Go Big with Small Engines!

[BagelRabbit]

The Kerbal Space Center has been a place of many pioneering minds convening to explore the cosmos. Unfortunately, it has also been a legendary place for partying. Over the course of the last KSC party, several SRBs and liquid fuel rockets were launched as “fireworks,†which terrified the Kerbal Air Administration. After all of the dust (and hydrazine vapor) had settled, the Administration banned KSC from using engines with over four kilonewtons of thrust. But, of course, Kerbal scientists still strived to send ever-more-advanced craft into the cosmos.

So!

Your mission is to explore as much of the Kerbal solar system as possible, using only LV-1 and LV-1R engines.

Rules (I’ll try to keep this short):

1) Please keep this all stock. (Aesthetics-changing mods, however, are okay.) Also, no using the Alt-F12 Debug menu to change gravity or provide infinite fuel. (Part-clipping is okay, but see Rule 3.)

2) Only LV-1 and LV-1R engines may be used for propulsion. No ion engines, RCS thrusters, infinigliders, decoupler-spam-powered rockets, etc. allowed.

3) Keep your craft under 300 parts. (Just because tiny engines are all but massless, and I don’t want this challenge to devolve into who can get the highest-part-count ship at the expense of others.)

4) Please post, at minimum, a photo at launch and a photo once arrived at your destination. (More photos or a video would be great, too.)

5) Your rocket must be capable of leaving the pad to qualify. (Added for the sake of MarvinKitFox.)

That should have been short enough. Did I miss anything?

Distinctions!

Kerb Kan: Launch a Kerbal

Light Lifter: Have a <50 part spacecraft

Big Bug: Have a >200 part spacecraft

(hooray, alliteration!)

Veggies are for Wimps: Build a craft without ‘Asparagus’ (or any other) parallel staging

Fustercluck: Have one stage of your craft use more than 50 engines at one time.

Dragonfly: Return every stage of the craft back to Kerbin without any damage.

Piece-keeper: Have a single-stage design that launches, flies and lands without losing any parts (if you get this, you won’t get the Dragonfly award too. Sorry.)

Escaping the Madness: Leave Kerbin's Sphere of Influence.

Orbug, Munbug, Minmug, Ikebug, Dunbug, etc.: reach Kerbin orbit, land on Mun, land on Minmus, land on Ike, land on Duna, etc., etc., etc. (These are stackable except for the Orbug one.)

Back Before Dinner: Safely return to Kerbin after flight.

It is possible to gain many distinctions during a single launch, depending on the quality and Delta-V of your craft.

Scoreboard (arranged by number of distinctions earned, though no ranking system is in place):

Jouni: Kerb Kan, Big Bug, Veggies are for Wimps, Fustercluck, Minbug, Back Before Dinner

MockKnizzle: Kerb Kan, Big Bug, Veggies are for Wimps, Fustercluck, Munbug, Back Before Dinner (Many kudos on Apollo-style mission.)

Koolkei: Kerb Kan, Big Bug, Fustercluck, Minbug, Back Before Dinner

UpsilonAerospace: Fustercluck, Veggies are for Wimps, Munbug, Back Before Dinner

[Your Name Here]

Edited June 8, 2014 by UpsilonAerospace
Updating the Scoreboard!

[Bilfr3d]

can you have several distinctions?

[BagelRabbit]

In a word, yes. Some of them aren't stackable (the Piece-Keeper and the Orbug distinction, namely) but the rest are.

I suppose that I should make that a little clearer.

[zarakon]

Want to hear the most annoying sound in the world?

Fire 65 LV-1 engines at the same time

[Bilfr3d]

I shall give this challenge a try... hopefully not failing others that I have tried.

[MockKnizzle]

This is a fun little challenge Here's my first go at a simple orbit-capable rocket:

Javascript is disabled. View full album

132 parts on the pad. No fuel lines between the first-stage cores, but I'm guessing boosters that burn alongside a sustainer count as parallel staging. Assuming I'm not immediately disqualified for having docking RCS on the orbiter, I should earn the Kerb Kan, Fustercluck (before booster separation, 72 engines are firing at once), and Orbug distinctions.

I have more ideas on the way for a Mun landing

[Bilfr3d]

Just a question... is using several small engines better than using one big engine?

[cantab]

In KSP, if the small engines individually have the same Isp and TWR as the big one, using a cluster lets you more finely control the thrust. However, the Ant engines have respectable TWR (the same as the LV-T45) but appalling Isp.

In the real world, there's advantages and drawbacks to each approach.

[BagelRabbit]

Want to hear the most annoying sound in the world?

Fire 65 LV-1 engines at the same time

I do recommend turning the sound down or taking off your headphones for this challenge. The noise is not very pleasant, but I don’t see this as a problem with the challenge so much as it is a problem with the rocket engine noises.

