Can You Go to Eeloo and Back Using Less Than Ten Parts?

Less is more.
My Discord: / discord
KSP playlist: • Kerbal Space Program

[@ReidCaptain]

Funny story about this video: The original plan was to use ten parts since that was a nice even number, but I removed a decoupler at some point when trying to attach the boosters, so it ended up being nine parts. If you guys like the video I might try a more involved jool mission with even fewer parts!

[@notatimelord21]

Now go to eeloo with spark engines

[@fRiX15]

Go to Jool with Just 7 parts

[@ArcadiaShibe]

CaN yOu gO to tHe MoOn wiTh OnE pART?

[@The_Redstone_Robot]

Use only the least efficient boosters, not the least powerful, the least efficient. (Unless they are the same or one that you have already used.)

[@fresanegra77]

I have an idea for kerbal space, I know it is really easy to you but, I challenge you to get to the moon in KSP with the biggest and heaviest rocket possible :3

[@snowboyz0825]

"and I lost my fuel tank, and that makes burning fuel a lot harder" You don't say?

[@catman404]

Hmmmmmmmm…

[@litterallyjustwater]

Wait it does? No wonder my rockets don't work...

[@ROM_ror2]

Thought it'd make it easier due to less weight, now I know why my rockets don't work

[@litterallyjustwater]

@@ROM_ror2 yea apparently rocket engines need combustible fuel to make the fiery stuff go out of the engine...

[@hamburgerhamburgerv2]

*then what is my rocket burning?*

[@hera5614]

can i point out that this mission started at year 0, and ended at nearly year 500?

[@YMandarin]

thats ksp interplanetary for you now imagine a grand tour with gravity assists...

[@derpthefish929]

Kerbals are made of vegetables it doesn’t matter

[@onurertas5567]

yes.

[@YMandarin]

@@derpthefish929 or fungi

[@fork9001]

@@YMandarin Fungi depend on organic matter for food. That’s not readily available, whereas with plants, you can recycle the water and food whilst getting a lot of light for photosynthesis.

[@randomcarbonaccumulation6478]

I know that people have used lithostaging and thermostaging on low-part-count challenges before, but krakenstaging is a first for me.

[@wageofconsent2565]

Yeah lol

[@rawpotato1767]

What do the first two mean?

[@bruhmomentum-u7n]

@@rawpotato1767 Lithostaging is using the surface of a planet or moon to separate a craft, basically a fancy way of crashing. A good example of lithostaging is in Bradley Whistance's 2 part eve mission. Thermostaging is probably referring to using a booster's exhaust to burn away the part below it.

[@nether_bat]

@@bruhmomentum-u7n thermostaging can also be done with a planets atmosphere, as seen in stratzenbltz75 3 parts to duna, ike and mintmus video

[@net343]

@@rawpotato1767 burn parts with the atmosphere reentry effect (thermo) and crash parts (litho)

[@syntax6788]

5:19 Reid Captain: “I actually do not understand what’s going on” The physics engine: “Me neither kid. Me neither”

[@nightwolf7231]

cries in kraken and all the other physic's monsters

[@tixeright9120]

Hey it only took 487 kerbin years. Imagine a earth-mission taking that long. The nations wouldn't even be the same nations, and the languages wouldn't be much the same either. If you don't care how long it takes, you can go anywhere you want in space, but you truly can't go home again!

[@ReidCaptain]

Thats deep

[@eee_eee]

Thats shallow

[@user-ns4st9ls7y]

Thats medium depth

[@bharatkikhoj3249]

That’s medium shallow

[@roboticfuzzball179]

I really regret most my decisions

[@JonahsEpicYT]

Well now we know that Kerbals have a lifespan of 450+ years

[@thebearslicer7736]

you should try a multi-planet mission, like go to multiple planets in 1 mission

[@Roaxial]

yeah, so like, he goes to a planet, then goes to another planet, but like, in the same mission

[@LaplaceVI]

so basically you travel to another celestial body then within the same operation, or as some would say, mission, you then travel to a different, not-visited before in the same mission, celestial body.

