SSTOs! Post your pictures here~

[blowfish]

Looks good and pointy. I would exchange a few RAPIERs with turbojets, though: you don't need all that rocket thrust, and the turbojets save some weight while having higher thrust in the lower atmosphere, greatly cutting on the time to make the ascent.

Normally, yes, but I'm using AJE which means that (1) turbujets overheat above mach 3 and (2) I'm much lower in the atmosphere (~25km) when I switch modes meaning that there's a lot more drag to overcome.

[Rune]

Ahhh... now I understand. Well thank you - I won't even pretend it wasn't a long and gruelling task getting the darn thing to work, but it was nice when it did! Procedural wings is just... well, it should be stock, basically. There should be no mods that ever have to add wings, and the number in stock should be exactly 1. Probably saved me another 20-30 parts, which is kind of important given how laggy it is already at ~150. Seems to be the curse of spaceplanes; you spend so long in atmosphere that the laggy seconds of a rocket ascent get stretched out to many, many minutes.

Still, am working on a B9 prototype that's only 85 parts including it's 'big red' (plus a 2.5m can of monoprop) cargo, and glides up with a yellow clock instead of red. Suddenly I no longer feel like B9 is cheating, so much as addressing the fact that stock isn't spaceplane friendly. Not to mention this fuselage is exactly the same shape as stock's MK3... makes me wonder which copied which

(snip)

Nice comments... a couple of explanations: MkII cargo bays were in B9 looong before stock had them. So yeah, no doubt there about who "copied" who, and, frankly, I'm glad, they always looked great and the size is just right. And yeah, it's not cheating in my book if you do it for the looks: that might change with 0.90, but if you carry it with you, you are paying the cost in weight and drag so... why not carrying it up in style? And if you manage to save pars and enjoy a smoother gaming experience well... there's a reason I have very few designs over 200 parts. And my computer is no whimp.

Normally, yes, but I'm using AJE which means that (1) turbujets overheat above mach 3 and (2) I'm much lower in the atmosphere (~25km) when I switch modes meaning that there's a lot more drag to overcome.

That makes sense, and it's something that I couldn't see in the pictures. The 25kms comment is weird, though: I always end my speed run at about that height, pitch up, and let it flame out soon after. The big difference is speed, methinks: at 1,800m/s (surface), gravity drag is almost nonexistent.

Rune. Yeah, that could come to stock. Which is why I learned to make SSTOs with standard jet engines that cut off at 10kms long ago, so bring it on.

[blowfish]

That makes sense, and it's something that I couldn't see in the pictures. The 25kms comment is weird, though: I always end my speed run at about that height, pitch up, and let it flame out soon after. The big difference is speed, methinks: at 1,800m/s (surface), gravity drag is almost nonexistent.

The 25 km figure might not be entirely accurate - I don't remember exactly but it's somewhere in that vicinity. Engines don't flame out in AJE, but they do overheat, so I have to change over at mach 5.3 regardless. I have to maintain relatively high dynamic pressure (35-40 kPa) to maintain thrust too, so at that point there's not much extra thrust to gain altitude with.

[eddiew]

there's a reason I have very few designs over 200 parts. And my computer is no whimp.

I have an i5 2500K, running at 4.3GHz, an nVidia 760, 32G memory, an SSD, water cooling, 3 monitors, a wacom cintiq, and a hardware colour calibrator - don't talk to me about non-wimpy hardware But spaceplanes over 120 parts still chug, and 150 is curly-hair-plucking-ly unpleasant to fly. I prefer sub 100, so B9 allowing me to make a big-red lifter in 80 parts is fantastic!

And yeah, it's good that Squad noticed there was a mod with a 'just right' format and decided to match it, rather than just blasting over it with a similar-but-incompatible fuselage. The aesthetics may be a mismatch, but it's nice that they tried

[Overfloater]

My low part count (27 i think) Laythe SSTO

...and rebuilt version of my 1st ever SSTO plane (minmus capable):

[LordFjord]

My latest SSTO, I like how it turned out to be both cool looking (in my opinion) and useful. It has a cargo bay on top and the bottom.