This is a fun little challenge Here's my first go at a simple orbit-capable rocket:

http://imgur.com/a/tSHyR

132 parts on the pad. No fuel lines between the first-stage cores, but I'm guessing boosters that burn alongside a sustainer count as parallel staging. Assuming I'm not immediately disqualified for having docking RCS on the orbiter, I should earn the Kerb Kan, Fustercluck (before booster separation, 72 engines are firing at once), and Orbug distinctions.

I have more ideas on the way for a Mun landing

Congrants. While your craft does have RCS, it seems to have been able to make orbit quite easily without any monoprop, so this entry won’t be disqualified.

I’ll put you down for Kerb Kan, Fustercluck and Orbug. I’m sorry, I won’t give you ‘Veggies are for Wimps,’ but I will give you the ‘Back before Dinner’ distinction if you can give proof that your craft returned to Kerbin.

You can make as many entries as you want, but your name will only appear once on the scoreboard, for your best attempt made.

Just a question... is using several small engines better than using one big engine?

In real life, small engines have been proven to be more easily testable and more reliable than their larger counterparts. In addition, beyond a certain point, you can control your spacecraft by running some engines at a slightly higher throttle than others, resulting in a nice turn in the direction you want to go. Finally, if one clustered engine fails in real life, another engine on the other side of the rocket can simply shut off and the rest of the engines can be throttled up to compensate.

In KSP, clustering small engines is generally used to exploit engines with a good TWR and efficiency. For example, a small cluster of Rockomax 48-7s is far more efficient than an LV-909 or even a Poodle, in terms of their efficiency, high thrust and low weight.

[MarvinKitFox]

Your rules are... a bit open to abuse.

With that in mind, here is my first entry:

One LV-1 engine.

OneOscar-B tank

One cockpit, with a bored Jeb inside

Throttle to 100%. press space, immediately press x. End mission.

Get distinctions for:

Kerb can

Light lifter

Veggies are for wimps

Dragonfly

and/or Piece keeper

and Back before dinner.

:-)

I am *sure* this is not what you had in mind, but it fits correctly in your rules.

( a more serious entry is likely to follow later.....)

[BagelRabbit]

Your rules are... a bit open to abuse.

With that in mind, here is my first entry:

One LV-1 engine.

OneOscar-B tank

One cockpit, with a bored Jeb inside

Throttle to 100%. press space, immediately press x. End mission.

Get distinctions for:

Kerb can

Light lifter

Veggies are for wimps

Dragonfly

and/or Piece keeper

and Back before dinner.

:-)

I am *sure* this is not what you had in mind, but it fits correctly in your rules.

( a more serious entry is likely to follow later.....)

I was waiting for someone to bring this up.

In all of my other challenges (except for one), I've made the explicit statement "The rocket/plane should leave the pad," and for every one of these challenges, someone doesn't read all of the rules, because there are too many. Then, they are in for a big surprise when their design isn't legal. (My very first challenge was one where a plane had to drop off as many Kerbals as possible somewhere in the world, and the third rule down was "Don't use external command seats." Apparently, four separate people missed that one, and I had to disqualify their entries. Trust me, I do not want that to happen again.)

I'll add this to the rules (grumble grumble...)

[Jouni]

Here is the Minmus Ant:

202 parts, three stages, 96+24+2 engines. The first two stages are used for reaching LKO, and the third stage completes the trip.

It should qualify for Kerbal Kan, Big Bug, Veggies are for Wimps, Fustercluck, Minbug, and Back Before Dinner.

[ihtoit]

Just a question... is using several small engines better than using one big engine?

Referring to the engine tests performed in the Thrust KSC Land Speed Challenge from a few months ago, yes - at least horizontally, in terms of TWR. Efficiency definitely leaves something to be desired; I wouldn't mind seeing Luvodicus come up with an Ant-sized super nuclear engine with similar TWR and the legendary Luvodicus fuel efficiency of the (slightly OP) Super engines, or even the Poseidon's Revenge scaled down to Ant. That would almost certainly up the part count on my launchers, which invariably employ at least one Super Atomic (most often a cluster of 8 of them), on the heavier lifts 12 if there's room or 8 and a Poseidon's Revenge.

[Koolkei]

here's mine

the megaSMALL

Javascript is disabled. View full album

to orbit, to minmus, and back to kerbin (you can see im aerobraking on the last pic, and i forgot to take more ss after that, but i actually landed)

the first stage with asparagus staging had... ummmm

(8x3x2)x2 engines..... thats 96, the middle stage have 16 engines, the landing stage have 8 engines, and the return stage have 4 engines.

and i had almost full tank on the return trip....

with exccelent piloting, i guess it can go to duna.... but not back... but that excellent pilot is just not me...

