1 Mainsail Challenge

[Drunkrobot]

In KSP, we are blessed by a total lack of engineering principles or safety regulations. If a payload very nearly reaches orbit, but not quite, simply add a pair of SRBs or three to make up the slack. In real life, or course, it's not the same. Restrictions are draconian, and components are expensive.

The challenge is: Do the most impressive mission you can, using any number of rockets, with any design of rocket you wish. However, that rocket must be able to "clear the tower" on top of 1,500 kN of thrust, or "1 Mainsail".

So, not this.

A well-designed Apollo-Saturn analogue (3 Kerbals to the Mün and back) usually requires 5 mainsails in it's first stage. Imagine trying to do the Apollo missions with a load of Saturn I-Bs.

To clarify, this was the rocket that literally needed a baby-chair to sit at the grown-up table.

Using multiple launches and orbital assembley is allowed, but doing purely that would be boring! Try planning out both the vehicle and the mission, see if you can lighten some part of the ship, or pull off some manouver to save fuel.

Anyone can get a small probe to other planets on 1 Mainsail, I want you to think BIG, as in "Manned Missions to other planets" big.

And if you think that the challenge is too easy, try pro-mode: a maximum takeoff thrust of 650 kN (1 Skipper). Have fun!

EDIT: After receiving some feedback on what conditions the challenge should work under, I've drawn up some rules/guidelines.

Rules: Must read.

1. Every craft must launch vertically. Those parasitic "plane" things that suckle on the atmosphere, rather than punch through it like a badass, disgust me.

2. Air-breathing engines, including RAPIER, are not allowed, for the aforementioned reason.

3. The maximum thrust of ALL stages must be equal to or less than 1,500 kN. Any combination of engines that stays below this limit (like 6 LV-T30s) is allowed. This includes any ships you assemble in orbit.

4. Speaking of assembly, you are allowed any number of launches to fulfill the goal you set yourself. If that Eeloo colony ship of yours needs 500 launches to assemble, be my guest. I'm relying on the shear frustration and tedium of assembly to drive you towards minimizing the mass you have to put into orbit.

5. You win this challenge in the same way you win Dwarf Fortress. Do something so impressive, given the restrictions, and provide the evidence you pulled it off (pics of the mission) that everyone else has to crown you winner. You then receive 1000 internet points and a digital biscuit.

6. In regards to mods: plugins that display additional information (Kerbal Engineer or Alarm clock) are allowed, even encouraged for the sake of your sanity. Mods that bring in parts, even engines that stay below the 1500 kN limit, is a no-no. As a general guideline, try listing the mods you used in your post.

7. Exploiting bugs, like infiniglide, is cheating, and not allowed. Everytime you exploit a bug, a puppy somewhere in the world dies. Do you want that on your conscience?

Edited January 14, 2014 by Drunkrobot

[RandomJeb]

So basically any rocket with the first stage having a maximum of 1500kN of thrust and a TWR over 1? What about the second stage? Like if I just barely crawl a kilometer into the sky on a mainsail, then I dump it and blast off with my much stronger second stage lifter?

[Drunkrobot]

So basically any rocket with the first stage having a maximum of 1500kN of thrust and a TWR over 1? What about the second stage? Like if I just barely crawl a kilometer into the sky on a mainsail, then I dump it and blast off with my much stronger second stage lifter?

Would you recommend an amendment to the challenge: that the max thrust of any stage must be less than or equal to 1,500 kN? I had never even thought of that, being so used to getting visible trajectories in the mapmode before jettisoning anything.

Besides, no matter what the full capabilities of this second stage, it all has to get off the ground on 1 Mainsail. (Napkin maths tells me that the maximum launchpad weight of the rocket is 152.9 tonnes, since the weight in newtons must be less than 1500 kN, and 1500÷9.81=152.9.

Edited January 14, 2014 by Drunkrobot

[ihtoit]

considering the thrust limit and alternative engine configurations, is there a rule that says it *has* to launch vertically? Or one that says you *have* to use a Mainsail (I'm considering the bit where you say "Do the most impressive mission you can, using any number of rockets, with any design of rocket you wish. However, that rocket must be able to "clear the tower" on top of 1,500 kN of thrust, or "1 Mainsail"." My thinking is that the tower is at least as high as the tippy top of the rocket, what if the "tower" in the case of a runway takeoff is represented by the end of the runway regardless of the length of the vessel? A SABRE or jet assisted takeoff would more than **** the challenge, and particularly in the case of the SABRE would completely negate the need for engine staging through all mission phases.

