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Hello forum readers! I have been home sick this week, and being bored ( and now that the forums are back up) I have decided to do my first Elcano Challenge. I wanted to do an easy one to start, so I picked Minmus. It's going to be a long journey, so we will be bringing extra snacks. Day 1: Getting There Day Two: The Journey Begins Day 3: Over the mountains Day 4: The terrain glitch Day 5: So close Day 6: The Final Stretch The proof that I made it: I hope you all had as much fun reading this as I had doing it. Thanks for reading!

After the first successful orbital mission of Ike in the history of Kerbalkind, data has confirmed that Ike is geologically active! The photo taken by the spacecraft below is among many taken aboard that hint at geological activity on Ike. Following the discovery, the brightest minds of the space agency have theorized that Ike's volcanic activity can be linked to Duna's tidal forces on Ike. The government has been well pleased with the Kerbal Space Agency's findings and has since granted bonus funds for future voyages to Ike. Now, the agency selected Jebediah Kerman to operate a manned rover exploration of Ike to learn more about the red planet's volcanic moon. Hi everyone! DylanSP here! I'm a new member of this forum, as you might be able to tell. When I got KSP2 in June, I was taken aback by the immersive experience. Is the game complete? No. But do I love KSP2? Without a doubt. Before I continue, I'd like to give credit to @Sp1f for inspiring me to start a ground-based circumnavigation mission of my own. You can check out their mission below. As my fictional introduction suggested, during my circumnavigation of Ike, I will be exploring the stratovolcanoes on Ike. Along the way, I hope to find places of interest and maybe even an easter egg! Inevitably though, I will have quite the bug collection along the way. So this is also an opportunity to help the developers find all the bugs and squash them! Anyway, My journey will be documented by days, which I don't mean ig days or irl days since the mission began, but rather irl days of active progress since the mission began. With all that being said, let the journey begin! Day 0 and Day 1 Preparation and the first part of the journey

My Circumnavigation Mission Kerbin - Complete Minimus - Complete! Mun - COMPLETE!! Duna - just started :V [BACK ON new prototype reaches sustained speeds over 80m/s!] -------- This... is it. The Enerstar E3 landjet Propelled primarily by 2-3 jet engines with 8 electric drive wheels to assist in launch speed. It has two miners ore bins and an onboard fuel converter. Enough passenger space for two in addition to the driver. You can even get out of it. -------- Early on I decided to test the capabilities which was probably a mistake as it required a lot of saving and yelling. So we went up through the mountains northwest of KSC And they did survive apparently. Next stop! The north pole! The north pole! It was at this point I came to a realization. I can't always rely on ore deposits. Or that was the thought (turns out you can) I also realized the ship needed some extra capabilities, bracing, and safety features. But I can't ruin their glory by sending a 2nd team, and I don't wanna drive all that way a 2nd time. What to do? Obviously the most logical solution is to spend millions upon millions of dollars in failed projects to ship a NEW land-train to the next continent. I tried LOTS of methods, one including an ICBM to launch the train, but usually this resulted in the aeroshield being full of train-soup and spinning out of control. A small child picked up a model of the train and flew it around the office, after yelling a lot, we decided "no! this is actually the best idea, I'm going to take the idea and give the child no credit" Thus the Enerstar E4 Carrier was born This was totally necessary because the E4 model is much better braced and capable of making the rigorous journey intact thanks to its increased bracing, batteries, and safety* features. The 4th generation also has the ability to dock with supply drops in order to get it out of areas with little to no ores. So far we haven't really found any areas that you would get stranded in, but we did spend tons of money making sure we wouldn't get stuck in one. More to come later as Crew-E3 makes their way south toward Sandoland to meed up with Bill delivering the E4 Ore-pod drop Passing the river south toward Enerstar-E4 FINALLY Bill hands off the Enerstar-E4 to the world-trip crew So that's the progress thus far. The next plan is to visit the pyramids.

