Spaceplane Speed Challenge III: Ice Skating on Minmus

[Wanderfound]

And one more...

Take your favourite spaceplane [1]. Fly it to Minmus (refuelling in Kerbin orbit allowed if there's a docking port or EVA fuel hose).

Then see how fast you can ice skate on Minmus.

Start from the ground or do it touch-and-go from orbit; either is fine. But you need two screenshots: one showing your current speed while in contact with the surface of one of the Minmus flats (so careful screenshot timing is a factor as well; video is an obvious advantage), and one showing your craft intact [2] afterwards, stationary on one of the Minmus flats. Get your Kerbal out on the wing to wave for the victory picture. Show off your best unplanned disassemblies.

Bring whatever spaceplane you like, whatever mods you like, whatever engines you like. Must touch down with normal landing wheels, not girders or a sacrificial tyre on a stick.

FAR, NEAR and stock all welcome.

See http://www.fraps.com for one free video cap option.

[1] Or vertical SSTO if it can land on wheels. All craft, spaceplane or not, must be single stage to Minmus. Refuelling is allowed, deliberately dropping parts is not.

[2] Intact-ish. Honourable mention if you destroy your landing gear but survive to complete the challenge, but the ultimate prize is for the fastest intact spacecraft. This is a precision piloting challenge. Put those career mode part-testing skills to use.

[TABLE=class: outer_border, width: 500, align: center]

[TR]

[TD]

Best time from a flying start

[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD]Kasuha: 819.7m/s[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD][/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD][/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD][/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD][/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD][/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD][/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD][/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD][/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD][/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD][/TD]

[/TR]

[/TABLE]

[TABLE=class: outer_border, width: 500, align: center]

[TR]

[TD]

Best time from a ground start[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD]Sensi: 520m/s[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD]Kasuha: 94m/s[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD]Wingblaze: 64.2m/s[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD]Batz_10K: 59.4m/s[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD][/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD][/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD][/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD][/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD][/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD][/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD][/TD]

[/TR]

[/TABLE]

[TABLE=class: outer_border, width: 500, align: center]

[TR]

[TD]

Best time in a practical, non-optimised spaceplane[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD]Kasuha: 819.7m/s[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD]Batz_10K: 59.4m/s[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD][/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD][/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD][/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD][/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD][/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD][/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD][/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD][/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD][/TD]

[/TR]

[/TABLE]

[TABLE=class: outer_border, width: 500, align: center]

[TR]

[TD]

Best time overall[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD]Kasuha: 819.7m/s[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD]Sensi: 520m/s[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD]Wingblaze: 64.2m/s

[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD]Batz_10K: 59.4m/s[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD][/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD][/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD][/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD][/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD][/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD][/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD][/TD]

[/TR]

[/TABLE]

[TABLE=class: outer_border, width: 500, align: center]

[TR]

[TD]

Craziest contraption (community vote)[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD][/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD][/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD][/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD][/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD][/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD][/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD][/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD][/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD][/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD][/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD][/TD]

[/TR]

[/TABLE]

[TABLE=class: outer_border, width: 500, align: center]

[TR]

[TD]

Best looking plane (community vote)[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD][/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD][/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD][/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD][/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD][/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD][/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD][/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD][/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD][/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD][/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD][/TD]

[/TR]

[/TABLE]

[TABLE=class: outer_border, width: 500, align: center]

[TR]

[TD]

Best audience (community vote) [/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD][/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD][/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD][/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD][/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD][/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD][/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD][/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD][/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD][/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD][/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD][/TD]

[/TR]

[/TABLE]

[TABLE=class: outer_border, width: 500, align: center]

[TR]

[TD]

Best audience carnage screenshot (community vote)[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD][/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD][/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD][/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD][/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD][/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD][/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD][/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD][/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD][/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD][/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD][/TD]

[/TR]

[/TABLE]

[TABLE=class: outer_border, width: 500, align: center]

[TR]

[TD]

Highest debris apoapsis[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD]Sensi: (escape velocity? Got a m/s?)[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD][/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD][/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD][/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD][/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD][/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD][/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD][/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD][/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD][/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD][/TD]

[/TR]

[/TABLE]

[TABLE=class: outer_border, width: 500, align: center]

[TR]

[TD]Best exploding screenshot (community vote)[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD]Sensi: (candidate)[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD]Wingblaze: (candidate)[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD]Wanderfound: (candidate)[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD][/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD][/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD][/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD][/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD][/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD][/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD][/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD][/TD]

[/TR]

[/TABLE]

Edited September 24, 2014 by Wanderfound

[Batz_10K]

This is with my standard career-mode science lander (which just happens to look like a spaceplane...)

