jinnantonix

I am loving this challenge so much, I decided to have another go at the Duna challenge. Below is my Duna Lunex 1 Pilot, First Class entry. It occurred to me that since Lunex was developed for for a Moon/Mun mission, the cramped confines of the shuttle craft would only be adequate to sustain the astronauts for a few days. However a longer mission to Mars/Duna would be intolerable, so more space and more supplies would be needed. I also think creating spin gravity would assist (and would also be very cool). So I redesigned my craft and the mission to suit.

Looking forward to it. Will definitely have another go if I think its feasible to complete.

Such good advice, I decided to take it! I reran the mission with a slightly lighter Munar Lander. This time I made sure I got 100% recovery at the KSC for both craft, and what a difference it makes to the score! Total cost in the SPH =65,398, with 63,958 and 1,219 recovered, leaving a total of 221 Although I worked hard at optimising both the craft and the flight, I still feel there is room for improvement (I may run this again). Notes: The Kerbin launch to a suborbital trajectory is definitely more efficient that using the Rapier closed cycle mode to get to LKO I tried continuing on around Kerbin from west to east, and it was less efficient than the SpaceX style return The Ant + 2 x Spider combination worked well, by reducing the thrust on the Spiders to 1% I could get gimballed direction control and an ISP = ~315 for most burns. The full thrust of Ant+ Spiders was just enough for the Kerbin propulsive landing (7m/s impact speed). I also used for the initial Kerbin orbital burn, the suicide burn landing on the Mun and initial launch on the Mun. The Dv for the Mun landing and launch were not well optimised, room for improvement I had about 80 m/s Dv spare prior to landing on Kerbin, and had to burn the fuel to be light enough for the propulsive touch down On the LV return, I could have glided for longer, and saved a tad more fuel for recovery.

Wow, thanks for the tips, appreciate your experience. I might do this mission again taking your advice.

My second attempt in the re-usable category: Two stage craft: First stage using only an airbreathing engine achieves a high speed suborbital trajectory, reaching an altitude of about 75km. A lightweight lunar lander is launched at Apoapsis, burns to LKO and completes the mission with Jeb planting a flag on the Mun and returning to the KSC. The launch vehicle re-enters the atmosphere, reverses direction SpaceX style, and lands at the KSC. Total cost in the SPH =65,436, with 62,708 and 1,211 recovered, leaving a total of 1,517

My entry in the Command Chair category. Total 2094 funds. Stage 1: Thumper with exploding fins. Fairing and decoupler. 5 parts. Stage 2: Command chair, Spark engine, 3x baguette tanks and adapter plate as a heat shield. 6 parts.

@camacju - looks to me like your Kerbal is exposed during re-entry - how do you stop Val from exploding? Is she hiding behind the battery? Also, I thought Mechjeb was not allowed, as it affects gameplay. @ManEatingApe Am I wrong about that?

I would like to see that. My Jool 5 "expendable" low cost entry (the only one so far) is documented here: I am not sure, but I believe there are no restrictions on mining (AFAIK), including no rules around mining for fuel on the launch pad, and so a re-suable entry could potentially be zero or negative cost. Agreed, and I am working on the larger lander for that option, need to add another fuel tank at least. I think the new lander will also be suitable for a command chair entry.

Here is my entry in re-usable category: Kerbal Space Program El Cheapo Mission to the Mun. Two stage craft: First stage uses Rapier engines to achieve LKO, then a lightweight lunar lander (with no reaction wheel or electrics, gimbals only!) completes the mission with Jeb planting a flag on the Mun and returning to the KSC. Total cost in the SPH =43,631, with 41,434 and 988 recovered, leaving a total of 1,209 With the changed rules, I don't think it is possible to beat the previous score on the leader board, but I had some fun with this anyway.

Well that changes things somewhat . My idea was, like camacju's designs, to use a suborbital air-breather first stage and parachutes - but that is no longer viable. So my design will be as follows: Stage 1: Lightweight Kerbin to orbit SSTO, with stage 2 as payload dropped in KLO, land at KSC Stage 2: KLO to Mun and back to KSC - ultra lightweight command chair craft. Gimbals only. Propulsive landing. I did some calcs around a Stage 2 being Apollo style leaving fuel tanks in Mun orbit or free return trajectory, but the extra weight of the docking ports plus the fuel costs for the rendezvous makes this of questionable value.

@ManEatingApe I am working on a craft for the re-usable category. It is a two stage craft with a command chair, and both sections land on Kerbin intact. If I use a parachute, is that included in the recovered cost? Same for if I stage a fairing, do I also include the cost of the fairing in my score? Can I land anywhere on Kerbin, and get 100% recovered cost?

