BSC: Aeris 4a - AND THE WINNER IS:

[Xeldrak]

And the winner is:

1st: Giggleplex777 - R-2 SSTO

2nd: oo0Filthy0oo - Wholphine Hybrid

3rd: Cruzan - BSC Bolt

Giggleplex has won once again. Can nobody stop this better stock craft building maniac?! It was fun as allways - especially since this was the thread-of-the-month special edition.

Once again thanks to all the participants and congratulations to the winner! The challenge would be nothing without you guys

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The primary vote has been closed! The results can be looked up

here.

The following craft will enter the final vote:

Cruzan - BSC Bolt

Giggleplex777 - R-2 SSTO

Heagar - HOTOL II c 4

MiniMatt - Mallard

O-Doc - Gecko

oo0Filthy0oo - Wholphine Hybrid

WaRi - Peregrino

The final vote will close on march 28th.

(Special thanks to Cruzan for the collage)

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Since so many of you are still testing, I'll close the primary vote on March 25th 2014 21:00 CET

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It is time to start voting!

As a registered voter you should have a email in by now, if you don't: You can still register, just PM me your email adress.

The primary vote will run until Friday 21st, so you have about one week

As a registered voter, you will receive a strange looking email in a foreign language if you don't speak german. Just click the big link and you should get to the english voting page. A special thanks to Cruzan for making the collage you can see above.

Another special thanks for to Silverchain for compiling a save will all the entries.

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Attention! Important announcement:

Since this thread has been stickied I will prolong this competition in the following manner:

The building phase will not be over tomorrow, but on Friday 14th. This means you basically got an extra week to build and tune your entry. Remember: as long as the building phase is open you can still chance your entry.

Afterwards ther primary vote will run from Friday 14th until Friday 21st. So basically one week for you to test the crafts and rank them.

Im not sure how many entries will enter the final vote, but it will rund for another three days, so the competition should be over at Monday 24th.

This way the challenge will basically cover march and can live up to the thread of the month title.

---

Yes, I'm a little late. Anyways: Here is another BSC challenge!

Like last time you guys will have one week to build and one week to Vote. I will probably split the voting-procedure in a 5-days primary vote, using a condorcet vote like last time, followed by a two days final vote here in the forums. Other people will be able to see what you have voted for in the final vote.

If you want to vote in the primaries - you have to pm me your email-adress.

I repeat: I need a pm with you email-adress if you want to vote in the primaries

Please check the BSC: Challenge Guidelines Mk.II - even if you just want to vote! This is where I've outsourced all the rules, legal stuff and design-goals.

How is this going to work?

You will have 168 hours (7 days) to build you craft and post your entry here with at least one screenshot and its .craft file (only one .craft file is allowed). Also be so kind to drop us a few lines about your craft. What are your thoughts on the design? Why is it a good stock craft?

Once submissions are closed, everyone who sent me their mail adresses via pm will receive a email with a personal link to the vote. Depending on the number on entries, we will probably first hold primary election, followed a final one. Anyways, I would like to encourage you to write a few lines why you voted you that craft, it keeps the thread fresh and we all have something to read while we wait for the votes.

What are we doing this time?

As you allready know, we are doing the Aeris 4a - the spaceplane.

The Aeris 4a is not exactly the best spaceplane there is. The CoL is in front of the CoM, the rocket engine is a tailstrike hazard, the RCS is unbalanced and the fuel is fed strangely through the tanks. The two jet-engine, one rocket engine setup has it's drawbacks too. If you have a flame-out, you will have to deal with a potentially deadly flat spin. Of course the new RAPIER engine is something that has to be considered.

I am basically asking you guys for a simple, noob-friedly space plane. You don't have to go rapier, the classic solution might be interesting aswell.

Once again there is not much choice for inspirational picture. You habe probably all heard of the Skylon by now, another concept was the Rockwell X-30.

