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SSTOs! Post your pictures here~


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Gets two crew to orbit. If I didn't hate part clipping so much, I could probably put a mk1 can in the cargo bay somewhere and get three crew up there, but ultimately my goal was just to build a teeny tiny SSTO. This one uses RAPIERs to achieve a long suborbital trajectory, then fires the ion engines to achieve orbit. From there it has plenty of dV for rendezvousing or whatever you might want to do in orbit, and carries a little extra LF for zipping around in-atmo after you reenter. Surprisingly the 'test flight' of this had a use, as I needed to get two pilots down from my station.

 

It's called 'Sunny' because it's best to launch this thing at dawn or so to maximize initial ion burn time. Once you're in orbit things are a little more flexible. (I should add more batteries.)

Edited by Ithirahad
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8 hours ago, Aerospacer said:

Junior-4

CkIaett.png
Light juno-based stock career SSTO-plane, made for sake of the pretty design.

Career tech level - Science90+  (need one science160 "Advanced Aerodynamics" technology).
Engines - 4J + 1Ter
Parts - 38
Launch mass - 8.646 t (SSTO mode) / 6.801 t (plane mode, LF only)
dV on LKO - 100-150 m/s (72x73 km orbit)

[snip...]

Wow, I really love that one!

 

A while ago most people in this thread seemed to converge on the Skylon "theme" for SSTOs and that felt a bit boring. But now I return to this thread and see so many great, creative and sometimes unconventional designs.

But to me @Aerospacer's minimalist, small (tiny!) and low tech SSTO spaceplanes are something special, even among the creations of the other great engineers here.

And the mk1 inline cockpit on the Junior-4 just perfectly completes that "little fighter plane" look! :)

 

Edited by Aerospike
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SSTO - Single-stage-to-orbit.

9vwZpFk.jpgIt's a rocket...

zHOzXuz.jpg...that can go to space in one stage.

The total mass is 60,000 kg. The upper stage is 4,500 kg (7.5% of launch mass). costs 36,000 roots, and is very, very simple: just boost yourself into the space. Perfect for new players learning about how to get into the orbit.

Not cool-looking, just utility. The orbital booster is ditched instantly once the assembly reaches stable orbit, and is usually recovered by the local station. The tiny upper 'shuttle' stage has enough delta-v to go to Mun.

Probably still working well with FAR installed.

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3 hours ago, Aerospike said:

A while ago most people in this thread seemed to converge on the Skylon "theme" for SSTOs and that felt a bit boring.

The main reason I have been designing Skylon style SSTOs is that the basic layout makes it easy to just plop any payload in the cargo bay and go.  The design architecture gives you a balanced craft that won't experience any significant change in center of mass , regardless of payload or fuel loading.

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Little SSTO that could. And a little VTOL that could.

After some modifications and wings restyling. It have only one problem - drag is too low, cockpit like a frying pan on reentry.

5qdrPWR.png

 

hV2ZAXX.png

Edited by Ajiko
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My current work in progress. She carries a full Kerbodyne tank into orbit. Issues that still require work:

1. Tweaking required for stability in all flight phases

2. More testing required to find ideal fuel/oxidiser ratio & most efficient flight plan

3. This craft has an open cargo bay with running wheels and its own loading truck. The whole plane tilts to lower the ramp so that loading/unloading can occur while landed.

I will make sure the final product is uploaded as a craft file along with my previous orange tank build


 

 

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On 26/03/2017 at 6:43 PM, MustaKotka said:

Most useless Panther + Nerv Liquid Fuel only contraption. Do what you will with this information. Oh and who needs wings when you can have winglets everywhere?!

1tYVg5A.png

I just had an obsession with a really light SSTO. That had to be Liquid Fuel only. With Panthers. Don't ask why. Flies really well, though! You could probably fly it better by ditching the unused Monopropellant and a little less aggressive ascent profile but either way, 700/ms delta-V left:

  Reveal hidden contents

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11.94t takeoff mass (7.94t dry), √ 29900, CoM and CoL nicely together:

  Reveal hidden contents

Dry:

KrmDTu1.png

Wet:
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EDIT:

The Evolution version has a clipped tank inside the cockpit and replaces the tail cones with nose cones and adapters. This one makes it to LKO with 1400m/s remaining, which is actually already starting to be useful.