59.4m/s. Stock with informational mods (Kerbal Engineer/Kerbal Alarm Clock)

Bob does his victory wave.

I think you could do much higher speeds with a spaceplane that is specifically designed for this challenge (retrorockets to slow down with and lots of RCS fuel to keep you on the ground for a start..)

Takeoff

Rocket climbout after switching to closedcycle on the RAPIER

Docking and refuelling at the LKO station before heading out to Minmus

Approach and landing

[AlexanderB]

Its possible to far exceed orbital speeds on the ice, the trick is braking in time before you reach the end, the angle on the walls of the ice is very unforgiving at triple digits m/s.

[Wanderfound]

Got my plane all prettied up and ready. Gofasta Red, of course.

[Volcanix]

This is a pretty good idea for a challenge. Now give me the ability to build spaceplanes

[Wanderfound]

This is a pretty good idea for a challenge. Now give me the ability to build spaceplanes

Well, at least aerodynamics shouldn't matter much on Minmus.

Borrow a Goblin​ if you want.

EDIT: On second thought, don't; no docking port.

Longreach will do Kerbin to Minmus return on a single tank. Either Velociraptor can do it with a refuel in Kerbin orbit.

Or put a docking port on the Goblin and fiddle with the wings.

Edited August 25, 2014 by Wanderfound

[Kasuha]

Question: what is this challenge about?

1/ touch the surface at highest possible speed, then somehow stop and land (leaving the surface in the meantime)

- or -

2/ land on the surface and brake to stop without leaving it

Highest reasonable landing speed on Minmus is somewhere around 160 m/s. Above that you'll bounce back up to space unless you have engines that will push you down.

Highest speed for rolling on surface (with pushdown engines) is around 1300 m/s.

[Volcanix]

Question: what is this challenge about?

1/ touch the surface at highest possible speed, then somehow stop and land (leaving the surface in the meantime)

- or -

2/ land on the surface and brake to stop without leaving it

Highest reasonable landing speed on Minmus is somewhere around 160 m/s. Above that you'll bounce back up to space unless you have engines that will push you down.

Highest speed for rolling on surface (with pushdown engines) is around 1300 m/s.

Didn't that stand there?

Then see how fast you can ice skate on Minmus.

Start from the ground or do it touch-and-go from orbit; either is fine. But you need two screenshots: one showing your current speed while in contact with the surface of one of the Minmus flats (so careful screenshot timing is a factor as well; video is an obvious advantage), and one showing your craft intact [2] afterwards, stationary on one of the Minmus flats. Get your Kerbal out on the wing to wave for the victory picture. Show off your best unplanned disassemblies.

Otherwise I'm sorry, I think this is the answer: to start from the ground and brake and show a screenshot of your craft intact afterwards.

[Wanderfound]

Question: what is this challenge about?

1/ touch the surface at highest possible speed, then somehow stop and land (leaving the surface in the meantime)

- or -

2/ land on the surface and brake to stop without leaving it

Highest reasonable landing speed on Minmus is somewhere around 160 m/s. Above that you'll bounce back up to space unless you have engines that will push you down.

Highest speed for rolling on surface (with pushdown engines) is around 1300 m/s.

Either. Start from the surface or touch and go from orbit; your choice. If you survive, you can bump off the surface back into orbit and land on your next time around. You can even reach escape velocity before coming back if you want. But it has to be SSTMinmus (with refuel in Kerbin orbit only), and it has to touch down with the landing gear (not rover wheels) that it lands on.

If people start building and flying specialised SSTM downforce skaters, more power to 'em. We'll see who wins, groundforce skaters or orbital skimmers. On the ground you don't have to worry about descent rate but from the "air" you don't have to worry about braking.

Extra credit and possibly a separate leaderboard for good times in things that are just normal, practical spaceplanes rather than one-trick specialists, though.

Edited August 25, 2014 by Wanderfound

[Wanderfound]

Bonus points if you populate your ice flat with spectators and appropriate facilities first. Double bonus points for a flaming crash through the spectators.

Useful for spectator transport: http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/90747-Kerbodyne-SSTO-Division-Omnibus-Thread?p=1370535&viewfull=1#post1370535

Edited August 25, 2014 by Wanderfound

[Kasuha]

Okay, here's my short attempt. I claim 819.7 m/s from orbit and 94 m/s from stop. It sure is possible to improve.

