Lightest Eve Lander

[RocketBlam]

This is your challenge:

Design a lander that can return one Kerbal to orbit from Eve.

The lander must include an enclosed landing capsule: No "ride a chair into the hottest planet in the solar system" designs. This includes the Mk 1 Lander Can or Command Pod Mk 1, or any lander that encloses all Kerbals inside a loving, protective shell. The landing can/pod must return to orbit.

The lander must have at least 8,700 (vacuum) Delta-V. There are a few places on Eve high enough to get back to orbit with that DV. This can be calculated at the moment of launch.

Stock parts only. The only non-stock parts allowed are the MechJeb module or an Engineer module (so you can calculate DV). Using MechJeb landing guidance or ascent guidance are acceptable - the issue is whether your lander is capable of achieving orbit from some point on Eve.

Please post craft files so I can confirm your accomplishment.

The winner will be the vehicle with the lowest weight at launch from Eve. However you choose to accomplish that is up to you, but whoever can achieve orbit from Eve with the lowest weight (at launch, from Eve) wins.

Orbit is considered to be a periapsis and apoapsis of 97,000 meters or more above Eve.

I have a craft that can do it, but I will wait to see what you come up with.

Control surfaces: Using an excessive number of control surfaces and SAS modules is not allowed, as it exploits the "infiniglide" flaw in the application.

No need to include a lifter. All submissions will be considered as long as a lifter can be attached below them. If it is too heavy to lift into Kerbin orbit, well, that design probably doesn't have a chance.

Good luck!

Clarification: No mods that change Delta-V values of stock parts, or aerodynamic values, or weights, are allowed. To keep it simple, the only mods allowed are MechJeb and Engineer.

Submissions

Red Iron Crown

Mass at Landing: 69.78 tons

Mass at Launch: 57.06 tons

Gpisic

Mass at Landing/Launch: 69.089 tons

RocketBlam

Mass at Landing: 136 tons

Mass at Liftoff: 123 tons

sjd64 (pending working .craft file)

Mass at Landing: 47.69 tons

Mass at Liftoff: 40.56 tons

Nedal (pending working .craft file)

Mass at Landing/Launch: 30.63 tons

GeorgeG (second submission) (pending working .craft file)

Mass at Landing: 31.957 tons

Mass at Liftoff: 30.407 tons

GeorgeG (third submission) (pending working .craft file)

Mass at Landing: 29.177 tons

Mass at Liftoff: 28.022 tons

Immelman (pending .craft file)

Mass at Landing: 24 tons

Mass at Liftoff: 21.2 tons

Tavert

Mass at Landing: 19.755

Mass at Liftoff: 19.228

(8659 D/V - below limit)

Metaphor (pending testing)

Mass at Landing/Launch: 14.2 tons

Edited May 8, 2014 by RocketBlam

[SRV Ron]

Someone did this some time ago by using a command chair to return Jeb back to orbit.

[godefroi]

Someone did this some time ago by using a command chair to return Jeb back to orbit.

The lander must include an enclosed landing capsule: No "ride a chair into the hottest planet in the solar system" designs.

You might also want to specify what mods are allowed.

[Apotheosist]

Should make it stock parts only

[rtxoff]

You might also want to specify what mods are allowed.

Should make it stock parts only

Can't you people read???? It is already specified that it is only stock parts with the exception of mechjeb or another engineer module to calculate dV.

[Red Iron Crown]

I might be interested in this as I'm working on a manned Eve return lander built around the Mk1 Lander Can. A clarification, does this:

The winner will be the vehicle with the lowest weight at launch from Eve.

mean immediately after liftoff, when I've jettisoned the landing gear and chutes, or before liftoff, with all landing equipment still attached?

[rtxoff]

I guess at launch does mean before liftoff, so if you going to fire you engines and jettison your landing gear at the same time the weight before that counts.

If you manage to jettison the stuff before you fire the engines it is a different story however i do not see a possibility to jettison the landing gear because it is needed for landing and for take of too, eve will crush your vessel without it....

[RocketBlam]

For clarification: The weight can be calculated after the gear has been jettisoned, if it can be jettisoned immediately prior to launch (or at launch).

Edit: This is a fairly minor detail, but I can see how calculating it with all landing gear attached makes sense. There will be two categories: Lowest weight at landing, and lowest weight at liftoff.

