Jeb's will

[SunJumper]

Jeb, a long time ago, decided that when he dies, he wishes to be cremated.

In the sun.

With a rocket powered by RT-10s only.

Your task, is to design a rocket that will do just that. In one burn (excepting staging), such that you must go straight from Kerbin's SOI into an impact trajectory. No waiting 2 years for Jeb!

It must only use SRBs (only the RT-10 kind) for propulsion. It may use fuel tanks for ballast, if you ever need it.

It must get a stayputnik probe core to impact the Sun. This core is the same mass as the eterno-rest space coffin, and as such your design may use that instead.

It should be able to orient itself such that Jeb will face the Sun when he hits it. You may position the payload such that it will rotate to that position on its own.

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[TD]Jeb's style leaderboard[/TD]

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[TD]Stochasty - 508 tons

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Jeb's style refers to such feats as launching not-yet-empty SRBS as fireworks, maximising the G-force on the final stage, timing the launch such that solar impact happens much sooner than 20 days or so, etc.

Edited May 4, 2013 by SunJumper

[Stochasty]

I'm the only one crazy enough to try this, it would seem. I'd like you to take a good long look at the monstrosity you made me build; 579 parts! My computer nearly choked during liftoff. But, nevertheless, I did it. In fact, in the spirit of Jeb, I didn't even bother to use Kerbal Engineer for delta-v stats; all of the design testing was done through trial and error.

So, without further ado, here's the record of the short, ignominious flight of the Valkyrie:

In the early morning, with tears in their eyes and relief in their hearts, Bill and Bob gathered to watch Jeb's final launch, knowing that never again would they be forced to go along with one of his crazy schemes.

The fireworks were a fitting reminder of the departed Kerbal; Bill vowed that these would be the last fireworks KSC would ever see.

But the joy quickly turned to panic when Jeb radioed in! He was aboard - and not as a corpse. KSC mission control screamed at him - this stunt was one too many - and threw the abort switch, only to realize that Jeb's plans had never included an abort switch (although they had always wondered about the need for the manned pod). "Jeb, what are you doing!" Shouted Bill. "Yee haw! Wouldn't want to be late for my own funeral, would I? This'll be my coolest trip ever!" Came the reply.

Jeb killed the radio, and the staff at KSC could only watch in horror as he sailed off into the sunrise. "He can't really be this stupid, can he?" Bob asked. Bill just shook his head in disbelief.

Undaunted, Jeb set his course.

When the final SRB burned it's last, Jeb was leaving Kerbin faster than he ever had before, but he knew this speed would be nothing compared to what he would achieve during his final plunge.

BadS to the last, Jeb kept his grin all the way up to the end, his eyes fixed to his nav ball. 91km/s, a new record!

And so, Jeb met his end. He had always wanted to go out with a bang, but this fireball was bigger than even his wildest dreams.

KSC put their brand new Kerbol Reconnaissance Orbiter to good use, confirming Jeb's final moments. Of course, in the backs of their minds, they all new Jeb would be back someday. After all, he had survived worse!

Edited May 3, 2013 by Stochasty

[esd]

That deserves a round of applause! Brilliant!

[NeilC]

Clarification: does "one burn, excepting staging" allow for long gaps between igniting stages? Is it allowed to, say, gravity turn into a ~100km apoapsis suborbital trajectory and then coast to apo before burning again? Or must the gaps between SRB ignitions be only a couple seconds?

If we are allowed longer gaps, I assume you still wouldn't allow completing a full orbit of Kerbin? I could go real minimal on the rocket if I can plan to escape Kerbin in stages, using a couple Oberth burns at the periapsis of successive orbits.

Edited May 3, 2013 by NeilC

[Stochasty]

I timed my launch so that the end of my gravity turn coincided with the heading I wanted; it was all one long burn, and the only gaps were the time it took me to hit spacebar to ignite the next stage.

[NeilC]

Oh, so you did gravity turn! I assumed by the size of that monstrosity that you just pointed the nose at the sun and hit "go".

How did you do the timing? I'm planning on trying this one when I get home.

[Stochasty]

Timing is a little tricky, but at the top of your gravity turn you want to be pointed due east, and you want your position over Kerbin to be just before local noon - so, an early to mid-morning launch window. This way, Kerbin's gravity will naturally bend your escape trajectory so that you should hit the edge of Kerbin's SOI heading almost exactly opposite Kerbin's orbital motion about the Sun.

Your minimum speed when you leave Kerbin's SOI needs to be greater than 8km/s in order to drop solar periapsis below Kerbol's surface; however, the higher the speed you can manage, the more margin for error you'll have.

[NeilC]

Stochasty, how in the heck did you control that thing? I don't see any control surfaces or RCS in the screenshots. Was it all command pod torque?!? Without engine gimballing on the SRBs, I wind up upside down before hitting 70km on half my launches!

[SunJumper]

I'm the only one crazy enough to try this, it would seem. I'd like you to take a good long look at the monstrosity you made me build; 579 parts! My computer nearly choked during liftoff. But, nevertheless, I did it. In fact, in the spirit of Jeb, I didn't even bother to use Kerbal Engineer for delta-v stats; all of the design testing was done through trial and error.

