Re-Entry Energy Challenge

[Yakky]

Re-entry is tough, especially when it's at high speed with a very large craft.  This is a challenge to see how large and fast of a spacecraft you can successfully navigate through the terrors of atmospheric re-entry to a successful landing!  It's also a challenge designed to encourage big spectacular explosions and cool orange glows.  

The total kinetic energy of a moving object is proportional to m * v^2.  Your score in this challenge is your peak re-entry speed in km/sec, squared, times the mass of your craft in tons (or biggest single piece of your craft) after it comes to a stop on the ground.  That's it.

The Fine Print:

1.  Passive braking systems only.  No engines after you enter the atmosphere.  Heat shields, air brakes, parachutes, winged gliders, and lithobraking are all OK.  Using engines (or Hyperedit, or any other technique) to accelerate your craft up to speed in space is also just fine, but everything gets switched off before hitting the atmosphere.

2.  Stock parts only.  We will have separate divisions for stock physics and FAR.

3.  Any (stock) planetary body with atmosphere and a landable surface is fine.

4.  Pics or it doesn't count.  Failure pics are also encouraged if they are spectacular or entertaining.

5.  KSP version 1.0.5.

6.  Multi-orbit aerobraking doesn't count if it uses engines between atmospheric passes.  Or put differently, your score is measured from the highest speed after you've shut down your engines for the final time.

 

 

Standings:

Stock:

1.  Foxster:  1042.4 (50.953  tons, 4.523 km/sec)

2.

3.

 

FAR:

1.  Yakky:  223.715.  (22.194 tons, 3.1749 km/sec)

2.

3.

 

 

 

My sample entry (and the inspiration for this challenge):  I landed a pretty heavy lander on Eve the other day.  Peak re-entry speed was 3.1749 km/sec (might have been higher but that is what I captured in a screen grab), and mass after landing was 22.194 tons.  Total score = [mass] * [speed] * [speed] = 223.715.

Re-entry screenshot:

 

After landing:

Edited December 21, 2015 by Yakky
Simplified title

[Foxster]

Here's a stock entry from me, also at Eve, with my favorite lander/orbiter...

Based on an on-surface mass of 50.952t, I think the score would be...

Total score = [mass] * [speed] * [speed] = 50.953 * 4.523 * 4.523 = 1042.4

This was the speed at the 2nd pass that resulted in a landing. On the first pass, the interplanetary aerocapture speed was closer to 6km/s. 

 

Edited December 20, 2015 by Foxster

[Yakky]

Nice!  Added to leaderboard.  But... why air inlets on an Eve lander?

Edited December 20, 2015 by Yakky

[Pds314]

I'm inclined to take a massive SSTO to orbit and back, since I've made those have truly huge mass.