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So in my current 1.2 game I'm trying to get up the nerve to go interplanetary for the first time in KSP. (Yea I know, I'm such a n00b ) Anyways, KAC is telling me that the optimal transfer window to Duna is over a year away. I really want to go ahead & set up a relay sat in polar orbit of Duna BEFORE that time, so my other stuff I send when that window finally does come around will be able to have good comms back to Kerbin even if I dont stick the best antennas on them. I have watched several Youtube videos & read some tutorials about how to get to Duna, but they pretty much all say to just wait for the optimal transfer window & then go. Well lets say I dont want to wait & dont mind spending the extra dV to get there by leaving at a non-optimal time. How do I go about setting up an encounter?

The great Red Empire shall rise! Welcome to the Duna Empire challenge! The queen of the city-nation of Redna is planning a great project: Sending her entire city to the planet of Duna. Growing tired of being a small country with a small territory, she now funds this project to have an entire planet to herself! 1: You must use USI Kolonisation, and TAC life support. You may use other mods as long as they don't make it easier or let you cheat. Planetary bases is a nice one to have. 2: You must use [1.2] 3: Make a 20+ Kerbal city on Duna, near the equator. Buildings need to be in sight range of all other buildings. 4: It must have at least two labs 5: It must have at least two rovers. At least one for science and at least one for moving cargo. 6: It must be able to survive forever 7: You must have a queen. Any female kerbal will do. She must be among the first to touchdown on Duna, and if she dies you lost! Additional challenges: - Complete the challenge: 10 points - Have a SSTO flagship that can bring back ore from the Empire to Kerbin, and bring new jewelry to the queen with the money. : 8 points - Have small relay bases on the surface so that the main city has permanent communication with Kerbin (You'll need one on the planet's pole). : 4 points - Make a nice palace independent from the other buildings that hosts the queen.: 6 points - Send science to Kerbin, all science must come from Duna and it's orbit exclusively. You're allowed to send it back using a ship. 1 point per 100 science. - Create a refueling station for fuel, oxydizer, monopropellant and life support supplies that can accomodate ships landed near the city. - 6 points - Do it in career mode : Double all points. Good luck! I'll be posting a leaderboard if people submit their results! You need to submit a video or pictures for proof. As for me, I'm currently trying to complete this challenge. I'm using planetary bases.

Hi so i decided to do my rover mission before i go to bed so i did and decided to take pictures to post on imgur so i could share it well here... on the Kerbal Space Program forums...... that ok?. but anyway to spoil it the mission was a huge success and well lets just cut to the chase here is the imgur link to explain it all for you http://imgur.com/a/U7Dlb Name of course inspired by the Osiris - REx mission i just think Osiris is an awesome name

