Sepratron Height Challenge

[mojobojo]

The challenge is simple, who can get the most height using stock parts and using only sepratrons as an engine. You can build any size, any number of stages, any number of parts, or even have a kerbal sitting in an External Command Seat. The goal is to get a Kerbal as high as you can. If you bring your kerbal back safely and had the same height as someone else who didnt, you beat them. I look forward to seeing what you guys can come up with.

Manned

cake>pie - 148,499m - Landed Safely

robertordf - 73,880m - Landed Safely

Godot - 57,427m - Landed Safley

Warboy - 21,020m - Landed Safley

Jodo42 - 20,932 - Landed Safely

Mazlem - 10,634m - Landed Safely

mojobojo - 9,676m - Died (fell off of seat so does not count)

ShachonianX - 4,461m - Landed Safely

Unmanned

cake>pie -3,330,622m

Ninety-Three - 2,387,164m

metaphor - 862,540m

Kolt - 198,936m

ShachonianX - 169,331m

Here is mine, my kerbal was ejected from the seat when the boosters ran out, so alot of the height was achieved without anything under me so I don't think it counts (Tell me what you think). Max height 9,676m

Edited August 30, 2013 by mojobojo

[ShachonianX]

Challenge accepted.

[ShachonianX]

My sepratron ship didn't get as high as yours but it was only 5 kilometers away. PICTURE TIME!

[mojobojo]

My sepratron ship didn't get as high as yours but it was only 5 kilometers away. PICTURE TIME!

I would argue that mine does not count, as my kerbal left his seat while under acceleration so he had the least amount of mass possible.

[ShachonianX]

I would argue that mine does not count, as my kerbal left his seat while under acceleration so he had the least amount of mass possible.

Makes sense. I'm going try a lighter command pod now (unmanned), and see how high I can get.

[ShachonianX]

I have now made an unmanned version, that is lighter than the first one.

[Giggleplex777]

A redditor got to orbit with sepratrons: http://www.reddit.com/r/KerbalSpaceProgram/comments/1cbtj2/glorious_kssr_is_first_to_achieve_orbit_using/

[Kolt]

I did this using a medium size core. Now it's on to putting a Kerbal on there with a parachute

Love seeing them fly away

Almost at the highest point

[mojobojo]

A redditor got to orbit with sepratrons: http://www.reddit.com/r/KerbalSpaceProgram/comments/1cbtj2/glorious_kssr_is_first_to_achieve_orbit_using/

That is very impressive. I wish he had tried bringing a Kerbal along for the ride.

[ShachonianX]

I nearly doubled your height, Kolt.

[Ninety-Three]

People in this thread seem to be making the mistake of using way too many separatrons per stage, and way too few stages. With about 300 separatrons divided into 33 stages (the top 8 stages having only 2 separatrons each), I've managed to hit 500 km, and the ship's not even starting to lag. I'm continuing to build, I wouldn't be surprised if this thing could leave Kerbin's SOI before it gets CPU-killing big. I'll post something soon.

[robertordf]

http://imgur.com/a/rjddu

8056m

All went great, until Calley loose the grip on the chair.

[Mazlem]

Well I only got to 10,634 meters but the Kerbal did survive.

[Kolt]

I accepted your direct challenge, ShachonianX!

Could've probably gone further if I had used more middle sized decouplers instead of the big ones, but meh. At least it was fun

[robertordf]

double post

Edited June 1, 2013 by robertordf

[ShachonianX]

This was a fail.

[Ninety-Three]

So my dreams of leaving Kerbin's SOI turned out to be a bit farfetched, but I beat Kolt by an order of magnitude.

The craft is a little silly.

Here's the breakdown on it, for anyone that's curious:

1192 separatrons, divided into 48 stages. Stages, topdown: 8*2, 6*4, 4*6, 3*8, 2*10, 2*12, 3*16, 2*20, 3*24, 1*28, 2*32, 2*40, 1*48, 2*56, 2*64, 2*80, 2*88, 1*104.

I launched it every couple stages as I was building, getting the following heights:

2: 5200

3: 7200

5: 10800

8: 17000

10: 29000

12: 43500

14: 63000

16: 80000

20: 124 km

25: 197 km

28: 299 km

33: 499 km

36: 650 km

38: 838 km

43: 1486 km

48: 2387 km

It also came out a bit slower than the optimal ascent profile, but by the time that was showing, I was rather committed to it. A redesign with slightly higher TWR could do better.

Edited June 1, 2013 by Ninety-Three

[ShachonianX]

Well, got to 112km now!

[robertordf]

more separatrons!

too lasy to make more 10 lower stages... with that I could orbit

taking off the crew I am sure that this setup can orbit

http://imgur.com/a/a4LSf

[robertordf]

with probe

[Atanar]

Are you people fireing them as the former stage depletes? Or are you waiting to be slowed down to avoid drag losses?

Also:

It's Sepratron! Not septratron and not seperaton!

SEPRATRON!

[Ninety-Three]

During the building of my 48 stage monster, when it was only 20ish stages and less, I was waiting between stages a bit to try to keep my speed at the optimal ascent profile (going by this handy post). As the ship grew, it ended up wanting to fire each stage the moment the last one depleted. For a really large heavy ship, you should be able to end up pretty close to optimal ascent with the heavy early stages, which means more or less immediate separation, and by the time you reach the light upper stages, you'll be in high atmosphere where it's always optimal to burn everything as quickly as possible.

Edited June 1, 2013 by Ninety-Three

[mojobojo]

It's Sepratron! Not septratron and not seperaton!

SEPRATRON!

I fixed the title, I knew I misspelled it but thought I couldn't change it.

[Jodo42]

Apoapsis of 20,932m in a manned vessel. Could probably get it a little higher if I got rid of the ASAS. Vehicle had 15 stages and over 1070 parts. Most of the run was at 1-3 FPS. Safe return.

http://imgur.com/a/PPp7F

[ShachonianX]

Mojo, have you updated the scoreboard? I broke my 40km record with a 120km one.