See Space on a Single Engine!

[EndlessWaves]

The Challenge is to make a craft using just a single engine that's capable of getting into a stable orbit and returning the crew safely. Show us your credentials as a rocket scientist or just fit as many explosive bolts to one spacecraft as you can.

Rules:

1. The craft must reach a stable orbit (Perikee at least 69,078m) and land with it's pilots intact.

2. All fuel tanks and engines must be stock, mods are allowed for other parts.

3. 'Engine' covers liquid fuel engines, RCS thruster nozzles, boosters and jets. Only a single engine must be present on the ship at the moment of launch.

Titles of distinction:

1. Smallest ship (by weight). Minimalist record.

2. Largest ship (by weight). Maximalist record.

3. Landing at KSC. High Efficiency award.

4. Make it to the Mun. Higher than an Eagle award.

5. Make it back to Kerbin without a Parachute. Safety Last award.

6. Take off and land horizontally and intact. Flying visit award.

7. Return trip for 4 tons of payload total and three kerbals (Mark1-2 pod alone is sufficient). Three in One award.

Exceptional achievements will have their own roles of honour.

To Orbit and Back:

infatuatedPP - Higher than an Eagle

Jooder492

r_rolo1 - Afrodite IV, Suicide I - Exceptional Achievement, Minimalist(7.5t, 0L), Higher than an Eagle, Safety Last

sloth - SETO MK1 & MK2 - High Efficiency, Safety Last

andydouble07 - single 1, single 3 - Exceptional Achievement, Safety Last

Accelerando - Mango - Exceptional Achievement, Maximalist(159.25t), Three in One

eppiox - Single3 - High Efficiency, Three in One

antbin - Durian B - Exceptional Achievement, High Efficiency, Safety Last, Three in One

joshblake - Min Orbit Ic, 1f - Minimalist(7.5t, 7.27L), High Efficiency, Safety Last

Exceptional Achievements:

Landed on another planet and returned

Visited another planet and returned

andydouble07 - single 3 - Duna

antbin - Durian B - Duna

Landed on the Mun/Minmus and Returned

r_rolo1 - Afrodite IV - Mun & Minmus

One way trip to another body's surface:

r_rolo1 - Afrodite IV - Eve, Laythe, Duna

One way trip to another body's sphere of influence

andydouble07 - single 1 - Laythe

Accelerando - Mango - Duna & Ike

Edited October 18, 2012 by EndlessWaves

[EndlessWaves]

Oh, and making up new vegetable themed names for different staging arrangements is encouraged.

joshblake - Minimalist(8.6t)

Edited October 15, 2012 by EndlessWaves

[Maxed-Rockets]

Perikee

:shudder:

PeriGee refers to the lowest point of an orbit around Earth and exclusively Earth. Periapsis is a generic term for the lowest part of an orbit around any body. My etymological sense are burning right now.

[infatuatedPP]

I made it to the mun with 9 tanks, though I don't have enough to return (I assume that doesn't disqualify me.)

Behold the craft.

http://imgur.com/a/mSJOp#0

The take off was really slow, but it started to pick up after a while.

http://imgur.com/a/mSJOp#2

Transfer orbit to the mun.

http://imgur.com/a/mSJOp#3

Circularizing

http://imgur.com/a/mSJOp#4

Right at touch down

http://imgur.com/a/mSJOp#6

Standing on the mun

http://imgur.com/a/mSJOp#7

[r_rolo1]

See my Afrodite IV. It definitely achieves the title of distinction 4 ... and possibly 5

@ infatuatedPP

You could had done more if you had less tanks in the central stage ( empty tanks still weight )

Edited October 8, 2012 by r_rolo1

[Giggleplex777]

I think the staging for your roket should be called the "artichoke". Asparagus staging is too commonly used.

Edited October 8, 2012 by Giggleplex777

[sloth]

:shudder:

PeriGee refers to the lowest point of an orbit around Earth and exclusively Earth. Periapsis is a generic term for the lowest part of an orbit around any body. My etymological sense are burning right now.

PeriKee refers to the lowest point of an orbit around Kerbin and exclusively Kerbin.