“Two roads diverged in a wood and I, I took the one less traveled by.” – Robert Frost Juan Sebastián Elcano (1476 – 4 August 1526) was a Spanish explorer of Basque origin who completed the first circumnavigation of the Earth. After Magellan's death in the Philippines, Elcano took command of the nau Victoria from the Moluccas to Sanlúcar de Barrameda in Spain. This challenge is simple. So simple, it's easy. Well...it sounds easy. Those of us who have completed it would probably disagree. The challenge to you is to become the next Elcano. To do what no one, or very few, have done. A challenge to circumnavigate an orbital body, be it moon or planet, solely by ground and/or water. This challenge is a continuation of the original Elcano Challenge, posted by Fengist. It was subsequently managed by Claw, then rkarmark. This is the fourth iteration of the Elcano Challenge. Fengist's Elcano Challenge Claw's Elcano Challenge rkarmark's Elkano Challenge The rules are simple: Basically, you are to circumnavigate (drive all the way around) a celestial body, using a vessel on the surface, such as a rover or boat. Your path should not deviate significantly from the intended direction. Mark your start location. Flags, KerbNet markers, or screenshots work. Some mods allow you to track your path as well. Drive or boat back to your start location- the long way around... The main mission and all support missions must be launched from the launchpad or runway and delivered to the destination body. Part of the journey is getting the crew/ship there. (i.e. No HyperEditing or save file editing the vehicle into position. Any combination of launching, refueling, docking, or ISRU is permitted. The vehicle must be Kerballed during the circumnavigation. Doesn't have to be a pod, the lawn-chair seats are fine. The Kerbal only has to be on-board during the circumnavigation. You don't need to launch the entire mission in one giant ship. If the Kerbal(s) come later or were already waiting for the rover, that's fine. Stay on the ground or on/below the surface of any water. Brief jumps over dunes and such are permitted. This challenge is about traveling over the surface. Thrust devices (rockets, jets, props, RCS) are acceptable, as long as they are only used while in contact with the surface. Using thrust of any sort to control or change the trajectory of your rover while above the surface is not allowed. The same vehicle that crosses land must also cross the water. No ferrying your vehicle on a boat. That also means you can't intentionally remove wheels or pontoons when they are no longer needed. The vehicle needs to complete the entire circumnavigation as-is. If parts blow up or get knocked off, well, that's the Kerbal way, and that's ok.. You may send replacement vehicles. If you read Fengist's circumnavigation of Eve, you'll see why. Game mechanics are not kind to ground vehicles. Your crew must be transferred to any replacement vehicle and it must be very similar to the original. I understand this is a learning process, and will allow some design changes. You may use aerial and orbital recon vehicles. You may refuel if needed. Use of ISRU or similar mods is permitted. Saving and reloading (F5/F9) is permitted. In fact I highly recommend it. Please note that in the past repeated F5/F9s have adversely affected vessels, particularly if you use F5 while in motion. Not sure if that is still a problem or not.. Added a modded planet/moon section to the leaderboards (August 2022). Circumnavigations of non-stock CBs are welcome! The intent is that you control the vehicle during the entire circumnavigation. Using an autopilot goes against the spirit of this challenge. Any rule I haven't thought of that breaks the spirit of this challenge. The point of the challenge is to build a rover/boat, deliver the vehicle, and circumnavigate the body. KSP2 entries are absolutely valid and accepted! I am planning on adding a note in the leaderboards for any Elcano completions performed in KSP2. Proof: Document your journey via images or video, or as those of us who have managed to complete this challenge have done, accompanied by a description of the journey. If you are posting more than 4 screenshots, I humbly request that you put them inside a spoiler. Categories: Note that support and delivery vehicles also affect which category your entry falls under. Stock - Stock means stock. If you use any mods at all, you do not qualify for the stock category. Breaking Ground and Making History (BG & MH) are stock expansion packs, and do not disqualify you from a Stock entry. Stock Craft - The craft and all support craft are made from all stock parts with their stock configuration. Installed mods may not modify physics or add/modify parts in use by the craft. Mods that add PartModules to stock parts, but do not alter the stock parameters, are also permitted. Examples of permitted mods are information displays (such as KER), transfer window planners(TWP and KAC), and visual enhancements (such as EVE). “Stock Craft” means the .craft or save file can be used on a stock install and it looks/works exactly the same way (your mission would remain effectively unchanged without the mods). Modded - Use of add-ons that change physics or add/modify parts in use by the craft are permitted. An add-on’s technology level must be “near term” or of “next tier” type of capabilities as compared to stock. Mods that allow the user to skip elements of the challenge or violate the spirit of flying to and circumnavigating a body are not permitted. (i.e. Slightly better/larger/stronger engines, wheels, fuel tanks, etc. are permissible. Hyperdrives, antimatter engines, wormhole generators, hyper dense or exotic fuels, etc. are not allowed.) This challenge is not for the faint of heart. It will take persistence and a great deal of patience. If you're the competitive type and think of this challenge as a race it will get boring really quick. The leaderboards do not differentiate by speed or times- if you completed a circumnavigation you are on the leaderboard. Good luck and um... Godspeed.... And before you grumble about how long this will take... think back at how many hours you spent doing other things in KSP that ended up being less rewarding... If you are considering this challenge, but aren't sure how, I suggest looking at how other members accomplished it. As this (4th) version of the challenge is still new. take a look at the posts from the first three Elcano challenges, linked near the top of this post. Badges: I believe Fengist (original creator of the Elcano Challenge) designed the badges, for which I am grateful, they look great! If you believe you qualify for a badge, go ahead and grab it! You don't need to wait for your name on the leaderboard- if I am busy with work/life who knows how long that could take. Edit- actually I think the original badges were by @Fengist, but they were all redone by @Claw , who also probably had to add some new ones. FAQ: Coming soon! Circumnavigators GRAND MASTER NAVIGATORS Those who have circumnavigated every body in the stock KSP solar system. @Claw Stock @damerell Modded - Epic mission @Jack Joseph Kerman Stock @mystifeid Stock @Pouicpouic Stock - With a single rover @18Watt Stock ________________________________________________________________________________________ Master Navigators (aka Planetary Navigator) Those who have circumnavigated both Kerbin and Eve. ________________________________________________________________________________________ Master Mariners Those who have circumnavigated both Laythe and Kerbin by sea. (See notes in spoiler) ________________________________________________________________________________________ Kerbin Circumnavigators See notes in Master Mariner spoiler about Kerbin sea circumnavations. ________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________ Extra Planets From Mods Circumnavigators Badge not yet ready, but coming!

So I built a pretty sweet rover recently and ended up needing to drive it over a significant fraction of Duna's equator to rendezvous with a lander, this was pretty painless and made me think it might not be completely unreasonable to drive the whole way around. Even more recently than that I've noticed Elacno Challenge missions being a thing around here so I decided to try it out in my cool rover. Why am I making a thread about it? Sunk cost fallacy. It's already happening. Hopefully it makes for an interesting read. I chose Vall because it's gravitational situation is pretty similar to Duna, where I know that this rover is capable of high speed long haul driving, It's got mountains that I'm pretty sure my rover can absolutely humiliate with it's climbing power, and it has an easter egg that I've never actually seen in game before. Basically I wanted to know what I was getting myself into, but not so well that there would be no surprises. Except, surprise! I overestimated my vehicle, my computer and my patience quite severely. I fixed a bunch of things with my rover and my PC and decided to move the whole operation to Moho for another try, I start setting up for this almost immediately upon reaching Vall, but actually start moving stuff in Update #4 and the mission on Moho begins in Update #6. Moho's gravity is even more similar to Duna and as far as I knew while planning this move, it's terrain was a little more reasonable. The Journey to Vall: The First Day: I regret everything The Second Log: They're logs now, not days. Third log Report 4: A change of venue Our kerbals make final preparations to leave Vall ahead of schedule as preparations are made elsewhere for their arrival. Five: A new beginning Our crew makes their way to Moho via the absolute safest path because Moho is scary. Guest appearances by Minmus and Gilly. Part VI: A New Continuation Exoloper and her crew finally get underway on Moho 0111: A Continued Continuation The crew of Exoloper further beat a dead horse while making excellent progress across the surface of Moho

