Micro-challenges for all! (Continuation of Newbie Central.)

[Kerbalstar]

Sorry, I had to go somewhere, and when checked the forum to see if I had anything to do, and sure enough, @AeroGav reminded me that I had forgotten to close the challenge! When I saw that I wrote the above before I dashed out the door. Anyway,

 The Challenge is now closed!

Thank you to everyone who participated! Here is your medal, courtesy of @Lucast0909!

Spoiler

Obney will post the next challenge when it is ready! (Hopefully soon.) (Also, @tagging isn't working again. WHY??? Oh well.)

[Dark Lion]

2 hours ago, kerbalstar said:

The Challenge is now closed!

*Rages in stalwart silence*


 

[Kerbalstar]

Just now, Dark Lion said:

*Rages in stalwart silence*


 

Is it finished?

[Dark Lion]

Just now, kerbalstar said:

Is it finished?

Yes, but I do have to use the rover's power supply at night to continue refinery ops... I kinda rushed into this one LOL

If it's stupid, but it works... 

[Kerbalstar]

Just now, Dark Lion said:

Yes, but I do have to use the rover's power supply at night to continue refinery ops... I kinda rushed into this one LOL

If it's stupid, but it works... 

When did you finish it?

[Dark Lion]

1 minute ago, kerbalstar said:

When did you finish it?

About 15 minutes ago, the rover litho-braked to a stop on the little fuel port on the left in my first pic. I put the base down in the wee hours of this morning...
 

Spoiler

...after crash landing one, not adding necessary crew requirements on another, and forgetting thermal management on yet another 

I'm not really that upset.  I do most of these challenges just for the fun of it. I'll be waiting to see about the next one, whether I get a badge or not!

[Kerbalstar]

35 minutes ago, Dark Lion said:

About 15 minutes ago, the rover litho-braked to a stop on the little fuel port on the left in my first pic. I put the base down in the wee hours of this morning...
 

  Reveal hidden contents

...after crash landing one, not adding necessary crew requirements on another, and forgetting thermal management on yet another 

I'm not really that upset.  I do most of these challenges just for the fun of it. I'll be waiting to see about the next one, whether I get a badge or not!

Your base looks cool! 15 minutes ago... Awww...If you had completed the challenge before I closed it and just forgotten to post it, I would have given you an honorary medal... Oh well. Take a great job and some rep @Dark Lion!

[Dark Lion]

I'll  take it @kerbalstar! 

I wonder if @Alchemist 's sling could thump a kerbal into Minmus orbit 

[Kerbalstar]

6 hours ago, Dark Lion said:

I'll  take it @kerbalstar! 

I wonder if @Alchemist 's sling could thump a kerbal into Minmus orbit 

Here it is, @Dark Lion! Edit: Wow, did I misunderstand! Sorry. Take my poor paint skills anyway, great job @Dark Lion!

Spoiler

Hope you like it!

I wonder... @Alchemist

Edited October 2, 2018 by kerbalstar
Wow, how did I misunderstand so much?

[Alchemist]

16 hours ago, Dark Lion said:

I'll  take it @kerbalstar! 

I wonder if @Alchemist 's sling could thump a kerbal into Minmus orbit 

16 hours ago, kerbalstar said:

I wonder... @Alchemist

Maybe  from Gilly. The top speed is around 35 m/s (besides, you don't really launch to orbit by going vertically - if only to orbit around the parent body).

Well, the main elastic effect comes from bending the small docking ports and those aren't too strong at this, especially if you take the inertia of the structural elements in account. And even with something stronger (that is, deforming a more rigid structure), the force limit of KAS links isn't too great

P.S. Tried reattaching without docking ports and launch by bending the entire structure - got the same top speed, torn a cable out of the socket and lifted the base a few meters above the ground. Not a launcher material

 

P.P.S. On the other hand, in some sense anything can qualify as tossing a Kerbal into Minmus orbit, if the jetpack has enough to circularize

 

[Kerbalstar]

1 minute ago, Alchemist said:

Maybe  from Gilly. The top speed is around 35 m/s (besides, you don't really launch to orbit by going vertically - if only to orbit around the parent body).

Well, the main elastic effect comes from bending the small docking ports and those aren't too strong at this, especially if you take the inertia of the structural elements in account. And even with something stronger (that is, deforming a more rigid structure), the force limit of KAS links isn't too great

P.S. Tried reattaching without docking ports and launch by bending the entire structure - got the same top speed, torn a cable out of the socket and lifted the base a few meters above the ground. Not a launcher material

 

P.P.S. On the other hand, in some sense anything can qualify as tossing a Kerbal into Minmus orbit, if the jetpack has enough to circularize

 

I like it, I like it. You should try it...

