Search the Community

“Two roads diverged in a wood and I, I took the one less traveled by.” – Robert Frost Juan Sebastián Elcano (1476 – 4 August 1526) was a Spanish explorer of Basque origin who completed the first circumnavigation of the Earth. After Magellan's death in the Philippines, Elcano took command of the nau Victoria from the Moluccas to Sanlúcar de Barrameda in Spain. This challenge is simple. So simple, it's easy. Well...it sounds easy. Those of us who have completed it would probably disagree. The challenge to you is to become the next Elcano. To do what no one, or very few, have done. A challenge to circumnavigate an orbital body, be it moon or planet, solely by ground and/or water. This challenge is a continuation of the original Elcano Challenge, posted by Fengist. It was subsequently managed by Claw, then rkarmark. This is the fourth iteration of the Elcano Challenge. Fengist's Elcano Challenge Claw's Elcano Challenge rkarmark's Elkano Challenge The rules are simple: Basically, you are to circumnavigate (drive all the way around) a celestial body, using a vessel on the surface, such as a rover or boat. Your path should not deviate significantly from the intended direction. Mark your start location. Flags, KerbNet markers, or screenshots work. Some mods allow you to track your path as well. Drive or boat back to your start location- the long way around... The main mission and all support missions must be launched from the launchpad or runway and delivered to the destination body. Part of the journey is getting the crew/ship there. (i.e. No HyperEditing or save file editing the vehicle into position. Any combination of launching, refueling, docking, or ISRU is permitted. The vehicle must be Kerballed during the circumnavigation. Doesn't have to be a pod, the lawn-chair seats are fine. The Kerbal only has to be on-board during the circumnavigation. You don't need to launch the entire mission in one giant ship. If the Kerbal(s) come later or were already waiting for the rover, that's fine. Stay on the ground or on/below the surface of any water. Brief jumps over dunes and such are permitted. This challenge is about traveling over the surface. Thrust devices (rockets, jets, props, RCS) are acceptable, as long as they are only used while in contact with the surface. Using thrust of any sort to control or change the trajectory of your rover while above the surface is not allowed. The same vehicle that crosses land must also cross the water. No ferrying your vehicle on a boat. That also means you can't intentionally remove wheels or pontoons when they are no longer needed. The vehicle needs to complete the entire circumnavigation as-is. If parts blow up or get knocked off, well, that's the Kerbal way, and that's ok.. You may send replacement vehicles. If you read Fengist's circumnavigation of Eve, you'll see why. Game mechanics are not kind to ground vehicles. Your crew must be transferred to any replacement vehicle and it must be very similar to the original. I understand this is a learning process, and will allow some design changes. You may use aerial and orbital recon vehicles. You may refuel if needed. Use of ISRU or similar mods is permitted. Saving and reloading (F5/F9) is permitted. In fact I highly recommend it. Please note that in the past repeated F5/F9s have adversely affected vessels, particularly if you use F5 while in motion. Not sure if that is still a problem or not.. Added a modded planet/moon section to the leaderboards (August 2022). Circumnavigations of non-stock CBs are welcome! The intent is that you control the vehicle during the entire circumnavigation. Using an autopilot goes against the spirit of this challenge. Any rule I haven't thought of that breaks the spirit of this challenge. The point of the challenge is to build a rover/boat, deliver the vehicle, and circumnavigate the body. KSP2 entries are absolutely valid and accepted! I am planning on adding a note in the leaderboards for any Elcano completions performed in KSP2. Proof: Document your journey via images or video, or as those of us who have managed to complete this challenge have done, accompanied by a description of the journey. If you are posting more than 4 screenshots, I humbly request that you put them inside a spoiler. Categories: Note that support and delivery vehicles also affect which category your entry falls under. Stock - Stock means stock. If you use any mods at all, you do not qualify for the stock category. Breaking Ground and Making History (BG & MH) are stock expansion packs, and do not disqualify you from a Stock entry. Stock Craft - The craft and all support craft are made from all stock parts with their stock configuration. Installed mods may not modify physics or add/modify parts in use by the craft. Mods that add PartModules to stock parts, but do not alter the stock parameters, are also permitted. Examples of permitted mods are information displays (such as KER), transfer window planners(TWP and KAC), and visual enhancements (such as EVE). “Stock Craft” means the .craft or save file can be used on a stock install and it looks/works exactly the same way (your mission would remain effectively unchanged without the mods). Modded - Use of add-ons that change physics or add/modify parts in use by the craft are permitted. An add-on’s technology level must be “near term” or of “next tier” type of capabilities as compared to stock. Mods that allow the user to skip elements of the challenge or violate the spirit of flying to and circumnavigating a body are not permitted. (i.e. Slightly better/larger/stronger engines, wheels, fuel tanks, etc. are permissible. Hyperdrives, antimatter engines, wormhole generators, hyper dense or exotic fuels, etc. are not allowed.) This challenge is not for the faint of heart. It will take persistence and a great deal of patience. If you're the competitive type and think of this challenge as a race it will get boring really quick. The leaderboards do not differentiate by speed or times- if you completed a circumnavigation you are on the leaderboard. Good luck and um... Godspeed.... And before you grumble about how long this will take... think back at how many hours you spent doing other things in KSP that ended up being less rewarding... If you are considering this challenge, but aren't sure how, I suggest looking at how other members accomplished it. As this (4th) version of the challenge is still new. take a look at the posts from the first three Elcano challenges, linked near the top of this post. Badges: I believe Fengist (original creator of the Elcano Challenge) designed the badges, for which I am grateful, they look great! If you believe you qualify for a badge, go ahead and grab it! You don't need to wait for your name on the leaderboard- if I am busy with work/life who knows how long that could take. Edit- actually I think the original badges were by @Fengist, but they were all redone by @Claw , who also probably had to add some new ones. FAQ: Coming soon! Circumnavigators GRAND MASTER NAVIGATORS Those who have circumnavigated every body in the stock KSP solar system. @Claw Stock @damerell Modded - Epic mission @Jack Joseph Kerman Stock @mystifeid Stock @Pouicpouic Stock - With a single rover @18Watt Stock ________________________________________________________________________________________ Master Navigators (aka Planetary Navigator) Those who have circumnavigated both Kerbin and Eve. ________________________________________________________________________________________ Master Mariners Those who have circumnavigated both Laythe and Kerbin by sea. (See notes in spoiler) ________________________________________________________________________________________ Kerbin Circumnavigators See notes in Master Mariner spoiler about Kerbin sea circumnavations. ________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________ Extra Planets From Mods Circumnavigators Badge not yet ready, but coming!

