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

[WafflesToo]

Landing gear are massless in flight.

Really guys? SQUAD, game's broken, you gonna fix that?

[tavert]

It does look like the landing legs are getting a refresh for 0.22, we'll see if the aircraft gear get tweaked too. I personally think 0.5 tons is way too heavy for them, something more in line with the masses of rover wheels or conventional landing legs would make more sense to me.

Fixing various physics glitches and inconsistencies appears to be fairly low on Squad's list of priorities. New shininess in career mode will probably draw in more new players than tweaking the simulation for better balance and/or realism.

[kepicness]

Would a vtol made with the robotics mod be ok? I make the engines rotate to direct the thrust.

[drewscriver]

Would a vtol made with the robotics mod be ok? I make the engines rotate to direct the thrust.

I'm pretty sure that one would be counted as a gatecrasher, as it would no longer be strictly stock

[pa1983]

My Eve Plane sits at 258 tons on the runway. I don't really think it should be in the running for Maximalist, though, since it is inefficient as hell for Kerbin ascent and carries no payload (I feel Maximalist should have more to do with payload to orbit rather than who can slap wings onto the most fuel).

I thought pa1983 or someone had a craft that was up around 400 tons? (Or, I might be thinking of an older version or a post that got eaten by the Kraken.)

Think the heaviest I did that did its job was 245 or 248tons with a jumbo tank as payload.

It was the old Falcon IV Cargo Transport if I recall. Looking back at that craft now its realy a flying brick Cant even glide with out power. More of a rocket with control surfaces and landing gears then a spaceplane hehe. I knew little about spaceplanes back then, where not that many doing spaceplanes either compared to now.

Still do have a video of the craft.

http://youtu.be/XROy7-eMVRY

I think girders where reduced in wight in a later version of KSP (any one can confirm?) so it drooped to 235 or 238 tons.

Any way that craft and most crafts are lighter then that. My craft was not 248t or what ever it was less because landing gears have no wight in the game except in VAB/SPH. I dont think the bug was so well known then. I sure did not know about it. One reason landing gears should be mounted last because SPH/VAB assumes it has wight so CoM will be off.

[Stochasty]

It took a ship redesign, a hell of a lot of planning, about five failed attempts, and more use of alexmoon's Launch Window Planner than I care to count, but I have finally pulled it off. Ladies and Gentlemen, I present to you single stage to Moho!

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The Vethrfolnir III is quite a bit uglier than her predecessors, but she's lighter and can make orbit with 7.5km/ delta-v left in the tank. I needed every bit of it for this trip.

Next up, Tylo! The good news about Tylo is that (unlike Moho) it is more of a design challenge than a flying challenge. The bad news about Tylo is that it's a really, really tough design challenge, and may not be possible at all. Oh well; that just makes it all the more worth doing.

[bsalis]

Before it's too late - here is my 0.21 entry!

Was thinking of doing a Duna return mission with a long range SSTO I built a while ago. However I ended up settling upon this new craft, since I was testing it out anyhow. Lets just call it the Explorer. Since it's new and I don't have a proper name yet.

Here it is!

It has a detachable rover that can be reattached. Jebediah is captain... the rover crew, Matfen and Gusbro standing here are a couple of the dumbest in my space program.

Ascent with rover attached again. Hope this does not disqualify me with the detach/reattached thing.

Max ceiling on jets.. almost ready to rocket our way to K-prize goodness any moment.

Orbit! Pe is 101Km

Glamour shot.

Reentered on top of KSC. Circling around to final and landing.

We are back!

[boolybooly]

Stochasty, sorry about missing that your Eve Plane does get maximalist. It is not payload related (payloads get a specific value in the index). Fixed!

pa1983, thankyou for your historical mission archive footage, I have added it to the roll of honour because unless I am mistaken it does qualify for the K-Prize albeit for a different version, but it should be linked. At over an hour I am afraid I had to skip bits of the video so let me know if I have incorrectly appraised it.

stochasty, thanks for your mission report and I remember we have already established this launch/crew method is in keeping with the K Prize rules. Congratulations on expertly navigating through Eve SOI to Moho landing and back. You have earned the Advanced Pilot Precision Award in addition to the coveted Expeditionary Astrokerbal Distinction which includes an Exploratory Kosmokerbal Commendation for Eve flyby. I hope Scott Manley aka Illectro will be honoured by your reference and I would encourage him to reply in kind in due course !

bsalis, welcome back and thanks for the Explorer mission report which absolutely fulfills the K-Prize rules so no worries. Congratulations on your Advanced Pilot Precision Award, I feel sure that a rover delivering spaceplane will come into its own in v22.

[pa1983]

Yea it dose qualify. It was on the old list for 0.18 I think, 0.19 is possible I bought the game on the release day of 0.18. Its long because I was dumb not to speed up the video to emulate real time. I was not that familiar with the real time rendering concept in KSP at the time so did not pay much attention to that.

