Orbit Boot Camp

[Chequers]

Well done, @Klapaucius on your latest entry, 'George Burns' - and for being the first to send more than two Kerbals into orbit as part of this challenge. And I appreciate the commitment to figuring out how to get them all back safely! (The OBC committee doesn't like the extra paperwork when Kerbals go missing). Your latest entry awards you the Silver Claw (with Kelvin Ribbon, Meteorologist Ribbon, and Observational Ribbon), and Vermilion Heart. 

[Chequers]

21 minutes ago, Superfluous J said:

For some reason this got me thinking. I don't consider Onyx Eyes any easier than the other adornments but I wondered which was the easiest? So I searched through the current 35 winning entries and found:

• 1 1st Class Insignia
• 18 Zircon Chevron
• 11 Silver Claw
• 1 Pearl Escutcheon
• 18 Amber Leaves
• 16 Onyx Eyes
• 8 Crossed Swords
• 2 Vermilion Heart

So the "easiest" ones seem to be Zircon Chevron and Amber Leaves. Onyx Eyes is up there, but not the most achieved.

I find it interesting that the 3 with the most entries all have numbers of in-game things (5000 funds, 10 parts, tech 4) which implies those are perhaps not easier to do, but more likely to be used as a basis for building a ship around.

Just food for thought. No actual reason for this.

That's some good insight, @Superfluous J - thanks for that! The idea was to offer various different ways to complete this multi-faceted challenge, so that players can play to their strengths. If you know how to build really efficient rockets for low cost, you might want to go for the Zircon Chevron, Amber Leaves, Onyx Eyes, Silver Claw - and then land back at KSC for the Crossed Swords, which would also net you the 1st Class Insignia.

But perhaps a cheap launch cost isn't your preferred style. So you might want to instead go for the Silver Claw (with all ribbons, to get the Pearl Escutcheon), Onyx Eyes, Crossed Swords and Vermilion Heart - which would also get you on the 1st Class Register.

Or perhaps you'd like to get into orbit for as low a launch cost as you can - in which cost you might want to go for the Ruby Star. 

But ultimately,  just getting into orbit for a total mission cost of less than 5k gets you the Kerbin Crescent... and for newer players wanting to test themselves, try something new, and get their name on the Honour Roll, that might be all they want. And that's totally great - this challenge is just as much for those players, as it is for experienced players trying to get as many adornments as possible. 

Edited April 17, 2020 by Chequers

[Klapaucius]

1 hour ago, Superfluous J said:

For some reason this got me thinking. I don't consider Onyx Eyes any easier than the other adornments but I wondered which was the easiest? So I searched through the current 35 winning entries and found:

• 1 1st Class Insignia
• 18 Zircon Chevron
• 11 Silver Claw
• 1 Pearl Escutcheon
• 18 Amber Leaves
• 16 Onyx Eyes
• 8 Crossed Swords
• 2 Vermilion Heart

So the "easiest" ones seem to be Zircon Chevron and Amber Leaves. Onyx Eyes is up there, but not the most achieved.

I find it interesting that the 3 with the most entries all have numbers of in-game things (5000 funds, 10 parts, tech 4) which implies those are perhaps not easier to do, but more likely to be used as a basis for building a ship around.

Just food for thought. No actual reason for this.

I don't think the Zircon was easy. Rather, it was the most intriguing and I think it was the most fun to try and achieve. And then it became a race to get the absolute cheapest.

[BallistX]

StarCharter Pressure On the Runway biome After a painstakingly large amount of quickloads, i finally managed to give the craft it's First Class Insignia by adding the fifth adornment necessary to get the First Class Insignia.

[Chequers]

Congratulations, @BallistX, for managing to get StarCharter Pressure back to the KSC - and for submitting a screenshot. Shall I update your previous 'StartCharter Pressure' entry? It has achieved the Zircon Chevron, Silver Claw (M-Ribbon) Amber Leaves, Onyx Eyes, and Crossed Swords. For five additional adornments, you also receive the 1st Class Insignia, and your name and vessel will be recorded on the 1st Class Register. Well done!

[Pds314]

Initial cost of 3682.

The craft is entirely powered by solidfuel and monoprop, since upper stage motors are expensive but monoprop thrusters are cheap.

