Orbit Boot Camp

[mystifeid]

This is the "RUsureaboutthis" - it has a low dV of 1279 on the launchpad. It is also the first entry of mine to have a launchpad cost of less than 5000. The ship squeeks into orbit and has 62m/s left with which to deorbit.

Spoiler

 

 

[Chequers]

Well done @mystifeid on your two most recent entries! I'm glad you were able to get a launch below 5,000 to claim your Zircon Chevron. Congratulations on reclaiming both the Sapphire Cluster and Gold Florettes across your two vessels - pushing the boundaries of low cost, low dV flight! Thank you for submitting your reports via video. The OBC committee are nodding enthusiastically, and making agreeable noises.

[bayesian_acolyte]

Nervous Energy 2: 5170 cost - 4945 recovered = 225 cost

Spoiler

 

[Chequers]

And no sooner has the Sapphire Cluster been handed over, it's reclaimed once more. Congratulations @bayesian_acolyte on improving the design of 'Nervous Energy' with a newer model. Thank you also for your screenshot mission report.

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Update 12.04.20

Thank you all for your continued entries into this challenge. I'm continually impressed by the creativity of this community - and the skill. Some of the creations are beyond clever. 

I'll be updating the Kerbin Crescent with a new adornment, for those looking for a new challenge. This will be achieved by earning at least 5 adornments with a single mission - and I'll let you know when the challenge has been updated with that new achievement.

Finally, I'd like to wish everyone a peaceful Easter during this uncertain time. I hope taking part in this challenge has passed some of your time in isolation. But beyond that, I wish you all a safe and relaxing break - however you're spending the weekend. 

 

Edited April 12, 2020 by Chequers

[bayesian_acolyte]

Spirit of Talkeetna: 1184 VAB sea level dv, 1216 launchpad dv

Spoiler

 

[ralanboyle]

Very nice hybrid @mystifeid

[Superfluous J]

Just an update on my end, I've not stopped playing with this idea in fact quite the opposite. I'm trying to squeeze out as many things in one launch as possible and because of that I'm riding a crazy razor edge.

In probably 50 launches I've had one successful landing, which I can't submit because the total cost of the flight (launch cost - recovery cost) is over 5000. Every other launch either failed to reach orbit (one by less than 10m/s), explode on re-entry (I've finally decided to give up on the Science Jr), or nose-dive into the ground at 800m/s (center of mass is important when you're not throwing away spent stages).

I'm close. I'm just not there yet.

[TheFlyingKerman]

Arrowfish 4. 5191 - 4971 - 2 (3.4 units of LF left) = 218 funds.

https://ibb.co/0cpvnjr

https://ibb.co/k36W6F2

 

[C1arl]

So here I am again with another craft to submit. This one is named the Burning Flare. Due to the fact that all the engine power if on the top of the rocket. The original plan was to have the tank on top of the capsule and to cover the engine with the capsule. But it turned out to be to unstable. So I ended up making this sub 5000 craft. Sense my last submission I have installed Kerbal Engineer, and Restock. Both of which have no affect anything that would give me an advantage. Restock simply changes the textures of most stock parts. And Kerbal Engineer simply giving a data read out in the VAB with how I had it set up. Again I do not advise anyone to use this craft seriously.

 

 

Burning Flare

Cost:	4,990
Recovery Refund:	1,141
Cost after refund:	3,849
∆v On Pad:	3872 m/s
∆v On In VAB:	3870 m/s

 

 

Screenshots (Waited for day this time)

Spoiler

Sitting on the Launch Pad

Launch

Booster Dropped

Apoapsis Reached and Node Set

Burning to Circulize Orbit

Orbit Reached

Burnt Node to deorbit.

Entering Atmosphere

Heating Up

KSC in sight

Fuel tank detached

A bit close for confirt

Clear of the tank

Chute deploying

Chute Open

Landed.

Recover Cost.

If I was to rebuild this thing I think I would turn gimbling off on half of the engines in order to limit the amount of jitter the SAS caused.

[Chequers]

Well done @bayesian_acolyte for continuing to push the boundaries of low-cost, low dV orbit, with your latest creation - the excitingly named Spirit of Talkeetna - and reclaiming the Gold Florettes for your effort.

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Congratulations @TheFlyingKerman on reclaiming the Sapphire Cluster with your ultra efficient, Arrowfish 4. And well done for setting your craft down on the runway for maximum recovery.

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@C1arl, thank you for submitting another entry - and for your screenshot mission report. Your unconventional 'rocket top' design looks great! And well done on a launch cost below 5000, adorning your Kerbin Crescent with the Zircon Chevron. If there were awards for interesting designs, your latest craft would no doubt be in the running. For now, accept this congratulatory nod of approval, and a new entry on the Honour Roll. 