[AeroPelican]

:shudder:

PeriGee refers to the lowest point of an orbit around Earth and exclusively Earth. Periapsis is a generic term for the lowest part of an orbit around any body. My etymological sense are burning right now.

Earth is rooted from a Greek word meaning earth as in ground, so it is perfectly applicable here. QED.

[r_rolo1]

I think the staging for your roket should be called the "artichoke". Asparagus staging is too commonly used.

Or maybe Daisy

[sloth]

Mission complete with SETO Mk1 (Single Engine To Orbit). The brave Kerbal wanted to see the whole planet so he went for a 'roughly' polar orbit. If the staging is to be likened to a vegetable I would say it most resembles corn. The idea is to orbit and expend corn grains as it goes along. After the deorbit burn the leaves at the base of the corncob detach and flutter back down to orbit. The gliding ability of the descent stage allows a minor degree of control over landing after the deorbit burn. After speed has decreased enough by the glider stage the nose is pitched up and the pod detaches to float down on parachutes.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/87741443@N06/sets/72157631723767289/

Perhaps a later mission will go equatorial and attempt a landing at KPS.

[Maxed-Rockets]

PeriKee refers to the lowest point of an orbit around Kerbin and exclusively Kerbin.

I personally am not a fan of the "add K to anything to make it KSP." We don't have Kearth, Kars, Kercury, Kenus, Kupiter or Keptune. In the main game the only K things are the people and one of the planets.

Earth is rooted from a Greek word meaning earth as in ground, so it is perfectly applicable here. QED.

Your argument lacks backup, as even though all of our inner planets have solid ground, apogee is only used to describe one particular body. My personal favorite is Mars with "Periareion"

[sloth]

Mission complete with SETO Mk1 (Single Engine To Orbit). The brave Kerbal wanted to see the whole planet so he went for a 'roughly' polar orbit. If the staging is to be likened to a vegetable I would say it most resembles corn. The idea is to orbit and expend corn grains as it goes along. After the deorbit burn the leaves at the base of the corncob detach and flutter back down to orbit. The gliding ability of the descent stage allows a minor degree of control over landing after the deorbit burn. After speed has decreased enough by the glider stage the nose is pitched up and the pod detaches to float down on parachutes.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/87741443@N06/sets/72157631723767289/

Set updated with second mission (start here http://tinyurl.com/9x59e6a). SETO Mk2 differs from Mk1 in that it replaces parachutes and a decoupler for landing gear. Because meh, screw safety (Achievement: "Screw safety"? ). It all went reasonably well until at the very end old Bill stepped on the brakes too hard and the craft flipped over on the runway at KSP during landing. But, he is on the ground, the craft didn't break and Bill is still alive so mission control is calling it a landing, kerbal style.

Edited October 8, 2012 by sloth

[EndlessWaves]

Updated rankings, changed distinctions slightly including add a no parachute 'safety last' award. Congratulations on making it infatuatedPP, r_rolo and sloth.

On the terminology front I'm afraid I tend towards the extreme descriptivist end of the spectrum. Basically, if you have no trouble understanding it then it's generally correct regardless of precedent, history, etymology or anything else, although of course it may not fit with a particular style and what's correct can differ depending on the target audience (E.S.L. and E.L.F. speakers for example).

While Periapsis would probably be the minimum confusion as it's the term the game uses, I do prefer body-specific variants and to me Perikee feels like a better choice than Periker. The ker ending is more commonly used for kerbin-specific stuff generally but Perikee has a more similar pronounciation to other terms for the closest approach like Perigee and Perihelion

[r_rolo1]

Actually, I want to be in the Mun landing category for Afrodite IV ...I made some Mun and Minmus landings and back with it before the Eve burn window opened for testing proposes:

And actually I'm sure that this ship can go to Laythe and Duna and land safely there. Might try it today ...

P.S I can definitely do the no parachute version

Edited October 9, 2012 by r_rolo1

[Jooder492]

This is my first challenge so im not going for anything record breaking haha. Managed to get a nice orbit, just barely missed landing back at KSP .

http://imgur.com/a/aMwfM

Didn't manage to get pictures of it but I was able to orbit the Mun and get back safely. I didn't have enough gas to land on the Mun though. I feel pretty good about

[Optical9090]

I'm currently working on a design that gets a 3-man pod into LKO. Having some problem balancing it though with trust too weight too achieve enough Delta-V.

