[0.15] Kerbal Parcel Service: Fastest delivery to KSC2 on one turbojet engine

[antbin]

What\'s the fastest cruising altitude? Is it better to fly at 30 degrees nose-up or to add more wings? Are zoom climb \'hops\' faster than high-altitude cruising?

And where\'s the delivery confirmation on my package?

Budgets are tight in the KSP, and Bobmund & co. are freelancing as couriers on the side. Your challenge is to fly to the 2nd Kerbal Space Center (helpfully indicated by the pink circular navball marker in 0.15) as fast as possible, on just one turbojet engine. Restrictions:

[list type=decimal]

[li]Your plane must have ASAS Edit: OR an Avionics Package - just because you want to hand-fly it, don\'t make the rest of us suffer. MechJeb is OK, but you still need to bring ASAS (or equivalent weight/drag)[/li]

[li]No boosters, rockets, or drop engines. Just one turbojet. Since air intakes / nacelles are cosmetic in 0.15, you don\'t need to bring those (yet)[/li]

[li]You must land on the grass at KSC2, with all the bits of your plane still attached Edit: Nevermind, taxiing is so buggy this is unfair. Anything low & slow enough to toss the package out of the plane will do.[/li]

[li]Your Mission Elapsed Time time ends at 'delivery' of the package (by stopping next to/inside flying within about 200m of the 2nd VAB)[/li]

Proof of the challenge should be 2 screenshots: one before launch (showing your plane at MET 0:00:00), and the second of your intact plane, stopped, touching doing a flyby of the VAB at KSC2. Bonus challenge if you land it!

[shadow=yellow,left]KPS[/shadow] We Love Logistics. And Struts.

Leaderboard:

[table]

[tr]

[td]Antbin[/td]

[td] - [/td]

[td]0:22:13[/td]

[td] - [/td]

[td] :-[ Endo-ed[/td]

[/tr]

[tr]

[td]purple100[/td]

[td] - [/td]

[td]0:22:27[/td]

[td] - [/td]

[td] 3 x KIA[/td]

[/tr]

[tr]

[td]Joost[/td]

[td] - [/td]

[td]0:22:34[/td]

[td] - [/td]

[td] 3 x KIA[/td]

[/tr]

[tr]

[td]boolybooly[/td]

[td] - [/td]

[td]0:23:34[/td]

[td] - [/td]

[td] 3 x KIA[/td]

[/tr]

[tr]

[td]Vostok[/td]

[td] - [/td]

[td]0:24:03[/td]

[td] - [/td]

[td] 3 x KIA[/td]

[/tr]

[tr]

[td]Karppikala[/td]

[td] - [/td]

[td]0:24:19[/td]

[td] - [/td]

[td] :-[ Lost a part[/td]

[/tr]

[tr]

[td]fireblade42[/td]

[td] - [/td]

[td]0:24:52[/td]

[td] - [/td]

[td] Landed[/td]

[/tr]

[tr]

[td]HOC[/td]

[td] - [/td]

[td]0:25:23[/td]

[td] - [/td]

[td] 3x KIA[/td]

[/tr]

[tr]

[td]Praitaq[/td]

[td] - [/td]

[td]0:25:48[/td]

[td] - [/td]

[td] 3x KIA[/td]

[/tr]

[tr]

[td]Parabellum[/td]

[td] - [/td]

[td]0:28:34[/td]

[td] - [/td]

[td] 3x KIA[/td]

[/tr]

[tr]

[td]tjoreilly[/td]

[td] - [/td]

[td]0:28:47[/td]

[td] - [/td]

[td]:-[ Lost some pieces[/td]

[/tr]

[tr]

[td]Dobrodav[/td]

[td] - [/td]

[td]0:29:00[/td]

[td] - [/td]

[td] :-[[/td]

[/tr]

[tr]

[td]SteevyT[/td]

[td] - [/td]

[td]0:32:09[/td]

[td] - [/td]

[td] Landed[/td]

[/tr]

[tr]

[td]SanctionEnvy[/td]

[td] - [/td]

[td]0:51:24[/td]

[td] - [/td]

[td] 3x KIA[/td]

[/tr]

[tr]

[td]colmo[/td]

[td] - [/td]

[td]2:00:00ish[/td]

[td] - [/td]

[td] 8) In a choppa[/td]

[/tr]

[/table]

[antbin]

OK, to lay down a challenge I\'m re-using my flight from the Fuel Efficiency challenge. Do speed and efficiency always go together? I have no idea!

