Quick Challenge: Lightest Craft to Orbit [Stock only] New Challenge #5!

[EliteGuy3]

1 hour ago, Aetharan said:

Hate to say it, but the game is using Metric tons, not the US ton.  2,264 Kg = 2.264t.  He's got the Ogod-Y Mk.15b beat by a solid 0.15t, with the same amount of fuel in a heavier upper stage, but without the fairing for ascent that I've been relying on.  It never occurred to me that the Mk.0 Fuselage plus a Radial Air Intake and an adapter would actually somehow be lighter than the Engine Pre-Cooler, but the trio come to 0.355 for a savings of 0.02t.

The obvious weight-savings in the design difference is clearly the fairing, which makes up 0.157t of the Ogod-Y's bottom-stage mass (between both the shell and the base).  What's blowing my mind is the fact that this accelerates at all.  Just by appearance, it feels like it should be too blunt (with the intake flaring out like that) to work well, but clearly it does.

WHAT!?!? 

well, first thing, it's a good thing we brought that up. Second, I don't see why the Kerbal's drag isn't effecting the speed of the craft in your pictures. I tried to replicate the ship myself and the drag from the Kerbal caused it to fall backwards while in the first stage. Than again, I am a bad flyer myself, so I'll give credit for you on that.

Well, Back to the drawing board...

Edit: I'm obviously terrible at recognizing the difference between the metric and imperial systems.

Edited July 25, 2016 by EliteGuy3

[EliteGuy3]

Just for laughs and giggles I'll submit an entry for Unmanned and Recoverable:

Currently weighing 2.333t

The Plankton 2/39/4 Was actually a prototype for my Manned and Recoverable prototype Plankton 2/39. The only reason it has a probe core is because I was lazy to put a Kerbal on it. The thing that surprised me with this design is that it flies through the air perfectly, considering it's flat second stage.

Plus, I guess I should have mentioned that I used KER.

Edit: sorry that there is 2 albums

Edited July 25, 2016 by EliteGuy3

[Bloojay]

I will be back at my computer tomorrow and will be able to update the boards then

[Aetharan]

Okay, so I did some playing around with @Nefrums's "Small Boat" design, then decided to iterate a bit on it, and I managed a somewhat lighter version that doesn't have the pilot sticking out quite so far.  Total mass 2.130t in the VAB, 2.224t with Meldun on board.  Makes orbit at 70.0 km x 70.7 km, then re-enters and makes a desert landing via glide and suicide burn.  It could go without the fins at all for 2.110t, but that makes liftoff very dicey to control.

 

Edit:  Another iteration knocks off the fins and cuts out 5 more units of fuel, producing a 2.085t Lawndart (2.179t Kerballed) that successfully orbits at 70.1 km x 70.8 km, re-enters, and after over a dozen reloads on final approach, splashes down safely in the ocean.

 

Edited May 29, 2017 by Aetharan

[KSPNewbie]

14 hours ago, Bloojay said:

I will be back at my computer tomorrow and will be able to update the boards then

not to be pushy, but it's been more than half a day since you posted that...

[Bloojay]

well profanity happens, I only got back literally 3 minutes ago

[Nefrums]

So here is the Mk2:

2050 / 2144 kg

 

"Landed" mostly intact...  

 

http://imgur.com/a/bxuiZ

 

[Martian Emigrant]

May I ask what was wrong with my submission? Was I disqualified? I can run it again.

It was Manned and recoverable at 2.705t

[Bloojay]

@Martian Emigrant Nothing, I just haven't updated the boards because I'm a lazy person, I look at ~3 pages of submissions and go "balls" then procrastinate till someone in the real world yells at me to pick up their dry-cleaning.

@EliteGuy3 I just need to confirm, do you have an intake clipped somewhere inside your manned/recoverable craft?

[foamyesque]

*grumble*

The 2-ton barrier is proving challenging.

[Martian Emigrant]

14 hours ago, Bloojay said:

@Martian Emigrant Nothing, I just haven't updated the boards because I'm a lazy person, I look at ~3 pages of submissions and go "balls" then procrastinate till someone in the real world yells at me to pick up their dry-cleaning.

@EliteGuy3 I just need to confirm, do you have an intake clipped somewhere inside your manned/recoverable craft?

 

No extra intake. Just the engine Pre-cooler.

Dropbox Craft file:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/s39cbadattnj4cj/EXP light Craft Contest2_0.craft?dl=0

 

Edited July 28, 2016 by Martian Emigrant

[Bloojay]

@Martian Emigrant re-read that message dude

[EliteGuy3]

Hey @Bloojay,

The intake is radially attached to the Fuel tank for the jet engine. 

http://imgur.com/Bo4QNww

Something is wrong with Imgur. Just look at the picture. You'll find it.