The upper stage provides 911 m/s of vacuum Delta-V at an unimpressive but acceptable TWR for a mere 720 kg wet mass and $642 if the decoupler and the capsule monoprop are included.

Nothing is recovered besides the capsule and parachute though.

Edited April 17, 2020 by Pds314

[Chequers]

Congratulations @Pds314 on passing out of Orbit Boot Camp with your rocket. Does it have a name?

Thank you for your screenshot mission report, and particularly well done on achieving a launch cost below 5,000, through clever use of SRB and efficient use of monopropellant.

You have been awarded the Kerbin Crescent, adorned with Zircon Chevron, and your name and vessel will be added to the Honour Roll.

[BallistX]

I decided to go for the last non-unique adornment i didn't have: Vermillion Heart, and slightly more.

The Crew Module 3 Kerbals can fit inside.

Total Launch Cost Curbed below 5000 by the recovery of the extremely expensive Crew Module.

Orbit 100km by 72 km, because of the 3 SRB's making up the first stage.

Re-Entry I flipped the decoupler around so it could serve as an heat shield, which failed because the craft went out of control, and crumple zone, which was useless because i didn't hit the ground hard enough for the Crew Module to be damaged.

Not Quite There I'd say that's about 80% recovery value, it's probably more in career but i don't know. That Makes 2000 recovered Funds.

Out of Map View The mountains are visible, glad i missed them.

Another overachievement done. Probably also the most powerful first stage in this challenge. I even reduced the Thrust Limiter of the BAAC Thumper SRB's to 65%.

[sevenperforce]

I've been toying around with different ways to get that coveted Ruby Star from the beginning. I had some very promising designs involving fairings and command chairs, but then they were outlawed. I had an SSTO with a solid first stage at around 2400 kerbucks, but then @bayesian_acolyte got a cheaper version first.

But I plugged along anyway, and I'm finally proud to present El Cheapo, coming in at a launch cost of just 1,823 kerbucks.

Full album:

https://imgur.com/a/qlajob4

It turns out that the smallest 1.25-m tank with only a couple of units of propellant is actually cheaper than a decoupler, and works just as well. Who knew? Plus, the game's aero engine doesn't realize that my ship has a "front" and so the drag is very low, allowing me to squeeze all the value I can out of the solid booster.

Launch cost: 1,823

Mission cost after recovery: 874

I've now claimed Ruby Star, hopefully for a while. @bayesian_acolyte still holds Sapphire Cluster and the Gold Florettes, though. I believe this qualifies for Zircon Chevron and Onyx Eyes but sadly I have one part too many for Amber Leaves. Those Oscar-B tanks have so little drag for the amount of propellant they contain that they were essential...though perhaps I could squeak by with lower margins if I swapped two of them for another FLT-100 placed between the pod and the engine. Would give a better crumple zone, too.

[BallistX]

32 minutes ago, sevenperforce said:

I've been toying around with different ways to get that coveted Ruby Star from the beginning. I had some very promising designs involving fairings and command chairs, but then they were outlawed. I had an SSTO with a solid first stage at around 2400 kerbucks, but then @bayesian_acolyte got a cheaper version first.

But I plugged along anyway, and I'm finally proud to present El Cheapo, coming in at a launch cost of just 1,823 kerbucks.

Full album:

https://imgur.com/a/qlajob4

It turns out that the smallest 1.25-m tank with only a couple of units of propellant is actually cheaper than a decoupler, and works just as well. Who knew? Plus, the game's aero engine doesn't realize that my ship has a "front" and so the drag is very low, allowing me to squeeze all the value I can out of the solid booster.

Launch cost: 1,823

Mission cost after recovery: 874

I've now claimed Ruby Star, hopefully for a while. @bayesian_acolyte still holds Sapphire Cluster and the Gold Florettes, though. I believe this qualifies for Zircon Chevron and Onyx Eyes but sadly I have one part too many for Amber Leaves. Those Oscar-B tanks have so little drag for the amount of propellant they contain that they were essential...though perhaps I could squeak by with lower margins if I swapped two of them for another FLT-100 placed between the pod and the engine. Would give a better crumple zone, too.

I'm pretty sure the name El Cheapo is already taken...