I'm designing an electric amphibious vehicle to send to Laythe whose design is based on my years-old Amphibian. The jet engines were replaced with Breaking Ground props, the passenger capacity was reduced to make room for scientific instruments and reaction wheels, the fuel tanks were (95%) emptied, and the pontoons were replaced with a lot of batteries. Image of the (second-to-latest) prototype. I named it "Saltrider" since the only way Laythe's waters can remain a liquid at below-freezing is if it has a high-enough salt concentration to make it have a significantly lower freezing point. The latest one had wing connectors (and control surfaces) in the back holding up the engines, although it did not make a difference in the outcome of the water test. I'm going electric so I don't get stranded in the middle of the ocean forever when I run out of power. It has retractable landing gear on the side as an anti-crash measure in case it tips over. Solar panels not included, as I need to conduct a successful water test before deciding the placement. Though the land tests looked promising - and I was probably going too fast (85 m/s at a 17-degree propeller blade angle) - the water test was not so much. It was nose-heavy when I got in, and when I tried turning right to I literally went belly-up. I brought back the engines to try and balance things out, but it didn't make a difference - structural pylons or wing connectors. Could you please tell me what's causing the boat to get all nose-heavy and how I can fix this? Here's the craft file if you want to mess with it - https://mega.nz/file/zaAGyIpD#62WNRZzcqXpyO-ipP2ISX5W25pZinpWrzQUbe17sUyI Thank you very much.

Fresh from Jeb's Junkyard! https://kerbalx.com/XLjedi/RV-11-Gator

I really have come to like Beriev aircraft. I've just made another one. It's one of those times where you spend days fiddling around and getting nowhere, then suddenly you throw the thing together in about an hour. BARTINI BERIEV VVA-14 VTOL STATS Parts - 244 Weight - 90.136t Height - 9.8m Width - 25.6m Length - 29.6m VTOL - 8 x J-33 Wheesley Turbofans Starter Engines (Blast air under the wing cavity to create lift - 2 x J-33 Wheesley Turbofans Cruising Engines - 2 J-90 Goliath Turbofan ACTION GROUPS 1 - Starter and Cruising Engines Toggle 2 - VTOL Engines Toggle 3. - VTOL Engine Bay Covers Toggle 4. - Reverse Thrusters (Goliath's Only) CRAFT FILE EXAMPLE MISSION REPORT SM