Cavscout74

Give it a try: https://kerbalx.com/cavscout74/Duna-Explorer-S I was able to delete a few extra mod parts - mostly science gear from Probes Plus & DMagic. The "unidentified part" is the battery wedge from Universal Storage II. Also, I was already tinkering with the changes I was thinking about. The uploaded version has the wider stub wing for the gear mount, but not the rear-facing braking fan - that didn't work very well, at least on Kerbin. I'm hoping the wider gear mount provides a little better lateral stability on takeoff & landing, but actual testing has been limited to the KSC runway so far, so I can't tell you how well it'll work. Hmm, I probably could've just ditched US II completely for the upload - the only parts it uses are a 4-slot core & battery wedges. I may re-upload later with just stock batteries. Edit: Deleted US II parts & replaced with stock batteries.

You are probably not half as surprised as I am. I thought it would fly (compared to my first attempt), but I had absolutely no idea it would perform like it does. I may upload it if you're interested, but it's pretty mod-heavy - Airplane Plus, Probes Plus, Universal Storage II & Modular Rocket Systems just off the top of my head. Getting rid of the Probes Plus parts shouldn't be too hard, but the other 3 are critical to the design and there could well be others I'm forgetting. I'll try to take a look later tonight. In the mean time, back at KSC, I did some testing of a mobile base design: It handled pretty well, but it isn't immune from rollovers, even in 1g. Still, the only parts lost are one drill, 2 of 4 radiators & some solar panels. I have redesigned it to mount the wheels closer to the top of the frame to lower the CG, but I didn't have time to test it any more. Edit: Actually, the aft solar panel was broken off by aerodynamic forces because I actually got this beast up to ~70 m/s over flat terrain

I performed my first Duna aerial exploration mission - flying down to an anomaly in the southern hemisphere, about 230 km away. After takeoff, I switched off two of the fans, and still maintained 270 m/s at 6000m for the trip, while having about 3 Ec/s power surplus during the day. I didn't even check top speed with both sets of fans. Preflight checks Heading for the anomaly After checking out the anomaly, Sarah decided to test out her parachute on the way back to the Flyer Return trip to Pegasus-Duna base Safely back at base - I floated for over a km trying to land & am taxiing back here. In another sandstorm. What does this planet have against my base? The entire trip was sandstorm-free except for 5 km or around the base. For future reference, I might try a longer stub wing to mount the gear on, to give a wider wheelbase as it's still kinda wobbly as-is. I'm also really tempted to add a fifth ducted fan, facing to the rear as a "thrust reverser" since it maintains airspeed so well on Duna.

My fresh Duna crew arrived and went to work - first with an Ike landing to check on the refueling operation there. Then I landed the mining wing of my Duna base. I came down just over 2 km away, but the addon is wheeled, so it wasn't a big deal. All hooked up & ready for the crew: First sunrise at the new base: Finally, I brought the Duna Flyer II over to the base. The sandstorm started after I took off. There's a base down there somewhere.... But I eventually found it & landed. I'm also happy to report, I can turn off the 2nd pair of fans & still maintain a pretty good airspeed for economy cruising. Tomorrow I'll have the pilot & a scientist head out for some exploration.

Anything over 10% I'm pretty happy with. Highest I remember seeing was around 12.8%

My biggest news for today is my Duna Flyer II arrived, entered Duna's atmosphere and then..... IT FLEW!!!!!!!! I had already dropped a rover near a high-ore location in the highlands west of the western canyon entrance & I was able to land near the rover on the side of a hill. Then I took back off & flew down to the mouth of the western canyon to check the ore there. At nearly 4km (in the highlands) I landed at only ~32 m/s. Second landing (at ~1.2 km) was at 25 m/s. Could probably go slower, but I wanted a little safety factor on the first few landings. This is the first time I've ever operated an aircraft of my own design in Duna's atmosphere (successfully anyway) Entering Duna orbit About to enter Duna's atmosphere as Kerbol & Ike climb over the horizon I might land if I can find the ground. Another surprise - the 4 little electric fans will push this bird to 200+ m/s at full throttle on Duna. And it does NOT like to slow down in the thin atmosphere. Circling back to the rover after overshooting, still looking for a good landing spot. A little flatter here, lets try it Success!!!! I taxied back up to the rover before attempting to take off First takeoff on Duna - heading for the canyon entrance The second landing in the flatter canyon entrance didn't get a fresh screenshot. It was actually pretty simple, especially since the sand storms stayed away long enough to land. Sadly the ore concentration dropped from 12.5% in the highlands to only 5.1% in the flatter canyon entrance. I'm trying to find a place to put a mining base. The rover found a mostly flat spot (only a ~1 degree slope) but it will be pretty tight to fit the base. Actually, REALLY tight to fit the base. I may have to run some "simulations" in sandbox before I try it in career with no quickload.

