SSTO Spaceplane Payload Challenge

[Sensi]

So, looking at the challenge forum, it seems that we're right in the middle of SSTO Spaceplane Challenges season : we can currently take part to the fastest in orbit, cheapest, ionest, better, etc... SSTO spaceplane challenges. But what about the most muscular SSTO spaceplanes, the ones you've built to put heavy stuff in orbit? (*)

Don't they deserve their own challenge ?

If you think so, this challenge is for you!

Goals

- stuff a manned SSTO spaceplane with a payload

- take off from KSC runway

- go to a 100 km LKO

- decouple the payload

- deorbit and land back on KSC runway

The heavier the payload, the better.

Rules

1. Must look/take off/fly/land like a SSTO spaceplane, not like a rocket with wings and lawnchairs. You must take off and land horizontaly. Don't drop or lose any parts, except the payload when in orbit.

2. Parts mods allowed : B9 Aerospace, SP+ and Procedural Wings.

3. Other mods allowed : all mods which are not parts mods and which don't circumvent any of the rules. For example, you can use : MJ, KER, FAR, help mods (fuel balancer, docking, ...), utility mods (KAS, IR, ...) and cosmetic mods. If you're not sure about one of your mods, just ask.

4. Obviously : no cheats, debug menu or physics shenanigans of any kind.

5. Refueling your spaceplane is forbidden. Don't use the payload's ressources neither.

6. Air hogging is OK, but not part clipping.

7. You may have either one big payload or multiple smaller ones, not necessarily stowed in a single closed payload bay. You may attach your payload(s) to docking ports or decouplers. Payload parts are submitted to rule 2.

Scoring

10 points per payload ton in orbit.

There will be 2 leaderboards : FAR and stock aerodynamics.

Bonuses

- K-Team : have a crew of 4 kerbonauts (not in lawnchairs and not in the payload bay) : 50 points

- Versatility : dock to a space station : 50 points

- Efficiency : the payload weighs more than 50% of the spaceplane dry mass : 100 points

- Simple Propulsion : use only one type of engine (e.g. a spaceplane with 8 Rapiers) : 100 points

- Endurance : take a screenshot of Mün's hidden side from an altitude lower than 100 km (orbiting not required) before landing back at KSC : 150 points

Submission guidelines

- Take screenshots or a video to show your feats. There must be proofs of your spaceplane and payload conditions (Altitude, MET, masses, resources, parts count...) before take off, in orbit, payload decoupled, docked, behind Mün, in hangar with dry mass, landed, etc...

- Avoid dark scenes whenever possible.

- A link to your craft file would be great.

Have fun !

(*) Yeah I know we should use rockets instead of SSTO spaceplanes whenever we want to put really heavy payloads in orbit

Leaderboards

Stock Aero

1. Sensi : 1614 points

2. O-Doc : 1530 points

3.

FAR

1.

2.

3.

Edited September 1, 2014 by Sensi
scoring

[LordFjord]

Would love to take part in the challenge, however there are some constraints that I find a bit limiting:

- max 300 parts for a heavy SSTO plane -> these things always have very high part counts, 300 would result in some medium sized SSTO cargoplane. Why not try to find out how crazy big some people can build? I say: let the CPUs melt!

- I'd rather make the challenge puristic in terms of additional goals and focus on the payload mass delivered to orbit, maybe the remaining dV in orbit. Kerbal count is only a matter how you design your payload - habitats instead of fuel, so basically irrelevant. Same with docking, as Verniers could be seen as simple additional payload - it does not add to the challenge of building a heavy lifter. Focussing on a single propulsion type usually doesn't work for the heavy SSTOs, unless you want it to be a "Heavy Rapier SSTO" challenge, I'm not sure if I would rate that. Efficiency (payload fraction) is interesting, but I would let it scale instead of giving X points when a certain fraction is reached (and 50% is a LOT).

Wanna show us your entry?

[Wanderfound]

Can we use NRAP for the payload? It will allow heavy loads to be placed in SP+ sized cargo bays.

http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/76231-0-24-x-Kerbal-NRAP-Procedural-test-weights!-v1-5-0-1-03-08-14

Edited August 21, 2014 by Wanderfound

[Wanderfound]

I endorse the part count limit, BTW. Anyone can build a Whackjob-style monster; you have to know what you're doing to lift serious weight with something sensible.