Thanks. This record is beatable, I am sure with some tweaking I could do another lap. But 14 laps? I had no problem attaching the wings to the fuel tanks inside the fairing, and then using the slide and rotation tool to position/configure accurately.

Voyager Division Mission Completed Mission completes 12 laps of Kerbin Cruising speed 1600-1700 m/s at 23-27km Power: 1 x CR-7 RAPIER engine Air Intake: Engine Precooler and Shock Cone Crew: 1 Note: Other than the design time (which was quite considerable) this mission required about 2 hours of gameplay. Each lap took about 10 minutes, and I used an alarm on my phone to remind me to take a video shot while passing the KSC. Rather than watching the screen for 10 minutes (boring), I filled in the time by watching on a couple of episodes of the Walking Dead on Netflix.

Velocity Division Mission Completed Mission done in 38:35 (note, F3 was pressed 4 seconds after stopping) Cruising speed 1750 m/s at approx. 21,500m Mass at launch: 4841 kg Power: 1 x CR-7 RAPIER engine Air Intake: 1 x XM-G50 Radial Air Intake Duct Crew: 1 Notes: Used MechJeb SmartASS, utilising fine adjustment on the pitch and throttle controls to maintain maximum air speed, and avoid the RAPIER flare out limit at Mach 6. In order to slow down quickly to land, I used air brakes and gear to increase drag, and a drogue chute deployed just before touch down. Now onto the long haul challenge ...

The Mun landing was on flat ground, and not at a 60deg inclination, so not "First Class". The video shows there are three relay satellites deployed, one large and two small providing a continuous positive uplink from Duna to Kerbin. Did I misunderstand something about this requirement? I didn't spot the stated requirement for 2 x pressurised rovers in the OP (how did I miss that?). So again, not "First Class". The base is still under development, there are a few aspects that could be improved, so I might have another go at the First Class in a future mission. I enjoyed this challenge immensely, thanks for running it. I will probably have a go at the Jool and Eeloo versions when they are set.

Duna Lunex 3 Pilot: More awesome fun. Used the hardware as the previous Mun Habitation Mission, adding a second rover and heat shields for aerobraking at Duna and Kerbin, and relay satellites. The mission includes two launches - the first autonomously lands a habitat on Duna along with setting up a reliable communication network, and a second launch of a USAF Lunex style shuttle craft with a crew of three, landing at the habitat and returning to Kerbin, landing at the Kerbin Space Centre.

Lunex Habitation Mission: Had a lot of fun with this, assembling a habitat with a rover and ISRU solely with DLC robotics, and all in a single launch. Also demonstrates refueling of the Lunex Lander on the Mun. The design could easily have landed at the south pole as proposed for the Artemis mission (for mining water for fuel). The habitat is not realistic for long term habitation due to crew radiation exposure - the original Lunex program proposed an underground habitation which isn't possible to simulate accurately in KSP. (or is it? ... idea for future mission?).

As I understand it, the second Centaur (launched on a naked Vulcan) docks in LEO and refuels the Dynetics lander and executes TLI. The lander then does autonomous rendezvous with Gateway, and does the crewed lunar landing and ascent, drop tanks are ejected during lunar descent. It is unclear but likely subsequent missions may require two launches: Vulcan to LEO - Refueling craft. Naked launch with Centaur to boost above craft to TLI ...then delivery craft will rendezvous autonomously with Gateway, refuel the Dynetics lander at Gateway, and retro burn to lunar impact (disposal) It is a good question whether drop tanks would be refitted. I don't see that as feasible, way too complex and risky. Is the lander (minus drop tanks) capable of a complete descent and ascent?

I am going off the Dynetics HLS Wiki.

Dynetics requires 2 Vulcan launches. First one delivers the lander to LEO, second launch docks with and fuels the lander from the Centaur. After each mission, the lander is refueled by 2 Vulcan launches, which also replace the drop tanks.

Lunex Abort System verification Now working on my Lunex 4 and Dunex entries.

I would go for an aerobrake at Kerbin. Try Pe at between 55 and 60km and see if your craft can handle the heat of a Kerbin atmospheric brake. If so, you might try for a deeper Pe. If you can;t get into Kerbin elliptical orbit, just orbit Kerbol until you get another encounter with Kerbin, and try again (this time with much less velocity). Eventually you should get into Kerbin elliptical orbit. Time and patience, and lots of quicksaves. .

Excellent challenge, awesome fun. Just to spice it up, I have done the challenge in one shot, with no saves. Lunex 1 (in hard mode)

DOMA Redux Well, it's been a marathon, but finally here is my submission: Scoring Video Standard Launch Vehicle Video Transit 1 Video Transit 2 Video Transit 3 Video Transit 4 Video Transit 5

Duna Outpost Mission Architecture completed.