Mission Slot 704: The history of Kerbal missions. May 17 1957 (our time: May 14, 1381) The kerbal was bored...he had nothing to do and he had destroyed the bottle rocket store...with the store's bottle rockets. He was going to buy a book to read when he saw something in the sky. "What is that...?" he thought. The thing was getting closer and closer to the ground. It had something that looked like blue-purple fire coming out of it. He realized it was going to crash, stepped back as it hit the ground with a small explosion. The kerbal walked over to it. There was writing on the three parts of the ship "LV-T4 Model 3" "FL-T50 Model 1" and "Manned Command Pod Mk1v2" He checked there was noone dead in the pod. There was noone there. There was also a small piston in the pod "Backup Fuel" He then realized something. This five-meter-tall thing wasn't alien technology...it was a space rocket! This rocket, the XJ-T3000, was made by the Galactic Empire in 4222 BC (our time: 16888 BC), which had collapsed after a rebellion 1,500 years ago. He realized it could be repaired. He took it to his house and started working on it. May 28 1957 (our time: May 18, 1381). The ship was ready to launch. He had learned how to make fuel, if in small amounts, and fix the damaged parts. Through this he had also experimented and made his own ship, the J1, which was a small unmanned ship using a replica LV-T4 and his own special fuel tank. He was going to present this to the Kerbal Science Commission. May 29 1957 (our time: May 18, 1381 (later)) "Hello, Alec" the manager said. "What have you got to present?" "This. It crashed a couple of weeks ago and I fixed it and made a small unmanned variant, for safety." "Why not manned?" "I am working on a parachute; if there is no parachute, the ship is unsafe in the event of an emergency." "Ok." "This is the J1." "J1?" The manager looked surprised. "It's a space rocket, in theory. I have tested it, it has reached 6,000 meters and landed safely." "So with further development, the ship could reach, say, Jool, theoretically?" "Yes." "I'm sold. Give me a demo..." Alec explained the tech of the ship and how to make parts and fuel. "Here it is." He lifted the small, two-metre-high J1 onto it's pad. "It launches off this pad and lands roughly near it, about a 20 m accuracy." "How does it launch and fly?" "You send the command to launch with this little control panel here. You type "launch-rocket" and the rocket will initate pre-launch proceedings. Type "launch-rocket-actual" and it will launch. You tell it to change direction, etc. I'm working on a autopilot setting." "Great, can I see it fly?" "Totally." He typed in the commands and the rocket flew off. "How do you know where it is?" "You see this map and those numbers? The map is where the rocket is. The numbers are the altitude. You can lower or raise the rocket controls..." Kerbals started appearing in their hundreds and news reporters started to arrive after people heard the rocket take off. "Here, have the manual..." He handed him one of the two copies of the manual. There were thousands of Kerbals around now. "OK...7,000 meters, lets land..." He expertly piloted the controls until the ship was landed a couple of meters away from it's pad. "Semi-reusable, you get the engine and the pod back. The fuel tank can't be reused." "Oh. I need a couple of seconds to think about the proposal..." The manager exclaimed a couple of seconds later "Your proposal is accepted! Let the Space Age begin!" Tens of thousands of Kerbals were here now. , "I've made 8 J1s. Here's technical information and info to make your own rocket." Alec and the manager moved the three J1s into the office, the one that had already flew first. The manager then put a ring around the J1s. "Don't want them to get damaged by the crowd." Alec replied "Yep." Alec cut the rope and thousands streamed in. News cameras were everywhere taking pictures of the J1s. Some news programmes were airing to television early. Jun 7 1957 (our time: May 30, 1381) By June 7th, news of the J1s reached the Maxina Central Government, and were met with excitement. On June 15, the Kerbal Space Development Association was created with a K$5 million (U$$ 7.5 million, UK£ 6.5 million) per year budget. Oct 31 1957 (our time: July 11, 1381) By now, the formatory years of the Space Age had started. Alec in partnership with the KSA created the J2 rocket, which had an autopilot option and could fly up to 21,000 meters. The KSDA had created the X-1 rocket, which wasn't quite as successful as the J2, reaching only 14,000 meters, but still went higher than the highest J1 flight (8,500 meters). J2s were selling in the hundreds to eager Kerbals who wanted to create their own rocket and launch it. These J2s, being piloted by inexperienced pilots, had a setting that could only be turned off once you had done 3 successful landings: autoland. If the J2 was going to crash, it would take away from user control and land itself. Only 2 J2s crashed because of this. The J2 had a more powerful LV-T7 engine, and the rocket community created the J2-3, J2.5 and J2X, more powerful variants of the J2. May 4 1958 (our time: September 6, 1381) By now, Alec and the KSA had perfected their J2 design, creating the J3 and the manned J3-M. The KSDA had created the X-2, with a prototype solid-fuel booster, the T30. J3s were sold as kits, as J2s, but also as fully assembled rockets. The highest J3 flight was a modified J3, the J3-T, reaching 48,341 meters. The normal J3 reached 41,214 meters. May 18 1958 (our time: September 11, 1381) von Neumann at the KSDA was talking with some of his other colleagues when he had a idea. "Why don't we, for Project XS-1, use pulse engines?" "What's a pulse engine?", Yoko, one of the colleagues, replied. "A engine that is like our current liquid engines, but it can be turned off during flight, instead of having a minimum thrust of 20, 30, 40%. And it can use more than one tank." Another colleague, Ishihara, replied. "And, why don't we develop a smaller engine, and then stack the small engine on top of the larger ones, so we can activate the small engine in space, and then get more longevity out of the rocket?" "Yeah...Would management agree though?" "Make them watch the first launch." So the eight colleagues developed in secret the XS-1, which they also surmised could be sold in kit form to compete with the then-under development J4, which only reached space after four months of release. Mar 31 1959 (our time: Feb 22, 1382) The XS1 prototype was complete. Ishihara looked at it "So much work...finally complete..." "Let's ring the upper management." They invited their upper management to a party and announced their project. Management were angry, then surprised, then excited. "Today...you will see XS1 launched. We plan to develop a orbit-capable XS1 in the very near future." The XS1 had a LV-703 engine and FL-T100 as its first stage and a LV-Z10 engine (a derivative of the LV-T10) and 2x prototype FL-T200s as its second stage. It could be manned or unmanned. The XS1 had so much power when it lifted off that it caused a few dozen civilan Kerbals to arrive, despite the distance being over 800 m from the nearest street. One of the upper management exclaimed "We need to build a space centre..." Within about five minutes, hundreds of kerbals had arrived from the neighbouring city. Alec arrived, the J1-4 creator, and walked in. Yoko said "Hey Alec, what are you doing here?" Alec said "To congratulate you guys on reaching space before us." "What...?" Yoko checked the altimeter. "72,194m. Second stage on 81% fuel. First stage disconnected at 58,444m. Estimated distance: 214,813m. " Yoko shouted. The crowd went insane, screaming and shouting. Alec said "Is that reusable completely?" Yoko replied "Only the top stage. The bottom stage, everything apart from the fuel tanks and decouplers." Alec said "You could get that thing into orbit..." Yoko replied "We are going to do that next launch." Alec replied "Oh..." The crowd was bigger than the J1 one. Near the front, three teenage Kerbals stood, with their huge bottle rocket that failed a lot. "Damn." one of them went. "I know what job I'm getting." Their names? Jebediah, Bill and Bob.

