Do It Like Jebediah: Orbit and land safely using only boosters

[foamyesque]

C7's parts weren't on the allowed list, but nevertheless, nice work. =)

[Cannon_Fodder]

Have you done it without C7 parts?

Even with C7 parts it wasn't a cake walk. I plan to keep trying with just allowed parts. SOOOO many dead Kerbals.

[foamyesque]

Have you done it without C7 parts?

Even with C7 parts it wasn't a cake walk. I plan to keep trying with just allowed parts. SOOOO many dead Kerbals.

The closest I've come was 7m/s too fast using stock parts in 0.10, but I (and others) have conducted safe powered landings with a SFB and stock. Each individual piece has been tested as possible, but I haven't been able to put them all together myself.

[Cannon_Fodder]

I can do it with JUST the C7 landing skid and only stock parts.

[r4m0n]

Found out a relatively easy way to land with stock parts 8)

Putting it up there wasn\'t easy at all, so I succumbed to temptation and used Sunday Punch\'s parts (and one radial decoupler from Nova\'s, but that can probably be replaced by something else). I didn\'t really get an orbit too, so let\'s call it an sub-orbital flight, but it can be done with a bit more of patience.

Preparing to launch... The ship is only stable at high rotation, so it\'s a fun flight for the Kerbonauts :-)

Enjoy the flight guys, it won\'t last XD

Too lazy do do a proper orbit, Jeb decides to speed things up

And landed! As lift is still broken in 0.10.1, adding a ton of winglets and spinning like mad just before touching down makes the craft float XD

[r4m0n]

Here goes just the de-orbiter/lander, stock parts only.

Usage instructions:

• 
  [li]Keep in vertical position ALWAYS when in the atmosphere, or order a new batch of Kerbonauts ;P[/li]
  [li]It\'s easier to keep vertical if you spin it a bit on the way down, just don\'t overdo it. If you slow down to less than 50m/s on the way down it usually stalls, and then nose-dive to the ground[/li]
  [li]Around 300m above the surface, roll the ship at full speed, until you stop. If done at the right time, you will touch down nicely. A bit off, and you will break some stuff, like I did above. Too off, and you will need even more Kerbonauts[/li]
  

[sluissa]

I\'ve got a semi-reliable way to land (at least in the water) using only stock boosters and radial decouplers. My trouble now is getting it into orbit using only stock boosters and decouplers. I think I\'m onto something, but it\'ll require more refining. That\'s being limited by the serious lag that I\'m having to deal with from the sheer number of parts. I think I have the parts now though, I just need to figure out the order of the stages and when I should fire them. It\'s pretty finicky and even a few seconds off can mean a difference of a couple of km in altitude. Before I put it on hold for the moment, I was making it fairly well into the upper atmosphere and my only requirement was a bit more thrust to get some horizontal speed up. Landings seem to be about 50/50 whether I survive or not, but that\'s better than I hoped. Timing is everything.

I\'ll work on it some more later tonight and post screenies when I have something workable. If only the stock boosters burned just a tad longer. Even 30 seconds rather than the (I think) 23 they have would be wonderful.

[sluissa]

Okay, I give up on stock boosters to orbit. The number I would need to make it there just kills my computer. My landing method though takes ideas from Cannon Fodder\'s makeshift orbital speed control. Basically, I\'ve got the pod atop a booster, with 3 boosters around it on radial decouplers. The center booster fires first to slow the whole thing down and help get things lined up. I keep the rear end towards my velocity vector on the ball, and once I\'m about 200 meters over water, I hit the three outer boosters, keeping them attached just long enough to bring me to a stop, detatching them once i\'m around 0 m/s vertical speed. This isn\'t long though, so I have to be quick about it, and time the initial firing perfectly. If I do it right, I end up with the center booster resting nose up with the pod on top. A bit harder and they break apart, the pod goes rolling away. (Hilarious, on a mountain where the pod skiied down the slope before finally exploding at the bottom after taking a jump off a ledge.) Even a bit harder and the center booster blows up but the pod survives. Too hard, everyone dies.

Definitely not the ideal landing method. One of my survived landings had them hit 117 g\'s. I\'m not even sure if that should be survivable.

I think I\'ll just go back to using my liquid rockets now. This was a fun challenge though.

[r4m0n]

Progress update, now using 100% stock parts

Blast off!

Just below apokee... Still not a true orbit, NEED MORE BOOSTERS!

Please keep your seats in vertical position and fasten your seat belts...

Landed! And then fell to the side, but they just suffered some minor concussions.

Thanks for flying Kerman Suborbitals!

Fully functional spacecraft and revised de-orbit/landing module below.

[Arthree]

Too much SAS, not enough boosters!

[foamyesque]

Very nice, ramone. Very nice indeed.

[r4m0n]

I\'ll try to improve the rocket after 0.11 stabilizes to see if I can get a proper orbit... That heli-landing module causes some serious stability problems, and I need to add quite a bit of extra delta V to get an orbit out of this...

[r4m0n]

Did some testing in 0.11 x1...

Bad news:

My helipod don\'t work anymore, looks like HarvesteR fixed the crazy aerodynamics of the winglets...

Good news:

Looks like I\'m able to splashdown using only SRBs 8)

[CarolRawley]

-snip-

Someone should make a 'Helicopter' Wing. Say, a wing with enough lift and control surface power, that with 4 of them, you can hover, and steer up and down at will.