[goduranus]

Does the crew need to be a permanent part of the plane? or can they be occasionally carried in payload?

Does the Mun flyby need to happen on the flight where the payload is scored?

Edited August 21, 2014 by goduranus

[Sensi]

@LordFjord :

We need a shared definition of what a 'medium sized SSTO cargoplane' is. I've built a medium size one (IMO) with 200 parts that can haul 54 tons in LKO and has a payload/dry mass ratio of 65%. But ok, I'll remove the parts count limit and allow the Procedural Wings mod so people playing on PCs/laptops with not much CPU power can hopefully still compete on an equal footing with big rigs.

The K-Team and Versatility bonuses reward design realism. A crew of 4, i.e. a pilot, copilot and 2 mission/payload specialists, and monoprop tanks + verniers are the equivalent of 5 tons of payload, point wise. The efficiency bonus is a threshold, indeed. It rewards the cleverly built spacecraft, not the 500 tons monster hauling a 50 tons payload. Simple propulsion allows for lower engineering complexity, lower parts count and possibly lower dry weight, e.g. all Sabres M / no LV-Ns should be a good choice if you're not planning deliveries beyond LKO. The endurance bonus rewards the payload hauler with extended range capability. It's up to you to choose if you want to balance your spacecraft design (i.e. lower payload capacity) and get some bonus points, or go for a pure payload hauler.

And yes, my entry's coming soonâ„¢, I just waited to see if this challenge would get some interest.

@Wanderfound :

Sorry, but using NRAP to simulate a dense payload is not allowed. I don't know this part mod, but lets avoid submissions with one cubic meter payloads weighing 100 tons. Keep it realisticish.

@goduranus :

Crew members in lawnchairs or in the payload/payload bay are not eligible for the K-Team bonus. Yes, your Mün flyby has to happen after you decouple the payload and before you land back at KSC. Docking to a space station has to happen in the same mission too.

Edited August 21, 2014 by Sensi

[Wanderfound]

Anybody got any ideas on what is the highest density stock part that will fit in an SP+ cargo bay, then? My limiting factor is going to be bulk, not mass.

Or even ones that won't fit in a cargo bay. It's not that hard to build a medium SSTO that can lift more mass than a Rockomax 64.

Alternately, what's your view on splitting the payload between multiple cargo bays?

ETA: never mind, just saw rule #7.

Edited August 21, 2014 by Wanderfound

[Kasuha]

@Wanderfound :

Sorry, but using NRAP to simulate a dense payload is not allowed. I don't know this part mod, but lets avoid submissions with one cubic meter payloads weighing 100 tons. Keep it realisticish.

Kerbin's average density [Wiki] is 58 tons per cubic meter. They can be just transferring soil in these containers.

Even using real elements, a cubic meter of Tungsten weighs almost 20 tons.

[Sensi]

@Wanderfound : yes, you may use as many cargo bays as you want, or e.g. attach your payload(s) to docking ports externally.

@Kasuha : to keep things simple, the payload parts should be submitted to rule 2.

Updating rule 7 for clarification.

Edited August 21, 2014 by Sensi

[Wanderfound]

Looks like solid boosters are the best bet for density.

Half a dozen S1 SRB-KD25k's it is, then.

[jaddbo]

I have never successfully built an ssto spaceplane, but vaos3712 built a 100-ton ssto that works and has flown it into and landed it. I think that he automaticly wins this chalenge, not only in functionality, but also in looks.

not quite 100 k, but I doubt anyone can come close to this

Edited August 21, 2014 by jaddbo

[Hodo]

[h=3]I have never successfully built an ssto spaceplane, but vaos3712 built a 100-ton ssto that works and has flown it into and landed it. I think that he automaticly wins this chalenge, not only in functionality, but also in looks.

[/h][h=3]

[/h]

It does?

Javascript is disabled. View full album

108 tons in test cargo load in that one... I no longer have that craft file but I built it, it worked and worked EXTREMELY well, so well in fact I extended it another 4m and upped its cargo capacity to 120tons.

