Challenge: Escape the Sun's orbit..... using the least amount of fuel.

[Sun]

Today, I have a challenge for you: create a rocket that can escape the Sun using the least amount of fuel possible.... in under 250 parts! So, plan your rockets........ wisely. And with stock parts only.

Edited May 21, 2013 by Sun

[A Fat Pokemon]

I think the FTL egg wins this by default It... doesn't use any fuel, and has infinite delta-v

And yes, theres a kerbal inside that monstrosity.

And the craft file if you ever want to try this thing:

https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B5rwEMrwJOZZaXcxdGhsaGptSmc/edit

[koshelenkovv]

Maybe you wanted to say "under 25 parts"?

[zarakon]

I've done that with one part

It was a winglet

[koshelenkovv]

Then I do it like every fifth EVA.

Just place a pod on runway and EVA from it and back.

Whoop! Altimeter shows crazy digits, starting from 666666, and your kerbal and pod on an escape trajectory long, long avay from home.

Ot occurs so frequently, that I obsessivelly save and backup save and persistent files before every EVA.

[sal_vager]

Just a thought, but you cannot escape the orbit of the sun, there's no sphere of influence for the sun, it just keeps going.

People really need to read the guidelines, they help a lot with making a fun, challenging and possible challenge for others to play!

If you'd tried this yourself Sun, you would have found that this can't be done.

[georgexiro]

i can make one with 3 parts. just take a probe body, oscar fuel tank and main sail engine. might sound crazy but if you have an invisible fuel supply from kerbins depots which is nearly infinite (invinite fuel cheat ) you can go eveywhere!!

[Comrade Jenkens]

I think the FTL egg wins this by default It... doesn't use any fuel, and has infinite delta-v

And yes, theres a kerbal inside that monstrosity.

Is there anything the ftl egg can't do :L

[Spartwo]

Just a thought, but you cannot escape the orbit of the sun, there's no sphere of influence for the sun, it just keeps going.

People really need to read the guidelines, they help a lot with making a fun, challenging and possible challenge for others to play!

If you'd tried this yourself Sun, you would have found that this can't be done.

then how do you explain...This

(sorry wanted to be really dramatic)

[SunJumper]

Just a thought, but you cannot escape the orbit of the sun, there's no sphere of influence for the sun, it just keeps going.

People really need to read the guidelines, they help a lot with making a fun, challenging and possible challenge for others to play!

If you'd tried this yourself Sun, you would have found that this can't be done.

Therefore we can expect he means an orbit with an eccentricity of one or more with respect to the sun.

I suppose the minimal fuel units criteria means that one ought not to use xenon.

[Francesco]

well you can't escape the Sun's SOI, but you can put yourself on an escape (hyperbolic) trajectory relative to it.

from LKO, it takes around 2.7 km/s.

a while ago, there was a similar challenge: achieve Sun escape velocity with demo parts only, with as few parts as possible;

I did it with 15 parts, using 1433,52 units of fuel

but I'm sure we could do better by using a LV-N.

[tavert]

No need for LV-N, if you want to do it with a probe and spare a poor Kerbal from the fate of never coming back.

Here's a jet + ant probe that does it in 37.21 fuel units, no infiniglide or ladder glitch required (though this number would likely not hold up to a nerfing of jets): http://imgur.com/a/HR5ik#0

It's something like 39 parts, but that could be cut down if I optimized for part count instead of fuel.

[sal_vager]

then how do you explain...This

(sorry wanted to be really dramatic)

Lol, I don't mind being proved wrong, and I'm glad this challenge is actually taking off as it were, have fun guys

[3_bit]

All you need is <10 parts.

Step 1: get mk. 1 pod into orbit

Step 2: Make coffee (Step 3 will take a while)

Step 3: Exploit EVA pack

[SunJumper]

All you need is <10 parts.

Step 1: get mk. 1 pod into orbit

Step 2: Make coffee (Step 3 will take a while)

Step 3: Exploit EVA pack

Tavert proved that that is not the most effective method.

[tavert]

I don't remember exactly how much fuel the smallest pod craft had in the old "get to orbit in under 10 tons" challenge, but I'm pretty sure it was less than 37 units (again using a jet). But step 3 would be godawfully tedious.

[Sun]

Does it have only stock parts?

[ZingidyZongxxx]

Does it have only stock parts?

with demo parts only, with as few parts as possible;

Yes, demo parts are included in stock parts.

I'll give this a try soon, although it won't be nearly as good as Tavert's.

[Ryu Gemini]

The real life sun has no limit to its sphere of influence either. It merely gets really, really, really insignificant as you get really, really, really far away. Thus, it is at least possible to achieve solar escape velocity.

[Horn Brain]

The real life sun has no limit to its sphere of influence either. It merely gets really, really, really insignificant as you get really, really, really far away. Thus, it is at least possible to achieve solar escape velocity.

The (meatspace) Sun's sphere of influence is finite. If you go out far enough, the dominant gravitational field will be either the galaxy's or some other star's if you happen to be close to one. Obviously the Sun never stops attracting you gravitationally, but neither does the Earth... or your mom, for that matter (this is, strictly speaking, not an insult).

Kerbol right now does not have a galaxy in which it resides (just a painting of one on the night sky), so its sphere of influence is actually infinite. You can still escape from it, defined as having a positive total energy with respect to Kerbol (sum of kinetic and potential energy), meaning that you will never be recaptured by Kerbol's gravity and will instead continue forever into space.

Why do people struggle with this so much? Everyone understands that the Earth has a sphere of influence within which it is the dominant gravitational body, and outside of which the Sun is most important. But mention the Sun's sphere of influence and everyone loses their minds! /joker

[occar]

The (meatspace) Sun's sphere of influence is finite. If you go out far enough, the dominant gravitational field will be either the galaxy's or some other star's if you happen to be close to one. Obviously the Sun never stops attracting you gravitationally, but neither does the Earth... or your mom, for that matter (this is, strictly speaking, not an insult).

In fact, my pancreas is currently attracting every other pancreas in the universe!

[Cdr_Zeta]

Hello,

We are not sure here if the Kerbin Sun has a 'gameplay' SOI...

however as one poster said they made escape...however...>>>

I would suggest start with Escape form Kerbin to get into the first easiest orbit around the sun; then set orbit to that of the inner planet; I htink you can get a rather close orbit without burning up; people could try various close orbits and try to get escape vel out of the Kerbin system from there; you could cheat using infinte fuel to setup guidelines.

The problem is using fuel up to get the orbits setup; maybe that has to count too...

Cdr Zeta

[Daze]

Is it ok for this challenge?

[clapanse]

Hello,

We are not sure here if the Kerbin Sun has a 'gameplay' SOI...

Escaping only requires that your eccentricity is greater than 1, regardless of how far the game considers the sphere of influence to be.