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

fenya · February 15, 2015

I executed three missions. All three failed. The fact that during the landing, still in the air, wings explode or just break off.

Also this happens in a low Kerbin orbit and during time warp x 100000

https://imgur.com/a/Fw4Z2

https://imgur.com/a/MevXr

probably I'm too noob to do this contest.

Samniss Arandeen · February 15, 2015

I made it to a 100 km orbit, docked with another craft while there, and landed back on KSC 09. I think that's called "Advanced Pilot Precision Award, 1st Class".

Not a stock install of KSP, but I do use stock aero and no DRE. The only nonstandard parts on the Mockingjay are the external cameras for RasterPropMonitor. I also used Horizontal Situation Indicator, Precise Node, Alarm Clock, and Kerbal Engineer Redux for design and flight.

I took a slightly nonconventional approach, in that not a single gram of oxidizer was used. I landed with less than 1 liter of fuel remaining.

And here's how I did it!

You'll find Mockingjay here, both with and without the JSI External Cameras. Again, those are the only non-stock parts.

Edited February 15, 2015 by Samniss Arandeen
Embedded the Imgur album. Added .craft DL links.

ExplorerKlatt · February 17, 2015

Here is my successful attempt.

boolybooly · February 17, 2015

Great, whats the name of the craft ExplorerKlatt? And do you want your gatecrasher removed?

Samniss Arandeen, when you say non stock, do you use FAR?

Fenya, sorry to hear you are having problems, there is a bug with bogus collisions near the KSC Terrain at the moment and also the occasional exploding craft as well for no good reason. I hope it will be fixed in the big bug hunt. You can report bugs on the Squad bugtracker.

Samniss Arandeen · February 17, 2015

No FAR, mate. Completely stock aerodynamics, 100% as delivered.

ExplorerKlatt · February 17, 2015

Whoops ship is named Hyperion. You can leave the gatecrasher since I did 2 independent launches with some craft refinements between the two.

Sampa · February 17, 2015

Question: can we implement decoupling of boosters IF they are attached with parachutes for recovering later?

boolybooly · February 17, 2015

Sampa, it would be a gatecrasher, as it would break rule #1.

Sampa · February 17, 2015

fair enough

boolybooly · February 17, 2015

Congratulations to ...

Samniss Arandeen Advanced Pilot Precision Award 1st Class with Mockingjay.

ExplorerKlatt Utilitarial Commendation, Advanced Pilot Precision Award with Hyperion.

... for completing the K-Prize challenge successfully with the above awards. Welcome to the guest list aka roll of honour.

fenya I thought since you linked the unsuccessful missions that I would give you a gatecrashers listing if that is OK.

Camaron · February 18, 2015

Landing this one doesn't graze the belly, and I did not accidentally take fuel from the payload.

Smooth orbit, dropped off a small construction grappler, and cruised on back to the runway.

Named Terranova V.

If you noticed the last one was also called Terranova V, that's because, in my world, failures don't keep their names.

... And a link to download the craft if you wish!

https://www./?w9lgibf4fqudbrx

Be careful straying too far from prograde during reentry. You can end up flipped.

Edited February 18, 2015 by Camaron

boolybooly · February 18, 2015

Congratulations to Camaron for completing the K-Prize successfully and in style with Terranova V. Thanks for your mission report. You now have the choice between keeping or erasing your previous gatecrasher entry. Up to you, some regard it as a badge of honour! :cool:

Here are three of my hard career mode working spaceplanes in v0.9.0. These all completed their missions in accord with K-Prize rules... many did not o7 however no kerbals have been lost this time and through a combination of dumb luck, fleeting moments of cunning and dogged persistence I am still in business.

Camaron · February 18, 2015

The Gatecrasher may stay, not for honor, but simply because they are funny. You make our days a little bit better with those great Gatecrasher lines.

sumrex · February 19, 2015

Well I guess I should finally do a challenge or two. Anyway, my submission is Jabby. Basically build as a trainer/automated kerbal recovery plane. Super predictable through stalls, good handling, mountains of acceleration, and the ability to lift off the ground at 30 m/s. Max altitude is 500k with fine tuning of oxidizer. (less than full tanks) All science modules present. In short, if you cant hit space in this girl, then I don't know what to say. The download link is below should you wish to try it.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/jbf4vt2w2txh69m/Jabby.craft?dl=0

Edited February 19, 2015 by sumrex

Deutherius · February 20, 2015

Hello everyone!

I would like to present my submission to the challenge.

Few days ago I build a plane for the Kerbin Circumnavigation challenge. I ended up liking it so much that I had to convert it into a functional SSTO. I wanted to keep it similar looking, manueverable, low part count (because my laptop can't handle anything above 300 parts) and low mass (so that it has to only use one turbojet), but add SSTO and docking capability, cargo/passenger modules and have at least enough vacuum dV to get anywhere within Kerbin SOI.

Final design (Cargo variant) is

- 80 parts

- Ridiculously manueverable (just about keeps itself stable while pitching hard when full, but kinda unstable when empty)

- 12,437/6,427 kg full/dry mass (w/o cargo)

- max 1,663 m/s vac dV with 48-7S (with no other fuels and cargo present, about 1450 m/s with)

- max 217 m/s vac dV with O-10 (without fuels and cargo, about 120 m/s with)

- plenty of atmo dV with turbojet (300 units of allocated fuel... I didn't even top the tanks off for the mission and still had 60 excess units (300 kg) of LF in orbit)

- long Mk2 Cargo bay (kinda less wide due to fuel tanks clipping, but still able to accomodate 1.25m parts)

- 3 jr. docking ports (all inside of cargo bay, different angles), 127.5 units of monoprop

- For this mission I used two pieces of cargo, a satellite (334 kg) and a rover (395 kg)

I named it Garradd, after the two-tailed comet C/2009 P1

Craft used for mission is available for download HERE (dropbox).

