Mun Rocked

[purpleivan]

After taking part in quite a few challenges myself, I thought it would be fun to set one instead and so was born...

The Goal

It's simple, just land the heaviest vehicle you can on Mun.

The Rules

 

1. Manned flights only, but the kerbal(s) can be housed in any way you like (capsule, MK3 passenger module, 50x command seats... whatever)
2. No addons other than aesthetic ones, Mechjeb and Kerbal Engineer, although manual flying is preferred
3. Multiple launches to assemble a huge lander in Kerbin orbit are not just allowed but actively encouraged
4. The mass of the vehicle is that of the lander on the surface of Mun at the time of landing. Tanks dropped on the way down to the surface etc. don't count of course, neither will the addition of mass of vehicles docked after landing or ore mining.
5. The whole vehicle that you send to Mun must be brought up from Kerbin, so no throwing something you made earlier that's conveniently sitting in Kerbin orbit already at this
6. Plenty of pics as proof please, a pic on the pad and another on Mun won't quite cut it, at least half a dozen showing various stages of your epic journey
7. In the extraordinarily unlikely event of a tie, the winner will be chosen base on how downright bonkers the vehicle looks, or alternatively a talent contest

 

If you have any questions about the rule, ask before you fly

So that this challenge doesn't have to be maintained indefinitely, I'm setting a cutoff for entries of 18:00 GMT on October 31st (yay... Kalloween).

I'll be kicking this challenge off with an attempt at sending the Eve Party Boat, a monstrous four man Eve return vehicle that I used prior to 1.0, but which I recently found will still get into orbit in 1.0.4 (that's the vehicle on the left of my sig)

Ok... let's get that Mun ringing like a bell.

Leaderboard

1. Wild Cobra 1778.52 tons

2. Norcalplanner 1287 tons

3. xendelaar 704.9 tons

4. Varsi 683 tons

5. Purpleivan 620 tons

6. Just Jim 38 tons

7.

8.

9.

10.

Edited April 10, 2016 by purpleivan
Adding a leaderboard

[purpleivan]

Well I've put the it in orbit and docked the two transfer vehicles that will push the Eve Party Boat to Mun and filled the lander itself with fuel, which took 6 launches on its own.

Now it's ready to head for (hopefully) a safe landing on Mun.

[purpleivan]

I finally got around to flying the Eve Party Boat to Mun and making a landing. It was a mishap strewn mission, but resulted in putting a 620 ton (mass at landing) vehicle on the Mun surface.

Here are the pics of the flight, plus some of the many other launches required to fuel and crew it.

Javascript is disabled. View full album

I wasted a lot of fuel burning the regular liquid engines rather than the more fuel efficient nukes, as half the nukes had missing fuel lines (I'd hastily constructed these rather than finding the files for the originals I used for the trip to Eve), so they were a bit of a pain to use, plus I started from too low a Kerbin orbit to use them successfully.

So... anyone want to try outdoing 620 tons?

As a bit of extra amusement, here's what happens when the launch of that monstrosity doesn't go according to plan.

[purpleivan]

Added a leaderboard in case anyone is interested in taking a crack at this.

[Varsi]

Well... Seemed like a fun thing to do. I was somewhat optimistic thinking that really.

I've been thinking of testing how using multiple docking ports to connect parts works so I decided to build something in the orbit. In the end I had a core part and two sets of four other parts to bring together.

The tugs I used were a bad idea. I did use them until things got too laggy and the last part had extra RCS parts to be detached after docking.

I really should have been careful with the part count... over 400 parts is not good for my computer.

The whole thing had a mass of over 1200t in low Kerbin orbit of which I burned a bit under 400 tons while going for the Mun landing. The mass on surface right after landing was 863t.

After quite some waiting the mass of the ship was at 1279t.

Javascript is disabled. View full album

I guess just slapping tanks together would have been a better idea. All the small parts I had there just for the fun of it really brought the part count up. The part count is the real limit here.

[purpleivan]

Well... Seemed like a fun thing to do. I was somewhat optimistic thinking that really.

