Time for plan B - launching from the ISC

[purpleivan]

Leaderboard

1: Foxster: 11 points

2:

3:

4:

5:

The challenge

Due to complaints from the new neighbours about the noise of orbital rocket launches from the KSC, the KSP has decided, they will now have to revive the facilities at the Inland Space Center (ISC) to act as the sole site for orbit and beyond launches

So the the challenge is to launch the most impressive manned, single vehicle mission you can from Kerbin orbit, with all components of it (including fuel and crew) being launched from the ISC with all crew returning safely to Kerbin. The impressiveness of submissions being determined by a points system.

 

The points system

Spirit of Exploration: SOE points are awarded as follows.

• Stable orbit of Kerbin = 10

For landings on bodies other than Kerbin or being in a stable orbit of Kerbin (in a single vehicle)

• Minmus = 15
• Mun = 20
• Duna = 40
• Dres = 50
• Eeloo = 80
• Moho = 90
• Laythe = 120
• Eve = 300

The Brave Crew:

• 1 TBC point for every kerbal landing on a body or for being in a stable orbit of Kerbin, who is returned safely home.

 

Launch multiplier

• To allow for a takeoff from the grass the rule limiting entries to a launch from the pad has been removed and replace with an x2 multiplier for launches that are totally from the pad/ramp (i.e. after launch, no contact is had with the grass, except for detached stages) and x1 for a takeoff that makes use of the grass

 

Points calculation

The calculation of a submission score will be as follows.

(SOE points + TBC points) x Launch multiplier = total score

All points are cumulative, including those for Kerbin orbit

Example: for an exploration that places 6 kerbals in a stable Kerbin orbit, followed by a landing on Minmus with 6 kerbals and Duna with a crew of 1 kerbal, then the score would be as follows;

• (10 + 6 the kerbin orbit points + 15 + 6 the Minmus landing points + 40 + 1 the Duna landing points) x 2 the launch multiplier  = total score of 156 points

 

The rules

1. All vehicles including any that support the exploration vehicle must achieve orbit via a launch from the Inland Space Center. No launches from anywhere other than the ISC may achieve kerbin orbit (an AP and PE of greater than 70km)
2. Launch as many vehicles as you like from the KSC that do not achieve Kerbin orbit
3. Launch as many vehicles from the ISC as you like, for assembly of your exploration vehicle, fuel support etc.
4. Mining for fuel is allowed on any body including Kerbin (so you can set up a mining camp at the ISC launch site) so long as it is done with equipment launched as part of the challenge entry
5. Your submission must include an exploration vehicle that is the core of your expedition and enters orbit of all bodies that are counted for the points calculation. i.e. if you plan to fly to Duna and Dres you can't split you're vehicle up and send one part to each planet separately
6. Once the exploration vehicle has entered the SOI of a body it can be separated into as many vehicles as you like, including landers
7. Only one landing per body and stable orbit of Kerbin counts for the points calculation, but you can land as many vehicles as you like if it helps your exploration
8. The re-use of SSTO vehicles is allowed
9. Pics or it didn't happen. I want to see a good collection of images, showing key moments like launches, landing locations, plus map views of the interplanetary burns, the with the resources displayed. See the album of my mission below as an example, however as I was not flying this for the purpose of a proper challenge, it's a bit light on essential information (e.g. it doesn't include any images of the Map view showing burn information).
10. Any other amusing or spectacular pics are appreciated... no extra points for these (well... if you manage to take one of tap dancing three headed aliens on Eve that's gotta be worth something I suppose), but they'll keep us entertained.

 

Addons

• All visual or informational addons are allowed (including Kerbal Engineer)
• Mechjeb is only allowed for provision of information and not control of the vehicle (in other words fly it yourself)
• Stock parts only on all vehicles, with the exception of any that are purely aesthetic (e.g. SurfaceLights)
• Obviously no Hyperedit to be used in the mission, but use it as much as is needed for testing

If you have any questions about the rules then let me know.

 

I came up with the idea of this challenge when a few days ago I decided to attempt a landing on the Mun and a return to kerbin for Rinzer Kerman using the ISC, to coincide with the 47th anniversary of Apollo 11 landing on the moon.

Here is the album for the mission that I flew, which if it had been an entry to the challenge would have been awarded 21 points (20 SOE plus 1 TBC)

If you've not seen the Inland Space Center yet, be warned that the album below contains images of this location.

 

Edited July 31, 2016 by purpleivan
Clarified the rule regarding mining for fuel

[Foxster]

Umm, this started well as a challenge then it seemed to get all complicated. 

Wouldn't it be a reasonable challenge to launch a single craft from the old space centre to the various locations, with the craft having got to the launch site by any non-cheat way?

It could be kinda fun just to see what ways there are to deliver a craft there for launching. Say via aircraft, on a trailer, a suborbital or orbital launch + landing...