Mission plan was to achieve orbit, dock with a space station at 150 km altitude, transfer to Minmus, release the satellite, land, bounce around with the rover, and then return home.

...It didn't go exactly as planned.

Exhaustive gallery with ascent, docking, manuever nodes, beauty shots and all that good stuff can be found HERE (imgur gallery, 94 images).

TL;DR version with key moments:

I believe this mission is eligible for Advanced pilot precision award 1stClass, Kosmokerbal Commendation (Minmus) and Utilitarial Commendation x2 (Minmus, KTO). Meldin Kerman should also be eligible for Exploratory Astrokerbal Distinction :cool:

Notes:

- KER had some problems with calculating Isp (and dV) when some engines in the active stage were turned off - I had to juggle staging around every time I wanted to use a different engine

- some parts might not be worth the style (looking at you, tail connectors... 400 kg each)

- Mk2 cargo bay has no elegant way to be closed on both sides without adding too much mass (I used the Mk2 Drone Cores, 200 kg each... Adapters and fuel tanks would be better, but too long), at least that I know of

- Nuke would provide superior vac dV, but at the cost of shorter cargo bay and more mass

- 1500 m/s dV is enough to get anywhere in the Kerbol system and back, but not really enough for a Minmus landing... At least until I acquire better piloting skills.

- Next up - upgrade Garradd for interplanetary travel and send cargo to Laythe, maybe Duna :cool:

This challenge is fun, and I will be back Thanks for your time

EDIT: One mission later, I can safely say that this plane is certified for 3.5 tons of cargo to LKO with 500 m/s dV to spare (900 m/s after deploying cargo). It is also very unstable when completely out of fuel and should be flown with extreme care (it's adviced to keep some fuel for the turbojet in case of flipout). I'll be sure to adress that issue in the next version

Edited February 22, 2015 by Deutherius

Pamynx · February 22, 2015

Hello,

Here is my Icarus :

http://imgur.com/a/wXe5P#0

It is able to go to LKO, to dock and to go down to the KSC (With the help of Mechjeb autopilot I confess).

Very usefull to get a crew back to the ground after a mission (8 seat plus the pilot).

Passengers cabin could be replaced by fuel or cargo bay for other versions of the Icarus.

FAR and DRE compliant, carry food (TACLS), do not need a pilot but it does not have any long range antenna (I also use remote tech), I just use it to send kerbals to LKO, board into another ship, and when you come back use Icarus autopilot to help during docking.

panzer1b · February 22, 2015

Im not sure if this counts, but a bit back i made a SSTO to laythe and back, kinda tough to get back, but it has the dV needed to take off, circularize, get to laythe, land, takeoff, and return to kerbin.

Ofc this was originally designed to look cool and didnt even fly, and has progressed into a fully capable interplanetary interceptor, unlike the 1st 2 generations.

That attempt was actually rather crappy, as i botched up the return totally wasting alot of dV i couldve used on other things. If i make another roundtrip sometime soon, ill post an updated album.

Thrain · February 23, 2015

Here is my first attempt at a challenge entry. Hopefully I get the formatting correct for the album to show up.

This design is obviously my imitation of an X-Wing in stock KSP. This can easily get into orbit and deliver a satellite to LKO.

SumGuy · February 24, 2015

I just ran across this challenge, but thought I'd enter one I did as a challenge to myself which I started in v .18 and finally accomplished after many iterations in v.90.

My challenge was take an orange tank into orbit w/o using any of its fuel and return to the ksc landing strip, stock only, no refueling, ssto.

The newly named Constellation, Jumbo SSTO 2 is a spaceplane capable of delivering a 36t untapped orange tank to LKO and returning to the KSC landing strip.

http://kerbalx.com/sumguy/Jumbo%20SSTO%202

Here's my challenge proof video

Looks like it's up for Advanced Pilot Precision, Utilitarial Commendation, maybe largest ( 28.04 x 7.63 x 26.13, 250 parts ).

Anyway it was a fun challenge, and I'm happy to get to share

Speeding Mullet · February 25, 2015

Mullet Dyne Advanced Operations would like to offer up Dinklestein's personal K-Prize design as a challenge entry. Mission tested and achieving the following:

Advanced Pilot Precision Award

Exploratory Astrokerbal Distinction (Minmus, Mun)

Exploratory Utilitarial Commendation (Minmus)

The team is sure a better pair of pilots could have managed more, and visiting another SOI is certainly an alternative mission, just don't sign up Seemund and Lusen again!

CRAFT FILE - please note the craft file comes with a different payload to the mission, I was going to run again and pick up a couple more awards, but have other challenges to enter!

MISSION REPORT:

Joshwoo70 · February 25, 2015

here is my entry

here it is

Mods used:

all stock.

Ven stock revamp

E.V.E

KER

Edited February 25, 2015 by Joshwoo69
fixed link?

Spartwo · February 26, 2015

Gonna see if I go on a Lathe round trip. But orbit is enough for now.

Columbia · February 27, 2015

Just a question;

What is a "Gate Crasher"?

And is the challenge still up? I'm considering trying.

Thanks!

ExplorerKlatt · February 27, 2015

The Gate Crasher award is for entries that break a rule, like breaking a wing tip on landing, but still complete the challenge.

AFAIK, the challenge is still running. I completed it a week or two ago.

Columbia · February 27, 2015

Oh. I guess there is some recognition for those who fail as well.

Thanks for the reply!

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

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