 = 3 tons empty)

2 Large Rocket Engines (2x7 = 14 tons)

12 3200L Fuel tanks (12x18 = 216 tons full, 12x2 = 24 tons empty)

8 Fuel Ducts (8x0.05 = 0.4 tons)

24 Landing Legs (24x0.1 = 2.4 tons)

10 XL Parachutes (10x0.3 = 3 Tons)

1 RCS tank (1x0.5 = 0.5 tons)

6 RCS Thruster Blocks (6x0.05 = 0.3 Tons)

1 SAS (1x0.8 = 0.8 tons)

1 ASAS (1x0.8 = 0.8 tons)

6 Advanced Canards (6x0.04 = 0.24 tons)

2 Struts (2x0.05 = 0.1 tons)

1 Inline command module (1x1 = 1 ton)

Take off weight: 303.7 tons according to the parts list, 295.8 tons according to mechjeb.

Empty weight: 90-100 tons

Craft file: [ATTACH]32734[/ATTACH]

It's a little sensitive at takeoff, if you try and turn too fast it can flip out of control but other than that it's perfectly flyable manually and mechjeb is happy with it too. The design itself is pretty robust, although if you're landing with much more than 100 tons you'll probably need to slow it down with the engines.

[djnekkid]

Its a good mission and a very precise landing but a little rough and explodey, even if you landed without the fireworks ditching the aerospike breaks the rules of the K prize because then it is only 99% reusable, I am guessing you knew the answer before you asked the question! Very definitely qualifies as a gate crash event however. Thanks for the video, liked the music and thanks very much for the credit

blspblackdeath, that is a very compact and purposeful looking craft and you flew it well. I am perfectly convinced you did it all just as the pictures show and I am well aquainted with the full/empty fuel tank bug so I have no hesitation whatsoever in awarding you the highly prestigious Kosmokerbal commendation (v16) and advanced pilot precision award for a mission well flown. Welcome to the party guest list, aka K Prize roll of honour.

I guess I need tofind some way to disable the aerospike without jetisoning it... hmmm Perhaps if I somehow find a way to have just about enough fuel for the 'spike, and still have fuel in the tanks and lines that go to the jets... *figure out some more*

Im sorry I doubted you blspblackdeath, I were not aware there were a bug in that part of the code as well. My humble apologies

[blspblackdeath]

blspblackdeath, that is a very compact and purposeful looking craft and you flew it well. I am perfectly convinced you did it all just as the pictures show and I am well aquainted with the full/empty fuel tank bug so I have no hesitation whatsoever in awarding you the highly prestigious Kosmokerbal commendation (v16) and advanced pilot precision award for a mission well flown. Welcome to the party guest list, aka K Prize roll of honour.

Big Thanks for the honor. I am very happy. xD

But I have a question, what do I have to do for the "Astrokerbal Distinction"? Because I thought I would get it for the Munlanding.

to djnekkid: No problem, apologies accepted.

Greetings to all of you.

Edited September 9, 2012 by blspblackdeath

[djnekkid]

Okei, I tried to rebuild, same ammount of fuel, same weight +-0.2 tons, and to no awail. After a few hours I noticed something. Not sure if its counted as a bug or not, but if I disable all flow on all tanks, then enable again, then the aerospike wont fire

Video will come tomorrow