[@ewbaite]

Bradley whistance did a all planet bodys with no refiels so I doubt he can top that but we'll see

[@alexsiemers7898]

@@ewbaite no, he did refuel on every body but also did it in 10 parts. All planets without refueling is basically impossible due to the absurd part count involved.

[@xandersfs2346]

I’d really like to see that

[@MilkshakePurchaser]

Minimalism Challenges are the best and tbh I think most humans are naturally curious about limits regardless of how niche a topic is

[@smitty7510]

Over the course of 6 months I went from a 40 ton return Duna mission to a 9ton one

[@aerodynamickerbal]

Imagine being Bob Kerman. The time has come for you to land, so you eject and deploy your parachute, as your capsule is still plummeting down to the ground. It explodes. As you touch down, you see a kerbal, confused. "Who are you?", the citizen asks you. You respond: "I'm Bob. Bob Kerman, famous kerbonaut, returning from a 500 year old mission" "Wait, weren't you in the crew of the Eeloo 9 parts?" "Yes, yes I was. Ah, good times they were... Hey, after all could you bring me to the Kerbal Space Center" "You mean that old place that didn't have active launches in half a millennium?" "I... Guess..." You both walk to his house, where you take a plane. But you recognise this plane. "Hey, what is your name?" "Im Jebediah Kerman" "J...Jeb?" "B...Bob?" This is your good old friend, Jeb. "What are you doing here, in the middle of nowhere?" "Well, since your launch we never really had launches. Just a satellite. That was going to search for you. We lost contact since year 1. We tracked a different craft that crashed into the Mun. After your loss, I just couldn't take it. I locked myself in my room in the Kerbonaut facility for 10 weeks. After 10 years we decided to stop missions. But you came back!" "Lets reboot the KSC, first lets get all kerbonauts!" You land near every kerbonaut's house and pick them up. The KSC is getting in sight. Gene Kerman is ok with it. After 500 years, its finally open again! The first launch is The Moho in 5 parts. It succeeded, so there are even more missions. Its still going!

[@Williamslamaeiland]

Dude, reach out to Hollywood or something. "Kerbal Space Program: The Jeb-pire strikes back"

[@aerodynamickerbal]

@@Williamslamaeiland Thats a job Matt Lowne can do

[@Williamslamaeiland]

@@aerodynamickerbal yea

[@iamdave2607]

Bro fr wrote a whole fanfic in the comments

[@janprijmeni2942]

This comment is so underrated

[@limeylime8027]

Ahhh I see, so it is possible to get to eeloo with 9 parts And it only took 500 years!!

[@jmejuniper]

*Kerbal years They are very different to earth years.

[@ididntaskforthat8208]

They are like 1/10th of what our years are lol

[@fangier0]

@@ididntaskforthat8208 Still it took 50 years

[@Warriorking.1963]

I'm just glad I wasn't the one to open the hatch when Bob finally landed back on Kerbin! 💩🥴

[@andreipoplauschi180]

@@ididntaskforthat8208 so...50 years...while that is a lot shorter in the long run someone in there 20 to 30s would still die of old age by the time the mission is done

[@m.n.m.ink.784]

I suggest you do a mission to jool using every single part only once, no more, no less.

[@ThatTwoPolishGuy]

487 years 💀

[@tackyinbention6248]

I think that you could have saved even more deltav by bringing bill instead! cus he is an engineer kerbal so he can move small parts like nose cones and engines

[@notjebbutstillakerbal]

Remember an antenna.

[@chaineryt9211]

I’m a pretty new subscriber but I just want to say these videos are amazing! Just a tip for a game is stormworks build and rescue, it’s a really solid game with both planes and boats! Anyways I love your videos!