Delivery in 0:25:40

Full flight profile here.

The MET timer doesn\'t start till you leave the runway

Max speed just under 700m/s approaching KSC2

Special delivery!

Successful landing.

[SteevyT]

I managed it in 0:32:09, I could probably shave off half a tank of fuel and still make it though. My top speed was around 500m/s, although I seemed to hold it fairly consistently.

Sitting on the runway waiting for take-off.

And drop.

Not a bad landing, although it must be in a wetlands of some sort, my rear landing gear are sunk up to their bays in the mud.

[antbin]

Nice, Steevy! Your plane looks like it could taxi around a little more stably than most. Still, the collision map for the terrain is still glitchy, and it\'s discouraging to tip over and rip a wing off after 15 minutes of flying.

What sort of altitude did you maintain while doing 500m/s? I found I could gradually climb from 13,000 to about 16,000 as the fuel tanks emptied, speeding up from 500 to 625 m/s in the process.

[Vostok]

Would it be allowed to have a designated \'delivery\' module, like for example an extra ASAS unit that could be dropped by parachute at KSC2? would allow for delivery and not having to slow down for landing - limitations would be that it would have to land within the circle of the launch pad.

[SteevyT]

Nice, Steevy! Your plane looks like it could taxi around a little more stably than most. Still, the collision map for the terrain is still glitchy, and it\'s discouraging to tip over and rip a wing off after 15 minutes of flying.

What sort of altitude did you maintain while doing 500m/s? I found I could gradually climb from 13,000 to about 16,000 as the fuel tanks emptied, speeding up from 500 to 625 m/s in the process.

It was pretty steady between 12km and 14km, I would slow down both above and below that. (I think 13km was right around the optimal)

[antbin]

Would it be allowed to have a designated \'delivery\' module, like for example an extra ASAS unit that could be dropped by parachute at KSC2?

Oh yeah, totally! Full points if you can do this! Better than an 'imaginary' parachute.

I wanted to minimize frustration with this challenge - investing 15 minutes of your life and then botching the landing / parachute drop would be discouraging.

It is an extra challenge though - it means having to carry a decoupler the entire way, which would slow things down a bit. Also, are any components able to survive a parachute landing?

[dogon11]

Oh yeah, totally! Full points if you can do this! Better than an 'imaginary' parachute.

I wanted to minimize frustration with this challenge - investing 15 minutes of your life and then botching the landing / parachute drop would be discouraging.

It is an extra challenge though - it means having to carry a decoupler the entire way, which would slow things down a bit. Also, are any components able to survive a parachute landing?

Only one way to find out!

[antbin]

Hmm, I tried dropping a Structural Fuselage (since it has the highest impact tolerance), with three chutes and landing legs. It vanishes as soon as it hits the ground, and there\'s no record in the flight event list. I guess KSP deletes 'old stages' pretty aggressively once you drop them?

[Kryten]

How high did you drop it from? Anything that gets more than 2.4km from your craft in the atmosphere is auto-deleted, which is probably what happened unless you saw an explosion.

[fireblade42]

I did this in 26:22. Might have been faster if I didn\'t run out of fuel at about 22:45. I guess that\'s what I get for taking only 550kg of fuel. Had a top speed of 717m/s.

Flight Screens

takeoff

eep no fuel

packages bounce right

[antbin]

run out of fuel at about 22:45.

Worth a second try then, you made good speed! Your flyby was a little high, but that\'s what contents insurance is for. ;D

[antbin]

All right, after learning lots in the fuel economy challenge, I trimmed a bunch of stuff off the plane and tried again.

23:50 on just under 500kg of fuel. Failed the landing though.

Flight log (of the last half) here. I forgot the screen shot from the runway... :-[

One trick that saved me a few seconds is to do a supermaneuverable 110 degree pitch up on takeoff. This puts you upside down, climbing at 70 degrees heading 270... much closer to the KSC2 target.

