SSTOs! Post your pictures here~

[Van Disaster]

Of course they are inherently limited in range due to going chemical, but you don't really want to take the airbreathing stuff beyond LKO. My old Nodachi managed a 33% pure payload ratio to LKO with 25% of GLOW being fuel, using four RAPIERs and four turbojets and nothing else. And the payload was 36mT, so I would say almost a bare minmum in takeoff weight and expense.

This came to mind when I was tweaking a bit more grunt out of a heavy lifter - particularily about not wanting to lug airbreathing engines around in space - so there was really an obvious solution:

Liquid fuelled jet-powered droptanks. I use stage recovery so they have chutes & so on ( and the seperatrons are there because they kept smacking the wings on ejection - now they just burn holes instead ) but there was enough thrust to bump the loadout over a performance hump, and I could balance the fuselage fuel load for burning to orbit. I'd really like to drop a pair of SABREs off as well ( there's one at each wingtip ) but that would do horrible things to the aircraft balance.

Given the stock mismatch between fuselage part size ( Mk3 ) and available engines, I'm not sure why stock people don't drop engines more often.

Edited January 9, 2015 by Van Disaster

[redsh]

Not very stylish, but pretty utilitary for launching (and returning) bulky stuff up to 5 tons cheaply.

Javascript is disabled. View full album

And tanker with 16 tons of fuel. Both crafts can reach 1000 km orbit.

Javascript is disabled. View full album

Edited January 9, 2015 by redsh
added second craft

[Rune]

Given the stock mismatch between fuselage part size ( Mk3 ) and available engines, I'm not sure why stock people don't drop engines more often.

Well, it wouldn't be a SSTO then, now would it? I do remember an awesome spaceplane that could detach it's wings and airbreathers to wait in orbit for it to return, but yeah, that wouldn't really fit the theme of the thread. Plus, it adds a lot of complexity to the operation, and as you mention, you need mods to make some of the options work.

Rune. It is, however, useful to go beyond LKO, not denying that.

[silks]

A heavy lifter with 50% payload ratio and part count that doesn't make my laptop melt.

It requires no custom action groups and also no final-tier parts, making it useful for career mode.

Any ideas for improvement welcome, craft files here --> http://sil.herobo.com/misc/Nuke_Ray.zip

Edited January 9, 2015 by silks

[soulreaver1981]

Well, it wouldn't be a SSTO then, now would it? I do remember an awesome spaceplane that could detach it's wings and airbreathers to wait in orbit for it to return, but yeah, that wouldn't really fit the theme of the thread. Plus, it adds a lot of complexity to the operation, and as you mention, you need mods to make some of the options work.

Rune. It is, however, useful to go beyond LKO, not denying that.

hey rune are you mean this one???

i should really take a nother look a this idea.

but i have to many idea's already lately

[Van Disaster]

Well, it wouldn't be a SSTO then, now would it? I do remember an awesome spaceplane that could detach it's wings and airbreathers to wait in orbit for it to return, but yeah, that wouldn't really fit the theme of the thread. Plus, it adds a lot of complexity to the operation, and as you mention, you need mods to make some of the options work.

Rune. It is, however, useful to go beyond LKO, not denying that.

People tend to interchange SSTO and spaceplane - I tend to think people generally mean spaceplane when they say SSTO ( SSTO rockets are really trivial to do ). The profile of a spaceplane does tend to lend itself to dropping parts off, given you don't usually need that much thrust on the way back down unless you're landing on another planet & returning, and likewise TWR isn't *that* important in vacuum. I wouldn't drop the wings off though - they shouldn't really take up that big a fraction of overall mass and I can't imagine the structural issues, the only real problem with them is getting in the way landing on a body with no atmosphere.

Interchangeable engine packs is something I've looked at - I think possibly a detachable & reusable interplanetary transfer stage might be something to try, especially if you're running some mod with exotic propulsion. Not sure how to actually implement that though.

Well, as we're talking about SSTOs in general then, if you're a FAR user try adding wings to your LKO launchers: needed to put a light but awkwardly sized payload up, here's what happened.

