Get rid of Jeb! (cheapest/smallest/lightest craft to escape velocity)

[rocx]

The other Kerbonauts are getting sick of hearing Jebediah bragging about his exploits, waving his medals around and playing cruel practical jokes. After another practical joke almost gone horribly wrong (it involved two decouplers, a Klaw and some sharks), they decide it is payback time, and get together in the VAB during the night. With your help, they will send Jebediah far away for a long time.

Build a craft that can take at least one kerbal to Kerbin escape velocity, and demonstrate it. In version 1.0.3!

Rules:

1. One launch only, no help from any spacecraft not part of the launch.

2. Craft must contain at least one Kerbal from start to finish. Preferebly Jebediah Kerman. Capsule, chair, ladder, whatever works. Jeb may steer the craft himself: he has been told a story about a planned "deep space rendezvous".

3. Launch must take place from the ground, launch clamps may not lift the craft more than ~10m.

4. Craft must leave Kerbin's SoI. While hitting Mun at high velocity also does the job, the kerbals are pranksters, not murderers. Gravity assists are allowed and encouraged.

5. Mods that add parts and mods that change physics will not be in the main ranking. If you insist, I will add separate leaderboards.

6. No abuse of physics glitches and bugs. No use of EVA rocketpack.

7. No recovery of any parts: this is a sneaky operation!

Oh, and don't feel bad for Jebediah, you know he always finds a way home.

Scoring:

We all chipped in: Ranking for the cheapest craft to get rid of Jeb.

1. Rocket chair, by NikkyD, 2315 funds.

2. garage sale special by t3hJimmer, 3171 funds.

3. Cheapest way to get rid of a Kerbal by NikkyD, 4133 funds.

4. Ejector, by OpenWorldAddict, 4890 funds.

5. Rid_15, by LordCorwin, 5330 funds.

6. Rid_13, by LordCorwin, 5920 funds.

7. Rid_05 by LordCorwin, 7472 funds.

8. Mini-bus by rocx, 11826 funds.

9. Foxster, 18432 funds.

Built it in one night: Ranking for the fewest parts craft to get rid of Jeb.

1. Foxster, 2 parts.

2. Ejector, by OpenWorldAddict, 5 parts.

3. garage sale special by t3hJimmer, 6 parts.

4. Rid_15, by LordCorwin, 7 parts.

5. Rocket chair, by NikkyD, 7 parts.

6. Rid_13, by LordCorwin, 8 parts.

7. Cheapest way to get rid of a Kerbal by NikkyD, 9 parts.

8. Rid_05 by LordCorwin, 11 parts.

9. Mini-bus by rocx, 13 parts.

Need some volunteers to help carry this: Ranking for the lowest mass craft to get rid of Jeb.

1. Mini-bus by rocx, 4,0905 tons.

2. Rid_13, by LordCorwin, 4,286 tons.

3. Rid_15, by LordCorwin, 4,329 tons.

4. Rocket chair, by NikkyD, 9,065 tons.

5. Cheapest way to get rid of a Kerbal by NikkyD, 10,515 tons.

6. garage sale special by t3hJimmer, 13,1 tons.

7. Rid_05 by LordCorwin, 17,553 tons.

8. Ejector, by OpenWorldAddict, 29,89 tons.

9. Foxster, 43,1 tons.

Best way to get rid of Jeb: Combined leaderboard, above scores multiplied and divided by 1000. Lower is better.

1. Rocket chair, by NikkyD, 146,898.

2. Rid_15, by LordCorwin, 161,515.

3. Rid_13, by LordCorwin, 202,985.

4. garage sale special by t3hJimmer, 249,241.

5. Cheapest way to get rid of a Kerbal by NikkyD, 391,126.

6. Mini-bus by rocx, 628,865.

7. Ejector, by OpenWorldAddict, 730,811.

8. Rid_05 by LordCorwin, 1442,716.

9. Foxster, 1588,838.

"Take Command"-mod leaderboard:

1. Jet Boosted Rocket Chair by NikkyD, 6178 funds, 9 parts, 3,065 tons.

2. The Fairy Nuff by Foxster, 33914 funds, 56 parts, 7,785 tons.

Edited July 12, 2015 by rocx

[rocx]

Here is my first submission, Kerbonauts' revenge, going mainly for lowest cost here. 7802 funds, 9 parts, 30,8275 tons. I feel sorry for the kerbals that had to move this to the launch pad in the dark..