Warning, this plane is just barely stable. Push it too hard and it\'ll flip. 8)

[Vostok]

I\'m working on a plane with no wings at all. Just a pod, two tanks and an engine. It does actually fly, but you need to point it at about 30 degrees, and there\'s no ASAS yet... XD

This goes against my instinct for MOAR WINGS AND ENGINES.

[Vostok]

I ran some tests, it\'s looking good. Cruises at about 700-800 m/s at high altitude, takes off vertically so no need for a big turnaround on the runway. Haven\'t optimised my flight yet, so I ran out of fuel just before KSC, but it was looking like it was going to be less than 22 minutes!

[Vostok]

I did it in 24:20, although this time could have been far shorter due to my awful glideslope at the end, I descended too early and spent too much time in lower atmosphere. I wasted a whole four minutes on lower atmosphere gliding at the end

Top speed: 765 m/s

Anyway, images:

[antbin]

Nice! Take more screenshots next time, I\'d love to see how you\'re doing this. Can the ship balance on its turbojet on the launch pad?

[Vostok]

I built a launch gantry out of decouplers and landing gear

[fireblade42]

I tried it again and shaved some time off to be 24:52. Same plane, most of the change was in the take-off. Instead of doing a large upward spiral to make the turn, I just pitched it straight over to 270. Still ran out of fuel at about 22:45, but didn\'t need to glide nearly as long. Mostly needed to drop down from 14km into the valley.

Runway and drop off

Landed and log

flight album, but its just those 4 pics

[purple100]

Landed ~3 km away, 32:56.

Not bad for my first attempt.

Taxied to the VAB, 37:75.

Craft used: Mustangrande\'s LC-103 MASTODON (because it looks cool)

http://kerbalspaceprogram.com/forum/index.php?topic=12535.msg196225#msg196225

with some changes:

*Replaced engine with turbojet

*Added 2 fuel tanks because I was unsure of the flight range

*MechJeb to lock heading and maintain pitch

[Vostok]

Tried again with the same craft, only replacing the avionics with standard ASAS, It seems to work nicer.

My time to drop-off was 24:03 - just barely shaving seconds off my previous time. I need to work out a faster way of getting to altitude and also going towards the target, since this time I pointed the plane vertically with no horizontal component until it reached operating altitude.... This takes a minute or so, but I don\'t know if a more pointed attack would be better, since it spends more time in lower atmosphere. As well as this, the re-entry glideslope could do with some trimming, I\'m trying my hardest to stay at high altitude until I\'m almost directly over the KSC, then dive bombing it with deliveries . A parachute might be an addition, but it adds unnecessary drag. I mean, who cares if their post costs three kerbals...

Image time!

[antbin]

Nice, purple100 makes the first delivery (according to the original challenge)!

Thanks for the photos Vostok, that helps understand how your craft works. Lots of nose up!

[purple100]

Got it in 24:32, flyby at 86 m above surface. I landed shortly afterward but lost my ASAS nosecone while braking. No fuel left to taxi though, so it didn\'t matter.

Looks like a tiny ship on a single rocket-fuel tank is enough to get there.

On the runway:

Flying past the VAB:

[hebdomad]

Tried again with the same craft, only replacing the avionics with standard ASAS, It seems to work nicer.

My time to drop-off was 24:03 - just barely shaving seconds off my previous time. I need to work out a faster way of getting to altitude and also going towards the target, since this time I pointed the plane vertically with no horizontal component until it reached operating altitude.... This takes a minute or so, but I don\'t know if a more pointed attack would be better, since it spends more time in lower atmosphere. As well as this, the re-entry glideslope could do with some trimming, I\'m trying my hardest to stay at high altitude until I\'m almost directly over the KSC, then dive bombing it with deliveries . A parachute might be an addition, but it adds unnecessary drag. I mean, who cares if their post costs three kerbals...

Image time!

Put a parachute on it and do a parachute assisted vertical landing!

[purple100]

Solution to inefficient take-off - reverse the plane in the SPH and start off facing the correct direction!

I overshot KSC2\'s VAB at 294m above ground - 23:09!

Touchdown was clean, but the ship flipped and exploded when I applied the brakes.

I\'m certain someone can do it faster than this! A better ascent profile or higher cruising altitude could make a significant difference.

On the runway:

In flight:

Flyover, 23:09:

For the curious, a constant heading of 287 degrees makes a perfect straight line toward KSC2\'s basin.