Orbit Boot Camp

[Klapaucius]

4 hours ago, Chequers said:

Furthermore, there is as another adornment, the Diamond Chevron, for ‘Launch cost below 5k’.

Considering the state of our finances, would it not be more appropriate to make it the zircon chevron?

 

https://www.jewelrynotes.com/what-types-of-diamond-imitations-are-there/

Edited April 11, 2020 by Klapaucius

[Chequers]

Congratulations @Space Nerd on passing out of Orbit Boot Camp, with your ship, 'Bootcamper' - and for your detailed screenshot mission report. Well done on packing a lot of science tech into the mission. You've earned the Kerbin Crescent, adorned with Silver Claw (with Meteorologist Ribbon, Kelvin Ribbon and Observational Ribbon), Amber Leaves and Onyx Eyes, and have your name on the Orbit Boot Camp Honour Roll. 

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Congratulations @C1arl on passing out of Orbit Boot Camp with your compact and aesthetically pleasing, and aptly name rocket, 'Screecher'. Thank you for your detailed report and screenshots. You've earned the Kerbin Crescent, adorned with Amber Leaves and Crossed Swords.

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17 minutes ago, Klapaucius said:

Consider the state of our finances, would it not be more appropriate to make it the zircon chevron?

This got a chuckle from the OBC Committee - and the adornments will be updated immediately. Saves loads on costs too, which keeps the brass happy.

Edited April 11, 2020 by Chequers

[Space Nerd]

My rocket probably has enough margin to put on a science junior(with over 400 m/s left in orbit), but it would be 11 parts then .

Alternatively I can remove the goo so the launch cost is under 5000.

Edited April 11, 2020 by Space Nerd

[C1arl]

Would it be acceptable to make another entry if we can improve or achieve more adornments with a different craft? Also I thought we had to be in the a KSC biome to get The Cross Swords? If that is the case there may be an error.

[Chequers]

41 minutes ago, C1arl said:

Would it be acceptable to make another entry if we can improve or achieve more adornments with a different craft? Also I thought we had to be in the a KSC biome to get The Cross Swords? If that is the case there may be an error.

Absolutely - you can submit multiple craft, and each will be awarded its own adornments.

And thank you for your honesty! I saw a runway in the screenshot and assumed. You are correct - you must be in a KSC biome to earn the crossed swords. Though you’ve obviously come very close, so I encourage you to have another shot!

 

[mystifeid]

Just to clarify - on my last entry you may have seen that the parachutes were clipped into the pod. You have my word that after I did this I noticed absolutely zero difference but kept them there because I liked the look. After moving them back out, again I noticed no difference. If you like I can very quickly replace that entry with one that does not included clipped chutes and with an identical score.

I have not been using an optimal ascent profile but have been using one that is very easy to replicate. On top of that I have left myself - and you - quite a bit of wriggle room in terms of how much fuel I carry. So, 733 should be an easybeat.

[Chequers]

7 minutes ago, mystifeid said:

Just to clarify - on my last entry you may have seen that the parachutes were clipped into the pod. You have my word that after I did this I noticed absolutely zero difference but kept them there because I liked the look. After moving them back out, again I noticed no difference. If you like I can very quickly replace that entry with one that does not included clipped chutes and with an identical score.

I have not been using an optimal ascent profile but have been using one that is very easy to replicate. On top of that I have left myself - and you - quite a bit of wriggle room in terms of how much fuel I carry. So, 733 should be an easybeat.

Thanks for clarifying - and that’s fine. The no clipping rule is to prevent obvious exploits. I’ll take your word that it made no difference.

Youre welcome to submit a new entry to beat your best result!

[bayesian_acolyte]

Low cost at launch category:

2500 cost. Also happens to be only 6 parts and 1480 sea level dV, although I wasn't designing with those considerations in mind.

Spoiler

I also did a command seat with recovery run earlier today before the rules were modified, but couldn't post it until now. I'm fine with the rule change and have no problem with this run not counting for anything. It was tricky to land on the runway because I had the command seat in the wrong orientation, but I realized late and didn't want to restart.

7719 initial cost - 7446 recovery = 273 cost

Edit: just realized that only 5k can be recovered, so this entry wouldn't have counted anyways.

Spoiler

 

Edited April 11, 2020 by bayesian_acolyte

[Regor]

@Chequers

Is it allowed if the recovery cost is more than 5000? Because my new iteration has a recovery cost if 5645.

