*First few pictures ONLY were taken with a potato. Sorry*
Hello fellow Kerbonauts! So, after a lot of hair pulling, more dockings than I care to recount and a stressful and laggy refuel(lot of parts) to top off all the tanks in Low Kerbin orbit, my first major mission to Duna is underway, and I am quite proud of my creation. (I apologize, first few pictures were taken on a potato, I originally snapped them with my friend to text my friend, and fellow Kerbal player, than decided to share with the community.) I do play with a fair amount of parts mods and tweakscale.
I give you, The Sagan, named for my favorite astronomer and philsopher, carrying the 'Duna One' mission suite, my first considerable attempt to build a reusable spacecraft that can be outfitted for different missions and celestial bodies than return to LKO to repeat the process. Subsequently, the Duna One is my first big mission to Duna (beyond probes and rovers or one off proof of concepts).
The Sagan and Duna One mission suite in low Duna orbit.
The actual ship itself is what is beneath the Docking Port Sr's and the science lab and is what returns to Kerbin where it can be refitted for more missions. There is also an accompanying module, the "Sagan Interplanetary Booster" (I unfortunatly did not snap a picture yet) that docks to the rear of the ship and is what is used to escape the Kerbin SOI and get the craft into orbit around it's target. The Duna One mission suite, consists of a main space station hub, Duna One herself, that will be left behind to begin establishing a permanent presence for my Kerbal's around the red planet. It will have new modules attached to it on subsequent visits.
A close up of the space station portion.
The mission suite also includes two ascent vehicles(which can land themselves) and two habitation and science modules (loaded with science). The ascent vehicles are designed to ride ontop of the habitation modules during the descent to the Dunan surface and stay there through the two or three months their occupants are in the hab. However, the ascent vehicles themselves are equipped with their own set of landing legs, parachutes, and forward and rear docking ports, allowing them to be used by themselves or in conjunction with some later system.
Crap picture, but close up of an ascent vehicle atop the lander hab.
The mission suite also includes a very fun rover buggy(I only brought one, instead of two for each landing site do to part count), an upgraded model of a design that proved very effective on Mun and Minmus, and a rather simple manned orbiter and lander system for visiting Ike. The rover is also equipped with a rear facing monopropellant engine, hopefully allowing it to race across the Dunan surface and mining and refining capabilities for a long distance overland journey.
The rover, sporting it's overkill de-orbit engine and parachute/skycrane landing system.
The Ike orbiter and associated lander. The orbiter is unmanned, and merely there to serve as a service module and propulsion system to get the crew from LDO, to Ike and back.
If you guys are interested, I plan to keep a mission log of how everything works. Big step for me and feels right to share the success or failures of these assets. Also as I promised earlier. Pictures get better!
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Crew:
Jebediah, Valentina, Bill, Bob (They all wanted in), Kattrid, Eilma, Chadberry, Podger & Podney Kerman.
DUNA ONE MISSION PROFILE
Establish parked 80km orbit around Duna. *COMPLETE*
Test all systems on the Sagan in orbit around another celestial body. *COMPLETE*
Move Jebediah, Valentina and Chadberry Kerman to Ike Exploration Vehicle, test all systems. *COMPLETE*
Travel to Ike and establish 23km orbit. Deploy lander vehicle to explore and science the Ikean surface. *COMPLETE*
EVA all three kerbonauts and jetpack 2-3kms in different directions from the landing site for wider area of exploration and surface samples. *COMPLETE*
Liftoff from Ike and reunite with orbiter for return journey to Sagan. Seperately dock the orbiter and lander to Duna One for potential later use. *COMPLETE/AMENDED IN MISSION*
Load Jebediah, Bill, Chadberry, Kattrid & Valentina, Bob, Podney and Podger into separate Duna landers, test all systems.
Land at opposite sides of planet. (Or possibly a pole, not sure I have the delta-V to get back though) and deploy all habitation.
EVA all four kerbonauts at Valentina's landing site and jetpack 1+kms in different directions for wider area of exploration and surface samples.
Deploy Duna Rover, de-orbit it and land it at or near Jebediah's landing site. EVA kerbonauts and stress test rover.
Drive a minimum of 30km from landing site. (Jebediah is at the helm, so it will probably be much further and bolder than it sounds)
De-orbit the Sagan Interplanetary Booster. Record impact data on seismographs.
Live on surface, conduct science and study the effects of long term Dunan exposure upon Kerbals for future kolonization. Wait for transfer window.
Lift off from both landing sites and reunite with the Sagan. Dock both ascent vehicles to Duna One for later use.
Release Duna One, leaving Podney and Podger behind to maintain a permanent presence.
Sagan returns to Kerbin.
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So here is the mission so far.
Getting to Duna and establishing an orbit was pretty uneventful. The kerbal's mostly watched TV and ate snacks for the duration. The Sagan Interplanetary Booster was able to get to Duna, make the capture burn, match Duna's equatorial inclination and circularize into an 80km orbit with a little over 100m/s Delta-V left. Bigger versions of this stage could potentially carry, or assist The Sagan in getting to other further celestial bodies in the future.
Ike orbiter and lander in orbit around the companion of Kerbol's 4th son. Lovely Duna rise. ^-^
After another uneventful but far shorter journey, this landing tested Jebediah and Valentina's piloting skills as they realized a potentially hazardous flaw in the design of the lander. With it's conservative battery power and production, Duna's distance from Kerbol and lack of an alternator on it's monopropellant engines, electric charge became a scarce commodity for the ship's SAS. After suffering a potentially disastrous loss of power, negotiating Ike's mountanous terrain for a suitable landing site and with RCS used sparingly remembering now all to much their dependence on monoprop, the two were able to right the craft and keep it stable on short bursts of SAS torque for a surprisingly textbook landing.
Landed on Ike.
Three happy Kerbals on the surface of Ike. From left to right: Jebediah, Valentina, Chadberry Kerman.
After collecting their science and discovering a rather fun but uncomfortable way of travelling across the Ikean surface, that Jebediah dubbed, lithosliding, the Kerbal's crammed back into their little lander to return to orbit. Once again, the skills of the pilots were tested as this obviously rushed bit of engineering began to run low on fuel. Having burned through a little over half of their Delta-V to land and facing the aforementioned power problems, they had to be extremely precise with their maneuvers. Luckily, they were able to return to the unmanned orbiter and with only 18m/s of Delta-V remaining! The kerbonauts would later call this design a close call and the engineers, miserly. The engineers would call it a craft perfectly tailored for it's job, no wasted fuel or energy and that it's 'biological cargo' were crybabies. Once redocked with the orbiter, it was off for another uneventful day long journey to return to the Sagan.
Time to return to the Sagan
After reuniting with the Sagan, the kerbonauts decided to show their displeasure with the cramped compartments and numerous perceived problems with the Ike vehicle by ejecting it shortly after they returned to the Sagan. They decided to let it take a few orbits alone to 'think about what it's done' before returning it on remote guidance while they are on the surface of Duna.
The Sagan and Duna One with full reunited crew. Ready to begin preparations to land on Duna.
That is what I have completed so far. I will keep you all updated as the mission progresses. Please let me know what you think, or if you would like any other pictures of stuffs.
