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KSP Challenge: Lithobraking!


Darth Badie

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7 minutes ago, linuxgurugamer said:

No heat shields at all?

Not the inflatable heat shield anymore, unless you decouple it at more than 1000 meters radar altitude.... yous still counts, though, it came in before the amendment to the rules.

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8 hours ago, Red Shirt said:

Interesting, Not as hard as I was making it. I chose Kerbin because I'm lazy or possibly because atmosphere sounded interesting.

-image 1-

I started with intro landing gear because the crash tolerance is really high. Yeah that didn't last long. They don't handle reentry well.

-image 2-

I was coming in right on target until I trued throttling down and accidentally hit the C (IVA) button. By the time I recovered I was off course a tiny bit.

-image 3-

Jeb surveys the results. I cut the engine at 2000 m. I could have burned another 820 m to stay at 1000 m above terrain. I forgot to check the impact speed but it landed on the engine bell and did not explode so it must have been a soft landing. 45 points if I understand correctly.

Correct! 45 points!

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10 hours ago, dvader said:

So, what counts as "not wings"? Anything with uneven drag can be steered.

Exactly. Please define "wings." Are Mk2 parts disallowed, for example, because they produce lift? If so, what other parts aren't allowed? Or are some parts only allowed for some purposes (e.g. those structural panels?)

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So... does that mean my second version (https://imgur.com/a/DRh30) is still 100 pts?

Or what counts as aerobraking parts? Almost all parts have drag and lift when tilted in the airstream. I'm pretty sure I can replicate the Eve landing with fuselages or pretty much any set of non-spherically symmetric parts. The Tie Flighter could probably also be built using fuselages instead of metal plates. I don't think "wing" can be properly defined.

As a side note, the fairings are special. It seems only the bottom part has a 9m/s limit. The shell is much tougher. I've managed to bounce from 10km on Tylo with an impact speed of 400m/s. It is a two stage device with a fairing in a fairing.

https://imgur.com/a/irP7U

 

 

Edited by dvader
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1 hour ago, dvader said:

Or what counts as aerobraking parts? Almost all parts have drag and lift when tilted in the airstream. I'm pretty sure I can replicate the Eve landing with fuselages or pretty much any set of non-spherically symmetric parts. The Tie Flighter could probably also be built using fuselages instead of metal plates. I don't think "wing" can be properly defined.

I mean no aerobrakes, wings,or parts used for such a purpose, e.g. the structural panels on your second attempt.

15 hours ago, Pilatus said:

that probably was one of the most stupid entrys here, falling from 12k radar altitude xD

-images-

25 points! Now, I should really start on that leaderboard...

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After successfully lithobraking on Kerbin, I decided to use the same craft first on the Mun:

YAZ4asY.jpg

You can't see it here but l I lost was one of four 0.625 heat shield and a one steerable landing gear. 

Next tried an Eve landing. I used F12 to display biomes so I could see land from space them used MJ to target a dry spot. The intent was to abort MJ landing once well into atmosphere then manually control throttle until 1km above surface. The landing gear blew near immediately. The Vector exploded shortly afterwards. With no engine on board I never bothered to close MJ. It appeared all was lost:

1S93SDj.jpg

Turns out engines and parachutes are not required to survive an Eve landing. Who knew? (50 points)

Feeling overly confident I headed for Tylo. I do not have a pic of the crater the gang of four made on the surface. Killed them twice in the name of science. I will probably try again but I'm suspecting a different approach is required. I already added more fuel but that did little to help.

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3 hours ago, Red Shirt said:

After successfully lithobraking on Kerbin, I decided to use the same craft first on the Mun:

-image here-

You can't see it here but l I lost was one of four 0.625 heat shield and a one steerable landing gear. 

Next tried an Eve landing. I used F12 to display biomes so I could see land from space them used MJ to target a dry spot. The intent was to abort MJ landing once well into atmosphere then manually control throttle until 1km above surface. The landing gear blew near immediately. The Vector exploded shortly afterwards. With no engine on board I never bothered to close MJ. It appeared all was lost:

-image here-

Turns out engines and parachutes are not required to survive an Eve landing. Who knew? (50 points)

Feeling overly confident I headed for Tylo. I do not have a pic of the crater the gang of four made on the surface. Killed them twice in the name of science. I will probably try again but I'm suspecting a different approach is required. I already added more fuel but that did little to help.

OK! When I get home and can take a look at the images(my school blocks Imgur unfortunately), I can award you with more points!

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I'm still not clear on the wings.

Does this one count? 'Cuz if so, I'm 100% sure it'll do a controlled soft landing on Kerbin, Eve, and Laythe at least. No wings, but it glides just fine, although it's not much fun to fly.

