SSTOs! Post your pictures here~

[Rune]

Well, Harvester's notes on the aerodynamic overhaul inspired me a bit, in the aesthetic sense:

But then I said, what the hell, I'm sure I can balance that. And boy, could I. It wasn't even hard! Those rebels must know a thing or two about engineering, because I would have had to cheat if it wasn't for the added lift of those S-Foils. Don't try to fly with them in the attack position! Because yes, they can move. And yes, that is a SSTO:

Rune. Test pilot was Luke Kerman, of course. Never mind he is a scientist in my save.

[Wanderfound]

Well, Harvester's notes on the aerodynamic overhaul inspired me a bit, in the aesthetic sense:

http://i.imgur.com/Mfe1FC4.png

But then I said, what the hell, I'm sure I can balance that. And boy, could I. It wasn't even hard! Those rebels must know a thing or two about engineering, because I would have had to cheat if it wasn't for the added lift of those S-Foils. Don't try to fly with them in the attack position! Because yes, they can move. And yes, that is a SSTO:

http://i.imgur.com/LDcncJ9.png

http://i.imgur.com/hI4kRf2.png

Rune. Test pilot was Luke Kerman, of course. Never mind he is a scientist in my save.

As with everything in Star Wars, Lucas pinched the idea from elsewhere:

[RocketBlam]

VTOL STTO'S!

I've been experimenting with VTOL aircraft lately. I've seen other people manage this completely stock, but I do use Infernal Robotics for the pivoting of engines.

A note regarding the RAPIER engines: in all ship configurations, the RAPIERS are set to switch modes via the Abort button, and only do so manually.

Also note: Please use SAS to stabilize the craft, although sometimes this is hopeless.

1. Vertex

Engines: 2 RAPIER

This craft was engineered by the finest minds of the Kerbal aerospace industry, which is why it is not very good.

Takeoff: The Vertex takes off quite smartly, lifting off in full vertical mode at about 80% throttle.

Utility: With a full science package, it can take science readings from all sorts of interesting places. Like space!

Transition: One pilot described it as "trying to make a snake stand on it's tail" and "this thing flies like cats swim." Once you have transitioned to level flight, though, the high lift ratio of the wings makes everything smooth sailing - until, of course, you do something wrong, and dive into the ground at full throttle, killing everyone on board and several people on the ground.

The best way to transition to horizontal flight is to use the 1 and 2 keys to rotate the engines to thrust forward, rather than to use the attitude control keys to control the ship, which do not seem to work at all. Once you are off the ground, begin rotating the engines in small increments to achieve forward velocity.

SSTO?: Not really.

Recommendation: It's probably best to take of in STOL mode (which can be accomplished in about 30 feet), rather than vertical, as the transition to horizontal flight is, in the best of circumstances, unlikely from a VTOL launch. Turn the engines back about 30 degrees and let her rip. Once you have achieved a velocity of about 80 m/s, you can rotate the engines to full rear.

2. Vertex II

Engines: 4 RAPIER

After having created the Vertex, the engineering minds at RocketBlam asked: "If we can crash with two engines, why not four?"

Takeoff: The Vertex II takes off adequately, not quite as well as the original Vertex, but certainly lifting off vertically with the throttle at 90%.

Utility: It has a full science package and has the Delta-V to get to a useful orbit. We don't know how this happened. We are investigating. You can use this to retrieve Kerbals from those weird orbits they keep appearing in.

Transition: Once again, it is best to transition to level flight by vectoring the engines forward in small increments (about 10-20 degrees at a time). However, with this new, advanced vessel, you can also use attitude control keys to point it. Kind of.

SSTO?: Yes! Wait, really? Let me check... yes! In fact it has enough Delta-V to get you to an orbit of over 100 km, and back down with fuel to land! How did that happen?

Recommendation: You can take off in full vertical or STOL mode. Either one works, but the STOL takeoff is more reliable, if you have the runway. However, the craft is strangely difficult to point accurately. It tends to dip when you turn or bank, and bank when you turn. Hey, we're just happy it flies.

3. Amazotron XS2

Engines: 1 RAPIER

This S/VTOL craft has one engine! ONE!

Takeoff: The Amazotron XS2 takes off like a pig trying to get out of a muddy bog. You must throttle to 100% and wait for the engines to achieve full thrust to even leave Planet Kerbin, and even then it is a slow ascent. However, it is quite stable doing so.

