The Kerbal Kinetic Bombardment Challenge

[Excalibur]

Excalibur Exoatmospheric Proudly Hosts:

The Kerbal Kinetic Bombardment Challenge

After many failures during orbital operations that resulted in lithobraking at orbital velocities, the folks at EE have decided to give those poor Kerbal impactors a purpose. So that their efforts were not in vain we hereby launch a variation of Trekkin\'s Absurdly Energetic Impact Challenge; The Kerbal Kinetic Bombardment Challenge!

Two major categories are present, one for stock craft, the other is an unlimited class where any mods (but no .cfg edits) can be used.

There is one rule. Your ship must have a MechJeb (even for the stock challenge) on board so the screenshot taken in your final moments will display the important mass and velocity readings. Simply pick a moon of your choice and hit it with as much kinetic energy a possible. We will assume that this energy will be converted to heat in the impact and produce a rather large boom.

The first Kerbal to impact with an energy of over one kiloton (4.184x10^12 Joules) will be posthumously awarded a one megaton thermonuclear device to place on their mantelpiece.

To help you calculate your energy here is the relevant equation;

Ek = Kinetic energy in joules

m = Mass in kilograms

v = Velocity in metres per second

Once you\'ve got your energy in joules divide your answer by 4,184,000,000,000 to get your final figure in kilotons of TNT equivalent.

As this is a fresh challenge entries from previous challenges will NOT be accepted. This unfortunately includes some of my own.

Anyway good luck chaps and happy smashing!

Leaderboards

Stock

1st place: N2maniac. Energy on impact ~1.071ktTNT (Your one megaton device is winging it\'s way to you - minimum safe distance ~ 16km)

Unlimited

TBC

EDIT: Credit should be given where credit is due. Trekkin has previously posted The Absurdly Energetic Munar Impact Challenge which inspired this folly. His challenge asks for momentum on impact which though related to energy is a slightly different goal to reach. I prefer the idea of comparing our impact to nuclear detonations as I believe it\'s a little more in the Kerbal spirit!

EDIT 2: I\'ll make an attempt to set a benchmark sometime this weekend when I\'ve the time.

[kHurtiZ]

Ho hum ... I managed to get 1.831E12 joules. (1.8 Terajoules)

Mass at impact was 319.2 tons, velocity 3387.1 metres per second. Using Novapunch parts [cfg edit on the nerva engine to give thrust vectoring, otherwise stock] and also my 2 metre nuclear waste part [attached] -- four of those, at 50 tons each plus miscellaneous hardware.

Compare with nuclear weapons: (all figures in Terajoules)

- Little Boy: 50 - 63

- Fat Man: 84 - 92

...

- Tsar Bonba: 210,000 (most powerful nuke of all time: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tsar_Bomba)

Pic from just before impact attached.

To do this, I raised my apoapsis to 11,400km, i.e. intersecting Mun\'s orbit, then I reversed direction and circularized my retrograde orbit. Once I got close enough to mun and trimmed my vector to ensure a direct hit, I stepped on the gas and accelerated straight into Mun.

[N2maniac]

According to my calculations, I have a method:

Method:

Using about orbit + 6km/s delta v, one can achieve 21km/s speed in Kerbin SoI:

Escape Kerbin with Apoapsis near 120Gm

n*106d later, retro-fire to reverse the velocity vector (n=3,4, etc. Kerbin then orbits that number of times, returning back to where it was)

n*106d - m*38.6h (aka T minus m*38.6h to impact), adjust incoming direction towards Mun (Mun would be in the same orbital position relative to Kerbin at impact. 10-20 days should be enough to adjust)

Optional: 38.6h before impact, re-adjust to fine-tune it

If you don\'t trust your calculations, back up persistence file and see how badly you are off

Final point:

At 21km/s, 1 tonne of spaceship is 0.22TJ of energy while 1ktTNT is 4.18TJ. A craft with a mass of 19tonnes will be a 1ktTNT impact.

More on testing this later if successful.

[N2maniac]

And with a little effort it can be done. Behold:

http://imgur.com/a/bKz1c#0

Final Stats:

18.7 tonnes

21890m/s

0.5*18700kg*(21890m/s)^2 = 4.480TJ

4.480TJ / (4.184TJ/ktTNT) = 1.071ktTNT

All stock parts except for Mechjeb command module.

I would like to note that aiming it at the Mun is not easy, but careful calculations and timing will do it. Of my 3 ships launched for this mission, 1 ended up off course (math error, oops), 1 missed the Mun (something wrong with my position estimate of it), and 1 hit (after some last minute orbital maneuvers to actually impact).

[Excalibur]

Good job! Very impressive! Don\'t know if I\'ll be able to top that - but I\'ll try! I never really thought of entering a Kerbol orbit for this challenge as I knew it would take quite some time - indeed nearly 900 days MET is a fair while!

Apologies for the slow update - I\'ve been in and out of hospital with a torn Achilles tendon .