The Münchhausen-effect: a study of alternate propulsion by Robert Kerman

[Evanitis]

tl:dr - trying to climb down on a ladder that's blocked by another part generates thrust. Bug or feature? Is it well known, or can I get a badge for discovering it?

Mission log:

Day 0

I will be the first Kerbal to set foot on Mun! Our engineers claim that with the recently developed SAS systems, I'll be able to fly just as smoothly as Jeb does, but my scientific experience will be beneficial. They are also content that the new Rockomax parts will be able to lift all the sci-equipment we ever created. My excitement overshadows my doubts. That monstorsity is certainly the biggest rocket that was ever assembled in the VAB. Impressive. How was the rokkit equasion again? Bigger = better. Something like that.

Day 1

Launch and orbit is achieved with minor hiccups. No 360' turns or such that always irks the less experienced. I think I did pretty well, though the fuel remaining isn't as much as I expected. I sometimes wonder if our engineers actually know what all those readouts like TTW, delta-V and such means. Maybe they just eyeball stuff. Ahh, well, it's just the cynic in me. Starting the burn towrds the Mun!

Day 'n' (sorry for the irregular temporal measurement, I had a nap I realized I left my chronometer at home)

Mun approaches. On the recent flyby mission, Jeb was able to confirm the theory that this stellar body is actually a lot bigget than it looks from Kerbin. I extended his observation: I state that the apparent size of the Mun is inversely proportional with the distance of the observer. I relaying this equation to Mission Control. I'm starting to understand why they sent me instead of Jebediah.

Day 'n+ some'

Munar orbit achieved. Fuel feels kinda' low, but the Mun feels to have a pretty low gravity, so it should be OK. Starting deorbit burn.

Day 'n+ some more'

Mission completed, Munar landing is done. I'm in the history books. We can send the invoice to our contractor. I have good and bad news tosend towards Mission Control along with the reports of the science equipment. The good news is that the lander only lost some stabilizer legs on the port-side: that means an ideal launching angle - if the craft doesn't tips over when I'll leave for the munar rock they really need at home. The bad news is that the simulations show that I only have enough fuel for a suborbital hop - than I'd crash a few hundred kilometers away. I need a rescue operation. Pretty please?

Day 'n+ a few weeks'

I have ran out of crossword-puzzles. Mission Control assured me that they will send a rescue craft as soon as it's convenient. They also told me that I have nothing to worry about: they already hired another scientist to do my job, and he's doing pretty well. They promised me that they'll include more crossword-puzzles in their following lander designs, probably even some sudoku. Though after a few days, they admitted that my continous transmissions make them uneasy, not to mention the high fees on distance calls, so it would be preferable if I stopped contacting them. But they sent me a pre-recorded message I can listen any time. It tells me that they are working hard on my rescue, and everything is in perfect order.

Day 'n+ a few months'

I met Clara. She's a munar rock that looks pretty much like Jeb's mother. But she's smart, relatively young and good looking. I'm having a hard time beating her in barchoba, though she has to improve in Activity and tic-tac-toe. But still, I think I'm in love. If the rescue craft will be able to carry the extra weitght, I'll take her home and marry her.

Day 'n+ dunno. A lot.'

The rescue craft arrived. First we thought that it's the extrakerbistrials, but it was just us. Mission Control apologized and assured me that they never forget about me, and I shouldn't believe if someone says otherwise once I'm home. By the way, the lander is the exact same design I arrived with. Checking the logs indicats that the rocket was the same too. Though they developed some digital version of Jeb that were able to land with high-precision, so I didn't have to walk to a random landing site. How kind of them. The computer was also able to travel more efficiently: it arrived with 30% more fuel than I did.

Umm. That still not enough for a return. If I had a can, I could transfer the fuel of the last craft, but that's out of the question. But Clara wants to see my homeworld so badly that we won't wait. We are launching today. She assured me that we'll figure out something on the way.

Day 'm' (as I lost count, I'll call the day of our launch 'm'. It stands for 'Mun', marriage', metabolism and many other 'm' words. Like 'many')

The fuel was enough for an orbit. Well, it's periapsis was on 1400 meters. I didn't want to retract our bellies and risk a pass, so I used the unofficial emergency-procedure of pushing the craft on EVA. Orbit stabilized - so cool. Now I'm also familiar with the process of distilling EVA-fuel from ration-bars stored in the cockpit for even more propulsion, but it's a long and tedious work, not to mention that Clara's religion forbids it, as alcohol can be made the same way.

I remembered a tale that Clara told me down there. It was about a certain 'Baron Münchhausen'. He pulled himself up to the Mun and back... by his ponytail. I wanted to test this, but even if I had a ponytail, medical crew advised me not to remove my helmet under any circumstance, especially on EVA. Anyways, probably the Baron lived in a time when the gravity wasn't that strong. But on Munar orbit, the solution hit me: what if the ship was my ponytail?

Day 'm+ some'

On the way home! The theory worked! I deserve a noble prize. I discovered the Münchhause-force, a propulsion system that will revolutionize space travel! So I couldn't pull myself from a ponytail, but I could kick a fuel-tank of the lander while hanging onto a ladder. I forgot my camera at home so I'll visually demonstrate the construction by a capital letter 'L'. The letter's vertical part symbolises the ladder, while it's horizontal part represents the top of a fuel-tank. My physic studies suggested that I will not be able to produce acceleration. Well, I was wrong. One just needs to hang onto the ladder while kicking the can. To my great suprize, this method is a lot more effective than EVA-pushing, and no fuel is needed. Clara and I were never been this happy.

I'm full of plans. The Mönchhausen-force porbably isn't enough to reachy LKO with (though with enough kerbals kicking... I reed to run the numbers), but once we are on orbit, there are no more limits. Once the honeymoon is over, I'll attempt a Moho-trip. On foot!

Edited July 21, 2015 by Evanitis

[Red Iron Crown]

"Ladder force" is a known physics glitch, it's been used to make tiny Eve SSTOs, for instance.

[pandaman]

Nearly didn't read that when I saw how long it was...

Glad I did... Thanks.

Oh ,and give Bob and Clara my best wishes (when he gets out of the asylum).

[Volix]

"Ladder force" is a known physics glitch, it's been used to make tiny Eve SSTOs, for instance.

This pretty well sums it up for your question, but I enjoyed reading the story you laid out. Thanks for taking the time to put it together.

[DoToH]

Kown glitch. Nice story. Great first post. Welcome to the forum.

[Volix]

Great first post. Welcome to the forum.

I didn't even notice! Welcome!

[Evanitis]

Welcome to the forum.

Hey there people!

Thanks for taking the time to put it together.

You are welcome. I was bored at work. Happens a lot.

Guess I should take photos for next time. To go easy on the eyes. Ahh, that's how it is with KSP, one learns by trying.

[magnemoe]

Welcome, and it was an awesome reading

And yes the effect is known.

[Mister Kerman]

Very well put together story. S'funny.

[RAINCRAFTER]

Hi, Evanitis! Welcome to the forums.

[monstah]

Nearly didn't read that when I saw how long it was...

Glad I did... Thanks.

This. I haven't read it all, but THIS GEM

I extended his observation: I state that the apparent size of the Mun is inversely proportional with the distance of the observer. I relaying this equation to Mission Control. I'm starting to understand why they sent me instead of Jebediah.

is totally worth it.