[mystifeid]

33 minutes ago, Chequers said:

Youre welcome to submit a new entry to beat your best result!

I think I'd really prefer someone else did it. Like I said, it is very easy to beat - even landing some distance from KSC.

[Chequers]

18 minutes ago, mabdi36 said:

@Chequers

Is it allowed if the recovery cost is more than 5000? Because my new iteration has a recovery cost if 5645.

You can recover up to 5000 - but the cost of the mission must be below 5000 after recovery.

You’ll need to either recover 645 more - or have a launch cost of 645 less - for a valid entry.

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@bayesian_acolyte, congratulations on passing out of Orbit Boot Camp with your rocket, and for your mission report with screenshots. You've been awarded the Kerbin Crescent, adorned with Zircon Chevron, Amber Leaves and Onyx Eyes. You're also the first to claim the newest unique adornment - Ruby Star.

Does your rocket have a name for the Honour Roll? Also, what was the final cost of your mission after recovery? At the moment, I will list it as 2,500. 

Thank you also for recording your Command Chair attempt. While it unfortunately, as you say, doesn't meet the requirements after the rule update - it's impressive none the less, so thank you for sharing.

Edited April 11, 2020 by Chequers

[Regor]

7 minutes ago, Chequers said:

You can recover up to 5000 - but the cost of the mission must be below 5000 after recovery.

You’ll need to either recover 645 more - or have a launch cost of 645 less - for a valid entry.

Sorry for the misunderstanding. I mean that the total mission cost is something like 800. But the money that I recieve when I recover the craft is 5645 (meaning the original launch cost is something like 6415 )

[Superfluous J]

13 minutes ago, mabdi36 said:

Sorry for the misunderstanding. I mean that the total mission cost is something like 800. But the money that I recieve when I recover the craft is 5645 (meaning the original launch cost is something like 6415 )

The way I read the rules is that your total cost would be considered, for the challenge, to be 1415 because while you recovered 5645, only 5000 counted.

If that is not true I'd like to know because part of why I've not submitted yet is I'm trying to figure out how to recover over 5000 of my launch cost so I get the max recovery allowed.

[Chequers]

4 hours ago, mabdi36 said:

Sorry for the misunderstanding. I mean that the total mission cost is something like 800. But the money that I recieve when I recover the craft is 5645 (meaning the original launch cost is something like 6415 )

I see now. You can recover 5000 worth of parts. So you will lose the 645. 

3 hours ago, Superfluous J said:

The way I read the rules is that your total cost would be considered, for the challenge, to be 1415 because while you recovered 5645, only 5000 counted.

This is correct.

Edited April 11, 2020 by Chequers

[Regor]

27 minutes ago, Chequers said:

I see now. You can recover 5000 worth of parts. So you will lose the 645. 

This is correct. Ultimately, a vessel cannot cost more than 10,000 - and only then if at least 5k can be recovered.

Thank you for the clarification. I’ve run out of reacts lol

Edited April 11, 2020 by mabdi36
X

[TheFlyingKerman]

 

Another entry. I managed to reduce the starting cost to 4710 funds (so below the 5000 limit) by simplifying the tail. The empty craft costs 4159 funds. I landed it on the runway. In addition there was 15.8 units of Oxidizer and 12.9 units of LF left, for a total cost of 13 funds. So mission cost 4710 - 4159 - 13 = 538 funds. 

I have also decided to christen this craft The Arrowfish 3, and the last two ships Arrowfish 1 and 2.

p.s. I am trying different image hosts. The forum embeds full image from imgbb.com when writing but only thumbnails after posting.

 

Spoiler

Orbit

https://ibb.co/kB0FLws

What a textbook landing looks like

Landed on runway

https://ibb.co/k8M2ztb

 

 

Edited April 12, 2020 by TheFlyingKerman
Fixed embed pictures

[Chequers]

32 minutes ago, TheFlyingKerman said:

Another entry. I managed to reduce the starting cost to 4710 funds (so below the 5000 limit) by simplifying the tail. The empty craft costs 4159 funds. I landed it on the runway. In addition there was 15.8 units of Oxidizer and 12.9 units of LF left, for a total cost of 13 funds. So mission cost 4710 - 4159 - 13 = 538 funds. 