I'm in the middle of a Duna & back challenge in a small spaceplane. When coming in to land, I started following this valley/canyon hoping to find lower level/flatter ground. I may have done, but this canyon took me close to the polar biome. Now the time has come to return to Kerbin. However, when I take off due east, 90 degrees on the compass, I end up in a highly inclined orbit. Am concerned that if I eject from Duna in such an orbit, I'll end up needing a massive ascending/descending node burn mid course correction on the way back to Kerbin. What's my best option here? 1) fly due south in the atmosphere, at a slow, economic subsonic pace, before turning due east then gunning the engine and attempting to get to orbit 2) correct the inclination from orbit 3) don't bother trying to correct, just do the bare minimum to eject from duna SOI and correct your inclination/complete the transfer burn back to Kerbin from solar orbit?

My Space Program is now on its third year and has landed kerbs on all bodies on the Kerbin with project Oromë, built an Kerbin SOI infrastructure with surface bases and space stations on KSOI with Project Aulë and flung Palantiri probes with varying degrees of success towards Jool and it's moons, Duna and Ike, Eve and Gilly, Moho and Dres with Project Namo. And it has sent (but not returned yet) a kerballed expedition to Eve orbit and Gilly with the ambitious Project Tulkas. Some relevant mods that I'm using are: So now the board of directors have decided it is time for the next big step, put some kerbs on Duna and bring them back! This is the mission report of this bold endeavor. Ah, caveat emptor: English is not my native language, and even with spellcheck a few embarrassing errors may pass through. If I end up saying something weird or even culturally insensitive, please give me the benefit of the doubt and kindly warn me so that I may perform the necessary rectifications. KSC, Year 2, day 260 Board of Directors Meeting Mr. Kerman: All right gentlekerbs, we've assembled here to discuss Project Estë, which shall comprise of exploring all the biomes on Duna and Ike and estabilishing permanent colonies. If you recall, we've succesfully put a Palantir mapping satellite on a polar orbit of both Ike and Duna and landed three Calmainen probes on each body just a few days ago. We're confident in our abilites of controlling and successfully landing vessels in each of these bodies. Moreover, the orbital scans have provided us with some estimates of the resources available on the surface of both Duna and Ike, as Mortimer here has been reminding me since. The next transfer window for Duna is in little over a year. Linus, if you please: Linus: Yes, thank you. If you look at the projection, you will see the critical dates for Project Estë, kindly provided by our friends on Alexmoon's Astronavigation Inc.: Kerbin -> Duna Departure Year 3, day 302 at 3:50:24 Arrival Year 4, day 153 at 2:50:24 Time of flight 276 days 5:00:00 Stay @ Duna ~1 year 135 days Duna -> Kerbin Departure Year 5, day 298 at 5:26:24 Arrival Year 6, day 161 at 4:55:12 Time of flight 288 days 5:28:48 Total Mission time: ~3 years 140 days == ~1418 days By keeping in mind our last interplanetary mission, Tulkas I, where our kerbonauts are currently aboard their ship Eämbar awaiting for the return window after just over 20 days of surface activities this may seem plenty of time, but there we had only to land on Gilly, which has such a low gravity that we could perform multiple hops to fully explore the moon in one go, and as of yet landing and returning from the surface of Eve is out of the question. In this case, we plan to take advantage of our orbital readings to incorporate In Situ Resource Utilization in our planning, much like the later Oromë missions on the Mün, to refuel on the surface of both Duna and Ike, allowing for as many landings as we may wish for. This should greatly reduce the fuel we would otherwise have to haul along and allow for heavier - and safer - landers. On the other hand, ISRU takes time, and we'd like to take the time to perform some field geoscientific studies to improve our odds of successfully refueling our lander, since so much of the mission relies on that, as you'll see later. Mr. Kerman: Thank you Linus. Much like Tulkas I, Estë I shall be comprised of an expeditionary team of one pilot, two scientists and one engineer. I need not remind you that our primary purpose is exploration and advancement of our knowledge of the Kerbol System. All other considerations such as financial returns, Mort, and public reputation, Walt, are secondary. Gus, I know engineering has produced extensive reports on delta-V requirements, Thrust-to-Weight considerations, reusability, redundancy and recent improvements on Life Support systems and propulsion drives, but just give us the short version. What can you tell us about the hardware? Gus: Project Estë is essentially an application of all the technology developed during the exploration of Mün and Minmus during our very own Project Oromë. The proposed lander is the Melian-D model, based upon the highly successful Nahar lander series of Project Oromë. This lander can transport up to six kerbals