Smallest Minmus lander

[pauldbk99]

Pretty obvious, you have to build the smallest Minmus lander.

Rules:

No Alt+F12 debug menu.

No mods (except for orbital information mods like Kerbal engineer and Mechjeb).

The lander has to bring at least one Kerbal down to the surface.

In-orbit rendez-vous and docking is allowed.

EVA'ing your Kerbal down to the surface is not allowed (but bringing him back into orbit is).

The ship has to be able to bring the Kerbal back to Kerbin safely without getting out and pushing.

You have to do this all in a single mission.

Bringing your kerbal down on a ladder is NOT allowed.

That's it! I'm looking forwards to your pictures and/or videos.

No kerbals were hurt in the making of this thread.

Edited May 26, 2014 by pauldbk99

[Kasuha]

"Lander" is just what goes from Minmus orbit to Minmus surface, or do you mean whole ship from KSC to Minmus and back?

Is it ok to EVA the Kerbal all the way to Kerbin?

BTW, not my creation but anyway...

Edited May 26, 2014 by Kasuha

[pauldbk99]

No your orbital stage can be as big as you desire, it is the lander which needs to be small. And yes, EVA back to orbit is allowed, but i do not know how you are going to land because you have to do it in a single mission.

[Kasuha]

No your orbital stage can be as big as you desire, it is the lander which needs to be small. And yes, EVA back to orbit is allowed, but i do not know how you are going to land because you have to do it in a single mission.

Kerbal can survive if he lands on his helmet. But if the lifter and return stage can be any size then it's not clear to me why they're even important - the challenge is more about the smallest thing you can use to get a Kerbal from Minmus orbit to surface. And that's IMO 3 or 4 parts.

Edit: I just landed with this (0.29 t fully fueled including the Kerbal) from 15 km orbit and there's enough fuel left to return back to Kerbin (so definitely enough to return to orbit). And I'm not sure it can be made any smaller.

Edited May 26, 2014 by Kasuha

[panzerknoef]

3 parts, are you gonna make a scoreboard or something? If you're planning to do it on part count, a looooot of people will just have a 3 part lander...

[pauldbk99]

Kerbal can survive if he lands on his helmet. But if the lifter and return stage can be any size then it's not clear to me why they're even important - the challenge is more about the smallest thing you can use to get a Kerbal from Minmus orbit to surface. And that's IMO 3 or 4 parts.

Edit: I just landed with this (0.29 t fully fueled including the Kerbal) from 15 km orbit and there's enough fuel left to return back to Kerbin (so definitely enough to return to orbit). And I'm not sure it can be made any smaller.

http://i.imgur.com/obfd5SI.png

Well in that case the entire ship needs to be small

[cantab]

Though it stretches the definition of lander, and of not EVAing down, you could do this with one part, a small ladder.

* Stop the orbiter dead, with as low a surface altitude as possible.

* Release the ladder.

* Quickly EVA the Kerbal over and grab the ladder.

* Reorbit the orbiter.

* Let the Kerbal fall to the ground holding the ladder.

A similar approach could be used to land in just a command pod (preferably a plane cockpit).

[Michaelo90]

Here is one i made earlier, 0,45t. Not as small as Kasuha's lander, but it has a dockingport to make it reusable

[pauldbk99]

Though it stretches the definition of lander, and of not EVAing down, you could do this with one part, a small ladder.

* Stop the orbiter dead, with as low a surface altitude as possible.

* Release the ladder.

* Quickly EVA the Kerbal over and grab the ladder.

* Reorbit the orbiter.

* Let the Kerbal fall to the ground holding the ladder.

A similar approach could be used to land in just a command pod (preferably a plane cockpit).

Well... let's just say ladders are not allowed, shall we?

[WH40krules]

I could make a 2 part lander, but it would be pretty big...

[MrOnak]

I present, the luxury version of something small: Micro Minmus. It even has a full-blown capsule, batteries and solar panels!

Javascript is disabled. View full album

Seriously though, I see this being the heavy-weight of all things posted here but

- it's a rocket, not some contraption with jet engines (not that that's a bad thing - 2 tons is darn impressive - but it ain't my thing)

- it has loads of safety marigns

- it handles like a charm

- 17 tons is still not bad in my universe

[KingPhantom]

Micro Minimus is AWESOME!

[MrOnak]

Thanks, that made my day

Craft file here

[ihtoit]

I'm gonna have a go with a micro lithobraker later... we'll see if I can keep it under a ton!

[Jesrad]

Though it stretches the definition of lander, and of not EVAing down, you could do this with one part, a small ladder.

* Stop the orbiter dead, with as low a surface altitude as possible.

* Release the ladder.

* Quickly EVA the Kerbal over and grab the ladder.

* Reorbit the orbiter.

* Let the Kerbal fall to the ground holding the ladder.

A similar approach could be used to land in just a command pod (preferably a plane cockpit).

I like that.

However, you don't even need to deorbit the vehicle in the first place. What matters is the vertical speed of your Kerbal upon landing. With an excentric orbit just skimming Minmus you can have him shed the horizontal component of his velocity with friction if you're careful (and very lucky). Sit the kerbal in an EAS1 seat, and decouple that seat aiming at minmus surface: the ejection force might be enough to send it against the ground.

How's that sound for lithobraking ?

[Kasuha]

With an excentric orbit just skimming Minmus you can have him shed the horizontal component of his velocity with friction if you're careful (and very lucky).

Some time ago I tried that and I tried really hard but it just doesn't work, KSP parts are too bouncy. You just get kicked upwards to another orbit or suborbital trajectory that will most likely send you against surface at much less comfortable angle.

Lithobraking might work as all you need is to dampen some 150 m/s. You still need command chair (so it counts as lander) and probe core (to orient yourself), but then you can use just one more part that will explode upon impact and stop your fall.

[Jesrad]

Ah, true. But then maybe hitting a descending slope first might work ?

[frizzank]

Is it possible to land and take off with just a jet pack?

[Michaelo90]

I tested my RCS lander i posted earlier on mun, and it works there too, and i even had a bit of fuel left after docking back to the transfer stage

[Kasuha]

Is it possible to land and take off with just a jet pack?

On Minmus yes, definitely. Jetpack has about 600 m/s dv and landing and takeoff don't need more than 200 each.

[cantab]

Indeed. Hence why EVAing down had to be banned, otherwise you could call it a zero part lander.

Heck, my first Minmus landing was an EVA. It was a nice challenge, what with the reduced instrumentation.