The Quest for Light

[Col.Masterson]

The challenge I present before you is simple my fellow Kermans, light-speed or as close to it as possible.

Which means 299,792,458 meters per second.

My best thus far is a tad slower, but it is a start. Gloves are off on this challenge, all mods are allowed.

Offical Kerman No-Prize for the people that make various bench marks. 100 km/s, 500 km/s, 1000 km/s, 10,000 km/s and finally the ultimate No-Prize for light.

Let my entry be the first in this challenge, used the warp engines.

NOTE: Screen-shot or video is a must!!

[Jouzu]

You need to define what mods are acceptable, otherwise it won't be a competition.

If you are sticking to 'realistic' parts something nuclear is needed, something on the magnitude of Project Orion! Behold:

Later studies indicate that the top cruise velocity that can theoretically be achieved by a thermonuclear Orion starship is about 8% to 10% of the speed of light (0.08-0.1c).[2] An atomic (fission) Orion can achieve perhaps 3%-5% of the speed of light. A nuclear pulse drive starship powered by matter-antimatter pulse units would be theoretically capable of obtaining a velocity between 50% to 80% of the speed of light.

At 0.1c, Orion thermonuclear starships would require a flight time of at least 44 years to reach Alpha Centauri, not counting time needed to reach that speed (about 36 days at constant acceleration of 1g or 9.8 m/s2). At 0.1c, an Orion starship would require 100 years to travel 10 light years. The late astronomer Carl Sagan suggested that this would be an excellent use for current stockpiles of nuclear weapons.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Orion_(nuclear_propulsion)#Performance

[Col.Masterson]

The 100 km/s has been broken.

Used the fuel tanks from the C7 flight pack and a nacelle propulsion engine.

167 km/s, 14.4 Million km a day.. hello Mars? be there shortly.. hehe

[foamyesque]

You said 'any' downloads, so:

I make that as an average speed of ~167c.

[Col.Masterson]

umm.. where is the ship? and what was the download? *droools*

[foamyesque]

umm.. where is the ship? and what was the download? *droools*

Broken camera.

The download was a custom one I made some time ago for testing various things. Never got 'round to using it until just now.

It uses less thrust than any other mod you'll find, I promise you that.

[Col.Masterson]

The offical Kerman No-Prize goes to you Foamyesque.. bravo and well done.

I really wants that download.. lol.

[foamyesque]

Naw, it's not really worth it; you just fly off uncontrollably until you crash the game in a minute or two. Give it to someone who actually had to build a rocket.

[MaxSchram]

My intention was: If there are no mod restrictions, why not make my own broken parts and burn to light speed in no time. The problem is: There are some limitations for the maximum forces which can be applied to connections between parts.

The first try was with a modified solid booster, which had a thrust of 1e8kN,a mass of 1t and a burn rate of 0t/s. Connected to a pod (1t) it would reach light speed in ~6sec. But the connection between both parts broke instantly and the pod stayed at launchpad while the booster burned away. I think it reached light speed, but i wasn't there . So i lowered the thrust and ended up at ~2000kN. At this point the pod and the booster stayed together and flow stable.

The problem we now have is time: A ship with a mass of 2t and a trust of 2000kN produces an acceleration of 1000m/s^2. This means that this ship has to fly three and a half days to reach light speed. This is doable but impractical without blocking a computer for that time.

[Saaur]

My intention was: If there are no mod restrictions, why not make my own broken parts and burn to light speed in no time. The problem is: There are some limitations for the maximum forces which can be applied to connections between parts.

Struts, man. STRUTS!!

[MadRocketScientist]

ok, is the point to match lightspeed as close as possible or go as fast as i can? If the latter, my record is 100000000000000000 m/s. Thats 3.336×10^8 c ! You can get more if you really want, but there is no real point (cant say exacly depends upon the rounding errors in the gameengine).

[Wintersniper]

So far I've reached 40 kps with an ion engine, I'll give you all a screenshot when the thing finally runs out of fuel......... (it's used about 80% of the tank after over 8 hours of flight time.....)

[jgjiscool]

I want to know if there's actually a maximum speed you can go... What will happen at the speed of light: some say a wormhole, some say instant oblivion, Kerbal says GOOOOOOO!!!

[Wintersniper]

The Seraphim finally reached engine burnout after 10 hours 36 minutes and 32 seconds of flight time. in this time it accelerated to a final velocity of 48.0397 kps or .0001602431906409067 c. I think that's fast for a non-cheat engine.

here it is

[McLuv]

The Seraphim finally reached engine burnout after 10 hours 36 minutes and 32 seconds of flight time. in this time it accelerated to a final velocity of 48.0397 kps or .0001602431906409067 c. I think that's fast for a non-cheat engine.

here it is

I'm doing a similar design, except my upper stage is a CM>1.75 (2500 fuel) tank>2 vernier SAS modules>ion engine. Kept mass to a minimum (so that acceleration was a maximum). The upper stage alone has a theoretical dV of 91km/s, but a burn time of 33 hours.

I'll fill you in on how it does.

[Wintersniper]

I just started testing The Angelica, my newest attempt at the light barrier, with triple the fuel for the ion engine, and an extra to engines in the initial boost

EDIT: actually quintuple the fuel for the ion engine, and 4 fuel tanks each for the 7 turbojets in the initial boost stage.

I expect the total flight time for this thing to be multiple days...... and here's a pic too

[jgjiscool]

Looking good there! I look forward to seeing the result!

[zekes]

Im going for Light speed, too. My best is 60,000m/s, BTW can I use gaby\'s submarine propeller? it suits my deep space probe well.

Here is the ZLRP 10, with extra RCS for stability. Smooth acceleration, tiny fuel use, 8 submarine props! The pinnacle of Zokeisian engineering!

Run by mechjeb so we don\'t kill any kerbonauts.

We hope it to get to 250,000,000 m/s.