KASDA mission log | Y59, D64 | Launching the final Kerbals to the Duna system (Ike)

[Pipcard 885]

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Mission 22

Payload: Wish-1

Description: Small Duna orbiter equipped with dish and wire antennae.

Mass at launch: 0.299 t

Launch Vehicle: Onion Stick Mk. 02

Mission goal: Establish an orbit around Duna.

The spacecraft was launched into a low parking orbit as usual (panels and antennae were deployed while it was still suborbital), then about half-an-hour later, the second stage began the Trans-Duna Injection burn. This is the post-burn trajectory:

After leaving Kerbin SOI:

Several weeks into the mission, the spacecraft performed another course correction burn:

Wish-1 has been captured by Duna's gravity well.

About to cross periapsis:

The upper stage began to burn its last drops of fuel. Then, Wish-1 separated to complete the insertion until it ran out of fuel.

The final orbit around Duna:

KASDA's first interplanetary mission (which had lasted almost 57 days) was complete. Mission successful

Edited November 15, 2015 by Pipcard

[suzin.felipe 8]

Mate, congratz for not over engineering stuff.

I notice that you keep all your rockets small and simple, which is a achievement on it's own, but sometimes a bit more juice in your rockets will get you better results.

In you last mission I think you would have liked a more "fancy" orbit than the one you got, with a bit more fuel you could have adjusted for a polar or equatorial circular orbit. Also, more fuel gives you more time to fly in space, which is the fun part. :-)

[Pipcard 885]

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Mate, congratz for not over engineering stuff.

I notice that you keep all your rockets small and simple

Again, this is because of Kerbal Engineer.

Mission 23

Payload: Kujita-5 (Mk. 01a)

Launch Vehicle: Onion Stick Mk. 03a-3C (3-core)

Mission goal: Establish an orbit around the Mun then safely return back to Kerbin.

Pilot: Jebediah Kerman

3-core, as in three OS-03 first stages.

Going from Kerbin to the Mun:

Before the insertion burn:

In Munar orbit:

Jeb spent one full orbit around the Mun before beginning the trip back home.

Leaving the Mun:

Re-entry:

Landing site:

Mission successful

Edited November 15, 2015 by Pipcard

[DMagic 4,068]

Again, this is because of Kerbal Engineer.

Having the info that engineer or mechjeb provides helps a lot. But it also helps when you avoid putting a bunch of unnecessary stuff on your rockets. Like huge amounts of useless RCS fuel, oversized engines, or 2.5m fuel tanks when your payload to LKO is less than 10 or so tons.

[Pipcard 885]

This was originally going to be mission 22, but as I was going to launch, Protractor told me that there was a launch window for Duna (the theta value was almost 0 degrees).

Mission 24

Payload: Dawn-1

Description: A spacecraft equipped with a heat shield and a parachute in order to make a soft landing on Eve.

Mass at launch: 0.373 t

Launch Vehicle: Onion Stick Mk. 03a

Mission goal: Land on Eve.

(Trans-Eve injection)

(Post-burn trajectory (image not found))

(After first course correction)

After the encounter, another course correction was performed to lower the Eve periapsis to 60 kilometers.

The second stage was jettisoned prior to atmospheric entry.

Solar panels were retracted prior to the aerocapture.

Dawn-1 would go once more around the planet before the actual landing.

Final atmospheric entry with panels retracted and parachute deployed:

(Parachute fully deployed)

Landed on the surface of Eve:

(Landing site)

Mission successful

Edited November 15, 2015 by Pipcard

[Pipcard 885]

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Mission 25

Payload: Kujita-6 (Mk. 02)

Description: A version of the Kujita capsule designed for moon landings. (with the SAS replacing the ASAS)

Mass at launch: 4.030 t

Launch Vehicle: Onion Stick Mk. 03a-5C (5-core)

Mission goal: Land on the Mun and return safely to Kerbin.

Pilot: Jebediah Kerman

The OS-03a-5C was the heaviest variant of the Onion Stick launch vehicle. The first pair of boosters cross-fed to the second.

(In LKO before Trans-Munar Injection)

(Leaving Kerbin)

(Jeb performing the orbital insertion burn)

(Kujita-6 into a low Munar orbit)

Prior to de-orbiting:

Powered descent:

Kujita-6 has landed on the Munar surface.

[image not found]

Jeb climbing down the ladder:

The flag has been planted on the Mun.

