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

[Maxed-Rockets]

Here My FastTrack SSTO.

Beside that craft is modded B9 Cabin and wings, engines and fuel tanks are stock.

In the initial rules it states "3. All fuel tanks, wings (lift generators)...must be stock..."

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, I'll go ruin somebody elses day.

[pinolallo]

In the initial rules it states "3. All fuel tanks, wings (lift generators)...must be stock..."

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, I'll go ruin somebody elses day.

No problem, I have an utility stock craft that can do the same (with 7 kerbals on board), but this one was very lovely little and cute.

[kahlzun]

(this thread post has been resurrected from its cached state before the crash. I am using 18.4 in these shots)

Well, it was a sod to land, and ran away when I tried to take a photo, but I have finally built a working SSTO!

the creatively named "SSTO Prototype III" !

On the runway: (I use the Obliterator mod: the runway and launch tower are not visible, saves memory)

at a 102x102 orbit (+- 1.3km)

When landed, I unloaded Bill and tried to get a shot like the runway shot.

The plane disagreed, and being landed on a slight slope decided to run off..

Bill eventually managed to corner the plane, and got my 'landed' photo:

and thus, I claim my K-Prize!!

[Plur303]

My SSTO, the Nuke SSTO MK III, capable of traveling to the Mun or Minmus and back. Returns from the Mun with plenty of fuel remaining. Also has the Delta V for a 1 way Duna trip. In these pics I safely landed back at KSC with no damage.

No ions or intake exploiting either. 1 intake per tank. None mounted with cube struts.

gallery of more pics

http://imgur.com/a/9dxfw

Edited May 7, 2013 by Plur303

[pa1983]

I have started my base on Duna and the first delivery is a Truck. Its a multipurpose truck, refueling, pulling stuff say payloads from my Falcon X Jumbo Transporter etc. Basically gonna use it to construct and move the base when needed and also Refuel Spaceplanes if needed. My Falcon X Jumbo Transport have none stop range to Duna and back (Laythe to) but I figure it could be useful to be able to load/unload the Jumbo if needed. One reason for refueling could be a payload delivery to Duna then going to Laythe and pick or move some of my stuff there for example.

The Truck is 43.26 Tons and thats a record payload for me for a nonstop flight with out refueling to Duna. But I did run out of jet fuel before the engines would have flamed out when climbing in Kerbins atmosphere causing higher oxidizer burn and I had almost no fuel for landing once back from Duna but I did make it.

One of the Kerbal crew members had to go and fix a flat on the Truck before unloading.

[AmpsterMan]

Hey Boolybooly, will you ever update the main page? I've been wanting to get on it for almost a year now

[JebDynamics]

I did the Green Scout challenge on reddit which also satisfies the K-Prize. Achieved 286km orbit, Landed at KSC Runway

Image Gallery

Craft

Ship weighs 33 tons fueled and has 214 parts including probe.

3 hrs Mission Time, ~1 hour play time

Horizontal Takeoff, Although the ship is capable of VTOL.

[CtrlAltEL1TE]

I have started my base on Duna and the first delivery is a Truck. Its a multipurpose truck, refueling, pulling stuff say payloads from my Falcon X Jumbo Transporter etc. Basically gonna use it to construct and move the base when needed and also Refuel Spaceplanes if needed. My Falcon X Jumbo Transport have none stop range to Duna and back (Laythe to) but I figure it could be useful to be able to load/unload the Jumbo if needed. One reason for refueling could be a payload delivery to Duna then going to Laythe and pick or move some of my stuff there for example.

The Truck is 43.26 Tons and thats a record payload for me for a nonstop flight with out refueling to Duna. But I did run out of jet fuel before the engines would have flamed out when climbing in Kerbins atmosphere causing higher oxidizer burn and I had almost no fuel for landing once back from Duna but I did make it.

One of the Kerbal crew members had to go and fix a flat on the Truck before unloading.

Wow that thing is immense, rare to see a heavy lifting spaceplane which is stock and looks awesome

[pinolallo]

As I promise I did the flight report for the 3k prize ship.

The main pourpose of this SSTO is to shuttle space station crew with the lower cost possible.

specs:

• Is "almost" stock (mechJeb)
  
• Can carry 7 kerman bros
  
• Has full ladder access
  
• Dry weight 20 tons
  
• Full load weight 29.40 tons
  
• Docking / Rendezvous / rcs (160lit)
  here a little table with the efficiency (Orbit Weight/takeOff weight*100) ratio of this SpaceCraft
  

takeOff Orbit Efficiency

1 run 29.39 26.97 91.77

2 run 25.92 23.92 92.28

3 run 22.95 21.29 92.77

the mission report here

3k prize run

Edited May 11, 2013 by pinolallo

[pa1983]

My Duna base is taking shape.

Another Heavy Payload delivered

[pinolallo]

pa1983, cool tool and nice results.

[pinolallo]

I guess boolybooly gived up the maintenance of this "storical" challenge thread. I do understand: Months of work vanished in a snap...

[bsalis]

I actually made a video this time! Click pic to play.

Edited May 20, 2013 by bsalis

[Pbhead]

Oh hey. i built a horizontal ssto that goes to the mun and back.

I also have a huge ssto which carries that first ssto as a payload, hopefully out to laythe and back as soon as my launch window comes up.

What are the documentation requirements here?

[kahlzun]

What are the documentation requirements here?

pics or gtfo.

XD

Pic on runway, in stable orbit, and back on the runway.

If you dock, or go to the Mun or whatever, photo that.

Whatever other 'glamour' shots you like.