The only issue I've encountered in 1.6.1 is the constant duplicating of the launch site waypoints (now that they've been added as selectable nav waypoints), but that's only really noticeable if you have waypoint manager mod installed. Like this - 11 duplicate KSC runway waypoints, spread over several km. Without WP manager, they don't show on-screen like this.

Don't feel bad, I've had parts not show up in game, come on here to ask about it & the next time I start the game, they're all showing up again.

How big is your rover/skycrane? Pics would help. I haven't really made anything I couldn't fit a fairing around. I can cover an entire Laythe floating base under a 3.75m fairing - granted, no skycrane, but the base is pretty good sized. It included the pontoon boat in the picture, and it all (barely) fit inside a 3.75m fairing

I didn't even realize you had put out an update for this till last night. Didn't have a lot of time to check out a lot with the new version, but what I've seen so far I'm really liking. Minmus & Duna were beautiful. Tourists on Minmus, enjoying the new glow. I actually forgot I had updated Sci-Fi and while approaching Minmus, I was thinking "What is going on with Minmus? It looks weird....." followed by a facepalm & "Oh, yeah, the update!" Duna outpost with a faint sand storm blowing by. The new sand storm effects are subtle yet amazing. Great work @panzer1b

I had some time on my hands today, and did some revamping of my older jet designs. My Vampire was revamped into something resembling a Mig-15. My Viper (which was a mediocre attempt at an F-22) got rebuilt into a cross between an F-16 & F-15. Didn't take any screenshots of either, though. I also dusted off my CF-04 Tiger forward-swept wing heavy fighter & took it through the mountains to try and scare a fairly new scientist. The pilot ended up looking more scared - another Jeb she apparently is not. It is actually pretty fast & maneuverable for its mass, but it bleeds off airspeed quickly in turns. Of course it is nearly 30t, so it's not surprising. I also performed some experiments more suited to early-mid career than end career. I built a jet-SRB mix spaceplane. I didn't quite make orbit - but it was a 250x40km ellipse, so it potentially could have if I'd flown a better profile. Not that it's in any way useful, just was interesting. Finally, my 2nd Duna crew of this career made it home. PCC-01A Avalon entering Kerbin orbit The crew transferred to the waiting Lightning spaceplane for the trip home. I came in at the very beginning of dawn at KSC, made for a pretty approach to the mountains west of the runway.

I vary between VAB & SPH designs, and between spaceplanes & aircraft, but within categories, I try to keep them fairly standard. For the VAB, there's only really 2 that I keep standard: 1 - Solar panels & antenna & 2 - Toggle radiators. For Aircraft, there are also 2 standard groups: 1 - Toggle engine mode & 2 - Flaps Spaceplanes are more complicated: 1 - switch mode of airbreathing engines. 2 - toggle airbreathing engines (including rapiers), 3 - toggle vacuum engines, 4 - flaps, 5 - solar panels & antennas)

Yesterday, I spent a little time continuing to tinker with my early cold war era fighter design, fine tuning handling & adding its built-in wingtip rocket pods. First takeoff with functioning rocket pods My work-around to get the pods to function was to decouple the front & back nose cones prior to launching. First live-fire attempt: Later attempt, with 6 rockets instead of 4 per pod. Final version has 12 rockets in wingtip pods plus 12 more on pylons under the wings. I also tested a suborbital high-g tourist pod - worked well, even knocked out the pilot. Pictured here just before firing the high-g SRB's: And finally, the DSV-01 Alderaan departed Kerbin for Jool. ETA is something like 2 months before my career first manned mission that launched about a year ago:

Launched a new surprise into orbit. For scale, the core is 5m, with 3.75m radial boosters & 3.75m upper stage. Still going up, shedding the radials Coming out of its shell I modified my fusion rocket crew cycler into a 15-seat deep space exploration vehicle with the addition of a centrifuge hab. The dV dropped to around 75000 m/s, and I may have to add more snacks & greenhouse supplies to support the larger crew. But here it is: I also found a few minutes to throw together another historically based jet to buzz around in. I think it looks fairly close to the real life inspiration (at least for the 10 minutes I spent on it). Only had time for a single flight, and it flew wonderfully. With flaps, it just takes off on its own, no pitch input required. On the downside, you just about have to land nose wheel first to get it on the ground, so it needs a little tweaking.

