KSP Challenge: Visit Eve's atmosphere!

[Darth Badie]

 

 

Hello everyone, 

Check out the amazing and creative entries of  the last challenge!

This week we have another theme for you: “Visit Eve's atmosphere! " 
 

Challenge:

-Make a manned atmospheric diving craft, capable of hauling a small cargo to Eve.
-Build a rocket capable of delivering this craft to the orbit of Eve, or make it SSTO.
-Dive into the atmosphere of Eve. Try to dive as deep as possible, then return to a stable orbit.
-Drop the cargo onto the surface of Eve. (1. You can seperate the cargo from ship while in orbit, or for the extra challenge you can do that while doing the atmospheric dive. 2. The cargo itself can be anything, without limits to its size or mass.)
-Return to Kerbin.

Atmospheric Diving Craft standards:
-Carries more than 4 kerbals, exactly 4 also counts.
-Can dive into the atmosphere of Eve.
-Carries scientific instrumentation.
Extra:
-Can maneuver in the atmosphere of Eve using wings or RCS.
-Can land on Kerbin.

Rewards:
-Special Posters for your mission made by @cratercracker (It might take time)
-Badge. (Granted)

You can also do the Lancer mission!

 Rules:
-As always, no HyperEdit or ingame cheats (any: infinite fuel, no drag, no heat demage, teleporting and etc.)
-Any mod allowed except ones that add unbalanced and/or overpowered parts.

 
Thanks to @cratercracker for making this challenge possible! 

Share your screenshots, videos or images. We want you to have fun and share it with the whole community!
 

[Mrcarrot]

Hmmm... I see.... well, I'm terrible at interplanetary voyages, so we'll see...

Also, first!

[Ultimate Steve]

Hopefully nobody will strand Bob or Tedus this time.

[Nightfury]

If I can get time i will try it. Never done an EVE return mission actually

[Mr. Peabody]

Looks great! I can't wait to try this. I wonder if this was the true inspiration...

 

Edited February 21, 2018 by The Dunatian

[Mako]

Don't objects/vessels in atmospher auto-disappear below a certain altitude if you're not controlling them and leave physics range? I thought they did. If that's still the case, is it possible to drop something to the surface during the atmosphere dive?

I guess you could land, or try to slow down and drop it close to the ground, but that doesn't sound like much of a dive anymore.

If I'm wrong then that's pretty neat, because I remember when any object auto-deleted long before it could land unless you were controlling it or controlling a vessel within the physics range of it.

[TheKSPBeginner]

I might actually try this!

[cratercracker]

1 hour ago, Mako said:

Don't objects/vessels in atmospher auto-disappear below a certain altitude if you're not controlling them and leave physics range? I thought they did. If that's still the case, is it possible to drop something to the surface during the atmosphere dive?

I guess you could land, or try to slow down and drop it close to the ground, but that doesn't sound like much of a dive anymore.

If I'm wrong then that's pretty neat, because I remember when any object auto-deleted long before it could land unless you were controlling it or controlling a vessel within the physics range of it.

You don't even need to care about the cargo. You just drop and forget about it.

[Mako]

2 minutes ago, cratercracker said:

You don't even need to care about the cargo. You just drop and forget about it.

Okay.

Here I was thinking we had to design a vessel that could handle Eve's atmosphere AND cargo that could handle the atmosphere and landing.

I might give this a go. It's been a long time since I went to Eve.

[ProtoJeb21]

This is one challenge that I will definitely be able to do. Why? I'm already designing a manned Eve mission in my SCIENCE!!! mode save. It's called Ausra Station, and it may just work for this challenge.

Ausra is going to be a very...interesting station. It will be delivered to Eve in a two-part manned interplanetary craft. The main part of the station - which is a science lab with experiments, probe control, RCS, and solar panels - will be launched in between an engine module with 4-6 km/s of dV and a crew control module. When the ship gets to a stable Eve orbit, the two parts of the return vessel with undock with it and allow the station to move itself out. Then the two return vessel modules will re-dock and be ready to head back home. My original design had a 1-seat Cupola capsule for the control module, but I will have to replace that with that 3-seat Apollo-like capsule for this mission. Also, to complete this challenge, I will need to add an inflatable heat shield to the craft and TWO descent probes to be dropped off during atmospheric entry. Another thing to note: there will be two "bars" with solar panels that will be docked to the craft in Low-Kerbin Orbit after launch.