[boolybooly]

Screenies are gratefully received though we are on the honour system here so if someone says they did something, without ambiguity and as long as they are fully aware of the rules, then their word is accepted.

But for proof positive the most important shots are the orbit PE > 70,000m and safe landing. Take off is only a contentious issue if its not obvious that it was horizontal and likewise docking and payload drops are a bonus and interesting to see.

In case anyone doesnt know F1 is the screenshot key and it saves a screenshot to the screenshots directory which in the KSP/Squad version is in the game directory. Not sure about Steam.

As for updates, currently I am still waiting for spoilers to work again.

[BikeKayakSki]

Finally DID IT!!!

This is a project I've been working on since space-planes were introduced, and i finally figured it out!!

Burning for orbit

ORBIT!!!!

Back at KSS Runway!

Almost didnt make it back either. I overshot KSS by about 30km and had to fly back. My craft likes to fly backwards after burning most of its fuel so I flipped to switch twice and had to save it using a bunch of fuel. I ended up gliding in the last 5km to the runway. But IT WORKED!!!

[boolybooly]

OK we are back, have updated the thread for v19 and am ready for v20 missions. I am sure I did back it up but I forgot where I put the back up so I wrote up the extended rules again from memory. Not sure if its 100%, let me know if not.

[bsalis]

OK we are back

Thankyou!

[Kuris]

All mission pictures with description!

I found this Challenge relatively easy now that I've been using a lot of time with the "SSTO Spaceplane to mun and back" Challenge. The ship I used in that Challenge was quite heavy and I wanted to take a minimalistic approach to this challenge. So I created a spaceship, that is much smaller and agile. On the other hand, this was the very first time I managed to get back on the KSC runway! Previously I've been satisfied if I even managed to land somewhere without destroying my ship.

[pa1983]

Im on the list Im on the List!!! So happy

EDIT:

this is the best KSP thread ever!

Edited May 23, 2013 by pa1983

[meyst]

Glorious Yggdrasil, Reusable SSTO. 81 parts , 30.65 Tons, valued at 500,000 camels. You see part behind cockpit? USB Port!

Orbitalical technical stuff, because KSP comrades want's to remind us they are smart.

View of Yggdrasil from station Oculus' oculus, taken by Bill Kerman.

Even more Proof Bob Kerman is great Kerbanaut.

Bob entered atmosphere over continent West of KSC, and flew over ocean and mountain before landing. A KSP comrade said this was planned so famous Kerbanaut comrade Bob Kerman could remind the fish and birds of our advanced, sophistical, technological advantage stuff. This was done in light of last weeks rocket accident that was determined by top KSP investigator to have been caused by evil bird who sabotaged rocket by being ingested in engine fuel turbine.

Fuel was transferred From space plane to top up station tanks, as befits this glorious fuel tanker's role. No fuel was pumped from the station to the space plane on important mission, flown by people's hero Bob Kerman, because as he told us. "That would be backwards while flying sideways!"

More pictures of our great Kerman's mission to resupply orbital fuel station can be found here

Edited May 28, 2013 by meyst

[cpt_nosh]

I just stumbled across this thread and saw it as an opportunity to add my favorite SSTO to the compilation with the requested screenshots. So I may present you Concept 4. (Yet to be named better...)

Fresh off the manufacturing site, after some test flights, I decided that it's ready to launch into Orbit for a rendezvous with Argus Station.

Successfully went into orbit with 5 ram jets two aero spikes and one normal liquid fuel engine.

After a long time of docking and the appearance of new parts in .20, I decided that Argus station came at its end of duration and let it fell back to earth. Only then I found this thread and was glad that I at least let Concept 4 orbiting.

Still orbiting, but about to go back to Kerbin.

After quite a period, Concept 4 is on a very long final on RWY 09.

After a bit of coming in too high, I decided to extend my approach and come in via RWY 27. It's not right on the center line, but well... I am still learning. If you wonder what I targeted on the Navball, it's an basically just a probe at the end of the runway which lets me make "instrumental" approaches during nighttime. Comes in handy sometimes.

Thanks for your attention.

Facts of the flight: Orbit around 98 km altitude, refueled at Argus station, let the station fell back (Don't worry the other SSTO's were brought back to Kerbin Station beforehand;)), landed successfully on RWY 27. If you have questions, I'd be glad to answer them.

Yours sincerely

cpt_nosh

[zekes]

Ok we did a quick shakedown flight of the ZoPL Endeavour, and it still needs some debugging... but here's the flight.

The primary problem was Lack of RCS and not enough Oxidizer. The lack of RCS made re-entry... interesting... and the range is limited to Minmus (for now). Also a problem are lack of landing legs, making (survivable) touchdown on minmus impossible.

ALso interesting was that the ship was launched in 0.19.1 but landed in .20.0.... so not sure where that fits. Also it landed with plenty of jet fuel to spare so it can be easily flown to KSC. It also has two refueling ports on the sides for land based refueling ships.

[boolybooly]

Thanks for some interesting and amusing mission reports. I have updated the OP and cpt_nosh regrettably refuelling while perfectly legitimate spacefaring activity disqualifies a mission with respect to the K Prize as the intention is to compare the intrinsic capability of reusable space planes. So I have linked your mission on the gate crashers list of infamy because it deserves to be included. Concept 4 is still a nice looking craft though and clearly capable of completing a K Prize mission so I hope you will give it another go and omit the refuelling next time.

zekes, big ship! I am going to include ZoPL Endeavour in the v0.20 reports but will not include it for consideration for the maximalist record as it took off in v0.19.

Edited May 29, 2013 by boolybooly