Eve SSTO: Now with cheaty goodness!

[GoSlash27]

After the preceding challenges, I think it's safe to say that an Eve SSTO is impossible without cheating. In the quest for a reusable Eve shuttle, I will now open up the rules a little and see what we can do.

The mission is to create a stock Eve SSTO. That is; all parts used to place the vehicle in orbit must remain attached to the vehicle throughout the flight. You are free to use infinigliding and gyrocopters, and otherwise take advantage of loopholes in the physics engine. You may *NOT*, however, use any cheats available in the debugging menu (infinite fuel, disabling gravity, etc), nor may you resort to non-stock parts or physics. The idea is to make a 100% reusable vehicle (other than fuel) that can successfully shuttle between Eve surface and low orbit.

Entries will be ranked by orbital velocity achieved, and vehicles created through violations of the rules will receive honorable mentions.

Update: Since ladder drives are essentially perpetual motion machines and I don't want an arms race to see who can climb the longest, I won't be accepting any more entries of this type.

Update: I have split the results into 2 classes; exhibition and practical. Lightweight would include unmanned probes, craft that do not have enclosed capsules/cockpits, and craft that do not have docking ports. Heavyweight entries must have an enclosed cockpit and docking port for the purpose of refueling.

Best of luck!

-Slashy

Exhibition Division

#1 TW1 "LadderLifter" 2,916 M/sec, 237 KM Ladder lifter<--- First submission to orbit

#2

#3

#4

#5

#6

#7

#8

#9

#10

Practical Division

#1 Tsevion "Krakenor VI" 1125x128 km orbit achieved! Kraken drive infiniglider <--First submission to orbit!

#2 GoSlash27 "Krakelicious Mk. 2" 119x125 orbit achieved! Kraken drive infiniglider

#3 GoSlash27 "EveExpress II" 935 M/sec, 54.1 KM Ion drive infiniglider

#4

#5

#6

#7

#8

#9

#10

Edited October 6, 2014 by GoSlash27

[TheKutKu]

NOOOO

I'M SURE IT CAN BE DONE!

And helicopters ( not gyroplanes) are not a "loopholes in the physics engine".

And doing an infiniglider is easier than doing a Gyroplane/Helicopter, can you make 2 different leadeboards?

Edited August 8, 2014 by TheKutKu

[Kasuha]

And helicopters ( not gyroplanes) are not a "loopholes in the physics engine".

IMO anything using torque to power rotating wings cannot count as a loophole, that's how helicopters work in real world. And I would even say infiniglide is not physics abuse because while definitely not realistic it is so tightly tied with KSP aerodynamics that it's hard to avoid or even define where it's still ok and where it's cheating.

I think the simplest physics abuse to get to orbit is ladder engine.

[Tw1]

I think the simplest physics abuse to get to orbit is ladder engine.

And here it is:

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Technically, I just claimed the record for lightest stock parts only Eve ascent...

While technically, the ladderforce frame is capable of SSTO ascents, landing it would be very difficult. With 0.1 additional mass, the Eve TWR drops below one, so it would have to be a "powered" landing, unless it could somehow be made to glide with tiny wings..

Plus, the lack of seats makes rendezvous complex, through not impossible.

No docking port on this one, but it might still work if one was added.

Edited August 8, 2014 by Tw1

[GoSlash27]

TheKutKu,

Don't worry, the other challenge is still open. Also... My goal is to see what can be accomplished, not promoting one way of doing it over another. If you create the first successful helicopter, it will be noted.

Kashua,

Opinions vary on that. The important thing is that they're legal for this challenge.

Best,

-Slashy

[Tw1]

Update: Since ladder drives are essentially perpetual motion machines and I don't want an arms race to see who can climb the longest, I won't be accepting any more entries of this type.

Oh poop. I guess I don't need this landing and return (just about) capable version then...

So much careful engineering and physics exploitation....

While ladder engine craft aren't easy to make, delta V is not exactly a limit that applies...

Edited August 8, 2014 by Tw1

[problemecium]

Better start learning how to make a Kraken Drive I suppose...

[RuBisCO]

I'm not a contender because I'm not using stock parts, but this is my Eve SSTO for delivering parts to my Eve base and shuttling crews and life support:

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Balloons are more realistic then infiniglide or gyrocopter, I can float to 30 km, from there I can get to a 110 km orbit with just ~4500 m/s of DeltaV using one big KR-2L. KW parts makes everything look slick, I think all that is stock (no including the KR-2L which is pseudo-stock) is the 2.5 m SAS ring, solar panels and ladders. The robotics parts let me use half the balloons as landing gear.

[goduranus]

how fast can you make ion gliders on Eve? if you can get it above 800m/s then a kraken drive will take it the rest of the way.

[GoSlash27]

how fast can you make ion gliders on Eve? if you can get it above 800m/s then a kraken drive will take it the rest of the way.

Do kraken drives still work? I heard they had fixed that a while back...

