Tier 0 (first launch) grand tour craft. Its predecessor earned 3676 science.

[allmhuran]

I built this ship as my final attempt at a craft to maximize science collection on tier 0.

Craft file here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B2m8Wm1qifJuLVVaZ3FVWWsyck0/edit?usp=sharing

I have never flown it beyond getting it into low Kerbin orbit. However, the craft that came before it, which had about 700 less oxidizer once orbital, earned 3676 science, as shown in the video below.

[Francesco]

Legendary stuff :cool:

[DisarmingBaton5]

Holy mother of god. That's insane. You're insane.

[Kerbol Prime]

This is Jeb's dream.

[palker]

Well colour me impressed. Well done the explosive staging is an interesting engineering approach to rocket building.

[Zek]

My god, you're full of science.

[allmhuran]

Well colour me impressed. Well done the explosive staging is an interesting engineering approach to rocket building.

The idea has been used by others... indeed, the idea has been used right back since the very early days of KSP. My contribution is merely the combination of patience, courage and stupidity that is required to push the design to the limits of sanity.

[pigletx2]

Nasa called: They want all their supercomputers back.

Ontopic: WOW, IT'S HUGE

[Rune]

The idea has been used by others... indeed, the idea has been used right back since the very early days of KSP. My contribution is merely the combination of patience, courage and stupidity that is required to push the design to the limits of sanity.

And still, it's worthy of a . So indeed. Now the geek question: wouldn't it be better to exploit Jool's gravity well for Oberth effect than Tylo for a gravity assist? Then again, even though I've proven mathematically gravity assists, I still don't "get" them, the way I intuitively get some other parts of orbital mechanics. I do know in kerbin, you are better off by not touching the moon and instead hugging the ground, but mostly because Scott proved it. Perhaps in the Joolian system the ratios work out differently?

I wouldn't know, because I don't run the clock like crazy in my games (personally imposed limitation), so I've never gotten much past a few months in my saves. Not much opportunity for interplanetary maneuvers there.

Rune. And a cookie for your efforts.

[allmhuran]

At Kerbin you are already going to be in LKO where the Oberth effect is greatest, and the Mun's mass is much lower than Tylo's.

When you're rocketing around Jool, on the other hand, you are unlikely to be at low Joolian altitude when you want to leave, so the effect is greatly diminished. Tylo is also much more massive than the Mun. A couple of dozen m/s spent on a good Tylo intercept is all that is needed to get your solar periapsis all the way back down to the altitude of Kerbin.

I did, in the end, fly the updated craft as linked in the OP. It earned 5528 science. Mission album here http://imgur.com/a/aG6ej#0

[Levelord]

This has to be one of the most impressive KSP videos I've seen. Very efficient use of fuel here. I'd usually think I'd be stuck with only 200 units of fuel around the moon. O_o

[Cobalt60]

Oh. My. Gawd.

That probably tops anything for science I have seen on this forum EVER.

You are AMAZING!

This deserves a sticky.

Edited January 31, 2014 by Cobalt60