So, without further ado, here's the record of the short, ignominious flight of the Valkyrie:

In the early morning, with tears in their eyes and relief in their hearts, Bill and Bob gathered to watch Jeb's final launch, knowing that never again would they be forced to go along with one of his crazy schemes.

The fireworks were a fitting reminder of the departed Kerbal; Bill vowed that these would be the last fireworks KSC would ever see.

But the joy quickly turned to panic when Jeb radioed in! He was aboard - and not as a corpse. KSC mission control screamed at him - this stunt was one too many - and threw the abort switch, only to realize that Jeb's plans had never included an abort switch (although they had always wondered about the need for the manned pod). "Jeb, what are you doing!" Shouted Bill. "Yee haw! Wouldn't want to be late for my own funeral, would I? This'll be my coolest trip ever!" Came the reply.

Jeb killed the radio, and the staff at KSC could only watch in horror as he sailed off into the sunrise. "He can't really be this stupid, can he?" Bob asked. Bill just shook his head in disbelief.

Undaunted, Jeb set his course.

When the final SRB burned it's last, Jeb was leaving Kerbin faster than he ever had before, but he knew this speed would be nothing compared to what he would achieve during his final plunge.

BadS to the last, Jeb kept his grin all the way up to the end, his eyes fixed to his nav ball. 91km/s, a new record!

And so, Jeb met his end. He had always wanted to go out with a bang, but this fireball was bigger than even his wildest dreams.

KSC put their brand new Kerbol Reconnaissance Orbiter to good use, confirming Jeb's final moments. Of course, in the backs of their minds, they all new Jeb would be back someday. After all, he had survived worse!

Can you give a value for the mass of the craft?

[Stochasty]

Stochasty, how in the heck did you control that thing? I don't see any control surfaces or RCS in the screenshots. Was it all command pod torque?!? Without engine gimballing on the SRBs, I wind up upside down before hitting 70km on half my launches!

Very, very carefully. If I don't keep her pointed nearly straight up until ~10km, she pitches over uncontrollably. My gravity turn was essentially a barely controlled pitchover timed to put me near horizontal at 45 km. She's a beast to fly, but she gets substantially more maneuverable after the first three stages drop.

It's not all command pod torque, though. They're a bit hard to see, but there are a set of winglets on the bottom most stage, and another pair on a stage about a third of the way up.

Can you give a value for the mass of the craft?

Let's see - not counting the fireworks, it's 29+23+17+14+10+10+6+6+5+3+3+3+3+1+1+1+1 = 133 SRBs, 93 TR-18A stack decouplers, 2 TT-70 radial decouplers, 1 stayputnik, 1 Mk1 command pod, 8 AV-R8 winglets, 30 small hardpoints, and more struts than I care to count. That gives me a takeoff mass of 507.6575 tons, if I've done my math right.

Edited May 4, 2013 by Stochasty

[NeilC]

My gravity turn was essentially a barely controlled pitchover timed to put me near horizontal at 45 km. She's a beast to fly, but she gets substantially more maneuverable after the first three stages drop.

I'm having success starting a similar gravity turn. Trouble is I don't have enough control to get the pitchover to stop and I usually wind up just spinning around like one of those pinwheels covered in fireworks.

[Stochasty]

I'm having success starting a similar gravity turn. Trouble is I don't have enough control to get the pitchover to stop and I usually wind up just spinning around like one of those pinwheels covered in fireworks.

Once it starts, the only way to get it to stop is speed - if you can boost to orbital speed and then point your nose at your prograde vector before you pitch all the way over, you'll be fine. So, don't start it until you're high enough that you can begin your acceleration.

[SketchyGalore]

This one took me a while! It's also somewhat likely that I missed a rule somewhere... But, I've finally fulfilled Jeb's final wish!

I attempted to do this manually, no MechJeb or other mods (other than a few blinking green and red navlights because... well... blinking green and red navlights). I was unclear if I could use "pauses" in my staging or if it had to be one constant stream of blazing glory straight into Kerbol, but I had to line things up manually on the final three stages, including a loooong trip to the solar apoapsis. Disqualified or not, it made for a fun challenge! But enough talk...

I give you, The Suncoffin!

The Suncoffin's launcher went through several... sub-functional designs...

Until, finally, The Suncoffin Mk5 was born! The final count: 94 RT-10 Solid Fuel Boosters, only 8 of which were used outside of Kerbin's atmosphere (Pictured missing one final rocket booster added to the top later)

Attempt #437 was going surprisingly smoothly. I achieved a ridiculously high solar apoapsis (almost to Jool's orbit), and had two boosters left with just enough power to burn retrograde and send the craft into a 53,000,000 km freefall. But then...

That would be an ASAS unit... Not my fault, of course. Clearly, one of the Kerbal engineers had the blueprint upsidedown when installing that decoupler. Funny thing is, if you try to fire a booster directly into a corked-up passage, it goes NOWHERE! Well... not until overheating occurs, at least. So, naturally...

I don't know if that counted as a firework, but Jeb woulda been proud! Surprisingly, that last booster actually had more than enough juice in it, even after spending almost half of it to cause the explosion. A little extra maneuver up and away to burn off the extra fuel (and add two months to the flight time...), and catastrophic success!

The journey took 402 days... just 382 more than scheduled!

Edit: Almost forgot the weight! I slapped a MechJeb on it to test: 362.76t

Edited May 6, 2013 by SketchyGalore