I don't have any instersteller mods installed, but I have a standard interplanetary crew cycler vessel that I've used across several careers, from version 1.3.1 to 1.6.1. Depending on version & mods installed, it has at least 9500 m/s dV from its nuclear lightbulb engine. Uses a mix of solar panels & RTG's for power. The versions with Snacks installed can feed a 4-man crew for several years with the greenhouse & waste recycling. Max seating is 7, but I limit it to 6 at most - the cupola module isn't really a long-term habitat. Typically I use 4 crew for typical missions. View from the rear, moving to dock with a station over Laythe. Solar panels & radiators all retracted. View from the front as it heads out from Kerbin. I also built but haven't used in a while a fusion rocket powered exploration vessel with something like 65000 m/s dV IIRC, capable of holding 2-3 dozen crew, snacks for several years & a centrifuge hab module. Power provided by a small fusion reactor, supplemented by solar & RTG's. The reason I haven't used it in a while is it's a single-launch to orbit & the last version I attempted to use it (1.5.1 I think), it kept snapping in half during launch, and no amount of struts (real or auto) would correct it. Changes in launch profile didn't correct it either, so I just went back to the smaller crew cyclers. Capture burn over Laythe Most recently, I added a smaller fusion rocket vessel - basically an improved version of my crew cycler, converted to fusion rocket power. Still holds only 7 (or preferably 6 or less), it adds a small fusion reactor & fusion rocket that provides somewhere around 90000 m/s dV. I don't know the longest maneuver it can handle before overheating, but I've tested up to a 5000 m/s continuous full power burn without even coming close to overheating. Currently only a single one launched in my current career, waiting on a high-speed transfer to Jool. Transit time just under 1 year from Kerbin, and it will actually arrive before the crew cycler carrying the career first crewed mission to Jool. I'm considering making a stretched version with a centrifuge as well

I sent the first 6 vessels for the current Duna transfer window on their way. Three more will be following, just ran out of time today, then in a few days the fleet of Jool ships will start leaving. Most notable is the Duna Flyer II on its way. Hopefully it will live up to its name better than the original.

If you have Making History, you can do it through the mission builder. Add your test craft wherever you want it & start the mission. You don't even have to add anything else to the mission other than spawning the craft and (if needed) crew.

Haven't had a lot of game time the last few days & what I have had has mostly been launches for Duna & Jool windows only a few days apart. I did take time today to send a rover based on the new lander can to Minmus for my ground base there: Booster separation Transfer to Minmus Entering orbit Safely landed & parked next to the base:

I was busy filling up LKO with more Duna & Jool bound vessels today - both transfer windows are approaching - and Kerbal Launch Failure decided I was having too easy of a time. about 3/4 of the way through the radial boosters, it blew up the right booster engine. I thought I staged away the boosters fast enough to possibly save the core & payload, but it went sideways on me. On the plus side, the payload was a rover setup for parachute delivery on Duna. so I staged away everything else & popped the chutes. I figured I was less than 30 km from the desert launch site, I would drive the rover back for recovery, but I got a little too fast, rolled about 4 times & bent the whole rover. Since it was trying to drive in circles at that point, I just had to recover it in place. The worst part of the whole thing is losing the 20 days between launches I impose on myself. I'll still get the new Duna base core launched, and probably the mining wing, but I'll possibly need to skip the reactor wing. Parachuting down after the aborted launch Roving through the desert highlands. Before I bent the rover Finally, I made a few small tweaks to my P-38 clone, and it flew. Initially, I thought it was still a dud - didn't to go much past ~90 m/s, but once it finally broke 100, it sped up fairly quickly and got up to ~170 m/s before I turned back to land.

