Cheapest Kerbal to orbit and back challange!

[DerpenWolf]

Kongress wants to get a kerbal into orbit and bring him back alive for as cheaply as possible! They don't care about going to space again so they wont be recovering any of the parts to be reused or sold.

Your mission:

- Get a kerbal into a stable orbit around kerbin and return him safely back to kerbin with the cheapest rocket possible (cheapest deployment cost)

Rules

-No mods, cheats (Debug menu especially), or exploits

-The price of your rocket is what it costs to build it, recovering parts doesn't count for getting any money back. The idea is to have the lowest deployment price possible, not to see who can make a SSTO that uses 1/2 a fuel. Deal with it...

-Submit your craft with a series of pictures and a description! A video is even better!

-The kerbal must come from the launched vehicle (no having you kerbal wait somewhere beforehand to hop on a command seat, the kerbal has to be deployed with the rocket! You can still use chairs, just remember you still have to pay for the capsule the kerbal comes from...)

Heres my NEW submission:

Cost: 2263

Good luck, I'm excited to see what everyone comes up with!

Leader Board

1: Derpenwolf - 2263

2:GoSlash27 - 5788

3: Pds314 - 9231

4:

5:

Edited July 20, 2014 by DerpenWolf

[Pds314]

Well, I have a very simple (15 parts) SSTO Spaceplane that can achieve orbit stock with about 1260 Delta-V to spare.

With the minimum fuel and oxidizer it can reach a stable orbit with, it only costs $9231.0.

It was built to be pretty cheap. Maybe you might be able to make a rocket do the same for cheaper, but that isn't reusable. My vehicle could be landed and immediately sent back up to go back into orbit without even the need for fuel.

In fact, mine only actually burns about $50-$60 of fuel reaching orbit and can land unpowered.

But I guess we have to be fair. The cost is $9231.0 per plane+fuel.

And yes, those are in fact ruddevatorons.

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[DerpenWolf]

Well, I have a very simple (15 parts) SSTO Spaceplane that can achieve orbit stock with about 1260 Delta-V to spare.

With the minimum fuel and oxidizer it can reach a stable orbit with, it only costs $9231.0.

It was built to be pretty cheap. Maybe you might be able to make a rocket do the same for cheaper, but that isn't reusable. My vehicle could be landed and immediately sent back up to go back into orbit without even the need for fuel.

In fact, mine only actually burns about $50-$60 of fuel reaching orbit and can land unpowered.

But I guess we have to be fair. The cost is $9231.0 per plane+fuel.

And yes, those are in fact ruddevatorons.

http://imgur.com/a/4qbZo

Yea, I'm not allowing recovery because I know the challenge will just become a contest on who can make a space-plane that uses the lowest amount of fuel possible, still your submission is still pretty cheap for a plane so nice work!

[SubzeroSpartan7]

I have actually made a craft that costs less than yours. I will have the video proof up soon to prove it. Very difficult, I went through several designs and configurations before using mine. Now it technically is your design with smaller fuel tanks.

[GoSlash27]

I made an SSTO for $4,400 ($5,788 including fuel & oxidizer). Not the cheapest, but certainly the ugliest!!

deathtrap1.craft

Edited July 20, 2014 by GoSlash27

[DerpenWolf]

I have actually made a craft that costs less than yours. I will have the video proof up soon to prove it. Very difficult, I went through several designs and configurations before using mine. Now it technically is your design with smaller fuel tanks.

I hope its cheap because the new version of my craft (Soon to replace the other on this thread) is significantly cheaper! Best of luck to you!

I made an SSTO for $4,400 ($5,788 including fuel & oxidizer). Not the cheapest, but certainly the ugliest!!

http://i52.photobucket.com/albums/g13/GoSlash27/KSP/deathtrap1_zps62484fb2.jpg

http://i52.photobucket.com/albums/g13/GoSlash27/KSP/deathtrap2_zps7e76a92b.jpg

http://i52.photobucket.com/albums/g13/GoSlash27/KSP/deathtrap3_zpsff2bbf73.jpg

http://i52.photobucket.com/albums/g13/GoSlash27/KSP/deathtrap4_zps477a5ac0.jpg

http://i52.photobucket.com/albums/g13/GoSlash27/KSP/deathtrap6_zps1c2ab519.jpg

http://i52.photobucket.com/albums/g13/GoSlash27/KSP/deathtrap7_zps73f2bcfe.jpg

http://i52.photobucket.com/albums/g13/GoSlash27/KSP/deathtrap8_zpsb0531990.jpg

deathtrap1.craft

I bet you could drop the price of this if you lose the 4 way adapter and use something else in its place! Either way neat design!

[GoSlash27]

I hope its cheap because the new version of my craft (Soon to replace the other on this thread) is significantly cheaper! Best of luck to you!

I bet you could drop the price of this if you lose the 4 way adapter and use something else in its place! Either way neat design!

Thanks! (ugly thing!!)

If I replace the quad adapter with cubic struts, the price falls to $5,052 and it still works the same way. I'm not gonna bother resubmitting for such a small savings, tho'. Callas was lucky to survive the first trip.

Best,

-Slashy

Edited July 20, 2014 by GoSlash27

[TheSpaceKing]

Wolf, If you used a clamp o tron Jr instead of a decoupler, you could save 100

[SubzeroSpartan7]

Alright here is the video for my craft.

[DerpenWolf]

Wolf, If you used a clamp o tron Jr instead of a decoupler, you could save 100

Cool!! Thanks for the advise

[Mathman]

Kongress wants to get a kerbal into orbit and bring him back alive for as cheaply as possible! They don't care about going to space again so they wont be recovering any of the parts to be reused or sold.

Leader Board

1: Derpenwolf - 2263

2:GoSlash27 - 5788

3: Pds314 - 9231

4:

5:

Derp

Your entry is minimalist, and works, barely. Don't know why other people with 4 to 5 times the cost keep entering. I thought I could trim maby 50 Kerbs, but could not replicate your cost. Can you post the .craft file?

[NikkyD]

With the part cost the way they are, derpenwolfs solution is the best one can achieve without exploits.

One could switch the 2 decouplers for clamps (saves 100 each) and maybe ultra fine tweak so that you can drop a bit of fuel, but thats it.

In theory you could even replace the engine for another booster. If all 3 boosters have an exact profile and mechjeb etc pp you could reach a stable orbit and use some sepratrons for reentry and landing.

(Can anyone please tell me the cost of a booster ? wiki says 450, my game says 325 but i never altered its cost)

[Tyler Deese]

I Could do 2150 by tweaking your design, but despite the disqualification, I would still submit this guy. A 1872 with command seat. The disqualifying the command seat leaves little room for design, which is why I said .... that. I made several versions of this before I finally found one I like. It is difficult to fly, but the parachute makes it very easy to land. I had to put part of the rocket engine inside of the docking port, which may or may not be considered exploit. Also the parachutes position would kill the kerbal if knocked out, but for following the objective and the game rules, I was able to do it for that price.