I have some screenshots of the work-in-progress station and the Trans-Eve vessel that I hyperedited into orbit for a quick test (don't worry, I reverted the flight afterwards).

Because of the extra weight that will be added to the craft, I will need to edit the engine stage to have enough dV to compensate. However, the station-return vessel combo craft will have about 4 km/s of dV once in LKO, which may be a bit...excessive. I'm thinking of maybe doing a Gilly landing and/or a Duna flyby to burn off my excess fuel.

[Opus_723]

Just made a quick first draft for an entry, cheated it into Kerbin orbit and did a practice dive to 30,000 m in Kerbin's atmosphere.

Good news:

-The vessel was able to reach 30,000 m and return to orbit with fuel to spare.

Bad news:

-Vessel became aerodynamically unstable around 35,000m, although a little bit of thrust was sufficient to regain full control.

-Payload failed to detach. This was determined to be due to an oversight in how parts were attached in VAB.

-Battery overheated and exploded.

 

I think it did well enough to warrant continuing with the basic design, though! I've already fixed the payload issue, and I'll try a new wing configuration and move the battery someplace cooler. I also need to add crew capacity (currently probe controlled as I got excited to try and didn't finish reading the challenge).

Once I can dive into the lower atmosphere (<20,000m)  on Kerbin and return I'll start testing on Eve.

EDIT:

Update: Just successfully dived down to 19,000m over Kerbin and returned to orbit, steady as a rock the whole time. Should be ready to actually attempt the challenge on Eve this weekend!

Edited February 24, 2018 by Opus_723

[Blasty McBlastblast]

Does aero-capturing count as diving into the atmosphere? If so, then I may have an entry for the challenge  

challenge checklist:

• make a manned craft & get to Eve - done.
• dive into the atmosphere - done, but only made it down to 80,000m
• cargo dropped - yes!
• return to Kerbin - completed

imgur album here

Edited February 24, 2018 by Blasty McBlastblast
grrr crazy imgur albums

[StrandedonEarth]

I may give this a try next weekend. The only time I've done an Eve surface ascent (I know, that's not required) was back in alpha. I only remember one thing about Eve:

Spoiler

 

[ProtoJeb21]

My mission for the Eve Atmosphere challenge is going along quite well. I fixed up the Ausra Station vessel, added two small atmospheric descent probes, fixed its terribly wobbly ascent stage, and got it into orbit. Jeb, Bill, and Bob are piloting the return vessel, while Lunne and Trizer will stay in the station.

Now came the complicated procedure of attaching the solar panel arms to two of Ausra's docking points. I first set up a little "worker bee" probe that would move the arms into place once they arrived. After that, I sent up the arms...before realizing that I forgot to put docking ports on them. I disposed of that craft, built a new one where the arms actually HAD docking ports, and sent that up into orbit. During these three launches I started to get the hang of getting close encounters with a target vessel before even reaching a stable orbit.

Once all the arms were attached, I docked the worker bee to the arm transport vessel and deorbited both of them.

For my Eve transfer burn, I decided to do it in two parts: a burn that would get my Kerbin apoapsis to about the same height as the Mun's orbit, then a second ~140 m/s burn using the Oberth Effect to send me towards an Eve encounter. The first burn went fine, but the second one did not go as intended. For some reason, the maneuver data on the side of the NavBall was messed up and gave me incorrect time to maneuver and required dV. Plus, it forced me to orient the vessel in the wrong way, COMPLETELY messing up my entire Eve transfer burn and forced me to do a ~300 m/s correction burn to even get an Eve encounter. So, at the end of all this, my plan to save more fuel ended up being LESS efficient than a direct Eve transfer burn.

Following that...mishap...I got my first-ever Crew and EVA Reports from interplanetary orbit around the Sun in this save, then did a much less expensive correction burn about 60-something Kerbal days later. I'm attempting my first-ever Gilly landing with this mission, so I set a low Eve periapsis (~140 km) that was in-line with Gilly's orbit when viewed edge-on. It will be about 104 Kerbal days until Ausra is able to get itself captured into an eccentric Eve orbit and get to Gilly. After that I will change my Eve orbit so that I have an escape trajectory with a periapsis inside Eve's atmosphere. This is where I will get a Low Eve Orbit and drop off the first of those two descent probes. The second one will be dropped off later.

