capi3101

4,000, eh? So that's what I was doing wrong... It is a doable challenge; I've seen a lot of folks with the Escape device on their Kerbol ribbons. The tricky bit comes with the scoring rules.

Phoenix2301, how you do it does not matter; what matters is that it gets done. If you want to try a swingby, go right ahead.

Stock game launch - the advice I give folks in general is straight up to 10,000, then turn to 45 degrees elevation along heading 090. Follow the nav ball once it comes around and watch your time to Apoapsis (for which you go flying in map mode). You want your time to Apoapsis to be between 35-55 seconds during the bulk of the ascent (i.e. before your speed gets much above 2000 m/s). If it goes under 35 seconds, return to 45 degrees elevation. If it goes over 55 seconds, burn along the horizon (zero elevation). Watch your gee meter (on the right hand side of the nav ball) as you ascend; you want it right at the top of the green zone - throttle back if you need to. Kill the burn when the Apoapsis is where you want it (or go a little higher if your altitude is still relatively low, <~50,000 m). Set up a maneuver node to circularize and begin burning when the time to the node is roughly half the total amount of time indicated for the burn.

If you're not adverse to mods, you might give PreciseNode a whirl. In addition to allowing you to fine-tune the particulars of your maneuver nodes, it allows you to switch the conic patch draw mode in game. One extra (nice) bonus is that it has a button that will let you refocus on your craft. Stock game, go with Kasuha's advice.

I'ma gonna be a stickler for the rules, guys. BobNova; I'm afraid I have to count your entry as provisional for the time being - see submission guidelines #1 and #3 (I need to see the words SUN and ESCAPING on the final disposition screenie - this also has the mass data I'll need in the event of a future tie). Your scoring numbers match up and I will award you the 146 points when your entry is completed. I do appeciate you using the TT18-As; I need to make a clarification there, which I'll post here and revise my rules to reflect. 1A) You may use TT18-As; this is the only exception allowed to Rule #1. TT18-As will earn 4 points apiece as per the scoring rules below. Alchemist - looking forward to your re-attempt.

I know that traditionally the person posting the challenge is supposed to demonstrate that the challenge is doable. I did make such an attempt last night, but it was not successful (single-stage yes, Kerbol escape no); I will make another attempt when I can. Hopefully that doesn't cause interest to wane.