Edited April 11, 2014 by RocketBlam

[rtxoff]

This detail has huge impact on the design, i do not like the idea of making two categories now :-(

you screwed my whole day designing

[RocketBlam]

So submit it and see what happens. Maybe you can win both.

[rtxoff]

I am pretty new to this game and i don't want to disgrace myself. I won't submit until i see at least one design from someone else.

[Red Iron Crown]

My submission:

Mass at Eve launch: 66,308kg

Mass after dropping landing equipment: 51,772kg

Craft file. (All stock)

Gallery:

Javascript is disabled. View full album

Edited April 14, 2014 by Red Iron Crown

[Red Iron Crown]

I am pretty new to this game and i don't want to disgrace myself. I won't submit until i see at least one design from someone else.

No disgrace in any successful Eve return mission, even if it takes you 500 tons to do it.

[rtxoff]

Well here is my submission... however it is not that efficient like yours Red Iron Crown, will try to optimize it.

Also i was not able yet to get the capsule into orbit, it seems that a few 100 dV always are missing. I have to try to optimize ascend path....

Another thing is i did not include any possibility for a walk so there are no ladders.

Mass at EVE landing and liftoff: 65.9t

Craft File

[Red Iron Crown]

gpisic, it looks like your ship has enough dV and TWR to make orbit, especially since you've landed it in such a high elevation location. It's got to be the ascent profile. The one MechJeb picked for mine didn't work well, it was better to edit the ascent profile to have the gravity turn start at around 30km and continue up to 95km or so.

I'm envious of your ship's ability to land on a mountaintop, I tried a couple of times to land higher than I did but my ship is more sensitive to sloping ground and kept toppling over on landing.

[KerikBalm]

I think it should be called the lightest Eve ascent vehicle.

Most of my landers are 1 way landers (I like to drop rovers and mobile science labs), I send the ascent vehicle seperately

[RocketBlam]

That's a nice design, Red. What's the Delta-V?

Edited April 12, 2014 by RocketBlam

[RocketBlam]

I also edit the ascent profile basically the exact same way - start at 30km, end at 100km.

[Red Iron Crown]

That's a nice design, Red. What's the Delta-V?

Thanks! It has 8785m/s of atmospheric dV in the ascent portion. Not enough for an ascent from less than 5000m elevation. Have a look at the imgur album I linked in the post, it's got more detail including the KER readouts. Pretty sure I could pare the mass down a bit, I definitely overdid it on drop tanks, and possibly on chutes and landing gear, too.

[RocketBlam]

Well both of yours are a lot lighter than mine, so definitely no need for anyone to be embarrassed. Except maybe me.

[Red Iron Crown]

Well both of yours are a lot lighter than mine, so definitely no need for anyone to be embarrassed. Except maybe me.

You should post it anyway, no need to be embarrassed. Getting back from Eve's surface is one of the game's big challenges, any design that can do it is a good one.

[RocketBlam]

OK, here's mine. Landing weight: 136 tons. Liftoff weight: 123 tons. DV at liftoff is a little over 8800.

Both of your designs are a lot simpler than mine. I might have gone overboard with the upper level staging. Also all my science gear adds weight, because I designed it to get science. Even without the science gear I'm sure both of yours would be lighter though.

Anyway, great designs. You are both Steely-Eyed Missile Men!

I can post the craft file if you like.

Edited April 15, 2014 by RocketBlam

[sdj64]

Hey RocketBlam, you can save a lot of weight if you don't bring the science modules back with you. You can still recover the science data if you get a kerbal on EVA to go up to the module, right click and select "take data". By the looks of it you can cut your payload about in half, so that means that your whole lander could weigh about half what it does now . See what I did in my picture below, with all of the science modules on decouplers, and near the ground so that the kerbal can easily get to them.

Working on my own entry. Landing weight is around 47 tons as you can see, takeoff is about 40. Atmospheric dV just manages to squeak by at 8742, but I brought rover wheels for a reason, I can climb up to the top of a mountain to take off. The vacuum dV is over 10000. I'll post again once I get it to Eve and back.

[RocketBlam]

Hey RocketBlam, you can save a lot of weight if you don't bring the science modules back with you. You can still recover the science data if you get a kerbal on EVA to go up to the module, right click and select "take data".

http://i.imgur.com/FEz4mOL.png

Yeah, people keep telling me that... I'm not sure why I'm resisting it.

[RocketBlam]

Here's a thread I created about my mission:

http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/76012-Eve-Manned-Return-Mission