Javascript is disabled. View full album

I run KIDS in pure ISP-fix mode which can confuse the tools horribly, but I don't think it makes *that* much difference.

Edited January 9, 2015 by Van Disaster

[Rune]

People tend to interchange SSTO and spaceplane - I tend to think people generally mean spaceplane when they say SSTO ( SSTO rockets are really trivial to do ). The profile of a spaceplane does tend to lend itself to dropping parts off, given you don't usually need that much thrust on the way back down unless you're landing on another planet & returning, and likewise TWR isn't *that* important in vacuum. I wouldn't drop the wings off though - they shouldn't really take up that big a fraction of overall mass and I can't imagine the structural issues, the only real problem with them is getting in the way landing on a body with no atmosphere.

Interchangeable engine packs is something I've looked at - I think possibly a detachable & reusable interplanetary transfer stage might be something to try, especially if you're running some mod with exotic propulsion. Not sure how to actually implement that though.

Well, as we're talking about SSTOs in general then, if you're a FAR user try adding wings to your LKO launchers: needed to put a light but awkwardly sized payload up, here's what happened. Re-entry is currently in progress, will update the album as it goes...

http://imgur.com/a/ussfe

You mean you use SSTO when you mean spaceplane. Not to be a harsh or anything, but that's the reason I misunderstood, the fact that I was trying to use the terms right. I have plenty of VTOL SSTOs here, and even some winged rockets elsewhere! As to the most efficient method of interplanetary travel... use interplanetary ships Seriously, what good are cargo bays if we don't use them to assemble awesome deep space spaceships that could never take off by themselves? I love doing that kind of LEGO-in-orbit.

hey rune are you mean this one???

http://i.imgur.com/wDC55WQ.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/aJWdvfj.jpg

i should really take a nother look a this idea.

but i have to many idea's already lately

Actually I meant one that opened down the middle with a hinge (short of like a banana, it's difficult to explain and harder to search for) and let the whole body leave all the wings behind. But you know, that one works too.

Rune. Too many awesome crafts out there to remember!

Edited January 9, 2015 by Rune

[Van Disaster]

You mean you use SSTO when you mean spaceplane. Not to be a harsh or anything, but that's the reason I misunderstood, the fact that I was trying to use the terms right. I have plenty of VTOL SSTOs here, and even some winged rockets elsewhere! As to the most efficient method of interplanetary travel... use interplanetary ships Seriously, what good are cargo bays if we don't use them to assemble awesome deep space spaceships that could never take off by themselves? I love doing that kind of LEGO-in-orbit.

No, I very much don't use SSTO when I mean spaceplane - however in 260 pages of this thread how many non-spaceplanes are there? given the general confusion of terms on this board you can forgive me for maybe expanding the discussion slightly. As for non-spaceplane SSTOs, post more of them please!

The only reason I have cargo spaceplanes that size is to build things in orbit, no need for anything that big if you're not. However if you've got atmosphere at both ends and a large spaceplane, it might be worthwhile attaching interplanetary propulsion to the plane rather than constructing a huge ship and either a second lander or attaching the plane to it. And of course, do it just to do it.

[soulreaver1981]

You mean you use SSTO when you mean spaceplane. Not to be a harsh or anything, but that's the reason I misunderstood, the fact that I was trying to use the terms right. I have plenty of VTOL SSTOs here, and even some winged rockets elsewhere! As to the most efficient method of interplanetary travel... use interplanetary ships Seriously, what good are cargo bays if we don't use them to assemble awesome deep space spaceships that could never take off by themselves? I love doing that kind of LEGO-in-orbit.

Actually I meant one that opened down the middle with a hinge (short of like a banana, it's difficult to explain and harder to search for) and let the whole body leave all the wings behind. But you know, that one works too.

Rune. Too many awesome crafts out there to remember!

you dont mean the splitter do you?

dam i need to finish the 0.90 of this one and release it

Edited January 9, 2015 by soulreaver1981

[Cinocal]

Had something similar a few ver ago.

[drewscriver]

It could've also been the Changeling, though that one is a bit older.

