Deep Diver Challenge: 1.0.5 Edition!

[Pds314]

Halfway to the singularity. 4 G and the background has shifted to black again.

So far, everything seems structurally fine.

[NeroWolfe]

So the concept was "build a rover you can launch into orbit, then drop into the ocean wherever and putter about." Threw together the Starfish ver. 0.0.01, took it into LKO, and dropped it into the middle of the ocean. Depressingly, as soon as it sank below -999.99m, the surface went all Jool on me and I am now sitting in the middle of the great nothingness. *sigh* I'll have to try a different bit of the sea I guess.

Upside, the idea was sound and I did get to drive from KSC to the island base.

EDIT - I just noticed that like the other rover-sub, I am slowly sinking (now at -1124m). Hmmmm.

[Pds314]

6 Gee and 355 kilometers down.

The screen is shaking like mad, but it seems to be structurally fine.

Things are gonna happen FAST from here on out.

[Arsonik]

EDIT - I just noticed that like the other rover-sub, I am slowly sinking (now at -1124m). Hmmmm.

You're gonna have to sink a heck of a lot faster to catch that guy though.

[Pds314]

Every minute, I am 1.8 kilometers closer to death.

- - - Updated - - -

You're gonna have to sink a heck of a lot faster to catch that guy though.

Every minute, I am 1.8 kilometers closer to death.

[Stoney3K]

Every minute, I am 1.8 kilometers closer to death.

Are you absolutely certain? How big is the chance of your craft just oscillating around the center forever?

[neistridlar]

New submission for longest distance traveled under water: 165.5km.

pics:

http://imgur.com/gallery/Nkylc/new

[NeroWolfe]

You're gonna have to sink a heck of a lot faster to catch that guy though.

Lol, mine finally went wonky when I hit time warp.

[Pds314]

You're gonna have to sink a heck of a lot faster to catch that guy though.

Are you absolutely certain? How big is the chance of your craft just oscillating around the center forever?

Zero. The drag from the water is far too high.

Dangit. I accidentally put it in the older, slower position.

I've got stuff to do. I'll post a video of the last parts later.

Edited November 11, 2015 by Pds314

[Fluburtur]

I just crossed 236km during my challenge, I used the last drop of fuel exactly at the southern point of the continent the KSC is on.

For more than 100km per refuel this thing seems pretty efficient.

[MajorLeaugeRocketScience]

I'm deffiniantly going to contribute to this

[AeroArchonite_]

Got a tiny jet glider I made to hit the ocean floor, wasn't even intended for sea travel. I think I might have found the crack in the floor of the ocean that PDS134 found, noticed the ground was black instead of solid blue.

Crack in the ocean:

There's the oceanic crack I believe, the black thing there. I didn't investigate though, sadly, thought it was a lighting glitch.

Here's my depth record:

And yes, that is on the ocean floor. Silly Jebadiah, your face would be crushed by the immense pressure. EDIT:​ You can also see the huge crack in this photo, though I didn't see that until I posted this.

[Fengist]

Alright, submariners, let's get to work!

Pds314, who found a crack in the ocean floor, and is currently en route to the core of the planet. As of right now, he's set the all time depth record of -300 km. It's hard to get further down than this, folks! I'm not putting this on the scoreboard because it's the result of an anomaly, but it still deserves special mention!

He didn't find anything. This is a bug that's been around since KSP was created. I even warned Nathan of it before they released 1.0.5. If you dive to a location where the depth is > 1,000 m on any planet, you'll pass through the terrain and into the center of the planet's mesh. There is no 'crack', it's every planet.

Therefore, your challenge will always be taking advantage of a known bug if they dive deeper than 1,000m

[Fluburtur]

Weird, I was able to touch the ocean floor at more than 1000m.

But the texture disapear when you change the camera angle, maybe it's this that triggers the glitch.

I would suggest adding a rule saying that it's recommended to show the bottom of the ocean or even touch it (without going through)

[Red Dwarf]

Bug or no, it's still pretty interesting to see. I hope some more people can replicate it, so we can get more data about the conditions down there. As far as I know, nobody has made a documented journey to the center of a planet before, and I'm curious to see what happens!

Also, I don't really feel like I need to update the rules to explicitly prohibit digging to the center of the planet, since that's outside the purview of the challenge. If any other folks do it, they'll get a special/honourary mention, but they aren't going on the main scoreboard. As it stands, Pds would hold the depth recordon Kerbin either way, so for right now it's kind of a non-issue

[SpaceplaneAddict]

Can I get a mention for underwater EVAs?

[Red Dwarf]

Can I get a mention for underwater EVAs?

