Munar Marooned!

[Foxster]

It's all gone rather badly. Our brave Kerbalnaut is marooned on the Mun after running out of fuel moments before landing!

He has enough snacks and beer to last him almost indefinitely but we have to bring him home. We also need that craft back - it cost nearly as much as the flight director's new cellphone. 

All the craft's fuel was used up and the engines were damaged in the rough landing. 

Your challenge is simple: Bring the Kerbal and his craft home intact. 

A few rules: 

1. The manned rescue mission starts at the KSC.

2. The rescue mission ends somewhere around the KSC. As long as you are landed east of the mountains and west of the shore by the KSC then it's good enough. Both craft must land attached and intact. 

3. You must rescue this craft: https://www.dropbox.com/s/i3k9btg1s8o34r7/Mun%20crash%203.craft?dl=0 with the Kerbal remaining onboard. 

4. You can place/land the to-be-rescued craft on the Mun anywhere you like and using any means, including Hyperedit. 

5. However you get it to the Mun, if there is any fuel left then it can't be used as part of the rescue, nor can the engines. This precludes a simple re-fuel mission. 

6. Stock parts only, no physics changing mods, no Alt-F12 cheats and no Hyperedit during the rescue. 

7. Probably some other anti-cheat thing I've forgotten.

8. A set of images or a video covering the whole mission to be posted as proof.  

I'll post my attempt shortly. I don't want to influence anyone's imagination with my design right away but be assured I have done this mission. 

Here's a badge for the successful:

 

No leader board. Everyone who succeeds at the challenge is a winner. Though I will be awarding kudos points for a cool mission, quirky rescue craft, neatness of handwriting, level of bribery, etc. 

 

Edited February 27, 2016 by Foxster

[Candlelight]

Looks interesting.I'm busy today, so i will see if i can do it tomorrow.

[Foxster]

PS - If you have problems with the craft file then the craft is pretty much as in the picture above. 

There is the lander can (empty of RCS), one small ladder, 4 micro landing struts, 2 Twitch engines (thrust limiter 0), an FL-T200 tank (empty) and a PB-NUK clipped inside somewhere. 

[Candlelight]

3 minutes ago, Foxster said:

PS - If you have problems with the craft file then the craft is pretty much as in the picture above. 

There is the lander can (empty of RCS), one small ladder, 4 micro landing struts, 2 Twitch engines (thrust limiter 0), an FL-T200 tank (empty) and a PB-NUK clipped inside somewhere. 

Ok, thanks!

[SpaceplaneAddict]

Now, let's start that Munar Cargo SSTO...

[Foxster]

3 minutes ago, SpaceplaneAddict said:

Now, let's start that Munar Cargo SSTO...

I didn't think of bundling it inside a cargo bay. Looking forward to this one. 

[superstrijder15]

The easy way is probably just to make a munar lander with the klaw on the bottom and drop that over it using mechjeb and that mod which allows using it without the mechjeb part..

[Foxster]

2 hours ago, superstrijder15 said:

The easy way is probably just to make a munar lander with the klaw on the bottom and drop that over it using mechjeb and that mod which allows using it without the mechjeb part..

It's tricky, in fact very tricky, to land one craft on top of another without crashing and still make the hook-up and lift off again. 

Would love to see something achieve it though. 

[Jasonden]

On 2/27/2016 at 5:44 AM, Foxster said:

 

Shouldn't that be:  Marüned?

Edited February 28, 2016 by Jasonden

[Vegetal]

Hmmmm. Did a test run and managed to connect to the lander with some MAD SKILLZ, but take off wasn't.....according to plan. Will have to think a little more.

[superstrijder15]

19 hours ago, Foxster said:

It's tricky, in fact very tricky, to land one craft on top of another without crashing and still make the hook-up and lift off again. 

Would love to see something achieve it though. 

that's what mechjeb is for, right

[Foxster]

Just now, superstrijder15 said:

that's what mechjeb is for, right

Mechjeb will get you close but it won't land you gently on top and lift you off again without breaking either craft. 

[superstrijder15]

sad.. 

[Buster Charlie]

Can you use kas/kiss to attach a docking port or other coupler on eva?

