Who can make the Smallest Tylo Lander?

[JacobJHC]

Who can make the Smallest Tylo Lander?

Size doesn't matter if the delta-v is sufficient

I have seen many videos made by many famous KSP youtubers such as HOCGaming, Scott Manley and Enter Elysium. In their videos where they have gone to Tylo their landers have been rather large in size, so my challenge to you is to build the smallest lander (in terms of mass) that can land on Tylo and have the kerbal return to orbit.

Rules

- No mods unless they are informational mods such as KER

- The only other mod exception is mods to teleport your lander to Tylo orbit.

- The lander doesn't have to return to orbit, only the kerbal so using the EVA-Pack is allowed.

- No cheats such as unbreakable joints, no crash damage, infinite fuel or other cheaty things.

Submissions

- Videos are preferred but screenshots work just fine.

- Be sure to document all staging and the final landing.

- If there is drama such as a low TWR or jetpacking into a stable/safe orbit please document that as well.

- All submissions need to have their crafts mass included by a screenshot from inside the VAB with the craft info window up

Completionist/Leader Board

 Anyone who participates in the challenge will have their name put on the leaderboard along with their craft's mass and a basic summary of the lander.

Participants:

- @JacobJHC  Video Submission, Screenshot of mass in Imgur, no fuel lines  - 2.251 Tons

- @Ultimate Steve  Screenshots, offcenter decoupler - 2.13 Tons

- @Ultimate Steve Video Submission, Entertaining video, excessively good use of EVA pack - 1.9 Tons

- @Nefrums Screenshots from a low mass Jool 5 mission, no electric charge lander, use of jet pack to achieve orbit. - 1.17 Tons

- @EvermoreAlpaca Video submission was a grand tour, recovered the lander back to Kerbin, single stage - 5.125 Tons

- @n.b.z. Imgur submission used priority settings to remove the need for fuel lines, used a single spark engine. Nice comments on the Kerbal's feelings. -  1.938 Tons

 

 

 

 

Edited October 25, 2016 by JacobJHC
Entry update

[Foxster]

Might be worth saying a minimum height orbit, say 30km.

[problemecium]

Reserving this post so I remember to submit to this challenge. I don't expect first place, but I do expect my latest prototype to score well in the single-stage reusable crewed lander category.

[DerekL1963]

It just so happens that I watched Scott Manley fly a pretty small lander down to Tylo last night.
 

 

[Ultimate Steve]

Okay, I gave this challenge a quick try. There is definitely room for improvement, but I managed it at 2.13 tons.

The Lander: Tiny Tylo 3 (Yes I know it says 2. I forgot to rename it.)

Started from a 6 kilometer orbit.

Draining fuel slowly...

Jettisoning the fuel tank...

Approaching the surface...

And landed!

Flag planting...

Lifting off.

Kerzie Kerman is a bit afraid of the tight fuel budget...

Burning the last drops of fuel...

And Jetpacking to orbit!

Again, like I said, room for improvement. I had 70% of the EVA fuel left afterward, and I went to a very high orbit.

I'm feeling a sudden urge to build a "TYLO ARMY" Mk2 and send forty-eight of them to Tylo.

(TYLO ARMY Mk1 is a fleet of six Tylo Landers. I now realize they are about ten times as big as they need to be!)

[Ultimate Steve]

Okay, I had another go at it. 1.9 tons!

 

[JacobJHC]

1 hour ago, Ultimate Steve said:

I'm feeling a sudden urge to build a "TYLO ARMY" Mk2 and send forty-eight of them to Tylo.

Sounds like a competition then, last time I checked I had the record for the most Tylo landers per mission....

Well, if you do I can't wait to see it lol

[JacobJHC]

@Ultimate Steve I added both of your entries to the participants board. i really enjoyed your video. If you do decide on the 48 landers video I wish you luck, if each one is 10 parts and you send 48 that's 480 parts dedicated to the landers. RIP framerate.

[Ultimate Steve]

Just now, JacobJHC said:

@Ultimate Steve I added both of your entries to the participants board. i really enjoyed your video. If you do decide on the 48 landers video I wish you luck, if each one is 10 parts and you send 48 that's 480 parts dedicated to the landers. RIP framerate.

Thanks! Now that you mention it, 480 parts is quite a lot... I have a few more ideas to optimize the craft. Theoretically, I could get it down to five parts. Although, the ship that has the TYLO ARMY Mk1 is already 350-ish parts, so I guess it's doable...

The hard part will be spending eight hours landing them all!

[JacobJHC]

1 minute ago, Ultimate Steve said:

The hard part will be spending eight hours landing them all!

YES! When I had to do the 10 Tylo landings for my 10 sub special the first few were fun but the next 7 were so boring.

 

[max_creative]

29 minutes ago, Ultimate Steve said:

Thanks! Now that you mention it, 480 parts is quite a lot... I have a few more ideas to optimize the craft. Theoretically, I could get it down to five parts. Although, the ship that has the TYLO ARMY Mk1 is already 350-ish parts, so I guess it's doable...

The hard part will be spending eight hours landing them all!

 

27 minutes ago, JacobJHC said:

YES! When I had to do the 10 Tylo landings for my 10 sub special the first few were fun but the next 7 were so boring.

 

Now I need to do this! There should be a challenge where you bring a fleet of landers somewhere and land them all! I wonder how many Dres landers I can cram into one of my huge cargo ships...

Edited October 10, 2016 by max_creative
Whoops, spellcheck messed me up!

[Nefrums]

I made a small Tylo lander for my 8.6t Jool 5 ship.

It was 1178,5 kg wo the kerbal. 