and all the equipment for an inflatable surface base of operations and in-situ assembly of a Eärendil exploration rover with a full science complement for a grand total of 52,108 kg, fully loaded and a total delta-V of 2821m/s on a vacuum, which should be enough for one chute-assisted landing on Duna and reorbit without refueling or as many as three powered descents and reorbits on Ike, if for any reason our ISRU plans don't come through. Which it should, of course. Work I mean, not... well you got the idea. If you'll recall, all of this hardware has been tested successfully earlier this Münth on both Mün and Minmus during Project Irmö, which is in charge of stress testing all proposed new designs. Melian-D shall be transported to Duna Orbit and from there and back to Ike orbit by our reliable Dailir tug. Our intrepid crew, initially consisting of Mission Commander Jeb, Primary Investigator Leema, Second Investigator Gwenial and Extraplanetary Assembly Specialist Beazie will be transported from Low Kerbin Orbit to Low Duna Orbit aboard essentially the same vessel that Commander Bill and his team are using on their trip to Eve, the Eämbar Interplanetary Crewed Vessel. Of course recent breakthroughs on the SuperNova fusion engine will... well.. no matter. Suffice to say that it has greatly improved on efficiency and we can add greatly to the supplies for the crew in case of any emergencies. Improvements on greenhouse and recycling technologies have also greatly decreased the required mass of supplies in comparison with Tulkas I. Mr. Kerman: Thank you Gus, that was most enlightening. Gene, would you be so kind as to expose to us the proposed mission plan for Estë I? Gene: Sure. The general idea is to depart from Kerbin around Day 300 of the Year 3 with the Eämbar vessel and the Dailir tugging the Melian lander. They should arrive roughly at the same time and park into a Low Duna Orbit of 100km above Duna Datum. A crew composed of Commander Jeb, Assembly Specialist Beazie and probably Primary Investigator Leema will then depart on the Melian lander to perform the first landing on a suitable equatorial site of scientific interest, from which it shouldn't be too much trouble to return to Eämbar if the ISRU systems should fail. Second Investigator Gwenial will remain aboard Eämbar to make sure all the vital systems are functioning properly as well as analysing all the data collected on the trip to Duna and on its orbit on the Mobile Science Lab aboard. There on the surface Beazie will assemble the Doriath Surface Base of Operations and the Eärendil Rover, with the support of the other, of course. While Beazie remains on Doriath drilling ore and converting it to refuel Melian, Jeb and Leema will take the Eärendil rover to explore the surrounding biomes, collect samples, perform experiments, all in triplicate, of course, and plant flags. In the case of a successful refueling, Doriath base and Eärendil shall be dismantled and stowed safely on Melian, and the away team will launch back into orbit. If the refueling is not successful, Doriath and Eärendil shall be abandoned on Duna surface to lighten Melian and provide an extra safety delta-v margin for the crew. All going well, this pattern shall be repeated as many times necessary to fully explore all the biomes on Duna, rotating the scientist in charge of holding the fort aboard Eämbar. After that, Dailir will proceed to push Melian to an Low Ike Orbit and Eämbar shall follow. The same pattern will be conducted to explore all the biomes on Ike. Once all surface activities are complete, the crew will remain on LIO shifting through all the collected data on the Mobile Science Lab and awaiting for the return transfer window for Kerbin. They have enough spare supplies onboard so that in case of critical systems failure we can send them an emergency life support probe in a highly energetic transfer to tide them on until we can send another ship to bring them home. Mr. Kerman: Thank you Gene, for this most delightful exposition. As our final point, we have a report that should satisfy you, Mort. All this hardware, coupled with our reusable lifter division, developed as per your suggestion, will cost us no more than 2 million funds, well inside our budget. Now, fellow directors, any questions regarding the proposed planning for Project Estë in general or Estë I in particular? So that's it folks. I've already sent them on their merry way, so any suggestions and commentary, while much appreciated, probably won't change any of the hardware available to the gang. I'm planning on a bit of sightseeing, looking for the anomalies and such. If anyone knows of interesting places such as canyons or anysuch and would like to contribute please do so! I'll see you next time, when our valiant team will depart from Kerbin and arrive on Duna Orbit and begin exploring the system! P.S.: Bonus points for figuring out whence came the naming scheme! Hint: P.P.S.:Also, on the game I'll be running a parallel Jool-5 mission, with Mission Commander Val, accompanied by Chief Scientist Bob and the rest of her team. It is a much more complex mission, and will probably have it's own report in the near future. Stay tuned!

