nuclear_turkey

Rules: your craft must land and then return from any celestial body using only nuclear engines (mono prop may be used for docking only) - no exploits here's my entry to Laythe and here an old video of mine of just getting into orbit using NE's https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rtu7xsMREro ( its a pretty bad design , but it works, i have 7.2km/s left but i didnt have time to make a video actually going anywhere with it)

mun landing and return is a requirement, sorry also , i guess part exploits , other than ladder exploits are allowed.

the only cheaty thing i did was bypass 1 periapsis, no cheats were enabled, i also have no idea why the panels didnt break, if you're really that bothered ill redo the entire video with the debug menu open if you so wish. i think i might also be able to do the kerbin circularisation without a tracking station exploit also

whats your lighest vessel to go to the mun and bring crew back safely? my entry 2.498 Tons i spent quite while shaving 10kg's here 20kg's there for the past day or two, so i hope there isnt an obvious way to go any lighter without ladder exploits, best of luck

i know, i still have 7.4km/s of dv once in orbit, i could go plenty of places with that, i just dont have time to make a nice video for that.

My entry - this was quite hard as the engines produce so little thrust at sea level

this was quite a challenge, i forot that in order to get 100% recovery on parts they need to be at KSC, i had to get creative.

whats the lightest vehicle possible capable of putting a kerbal into orbit, using eva fuel is ok. challenging people to beat my score of : 1.699 tons

iv searched google for 30 minutes and cant find it its a guy who builds a mun base (it might even be minmus, thats how much i cant remember) he builds each rocket out of little segments and puts them together with a crane, the then takes parts for the base to the moon, he repeats this over and over again, and by the end of the video theres a very nice looking stock base, thats quite large and spread out, but not bulky, things i can remember about the video - he builds each rocket with a little crane (maybe even 2) it uses a claw on the end to grab each peice - i think its a Russian youtube channel cant remember - its quite a long video - its either on the mun or minmus - most of the rockets he makes are made from srbs - usually a stage of the rocket is a few of these put together, non of the rockets are that large except for 1 or 2 - a lot of the base is connected via I-beams and very small docking ports - as far as i know its all stock - at one point in the video he loads up a little lander on the mun with debris and flys it outside loading range and crashes it on purpose im really grasping at straws here than one of you know what the hell im on about and will be able to link me the video, although iv probably been a bit vague

- mass upon take off from eve's surface is 5.995 tons (includes kerbal) - the steep ascent was actually the only way i could get this into orbit, with it being lightweight its not very aerodynamic what i gain in weight savings i almost lose due to drag. - it can climb to just over 27km before firing the rockets, thats almost 4 times higher than the big mountain thats on eve. - you have to constantly adjust the blade angle to juggle with the rotation speed of the blades in order to generate enough upthrust, how ever if they spin too fast the physics goes bananas and the prop will clip through and explode your craft. - this took far too long 40+ minutes just to get to 20 km,which is why i started recording at 20+km, iv previously done a video showing my first iteration of an eve rocket copter that weighed 16 tons - here. - iv been messing with a slimmed down version with better aerodynamics, it looks like its possible to break 5 tons. not sure yet however.

like this - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=goEH48u4bkk

seems that way

taking off from low down in eves atmosphere can be a pain, so i thought why not use a propeller! - average propeller mode climb height - 6-ish m/s i.e. slow - crew 0/1 , i just simulated the weight of a kerbal with an additional probe core, so it should work exactly the same with one - 150 m/s dv left over at the end for docking/rendezvous with another craft - start height 200m, you can really take off from anywhere with this, its much faster on kerbin however as the prop can spin much faster and generate more thrust + gravity is lower there. - vid -

start height - 220m start mass - 16 tons - https://www.reddit.com/r/KerbalSpaceProgram/comments/4qyy65/lightweight_sea_level_launch_from_eve_under_16/ - do i win with the lightest return vehicle? :¬)

launch height 220m launch weight 16 tons https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZaN57qtyDXw