SSTOs! Post your pictures here~

[Wanderfound]

First up for the nuFAR range: Kerbodyne Queequeg. Chase your space whale.

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Craft file at https://www.dropbox.com/s/r2e9iw79kwnaamk/Kerbodyne%20Queequeg.craft?dl=0

[O-Doc]

I just found out last week KSP hit 1.0. WO0T! I'm very happy with the final features, especially the love Squad gave to us spaceplane junkies. Here's what I spent my Saturday on.

I did alot of experiments with the new parts and aero. Looks like lawn darts with pre-coolers should comfortably take 20% payload fraction to orbit. This one above is the result of getting a great sea-level flyer to be a useful SSTO. It takes half a ton payload to orbit and the nuke gives it some excellent interplanetary reach if refueled at LKO.

I'm not sure about what you guys are doing but, I'm finding the best ascent profile is on rapiers with between 1.25-1.5 TWR at sea level, punch off the end of the runway and dial in 45 degrees, only lowering your nose with apoapsis drop as your speed increases into the sweet zone where your rapers push over 300kN. I fire rockets with a short angry burst when rapiers die at about 60kN and nose to 20 degrees to punch a 75km suborbital apogee. As per usual, I think the main trick is getting your spaceplane perfectly balanced for SAS-free flying so your control surfaces don't drag on the way up

RIP in peace turbojet!

[landfish2]

I just tried the engine part with all the clipping. It literally breaks everything apart when trying to lift-off.

gotta get them struts and/or kerbal joint reinforcement

Yeah that thing is an overkill, I got the orange tank to orbit with like half as many rapiers. Actually I used 10, or actually 6 rapiers, 4 turbos and 2 nukes.

But that thing has 26!

I refuse to fly planes with a TWR of less than 1 also it needs the extra power to get around the massive amounts of drag caused by the wing strakes -still worth imo

A considerable amount of clipping is the 'magic'.

I don't regret my choices.

I tried it in FAR thinking it would be super aerodynamic and cool but then this happened

and can anyone tell me what these lines actually mean (I tried reading about them but didn't really understand it)

Edited May 11, 2015 by landfish2

[Wanderfound]

I tried it in FAR thinking it would be super aerodynamic and cool but then this happened

http://i.imgur.com/QKZN9rj.jpg

and can anyone tell me what these lines actually mean (I tried reading about them but didn't really understand it)

http://i.imgur.com/idIo9Vb.jpg

See http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/111541-Thinking-about-making-the-switch-to-FAR?p=1927228&viewfull=1#post1927228 and the two posts after that. This post might also be helpful: http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/20451-1-0-2-Ferram-Aerospace-Research-v0-15-1-Fanno-5-10-15?p=1907618&viewfull=1#post1907618

Basically, they're a means of visualising your supersonic drag for area-ruling (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Area_rule) purposes. The green line shows the cross sectional area of the craft as you move from nose to tail; the yellow line is a measure of how smooth the curvature of the green line is. You want the yellow one to be as close to a straight line as you can possibly make it, which will in turn reduce your supersonic wave-drag area (which you can find in the transsonic tab of the FAR analysis tools). The lower the wave-drag, the less thrust required to get up to speed.

Your ship is actually pretty good already from an area rule POV (guess those Skylon guys know what they're doing after all...), but you've got some fairly extreme wing loading to deal with (hence the unplanned disassembly...). You could improve the area-rule stuff further by adding a bulge or two to the fuselage just in front of the point where the green line inflects sharply upwards and shifting the rear engines forwards a smidge; turn the green line into a smooth curve and the yellow line will flatten out.

Edited May 11, 2015 by Wanderfound

[Roflcopterkklol]

Getting quite a fleet of SSTO's going, idk if i want to download nufar now, id have to rebuild most my craft lol.

[Mikki]

LANDFISHS HOTDOG XL

looks supercool, i wish i had such bigger engines in stock available...

or such kind of... scramjet thingy. The ones who make a really lotsa... peeeewwwww... exactly.

They could be heavy and thursty ,no thing, its the partcount in stock that makes me...hmmm:rolleyes:

The best page in the moment in my opinion. I wanna see moar Hotdogs, just great what the People

tape together.

[Mikki]

Hi All

The first Landing of the H.O.L.Y.C.O.W. SSTO refurbished ended in an EPIC Fail.

The Craft bounced of the Runway and a rapid disassemblement occured...

No Kerbals were harmed by this accident, thats more important than the loss of a cra... errr

enourmous airframe...

In the picture Bill, Bob and Jeb in front of the crashsite.

Bill mentioned that he has to rethink the landing gear...

And Jeb answered: That was fun. Lets try again, nevermind.

