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

[Cinocal]

Nice. I also like how you build an actual airframe, gives you freedom to place heavy bits where they need to be without altering the over all design shape.

[pa1983]

Here is my collection of SSTO's if you want to rake them apart for ideas.

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/27196441/SSTOs.zip

There constantly evolving. I try not to try out more then one or two new things at once. It do not work very well trying to build the perfect one with all the best ideas the first time around, or you spend months just trying to find the problems.

[Panichio]

Also: my first post on the forums.

And a hell of a first post, too. I had to double-check if there were any NERVAs. I still find it amazing that you got that thing to Laythe without a NERVA.

[PotatoOverdose]

And a hell of a first post, too. I had to double-check if there were any NERVAs. I still find it amazing that you got that thing to Laythe without a NERVA.

Thanks! I've found that for my designs at least, NERVAs don't work too well with low part count ssto's. The low TWR of NERVAs means many maneuvers will require more dV, and the relatively high mass of each NERVA (2.25T) reduces the overall amount of dV that you get (on small craft anyway). The LV-909's on the other hand give me a good TWR allowing me to do maneuvers for less dV cost. Likewise, the single jet engine has a much easier time pushing two LV-909's and the lower mass of those engines gives me nice boost to overall dV once I'm in orbit.

You can get around this by having 20+ air intakes and a few jet engines take you to 40km+ at 2000m/s+ and then using a NERVA or two, but then you don't get a low part count which is what I wanted (especially since extra intakes will probably require extra struts).

Edited July 23, 2013 by PotatoOverdose

[carazvan]

Here's a run to Duna and back ... it's the 3rd album in Ant SSTO Presentation

[japa]

Javascript is disabled. View full album

This is my SSTO. it can reach 100km orbit with 300m/s deltaV left, however, I did use mechjeb to get it up there. If that goes against the spirit of this competition, I will attempt an ascent without it.

Main unique thing about this plane is that it's really actually a rover with wings, and can drive around once landed.

[Rosarium]

21 TABULA RASA! hey pa1983 how's going with your spaceplanes with the new sytem?

[pa1983]

Now differens realy. Asas seems better, few new parts, same crappy preformance, landing spot on duna seems hard to find now. Would have liked to still have the dry lakes flat.

Edited July 25, 2013 by pa1983

[kepicness]

This is my latest craft. People have been asking me for a video of how I build my crafts so I decided to make one sens I wanted to try some stuff out for future crafts. Its not my best craft so its more experimental.

I went with a low profile slim wing with closely mounted engine nacelles. This allows the wing to support it self with out the help of the fuselage or external struts and that was a must to accommodated the cargo hold or it would just collapse on it self from previous experience. The closely mounted engine nacelles allows fuel to be stored in them with out adding stress on the wings and the low profile wing in combination with the closely mounted engine nacelles allows for landing wheels to be placed optimally to take stress of the fuselage and wings. The Cockpit is mounted with a 10 degree down tilt to allow for IVA take of and landings and overall easier IVA flight. A probe core is mounted at the default angle to allow for a proper vector when doing burns in space.

It also has stock cargo bay doors that can open and close. Not my idea so I wont take credit for that. But they do help stiffening the fuselage when close.

The cargo bay is relatively long and can hold more jumbo tanks then the craft can carry but the intended cargo tends to be a lot longer VS weight then a few jumbo tanks so I wanted a long cargo bay, as long as posible. Benchmark payload was 63 tons and thats its max with out any further optimization to the craft. The craft is 99 ton dry weight so its not a light one due to a lot of I beams, many are cosmetic but most are structural. Further optimization with less esthetics's could reduce tonnage and increase payload capacity with 16 tons at least.

But I think its sufficient to lift my Explorer version 2 or a equally capable version of it sens it was about 58 tons. But a real mission has not been undertaken yet.

I call here the Falcon XII Skymaster Transport (didn't come up with anything better, names are not my thing)

-snip-

Here is two videos, part 1 covers construction and part 2 is the test flight.

I made something similar (almost identical actually) a few updates ago, I just never got time to finish it. Its great to see good ssto planes. Keep up the awesome work!!!

[pa1983]

Got a new Super Jumbo in the works. Replacement for the Jumbo. Im aiming for lower landing speeds and more rugged wing and undercarriage for the new Duna terrain. See if its even possible to land horizontally now with all the bumps every-ware. Uses the same concept as the Falcon XII Skymaster Transport but a wide body design like the Jumbo for the fuel and nukes plus two nacelles for jets. Just waiting for 0.21.1 to dowload then I will take it for the first test with a jumbo tank as a payload.

I give it 50/50 that the craft works properly. It flies but how knows if its capable enough.

[pa1983]

For all you people that like spaceplanes you might want to support a terrain change of the once flat lakes on Duna. Its now useless going there with anything bigger then a Cessna.

http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/showthread.php/42888-No-dry-lakes-on-Duna-for-spaceplanes?p=549141#post549141

[Cupcake...]

Well, alright then.

Cupcake...

[boolybooly]

Sorry for the delay re honours list updates, someone Kerballed my (parked) car for real, so I have been preoccupied.