[cratercracker]

18 hours ago, Blasty McBlastblast said:

Does aero-capturing count as diving into the atmosphere? If so, then I may have an entry for the challenge  

challenge checklist:

• make a manned craft & get to Eve - done.
• dive into the atmosphere - done, but only made it down to 80,000m
• cargo dropped - yes!
• return to Kerbin - completed

imgur album here

Yes, aerocapturing also counts.

[HansonKerman]

On 2/21/2018 at 5:46 PM, cratercracker said:

You don't even need to care about the cargo. You just drop and forget about it.

Surface. See? Um, no offense.

On 2/20/2018 at 5:09 PM, Darth Badie said:

 

-Drop the cargo onto the surface of Eve. (1. You can seperate the cargo from ship while in orbit, or for the extra challenge you can do that while doing the atmospheric dive. 2. The cargo itself can be anything, without limits to its size or mass.)

 

 

[HansonKerman]

On 2/24/2018 at 10:06 AM, StrandedonEarth said:

I may give this a try next weekend. The only time I've done an Eve surface ascent (I know, that's not required) was back in alpha. I only remember one thing about Eve:

  Reveal hidden contents

 

Totally. It is definitely a trap.

[cratercracker]

1 hour ago, HansonKerman said:

Surface. See? Um, no offense.

 

Whatever. Just bring and drop it onto Eve. You can see it explode or  burn up in the atmosphere, maybe for the extra challenge land it.

You just need to drop towards surface of Eve.

Um, no offense. 

 

[ProtoJeb21]

@cratercracker is it acceptable if the payload is deployed before atmospheric entry? I did that with one of Ausra’s two descent probes (the second is still on the ship).

[cratercracker]

8 hours ago, ProtoJeb21 said:

@cratercracker is it acceptable if the payload is deployed before atmospheric entry? I did that with one of Ausra’s two descent probes (the second is still on the ship).

Yes it is acceptable.

(you should've probably read the last paragraph of the "challenge" section)

[ProtoJeb21]

My first ever Gilly landing, with five Kerbals!

Once my Gilly expedition finished, I performed my first of multiple planned Eve atmospheric entries. I had to induce a rapid spin, even at 80 km up, to avoid having vital equipment for Ausra Station being burnt off. I also collected several experiments during entry.

At Eve apoapsis, I released the first descent probe before raising my periapsis to just a few kilometers above the atmosphere. Entry for the tiny probe was tough - it almost burned up and experienced 18-20 gees - but it managed to survive and safely land on Eve at a speed under 2 m/s.

[Lithobrake]

Can we use a dipperkraft?

[Foxster]

I'm struggling to see the point of this challenge. 

We are to take a craft to Eve, dip into the atmosphere, decouple something, re-orbit?

Why would this be something that would be a useful thing to do? If the idea is, say, that we are deploying a small atmosphere probe then it would be more practical to put a small tank and engine on the probe, decouple and de-orbit it, rather than risk the Kerbin-return craft. 

Nope, not a challenge that grabs me. 

[ProtoJeb21]

My challenge submission is almost complete. I did two more Eve aerobrakes (including one with a brief EVA) before releasing Ausra Station in a stable, eccentric, equatorial orbit. The Ausra delivery/return craft has about 1.8 km/s of dV, enough for a Kerbin return (and maybe a Minmus landing if I’m efficient enough). While it takes about 1.3-1.5 km/s of dV for an Eve-to-Kerbin transfer, Ausra’s orbit is extremely eccentric, with a periapsis of 130 km and an apoapsis of around 10,000 km. This means that the Oberth Effect will be very effective and massively cut down the amount of dV needed to get back to Kerbin. 

Pics coming soon (I’m on mobile now so I don’t have access to them).

[cratercracker]

19 hours ago, Lithobrake said:

Can we use a dipperkraft?

Yes.

7 hours ago, Foxster said:

I'm struggling to see the point of this challenge. 

We are to take a craft to Eve, dip into the atmosphere, decouple something, re-orbit?

Why would this be something that would be a useful thing to do? If the idea is, say, that we are deploying a small atmosphere probe then it would be more practical to put a small tank and engine on the probe, decouple and de-orbit it, rather than risk the Kerbin-return craft. 

Nope, not a challenge that grabs me. 

Fine then.