The Kerbal Grand Challenge

[M251Speed]

This is the Grand Challenge, a challenge to visit every Planet and Moon in the Kerbol system.

To successfully complete this challenge, the player must launch a ship from Kerbin orbit, and plant a flag on every planet* and moon. There will be several versions of this challenge, none easy. However, all variations of this challenge will allow the use of landing ships, but the lander is not allowed to return to the mothership until it has landed on all the moons.

Version 1: Stock System

This first version of the challenge is to only land on planets and moons in the stock system. Players must first land on Moho, then move outwards through the system, ending at Eeloo. This includes landing on Kerbin again. The other requirement for landing is that players must move outward through a planetary system with multiple moons. For example, after departing from Eve orbit, players must proceed to Kerbin orbit, land on Kerbin, then land on the Mun, followed by Minmus.

Version 2: Planet Factory

This variation of the challenge is identical to the first, except that to complete this version, the player must land on all planets* and moons available in Planet Factory.

For an added challenge, try to complete without landers, not required though.

Rules! Lovely Rules!

-Orbital assembly is permitted. I'm not that evil .

-Mods are permitted within reason. No interstellar mod or FTL drives in any way. Ions are permitted, sublight permitted within reason. Please use your best judgment.

-Have fun! (Most important)

-For planets with more than 3 moons, the requirement for landing on all moons does not apply.

Feel free to ask any questions, and I'll try to answer it.

*Except for those planets that can not be landed on, such as Jool.

Edited June 1, 2014 by M251Speed
Changed landing requirements

[OgreMagi]

hmm so in the stock challenge refueling is permitted??, since I could launch a fuel pod to each planet then refuel for the next trip and exploration...

[M251Speed]

I see no problem with it. Should probably try without it first, probably take less time.

[CavemanNinja]

*cracks knuckles*

I was making a mothership anyway... Expect a post soon, if i can get imgur working.

EDIT: This is insane...

How am i supposed to make a lander that can land on Tylo AND laythe!!!!!

By my reckoning, the Jool lander will have to be almost as big as the previous mothership!

Edited May 31, 2014 by CavemanNinja

[Spartwo]

>snip<

I see no requirement for any lander to return to the mothership at all - just maroon a Kerbal to plant a flag and sail on without him ;-0

That's a kerbal idea. Scratch what I said.

Edited May 31, 2014 by Spartwo

[Pecan]

I see no requirement for any lander to return to the mothership at all - just maroon a Kerbal to plant a flag and sail on without him ;-0

[Himynameisjake]

Op, have you ever been to the Joolian system?

If you have, you certainly haven't completed this poorly thought out challenge.

I was going to submit my v0.23 No refueling Grand Tour to this challenge, but you're rather picky about your landing order, which is god awful for fuel practicality. Also the requirement that you hit all the moons before returning to your mothership is great right up until you get to Jool, good luck finding anyone willing to tollerate the fps of a ship that takes what is at best 2 landers (one for the rest of the kerbol system and one for the Joolian system), with the Joolian megalander requiring somewhere in the ballpark of 20k dv non-atmospheric That can lift ~20T from the surface of Tylo into a stable orbit.

For anyone stupid enough to try this, I recommend doing your Jool landings in the following order:

• Plot course for Jool and aerobrake to a Tylo intercept.
  
• Cry.
  
• Detach your ridiculous lander and hope to God you don't need an insane amount of dv to get your mothership headed towards a safe parking orbit. Spoiler alert: it's in the 1000s.
  
• Quicksave, because you're going to crash. A lot.
  
• Land your big fat ship on Tylo. Enjoy landing a craft that needs to be able to lift off with the capability to complete a start to finish Duna return mission from KSC.
  
• Go spelunking on Tylo.
  
• Head for Laythe, enjoy getting a little help with a free landing here with some parachutes and a good angle of attack (don't forget to try for a dry and flat landing!)
  
• Air-Hog like crazy, I recommend a stupidly low angle of ascent (like 5% if you use MechJeb) for your gravity turn, basically, you want to be able to get to +75% of a complete orbit using nothing but your jet engines.
  
• Head to Vall.
  
• Curse the SpaceGods at Vallhenge if your Tylo landing sucked.
  
• It did.
  
• A lot.
  
• Take off from Vall with a two stage ship, first stage can be whatever, the second stage should be an Ion Chair. An ion chair with 2 RTGs (solar panels don't work for **** out at Jool) and two tanks of Xenon should get you done thanks to the stupidly buffed ion engine. Hit Pol first and then Bop because you're going to need to drop one of those tanks to make it due to dv and TWR constraints.
  
