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As the title says, this mission is a circunnavigation of Mun for the Elcano Challenge: However, for my crew it doesn't mean going in a straight line from A to ... well, A again the long way. The plan is to collect science from all the biomes, mark anomalies and complete as many surface missions as possible (career mode). The rover is quite light under 10T, so i simply attached it as cargo to the nose of a ship used to carry fuel from the Minmus refineries to LKO and equipment from LKO to Minmus and Mun. This is a new design i'm using to replace my old transports, it's pretty much the same, but with big docking ports for cargo stability, better solar panels and upgraded comm gear. It also carries a little bot to move cargo to stations and to move the big heat shield under the ship to the rear docking port, to speed up the aerobreaks when returning to Kerbin. This is not the original launch, i forgot to record it so i recorded it again and left a second rover in a Mun equatorial orbit in case it was needed. Jebediah Kerman, director of operations and explosions of the KSP, and badass in general, personally selected Elixie and Jean as the crew, based on very strict criteria. (i.e. they were aboard a ship in LMO when the rover arrived and had the right professions ) DAY 1: This is Mun base Alpha, a simple base with a few oudated vehicles, and starting point of the journey. There used to be ore just below the base, but suddenly one day it was gone. (game update to 1.2.2) The scientists keep studying the sudden dissapear, but orbital surveys still show big ore deposits in the area, and to locate them is going to be the first mission. Flag time for Elixie: And there they go! Finding ore was actually very easy, and as soon as they approached the nearby canyon, less that 1 km away from the base, the scanning module began beeping. And the science-o-meter also began beeping for the new biome. This crater was a nice opportunity to collect science from the lowlands and midland craters... ...and to mark the first anomally, a monolith. What strange species planted this structure here and why? Do they have tasty snacks to share??? Next, the flat area north of Base Alpha was perfect to test the rover speed. 45 m/s seems about the top (safe) speed. Faster than that and the "small jumps" are not so small, and the "landing" not so smooth. Anyway, the travel to Farside Basin was quick. Keeping the north heading, a pair of surface experiments to complete a contract: Surprise! And this is the reason why the rover has two thrusters below, because of the ninja craters hiding behind hills! The ability to orbit / deorbit is just a side effect (but very welcome). Don't try this at home! Jeb will be proud of these two kerbonauts... Unfortunately, the next barrel roll didn't go so well, and this is the sorry state the rover had after. Energy generation was all but gone, with only the small solar panel on the top still remaining. The docking port on top was gone too, and the RCS tank connecting to the cockpit didn't look good either. Also, the direction was damaged and the rover had a tendency to turn to the right. However, the science was intact and the kerbonauts alive. With 1000 EC the rover was able to reach the other side of this big hole, the first sign we are near the north pole. But after that last effort the batteries were empty. By the way, this biome is the highlands, so more science to carry! So, time to deorbit that second rover. The burn to send it near the north pole required a lot of fuel, but that was not a problem for the transport: The rover handled the landing without problems too: A few km later, the kerbonauts were rescued, and passed all the science and the remaining RCS to the second rover. All the RCS was stored in the side tanks, and it really helped with the barrel rolls. The CoM is a lot lower and the rover is more stable. Since both rovers were docked, the first one was left with full batteries, and i think the direction damage fixed itself with the change of scene (the RCS tank is again in line with the others), so trying to bring it back to Base Alpha is a possibility. Next biome: Highland Craters. The long shadows near the poles can be a problem for an electric vehicle, but 3000 EC should be more than enough to keep going. The sun is still high in the sky when we reach the north pole... but it won't last long. And the terrain is becoming more irregular, increasing the energy requeriments and decreasing the speed. It's not a problem yet, but up north it's full of peaks and valleys, not the best place to drive at 40 m/s. Home over the horizon! The marker on the map is the first patch of polar lowlands according to the orbital survey, so that's where we are heading. The map data appears not to match the terrain, so we picked a deep hole and went down to collect some tasty science... but turned out this is not polar lowlands. After another try in the same area, the only choice appears to be to keep moving north and aim for the deepest rift. This one should do the trick: EC is becoming a concern. The mix of deep dark valleys and high peaks where the batteries can be recharged are making this part of the journey quite slow. Not to mention the constant danger of driving in the shadows and falling into one of the valleys. The next rover will include moar lights for this type of terrains. Then, in a routine climb for energy Jean checked the biome... yep... polar "low"lands. I guess the SCANsat data was fine, but it doesn't make much sense to have the lowlands on top of a mountain. In the words of the on board computer: Not computable. The crew was eager to leave this polar nightmare of mountains, valleys and darkness, and there was still some sunlight available in the mountains, so they managed to reach the border of the polar crater and finished the first part of the mission. Biomes visited so far: Midlands, Canyons, Lowlands, Midlands craters, Farside Basin, Highlands, Highlands craters, Poles and Polar Lowlands. Anomallies discovered: 1 monolith. Contracts completed: 1. Rovers lost: 1 (still semi-functional).