Into the drink

[Othuyeg]

Hello,

This is a challenge where you are tasked with building a fast ground vehicle. These vehicles are to be launched from the south pole station (the one with igloos) runway which is added in by the Kerbinside mod so this is a required mod for this challenge.

This is the one you want:

In addition to Kerbinside, you are allowed to use the following mods: B9, FAR/NEAR, Procedural Wing & Fairings, Tweakscale, KAS, Mechjeb (Yes, if you want, even the autopilot). No hyper edit! No alt+f12.

You must build a vehicle which does not leave the ground at any point and get it from the runway to the ocean as fast as possible.

I will be submitting my results shortly.

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Submit an image of your craft and an image of the final report after you have hit the water. (Crashing into the water at hypersonic speeds is recommended by the cool kids. The vehicle does not have to remain intact.)

Leaderboard:

Othuyeg - 3 min 23 seconds

Edited February 14, 2015 by Othuyeg

[Othuyeg]

Okay, my submission. Total mission time 3 minutes 23 seconds.

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[Othuyeg]

Seeing as nobody has shown any interest in this concept, I am compelled to ask if there is a problem with the challenge and if so what could be done to alter it.

Is it the mod requirement for the polar runway?

I think there are multiple things here that work to make this an interesting challenge. Steering, route, aerodynamics (Stability issues with FAR vs. stronger resistance in stock)

[hoioh]

Good guess, it is very likely the mod requirement.

You could change it to running down the length is the KSP area, that piece of grassland is pretty flat and I'd say quite big enough.

[Othuyeg]

The thing is KSC only has the length of the runway... It just doesn't test stability.

[Othuyeg]

Well, I am just going to have to compete against myself. Alone. On valentine's day.

I got under 3 minutes, but I still have things to improve.

Btw. I am playing with NEAR aerodynamics so it is actually quite fun.

[Munstation]

Sure, I'll have a quick go in a bit with FAR.

[hoioh]

The thing is KSC only has the length of the runway... It just doesn't test stability.

Nah, the flat green area around the KSC is MUCH larger than just the runway. If you hit the runway at those speeds you'd break into a million pieces. Just drive off the back of the runway and drive southward.

[Othuyeg]

the green bit will still not be near the tens of kilometers that you need to travel to reach the ocean when launching from the south pole station

I am going to keep the challenge based on south pole and will be monitoring entries and developing my own.

[Motokid600]

And even so the area around the KSC is no where near as flat as the poles. Ima download KerbinSide soon enough when I switch over to .90. I like this challenge. Oh and the fact that the poles don't have a beach. Just a cliff.

Which reminds me. What are you guys doing to prevent the craft from just taking off into the sky when you run off the cliff? Are you purposely diving downward to hit the ocean?

Edited February 13, 2015 by Motokid600

[Othuyeg]

My experience has shown that before the cliff there is a bump that will demolish the craft if going at high speeds. In a few cases my command pod has survived but it ends up in the ocean seconds later.

[Motokid600]

My experience has shown that before the cliff there is a bump that will demolish the craft if going at high speeds. In a few cases my command pod has survived but it ends up in the ocean seconds later.

THATS what that was, lol!

[Othuyeg]

Due to the speeds associated with the last meters of this journey, we can consider the bump as the boundary of the ocean.

[Othuyeg]

I am going to allow two more mods so use them if you wish: Procedural Wing & Fairings.