[Foxster]

1 minute ago, Buster Charlie said:

Can you use kas/kiss to attach a docking port or other coupler on eva?

Nope. Sorry. Once you can do stuff like that then it gets a little too easy. I like stock-only for challenges for this reason. 

It wouldn't be too different to use a claw though. 

[Buster Charlie]

4 minutes ago, Foxster said:

Nope. Sorry. Once you can do stuff like that then it gets a little too easy. I like stock-only for challenges for this reason. 

It wouldn't be too different to use a claw though. 

In that case I'm hoping someone builds a giant golf club shaped rocket that can pivot around one end and whack the disabled ship all the way back to kerbin....

[Foxster]

Actually, using a mass driver is an interesting idea. Slight chance of everything blowing up but it would be a very Kerbal solution. 

[Buster Charlie]

25 minutes ago, Foxster said:

Actually, using a mass driver is an interesting idea. Slight chance of everything blowing up but it would be a very Kerbal solution. 

A mass driver you say?

Back on topic, do we get bonus points for the most kerb all solution  vs the most efficient? 

 

I mean obviously since this is a craft recovery, the rescue craft should expend more than 10 times the cost of the craft being recovered. 

 

Also, the recovery vehicle should be so over powered that it accidentally recovers the vehicle on lathe by mistake, and has enough delta v to make it back to kerbin.

 

Or better yet, someone got confused by someone saying "kerbin moon" and accidentally landed the rescue mission on minmus, has to take off, land on mun, and recover.

 

Bonus points for shortest rescue mission? Direct full power burn to mun?

Edited February 29, 2016 by Buster Charlie

[SirJodelstein]

@Foxster: Nice challenge!. If you create a scenario for the challenge (or just share an otherwise empty persistence file with the setup), you save everyone else some preparation effort. Anyone else could just download the sfs file and start the rescue attempt.

 

I think I'll give this challenge a go. How many internet cookies is a solution with neither Claw nor KIS/KAS worth? :-)

[Foxster]

1 hour ago, SirJodelstein said:

I think I'll give this challenge a go. How many internet cookies is a solution with neither Claw nor KIS/KAS worth? :-)

Either one choc-chip or two Oreos. Depends how cool a design it is .  

Edited February 29, 2016 by Foxster

[Foxster]

Well, here's how I did it...

I make the score:

3 points for bluntness

2 points for a good flag

7 points for an ugly lander

1 point for not using ion engines

1 bonus point for wasting dV

So - 14 points!

 

Update!...

So, I realised that the craft had few hundred dV left. Could I drive it back to the VAB using the Vernors?

Turns out I nearly could!...

 

Edited February 29, 2016 by Foxster

[ihtoit]

I'm thinking SSTM with a claw-equipped Rover... will have a go when I get back to base...

[Buster Charlie]

I've proof tested my Lander using hyperedit, Both landing and Rendezvous from Munar orbit. Just need to build the launcher and post photos of the real mission, I'll publish the full mission tomorrow night. The whole process is very kerbal, but I decided using a rover to grab it was not my style so I decided on straight from orbit klaw Rendezvous and re-orbit (jettisoning the landing leg structure/spent landing fuel as a bonus). 

 

I'll post some teaser pics, but it's not official till I do the whole mission and return.

 

Edited March 1, 2016 by Buster Charlie

[Vegetal]

Well I just did it. But right now, imgur decided to misbehave. Guess I'm gonna try again tomorrow....

Anyway, my entry doesn't exactly qualify, I modded the Mk1-2 pod to make it a little bit lighter, not for this challenge, it was like this since quite a while. But I'm here for the challenge! It wouldn't make much difference anyway...

[Foxster]

5 hours ago, Buster Charlie said:

I've proof tested my Lander using hyperedit, Both landing and Rendezvous from Munar orbit. Just need to build the launcher and post photos of the real mission, I'll publish the full mission tomorrow night. The whole process is very kerbal, but I decided using a rover to grab it was not my style so I decided on straight from orbit klaw Rendezvous and re-orbit (jettisoning the landing leg structure/spent landing fuel as a bonus). 

 

I'll post some teaser pics, but it's not official till I do the whole mission and return.

 

So you blow the landing gear to drop onto the other craft? Neat. 

I like the lightweight RCS return craft.