[@T-minus-infinite]

I have been suggesting this for months, glad im not the only one

[@The_Bird_Bird_Harder]

Some people love stormworks, some people hate stormworks, they are the same person.

[@The_Bird_Bird_Harder]

Also you can make sail powered trains it's awesome.

[@ctvaughan6623]

Man those kerbels must live a long time. This was a 487 year long mission and he still looks good as new

[@bartoszkola621]

Your video convinced me to try the low part challange. I managed to go to Eeloo and back with only 3 parts. The rocket and takeof is similar to stratzenblitz 3 parts mission with thermostaging which gave me 3100 m/s dv. Then I've used gravity assist chain of Kerbin-Mun-Eve-Eve-Kerbin-Jool-Tylo to get to Eeloo with only 1650 m/s. The circulization at 5k took around 350 m/s. Then used a mass driver to launch my pilot (just like stratzenblitz/danny2462) to the surface. The pilot had an extra eva fuel tank and managed to land, plant a flag, go back to orbit and rendezvous with rocket. After that I've spent 400 m/s to go back to Jool and then used another 200 m/s doing gravity assists of Tylo-Laythe-Jool-Tylo-Jool-Laythe to slingshot to Eve. Then spent another 200m/s to go back to Kerbin and aerobreak enough to capture an orbit burning the rest of my fuel (around 250 m/s) and go home. The mission was tedious and took 28 years of in game time. Gravity assist is the core of the low part missions. For calculating and doing the multiple gravity chains I've used KSP Trajectory Optimization Tool and mechjeb.

[@eee_eee]

I suggest going to a more professional channel with better learned people

[@bartoszkola621]

@@eee_eee I enjoy watching Reid KSP jurneys. He has potential to be very good at this game and i'm counting on him.

[@TheEpicDragonCat]

Cool challenge, but might I point out that Eve and Kerbin are way better for gravity assists. Yes they have bigger atmospheres, but way more gravity. Therefore you only need 3 or so assists to get to Jool instead of 8. The best way to do it is slingshot off Eve, then Kerbin, and Kerbin again.

[@Cysfer]

Just a casual 487 year long mission.

[@erher1433]

I always forget you play KSP and think it's Matt so I click and get a nice suprise :D

[@eekee6034]

Using a Mammoth engine on a decoupler with a high-efficiency engine behind it is what I did for my fuel tanker. As I wasn't going for minimalism, I used a Poodle engine. (I didn't have the Wolfhound, nor 5m parts either.) The first time I launched it, the long tanker slowly keeled over on the launch pad! :D This was with a 3.5m decoupler! It was like yours but with much less bouncing and a slower initial tilt. I had no way of knowing autostrut existed at the time, so I had to add a load of struts to steady it. The tanker worked out really well, though it does tend to have burn times as long as nuclear ships. One day, I had 3 11-minute burns in a row: this huge tanker, a large nuclear ship, and a tiny ion probe, though the ion probe broke the combo by running out of electricity. :)

[@blueshirt1074]

I like how you manage to do things i will not be able to do in a lifetime

[@tvbot6496]

What color is your shirt?

[@camera1946]

@@tvbot6496 I think its brown. idk.

[@tvbot6496]

@@camera1946 maybe it’s a new color

[@blueshirt1074]

@@tvbot6496 i invented it 😎

[@nightwolf7231]

using the shock drop method I see for the boosters, very useful for minimalist challenges only works for up to two boosters as far as I know though

[@gamerboy7224]

This is Really impressive! good job! A few tips i have Are: 1) you can more efficiently gravity-assist off of eve and kerbin, as they have much higher gravities than duna 1b) So at the start, you could have done an E-K-K-(D?)-J gravity assist instead of a thousand duna ones. 1c)The same could be said the return, you could have used jool to get an eve/kerbin GA which would have significantly sped up the process and increased efficiency. 2) maybe try somehow getting rid of the nosecone? Or get rid of the need for one, I think there is some sort of bug with heat shields or fairings of the sort that allow using the kraken to get rid of drag 3) not really a tip but using an ion engine with an RTG could work, although i'd rather not put you through the ultimate trial of patience especially considering you don't have Better Time Warp

[@ismailaliyavuz9671]

Ultime trial of patience cjkgngkgng How long it takes?

[@RedHarlow1886]

Idea, getting to orbit with only RCS thrusters

[@mkzhero]

That's pretty easy actually

[@alexanderkuhn2298]

If you ever want to offset multiple engines again you can view the "center of thrust" by clicking an icon in the lower left in the VAB. If its to the left or right of your center of mass your rocket will spin around! So just move them until they line up and presto you got a goofy rocket that works now

[@DarkSlayer9587]

It's been a few years since I've played ksp, but iirc there's a mod called scatterer that would let you turn up the ship ambient light even when on the backside of planets. Really useful for you to videos since KZbin likes to make dark things darker.

[@vikkimcdonough6153]

You can do that in the stock game settings as well (look for the "Ambient Light Boost" sliders).

[@DarkSlayer9587]

@@vikkimcdonough6153 ooo new feature!

[@Delphinus-Keya]

You take 9 parts to Eeloo, while I use the equivalant of an American fuel refinery to get to the Mun lol. Good Job.

[@curlybrace4984]

Random question, are you nilered? You sound exactly like nilered in every way possible.

[@thatoneguy8966]

1:22 the rocket hits that yoinky sploinky

[@mr.crumpet5224]

big ups to Bob for spending 500 years in space 🔥

[@YMandarin]

did you try removing the nosecone? I think it would work without it, and that would save a part and a lot of weight on the top

[@ReidCaptain]

It would have been nice yeah. I thought about it a little but since 10 parts was my goal anyway I just left it on

[@mkzhero]

Nope. Nose cones barely weigh anything, even the biggest ones, yet they allow to save way more delta v than the extra weight deducts. There's almost never a reason to NOT use them.

[@jimbojimberson9934]

Have you tried messing with the lighting settings? It should be possible to tune some brightnesses such that no matter how dark it is, you can still see your ship, or at least have some footage you can darken to your desired brightness in post.

[@0utta_n0wh3re3]

This is the most under-rated channel surprised you're not already at a million subs. Hope to see it.

[@lhumanoideerrantdesinterne8598]

I doubt it's possible to get to 1 million subs with KSP content. Some channels just cover niche content and that's fine. Not like sub count ever was an indicator of quality.

[@danielstatler954]

You don't need decouplers, you can just melt off the lower parts with engines

[@r9hu91h9r1]

In KSP2, can you try to get to another star system without an interstellar engine?

[@ReidCaptain]

Cannot wait for that game to come out, and that's a good idea!

[@EmberBlaze99]

This ship was held together with duct tape and parallel universes

[@Noah_7s]

You should do a whole mission without ever reloading a save, that should be a hard challenge

[@kopazwashere]

13:55 139 years in, bob hasn't aged a bit (and still living). we are lucky kerbals didn't figure out where we live

[@inc0mingr0flc0pter]

In the year 2500 AD: Oh, you’re back!

[@ewbaite]

I hope you can beat Scot Manley's record of 5 part Duna. You can save a decoupler by simply burning off the last stage

[@Logarithm906]

or decouple by colliding the offending part with the Mun.

[@BananaBlaster64]

You do know that stratzenblitz75 went to duna, ike and minmus in a single mission with 3 parts right?

[@jd_the_cat]

@@BananaBlaster64 time to do it with 2.

