SSTO R.A.P.I.E.R. (Ver 0.23) Challenge (Closed)

[Liowen]

Tadpole was a very large plane for this challenge. It flew very well with tanks full; I managed a clean powered landing with both 1/2 and 1/3 throttle. However, with tanks empty the CoM had shifted behind the CoL, and I crashed badly on landing.

I built it large as I didn't want a missile with a Kerbal inside, not anything wrong with those designs just not my kind of craft. I honestly never knew about it being bad when empty when looking at it in the SPH the COM is way far in front of the COL, but I guess it could go further back (normally I refuel in orbit so I never actually got to test the low fuel landing). I say for a first attempt building an SSTO, well this was built before .23 released, it is not to bad for my first attempt.

[Sirine]

@inigma Welcome to the challenge.

1) A very informative video. An exsplendid example for all to follow.

2) A very nice craft. Especially the RAPIER on/off trick and Minmus able, and the sci-fic style shuttle-like takeoff. I've learn something from you.

3) I hope to add you to the leaderboard, but there are more than a few rules that you did not meet. And all I can say is "sorry, your craft does not fit into this challenge categories."

However, I'm looking forward for your entry at...part 2. of Rapier Engine challenge.

Edited December 31, 2013 by Sirine

[XolotlLoki]

It's also is technically a VTOL, but anyways...let me know what you think!

Totally not suited to this challenge, but I was intrigued by the idea of building a VTOL, so I tested yours. The design looks awesome; I had to tear it apart to figure out what it was made of. The multiple engines inside each other was a little much for my taste. And the addition of the RAPIER engine soley to allow exploiting a turbojet/RAPIER bug seems a bit too much like cheating, which makes it less fun for me.

But flying it was very fun as long as the tanks were full. Landing was difficult; I wish it had weighed a lot less, like without the LV-N and RAPIER. I tried to land on top of the VAB, but once engines 1 and 6 got to 1/2 full the CoM shifted and I was unable to maintain control.

So I built my own VTOL, and got it to the top of the VAB:

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Craft file here.

Edited December 31, 2013 by XolotlLoki

[Blaster]

KermaJet KR100 Kodachi, a modification of the 102 Duchess. This small and light plane easily makes orbit with lots of fuel remaining.

A video is provided of the maiden flight.

Download Craft

P.S. Defining a time to end helps. It's still 2013 in GMT and EST.

Edited December 31, 2013 by Blaster

[inigma]

The multiple engines inside each other was a little much for my taste. And the addition of the RAPIER engine soley to allow exploiting a turbojet/RAPIER bug seems a bit too much like cheating, which makes it less fun for me.

Awesome craft. I'm glad to have inspired you to built a VTOL.

Multiple engines is allowed by SSI design philosophy in that stacking engines within engines represents, if you will, Kerbal "miniaturization" technological progress. We don't clip fuel tanks of the same time either, and all tanks must not be over clipped where they are invisible and inaccessible (for anticheat and refueling reasons).

Also, for the record, using the RAPIER to feather acceleration with the Turbo Jet isn't bug or cheat. In fact, it's the same principle as simply throttling down one engine versus another in any plane. Since KSP doesn't provide multiple engine throttle controls (yet), toggling the RAPIER while cruising with a Turbo Jet at high altitude is the equivalent of managing two separate engine throttles since all you're doing is flaming out your TJE toggling your RAPIER off, and then waiting for the TJE to flame back on, and during its low throttle warm up, re-enngaging the faster warm-up RAPIER for continued push thus maximizing the thrust potential of both engines in tandem. On a real life SSTO, a computer would simply automatically adjust the combined thrust for maximum efficiency. I don't see how it's a cheat more than a way to take advantage of two separate engine's strengths (TJE's slow warm up and higher thrust at high alt, and the RAPIER's fast warm up period but lower thrust at high alt). The pairing is beautiful in my opinion. It essentially gives any plane the opportunity to choose to manage one's TWR to either increase altitude or gain faster speed, but not both at the same time. Balancing the two is what feathering the RAPIER does until doing so becomes inefficient (you start to waste fuel) above 2000 m/s and 34km.

Edited January 1, 2014 by inigma

[Sirine]

KermaJet KR100 Kodachi, a modification of the 102 Duchess. This small and light plane easily makes orbit with lots of fuel remaining.

A video is provided of the maiden flight.

Download Craft

http://youtu.be/AZ_NUcwy_h4

P.S. Defining a time to end helps. It's still 2013 in GMT and EST.

http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/64237-SSTO-R-A-P-I-E-R-%28Ver-0-23%29-Challenge-Part2

Perhaps part2 of the challenge?

[deadelitezealot]

Its pretty easy after refueling at my space station it was enough to get to the mun