[sevenperforce]

32 minutes ago, BallistX said:

I'm pretty sure the name El Cheapo is already taken...

Ah, shoot. Looks like @Superfluous J beat me to it.

Notwithstanding I will re-christen this El Barato. 

[Klapaucius]

6 minutes ago, sevenperforce said:

Notwithstanding I will re-christen this El Barato. 

El Barato sounds better anyway.  Like El Dorado, only not.

 

Seriously, this is very impressive.  I'm amazed that you got enough thrust out of that Spark to touch down mostly intact and I love the burning the booster solution.

[bayesian_acolyte]

Nice work @sevenperforce, but two can play at that game. Introducing Little Rascal 3 with an initial price tag of 1578. 

Spoiler

The spark is attached to the top of command pod, with the adapter attached to the bottom, and then both are translated down. This reduces drag and causes the stock dV and thrust info to stop working.The adapter is explosively decoupled by the spark.

I was doing this with no mods and thus the 5X symmetry tanks weren't quite balanced. Notice that we launch into an inclined orbit and in the above screenshot we aren't maintaining prograde.

Command pod and tanks act as lifting surfaces, helping reduce surface velocity on landing.

We had plenty of dV to do this correctly, but I wasted fuel starting the burn too early (then stopping and restarting it later), so we come in hot and only the command pod survives.

 

[Chequers]

@BallistX, another great entry. Well done for completing a mission that successfully took three Kerbals into orbit and back again safely; this would make an excellent, low-cost tourist vessel. Thank you for your screenshot mission report - and for demonstrating good use of an aesthetically pleasing SRB lifting stage. 'StarCharter Heavy' is awarded the Vermilion Heart, congratulations.

---

@sevenperforce, congratulations passing out of Orbit Boot Camp, working tirelessly through multiple designs to produce 'El Barato', which is indeed the lowest launch cost vessel so far produced for this challenge. Well done on novel 'Destructive Decoupling (tm)' technology, which helped save on traditional decoupling methods. You have been awarded the Kerbin Crescent, adorned with Zircon Chevron and Onyx Eyes for this mission, and claim the Ruby Star. Your name and vessel has been recorded on the Honour Roll.

---

@bayesian_acolyte, not to be outdone! Congratulations on developing yet another record-beating craft, with 'Little Rascal 3'.  A clever use of external fuel tanks to provide a powered landing. Thank you for your screenshot mission report; your latest entry is adorned with Zircon Chevron, Amber Leaves, and reclaims the Ruby Star. 

Edited April 18, 2020 by Chequers

[BallistX]

4 minutes ago, Chequers said:

@BallistX, another great entry. Well done for completing a mission that successfully took three Kerbals into orbit and back again safely; this would make an excellent, low-cost tourist vessel. Thank you for your screenshot mission report - and for demonstrating good use of an aesthetically pleasing SRB lifting stage. 'StarCharter Heavy' is awarded the Vermilion Heart, congratulations.

---

@sevenperforce, congratulations passing out of Orbit Boot Camp, working tirelessly through multiple designs to produce 'El Barato', which is indeed the lowest launch cost vessel so far produced for this challenge. Well done on novel 'Destructive Decoupling (tm)' technology, which helped save on traditional decoupling methods. You have been awarded the Kerbin Crescent, adorned with Zircon Chevron and Onyx Eyes for this mission, and claim the Ruby Star. Your name and vessel has been recorded on the Honour Roll.

The three first Science StarCharter vessels all use explosive decoupling, with the LV-909 Terrier engine destroying the first stage's fuel tank

[Pds314]

18 hours ago, Chequers said:

Congratulations @Pds314 on passing out of Orbit Boot Camp with your rocket. Does it have a name?

Thank you for your screenshot mission report, and particularly well done on achieving a launch cost below 5,000, through clever use of SRB and efficient use of monopropellant.

You have been awarded the Kerbin Crescent, adorned with Zircon Chevron, and your name and vessel will be added to the Honour Roll.

I think I called it "dirt cheap" but that was kind of a placeholder name.

[Pds314]

Oh no... That's not the right way... this is gonna land like a V-2...

