dnbattley

Tricky, and I don't want to dissuade other entries - we still have 10 days to go, after all. Since both missions were to Eeloo(ish) the fundamental capabilities appear to be largely similar. In my view your mission has in its favour that it completed successfully - although we don't have the pictures, sadly, of the return. Without knowing specifically what Ninkle's characteristics are - specifically it's gravity, though I'm imagining it to be Ike-like - it is hard to judge the technical difficulty of the landing and rendezvous, though the fact that there were both is a plus. I would suggest that KingDomino's mission has a much higher initial technical score, based on the large number of parts each individually designed and then required to be connected in orbit (which should not be underestimated, as a challenge), including the SSTO carrier for the final piece, but obviously falls short on the landing (and therefore a lack of return). I have to confess I haven't actually put too much thought into how to judge the final entries yet, but I hope this helps.

Yep, noodlecraft are fine, just watch out for the model "girth" sticking out beyond a strict 1u diameter - that's what specifically makes the NERVA illegal. Pancakes, and specifically the act of connecting them together, may offer additional design and piloting challenges, but also more flexibility - for those who are into that sort of thing. Edit response: not entirely clear what you have in mind but the rocket is to get the payload to LKO and cannot actively participate thereafter. If you are using it as a holding clamp while docking other parts to it that is ok, but it should not propulsively be connecting parts for your noodle/pancake.

Only one dimension must be 1u. The others must, technically, fit within a faring, but that is a pretty wide area.

Inspired by this discussion on Reddit, a new challenge has been devised for the consideration of the forum: The 1u Challenge Your mission has one stipulation: all components for your mission must be taken up to LKO within a svelte 1u (defined as one structural panel's height, when placed vertically) compartment within your rocket/space plane. The compartment can have any cross-sectional area provided that it can be safely protected within some form of faring or cargo bay for launch, and multiple components may be assembled in orbit if required, with multiple launches permitted, if necessary. The rocket/plane carrying the components has no such restriction, obviously, but must not participate in the mission beyond LKO. In answering the question "is this component/x part allowed (particularly e.g. individual engines)" - common sense applies, but if pushing the envelope there are two tests you can apply: 1) can it be placed within a set of 3 structural parts, arranged in a U (using snapping to position the guides left and right of the base) without any part (cosmetic or functional) being visible on the other side of the structural parts in the VAB/SPH? and 2) if placed in this way, including with a decoupler/docking port, and together launched and detached on the launchpad, does it (reasonably) result in a Kraken event? If both tests are negative then the part is allowed. A component consisting of a "bare" variant of the Terrier (plus docking port) is therefore fine, but a NERV (even laid out horizontally) is not. There are no requirements for manning missions, nor returning to Kerbin, through both would undoubtedly contribute towards the "impressiveness" of your mission. Mission types are not restricted to rovers - landing craft or exploration ships are welcomed. Normal rules disallowing overlapping significant components (e.g. fuel tanks/engines etc.) apply but given the nature of this challenge does include some leeway for other, less significant, parts - an honour code system shall apply, so if in doubt please ask. Stock/DLC parts only please. No restrictions on visual/flying aid/engineering assistance mods, except that KAS or other such "in situ" modifications to a craft are not permitted after launch. Please state any significant mods when submitting. The most impressive mission submitted before Monday 25th February 2018 will be crowned "The Slimline King". Enjoy! NB. In my initial testing, a Dart engine with a docking port *does* qualify, just. On this basis an Eve return mission MAY be technically feasible... An example mission shall be added here in due course.

Then 2.205T, which I'm confident can be optimised further given that I landed with 700dV left in the tank... EDIT: 1.98T via further optimisation. Landing is tricky since one of the "optimisations" was to remove the reaction wheel, but landing on gimbal alone is possible...

Are Kerbal's required? Is a return to Kerbin necessary?

Thanks for your interest (in an otherwise quiet/dead challenge). I'd be happy to add a separate board for a 200/2000/20000 version if you wanted to give that a whirl, with the proviso that, beyond achieving a large Sun orbital period, only achieving orbit of a "non-atmospheric" planet is likely to be considered "leaderboard-worthy" as, for example, landing on Duna (or even Laythe) with 2000 dV available is rather unremarkable. Getting to Dres with 2000 dV would be an good achievement, for example, however. FYI a reference craft for that starts with the 100/1000/10000 craft, and adds an FL-100 and adjusts the monoprop to 80% IIRC to balance. More generally, however, I will not fundamentally change the concept - even at the risk of preventing entries. This is, deliberately, something of a masochists challenge: this evening I quickly threw together a mission profile which managed to engineer a Kerbin-Eve orbit (achieving the Eve interaction sometime in year 10) with around 30dV remaining: I'm confident that interaction basis could be used for getting further afield, so am happy for the 100/1000/10000 levels are sufficient achievable and, deliberately, remain an elitist endeavour... I though it would be good to limit an otherwise theoretically unlimited challenge

Related to @zanie420's question above, is there a fixed science value you would permit one to add at launch, instead of undertaking the "KSC biome grind" dance, and cracking straight on with the missions?