Hello forum readers. I recently became aware of the Elcano challenge to circumnavigate the surface of any orbital body by rover or boat. Then I went down the rabbit hole of mission logs submitted by forum users over the years as they attempted the challenge in so many different ways. This inspired me to compose a log of my own. The Gnat - Background The "Gnat" science and utility rover rolled out of the SPH in early career mode - year 0, day something-or-other. With 40 parts, weighing in at a cool 3.443 tons, she was built for science gathering and career missions as part of a landing system consisting of the Gnat and a reusable sky crane attached to the Munar Gateway Station. Here she is at her berth, distal to the escape pod array, before I ever heard of the Elcano challenge. Prior to creating this thread, our heroes Bill and Dofrod Kerman (no relation) were ordered by mission control to land on the Mun and perform a rover circumnavigation. They did so in style, performing many graceful maneuvers such as the one captured below. or this one After 27 days, Bill and Dofrod finally succeeded at circumnavigating the Mun. All the other Kerbals came out to party with them. Then they returned to the Munar Gateway Station to fix up the Gnat and chill out for a couple years. The Plan The plan for this circumnavigation is for Bill (engineer) and Dofrod (scientist) Kerman (no relation) to travel from the Munar Gateway Station to Minmus, make a landing on the Great Flats, then take a roughly equatorial route around the moon collecting science from all biomes except the Poles, visiting the easter egg, and completing as many career missions as are convenient (to fund future adventures). See the planned route below in blue. ...to be continued

Back at it again for those who saw the previous trip. I hadn't posted much on my other one but I've completed Duna, Mun, Minmus and Kerbin once But now. I've produced a new version of the Enerstar the model S Why? Because I felt I missed out on a lot of the planet my last time around. Whole continents i never explored, mountaintops un-flagged. That's why Enerstar S has 6 engines. In stress tests the engines were powerful enough to nearly lift the whole thing straight up when at full rev + boost I haven't gotten it to a "max speed" because I tend to run out of room by the time I reach 190m/s.. but the 'safe' cruising speed is more like 30-50m/s faster than my last one due to being wider and less prone to flip. Model S has 289 parts total 6 rear engines with afterburner mode for steep climbs 2 reverse engines (which are also.. reversible..) 1 cockpit, 2 crew modules, 2 large ore tanks, 2 ore processors sensors, heat, gravity, pressure, air sensors, ore scanners, and 1 top area scanner Dry weight no fuel 50 tons Full mass (ore and fuel), 100 tons https://imgur.com/a/QOzMfKv gallery location Front view Back And from the top before my first watercrossing into Sandoland Mountain climbing Top/side for a nice look at it And lastly a topdown comparison of my oldest model when I met up with where I left it More to come as I get going

I'm sure this has been suggested before, but since I tried and ALMOST did it today, I thought I would put it out there. In celebration of the new 1.4.3 release, I decided to fly around the world via the poles from the new desert runway. (And it seemed like a fun thing to do while listening to Italian Language recordings). Being a fairly crap plane builder, I just took a stock Stearwing, modified it to hold lots of fuel and then stuck and extra pair of wings on it because it would not get off the ground otherwise. It's not going to win any beauty awards, but it did the job. I managed to get all the way around with over a third of a tank of fuel left. Total flight time was about 5:58:00. (I mostly flew with stability on and timewarp on as well, so I did not sit here for 6 hours) I'm not sure exactly; the clock reads 5:57:17 on the last screenshot I took on approach. I then crashed. Argh! So, the challenge: fly around the world on a polar route, non-stop, and post your best time and show off your craft. You can start from any runway since the distance will be the same, as long as you land on the one you started on. I suppose we should put a ceiling of 12,000 on this as well. It should be flying, not orbiting. Oh, if you land intact, that's a bonus!

Time to announce my first mission that took several hours to test and put together. A mission called "Around the World in 80 Minutes?!". What is the objective of this mission? Well, just circumnavigate Kerbin within an 80 minute (1 hour and 20 minutes) time frame. You can play four of your favorite kerbals (two who are pilots) or you can play even a guest Kerbal. Who is this guest Kerbal? Why, it's none other than Chuck Kermanl! In fact, playing him we'll lead to quite a few interesting easter eggs. Play the mission and find out! In terms of overall difficulty, it can range from normal to difficult depending on skill and aircraft design. I decided to classify it as a hard mission as circumnavigating and then landing can be a difficult feat. Even more difficult is doing it in an 80 minute time frame. However, it is possible to do as I tested it. There is even a special reward (which admittedly, I haven't even got yet.) that gives you points for doing it in 60 minutes! This is actually quite possible depending on design and skill. Here is the long awaited link: https://drive.google.com/open?id=1Wll6qYMPojKb5dMH-mcw3IUONOKVUzpK Feel free to use this mission as a foundation for your own missions or even ideas from the mission. Heck, this could even encourage a pack of missions dealing with Chuck Kerman and his life as a highly skilled test pilot!

This is the chronicle of my stock Ike Elcana polar circumnavigation attempt. A picture is worth a thousand words so without further due let's begin. (Fellow Cavemen, don't worry this is only a diversion from my caveman attempt in which I am making significant progress) On the launch pad. Lift off! Circularization Duna transfer burn Duna capture burn, LF booster separation. Arrival at Ike Ike landing Landed on Ike, in the dark, on the side of a steep mountain... Flag planting shortly after rover separation. (using the rover's onboard RCS thrusters) All aboard 6.2 uneventful kilometers driven through Ike's central mountain range on the first day.