[AeroGav]

While waiting for the next one,  I  built a few liquid fuellers.      First up ,  I wanted to try to rocket approach and made this  incredibly dangerous thing for incinerating and smashing Kerbals, though it does sometimes go to space.   

  This is a two stage to orbit design,  but those Panthers cost less than most lower stages and it has nearly 3000 delta V.  The orbiter part of the vessel has 2 nervs and a rapier in air breathing mode .https://www.dropbox.com/s/2gk6lwksw603r6c/Lancer.craft?dl=0

Next, I decided to have a look at @adamgerd's only craft on KerbalX...   since he'd flown my SSTO, I wanted to try one of his.    It turns out, it's actually a supersonic transport.   But,  I reckoned it would be easy enough to make into one.

Spoiler

I had to get rid of the draggy bicouplers,  swapped the outboard engines for nervs,  and moved them further forward.   This in turn means only the centre stack now has fuel tanks,  but it's still got a 33% fuel fraction.  The vertical stabilizers are a little smaller than i'd like and it tends to yaw in the opposite direction when you try to roll the airplane,  but it's stable enough once you're established on a heading.  I used the fine rotate tool to apply a bit of built in nose up trim on the elevons.   With SAS off and no control inputs,  it settles into about 5 degree Angle of Attack,  which is about right for climbing.    If you turn SAS on and set Prograde mode,  the Angle of Attack drops to only one or two degrees - good for accelerating Mach 1 or suppressing a steep climb.   If you want to push the nose down still further,   keep on Prograde hold but click on the velocity readout to change the Navball to Orbit mode  , which will point the nose at the horizon.   I used that trick to level off at 17km,  managed to wring 1300 m/s out of our Whiplash,  then I started the nukes and took SAS off, to let the nose pitch up to a 5 degree angle of attack.     

Damn,  this thing likes to soar..

Uuppp  she goes...

Jet flamed out at 25km but she's still climbing good.    It's also picked up another 200 m/s

Flames dying away as we start to get above the atmosphere.  Still climbing and accelerating,   and  still haven't had to make any control inputs since taking SAS off...

You can see our AP is going out of the atmosphere, time to cut power and coast.   It finally started to veer around so i put SAS on.    Cool looking ship !

 

 

My version here

https://www.dropbox.com/s/5kgqqmmvklymycs/vagabond ssto.craft?dl=0

Original here https://kerbalx.com/adamgerd/SAPAF-0132-MK1-Vagabond-Tested

[Dark Lion]

1 hour ago, Alchemist said:

Not a launcher material

I'm sure a few alterations would be required to get a kerbal to orbit.

 

1 hour ago, Alchemist said:

you don't really launch to orbit by going vertically - if only to orbit around the parent body

Of course not! But if you could manage to "draw" the kerbal horizontally, while positioned at the Greater Flats... it might just be possible!
But of course, there's this:

 

1 hour ago, Alchemist said:

the force limit of KAS links isn't too great

So. Maybe Gilly!  

[adamgerd]

18 hours ago, AeroGav said:

Next, I decided to have a look at @adamgerd's only craft on KerbalX...   since he'd flown my SSTO, I wanted to try one of his.    It turns out, it's actually a supersonic transport.   But,  I reckoned it would be easy enough to make into one.

 

Pretty suprised you got it to work, it was built for 1.0.5

Edited October 3, 2018 by adamgerd

[obney kerman]

And now, the next challenge, which some of you have...  already done?

LF only SSTO!

Make an SSTO which uses only LF, no oxidizer, and carries at least 4 passengers. You have one week, so get to it! Complete the challenge within a week to be awarded the unique mission patch!

EDIT: This challenge was suggested by @AeroGav!

 

EDIT2: Medals, for easy access!

Edited December 29, 2018 by obney kerman

[Kerbalstar]

Yay!

[sturmhauke]

The Near Future suite has some atomic jet engines that can run on atmospheric air only. It also comes with an optional config that requires atomic engines to use uranium fuel for their reactor cores, as opposed to the magic infinite reactor core that the stock Nerv sort of glosses over. Would those be ok, or are they too overpowered?

