Most Kerbal thing you have ever heard of in real life

[Fearless Son]

When my dad was a teenager in the fifties, he got a summer job working for a man named Eugene Gluhareff.  The guy was building small personal helicopters before helicopters were a common thing, but it was the unconventional design of those helicopters that was really "Kerbal".  Most helicopters use a big jet engine to run a turbine to spin the rotary-wing propellers.  But this guy had a different idea, of using little tiny jets placed on the ends of the rotors.  These jets would involve no internal turbines, they functioned entirely as pressure jets that required a high initial speed to compress the air to the point it would generate more thrust than it took to accelerate it.  But since they were on the end of the rotors, they would be guaranteed to be the fastest moving part of the vehicle, much faster than the helicopter itself was travelling, and so the rotors would only need an initial thrust to get the engines going up to speed, at which point they would continue to maintain the rotation.  Even the fuel would be drawn to the engines via their own centrifugal motion without the need of a mechanical pump.  The end result is something that would (in theory) require very little maintenance and save a lot of weight and bulk all due to using so few mechanical parts, which in turn increased thrust-to-weight ratios and reduced fuel consumption.  

The whole design feels like something a player would do to try to get around the limitation of stock parts.  I actually found a video of someone looking at a restored version of the prototype my dad helped on:

 

[Vanamonde]

Since this thread is not about the game itself, it has been moved to the Lounge. 

[cubinator]

The whole skycrane thing on Curiosity was pretty Kerbal. Actually, the bouncy bag rover landings were even more so. 

[EpicSpaceTroll139]

Probably the bloodhound SSC, which is a jet/rocket car that is supposed to go 1000mph... on the ground.

For something that has already happened, I'd go with the Thrust SSC. (first, and currently only car to have officially broken the sound barrier)

 

 

Or maybe the abandoned SpaceX Red Dragon plan to land people on Mars with no way to get back.

Edit: Since somebody quoted me on this, I realized I was actually thinking of Mars One, not SpaceX's Red Dragon.

Edited November 21, 2021 by EpicSpaceTroll139

[Joseph Kerman]

Mythbusters quote: If it is worth doing, it is worth OVERDOING.

[TheKosanianMethod]

On 1/11/2018 at 5:32 AM, Joseph Kerman said:

Mythbusters quote: If it is worth doing, it is worth OVERDOING.

"I reject your reality and substitute my own!"

[Urus28]

Clearly not the most kerbal but still kerbal style. Vertical take off with booster for a F104

[StrandedonEarth]

I just saw this on the morning news, and it doesn't get much more kerbal than this. You can BUY  this custom twin-turbine cedar-log roadster!

It's actually electric drive with the turbines generating power, and presumably a small amount of thrust (230mph exhaust speed), Holds the Guiness World Record speed for a log car: at 46mph.

Details:

Spoiler

The "Pioneer Cedar Rocket" is the brainchild of Bryan Reid Sr., founder of Pioneer Log Homes of BC. He and Gerald Overton, a longtime friend, and Louis Horschel, a client of Pioneer Log Homes of BC and owner of Buffalo Turbines, started sketching, planning and creating. The Pioneer Cedar Rocket, the first-ever known drivable log car, took over two years to complete. Embodied in a giant western red cedar dating back to 1776, the founding of America, this electrically powered vehicle is manufactured entirely with renewable and recyclable materials, making it proudly eco-friendly. On January 20, 2016, the Cedar Rocket set the Guinness World Record for the fastest log car, clocking in at 46 mph. This fully electric log car possesses multiple unique features, including a custom-made chassis with RX7 components, custom suspension and two large turbines mounted on either side of the rear fin that provide the power. It weighs in at a whopping 2,200 pounds, 550 pounds of which come from the lead gel batteries stored in the nose of the car; extraordinarily, the same types of batteries used in helicopters. Even the fenders are magnificent. They were handcrafted from scratch by the team, taking over 100 hours each to shape, polish and complete. The impressive turbines are capable of producing winds in excess of 230 mph. The Rocket has been featured in Road & Track magazine, on HGTV's “Timber Kings,” and has been displayed in multiple automotive events, including SEMA, E-Car Indy and PRI. Major General Patrick Henry Brady (Ret) will be speaking on behalf of all three Organizations. While serving as a helicopter pilot in the Vietnam War, he received the Medal of Honor, the nation's highest military decoration for valor. Major General Brady flew over 2,500 Combat Missions and evacuated more than 5,000 Combat Wounded, He is the most decorated American Combat Soldier alive today. **100% OF HAMMER PRICE TO BENEFIT THE NATIONAL MEDAL OF HONOR MUSEUM FOUNDATION, THE ROYAL CANADIAN LEGION and OUR NATION’S HEROES FOUNDATION** **WILL BE SOLD AT APPROXIMATELY 5:30 PM MST ON FRIDAY, JANUARY 19, 2018**

 

Edited January 13, 2018 by StrandedonEarth

[Mech_Jeb_42]

On 1/8/2018 at 12:59 PM, Urus28 said:

The PLUTO missile, a nuclear powered missile large as a train flying at supersonic speed at sea level. Able to kill just by the supersonic blast, cover the land with radioactive waste and design to launch nuclear bombs (just in case)...