I've been thinking of testing how using multiple docking ports to connect parts works so I decided to build something in the orbit. In the end I had a core part and two sets of four other parts to bring together.

The tugs I used were a bad idea. I did use them until things got too laggy and the last part had extra RCS parts to be detached after docking.

I really should have been careful with the part count... over 400 parts is not good for my computer.

The whole thing had a mass of over 1200t in low Kerbin orbit of which I burned a bit under 400 tons while going for the Mun landing. The mass on surface right after landing was 863t.

After quite some waiting the mass of the ship was at 1279t.

http://imgur.com/a/lp0On

I guess just slapping tanks together would have been a better idea. All the small parts I had there just for the fun of it really brought the part count up. The part count is the real limit here.

Nice entry, a cleaner looking vehicle than the Eve Party Boat, but that was designed for a very different task (massively staged/asparagus launch from Eve surface) .

Are you sure about the landed mass? Looking at the KER window in the final image in your album it says that the mass is 683t and not 863. It looks like the 8 and 6 got swapped when you read it... easily done.

Even with the reduce number you still get 1st place on the leaderboard with 683t however (I'll update it in a moment).

As you've mentioned the additional mass that you've mined, I thought I should make it clear for any other entries that the mass for the challenge is that which is landed on Mun, and doesn't including any mining, docking etc. of things after that time, otherwise a huge Munar base would qualify. I'll amend the rules to make that clear.

I know what you mean about the pain of landing a high parts vehicle as mine had 501 and had almost no capability to change orientation without the engines running

So congrats on a nice design and 1st place.

[Norcalplanner]

Interesting challenge - I may have to give it a try. Just to confirm, I need to go buy a gross of struts because KJR isn't allowed, correct?

[Varsi]

Nice entry, a cleaner looking vehicle than the Eve Party Boat, but that was designed for a very different task (massively staged/asparagus launch from Eve surface) .

Are you sure about the landed mass? Looking at the KER window in the final image in your album it says that the mass is 683t and not 863. It looks like the 8 and 6 got swapped when you read it... easily done.

Even with the reduce number you still get 1st place on the leaderboard with 683t however (I'll update it in a moment).

As you've mentioned the additional mass that you've mined, I thought I should make it clear for any other entries that the mass for the challenge is that which is landed on Mun, and doesn't including any mining, docking etc. of things after that time, otherwise a huge Munar base would qualify. I'll amend the rules to make that clear.

I know what you mean about the pain of landing a high parts vehicle as mine had 501 and had almost no capability to change orientation without the engines running

So congrats on a nice design and 1st place.

You are right. It's 683t. So it was actually 600 tons of fuel burned from the Kerbin orbit which is about half the mass.

[purpleivan]

Yup... KJR is not on the allowed plugins list, I'm aiming to see stock constructions only.

Sorry.

[Norcalplanner]

Yup... KJR is not on the allowed plugins list, I'm aiming to see stock constructions only.

Sorry.

That's what I had figured - no need to apologize.

After barely making it to orbit due to my second stage engines not gimballing, I will be installing Claw's stock bug fixes. I don't even want to think of what landing this beast will be like if I have to rely solely on reaction wheels during final descent.

[purpleivan]

I don't even want to think of what landing this beast will be like if I have to rely solely on reaction wheels during final descent.

Sounds interesting

[Norcalplanner]

Sounds interesting

The Herkules has successfully landed. Pics and more info later tonight.

[Norcalplanner]

Grrrrrr...

Imgur is not cooperating. I'll try again later.

[Norcalplanner]

Meet the Herkules, the slightly bizarre brainchild of one Howard Kughes. He told his engineers to make a lander that would be at least a thousand tons when landing on the Mun, and they came through.

Final landed stats on the Mun are 1,287 tons and 206 parts. Full info is in the descriptions of the photos.

Javascript is disabled. View full album

[purpleivan]

Meet the Herkules, the slightly bizarre brainchild of one Howard Kughes. He told his engineers to make a lander that would be at least a thousand tons when landing on the Mun, and they came through.