Greetings, all. Due to an increased focus on avoiding the dangers of Kessler Syndrome (no doubt due to a late night screening of the blockbuster flop "Gravioli" for the KSC administrators), the KSC administration has decided to conduct their next mission with an emphasis on keeping the whole craft intact the entire time. No decoupling events equals no space debris, equals Sandra Kerman continuing to live and work in outer space, right? The assignment: Send a probe on a escape trajectory from Kerbol. The challenge: It has to be all one stage. No decoupling events. Period. RULES: 1) For your entry to be scored, your craft must remain 100% intact from the time it launches/takes off to the time Kerbol escape is achieved. No parts may break off or be separated from the rest of the craft at any time. 1A) You may use TT18-As; this is the only exception allowed to Rule #1. TT18-As will earn 4 points apiece as per the scoring rules below. 2) Your craft must be unmanned. Your Kerbals may want to meet Sandra Kerman someday... 3) No hyperediting or infinite fuel allowed. Fly honest or not at all. 4) You may use any mods you wish to complete the challenge. This includes parts mods (but there is a penalty for using mod parts as per the scoring rules below). 5) You may build either a spaceplane (SPH launch) or a rocket (VAB launch); there will be separate leader-boards for both. You may make separate entries if you so choose. 6) Career or sandbox does not matter (though tech level of the parts does, as per the scoring rules below). 7) This challenge to remain open as long as there continues to be interest in it. Rules subject to change for the sake of clarification if requested. SUBMISSION GUIDELINES: To submit an entry for the challenge, the following must be provided - 1) Your craft file. This is being used both to score your entry as per the rules listed below as well as to verify the number of parts. 2) A screenshot of your craft on the pad or in the VAB. This will be used for the rest of the community to have something to ogle. 3) A screenshot of the map view showing your Situation as ESCAPING and your Sphere of Influence as SUN, like this one: (Not my screenie; apologies to the person to whom this actually belongs) This final screenshot will be used to prove that you completed the assignment, of course. SCORING: Craft will be scored based on their parts. Each part included in the craft will receive a score based upon where that part falls on the wiki's Tech Tree. The number of points for the part will equal the "Tree Level" of the specific technology ordinarily required to unlock the part. To clarify: 1 pt = Starting Tech 2 pts = Basic Rocketry 3 pts = General Rocketry, Stability, Survivability 4 pts = Advanced Rocketry, General Construction, Flight Control, Science Tech 5 pts = Fuel Systems, Advanced Construction, Aerodynamics, Advanced Flight Control, Electrics, Space Exploration, Landing 6 pts = Heavier Rocketry, Specialized Control, Specialized Construction, Supersonic Flight, Precision Engineering, Advanced Electrics, Advanced Exploration, Advanced Landing 7 pts = Nuclear Propulsion, Large Control, Advanced MetalWorks, Advanced Aerodynamics, High Altitude Flight, Unmanned Tech, Ion Propulsion, Large Electrics, Electronics, Field Science 8 pts = Very Heavy Rocketry, Meta-Materials, Composites, Heavy Aerodynamics, Hypersonic Flight, Advanced Unmanned Tech, Large Probes, Specialized Electrics, Advanced Science Tech, Advanced Motors All mod parts score 15 points regardless of where the mod designer has placed their mod along the tree (for example, KER last time I checked could be unlocked with Starting Tech; the KER parts count 15 points instead of 1). For an example of parts scoring, let's say your craft contains 20 EAS-4 Strut Connectors. Struts are unlocked with General Construction, so they add 4 pts each. You have 20 Struts, so they will add 80 points (20x4) to your overall score. Lowest score leads the challenge. In the event of a tie, the craft with the lowest mass at the time the respective entry is received will lead. If necessary, further ties will be broken by earliest date and time of submission. Good luck to all entrants. ===LEADERBOARDS=== Spaceplane (SPH launch) Category: 1. Cyberklad, 266 points, final mass 10.05t, submitted 1407Z 3/1/14 [Mechjeb] 2. capi3101, 493 points, final mass 10.97t, submitted 0136Z 3/3/14 [KER, PreciseNode, KAC] 3. Rocket (VAB launch) Category: 1 Alchemist, 37 points, final mass 7.8t, submitted 0753Z 2/27/14 2. Bobnova, 146 points (provisional), final mass 3.86t, submitted 1626Z 2/26/14 [FAR] 3. SlayerMcGee, 152 pts (provisional), final mass unknown, submitted 1216Z 3/3/14

Alrighty - here's my entry: Side FL-T100 is empty and the one in the main stack is about 60% full. I had the mass of the counterbalance wrong so she was constantly trying to pull to one side, though not significantly enough to throw off the flight. Rather enjoyed it, actually.

Launched a couple of space probes for challenges tonight. One successful, the other not; the successful one was sent out past the orbit of Jool - the second one was supposed to go on a Kerbol escape trajectory and the numbers said it should've been able to make it. Trying to figure out what I did wrong at this point.

I was going to ask why Kasuha's run was DQ'd...then I saw the Jumbo64... No prob - just replace it with an FL-T800 center and six FL-T400s outboard and run fuel lines. Same amount of gas. The Skipper oughta still attach okay. I'll try a crack at this my own self tonight. May attempt my earlier scoring suggestion just for lulz.