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8 hours ago, Superfluous J said:

Just an update on my end, I've not stopped playing with this idea in fact quite the opposite. I'm trying to squeeze out as many things in one launch as possible and because of that I'm riding a crazy razor edge.

In probably 50 launches I've had one successful landing, which I can't submit because the total cost of the flight (launch cost - recovery cost) is over 5000. Every other launch either failed to reach orbit (one by less than 10m/s), explode on re-entry (I've finally decided to give up on the Science Jr), or nose-dive into the ground at 800m/s (center of mass is important when you're not throwing away spent stages).

I'm close. I'm just not there yet.

Thanks for the update, @Superfluous J - I'm excited to see your eventual entry; and with a new achievement on the way for claiming a large number of adornments in a single launch, it sounds like you'll very much be in the running! 

[Chequers]

New adornments

From the start, Orbit Boot Camp was to give all players of various skill levels something to try. Whether that's newer players challenging themselves to get a rocket into orbit for a low cost, or more experienced players wanting to compete with other players to do this for the lowest cost, dV, or launch cost.

It's been great to see the different focuses some players have chosen to go for: For some, grabbing those unique adornments to compete on the leaderboard is their goal - and seeing the back and forth as you eek out the tiniest margins to reclaim them has been fantastic.

But others are more interested in trying to grab as many of the additional adornment achievements as possible. So I've created a few more to honour their achievement. The first is a '1st Class' insignia, for achieving (at the moment) at least 5 additional adornments. The second is a 'Science Specialist' ribbon, which can be claimed by achieving the other four Silver Claw ribbons. The adornments list has been updated.

I'm always open to hearing new ideas - but I think, for now, we have a fairly robust amount of options for people to try: Whether that's trying to out-do themselves, or someone else. 

Edited April 13, 2020 by Chequers

[bayesian_acolyte]

Nervous Energy 3: 5079 - 4929 = 150 cost

Spoiler

 

 

[TheFlyingKerman]

11 hours ago, TheFlyingKerman said:

Arrowfish 4. 5191 - 4971 - 2 (3.4 units of LF left) = 218 funds.

Sorry I made a mistake with this last report. The dry cost of the Arrowfish 4 is 4951. But I managed to fine tune the design and ascend profile, so that now it requires less oxidizer (by 20 funds worth).  So now 5171 - 4951 - 3 = 217 funds (yes I managed to recover a little more LFO in the later mission).

https://ibb.co/tCZ1xzS

https://ibb.co/YyJxT9r

https://ibb.co/8XDnHvD

[Chequers]

Well done @bayesian_acolyte for once again reclaiming the Sapphire Cluster with Nervous Energy 3 - once more pushing low-cost orbital flight to its limit!

Thank you, @TheFlyingKerman for updating your total cost; I've updated your entry on the Honour Roll. 

[mystifeid]

I think I'm gonna need to see some cheaper designs. One sure way to get them seems to be to provide some incentive. Here it is : "Flipper" may look familiar but costs only 2450. While it is easily possible to remove some fuel from the (full) tanks and still make orbit, Flipper likes nothing better than a prograde dive into the surface...

Spoiler

 

Edited April 13, 2020 by mystifeid

[Klapaucius]

I stayed up way too late, but the rewards are grand!  One month ago I sucked at efficient rocketry. I can truly say this challenge has gone a long way to curing me of that.

 

As of 2:40 am my time, I can proudly state that I put Valentina in orbit for under 2500!  Yes "Gracie", named after Gracie Allen, comedienne and partner of Fred Allen, has proven her worth.

 

Cost at launch: 2499.9 (I had to remove a bit of solid fuel to do this). In other words, I can launch two rockets and still be under budget!

6 parts

Expenses: 1 Thumper (850), 1 TD-06 decoupler (150), Fuel 91.8 for a total mission cost of 1091.8, after recovering the pod, parachute, Fl-200 fuel tank and Spark engine.

Total Delta V: 3176 m/s.  (considering the DV chart lists 3400 to orbit, I'm pretty proud of that.)

 

I have  few confessions: I did a lot of quicksaving.  It took a long time to get the launch trajectory right.  I also had a stack overflow crash.

In the interest of saving what little fuel I had left for braking, I deorbited the vessel by having Valentina get out and push.  Then about 4 orbits of atmospheric braking.

Finally, it took me several tries to get the chute open without shredding it.  I had just over 5 units of fuel left and that was just enough to knock off the last bit of speed--but I had to do that at around 30,000 meters.  All my other attempts I did that too early.

 

EDIT ADDENDUM:  After posting I noticed @mystifeid's 2450 fund craft. I need to shave off 51!

