Ferram Aerospace Circumnavigation!

[mr_yogurt]

I was looking, earlier, at this thread: Kerbin Circumnavigation Challenge - Reloaded, and a thought crossed my mind. Why so limited? I found this challenge extremely limited when I first saw it, and I still do. I don't see many FAR based challenges around here, and I decided we needed one.

Goal: Circumnavigate Kerbin.

Rules:

1. Ferram Aerospace Research must be installed.
   
2. You must circumnavigate Kerbin completely, starting at the runway/launchpad, and landing in close proximity to it.
   
3. No debug menu. This should be obvious, but I will state it because people tend to like loopholes.
   
4. No mods, except for FAR (required) and the ones listed below.
   
5. For your entry to be accepted, you must have a picture of your plane on the runway, mid-flight (on the other side of the planet) and the screen with flight results, also, the Spaceplane hangar or VAB should be visible from this screen.
   
6. This must be single stage, no parts may be detached during the flight (parachutes for braking are ok)
   

Note: I don't care what way you circumnavigate Kerbin. As long as you go all the way around. So you can go over the poles if you want. But my guess is that most people will just go east, to save a few seconds. (This IS a race). Also, there is no altitude limit. If you want to fly to 9,000,001 feet and come back down, you are free to do so.

Note 2: I also don't care what engines you use. All I care about is it being a single stage plane. (Or single stage rocket, if you want to do that sort of thing)

Now, I have an issue with overpowered mods, and to maker things simple, we will have to stick with a few here:

Ferram Aerospace Research: Required. This is a required mod for this challenge, due to the more realistic and less broken spaceplane flight.

B9 Aerospace pack: I find this nice and balanced mod, so I allow it.

Firespitter pack: Good for planes, and allowed here. Probably take forever to fly a plane around Kerbin with one of these.

MechJeb: People are obsessed with this. So I guess I have to allow it...

If you have a suggestion for a mod that should be allowed, tell me about it. If I find it balanced, I may allow it.

Yes, this is mainly a competition-based challenge. We want to see who can go around Kerbin the fastest with Ferram Aerospace Research.

Scoreboard:

-empty-

Edited July 14, 2013 by mr_yogurt
Clarifications! Yay!

[ferram4]

I'm interested in this, but I gather that you're trying to have the same spirit as the Circumnavigation Challenge; with that in mind, I'd like some clarifications:

Are we limited to only jet engines? Are we allowed to use separatrons for RATO purposes?

Is there an altitude limitation?

Are disposable fuel tanks allowed?

As things are currently written, I'd suspect that the fastest way to get around the planet is to get into a very low (say ~55km) orbit around Kerbin going west with a rocket launched from the runway, since it actually doesn't run afoul of any rules if stock parts are used. You may want to rewrite the rules a bit to fix that.

[mr_yogurt]

I'm interested in this, but I gather that you're trying to have the same spirit as the Circumnavigation Challenge; with that in mind, I'd like some clarifications:

Are we limited to only jet engines? Are we allowed to use separatrons for RATO purposes?

Is there an altitude limitation?

Are disposable fuel tanks allowed?

As things are currently written, I'd suspect that the fastest way to get around the planet is to get into a very low (say ~55km) orbit around Kerbin going west with a rocket launched from the runway, since it actually doesn't run afoul of any rules if stock parts are used. You may want to rewrite the rules a bit to fix that.

It seems whenever I write a challenge, I leave it so lax that I end up with people asking if I missed any rules.

You can't dispose fuel tanks, but you can fly to any height you want to. I might add separate section, though, for high altitudes (<35,000 km)

I don't care what methods of propulsion you use, either.