RTBs? Do you mean no PB-NUKs? It's difficult to tell from your screenie if you're using them or not. The rest of it doesn't sound terribly difficult - you can "escape" Kerbol with a craft that can make a Mün flight. I'd say tweak the rules for scoring - entrants should post a parts list or their craft file along with screenies proving they've completed the challenge. Each part is given a score equal to the tier of the tech required to unlock it (with Starting Tech = 0). An entrant's score is the total point value of their craft; low score wins - that would award people who could perform the feat with a) fewer parts and lower technology levels. Point bonuses could be given to those who can do the whole shebang in a single stage (i.e. no separation events whatsoever between launch and Kerbol "escape"). Just a thought; if you want to do it by "who can get there first", that's fine.

Follow Padishar's line of thought with the delta-V; he's absolutely correct.

Where exactly are you at in the tech tree? Here's a trick: You can build a Mainsail equivalent from 6xLV-T30s, 1xLV-T45 and Modular Girder Adapters (Starting Tech). This configuration will result in more parts and more mass, but will give you comparable thrust and have a higher Isp; change it up to eight LV-T30s and you'll have greater thrust than a Mainsail (1920 kN). Set the girders parallel to the sides of a large tank (X200-8, X200-16 or X200-32 depending on what you've got available), stick the LV-T30s on the bottom and the LV-T45 centerline. The Girders allow fuel flow. Slap two X200-8s on top of one another, put another six radially around them, run fuel lines to the center from the outboard tanks and put the faux Mainsail engine configuration on them, and you've got the equivalent of an orange tank/Mainsail. All you need for that to work is Fuel Systems, picking up General Construction and General Rocketry along the way (no more than 160 Science points total from the start of your career game).

I misread the rules; apologies. It looks like we can all design our own near replicas. How will this challenge be scored, exactly? Are we just looking for folks that can do it, or will there be some scoring system based on how close to the original specs we can get? EDIT: Another question - are you sure you've got 54 parts there? I'm looking and I can see 24...

KER is awesome. There's also another mod that would automatically set up your existing command pods to use KER without having to add parts, so its something that could be applied in the event that you're talking about a craft that's already up and running. As for delta-V maps, I recommend blizzy78's over JTDismangs; blizzy's map is newer and more complete (including data such as delta-V for plane changes). Now, as far as a 50k orbit of Minmus to landing is concerned, you need only to calculate the orbital velocity at that height - dependent on this formula: V = sqrt(mu/R), where V is the orbital velocity, sqrt is "square root", mu is the Gravitational Parameter - the Gravitational Constant (6.67 *10^-11) times the body's mass (information already calculated for you on the wiki), and R is the radius from the center of the body. So we go to the wiki: Minmus's mu is 1.7658*109 m3/s2 and its radius is 60,000 m. We're wanting a 50 kilometer orbit, so R in this case is 110,000 (60,000+50,000) Now we just plug in the numbers: V = sqrt (1.7658*109 / 110,000) = sqrt(16052.727 m2/s2) = 126.699 m/s Your velocity when you've landed is zero, of course. So optimally, you'll need 126.699 m/s of delta-V to complete the manever. Naturally it'll take a bit more than that if your piloting is not up to snuff, but you can make plans for it.

First thing's first - the two fuel tanks are NovaPunch parts IIRC. What are their specifications in terms of mass and fuel? At least I assume the big one is a fuel tank...

Thought I'd take a crack at a challenge that involved flying two Jumbo64 tanks over to the island runway and back again without breaking. Didn't make it off the KSC runway on account of shoddy structural design. Might have to try again tomorrow.