Jumping in the low gravity:

Launching from the surface:

On its way back home:

What was left behind:

(Approaching Kerbin)

(Capsule separation)

(Re-entry)

Jeb landed on the southwestern rim of Kerbin's crater. Mission successful

Edited November 21, 2015 by Pipcard

[Margaul 27]

Great missions and great thread!

[Pipcard 885]

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Mission 26

Payload: Kujita-7 (Mk. 02)

Launch Vehicle: Onion Stick Mk. 03a-5C (5-core)

Mission goal: Land on Minmus and return safely to Kerbin.

Pilot: Jebediah Kerman

Approaching Minmus:

Initial orbit around Minmus:

[image not found]

Descending:

Climbing down the ladder:

Planted flag:

Jumping 10 meters into the vacuum:

Leaving Minmus:

Flag location:

Heading back home with about 900 m/s of delta-v (due to the lower d-v requirements for landing/taking off from Minmus compared to the Mun). I didn't want to test the 3-core Onion Stick and find out I didn't have enough fuel.

(Half-way between Minmus and the Mun)

(Re-entry)

(Landing location)

Mission successful

Edited November 21, 2015 by Pipcard

[Pipcard 885]

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Mission 27

Payload: Wish-2

Description: Similar design to the Dawn-1 lander.

Mass at launch: 0.388 t (with heat shield); 0.293 t (without heat shield)

Launch Vehicle: Onion Stick Mk. 04

First stage: C7 Toroidal Aerospike Rocket

Second stage: JKJSPC LV-909 liquid engine (w/ extended tank)

Mission objective: Land on Duna.

A first-time experimental use of the aerospike engines:

About 60 days later:

Parachute has been deployed:

Fully deployed:

Heat shield has been jettisoned:

Touchdown on the surface of Duna:

(Landing location)

Mission successful

Edited November 21, 2015 by Pipcard

[Pipcard 885]

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Mission 28

Payload: Nebula-1 (Mk. 01)

Description: A three-Kerbal spacecraft which uses the Bottle second stage for orbital maneuvers.

Mass at launch: 16.300 t

Launch Vehicle: Bottle Mk. 01

First stage: Rockomax "Skipper" liquid engine

Second stage: Rockomax "Poodle" liquid engine

Mission objective: Achieve LKO then safely return to Kerbin.

Pilots: Bill, Jebediah, and Bob Kerman

The new "Bottle" launch vehicle.

Nebula in orbit with solar panels deployed:

Upper stage jettisoned:

Passing over KSC:

About to land:

(Note: From this point on, the "success/failure" status of a mission will not be displayed. This is because I just want to show cool missions/my gradual progression through KSP.

Okay, what really happened was I did this mission before with one Mk16-XL parachute. I was going to land in the mountains, and the parachute broke as it tried to fully deploy, leaving the capsule to tragically crash into the ground. So I restarted the entire mission.

I also don't want to see the entire mission fail on a high-stakes mission such as a manned interplanetary voyage or the construction of a munar base. If I fail, I will restart the mission either from the beginning, or from key points in the mission, such as the time before landing on another planet - think of it as the setting of "respawn checkpoints". Yes, I acknowledge that real spaceflight is very risky and has no "quicksave"/"restart flight" button.)

Edited November 21, 2015 by Pipcard

[Landge 159]

Awesome mission reports. Looking forward to seeing more!

[F5 Penguin 2]

Great thread! You are the reason I signed up to this forum after a couple days of meandering through posts, trying to figure out what in the world I'm trying to do in this game! While your missions are very detailed and scientific, I believe I will document my experiments as well, from one who has no idea what he is doing and is trying to learn the game. Thank you for the inspiration and thank you for a really great read.

[Pipcard 885]

Nice to see that my thread was an inspiration to someone!

[Pipcard 885]

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Mission 29

Payload: Nebula-2 (Mk. 01a)

Description: Enhanced version with large ASAS, lights, and RCS.

Mass at launch: 17.990 t

Launch Vehicle: Bottle Mk. 02-2S

Boosters: 2 RT-10 solid rocket boosters

First stage: Rockomax "Skipper" liquid engine (with extended tank)

Second stage: Rockomax "Poodle" liquid engine

Mission objective: Launch into LKO and serve as a docking target for Nebula-3, then safely return to Kerbin.