Hmm.. how do we make this missile more deadly. Oh I know, Moar nukes!

[kerbiloid]

Spoiler

 

Spoiler

Alas, obviously a fake.

 

 

[KerbolExplorer]

2 hours ago, kerbiloid said:

  Reveal hidden contents

 

  Reveal hidden contents

Alas, obviously a fake.

 

 

Atleast he landed the plane in one piece

[Gargamel]

Back in my days working as a Paramedic, we were assigned a backup squad as our normal vehicle was out for maintenance.   It was a beat up, old, creaky thing with at least a half million miles on it.   Sometime during midday, we get a call, I'm driving, when the dashboard lights up with another electrical fault.   But it also killed the siren, but the air horn still worked.   Now having to drive relatively slow to avoid people who didn't see us coming, I turned to my partner, who wasn't the brightest bulb in the chandelier, and jokingly told him to stick his head out the window and go "woooooo!".     And he did.   It was somewhat effective.  

[DAL59]

Well today, this just happened... 

 

[DDE]

On 8/29/2021 at 4:42 AM, DAL59 said:

Well today, this just happened... 

 

A minor case of Energia's post-launch drift.

Anyway, we seem to have two overlapping threads.

 

[magnemoe]

On 8/29/2021 at 3:42 AM, DAL59 said:

Well today, this just happened... 

 

Yes, had had this happen from time to time in KSP, usually then messing up TWR. had one who hit the VAB slowly before sliding up it :) 
In this case it looks like one of the engines was destroyed during liftoff. 

Looking at all the disconnect clamps on the starship launch pad. 

[Kerb24]

On 1/9/2018 at 10:09 PM, EpicSpaceTroll139 said:

Or maybe the abandoned SpaceX Red Dragon plan to land people on Mars with no way to get back.

That is the most Kerbal thing I have EVER heard of outside of KSP. It has, space exploration, usage of spacecraft in interesting ways, and stranding crew in the middle of nowhere.

[kerbiloid]

"We have found it by the side of the road."

[magnemoe]

On 9/2/2021 at 1:19 AM, Kerb24 said:

That is the most Kerbal thing I have EVER heard of outside of KSP. It has, space exploration, usage of spacecraft in interesting ways, and stranding crew in the middle of nowhere.

Red dragon was not supposed to be manned. it would not make much sense for one you had to stay in the dragon capsule the entire trip to Mars and obviously no way to get back.
It was an way to deliver stuff like rovers or an sample return rocket to the surface of Mars. 

No its not very efficient as you would need an falcon heavy for an 1-2 ton payload to the surface, but it might well be cheaper than developing an dedicated lander. 

[Max von Kerman]

Yes, astra's really SpaceY, math stuff, x and y axis, you know

 

(Scott Manley made this meme)

[DDE]

On 9/2/2021 at 2:19 AM, Kerb24 said:

That is the most Kerbal thing I have EVER heard of outside of KSP. It has, space exploration, usage of spacecraft in interesting ways, and stranding crew in the middle of nowhere.

@magnemoe, I think we're looking at MarsOne, not SpaceX proper. They wanted to kindly ask Elon for a 40% larger-diameter Dragon II to facilitate their one-way reality show.

Remember that dead horse?

[magnemoe]

15 hours ago, DDE said:

@magnemoe, I think we're looking at MarsOne, not SpaceX proper. They wanted to kindly ask Elon for a 40% larger-diameter Dragon II to facilitate their one-way reality show.

Remember that dead horse?

Yes remember that one.
Did not knew they wanted to use dragon 2, kind of saw them for an obvious scam. 

[rockettime03]

The UR-700, a Soviet super-heavy lift launch vehicle concept.

It used 9 near-identical cores and a large upper stage, with 3 of the 9 cores acting as a lower stage, and the outer 6 would have been used as boosters.

It also was completely fueled by N2O4/UDMH.

[DDE]

18 hours ago, rockettime03 said:

It also was completely fueled by N2O4/UDMH.

UR-700A: "Hold my hydrogen"

[kerbiloid]

And we should not forget the fluorine upper stage of some 700s.