I posted this elsewhere but it dawned on me that perhaps I ought to post my mission report in the mission reports part of the site. Duh. Anyhow I present to you, my first successful Duna landing and return mission! http://imgur.com/gallery/BCeWu

"So.... We're stranded." I said in disappointment as the radio crackled to life. "Yeah, looks like it." Bill said from the control tower back on Kerbin. "What do we do?" I asked, looking inside the crew compartment, seeing the 9 other crew members conversing with each other, wondering what was wrong with the plane. "We are going to try to land the lab near to you guys I guess," Bill said after a few minutes. We are soo dead. I thought. "Ok." But where are my manners? I apologize. Let's start back at the very beginning, With our little SSTO all in one piece back on runway 09.

I'm a fan of Kim Stanley Robinson's Mars Trilogy, and wanted to recreate the Ares from Red Mars in Kerbal. It's a HUGE ship, eight rights of six large tanks each, nuclear propulsion, room for 100+ Kerbals and their gear to get to Duna and setup a permanent base. Here's the YouTube playlist with the trailer and the first two episodes, lots more recorded!

---the boring intro, feel free to skip--- I'm returning to KSP after a good year of a break. I had reached a point where my old PC just couldn't handle the constructions I was making on regular basis, I kinda burned out, completed the tech tree without really leaving the Kerbin system, my Duna mission, a huge train, was so crapping out on my old PC I just gave up. Now I got a new one. I've started from scratch, and playing more Kerbal style: no planning to last detail, no extreme redundancies, Just Do It. And it pays. The Mun landing was great, as I ran out of fuel barely reaching Mun orbit, and had to send rockets to give my craft a push. Then time came for Duna. With about half of the tech tree still missing. ---end of boring intro--- The mission would be moderately sized. Three craft: an orbital base, with a lab. Piloted by Jeb, with two contractor scientists in the lab. A lander, "diagonal start" style (jump off a hill ridge to start), piloted by Valentina (with 3 stars of skill, instead of Jeb's one), and Bill and Bob in the crew compartment. And a craft consisting of a "garden chair" style lander for Ike, and a bunch of monopropellant which was a prerequisite for a base around Duna from a contract, and which I had forgotten to add when the base was launched. The trip went mostly without a hitch. Some dangerously wobbling gigantors on the base, a little tight on fuel budget for the base, but way over budget for the lander, which I had planned to use to land in several biomes. Also, some shortcomings. Like, Valentina had to get out if Bill or Bob had to go on EVA, e.g. to collect data from the instruments or do some makeshift construction/repair... Or the fact the lander had two docking ports. One in Valentina's inventory, another in Bill's. KIS/KAS. No good ideas for good port placement. Or that I forgot RCS for left-right translation/rotation. Well, the first was a nuisance, but not a serious problem. Especially, that with no probe core, and no pilot, the craft would keep drifting while Val was on EVA. Which made Bill's work harder, as he would work first to attach the docking port to one of the external fuel tanks, then another to that monopropellant carrier drone, which happened to be just the right spot to dock to the station. Also, Bill stripped the drone of most of its RCS ports (3 4-dir, and 4 place-anywhere), and put them on the lander, to allow horizontal translation at last, and dock. I transferred spare fuel to the station, leaving just enough to circularize right above atmosphere and begin aerobraking; I left one of the external fuel tanks (the one with the port) docked to the base, discarded the other in the upper atmosphere of Duna. Descent went well. The parachutes deployed okay. The engine braked the last few meters to land smoothly. Then the craft fell onto the front wheels - and the small, crappy wheel on the rear exploded. The first sentence from The Martian was what I uttered then. Well, the crew gathered what science was there to gather, planted the flag, picked the samples, and began planning how to get out of that place. The first few attempts at "dragging the tail" ended up badly. RCS wasn't enough to keep it off the ground, and I just couldn't jump high enough. There were no parts that could be used as a sled. Long gone are the times when the radial air intake could be used for speeding 80m/s over Minmus flats. This craft would not start horizontally. But how to set it upright? Then it was decided some The Martian style engineering was what was needed. Bill detached all the RCS ports from the back, middle, or pointing backwards. He slapped them on the nose of the lander. 4-directional on the sides, unidirectional below. Try one. The spaceplane groaned, wobbled, the wheels rose off the ground, but when the engine came in contact with the ground, it stopped. "We need to lose weight", said Valentina. "We're not coming back to the surface again, or flying home in this thing. We just need to reach the orbit." And so, Bob collected all the science that could be collected, stuffed it in the cockpit, and Bill went Mark Watney on the hull. Bang, came down the airbrakes. A few violent kicks sent the expensive scientific instruments flying. Thirteen parachutes littered the ground. The solar panels rained down, leaving an empty box which refused to budge. For a while, Bill seriously considered removing the wheels and the fins, but he didn't want risking damage of the ports, and the fins would be needed on ascent. Val got out, to let Bill through to the passenger compartment, then she got back behind the yoke, crossed her fingers, activated RCS, and pulled up. Slowly, the nose lifted. When the angle was over 60 degrees, she floored the throttle. They arrived into the orbit, did the rendezvous, and began moving to the base. Bill left the craft last. He patted the hull tenderly, and switched the lights off on his way out. Then one last problem became apparent. Base: 3 seats in the command pod (1 occupied), 2 in the lab (both occupied). New arrivals: 3 kerbals. One seat short. "Somebody will need to stay behind," said Jeb. "We should draw lots." "Oh, we are drawing lots, alright," said Val. "But we're all coming home. There's one more seat on this ship, which you forgot about." Jeb drew the short one.

So, Duna as we know it is a fun place, but I would really like more biomes like the ones on the Mun "East Farside Crater", and just more stuff to use/do there. After all, IRL Mars is one of the most fascinating places in the solar system. So if people like the idea of more stuff geared toward Duna and Duna exploration, I would be happy to make my first mod (I'm planning to start modding) something along the lines of "Duna Plus" or something.

I watched The Martian for the second time yesterday, so I decided to do this. The plan is to send a bunch of missions to Marcx (a modified version of Duna from my mod Realistic Remodel) and eventually end up with a colony on the planet. Everything is stock, except for a few utility mods, such as Trajectories. Part I: Intelligence Lander Next I'm gonna try to do a manned mission based on The Martian, starting with the MAV.