Video is when I built my second space station I think. But I think the original K-prize submission featured a 36T jumbo tank to 350 or 400Km LKO.

Edited October 15, 2013 by pa1983

[WafflesToo]

Jeb strolls casually up to the gate and leans toward the bouncer, "Twenty kerbucks to look the other way for ten minutes."

The bouncer crosses his enormous arms across his chest grumpily, "nufin doin bub. Too many gettin in here and da boss ain't happy about it."

Jeb grins and shrugs, "Guess I can't put on over on you old pal. I suppose I'll have to- Hey! It's Jim Carey! Hey Jimmy!"

The bouncer turns around quickly, "Wha! Where? Oh, I LUV dat guy!"

While his back is turned a 110-ton rocket comes crashing through the gates, overturning several other contestant's vehicles, and lands in a heap next to the judging tables.

Jeb shakes his head, "Huh... I could've sworn he was over there three days ago. Oh well, keep up the good work!"

Leaving the bouncer scratching his head at the gate, Jeb casually strides through what's left of the gates, pulls a small sign from his jacket and hangs it on the wreckage before leaving to find the refreshment table.

The sign reads,

"Val-class VSSTO"

"Launch mass 110 tons"

"LKO capacity 12tons"

"Courtesy of the Jebediah Junkyard and Rocket Foundry LLC"

(probably the second-to-last thing I'll do in 0.21... now for SCIENCE!)

Edited October 18, 2013 by WafflesToo

[Pipcard]

Introducing the Swallow-class SSTO

all stock, except for Kerbal Engineer (which is not a fuel tank, lift generator, or engine)

The spaceplane, piloted by Jebediah Kerman, awaiting take-off.

Climbing with jet engines

Continuing into orbit with rocket engines

In orbit, with solar panels deployed

Proof of stable orbit (periapsis >70 km)

Re-entry plasma over the sea west of KSC

Runway approach

Landed safely, with 1/3 jet fuel remaining

Edited November 13, 2015 by Pipcard

[pa1983]

Have not played much KSP. Lack of new stock parts etc and overall lack of improvements in the latest versions of the game surrounding spaceplanes I kind of lost the interest. Have not flown a spaceplane to orbit and back since I built the Kosmos a month ago. Trying to get back. Fixed a new stock cargo bay for my Falcon XIV Kosmos. Needs more testing but so fare seems to work every time.

I was kind of interested in making a KSP version of the HOTOL, the space plane that never flew but was the predecessor to the Skylon.

Its small and rear most mounted wing makes it have that futuristic look that I just love. Tough it makes for a very usntable craft in KSP since CoL will shift forward the more one is rolling unlike a center mounted wing so I had to add internal wings in the rear, mounted vertically to compensate, basically it has the same lift no mater how much its banking.

Made it in to a 3 man spaceplane, no cargo capacity bout that is doable but I have the Kosmos for that so I figured I could get the part count down further by having a pure Crew Shuttle. 283 parts and it handles better then I expected considering the real world craft had CoM and CoL problems, had that to but got it good enough that it will fly just fine. Bit temperamental thats all but still relatively stable.

Its a bit overpowered so can go well past 2100m/s on jets alone, also has a small 20kN rocket engine for Orbital Manoeuvres. 400km orbit was not a problem. Could have gone a lot higher.

Its a bit iffy taking off with due to its low nose and fare rear wheels (lack of better stock wheels caused that compromise).

Reentry was stable and landing was a peace of cake. Glided all the way to the runway. Touching down was not a problem despite the narrow wheel base and the fare rear mounted wheels makes sure the craft stays down once it touches the runway.

The craft is a fast climber and has high acceleration. So it will get in to orbit with in minutes. So makes for a good Crew replacement craft for spacestations.

Probably gonna upload it in my sstos.zip file later when I have made some final test flights and changes to the craft. Will try to have the engines push trough CoM so it cant spin out due to flame outs. RCS needed adjusting to to make docking easier.

And Yes I call the craft HOTOL

Forgot to take some good pictures but well if and when I make my next video it will probably be in that any way.

Edited October 24, 2013 by pa1983

[boolybooly]

Thanks for your mission report on the Swallow Pipcard a compact economical and clearly effective SSTO and yes Kerbal Engineer, as you decribe it, is properly within the rules. Congratulations on winning the K Prize with a fully deserved Advanced Pilot Precision Award for your precise touchdown on KSC runway.

pa1983, thanks for your screenies of the carefully constructed HOTOL, with its characteristicly elegant lines a very interesting recreation of the Skylon predecessor and a capable K-Prize winner as well.