Note it is a stock utility plane, I used it for a number of other challenges and my own missions already. Definitely not built, not even adapted for this challenge.

Javascript is disabled. View full album

[Wanderfound]

BREAKING NEWS! UNDERHANDED TRICKS SUSPECTED AT THE ICE RACES!

Just as Team Kerbodyne Racing fans prepared to say farewell to Gusdock Kerman and Shepry Kerman (no relation), both pilots were struck down by a mysterious paralytic illness well-known to fans of Scott Manley and Kurtjmac.

While undertaking final inspections of their ship the Kerbodyne Skydancer, first Gusdock and then Shepry were struck down by the mysterious "rag doll scarecrow paralysis" disorder.

Although Gundock insisted that he actually enjoyed his new, more rigid posture (he said it made it easier to get at those hard-to-reach internal engine compartments), Mission Control insisted on a scrub until the issue was investigated.

Had someone been tampering with the snacks? Why was one of the lights no longer working?

Tune in for more exciting news as race day approaches.

Edited August 26, 2014 by Wanderfound

[Wanderfound]

Tell me your team's colour scheme and we'll see if any of your supporters make it to my heats.

If anyone wants to do similar, Team Kerbodyne Racing ​are in black and red this year, as you can see by the paintjob on the team supporters' plane:

Edited August 26, 2014 by Wanderfound

[Wanderfound]

I considered keeping this as my surprise weapon, but in the interests of rules clarity: there's nothing stopping you from combining air and ground tactics. If you think it'll work, start from the ice and accelerate to ludicrous speed before flicking yourself just high enough to miss the edge of the flats. Take your time decelerating in orbit.

Start as a groundforce skater, end as an orbital skimmer. I think this will be the easiest way to crank serious speeds, and it should also provide good screenshots when people smack into the cliffs.

Pure orbital is still probably faster in theory, but getting a wheelskim at thousands of m/s orbital encounter speeds ain't gonna be simple.

[Wanderfound]

Also: must start grounded or from a stable Minmus orbit (so no coming in from a Kerbol slingshot), but immediately accelerating beyond escape velocity is fine.

[Wanderfound]

BREAKING NEWS! MORE SKULDUGGERY AT THE MINMUS ICE RACES!

Reports just in claim that a high-performance racing SSTO has been stolen during a break in at the Kerbodyne SSTO Division skunkworks. Whether this theft represents an attempt at competitive sabotage or just the hijinks of a few bored and drunk engineers remains to be seen.

The stolen aircraft appears to be a Kerbodyne Dementia which was being tuned by Kerbodyne engineers as a back-up race vehicle.

Hidden security cameras in the cockpit were unfortunately not able to get a clear facial image.

Images taken from outside the cockpit were so unclear as render the thieves indistinguishable from any other Kerbal.

Police pursuit vehicles reported impressive performance from the Kerbodyne spacecraft even without the use of its fearsome main engine.

And once the main engine was activated, all hope of pursuit was rapidly lost.

Further breaking news to come.

Edited August 26, 2014 by Wanderfound

[Kasuha]

I would like to suggest you to use Imgur albums instead of spoilers containing image lists. This forum has a good support for them and I find them easier to go through.

Also, you're the challenge starter and yet most of your posts so far are not related to the challenge at all. Maybe you could consider showcasing your cool plane in Spacecraft Exchange instead?

[Wanderfound]

I would like to suggest you to use Imgur albums instead of spoilers containing image lists. This forum has a good support for them and I find them easier to go through.

Also, you're the challenge starter and yet most of your posts so far are not related to the challenge at all. Maybe you could consider showcasing your cool plane in Spacecraft Exchange instead?

My apologies; not attempting to irritate anyone.

The reason I haven't posted a challenge time on this one yet is because I've been attempting to set up a good backdrop scene first. That's going to take some time; I'm hoping to have a decent crowd of spectators and related infrastructure. It's going to take quite a bit of construction and multiple deliveries to Minmus to set it all up. So far, I've been getting roughly one piece of the puzzle in place per day, but the final plan involves a couple of dozen pieces.

I also didn't want to spook the competition before the fun starts. I'm still waiting on someone to have a proper go at knocking over my scores on the economy or ascent challenges.

Messing about with the "breaking news" posts was a way of making use of the images made while I was flying things into place. It was also an attempt at building some silly hype for the challenge. I'm trying to make this into an event (for myself; y'all play however you want, although I'd love to see the screenshots if you make something cool) rather than just a numerical score.