Contents ------ Prequel Mission: Gilly Superstation 1 ------ 1. Mission Profile 2. Payload Omega (Cthulhu In Space) 3. Payload Iota (Money Problems) 4. Payload Delta (The Abomination) 5. Payload Sigma (Orbital Assembly) 6. Refueling Intensifies (A Mothership is Named) 7. Interlude (Size Comparison) 8. Leaving Minmus (Marathon Burn) 9. Arrival (Hello Ike) 10. Iota Deployed: (Ike Mining Base) 11. Ike to Duna (Orbital Re-assembly) 12. Descent (Ride of the Valkyries) 13. Duna Ultrabase (Surface Assembly) 14. Last Mission (TARDIS) 15. Duna Science Collection (Road Trip!) 16. Leaving Duna (Homeward Bound) 17. Welcome Home (Epic Climax) 18. Epilogue ------ Heyo all! This is a sequel of sorts to Gilly Superstation 1, my previous feat of stupidity courage. It will feature many of the same characters and the same thematic sensibilities (or lack thereof). In summary: hour-long burn times and perfectly calculated delta-v are for people who have time to kill and any expectation whatsoever of things going to plan (Also, since we have finally harnessed the infinite supply of minty ice-cream rocket fuel orbiting Kerbin, rediculously oversized tugs can actually prove cost-effective with enough reuse) There will be a few differences from GSS: in part because I'm just starting to experiment with mods, but mainly because I actually have a budget this time! I used up most of my money in GSS, but a few science contracts from Jool space (accomplished by a single xenon-powered probe) have left us with 2.5 million in spare funds. I'm sure that's a big budget by some people's standards, but I'll probably blow most of it in the first launch. Much like the Gilly mission, I started this one by picking up a few missions in the system and appending a few goals of my own. Unlike the Gilly mission, which only had two contracts to fulfil, this one has six: So here's the mission summary: 1. Primary Goal 1 (contract): Establish a base on Duna. This is the most challenging contract by far: this base requires space for 5 Kerbals, 2000 Ore and 5000 Electric Charge. This is the contract I'm most worried about: it requires a number of things to go to plan, and I don't have the best track record of "things going to plan". 2. Primary Goal 2: Establish a complete mining/refueling operation on Ike, with a base and a refueler. Mining Duna is necessary for the ore requirement, but it's hardly the most efficient place to refuel. This is part of my ultimate goal of having a refueling operation in every system. 3. Secondary Goals 1&2 (contracts): I have two seperate contracts to recover small parts from Ike and Duna orbits and return them to Kerbin. 4. Secondary Goal 3: Provide the Duna base with a passenger SSTO. This is for crew rotation and tourism purposes: I like to have a plan to bring my Kerbals home, even if it doesn't work. 5. Tertiary Goals 1,2&3 (contracts): Science from space around Duna, Science from surface of Ike, and "Enter Duna's Atmosphere". That last one is a world first contract: this mission will be our first time in Duna's atmosphere. Naturally, these three will all be accomplished in the process of achieving other goals. 6. Tertiary Goal 4: Provide some sort of rover, hopper or plane to gather experiments from biomes near the Duna Base. The logical thing to do to accomplish all these goals would be to build a series of smaller ships, but since that's slow, boring and sensible so I'm going to pour every cent of my funds into assembling an enormous mothership in orbit instead, and hope like heck it actually works. ----- Funds: 2,503,852

Duna III Duna I was a probe sent to duna in 140 days, Duna II was a unmanned lander sent to duna in 350 days, And then Duna III a rover sent to duna in 1 year and 450 days. The Duna ™ Series is mostly about exploring Duna as you would expect in any science fiction, Which this is a science fiction right? Duna I Duna I was a probe that went around Duna and Ike all in one neatly packed mission! *Note the probe is a scansat and died very fast when it entered the DARK SIDE* Duna II Duna II A bold idea that landed on the approved area! Lacked any scanning equipment also the mobility on this is the same as a stubborn donkey Duna³ Duna³ Is a rover sent to duna for biome hopping or simply Duna driving and only 500 science was gained from this mission while a similar rover mission the mun got up to a 1000... Maybe that is why most people never go interplanetary... Just maybe.... Duna IV So far no actual mission data for this... Because this all being designed and planned! Duna IV is a manned landing mission to mars Duna and back! The spacecraft itself is going to consisting of two vessels the mothership and the lander which the lander will land in the polar regions of Duna and perform the experiments and then bring the experiments on board the mothership via the science to process the data and send the science home and kerbals! And that is the end of this chapter in this era! Eve I It is already a thing it's just that the fact that Eve is a nasty planet and it's even nastier moon, The exact same craft as the Duna I probe, But this instead of the polar orbit Duna I is in this is in a equatorial orbit, meaning that I failed to scan out the whole planet not to mention it suffers the same issues as Duna I... Batteries as soon it goes into the DARK SIDE it dies very quickly, perhaps quicker than a potato battery, well we did use potatoes for batteries and lets say things didn't go well for the poor potato... Eve II Again like Duna IV but this time nothing is really planned out for this mission So that is it for this report of science! and potato energy! and faulty solar panel science! So what about getting these crafts? Well I'll be glad to post the links for them but I don't think anyone is really going to enjoy a slow moving craft... So if you(s) want the crafts then I will make a uhmm what now? Oh right a separate post for all the technical stuff and downloads! (The DARK SIDE is a dangerous place)

