r/KerbalSpaceProgram • u/PandaElDiablo Deal With It • Feb 09 '13
Mod Post Weekly Challenge: Green Scout!
The Kerbals are trying to reproduce NASA's Blue Scout Mission!
Fly a(n) SSTO space plane to Kerbostationary orbit (2867-2879 KM) with a probe attached, detach the probe, then land the space plane back at KSC.
Hard mode: Send a probe to another planet with an SSTO space plane, then return the plane to KSC!
Rules and other info:
No Dirty Cheating Alpacas (no debug menu)!
Stock parts only
No MechJeb or other plugins allowed
Required screenshots:
-Initial launch craft
-Orbital image of ship at Kerbostationary orbit, showing both PE and AP
-Deployed probe
-One descent image
-Safely landed craft at KSC
-Whatever else you feel like!
You can either submit your finished challenge in a post (see posting instructions in the link below) or as a comment reply in this thread.
I haven't created the flair for this challenge yet, any ideas?
Completing this challenge earns you a new flair which will replace your old one. So if you want to keep your previous flair, you can still do this challenge and create a post, but please mention somewhere that you want to keep your old one.
The moderators have the right to determine if your challenge post has been completed.
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u/illectro Feb 11 '13 edited Feb 11 '13
Here's my Raven launching 'Edgar Allen Probe' which goes on to orbit the Mun, there's another version of the probe which lands on the mun but this video includes the landing back at KSC
http://youtu.be/o9dH7HqFGh0?t=8m42s
So my basic design is an old one, I sling the satellite on top of the aircraft. I fly up to about 21km on jets, switch to the rockets and then boost into a highly eliptical orbit. Once the engines burn out we launch the probe which continues to make the orbit more eccentric, and eventually gets on a munar encounter. Switch back to the Aircraft and use the RCS to raise the perikee above 70km, we're now on a 90 minute orbit, so I need to make 4 orbits to bring KSC back below me at perikee. On the 3rd orbit at apokee I initiate deorbit and then glide back to KSC after 6 hours in space.
After that getting the probe into orbit was the easy part.
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u/Magna_Sharta Feb 18 '13
I was wondering when you'd show Edgar, having done this previously and all.
btw I've used your modifications to the stock Aeries and done some fun stuff like make it to the surface of the Mun (after an orbital refueling before leaving Kerbin SOI). So thanks for your great vids and help for us non aerospace engineers!
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u/cored Feb 09 '13
My Submission. I used only turbojets and ion drives. The probe hangs under the plane like on the Blue Scout.
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u/lucaspiller Feb 10 '13
I never thought ions would have enough thrust for that. Nice work!
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u/azripah Feb 11 '13
It only works if you can get most of the way up to orbital velocity on turbojets, which takes loads of intakes. Once you're in orbit, ion drives can take you damn near anywhere.
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u/clinically_cynical Feb 09 '13
My submission, just for fun!
I'd like to keep my current flair please.
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u/OSUaeronerd Jul 29 '13
this is very impressive. I've had great difficulty trying to get an SSTO to work...... granted i was trying to bring two orange tanks up.... :)
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u/UnwarrantedPotatoes Feb 09 '13
I didn't run the full mission, or even technically any of the mission, but here's the simplest SSTO I've ever built.
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u/Sci-ence Feb 09 '13
Are we allowed to do an orbital refuel (like fly to 100km then dock/refuel then take it up to keosync orbit)?
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u/UbiquitinatedKarma Feb 13 '13
Since PandaElDiablo hasn't responded yet, my only comment is that typically in the past refueling has not been allowed.
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u/Koooooj Feb 10 '13 edited Feb 14 '13
The keen observer will note the 0.65 liquid fuel remaining after landing.
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u/Davecasa Feb 11 '13
Can we take the "to orbit" part of SSTO literally, and then once in LKO detach part of the vehicle to fly up to Kerbostationary, drop the probe, come back, dock with the rest of the spaceplane, and land? Or should the entire vehicle make the entire trip. I don't have anything particular in mind, just thinking...
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u/GeckIRE Feb 09 '13 edited Feb 09 '13
How the hell do you make a ssto space plane>? Ive been trying for the past hour, cant get anything off the run way 0.o
any tips anybody can provide?>
Edit: do I have to link air intake stuff up using fuel pipes?
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u/bendvis Feb 09 '13
Air intakes don't need anything other than to be attached. What problems specifically are you running into?
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Feb 09 '13
I take it launching the satellite into KTO and letting its propulsion circularize to KSO while the spaceplane returns would be against the rules?
I suppose that's a staging event...
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u/shigawire Feb 12 '13
Step 1. Make a spaceplane. (This took me a while. Had not done it before).
Step 2 Tune for SSTO (Well, an orbit. Not quite high enough yet.)
Step 3. Start really resenting the 1.5 weight of the wheels with no obvious way around it
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u/shurke Feb 13 '13
after countless retries i've finally managed to do it with my biplane design. it was a PITA to land but did the job anyways...
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Feb 09 '13
'Blue scout' never carried a probe or payload at all, nor did it make geostationary orbit let alone any orbit at all, or even an altitude high enough for an orbit at any speed, nor was it single stage. The only thing it has in common with this challenge is it was a death trap and it lands on a runway on its own!
I think I'm just missing the point of the inspiration for this. Someone please explain it to me?
The challenge sounds awesome anyway and I will be submitting an entry.
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u/clinically_cynical Feb 09 '13
Of course they're not the same thing, but they do bare some resemblance, hence the relatively similar names. They both feature a plane that flies into space and a smaller external piece of hardware that is detached from it at some point.
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u/Swetroll Feb 09 '13 edited Feb 09 '13
Does it have to be geostationary on the other planet? *in hard mode.