 

more pics: http://imgur.com/a/YPZMV

 

Edited October 10, 2016 by Nefrums

[EvermoreAlpaca]

For several of my missions, I have used a 5.125 ton (not counting the kerbal on the command seat) single stage recoverable Tylo lander.  Its just about the simplest lander imaginable, and easily adapted into different designs.  Obviously not as light as an unrestricted design, but hopefully relevant. 

[Nefrums]

The spark buff in 1.2 shold alow for a even smaller lander!

Isp have been increased by ~7%.

[JacobJHC]

18 hours ago, EvermoreAlpaca said:

For several of my missions, I have used a 5.125 ton (not counting the kerbal on the command seat) single stage recoverable Tylo lander.  Its just about the simplest lander imaginable, and easily adapted into different designs.  Obviously not as light as an unrestricted design, but hopefully relevant. 

Oh my gosh that is my favorite video of yours. I did not know before I watched this a few months ago that this was even possible. This inspired me to scale up my Jool 5 ship into a Grand Tour ship and now I am almost finished. This lander is absolutely relevant. Side Note: Do you think the Odyssey By Bill will ever incorporate the outer planets mod? I would love to see Bill drag a few hundred Kerbals out to Tekto in an SSTO....

 

On 10/9/2016 at 8:37 PM, max_creative said:

Now I need to do this! There should be a challenge where you bring a fleet of landers somewhere and land them all! I wonder how many Dres landers I can cram into one of my huge cargo ships...

That sounds like a neat challenge, I will make a thread for it and link you to it.

Edited October 14, 2016 by JacobJHC

[max_creative]

17 minutes ago, JacobJHC said:

That sounds like a neat challenge, I will make a thread for it and link you to it.

Ok!

How much Delta-V is need for a Tylo landing and Ascent? I'm going to try and fit a bunch of these on the Creativity storage pod, so I need them to be as small as possible. So that pretty much means solid rocket boosters with seats, solar panels and SAS... 

[JacobJHC]

50 minutes ago, max_creative said:

How much Delta-V is need for a Tylo landing and Ascent?

That depends, since orbital velocity is about 2100 m/s at 11800 meters (one of the lowest safe orbital heights since the tallest mountain is about 11300m tall) you need 2100 to kill horizontal speed, a bit more for landing it and taking off again and a final 2100 to get it back into orbit. I always aim for 5k of delta-v for my Tylo landers but it can be done with less if you are super efficient. Although the video submission I had used the tall mountain to save fuel so you would need to either select a landing sight or give it enough extra fuel to land at lower altitudes.

[Firemetal]

My smallest was about eight tons. I may go less than 3 tons and enter this challenge. Emphasis on th "may".

Fire

[JacobJHC]

4 minutes ago, Firemetal said:

My smallest was about eight tons. I may go less than 3 tons and enter this challenge. Emphasis on th "may".

Fire

Awesome! Even if you don;t get below the 3 tons please submit the best one you have, it may stir up some ideas for future landers or share a different style of building.

[n.b.z.]

My challenge submission:

1.938 Tons

NO use of the jetpack.
 

Initial orbit: 17 km circular
Attained orbit: 15 km circular

Pilot: Hadster

Detailed, commented Imgur album showing all relevant data:
http://imgur.com/a/H0wcw

(Sorry, Ultimate Steve, for having named my lander "Tiny Tylo". I would have picked something else if I had noticed your vessel's name earlier.)
 

[Ultimate Steve]

On ‎10‎/‎13‎/‎2016 at 9:01 PM, JacobJHC said:

11800 meters (one of the lowest safe orbital heights since the tallest mountain is about 11300m tall)

Oh.

I totally didn't do my recent attempts from a 5 kilometer starting orbit...

[JacobJHC]

On 10/18/2016 at 6:03 PM, Ultimate Steve said:

Oh.

I totally didn't do my recent attempts from a 5 kilometer starting orbit...

No worries, I watched a youtube video once about a lander deployed in an unsafe orbit while the transfer stage's main engine was on and burning up to put it in a safe orbit. If you want I can post the link.

[panzer1b]

I didnt actually make this for the challenge, but i have a SSTO that works on Tylo just fine and is 4.58t in orbit. 

http://imgur.com/a/GL3d0

Sorry about out of order images, something went bad with IMGUR...

Anyways, it carries 1 "Kerbal-in-a-Can" (while i have nothing against command seats, i dont exactly like the idea of sending a kerbal to the surface without at least an enclosed cockpit around the seat).  The ship is powered by 2 48-7s engines, and it has pretty lousy TWR which leads to a little insanity on landing.  Its not terrible, but it isnt exactly super efficient especially on landing since i need to angle the engines at ~20-30 deg downwards relative to the horizon at all times during the decent or it ends up lithobraking into oblivion.  Also, fuel margins are insanely thin, unually ends up with under 5 units of fuel after reaching a stable orbit...

Intended for use with my new grand tour ship im still working on that i hope to send to its doom this weekend if i get the time and dont have any issues that come up with teh craft design.  It has been tested on and confirmed to work on every planet besides Eve, Jool, Kerbin, and the Sun...

Edited October 26, 2016 by panzer1b

[JacobJHC]

56 minutes ago, panzer1b said:

Intended for use with my new grand tour ship im still working on that i hope to send to its doom this weekend if i get the time and dont have any issues that come up with teh craft design.  It has been tested on and confirmed to work on every planet besides Eve, Jool, Kerbin, and the Sun...

Awesome. I am also testing on a grand tour and I do not plan to mine or refuel. Right now it looks like I will need to find out why my eve lander cannot keep the heatshield pointing at the pointy side. Also if I don't use autostrut the part count might kill my laptop. 

[techgamer17]

Just wack a command module, a small fuel tank, a small engine (not ion),radio isotope generator, antenna and some landing struts and bam you've got a tylo lander