First ever ascent to orbit from Eve using stock parts

[Apotheosist]

Is this the first stock parts orbital ascent from Eve? If you have already done this or know someone who has, please let me know. Until then I will bask in the partial glory of being the first to acheive orbit from Eve using stock parts. I did use the engineer mod, but that doesen't help with the ascent to orbit, it just displays information, which is handy for showing things such as orbital altitude in the screenshots.

Yes, I only got to orbit, I didn't do the whole round trip back to kerbin. In fact I didn't even go from kerbin to Eve. I changed the persistence file to put this craft on the surface of Eve. One step at a time. Now I'm going to work on a rocket to take this lander out to Eve. Then the third step will be to transfer the crew to a seperate ship to do the whole round trip from Kerbin to Eve and back to Kerbin

I did fly this same rocket last night, but I didn't want to burn all the way into orbit because I wanted to do the whole mission without "cheating". However tonight I couldn't wait and took it to orbit, and thought you guys would like to know.

I have learnt from this mission that it takes about 11,500m/s of delta-v to reach orbit from the surface. Well that's how much it takes me.

Pictures: http://imgur.com/a/9yaTU

[N_las]

Well... bulding a rocket, that can ascent from eve surface to orbit isn't hard at all. The hard part is getting such a lander from KSC to eve. So sadly, i'm not impressed.

[Werwolf]

Fantastic job! Now we *know* this can be done. How many tries did it take you to come up with a design that could do this? Did you warp it to Eve or did you land it there legitimately? Also, awesome mod.... downloading that now, it will come in handy!

[Carthaginian]

That is a LOT of dV to be dragging around through space!

Gonna be interesting to see how you get it to Eve orbit!

Oh, extra 'cool points' for taking off from the middle off the ocean!

[Apotheosist]

Fantastic job! Now we *know* this can be done. How many tries did it take you to come up with a design that could do this? Did you warp it to Eve or did you land it there legitimately? Also, awesome mod.... downloading that now, it will come in handy!

It took me 11 tries haha. The ship's name is "Eve 11". Yes, I have 10 other designs named Eve 1 to Eve 10.

I basically teleported it to Eve by changing the persisitence file. Under the vessel I changed things like "Landed= True", "REF=5", "Splashed= True", "Alt=0" and things until I had it floating nicely in the sea. I have landed some of the previous versions from orbit to test parachutes and such things, those tests went well, so I didn't feel there was need to repeat that part.

[Apotheosist]

That is a LOT of dV to be dragging around through space!

Gonna be interesting to see how you get it to Eve orbit!

Oh, extra 'cool points' for taking off from the middle off the ocean!

It certainly is! The lander weighs about 130 tons. I've seen other people's ships with landers weighing about this much. I have also managed to fly some of the smaller previous versions to Eve, for this one it should be just a little more difficult to build the launch rocket.

Taking off from the middle of the ocean is easier as you don't need landing legs it also kinda proved that I did it from sea level, without using any high mountains to help me.

[SasquatchM]

With the thick atmosphere there is a LOT of aerobraking to aid in large lander descents. Spaceplanes work amazingly well there too.. i got up to 20km without using engines at all.. but only up to 33km while using the engines. I am fairly certain i could strap a few more tanks to my spaceplane /lander some where and more than likely make it out.

[Werwolf]

It took me 11 tries haha. The ship's name is "Eve 11". Yes, I have 10 other designs named Eve 1 to Eve 10.

I basically teleported it to Eve by changing the persisitence file. Under the vessel I changed things like "Landed= True", "REF=5", "Splashed= True", "Alt=0" and things until I had it floating nicely in the sea. I have landed some of the previous versions from orbit to test parachutes and such things, those tests went well, so I didn't feel there was need to repeat that part.

Wow, only 11 tries? That's actually pretty low in my opinion, Eve is soooo tough, lol. I bet I've got 15 ships smashed into various locations of the surface... none of them had so much as a glimmer of hope of getting back off again, even as over-engineered as they are

[untitled]

I upgraded my old design (here: http://kerbalspaceprogram.com/forum/showthread.php/21982-SpaceOne-Rockets-Showcase-Interplanetary-3-man-return-capable-rockets%21) and I SHOULD HAVE THE dV to get in orbit around eve, if not escape. Will test when I get home.

Edited September 27, 2012 by untitled

[Richy teh space man]

I upgraded my old design (here: http://kerbalspaceprogram.com/forum/showthread.php/21982-SpaceOne-Rockets-Showcase-Interplanetary-3-man-return-capable-rockets%2) and I SHOULD HAVE THE dV to get in orbit around eve, if not escape. Will test when I get home.

Link doesn't work..

[untitled]

Link doesn't work..

Fixed

(2short)

[nhnifong]

Well until you actually run the whole mission from the launchpad to Eve orbit, I'm not too concerned. Watch out though! I'm close behind you with my Hurricane design, no cheating whatsoever.

How heavy is your eve lander payload?

Edited September 27, 2012 by nhnifong

[Apotheosist]

Well until you actually run the whole mission from the launchpad to Eve orbit, I'm not too concerned. Watch out though! I'm close behind you with my Hurricane design, no cheating whatsoever.

How heavy is your eve lander payload?

Good luck with your design! Some competition would be great

The whole lander, the rocket that is needed to get back up to Eve orbit weighs about 130 tons. The part that actually gets to eve orbit only weighs about 3 tons. That is, the last stage weighs 2.91 tons when empty. I hope that's what you meant by payload

[RoboRay]

I want to see your proposed launch vehicle and transfer stage from Kerbin.

