Bill Pedals around Kerbin

[Chemp]

Bill has always been an exceptional Kerb. His engineering feats and his role as one of the pioneers of spaceflight are well known. And yet, he never ceases to surprise us.

One of his latest achievements is the concept of the flying board, a family of planes powered not by engines, but by Kerbals alone. The third version of the series was the first to circumnavigate the planet. However, due to unforseen difficulties, it had to make a short stopover.

To Bill, this was equivalent to failure. He had engineered this craft to be able to fly virtually forever, limited alone by the stamina of the Kerbal propelling it. So after some minor tweaks, he took off to show all Kerbalkind what his concept was capable of. This is the chronicle of the first non-stop, Kerbal-powered flight around Kerbin.

It is a rather long album (since it also was a rather long flight) so here is the trip in a Nutshell:

Starting Point: KSC

End point: The abandoned Airfield

Record speed: 305.9 m/s at level flight

Record hight: 27'182m

Distance covered: according to F3: 6693km*

 

Make sure to check out @Geschosskopf's Challenge which originally inspired me to do this circumnavigation

*Kerbin's circumference is 3770km. So even accounting for my little escape to the desert temple, and the fact that I made the stretch between KSC and the Island twice, I'm at a loss.

Possible explanations:

• Bill was drunk and couldn't hold a straight line
• KSP also counts all the ups and downs, and there sure were a lot of them

 

Edited February 2, 2016 by Chemp

[Mad Rocket Scientist]

Nice work!  I'll have to try a "pedal powered" plane.

[Just Jim]

that was really fun!!!  

[Chemp]

9 hours ago, Mad Rocket Scientist said:

Nice work!  I'll have to try a "pedal powered" plane.

Thank you! Yuo could even make it to orbit if your vessel is light enough. Basically, if you can VTOL, you can get anywhere. Don't expect to carry payload though...

9 hours ago, Just Jim said:

that was really fun!!!  

It was indeed. It adds a whole new aspect to the game.

 

 

[waterlubber]

I thought you build some kind of ridiculous gear chain bicycle system and actually had a kerbal pedal around kerbin. Thank god you didn't.

[Chemp]

17 hours ago, waterlubber said:

I thought you build some kind of ridiculous gear chain bicycle system and actually had a kerbal pedal around kerbin. Thank god you didn't.

Hmm... I'm getting ideas... something like that?

Technically, it's a tricycle, for stability. It gets up to 49m/s on land and 12m/s in water. No gears though, sorry, I'm playing stock (mostly because I'm on a laptop), but I'm sure you could figure out something with infernal robotics

[Geschosskopf]

Congratulations on a job well done!  I hope you didn't get carpal tunnel holding the W key all day

Also, sorry to be lagged but I was out of town all last week.

[Mister Dilsby]

Well done on the sticky, Chemp! Congrats!  

[Chemp]

2 hours ago, Kuzzter said:

Well done on the sticky, Chemp! Congrats!  

Wow, stickied! I'm honored! Who's responsible for this so I can thank him/her?

 

On 30/1/2016 at 2:19 AM, waterlubber said:

I thought you build some kind of ridiculous gear chain bicycle system and actually had a kerbal pedal around kerbin. Thank god you didn't.

On 31/1/2016 at 3:23 AM, Geschosskopf said:

Congratulations on a job well done!  I hope you didn't get carpal tunnel holding the W key all day

Also, sorry to be lagged but I was out of town all last week.

Hm, my images disappeared. Copy-pasting directly doesn't seem to work. I uploaded the images to imgur. As said above, its technically a tricycle, and I'm sure there's plenty of room for improval on this concept.

 

However, all kerbal-powered designs should be used with the autopilot shown in the last image. It keeps the strain to a minimum and lets you see more of the environment.

 

[Just Jim]

Oh hey, congratulations!

I've been playing most of the day (when I was home) and just now saw the TOTM thread.  Nice work!

 

[Geschosskopf]

50 minutes ago, Chemp said:

Wow, stickied! I'm honored! Who's responsible for this so I can thank him/her?

One of those moderator folks no doubt.  Just noticed this myself.  Congrats again!  (and I hope it drums up some business in the challenge thread  )

50 minutes ago, Chemp said:

As said above, its technically a tricycle, and I'm sure there's plenty of room for improval on this concept

Very snazzy!  Looks like an old police Harley

50 minutes ago, Chemp said:

However, all kerbal-powered designs should be used with the autopilot shown in the last image. It keeps the strain to a minimum and lets you see more of the environment.

Ingenius!  I have at times used a d6 with something sitting on top of that to add the necessary weight but then it gets in the way of other keys.

