The Elkano challenge (all versions accepted!)

[Freshmeat]

I can finally apply for an Elcano prize, as I today returned from a circumnavigation of Eve:

The full writeup is here. It took quite a while as the heavy gravity and big rover made physical warp impossible, so around 60 hours for the drive alone. I have invested my play time on this project since February, and have skipped updating to get it done. But it happened, and I am pretty proud of the achievement.

[Ho Lam Kerman]

28 minutes ago, Freshmeat said:

I can finally apply for an Elcano prize, as I today returned from a circumnavigation of Eve:

[Snip]

Coo! I can't even get back from Eve. :-P

[Andetch]

I would like some clarification on  this challenge - I am thinking of going for a nice low grav one first (been toying with the idea of Gilly) but of course in a low grav area you are prone to bounce and spend a lot of time in the air... Does this disqualify you? Would I have to find a way of getting a rover to stick to the ground (with no atmosphere it's hard because you can't make down force) or is it okay to bounce a lot and spend a lot of time in the air? (Is this possibly the reason no one has done Gilly yet?) 

[Mr. Peabody]

1 hour ago, Andetch said:

Would I have to find a way of getting a rover to stick to the ground (with no atmosphere it's hard because you can't make down force) or is it okay to bounce a lot and spend a lot of time in the air? (Is this possibly the reason no one has done Gilly yet?) 

Yes. Upwards facing ion engines usually do the trick. Without them just driving will put you sub-orbital.

[Ho Lam Kerman]

On 5/20/2018 at 8:39 PM, Ho Lam Kerman said:

Next stop, Mun.

I've sent my rover over, and now I'll be sending the crew.

Wish me luck!

EDIT 1:

A small teaser for now:

Rover's probe core: "I am worth your salt!"

EDIT 2: Some sort of kraken broke my rover upon quickload. I will have to send a replacement. 

Thankfully, I still could EVA Valentina, and so I can continue with my Elcano as soon as I land.

EDIT 3: Hooray! The rover has landed. Val will drive the remaining 3/4 of the way on this rover (hopefully).

Edited May 25, 2018 by Ho Lam Kerman

[Ho Lam Kerman]

By the way @rkarmark, I know school work gets in the way, I'm going through the same stuff as you are. 

Not really wanting to push you, but please update the leaderboard, when you feel like it.

Thank you.

[rkarmark]

4 hours ago, Ho Lam Kerman said:

By the way @rkarmark, I know school work gets in the way, I'm going through the same stuff as you are. 

Not really wanting to push you, but please update the leaderboard, when you feel like it.

Thank you.

It has been a while scince i updated the scoreboard, submisions will come soon^tm

On 5/22/2018 at 12:51 AM, Ho Lam Kerman said:

I've sent my rover over, and now I'll be sending the crew.

Wish me luck!

EDIT 1:

A small teaser for now:

Rover's probe core: "I am worth your salt!"

EDIT 2: Some sort of kraken broke my rover upon quickload. I will have to send a replacement. 

Thankfully, I still could EVA Valentina, and so I can continue with my Elcano as soon as I land.

EDIT 3: Hooray! The rover has landed. Val will drive the remaining 3/4 of the way on this rover (hopefully).

Good luck, may i ask you why you are driving the stock rover, i find it really bad to drive compared to other rovers.

On 5/21/2018 at 5:05 PM, Andetch said:

I would like some clarification on  this challenge - I am thinking of going for a nice low grav one first (been toying with the idea of Gilly) but of course in a low grav area you are prone to bounce and spend a lot of time in the air... Does this disqualify you? Would I have to find a way of getting a rover to stick to the ground (with no atmosphere it's hard because you can't make down force) or is it okay to bounce a lot and spend a lot of time in the air? (Is this possibly the reason no one has done Gilly yet?) 

Jumping is completly allowed i think it is impossibol to make a cirkumnavigation of Gilly without flying. What is not allowed is using your trusters to fly longer.

