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Jeb has come up with a crazy idea for exploring the Joolian system. He wants to build a reusable rover. And not just any rover! His idea is a beast. Over 15 tons! Here is what I am trying to raise myself (picture taken on Duna): The plan is to land on Vall and take off to orbit again to test his new rover. The thing is, he is dead set on having the rover land and take off vertically. And to make matters worse, he doesn't want to lug around a bunch of fuel and oxidizer on his tour around Vall (and then the Joolian system). Believe it or not, he actually wants to detach the rover from the landing stage, take it for a spin, and then re-attach it to a rocket and take off vertically again and again. Go figure... He claims you can turn the ascent stage horizontal or turn the rover vertical and dock it to the ascent stage. When we ask him how we are supposed to do this, he just shrugs and says "Details, details. Don't bother me with details". Luckily, he didn't say the landing and the ascent vehicles have to be the same. The challenge is getting the massive rover vertical again after it's roving mission is thru so that it can get back in orbit and head to the next moon to continue it's mission. Rules Rover/Rocket must take off from Kerbin. It can then be assembled/fueled in orbit. Rover/Rocket must land from the orbit of Vall (or the Mun for a Speedy Delivery victory). Rover has to be a 6 wheeled 15 ton beast. Rover must have a mobile processing science lab. Rover must have room for 4 kerbals internally (as many as you want externally) Rover must move horizontally with at least a speed of 15 m/s. (demonstration) The rover can carry no more than 3 tons of fuel. Only stockalike mods are allowed. (Plus kerbal engineer or MechJeb) Rover/Rocket must take off vertically from a pre-built ascent vehicle that does all the heavy lifting. Rover's wheels must be vertically aligned at lift off. How do we win? The shortest time to complete the challenge and post it to this topic, following all the rules, wins Bill's 1st prize for Speed Engineering. The most "Rube Goldbergian" contraption for doing this wins the Rube Goldberg Award. The shortest mission time to complete the challenge on the Mun and then fly to Minmus and (only) land there wins 1st prize for Speedy Delivery. This will be judged at the end of October. The Challenge works on an honor system, we can't always check if you are cheating and even if you don't "cheat", if you deliberately misinterpret the rules of a challenge or its spirit in order to gain an advantage, you'll spoil the fun for everyone else. If you need a clarification, just ask. CLARIFICATIONS: Added stockalike mods. WINNERS: Speed Engineering: Rube Goldberg: Speedy Delivery: