SpaceX sea landing challenge!

[Rolanvorxariat]

after watching many spaceX videos and watching kerbalessence's Falcon 9 sea barge landing video, i had to make a challenge like this. Here is the challenge:

(also, first challenge!)

Basically, do the sea landing. steps:

1. first, launch a landing pad. it has to be at least a kilometer from kSC. you can use hyperedit, hack gravity, put the barge on wheels, whatever. just get it into the ocean. pilot it to a location that might be easy to land on ( equatoral is recommended)

2. launch a Falcon 9 style craft. Search it up. you don't need a dragon style craft, just stick on a nose cone. you will be ditching the second stage anyways.

3. after you detach the second stage, quickly switch to the first stage. You need a probe core on the 1st stage, and i would HEAVILY recommend landing legs or modular girder segments. try to land it on the barge, without parachutes. watch kerbalessence's video for tips. it's in the daily kerbal.

BONUS: sail the barge with the rocket back to the KSC shoreline. DO NOT take it onto land, as most designs would just tip over

OTHER BONUS: get the second stage into orbit (docking with station is a extra, recommended bonus) on a re-creation of the first ascent

UNFAIR BONUS: Make it a video:P.

QUALIFICATION:

must have video/ screenshots of key areas, like the barge, the rocket launch, stage separation, descent, and touchdown (If you are going for bonuses, show the return, parked near KSC, and/or the stage 2 ascent and the stage 2 orbit)

No infinite fuel

Mods allowed, but if a mod is to overpowered, i will disqualify:mad:

more rules coming as i see entries.

I might make a scoreboard later

So, what are you waiting for? the public is anxious, and KASA is going to see whether it will help fund you. make History!

Scoreboard: (The order doesn't matter at all, it's just all when you post)

1. GeorgeG,

2.L3GO

3.silks

4.syhrus

5.Joshdog

6.

7.

8.

9.

10.

more slots if more people participate

Edited December 25, 2014 by Rolanvorxariat
Added more people

[GeorgeG]

Glad to see the challenge. I made my own today, for the heck of it. Was looking for someplace to post it on the forum, might as well be here.

I didn't plan for moving the "barge" back to shore, so I wont be going for that.

The barge is made up of dozens of 2 meter 800 liter tanks, part clipping on to allow them to merge into one. Each one has an engine on it. To move it to the ocean, it was flown like a massive pancake. But it was hard even for Mechjeb to maneuver and crashed a few times. I finally got it into the ocean safely, 9.2 kilometers away. I had wanted more distance but settled for that.

Made up a rocket to crudely represent the Falcon-9. .Launched it, climbed up, staged the second stage early, to leave fuel in the first stage, .and also before the first stage would fly past the barge since the barge was not as far out to sea as I'd prefer. .Mostly used Mechjeb for the landing. But even so it is not dead accurate, so I had to do some manual adjustment and several attempts. .Don't have any software to record the game video, so all I have are screenshots.

The Barge:

The simulated Falcon 9. Has a 2nd stage, and also a simulated "Dragon" capsule with service module (3rd stage). The Barge is 9.2 km away, as highlighted in the red text out in the ocean.

Climbout with 9 engines running. They are T-45's. Had to do some interesting work with cubic girders to get something to mount the legs to, so they could reach far enough down.

Shut the first stage down shortly after 10 km, then staged.

First stage beginning maneuver to land at barge

Coming in…..

DOWN!

On a duplicated flight, following the second stage after staging. The 2nd stage used one T-30, but also had eight 7-48 engines to help achieve adequate TWR. I used action groups to toggle off the 7-48's, in groups of 4, as the fuel was burned and it got light enough to not need as much thrust from them.

The simulated Falcon's Service Module had to fire its engine to make orbit. Of course if i had not used a real capsule/pod, only a tiny light probe pod and nose cone, then the 2nd stage could have made orbit by itself.

Proof of orbit due to periapsis of over 70 km

Coming in to land at KSC.

- GeorgeG

Edited December 18, 2014 by GeorgeG

[Rolanvorxariat]

Good Job, George!

i should change the rules. You still get bonus points for the second stage, but I meant on the same flight. But since it's impossible, I'll change the bonus to what you did

Dont worry, the video bonus is tiny anyways.

Edited December 18, 2014 by Rolanvorxariat

[L3GO]

As far as i know i was the first one to do this in KSP like last month.

[GeorgeG]

Good Job, George!

i should change the rules. You still get bonus points for the second stage, but I meant on the same flight. But since it's impossible, I'll change the bonus to what you did

Dont worry, the video bonus is tiny anyways.