Contenders

1Revenger1 - SSTO Reacher

aarno - UFB

ABalazs - X-901-AR

Andrew Hansen - Starlon

astecarmyman - Aeris-Jumbo-Blitz

barrenwaste - Aeris 4A-1

Batz_10K - Mako II

Blaster - KermaJet KR100 Kodachi

BlazeFallow - Y Wing

blspblackdeath - Dubble-V11 Shuttle

breakthrough - Project A4C

briansun1 - TSSTO XV-5V

capi3101 - Auk-Ia

Cruzan - BSC Bolt

DerpenWolf - Kerbos 2A

Exothermos - Speedy Box

FallingIntoBlack - X-1 Gremlin

Giggleplex777 - R-2 SSTO

Heagar - HOTOL II c 4

JABUSCUS - SSTO 1

Kasuha - Kaeris I

kenbob5588 - Firebee SSTO Alpha-Omega 1

KissSh0t - SSTO Type Rapid Mk1

LordFjord - Spacegull 1

Mareczex333 - Shade

Mesklin - Spike

mhoram - Airial

MiniMatt - Mallard

mrmcp1 - Aeris 4B

NeatCrown - Wingspan SSTO

O-Doc - Gecko

oo0Filthy0oo - Wholphine Hybrid

Pauly - Lynx

Pds314 - Aereon 4B

Prophecy - Icarus I

Ravenchant - Strela IV

regex - CSS-4A Cormorant

Rhomphaia - Phoenixhammer Mk1-R

Rune - White Dart

SaplingPick - Aeris 4A RedoNE

Silverchain - Ceremonial Lite Fb

Sirine - Leisure

Spartwo - Spearhead

sploden - Aeris 4a Improved 08

ssTALONps - ARX-6E Volley

Tarmenius - Rasvelg

ThePsuedoMonkey - Dionysus

Tigik - space plane

UpsilonAerospace - Plover

WaRi - Peregrino

Woopert -SSTO Xeno/Circumnavigator

Xeldrak - CR Atalanta

xoknight - Buffalo

Registered voters:

regex; rhomphaia; m1sz; capi3101; Andrew Hansen; DisarmingBaton5; briansun1; Mesklin; Pauly; Silverchain; 1Revenger1; Woopert; xoknight; MiniMatt; Cruzan; Rune; ssTALONps; LordFjord; ethan829; breakthrough; SaplingPick; Spartwo; kenbob5588; Mareczex333; astecarmyman; blspblackdeath; ABalazs; mrmcp1; mhoram; ThePsuedoMonkey

Edited March 28, 2014 by Xeldrak

[BagelRabbit]

YES! Finally!

I'll start right away.

[Rhomphaia]

Cool, Think I am going to go with something close to the original. Asymmetric flame out isn't the disaster it was in earlier versions, and provides valuable learning experience.

Do you need me to PM my address again for voting or do you still have it?

[Guest]

I think I might actually give this one a try.

[capi3101]

Let me ask this question: are we redesigning the Aeris 4A, or is the point to build a spaceplane that's kinda like it except much better? If it's the second, I have a ready entry...

EDIT: Ne'er mind; re-read the submission guidlines. So let me ask this question then:

"You craft MUST NOT use any mods - 100% stock". Is that in regards to flying it, or building it? Not a problem either way, it's just that I use a fair number of piloting assistance mods.

Edited February 27, 2014 by capi3101

[Xeldrak]

Well, I would like a pm from each one of you who wants to vote. Simply because I won't overlook a pm as easy as a sentence in this thread.

And if you allready send me a PM, you can sent me your adress aswell - looking up a email in old PMs once is okay. But when I have to do it twenty times it becomes work.

And since each one of you probably knows his own adress by heart it's unneccessary work.

To put it simple: Yes - I need a PM if you want to vote. And please include your email adress - reduces my workload.

[Xeldrak]

"You craft MUST NOT use any mods - 100% stock". Is that in regards to flying it, or building it? Not a problem either way, it's just that I use a fair number of piloting assistance mods.

Your .craft file should contain only stock parts - you can use Kerbal Engineer or something like that while building. I don't know what kind of "piloting assistance mods" you mean, but you should consider that people testing your plane will probably do so without any assistance mods.

[panzerknoef]

I might give this a try BUT that would mean I first have to master the fine art of building spaceplanes, which I can't for sole reason...

[MiniMatt]

Aww shucks, always struggle with spaceplanes and fear my "always a bridesmaid, never the bride" status will continue in these comps

Will PM email once I'm sure of my technocratic credentials to vote

[capi3101]

Your .craft file should contain only stock parts - you can use Kerbal Engineer or something like that while building. I don't know what kind of "piloting assistance mods" you mean, but you should consider that people testing your plane will probably do so without any assistance mods.

I meant KER. I use TAC Fuel Balancer too but the design I have in question has made it into orbit before without it. The other mods I typically use don't affect flight to orbit at all.

In any case, the craft I've got in mind should qualify and I'll be entering my design as soon as I can, probably on towards 03Z tonight. Meantime I can at least set myself up to vote.