Full album here: http://imgur.com/a/hQoJk#0

[eddiew]

My latest SSTO, I like how it turned out to be both cool looking (in my opinion) and useful. It has a cargo bay on top and the bottom.

Intriguing design... kind of looks like an angler fish xD

[zekes]

FAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAK ION POWER! Testing my new Laythe return cargo SSTO.

[eddiew]

FAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAK ION POWER!

Nice looker, but... dat burn time, yo. You sir are a patient, patient man!

[SofusRud]

FAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAK ION POWER! Testing my new Laythe return cargo SSTO.

http://i.imgur.com/BYpFKo4.jpg

have you considered less xenon and a lighter cockpit?

[qromodynmc]

Nice looker, but... dat burn time, yo. You sir are a patient, patient man!

Notice the deltaV amount,3000dv is pretty high too.

[freqout]

This is my Valyard class heavy transport SSTO Spaceplane from my last 0.25 game, first in orbit on its own, then pulling up to the KerbStar 1 space station at its 200km orbit. The plane itself weighs in at about 200 tons and can readily loft about 100 tons of cargo to the station. This was a basic supply mission, to stock up all the MKS/TAC-LS raw materials. It can get a bit squirrely under power but, overall, flies pretty decently. I'm looking forward to creating a new version with 0.90's better VAB/SPH tools. The real problem, I ran into here was not paying close enough attention to part count on the plane and station. When successfully docked it has to then be undocked before you leave the scene. Doing anything that would cause it to be unloaded from memory while docked would lead to it basically shattering when I switched back to it. I will be smarter about this in future builds.

Last, here it is docked with the station, while a Pralix class light SSTO Spaceplane transport lines up to dock as well. My frame rate was... well.. painful at this point, but it was highly satisfying.

Edited February 20, 2015 by freqout

[Martian]

My Mudskipper III design- Nearly-100% stock parts, (with Adjustable Landing Gear Mod) with a huge payload bay capable of delivering two RemoteTech communication satellites into keostationary orbit. Extremely stable in flight, both for egress and ingress.

Edited February 21, 2015 by Martian

[david50517]

Space Craft 6-2

[manni01]

A couple weeks old, but:

Here's a Laythe Cargo SSTO, that brought 15 tons to Laythe, where I took the most inclined route to Jool, so the most dV used. It has around 300 parts, which is pretty good, considering Overfloaters brought 20 tons with a 500 or more part craft, but of course, his is an eye candy, whilst mine, is ahhh, a flying fuel tanks with wings and a payload strapped on the front of the fuel tanks.

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I don't know how my crappy computer survived all these visual mods, but as you can see, it brought a 15 ton payload to Laythe, and then flew back. More info here:

http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/109895-LC-Cruiser-III-Eagle-15-tons-payload-to-Laythe-SSTO

Also a new craft:

More info: http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/111395-SSTO-Xephos-the-Lamborghini-of-mun-SSTOs?p=1751389#post1751389

Edited February 22, 2015 by manni01

[Wjolcz]

Here's mine, although forgot to take pictures in space.

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[PCanas]

Is there useful link with some instructions/tips on the most efficient way to fly an SSTO to the O part? All the SSTOs I have are able to get to orbit, but I struggle to get there.

[TimePeriod]

Is there useful link with some instructions/tips on the most efficient way to fly an SSTO to the O part? All the SSTOs I have are able to get to orbit, but I struggle to get there.

In general, you would want to get to around 25km altitude and stay there until your aircraft obtains maximum velocity. Once you have done that, you will need to engage your liquid engines and then get into orbit. I tend to aim "too far" because the air- resistance still stop you quite a bit.

My experience tells me it is important to figure out when your air-breathing engines will cut out, so start out by testing your engines incrementally by 5km from about 15km altitude. Check down when your engine cuts out and try to stay on the air-breathing engines for as long as possible. I found out that a canard configuration tends to have an easier time turning upwards.

[eddiew]

Is there useful link with some instructions/tips on the most efficient way to fly an SSTO to the O part? All the SSTOs I have are able to get to orbit, but I struggle to get there.