EDIT: I've put this on hold until I can play the game without CTDs. TL;DR: Elcano attempt gone awry. Two budding engineers steal Jeb and Bills' Elcano Rover and go for a spin. Scroll down to get straight to the comic. Longer, yet still readable: I was making grand plans (and many design iterations) for a Kerbin Elcano Challenge attempt. Didn't like the fact that my very capable speedboat had to forego rover wheels for airplane landing gear to be amphibious AND fast. Frustration is best left on the back burner for a moment, and so I cleared my head by making a couple cool jeeps and land rovers and pickups. One of these turned out to be great fun in the hills and mountains west of KSC. Only problem was it had no means to do water crossings. I considered detachable pontoons and a polar route so I could knock out the water part relatively early, then get on with it. Then I said screw it. I'm gonna break the rules. I'm more interested in telling a story than getting the badge. I'll go ahead with the truck. So, within the story, the idea is that 2 yokels from a shared rural childhood make their way to marginally successfully careers doing menial engineer tasks around KSC. Gus is a little more diligent, and makes Lt. Engineer, rising to help with minor design implementations of the Elcano rover. Thomp does just enough to get by, so him and his pal Gus can share their adventures, and usually spends his day at various custodial duties - the most prestigious being cleaning out engine bells at the test stand. Anyways, their story picks up with them enjoying a few "snacks" after work. Hope you enjoy! CHAPTER 1 Already working on chapter 2! Thanks for taking a look. *HICCUP*