• Say hi to the Kraken at Bop.
  
• Ion chair your way back to your Mothership, which if it didn't have to have fuel to push the stupid lander around most of the Kerbol system before you got to use it could probably be lighter than the lander itself.
  
• Seriously, you just took a ~80T payload you couldn't use to orbits around moho, then eve, then kerbin, then duna, then dres, and finally to Jool.
  
• Let me know when you get this **** figured out, I'll buy the first round.
  

Edited May 31, 2014 by Himynameisjake

[Himynameisjake]

So far, that's as light as I can figure out how to make the lander that can transfer from Vall orbit, land at Bop and Pol, and return to the mothership. Even worse than I imagined.

Cubic strut and micro-node added to simulate weight of the Kerbal piloting this infernal contraption, and a single RTG clipped inside. Haven't even bothered with a feasibility study as to whether or not the thing can get to a stable orbit before it runs out of of electricity. I may have to add more batteries and weight (I refuse to use the massless 100E batteries to prove this challenge possible).

Edited May 31, 2014 by Himynameisjake

[Himynameisjake]

Actually this doesn't even work because you need a Lander can to plant multiple flags. Op, I'm not going to waste more time on this until you submit your entry.

[Spartwo]

Actually this doesn't even work because you need a Lander can to plant multiple flags. Op, I'm not going to waste more time on this until you submit your entry.

You can plant a ton of flags and have one kerbal pick them all up.

[Himynameisjake]

You can plant a ton of flags and have one kerbal pick them all up.

One flag per EVA bub. You have to go back inside a capsule (way heavier than my ion chair) to get another, and since you can't reconnect to the mother ship until you do all the landings, that means you need to take a capsule along for the ride. Way more weight, way more dv. And barrels more fail.

[M251Speed]

Scratch the requirement for Jool. If it's too difficult, then it's too difficult. I'll edit the op.

EDIT: Updated rules section.

[Himynameisjake]

Scratch the requirement for Jool. If it's too difficult, then it's too difficult. I'll edit the op.

EDIT: Updated rules section.

Honestly I think you need to reconsider your whole challenge, and moreover, I think you need to at least make an attempt at a challenge before posting it. That is the real point I've been trying to drive home here.

[Himynameisjake]

I see no requirement for any lander to return to the mothership at all - just maroon a Kerbal to plant a flag and sail on without him ;-0

Uh, when you say maroon, I believe you mean colonize. Yes, colonizing sounds much better in the press.

[Spartwo]

One flag per EVA bub. You have to go back inside a capsule (way heavier than my ion chair) to get another, and since you can't reconnect to the mother ship until you do all the landings, that means you need to take a capsule along for the ride. Way more weight, way more dv. And barrels more fail.

Can't handle all this nope.

[Himynameisjake]

Can't handle all this nope.

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

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

I stand corrected. You only have to take a lander can to Tylo apparently.

[Himynameisjake]

Lightest way I have found thus far to complete the flight parameters (starting with the Laythe intercept portion of my flight path following a successful Tylo landing and ascent). The flight parameters of this ship have smaller margins of error than I would trust MechJeb with. I will do the Tylo build tomorrow, but it is going to suck.

Also this ship is clipped to hell.

Edited June 1, 2014 by Himynameisjake

[Cmdr. Arn1e]

I think this might be a bit of a duplicate challenge - http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/27127-KSP-Grandmaster!-%28Land-on-every-body-of-the-Kerbal-System!%29

If you are finding this one a bit hard, then I suggest you switch to the Grandmaster version - it's the original, and a bit more lenient on fuel!

[Himynameisjake]

Op, I have finally created a ship capable of landing on all Jool's moons without refueling.

I give you the Joolian Chucklefest.

I had to cheat with invincible landing gear to even get this thing to work. I suppose I could have put ~200 LT2 landing legs on it, but I got annoyed with it enough already.

Again, I need to stress how absolutely clipped this thing is. This thing is a scrapbook.

I'm going to land on all the moons of Jool and send it to you, but I'm starting from a stable 100k orbit around Tylo because ain't nobody got time for launching this beast, or sending it on 2/3rds of a Grand Tour.

Yes I know you've changed the rules, but I'm making a point. Think your challenge through, and at least attempt it before submitting it. This kind of challenge is the cancer killing this forum.

Edited June 16, 2014 by Himynameisjake