I recently was looking ino the 'scenarios' option on the ksp menu and looked at 'station one' al the way on the bottom. When i opened i was looking at the space station but i wanted to go back; and if you don't know you have to go to the space center first and then i pressed on the tracking station because i wanted to take a look. And there was this manned craft orbiting Duna with one Nuclear engine and a lot of fuel/rcs and a radial mount parachute. I was like; maybe this thing is setup to go back to kerbin but no- so i decided crashing in duna is always fun right? And there i went, but i actually tried landing it, this is what happend! It rolled down the hill! That's easy mode of the day, crashland that son of a gun normal mode is: Land it straigt up on the engine hard mode is: land it on kerbin (i don't know if it has enough delta v tho because i don't have kerbal engineer redux installed; tell me) extreme mode: land it on/arround the space center I ONLY NEED A SCREENSHOT! Good luck everyone! Leaderboards: Easy mode, 1st place: Condo Carl Normal mode, no entries Hard Mode, 1st place: Foxter Extreme mode, no entries

Duna Duna: The final destination for Doge Space Agency, well known for proposing their ideas of laying foundations for large scale colonization. Recently in the year 1998, DSA have finally managed to land on Duna with a unmanned probe. Duna III the third of the Duna series. Duna I was a sateillite that sucessly went into orbit with duna in 1978 and then the infamous Duna II was a manned mission to land on Duna and back to kerbin, But however due to limitations with the technology at the time Duna II was cancelled and scrapped. Duna III now in the 90s the technology required for landing on Duna was now available... Altough the first 7 attempts to land the lander were failures ether missing the landing, missing Duna entirely, or worst case scenario crash landing; But after the 7 attempts the 8th one proved to be sucessful landing the north pole on Duna and collected a great amount of data from the north pole! The Duna III lander weighing at a 3.8 tons! Currently there is a planned mission in the works for a manned mission to land on Duna and back to kerbin! The same idea as the scrapped Duna II mission but with a chance to succeed! The current ETA for the mission is around 2018 due to other projects. (Notice this is still is a work in progress meaning that engineers are trying figure how the vending machine works while uploading the results to this mysterious website) So more to come soon? And when? Whenever the next mission is completed which is [INSERT DATE AND NUMBER]. (And yes this is my first time landing on duna \o/)

I accidentally ran out of fuel for my Duna craft, and panicked and launched the refueling vehicle in a bad window, what should I do? These are the options I considered. 1: Launch a new rescue craft, and tow the Kerbals back home (no landing) 2: Launch a new rescue craft, and tow the Kerbals back home (after using the lander module once) 3: Wait for my current rescue craft to find a decent spot and refuel the orbiter. (From here, the mission will go as planned)

Hello and welcome! After 450+ total hours in KSP, Delta Galactic CSA has finally decided to take the leap out of the Kerbin SOI. My next stop, Duna. I am also going big with this one. No unmanned probe on a fly by, no manned orbit, science and return. Nope I am doing as much as I feel comfortable doing...then tacking on some more! I am also doing this early career, with only the first upgrade to the R&D center...and only one node unlocked in that area. First the obligatory addon mentions: MAJOR ADDONS And the Mission Goals: Fly at least four Kerbals to Dune SOI. Two Pilots, one Engineer and one Scientist. Enter Duna Orbit Complete the MINIMUM science of RPWS and Gravimetric scans required for the contract. Complete as much other science as possible. Provide a lander capable to landing on Duna with 1 Kerbal, and returning to mothership. Deposit a mannable (but will be automated for now) communication sattelite in high orbit around Duna (for Remote Tech support) Transfer to Ike Land on Ike. With this in mind my vessel must include enough Delta V to fly to Duna, provide fuel support for one lander, a self sustaining Comsat with long range and local communication capabilities a Duna capable landing craft with science. Life Support supplies for no less then 2000 days. I have decided my vessel will be assembles in Orbit and will be consists of a Drive and Power Section with all fuel, engines and batteries. A central docking section to allow the landers, probes and other modular components to dock. And a forward living and science section. More items may be added during build. Entry One: Launch of the Main Drive and Power Section(MDPS) -Delta Galactic Public Relations

Land on duna Like Curiosity did!

Enjoy! http://imgur.com/a/NkeTU

Hi everyone, I have a duna mission in orbit around kerbin waiting to go to duna. Id it possible to lift off duna and get back to kerbin with one x200-32 rockomax fuel tanks and a Skipper engine and a 3 person capsule with some ladders and solar panels? If not should I use that as my command ship and launch another lander or launch an orange tank with a skipper engine and use my currreny lander. My current lander is not equipped with rcs but does have a docking port. Thx in advance -Ribby kerman

I am constructing an interplanetary spacecraft (specifically to Duna) at a small space station around the Mun. Once it is done, I will break out of the Mun's gravity and head towards Duna. My question is this: Is it more efficient to do the escape burn at a really high orbit, like you get after leaving the Mun's gravity, or should I first lower my PE to around LKO? I think burning to get a low PE would defeat the purpose of any extra efficiency, but I'm not sure. Help is appreciated!

After every KSP update, I start a new career mode game. Currently I've built and flown my Duna Explorer mission. The ship below was built and launched to orbit over 3+ launches. Not shown is the unmanned refueling vessel and the crew transport vessel. This trip took 7 Kerbals to Duna. Left 3 in the science lab in orbit around Duna for science! Landed on Ike as well. And returned to Kerbin orbit, ready to refuel and go on the next mission. Wondering if I could take this to Jool.