Utility: We're not sure what you would use this for. We are thinking of selling it to foolish Kerbals as a weekend pleasure craft. And trust us, there are plenty of foolish Kerbals.

Transition: Of all of these craft, the XS2 is actually the easiest to transition to horizontal flight. You can point it, adjust the thrust, do all sorts of crazy things, and you usually won't even crash! Strangely enough, the vehicle seems to climb best when the engines are angled back at 60-80 degrees, rather than the fully rearward 90-degree angle. However, doing so may make the climb too inefficient to achieve orbit.

SSTO?: Yes! Barely. Don't count on getting an orbit higher than 100k in this baby and having any fuel left to land. Also, it has no science gear on board.

Recommendation: If you really like taking off vertically, this is the ship for you. It is a joy and a pleasure to take off vertically. Did we just say that? Wow, we did. But it's true! Also, the vessel is flyable with no pilot, since it has a separate command module. So it might be useful to retrieve Kerbals from orbit. Take off without a pilot, return with one! That sounds like the plot of one of those The Kerlight Zone episodes....

Craft Files

Let me know if you want them!

[Major999]

My favourite SSTO has to be the Schrödinger-I crew SSTO (there is also a cargo variant).

Download via my signature.

[ScriptKitt3h]

Well, Harvester's notes on the aerodynamic overhaul inspired me a bit, in the aesthetic sense:

http://i.imgur.com/Mfe1FC4.png

But then I said, what the hell, I'm sure I can balance that. And boy, could I. It wasn't even hard! Those rebels must know a thing or two about engineering, because I would have had to cheat if it wasn't for the added lift of those S-Foils. Don't try to fly with them in the attack position! Because yes, they can move. And yes, that is a SSTO:

http://i.imgur.com/LDcncJ9.png

http://i.imgur.com/hI4kRf2.png

Rune. Test pilot was Luke Kerman, of course. Never mind he is a scientist in my save.

Wow! I feel the need to make some of my own Star Wars starfighter SSTOs...

[Rune]

As with everything in Star Wars, Lucas pinched the idea from elsewhere:

http://www.wwiiaircraftphotos.com/LCBW9/BV141-08cf+.jpg

Mmmm... I'm going to go with "doubtful", considering how the B-wing's thing is that the whole thing rotates to get a symmetrical cruciform shape. Christianity itself is a likelier influence. Or swords.

Wow! I feel the need to make some of my own Star Wars starfighter SSTOs...

Thanks! I would release this one, but there is something very glitchy about the "S-Foils", specifically the RCS systems that they use to dock in their different positions: as soon as you engage them, it goes haywire accelerating in random directions, and it takes all of my docking skill to manage a dock... after burning more than half the tank and using the dock alignment indicator, correcting all the way in (mostly, because it would have been completely impossible to keep the target ship in the frame). Yup, it jumped like a wild bronco and the only way to do it was to get the jittering indicators "short of in the right spot", plus the magical magnetic force pulling me in. Shame.

Rune. Maybe the fact that the RCS jets were very close to the CoM and upside down?

[CrisK]

Neat, there's a whole thread devoted to SSTO's. Time to learn how the masters do it.

Here's a little MIG-alike that I built using the Tantares add on, procedural wings, and stock parts.

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[CrisK]

I've learned more about designing planes after reading through this thread. Here's a light little MIG-like spaceplane.

Mods:

Tantares

Procedural wings

FAR

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PS: Rune, I love your Star Wars themed SSTO!

[KissSh0t]

Haven't been here since page 223.

*awkward laugh*

Lots of things to look at.

[Rune]

Haven't been here since page 223.

*awkward laugh*

Lots of things to look at.

Well, enjoy then! That's like, pre-SP+, right? You have a lot of pretty things to look at, that's for sure.

[Rune]

Well, I finally squashed the last fuel bug on this one. Phew! That took some frustration, sweat, crashes and curses. And it is still extremely tricky to pilot through flameout transition (not that it really flames out, but there's this small thrust asymmetry that you have to fight against to keep things interesting). In the end, though, I managed to do a sane fuel route that maintained CoM more or less in its place, and all of that in spite of the worse fuel bugs KSP could throw at me. My build-fu has reached yet another level, diagnosing and solving that one.

