Alpaca Z

Just finished my single stage to Eve and back without ion engine mission. Here are some images and the video.

I think I actually proved it to be possible now. With the brand new Eve SSTA ∞. It is capable of reaching Gilly from Eve sea level in a single stage, and it can land on Tylo. I think that should be sufficient to prove it's an SSTA.

I believe I have created the first ever stock+DLC craft capable of reaching Kerbin from Eve sea level in a single stage, with no kraken/magic/clipping or ion engines. As a result, it can be infinitely reused. It can also land on any other terrestrial bodies in the stock Kerbol system, so it is Single Stage to Anywhere. The video is here: More information and the craft file can be found in the description of the video.

Sure! Here it is: KerbalX - Eve ship 01 Both craft files have been added to the description of the YouTube video.

This mission sets up an Eve base for the upcoming Eve SSTA mission.

I saw three answers saying Mainsail. While it is a good engine and I used to put it on all my rockets, its position has been replaced by Mastodon since I bought DLC. Mastodon has the highest TWR among bare liquid fuel engines in the game, even higher than Mammoth. Its sea level Isp is higher than Mainsail and its cost is much lower. And it's fairly small (bare version), so you can make a huge cluster of them under your giant rocket. (Of course, Twin boar has higher TWR if you subtract the weight of the integrated fuel tank)

I know it's almost impossible. But I will still have a try. At least, I would like to make an Eve SSTO by myself.

Thank you!

Thanks! The xenon part is the only small regret I have. I will try to make my own SSGT craft without relying on ion engine, but it's going to be extremely hard.

There are certainly non-biological natural minerals or resources that contain a lot of usable energy (in chemistry, it is often computed in terms of Gibbs or Helmholtz free energy). For example, there are liquid ethane lakes on Titan, and Titan's atmosphere contains a high concentration of methane. These are all highly reductive substances, ie, fuels. Ammonia is another abundant chemical in the outer solar system that can be used as fuels. However, naturally occurring oxidizers are rare. Hydrogen peroxide and molecular O2 have been found on Europa, but are at low quantities. A study by NASA in 2013 found "a peroxide abundance of 0.12 percent relative to water on the side of Europa that always leads in its orbit around Jupiter". Mapping the Chemistry Needed for Life at Europa | NASA They are created by intense particle bombardment from Jupiter's strong magnetic field. So there is definitely a chance to mine liquid fuels, but not so much for oxidizers. With liquid fuel only, you will not be able to run a fuel cell. Things become different when you consider mining nuclear fuels. Nuclear energy (fission, fusion or radioactive decay) are independent of bio-processes, and there is no difference mining them on Earth or other planets.

I agree that it is fairly well known that ion engines are over-powered in the game. Just wanted some math practice for myself ... Actually, if the thrust of Dawn was reduced by 500 to 1000 times, then everything about it makes sense. The batteries can be Li-ion ones and one electricity unit would be 0.036 MJ. This compromise is fine for ksp, however I really hope KSP2 will amend this flaw. Because when travelling interstellar using non-chemical propulsion, I believe it is extremely important to have the correct energy balance.

Hi, I am new to this forum. I would like to share my recent mission of Single Stage Grand Tour, using only stock and DLC parts. This is a grand tour mission to visit every planet and moon in the Kerbol system that has a solid surface (including Eve and Tylo), using a single-stage craft. I am also trying to do it as fast as possible, and finish the trip within 16 years, so gravity assist is avoided. Many thanks to @Lt_Duckweed for creating this extraordinary craft! I have got permission from him to use it in my video. Here is the video:

Thanks for your suggestion and warm welcome! I hope to create my own craft for a single stage grand tour mission, but that still needs some more work. Edit: I got permission and here is my video

Supposedly most ksp players already know that the “Dawn” ion engine in the game is way overpowered. But probably few people have wondered how unrealistic it is. So I decided to do some simple calculation to show that the ion engine in the game actually defies laws of nature. The Dawn ion engine has 4200 s Isp with a max thrust of 2 kN. The max power required is P=½*F*c=41.2 MW. This means it consumes at least 41.2 MJ of energy per second (not counting efficiency). In the latest version of ksp (1.12.3), each Dawn engine consumes 8.74 units of charge per second when at max thrust and Isp. This means each unit of charge should be at least 4.71 MJ of energy. Let’s then look at the batteries in game to figure out if this is possible. Battery: 5 kg equals 100 units of charge. Hydrogen fuel cells have the highest specific energy among all practical energy storage devices. Assuming the batteries are hydrogen fuel cells with 100% mass of reactants, the standard Gibbs free energy of formation for liquid water at RT is 13.17 MJ/kg. Then the total energy that can be stored in 5 kg of H2 and O2 is 65.87 MJ. 1 unit of charge = 0.6587 MJ. (If the batteries are Li-ion instead, specific energy ~ 200Wh/kg = 0.72 MJ/kg. In this case, the total energy in 5 kg is 3.6 MJ. 1 unit of charge = 0.036 MJ.) In summary, real life physics and chemistry indicates that 1 unit of charge < 0.6587 MJ. In conclusion, there is no way that the in-game ion engine can produce such a high thrust in real life. To be even remotely realistic, either the thrust should be reduced by 10 fold, or the electricity consumption should be increased by 10 times. This will make the already-unpleasant experience of using ion engines even more frustrating, so it is understandable that the game creator chose to make the ion engine unrealistic but fun to play.

I have done a single stage grand tour mission with a craft built by others. I just finished editing the video today. I have asked the original creator and I am waiting for permission to publish my video (should have asked earlier).

New forum member here. I play on an ROG laptop.

Hi, could you kindly provide some pictures or suggestions on how to do a single stage grand tour (including Eve)? I managed to do it with @Lt_Duckweed's craft, but I am also trying to do it again without ion engines.