I've finished a .90 craft using the same concept.

Gizmos make it a lot easier. I need to hurry up and complete the trial flight, though, so I can release it.

[soulreaver1981]

It could've also been the Changeling, though that one is a bit older.

http://i.imgur.com/AZg4qja.png

I've finished a .90 craft using the same concept.

http://i.imgur.com/a0EfA9d.png

Gizmos make it a lot easier. I need to hurry up and complete the trial flight, though, so I can release it.

wow that cool

[Myslius]

http://i.imgur.com/U4mcvEU.png

http://i.imgur.com/ozrkRSP.png

http://i.imgur.com/VVE7myU.png

EDIT: I HATE the poor lift these swept wing craft have when flying unpowered, it makes gliding landings very difficult. I corrected this issue in my latest design using bigger wings. Now she glides in for landings UNPOWERED all the way. Beautiful.

http://i.imgur.com/ss79CUl.png

http://i.imgur.com/Lxz1pFY.png

In case anyone was wondering why I have the docking port in that position behind the front most cockpit:

http://i.imgur.com/pSEHrWQ.png

Genius. I love the docking port position.

[Rune]

It could've also been the Changeling, though that one is a bit older.

http://i.imgur.com/AZg4qja.png

I've finished a .90 craft using the same concept.

http://i.imgur.com/a0EfA9d.png

Gizmos make it a lot easier. I need to hurry up and complete the trial flight, though, so I can release it.

Hey, that's the one I meant! I didn't remember it was yours, though. That bird, while probably too complicated in operation to use it a lot, looks awesome and was quite the revolution when you made it.

Rune. Gizmos make everything easier.

[Ashpool]

Introducing my stock heavy lifter Hercules, capable of taking a Jumbo-64 tank to orbit

Javascript is disabled. View full album

Edited January 12, 2015 by Ashpool

[Yukon0009]

screw effiency. MOAR BOOSTER.

(and yes, both are sstos, the first one was actually a piece of debris that went ssto.)

Edited January 12, 2015 by Yukon0009

[Majorjim!]

Well why not, here again is my new new and first proper SSTO:

MJ

[Camaron]

That plane is pretty awesome, but I refuse to believe its your first SSTO.

[ScriptKitt3h]

Holy crap, I need to up my SSTO game.

[Sufficient Anonymity]

So, a couple of weeks back, I posted the S4, a void-combat SSTO gunship. It's now undergone a total redesign, and has been redesignated the F4 (I'm reserving the S designation for transport-only SSTOs, and using F for any combat vessel, beit atmospheric or void only, or both).

So, without any further ado, presenting the F4 gunship:

Javascript is disabled. View full album

I'm not going to include craft files like last time unless anyone really wants them - probably a few too many mods.

[ScriptKitt3h]

I finally made a stock MK3 SSTO that works!

It still needs some work (to make cargo carrying function and to add power generation and docking), but it's a start!

[KandoKris]

Wanted to add a pic or 2 of my Mk3 part interplanetary SSTO "Chubby"

it make's orbit with > 2000ltrs to spare

Cargo is a small science shuttle craft design recently upgraded for VTOL 0g landing's

Currently using this craft to level up a large crew of kerbals at once so that future mission crews can repair wheels etc.

I'm also dropping off science shuttle at every station I dock with.

Plus it can fit an orange tank in the cargo bay with room to spare.

[Wanderfound]

I've been having some fun getting unconventional designs working in FAR lately...

http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/90747-Kerbodyne-SSTO-Division-Omnibus-Thread?p=1654465&viewfull=1#post1654465

http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/90747-Kerbodyne-SSTO-Division-Omnibus-Thread?p=1652100&viewfull=1#post1652100

http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/90747-Kerbodyne-SSTO-Division-Omnibus-Thread?p=1659593&viewfull=1#post1659593

[Majorjim!]

That plane is pretty awesome, but I refuse to believe its your first SSTO.

Thanks! It's the first proper SSTO I have made and released.

But yes, I have made and flown them before.

[Janos1986]

My latest recovery mission:

Javascript is disabled. View full album