The Whackjob / Robbii6 Kerbolympic Munar Pico-Lander Challenge!

[SkyRender]

nope you have to use the lander only from 100km orbit

So AP/PE both within the confines of 100KM? Technically a 10000KM/100KM orbit is still a 100KM orbit at periapsis, hence why I ask for this clarification.

[Robbii6]

Yeah so AP and PE cant go above 100km until you are just using the lander

[Whackjob]

Leader boards updated!

[SkyRender]

Minimalism is all about cutting out what you don't need and keeping what you can't succeed without. To that end, I jerry-rigged this together.

It's just about the simplest lander you can imagine. Seat, core for torque, small fuel tank, parachute, two LV-1 engines. Its mass totals 1.423t.

And in the spirit of this challenge, we're gonna ride that rocket like Slim Pickins.

Off we go!

Final circularization used a fraction of the fuel in the lander. Also, I wanted to show off the nifty eclipse that was going on at the time.

We're off to the Mun! (I should note that this thing is anything but easy to fly since it's asymmetrical. But it IS flyable!)

We're at the Mun! (That was fast.)

We're landing on the Mun!

Success.

Just leave this here before I go...

Flying by the seat of one's pants has never been so literal.

Alright, Kerbin injection burn underway...

Now THAT is cutting it close.

Re-entry is always fun.

Landing was... interesting. The parachute deployed at the last second (as was necessary), and the Kerbal was flung out (as was not necessary)... into a tree, which prevented him from dying from the landing. I tested it over water and found it works fine if you last-second it there (the parachute deployment doesn't fling the hapless Kerbal out that way), so I'm claiming victory anyway. Also, the Kraken ate my landing legs, the bastard...

[Giggleplex777]

So, I landed on the Mun, got back to orbit, and headed for Kerbin with 0.09 units of liquid fuel left. Unfortunately, due to KSP's drag model, my ship always flips in the thick atmosphere and makes the engine point up so I can't land safely.

[Robbii6]

well done congrats SkyRender

[Robbii6]

Leader boards updated!

Wackjob my lander was stock and you put me in unlimited

[Guest]

So, I landed on the Mun, got back to orbit, and headed for Kerbin with 0.09 units of liquid fuel left. Unfortunately, due to KSP's drag model, my ship always flips in the thick atmosphere and makes the engine point up so I can't land safely.

I literally had to fight my craft to keep it engine-down. It's one of the reasons I put a probe core on it, so I could have some torque and do away with RCS.

[Bystander]

If you're not counting the mass of what you use to get into orbit, then mine clocked in at 0.55 tons after separating the jet stage. I was originally quoting mass on the launch pad.

Yeah, but quoting your report you shed the weight after the 100km limit,

"After getting to an initial 58 x 100 km "orbit" on the jet engine, I spent 22 hours (letting MechJeb fly while I did other things) doing periapsis kicks in the atmosphere to burn off the last 2.5 units of fuel in the jet stage, bringing my orbit up to 62 x 228 km. Stabilizing this orbit after ditching the jet stage only took 6 m/s, then getting out to the Mun (with everything lined up so the Munar injection burn is close to periapsis) took only 744 m/s."

[tavert]

Yeah, but quoting your report you shed the weight after the 100km limit,

True, but I think that's an arbitrary limit and it makes more sense to count from the launch pad mass. If you insist on imposing a 100 km limit, you can just add an oscar-B tank for a little extra fuel to make up for the lower starting apoapsis, giving around 0.63 tons. Or the 75 m/s margin I had left over might be enough to stretch it.

[Whackjob]

Wackjob my lander was stock and you put me in unlimited

Lander might've been stock, but you've got mods installed, including navigation.

Also, leader boards updated with SkyRender up top!

... also did my own trial runs last night and this morning. Failed. But getting closer!

[Robbii6]

Lander might've been stock, but you've got mods installed, including navigation.

Also, leader boards updated with SkyRender up top!

... also did my own trial runs last night and this morning. Failed. But getting closer!

Haha yeah fair play then.