Kerbol Space station challenge

[M_Rat13]

Sounds simple enough, right? Put a space station around the orbit of Kerbol (The Sun), with all the 'normal' equipment like science labs, experiments, refuelling capabilities for docked craft, crew quarters and amenities. Nothing that hasn't been done before around other bodies in the Kerbol system.

Except that's not really the challenge:

The real challenge? Put that space station you just built, as close as you can to Kerbol. The closer, the better. Screenshots will obviously be needed, but if your entire orbit is the closest to Kerbol, you are in the lead. However, I do mean entire orbit, no cheating and having your station only be near Kerbol for a short period of time, I want images showing you are in a circularized orbit.

So, with this simple premise out of the way (simple as in you should understand, not that this is going to be easy), let the challenge commence. Do you have what it takes? If not, and you can't handle the heat, get out the kitchen

Edit: Just some parameters/guidelines to help;

-The goal is to have a space station around Kerbol, with the lowest possible circularized orbit.

-At a bare minimum, your space station must have docking ports for space craft, Kerbal habitation modules, a science lab, a command module, batteries, rcs thrusters (and monopropellant for it), reaction control wheels, rocket fuel tanks capable of holding both fuel and oxidizer, and some form of power generation.

-If somehow two entries have the exact same orbit (unlikely, but I guess I'll be on the safe side), then the more complex build takes the lead.

-Proof of achievement will be made by screenshots. One of the craft, one of it's orbit, though more than that are welcome.

-Finally, this is purely for my entertainment, and your pride. I am merely a 'judge', I am not partaking.

Apart from the above, anything goes. Anything I missed?

Edited March 23, 2019 by M_Rat13

[Aeroboi]

You may want to write rules.

ION Engines okay (I would say yes especially due to dv requirements)
A scoring system? Or is it just the one who orbits closest that wins.

Is there a mass to Kerbol orbit bonus formula so people can rank better or worse?

Or is your OP just to amass enough people to see who would do this?

If true it is better to specify the general orientation of scoring or what would benefit a easy or harder challenge.
Does it need to be a single launch or can it be more (I assume it would be a single launch for fairness but you should state this.)
 

[M_Rat13]

1 hour ago, Aeroboi said:

You may want to write rules.

ION Engines okay (I would say yes especially due to dv requirements)
A scoring system? Or is it just the one who orbits closest that wins.

Is there a mass to Kerbol orbit bonus formula so people can rank better or worse?

Or is your OP just to amass enough people to see who would do this?

If true it is better to specify the general orientation of scoring or what would benefit a easy or harder challenge.
Does it need to be a single launch or can it be more (I assume it would be a single launch for fairness but you should state this.)
 

I don't really know if different launch parameters would effect the challenge. Perhaps it wasn't clear but it's supposed to be easy to follow. The main 'goal' is to have a the lowest circularized orbit with a space station around Kerbol as possible. Apart from that, anything goes. Well, and the fact it has to contain certain things to be classed as a space station, which I will edit my post to make a proper list for, as I will admit it might not be clear.

[RedSun Rocketry]

It's just called the sun

[Rocket In My Pocket]

16 minutes ago, RedSun Rocketry said:

It's just called the sun

In game yes.

Kerbol is it's very popular, unofficial name.

https://wiki.kerbalspaceprogram.com/wiki/Kerbol

[Rocket In My Pocket]

I was just doing some testing for fun to see what kind of heat there was up close.

The kind of ironic thing is; despite there being more solar power than you can shake a stick at, you can't really make use any of it as it'll cook your panels right off! Lol.

And I'm thinking you'll need power to run some radiators. Looks like you'd have to use RTG's or Fuel cells.

[Aeroboi]

20 hours ago, Rocket In My Pocket said:

*snip*

And I'm thinking you'll need power to run some radiators. Looks like you'd have to use RTG's or Fuel cells.

I'm aware of this, that's why it's mandatory to use RTG"s or Fuel cells. I haven't seen solar panels on Stratzenblitz's spinning solar station either. I'm a big fan of fuel cells to be honest. Use one to several RTG's for static energy generation, keep at that if that's the only power requirement needed. If needing more then use fuel cells. People severely underestimate the efficiency of a fuel cell.
It's not like it's going to cut Dv by a landslide using them to produce a required charge, albeit that I assume you have a large fraction of fuel with you. If you need to run systems like science on such a space station you can always use a Plethora of battery banks with a few rtg's to fill up the power over time to do experiments.

Also, what is close to the Sun? Closest? Yes, solar panels melt! Does it have to be closest?
It's quite a feet to haul massive shipment into a circular ecliptic plane inside the orbit of Moho to begin with. And the Sun looks big enough at that distance to be glazed with amazement. Picking a closest point will decide the challenge in that we will upscale our rockets more and more to a point where we will use to much parts anyway.
Personally I like to keep the part count low so a station just within Moho orbit seems like a respectable solar station for a community challenge.