Fuel lift Challenge - Full fuel containers into orbit

[Guest Dorsilfin]

Ladys and Gents...

I present a challenge with 'docking' eventually coming and persistence and maybe space stations/space docks etc etc

Were going to have to get extra fuel up there for long missions..

So, Using Stock/vanilla only parts your missions should you accept is to get as many fuel tanks into orbit (Doesn\'t have to be perfect.. just an orbit) The fuel containers can not be linked to engines at all IE Well i have 2 left over after hitting orbit.. They must be separated.

Since these are manned, err Kerman\'ed missions you must be able to get your kerbonauts back to kearth for a completed mission.

Grading scale.

10 points per fuel container upto 6 ex: 6x 10

20 points per fuel container from 6-12

50 points for an orbit with per and apo no less then 10k apart.

50 points per container over from 12-18

100 points per container over 18

TOP 5

1. silent_prtoagonist -3930

2. khyron42 - 3530

3. JellyCubes - 3130

4. Entroper -2230

4. SteevyT - 2230

my attempt. 18 fuel canisters

On the pad

Pushing skyward

Pushing skyward

dropping some extra weight

dropping some extra weight

Igniting more engines

Igniting more engines

common you fat cow! push

common you fat cow! push

making the horizontal burn

making the horizontal burn

Crap top engines are out...

Crap top engines are out...

Orbital speeds attained

Orbital speeds attained

detaching my 18 tanks

detaching my 18 tanks

lining up for retro burn

lining up for retro burn

Heading home

Heading home

Mission accomplished

6x10= 60

6x20= 120

6x50= 300

terrible orbit no bonus points there.. just fuel this time.

Total: 480pts

[Entroper]

21 tanks, 75x75 km.

6 x 10 = 60

6 x 20 = 120

6 x 50 = 300

2 x 100 = 200

+ 50 bonus

730 points

[Guest Dorsilfin]

Could you add a screen or two of the ship. must be huge to get that mass into orbit

[Entroper]

Here\'s the ship on the pad:

I\'ve made a better version, but it wasn\'t configured correctly for this challenge (had SRBs instead of LFTs as the payload). I\'d like to go even bigger.

[Guest Dorsilfin]

Here\'s the ship on the pad:

I\'ve made a better version, but it wasn\'t configured correctly for this challenge (had SRBs instead of LFTs as the payload). I\'d like to go even bigger.

I see De-couplers between your fuel stack and the bottom part with engines. my understanding is fuel can move through those connectors which would mean your burning that fuel on the way up

[Entroper]

I see De-couplers between your fuel stack and the bottom part with engines. my understanding is fuel can move through those connectors which would mean your burning that fuel on the way up

Yeah, that\'s why the new design added some SRBs to the payload, to block the fuel flow. This one burns the right amount of fuel, it just takes it from the wrong tanks. :/ I\'ll put up a bigger one sometime this weekend and do it properly.

Did you use SAS modules to block the flow to your lower stage?

[Guest Dorsilfin]

Yeah, that\'s why the new design added some SRBs to the payload, to block the fuel flow. This one burns the right amount of fuel, it just takes it from the wrong tanks. :/ I\'ll put up a bigger one sometime this weekend and do it properly.

Did you use SAS modules to block the flow to your lower stage?

Yup, 3 SAS modules made for a nice support and separated the load from the engine fuel tanks below

[khyron42]

You can also just radially attach the non-refueling fuel tanks, since fuel doesn\'t flow through radials.

Here\'s the full image gallery for the flight I just finished.

The highlights:

On the pad. The staging is: capsule and parachute and the couplers holding together the fueling station, rcs and asas, 6-tank core of fueling station plus 5x6 surrounding tanks radially mounted, (couplers up in stage 1), 12 engines with 3 fuel tanks each radially mounted, 18 engines with 5 fuel tanks each and fuel lines inwards to feed the 12 inner ones during the first stage burn.

It manages to do a pretty good job of clearing the tower. About every 300 feet I have to pause the game for a moment to keep the altimeter accurate.

Stage separation, and a view up through the bottom to show the fuel station part.

Circular orbit achieved, and even some fuel left.

Ditched the engines and the remaining non-depot fuel. 36 tanks delivered to a 114 x 106 orbit.

Time to head home.

Safe and sound!

JellyCubes delivered more tanks... but at least with mine they\'re all in one chunk to rendezvous with!

36 Tanks: 60 + 120 + 300 + 1800 + 50 for orbit = 2330 points.

[JellyCubes]

44 full fuel tanks into a 74x74 km orbit

Final score = 3130 points.

Radially attach the fuel tanks and you descend back to Kerbin using your ascent stage.

[SteevyT]

And I thought I had a lot lofting 35 tanks up.

60+120+300+1700+50 = 2230

You can\'t let this thing sit on the pad.

Here is the orbit. <1km difference

35 full tanks according to the stage bar.

Bye bye fuel.

Bye bye return stage.

Splashdown.

End Mission

No I will not be doing this again. My computer was in fractions of FPS on the way up.

[Guest Dorsilfin]

44 full fuel tanks into a 74x74 km orbit

Final score = 3130 points.

Radially attach the fuel tanks and you descend back to Kerbin using your ascent stage.

Mind posting a pic or two of the ship... thats mind boggling and must have been a slideshow to get into orbit..