Nqlvm46.png

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I'm not clear on neither wings nor parts. 

My second example was built to show that you don't need wings, special design or special parts to get lift and thus control. All it takes is irregular shape.

The purpose of the structural panels is to prevent the sensitive core from crashing into the ground. They were rotated for max crash coverage and clearly not lift or control. Still, it was enough to get some control (like a soap in a bathtub but enough). If that is not allowed, I honestly don't know what is. 

I think the best way to save the challenge is to change the score to highest energy at impact. Either E=mv^2/2 if in atmo or E=mgh  if in vacuum. More massive body, craft or speed means more points. Or, simply remove all atmospheric bodies. Or, run this challenge as is and post a new with improved rules next week.

Oh, and any rule changes must be applied retroactively if you want to disallow my entries. Both were submitted before any rule changes.

Explosions! Yes!

May I suggest changing scoring to maximum energy then? It would make things, bigger, fatter, faster and more explody.

It's easier than deciding what is lifting and what is not.

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23 hours ago, Mrcarrot said:

So, the goal of this challenge is mainly explosions. I want moar explosions!

I'll spam the F1 key on my next attempt at Tylo. It won't be pretty but it will have explosions.

--------------------------------

Update:

First the boring shot. Tylo completely manual. Cut engines at 2500m. Lost engine and a wheel.

 X6hdh6T.jpg

Here is a more interesting attempt where I started with MJ. I actually aborted above 2500m but didn't close window. Things were moving quickly and I got a little sideways.
rpuNroT.jpg

It made for some explosions. (you're welcome)

ZPWpZj1.jpg

We're all going to die! Good bye Bill! 

El9KvDe.jpg

Oh wait, Bill is back. Never mind. Pass the snacks.

b5Acwd5.jpg

I'm done. After Tylo, Eve, and Kerbin, pretty sure they are all doable but Jool. 

 

----------------------------------------------

Edit 2:

So Jool you evil giant. I expected to burn up quickly in the atmosphere. To my surprise there was barely any red glow, and I was at around 3500 m/s when I ran out of fuel. Instead I slowed down gently. Hit the "surface" (0 m) at around 40 m/s. Kept falling into the planet. At -250 m the craft just exploded without warning. I tried to get a pic but it all happened too quickly. The look on Bob's face. He knew.

Edited by Red Shirt
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Presenting my entry: The Dropbox

izRwEGy.png

Pictured shortly after boarding the command seat. Yes, I flew there myself. :D

oDqmv2I.png

The dropbox is lowered to exactly 1,065 meters via parachutes. (1,065 meters = 1,000 meters radar altitude for the KSC)

8e88CDM.png

Parachutes are cut at 1,065 meters and the dropbox begins it's free-fall.

93Fxntd.png

Bouncing shortly after touchdown at a speed of 94 meters per second.

ila5nnk.png

Down and safe. Apologies for no explosions, we didn't lose a single part.

6thSuMm.png

Screenshot showing the inside of the box, which houses the batteries, command seat, drogue chutes, and reaction wheel. (under the seat)

8BVeZl2.png

Does this screenshot need an explanation?

 

 

 

Edited by The Dunatian
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Introducing the LithoChair! Works almost everywhere.

Here are all pictures with plenty of explosions.

https://imgur.com/a/WXFcz

On KerbinPXqTVx7.jpg

 

On Mun. If the brakes don't work, use your head.

D6K92iz.jpg

 

On Eve. Yes, that's a Green Monolith. No flight or control after release. Only Radial Out autopilot.

ap1DMmM.jpg

 

And finally on Tylo right after impact. The chair isn't exactly intact but the pilot survived every time (3 out of 3). Look, another Green Monolith!

A8hf9Gj.jpg

 

So, 100 pts this time?

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3 minutes ago, dvader said:

So, 100 pts this time?

Unfortunately, the rules state that to get the points, you have to crash into the monolith... I can't really tell if that's what you did...

50 points, for now. May be revised.

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In order to succeed at keeping my new year's resolution of doing all the challenges this year, I had to set myself a rule. Only 1 try. 

My biggest mistake was not securing the lander inside the fairing. During re-entry, it must have shifted and got stuck in the fairing and I lost 2 engines during separation which caused it to be severely unbalanced so was not able to slow it down as much as I would have liked. Hit the ground at 112.5 m/s. Pretty much went how I thought it would and he survived! Now if only I had figured out a way to make sure he could get out... 

25 pts for a (mostly) successful landing
20 pts for landing on Kerbin
 

https://imgur.com/a/l85kr

ng8KpBT.jpg
j29WSik.jpg
XGbCUyX.jpg
mQ94XAg.jpg
k8701KC.jpg

 

Edited by adrianblaine
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