Pilots: Bill, Jebediah, and Bob Kerman

In orbit:

Mission 30

Payload: Nebula-3 (Mk. 01a)

Mission objective: Dock with Nebula-2, then safely return to Kerbin.

Pilots: Hermy, Guslas, and Shepsby Kerman

Rendezvous with Nebula-2:

Final approach:

Docked:

[image not found]

Nebula-2 undocked from Nebula-3:

(Splashdown locations: Nebula-3 in the west, and Nebula-2 in the east)

Edited November 21, 2015 by Pipcard

[Pipcard 885]

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Mission 31

Payload: Mouhou Project

Description: A spacecraft designed to make a planetary fly-by.

Mass at launch: 0.180 t

Launch Vehicle: Onion Stick Mk. 04-3C

Boosters (crossfeeding): 2 x JKJSPC LV-T30 liquid engines

First stage: C7 Toroidal Aerospike Rocket

Second stage: JKJSPC LV-909 liquid engine (w/ extended tank)

Mission objective: Conduct a low fly-by of Moho.

(KASDA launch vehicles now have fairings courtesy of the Fairing Factory.)

Post-injection:

(Initial transfer orbit)

(After the course correction at the descending node)

Entered Moho's SOI; another course correction was made to set the periapsis at 50 km, and on the day side.

At periapsis:

Departing Moho:

Edited November 21, 2015 by Pipcard

[DMagic 4,068]

Nice flyby mission. I'm always excited to see people's Moho rockets.

[AustralianFries 38]

I really like the flyby mission. Goodjob, mate!

[Pipcard 885]

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Mission 32

Payload: Futurelab core module

Description: The central module of the Futurelab space station.

Mass at launch: 6.220 t

Launch Vehicle: Bottle Mk. 02-2S

Mission objective: Launch into a low-eccentricity, low-inclination orbit around Kerbin.

The second stage acted as a tug that pushed the core module to a target orbit of approximately 90 kilometers.

After that, the upper stage separated and deorbited itself:

The first module of the Futurelab space station:

Edited November 25, 2015 by Pipcard

[Pipcard 885]

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Mission 33

Payload: Nebula-4 (Mk. 01b)

Mass at launch: 17.640 t

Launch Vehicle: Bottle Mk. 02-2S

Mission objective: Rendezvous and dock with Futurelab.

Pilots: Bill, Jebediah, and Bob Kerman

Nebula-4 in orbit:

Rendezvous:

Docked:

Edited November 25, 2015 by Pipcard

[Pipcard 885]

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Mission 34

Payload: Futurelab power module

Description: Extra solar panels for the Fl space station.

Mass at launch: 5.832 t

Launch Vehicle: Bottle Mk. 02-2S

Mission objective: Dock to the Futurelab core module

Rendezvous. What followed was a difficult docking (due to the RCS being slightly off the center of mass).

Docked:

Nebula-4 relocated itself to the other docking port on the station:

Edited November 27, 2015 by Pipcard

[Pipcard 885]

Mission 35

Payload: Dawn-2

Description: A spacecraft designed to make scientific observations while in orbit around Eve.

Mass at launch: 0.269 t

Launch Vehicle: Onion Stick Mk. 03a

Mission objective: Establish an orbit around Eve.

Approaching Eve after entering its sphere of influence:

Prior to insertion burn:

Intial orbit after capture:

Using the remaining fuel, this was turned into a 1000 km polar orbit:

Did you know? All KASDA space probes have carried internal metal plates which contained images of Kertsune Miku.

Edited June 25, 2013 by Pipcard

[Pipcard 885]

Mission 36

Payload: Futurelab node module

Description: A module with several docking ports for extra modules.

Mass at launch: 5.820 t

Launch Vehicle: Bottle Mk. 02-2S

Mission objective: Dock to the Futurelab core module.

Rendezvous:

The node module was detached from the second stage to continue towards the station (RCS is closer to the center of mass this time):

Docked:

[Weegee 27]

Very cool thread! I haven't experimented too much with probes/stations at all yet, this has inspired me to try them! (after I rescue Jebediah, Bill and Bob that is... They are stuck on the Mun. I may just build a base around them since I'm lazy and that's on my list already. )

[SuperWeegee4000 88]

That is a nice-looking station! How many Kerbonauts do you plan to have on it in the end?

[Pipcard 885]

Six. In fact, they're coming up on the next mission.