It's also an attempt to encourage others to do the same, so long as they're good about spoilers or albums (rather than inflicting fifty images on the thread without a chance to avoid them, which is irritating). As mentioned in the original challenge post: screenshots of failures are highly encouraged, and are featured on the leaderboards. Stupid crash and near-miss pictures are officially part of the challenge.

I think one of the best things about these sorts of challenges is the opportunity they provide for entertaining mayhem, and I'd like to see what other folks get up to. If you casually set a time with an intact plane, then you obviously weren't trying hard enough: keep pushing the limits and shaving the time until the plane is no longer intact.

To be honest, I really don't care how fast anyone scrapes the ice; they're just numbers in a game. But watching a dozen imaginary planes shatter on the ice as I try to find the limits of what's possible...now that's fun. Telling us that you did it at X metres per second isn't that interesting, showing us the results of the fifteen attempts it took to get that time is interesting (to me, anyway).

Especially with the deliberately-silly news posts, I want people who aren't interested to be able to just skip by them. That's why they start as just a line of text and a spoiler tag. I've been using spoilers instead of albums because I find the albums irritating; they lag in the background and are a pain to navigate by touch screen, whereas a spoiler tag imposes nothing on your machine if you don't click it, and is simple for me to navigate after I do. If albums instead of spoilers are a forum norm that I was unaware of, I'll certainly change what I'm doing in respect to that. But I much prefer spoilers, personally.

All of the planes featured in the screenshots here are already up on my design thread; it's linked in my .sig. Yes, there's a bit of spruiking of my designs and showing off whatever is today's cool new plane in my postings, but that's mostly done as an in-character RP thing. When vehicle-manufacturing companies get into racing, they do it because they want to sell more vehicles. So I've been thinking about the challenge posts as part of my absolutely-not-at-all-serious, this-is-just-a-game marketing campaign. That's how I'm playing KSP at the moment; I'm having fun pretending to be running Kerbodyne as if it were a sportscar manufacturer.

I don't think that I've been gratuitous about it; the picture posts in the other three challenges were all genuine attempts at the challenge, and the two planes in the pictures here are actually going to be setting times on Minmus. The "theft" of the Dementia was done to set up an in-story reason for me to set a time with it before I've got the background setup for the "official" run completed. The "fan supporters" plane was to share my idea about having the colours of all the competitors represented in the background scenery, as well as sharing the possibility of using Shimmy's Throne in the grandstands. And I really am taking at least one of those big passenger planes to Minmus to provide the crowd of spectators.

If it bothers a bunch of folks I'll stop. But I enjoy putting together these little picture stories, I don't have much else to do these days (sick, housebound, for months), and I've been trying to construct them in a way so that anyone who isn't amused can skip on past with minimal distraction. I'd be more cautious of doing this in someone else's challenge thread, but as you point out I am the host of this one.

Y'all let me know if I'm messing up here. People stuff isn't my strong suit.

Edited August 26, 2014 by Wanderfound

[captainb]

Looks like a fun and most likely disasterous/hilarious challange. Considering I just so happen to have a spaceplane on Minmus right now. I might have to have a go at it tonight.

Also, Wanderfound, I'm enjoying your commentary. I don't find it to be over the top.

[Sensi]

Here comes the Kerrigan, an ordinary SSTO spaceplane totally not modified for this challenge. Yes, the LVT-30 nose cone and the L2 Atlas chimney are standard parts on all my spaceplanes

Start/stop on Minmus' surface. Fastest speed achieved without disintegrating : 520 m/s.

Fly safe.

Sensi.

Edited August 26, 2014 by Sensi

[Wanderfound]

Here comes the Kerrigan, an ordinary SSTO spaceplane totally not modified for this challenge. Yes, the LVT-30 nose cone and the L2 Atlas chimney are standard parts on all my spaceplanes

Start/stop on Minmus' surface. Fastest speed achieved without disintegrating : 520 m/s.

http://youtu.be/1j5KsUnF8W8

Fly safe.

Sensi.

Bravo. The way it should be done.

Up for another attempt with an audience and some grandstands?

[Volcanix]

Looks like a fun and most likely disasterous/hilarious challange. Considering I just so happen to have a spaceplane on Minmus right now. I might have to have a go at it tonight.

Also, Wanderfound, I'm enjoying your commentary. I don't find it to be over the top.

Exactly this. I also like your commentary. It adds something special to your threads, not like "This is the Kerbodyne SuperPlane Mk3. It has 9990m/s ∆V and is 100% recoverable. Here are pictures and the download link: [...]"