Edited June 4, 2014 by Koolkei

[McFarnsworth]

So I (over)built a rocket for this challenge and I stumbled upon a few oddities regarding the distinctions. Despite the mission brief, the distinctions seem designed to keep you in the Kerbin system.

For example, my rocket can either land on Laythe, Duna, Ike, Eve or Gilly and it would qualify for just 4 distinctions (kerb can, big bug, fustercluck, somebug).

Alternatively, this same rocket can also land on the Mun and return to Kerbin so it would get 5 distinctions for flying an easier mission (kerb can, big bug, fustercluck, munbug, back before dinner).

However, strangely enough a much simpler version of the same rocket with some chutes slapped on and the asparagus staging removed is able to land on Minmus and return to Kerbin while getting 7 distinctions (kerb can, big bug, fustercluck, minmug, back before dinner, veggies are for wimps, dragonfly)

So maybe consider adding a distinction for escaping the Kerbin system, and possibly a few more for targets further out into the solar system to encourage exploration. Or you could assign points to the distinctions with harder ones getting more points.

I'll upload my, admittedly unspectacular, entry later today if I can be arsed to take and upload screenshots.

[Jouni]

For example, my rocket can either land on Laythe, Duna, Ike, Eve or Gilly and it would qualify for just 4 distinctions (kerb can, big bug, fustercluck, somebug).

Alternatively, this same rocket can also land on the Mun and return to Kerbin so it would get 5 distinctions for flying an easier mission (kerb can, big bug, fustercluck, munbug, back before dinner).

That's just how the delta-v requirements go. You need more delta-v for a Mun return mission than for landing on any planet with atmosphere. Duna and Eve are actually cheaper than a return trip to Minmus.

[KerbMav]

http://imgur.com/a/tSHyR

Was there ever a challenge to built cute little orbiters?

I think it is just that I do not use the smallish parts that often, but I like the design of this one very much.

[McFarnsworth]

That's just how the delta-v requirements go. You need more delta-v for a Mun return mission than for landing on any planet with atmosphere. Duna and Eve are actually cheaper than a return trip to Minmus.

Fair enough, bad example on my part perhaps, but the point still stands. With the current scoring system you get equal points if you do a minmus return trip or a moho return trip. And it's easier to score more points on the simpler mission since the scoring system seems to favour less complex craft.

Not trying to offend anyone here, I quite like the challenge, just saying that maybe there needs to be a bigger incentive to go interplanetary. OP's call of course.

[MockKnizzle]

Thanks KerbMav

I now present my Munar landing expedition!

Javascript is disabled. View full album

According to my calculations, this rocket should qualify for Kerb Kan, Big Bug, Veggies are for Wimps, Fustercluck, Munbug, and Back Before Dinner.

[BagelRabbit]

... Not trying to offend anyone here, I quite like the challenge, just saying that maybe there needs to be a bigger incentive to go interplanetary. OP's call of course.

I may add another designation based on leaving Kerbin's SOI. I still haven't decided on that.

Regardless, I tried my best to not put any ranking system in place, as this challenge is pretty broad and different craft are good in different ways. I may offer my kudos to you if you do something especially cool, regardless of how many or how few achievements you've earned. (You'll probably get a kudos if you visit another planet, or if you build an authentic-as-possible Apollo-style mission, or if something else tickles my fancy.)

Speaking of Apollo-style missions:

I now present my Munar landing expedition!

http://imgur.com/a/CUb7v

According to my calculations, this rocket should qualify for Kerb Kan, Big Bug, Veggies are for Wimps, Fustercluck, Munbug, and Back Before Dinner.

...this deserves some applause. Wonderful job. You have my kudos.

By the way:

I've updated the scoreboard, and now it has links, and is colorful and such. I've decided to color in the names of the planets or moons that you visit: Minmus is a green color, the Mun is neutral gray, etc. (I'll have to work out the colors for Tylo, Gilly, Ike, etc.)

[BagelRabbit]

Here's my entry, until I can do something better with this.

At liftoff, this craft has 64 engines burning, which is rather hard on the ears.

Second stage burns to a high suborbital trajectory with its 24 engines.

The third stage boosts the craft into orbit, through the Munar injection burn and orbit circularization burn, and all the way to a Munar suborbital trajectory.

The fourth stage lands on the Mun, with plenty of fuel to spare.

Back on Kerbin, with over three gallons of fuel to spare!

Also, at only 127 parts, this craft could certainly have another stage tacked on the back! Duna return mission, anyone?!

So, I get Veggies Are For Wimps, Fustercluck, Munbug, and Back Before Dinner with plenty of room to improve.

I've added another distinction for leaving Kerbin's SOI: The honorable Escaping the Madness distinction.