Edit: It's getting harder to build a light rocket without copying @Nefrums's designs.  Sorry it took me a while to responed

Another Edit: wait, which craft do you mean? The Plankton 29, or the Plankton 2/39/4?

Edited July 30, 2016 by EliteGuy3

[Bloojay]

There we go finally profanity updated the boards, let me know if I got anything wring I'm too tired to check.

[Nefrums]

8 hours ago, Bloojay said:

There we go finally profanity updated the boards, let me know if I got anything wring I'm too tired to check.

The name of my entry was "Small boat", and I am missing my second entry from the score board. (If that entry was OK, a few parts broke on impact... I mean landing)

[KSPNewbie]

14 hours ago, Bloojay said:

There we go finally profanity updated the boards, let me know if I got anything wring I'm too tired to check.

You forgot my entry, unmanned and recoverable

[Bloojay]

@Nefrums Sory about the name I'll fix that, and any submissions need to land intact  I should probably updated the rules to include it :| 

@KSPNewbie Ma bad. EDIT, I don't see it anywhere?

 

 

 

Edited July 30, 2016 by Bloojay

[KSPNewbie]

page 4

 

4 minutes ago, Bloojay said:

@Nefrums Sory about the name I'll fix that, and any submissions need to land intact  I should probably updated the rules to include it :| 

@KSPNewbie Ma bad. EDIT, I don't see it anywhere?

 

 

 

it's on page 4, just look

 

[Bloojay]

@KSPNewbie literally not seeing it, just an entry for manned and recoverable

[KSPNewbie]

shoot, do you see the post, I must've messed up, that's the unmanned/recoverable entry

9 minutes ago, Bloojay said:

@KSPNewbie literally not seeing it, just an entry for manned and recoverable

SpeedySat Mk4? that's it. it was posted on July 22nd

[Bloojay]

TIME TO FILL OUT THE MANNED CATEGORY.

So here it is, the KerChucker Mk2-2:

Album: http://imgur.com/a/2eguu

She weighs in at 1.906 tonnes, and is beautiful...

[swjr-swis]

(note: superseded by next post)

I present the USC1 as the second entry for the Manned category: 1795kg injects a lone Kerbal into a 71x70km orbit, with a little EVA RCS assistance.

Notice I kickstart the jet into (almost) full thrust right from staging, by locking the main LF tank and having it rev up off a tank that stays behind with the clamp when I release. This helps the jet climb in a more efficient ascent. I figure that since the jet does not move until I release the clamp, this is a valid method. Also, why bother with a fairing anymore...

There's still room for improvement, I think I can shave the LF down to at least 25 for the jet lifter, and probably a notch or even two off the LOX, as I almost managed to fully inject into orbit without EVAing. I will be attempting to do so, but for now this is my entry.

video file (Dropbox inline shows horrible quality, download it to see it at high quality, 53MB): https://www.dropbox.com/s/hwe1ecyzkotbzhe/KSP113-Lightest2Orbit-USC1.mp4?dl=0

craft file: https://www.dropbox.com/s/s3q7xi3bohsld7j/USC1.craft?dl=0

P.S.: I figured a video of the entire ascent would serve as full record, plus the craft file is there if you want to check... the ascent does need manual control but is almost as easy as could be. Let me know if you still require screenshots of specific things.

Edited July 31, 2016 by swjr-swis
some explanation and links, note

[swjr-swis]

Ok, following up with the USC1b, Manned category, 1730kg for a Kerbal to a 70x75km orbit, after tweaking the LF and LOX fuel loads and the placement of the spiders for more control. Almost a hands-off ascent, so should be easy to replicate if anyone wants to. I still had plenty of EVA fuel left, even after I clumsily fumbled the last part of the circularization (navigating on EVA is not made easy).

I could still drop the fins probably, the ascent is almost perfectly into prograde and the jet gimbal might be enough to keep things in line. But other than that there doesn't seem to be much more to shave off for this design.

Note that KSP was getting a bit weird a few times: it sometimes would not activate the jet when staging. Maybe too many retries and reverts got it a bit mixed up.

craft file: https://www.dropbox.com/s/68t13bmd6dl4ydu/USC1b.craft?dl=0

video file: https://www.dropbox.com/s/n8nxvvadjtzua2s/KSP113-Lightest2Orbit-USC1b.mp4?dl=0 (several parts of the video have been sped up 4x so you don't have to watch 12+ mins)

[Aetharan]

Just have to note: You dropped the Strander into the wrong category on both counts.  It is manned and is not recoverable.

[foamyesque]

I broke the 2t barrier for Manned/Recoverable, provided one defines "recoverable" as "the Kerbal makes it back". The landing stage was the Kerbal's jetpack. :v