Final landed stats on the Mun are 1,287 tons and 206 parts. Full info is in the descriptions of the photos.

http://imgur.com/a/MunBz

Nice and a new winaaar!... until someone else puts down something bigger

It sounds like your launch was the same kind of slideshow I had when I sent mine up.

Thanks for the entry, with lots of details on the flight... the leaderboard has been updated.

[Wild Cobra]

I set out to try this, but so far, it isn't working for me.

I made a real heavy lander, but using just the stock parts instead of size three connectors, just aren't strong and rigid enough for my attempts so far.

Oh well, back to the drawing board.

Edited September 24, 2015 by Wild Cobra

[purpleivan]

How heavy are you aiming for?

[Wild Cobra]

How heavy are you aiming for?

Parts: 951

Mass: 1,558.4t

Height: 14.2m

Width: 38.9m

length: 38.9m

That's just the wet weight of the lander.

Maybe if I add enough more struts, it will work.

I have nine rocket booster attachment points. Everything looks good for the first several seconds up, then it starts getting unstable before my first stage separation.

Parts: 2004

Mass: 19,385.8t

Height: 50.7m

Width: 42.6m

length: 42.5m

That's the whole thing.

Edited September 25, 2015 by Wild Cobra

[purpleivan]

Impressive... best of luck.

[ExaltedToast]

Is using illegitimate methods to reach munar orbit allowed? (Also stated as: Can I hyperedit to 200000m over the mun?)

[purpleivan]

I'm afraid not. The idea is that the whole vehicle has to be launched from Kerbin and then transferred to Mun for the landing.

However you can use as many launches as you want to assemble and/or fuel a vehicle in orbit.

Edited October 4, 2015 by purpleivan

[Wild Cobra]

I'm afraid not. The idea is that the whole vehicle has to be launched from Kerbin and then transferred to Mun for the landing.

However you can use as many launches as you want to assemble and/or fuel a vehicle in orbit.

I should have asked. I just made a successful launch with no stage separation problems. I had to help however with my landing fuel to achieve Kerbin orbit. I then decided to see how far to the Mun I would get. Made it to a apoapsis of 2,276,600 before running out of fuel. Went to infinite fuel just to continue a dry run.

The dry weight of this moon mining station and hotel is 876.2 tons, and 1,308.2 tons full of fuel. 2377 pats, 41.5 meters tall. 36.4 x 40.5 wide/long. At launch, 2822 parts, 7,478.4 tons, 57.9 meters tall.

Sorry, can't just put weight on the Mun, I have to do something that is actually functional.

Anyway, when I was in Kerbin orbit, I made sure my 12 drills toggled, my six ladders, solar cells, antenna, RCS, etc. Extended them again in Munar orbit for a few pics.

A good "dry run." Stopping for now, but later I will see how well it lands, and how much fuel I need after refueling the tanks.

Anyway, here are a few pics, though since I cheated, this launch doesn't count.

[purpleivan]

Very nice, even if it's not entirely within the rules.

A cool looking vehicle, that's functional and has accommodation for a ridiculous number of Kerbals.

[Wild Cobra]

Very nice, even if it's not entirely within the rules.

A cool looking vehicle, that's functional and has accommodation for a ridiculous number of Kerbals.

Not entirely within the rules?

I am not claiming success yet. I never expected success on my first successful launch into space, and was honest about what I did.

Did I miss something else?

What isn't within the rules?

It is all stock parts, held together with struts.

Or... did I mix in a custom part I'm not aware of?

[purpleivan]

Not entirely within the rules?

I am not claiming success yet. I never expected success on my first successful launch into space, and was honest about what I did.

Did I miss something else?

What isn't within the rules?

It is all stock parts, held together with struts.

Or... did I mix in a custom part I'm not aware of?

Sorry... badly phrased response from me. I was referring to your use of infinite fuel to get to the mun, so this particular flight was not withing the rules.

There's nothing that I see on the vehicle that's breaking the rules, so a flight of the same vehicle, while not using infinite fuel (e.g. topping up with fuel with launches from Kerbin) would be fine.

Sorry about the misunderstanding.