The Elcano Challenge "Two roads diverged in a wood and I, I took the one less traveled by." - Robert Frost Juan Sebastián Elcano (1476 – 4 August 1526) was a Spanish explorer of Basque origin who completed the first circumnavigation of the Earth. After Magellan's death in the Philippines, Elcano took command of the nau Victoria from the Moluccas to Sanlúcar de Barrameda in Spain. This challenge is simple. So simple, it's easy. Well...it sounds easy. Those of us who have completed it would probably disagree. The challenge to you is to become the next Elcano. To do what no one, or very few, have done. A challenge to circumnavigate an orbital body, be it moon or planet, solely by ground and/or water. This challenge is a continuation of the original Elcano Challenge, posted and managed by Fengist. (Hopefully I can be as clever with my comments as he was. ) The rules are simple: Basically, you are to circumnavigate, either equatorially or via a polar path. Your path should not diverge significantly from the intended direction. You may do as I did and mark your path via flags. Or you may provide ample proof via screen shots. Using ScanSat BTDT (Been there done that) scanners also works provided you don't have a bunch of different vessels with BTDT. Plant a flag at your beginning spot and return to that flag... the long way around. The main mission and support missions must be launched from the launchpad or runway and delivered to the destination body. Part of the journey is getting the crew/ship there. (i.e. No HyperEditing or save file editing the vehicle into position.) Any combination of launching, refueling, or docking is permitted. The vehicle must be Kerballed during the circumnavigation. The ship does not have to be launched or delivered in one massive mission, but there needs to be at least one kerbal onboard the rover/boat during the circumnavigation (capsule, cockpit, seat, or loose). Stay on the ground or on/below the surface of any water present. (BRIEF jumps over dunes and such permitted.) The same vehicle that crosses the land must also cross water. No ferrying your vehicle on a boat. You may send replacement vehicles. If you read Fengists' circumnavigation of Eve, you'll see why. Game mechanics are not kind to ground vehicles. Your crew must be transferred to any replacement vehicle and it must be very similar to the original. I understand this is a learning process...and will allow some design changes. You may use aerial and orbital recon vehicles. You may refuel if needed. Use of ISRU (or similar mods) is permitted. Saving and reloading (F5/F9) is permitted. If your vehicle is complex, be aware that saving can slowly corrupt/damage the craft if it’s flexing due to movement or weight. (I suggest you read over Fengist’s journey to see what happened as a result.) Only stock planets and moons are acceptable. Asteroids (stock or modded) or orbital bodies introduced to the Kerbol system via a plugin are not considered valid orbital bodies for this challenge Exception: Circumnavigations on RSS Earth are allowed, given the origin of this challenge. Any rule I haven't thought of that breaks the spirit of this challenge. The point of the challenge is to build a rover/boat, deliver the vehicle, and circumnavigate the body. Proof: Document your journey via images, or as those of us who have manage to complete this feat, by words and pictures. Categories: Stock / Stock Craft / Modded - Mods are acceptable, those who complete this stock will have it noted. Support vehicles used (delivery, replacement, recon, and refueling) also factor into this category. The categories are broadly defined as follows: Stock - Mods can be used before the mission begins (such as using KER for design, HyperEdit for testing, etc), but no mods of any kind used during the record flight. No mods that add or modify parts, information, visuals, physics or any other aspect of the game are permitted during the mission. “Stock” means stock. (If you normally use mods, consider having a separate install if you want to go for this category.) Stock Craft - The craft and all support craft are made from all stock parts with their stock configuration. Installed mods may not modify physics or add/modify parts in use by the craft. Mods that add PartModules to stock parts, but do not alter the stock parameters, are also permitted. Examples of permitted mods are information displays (such as KER), transfer window planners, and visual enhancements (such as EVE). “Stock Craft” means the .craft or save file can be used on a stock install and it looks/works exactly the same way (your mission would remain effectively unchanged without the mods). Modded - Use of add-ons that change physics or add/modify parts in use by the craft are permitted. An add-on’s technology level must be “near term” or of “next tier” type of capabilities as compared to stock. Mods that allow the user to skip elements of the challenge or violate the spirit of flying to and circumnavigating a body are not permitted. (i.e. Slightly better/larger/stronger engines, wheels, fuel tanks, etc. are permissible. Hyperdrives, antimatter engines, wormhole generators, hyper dense or exotic fuels, etc. are not allowed.) This challenge is not for the feint of heart. It will take persistence and a great deal of patience. If you're the competitive type and think of this challenge as a race, it will get boring really quick. If you look at it as I, Fengist, and Wooks did (as an adventure) you'll find plenty to keep you entertained. Since this is challenge is more about the journey than reaching the destination, feel free to create a thread in Mission Reports so that everyone can share in it. It doesn't matter whether it fails or not, everyone there loves to read the stories, even the sad ones. Good luck and um... Godspeed.... And before you grumble about how long this will take... think back at how many hours you spent doing other things in KSP that ended up being less rewarding... Advice to explorers Be cautious when quicksaving. Some vessels in particular (especially with robotics and/or movable parts) are prone to errors with alignment after repeated quicksaves/quickloads. Gravitational and motion stresses on ground-based vehicles are a LOT more than spacecraft. If you quicksave while a part is misaligned due to these stresses and then reload, you just doomed your vessel to a corrupt save. This theory was originally posted by Fengist in his Elcano thread, and seems to strike some vehicles harder than others. CIRCUMNAVIGATORS Grand Master Circumnavigators Those who have circumnavigated all Planets & Moons Claw - Stock - Completed all circumnavigations! Planetary Circumnavigators Those who have circumnavigated both Kerbin & Eve Claw - Stock - Completed both Kerbin and Eve circumnavigations! Master Mariner Circumnavigators Those who have circumnavigated both Kerbin & Laythe via ocean. Check here for details on this specific award. Claw - Stock - Completed both Kerbin and Laythe water circumnavigations! nigelvn - Mods - Completed both Kerbin and Laythe water circumnavigations! RexKramer - Stock - Completed both Kerbin and Laythe water circumnavigations! Chemp - Stock Craft - Completed both Kerbin and Laythe water circumnavigations! Wooks - Stock (I'm pretty sure) - I believe the first to circumnavigate Kerbin by ground, leaving some 70 Kerbals in his wake. Techinically, Wooks broke rule 3 by using boats. But, since he is the first I know of to prove it could be done, I'll allow him some room. Anyone else, no dice. Slam_Jones - Stock - A jet powered, single Kerbal, amphibious monofoil refueled by a VTOL, Slam's EOS Bike X completed a circumnavigation of Kerbin. Geschosskopf - Mods - For a man who's more at home flying on Duna, he makes an impressive Kerbin pontoon. Squiggsy - Mods - And how would you surmount a vertical ice shelf? Claw - Stock - The famous moderator takes a cockroach on a water based circumnavigation of Kerbin. Who knew cockroaches could swim that well? Hagen von Tronje - Mods - In an attempt to circumnavigate every orbital body in the Elcano, Hagen found the solution to one of the big problems, pontoons. Rex Kramer - Stock - Broken parts and flat tires. All part of what it takes to get a Mk3 rover around Kerbin. Bubbadevlin - Mods - How many intakes does it take to make a rover float? nigelvn - Mods - It's better to look good than to feel good and what better way to look good circumnavigating... than in a yacht. RexKramer - Stock - I'm still not sure what to call this thing... an airliner on a park bench? But it seems to circumnavigate well. Azimech - Mods - Ok, this one is definitely a Pontiac. Minus the fins. Van Disaster - Mods - A lengthy trek (six months in the making) and some backtracking, but quite amazing pics of Kerbin. castille7 - Stock - A pretty sweet ride, and an engineer that won't quit. castille7 manages to circumnavigate Kerbin. Chemp - Stock - A catamaran that looks a bit like a pod racer...proof that more thrust can be pretty darn cool. Stratzenblitz75 - Stock Craft - Kerbin succumbs to another navigator. Bill's journey will not be abated as he refuels, climbs the ice wall, and returns to the top of the VAB in style. Dfthu - Stock - A beast of a boat that manages to hold it's own even when out of the water. Chemp - Stock - Chemp finds another way to take Elcano to the next level (if that's even possible) and finishes a circumnavigation in a kerbal powered rover. Damerell - Mods - Damerell takes another Svetlana-designed vehicle on another trip, this time to conquer Kerbin...who knew tanks could float? Alchemist - Stock Craft - The Elcanoplan takes quite the detour around Kerbin, picking up some awesome sights along the way. timmers_uk - Stock Craft - A test run results in an unexpected circumnavigation, ending in a footrace to get up to the runway. gilflo - Mods - A 50 ton ARG makes short work of Kerbin, completing the full trip in just over four days. Martian Emigrant - Stock Craft - Our very own Emigrant from a nearby red planet managed migrating several local kerbals. Will he do it again? RocketPilot573 - Stock - How do you make sure you don't pop balloon tires while circumnavigating the moon? Landing gear of course. Hotaru - Stock - One incredibly detailed excursion around the Mun. B-STRK - Mods - If you like Kerbal dialogue, you'll love this circumnavigation, including the flipping incident. damerell - Mods - Damerell took a lesson from Volvo in the 1980's: Big and boxy, but good. Claw - Stock - Flat tires, crashed rovers and dragons... all part of Claw's circumnavigation of the Mun. Warzouz - Stock Craft - A pair of side-saddle kerbals tackle the tempting Mun...and take a tour of it's secrets. IvanSanchez - Modded - A munar exploration contract takes IvanSanchez' robo-surveyor on a multi-day journey around the Mun. Just Jim - Stock Craft - In a knock-down, drag-out match, Jim rounds the Mun in a rather stout rover. NoPanShabuShabu - Mods - A polar excursion of Eve, including a stop at it's very pointy north pole. Fengist - Mods - A very screwy circumnavigation that used 1 replacement vehicle in the process. I lost count of how many hours it took... yes, that many. Claw - Stock - At the end of a long journey, Claw finally completes his last world, and completes his Elcano collection. Thalamask - Stock Craft - In rapid succession, another victor conquers the expansive...lonely...purple planet. Brotoro - Stock - Tested out the 'new' rover parts back in 2013 by driving AROUND Duna. Though he did this un-Kerballed, I mention him here because he was apparently the first, to do any circumnavigation of any planet by land. His quote as to why he did it, sums up this challenge, "I made the trip for the same reason Roald Amundsen went to the South Pole, and .... Rutan and Jeana Yeagar flew non-stop around the world without refueling, and Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay climbed to the summit of Mount Everest... just because I could." Hagen von Tronje - Mods - Completing yet another circumnavigation, Hagen takes on the bloody eyeball, something no one has attempted in years! Claw - Stock - 2 Kerbals, a bashed up rover and flying rocks. Claw completes a polar circumnavigation of Duna. Commander Zoom - Mods - Better late than never, the mission of a hearty crew of five takes a long term trip around the red planet makes its way to the public record. Thalamask - Stock Craft - Basking in the warm night glow and finds some rather large, lofty unobtainium...another lofty wayfarer visits the red planet. Juzeris - Mods - Expecting an easy yachting experience, Juzeris and his crew discovered that boating their way around Laythe wasn't as easy as expected. Claw - Stock - The moderator with the most barnacles, Claw becomes the first not only to circumnavigate 2 orbital bodies, he does both by water. nigelvn - Mods - nigelvn completed a circumnavigation of Laythe with one of the most amazing mods created by one of the most humble mod creators. Using Maritime Pack he cruised his yacht around Laythe to include a long distance fuel delivery. Loads of pics. smjjames - Mods - And another boat fanatic takes to the waves and circumnavigates Laythe... though you may have trouble finding the ship for all the engines. RexKramer - Stock - Well, it doesn't exactly look like a boat but hey, when you go stock, you can't be picky. Claw - Stock - In for a second round of Laythe, and on a polar route this time too boot. Chemp - Stock Craft - After a bit of a break, Chemp returns to make a splash on Laythe (and finds one of it's natural wonders). Jean Deaux - Stock - Jean decided that instead of bringing spare parts, he'd just bring spare rovers. Landing 3 of his Ark III rovers on Minmus in one operation he drove one around the poles of Minmus. damerell - Mods - Using a Kerbal Foundries based rover, damerell found Minmus wasn't as easy to circumnavigate as expected. Spudman2 - Stock - Ok, so he spent a lot of time driving with a flat tire. Who knew Minmus had sharp rocks. Hagen von Tronje - Mods - Hagen is a masochist after my own heart. He's attempting to circumnavigate every orbital body and he's completed Minmus. Claw - Stock - Trading in his cockroach for a dune buggy, Claw completes his third circumnavigation. I think he's testing me to see what badge I come up with for circumnavigating all orbital bodies. xendelaar - Mods - While Gilly's terrain may lack color, Xendelaar lit it up like a Xmas tree. The Cardinal - Mods - A man after my own heart. A circumnavigation in a rover that's entirely too big. There's no such thing as excess in KSP. Azimech - Mods - Aside from all the extra wheels, it kinda looks like a 70's Mopar product. But hey, we can't all afford Cadillac's. Dfthu - Stock - Busted wheels, an explosion or two, Kraken in the terrain... all the usual things you'd find in a cirucmnavigation. Hotaru - Stock? - Some long term bases and a high speed rover, Hotaru makes quick work of Minmus. waterlubber - Mods - After a bit of a bouncy ride, Bob and Val finish visiting the sights on Minmus. KN_Namida - Stock - KN_Namida shares a full album of his two kerbals and their incredible four month journey around Minmus. Speeding Mullet - Stock Craft - Rocket powered rovers are never a bad idea. Speeding Mullet takes the plunge, and carries a nearly train sized rover to the minty green hills. suicidejunkie - Mods - An opportune chance turns into a Minmus curcumnavigation, complete with parts delivery and probe deployment. Thalamask - Stock Craft - The ion bike comes out for another spin, this time racing around the flats of Minmus. ryan234abc - Stock Craft - Another brave soul visits the minty green marble by retooling a stock vehicle to fuel his adventure. Xannari Ferrows - Mods - While brave enough to attempt a circumnavigation of Moho with a rover based on a stock rover body and balloon tires, I have to wonder what the Dracula music in the background represents. Claw - Stock - Keeping the hot side hot, and the cold side cold, this little jeep rounds yet another planet...taking a polar trip around the terminator of Moho. Solune - Mods - After losing numerous wheels and having to replace his rover at least once, Solune completed a circumnavigation of Vall, including a stop at at least one anomaly and a flag planting at the pole. Thalamask - Stock Craft - Val takes on Vall in a no holds barred challenge! And finds quite the floating rock to boot. Claw - Stock - Julella and Obemy circumnavigate yet another body, this time finding invisible brick walls and holes to the core of the moon. Teilnehmer - Stock - Teilnehmer discovered that one of the biggest challenges to driving around Gilly was staying ON the ground. ryan234abc - Stock - Another brave explorer who has discovered the low gravity of Gilly presents it's own challenges. ghostbuzzer7 - Mods - Ghost found the easy way to cross Gilly, with a big sail... or was that a solar panel? Thalamask - Stock Craft - Gilly tries hard to buck Thalamask from it's lightweight surface, but persistence prevails. Claw - Stock - Like so many before him, Claw underestimates the minimal gravity and the patience needed to finish the job. nigelvn - Stock - Not a lot of dialogue but gobs of pictures! Thalamask - Stock Craft - Thalamask rocks the icy planet with a venerable boxy rover, and rings it with flags. HoloYolo - Modded - Visiting the quiet little snowball apparently froze a rover and kerbal solid. Who said a bug would stop Elcano? Claw - Stock - A dirty snowball, and a big plan. Claw's crew makes yet another trip...this time to the outer reaches. Claw - Stock - Claw discovers a Kraken portal while making yet another polar circumnavigation, this time... of Ike. Thalamask - Stock Craft - Another wide body dune buggy kicks up Ike dust, and Valentina finds a floating boulder. Do or do not, there is no try. TheCardinal - Mods - Now this is my kinda rover. Big, boxy.... kinda like an old Volvo, except for the tracks. Thalamask - Stock Craft - Another big and boxy rover hits it's mark, complete with ion propulsion and an excited Valentina. Claw - Stock - After a quick jaunt around the tiny planet, Claw's ride looks like it's trying to leave without him. Claw - Stock - The trip to Bop is short, but it provides some nice eye candy and the biggest floating rock to date. Thalamask - Stock Craft - A nifty little ion bike makes an appearance, lending it's gentle touch to Bop's low gravity. Thalamask - Stock Craft - Thalamask takes on another world, and shows that "slow and steady" wins the Tylo race. Claw - Stock - Sweet unmerciful Tylo, how you taunt us. Julella and Obemy rejoice as they safely leave the bounds of of the kraken's grip. Claw - Stock - Some rapid pedaling from Duna, Claw finds himself face to face with the minefield that is Dres. Thalamask - Stock Craft - With a huge smile on his face, Jeb makes a polar round trip around Dres. Apparently the mines have been cleared! Some inspiration for you: Wooks circumnavigating Kerbin

ELCANO CHALLENGE - ACCEPTED Prologue _______________________________________ Many intrepid adventurers have set out to explore the solar system, only a few have attempted to drive or float their way around the entire home planet. Well, perhaps rashly, perhaps ignorantly, I'd like to try. I received much pleasure from reading others' attempts at this, successful and otherwise and hats off to you, I have great admiration for your achievement. I'm not a patient or faithful person. So I'm concerned, but on the other hand, hopefully this is an opportunity for growth, even if in only a small way. If I fail, at least I will have tried. If I succeed, hopefully I will have had a great adventure, gotten to know Kerbin better, be a better engineer, conquered my own laziness and lack of constancy. At this point I'm planning on majority sea travel, with a couple of small trips across the land bridges. We may need to modify our plans as we go. Pre 1.1 sea travel was a much more impressive accomplishment. So I'm taking the easy option in a sense, but hey at least now it's achievable for the likes of me! _______________________________________ CONTENTS 1. Design, Development and Testing Day 1 (below) Day 2 Day 2 - Part 2 Days 3 & 4 Route planning Preparation checklist Final Planning 2. The Expedition Day 1 - Birth and Death Day 1 - Part II - Berthy and Depth Days 2 & 3 - Kraken Attacks! Days 4, 5 & 6 - Plain Sailing & Kraken Bites Day 6 - Vehicle Replacement Days 7 & 8 - Progress...? Days 9 & 10 - Help Sails on its Way Days 11 & 12 - Reunion Day 13 - Unflipping Day Day 14 - Sullen, Sadness; Glade and Gladness Days 15 & 16 - Secret Seas, Kraken, Claws and Sounds Days 17 & 18 - Gulf Crossing & Black Rock 3. Vessel Overviews The Waarn _______________________________________ DAY 1 Prototypes and Explosions _______________________________________ Design Thoughts: Two different schools of thought on Elcano. A car that can swim or a boat that can walk. The great blue yonder beckons... Several different experiments in the SPH resulted in a catamaran type hull. With more parts touching the water there is more drag I think, however I found with longer outriggers/pontoons the craft is more stable. The goal here for me was being able to run this craft stably at 4x speed with physics. So to that end I set off on a sea-worthiness trial and managed to cross the Eastern Sea by water, for the first time! Amphibious! Land! Check it out Jeb! _____ Bill: " Hey, Jeb, can I come out too?" Jeb: "Ummm. No. Maybe you can get out next time." Bill: "Flip." Jeb: "You're just the engineer after all. You were drinking cokes in the back seat the whole way here, while I was doing all the hard work!" Bill: "..." _____ Name: Always important. Embody the ethos of the mission; inspire the adventurers. Being stumped, I asked my wife, who took one look and said: "it looks like one of those spiders that walk on water" 1 minute of googling later,,, Behold!: The Dolomedes Triton! The namesake is an spider which is known to run on water - hence the reference to Poisidon's son - and even 'fish'. How apt - a sort of amphibious arachnid. Additionally it's coloring's are similar. Drag: So, this craft is efficient enough. Having experimented with different nose cones I found the NCS + small nose cone is pretty efficient. -Further, interestingly the 'straighter' or more level the craft moves through the water, the less drag. Having long pontoons seems to level out the craft and enable higher speeds. Additionally the vertical stabiliser helps with a little snaking in the water which knocks off speed too. -Fully loaded this craft can cruise at around 25 m/s. I realise this is no speed boat. But I think this speed is acceptable, and more realistic this way. -Having small wheels housing clipped into the pontoons seems to make no difference to drag. Funny, I thought it would. This is good news, as it means more ground clearance underneath for those nasty hill crossings. Engines: Also the Juno engines, whilst not as efficient as the Wheesley are better suited to this craft. When trying the Wheesley, the higher thrust meant the craft tipped more with the center of thrust higher than the center of mass. With the smaller engines this is not a problem. The center of mass needs to be low down so it doesn't tip, so the pontoons are the primary fuel tanks. On returning from the sea trials... Next thoughts: Wheels: Overland small landing gear + the Junos should get me there for the land bridges. But I'm not so sure about this. This is probably what I'm most worried about. Before I set off, I definitely need to test thrust going uphill. Might need the Wheesley after all...or moar Junos (*lol*). Surveying: To that end, aerial survey will be in order. I'll fly to the two proposed land sections which need to be crossed and check their inclines and plan out the ingress and egress points. Fuel: The on-board fuel load gets the craft pretty far. In one test I went 335km and used 1,079 LF, which was only a small fraction of the tanks capacity. Even so, as with most Elcano attempts, a refuel will be necessary. I'm thinking a cargo-plane drop of a refueling rover (read orange tank with wheels!). Or possible a VTOL plane could be fun. I've recently discovered these and they can be quite fun. Regarding the actual refuel connection...To Klaw or not to Klaw that is the question. (Last time I seriously used the Klaw 'round Minmus to recover a lost capsule the Kraken was awoken and ate my game. Ships in orbit started accelerating. Nasty. Nearly lost my whole carerr save game. Fortunately I'm a little OCD with backing up.) Logging: Don't really want to have to manually log lat./long. The old Persistent Trails mod is not up to date, so that's out. Up Next: ...Land Trials & Refueling tests!