I have also decided to christen this craft The Arrowfish 3, and the last two ships Arrowfish 1 and 2.

p.s. I am trying different image hosts. The forum embeds full image from imgbb.com when writing but only thumbnails after posting.

 

Well done for refining your craft, with Arrowfish 3. Picking up the new Zircon Chevron adornment, and reclaiming the Sapphire Cluster in the process! I appreciate you giving your vessels a name too. The brass always say, 'don't trust an unnamed rocket, Chequers.'

The images you've posted don't seem to be working. Looks like there might be a 'G' missing from the '.PNG' file name.

 

[mystifeid]

Noticed too that @bayesian_acolytehas a very low dV.

[Chequers]

2 minutes ago, mystifeid said:

Noticed too that @bayesian_acolytehas a very low dV.

A good spot! Thank you for bringing it to my attention.

@bayesian_acolyte, you also claimed the Gold Florettes adornment for your entry! Congratulations.

[bayesian_acolyte]

With some shameless save spamming I got a bare bones whiplash-based SSTO to work for a recovery entry:

5328 funds - 5000 recovery (actually 5170 but only 5k counts) = 328 funds

Spoiler

With no control surfaces and only the reaction wheel in the command pod, this thing was tough to control. CoL was placed right on CoM for a bit more maneuverability, and wings were tilted up 5 degrees so that we would generate lift at prograde. At low speeds we had some control over our direction, but at high speeds in atmosphere we could only merely suggest directions.

The margin in the spark fuel tanks was tiny so we needed an almost perfect launch, with a balance of burning the right amount of liquid fuel, getting a high enough horizontal speed, and getting a high enough AP (the attempt in this screen shot failed). 

We only have 14 m/s dV with our orbit barely above the atmosphere. Our de-orbit burn takes our PE to just 68k, making it tougher to hit our landing target.

We flip end over end for a good while to bleed off speed in a battery efficient manner. We still had ~280 dV worth of liquid fuel left for the whiplash which we need to adjust our approach to the KSC and crucially recharge our batteries. We save 20 dV worth of fuel for later.

The hardest part of flying this mission was surprisingly managing the electric charge as we approached the KSC and bled off enough speed for our parachute to function. A lot of our breaking was done by oscillating the yaw.

We run out of electricity right before we deploy our parachute. Our terminal velocity with our parachute out was about 10 m/s, and our landing gear main engine has an impact tolerance of 7 m/s, so right before touchdown we burn the last of our fuel.

I wasn't sure if this would count as on the runway, but it did.

It was a shame we couldn't shave that last 170 to cut our score in half, but things were extremely tight as it is. I'm curious if anyone else will be able to pull off a jet-based SSTO for under 5k.

 

[bayesian_acolyte]

8 hours ago, Chequers said:

Does your rocket have a name for the Honour Roll? Also, what was the final cost of your mission after recovery? At the moment, I will list it as 2,500.

Listing it as 2500 is fine, as the cost recovery wasn't really a part of that mission. Max refund for the ship was 1714, for a minimum of mission cost of 786, but I didn't try to hit the KSC and got 660 back. You can call it Little Rascal, and while we're at it I'd like the recovered ship from my last post to be named Nervous Energy.

[ralanboyle]

Okay, I made an SSTO that respects the spirit of the challenge. It costs 4828 at launch, and recovers 3929, that's all but fuel by landing on the runway. A total mission cost of 899. Also, no clipped parts. 

 

Edited April 11, 2020 by ralanboyle
Edit

[Chequers]

@bayesian_acolyte , congratulations on your unique and highly efficient SSTO, 'Nervous Energy' - especially considering the jet-powered nature of the vessel. You again earn the Sapphire Cluster for your effort.

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@ralanboyle, well done on creating a highly efficient SSTO for under 5k launch cost, Does this craft have a name? - I really enjoyed watching the flight video; particularly that landing! You've earned the Zircon Chevron adornment for your efforts.

 

[ralanboyle]

Ha, @Chequers, The craft file name gets censored when I type it into this forum. “Cheap Biatch” is pretty close. 

Edited April 11, 2020 by ralanboyle
Edit

[mystifeid]

This is "Guzzler" cos it's so thirsty. A pleasure to fly. (And doesn't usually oscillate when burning off speed on reentry - only after keeping physics warp on too long.)

Cost at launch - 5036
Recovered - 4742

Total Cost - 294