The Sci-fi SSTO Challenge

[jonathan_92]

My goal in KSP thus far has been to create the ultimate space ship. To create something that's capable of everything space ships do in sci-fi! That means a single stage, verticle take off and landing vehicle. Something that's either a VTOL spaceplane or a rocket. It has to have enough fuel to perform orbital operations (possibly a planet vist, landing or fly by later on in developement) and be able to return to Kerbin on a powered landing. To give you an idea, I'm basically seeking the Millenium Falcon, USS Enterprise, Tardis, Jupiter 2, Bebop/ Swordfish etc. Not exact replicas or anything, just giving you all some inspiration Not a vehicle designed for one purpose, but several!

So the challenge is to build the ultimate sci-fi space craft! There are no real rules, but stock parts and physics would be preffered. (unless you want to take the liberty of adding lasers or something). There are no rankings beyond bragging rights.

Post pictures/ video of any craft you might make. Make sure your hud is enabled so we can see the mission timer and fuel levels. The closer you get to completing the challenge the better, but obviously it's totally cool to post your nearly successful attempts/ failures. Electronic brownie points for anyone able to complete this!!!!

BONUS POINTS: Can your ship make a landing and take off again? (Kerbin or other bodies) Can you make a water take-off/ landing? Will add more bonus functions as I think about them

NOTE: I don't want to hear "this is impossible", "The devs never intended this", "this is REALLY HARD" (I know it is). If you want to post comments like that, just don't. HAVE FUN!!!!

Edited August 24, 2012 by jonathan_92

[Suzaku]

SSTO on minimus.

[jonathan_92]

Just edited challenge description, can you post one with a hud? Pics of your return? More space brownie points for looking badass! Good job Suzaku!

[Boex]

I present the SSTO Cloud-901!

Capable of hauling 1600 litres of fuel (4 tanks) into Low Kerbin Orbit, enough to land on Minmus and return! No HUD pictures available on Minmus, I'm afraid, but I can tell you that if flown well you can return to Kerbin with about 1/4 of a tank to spare.

Not VTOL, but I think it's cooler that way.

Flight instructions -

Take off -

Ahem...Requires the drop on the end of the runway to take off... :/ Sorry about that...

Have ASAS on for 90% of the runway. Take it off a few seconds before the end and hold down the 'S' key. Nose should pitch up violently when you pass the end of the runway, enable ASAS about a second after this happens, and the nose should pull up slowly. Vertical ascent is highly recommended. Most efficient, but slow, should hang around about 70-100m/s.

At 10km, hit space to enable Aerospike engine.

Right click on Atmospheric engines. When efficieny reaches 0.00, hit space again to fire up the dual liquid engines and begin to pitch over at 45 degrees.

When Apoapsis hit 50km pitch horizontally.

Should have a sub orbital hop going. Try to get a circular orbit at 75km.

Landing -

Assuming you know how to get to Minmus, leave your landing burn until about 4km over an ice lake (burn vertically). 3km if you're brave

At about 6m up, negate your velocity, and tip forwards onto your wheels.

Take off -

Burn as if on the runway. The engines are far too over powered for the size of the ship so take care. Lift the nose as quickly as possible and return from Minmus as normal once in orbit.

Re-entry -

This is one of the scarier parts. You need to trust me. Get you're descent so you have no periapsis, and at about 2000km up, alter your trajectory with the remaining fuel. Don't worry about going straight down.

It's not particularly stable on re-entry, but my advice is once you reach about 5km disable the ASAS and take manual control with precision enabled (Caps Lock). It pulls up pretty well.

The ASAS seems to crash after re-entry, and spazzes out, moving all the flaps (technical term XD) violently, so you should just be a man and pilot it yourself. Pretty easy to land when your stable!

Anyway. That's my lecture over, hope you like the Cloud-901, have fun with it. In my opinion it looks pretty badass too.

[jonathan_92]

Space Brownie points transfered to your fictional off world bank account sir!

[Suzaku]

I present the SSTO Cloud-901!

Capable of hauling 1600 litres of fuel (4 tanks) into Low Kerbin Orbit, enough to land on Minmus and return! No HUD pictures available on Minmus, I'm afraid, but I can tell you that if flown well you can return to Kerbin with about 1/4 of a tank to spare.

Not VTOL, but I think it's cooler that way.

Flight instructions -

Take off -

Ahem...Requires the drop on the end of the runway to take off... :/ Sorry about that...

Have ASAS on for 90% of the runway. Take it off a few seconds before the end and hold down the 'S' key. Nose should pitch up violently when you pass the end of the runway, enable ASAS about a second after this happens, and the nose should pull up slowly. Vertical ascent is highly recommended. Most efficient, but slow, should hang around about 70-100m/s.

At 10km, hit space to enable Aerospike engine.

Right click on Atmospheric engines. When efficieny reaches 0.00, hit space again to fire up the dual liquid engines and begin to pitch over at 45 degrees.

When Apoapsis hit 50km pitch horizontally.

Should have a sub orbital hop going. Try to get a circular orbit at 75km.

Landing -

Assuming you know how to get to Minmus, leave your landing burn until about 4km over an ice lake (burn vertically). 3km if you're brave

At about 6m up, negate your velocity, and tip forwards onto your wheels.

Take off -

Burn as if on the runway. The engines are far too over powered for the size of the ship so take care. Lift the nose as quickly as possible and return from Minmus as normal once in orbit.

Re-entry -

This is one of the scarier parts. You need to trust me. Get you're descent so you have no periapsis, and at about 2000km up, alter your trajectory with the remaining fuel. Don't worry about going straight down.

It's not particularly stable on re-entry, but my advice is once you reach about 5km disable the ASAS and take manual control with precision enabled (Caps Lock). It pulls up pretty well.

The ASAS seems to crash after re-entry, and spazzes out, moving all the flaps (technical term XD) violently, so you should just be a man and pilot it yourself. Pretty easy to land when your stable!

Anyway. That's my lecture over, hope you like the Cloud-901, have fun with it. In my opinion it looks pretty badass too.

How did you get your spaceplane to Minimus?

This was as far as I could get lol.

Edited August 28, 2012 by Suzaku

[jonathan_92]

Gotta be the fuel glitch It's ok it's unavoidable.

[TheDarkStar]

Gotta be the fuel glitch It's ok it's unavoidable.

Actually, there's a mod that fixes it. Just require people to use it to enter in the challenge.