[Mesklin]

Let me introduce long range SSTO - Ikar. With whooping dV on low orbit - 8288, this craft can reach any target in Kerbin system and return pilot to home. Very stable and controllable in atmosphere from full to completely dry, you do not need to move fuel from one tank to another before dive in atmosphere. With heavy duty gears you can safely land to any body in system without damages and safely takeoff after landing (low takeoff speed full craft on Kerbin ~85m/s). You can make on this craft as minimum 6 travels to orbit and back without refueling.

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[boolybooly]

Thanks for your mission report Mesklin and congratulations on winning the K-Prize and Advanced Pilot Precision Award with high dV vehicle Ikar.

It will be interesting to see if spaceplanes become useful in career mode once the economic factors are in place.

[Stochasty]

8,288 m/s dV? Dang, Mesklin, very nice. Best I've managed was 7,550 m/s with the craft I took to Moho.

You have about 2t more fuel on orbit (and about the same dry weight, it looks like) than I was able to pull off. Guess I need to play with my ascent path a little; when I tried adding more fuel I wound up taking too long on ascent and eating into my on-orbit fuel budget.

[Guest links123]

The most I have managed is 7,750 m/s I have no problem in this. Fuel was efficiently used.

[Mesklin]

Guess I need to play with my ascent path a little; when I tried adding more fuel I wound up taking too long on ascent and eating into my on-orbit fuel budget.

I saw your craft, it was ugly, but efficient enough to fly to Moho and back. About ascend path: try to use big ascend pith (>50) after take off and maybe slight more wings. I found one thing for low TWR craft after my tens of tries, if your horizontal speed in ascend time rise to fast it stop to rise your vertical velocity and you spend to much fuel in ascend time.

[Stochasty]

7,750 m/s dV on the launchpad, or in orbit, links123? On the launchpad is easy; in orbit is a different story.

If the latter, I would very much like to see screenshots of your craft. Prior to Mesklin's post, I'm reasonably certain that I held the record for most dV in orbit (judging by the fact that I've made several single-stage trips that I haven't seen anyone else make). If I'm wrong about this, I'd love to see it.

I saw your craft, it was ugly, but efficient enough to fly to Moho and back. About ascend path: try to use big ascend pith (>50) after take off and maybe slight more wings. I found one thing for low TWR craft after my tens of tries, if your horizontal speed in ascend time rise to fast it stop to rise your vertical velocity and you spend to much fuel in ascend time.

Yeah. Some of the testing I did with my Moho craft demonstrated that a little. On the Moho flight, I leveled out quite a bit higher than normal (about 36km, rather than my usual 30km) for the acceleration part of the ascent, and did the acceleration at half throttle. That wound up saving fuel significantly. Still, though, I've only been able to manage about a 28.5t launch weight with two jets while still getting a decently efficient insertion. Your craft looks to be about 31t on the runway?

Edited October 31, 2013 by Stochasty

[Mesklin]

My craft was 31.43t on launchpad. I cuted off my jets only when my throttle stayed about last tick on throttle scale (at 43-44 km) and I on nuke together with jets when throttle drop below 1/3.

[Stochasty]

I see. Nice job again. Looks like I need to head back to the drawing board then.

If I can get my Tylo ship to work, it'll have 9,000 m/s or thereabouts, but it uses ions so that doesn't count.

[boolybooly]

WafflesToo designed some badges for the K-Prize, I have included them in the OP with a credit link to his YouTube channel showing KSP vids. He said he might offer sig badges for K-Prize missioneers later. Thanks WafflesToo.

Drop by the OP and take a look.

[pinolallo]

.22 report submission.

FatNose "space jar".

Crew transport: 5 crew, land on mün and back

KSC launch ->Kerbin lko circularize -> moon transfer ->Mün circularize -> Mün land -> Mün launch -> Mün circularize -> Kerbin transfer ->Kerbing circularize ( 840 m/s Dv cost with no airbrake) -> deorbit -> ksc Land.

This is the standard Mün mission this vehicle is designed for.

Tested stable landing structs with extralarge footprint (Mün is not an easy place),ladders for vertical and horizontal operations, Nose docking port, balanced RCS.

Wherever you need to move crew around Kerbin this is the vehicle.

"update" I do make a Mün Mimnus in a row successful trip. During a test about precision landings (the two Space Jar on mün) I do a normal return to kerbin using one and test a mün -> mimnus transfer with the other one. The Space Jar not only reached the mimnus low orbit, but executed a successful land and a KSC return. (the second kerbin approach was executed with a couple airbrake orbits ending with a circular 100 km LKO.) I do also a little mistake on mimnus landing that wasted about 100 DV but in any case the flight ended with residual 376 dv.

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Edited November 3, 2013 by pinolallo

[Spartwo]

Finally something small enough to put here.

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I'm a bad pilot ok.All stock.The canards detatch to allow weapons fire.

[Mesklin]

It is a very good badges. Thanks, WafflesToo.