Challenge for KSPer #1

[GagarinAmogus]

Hello, its my debute in this community!

 

When i started playing KSP (1.3.1) I found some strange thing.

Mk-1 Cockpit have a Gyrodine but we need to unlock it before launching any Sattelite. This means that we need to launch human in space in order to get science to unlock it before your "Sputnik" Which is seems stupid.

 

That CAN be solved by modifications of the game but its boring yeah?

When first playing i made this challenge to myself and couldn't do it because of some problems

 

I didn't know about LV-T45 "Swivel" But in Official Missions for Making History I found myself in the same trap and when i attached RCI I thought why not to offer this Challenge for you? I think you are capable enough of this! 

Rules:

Spoiler

Goal: Reach Orbit of Kerbin.

Budget: Unlimited

Rules:

#1 -No Gyrodine Used

#2 -No Engines which can control Vector

#3 -No RCI's

#4 -No Winglets which can control your rocket (Use Standart instead)

#5 -Use Stayputnik (Or any other Probe without a Gyrodine)

#6 -Use Mk-55 "Thud" to rotate your ship

#7 -NO KERBALS!!!!1!!!11!!!

 

Pardon for any mistakes i make - English isn't my first launguage

 

Have Fun!

      

Edited July 13, 2022 by GagarinAmogus
Some Mistakes in words

[hexeract]

So the goal is to make a rocket that can reach orbit without any maneuvering? 

Also the Mk 55 Thud does have thrust vectoring, so I'd assume it would not be allowed

Edited July 14, 2022 by hexeract

[Nazalassa]

Well, if you set their gimbals to zero, that wouldn't be a problem I think.

[sevenperforce]

So what if I just do a spin-stabilized rocket?

[GagarinAmogus]

20 hours ago, hexeract said:

So the goal is to make a rocket that can reach orbit without any maneuvering? 

Also the Mk 55 Thud does have thrust vectoring, so I'd assume it would not be allowed

I better called this challenge no manuevering challenge, because i really didn't know this when first time played

Yes. I know it has a Vector system. Mk 55 Was Selected because i didnt know about Vectors engines when first played (I got no Translasion in my version) Shall I Update my Rules then?

 

[GagarinAmogus]

11 hours ago, sevenperforce said:

So what if I just do a spin-stabilized rocket?

Try to make one.

 

[hexeract]

12 hours ago, sevenperforce said:

So what if I just do a spin-stabilized rocket?

I was going to do something like that, but then I'd need to kill the rotation somehow for the orbital stage

[sevenperforce]

12 hours ago, GagarinAmogus said:

Try to make one.

I made one pretty trivially.

12 hours ago, hexeract said:

I was going to do something like that, but then I'd need to kill the rotation somehow for the orbital stage

Timewarp.

[GagarinAmogus]

5 hours ago, sevenperforce said:

I made one pretty trivially.

Timewarp.

Can you show it to us?

 

[sevenperforce]

6 hours ago, GagarinAmogus said:

Can you show it to us?

Sure, here it is.

The small solid rocket motors provide some impulse but mostly just spin. The larger solids help it get off the ground and out of the atmosphere quickly. The main engine is a Reliant so there's no gimbal. I put a Terrier on the upper stage but I disabled gimbal, as you can see. The tiny solids up top are just to help with rotation once I'm out of the atmosphere.

The launch:

Spoiler

Forgive me for offsetting the launch clamps.

All I have to do is throttle up and spacebar.

It makes a nice little spiral on its way up. Takes it a moment to pick an actual spin axis as there is some precession initially.

Dropping the larger solid boosters.

Detail showing how the smaller SRBs continue to provide spin.

Even after they burn out, I keep them attached through much of the atmosphere because (a) their orientation provides body lift that converts drag into additional spin, and (b) their inertia helps me maintain angular momentum.

Active throttle control of the Reliant engine helps me control my apoapsis.

Don't need that fairing anymore but keeping the small empty solids for angular momentum.

Finally dropped the solids. The remaining angular momentum of the core stage should be plenty to keep it spin-stabilized.

Now that I'm out of the atmosphere, I tap timewarp on and off to kill rotation.

There's very little fuel in this Sepratron but it's enough to nudge my nose down toward the horizon for the insertion burn. A touch of timewarp will once again be used to kill rotation.

Now I'm perfectly lined up and can just fire the main engine again for orbital insertion.

Shoot, I'm just short.

Oh well, I have a whole upper stage.

Orbital insertion really only took a tiny tap of the throttle.

 

No Thud required.

[sevenperforce]

Update: using only solids and no control inputs (just a KAL-1000 to time the staging events) I've now got a three-stage fire-and-forget launch vehicle.

 

 

[GagarinAmogus]

16 hours ago, sevenperforce said:

Update: using only solids and no control inputs (just a KAL-1000 to time the staging events) I've now got a three-stage fire-and-forget launch vehicle.

 

 

Congrants, sadly that not method i meant  to use, anyways still cool result.

[sevenperforce]

8 hours ago, GagarinAmogus said:

Congrants, sadly that not method i meant  to use, anyways still cool result.

Lol, what method did you mean?

[QF9E]

My submission:

A simple two-stage rocket without any means of steering. Its fixed, non steerable fins keep it on a surface prograde course through the atmosphere, and it has been tilted ever so slightly on the launchpad to initiate the gravity turn. It only needs user input once during its flight, to separate its 1st stage and ignite the upper stage.

The reason it works at all is that the rocket keeps pitching down, even when it is above the atmosphere. The result of which is that it points approximately prograde orbital at AP. I think what happens is that the rocket gains a bit of angular momentum from its curved trajectory through the atmosphere that it keeps when in space.

Edited July 19, 2022 by QF9E

[QF9E]

An improvement over my previous attempt:

No in-flight user input of any kind is needed to orbit this rocket. There's one Stayputnik probe core underneath the fairing, no reaction wheels, no RCS, no movable fins, no thrust vectoring, no throttling and no KAL-1000.

Edited July 19, 2022 by QF9E

[GagarinAmogus]

On 7/19/2022 at 3:27 PM, QF9E said:

My submission:

A simple two-stage rocket without any means of steering. Its fixed, non steerable fins keep it on a surface prograde course through the atmosphere, and it has been tilted ever so slightly on the launchpad to initiate the gravity turn. It only needs user input once during its flight, to separate its 1st stage and ignite the upper stage.

The reason it works at all is that the rocket keeps pitching down, even when it is above the atmosphere. The result of which is that it points approximately prograde orbital at AP. I think what happens is that the rocket gains a bit of angular momentum from its curved trajectory through the atmosphere that it keeps when in space.

Wow! Thats Great! Never thought about this variant!