Spaceplane Speed Challenge III: Ice Skating on Minmus

[Wanderfound]

BREAKING NEWS! KERBODYNE RACING TEAM FINALLY SETS A TIME! (KINDA)

After a ridiculously prolonged build up, the Team Kerbodyne (renegade) Racing organisation has finally posted a time in the heats of the Minmus Ice Racing Championship.

Well, kinda.

Despite only posting the pathetic time of 152m/s, the first run of the Team Kerbodyne (renegade) Racing team has been disqualified due to bodywork damage.

Although the still anonymous pilots attempted to claim that "she's always looked like that, asymmetry is in this year", the judges nevertheless ruled that the time claimed by Team Kerbodyne (renegade) Racing was invalid due to the loss of substantial amounts of wing during the run.

Speaking on condition of anonymity, a spokeskerbal for Team Kerbodyne (renegade) Racing insisted that Kerbin race fans had not heard the last of their team.

"Those are our snacks! Touch them and die!" declared the Team Kerbodyne (renegade) Racing spokeskerbal.

Stay tuned; more exciting race news to come.

Edited August 28, 2014 by Wanderfound

[Wanderfound]

MINMUS UPDATE - KR-2L: Engine or Suicide Pact?

New footage from the Minmus crime scene reveals a shocking truth about the Kerbodyne engine department.

Recent surveillance images from Minmus reveal shocking details about the so-called KR-2L "engine". As can be seen below, this supposedly reliable "rocket" "motor" is in fact nothing less than a cunning plan to exterminate the entire Kerbal species.

What properly green-blooded Kerbal could resist such a beauty?

Really, an engine like this is just begging to be throttled.

(anyone who attempts to apply this turn of phrase to anything remotely approaching real life also deserves to be throttled. Consent: not just a catchphrase)

Unfortunately, the temptations of a Kerbal can often lead kim astray.

How long will it take for the entirety of Kerbalkind to be exterminated by this irresistable menace?

More news to come.

Edited August 28, 2014 by Wanderfound

[Wanderfound]

SCIENCE NEWS FROM MINMUS!

Recent footage from the Minmus Ice Racing Championships has revealed a previously unknown scientific mystery.

Although it had been assumed that a body as small as Kerbin's junior mun could not possibly have managed to retain an atmosphere, the observation of what appear to be repeated "aerodynamic" failures amongst raceplanes participating in the Minmus championships have cast doubt upon this previously established "fact".

Maybe we should try a slightly gentler approach.

Hey, this seems to be working.

Getting a bit tricky now, let's see if I can force it down again.

Nose wheel back down, 355.8m/s (AKA 1,280 km/h). Still not getting the screenshot timing quite right.

Oops, there goes a rudder.

Hang on, why are my control surfaces tearing off? There's no air up here!

Definitely something strange going on. We'll have to see if we can fit a few atmospheric research scientists onto the supporter's plane.

Oh, well, time to hit the brakes.

And set her down again.

Uh-oh, ran out of fuel for the VTOL Vernors.

This could get a bit tricky.

Still saveable, I reckon.

It's just a twist to the right...

...and a skip to the left.

See? Easy.

That's a bit unusual.

Safe and sound. Smooth.

So does this one count? The control surfaces weren't my fault, and I've still got most of my wings...

Stay tuned; more news to come.

Edited August 29, 2014 by Wanderfound

[Sirine]

@Wanderfound: Much appreciated if you could convert your screenshot file format from PNG to JPG, and save me tons of time waiting pics to show up? And well done on the Minmus Race.

[Wanderfound]

@Wanderfound: Much appreciated if you could convert your screenshot file format from PNG to JPG, and save me tons of time waiting pics to show up? And well done on the Minmus Race.

Okeydoke, will compress in future.

[Wanderfound]

NEWS IN BRIEF: TODAY'S RACING ACTION FROM MINMUS

Team Kerbodyne (renegade) Racing have continued with their steady lack of survivable racetrack performance.