Not sure I follow...that quote's intended as a reference to the Wing Commander novel "Action Stations" by William R. Forstchen. I have done a thing or two related to Wing Commander before, though unofficially. I wouldn't necessarily say I do impossible things, either. Improbable perhaps. (Bill's standby quote in my save game is, of course, a reference to the Enya song "Orinoco Flow", which was arguably one of the most annoying pieces of music ever written IMHO. I don't think it shows up in the Constipation XI mission report I posted previously though.) I digress from the topic, of course. Apologies to all. Geschosskopf's advice is sound; a lander with 2500-3000 m/s of delta-V and at least three kN of thrust per tonne is what you need (preferably you'd want closer to five kN per tonne but you can still take off with three). With that basic transfer stage I posted previously (the BZ-52 "tutorial"), you could easily make a Duna round-trip with a lander weighing up to 58 tonnes and with a comfortable margin for error. Put RCS on your lander, launch the transfer stage and lander seperately, dock them in Kerbin orbit and off you go. Of cours, that's just one way of doing it; you could just as easily incorporate all the elements into a single launch.

I would humbly suggest removing the RCS tank entirely - as noted, it's a weak structural link. If you still want that much RCS available for your mission, replace it with four RCS Cylinders instead, that way you still have the same amount of Monoprop available but it won't have as much of a bearing on the structural stability or your stack. Or follow the excellent advice that you've already received up to this point. You might also try throttling back as you get further into the atmosphere; definitely consider this if your gee meter is climbing out of the green zone, as structural failures have an increased risk of occurring once the gees get to be a bit much. If that solves the issue, you might want to take another look at your asparagus and see if you can revise it to follow '>Temstar's general guidelines (old but still very much valid).

MarvinKitFox has given you a good suggestion - as has others: shorten and widen your lander. It'll be less prone to tipping over that way. It's perfectly legit (and doable) to stick your lander legs out on Modular Girder Segments or I-beams, As far as the multiple-engine question is concerned, I'm kinda up in the air. Since you can't control the individual throttles of each engine in game, all that they would do is provide additional thrust. Which is not necessarily a bad thing, depending on what body you're landing on - Mün, it could come in handy. Minmus, probably not. Gilly you could land on with RCS... Chasing the retrograde marker is key, as others have suggested. The rest is practice. I'd say more but I gotta run; maybe later if you're still having issues. Mechjeb and KER are not necessary for landing, but they sure help an awful lot.

Launched a new Auk. Circularized. Did the plane change for rendezvous with the T-Bolt; that was all the more time I had yesterday.

To be clear - you can use a chemical engine (LV-909 / Poodle) to go to other worlds. It's just that in space the LV-N Atomic Rocket Motor has an Isp of 800; over twice that of the next highest pair of engines (the aforementioned LV-909 or Poodle), which means you need about half the fuel you would need otherwise to get where you want to go. I've done interplanetary travel on chemical engines before for challenges. It is definitely NOT a launch stage engine; you want it for your payload.

Landed the Auk for Bob's test towing run. Beautiful landing, if slightly misaligned; I really need to get about the resetting the ILS on my main sandbox game (all the markers are misaligned because of the KSC redesign a few version ago). Made the mistake of resetting the RCS ballast before I'd hooked up the tow cart; it tipped up on its end and knocked off two more of the engines, reducing the total number to four (too few for a successful launch). I still went ahead and let Bob do a tow and refuel for the hell of it. That part went well and I daresay had the plane been intact at that point I would've avoided the unfortunate incident that Jeb had on the first tow, which knocked off the center engine. The Thunderbolt probably will be refueled in another three runs; so far this isn't turning out to be the fastest way of delivering fuel, but I'm still thinking it'll matter once economy makes it into the game. Good to get practice. Went ahead and designed a heavy bomber for a challenge; having my typical new plane woes - CoL is too far back and there aren't enough elevons and canards to have reasonable pitch control just yet. I get the feeling the challenge is designed for folks using aircraft mods anyway, but I still want to give it a go.

Indeed: That's an SSTO. That's an SSTO. That's an SSTO. That's an SSTO. It's just not reusable...

Sent the refueled Auk VIII back to the Thunderbolt, sans one engine. docking and refueling once again successful. Bob's waiting with the crash cart to do the whole cycle over again. I think this time around I'll try backing the tow cart a little further away from the Auk before I go to tow it.