@aagun123 Those shots make me want to turn off part pressure limits, just to go play in the ocean

I needed a pilot to replace poor Hilsy Kerman, and after multiple contracts not wanting to offer a pilot, I finally got a Minmus surface rescue contract (with capsule) for a one. I pretty much never do these, but I was tired of waiting. I had a second surface rescue for Minmus (an extra scientist) as well. I decided to rely on KIS/KAS for the capsule recovery and otherwise built a new heavy lander. The target pod turned out to be larger than anticipated, so my engineer had to improvise a little. Coming down close to the rescuee & his capsule For some reason, the gear were super-extra-springy today, and I ended up landing on the engines. The original intent was to mount the recovered pod underneath the lander, but with the springy gear, that had to wait. I transferred as much fuel to the opposite side as I could & it worked out ok once I shut off the SuperDraco's attached to the upper stage of the lander Once in orbit, the engineer & rescued pilot (to help move the extra mass) moved the recovered pod to the bottom of the lander, effectively becoming the new landing gear Second rescue was easy - just had to recover the scientist & blow up her debris Last step was to launch a recovery claw into LKO, grab the recovered pod & detach it with KAS, then recover it "normally" Followed by the 2 rescued kerbonauts in the lander Last but not least, I experimented with a 2-seat turboprop version of the single seat prop fighter I'd been working on. Still flies great, top speed is a little higher, and acceleration is a LOT quicker once the engine is at full power. I tried a version loaded down with simulated ordnance, but there were issues with CG & gear height.

Dr Jet's Chop Shop, the "Lil Buzzer" They are pretty small - using them on this is about the largest craft I've ever successfully used them on. Wow, that brings back memories. Was the first game I got for the original Nintendo as a kid, after playing it in the arcade

I put together a new "Duna Flyer" aircraft, now all electric rather than mini-NERV powered. On Kerbin, it stalls around 12 m/s and can take off around 15, so it should do better than my last attempt. It uses 4 ducted electric fans for takeoff, but can shut off 2 for economy cruising. Seats 2, and has a small entryway to stash most of the science gear: However, since it is all electric, there was no way to get it to Duna the way I did last time, so a huge aerodynamic shell was needed to stick it into orbit. Staging the shell: I also tinkered with a P-38 Lightning-style aircraft: It still needs some work:

I suffered my first casualty in my current career today. While test flying a new single-seat prop aircraft, pilot Hilsy Kerman was fatally injured following a controlled flight into terrain near the KSC. The really bad part, the basic design wasn't bad & Albo Kerman made the initial test flight ok, but while buzzing the VAB got a little too close & lost a wing. Since he was in the process of pulling up, I had time to bail & deploy his chute. He actually made the first successful parachute landing I've made on the VAB. Poor Hilsy, flying the improved version, was attempting to buzz the R&D center & a moment of distraction allowed the nose to drop while flying at high speed about a meter or two off the ground with disastrous results. Albo flying the CFP-01 on it's maiden flight Albo on top of the VAB after bailing out Hilsy in the improved version shortly before her accident On a related note, Minmus Station has been renamed Hilsy Kerman Memorial Station. On the plus side, the fusion drive version of my interplanetary crew cycler is in HKO, awaiting a high-dV transfer to Jool in about 230 days. And in 1 year, 227 days it will enter Jool orbit at roughly the same altitude as Laythe. I didn't try to set exact intercepts yet, just got a rough idea what it was going to take for time & dV. It will still have over 75 km/s dV remaining without using flybys of any Joolian moons. The nuclear crew cycler, PCC-02 Babylon currently carrying Jeb & company to Jool isn't set to arrive in Jool's SoI for another 2 years & 40 days, and it's already been in space for 290 days. Finally, I performed a successful test jump of FTL drive. Test vessel over Eve, raising it's orbit for a safer return jump. I'm more sure than ever - especially with the development of the fusion drive ships - that I'm just going to drop the FTL drive mod. It's a neat idea & worked well, just doesn't feel right to me.

Typically probes first, followed by or simultaneous with unmanned landers. Kerbaled missions usually get a station, a dedicated lander, a crew transport to take them from Kerbin & back home, and usually some kind of ground base. Early on, tankers get sent as well. ISRU & larger bases get added for later missions.