A new challenge! Different in format to many, if not all, challenges, this challenge is designed to test luck, judgement and old-fashioned perseverance. (Hat tip to @EvermoreAlpaca a.k.a. Bradley Whistance's forthcoming You Tube series Advanced Orbital Mechanics for the inspiration here) The 100/1000/10000 Challenge seeks to answer the question "how far can we get" given the following 3 requirements: 1) From 100km LKO, 2) With 1000dV available, and 3) Within 10000 Kerbal days (Y24, D202) of the initial game starting point (i.e. time at KSC, not your MET)... Or more specifically: what is the largest (or smallest, relative to the Sun) orbital period you can achieve / the most impressive body you can reach (interact with SOI / land - defined only by Kerbal survival on surface - on) in the given timeframe, from within these specifications? More detailed rules (subject to further clarification if required): - Cheats to achieve initial LKO are acceptable, but thereafter are not permitted. (Semi-Major Axis value is 700,000 achieves 100x100km orbit). - For non-cheated orbits, a variation in initial orbit of up to +/-0.1% Ap/Pe is acceptable. - Any craft qualifies, provided it meets the dV requirement. 1000.0 dV is a strict limit: no staging or other craft modification is permitted to squeeze out additional dV. - Stock reference craft is a Communotron 88-88, Mk 1 Capsule (full monoprop), 1.25m Service Bay containing a PB-NUK, FL-T200 Tank (with partial 54.0 liq/66.0 ox) and LV-909. - Stock craft are preferred, but modded parts are also acceptable provided 1000dV capability is evidenced. Automated flying mods (e.g. mechjeb) are discouraged (this is meant to be about orbital pilot skill) and must be declared with the submission. - Adjustments to Stock orbital mechanics are not permitted. A separate challenge can be made for Principia/Additional planet packs if demand is sufficient. - Image album of map screenshops showing 1) initial orbit, 2) all major slingshots/SoI changes and 3) largest/final orbital period/landing for submission (use KER readout, or right click both PE and AP values in map). PLEASE ENSURE YOU CHANGE MET TO UT FOR THE FINAL SUBMISSION (AND PREFERABLY ALL SCREENSHOTS) TO QUALIFY. - You do not need to launch at Y1 D1 (for example if you want to wait for a specific encounter window), but the end time remains fixed in UT. Submissions can be made prior to (i.e. if you've maxed out your run before the 10000 day limit, you do not need to fast forward further), but not after the end time. Leaderboards will be separated according to Body and/or Orbital Period (for landings this will be defined as the greater of the orbital period prior to SOI insertion, or of the planet itself). Manually piloted scores will appear ahead of mechjeb flyers . Proof of concept/mission report here: demonstrating a "simple" mission to Duna (calculated as 1037 m/s dV requirement minimum according to the bible, using stock 1000m/s craft (of which 17m/s was still available, before it crash-landed).

@mystifeid and @IncongruousGoat: your dedication and inventiveness has further advanced the achievements of 42-part craft everywhere: congratulations and thanks for sharing these two platinum submissions. I'll add these up to the leaderboard as soon as I can get to my pc (I am currently traveling). Overall, I think the hypothesis of 42-part craft being able to "go anywhere and do anything" has been comprehensively proven. I hope everyone who has submitted so far enjoyed the unique challenge the design limitations offered, and feels they have learned something new from it. For anyone who has not yet but wants to, please note that I will curate this particular thread for the foreseeable future, and once filled will be replacing designs on the leaderboard where newer, improved, or simply more interesting versions of the same concept are submitted, so please feel free to participate.

We are all people of honour here, and you sir have earned another platinum place: the first without ISRU. Congratulations! I shall update the leaderboard when next at my computer...

To all followers of this challenge: 1. Thank you . 2. Should a 42-piece Jool 5 mission be Gold or Platinum? I'm veering toward the latter, but welcome views. Yes I am pre-empting the ambition and skill of members of this forum... I'll not be attempting it myself (this week, at least... )

That was epic! And a great learning resource to boot. Adding to the leaderboard...

This could be fun...

So... in the spirit of keeping up with the neighbours, here is my submission (apologies for a quick and dirty edit job). Some details have been teased out earlier, but in summary: Jeb was still waiting in a field outside the KSC after returning from Laythe, so this one was with Val and Bill. 42 parts meant no fuel pump, requiring some... creative first stage antics. Transfer to Eve was uneventful, as was decelerating to LEO. My personal favourite moment was the detachment (somewhere around 00:50) of what KSP regards as "debris", but is in fact essential fuel for a return journey (indeed it was enough for about 3 return journeys, but I like to build in some leeway...). The low point was when Val sent Bill outside on a made-up errand, and then "detaching" the lander pod. He'll now be calling that pod home for some time to come... She got her comuppence when she missed the VAB roof by about a metre, and I refused to let her have a do-over... Craft file here: https://kerbalx.com/dnbattley/The-Impossible42 Technically the craft file above and image below are slightly off per the video as I had replaced the topmost T100 visible with a T400 for an additional source of dV for the main craft in case it was needed for reaching LEO (in the end it wasn't), but the relatively minimal effort of changing them now somehow just seems too high for me, and since it's my challenge anyway, I shall award myself a pass on doing that You sure did! Nailed it too... Congratulations! You are the inaugural Platinum winner. Leaderboard will be updated asap.

I have seen the Eve Rocks challenge before, but confess I had to refresh myself on its contents: it sadly appears to have fallen into disrepair since 1.0 (and I note your activity on the challenge from 2014: I bow to your long time experience!)... As to my experience: I've been in and around KSP (and occasionally lurking in this forum, but actively posting on the subreddit) for a few years now, and definitely consider myself in the upper quartile of players, but the funny thing is I only (very) recently got round to actually attempting to land on Eve (as evidenced by my post on the matter). Hope you get the issues sorted: looking forward to seeing your submission on here in due course

Sort of... it is indeed a Mk2 Lander, for taking 2 Kerbals into orbit: one of them gets to sit in an EVA chair for the duration of the Eve landing (having transferred in orbit). The other one... stays in the lander, on Eve, having overseen the refuelling work... Sorry Bill: there just wasn't the dV to lift a capsule off, nor the available parts to add a ladder. I promise I'll send someone back for you... at some point. Anyway... new video shot (I've done this mission so many times now I can almost do it blindfolded): just need to clean up the "outtakes" and will then post the whole thing in 10x speed or so... possibly even with some commentary to help explain things. Landed at 130m above sea level: was pushing for the "platinum" status... I fear you might have problems on Eve with that design on both landing stability, ensuring it doesn't "see-saw" in half on lift off (though auto-strut might be strong enough to cope there), and that the dV might only permit a higher altitude landing. Nice simplicity to the design: the majority of the mass of my craft was the booster section just to get itself up to 5000m, ready for the single vector mid-stage to kick in, and even then it had to cope with a few seconds of <1 TWR...

Part limit... 42 Eve capable lander cost... 154,766 Your wife leaning on your computer's power button while you were recording the mission... priceless. *sigh*

Great mission report! Thanks for the heads up - I'll investigate and update today, together with adding your impressively functional mission to the leaderboard. EDIT: I forgot to "publish" the craft. Now fixed. Meanwhile I have almost finished preparing another mission report which should be something quite special...

I'm sold on making the change, and propose Lathe surface reduced to Bronze (land)/Silver (sea), Eve surface to Silver (3000m+)/Gold (300m+)/Platinum (<300m), and will update the rules. Apologies to anyone already working towards a given award level... I'm not yet convinced about upgrading Tylo to gold as a low part lander with the necessary 5-or-so-k dV doesn't strike me as all that hard, though I can see it challenging the space plane crowd...

I will trust in your honour, good sir. Haha... thank you very much! I may be new posting in this particular forum, but believe me when I say that underneath this youthful "visage" lie some pretty gnarly KSP wrinkles...

Hmmm... I would definitely consider it borderline to design a craft that can only be flown using computer control, and so would be against using flight assist to launch, plan and execute all manoeuvres in a mission, but I won't bar use of the mod as it doesn't ultimately change the physics, and am happy for an honour system to apply.

Laythe is indeed a distinctly more reasonable destination than Eve: I may even need to downgrade it to Silver (unless it's an actual sea-landing, perhaps?). Good luck on the landing though: 4 extra parts could offer extra-sturdy landing legs perhaps?

I'm not familiar with the exact capabilities of the autopilot mod, but provided it is "assisting" and not "flying the whole mission for you", then yeah, sure.

Really? I knew about the WH stats (hence the ban-hammer), but am running base game myself so wasn't aware of any other supercharged parts... Maybe I will have to add extra kudos points to those who eschew such benefits!