Set The Controls For The Heart Of The Sun

[EmperorJon]

Achieve an orbit SO SMALL around Kerbol, that for all intents and purposes on the map it looks like you\'re just sat right in the core of the star.

Stock parts only.

DUN DUN DUUUH.

[Kryten]

Currently, there\'s no surface for Kerbol, so it\'s possible to actually sit right in the core.

For example, take this picture-that\'s someone orbiting at minus 1400km.

[Omnivore]

Might I propose a modified challenge since negative orbits are possible? How about dropping a solar probe (ok actually a ASAS module) into a tight circular orbit around Kerbol and return to Kerbin. Goal something like the closest non-negative orbit with less than 1% eccentricity?

I\'d put it up but you do a much better job of running challenges than I do.

[thorfinn]

a tight circular orbit around Kerbol

Impossible.

You will be flying at more than 100 kilometers per second when you reach perihelion. Good luck circularizing that (without fusion engines or a convenient, large planet).

[Omnivore]

Impossible.

You will be flying at more than 100 kilometers per second when you reach perihelion. Good luck circularizing that (without fusion engines or a convenient, large planet).

Hmm should\'ve left off tight, wonder what the closest circular orbit to Kerbol is possible with vanilla?

[Entroper]

Hmm should\'ve left off tight, wonder what the closest circular orbit to Kerbol is possible with vanilla?

Kerbin is already going 9 000 m/s around Kerbol, so just braking to get close to Kerbol requires LOTS of delta-V. And this is after you expend a lot getting out of Kerbin\'s atmosphere and sphere of influence. With stock parts, the closest circular orbit around Kerbol is going to be fairly large.

[Kryten]

Around 9.5km/s is the most I\'ve seen with stock parts.

[comradephil]

I like this challenge.

[EmperorJon]

I\'m currently working on an Interstellar Ramjet part for use with this challenge.

[Omnivore]

I\'m getting a very weird control reversal in solar coordinate system. My y axis inverts and other bizarre behavior like the ASAS pushing away from the point it is engaged sometimes. Also had the x axis invert at least once. It seems that going in and out of zoom fixes the worst problems but still usually leaves y axis inverted.

[Melfice]

I\'m currently working on an Interstellar Ramjet part for use with this challenge.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ramjet

A ramjet, sometimes referred to as a stovepipe jet, or an athodyd, is a form of airbreathing jet engine using the engine\'s forward motion to compress incoming air, without a rotary compressor.

So, rather impossible.

And beyond that, this challenge is for STOCK parts only. As noted in the first post.

[EmperorJon]

No no no, an Interstellar Ramjet. It uses huge magnetic fields to catch the thin spread hydrogen lying around in space and fuses it. Still pretty impossible, but it\'s a theory.

[Kryten]

\'Ramjet\' in this case is a metaphor-it\'s a system to collect interstellar particles to use as fuel, usually for a fusion reaction-most commonly referred to as a \'Bussard ramjet\'.

[Tiberion]

Heh with the current bug in .12x2, you can use the moon to give you a good boost in the right direction.

When I got nailed with the reversal bug, I got flung into a solar orbit with perhelion of 5million, it only required the fuel needed to reach Munar injection. At 5 million I was going 16km/s

Technically I guess they still are since even at 10,000x time compression it takes hours to get a window where you are near kerbin again to come home.

[Omnivore]

Well good news and bad news. First the good news, the Klomar Exploder III reached stable orbit of Kerbin (83km-87km) with 20 full tanks worth of liquid fuel and 6 SRBs remaining. Bad news is the all stock 0.12x3 ship is so huge (159,707 bytes of craft file) that it takes 14 seconds real time for each second of game time. Not sure if it\'ll speed up as earlier jettisoned stages hit Kerbin or not. Mass of ship in orbit at present estimated at 98 Kerbal tons.

Planned mission (if the game speeds up enough to be playable), is to insert a solar probe (old SAS module) into an orbit around Kerbol with a periapsis of less than 1000km and an apoapsis as low as possible given fuel constraints. Klomar Exploder III will then return to Kerbin (hopefully).

UPDATE: Meh 11 seconds real time per second of game time seems to be the best I can get, it has one core of my old 2.7Ghz E5400 Pentium running all out. Posting the craft file in case someone with a faster computer wants to give it a try.

[SteevyT]

I can\'t stop laughing, that ship is more ridiculous than anything I have built. (For those of you who saw my Mun rocket, that was nowhere near my largest attempt at something, it was just my largest that could actually reach some sort of orbit)

[chickenplucker]

Omnivore, that thing is a freaking work of art man. So much chaos contained in there somehow.