Yeah, sure. I'll update the op a little bit later, though. I'm toast right now

[AeroArchonite_]

Bug or no, it's still pretty interesting to see. I hope some more people can replicate it, so we can get more data about the conditions down there. As far as I know, nobody has made a documented journey to the center of a planet before, and I'm curious to see what happens!

Also, I don't really feel like I need to update the rules to explicitly prohibit digging to the center of the planet, since that's outside the purview of the challenge. If any other folks do it, they'll get a special/honourary mention, but they aren't going on the main scoreboard. As it stands, Pds would hold the depth recordon Kerbin either way, so for right now it's kind of a non-issue

I tried to make a shuttle out of a Vector engine and a Mammoth engine, though the thrust was too much and the thing exploded. The challenge here is being able to get a craft that goes quickly underwater. I don't care if it's downloaded or not.

That brings me to my point. Since I don't have the expertise to do a plane-drop, I'll ask for the second-quickest craft, which is Neistridlar's submersible. If I could have the download, that would be cool. I want to discover the depths of Kerbin's oceans.

Might find some rare bugs down there too.

[Fluburtur]

We should form something like a "submarine league", the leader of underwater exploration and glitch hunting.

[NathanKell]

And, in fact, I spent a good few days on that bug, but could not find why it existed, nor could I justify spending probably a week on that single issue. I am sorry you disagree with my prioritization choices.

[NeroWolfe]

First go at Laythe, and in my chosen spot the glitch capped out at -2705. Hmm.

[Nahim]

Something just strike me now!

UNDERWATER BASES!

[Jetski]

Finally got some good tech on my new 1.05 career, captured an A size asteroid and dropped in the water close to KSC to play with. Sinks very slowly, like <1 m/s. Was hoping for a hard point to attach a seafloor base to, but even a few parts (klaw, probe core, mono, battery) are enough to make it float back up, like a salvage diver lift bag. Rats. Also had fun with a reverse VTOL sub (4 junos facing up) for maintaining a constant depth while trying to klaw a slowly sinking rock. Hard to klaw moving stuff underwater as most of my sub designs start floating if I slow too much. 27 m/s seems to be a comfy cruising speed for most craft, not setting any speed records, but can go pretty much anywhere. Anyone else notice banking underwater turns you the opposite direction as in the air? Fun. Next challenge STSSTO! Submarine to single stage to orbit!

[Red Dwarf]

Finally got some good tech on my new 1.05 career, captured an A size asteroid and dropped in the water close to KSC to play with. Sinks very slowly, like <1 m/s. Was hoping for a hard point to attach a seafloor base to, but even a few parts (klaw, probe core, mono, battery) are enough to make it float back up, like a salvage diver lift bag. Rats. Also had fun with a reverse VTOL sub (4 junos facing up) for maintaining a constant depth while trying to klaw a slowly sinking rock. Hard to klaw moving stuff underwater as most of my sub designs start floating if I slow too much. 27 m/s seems to be a comfy cruising speed for most craft, not setting any speed records, but can go pretty much anywhere. Anyone else notice banking underwater turns you the opposite direction as in the air? Fun. Next challenge STSSTO! Submarine to single stage to orbit!

Got any pictures? You would be our first asteroid wrangler, and I'd love to put you on the scoreboard

[Pds314]

He didn't find anything. This is a bug that's been around since KSP was created. I even warned Nathan of it before they released 1.0.5. If you dive to a location where the depth is > 1,000 m on any planet, you'll pass through the terrain and into the center of the planet's mesh. There is no 'crack', it's every planet.

Therefore, your challenge will always be taking advantage of a known bug if they dive deeper than 1,000m

Um... Actually, the first time I pushed a submarine down to under 1000 meters, it collided with the ground at ~1040. The ground still exists at that point, you need only keep the camera above 1000 meters BSL. When I crashed (at 40 m/s, you can guess the results), the camera was below 1000 meters BSL, and the ground I crashed into was invisible. Insofar as I can tell, this is a visual-only bug, and unrelated to whatever mysterious forces allowed me to clip through the terrain while AFK.

- - - Updated - - -

I'm tempted to make a SAS-powered or wheel-motor-powered prop-driven sub with anemic levels of thrust, but infinite range due to dozens of RTGs. Unfortunately, I'm not on a PC with KSP installed at the moment. Also, getting the balance and streamlining right for a sub like that would be HARD. Even something as simple as direct-drive SAS would be independently buoyant, and also generate considerable torque. Additionally, getting it to be power-efficient whilst also being of reasonable size and shape for aquatic usage could be tricky.

Edited November 12, 2015 by Pds314