[Accelerando]

Are Crewtanks allowed? Since it's a fuel litres value of 400 for a tank with 6.25 T total mass and 4.25 dry mass, it is equivalent to 1 stock FL-T400 tank + 4 tons of non-lifting payload, and I always like to include a Crewtank on my ships to give my Kerbals a nice place to eat and sleep and play Pong on long voyages. I have a rocket that can get a crewtank and a 3-Kerbal pod to Duna orbit and possibly Eve landing.

[EndlessWaves]

Actually, I want to be in the Mun landing category for Afrodite IV ...I made some Mun and Minmus landings and back with it before the Eve burn window opened for testing proposes:

Looks like you made it back after landing as well, I've added another list - I might have to reformat then if you add lots more bodies to your ship's log

This is my first challenge so im not going for anything record breaking haha. Managed to get a nice orbit, just barely missed landing back at KSP .

Congrats on making it, it was a good attempt at hitting KSC.

@Accelerando:

I mainly want to keep it fair by not allowing any more optimal fuel tanks. Provided the crew tank isn't low drag or anything then it sounds fine and launching 3 or more Kerbals using a Mark 1-2 or similar weight crew tank sounds worth a special mention.

[andydouble07]

I made it to Laythe, but not with enough fuel to do anything fun once I got there (such as returning). I'll probably be trying again.

[Accelerando]

Several hours later, the good ship Mango sees the surface of the Red Planet...

It handles reasonably well, but piloting it and conserving sufficient delta-V for the jaunt to another world is extremely difficult even with MechJeb's stabilizing assistance, phase angle data and orbital readouts. No autopilot functions were used.

Made it into a highly eccentric, but stable, orbit around Duna with no fuel to spare. I could have done better if I had quickloaded again, but I didn't want to go through another pass...

<iframe class="imgur-album" width="100%" height="550" frameborder="0" src="http://imgur.com/a/uiOuP/embed"></iframe>

(This is from an earlier attempt, though 1-ENGINE is the prototype name)

.craft file: http://www./?iahpb6loqiu8a70

UPDATE: Luckily enough, my spacecraft turned out to be on just such an trajectory that Ike would slow it into a more stable orbit. Thanks, Ike!

<iframe class="imgur-album" width="100%" height="550" frameborder="0" src="http://imgur.com/a/7GBeR/embed"></iframe>

Edited October 11, 2012 by Accelerando

[EndlessWaves]

Can you let me know how heavy your craft is on the pad Accelerando? It clearly qualifies for maximalist award and I'd like to be able to compare the weight against future challengers.

You definitely qualify for visiting Ike as well as Duna there. Some of those photos are very nice, I especially like the crescent moon one. High resolution and with anti-aliasing on that would make a great desktop background.

Well done on making it to Laythe Andy, if you manage the return next trip you may well be the first to do so.

[Accelerando]

Glad to know I made it. Mango masses 159.25 tons or thereabouts. I may be off by a strut or two, counting from memory, but I think that is very close.

[andydouble07]

Well, I made it to Duna, got into a circular and level orbit, made it back, and only barely had enough fuel to make a (somewhat) survivable landing. I don't think I'll be able to find enough extra delta-V in this build to make it to the surface of Duna and back, although I definitely could have made it to the surface and trapped myself there.

[eppiox]

I don't know what what challenges this qualifies for any more

I can't get it into orbit without MechJeb, good luck It is a fun ship to fly.

http://imgur.com/a/RaYFB

[EndlessWaves]

Andy: Looks like you did an ablative landing as well. How much DeltaV do you think it would take to get down to Duna and back up? I wonder if it's possible in theory.

eppiox: Useful for drying clothes as well

I'm surprised you got so little DeltaV out of it, that thing looks like it should go for miles. Adding up the numbers I guess it's actually fairly light. 40 small fuel tanks comes to 45 tons so you must be well under 100 tons in total. Are you planning to push it to the limit and make a version with as many tanks as possible?

You get the Three in One and High Efficiency awards, and that parachute looks unused so if you managed to land without it I'll add the Safety Last award as well.

Edited October 12, 2012 by EndlessWaves