Edited May 14, 2015 by Mikki
Pic found

[Rune]

See http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/111541-Thinking-about-making-the-switch-to-FAR?p=1927228&viewfull=1#post1927228 and the two posts after that. This post might also be helpful: http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/20451-1-0-2-Ferram-Aerospace-Research-v0-15-1-Fanno-5-10-15?p=1907618&viewfull=1#post1907618

Basically, they're a means of visualising your supersonic drag for area-ruling (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Area_rule) purposes. The green line shows the cross sectional area of the craft as you move from nose to tail; the yellow line is a measure of how smooth the curvature of the green line is. You want the yellow one to be as close to a straight line as you can possibly make it, which will in turn reduce your supersonic wave-drag area (which you can find in the transsonic tab of the FAR analysis tools). The lower the wave-drag, the less thrust required to get up to speed.

Your ship is actually pretty good already from an area rule POV (guess those Skylon guys know what they're doing after all...), but you've got some fairly extreme wing loading to deal with (hence the unplanned disassembly...). You could improve the area-rule stuff further by adding a bulge or two to the fuselage just in front of the point where the green line inflects sharply upwards and shifting the rear engines forwards a smidge; turn the green line into a smooth curve and the yellow line will flatten out.

That is the one thing I'm sad the new aero overhaul doesn't include. Besides, we were supposed to be getting some new "aerodynamic visualization tool", weren't we? Come to think about it, I seem to remember Harvester himself commenting about it, and then I heard nothing else.

Rune. Anyone with fresher info?

[Majorjim!]

Besides, we were supposed to be getting some new "aerodynamic visualization tool", weren't we? Come to think about it, I seem to remember Harvester himself commenting about it, and then I heard nothing else.

Rune. Anyone with fresher info?

Yeah what the hell? It was supposed to be in v1.0.

[eddiew]

Isn't it the magic button that displays drag lines? I'd call that an aerodynamic visualisation tool

[Hodo]

Getting quite a fleet of SSTO's going, idk if i want to download nufar now, id have to rebuild most my craft lol.

http://i.imgur.com/Ojnut2o.jpg

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

http://i.imgur.com/CivwyI5.jpg

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

Its not so bad as you think. I had to relearn somethings from the old FAR to NuFAR.

Like this craft worked in old FAR but is a bit to unstable in NuFAR. So I fixed it... I made it a bit longer and smoother lines for transitions from one segment to another. Now it flies like a dream.

And this is a great picture of the NuFAR tool that is SO handy.

This craft is a dream to fly most of the time. It gets a bit sluggish at mach 3 but thats fine.

I have been experimenting with delta wing aircraft again and finding that they are a bit of a challenge in NuFAR but not horrible.

Now to find that design that I am happy with and that I can fly into orbit before I give the job to MJ.

[Captain Sierra]

Isn't it the magic button that displays drag lines? I'd call that an aerodynamic visualisation tool

We know FAR has always had good predictive analysis, but stock currently has nil. 1.0, while definitely a signifigant core update, was handled VERY poorly IMHO.

[Rune]

Isn't it the magic button that displays drag lines? I'd call that an aerodynamic visualisation tool

You mean the one that is only accessible in flight (and in 1.0, only through the debug menu), after you have already designed your plane?

Rune. Good design aid then! Not used it once.

[Vanamonde]

Show your planes here, guys. There are other places for aerodymanics discussions.

And on that subject, in the 3 years I've been playing KSP, here is only my second SSTO plane that can deliver useful cargoes to orbit. This is the SP-49 (yes, 47 failed attempts) Neoeos.

Here it is delivering a 5.6 ton test payload to orbit.

It's got so much lift in new aero that it tends to 'bounce' off the atmosphere and start climbing again during re-entry, so I'm badly overshooting my intended landing spots while I get used to it. So I had to do a big braking turn and come around again...

... but I did manage to set it down on the runway.

My success would not have been possible without a lot of help from other players, especially AmpsterMan and Red iron Crown.

Edited May 13, 2015 by Vanamonde

[Captain Sierra]

As if on queue, question for the NuStock gurus: Post-1.0, how many structural intakes feeds 1 rapier air-breathing to 36km, 1250m/s? Trying to build a cargo hauler w/o laterally mounted fuselages (drag cutdown).

Edited May 15, 2015 by Vanamonde

[eddiew]

You mean the one that is only accessible in flight (and in 1.0, only through the debug menu), after you have already designed your plane?

It depends whether fly-revert-fly is part of your design process

More seriously, I do agree that an in-SPH view is required for this tool to be really useful. I have used it myself, because I use Kerbal Construction Time and can run "legit" simulations which give me access to this visualisation, but in the stock game you have to be a cheaty cheaterpants. But that's how stock is really - there's so much pressure on the player to experiment using revert and F9, I have no idea how people get by in hard mode without quicksave because there are so many things that you cannot predict in advance (e.g. aerobraking, aerodynamics... aero anything really) which are vital to the survival of your kerbals.

And a ship, because it's a showcase thread This little critter flies with nuFAR and features a clipped mk1 fuel tank in the back to make up for having zero oxidiser. Not pretty I admit, but an adventure in minimal space tourism; would do for a free return around Mun

[Roflcopterkklol]

I might just copy and paste the thread incase anyone wants to download it, needs the description

Cronus titan hauler SSTO

Description:

Capable of carrying 80 tons into LKO with engines any stock SSTO would be jealous of, Cronus burns fuel evenly (That was a head ache to figure out lol), it is capable of 100-300km orbits depending on the pilot (into the millions if storage is used for delta V) and in the atmosphere it flies like a dream with a 140m/s take off and boasts enough stability to fly without any kind of SAS if you are a good pilot.