Some great entries and videos which I want to thank everyone for. Awesome construction instruction video from pa1983 to go with another successful, dare I say elegant, utilitarial mission video and Cupcake what can I say, funky music, artfully shot and edited and a pleasure to watch, also broke many K Prize rules but definitely deserves to be seen which is why I linked it in the gatecrashers list.

Other linked gate crashers include Rosarium (regrettably due to the plumbing bug) PotatoOverdose (great mission but refuelled) and japa (interesting craft worth linking but no mission report).

carazvan I could not find your mission album at all, also the Flea Fly Mosquito link in that thread linked back to this one fyi.

Tryptophan and kahlzun, congratulations on winning the K Prize and welcome (back) to the K Prize guest list of honour. Thanks for your mission reports.

The honours list for v0.21 will begin with the next entry.

Thanks all

Edited July 29, 2013 by boolybooly

[Sean Mirrsen]

Since I feel like I should at least appear on the new version list, here's the latest addition to my roster of crazy overdesigned SSTOs: The Padmasana.

On runway:

Performing shuttlepod tests in orbit:

And back on the runway:

I wasn't taking the traditional set of ascent/descent pictures that time, so I might repeat the mission with a little more detailed report later.

[carazvan]

Sorry for the delay re honours list updates, someone Kerballed my (parked) car for real, so I have been preoccupied.

carazvan I could not find your mission album at all, also the Flea Fly Mosquito link in that thread linked back to this one fyi.

Thanks all

I deleted the albums from the 0.20 Post of the Ant SSTO since Duna and the Mun have changed but will be redoing the missions shortly in v0.21 once I'm done tweeking my payload SSTOs

[zekes]

I feel this too should be on the list...

Debulist Mk IV

I didnt land cause A) you know it can land already and I want to see if i can make it to Dres in this flight. But for now you can post it, no acheivements as of now.

[boolybooly]

Decided to try my hand with some of the new stock components and made the Tern II, a lightweight craft which can make an 80Km+ orbit and back in time for tea. The side scoops seem to be a bit more user friendly than they were and 4 of those plus two ramscoops worked almost as well as a battery of 16 ramscoops. Was cruising at over 30Km and making 1800m/s+.

[ayhc]

Here is my attempt at an SSTO in 0.21: http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/showthread.php/21975-The-New-Stock-Repository-Version-0-21?p=557330&viewfull=1#post557330

Screenshots and .craft file are here: https://app.sugarsync.com/iris/wf/D472002_72419280_12895

Flickr album here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/ayhc/sets/72157634871013351

I messed up on the flight shown in the Flickr album, hence less than 150 fuel and 150LOx by the time I reached orbit.

Update: After a subsequent unmanned flight resulted in an unpowered hulk drifting in LKO, the .craft has been modified to add two PB-NUK generators. Oops.

Edited July 31, 2013 by ayhc
Craft modified to include PB-NUK generators.

[carazvan]

Mission to the Mun and back with Ant SSTO in v0.21 here (Minmus, Duna coming soon also)

5t & 10t Payload to LKO with Bee pSSTO in v0.21 here

[Kushi]

The Aoife H-10 is capable to do a 70km orbit twice while not refueling. I got a video and a craft file, in the description i have listed how to fly it. Because of the weight its hard to land and will need some skills ;-). I used mechjeb for the landing burn and some quicksaves/quickloads... :-P

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/5tm6u9jmdxdt4m8/yvGcpiBcfq

(!) Video is still not online, so for now just the pictures inside the link.

Edited August 2, 2013 by Kushi

[featherwinglove]

There is an apparently unrivaled spaceplane expert on Youtube calls himself G4Virus. He does really gnarly shtuff, like launching an 11 tonne base to the surface of Laythe and returning his spaceplane to Kerbin (Ascent Island's tiny runway!) in a single stage without refuelling:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fMOzbtZAfWM

His mere "SSTO" two months earlier can put up a 36t chunk of space station on 350km LKO without breaking a sweat:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DzT0X6lFdNk

[Sean Mirrsen]

There is an apparently unrivaled spaceplane expert on Youtube calls himself G4Virus. He does really gnarly shtuff, like launching an 11 tonne base to the surface of Laythe and returning his spaceplane to Kerbin (Ascent Island's tiny runway!) in a single stage without refuelling:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fMOzbtZAfWM

Well, it's a solid mass of wings that feeds around 200 intakes into four turbojets. While the achievement is legitimate, I seriously dislike intake stacking. :\

[Bothersome]

A Jet engine weighs about 1.5 and the intake weighs 0.1. Squad should make a change, the engine 1.0 and the intake 0.6. That would kind of fix that stacking thing wouldn't it?

[Sean Mirrsen]

Yeah, the main two things about why jets aren't so great with rockets IRL is that they're a) complex and expensive, and surprisingly heavy. The current jet engines are just the turbine and nozzle, whereas the "intake" should represent the other half of the mass, namely the compression chamber. An 1.0/0.6 split could be a good first step to fixing the problem, yeah. +1

[boolybooly]

featherwinglove I do believe that G4Virus is our very own pa1983. Great videos and awesome craft as ever.

Sean Mirrsen, ayhc, carazvan, kushi thanks for you mission reports and congratulations on completing the demanding K Prize mission with flying colours. I am particularly glad that Ant and Bee made it to space as I was a big fan of theirs when I was about 5 years old.

zekes I take it you dont mind being linked from the gate crashers list