[JellyCubes]

Mind posting a pic or two of the ship... thats mind boggling and must have been a slideshow to get into orbit..

112 liquid fuel tanks (not including fuel tanks intended for orbit) and 36 engines. The thrust to weight ratio of the upper stages is quite low to save weight.

[Entroper]

I did 27 just now, but I can do more with the same ship. Going to try again. And not jettison my boosters early this time.

EDIT: Nope, adding more payload = rocket falls over on the pad.

[khyron42]

All right, as long as I don\'t care about a working altimeter or how bad the slideshow is, I can do even better.

48 tank refueling station. 3 propulsion stages (12 engine x 3 tanks each, 18 engine x 3 tanks each, 18 engine x 6 tanks each, fuel lined to run all engines from launch off the outer stages.) Deorbit stage is ASAS + RCS tank + 4 thrusters. I really should turn on vertical snap, hand-aligning all 48 propulsion stages to be level with each other so that they don\'t crush each other on the pad was annoying.

Launch pad:

Stage separations (I forgot to screenshot the final stage separation, but you can see the detached stage in the verification picture:

Confirming 48 tanks in a 93x97 km orbit:

I separated from the station and practiced RCS docking approaches, using the convenient hollow I designed into the 'top' end... It worked better after I went to 5x for a second to stop the station from spinning.

I did some additional formation flying with it and then tried for a deorbit & landing near KSC. In the second pic, the little dot to the left of the Mun is the fuel station, 10 km above me and an unknown distance ahead in orbit.

Landed safely, but no where near KSP.

Full image gallery here. You\'ll see several 'end game' screens early on, because that was the easiest way for me to see what the current altitude was.

48 tanks = 3530 points.

[witeken]

Wow!

+1000 points for practicing docking

[Guest Dorsilfin]

All right, as long as I don\'t care about a working altimeter or how bad the slideshow is, I can do even better.

48 tank refueling station. 3 propulsion stages (12 engine x 3 tanks each, 18 engine x 3 tanks each, 18 engine x 6 tanks each, fuel lined to run all engines from launch off the outer stages.) Deorbit stage is ASAS + RCS tank + 4 thrusters. I really should turn on vertical snap, hand-aligning all 48 propulsion stages to be level with each other so that they don\'t crush each other on the pad was annoying.

Launch pad:

Stage separations (I forgot to screenshot the final stage separation, but you can see the detached stage in the verification picture:

Confirming 48 tanks in a 93x97 km orbit:

I separated from the station and practiced RCS docking approaches, using the convenient hollow I designed into the 'top' end... It worked better after I went to 5x for a second to stop the station from spinning.

I did some additional formation flying with it and then tried for a deorbit & landing near KSC. In the second pic, the little dot to the left of the Mun is the fuel station, 10 km above me and an unknown distance ahead in orbit.

Landed safely, but no where near KSP.

Full image gallery here. You\'ll see several 'end game' screens early on, because that was the easiest way for me to see what the current altitude was.

48 tanks = 3530 points.

[Entroper]

Tweaked a bit, made it stand up on the pad, did 35 tanks. Tried 44, but it won\'t do it. I didn\'t see how much fuel I had left, but I could maybe do a couple more tanks on this design.

2230 points.

I don\'t think I\'ll get close to 48. This design is pretty much maxed out to the point where I can\'t add to it without losing efficiency, and the VAB can\'t handle adding more stages to it. I\'m looking forward to when Harv starts adding 2m and 3m diameter parts.

[silent_prtoagonist]

Oi, that was a lovely slideshow, but I got 52 tanks into orbit successfully.

A ring of 8 stacks of 6 surrounding a core of 4 (separated by two rings of radial decouplers to make enough room) for 4+8*6=52. All payload stacks had an LV-T45 separated by an rcs tank and a decoupler on the bottom. Upper stage consisted of another 8x6 ring of tanks surrounding the payload, with LV-T30s as well as plumbing into the engines on the payload. First stage consisted of a ring of 16 stacks of 6, again with LV-T30s and plumbed into upper stage. Finally, 16 liquid boosters of 3 tanks and an LV-T30 not plumbed to first stage.

The flight was a slideshow until I dropped the boosters and first stage, so I just shot straight up, reaching an apogee of about 85km. Then I pitched over with the upper stage, dipping down to about 65km before reaching orbital velocity. Final orbit was 107.8x108.6km. After separating upper stage and capsule, I did some docking practice (not pretty, I miss Orbiter\'s docking mfd ), then de-orbited, landing in the ocean east of KSP.

Score:

6*10=60

6*20=120

6*50=300

34*100=3400

50 for Orbit

60+120+300+3400+50=3930

Image Album

On the pad:

After first stage sep. Didn\'t dare take screen shots during the slideshow portion:

Upper stage sep after final Orbit insertion:

Final orbit:

Docking Practice:

Deorbit burn, leaving behind an impressive debris field:

Chute opened within sight of KSP, although I was well over the horizon at splashdown:

[khyron42]

Oooh, nice! I had forgotten that I could also sling engines (with fuel lines) under non-fuel-tank structures. Well done.

[silent_prtoagonist]

I\'m tempted to see what she\'ll do if I turn those boosters into another full stage, but I think my computer needs some time to recover...