GeneKerman

Sorry I\'ve been gone so long, health challenges and such took precedence. I thought you guys would like to see the Kerbal Cup Trophy that is going out today to Lassi in Finland! (yes, I was too cheap to pay $15 for a plaque to go on the $5 trophy. Budget cuts and all that, ya know! )

Very nice! The next Kerbal Cup will be after 0.9 is released, and will require the satellite be in Geosynchronous orbit.

oh neat! I just had a friend from Finland visiting me here in Florida. He works in telecommunications.

it's a bit late, so I'll make a featured news post in the morning. Herra, anything you'd like to add for posterity?

After careful consideration of the supplied evidence, and validating that the submitted craft was of legitimate construction and able to achieve altitudes in excess of 150,000m, maneuver at said altitudes, and successfully deploy a satellite at said altitudes, the voyage ending with the safe return of the crew; and said entry resulting in an orbit of the satellite closest to the parameters set forth, the prize committee is pleased to award EDIT: Herra Tohtori the first Kerbal Cup! Congratulations! (Please PM me with your postal address, and I'll go pick up the $2 plastic trophy tomorrow!) (sorry about the name mix-up!)

SEVEN HOURS remain in the Kerbal Cup Challenge! Will YOU be the one to claim Kearth's top prize in astronautics? A breathless world awaits!!! (oh wait, that's just Bill, Bob and Jeb after life support ran out. Never mind.) :-[ :-* ???

Gentlemen, your achievements have been astounding. I have no doubt that this contest will come down to the wire, with multiple qualifying entries by the deadline three days from now. I'm going to start the permanent Kerbal Cup Challenge category today on KNN to document your efforts. All Youtube videos will link back to the original author's page. A proud Kerbal nation salutes you! :hailprobe:

k;D

Johno, the deadline is August 3 8:01pm EDT (or, August 4, 00:01 UDT) You have plenty of time! Yeah, the orbital paramenters seem to be a little tight. I think we will just declare the closest person the winner for this round, and have the second Kerbal Cup challenge after 0.9 comes out. With the new parts and staging methods, it should be a lot easier.

Yes, it needs to be free-floating in order to do its job.

But winglets have drag. Of course, if you mean winglets on the SRBs, that's different, as they're getting jettisoned with them.

150km + or - 250m

I put SAS on the SRBs so I don't haul them past the time I need them.

I'm thankful that Memebase finally just split all the brony stuff off onto its own page.

Are you willing to wait two months for it to get there? ;D

Regarding lift, winglets *do* provide basic lift, but not airfoil lift. They're mostly for stabilization (which is why these bigger wings are dampening control inputs.) Airfoil lift and control systems on wings are already planned: http://kerbalnewsnetwork.com/?p=112

We're talking in IRC right now of the possibility of getting some MD5 sums or something we can use to compare .craft files. Of course, if someone wanted to cheat, they could send a different .craft file and photoshop the screenshots. I'm hoping that requiring configurations to be listed will prevent that, as others can and will try to replicate their feat using the same rocket.

I *was* going to ask for .craft files, but that seems too much trouble. With shots of the rocket on the pad, I'm hoping that I and others will be able to recreate the rocket and see if the capabilities match any dubious claims. I also just realized that I forgot to state that rocket configuration should be included in entries. (That's what I get for starting the post, going to the movies and coming home to finish it.)

Dateline Kerbopolis: Kerbal Media CEO Rupert Kerdoch today announced a competition for the private space industry: Using only off-the-shelf parts, contestants must put a communications satellite in a 150km orbit, observe it for at least one orbit to verify orbital stability, and return the crew safely to Kearth (and an exclusive first interview on KNN.) Winners will receive fame, glory, and a cheap plastic trophy, mailed parcel post. Kerdoch denied that this contest was a disguised attempt at getting a satellite into orbit on the cheap, stating 'For too long, we have waited for the government to properly utilize space. The Kerbal Cup Challenge will show that private industry can do it faster and cheaper.' Contest Rules [list type=decimal][li]Download the 'Stellarcom Communications Satellite' from the Kerbal Space Repository.[/li] [li]Contestants may only use the 'vanilla' rocket parts that are included with Kerbal Space Program, aside from the satellite itself.[/li] [li]Deploy the satellite in a circular orbit 150km high.[/li] [li]Observe the satellite for at least one orbit to verify circular orbit.[/li] [li]Return the crew safely to Kearth.[/li] Winner will be determined by who gets the satellite into the prescribed orbit cheapest, with the tiebreaker being the one who is closest to 150km exactly. Contest deadline is August 4, 00:01 GMT (August 3, 8:01pm EDT.) Entries should be posted in the 'Kerbal Cup Challenge' contest thread on the official forums. (EDIT: Please include rocket configuration in each entry.) In the event of multiple entries by the same person, only the latest/last entry will be considered. Contestants will need to submit the following screenshots: [li]The rocket on the launchpad[/li] [li]The satellite deployed in a circular 150km orbit[/li] [li]A second screenshot of the satellite 20 minutes later, showing it at same altitude[/li] [li]A third screenshot of the satellite 40 minutes after the first (which will be a bit more than one orbit,) showing it at same altitude.[/li] [li]A screenshot of the capsule safely landed.[/li] A margin of error +/- 250m is allowed in the orbit. Screenshots should be of the entire game screen, so that time elapsed, altimeter, etc can be seen. And yes, I will ship a cheap plastic trophy to the winner.

Just a reminder that if you want your artwork posted in the Kerbal News Network photostream, just let me know!

Yes, the rocket gets quite mad about the satellite perched way up there.

If I can figure out how to orbit, ANYONE can!

Yeah, I have something planned that I will announce tomorrow regarding that satellite.

foamyesque wins the 'Kerbal Buck Rogers' award! 8)

I'm using only stock parts, and can reach stable circular orbit and return safely with a realistic design: Chute Capsule Decoupler LFT LFT LFT LFT LFE + 6x (chute+SAS+SRB) The liquid engine fires at the same time as the SRBs. I find I don't need the SAS other once I'm up to speed, and added the chutes to the SRBs so that they are recovered, like on Shuttle missions. (I know it doesn't make a difference right now, but will in the future when we have to pay for them!) This rocket looks and flies pretty realistically.