If it wasn't because it is beautiful as they come, and it also breaks the "5km/s in LKO" barrier, I would have abandoned it long ago. But you can't abandon something that looks like this, I mean...

...You could fly this out to Eeloo*, and still look cool as boop on your Single Stage. It can probably do Duna AND Ike in a single trip, and get you back. It's worth pursuing, and that's it.

*not that you can get back afterwards if you go into orbit, but you can get there.

And of course, a gazillion others behind the scenes. You didn't think I was working on only a single SSTO, did you? These are promising, and much more noob-friendly.

Cute chemical three-kerbal VTOL SSTO with ~1km/s in LKO in 40 parts. Plus it can dock with my land bases. It looks so awesomely cute, I'm calling it Quakken during development at least.

3.5km/s on the tanks in LKO to train crews two at a time by doing roundtrips to Minmus with a side visit to Munar orbit (they hit lvl 3 in a single mission), in a single stage and without refueling, so cheap as dirt.

Rune. It's actually the one that inspired the current White Dart wingform, I've been fiddling around with it that long.

Edited January 27, 2015 by Rune

[soulreaver1981]

Well, I finally squashed the last fuel bug on this one. Phew! That took some frustration, sweat, crashes and curses. And it is still extremely tricky to pilot through flameout transition (not that it really flames out, but there's this small thrust asymmetry that you have to fight against to keep things interesting). In the end, though, I managed to do a sane fuel route that maintained CoM more or less in its place, and all of that in spite of the worse fuel bugs KSP could throw at me. My build-fu has reached yet another level, diagnosing and solving that one.

If it wasn't because it is beautiful as they come, and it also breaks the "5km/s in LKO" barrier, I would have abandoned it long ago. But you can't abandon something that looks like this, I mean...

http://i.imgur.com/J2C37Si.png

...You could fly this out to Eeloo, and still look cool as boop on your Single Stage. It can probably do Duna AND Ike in a single trip. It's worth pursuing, and that's it.

And of course, a gazillion others behind the scenes. You didn't think I was working on only a single SSTO, did you? These are promising, and much more noob-friendly.

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

Cute chemical three-kerbal VTOL SSTO with ~1km/s in LKO in 40 parts. Plus it can dock with my land bases. It looks so awesome, I'm calling it Quakken during development at least.

http://i.imgur.com/f4RRVjf.png

3.5km/s on the tanks in LKO to train crews two at a time by doing roundtrips to Minmus with side visit to Mun, in a single stage and without refueling.

Rune. It's actually the one that inspired the current White Dart wingform, I've been fiddling around with it that long.

sweet looking craft rune

[Raven.]

SSTO that I started working on lately. With FAR, it gets to orbit, but that's about it lol.

[Totallyafk]

this shuttle can quickly carry 6 kerbals to a least a 100kn orbit (i haven't tested higher) using its massive supply of fuel (that makes it fly like a brick when full)

and its excessive number of engines (that eat through the excessive amount of fuel) Its the perfect* stylish taxi for you LKO needs.

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[NeatCrown]

Neat, there's a whole thread devoted to SSTO's.

Yes? You called me? No? Sorry, I'll just leave then... (Sorry, I just have to make this joke whenever it comes up)

And on a more related note, to tell the truth, I haven't uploaded any newer crafts for a while, since I'm a bit busy in my life. I do have this ancient SSTO design from 0.20 (which I didn't upload until late November), that works pretty much the same now, just with swapped out intakes. other than that, practically no difference. I don't remember the delta v it has in orbit, but what I do remember is that you're able to achieve orbit around the Mun and back to Kerbin without refueling

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Craft File

Edited January 27, 2015 by NeatCrown

[Tankbuster32]

This is something I whipped up yesterday, I totally didn't expect it to work as well as it did. Payload to LKO is about five tons, and it weighs 11.5t empty. I'd say that's a decent payload fraction...

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[WhiteKnuckle]

Nomad SX1 VTOL spaceplane. For craft file and more details, click the link in my sig.

[NoZerone]

Here is mine that I have been working on over the past couple of days. The only issue I'm having with it right now is thrust. With the craft empty it can fly, but runs out of fuel before it can finish the orbit burn. Once I load things into it so it has RSC, and power, it seems to not want to leave the ground. I'll figure it out though, each time I've had an idea, it's gotten better.