[Chemp]

First off: Thanks to everybody who read the mission report. It's been quiet here for the last few days, partly because I don't get to play much, partly because it seems that after this circumnavigation, there isn't much more to do. Except: make a ground-based circumnavigation using a kerbal-powered vehicle. It's going to take significantly more time, since top speed is about 50 m/s. On the other hand, I won't have to do it all at once.

Here's the first leg of the journey:

 

I went for a tricycle, since this allows me to save weight but maintain stability. The empty MK 0 tanks provide buoyancy for the inevitable water crossings and the command seat - well it just adds weight as I found out. Originally, I added it because I was afraid Bill would lose his grip on the ladder, but it's never been a problem. Other than that, I'm quite happy with the design; it handles well on steep inclination and I haven't rolled over once. The biggest problem so far are the Kraken attacks when crossing terrain seams.

[Geschosskopf]

Damn, you make me feel like a drug dealer:  "The 1st hit's free (after which you'll be an addict, MUHAHAHAHA)".  I seem to have created a monster

Anyway, good luck.  I have found that steep slopes are entirely dependent on vehicle mass.  There's only so much force a Kerbal on a ladder can exert, and eventually gravity overcomes that.  If you can get that thing over that mountain, bravo!

[Chemp]

You think you've got me on drugs? I wish it were true. You made me open Pandora's box, for Kod's sake! Now I've got Kerbal-powered boats, rovers, planes and a rather unsuccessful spaceship floating around!

You're right about the vehicle mass. I didn't quite manage to get to the top and had to turn off course to cross the mountain range at a lower point. This is where I had to sidetrack a bit:

There must be Kraken living in these mountains, I had to crawl 5 - 10 m/s, else parts that weren't even touching the ground tended to explode. I grew so frustrated I did a quick Minmus - Mün - Kerbin tour. Now I'm approaching the north pole, next update is coming soon.

Edited February 15, 2016 by Chemp

[Chemp]

Well, soon became SOON^TM The mountain range really tested my patience. I almost threw the towel and went to do a few shorter missions like a Kerbin grand tour to train some recruits.

After that I got my act back together and made the trip to the north pole. The next part should be uneventful. I bet it's because the Kaken doesn't like the cold.

 

[Geschosskopf]

Be sure to enter this rover in the El Cano challenge

 

[Chemp]

On 20/2/2016 at 1:32 AM, Geschosskopf said:

Be sure to enter this rover in the El Cano challenge

Thanks for reminding me, I will as soon as I'm halfway around.

I left the north pole behind me and headed down south. Not much to tell about this leg, except that the mountains caused very little trouble this time. Only 3 Kraken attacks (on of them on a perfectly level section) so I really can't complain.

 

[Chemp]

I made it halfway around!
I'm back down at the equator, now I'm confident that I can finish the circumnavigation

 

[Geschosskopf]

13 minutes ago, Chemp said:

I made it halfway around!
I'm back down at the equator, now I'm confident that I can finish the circumnavigation

You can do it!  You can do it

 

[Chemp]

More progress today. The terrain was mostly rolling hills, since I avoided the mountains. I figured I'd make more progress that way, even if it meant some detours, because I didn't have to crawl forward at 10 m/s to avoid rapid disassembly.
I almost reached 50ºS, a bit under two thirds of the whole voyage.

 

 

[Geschosskopf]

Bill is going to be extremely physically fit by the time this is over

 

[Chemp]

On 28/2/2016 at 2:58 PM, Geschosskopf said:

Bill is going to be extremely physically fit by the time this is over

 

Indeed, although Bill made the first Kerbal-powered circumnavigation. Bob got jaleous and makes his on land.

I've reached the south pole. The climbing abilities of this rover never stop amazing me. When I reached the ice, I found myself looking at a white wall, not very high, but at a steep angle. Fortunately, that proved to be no problem whatsoever.
The rest of the trip to the pole was uneventful, just a large flat area. Next up: the western shore of the continent south of the KSC.

 

Edited March 5, 2016 by Chemp

[Geschosskopf]

Glad you didn't become Krakenbait for touching that crack in the ground

 

[Chemp]

1 minute ago, Geschosskopf said:

Glad you didn't become Krakenbait for touching that crack in the ground

 

Oh, I did because I tried really hard to plant a flag. Bob turned into smoke more times than I care to count. The one time he managed to plant the flag on the very pole, it warped itself on top of the rover. That was the last try, I got Bob back on the rover and drove away.

[Geschosskopf]

1 minute ago, Chemp said:

Oh, I did because I tried really hard to plant a flag. Bob turned into smoke more times than I care to count. The one time he managed to plant the flag on the very pole, it warped itself on top of the rover. That was the last try, I got Bob back on the rover and drove away.

The wisest choice.  Do not taunt the poles.  Kerbals were not meant to go there.  Do not taunt cracks in the ground, especially at the poles.  They are the jaws of the Kraken.