[Spica]

Disregard this.

Edited March 1, 2014 by Spica
I lost the craft file

[capi3101]

Looks like I'm first. May I present the Auk-Ia for everyone's consideration:

Here's the craft file

The Auk Ia is a very basic SSTO spaceplane orbiter, designed to transport one Kerbal to orbit and back again. It swaps out the Aeris's two turbojet/one nuclear rocket design for a single turbojet and a pair of 48-7S engines, which are adequate enough to propel the craft into a final high apoapsis. Airflow is handled through two Ram Intakes and a quad of Radial Intakes; the Rams are set to be permanently open, while the Radials may be toggled via action group. Safe full throttle ceiling for the jet is approximately 27,000 meters. The design incorporates a probe core, so it can be flown robotically at the discretion of the user. It also incorporates an emergency escape system tied into the standard abort hotkey and button, which will eject the command pod. A Mk16 chute can then be deployed via action group. Approximate takeoff mass is around 11 tonnes. Takeoff speed is approximately 80 m/s. She's not a perfect design by any means, but as the pictures prove, she can definitely make orbit.

The design is very basic; there's no parts-clipping involved whatsoever and it isn't designed to do much besides go up and come back down. She holds her trim well without having to constantly hold down the pitch. A beginner could approach this craft and readily see how it's supposed to work. Modifying it to perform other tasks or try out different combinations of parts (such as swapping out the smaller rockets for, say, Aerospikes) can be done relatively easily without affecting too much of the design's basic characteristics. Finally, the eject system may appeal to beginners to spaceplanes, as they know that if anything goes terribly wrong they can just pop the pod and get their Kerbal back (or simply not fly with one to begin with).

Action group key breakdown - jet toggle #1, rockets toggle #2, radial intakes toggle #3, abort on backspace, chute deployment on #0.

[DisarmingBaton5]

Ooh, this should be fun. I am terrible with SSTOs, though...

[Guest]

Here is my entry, the CSS-4A Cormorant (download).

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Instructions are in the craft notes. It's not exactly a docile craft on pitch, but as a fairly new player to spaceplanes I feel like it handles well enough to be a decent introduction into dual-jet-engined craft. Roll is superb and yaw is quite solid yet tame, allowing the pilot to line up on the runway easily. In fact, this is the first spaceplane I've taken to orbit and landed directly on the runway. It has enough fuel to get to a 90km x 90km orbit, make a rendezvous, deorbit, and fly a fair distance back to landing.

My design approach was to try and stay true to the Aeris-4A while fixing its faults. This craft is shorter overall but uses many of the same sorts of parts. The SAS module is near the CoM which necessitated splitting the 800 tank into two 400 tanks, and there is an additional liquid fuel tank to balance the craft. The CoM doesn't move much from fuel usage and the RCS is balanced. The CoL is now slightly behind the CoM and the rocket is now protected by the twin turbojets plus better landing gear position. The only real issue with the Cormorant is that the forward liquid fuel tanks will drain from rocket usage so they will have to be refilled before entering the atmosphere (or in atmosphere if you're feeling brave or forget, like I did). I've added two small batteries, solar panels on both the top and bottom, and two struts to keep the forward tanks rigid when doing a "launch" take-off.

[Mesklin]

Here is my entry: light spaceplane "Spike". Fast and agile, equiped with universal dock port (junior/standart), can travel to low orbit and back twice without refueling, good glider (with full tanks also), very stable in atmoshere, tailstrike proof. This craft has ~500 m/s on LKO (plus ~100 m/s produced by RCS). Flight instruction see in craft notes.

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Download link: http://www./download/l4c522cf7277r5m/Spike.craft

[Rhomphaia]

One thin I should mention about the Aeris, the fuel flow is not so much strange as it is poorly documented.

If you are returning from orbit with the outer tanks empty, there is no need for a risky in-flight fuel transfer. one simple thing will allow the outboard jets to draw fuel from the central stack.

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This will also apply to Regexs entry.

[barrenwaste]

Ok, here is my entry, the Aeris 4A-1. It's old school with 1 turbo jet and 2 small rockomax 48-7s. No clipping and the two action groups are explained in the vehicle description along with the optimal flight profile. Despite it's rather cumbersome take off, it is rather speedy at altitude and handles surprisingly well, the pilot will spend much of the climb to orbit hands free if SAS is engaged. The Aeris 4A-1 is capable of powered jet flight out to 40,000+ meters with speeds in excess of mach 6. Because of it's weight, though, it does require the rockets to achieve final orbit.