[@alertlucasalexander9994]

man hes to bad to do that

[@OlaftheGreat]

ah yes, finally landing after 44 years

[@Vinnie_728]

there's an option to turn up the minimum brightness, it makes night just a little brighter

[@thebluehat6814]

in some points you didnt need aerodynamic parts, instead if you placed an object at a node it would occupy it and apply the drag, but if you were to move it below the actual point, no drag would apply, so if you were to place an engine on top of the lander capsule, rotate it 180 degrees and move/clip it where it should be, it would work as intended and save you the cone at the top

[@chiip90]

Nearly 500 years? By the time he made it home he was probably orbiting next to high schoolers on their space scooters....

[@ryuk5673]

Nice job dude! 🎉 fun fact: less than 5% of players have visited Eeloo.

[@profesionalshark2253]

If he can get to eeloo and back with 9 parts, YOU can fly to the mun with less than 200.

[@aimro6998]

dude you make some of the best content in the world. and you should try satisfactory

[@MobileTech296]

Meanwhile I can barely land on the Mun. lol. It's amazing to me that people are still doing crazy things in KSP after all these years.

[@brycedarnell7395]

Man was in his capsule for 487 years and 257 days!

[@wezzyuwezzuy9338]

nice one, just a 500years trip to Eeloo and back :P

[@cesaramaral7007]

"That was a pretty cheap maneuver" it only cost half a millennia lmao. Good ol' Bob is about 500 years old now.

[@lilpumpofficial1048]

Bruh I barely got to the mun in science mode with 50+ parts XD

[@Totally_Bonkers]

i honestly forgot less than 10 parts still meant big parts so i was like "how he gonna get to eeloo and back using such a small rocket?"

[@Cryton12345]

I was gunna say you forgot your drouge shooots but apparently forgot that kerbals got parachutes now lol

[@Petr0Balabanov]

Try getting somewhere without usin a single fuel tank

[@raymerritt762]

Like every good rocket scientist, just hope that the structural stability fails and you can get rid of weight without decouplers

[@cowerdnerddespacito9518]

487 years and 257 days Holy hell that’s a long ass time Rip that kerbal Must have been bored as hell

[@slothomatic]

Tries to attach boosters with just static electricity. Gets confused when they fall off.

[@dylantriesyoutube2073]

How! It took me like fifty to get to the mun

[@zerotakis]

Misson Success! *Hooray* You are not lost in the Ocean. *Oh no*

[@Personofvideo]

The rocket of cheap

[@snowboyz0825]

Try building an onrithopter that would work irl

[@AmateurAstronomer09]

poor Bob being stuck in a box for 500 years 😭

[@chris-2105]

The NileRed of kerbal space program

[@maniac6655]

Decouplers and Parachutes shouldnt count 😅 that way you could manage not just to get caught in orbit but also land that thing back on Kerbin and your Kerbal wont be stuck in his new Foreverbox

[@pastashack3517]

Title: [question] Thumbnail: [answer] Cool, guess I don't need to watch! Thanks for saving me some time!

[@arandomstragnger2807]

Awsome video keep up the great work mate u doing great

[@spawnnumber2126]

3:49 I've also had that weird problem where large parts will just randomly slip off. Not sure why this happens though...

[@flyingwondercat739]

Great vid Reid!

[@adamobrien923]

great video! what mods did you use for the timewarp?

[@bonkaiblue7906]

#idea #suggestion , Launch Tube Like a Angled Tube to launch out of like an old style Grenade launcher

[@quacktape]

I've been waiting since day one for that coil gun. A I will keep waiting.

[@ethanspiegler8291]

You can’t use a small decoupler because it has like no structural stability with the size of parts you were using. The green dots that show connections tell you how strong the connection is. Big green circle means stronger connection small green circle means weaker connection.

[@ReidCaptain]

True, good thing autostrut exists!

[@ethanspiegler8291]

@@ReidCaptain Yeah, but sometimes with some pieces (I’ve noticed) the kraken pays a visit. Also, high G - Forces can snap the connection.

[@SilverTheGamerRPmaster]

Then he realized he didn't put on a parachute

[@heitorfreitascaminha7296]

lets go

[@kinzietheostrichman]

How in the holy turkey potato chip are you doing this?! That is a feat of tech in the kdrbzl world!!