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Design.

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1.4k delta-V from LKO. It's a long burn with the Nerv.

 

I have a Panther / Nerv as well, but  I went with 1 jet / 2 nervs and more wing area than you did.   I think this one could go to Minmus, it's even got a Vernier engine in the belly for horizontal landings on the flats.

https://kerbalx.com/AeroGav/Auto-Ray

I tried to keep it as  low tech as possible , though I didn't realise the diverterless supersonic intake is higher tier than the basic circular - which would have done the job just as well.  Features an experimental control system with RCS hotkey bound to a trim flap set to one of two positions - climbing and speed !

 

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Junior-4S - science version.

vVCzlfE.png

Now it equipped with a service bay, contained science equipment and battery.

Tech level - the same, science90+. Launch mass = 9.859 t (with science devices).

Testflight screport (screenshot-report):

 

Edited by Aerospacer
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Here is an SSTO I made yesterday focused on having more Delta V than my other space craft

Did I also mention that this craft can make it to Laythe (still trying to get home, haven't mastered gravity assists yet, it has at least 1,000 delta V on course to a gravity assist from Kerbin with 2 Tylo Assists :P)

Edited by Mk3 Maniac
Not enough info (did not show off enough)
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On 04/04/2017 at 11:32 AM, Stratzenblitz75 said:

Here's an SSTO Submarine. Because, why not?

 

This is incredible, and of course I watched all the rest of your videos, and they are awesome. However, I still want to know how you did the hinge!

 

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The boringly named "Fivetonner" is an uncrewed cargo SSTO that can lift 5 tons of freight, shielded in a cargo bay, to a 75km low orbit. It is also capable of docking. It can return with an equal 5 ton load, or empty.

While it both takes off and lands vertically, the reentry and entire approach to the KSC is flown in a nose-forward position. This way, I can keep being lazy about actually doing precise maneuvers, and just rule-of-thumb improvise may way back to the KSC by "flying" it similar to a spaceplane. Over the KSC, two stages of drogue chutes turn the vehicle bottom-down again, large chutes arrest most of the sink rate, and a tiny landing burn... rather, a landing breeze... takes care of a few surplus m/s that would overstress the legs.

This craft was originally meant to look somewhat "realistic". Like something that could exist in the real world. But as you can imagine, flying nose-forward with empty tanks, an empty cargo bay, and seven engines in the back presented a severe stability problem. The solution was to add that rather wild aero structure in the back, which not only has KERBAL written all over it - it looks exactly like someone managed to convert the sentence "I HAVE &$*!§# ENOUGH OF this rocket flipping!!!" into a blueprint for a stabilizer.

 

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I got so fed up with the plane pinwheeling and deathspinning on the descent, so I made a plane that keeps its CoM perfectly in line with the CoL at all times. The result is my first* SSTO, the Pushmi-Pullyu. The Boconok-9 tanks from SXT look awful, but they have a great mass-fuel ratio and help keep the thing short and stable. I'm also amazed it flies so well with so little wing area-the control flap does make a decent heatproof airbrake, though,

MHChzd0.jpg

*Ok, it wasn't my "first" per se. I somehow flew a biplane consisting of a Jumbo-64, two lines of B Wing Connectors, some Rapiers and a Mk1-2 Cmd. Pod to space and back. But it was awful, so I scrapped it.

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I give you: the Dyna-Lifter. The mission:  Using a 100% stock, fully reusable SSTO spaceplane, lift a Kerbodyne S-14400 tank into orbit and return to Kerbin. Keep the design simple and elegant. Make it stable enough so that it flies itself with timewarp enabled. It was harder than I thought it would be!

However, after much flight testing and many design changes, here it is:

Craft files coming soon!

 

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