Craft File Download: http://kerbalspaceprogram.com/aeris-4a-1/

Edited February 28, 2014 by barrenwaste

[Rune]

Ok, I've wanted to contribute to this challenge for a while, and you went and put up the spaceplane one. Well, if it's one thing I know, it's spaceplanes. So which one would be good for here... Well, the best one I ever made would be a good fit for best stock craft, right? So there, my first official submission to the the BSC challenge is the White Dart:

At first I was going to submit the prototype version. But a second glance at he rules convinced me the 0.23 version would be a best fit, with a reworked powerplant (a single RAPIER instead of two turbojets and a T30). Granted, it doesn't have the amazing T/W that used to make it capable of vertical climbs, or the Stabojet trick to show off my building skills making a flameout-resistant design with an even number of jets... but now it has only the intakes you can see, no cubic orthogonal struts, and minimal clipping you could probably make without the cheat. I wouldn't know because I just don't build without part clipping on... ^^' In fact, the only weird thing there, build-wise, is the use of editor tools to activate surface attachment to place the intakes and the VTOL rocket engines (yeah, at 0.3mT extra weight, I thought it was nice to have a T/W>1 emergency rocket VTOL system, in case you want to land this at, I don't know, Mun or Duna... or the top of the VAB). You could still use a couple of cubic struts to recreate the position without the mod... but then the ship would be 52 parts, not a round 50 (my OCD wouldn't be happy that way). Also, nothing beats a RAPIER in ease of use for SSTOing, and that's a good thing for a noob oriented craft: this thing is practically "point to space and wait".

It can do about ~1,600m/s at ~30kms before switching to rockets if you climb shallowly enough from 25kms (aim for 10m/s vertical speed at 25kms, then let it rise as it wants touching nothing until the rapier switches automatically), but it also has tons of LFO fuel for faster/more inefficient climbs. Likewise, you don't use nearly all the dedicated liquid fuel on the first flight. In fact, it's probably capable of a double run if you know your stuff. Also, with the rocket VTOL system and the amount of delta-v it carries (enough for Duna)... yeah, I rate it as capable of SSTOing to orbit and back (or the other way around) on anywhere you can SSTO to orbit and back, but Tylo, which is basically Laythe, Duna, Kerbin... the interesting places for stuff with wings, plus all the low-grav moons thrown in for good measure.

But the point where it really shines: aerodynamics. Seriously, just try to lose control in atmospheric flight, and you will see what I'm talking about. It's balanced as good as I can balance a plane, which means you could turn both SAS and the reaction wheels, and still maintain a perfectly controllable, stable flight even with full tanks (not that the situation degrades, or even changes much as you empty the tanks... passively stable at all fuel levels). And boy does it fly! The very low wing loading means it'll turn on a dime and fall like a leaf, but just enough control surfaces (and no canards!) means you will only turn as fast as your velocity vector moves, so you won't end up pointing retrograde and start spinning. Seriously, try it, I only hear good things from the people that do and haven't flown SSTO's before because they aren't good pilots yet.

...And, you know, this point is mostly a subjective one and you might not agree... but I think this thing looks hotter than Laetitia Casta. There, I said it.

The download file:

http://www./download/xka3x7lygo4rugx/White+Dart+0_23.craft

I might do a couple more beauty screenies, particularly one on top of the VAB to show off the emergency VTOL rocket system, but yeah, that's pretty much it. Hope you like it!

Rune. Let's see if we can unseat giggleplex as stock champion for once!

Edited March 3, 2014 by Rune
I can't keep the facts of my various ships right in my head, part count was much lower

[Rhomphaia]

Presenting The Phoenixhammer Mk1-R

Download

53 parts, no debug clipping.

Initially I was debating on whether to go with the Aerospike version of this plane, since it is closer to the original. in the end thogh I went with the RAPIER version for its ease of operation.

Simple ascent profile.

Activate all engines, full throttle down the runway, pitch up when you pass 80m/s.

Enter a 30 degree climb and maintain.

When RAPIER switches to closed cycle; shut down turbojets (action group 1) and close intakes (action group 2).

Switch to map view and maintain 30 degree climb until apoapsis is at the desired altitude.

Coast to apoapsis and circularize.

This will put you in a 75km orbit with around 600m/s of deltaV.

If you use manual switching on the RAPIER in conjuction with a more efficient ascent profile you can achieve quite a bit more.

