Gang Star/Luna Mesa IVA Contest

[Hotel26]

"In the real world", 90% of pilots detest flying in Instrument Meteorological Conditions.  But the other 10% -- live for those cold & clammy days!

In this KSP 1.6.1 Gang Star.sfs quicksave, you, the contestant, find yourself, Vasily Kerman,  in Low Lunar Orbit with your target set at Luna Mesa.  Your task is to land at or near the target, retaining as much onboard fuel as you can.  Your employer, Gang Star Mining Enterprise, will measure your performance with regard to 1) equipment intact/unbent/unscratched, 2) handbrake correctly applied, seatbelts stowed neatly, 3) proximity to the target, 4) fuel remaining (so don't waste it!).

You can take as many tries as you like, re-orbiting to your fuel dump to reload and retry...

Rules:

1. you must land within 50m of the target (without prior contact with the lunar surface since departing stable orbit)
2. contestants will be ranked by fuel remaining: your video must include the Resources pop-up in the final external view
3. all contestants must use the Gang Star equipment provided by "the company" [tm], unmodified, (unleaded fuel only)
4. a YouTube video must be submitted with each entry, showing the final descent recorded, uninterrupted, starting prior to 20km DME from the target, and terminating after touch-down with an external view clearly depicting range to the target
5. the final 20km of the descent MUST BE PERFORMED WHOLLY in IVA[1] with navball and radar altimeter in view at all times until touch-down!
6. Equipment must be landed upright, undamaged and serviceable for re-departure after re-fueling.  Vasily must be onboard until touchdown.
7. KER may be used
8. no mods (other than KER)
9. maneuver nodes MAY NOT be used.  Neither may Map View be used at any time.  This IS a Mk1 NAVBALL exercise, recruit!
10. In the event that the flag is toppled by jet blast or equipment strike, KER HUD read-out of lat/lon wil be used to compute distance from 0.41.21N 22.47.23E to measure range.
11. landing gear MUST be fully extended prior to first contact with the ground.  (You knew that)
12. no tampering with Gang Star equipment is permitted under any circumstances: particularly, NO adjustment of throttle limiters, which must all remain at 100%.
13. usage of monopropellant is not permitted at any time during a landing attempt.

Top Honors category:

1. for those contestants landing < 10m from the target, ranked by range to the target and then by time to land (measured from 20km inbound (you must use KER or suitable substitute for this))
2. and Dux shared by those best contestants from 1 who LAND ON THE FLAG PROVIDING THE YOUTUBE EVIDENTIARY CLIP depicting a full-stop, upright, safe landing made in the IVA view and confirmed in a subsequent external view in which the capsule is then "hopped" momentarily clear of the surface to reveal the toppled [Luna Mesa] flag, which has faithfully served as your target this day.  [See also Rule 10 above as it is quite possible to displace the flag altogether.]
3. Additionally, to earn the title Dux, you may not lower the gear above 1.6km MSL.

Space Cadets!  Don your hoods!  Start your engines!!

Reminder: submissions must include a YouTube clip from >20km range until final touchdown all in the IVA view; followed by final external view showing range to target and the Resources  view listing fuel remaining onboard

Please post your submission videos in this thread and Gang Star Mining Recruitment do recommend you post the link cued to the final touch-down ("Copy video URL at current time", e.g. ending "?t=562"), but every submission will be reviewed from start to finish.)

Judge's decision final.  Bla bla bla.  Highly recommend that KER HUD display Alt (Terrain), Vert/Horz Speeds and Lat/Lon.

And Good Luck!

[1] Intra-Vehicular Activity: use 'C' to switch between inside and outside (but if you're an instrument-rated pilot, you already know this and much, much more)

Edited April 24, 2019 by Hotel26

[Hotel26]

Gang Star/Luna Mesa IVA Contest

Leaderboard:

Currently: no contestants have succeeded

Edited March 30, 2019 by Hotel26

[smotheredrun]

Do we get honourable mentions if we crash (i.e. actually fly Kerbal style)?

Do we need to be able to reuse the ship afterwards?

Edited March 30, 2019 by smotheredrun

[Hotel26]

6 minutes ago, smotheredrun said:

Do we need to be able to reuse the ship afterwards?

Gang Star Mining Enterprise takes a very dim view of its equipment being rendered unservicable.

So, the ship needs to land upright and undamaged, needing possibly only refueling to depart the surface.  There is enough fuel onboard, however, to land and then re-orbit and intercept the fuel tanker in orbit.  (Of course, it's much easier to try again by holding down F9 and going back to the quicksave starting point.  (Recommend you make a quicksave from the initial Gang Star save.)

Edited March 30, 2019 by Hotel26

[smotheredrun]

@Hotel26 Thanks.  Knowing that Gang Star is expecting us to reuse the equipment is good.  Thanks for the clarification.

[Hotel26]

Here's an example submission (challenge rules state that OP must also attempt the challenge):

 

Judge's ruling: DISQUALIFIED

 

Technical Note: I used OBS to record the above and find the default Scaled Resolution is too low (particularly to read the KER display); so do recommend rendering at 1920x1080, if possible.

Edited March 30, 2019 by Hotel26

[Hotel26]

Komrad Vasily rolls up his sleeves and makes a more serious attempt to Capture The Flag.  His score this time: 4.7 after a successful landing...  (Keep your eye on the Altitude (AGL) and Vert speed in the RHS KER HUD.)

But judges rule for DISQUALIFICATION as a recording engineer only commenced the record 5 kms from the target[*].  (Rules require 20km.)

In point of fact, Vasily flew this approach IVA as soon as the de-orbit burn concluded the reduction of orbital speed to 400 m/s.  This would have been a legitimate attempt -- but NO PROOF.

One more time, if you please, Komrad Vasily!!

[*] it was, after all, an early warm-up run and nobody expected young Vasily to get on his game so quickly.

Edited April 20, 2019 by Hotel26

[Hotel26]

DAMMIT  DAMMIT  DAMMIT

Further review by the judges have ruled this attempt UTTERLY INVALID (proof or not) because this was evidently a gear-up landing.

                                                                                                                               

I've been playing KSP over five years now and this is my FIRST unintentional gear-up landing.  DAMMIT.

They say there are two kinds of pilots: those who have landed gear-up and those who will.

(I must note that the Top Honors Category included Rule 3 as a further challenge precisely to sort out the whiz kids from the rest!)

Edited April 20, 2019 by Hotel26

[Hotel26]

(Since no one other than brave Vasily has yet attempted this challenge, I think an Extension To The Rules is fair.)

Rule XI: landing gear MUST be fully extended prior to first contact with the ground.  (You knew that)
Rule XII: no tampering with Gang Star equipment is permitted under any circumstances: particularly NO adjustment of throttle limiters, which must all remain at 100%.
Rule XIII: usage of monopropellant is not permitted at any time during a landing attempt.

Edited April 21, 2019 by Hotel26