The bigwigs at mission control that there was enough dawdling inside Kerbin SOI and that it is time to do something grander. Without any budget consideration it was decided a crew of 6 kerbals was to visit Duna. Mission Profile: Leave at the first window (around day 230) 6 Kerbals to visit Duna and Ike Land on the surface in all biomes of Duna and Ike Create Duna SOI communication network 4 equatorial communication satellites around Duna 2 polar communication satellites around Duna 4 equatorial communication satellites around Ike 2 polar communication satellites around Ike 2 inner Kerbols communication satellites connecting to Moho, Eve and Kerbin Scan Duna and Ike for resources Get all the science in/around/on Duna and Ike Process research samples Mission Plan: Design craft Launch and dock everything together in LKO Launch 1 - Habitation module 1 + Commsats Launch 2 - Main truss Launch 3 - Habitation module 2 + Commsats Dock launch 1-3 Launch 4 - Drive section 1 Launch 5 - Life support + Lander Launch 6 - Crew Launch 7 - Drive section 2 Launch 8 - Drive section 3 Cleanup Launch 9 - Inner system relay 1 Launch 10 - Inner system relay 2 Grab Kerbin SOI science Depart Kerbin SOI Grab Kerbol science Mid course correction, set up for periapsis of 2880km, 0 degree inclination Enter Duna SOI Launch the 4 equatorial communication satellites (make sure to pick from left habitat) Deploy solar panels Deploy comms equipment Point a DTS M1 to the mothership Setup flight computer for insertion into circular orbit at periapsis Change inclination of mothership to 90 degrees Launch the 2 polar communication satellites (make sure to pick from left habitat) Deploy solar panels Deploy comms equipment Point a DTS M1 to the mothership Setup flight computer for insertion at periapsis, change Argument of Perigee -45degrees +45degrees respectively Change periapsis to 60km Get Duna high orbit science At periapsis start insertion burn, until 20dV is left in drop tanks At apoapsis lower periapsis to 20km Decouple drop tanks Raise periapsis back to 60km Get rest of Duna high orbit science (gravioli) At periapsis circularize Wait for communication satellites to arrive at their orbit Drop equatorial sats to a periapsis of 60km such that each is 90 degrees from each other Tune orbits Deploy left resource scanner to scan duna Deploy solar panels Deploy communication equipment Boost orbit to an apoapsis of 500km Circularize at apoapsis Deploy scanners Deploy upper relay Deploy solar panels Deploy communication equipment Set each 88-83 to Kerbin, Moho and Eve Set 2 DTS M1 to 2 opposed equatorial satellites Boost orbit to an Apoapsis of 45Mm at south pole Deploy lower relay Deploy solar panels Deploy communication equipment Set each 88-83 to Kerbin, Moho and Eve Set 2 DTS M1 to 2 opposed equatorial satellites Boost orbit to an Apoapsis of 45Mm at north pole Get Duna low orbit science Land at Duna biomes Refuel lander (don't forget the mono propellant) Switch scientist Decouple lander Land in biome Grab science Move science to lander Grab science again (for normal science return) Launch asap to an AP of 55km Fix relative inclination with the mothership Setup intercept Dock Repeat for all 5 biomes Setup polar intercept with Ike, setup for periapsis of 55km and an inclination of 90 degrees Move mothership to Ike Repeat Duna commsat setup for Ike, except a correction burn is needed to change the inclination for the equatorial communication satellites Enter Ike SOI Enter orbit around Ike, 55km Repeat resource scanner deployment for Ike Get Ike high orbit science Change orbit to 20km Get Ike low orbit science Land in Ike biomes, make sure to keep enough fuel for the return trip After use the lander can be crashed into Ike Evaluate if 1 or 2 of the drive sections can be crashed into Ike Ditch the monoprop Evaluate slingshot back to Kerbin by using Duna Plan return trip around year 3, day 240 Execute return burn Evaluate possibilities to enter Kerbin orbit If enough fuel perform a powered return Maximum safe aerocapture altitude is likely above 55km Might need an intercept before capture, make sure to put mothership on a collision course with Kerbin Launch return craft Intercept mothership Dock Transfer kerbals Transfer science Undock Land on Kerbin Mods used:

Hey Kerbals! I have finished my Duna Colonial Transporter, capable of taking 10 kerbals from low kerbin orbit to Duna surface and back, with USI life support. The rocket requires some infrastructure. Namely, it needs to refuel after the first launch and every trip in LKO by two rockets. Then, refuel in Duna surface for launch all the way to LKO (although some refueling might be needed in LDO). The duna refueling station will have all propellant already made and two Duna SSTO tankers by the time the Transporter arrives, so it's a pit stop really. However, I need help with the trajectory. How do I set up a trajectory that enables me to make a short stop and continue to meet Kerbin? I was thinking about launching it with an apoapsis a little over Duna's orbit, in order to intercept on the way up (from Kerbol), land refuel, launch, and return. But I'm having trouble with the return window. I don't want to have the Transporter waiting on Duna surface, as there will be a station there. Anyone have ideas? I will post a photo of all the transporter and infrastructure as soon as everything is ready.