-Slashy

[goduranus]

Mine still works. Given about a week of climbing time, this thing will SSTO from anywhere, then use its rockets for a boost to fast mode.

http://kerbal.curseforge.com/shareables/223310-stock-reactionless-drive-craft-event-horizon

Press 6 to activate kraken drive.

Edited August 12, 2014 by goduranus

[GoSlash27]

I'm working on a practical infiniglider with ion engines, but I don't know how to hyperedit for Eve, so I'm testing on Kerbin. My last run was 34.9 KM altitude at an orbital velocity of 1,719 M/sec. Gotta find about 500 m/s of efficiency somewhere...

[goduranus]

I tried to combine one of your planes with a small kraken drive someone else posted, it's got enough speed for fast mode, but that particular one was broken by the patch. I will try to redesign one, and it should reach orbit.

[Laie]

I'm working on a practical infiniglider with ion engines, but I don't know how to hyperedit for Eve, so I'm testing on Kerbin. My last run was 34.9 KM altitude at an orbital velocity of 1,719 M/sec. Gotta find about 500 m/s of efficiency somewhere...

???

Just for lulz, I ripped the wings off my glider and replaced them with an equivalent amount of delta-deluxe winglets. Business as usual until 20 km, I already wondered whether that inifiniglide thing was really strong enough to invalidate anything with a control surface. But after 20km, the effect was undeniable. 30km still was an obstacle, but more a hill then a wall. Past 30km, the climb rate went through the ceiling, the vessel was quick to follow.

TL;DR: replace wings with winglets. Fly as usual. Enjoy.

[GoSlash27]

???

Just for lulz, I ripped the wings off my glider and replaced them with an equivalent amount of delta-deluxe winglets. Business as usual until 20 km, I already wondered whether that inifiniglide thing was really strong enough to invalidate anything with a control surface. But after 20km, the effect was undeniable. 30km still was an obstacle, but more a hill then a wall. Past 30km, the climb rate went through the ceiling, the vessel was quick to follow.

TL;DR: replace wings with winglets. Fly as usual. Enjoy.

I'm less than 100 M/sec away from stable orbit now. Jeb just ran a (barely) suborbital circumnavigation around Kerbin and set it down on the runway at KSC. A couple more tweaks and I should have it. This is with a lander can and clamp-o-tron junior.

/small control surface > delta deluxe

-Slashy

Edited August 13, 2014 by GoSlash27

[GoSlash27]

Success! Jeb got himself a free ride into orbit. Now to figure out how to hyperedit one of these to Eve for further testing...

[Kasuha]

Hyperedit a ship to Eve low atmo: first put it in a really high orbit, almost at SOI boundary. Its orbital speed is low enough there to be safe to put it in landing mode.

[GoSlash27]

Roger that... I just don't know how to do that.

Best,

-Slashy

[goduranus]

Save with your ships deployed slightly above ground, open the persistent.sfs in your save, search for your ship's name. Find this bit under it:

            {
       SMA = 254455.858162046
       ECC = 0.00162508745532466
       INC = 89.3354083743924
       LPE = 329.14994596865
       LAN = 104.888197651799
       MNA = 5.92262687496016
       EPH = 587821.70631226
       REF = 1
      }

and change REF to 5.

Make sure you backup your save file before editing

Edited August 13, 2014 by goduranus

[Kasuha]

Hyperediting is easiest done using the Hyperedit mod. Sorry for not posting a link but it's a bit too bothersome from a mobile device so just google, download, install, and invoke its interface by pressing Alt+H. To land a ship on a body of your choice you need to put it in its orbit first, then use the landing function.

[goduranus]

Slash, can you build up my kraken drive craft to make it infiniglide? Seeing you're good building them. I tried to build a small kraken drive to fit your ion planes and infinigliders, but kraken drives with small landing gear no longer works for me.

[GoSlash27]

Slash, can you build up my kraken drive craft to make it infiniglide? Seeing you're good building them. I tried to build a small kraken drive to fit your ion planes and infinigliders, but kraken drives with small landing gear no longer works for me.

Godranus,

I've never played with kraken drives before. Sounds interesting.

I'm still working on my Eve SSTO, so I can't pick that up right away.

-Slashy

[GoSlash27]

Update:

I think this one's very close to being Eve SSTO capable. After launching from KSC, it's still got nearly half it's fuel. I've also added monopropellant and reaction thrusters for docking.

I'll give it an Eve test flight later in the week.

-Slashy

[GoSlash27]

It's been a while, but I'm finally able to play KSP again in small doses.

The Eve Express II completed it's maiden flight from the surface of Eve. The results were... underwhelming

935 M/sec orbital velocity and 54.1 KM altitude.

I'll give it a few runs with different profiles, but I don't think this one's gonna cut it.

Best,

-Slashy

[Cal'Mihe]

What if you take out the monopropellant in the capsules GoSlash ? If you're not using it anyway, the difference in weight might provide an advantagde.