[cardgame]

If you teleported to Eve instead of flying there with a launch stage it doesn't count.

[nhnifong]

Good luck with your design! Some competition would be great

The whole lander, the rocket that is needed to get back up to Eve orbit weighs about 130 tons. The part that actually gets to eve orbit only weighs about 3 tons. That is, the last stage weighs 2.91 tons when empty. I hope that's what you meant by payload

It's on! I'm not sure on the exact weight of my lander but It's probably excessive.

[Apocalyptica602]

If you teleported to Eve instead of flying there with a launch stage it doesn't count.

It doesn't "count" in the challenge of Kerbin->Eve Surface->Kerbin return sense, but I think it provides valuable information with regards to some value of delta-V proven to work.

Now we just need to figure out how to build a launcher to lift off from kerbin, transfer, and land a craft with ~11kdV remaining on Eve.

... All stock... would be absolutely rediculous.

[untitled]

If you teleported to Eve instead of flying there with a launch stage it doesn't count.

OP teleported?

That's cheating

[LambdaCactus]

OP teleported?

That's cheating

Well, no. He's upfront about the parameters of the challenge so I wouldn't call it cheating: it's only restricted to the scenario of getting off of Eve. The next step in the challenge would obviously be to deliver the lander to the surface there, and the final challenge would be a full round-trip.

[The Procrastinaut]

I tried launching a mahoosive rocket from Kerbin and sent it on a mission to Eve. got to eve ok, but I ran out of fuel on my interplanetary stage tanks so I wasted over 4000L from my lander tanks just getting down to the surface; after all that (and landing on a slope and having to jettison more fuel), I managed to take off again and get to a maximum altitude of 14,502m - Pics are through this link http://kerbalspaceprogram.com/forum/showthread.php/20900-Land-on-Stuff?p=280010&viewfull=1#post280010

[r_rolo1]

@ Apotheosist

What is your TWR at liftoff? And could you also provide a save of the ship? I am pretty sure you can shave some fuel load out of that with the same performance by using smaller tanks and jetissoning them as they get empty ...

[Apotheosist]

@ Apotheosist

What is your TWR at liftoff? And could you also provide a save of the ship? I am pretty sure you can shave some fuel load out of that with the same performance by using smaller tanks and jetissoning them as they get empty ...

My TWR at liftoff is 1.5 (well 1.47 but I aim for 1.5), and I'm also sure this design can be improved, I just liked that all the tanks were the same size. But of course in this case performance is more important. Here is the craft file: http://www./?vc3p64yqd62djy4, feel free to play with it and improve on it, and be sure to share any good results

Also, someone has already gone to Eve and back in one single veichle, all stock except mechjeb. He landed on a 11km mountain. I did some tests with my rocket, and it took the first five stages of my rocket to reach an apoapsis of 10km. This means that if I were to start on a 10km mountain on Eve, the ascent rocket would only need to weigh 30 tons, instead of the 130 tons if I launched from sea level. I think we can safely say that launching from a high mountain on Eve helps significantly. See the guy's mission here: http://www.reddit.com/r/KerbalSpaceProgram/comments/10lfq0/return_trip_to_eve_craft_file_in_the_comments/

[OrtwinS]

I developed my series of 'Feather' Rockets to be as efficient as possible to ascent into orbit around Eve.

My latest, the Feather V has a suprising compact and lightweight design (I've seen people launch bulkier Duna Landers).

I'm NOT going to test it by editing the persistance file, I'm working on my Eve lander stage now (damn parachutes are unusable, at what height will they deploy? I need to disconnect before that happens or they rip the entire thing apart). I'm going to do this all legit, it's part of the challange.

I believe it can be done with stock, though I have to wait untill mid-next week before I have suffient time on my hands to launch some decent test flights.

I will go for the 2-launch method, one lander & get to orbit, and a second retriever mission.

The thing I actually worry the most about is the orbital rendezvous, I've always sucked at those.

[nhnifong]

I developed my series of 'Feather' Rockets to be as efficient as possible to ascent into orbit around Eve.

My latest, the Feather V has a suprising compact and lightweight design (I've seen people launch bulkier Duna Landers).

I'm NOT going to test it by editing the persistance file, I'm working on my Eve lander stage now (damn parachutes are unusable, at what height will they deploy? I need to disconnect before that happens or they rip the entire thing apart). I'm going to do this all legit, it's part of the challange.

I believe it can be done with stock, though I have to wait untill mid-next week before I have suffient time on my hands to launch some decent test flights.

I will go for the 2-launch method, one lander & get to orbit, and a second retriever mission.

The thing I actually worry the most about is the orbital rendezvous, I've always sucked at those.

Dont deploy chutes faster than about 200 m/s The chutes open around 1500m. You will be moving about 50 m/s at that alt. and slow to 35 m/s with engines just before they open.

Can we see what your lander looks like or is it a trade secret?

I applaud your effort to test without editing the persistence file

Edited September 28, 2012 by nhnifong

[jloosh]

Ive made it from kebin to eve with like 30-40 minutes of fuel left, granted it wont be there if I attempt a landing. I might be able to get off the surface, but without ever being on it I have no idea. I may have to try to get some pictures up, and I may attempt a landing. All I have is a simple lander. went for as much interplanetary fuel as I could possibly get into orbit.