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Edited March 6, 2014 by Rhomphaia

[HazelPine]

Well, hello there! I guess you guys started the party without me... Oh well, I will probably have an entry by 7pm Germany time, or in a couple of days, depending on how hard it is. good luck guys, cause I have a bad*** idea that is noob friendly, just have to hope this doens't happen...

Edited February 28, 2014 by SaplingPick

[briansun1]

I think I will be going with something a bit different. A RAPIER + ion hybrid design

[mhoram]

Edit 2014-03-14: Submit Airial Mk 2 (craft)

This edit focuses mostly about part count. Mk 2 uses only 29 parts.

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With 29 parts it uses less parts than the original (39).

It provides a normal dockingport and the RCS-blocks are placed so that according to RCS Build Aid the maximum torque is less than 0.01 kNm, meaning 0 unwanted rotation during docking-maneuvers.

It provides less Atmo-dV for the jet engine (14004 -> 9667) and a similar (little bit less) amount of Vac-dV for the rocket engine (2298 -> 2129)

The reason for this change in design was that the lessened atmospheric dV is still more than enough to reach space.

Tanks are placed in a way so that the center of mass does not shift during flight.

A single jetengine is used so that there is no flameout-rotation-hazard.

With a mass of 11.6 ton it is by about 1/3 lighter than the original.

Symmetrical rudder-placement was used for yaw-stability.

Instructions for ascent:

- Liftoff at 90 m/s

- After liftoff go with a pitch of 45°

- At altitude 20km lower pitch to 20°

- When the jetengine flames out, start the rocket engines

- When the apoapsis reaches 90km stop the engines

- At apoapsis perform the circularization

For landing set thrust to 40-50%

Action gruops:

1: toggle jet engine

2: toggle rocket engines

3: toggle air intakes

0: toggle ladder

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Here is the first version of the Airial (craft) with its Galery.

Edited March 14, 2014 by mhoram
Added new version of craft

[Tigik]

here is my space plane

It is not beautiful but it can take you to the Mun and back safely

Download

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[Spartwo]

Not sure but I think I'll use this one.

[Kasuha]

Kaeris I

- 64 parts

- 13 t fully fueled

- crew: 1 Kerbal

- takeoff speed 75 m/s

- 100 m altitude sustained speed 95 m/s

- 1:10 gliding slope

- capable of unpowered reentry and landing (Kerbin, Duna, Eve, Laythe)

- 1 turbojet engine for atmospheric flight

- 1 nuclear engine for space flight

- 1 48-7S vertical engine for landing/takeoff assistance on airless bodies

- 4 intakes enabling full throttle up to 40 km, minimum throttle up to 55 km altitude on Kerbin

- inline docking port + docking lights

- RCS system for docking and eventual thrust assistance (47.5 units of monopropellant)

- reaction wheel

- balanced fuel, CoM doesn't shift as fuel is used

- jet engine protected during liftoff/landing by separate burrowed wheel

- remote control (probe core)

- backup nuclear power source (1 x PB-NUK)

- wing-mounted ladder for access to cockpit

- extra wingtip-mounted landing gear for safe landing

- docking port is root part -> can be reliably targeted during docking

- fuel and monopropellant tanks easily accessible for refueling

- clipping used, but not through debug menu

Action groups:

1 - toggle jet engine (recommended: switch control to cockpit)

2 - toggle nuclear engine (recommended: switch control to probe core next to docking port)

3 - toggle vertical engine (recommended: switch control to docking port)

4 - toggle air intakes - useful to save the craft after stall or flat spin

0 - toggle ladder

Ascent profile for space travel:

- turn east

- raise apoapsis to 35 km

- keep level flight at 35-36 km and increase (orbital) speed over 2300 m/s

- raise apoapsis (on opposite side of planet) to 100 km

- keep thrusting prograde till you leave atmosphere

- coast to apoapsis, switch control to probe core, activate nuclear engine and circularize

The plane is unstable flying backwards (propelled by nuclear engine) so it is better to only use nuclear engine in space or very thin atmosphere.

Range in order of difficulty:

- Any place on Kerbin (+ return)

- Any orbit within Kerbin SOI (+ return)

- Minmus (landing + return)

- Mun (landing + return)

- Eve (landing only)

- Gilly (landing + return)

- Ike (landing + return)

- Duna (landing + return)

- Laythe (landing + return)

Craft file

Mission to Mun, taking Bob for a ride:

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Mission to Duna:

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Mission to Laythe:

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Edited March 14, 2014 by Kasuha