Thanks.

I knew exactly what you were looking for, second stage into orbit on the same flight. I specifically pointed out that my 2nd stage was on a reflight for that reason.

As I said, I had already done it as my own personal project, capable of orbit and landing the simulated Dragon back at KSC. So I wasn't misunderstanding what you were looking for, just documenting what I had done. And hoping maybe for some unannounced "style points".....

Doing it on one flight is so hard that if it can be done, the flight profile would probably be nothing at all like SpaceX's Falcon.

I can imagine launching nearly straight up, the first stage so over-powered that it has an apoapsis of 200 km or whatever it needs to coast long enough for the 2nd stage to have time to make orbit. Maybe to help the first stage boost that high, use lots of Turbojets and plenty of air scoops. Or "cheat" and let the first stage "hover" vertically at 15-20 km on turbojet power for a few minutes. And/or, probably a "jackrabbit" second stage with a huge TWR. So, actually it may be possible do technically but not in a way that represents SpaceX's way other than technically landing on a barge.

So you might want to have a 2nd leaderboard for those who can technically get the 2nd stage into orbit but who do it in a way that is too far away from the Falcon-9's method.

There is an easier way to do it. Rephrase.... less difficult way to do it. Have the second stage boosted at a high enough loft above the atmosphere that the second stage will take long enough to coast up to apoapsis, to go back to land the Falcon first stage, then go back to the 2nd stage to complete the orbital insertion burn. But you specifically stated getting the 2nd stage into a stable orbit before landing the first stage, so that is why I didn't mention that. But you probably need to decide what to do about that. And that would be more realistic.

Bad news update, the real flight has been delayed to at least January 6th. A static test firing indicated a small problem, so they have to fix and retest. And due to the holidays and other issues, that means the launch slips at least 2.5 weeks.

- GeorgeG

Edited December 18, 2014 by GeorgeG

[chengong]

Why even have a score system when there is only like 3 possibly scores you can get.

[Rolanvorxariat]

Why even have a score system when there is only like 3 possibly scores you can get.

Can you give me some examples? This is my first challenge : P

[Rolanvorxariat]

As far as i know i was the first one to do this in KSP like last month.

http://i.imgur.com/R8eWADZ.jpg

Oh, i didn't know that! can you give me the thread or video that you did this in?

[L3GO]

Oh, i didn't know that! can you give me the thread or video that you did this in?

There was none i just posted it in a few threads that were up all ready.

[GeorgeG]

So, my all-out flight made specifically for the challenge. It did successfully get the second stage in a stable orbit before landing the first stage on the barge.

I decided to go with turbojets to make it easier to get the first stage to fly vertically to 100 km. I considered adding the jets to my original Falcon based on 2 meter tanks. But I realized all the extra engines and such would add so much mass that the stage would maneuver even slower than it did, which was a bit marginal. So, I built a new rocket based on 1 meter tanks, and a Mk 1 pod.

It took off only with the four turbojets running, beginning a vertical climb to 100 km.

At 20 km, the thrust started to drop, so the T-45 and four 7/48's were ignited.

The jets shut down at about 28km. The rocket continued up on rocket thrust until the projected apoapsis was 100 km, then the engines were shut down. The second stage was separated.

But both the 1st and 2nd stage coasted up to 100 km. As it neared 100 km, the second stage began its burn to insert itself into orbit directly (no second burn needed later). In the image below, the coasting first stage can be seen in the upper left just as the second stage started its burn.

After about 2 minutes, it was in orbit, 95 x 105 km, later tweaked to about 100 km circular.

Meanwhile, the first stage had begun descending. In the map view image below, the second stage is near center. The first stage is at the right., 86 km up

After switching to the 1st stage, it made its first correction burn to move "over" the location of the landing barge.

Then it descended tail first for a hot vertical re-entry.

It was a bit off, I did some manual adjustments.

Urrrggh….arrggh……

DOWN! Not as close to the center as I would have liked. But at least it was not off on the left or right sides, being on "the bow" of the improved barge was OK

The barge was upgraded, first by structurally improving it, and removing all the vertical thrust rocket engines, as it would be put into place in the water by HyperEdit, as allowed. I also emptied all the fuel/oxidizer from the tanks to improve floatation. Most importantly, gave it ten horizontal thrust rocket engines so it could make its way back to KSC. I used action groups on key 1 to toggle one left engine, and key 2 to toggle one right engine. This allowed for a very practical means of steering. For fuel, I used unlimited fuel for the trip back to shore, as allowed

It was a long boring trip back. Top speed of 5 m/s, and warping beyond 2x caused problems. So, I kept an eye on it as I did other things on another computer. It wanted to drift left a bit so I kept needing to shut down one right engine briefly, every once in awhile. And the last few hundred meters, more precise steering to bring it where I wanted it to end up.