[Pds314]

Ok, clipping some fins into it seems to help, although I can't really stop it from flipping out, it does so later in its descent and doesn't bullet-mode straight into the ground at supersonic speeds. However, it definitely does not help with the ascent, which cuts my delta-V budget for the landing by about 300. The problem is, it ends up coming in MUCH faster than I expected, so I basically end up needing either a $422 parachute instead of an inverted octo-strut as a nosecone, or, I need to do a perfect suicide burn so that the landing is under ~50 m/s (The Kodiak is shockingly durable, despite the alledged 9.0 m/s crash tolerance, and 50 m/s is actually fine for it).



 

Edited April 18, 2020 by Pds314

[Pds314]

Ok... I attached a parachute and.... well I hit the water so I lost a basic fin, but otherwise, succesful recovery, and within about 25 km of the KSC.

Since it is in sandbox, I can't tell what the actual recovery value would be at that distance, but if I had been on-target, it would have been $688 in fuel, $25 in basic fin. $3710 for the base price of the craft. so that's... $2997 of recovered craft. Or a post-recovery cost of $713.

I deem it the space bullet.

[Chequers]

@Pds314. an exciting entry! Certainly well thought out - but can you tell me a little more about the 'clipping' of the fins? Part clipping is generally not within the rules - which you may not have been aware of - but I might be missing something, it's a little hard to see from the screenshots.

[Pds314]

10 hours ago, Chequers said:

@Pds314. an exciting entry! Certainly well thought out - but can you tell me a little more about the 'clipping' of the fins? Part clipping is generally not within the rules - which you may not have been aware of - but I might be missing something, it's a little hard to see from the screenshots.

The fins are barely sticking out of the body. I think I could move them to be at least... mostly... sticking out. The main idea is so that they are not sticking into the hot air during a rearward reentry. But I can move them out quite a lot if that's needed.

Edited April 19, 2020 by Pds314

[TheFlyingKerman]

Arrowfish 6

Launch cost: 5143

Empty cost:4999

Mission cost:144

Spoiler

https://imgpile.com/i/I2Gq3x

Takeoff

https://imgpile.com/i/I2GaIM

Orbit

https://imgpile.com/i/I2GH91

Landed on runway

https://imgpile.com/i/I2Gpcu

https://imgpile.com/i/I2GozL

 

 

Edited April 19, 2020 by TheFlyingKerman
Moar pics

[TheFlyingKerman]

And for the first class insignia I used my standard R-4 LKO tour bus. It carries 3 kerbals, a can of mystery goo, has 10 parts: parachute, MK1 pod, 1.25m service bay, MK1 crew cabin, FT100 and FT400 tanks, Terrier engine, 1.25m heat shield (used as decoupler), Thumper SRB, and costs 4950.

 

Spoiler

Orbit

The open service bay is used as airbrake so that the ship can slow to safe parachute speed

 

 

Edited April 19, 2020 by TheFlyingKerman

[Chequers]

37 minutes ago, Pds314 said:

The fins are barely sticking out of the body. I think I could move them to be at least... mostly... sticking out. The main idea is so that they are not sticking into the hot air during a rearward reentry. But I can move them out quite a lot if that's needed.

Yes, if they're clipping into the body to avoid re-entry forces, then that's unfortunately not within the rules. I'd be really keen to see if you can find a way to have them mostly sticking out - if you can prove the re-entry with that in place, then I'll happily add 'Space Bullet' to the Honour Roll.

---

Congratulations @TheFlyingKerman on your latest entries. The first, 'Arrowfish 6', is a great example of getting the most out of every single part you've used - and bringing everything back in once piece. I won't ask what happened to Arrowfish 5. There was a smattering of applause, and one member of the OBC committee even muttered something congratulatory under their breath when reviewing this entry. High praise indeed. You are awarded Crossed Swords, and reclaim the Sapphire Cluster. 

Your second entry - 'R-4 LKO Tour Bus' is an impressive feat of low-cost, multi-Kerbal engineering - thank you for your screenshot mission report. This mission is awarded the Zircon Chevron, Silver Claw, (with Observational Ribbon), Amber Leaves, Onyx Eyes, and the Vermilion Heart. For obtaining five additional adornments, you are awarded the First Class Insignia, and will have your name and vessel recorded on the First Class Register. Well done! 

Edited April 19, 2020 by Chequers

[mystifeid]

So, are DLC parts allowed now?