Cost:

688,420

Weight:

556.3 Tons

Part count:

587

(Nearly down to 1 per ton not bad imo)

Action groups:

1: Toggle Turbo jets

2: Toggle Rapiers

3: Toggle Rapier engine mode

4: Toggle aero spikes

5: Toggle solar panels

Flight instructions:

On launch picth up to 40 degree and continue until 12km, at 12km bring the pitch down to +5degree and gain speed until 800-1100m/s, at 800-1100m/s bring the pitch up to +20 degree until 20km, at 20km you will need to hit action group 4 engaging aero spikes, at 22-24km you will need to hit action group 3 to switch rapier engine mode, after turbo jets die off at 26km bring the pitch to +30 degree and continue until a 100km apoapsis then procede with orbital maneuver, Good luck and have fun.

Download link:

http://www./download/ctpapi4ix11rtxs/Cronus+-+Titan+hauler+SSTO.craft

And because i know someone will ask a close up of the engines, if anyone wants a download link to the engines as a sub assembly piece let me know as they are hard to make and have them work.

Edited May 13, 2015 by Roflcopterkklol

[Rune]

Show your planes here, guys. There are other places for aerodymanics discussions.

Glad to! Ok, maybe it is not technically a plane, but it certainly fits the thread. 40mT to LKO and back to the runway!

Rune. Having some issues with reentries, but I think I'm closing on the solutions (like, more control authority).

[Mikki]

Hi All

H.O.L.Y.C.O.W. 2 SSTO Spaceplane

STOCKPARTS 1.0.2 + KJR + ENGINEER REDUX, NO CLIPPING

Perfect heavy duty Aircraft, at least 54 tons Payload to 80x80 LKO, after Release over 500m/s Delta V left.

CoM is very stable, descending without SAS no problem, Landing is a dream.

Below you see the Test with 1 1/2 JUMBO Tanks

The best thing Bill ever taped together:)

Holycow Bill... Your Aircraft is Awesome... But How???

Well Jeb...

Edited May 14, 2015 by Mikki

[Crikeycrapper]

Whoah Mikki, could you please put craft file? That SSTO of yours would help my KSP career save.

[Mikki]

Whoah Mikki, could you please put craft file? That SSTO of yours would help my KSP career save.

Hi Crikeycrapper

Sure, the airframe has a lot of potential to changes, i hope you can use it:)

H.O.L.Y.C.O.W. 2

https://www.dropbox.com/s/gbwx58nah9ktky9/H_O_L_Y_C_O_W_%202.craft?dl=0

Actiongroups are as following:

01: 18 Whiplashs toggle

02: 18 intakes toggle (obsolete...)

03: 8 Whiplashs toggle (descending, way to KSP)

04: 8 intakes toggle (obsolete...)

05: 2 Mainsails toggle

06: 4 Solarpanels toggle

07: 2 Ladders toggle

08: 2 Baydoors toggle

09: 1 Dockingport toggle

All Flaps are optimized, some more Pitch is available. At the end is a ladder to get your Kerbals down, take a walk over the left Wing back . The CoM and CoL are in Line with the Fueltubes on the underside. Keep it there, and it flys like a charm even without SAS.

When fully loaded to the Max, keep pitching up an angle of attack of 25, gives you a path by 20 degrees at mach 1.

Achieve 1200m/s orbital velocity at 20000m, engage Mainsails, RCS, pitch a bit up to increase flightpath to 20-30 degrees.

Rebalance the Aircraft befor descend, aim in to the sea, but anyway alot of liquid fuel is there to fly home if you miss.

Its very Safe to fly:).

Intaketoggling is maybe obsolete now...? good to know, thanks RADAM

Edited May 14, 2015 by Mikki
Flightpath Angle, now its correct. Err... and Typos, intake issue

[Radam]

02: 18 intakes toggle

Btw, closing intakes does nothing, Intake drag does not change in 1.02.

[Mikki]

Btw, closing intakes does nothing, Intake drag does not change in 1.02.

Oh, i thought i was reading somewhere that drag status changes, good to know.

i assigned it just in case because i havent seen a difference at all...

[Captain Sierra]

Oh, i thought i was reading somewhere that drag status changes, good to know.

i assigned it just in case because i havent seen a difference at all...

It used to, as intakes open generated more drag than a standard part, while intakes closed had no difference. As of 1.0.x this is apparently no longer the case. (to be fair it was not that significant before either)

[Mesklin]

Laythe capable SSTO with slight unusual engines configuration 3 RAPIERs + 1 LV-N. Delta V on orbit 5+ km/s (5010 m/s ), start mass - 44.5 t, crew - 2 brave mans or/and womans.

Sound barrier was crashed in a short dive

It is really hot today... Almost melted craft

Maximum speed in atmospheric mode of RAPIERs was reached - 1426 m/s