Dump Truck to Orbit

[Jon144]

So my challenge is simple.

Get a 80 ton 300 part dump truck into any orbit around Kerbin without mods. Have fun! I really want to see if somebody can do it 

Get the dump truck from here:

 

[Pds314]

I'd be tempted to one-up above who does this and put it up in Realism Overhaul or similar.

 

Hmm... I should make a realism light pack. Basically .cfg mods that make everything as realistic as possible without needing to install such a heavyweight modpack as R.O.

Edited March 23, 2016 by Pds314

[Norcalplanner]

20 hours ago, Pds314 said:

Hmm... I should make a realism light pack. Basically .cfg mods that make everything as realistic as possible without needing to install such a heavyweight modpack as R.O.

SMURFF does a pretty good job of this.

[DoctorDavinci]

80 tons to orbit isn't that difficult

[Xyphos]

Challenge Accepted

I used an over-engineered skycrane to lift it to a very sub-optimal orbit around Kerbin before arranging a rendezvous with the Mun, and expertly landed it.
please note that I do have informational and other aestetic mods installed, but I'm using all stock parts, stock SAS and no mechjeb auto-pilot.
the 600+ parts used lagged my computer while recording the video so I had to edit it for time; the 124 minutes it took to land was cut down to less than 10.
 

 

Edited March 24, 2016 by Xyphos

[Vim Razz]

9 hours ago, DoctorDavinci said:

80 tons to orbit isn't that difficult

It isn't always about difficulty.  Some things just need to be put into space.

It's a moral imperative.

 

Clearly, great minds think alike, because I had also determined that the Mun is in desperate need of large dump truck.

Notes:

• Apparently, it has a probe core in there.  I hadn't bothered including solar panels or anything, so I ended up having to burn in often-random directions every time I needed to charge the batteries to maneuver.  That was a big annoying.
• Confirmed: Air-breathing Wheesly jet engines are not an optimal mode of propulsion on the Mun.  We've done science!
• The bed seems have challenges in low gravity environments.
• The plow seems to work fine on the Mun, though.

Verdict:

Good times had by all.

 

[Jon144]

It looks like some of you clearly deserve your gold star 

I will need to release my next version with some rocket thrusters for driving in a vacuum. My next version should rectify this problem with the bed in low-G environments.

Also each individual part has a probe core inside so that they don't get deleted from the game once all the hinge parts get decoupled from the base vehicle. 

and ah Xyphos you should have looked at the action groups for using the hydraulics. You just forgot to detach those decouplers for the hinges that would allow things to rotate

So anyways anyone who says 80 tons to orbit is easy? Maybe I should make a challenge to send up a 140 ton version once I release it? It's only really a change in size and weight. This new one will actually have a lower base part count.

Edited March 24, 2016 by Jon144

[Vim Razz]

41 minutes ago, Jon144 said:

I will need to release my next version with some rocket thrusters for driving in a vacuum. My next version should rectify this problem with the bed in low-G environments.

That would be awesome.

The current version would work on Laythe, but I think I have other places that are in need of this as well.  Actually, I know I have other places that are in need of this.  For reasons.

Quote

Also each individual part has a probe core inside so that they don't get deleted from the game once all the hinge parts get decoupled from the base vehicle. 

That explains how quickly the power drained whenever I wasn't burning.  Good to know.

Edited March 24, 2016 by Vim Razz

[Jon144]

1 hour ago, Vim Razz said:

That would be awesome.

The current version would work on Laythe, but I think I have other places that are in need of this as well.  Actually, I know I have other places that are in need of this.  For reasons.

That explains how quickly the power drained whenever I wasn't burning.  Good to know.

Especially since the jet engines are supposed to be the main source of electricity generation which surprise don't work in a vacuum 

[Xyphos]

9 hours ago, Jon144 said:

Xyphos you should have looked at the action groups for using the hydraulics. You just forgot to detach those decouplers for the hinges that would allow things to rotate

So anyways anyone who says 80 tons to orbit is easy?

YEAH, I realized after I landed it that I should have looked at the instruction manual, but that's just how things go; "I'm an Engineer, I don't need instructions!"
80 tons is easy, I personally have a 1002-ton SSTO spaceplane, I'll make a video of it later.

[Jon144]

37 minutes ago, Xyphos said:

YEAH, I realized after I landed it that I should have looked at the instruction manual, but that's just how things go; "I'm an Engineer, I don't need instructions!"
80 tons is easy, I personally have a 1002-ton SSTO spaceplane, I'll make a video of it later.

Would 140 tons to orbit be as easy? I would love to see an SSTO fly up to orbit with a giant truck strapped on it's back.

Edited March 25, 2016 by Jon144

[Vim Razz]

18 hours ago, Jon144 said:

Would 140 tons to orbit be as easy? I would love to see an SSTO fly up to orbit with a giant truck strapped on it's back.

tbh...  It doesn't make a huge difference.  At a certain point, "getting payload X to location Y' becomes more of a chore than a challenge. 

The fun thing about this thread is that the truck itself is such an amazing build, not the technical elements of moving it from one place to another.

[Xyphos]

Yeah, "getting X mass to destination Y" isn't really a problem, it's keeping the cost and part count minimal that is. 140 tons, 1400 tons, even 14000 tons all can get to orbit, but it gets quite expensive, in both kredits and komputation.

[Jon144]

1 hour ago, Xyphos said:

Yeah, "getting X mass to destination Y" isn't really a problem, it's keeping the cost and part count minimal that is. 140 tons, 1400 tons, even 14000 tons all can get to orbit, but it gets quite expensive, in both kredits and komputation.

Well weight and mass is one thing but not ever being designed to fly is another 

[Xyphos]

9 minutes ago, Jon144 said:

Well weight and mass is one thing but not ever being designed to fly is another 

I'll have to download 1.1 for the performance increase so I can show you my 900+ ton stock VTOL SSTO spaceplane with all the bells and whistles. the 300+ parts lag it to hell tho.