[@ewbaite]

Scot manley did it in 5 parts

[@vipermisusingequipment2128]

You should try creating a multi rocket mission as in you go to multiple places at the same time with a bunch of separate rockets

[@valecasini]

I only watched the title but ai think that the entire mission will have only: 1 capsule (obviously) 1 heat shield (you know it's used for those hot reentry) 1 parachute (to slowdown and not kill those space frog) 2 decoupler (to detach the stage obv) 2 engine (the most powerful one) 2 tanks (the biggest one) And those are only 9 parts Oke after watching maybe the shield and the parachute could be left behind and could snap those 2 solid booster too

[@The_SiIIy_0ne]

Get outta here Elon we got a 10 dollar rocket

[@sid5290]

You should try to do every gravity assist possible to get to dres and do the same to get back to kerbin

[@ReidCaptain]

It would be so counterproductive but that is funny

[@jmejuniper]

Quick question: Do gravity "assists" like flying to eeloo to gain some speed towards duna count despite being incredibly wasteful?

[@sid5290]

@Danijelovski Kanal Ooh, intresting, didnt know that

[@user-if2ef3ow3g]

you only burn when you are 35 kilometters bellow the atmosphere, i know because of my rocket that reach 2KM speed in seconds and when it pass from 35 kilometers it mostly stops burning (if you are too fast like 3KM/S you will burn about 50KM from the ground)

[@5S3EB8]

Will you ever play spaceflight simulator?

[@FlatDrifting265]

That game is way to easy for this guy

[@quentinking4351]

If you mount your "deep space" engine pointing the opposite direction as the 1st stage tank, you could transfer fuel into a potentially better vacuum Isp engine. Maneuvers would then be reversed though, so be careful.

[@alexanderkuhn2298]

You can change the navball reference by right clicking the command pod/probe core of a ship and selecting "reverse" under control point to make that idea even easier

[@mortenholm9878]

love you vids keep it up!

[@Crimsonedge1]

Nile? Is that you?

[@ashtonisvibin561]

What about visiting all the planets/moons in one trip, it would be hard af but really awesome

[@ashtonisvibin561]

@GOOPREALM5000 there is only 1 gas giant in the entire game...

[@fangier0]

@@ashtonisvibin561 I think he meant in our solar system, but we have 4 gas giants and 4... ground minions? I don't know how they are called.

[@TWELVE4_]

@@fangier0 terrestrial planets

[@mrhax4741]

May i suggest using "Smashing Windshields" as the background music? It would've fit this video p well considering how dumb some of the glitches were. 😂

[@bigcringeclips8028]

You are the Nilered of gaming

[@doug4431]

5 minutes in and I finally realized Eeloo wasn’t Minmus. Damn I’m dumb.

[@pokegeaks2]

This dude sounds like NileRed playing KSP

[@michaelfarrell4824]

No, my Kerbal would run out of food and oxygen with that many parts

[@kainsuna]

what do you expect from putting a terrier on a massive fuel tank

[@tonk3841]

next video: going to andromeda and back using a potato powered rocket

[@sammorgan31]

If you do your correction burns at periapsis of your gravity slingshot you'll get way more bang for your fuel buck.

[@the25thdoctor]

Is it just me or does Reid Captain sound like Nile Red?

[@the25thdoctor]

@Danijelovski Kanal but no, he does… just listen to one of Nile’s vids and Reid's vids back and forth

[@JM-pq1rs]

Meanwhile I can pull a one way trip to the mun with 300 parts...

[@precursorcodes2957]

OK legit question: How many PHDs don't you have because you were playing KSP?

[@drarkan]

487y 257d, bob is an immortal who can go anywhere no matter how long it takes!

[@twig4661]

use the command chair, honestly swapping it for the capsule would probably give you like 1500 delta v