 

On 5/21/2018 at 6:08 PM, The Dunatian said:

Yes. Upwards facing ion engines usually do the trick. Without them just driving will put you sub-orbital.

Yup

On 5/21/2018 at 3:10 PM, Freshmeat said:

I can finally apply for an Elcano prize, as I today returned from a circumnavigation of Eve:

The full writeup is here. It took quite a while as the heavy gravity and big rover made physical warp impossible, so around 60 hours for the drive alone. I have invested my play time on this project since February, and have skipped updating to get it done. But it happened, and I am pretty proud of the achievement.

You know you didn't have to return, and WHY eve it is the worst planet to do a cirkumnavigation on after Dres because thats imposibol cus it dosn't exist.

 

Oh and sorry for my horible spelling

Edited May 25, 2018 by rkarmark

[Ho Lam Kerman]

5 hours ago, rkarmark said:

may i ask you why you are driving the stock rover, i find it really bad to drive compared to other rovers.

Maybe because I'm a n00b at designing rovers.

Oh, and because it's slower, I can just let Mechjeb do all the work, while I lounge off and post stuff like this.

[Ho Lam Kerman]

7 hours ago, rkarmark said:

WHY eve

"We choose to drive around Eve. We choose to drive around Eve in this few months and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard, because that challenge is one we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one we intend to win."

–John @Freshmeat Kennedy, 2018

Edited May 26, 2018 by Ho Lam Kerman

[Andetch]

Yay @rkarmark rules. A fully circumnavigation/orbit from a rover hitting a bump will be planned and launched soon. Watch this space

[Ho Lam Kerman]

7 hours ago, Andetch said:

Yay @rkarmark rules. A fully circumnavigation/orbit from a rover hitting a bump will be planned and launched soon. Watch this space

What if you reach escape velocity because of a bump? 

[rkarmark]

16 hours ago, Ho Lam Kerman said:

Maybe because I'm a n00b at designing rovers.

Oh, and because it's slower, I can just let Mechjeb do all the work, while I lounge off and post stuff like this.

Can I just remind you that any autopilot software is banned from the challenge. A challenge must be a challenge not just land a stock rover on the mum and use mechjeb to complete a circumnavigation.

[Ho Lam Kerman]

28 minutes ago, rkarmark said:

Can I just remind you that any autopilot software is banned from the challenge. A challenge must be a challenge not just land a stock rover on the mum and use mechjeb to complete a circumnavigation.

I actually just use it to keep a constant speed, so I don't have to hold the w key. :-P

It doesn't say that in the rules though. 

[Andetch]

2 hours ago, Ho Lam Kerman said:

What if you reach escape velocity because of a bump? 

I doubt I would be able to get escape from a bump.... Orbital maybe, but realistically orbital is a long shot because the trajectory would be wrong, thing is Gilly speeds are very low so that's what makes these things theoretically possible. I am gonna be doing a lot of playing about with this, and making a nice video of the mission. Gonna be a lot of quick-saving but I will make this worth it! As the OP says..... it will take a while, but you will feel satisfied afterwards. 

Still, kudos to doing Eve @Freshmeat!! That is MEGA! 

[rkarmark]

4 hours ago, Ho Lam Kerman said:

I actually just use it to keep a constant speed, so I don't have to hold the w key. :-P

It doesn't say that in the rules though. 

That's fine using it to hold w, but mechjeb also has autosteer functionality which is not allowed.

[Ho Lam Kerman]

12 hours ago, rkarmark said:

That's fine using it to hold w, but mechjeb also has autosteer functionality which is not allowed.

I don't use that, because for some reason it always crashes my rover in a few minutes.

So I'm still fine?

[Ho Lam Kerman]

Boom! Another elcano, K.O.

This time, the Mun. That was one BIG hunk of rock.

We have arrived at the site. (That landing leg you see on the left is a base.)

Time to say goodbye to nice beds and sufficient snacks.