About the Mission: Primary Objective: Complete the Elcano Challenge circumnavigate Kerbin without leaving the planet's land surface or oceans - SUCCESS Secondary/Operational Objectives: complete the circumnavigation in as little time as possible (this means ISRU stops are out of the question) - PARTIAL SUCCESS (24 hours 44 minutes) based on craft performance, this conditionally means one fuel stop only - FAILURE keep land-based transportation to a minimum - SUCCESS The Craft (CRAFT FILE HERE) The Soviet 3b "Elcano" is a tri-hull catamaran-hydrofoil capable of speeds up to 100m/s, with a maximum fuel capacity 40440 LF and a maximum crew capacity of 10 (or 4 in comfort). It is powered by two J-90 "Goliath" turbofan main engines, and 3 auxiliary J-33 "Wheesley" turbofan engines, providing a variety of thrust patterns for optimal speed and/or efficiency. Directional control is achieved by paired aero- and hydro-rudder surfaces (AV-R8 Winglets) mounted aft on the outer pontoon-hulls. The 4 hydrofoils themselves are 2 pairs of FAT-455 control surfaces mounted anhedrally to the 4 wheel-pod hardpoints. At a maximum of 50% fuel capacity and speeds exceeding 50m/s, they provide adequate planing lift to hold the whole vessel clear of the water, and must be dynamically trimmed by the helm to maintain direction stability and prevent porpoising. The parent design process was originally intended to result in a non-stop circumnavigation, but due to operational constraints and time pressures the mission was forced to launch before such a design had been achieved - under near-optimal circumstances, the Soviet 3b can only be expected to cover half the planetary ocean surface without refuelling. The Crew Commander/Helmsman: Corly Kerman Chief Engineer: Aselle Kerman Relief Helmsman: Theonard Kerman Assistant Engineer: Karelyn Kerman Science Personel: None FULL MISSION REPORT:

