Suborbital Rescue

[ralanboyle]

The engineers at KSC have forgotten to nail the parachutes to the latest Sub-Orbital ship! Now its up to you to rescue the crew!

1. Launch a suborbital ship. 

a. Ship must be manned. 

b. Ship must never move faster than 1900m/s Surface or Orbit. 

c. Ship must have no parachutes or aero surfaces. (Can't land on it's own)

d. Ship must fully deplete fuel in a single burn. (Use it up on ascent.) 

2. After the suborbital ship has left the atmosphere. Switch to KSC and launch a second Rescue Ship. 

a. Rescue Ship does not have to be manned. 

b. Rescue Ship must bring the crew back alive. 

 

Your score is the mission time of the Rescue Ship, launch to land. 

Your time is cut in half if the Rescue ship lands in the KSC Biome. 

Lowest Score wins. 

No parts mods, DLC is fine. No cheat menu. No physics altering. No Autopilot. 

---

@bayesian_acolyte 1:17 - Crushed it. 

@sevenperforce 13:39

Edited June 13, 2020 by ralanboyle
Edit

[doggonemess]

Interesting!

I'm wondering about the ballistic trajectory. If the manned craft burns for a long time at a low speed, you get an apoapsis that was really high, making this challenge too easy. Is there a flight profile you have to follow?

[ralanboyle]

 

1 hour ago, doggonemess said:

Interesting!

I'm wondering about the ballistic trajectory. If the manned craft burns for a long time at a low speed, you get an apoapsis that was really high, making this challenge too easy. Is there a flight profile you have to follow?

I thought of that. That's why the scoreboard is based on lowest mission time. That high AP will end up taking forever. It lets more people succeed but should foster competition to go lower and lower. 

Edited June 10, 2020 by ralanboyle
Edit

[sevenperforce]

On 6/9/2020 at 6:14 PM, ralanboyle said:

d. Ship must fully deplete fuel in a single burn. (Use it up on ascent.) 

Can the "stranded" ship use RCS?

[ralanboyle]

4 hours ago, sevenperforce said:

Can the "stranded" ship use RCS?

Yes, but only for docking, not in such a way that it dramatically affects its flight profile. 

[sevenperforce]

2 minutes ago, ralanboyle said:

Yes, but only for docking, not in such a way that it dramatically affects its flight profile. 

I already built it without, so.....

[ralanboyle]

Just now, sevenperforce said:

I already built it without, so.....

I forget about RCS because I pretty much never use it...

[sevenperforce]

All right, here you go. Took a little doing but I figured it out.

My Jeb ship:

My rescue ship:

The mission:

Spoiler

Launching:

The trick is to go almost straight up.

Fwooommmmm (or whatever noise these engines actually make)

Nearing burnout.

Burned out below 1900 m/s.

Proof

Now that I'm above 70 km, I'm switching back to my rescue ship.

Much louder takeoff.

Setting target for aiming purposes.

Dropping first set of boosters:

Staged again:

Nearing first stage burnout.

Rhino ignition.

Away fairing.

And there's my encounter!

Adjusting to decrease separation

starting to rotate to target-retrograde

Burning to match velocities.

Getting there

Loads of thrust here.

Jettisoned with lots of remaining fuel left so I can maneuver; opening my Klaw.

Switching over to the other vessel; jettisoning the booster

These panels were intended to give me more target area and damp any collisions.

Burning to intercept.

Almost there...

Final velocity matching

Nearly ended up seizing the booster.

Final approach. Didn't need the fold-out panels after all.

And grabbed!

Crew transfer

Not much time left.

Furiously burning to get as close to the KSC as possible.

Not good enough.

Re-entry

Moar Re-Entry

And we're good.

Chutes out!

Jeb bails out in the hope of reaching the KSC by chute.

Note the landed re-entry capsule. Timestamp 12:38 + 1:01 = 13:39 final score.

Long way.

Still have hope?

Nope, this won't work.

At least he can sprint home!

Final Score 13:39.

Shockingly, look what ended up surviving quite by mistake:

Spoiler

 

[ralanboyle]

3 hours ago, sevenperforce said:

All right, here you go. Took a little doing but I figured it out.

My Jeb ship:

My rescue ship:

The mission:

  Reveal hidden contents

Launching:

The trick is to go almost straight up.

Fwooommmmm (or whatever noise these engines actually make)

Nearing burnout.

Burned out below 1900 m/s.

Proof

Now that I'm above 70 km, I'm switching back to my rescue ship.

Much louder takeoff.

Setting target for aiming purposes.

Dropping first set of boosters:

Staged again:

Nearing first stage burnout.

Rhino ignition.

Away fairing.

And there's my encounter!

Adjusting to decrease separation

starting to rotate to target-retrograde

Burning to match velocities.

Getting there

Loads of thrust here.

Jettisoned with lots of remaining fuel left so I can maneuver; opening my Klaw.

Switching over to the other vessel; jettisoning the booster

These panels were intended to give me more target area and damp any collisions.

Burning to intercept.

Almost there...

Final velocity matching

Nearly ended up seizing the booster.

Final approach. Didn't need the fold-out panels after all.

And grabbed!

Crew transfer

Not much time left.

Furiously burning to get as close to the KSC as possible.

Not good enough.

Re-entry

Moar Re-Entry

And we're good.

Chutes out!

Jeb bails out in the hope of reaching the KSC by chute.

Note the landed re-entry capsule. Timestamp 12:38 + 1:01 = 13:39 final score.

Long way.

Still have hope?

Nope, this won't work.

At least he can sprint home!

Final Score 13:39.

Shockingly, look what ended up surviving quite by mistake:

  Reveal hidden contents

 

Well done! That was different from my test run in so many ways! One of the things I love about these challenges is how many right answers there can be to the same problem. 

[bayesian_acolyte]

 

 

I believe my time is 2:34 /2 = 1:17 if we use the "under 2 m/s" definition of "landed".

[ralanboyle]

16 hours ago, bayesian_acolyte said:

 

 

I believe my time is 2:34 /2 = 1:17 if we use the "under 2 m/s" definition of "landed".

Holy Hell, that was amazing and you broke my challenge! 

[doggonemess]

That was hilarious! What was the maximum G force during the mission? 

[bayesian_acolyte]

5 hours ago, doggonemess said:

That was hilarious! What was the maximum G force during the mission? 

I'm not sure. The TWR was mostly between 10 and 15. In the video it maxes out the G force meter at 15 a few different times on the ascent, but the max G force was likely on the rather abrupt landing.

Edited June 13, 2020 by bayesian_acolyte

[doggonemess]

On 6/9/2020 at 6:14 PM, ralanboyle said:

c. Ship must have no parachutes or aero surfaces. (Can't land on it's own)

Can we put fixed fins on the suborbital rocket so the dang thing doesn't flip over?

[ralanboyle]

59 minutes ago, doggonemess said:

Can we put fixed fins on the suborbital rocket so the dang thing doesn't flip over?

sure, just dont use them to glide the landing