Bill to orbit in 713 kg and probe to orbit in 659 kg | Lowest mass to orbit record

[Alpaca Z]

In the two videos below, I delivered Bill Kerman to orbit with a 713 kg craft (excluding pilot mass), and a fully functional probe (with a solar panel and a battery) to orbit with a 659 kg craft. 

These two missions break records of lowest mass to orbit for both manned and unmanned (controllable) missions.

A couple notes:

Previous manned mission record: 874 kg by Bradley Whistance.

Previous unmanned controllable mission record: foamyesque, 0.645 ton (prior to v1.7 when spark hasn't been nerfed).

I used reaction wheel + 0 torque servo as motor because of weird rpm oscillation problem with DLC motors.

Edited July 26, 2022 by Alpaca Z
Missed information

[swjr-swis]

5 hours ago, Alpaca Z said:

Previous unmanned controllable mission record: Not sure, perhaps Pds314- 0.855 tonnes.

 

 @foamyesque with a 0.645 t probe, in my recollection:

 

[Alpaca Z]

16 hours ago, swjr-swis said:

 

 @foamyesque with a 0.645 t probe, in my recollection:

 

Oh, sorry for missing that. I guess I need to work on it a bit more to break this record then. I am changing the post to reflect this.

I do want to point out that the post was from 2016 before spark engine was nerfed in v1.7. The mass of a spark has increased from 0.1 ton to 0.13 ton since the nerfing. So, I am thinking the craft may not work in the latest version of the game.

[camacju]

20 minutes ago, Alpaca Z said:

So, I am thinking the craft may not work in the latest version of the game.

Funny you should say that. If you go into the advanced part lists widget in the VAB and sort by size, you'll see the old Spark and the new Spark. It wasn't removed or changed, just hidden and a completely new part was added. This was to preserve backward compatibility.

I've never had a reason to use the old Spark in a mission, but if I ever need to, it's still there.

[Alpaca Z]

28 minutes ago, camacju said:

Funny you should say that. If you go into the advanced part lists widget in the VAB and sort by size, you'll see the old Spark and the new Spark. It wasn't removed or changed, just hidden and a completely new part was added. This was to preserve backward compatibility.

I've never had a reason to use the old Spark in a mission, but if I ever need to, it's still there.

I just checked as you suggested, cannot see the old variants.  Are you sure it is not added to your game by any mods?

 

Edited July 26, 2022 by Alpaca Z
New information