But this will be the one I submit when I get around to taking pictures of take off and landings with cargo. It is my current career mode medium lifter.

Javascript is disabled. View full album

Uses FAR, DRE, P-wing, and B9 along with TAC Life Support.

[LordFjord]

@LordFjord :

We need a shared definition of what a 'medium sized SSTO cargoplane' is. I've built a medium size one (IMO) with 200 parts that can haul 54 tons in LKO and has a payload/dry mass ratio of 65%. But ok, I'll remove the parts count limit and allow the Procedural Wings mod so people playing on PCs/laptops with not much CPU power can hopefully still compete on an equal footing with big rigs.

That's a nice SSTO you built there, however without those modded parts (I haven't tried the B9 stuff yet) you would stuggle to build anything nearly that big with only 300 parts

Are those mods more or less balanced? Looks quite powerful to me. The payload fraction seems to be very high.

Anyway, I only made some suggestions. I'll obide the rules, its your challenge after all, so I'll see how far I get - with a mostly stock design.

[Wanderfound]

I have never successfully built an ssto spaceplane, but vaos3712 built a 100-ton ssto that works and has flown it into and landed it. I think that he automaticly wins this chalenge, not only in functionality, but also in looks.

not quite 100 k, but I doubt anyone can come close to this

Edited to withdraw: sorry, that was more hostile than it should have been. My apologies; got some personal stuff going on that's leaving me a bit short-fused.

Edited August 22, 2014 by Wanderfound

[Sensi]

Okay, here's my entry : the S2-8M SSTO Heavy Spaceplane.

She's got 8 Sabres M for atmospheric flight and 8 LV-Ns for space operations. There is also a L2 Atlas engine between the front landing gears to help lift the nose up at takeoff when she's stuffed with really heavy payloads.

I took her to a 100 km orbit with a 150 t payload, but didn't have enough fuel to go to Mün, so I downsized the payload to 126.44 t for this challenge (108 t in the cargo bay and 4x 4.61 t externally). The mission went as planned except a messed up reentry at the end. I missed KSC by 50 km, but had enough fuel to fly back without a sweat.

This spaceplane will be the biggest I'll ever build with wing panels, because of the part count and flexing of the wings (even with a huge number of struts to stiffen them). I'll use Procedural Wings the day I want to put the KSC in orbit.

Ship specifications

---------------------

Mod used : B9 Aerospace

Payload mass : 126.440 t

Dry mass : 136.971 t

Wet mass : 257.161 t

Wet + payload mass : 383.601 t

Payload / dry mass ratio : 92.31%

Part count, w/o payload and MJ : 299

Sabres thrust : ~640 t

LV-Ns thrust : 48 t

The craft file (--> here <--) includes the payloads used in my submission, but not the MJ module. Ascent profile and action groups are in the spacecraft description.

So, my score is

Payload score : 126.44 t x 10 = 1264 points

K-Team bonus : 50 points

Versatility bonus : 50 points

Efficiency bonus : 100 points

Endurance bonus : 150 points

Total : 1614 points

Javascript is disabled. View full album

Fly safe.

Sensi.

Edited August 29, 2014 by Sensi

[O-Doc]

138 tons, all stock. The limiting factor is definitely part count. I'm sure with B9 you could get 500T to orbit.

Javascript is disabled. View full album

[Sensi]

Very nice stock entry. But woah, 1109 parts! Is your rig equipped with a water cooled CPU ?

Your score is

Payload score : 138 t x 10 = 1380 points

K-Team bonus : 50 points

Efficiency bonus : from what I see in the album, your payload/dry mass ratio is around 130%, bravo : 100 points

Total : 1530 points

P.S. Your reentry seems to have been truly kerbalesque O7

[O-Doc]

Very nice stock entry. But woah, 1109 parts! Is your rig equipped with a water cooled CPU ?

My machine is actually quite old. Orbit and back was a ten hour round trip.

[Pds314]

I dare anyone to bring the new B9 HX4 tank full of fuel up. Talk about a big payload, that thing is over 13 meters tall and wide and weighs well over a kiloton.

Edited September 2, 2014 by Pds314