Javascript is disabled. View full album

[rocx]

I'm pretty sure this one is unbeatable for lowest part count: one lander can, one largest tank, and one Rhino. 35482 funds, 3 parts, 90,1 tons.

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However if someone equals in parts, lower mass will be the tiebreaker.

Ok, that's enough for today, let someone else try for lowest mass or break my lowest cost.

Edited June 22, 2015 by rocx

[Foxster]

I'm pretty sure this one is unbeatable for lowest part count: one lander can, one largest tank, and one Rhino. 35482 funds, 3 parts, 90,1 tons.

http://imgur.com/a/vRxIO

However if someone equals in parts, lower mass will be the tiebreaker.

Ok, that's enough for today, let someone else try for lowest mass or break my lowest cost.

Three parts is not unbeatable with 1.0.3...

[rocx]

I think you've won this category, Foxster. Any chance you could show a few more pics between start and finish? Also some stats would be nice. Since it's only two parts, I could look it up myself, but I won't do that for every entry.

Edited June 23, 2015 by rocx

[Foxster]

I think you've won this category, Foxster. Any chance you could show a few more pics between start and finish? Also some stats would be nice. Since it's only two parts, I could look it up myself, but I won't do that for every entry.

To be honest there's not much to say or show. I just pointed the craft straight up when a bit ahead of the moon and let it rip so that I got a slingshot around Mun. No orbits of Kerbin or such.

Two parts, 43.1t, cost 18,432.

Edited June 23, 2015 by Foxster

[ihtoit]

Here we go. 67t, 20m high, two parts. 4.374km/sec on burnout of the Thor SRB (right on the edge of the atmosphere!), straight into a 7 million km by 16 million km Kerbolar orbit. Craft cost: 11,350

[rocx]

Nice one, ihtoit. When another modded entry appears, I will open a leaderboard for mod entries. Which mods did you use?

[rofltehcat]

2 parts? Wait, cost is the tie breaker, right? Now people only need to figure out how much fuel they can drain!

[ihtoit]

Nice one, ihtoit. When another modded entry appears, I will open a leaderboard for mod entries. Which mods did you use?

I used KWRocketry for the booster, there's a far more powerful booster in there for 1.0.2 but it adds some 5m to the height, just about doubles the weight *but* fired in the right direction it is entirely possible to make Kerbolar escape with it!

[LordCorwin]

Hello, I present you my Rid_05. Cost = 7472, Mass = 17553, Parts = 11.

[NikkyD]

Cost 4133 and kerbal needs to be tricked into playing along as he needs to go for the seat HOWEVER if he doesnt he will die in reentry, so forcing a kerbal into the cockpit and starting should be enough

Weight 10515 kg

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Edited June 27, 2015 by NikkyD

[rocx]

Very nice entries! NikkyD, an innovative way to use a seat while keeping to the single launch. I just wonder if it isn't difficult to fly a rocket with a seat as a nose. Also, you used 9 parts, did I count correctly?

[NikkyD]

9 parts, correct.

Some things i found out experimenting with it:

Horrible aerodynamics with the seat and all, but fairings etc would just increase the cost.

Also, if i had better aero -> less dV needed all i could use it on is dropping tanks. So FLT100 instead of 200 or taking a booster a number smaller but i doubt that it would work.

With a slow enough start, the seat with its 1400 heat tolerance doesnt even get hot, so in theory a kerbal could sit in it, but i wouldnt know how to start with a kerbal in the seat, not taking a cockpit along AND maintaining cost.

Still not finished testing stuff

[RoeddipusHex]

Here's a submission for smallest.

I don't have stasts and I'm on the road so i can't fire up the game to get them. Link to craft file in YouTube description.

[NikkyD]

previous entry had a mistake in cost, the silly mechjeb component costs 750 and is used only to display stuff so it should not count.

But here is one better, 2 parts less, money saved!

Name "Rocket Chair"

Cost 2315, Weight 9.065 t dV left: somewhere in the 200 m/s region, depending on maneuvering errors (+- 50 )

Booster is at 50%, starting up to 100 m/s straight, then turning. Should turn only a little (maybe down to 60°) so that it can achieve an AP of 80 km.

Booster is out at about 20 km and you need to wait to about 50 for Jeb to savely EVA and board the chair.