[Kerbalstar]

1 minute ago, sturmhauke said:

The Near Future suite has some atomic jet engines that can run on atmospheric air only. It also comes with an optional config that requires atomic engines to use uranium fuel for their reactor cores, as opposed to the magic infinite reactor core that the stock Nerv sort of glosses over. Would those be ok, or are they too overpowered?

Er... @obney kerman, @AeroGav?

[AeroGav]

10 minutes ago, sturmhauke said:

The Near Future suite has some atomic jet engines that can run on atmospheric air only. It also comes with an optional config that requires atomic engines to use uranium fuel for their reactor cores, as opposed to the magic infinite reactor core that the stock Nerv sort of glosses over. Would those be ok, or are they too overpowered?

I last played with this about a year ago.  It is much more realistic but though honestly the primary purpose of the challenge is to build stock lf sstos that anyone can use.  The requirements to do so are not science fiction

1) TWR about 0.3 to 0.6 to 1

2) About a third of gross weight in fuel

3) A stable, controllable airplane.  

That said I'd be interested to see the Atomic age plane all the same.

When I looked at the mod,  it did not contain a mixed mode nuclear turbojet.   So,  you needed a nuclear reactor to power the nuclear turbojet for atmospheric flight, and a separate one to power your NERV rockets, which seems just about as crazy as the stock solution of burning Jet A to heat the combustion chamber of a jet engine while 3 tons of plutonium sit idle nearby.  That said ,   those nuclear turbojets are fantastic for exploring Duna and Eve.   

For this challenge,  just getting to orbit ?  Not so much of a help.    The additional weight of the nuclear turbojet over a stock jet engine , means you're not really saving anything by avoiding fuel burn.

[sturmhauke]

I only just started using NF, but as I understand it Nertea has made a lot of changes to the Atomics and Aeronautics parts, and added some new ones. There are several multimode atomic engines; some are jet/rocket hybrids and others can switch between fuel + oxidizer for high thrust, or fuel only for high isp.

Anyway, maybe I'll make a stock Nerv SSTO and an Atomic SSTO. Why build one when you can build two?

[Dark Lion]

Wings are for air! I'M MEANT FOR SPACE!

 

[Dark Lion]

That^ was a maiden flight BTW... I almost landed on Minmus!

I mean... something did, but... yeah. 

Edited October 3, 2018 by Dark Lion
See ya next week, folks! :P

[Kerbalstar]

2 minutes ago, Dark Lion said:

That^ was a maiden flight BTW... I almost landed on Minmus!

I mean... something did, but... yeah. 

Wow, very cool @Dark Lion!

[sturmhauke]

6 minutes ago, Dark Lion said:

I mean... something did, but... yeah. 

Well you definitely landed, can't argue with that.

[AeroGav]

Hmm.   this isn't my finest creation..

https://www.dropbox.com/s/qyhybf8cvmj7qp5/Komet.craft?dl=0

I went for something scratch built for the challenge,  but with 2 passenger cabins the Whiplash sits quite far back leaving me with a CG problem.   I don't want to shove Jeb any further forward in case he cooks,  so the NERVs have to go right up   front. The deep chord of the Big S wings gets in the way, so i had the bright idea of turning stakes sideways to make a very early jet era looking high aspect ratio, mildly swept wing.

Ended up adding too much fuel (26.5 ton wet mass) and it took 15 minutes to get to the point it was ready to start nukes, and at lower altitude it kept needing small course corrections, which was annoying.   I used fine rotate tool to add some built in nose up tendency so you don't have to hold back stick to keep it in a climbing angle,  but i overdid it this time which contributed to the sluggish flight (didn't get supersonic till 12km, whipslash not getting up on boost).    For the speedrun,  holding W down, but once we got over 1000 m/s it starts to climb anyway and lost power above 18km.   Once the nukes are lit  it does go like a champ though.

Here's something i built yesterday,  which i could enter instead since it carries 4 passengers.    Actually it has 225 seats, but it's all liquid fuel,  6 panthers, 6 rapiers (air breathing mode only) and 12 nervs.   It's actually a lot nicer to fly than the above craft,  the panthers give it a solid initial climb/acceleration and it's really stable at all speeds,  quite majestic.     Action group 1 is nose up trim, action 2 is neutral trim, action 3 is nose down trim,  action 4 is afterburner on/off,   action 6 is nukes  i think.

Spoiler

 

https://www.dropbox.com/s/xmfebxxvbos8pt0/bigLL2.craft?dl=0