KSP Challenge: Terminus challenge!

[Darth Badie]

Challenge:

1) Launch a satellite to any celestial body (except Kerbin).

2)The satellite itself must consist of 3 segments:

1 Satellite itself (must have a propulsion method)

2 3 array satellites (must be equipped with a relay antennae (any))

3 Landing craft (must land on the selected celestial body (obviously))

4 Rover (must land, can be landed separately  from the lander,or  can be combined with it)

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1. Must be completed with one launch.

2. All cheats are prohibited (F12)

3. All mods that add overpowered parts and/or cheats are also prohibited.

 

Thanks to @cratercracker for making this challenge possible! 

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[theJesuit]

4 hours ago, Darth Badie said:

2)The satellite itself must consist of 3 segments:

1 Satellite itself (must have a propulsion method)

2 3 array satellites (must be equipped with a relay antennae (any))

3 Landing craft (must land on the selected celestial body (obviously))

4 Rover (must land, can be landed separately  from the lander,or  can be combined with it)

Straight forward... I like it.  Should this read 4 segments?

Peace.

Edited July 30, 2018 by theJesuit

[cratercracker]

27 minutes ago, theJesuit said:

Straight forward... I like it.  Should this read 4 segments?

Peace.

Goddamit, I edited it to add the 4th segment, forgot about that.

[mystifeid]

Yeak ok, since Minmus has to be the easiest, here is a quick and nasty entry. Completed with a stock install - no mods.

Full imgur album - https://imgur.com/a/vj85AnN

The Minmus Explorer leaving Kerbin

The last sat detaches from the mothership

The comm network from the 3 sats in a polar orbit and the mothership in an equatorial orbit.

The lander touches down

The rover detaches and uses rcs to land. Bill hops in.

Bill testing the suspension.

[Blasty McBlastblast]

@mystifeid i see your satellites are controlled by organic-processors... but was this challenge meant to be unmanned? 

Also: I like your rover! 

[cratercracker]

1 minute ago, Blasty McBlastblast said:

@mystifeid i see your satellites are controlled by organic-processors... but was this challenge meant to be unmanned? 

Also: I like your rover! 

It can be done both manned and unmanned.

[mystifeid]

Either way, no problem. I was going to collect some science and take it back to the science lab on the mothership but I forgot to add rcs thrusters to the lander !

So one day I might do it again but maybe go somewhere tougher.

[mystifeid]

Moho is slightly toward the other end of the scale from Minmus and to do it quickly I needed something monstrously big, really expensive, horribly un-aerodynamic and just plain ugly. This time the lander launched after depositing the rover on the surface and rendezvoused/docked with the mothership. Still using a stock install - no mods.

Bob tries to test the suspension on the rover but remains glued to the surface.

One of three fairly useless relay sats detaches in polar orbit.

The lander docked with the mothership  after the trip down to the surface of Moho.

Imgur album - https://imgur.com/a/nt6PuCC

[Blasty McBlastblast]

Here is my entry, destination Dres with an unmanned craft named Terminus. 

https://kerbalx.com/blasty_mcblastblast/terminus

Spoiler

Lift off! 

Booster separation.

Lower stage is detached, and the upper stage takes over.

Fairing jettison once out of the atmosphere.

The upper stage of the launcher detaches and heads back to Kerbin where it will burn up in the atmosphere.

The Terminus craft in all it's glory, parked in LKO awaiting a transfer window.

By repeated skipping of 10 days in the tracking station and fiddling with manoeuvre nodes, a transfer is eventually discovered on day 385.

The departure burn necessarily took place in in the shadow of Kerbin so no pictures of suitable quality were able to be collected!

After arriving at Dres the three small relay satellites are deployed. They are spread evenly around a circular equatorial orbit, each with the same 6 hour period so that they stay in formation over time.

Next, the main satellite is detached and burns to reach a high polar orbit, providing a near continuous control link back to Kerbin.

With communications secured, the transfer stage is ditched into the surface and the lander makes it's final approach...

Touchdown! the rover does a little back flip to separate from the lander, which can then safely deploy it's solar panels.

With everything in place, mission control declares success!

