ihtoit

that... would be insane!

nice 1! Leaderboard updated

great time, but - you cut! Runway, radio complex and the hangar! BLNT!

nice plane, but... 1. you cut on the outlap, both the runway and part of the major complex. 2. you cut over the research complex after you passed under the bridge. 3. you cut on the inlap, the same bit of complex you cut on the outlap. so, DQ'd.

OK, if you've seen the original Zippy de Doodah. you might have some idea of what this is gonna be... Kerbal Dynamics are preparing some very fast aircraft to perform treetop-level missions at ludicrous speed using nuclear propulsion systems developed by Werner von Kerman. Hence, they are looking for some daredevil pilots to replace those who have been... "retired". THE CHALLENGE: Go under the footbridge at the Research Complex as *fast* as you can. THREE TIMES. You launch, you go under the bridge, fly around (or drive around), go under again, go round, go under again, return to base. Simple as that. THE RULES: - ANY parts/propulsion mod valid. - NO exploits with the exception of Infiniglide (please indicate if you use solely infiniglide for guaranteed "KD Test Pilot" status). - FAR valid (please indicate for separate scoreboard). - Flight ceiling is hard 200m. Go above that at any point, your attempt is over. I recommend a HTOL. - Your vehicle *must* carry a Kerbal throughout the flight. - Your Kerbal *must* survive. - Your vehicle *must* survive intact. - Your vehicle *must* come to rest on the runway. PROOFS: Screenshot (F1) of each bridge pass, screenshot of landing, EOM F3 screenshot. NOTES/CLARIFICATIONS (subject to adjustment): By "any part", I mean any part. By "any propulsion mod" I mean *any method of propulsion* except OP nukes (however the Luvodicus Super Atomic and the Poseidon's Revenge, for the purposes of this challenge, will *not* be considered OP). Your vehicle *may* touch the ground (or even run along the ground!) at any point during your run. This is part speed challenge, again it's more a controllability challenge. Proof of Concept already exists in the Zippy de Doodah challenge - where a lap is partly validated with the requirement to fly *under* the bridge without touching the ground. SCORING: Average of your three passes in m/s LEADERBOARDS: NON-FAR 1. Darren9 in the Sepratron Spam Wheelbarrow Lawn Dart Thingy, at 147m/s (I'll take your word that you actually landed, that thing looks very stable when it's not getting booted up the behind!) 2. 3. 4. 5. FAR 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. INFINIGLIDERS 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Wings will be awarded to the top 5 scores in each class on 3 April 2014.

yes, any part is valid (I'm trying to get a video done in .23 with a baby helicopter whirligig thingy). And it's video for a good reason: course verification.

I'm calling "shenanigans" on this one.

nice of you to make that clarification *after* my entry was made...

Not that challenging. Though didn't see anything that said anything but the terminal stage must be stock only, I did have to put a midrange radio antenna on because I've got remotetech installed. Rockomax 48-7S, Communotron 5M for comms, eight 1x6 solar panels, eight tiny batteries, pancake okto probe body, standard SAS module. The lifter stage is my standard 1.25m heavy w/SRBs (based on KWRocketry Griffon and Thor SRBs), which was jettisoned when I achieved LKO (80x80km). The escape burn was a midnight horizon burn which kept going until the fuel ran out (I thought I'd exceed radio range first, the engine burned that slowly...) Final escape trajectory:

wait... so 1 stage to orbit, second stage to KET?

leaderboard updated

still here, still can't see videos, I think I have problems... will try with my netbook in the morning...

nice... I went for a slightly more compact design on my .18 XWing, it uses Super Atomics so is well capable of SSTO. I'm going to do an updated design (.23 fresh install because everything just went A over T).

see rule 2.

sorry, dude, two part disqualification (nice plane tho ) 1. you cut the 27 end of the runway on the out lap 2. you failed to stop on the runway. Altitude good (some close calls there!)