That's what I like. All that unnecessary "Marketing" stuff makes the whole Spaceplane posting thing a whole lot more interesting. Like you describe what's the plane good for at the beginning and then show some pics and not all that unnecessary stuff. Go on with that. But I don't think this is the right thread to post your spaceplanes, you should really do it in your Omnibus.. Division.. Kerbodyne.. Thread? *weird smile* as long as it doesn't compete in your challenge.

Here comes the Kerrigan, an ordinary SSTO spaceplane totally not modified for this challenge. Yes, the LVT-30 nose cone and the L2 Atlas chimney are standard parts on all my spaceplanes

Start/stop on Minmus' surface. Fastest speed achieved without disintegrating : 520 m/s.

http://youtu.be/1j5KsUnF8W8

Fly safe.

Sensi.

520m/s is a lot. The only problem is that my WLAN is so slow that the video won't load

But hey, it's pretty silent to live here, so I got that going for me, which is.. never mind.

[Wanderfound]

Exactly this. I also like your commentary. It adds something special to your threads, not like "This is the Kerbodyne SuperPlane Mk3. It has 9990m/s ∆V and is 100% recoverable. Here are pictures and the download link: [...]"

That's what I like. All that unnecessary "Marketing" stuff makes the whole Spaceplane posting thing a whole lot more interesting. Like you describe what's the plane good for at the beginning and then show some pics and not all that unnecessary stuff. Go on with that. But I don't think this is the right thread to post your spaceplanes, you should really do it in your Omnibus.. Division.. Kerbodyne.. Thread? *weird smile* as long as it doesn't compete in your challenge.

Anything posted here will be either competing or spectating on Minmus, and it will be shown doing something interesting, not just sitting in a showroom. That's how it always was; the fan Migration was the only exception to that, and I think Shimmy's Throne justified that one.

I may have to give up on the paintjobs, though; my laptop has been seriously crash-happy lately, and I suspect Kerbpaint is to blame. Hence the lack of racing livery on the "stolen" Dementia.

520m/s is a lot. The only problem is that my WLAN is so slow that the video won't load

But hey, it's pretty silent to live here, so I got that going for me, which is.. never mind.

The video is worth waiting for. Especially the second half.

Edited August 28, 2014 by Wanderfound

[Wanderfound]

BREAKING NEWS FROM MINMUS!

Reports just in state that the investigators pursuing the Kerbodyne Dementia stolen in yesterday's daring Skunkworks robbery have traced it to Minmus. The robbers seem to be using the vehicle to practice ice-racing runs.

To begin with, investigators assumed that their investigation was concluded. It appeared certain that the reckless piloting seen on Minmus was sure to rapidly bring to a close the careers of our unidentified spaceplane thieves.

However, orbital telescope images seem to show not just one vehicle on Minmus, but countless numbers of apparently identical Kerbodyne Dementia raceplanes. All of these vehicles appear to be piloted by suicidal lemmings with an unhealthy fascination for green ice.

Is this a new gang-related streetracing craze? Is this some strange new variation on the ice bucket challenge? Is the Dementia the hot new cult sportsplane for the youth of today?

Or are we instead seeing confirmation of the "many worlds" theory of physics? Is a giant Krakenhole about to appear and swallow Kerbin? And what happened to the snacks?

Closing in on Minmus, racetrack of the stars

A gentle approach...

First attempt: regardless of original trajectory, the thrust provided by the awesome Kerbodyne KR-2L powerplant of the Dementia makes it quite difficult to maintain heading. Should've put more Vernors on.

Note the current reading on the G-force meter.

But still, no biggie; just dust off and go around for another try.

Minmus looks rather small from this angle.

Let's try it with just the RAPIERs instead...

Oops.

Maybe if I just force the KR-2L down a bit harder.

Seems to be working...hang on, didn't I use to have landing gear?

Drat.

But what's this I see flying out of the debris? Could it be...no...

The HYPETRAIN? Flying on Minmus as promised?

Why yes, I think it is.

Another go with the RAPIERs; bouncy bouncy. Still working on piloting/screenshot coordination.

Mysteriously vanishing landing gear seems to be a consistent theme with the KR-2L.

Hey, another Hypetrain! Maybe the pilots will survive this one, too.

Nope.

What could be the explanation for these mysteriously inexhaustible hooligans? Are they immortal, or do they just reproduce very rapidly? If so, how are they doing that seeing as they seem to be 100% male?

Stay tuned; more news to come.

Edited August 28, 2014 by Wanderfound

[Volcanix]

The video is worth waiting for. Especially the second half.

Good. I'm waiting for this...

Stay tuned; more news to come.

...and this.