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Fleabag Challenge: Fly plane from KSC to Island using Fleas only


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9 minutes ago, Ultimate Steve said:

Is this a mod that makes Kerbin tiny? If so I would like a go.

It's just a simple Kopernicus config that sets the planet sizes to like 1/100th size or something. I poked around and coudln't find it but iirc it's super simple to do.

And it is quite fun for at least a short while :D

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1 hour ago, Brownie352 said:

Nuts! (Use parachutes on the landing if you haven't tried that already)

Parachutes are banned I thought?

9 minutes ago, 5thHorseman said:

It's just a simple Kopernicus config that sets the planet sizes to like 1/100th size or something. I poked around and coudln't find it but iirc it's super simple to do.

And it is quite fun for at least a short while :D

No. I am playing stock KSP. It's literally a fisheye lens caused by changing the camera FOV and zoom.

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35 minutes ago, Pds314 said:

No. I am playing stock KSP. It's literally a fisheye lens caused by changing the camera FOV and zoom.

Oh I should have realized that if it was resized the island airfield should be closer to KSC.

but anyway it IS possible to make Kerbin look a lot like that.

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Single engine gets all the way there. Val is inside the nose.
exFFgCN.png

zVhZRwf.png

Imma try to do a side-challenge of how FAST I can get there on one engine.

Five minutes even.

anHrSgK.png

Edited by Pds314
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Here's my efficiency entry: starting mass: 5,955 kg. (yeesh, I shoulda left the monoprop in to get over 6t.  Oh, well)

tJcSZ5v.png

Full album here:

https://imgur.com/a/JUBSC3q

For others who might attempt the challenge, here are a few things that helped me:

  • Shock cone intake on the back of the flea, and offset into it, to reduce drag
  • When building the craft, tilt the fuselage down by 2-3 degrees, and have wings level.  That way, when you're gliding, the fuselage will be pointing directly prograde, which reduces drag
  • Minimize non-wing parts.  I filled a few of the strakes with fuel to add mass without new parts.
  • Point straight at the island before launching.  It's at a heading of about 118 degrees
  • I used MechJeb's Smart A.S.S. as an autopilot during launch and glide.  Launched horizontally, pitched up to 43 degrees once the craft hit 135ish m/s, waited for MECO, waited for speed to drop to 110m/s, then gradually tilted the nose down (again, using MechJeb) until I was at a -4 degree pitch.  The 2-3 degree pitch of the wings meant that the wings were at -1 to -2 degrees--perfect for maximizing glide ratio.
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Hello everyone,

this is my second contribution, this time more serious. I am pushing one flea glider towards higher weight.

My new glider has starting mass equal to 6481 kg.

One flea was able to lift me barely to 1700 m above sea and from this point on it was just gentle gliding towards island airport (and hoping that I don't crash into island slope just in front of the landing strip as happened in my first try).

see album here:

https://imgur.com/a/rnoMTyx

 

P5hvGrI.jpg

 

aXQdD5m.jpg

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On 4/26/2019 at 7:28 AM, Tapeta said:

Hello everyone,

this is my second contribution, this time more serious. I am pushing one flea glider towards higher weight.

My new glider has starting mass equal to 6481 kg.

One flea was able to lift me barely to 1700 m above sea and from this point on it was just gentle gliding towards island airport (and hoping that I don't crash into island slope just in front of the landing strip as happened in my first try).

see album here:

https://imgur.com/a/rnoMTyx

 

P5hvGrI.jpg

 

aXQdD5m.jpg

Nice! You are no #'s 1 and 3 on the first leaderboard.

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This cannot stand!  :D  I wish to reclaim my spot at the top of the leaderboard!  Behold, my entry of 6,575kg! 

https://imgur.com/a/ECbqECA

I *did* notice something odd during my glide--KER was reporting that my horizontal velocity (~60m/s) was under 20x my vertical velocity (-3.34m/s), and yet somehow the distance between me and the debris at the island (what I used as a target) shrank faster than 20x the rate that my altitude dropped.

I used the same flight profile as before--accelerate horizontally to about 140m/s, pitch up to 43 degrees, and gradually pitch over (at a lower speed) and hold a -5 deg pitch.  The hardest part was the landing--this thing doesn't want to decelerate, and won't stay on the ground at more than 20m/s.  Maybe next time I just need to crab harder, and not bank into my final.

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@Klapaucius I love your challenges and I really wanted to make an entry for this one but sweet jesus, the staging drove me insane! Lol.

I ended up with like 60 or so Flea's that all had to be sequenced and then decoupled in pairs and I was half way through sorting out the elaborate staging order when KSP crashed. (I was going for the "there and back again" additional challenge.)

I just don't know if I have the heart to do it again, and I still don't even know if it'll actually work! Lol. :confused:

Edited by Rocket In My Pocket
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1 hour ago, Rocket In My Pocket said:

@Klapaucius I love your challenges and I really wanted to make an entry for this one but sweet jesus, the staging drove me insane! Lol.

I ended up with like 60 or so Flea's that all had to be sequenced and then decoupled in pairs and I was half way through sorting out the elaborate staging order when KSP crashed. (I was going for the "there and back again" additional challenge.)

I just don't know if I have the heart to do it again, and I still don't even know if it'll actually work! Lol. :confused:

Something I learned from video editing: save often!  I have a habit of saving my ships every 5 minutes or so. I've been burned too many times...

 

Actually,  I first learned that lesson in college back in 1989ish when having typed 7 pages of a term paper, I accidentally kicked the plug (they were under the tables in the computer lab).

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