that is well gorgeous, makes me wish I'd installed IR before I started my proof... that said, here it is: it is a work in progress, and you'll see why in a minute: Presenting, the "Topol-I" Rather oddly, you'll see that the missile is in fact suspended from its nose rather than sitting horizontally in a bay or on a cradle. This precludes adding a nosecone (wait, I could have done it with a cubic strut and one of those tiny decouplers - D'oh!), so the thing wobbled like heckery in the lower atmosphere. I can assure you that the vehicle does move (slowly), I trolleyed it back and forth (not brave enough to try a turn!) just to prove it could actually move, then engaged the brakes, did some last minute tweaks and got ready for firing. I bet you're wondering how I got it past that gantry arm? Look toward the top, you'll see two mini decouplers: one 3/4 up the main gantry and one connecting the missile to the drop arm. In between on the hookover, you'll see two pairs of ullage kick motors. They're there to make sure the hookover gets out of the way as quickly as possible (they actually send it about a km down the runway). Contrary to what the staging indicator says, the ullage motors and the missile's main engine, and the decouplers, all fire at the same time (refer to the aforementioned "tweaking"). Both the platform and the rocket have radio gear, but since I forgot to install a mod that allows a comlink between probes and mission control, no such communications happen on this run hence it isn't an official entry. However, I will keep score. All the fun animation out of the way, and one very scorched and annoyed Bill Kerman later, and I'm working my way up to LKO: I'm not done yet! Plotting for Eeloo from KrO: ...546 days out, and I finally make a rather tight (but not minimum), almost perfectly polar orbit: EELOO SCORE: 8650 I'VE GOT SCADS OF FUEL LEFT! HAVEN'T EVEN TOUCHED THE XENON DRIVE YET! (I had intended it to fire using the Super Atomic then jettison that stage, however changed my mind when I saw how much fuel I'd actually used!) I might turn this into the "Uberfailure" Grand Tour! To Be Continued... EDIT: or not. My installation fell over quite badly. I'm having to start it over and try and reduce the memory footprint - and do the lot without FAR, which I'm not used to anyway so I won't even miss that.

You've got to balance the TWR. Too much, you'll tumble, too little and you'll just topple over. Ideally you want surface TWR at launch somewhere between 1.5-3. Shoot for 2.75.

Something with a door?

.Craft file (verified download) .22+ Mods required: B9 Aerospace Firespitter MechJeb KWRocketry Performance envelope (non-FAR): Launch weight (tested): 81t (with 28t payload) Takeoff speed: 90.2m/s Service ceiling: 14,000m Maximal stable altitude: 27,000m (flameout altitude: 28,300m) Maximum range (tested at full throttle, 1600LF of 5620LF burned): 1,195km (possible at 30% cruise thrust?): 12,000km+ Cruise Speed: 750m/s at 14km Panic Speed: 1073m/s+ at 27km Spin Recovery: <9km (no engine restart required), <12km (full set restart) Disaster handling: will fly on any four engines to a wheeled landing after payload jettison. Payload: 28t+ 6 internal hardpoints (possibility for 9 - untested!) 6 wing missile pylons 6 wing droptanks Model provided comes with: 6 internal FL-T200 LFO tanks 6 Globe I SRBs 6 fuel droptanks Screenies: She rips around like a B52... hence the name: Cargo bay doors open showing payload: The scary shot: The beauty shot: Throttled down to 30% and she was still accelerating and still wanted to pitch up!:

bear with me, having problems viewing embedded video on *any* site atm, it just comes up black...

Cars 2 FTW!

Inspiration The KSC Board of Directors have passed me this Post-It: "We want a mobile launcher like the Red guys have!" What, this? (source: wikimedia) Yup. THE CHALLENGE: Design and build a mobile launch platform capable of launching a deployable* probe to any sphere of influence other than Kerbin. *read: radio comms via RemoteTech, or a science package. THE RULES: - The platform can be land, water or air based, however the actual launch *must* take place from the surface (land or water). - ANY parts mod is valid. - Usual "no exploits" rules apply. SCORING: Minimal Delta-V to each SOI (as far as you want to take it, multiple encounters score more!) according to the following Delta-V map: (source: wiki.kerbalspaceprogram.com) (Note: there is NO SCORE for merely attaining Kerbin orbit nor for attaining Kerbolar orbit or escape trajectory) +500 points for each successive encounter using the same probe on the same flight. +1 point for each km from the KSC reference point you launch from (measured as surface distance travelled), to a maximum 1885 points. LEADERBOARD: 1. Jasonden with an incredible machine, the LaME (Laythe Mare Explorer), 14272 (check my math ) for a soft landing! Such an awesome entry I'm going to relax the radio rule! 2. ihtoit with the Redneck Special, Topol-I, 8650 for a successfull Eeloo insertion.

I did a stock (on Vanilla .23 with FAR as the only addon), with no active control surfaces apart from the (slow and low) standard tailplane setup and Delta wings, couldn't get past 390m/s, period. Even as high as 10km. Didn't matter how many engines I added - managed to get up to 8 on a pair of Quads.

oh, brilliant... actually, since you have the proof of concept right here, how about you put up a challenge to build and deploy a mobile launcher capable of flinging a mun mission? EDIT: I did it - with a twist >:]

aw! I was going to come in with the water version of the MiniHuey! Think this, but with pontoons instead of wheels (or even, as well as...!):