Once done achieve orbit and then plot course for mun slingshot. (all very easy due to high TWR of RocketChairâ„¢ )

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Edited June 27, 2015 by NikkyD

[Foxster]

A low mass entry: The Fairy Nuff

7.785t, 33,914 cost.

Flight is pretty simple: Fly it straight up and scrape the Mun.

Edited June 27, 2015 by Foxster

[NikkyD]

How do you place a kerbal on a chair inside a fairing ???

[Foxster]

How do you place a kerbal on a chair inside a fairing ???

With an incy bit of sleight of hand - or the Take Command mod that lets you treat a command seat the same as a capsule and assign a Kerbal to it.

[t3hJimmer]

I'll take a shot at the cheapest category. I was able to get rid of Jeb for the measly price of √3,171.

Rocket Specs:

name: garage sale special

parts: 6

mass: 13.1 t

length: 14.2 m

[LordCorwin]

Not sure if my new solution will be valid, but is fun!

Ok, people in KSC don't know how, but Jebediah returned to Kerbin

So this time they are planning to leave him alone without any craft.

Kerbin Space Center will detect a problem and request to Jebediah to make an EVA. Then they will control his suitpack and will activate its thrusters, providing it contains about 500m/s of delta-v.

He will make the Kerbin escape just with his suitpack.

The will leave him without fuel and no craft, to ensure he never return to Kerbin!

I say I'm not sure if this is valid, because the last impulse is done with suitpack and no craft.

Nevertheless, I'm just using standard equipment.

So statistics for my new Rid_07 rocket: Cost = 3920, Mass = 11400, Parts = 8.

But they don't know that Jebediah has unlimited resources and will arrange his return to Kerbin! :-)

Edited June 28, 2015 by LordCorwin

[NikkyD]

With the discovery of the "Take Command" mod, i managed to get rid of the heavy capsule.

Time for a light weight entry.

Jet Boosted Rocket Chair

uses mod 'Take Command'

Cost: 6178 (screenshot shows 750 more due to mechjeb unit attached)

Weight: 3065 ( <- in VAB, during flight the kerbal will add an additional 94 kg to the chair, changing the VAB dV)

Parts: 9

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[rocx]

RoeddipusHex, I have no doubt that your craft can make it, but I would like to see some stats and one screenshot of it achieving Kerbin escape velocity. Thank you for all the nice entries! NikkyD and th3Jimmer, your entries have been added to the leaderboard and top the charts. Foxster and NikkyD, your entries have been disqualified for using a mod that is against the spirit of this challenge. Rule 1 "1. One launch only, no help from any spacecraft not part of the launch." implies that if you want to use a chair, you still have to include a capsule on the launch pad. But I'll start a separate "Take Command" leaderboard for you, since this is Jebediah we are talking about. LordCorwin, rule 6: "No abuse of physics glitches and bugs. No use of EVA rocketpack." Jebediah is not that stupid.

A new ranking has been added! The Kerbals are very happy with all your suggestions, and they will decide by combining the three rankings in the following way: each result is divided by the current leader's result, and the three are multiplied to achieve a combined score. NikkyD is currently leading with 1, 7/2 and 1 giving 3,5.

Edited June 28, 2015 by rocx

[LordCorwin]

rule 6: .... No use of EVA rocketpack." Jebediah is not that stupid.

Sorry, I didn't see that part. I fully understand not being qualified, but as said, it was fun make this mission :-)

[t3hJimmer]

A new ranking has been added! The Kerbals are very happy with all your suggestions, and they will decide by combining the three rankings in the following way: each result is divided by the current leader's result, and the three are multiplied to achieve a combined score. NikkyD is currently leading with 1, 7/2 and 1 giving 3,5.

I really like this idea, but your math is a bit wonky. You should take the leaders score and divide it by the entry score. Otherwise the worse you perform the better your score

Old method:

Perfect score: (2315/2315)*(2/2)*(9.065/9.065) = 1*1*1 = 1

Low score: (10000/2315)*(20/2)*(50/9.065) = 4.32*10*5.5 = 237.6

New Method:

Perfect score: (2315/2315)*(2/2)*(9.065/9.065) = 1*1*1 = 1

Low score: (2315/10000)*(2/20)*(9.065/50) = 0.23*0.1*0.18 = 0.004

I PMed you a spreadsheet that calculates the scores automatically.

Edited June 28, 2015 by t3hJimmer