I did record video, but trimming it into something usable is more than I am up to at the moment, so some photos:

 

Val gets out and pushes.

Edited April 13, 2020 by Klapaucius

[bayesian_acolyte]

Little Rascal 2: 2003 initial cost

Spoiler

 

Edited April 13, 2020 by bayesian_acolyte

[Klapaucius]

49 minutes ago, bayesian_acolyte said:

Little Rascal 2: 2003 initial cost

 

That is brilliant out of the box thinking.

[Chequers]

Well done, @mystifeid on your entry, 'Flipper', with it's low launch cost, and compact design. You claim the Ruby Star, Zircon Chevron, Amber Leaves and Onyx Eyes - congratulations!

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I admire your commitment, @Klapaucius, in sacrificing sleep to work on your second entry into OBC, 'Gracie'. Make sure you get some well earned rest! Your low cost entry, which requires a bit of leg work in EVA, awards you the Zircon Chevron, Amber Leaves and Onyx Eyes. Congratulations!

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Another great entry, @bayesian_acolyte. A very interesting design with the nose mounted de-orbit engine! Your entry,  'Little Rascal 2' reclaims the Ruby Star, along with Zircon Chevron and Amber Leaves. Well done.

[sevenperforce]

Just pulled this off in a TSTO that should take Ruby Star for at least a day or two, at 2104 funds before recovery, but still working out the kinks in the descent profile.

[Chequers]

Looking forward to it, @sevenperforce - welcome to Orbit Boot Camp! 

Edited April 14, 2020 by Chequers

[Klapaucius]

@bayesian_acolyte inspired me with his nose mounted Spark engine. It gave me ideas...

One of the big costs is throwing away the expensive first stage engines. So what if we don't?  What if we keep the same engine throughout the entire mission?  The fatal flaw with most rockets is they drop their stages from the bottom. Really, how terribly conventional. The way to go is to put the single engine on the bottom and stack all the stages on top.  Drop each as they empty top to bottom.

Towards that end, I present "Genji", named after the protagonist in the Japanese classic "Tale of Genji"--a Japanese character seemed appropriate since the rocket looks like a Pagoda.

Cost at launch:  4990

- 2354.1 in recovered items (2 x Mk12-R chutes, TD 06 decoupler, FL-T100 fuel tank, Swivel engine)

final mission cost (not including wages, repairs and snacks): 2635.9

 

 

Spoiler

'

 

 

 

 

Edited April 14, 2020 by Klapaucius

[mystifeid]

1 hour ago, Klapaucius said:

final mission cost (not including, wages, repairs and snacks): 2635.9

You could also try enabling crossfeed on the decouplers - that way you could remove those yellow fuel hoses. Just have to make sure the fuel flow priorities on each fuel tank are set correctly - ie highest number for first tank to be decoupled, second highest number for second tank to be decoupled ... and so on. You will also have to open the PAW for each tank when flying to know when they are empty. I apologize if you already knew this but chose to use the hoses anyway.

Edited April 14, 2020 by mystifeid

[Superfluous J]

I present for your perusal the 1692a, "El Cheapo," numbered for its sea level dV reading in the VAB (it's actually 1712 on the pad) and named because - well - it's super cheap for all it does. In just 10 parts, I fit 3 science experiments and an extra pod for 2 Kerbals total.

Spoiler

 

By my figuring, this entry gets me:

Silver Claw with Meteorologist, Kelvin, and Observational ribbons.
Amber Leaves for 10 parts or less.
Onyx Leaves for all parts being tech level 4 or lower.
Vermilion Heart for more than 1 Kerbal.

Sadly, I did not have the fortitude to ensure a landing at the KSC. I gave it a try but I just don't have it in me to re-enter 50 times trying to hit that peninsula. Because of this, I also failed to get the 1st Class Insignia.

I may try again with a different vessel that makes hitting the KSC peninsula easier and also gets 4 other adornments to get that 1st class badge, but man that's a tall order

Edited April 14, 2020 by Superfluous J

[Klapaucius]

28 minutes ago, mystifeid said:

You could also try enabling crossfeed on the decouplers - that way you could remove those yellow fuel hoses. Just have to make sure the fuel flow priorities on each fuel tank are set correctly - ie highest number for first tank to be decoupled, second highest number for second tank to be decoupled ... and so on. You will also have to open the PAW for each tank when flying to know when they are empty. I apologize if you already knew this but chose to use the hoses anyway.

Thanks. I did have the PAWs open but did not even think about the crossfeed. That will save a few more bucks and perhaps allow me to get a better chute.  I actually built a few prototypes before trying for the challenge.  This one works really well (but is quite expensive)

Spoiler

 

Edited April 14, 2020 by Klapaucius