[regex]

Yeah, maybe limit the challenge to at least 1000m launch from the pad (not the runway) using a single mainsail only. Past 1000m it's up to you. I think this fits more with the spirit of the challenge. You might also want to add the standard grab-bag of "don't 'sploit" conditions (infiniglide, no cheats, list of allowed mods, etc...)

[I_Killed_Jeb]

interesting concept, but needs a bit more polish for a challenge, like win conditions, and the aforementioned exploit bans

[kahlzun]

I kinda like it:

How far can you travel with just one mainsail?

[BagelRabbit]

If your intention was to have a craft that can fly on a Mainsail's worth of power or less, I created a craft that reached Duna without much trouble and with over 300 gallons of fuel left in the tank. I woulda returned, but the craft tipped over... (sigh)

Here's some pictures of the ill-fated attempt.

[sdj64]

This is a cool challenge, i'm surprised that there aren't more entries.

Going for awesomeness points here, as this rocket isn't the most efficient. Apollo Style moon mission with 3 kerbals on less than 1 mainsail, with no nukes. The first stage has only 1 kN of thrust less than a mainsail: 6x T30, 1x T45, 6x radial ant for a total of 1499 kN.

anyway, pictures:

Javascript is disabled. View full album

Edit: thanks tavert.

Edited January 16, 2014 by sdj64

[tavert]

Edit: why doesn't my Imgur album display nicely like all the other albums I see on here? I'm kind of new to the forums so help would be awesome.

Take the #0 off the end of your link.

[capi3101]

5. You win this challenge in the same way you win Dwarf Fortress.

Errrr........

[regex]

I tried to do one in (what I considered) the spirit of this challenge, using a single mainsail for liftoff. The second stage was three LVT-45s which didn't actually get us to orbit and the transfer stage was an LVN with some 6km/s of delta-V left over once Derdo was in orbit. I put a small lander and rover on Duna, drove around, and then returned to LKO. For Duna and Kerbin transfers I used some high energy maneuvers because I had so much fuel... I suppose I could have beefed up the lander a bit and went to Laythe, I might try that later.

Bone stock craft save for the Engineer module. TAC Fuel Balancer, PreciseNode, and Enhanced Navball were in play as well.

Javascript is disabled. View full album

[Space Peanut]

Hope this thread doesn't die. Love this stuff!

I suspect some of you old hands don't realise how much us newbies love seeing your designs! Some awesome stuff here that will be ripping off hard!

[immelman]

I find your lack of faith in the mighty turbojet, disturbing...

Well anyway thank you for the fun challenge, got to Laythe and back using a little Dynasoar type rocket plane which was a lot of fun to fly.

I used a mainsail for the first stage and used the tweakables in the VAB to reduce the thrust on the second stage to just under 1500.

Kerbal alarm clock, fuel balancer and Mechjeb (for the node editing).

In the end there was a lot of gas left in the tank on return to Kerbin, maybe (just) enough for Eeloo?

Yep you can get far on a mainsail!

Javascript is disabled. View full album

[SRV Ron]

A redesign of the one part ship. First stage Mainsail. Second stage Skipper. Short burn of the LV-N to orbit. Has the range to reach Jool and back by doing a direct from Kerbal burn.

[Cupcake...]

Let's ignore the construction part, that's a whole different story.

Cupcake...

[Blaster]

Let's ignore the construction part, that's a whole different story.

Cupcake...

I remember the music from Independence War 2: Edge of Chaos

[Cupcake...]

I remember the music from Independence War 2: Edge of Chaos

Well spotted, such a great game.

Cupcake...

[SkyRender]

I'm thinking a 2-launch mission to the Jool system, with a Kerballed Laythe landing (with SCIENCE!, of course) and return to Kerbin, plus possibly Bop and Pol if I can spare the fuel (hint: I probably can).

[regex]

I'm thinking a 2-launch mission to the Jool system, with a Kerballed Laythe landing (with SCIENCE!, of course) and return to Kerbin, plus possibly Bop and Pol if I can spare the fuel (hint: I probably can).

Given that I launched a lander + rover with enough fuel to reach and return from Eeloo, Dres, Duna, Gilly, or either of the two outer Jool moons with a single launch, I think you'll be able to do pretty much anything with two launches.