 

 

 

[steuben]

Here's the Bad-Boy sitting on the pad.

some mission pics in the spolier. 

Full album here: https://imgur.com/a/2MeVb6g

Spoiler

 

and just after lift off

on the way to Duna

orbital burn at Duna

Hal's opened the cargo bay doors, showing off the three satellites and the lander/rover.

one of the sats is spreading its wings. There's a Dawn on it to get it to its orbit.

The lander/rover starting it's reentry.

and almost down

It rolls over pretty easy. But if you're careful she will wander the Dunan surface.

 

 

[invision]

one way trip to duna

this is the payload without the main stage

 

with main stage  and boosters

 

 

boosters de-coupled

 

 

main stage and payload reach low orbit

 

 

setting PE for lower atmosphere entry to help slow down the beast

 

 

payload with 2nd stage waiting for interception

 

 

payload is detached from satellite leaving only its heat shield to slow us down, sat is then positioned to 1mil AP/PE

 

 

the heat shield ended up slowing me down faster than expected which was nice.

 

 

separation of lander and rover

 

 

lander will use its rocket engine to land and rover will parachute. 

 

 

lander safely touched down

 

 

and the rover also survives

 

 

well that was fun, thanks for reading. 

[mystifeid]

You might have to forgive me for repeatedly doing these challenges but in the process I've learned a heck of a lot. I have around 3k hrs using mechjeb (and still a novice) but now after quite a few stock challenges I'm probably faster and certainly more efficient without it. I do miss it though. In addition, I'm using parts that I would never normally touch.

This time the target is Bop and this time all 4 sats are capable of a connection with KSC. Also the lander is self sustaining and more than capable of repeatedly landing/launching and docking with the main sat. And even though it is slow, I really like the rover I've been using. Surprisingly, the whole craft is incredibly mellow and easy to launch from Kerbin and it will probably be saved now for modification/use in future careers.

(I think that as requirements, the four relay sat connection with KSC and a self sustaining lander/launcher would have made this challenge more interesting)

A couple more pics

 

Tried with nine vectors on an engine plate under each of the S4 tanks but it wobbled like crazy even with the gimbal dialled down. Less than half the thrust but the mammoths are just perfect for the job. Smooth.

About to ditch the fairing

Circularizing

Setting up the transfer to Jool

Burning for Jool

Last asparagus stage decouples.

Mid course correction. Forgot to try for Bop intercept. Oh well, plenty of fuel left.

After entering Jool SOI and a 700m/s retrograde (and radial out) burn I get a Bop intercept and can set a node to change to a polar insertion

In Bop's SOI a node is set for a 200/312 orbit so that the three relay sats can be released at the PE and then circularize. Hopefully all will end up equidistant in a 200km orbit.

Burning to enter the orbit

Releasing the first relay sat (So that's what stack separators are for - they release from both sides!)

A relay sat about to circularize - carrying about a hundred times more fuel than it needs

Freeing up the docking port on top of the main sat

The commnet network with all four sats having connection to KSC (oops - the main sat is behind Bop - but it has two RA-100 antennae. Might have to trust me on that one)

The lander uncouples from the main sat

The lander deorbits

Is it flat down there?

Nope, what about over there.

Flat enough - touchdown

The rover has been hiding in the top service module. It is detached and gently shaken from the module - somehow without it exploding this time. I practiced on the Mun and maybe it was because a couple of parts were just clipping but it was almost impossible to extricate the rover without it exploding. Fixed the clipping but I seriously don't like those service modules. And what's with staging and enabling the cutaway being mutually exclusive? Everything inside is classed as stowed and can't be used until staging and then the cutaway seals up forever.

Bill takes the rover for a spin

A small ISRU has been hiding in the bottom service module and after mining ore and converting it, all tanks are full.

Jettisoning the service module used to carry the rover after launching from Bop and now the lander has a docking port it can use.

The position of the rover seen at the LZ

Setting up the transfer to the main sat. (Who knew it was so easy without mj)

After matching velocities about 300m apart, the lander burns with sas target hold then retrograde hold to within about 60m. Both craft are set to target the docking port on the other craft. Both craft are controlled from their docking port. Both craft use sas target hold. Things line up pretty good.

About to dock after never touching anything but the "h" and "n" keys

Together again. The lander still with most of it's fuel. The main sat with a full tank.

 

 

Edited August 2, 2018 by mystifeid

[Human Person]

I went for a reasonably small approach, so it didn't take a huge rocket to send this mission to Duna:

 

It even has just a single little booster!

 

 

many more pictures are in this spoiler:

Spoiler

I made the transfer stage deliberately crash into Duna. we have to get rid of it anyways to expose the heatshield

opening the bay to allow for 2 little thrusters to correct the trajectory

after aerocapture, the fairings are deployed to expose the main satelite with its 2 smaller brothers.

they seperate from the llander and enter a deployment orbit for a semisyncronous orbit (aloapsis 1695 km, periapsis 741 km. the satelites then circularize one by one and finally correct their orbital period to match the others perfectly)

arent the 2 little sats cute?

meanwhile, the lander was waiting in an elliptical parking orbit. now it's time for the landing

the rover drives out, but doesn't have a connection. I forgot to deploy the relay antenna on the lander (it seems like the rover can't communicate with the satelites directly, oops. good thing the lander has a relay antenna.

delpojing it gives us a good connection

lok at that:

1

 

Hope you liked my little mission. you can get the craftfile here: https://kerbalx.com/Physics_Student/Duna-Explorer-1

Edited August 2, 2018 by Human Person

[purpleivan]

Here's my entry for the Terminus challenge, the full Imgur album for which is here.

For this I decided to send not one, not two, by sixteen kerbals to everyones's favourite potato... Dres. Only 4 would be going to the surface though, two in a lander and another two in a separately landed rover. The remainder stayed in orbit and played cards to while away the time.

Here's the vehicle at launch.

The road to Dres.

On their way to Dres.

Arriving at the little spud.

Detaching one of the four satellites the vessel carried.

Three satellites were put into the same orbit, roughly around the equator, while the fourth went into a polar(ish) orbit.

Sending down the lander.

The landing site.

Crew lander and rover on the surface.

Time to head back to orbit.

Getting the last of the crew from the lander back on the main vessel for the trip home.

The way home.

Almost back to Kerbin.

Re-entry.

Back home.

The most difficult part was putting the vehicle in an orbit of Kerbin at the end of the mission, rather than a direct re-entry, to land in the dark (wanted some nice bright pics) or skipping of the atmosphere. That took a few attempts to get right, but made it in the end.

Dres probably wasn't the best place to take a rover (first time I've done that), as the gravity is so low as to make driving around difficult, but I managed to do a circuit of the lander before taking the crew back into orbit.

 

Edited August 4, 2018 by purpleivan

[Marschig]

Terminus T: exploring Tylo

https://kerbalx.com/Marschig/Terminus-T

https://imgur.com/a/IHbpHXe

 

 

[Kamonanban]

I completed a mission to landing Rover in Minmus and place three satellites on the same orbit of the same star in a single launch.

Other images

Spoiler

 

[cratercracker]

Completed my own challenge!

Launch:

Spoiler

 

 

Launch was a breeze! Everything gone as it was planned. Though at this stage there weren't a lot of things that could go wrong.

 

Transfer/Arrival:

Spoiler

This hellish thing satellite is relatively well designed with all the required sections included.

The idea to land the upper parts is simple - although there aren't any descend engines, we are going to use the main satellite's engine to get into a sub-orbital trajectory (after that the satellite returns to its normal orbit.) Then, we brake off most of the velocity by atmospheric drag. After that we deploy parachutes and kill off the rest of our velocity by RCS-thrusters and Seperatrons.

Simple, right?

Fun fact: when i planned my interplanetary transfer, i didn't notice that my trajectory was going right through Kerbin.

Had a mini heart attack.

A tiny bit more time wiggling all buttons in the map mode and we're there. 

(well, almost)

Decoupling our Transfer/Insertion stage.

Welcome me, Duna! (no)

Deploying ''relay''

Spoiler

Yeah, i just don't get how does this work, so i just spam them at different orbits, while getting my periapsis lower.

 

Ike fly-by

 

Aaaaaand, done!

 

yyeeeeahhhhh ''relaaaaay''....

 

Landing (impact)

Spoiler

Now here comes the real test of my resiliance, will and skill!

Everything before that is plank-walk before jumping into the abyss.

 

The atmospheric entry is fine, most of the speed is gone.

 

Though i managed to deploy the chutes within a really close proximity to the surface, they still did the job, giving as the speed of 40 m/s.

SRC seems not to work.... somehow...

Here comes the cratercracker's hail mary!

By the look of the parachutes, you might already think that something went wrong and you are actually right.

The seperatrons are way too overpowered, making me flip a few times and change my movement direction,also making me hit the surface harder than if i didn't use seperatrons.

After a hundred or so, attempts, i finally managed to land this thing, trading off some parts on the main lander.

Though through some stroke of luck, rover is fully operational!

Actually! This thing rocks! It drives easily and nicely!

That's it for the mission! 

 

 

 

[mystifeid]

Thanks for the challenge @cratercracker - it has come in handy. My "Terminus" rovers have already circumnavigated Bop, Pol and Gilly. And all supported by a comm network.

[EBOSHI]

Unmanned Space Trial of general purpose space cruiser/carrier.
She transported four relay satellites, a landing ship and a rover to Minmus.

 

[Kergarin]

I totally forgot, I have a matching entry, when I first read this 

hope it's not too late?

 

It's an SSTO launcher which brings a large payload into trajectory to duna without any staging, and then uses atmospheric breaking to get back to kerbin.

 

 

It also brings a little more than needed. 

Edited August 12, 2018 by Kergarin

[SudAntares]

Is this challenge still active?

Need to participate!

[Darth Badie]

Hello everyone! You have until next Wednesday to share your entries  

[tonimark]

challenge accepted 

[tonimark]

 

 

here the results the duna-v explorer designed to orbit a small satellite with 4  hg-5 retractable relay antennas 4 micro ion propulsion 'dawn' engines for maneuver 

the mission is to orbit around Duna and leave a deployable landing rover to Duna's surface, the rover cannot be controlled but it has seats for kerbals to drive it when they land here is the craft file used:https://www.dropbox.com/s/dxjf27hklxznr7m/vduna explorer.craft?dl=0  here some screenshots:

vduna satellite in orbit of duna(2images):

vduna rover deployed in duna's surface

vduna in transfer with rover

vduna explorer pre-launch

[Mjp1050]

I went to Eve!

Launch:

Spoiler

Ladies and gentlekerbs, I present to you, the Eve Project:

Into orbit:

The view from the Rover:

The relays:

Spoiler

Obligatory beauty shot of the transfer:

Decoupling the Relay Satellites:

(I don't have a good shot of all three relays. Just squint a little)

The lander:

Spoiler

Itty bitty little lander, burning to the atmosphere:

Itty bitty little lander, burning in the atmosphere:

Ooh, pretty!

Landed on Eve:

And at this point I realized I forgot to put both solar panels and an antennae on the lander. So it's completely useless. I did fulfill the lander requirement, though.

The satellite:

Spoiler

I keep forgetting to take screenshots of the darn thing.

Technically it's also the transfer stage, but I put a probe core, solar panels, and several attennae

The rover:

Spoiler

Hoo boy, this gave me a LOT of trouble. Turns out that putting two of the 10m heat shields really messes with the aerodynamics.

Ran into an interesting glitch. I had to reload:

Jettisoned the heat shields and they didn't go anywhere, so the rover surfed its way down. And crashed. I had to reload:

Jettisoned the heat shields, and they knocked off all the parachutes. I had to reload:

This one went well. I jettisoned the heat shields, and they didn't collide with the rover! I decided to quicksave in the atmosphere, and floated my way down to the surface.

However, I got impatient and used time warp to speed things up. So I crashed. And reloaded...and the rover instantly exploded. (Sigh)

 

My last try. This time I only activated one heatshield. It worked! And I got a light show to go along with it:

Wheeeeeee! I learned my lesson, no time warp this time:

Oh look, I'm coming down on the ocean this time:

Well, drat:

But I landed my rover!

It just can't rove anywhere. 

 

Edited August 17, 2018 by Mjp1050