Least oxidizer to orbit

[theend3r]

I present unto you

The Least oxidizer to orbit challenge

The goal

The goal of this challenge it to get at least to the LKO using as little oxidizer as possible while utilizing conventional propulsion.

Rules

1) No SRBs, xenon or monopropellant including eva allowed

2) No mods except utility (e.g. MJ) or structural parts

3) Provide screenshot from before launch (not necessary with SSTOs if you provide mission results screen but still preferred)

4) Infinigliders are allowed but will have separate leaderboards

5) The final, stable orbit has to be around Kerbin but you are allowed to leave its SOI momentarily (e.g. use the Mun)

Scoring

Score is calculated by oxidizer spent including decoupled stages obviously.

In case KSP starts to show decimals it is rounded mathematically.

Infinigliders, manned and unmanned crafts will all have their own separate leaderboards.

Ranks by oxidizer expended

0 : "I bend the nature to my will"

1 : "There can be only one!"

2 : "One giant leap and one small step"

3 : "Threedom!"

4 : "Poker"

5 : "High five"

6 : "Number of the beast"

7 : "Lucky"

8 : "Break shot"

9 : "Pluto"

10-19 : "So near and yet so far"

20-30 : "Not even close"

Special achievements

Use no engines at all : "The force is with me!"

Get single digit rank with craft heavier than 10 tons : "Mass Turbation"

Leaderboards

Manned

1) Rhomphaia - 0

2) Kasuha - 0

3) tavert - 0.12

4) cyberklad - 2.17, "Mass Turbation" award

5) Richy teh space man - 9

Unanned

Edited January 17, 2014 by theend3r

[theend3r]

My score is 27, which is "Not even close" , I wasn't aiming for it though and had two cockpits and some unnecessary parts.

[Sirine]

There will be 0. Lots of 0 entry.

[theend3r]

I know. Still interested in what people will come up with.

[Richy teh space man]

I managed to just about get the Pluto one:

I could probably improve on that as I took more fuel to orbit then I needed to.

[Pds314]

I have a FAR SSTO that I normally give 44 oxidizer to, but I can get it to orbit on like 15.

Well, technically, my favorite little 3-tonne FAR jet gets to "orbit" with a periapsis of up to 53 km and an apoapsis up to about 120.

But if I used a Kerbal jetpack, even just a tank or two, I could get it to LKO with ZERO oxidizer. (which apparently doesn't count)

Edited January 17, 2014 by Pds314

[Pecan]

Hoorah! I'm messing about with minimalist designs. LV-0-75 (so named because it puts 0 payload into a 75km orbit) is 1.72t on the pad, with 4.9 oxidiser, of which 1.2 is left after circularisation. Pics to follow when I get an account somewhere I can post them ...

[cyberklad]

Managed to get into a 133/100km orbit with a starting weight of around 27T Got up to height with jets only and then circulized as much as possible with rcs, 0 oxidizer used. All the rocket fuel left to spend for the two nervas on the ship.

[tavert]

This was several versions ago, 1.26 units of oxidizer unmanned SSTO:

Javascript is disabled. View full album

Or sort-of manned, 0.12 units of oxidizer (full album at http://imgur.com/a/2DAhq - note I had to drain oxidizer from the jet stage on the launch pad, which these days you'd do with tweakables):

Edited January 17, 2014 by tavert

[aeTIos]

http://s24.postimg.org/byx879yx1/KSP.jpg

Managed to get into a 133/100km orbit with a starting weight of around 27T Got up to height with jets only and then circulized as much as possible with rcs, 0 oxidizer used. All the rocket fuel left to spend for the two nervas on the ship.

Sorry to burst your bubble, but monopropellant isn't allowed.

[cyberklad]

30,7T up to a stable orbit with 9 oxidizer spent.

[theend3r]

Managed to get into a 133/100km orbit with a starting weight of around 27T Got up to height with jets only and then circulized as much as possible with rcs, 0 oxidizer used. All the rocket fuel left to spend for the two nervas on the ship.

1) No SRBs, xenon or monopropellant including eva allowed

Using monoprop isn't allowed, that'd be too easy. There were even pure RCS rockets.

[Kasuha]

Is changing orbital parameters by pumping fuel around the ship ok or is it considered cheating?

Edit: what about circularizing by decoupling, if I use single decoupler?

Edited January 17, 2014 by Kasuha

[Rhomphaia]

Getting close.

[cyberklad]

After a new design. Some tweaking. A good few laps around the planet. 2 oxidizer used. Or at least 2 by rules about rounding. On a craft above 10 tons.

[Rhomphaia]

"I bend the nature to my will"

[tavert]

"I bend the nature to my will"

Canned air trick?

[Rhomphaia]

Canned air trick?

That's the one.

[Richy teh space man]

What is this canned air trick?

[theend3r]

Is changing orbital parameters by pumping fuel around the ship ok or is it considered cheating?

Edit: what about circularizing by decoupling, if I use single decoupler?

All allowed. Those are what I'd actually like to see the most

[sgt_flyer]

@Richy teh space man - basically, the radial air intakes can store much more air than the other intakes - and when an intake is closed, it does not lose air - so he simply had to bring that air to it's apoapsis and circularize by using is turbojet engine (which is still hard to do right the engine will drink up the last remnant of air in the intakes like no tomorrow

[Richy teh space man]

@Richy teh space man - basically, the radial air intakes can store much more air than the other intakes - and when an intake is closed, it does not lose air - so he simply had to bring that air to it's apoapsis and circularize by using is turbojet engine (which is still hard to do right the engine will drink up the last remnant of air in the intakes like no tomorrow

Ahh I see thanks. I didn't know you could do that

[Kasuha]

Okay, I tried some original approach. Nothing I would even remotely consider cheating, pure conventional propulsion. So I hope it counts.

Used oxidizer: 0.00

Javascript is disabled. View full album

[theend3r]

Okay, I tried some original approach. Nothing I would even remotely consider cheating, pure conventional propulsion. So I hope it counts.

Used oxidizer: 0.00

It does and it's really original

Great work.

Edited January 17, 2014 by theend3r

[sgt_flyer]

@ Kasuha nice solution to this challenge a similar slingshot concept has even been studied in real life, for accelerating spacecrafts from a low orbit to an higher orbit