"We are going on a trip, in our favourite rocket ship..."

Our rover once again proves that it's worth it's salt.

We visit an old, old landing site. This is where I first landed Kerbankind on the Mun.

Yup, Wernher is now a legend.

Thought I'd show you this. This is zoomed-in IVA view, of Kerbin.

"Hey mission control, get out of the way! I can't recharge!"

"Hey science team, you might want to see this. We discovered agate bands on the Mun!"

We finally make it around the Mun.

Val stands next to the flag she planted what seemed like ages ago.

"Ermmm, how do I break this to you Mission Control?"

Val's route around the Mun.

--------------------------------

I'll go grab my badge.

[Azimech]

On 5/26/2018 at 9:35 PM, rkarmark said:

That's fine using it to hold w, but mechjeb also has autosteer functionality which is not allowed.

What? Only now I read this. Who makes these rules anyway? My last submissions 3 years ago were accepted regardless the rover autopilot!

Do you really expect people to stare at their screens for hours on end? Death through boredom is not my choice.

I don't care about the badge. I'm near the end of circumnavigating Kerbin under 24 hours and without refueling, stock parts only. It's a result that speaks for itself.

[Azimech]

It is done.

 

[GKSP]

Within the next week, I hope to complete a circumnavigation of Minmus.  I still need to set up a comm system around Minmus, But I do have a working rover that has been tested before.  I've never actually launched someplace, and, in this save file, have never gone to Minmus.  I have done it many times before in my science game, but never with a rover.  I have a launcher in mind, and developing the landing system will also help with my landing system for my base modules.  As a sneak peek, I will attach the file for my rover via Kerbalx.  I will post an Imgur album when done.

https://kerbalx.com/Brendo/Kerbal-Surface-Exploratory-Vehicle-2

Edited June 8, 2018 by GKSP
Grammar

[GKSP]

Also, another question: If I just use MechJeb to launch the launcher into Kerbin orbit an then don't use anywhere else, can I count my attempt as stock?  The MJ module is attached to the launcher anyway.

[The Minmus Derp]

Are you allowed to ROCKETJUMP over canyons?

also, can you use a vehicle that is capable of returning to orbit,docking with a fuel thingie, and landing somewhere else (different planet)?

Edited June 18, 2018 by The Minmus Derp

[Just Jim]

I finally made it around Kerbin in a Platypus Amphibious rover!

 

I started laying out flags, but then got too wrapped up in writing, and forgot about halfway through, so I just submit my last 10 Emiko chapters, starting with Chapter 87 - Plight of the Platypus, for a very detailed and illustrated log of the whole trip.

 

[IncongruousGoat]

It's a real good thing that all versions are accepted. I've been sitting on the screenshots of a Kerbin Elcano I did back in May of 2017, in version 1.2.2. I had this whole plan to write a story around them, but that didn't really happen.

Better late than never, I suppose.

Album is here: https://imgur.com/a/KhHFty6

I tried to put descriptions on the images as best I could remember my mental state at the time, but this is more than a year after I actually did it, so the reconstruction isn't perfect.

[mystifeid]

Minmus - completed using a separate stock KSP 1.43 install - no added mods.

Start and finish waypoint - Kerman's Prize (see below). Landing zone was just to the south. Resisted the temptation to follow the flats for as long as possible and stayed within a half degree of the equator for the circumnavigation.

The rover is a 16-wheeler with rcs and two verniers - however the fuel tanks were never filled and the engines were not used. The trip was completed at speeds that were almost always below 50m/s - a speed which the wheels themselves are easily capable of achieving.

I did not have any relay satellites and sometimes had to time warp to a position where I had line of sight for my aerial to Kerbin to enable Kerbnet access. Generally I would also wait until I was in sunlight. Total mission time was about 17 days game time and three hours IRL.

The Kerbals were transported in two lander cans just above the booster and transferred to the command seats just before landing.

More screenshots: