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I've just completed this awesome challenge. This must be one of the most difficult things I have ever done in KSP, but it was well worth the effort. Mission report here: and here: https://imgur.com/a/di5MCog In short, I completed Levels 1, 3, 4 and 5 of the challenge, all within a single mission. With a craft <500 tons, <250 k$ and no ISRU (apart from drilling for ore as required for level 4). Some notes: 1. I used Infernal Robotics to turn my lander into a boat, driven by paddle wheels. I think it would be possible to make similar paddle wheels with the robotics parts from Breaking Ground, but I don't own it. So I hope the organizer agrees with my decision to use IR instead. 2. I accidentally forgot to disable Hyperedit on the first part of the mission. Rest assured I did not use it for the actual mission (I did use it to test my lander, but not on the actual mission). 3. In my opinion, drilling for ore is harder than the ultimate challenge (at least drilling ore from the seabed as I did). The 250 kg of extra payload made it quite hard to design a return vehicle capable of reaching Eve orbit. Some screenshots: My craft in the VAB. Val landing the craft. Chutes have just been fully opened and heat shield has been jettisoned in preparation of a landing in Eve's Crater Lake I'M ON A BOAT! https://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-tweets-im-on-a-boat-spacex-video-2016-4?international=true&r=US&IR=T 4 Eve samples, 1 Gilly sample and 25 ore from Eve, all safely back on Kerbin with the crew

Over the past week or so I have been doing the Eve rocks challenge: And what an amazing challenge this has turned out to be. To recap, the challenge asks you to do one of the following: Additional points can be scored if your mission satisfies one or more criteria for efficiency / difficulty: I chose to make the challenge even harder for myself by doing multiple levels in a single mission. In short, I collected 4 surface samples AND 25 ore from Eve, as well as 1 surface sample from Gilly. All with a craft with mass of 477 tons which cost 235046 credits. And I did not use ISRU, other than drilling for 25 ore. I did not try to optimize mission time, my mission lasted for more than 2 years. All this means that I completed Levels 1, 3, 4 and 5 simultaneously, with separate samples for each mission. As far as the score goes, this gets me 1500 + 250 + 250 + 325 + 25 = 2350 points from completing level 5. I have no idea if I am allowed to add the points for the other completed levels to the total, so I'll leave it at that. I've written a full mission report here: https://imgur.com/a/di5MCog. And finally, a heartfelt THANK YOU to Johnster_Space_Program, for running this awesome challenge.

Good to know that others are seeing the same. I can confirm it is not the DLCs, as I don't have them. In my case the problem arose in my "Douglas Adams" mission to Eve. As I only had 42 parts to play with I coupled my command module to my lander (which had a command seat inside a fairing) via one of the fairing nodes. And since the capsule in my command module was the root node for the entire ship, after decoupling the fairing became the root node of the lander, which then failed on ascent because of this issue. My hunch is that if the fairing is the root, the aero system reacts as if you don't have a fairing at all, just the flat base plate.

Can I still submit a craft to this challenge? I completed a 42-part flight to Eve's Eastern Sea and back: https://imgur.com/a/fzHlZ44. I used version 1.8.1 without any of the DLCs. Craft file here: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1909683319 My craft, "Up goer 42-III" in the VAB. I tried this challenge twice before, but both times the lander malfunctioned despite lots of testing. Splashdown of my lander into Eve''s Easern Sea. I found that a 10 meter heat shield makes an excellent raft and launch platform. Jeb and Val safely back on Kerbin. They had to bail out and use their personal parachutes as I did not have any parts to spare for a chute on my craft.

I ran into something weird a couple of days ago: my Eve lander worked perfectly when I tested it separately: it ascended into Eve orbit from its landing in the Explodium Sea. However, the same craft could not complete its ascent during the actual mission. I've done some testing, and my conclusion is that it matters which component is the root component. If I make the fairing the root component, the center core generates a lot more drag compared to when I make one of the fuel tanks inside the fairing the root component. See pictures below for these differences: This is with the fairing as root element. Note the very large drag spike of the center core, and that boosters are empty at this point. This is the same craft, but with the upper stage fuel tank (inside the fairing) as root element, at about the same airspeed. Note the much smaller central drag spike, and the fuel remaining in the boosters. Does this sound familiar to you? Is this a known bug, or if not, is it worth adding to the bug list? Could this be the result of a mod I am running? This is a complete list of mods of my game, according to CKAN: Click through blocker Docking port alignment indicator HyperEdit Kerbal Alarm Clock KER Precise Maneuver Trajectories Transfer window planner TriggerAu flags Warp Everywhere Nothing in this list jumps out at me saying "this mod messes with the aerodynamics while flying", but I could of course be wrong.

9 km/s dv is impressive! That said, the Engine Cluster Adaptor Tank and Mastodon should be, in my opinion, forbidden as they go against the spirit of a 1.25 meter challenge. You could simply forbid DLC parts, but that feels artificial. How about a rule stating that you may only use parts that are in the 1.25 meter list and not in any other size category? It would invalidate my 2nd entry (my 1st is still good), since this rule forbids the Mk1 capsule, but that will make the challenge more interesting.

Thanks! Please do, I'd be interested to see what you can come up with. And if my efforts can inspire others, so much the better!

An improvement on my previous mission: I planted a flag on Gilly using a craft with exactly 10 1.25m parts. See https://imgur.com/gallery/COm2aSI for the full mission report.

Thank you! I've never done an EVA landing myself, that gives a lot of extra options for this challenge. For one, the craft does not need a parachute as you can EVA the crew and land them under their own chute. Let's see where this idea brings me. @ffx, are you still following this thread? I realize that you got a lot of criticism over your initial challenge, but with dnbattley's additions on what exactly counts as a 1.25 meter part and a more ambitious goal I have been thoroughly enjoying it. If I may make a suggested change to your challenge: "You have to plant a flag somewhere in the Kerbol system. Normal mode: plant the flag on Kerbin, after landing. Hard mode: plant the flag on the Mun or Minmus. Super mode: impress me" Normal mode is suitable for newer players but it has its own little challenge, in that you must do a Kerballed mission (as opposed to a much lighter probe core) and ensure that you don't land in the water.

dnbattley, challenge accepted! With bonus gravity assist from the Mun. See https://imgur.com/gallery/upmFcIV for my full report of the mission.