Edited July 23, 2016 by Foxster

[purpleivan]

The idea was to allow people to use as many launches as they wanted (mainly because the pad is so small) and assemble an exploration vehicle in orbit.

Perhaps my rules could be simplified a bit, I was just trying to be thorough, although my rules might have ended up seeming like legalese.

As for delivery method, my original plan was to fly the launch vehicle in on slung under an aircraft, but my winged piloting skills (and my winged construction skills) weren't up to it.

[Foxster]

Yea, it's really hard to carry a craft bolted onto an aircraft. 

I've started making something just for fun. Might not be quite what you had in mind but it's likely to be along those lines - even if I get no points .

[purpleivan]

What I ideally had in mind was dropping a rocket off of a ramp out of the back of a plane and have it parachute serenely down to a landing on the ISC pad ready for a launch.

But the likelihood of that was pretty slim

[Foxster]

2 hours ago, purpleivan said:

What I ideally had in mind was dropping a rocket off of a ramp out of the back of a plane and have it parachute serenely down to a landing on the ISC pad ready for a launch.

But the likelihood of that was pretty slim

Funnily enough, my idea wasn't far from that...

Full album of mission here: https://imgur.com/a/yKuVe

 

[purpleivan]

7 hours ago, Foxster said:

Funnily enough, my idea wasn't far from that...

 

Actually that makes more sense than my idea; landing the plane with the rocket in it, rather than dropping the thing on parachutes. I think I just had it suck in my mind "airdrop airdrop airdrop"

As I can see the placing of a vehicle in Kerbin orbit being a lot more popular than say a mission to Eve, I've added an award of 10 Spirit of Exploration points for this. This would give your expedition 10 SOE + 1 TBC = 11 points and the first entry on the leaderboard.

One question about your launch is did it take place from the pad and ramp (it looks like it was from the grass)?

The rules of the challenge were that launchers must stand on the pad/ramp structure and not the grass (i.e. after launch, no contact is had with the grass, except for detached stages), however I've amended the rules to allow takeoff from the grass and added an x2 points multiplier for launches from the pad, due to the additional difficult of getting a vertical vehicle onto it.

So congrats on being the first on the board and kicking off this challenge

[Foxster]

10 hours ago, purpleivan said:

One question about your launch is did it take place from the pad and ramp (it looks like it was from the grass)?

Yes, my little SSTO can't take off vertically, so I started a takeoff run from the bottom of the pad's ramp. 

Thanks for bending all the rules for my entry, I really only did it for a bit of fun. Hopefully some others will do better. 

 

Edited July 24, 2016 by Foxster

[Alchemist]

Well, I might have just recently delivered something to KSC2...

The mining rig assembled in 3 runs of IL-76.
Now to make something that can be launched from there.

I might get to launching something crewed... I may have to upgrade to An-225 for that.

[purpleivan]

2 hours ago, Alchemist said:

Well, I might have just recently delivered something to KSC2...

The mining rig assembled in 3 runs of IL-76.
Now to make something that can be launched from there.

I might get to launching something crewed... I may have to upgrade to An-225 for that.

Interesting... looks like you're set for fuel.

You might want to get the An-225 out as the challenge is for manned missions

Looking forward to seeing what you get up to.

 

[Wjolcz]

I like how there are complaints about rocket launching, so you launched another one to land a piece of it somewhere else and go to space with it again.

[purpleivan]

On 26/07/2016 at 1:32 PM, Veeltch said:

I like how there are complaints about rocket launching, so you launched another one to land a piece of it somewhere else and go to space with it again.

Well everyone knows those suborbital launches are whisper quiet aren't they

[Adelaar]

I'll be preparing the ISC2 for the arrival of one of my SSTO's for departure to Minmus and Mun soon

Also, I already have in place a refueling structure orbiting Kerbin and Minmus, I believe that you can use them as they fall under "mining camps" but just to be sure: Am I allowed to use them?

(My SSTO's are a bit fuel guzzling in nature...)

Edited July 31, 2016 by Adelaar

[purpleivan]

36 minutes ago, Adelaar said:

I'll be preparing the ISC2 for the arrival of one of my SSTO's for departure to Minmus and Mun soon

Also, I already have in place a refueling structure orbiting Kerbin and Minmus, I believe that you can use them as they fall under "mining camps" but just to be sure: Am I allowed to use them?

(My SSTO's are a bit fuel guzzling in nature...)

I included "mining camps" with the intention that these were launched as part of the challenge entry, rather than using infrastructure that is already in place (pretty standard for challenges) otherwise it would be possible to rendezvous with a bunch of conveniently placed fuel stops, to make a trip to pretty much anywhere in the system.

I've now made the wording of the rules clearer that this is the intention.

BTW... one option would be for you to launch a fuel store into Kerbin orbit from the ISC, then rendezvous your expedition vehicle with it to top up before heading to Mun and Minmus.

 

 

Edited July 31, 2016 by purpleivan