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Hi there! For a while, I (and also Bob) have been wanting to complete the Elcano challenge. (continuated:) (I know I've already made a thread about Elkano, but I think it's cleaner to start a new one) So Bob talked to Jeb about the idea, and then to Bill, and then to Val, and it was decided that they would go circumnavigate all the bodies in the Kerbol system (that have a surface, of course). False start counter: 1 False start #1: Here's the "official" flag: TBC

Link to the old elcano challenge! 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 first Elcano Challenge, (yes we are on generation 3, hope i can hold it for a bit longer) 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 . AS LONG AS YOU DRIVE ALL THE WAY AROUND THE BODY. 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. Or use the new kerbnet to make waypoints (recomended) oh and i have the right to disqualify you if i think you cheated 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 Master Mariner Circumnavigators Those who have circumnavigated both Kerbin & Laythe via ocean. @HarrySeaward Post here stock kerbin cirkumnavigation mostly by sea _______________________________________________________________________________________________________ @Sharpy Post here Through all the biomes of Duna in a ksc truck. Very Modded install (must have crashed as hell) @HarrySeaward Post here full stock circumnavigation of laythe. HUGE rocket for his boat @Magzimum Post is here! First elkano in 1.2, Stock craft, but did use KER. smart use of kerbnet system to keep track of his rute. _______________________________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________________________ @Magzimum Post here even though the kerbal astronomers still discus if it exists he maneaged to do a full cirkumnavigation of the body with a stock craft

Sakura Odyssey : The Munar Circumnavigation (it would be great if Sakura Kerman looks like this one) here is my first Elkano challenge mission on the Mun with two Kerbonauts Sakura and Kikyou Kerman from N.A.N.I Spacework (a space division of N.A.N.I Inc.) however, I never doing ground circumnavigation before and everything can go wrong in anytime, so quicksave & quickload is mandatory thing Chapter 1 Munar Elkano Program : from ground to orbit Chapter 2 landed on Mun To be Continue...

This thread is about my rover trip around Jool's moon Vall. This is meant to be an Elcano/Elkano attempt where I carry out a polar circumnavigation of Vall. Here I intend to provide enough screenshots to document that I actually do the complete circumnavigation and to show the beauty of Vall scenery. Also I allow my self to use f5/f9 as much as is neede. Why to circumnavigate a celestial body by land in KSP? I will have to admit that a land circumnavigation of a celestial body in KSP is very lengthy and tedious process. Nevertheless I have wanted to do so ever since I heard that the Elcano challenge exists. I have former experience from a lengthy rover science gathering mission on Mun. Despite hours of tedious driving around the gray landscape of Mun, I did find the mission quite fulfilling and rewarding. Partly just because it took a long time to get anywhere. I expect this mission to be similarly rewarding experience. Why Vall? Previously my goal was to perform a similar circumnavigation of Eve, since is Eve my favourite planet in the stock Kerbol system. My plan to perform this circumnavigation in reasonably short time and fun way, was to use the Rovemax XL3 wheels, and exploit the fact that they can accelerate the rover to extremely high velocity if you tap the keys "a" and "d" while pressing "w". Unfortunately the challenge maintainer of the Elkano challenge was adamant, that this is cheating and not allowed. After trying out a rover that obeys the rules on Eve I felt that it was frustratingly slow and couldn't climb the hills and mountains of Eve. So the circumnavigation would take a very long time and be more frustrating since I couldn't scale hills and mountains. Vall was the next best option. A lot smaller, but sill reasonably beautiful celestial body, whit low gravity to make rover faster and better at climbing mountains. Relevant mods Voyage to Vall This is the rocket at launchpad. It devotedly follows the design principle "There is no such a thing as too much deltaV!". It has several thousands extra m/s of DeltaV to make sure that Vall is actually reached without shadow of a doubt. This was my first ever manned flyby or orbit of Jool. :-) Successful landing! The land voyage may now begin. The blue flickering is from the Sci-fi visual enchancement mod. I'll soon make a new post once there is progression to show. Thank you for your time!

So here I go... My first Elkano Challenge. Going to Minmus, since I've heard that's a bit easier to manage on the first one. I'll be keeping notes with progress on the challenge, along with screenshots from key parts of the mission. For reference, here is the thread for the Elkano Challenge, including the rules to complete this one.

Jool-5 NAVIGATOR &/or SSTO Challenge Your challenge is to accomplish one or both of the following classic challenges during a standard Jool-5 trip: 1.) Elkano Circumnavigator Challenge of Jool's 5 moons. 2.) SSTO However, your circumnavigation only needs to satisfy 2 requirements, and can be accomplished in either order: 1.) Cross the equator at least once. 2.) Touch every degree of longitude. (This may be accomplished by heading for a pole and twirling around like your Kerbal may technically be an idiot) The difference is that you do not have to return to your landing location, although doing so may help. (I think this change adds a little strategy and speeds things up a little bit) Be sure to plant your bread crumb trail of flags as you go. No gameplay or part mods. Keep your resources tab open; other information mods are appreciated. Some part clipping is allowable, but let's not get ridiculous. We should be able to at least account for your fuel tanks. Post your submissions below and claim your badge. Videos are best; Imgur albums of important moments (takeoffs, landings, flag-plantings, etc.) are acceptable. If you've already done a SSTO that satisfies the Jool-5, go ahead and post it. Jool-5 Circumnavigator w/ SSTO 1.) Your Name Here! 2.) Harry Seaward 3.) Jool-5 Circumnavigator 1.) 2.) 3.) Jool-5 SSTO 1.) 2.) 3.) Let me know if you have any suggestions. I don't think that an identical challenge exists, but let me know if there is. My submission will be up in the next day or two. Good Luck!