Finally made it to shore, in line with the runway.

Meanwhile, in orbit, after doing a burn for a 100 km circular orbit, the "Dragon" capsule/SM was separated from the 2nd stage.

Then the second stage did a deorbit burn and…

..landed…..

HERE!

Well, that's what SpaceX wants to do, eventually (land second stages safely for re-use, not land that close to the ocean). Although it's a heck of a lot harder to do in the real world than in KSP, and also way harder real-world to be able to recover a 2nd stage in re-useable condition than a first stage.

Meanwhile, back again in space, the Dragon has made a transfer burn to take it from 100 km to 130 km

To rendezvous with this at 130 km.

And dock with it to deliver those Charmin supplies.

Then undock and…..

Come back.

And then the chute deploy….the chute… the chute? Oh SHOOT! The chute was left off for the docking port! Well, no matter, SpaceX also has plans for the Dragon capsule to eventually make a landing under thrust (though not with the SM).

So, it landed safely, near the second stage and the barge with the first stage.

Bill got out and headed over to take a closer look at the first stage on the barge.

End.

Of course, not exactly the kind of flight profile that SpaceX is using. And SpaceX is not using jet engines. But at least this does not use any special mods, it's stock other than Mecheb parts.

- GeorgeG

Edited December 20, 2014 by GeorgeG

[Rolanvorxariat]

So, my all-out flight made specifically for the challenge. It did successfully get the second stage in a stable orbit before landing the first stage on the barge.

I decided to go with turbojets to make it easier to get the first stage to fly vertically to 100 km. I considered adding the jets to my original Falcon based on 2 meter tanks. But I realized al the extra engines and such would add so much mass that the stage would maneuver even less slowly than it did, which was a bit marginal. So, I built a new rocket based on 1 meter tanks, and a Mk 1 pod.

It took off only with the four turbojets running, for a vertical climb to 100 km.

http://i.imgur.com/oXKyQZ6.jpg

At 20 km, the thrust started to drop, so the T-45 and four 7/48's were ignited.

http://i.imgur.com/gSyUyzg.jpg

The jets shut down at about 28km. The rocket continued up on rocket thrust until the projected apoapsis was 100 km, then the engines were shut down. The second stage was separated.

http://i.imgur.com/WgDAfc5.jpg

But both the 1st and 2nd stage coasted up to 100 km. As it neared 100 km, the second stage began its burn to insert itself into orbit directly (no second burn needed later). In the image below, the coasting first stage can be seen in the upper left just as the second stage started its burn.

http://i.imgur.com/OZlV4z2.jpg

After about 2 minutes, it was in orbit, 95 x 105 km, later tweaked to about 100 km circular.

http://i.imgur.com/Es6Edxz.jpg

Meanwhile, the first stage had begun descending. In the map view image below, the second stage is near center. The first stage is at the right., 86 km up

http://i.imgur.com/MfcG31K.jpg

After switching to the 1st stage, it made its first correction burn to move "over" the location of the landing barge.

Then it descended tail first for a hot vertical re-entry.

http://i.imgur.com/7LTRstL.jpg

It was a bit off, I did some manual adjustments.

http://i.imgur.com/ew9Rven.jpg

Urrrggh….arrggh……

http://i.imgur.com/BYHyS1g.jpg

DOWN! Not as close to the center as I would have liked. But at least it was not off on the left or right sides, being on "the bow" of the improved barge was OK

http://i.imgur.com/IizPVhI.jpg

The barge was upgraded, first by structurally improving it, and removing all the vertical thrust rocket engines, as it would be put into place in the water by HyperEdit, as allowed. I also emptied all the fuel/oxidizer from the tanks to improve floatation. Most importantly, gave it ten horizontal thrust rocket engines so it could make its way back to KSC. I used action groups on key 1 to toggle one left engine, and key 2 to toggle one right engine. This allowed for a very practical means of steering. For fuel, I used unlimited fuel for the trip back to shore, as allowed

http://i.imgur.com/O0h7U9M.jpg

It was a long boring trip back. Top speed of 5 m/s, and warping beyond 2x caused problems. So, I kept an eye on it as I did other things on another computer. It wanted to drift left a bit so I kept needing to shut down one right engine briefly, every once in awhile. And the last few hundred meters, more precise steering to bring it where I wanted it to end up.