Edited January 31, 2015 by NoZerone

[eddiew]

Spaceplane Redbird. She's not the prettiest thing in the world, but all the struts and fuel lines are mostly tucked away, and there's a respectable 0.7 TWR at liftoff with maximum payload. Bit squirrelly around 24-30km altitude, but kick the outer 2.5 engines to LFO and she'll straighten out until vacuum. And she passes the orange-tank-to-LKO test

Frankly I just wanted an excuse to strap orange tanks to the side of an MK3 and see what happened; the prototype flew better than expected, so I spent about 6 hours refining the design. Only thing I don't like is how the bay doors clip into the nacelles when opening, but there's not a lot to be done about that unless Squad implement a sliding-door version. Landings are a bit hairy because those MK3 joints just don't seem very strong. Any deviation at any speed during re-entry tends to rip the cockpit off Which is why there's 22 radial chutes in the cargo bay, 6 on the tail, and then 2 on the cockpit itself

B9's sabre engines, Lack's SXT intakes, MRS' reaction wheels, B9 procedural wings

[TheBarnetts]

Simple Ranger from interstellar. What it lacks in features (no vtol), it makes up for in low part count. Was thinking for the future; might try my hand at a fully loaded Endurance. It can get to 90km comfortably and surprisingly stable considering the shape/weight distribution. Has a standard docking port in the back like the movie. Lots of offset parts which bugs me, but has decent accuracy.

[Fellow314]

Also a Ranger. Only by name.

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https://www.dropbox.com/s/j7svrpfw1zk3cjb/Ranger%20Alpha%20NMJ.craft?dl=0

https://www.dropbox.com/s/pk46gv3xzi6oho3/Ranger%20XR%20NMJ.craft?dl=0

If you do want to fly either the standard or extended range versions, taking off is a tricky procedure.

Hit 2 for the turbojet, turn on SAS.

Let the turbojet get up a good head of steam then hit RCS then 1 for the downward motors. The whole thing should leap up and forwards. Angle up plenty and you shouldn't need to keep the downward jets on for long at all.

Has about 300 m/s Delta V once in orbit from the main engines and about another 700 m/s if you control from the docking port on top and use the VTOL RCS Motors for thrust. Carries parachutes in case you need all that fuel to get back home. Any sort of horizontal landing would probably be suicidal.

[moronwrocket]

Basic Jet SSTO I starting building before I knew you shouldn't...Then it became a challenge! Not particularly useful, but it can carry a small payload to LKO. Requires hand-tweaking the thrust/angle on the 48-7S on the central pod to counterbalance the center of mass offset. Clipped the LFO engines in, and added some modular girders as mount points. Don't have cubic octagonals yet, lol.

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[Captain Kirkbal]

The CSP17 "SkyOX"

Completely Stock SSTO Cargo Spaceplane capable of putting over 40 tons into LKO (Lighter loads can be taken to HKO) and returning to the surface in one piece. Weighs around 280 tons when fully fueled and loaded down, and less than 120 tons on the return trip to Kerbin (makes the craft suitable for gliding to the runway). As one should expect, the parts count is a bit high, coming in at just under 500. This causes my computer to lag at about 1/2x speed... but still totally worth it! The only problem during flight is caused by the nature of the tilted engines whenever the center of mass begins to shift, which is why it has so much RCS and reaction wheels hidden inside . Possibly the most aesthetically pleasing, most sci-fi looking craft I've ever built. And it's my first (successful) Cargo SSTO!

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Edit: If anyone has any ideas on how to remedy the terrible looking nose (just stuck a ram intake on it) PLEASE TELL ME!!!

Edited February 4, 2015 by Captain Kirkbal

[Sampa]

The closest I have come to an SSTO was more of an SSTS (Single Stage to Space). It got to space, then ran out of fuel and was unable to make orbit.

[blowfish]

The closest I have come to an SSTO was more of an SSTS (Single Stage to Space). It got to space, then ran out of fuel and was unable to make orbit.

Then add more fuel (and engines as necessary). For stock Kerbin, and especially with FAR (which reduces drag losses), you don't need anything terribly complicated to get to orbit. Even with a vertical ascent (rocket) SSTO - stack fuel tanks on an LV-T45 until the TWR is about 1.3-1.5 and it probably has enough fuel to get to orbit. Of course it's a lot harder with RSS, 64x, etc.