Much of today's race time was instead spent attempting to track down any mechanical issues that could have been responsible for the mysteriously detachable control surfaces mentioned earlier. Although no obvious culprit was identified, the Team Kerbodyne (renegade) Racing mechanics have devised a creative solution: go into orbit and put the plane into a flat spin until all the control surfaces fly off before attempting to land on Minmus.

While this tactic may be of questionable legality, it does appear to be effective. Team Kerbodyne (renegade) Racing engineers are continuing to track the issue, but the improvised solution did allow the team to test out some new race tactics.

Sod this skating stuff, let's try an orbital skim.

Dropping steeply once past the hills.

That's pretty steep.

Still not fast enough, though. Gas it.

Flatten out...

Hmmn, still dropping a bit quick. Better hit the brakes.

I may have left this just a little bit too late.

Yup.

Uh-oh...

Bounce.

Hey, nice view.

Yup.

Tune in tomorrow for more exciting race news from Minmus.

Edited August 29, 2014 by Wanderfound

[Wanderfound]

Okay: I've got Kerbpaint working again, and I'm about start seriously populating Minmus with an audience.

Now or never: if you want your team represented in the grandstands and parking lot, let me know what your colours are.

[Laie]

What was that? I thought this challenge was about touching the flats with your landing gear?

[Wanderfound]

What was that? I thought this challenge was about touching the flats with your landing gear?

That's part of it; see the assorted leaderboards in the first post.

If you just want to set a time, that's fine; nothing more required. However, I'm planning on making an event of it, and I encourage anyone else who thinks it would be fun to do likewise.

Spectators, grandstands, start/finish lines, parking lots, concession stalls, whatever. Go as simple or as elaborate as you feel like. Have a poke through the "breaking news" posts upthread to get an idea of the sort of vibe I'm hoping for. Extra credit if you post screenshots of your plane spinning out of control into the grandstands.

I'm planning on having at least a hundred Kerbals in the audience, and I've got a fairly impressive finish line setup in the works. And, as mentioned upthread: Kerbpaint makes raceplanes look way cool, and I'd like a bit of diversity in the crowd.

So, if you feel like nominating your team colours (Team Kerbodyne Racing has dibs on red and black), I'll see what I can do about making sure that a few of your supporters are represented in the grandstands and parking lot during the Team Kerbodyne heats. If you feel like returning the favour, go for it.

No obligation, though; a bare time is fine if that's what you want to do. But, as you'll see from the leaderboards, I'm aiming for an event as well as a challenge.

Edited September 1, 2014 by Wanderfound

[Volcanix]

That's part of it; see the assorted leaderboards in the first post.

If you just want to set a time, that's fine; nothing more required. However, I'm planning on making an event of it, and I encourage anyone else who thinks it would be fun to do likewise.

Spectators, grandstands, start/finish lines, parking lots, concession stalls, whatever. Go as simple or as elaborate as you feel like. Have a poke through the "breaking news" posts upthread to get an idea of the sort of vibe I'm hoping for. Extra credit if you post screenshots of your plane spinning out of control into the grandstands.

I'm planning on having at least a hundred Kerbals in the audience, and I've got a fairly impressive finish line setup in the works. And, as mentioned upthread: Kerbpaint makes raceplanes look way cool, and I'd like a bit of diversity in the crowd.

So, if you feel like nominating your team colours (Team Kerbodyne Racing has dibs on red and black), I'll see what I can do about making sure that a few of your supporters are represented in the grandstands and parking lot during the Team Kerbodyne heats. If you feel like returning the favour, go for it.

http://i1378.photobucket.com/albums/ah120/craigmotbey/Ice%20racing%20on%20Minmus/3a0977e746535c82170862e0b1f64be7_zpsacccbc4f.jpg

No obligation, though; a bare time is fine if that's what you want to do. But, as you'll see from the leaderboards, I'm aiming for an event as well as a challenge.

You're gonna reach 1.000 posts today, I guarantee it.

How much audience do you want to put there? I've been waiting so long for your attempt D:

By the way, have you seen my PM?

[Wanderfound]

You're gonna reach 1.000 posts today, I guarantee it.

How much audience do you want to put there? I've been waiting so long for your attempt D:

By the way, have you seen my PM?