Rule of thumb; the more time you can spend on air breathing engines, the better. Assuming you're using FAR (and if you aren't, just forget the whole idea of spaceplanes), you can use its simulation window to get stability calculations for how your plane will fly at a range of speeds and altitudes. I suggest aiming for stability at 25km and mach 3.5, as this is (relatively) easy to achieve cruising altitude. If you can be stable at 25km and mach 3 or less, you are a god of design. My flight checkpoints tend to be:

- mach 1 or more by 10km

- mach 2.2 or more by 20km

- mach 3.5 or more by 25km

- hold at 25km until mach 5

- turn the nose up as sharply as is safe

- edge the throttle down, try to max out the available air until you're on the verge of losing speed again

- kick to rockets, pull the nose up; watch for pitch/yaw/roll instability, as a lot of planes wobble at this altitude

- at 50km (very little drag left now), point prograde and coast. Your AP may already be over 100km, but if not, just keep gently burning the rockets and watching your PE rise to meet you.

For something with stock parts, check out Wanderfound's excellent little Kerbodyne Dolphin as an example of an SSTO that requires very little effort to get into orbit. With care, you can nurse the turbojet all the way up to ~35km, which gives the rockets a serious advantage.

For heavier things, aiming for 30km on air tends to be about the best you'll get. Here's a heavy lifter SSTO I've been putting together using B9, just squeaking across the 30km barrier at mach 5 and ~60% throttle, with sufficient intake air (listed in the flight engineer panel on the left) to avoid asymmetric thrust. If you've got 3+ engines, this is a great time to kick some of them over to rocket mode, as it'll buy another few km from those that are still on air.

Also, thrust to weight. Higher TWR will make up for a multitude of design sins by powering you through zones of instability faster.

My experience tells me it is important to figure out when your air-breathing engines will cut out

Kerbal Engineer Redux will help with this - comes with a nice handy intake usage %. Turbojets suffer quickly, but rapiers will self throttle and generally kick themselves to rocket mode at the same time

[Spartwo]

In my heart it made it back.

*sobs*

[Sufficient Anonymity]

(this time posted in the correct thread )

SSTO testing - Mk3 Skylon-alike drone

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It can carry a 40 tonne payload into orbit with significant fuel left over. It was built in FAR, and has the scarily high takeoff speed of the (planned) real world design. Otherwise, it follows a very standard SSTO flight profile, leveling out at around 20km and boosting up to 1300m/s on jets, before pitching up and punching into space on rocket power.

The fuselage is stock, though with larger intakes and rapiers from OPT and Nert's Mk4 system, Bac9's procedural wings, and gear from BahamutoD's Adjustable Landing Gear - these parts were used to get it looking a little more like the planned Skylon spaceplane - would love to see a stockalike 2m shock cone intake and rapier though.

[david50517]

[blowfish]

(this time posted in the correct thread )

SSTO testing - Mk3 Skylon-alike drone

http://imgur.com/a/TkpQ4

It can carry a 40 tonne payload into orbit with significant fuel left over. It was built in FAR, and has the scarily high takeoff speed of the (planned) real world design. Otherwise, it follows a very standard SSTO flight profile, leveling out at around 20km and boosting up to 1300m/s on jets, before pitching up and punching into space on rocket power.

The fuselage is stock, though with larger intakes and rapiers from OPT and Nert's Mk4 system, Bac9's procedural wings, and gear from BahamutoD's Adjustable Landing Gear - these parts were used to get it looking a little more like the planned Skylon spaceplane - would love to see a stockalike 2m shock cone intake and rapier though.

Nice design. It looks like the CoM would shift backwards as the tanks empty though - was this a problem? Every time I try to design something similar, I have trouble aligning the wet and dry CoM on the payload while still keeping the CoL behind both - my only solution so far has been to put a lot of empty space at the front to offset engines and wings being closer to the back.

[LordFjord]

@david50517: nice cubical design. What's hidden in the box? 2 orange tanks and ... ?

Here's my fav SSTO screenie (more pics here):

[eddiew]

Here's my fav SSTO screenie (more pics here):

There's something terrifying about having a massive air intake right behind your head... but I like the design