So about a year ago, maybe a bit less, I circumnavigated Gilly. Back then I was a relative amateur at KSP, and the entire thing was shoddy, but nevertheless successful. However, looking back, the reason I chose Gilly was because I was worried about doing damage to the wheels. Once I got there, I was more worried about making orbit by accident. While I don't trust myself to create a ship capable of reaching Pol, the 2nd smallest body in the game, I do feel confident to go to Minmus. I'll submit several 'Chapters' in the form of IMGUR albums to showcase this. So, without further ado, I present Chapter 1! Apologies for no info on the album, I'm not sure how to add captions to each bit, any advice is kindly appreciated.

Bill has always been an exceptional Kerb. His engineering feats and his role as one of the pioneers of spaceflight are well known. And yet, he never ceases to surprise us. One of his latest achievements is the concept of the flying board, a family of planes powered not by engines, but by Kerbals alone. The third version of the series was the first to circumnavigate the planet. However, due to unforseen difficulties, it had to make a short stopover. To Bill, this was equivalent to failure. He had engineered this craft to be able to fly virtually forever, limited alone by the stamina of the Kerbal propelling it. So after some minor tweaks, he took off to show all Kerbalkind what his concept was capable of. This is the chronicle of the first non-stop, Kerbal-powered flight around Kerbin. It is a rather long album (since it also was a rather long flight) so here is the trip in a Nutshell: Starting Point: KSC End point: The abandoned Airfield Record speed: 305.9 m/s at level flight Record hight: 27'182m Distance covered: according to F3: 6693km* Make sure to check out @Geschosskopf's Challenge which originally inspired me to do this circumnavigation *Kerbin's circumference is 3770km. So even accounting for my little escape to the desert temple, and the fact that I made the stretch between KSC and the Island twice, I'm at a loss. Possible explanations: Bill was drunk and couldn't hold a straight line KSP also counts all the ups and downs, and there sure were a lot of them

Long have I pondered whether to do an Elcano challenge. the other week, when I was thoroughly hacked off at being able to make a very good shuttle but being useless at making an SSTO I had a little play around with rovers and went a little overboard. The Landcano was born: Let's have a look at some specifics: 1 panoramic cupola pilot center, and 4 berth driver cabin pod. Room for 32 passengers. 2 Juno engines for enhanced breaking, and 2 Wheesley Engines for straight line speed. Many, many wheels. While stylish and clearly very capable at mountain climbing, it was largely useless in the turns....and at lasting 5 seconds without blowing up the runway apparently: So now I'd caught the bug. I'd designed a capable (if explosive) rover, and just needed a little adjustment to get it over the line as something that I'd be happy to spend hours in front of my computer holding W with. It gives me great pleasure to present the smaller (but no less awesome) Landcano Wayfarer: Well technically that's the launch vehicle, but let's cover that off first anyway as it's a bit of a beast and rather nicely made. The mighty S3 KS-25x4 Mammoth provides thrust for the main stack, and 4 LFB KR-1x2 Twin-Boar liquid boosters are strapped to the main stack to get the thing off the ground, and perform a beautiful Korolev's cross separation when spent. 412 parts and 785.9t on the launch pad mean this is no small part count, but the whole vehicle is very detail orientated, and the rover particularly so. I'm not going to pretend that I got to this design with out some trial and a lot of error. For example the launch vehicle started out with only 2 strap-ons, and no struts holding the rover in place. Let's take a look at some of those glorious moments where everything went, well, not to plan: Has the suspense got the best of you yet? Are you now dying to see what the rover in final form and fine fettle looks like? Let's finally get around to a review of the rover itself: Let's talk stats again: 290 parts and 65.2t including the landing module. The Landcano Wayfarer is powered by 20 ruggedized rover wheels, and has 8 wheel steering (front and back). In addition the jet engines have been replaced by liquid duel engines. The Wayfarer features the same front end as the original Landcano, with the addition of some quality of life parts (ladders etc) but also a fully functional IRSU system. The middle module (only contained fuel) has been entirely removed, and the passenger section and living quarters have shrunk from 32 capacity down to 16. You've probably guessed by now that this vehicle is not made for a Kerbin Elcano. A decision was made not to tackle Kerbin (yet!) and instead go for an airless body. The Mun was mooted, but in the end Minmus won out due in part to it's being much smaller, but also slightly less challenging from a terrain point of view. With crew selected: Aldin - Pilot Melfal - Co-Pilot Gerfrod - Scientist Dildred - Engineer Largerlotte - Scientist Mirilian - Engineer Thompoly - Engineer The only thing to do was strap in, turn on and boost up. Queue stage 1 of the mission - Getting to Minmus: What a vehicle! The crew drives a very short distance to a photogenic and convenient starting point and the starting flag is placed: In the coming posts as I upload the mission report segments we can follow the journey of the legendary 7 and the Landcano Wayfarer. Will it make it? Do the crew survive? Does anything function as intended? Let's take a deep breath and find out whether a successful Elcano Challenge entry can be seen out! SM