Yup, congrats. :-)

I'll get back to you on that, but it may have to wait a day; I've got a new doc to see tomorrow morning, so I need to try and get some sleep tonight.

[Laie]

If you just want to set a time, that's fine; nothing more required. However, I'm planning on making an event of it, and I encourage anyone else who thinks it would be fun to do likewise.

I certainly enjoy *seeing* it -- Kasuha's passengers rushing the gates in that Laythe Thread were quite cute. However, I just haven't the patience to set up something similar myself.

[Wanderfound]

Starting to get the scenery into place:

The first half of the start line / referee's observation post.

It would have been nice to get some shots of the descent, but I was a bit preoccupied at the time. Not the easiest of things to land in the dark.

Edited September 2, 2014 by Wanderfound

[Wanderfound]

Start and finish lines now in place; supporter's planes beginning to fill up the parking lot. Just gotta build the grandstands and I'm good to go.

I'm planning on featuring as many of the finalists from Sirine's "Better SSTO Spaceplane Challenge" in the scenery as possible. If there's anything else that anyone wants to show off, send me a craft file and I'll see what I can do.

Just so long as there aren't any mods required apart from SP+, the part count isn't so excessive that it would kill my laptop, and the ship has the range to reach Minmus and the ability to land on the ice flats. Doesn't even have to be a spaceplane; a few rocket landers parked in the background would be cool. Rovers welcome, if they come attached to a ship that can get them there.

Once I'm done, I'll post the save file as well in case anyone else wants to have a run with the same background scenery.

[Wanderfound]

Grandstand preparing to land on Minmus...

[Wanderfound]

Team Kerbodyne Racing finally puts in an appearance at the Minmus Iceracing Championships!

Finally unveiled, the official entry of Team Kerbodyne (not renegade, although occasionally a bit naughty) Racing: the Kerbodyne Icedancer.

Representatives from Kerbodyne SSTO Division report that a street-legal version of this craft will be made available for sale to the general public as soon as the winner of the prestigious Minmus Snackosaurusâ„¢ Cup is decided.

Although the construction of spectator concession facililties is still to be completed, the keenest of the Kerbodyne race fans were already in attendance.

While the mysterious "aerodynamic failures in vacuum" issue was finally tracked down to the result of sabotage affecting the Mechjeb cruise control unit of Team Kerbodyne (renegade) Racing, it appears that we have not heard the last of strange happenings upon Minmus. What could possibly be responsible for these bizarre angular lighting effects seen below?

Team Kerbodyne Racing lined up for their first practice run...

...and immediately achieved quite respectable speeds: 805.2m/s, AKA 2,898km/h.

Although there was a hint of desperation involved in clearing the hills at the end of their run.

Unfortunately, this hill-clearing effort saw the Kerbodyne Icedancer achieve Minmus escape velocity without sufficient fuel remaining to come back down. Therefore, this time is once again ruled invalid.

After the ship had been retrieved by the official race tug, the boys from Kerbodyne lined up for another go.

Fortunately, Team Kerbodyne Racing seem to have brought plenty of spare parts with them.

And hopefully a couple of spare pilots.

Stay tuned; more exciting race news to come.

Edited September 5, 2014 by Wanderfound

[Wanderfound]

More trial runs from the Minmus Iceracing Championships!

Crossing live to our onboard cameras...

Hmmn, the boys don't look quite as calm as you would expect from professional race pilots.

There's definitely something wrong here.

Going okay...

Getting a little bit squirrely.

Oh.

Back to the mechanics, I guess.

Stay tuned; more race news to come.

Edited September 5, 2014 by Wanderfound

[KITTYONFYRE]

http://i.imgur.com/q1hU2D7.png

This was a screencap (probably the most ghetto screenshot you're seen in your life) from my video. Too bad I forgot you need to come back down... It would have been "I'm winner!" Will update in a bit with success.

[KITTYONFYRE]

I'm winner! (edit: actually postponing video upload as to not ruin internet for all. expect it around 5 am est)

Video is exactly a gigabyte (lel) 60 fps 1080p. I will upload it overnight as my upload speed is abysmal. This is actually the first challenge I have ever done, and I play to win. Glad I got first (for now!) and I cannot wait to see who will beat me, and how.

Edited September 9, 2014 by KITTYONFYRE

[Wanderfound]

Nice.

Just to confirm: you got that thing from the KSC runway to Minmus without any refuelling after leaving Kerbin orbit? No Hyperedit or refuel-at-Minmus?

And surely you have at least one crash picture to share...

[KITTYONFYRE]

Nice.

Just to confirm: you got that thing from the KSC runway to Minmus without any refuelling after leaving Kerbin orbit? No Hyperedit or refuel-at-Minmus?

And surely you have at least one crash picture to share...

Uh... It never said anything about hyperedit in the OP, was it not allowed? I wasn't sure. I CAN get it out there (maybe) but as I have already r4ecorded the vid I will just post an album of how i WOULD have gotten it there, if needed.

And not much actually happened with crashes - as you'll see when it finishes uploading and I post it later (more delays, should be around 3:30 that you see it) I jst needed to keep the nose down, and COULDN'T for the whole lake, so I just flew into the air. Don't think many spectacular crashes happened if at all, sadly :/

[Wanderfound]

Uh... It never said anything about hyperedit in the OP, was it not allowed? I wasn't sure. I CAN get it out there (maybe) but as I have already r4ecorded the vid I will just post an album of how i WOULD have gotten it there, if needed.

And not much actually happened with crashes - as you'll see when it finishes uploading and I post it later (more delays, should be around 3:30 that you see it) I jst needed to keep the nose down, and COULDN'T for the whole lake, so I just flew into the air. Don't think many spectacular crashes happened if at all, sadly :/

That's fine; just so long as it can get to Minmus, and that you don't use more fuel in your run (and getting back to a stationary landing on the flats) than you would have left in the tanks after doing so. The 805.2m/s I posted above that was disqualified (due to inability to return to the flats after the run) would have been able to make it back if it had started with full tanks, but the amount used in getting to Minmus in the first place made the difference.

Fly it to Minmus once, and post a pic of it at your race starting position (in orbit or on the flats, depending on how you did it) with the resources tab visible to show that it doesn't have less fuel than your run (including stopping on the flats afterwards) required. You're free to refuel on the way from as high a Kerbin orbit as you can place a refuelling depot, though.

It does need to be something that can get from the KSC runway to Minmus, though; if it's never done that, you should do it at least once just to confirm that it can. I can build a ridiculously fast rocket sled on Kerbin, but making one that can also fly to Minmus and have enough fuel to race when it gets there is a significantly harder trick.

I must confess that I've been using Hyperedit myself to get some of the scenery in place; I did land the first of the "starting posts" manually, but I couldn't be bothered doing it three more times, particularly as my computer was being a bit crash-happy at the time.

And, as I said to Kasuha earlier, if you don't have any good crashes then you obviously weren't trying hard enough. Go faster.

(and remember to have fun while you're doing it)

[KITTYONFYRE]

Does it have to be single stage? If not I can get anything anywhere. Maybe. Idk, never been out of kerbin system. Just to be clear; I just need to get these craft to the same place, I don't need to redo my run?

[KITTYONFYRE]

I'm winner! Appears to be 30 fps for some reason though :/ I am sure I uploaded 60 fps. Oh well.

[Wanderfound]

Does it have to be single stage? If not I can get anything anywhere. Maybe. Idk, never been out of kerbin system. Just to be clear; I just need to get these craft to the same place, I don't need to redo my run?

As per the first post: single stage to Minmus, but refuelling in Kerbin orbit allowed. So, no dropping parts on the way, but using all of your fuel to reach Kerbin orbit, topping up there, then cruising to Minmus and doing the run with whatever's left in the tanks is all cool.

You'll need a docking port or other refuelling method if you're going for the orbital top-up, though.

If your ship was in a possible-by-the-rules state at the beginning of its run (i.e. tanks not 100% full; even if you didn't need the extra juice, weight matters), the time can stand. Otherwise, have another go; see if you can do it even faster.