http://i.imgur.com/ue8hO0D.jpg

Finally made it to shore, in line with the runway.

http://i.imgur.com/EcdDGFc.jpg

Meanwhile, in orbit, after doing a burn for a 100 km circular orbit, the "Dragon" capsule/SM was separated from the 2nd stage.

http://i.imgur.com/MVcFZhR.jpg

Then the second stage did a deorbit burn and…

http://i.imgur.com/V8RPv7o.jpg

..landed…..

http://i.imgur.com/lTu1mzN.jpg

HERE!

http://i.imgur.com/grqGNed.jpg

Well, that's what SpaceX wants to do, eventually (land second stages safely for re-use, not land that close to the ocean). Although it's a heck of a lot harder to do in the real world than in KSP, and also way harder real-world to be able to recover a 2nd stage in re-useable condition than a first stage.

Meanwhile, back again in space, the Dragon has made a transfer burn to take it from 100 km to 130 km

http://i.imgur.com/gZOUiQV.jpg

To rendezvous with this at 130 km.

http://i.imgur.com/OCF26xu.jpg

And dock with it to deliver those Charmin supplies.

http://i.imgur.com/2EgKjp9.jpg

Then undock and…..

http://i.imgur.com/OXqpTy6.jpg

Come back.

http://i.imgur.com/rlkkEks.jpg

And then the chute deploy….the chute… the chute? Oh SHOOT! The chute was left off for the docking port! Well, no matter, SpaceX also has plans for the Dragon capsule to eventually make a landing under thrust (though not with the SM).

http://i.imgur.com/jTBIxcM.jpg

So, it landed safely, near the second stage and the barge with the first stage.

http://i.imgur.com/m3cBgsy.jpg

Bill got out and headed over to take a closer look at the first stage on the barge.

http://i.imgur.com/DaF8qjL.jpg

End.

http://i.imgur.com/h2E2mXR.jpg

Of course, not exactly the kind of flight profile that SpaceX is using. And SpaceX is not using jet engines. But at least this does not use any special mods, it's stock other than Mecheb parts.

- GeorgeG

Amazing. I know spaceX wants to do a propulsive landing for the dragon and land the second stage.

Good Job, george. If i had a scoreboard and had more than two challengers, you would probably be first.

[silks]

4 out of 30 landings were successful for me. I hope the actual falcon's success rate will be greater than 13%.

This one has only 5 engines and 3 landing legs since the whole craft is smaller in scale.

Craft files: https://www.dropbox.com/s/bfbki4vfhcfyuyr/Ships.zip

Edited December 20, 2014 by silks

[Rolanvorxariat]

Silks+rep

georgeG+rep

nice video, silks! Now I need to go on you tube and like this video.

[GeorgeG]

Silks, nice job.

I wondered what those little things were under the barge…. then when it got to shore … surprise... it rolled up onto the surface.

- GeorgeG

[Syhrus]

I love this challenge! It's infuriating!

I'm going for a closer-to-real attempt with my design. I think it is slightly smaller than the actual barge (scaled), but I'm not really sure. I've done a low-altitude test successfully, but I can see why SpaceX has said there's a very high chance of failure. I'm about 40 attempts in (thank Squad for the quicksave key), and the best I've managed was accidentally rolling onto my side on the barge.

Enjoy:

(I'll probably make another attempt tomorrow)

Javascript is disabled. View full album

[Rolanvorxariat]

Hmm. Seeing all these entries, it makes me want to do my own challenge again, except this time, without crashing into the barge 0-0

EDIT: probably going to do it today, it's my birthday!

Edited December 23, 2014 by Rolanvorxariat

[Joshdog]

Here is my attempt!! got very close to missing and the landing gear just happend to get stuck in between some nodes! But considering the difficulty of this challenge, I say it's good haha.

[Rolanvorxariat]

Good job!

sorry guys, I haven't updated the scoreboard in a while. Stuffs happening. (Christmas)

[Rolanvorxariat]

The landing is tomorrow! hype!

[silks]

Well that was anticlimactic. I think it takes them 3 days now to reconfigure the action groups on the second stage engines which someone managed to bug out.

[SanderB]

I was so sad when SpaceX delayed again, I've been wanting this rocket to launch months in advance of the planned 16 Dec launch.

[Rolanvorxariat]

Ah... Delay... i have to write about somethingelse for my homework now...

[Rolanvorxariat]

The landing was a failure... I hope my attempt is not the same. I have done drougue assisted tests that landed in the ocean. Time for the grand challenge.