Search the Community

Daredevil Spaceplane The "Daredevil Squadron" is home to the boldest pilots on kerbin since shortly after the invention of powered flight. It is therefore a natural recruiting place for the new spaceprogram. Unfortunately technological progress is not as fast as some of those pilots would like it to be and there is a growing fear that manned spaceflight with all the proper precautions, safety concerns and design delays for capsules is coming too late for some of the pilots. And for those kerbals who live in a cockpit, taking familiar risks in flight is much more appealing than taking the risk of missing their chance. Thus some of the daredevil pilots pushed hard and called in favors to try to go to space with the current technology, even if it is only for a quick peak into what lies beyond the confines of the kerbin atmosphere. The challenge Your challenge, should you accept it, is to reach an altitude (apoapsis) as high as possible, with a kerbal piloting the vessel, under the facility upgrade and technological limits described below and then safely return to the KSC (must be visible when landed). Ranking is done by altitude (apoapsis). For those who reach space, a second ranking is done by vehicle mass (KER readouts in SPH/VAB). Minimum picture requirements for a ranking are 1. Design showing KER readouts in SPH/VAB, especially total vessel mass. 2. In flight, at or very close to apoapsis. Apoapsis displayed by KER or mechjeb (switch KER to partless instead of career in KER settings available in SPH/VAB). Note that the altimeter shows altitude over terrain when in surface mode. 3. Safely landed back at Kerbin with KSC visible in the background. Beware, the cockpit was not designed for space flight, it is somewhat fragile. Of course additional pictures, videos, etc are very welcome. As is a link if you stream it. The challenge was inspired by @Steven Mading https://www.twitch.tv/dunbaratu who streamed trying out the "Giving Aircraft a Purpose" mod pack by @inigma on twitch (which is a bit buggy at the moment due to ksp spawn calculation changes). The restrictions 1. No R&D, SPH/VAB, Runway/Launchpad facility upgrades! (=> 30part / 9ton mass limit, regardless whether you start from Runway or Launchpad) 2. Tweakscale is only allowed for wings/control surfaces/landing gear/adapters. 3. No mods except the ones specified below. Visual and similar mods are exempt from this rule. 4. No cheating. 5. Science/parts restrictions as shown here (thus no liquid fuel engines, reaction wheels, RCS, decouplers, etc.) Start node Early Aviation node Modular Wings node The mods 1. Install CKAN for a separate, clean KSP install. 2. Only select the "SETI-MetaModPack". Click "ApplyChanges". 3. Leave all recommendations selected. Click "Continue". 4. From the suggestions, only SETIprobeControlEnabler is allowed, though for this challenge it does not matter. Click "Continue" and wait for the the mods to be installed. 5. RCS Build Aid is among the recommendations, but is currently not available via ckan. You may (highly recommended) install that manually from here: https://github.com/linuxgurugamer/RCSBuildAid/releases 6. Visual mods are allowed at your own discretion. The ranking By altitude: 1. @Tux1 with ~78,006m above sea level. 2. @Yemo with ~18,295m above sea level. (Altimeter shows 18,232m above terrain) By mass, for those who reach space: 1. @Tux1 with 5,766kg, reaching an altitude of ~78,006m above sea level. I ll start with a simple submission (no pics no clicks!), though I have tested the challenge before and space (70km+) is possible, given the restrictions.

Daredevil Satellite Launcher While work on crew capsules for spaceflight is progressing slowly and cost overruns are common, the recent probes prompted a debate on whether it is cheaper to simply stick to an unmanned spaceprogram for now. Fearing for their future opportunities, a few daredevil pilots brought about the idea of reusable planes as a means to launch small satellites. The idea is, that a manned plane launches one or two mini satellites, and then safely lands back in the vicinity of the KSC. While more economically thinking kerbals call the concept a wasteful publicity stunt without any benefit, some politicians recognized it as an opportunity to shift public scrutiny away from their own performances. So the idea was quickly approved. The challenge Your challenge, should you accept it, is to launch at least one mini satellite (essentially just a probe core) from a manned plane into an orbit around kerbin (periapsis above 70km). The plane must be over 5km altitude above sea level when you launch the satellite. Thus you can use an air breathing plane and launch the sat at 5km altitude above sea level, or a rocket plane and launch the sat at 75km altitude. The plane must then land back around KSC. Note that the FMRS mod is now part of the mod recommendations and should be used to switch between the plane and the satellite. Ranking is done by non-recovered mass per satellite. For example in my entry below, I started with 8455kg mass (8555kg minus launch clamp 100kg), had a mass of 3312kg when landed and launched 2 mini satellites into orbits around kerbin. This results in a mass expenditure of 2571.5kg per mini satellite. Minimum picture requirements for a ranking are 1. Design showing KER readouts in SPH/VAB, especially total vessel mass. 2. In flight, showing KER readouts roughly when launching the satellite(s). Must be over 5km altitude above sea level. 3. The satellite in flight, showing KER readouts with periapsis above 70km. 4. The plane, landed back on kerbin with KSC visible in the background, showing KER readouts, espcially the vehicle mass when landed. HINT : The Small Hardpoint functions as a separator. If you adjust the ejection force to 0, it does not mess up the vector of the launched object. Of course additional pictures, videos, etc are very welcome. As is a link if you stream it. The restrictions 1. No R&D, SPH/VAB, Runway/Launchpad facility upgrades! (=> 30part / 9ton mass limit, other facility upgrades are allowed) 2. Tweakscale is only allowed for wings/control surfaces/landing gear/adapters. 3. No mods except the ones specified below. Visual and similar mods are exempt from this rule. 4. No cheating. 5. Science/parts restrictions as shown here (thus no parachutes, reaction wheels, etc.) basicRocketry node provides a basic liquid fuel engine The mods 1. Install CKAN for a separate, clean KSP install. 2. Only select the "SETI-MetaModPack". Click "ApplyChanges". 3. Leave all recommendations selected. Click "Continue". 4. From the suggestions, only SETIprobeControlEnabler is allowed, so that you dont have to worry about a RemoteTech connection. Click "Continue" and wait for the the mods to be installed. 5. RCS Build Aid is among the recommendations, but is currently not available via ckan. You may (highly recommended) install that manually from here: https://github.com/linuxgurugamer/RCSBuildAid/releases 6. Visual mods are allowed at your own discretion. The ranking By spent mass per mini satellite: 1. @Yemo with a spent mass of 2571.5kg per mini satellite to kerbin orbit (8455kg launch mass, 8555kg minus launch clamp 100kg, 3312kg mass when landed, 2 mini satellites launched into orbits around kerbin. Thus a mass expenditure of (8455kg - 3312kg) / 2 =2571.5kg per mini satellite. I went for the rocket plane / high launch concept. Ejection force on Small Hardpoints set to 0 for a clean launch: