Chequers

Esteemed colleagues of the Kayak Club. I would like to enquire as to the current registration of this landmark, and whether it had yet been chronicled? Jebediah, on an expedition North East of the KSC, sighted this wonderfully serine island lake, glinting in the low-hung light of sunset, backdropp'd by a dramatic range of peaks: between which a wonderful landing spot offered sensational views of the lake. I can, of course, provide a full entry if it turns out to be an, as yet, undocumented landmark. Otherwise, I share in the joy it must have brought another adventurer.

Hi again TiaguX84. As an early contract, this looks like quite a tough one, especially with low level technology. But that doesn't mean we can't do it! If you can afford to upgrade your VAB (right click on it, then click 'Upgrade'), then that will give you more parts to use. But I don't think we need more than 30 parts here. You need to think about keeping your rocket organised into two stages: The passenger module. This needs to carry 5 Kerbals - and bring them back safely from over 70,000m The lifting stage. This needs to be powerful enough to lift the passenger module, and efficient enough to carry it on a nice suborbital trajectory. Lets start with the passenger module. You'll need some sort of command pod. Let's use the Mk1 Command Pod, because I know you have it unlocked. That has space for one Kerbal - so your first tourist can sit there. But what about the pilot? Well, hopefully by now you've unlocked a probe core - specifically, the Probodobodyne OKTO, which can be unlocked under the 'Electronics' research node. This lets you fly a rocket without a pilot on board; and this particular probe core also has SAS capability, which is important! The OKTO is tiny, so can fit right on top of your Mk1 Command Pod - and a parachute can fit right on top of that! Now we need to think about the rest of the tourists. Fortunately, there's a handy Crew Cabin - it's called the Mk1 Crew Cabin, and it's unlocked early on in 'General Construction' - so you might already have it. It fits two Kerbals, so place two underneath your Mk1 Command Pod - and there you go! A 5 Kerbal Passenger Module, with remote control, and a parachute! But it might be worth adding a couple of extra parachutes - just to make sure your Kerbals land nice and safely; they're paying a lot for this trip! Example: Onto the lifting stage! Now we need to think about getting it onto a sub-orbital flight. We could just strap some Solid Rocket Boosters to it and watch it fly; but if you launch too steeply, your rocket might not have enough air to fall through to slow it down on the way back down for your parachutes to work - so let's go for an angled launch, to get a nice smooth arc that will reach a peak of over 70,000m, but have plenty of time to slow back down in the atmosphere. Underneath your passenger module, place a decoupler. Then underneath, place two FL-T800 (or four FL-T400) fuel tanks. Pop a Swivel engine underneath that, and finally some Basic Fins, for stability. Example: The mission Make sure you have assigned the tourists to all of the available seats in your Mk1 Command Pod, and Mk1 Crew Cabins. Also makes sure your staging is correctly set up: The swivel engine will fire first, then when it runs out of fuel, you will detach the lifting stage, then activate the parachutes. On the launchpad, enable SAS, go to full throttle, and launch! Go vertical until your speed reaches 100m/s, then pitch over to the east by about 10 degrees. Continue pitching over smoothly, aiming to be at 45 degrees by the time you reach 10,000m. Don't stray too far outside of the prograde marker on the navball! Hold this angle until you reach 20,000m - then pitch down to about 20 degrees. Hold this angle until you run out of fuel. This should put you above 70,000m - check the map with the M key. Detach the lifting stage. When you reach the apoapsis, get ready for coming back down by pointing retrograde on the navball, and activating your parachutes (they won't deploy until it's safe) As you descend, try and keep pointed retrograde as best you can - your craft might start to flip - do your best to stop it pointing nose first! Your parachutes will deploy when you are low and slow enough, bringing your craft to a safe landing. Good luck - let us know how you get on!

Congratulations! And welcome back to KSP. As a fairly new player myself, it's great to see these early career posts - I'm always blown away with how routine some players hugely complex missions are to far flung celestial bodies - and here we are, still tiptoeing around Kerbin's SOI. But I totally agree - I was trying to pin what makes KSP so infinitely playable... and I think it's that - it's not just difficult in terms of learning curve... it can be as difficult or simple as you want it to be, because you make your own objectives. There's no 'completing' space... there's always another way of doing things, a new project to try, or new ways to test yourself. I just managed to land on another planet for the first time, and I did it with a landing pod that housed a mini rover. Was that the easiest way to land on Duna? Probably not. But was working through the different challenges and seeing the mission come together and work after all the planning and hard work fun? It sure was!

Pioneer III: Mission Log 4 - Landing and Rover Deployment Sanctuary was configured for entry through Duna's atmosphere at approximately 100,000m above the surface. Solar panels were retracted, and final parachute checks were performed. Finally, the craft was orientated retrograde, with the powerful 2.5m reaction wheel adding stability. The craft descended through the upper atmosphere quickly, and entry heating effects were observed shortly afterwards - the heat-shield ablator performing flawlessly as speed was rapidly bled off. The quad 24-77 radially mounted boosters were engaged to both decrease velocity to acceptable levels for parachute deployment, and also help predict a suitable landing site for Sanctuary. The entry of Chariot was observed during descent; passing below Sanctuary before contact was lost as it was destroyed upon hitting the surface. Good chute opening occured of both drogue and main parachutes, and the heat-shield was detached, impacting on the Duna surface a short time later. In the final stages of landing, the quad landing boosters were engaged to bring the craft to a descent rate of 1 m/s, which was maintained until Sanctuary safely touched down in Duna's 'Midlands' region, within a low lying depression, surrounded by rising land on all sides. A strikingly beautiful place to set down. Engine shutdown. Sigh of relief. We were immediately called by the World Record Keeping Association who confirmed the first landing on Duna. Duna Rover 'Rambler' was deployed shortly afterwards, and immediately began collecting information of the surrounding area, which was beamed via Sanctuary to Kerbin, adding incredible new science data to our labs. Rambler then proceeded to journey further afield to explore the landscape and continue beaming back data, and will continue to do so. We have successfully completed the Pioneer Programme parameters to: 'To land a Kerbal-made object on Duna, capable of exploring the landing site, and beaming back scientific data to Kerbin.' This paves the way for even more ambitious missions to other planets - perhaps even one day landing Kerbals themselves! But for now: Mission Accomplished! Mission Log Screenshots

Pioneer III: Mission Log 3 - Arrival at Duna 315 days after launching at Kerbin, Pioneer III entered the SOI of Duna, and we got our first view of the red planet, with its moon, Ike. Pioneer III came out of hibernation to perform a final correction burn, placing the periapsis at 13,500m. As the vessel passed through the orbital plane of Ike, and no further course corrections were needed, Chariot was separated, and Sanctuary was orientated for entry into Duna's atmosphere. And we all held our breath. Mission Log Screenshots

Pioneer III: Mission Log 2 - Trans-Duna Burn With orbit established, we began the complicated computations to plan a manoeuvre that would intercept Duna's sphere of influence. Chariot initiated a 72 second burn, with a change in velocity of 1248.3 m/s - placing Pioneer III on a course to reach Duna in 304 days. Further deep space course correction burns will be planned and initiated during transit to bring the periapsis around Duna within the atmosphere. With the burn complete, Pioneer III was placed into hibernation mode for the long journey.Pioneer III came out of hibernation briefly to capture one last image of Kerbin from the edge of its SOI - the last this vessel will ever see of its home planet. Mission Log Screenshots

If you can get the mission cost below 5,000 - then go for it! As you say, you're already on the 1st Class Register with the Mk3.

@Space Nerd, well done on your entry, 'KSS "Bootcamper" Mk3', and for your detailed screenshot mission report. I particularly enjoyed the 'mood lighting' you set for the mission, by launching at dusk. This entry is awarded the Zircon Chevron, Silver Claw (with K-Ribbon), Amber Leaves, Onyx Eyes and Vermilion Heart. For achieving 5 additional adornments in a single launch, you gain a smattering of applause from the 'one with the moustache' at the OBC committee, along with the 1st Class Insignia. Your name and vessel will be entered in the prestigious 1st Class Register - congratulations! And please feel free to also submit 'Bootcamper Mk2' - if it successfully meets the requirements of 'below 5,000 mission cost', while delivering a satellite into orbit, you will be the first to claim the unique adornment of the Diamond Wings, and lay down a benchmark for all would-be challengers! Thanks for the idea! I'll have a think about the logistics and parameters of it, and may include it in the next round of updates.

Pioneer III: Mission Log 1 - Launch and LKO Final checks completed, Pioneer III went through the countdown procedure, and successfully launched into clear blue skies of a beautiful Kerbin morning. We're on our way! All gauges held steady as Pioneer III accelerated through 100m/s and began the roll program, accelerating smoothly and passing the sound barrier at roughly 10,000m, with a 45 degrees pitch attitude held until 20,000m. Fuel was depleted as intended with an apoapsis of 80,000m. With its work completed, the lifting stage, Leviticus III, was separated from the upper stage, Chariot, to fall back to Kerbin. The fairings were successfully deployed shortly afterwards, revealing Sanctuary; with no reported malfunctions or damage sustained during launch. Solar panels were deployed, and shortly afterwards Chariot completed the circularisation burn to put Pioneer III into a parking orbit. We will shortly be commencing the manoeuvre calculations for the trans-Duna burn. Stay tuned! Mission Log Screenshots

What an honour! Thank you! And thanks to everyone who has taken part and contributed some amazing ideas and craft to this challenge so far: I've been really inspired by your creations! Here's to more shoe-string orbits!

I thought the same. Thanks for your input!

That would indeed open it up; and thanks for the idea — but I think it would take this challenge too far away from it's original spirit, which is about orbiting Kerbin. I'm more than open to ideas for what to replace the Gold Florettes with, but it does need to keep within orbiting Kerbin.

Pioneer III: Launch Preparations The time for designs, testing and plans are over: the launch window has arrived, and it is time to embark on a bold step forward in history. Pioneer III has been rolled out to the launchpad, and is undergoing final checks for launch. Action groups have been set up, contingencies made for unforeseen circumstances, and mission control have taken their seats. Jebediah wishes Pioneer III well with a flypast in the Scoundrel.

'Sanctuary' Mk3. Final Design. We've finished construction on the final design for LP-3 'Sanctuary'. Recent research advancements have allowed us to pursue more robust communication technologies, resulting in the RA-15 Relay Antenna providing permanent connection to KSC throughout the mission. Furthermore, we have installed retractable solar panels to provide power to the probe core throughout the mission. Finally, additional landing boosters have been installed, to provide a stable quad formation for any landing manoeuvres that may need to be performed following entry through Duna's atmosphere.

You raise the issue with this challenge that prevented me from going through with adding it. There's a hard apoapsis border for orbiting Kerbin... which is indeed the edge of its SOI, which means once somebody (such as yourself) reaches it, nobody else can compete for it. There's a new unique adornment to get a payload into orbit, that no one has claimed yet - so feel free to lay down a benchmark for that one!

Thanks for swinging by, compadre! I am indeed having bundles of fun with this project. One of the main things that bothered me when first playing KSP, was the lack of repercussions for getting things wrong. One of the most incredible and inspiring things of some of the real world space programs, is knowing the amount of steps, planning, effort and outright tension that goes into them. When Opportunity plonked down on the surface of Mars and started beaming back data and images... I can only imagine the pride, relief, and joy that went through every person that had been involved - and many hours of hard work from so many people went into it. I also can't imagine how painful it would have been if something had gone wrong and the mission had failed. I guess I wanted to get the tiniest inkling of what that might be like, which is why after playing for a couple of hours, I started my career again with Quicksaves and Reverts turned off, and also making time a precious commodity. I don't timewarp massive chunks of time without doing something in between. When Pioneer III is on its way, I'll be continuing my space programme's other missions, such as charting all of the biomes on the Mun and Minmus. That's because if Pioneer III fails, I want that to be a kick to the stomach - because if this thing works, MAN I'm going to feel a lot of joy. Just as I did simply managing to do a flyby of Eve. So that's why I test all these different things, and design stuff slowly, making sure everything works. There's just a lot of enjoyment in that part of the process for me.

Rocket Design for Pioneer III The final design for the rocket that will carry Sanctuary to Duna has been finalised. An upgraded and modified version of the Leviticus II platform, Leviticus III features a powerful 'Mainsail' lifting stage that will carry Pioneer III into a sub-orbital trajectory. The upper stage; 'Chariot', will perform circularisation, trans-Duna burn, and correction burns to place the vessel on a path to intercept Duna with a Periapsis of 14,000m - it will then be discarded to burn up within Duna's atmosphere, leaving Sanctuary to perform the landing. Sanctuary has also been modified to alleviate concerns around strength of signal to KSC from Duna. It now features an RA-15 Relay Antenna. The solar panels have been redesigned, to feature extendable and retractable panels for optimal sun exposure. The dual landing booster configuration has been redesigned for stability, and now features a quad-booster arrangement.

Indeed - the next design of the landing pod will feature quad landing boosters to provide further stability in this area.

Pioneer II: Re-entry and Landing Test. Having sufficiently tested the parachute deployment and landing capability of Landing Pod, Sanctuary, engineers have finished construction of the 'Sanctuary Mk2', which will placed into low Kerbin orbit with an apoapsis of 100,000km. The lifter will be a single stage, modified version of the Leviticus I rocket, used in Chequers Aerospace recent flyby of Eve. The payload has been fitted with a 2.5m fairing to protect the delicate equipment throughout the launch. This will be deployed once beyond 70,000m. Once established in orbit, Sanctuary will be configured for re-entry over Kerbin's desert, to best simulate the Duna environment. The dual 24-77 engines will perform the de-orbit burn. Performance of the heatshield and reaction wheel will be monitored during descent through the atmosphere. A test of the landing boosters will also be performed, prior to touching down. Test Report Raw, unedited footage

Congratulations on your entry, @CBase, and for demonstrating you are able to do so without assistance from mods. Thank you for your screenshot mission report - and particularly for your persistence in achieving a landing back at KSC. A truly impressive entry, with BootScience! It earns you the Silver Claw (with full ribbon complement), Pearl Escutcheon, Onyx Eyes, Crossed Swords and Vermilion Heart. For achieving five additional adornments in a single mission, you join the ranks of those with the 1st Class Insignia. Your name and vessel will be recorded on the 1st Class Register. Well done, sir!

Landing Pod 'Sanctuary' Mk2 Initial Design Following the successful flight of Pioneer I, which tested the parachute deployment and landing capability of the Sanctuary Mk1 landing pod, we move into the next phase of development, which is ensuring Sanctuary is able to survive the harsh re-entry forces of Duna's atmosphere; ensuring the Duna Rover 'Rambler' remains protected. The latest iteration of Sanctuary features a detachable heat-shield, able to be jettisoned once it is no longer needed. Additionally, a 2.5m reaction wheel below the parachute bay provides additional attitude holding and stability. Finally, twin radially mounted '24-77' liquid-fuelled engines provide thrust for course correction and final landing velocity. These are fed by Oscar-B fuel tanks. We are preparing for the flight of Pioneer II, which will carry Sanctuary into a sub-orbital trajectory to test re-entry capability.

Pioneer I: Atmospheric Parachute Deployment and Landing Test Results of Sanctuary and Rambler testing have shown the proposed design is suitable - and we can move onto the second phase of development. It is imperative that Sanctuary (and Rambler contained within) are able to land stably, through the use of parachutes (and later, supplemented by landing boosters, which are not part of this test). Pioneer I - the first flight of the programme - will carry Sanctuary to an altitude of 10,000m. There it will be released, and the parachutes deployed. Our engineer will carry out observations of the descending craft through a series of close passes, to evaluate its stability - and that the parachutes deploy properly. A modified version of the SP-IV 'Talon' will be used to deliver Sanctuary to the required altitude; and also used to conduct observations. The test will be carried out over the undulating grasslands beyond the KSC - an uneven surface suitable for testing the landing stability of Sanctuary. Thereafter, Rambler will be deployed, and its performance evaluated. The flight roster will be Jebediah Kerman as Commander; with Bill Kerman as Chief Engineer. Test Report

Update After much consideration, and on the advice of some of the entrants on the Honour Roll - who have far more experience and knowledge than I - I have decided to retire the 'Gold Florettes' unique adornment. It was, unfortunately, a contrived challenge, that did not reflect the original intent of trying to reach orbit with the lowest dV possible. Those that were awarded the Gold Florettes will still have that adornment listed next to their entries on the Honour Roll. It has been replaced with the Diamond Wings - which awards the heaviest payload delivered into orbit. Furthermore, the Cobalt Stripe is now an additional adornment, for delivering a payload into orbit as part of your mission.

DR-LP1: Landing Pod and Rover Detachment Test The Pioneer Programme begins with the construction of the Duna Rover 'Rambler' and Landing Pod 'Sanctuary'. It is critical that the rover can adequately fit within the landing pod, and be secured during transit. It must be protected from the intense forces of Kerbin Launch, interplanetary transfer, entry into Duna atmosphere, and landing. The Landing Pod is constructed from a 2.5m Service Bay, which is protected from below by a 2.5m Heat Shield. Mounted above, is the parachute bay - which consists of three Mk-12 R drogue chutes for slowing the craft within Duna atmosphere, and three main Mk2-R chutes. These will likely be supplemented by radial landing boosters - of which our engineers are currently designing. Above this is the power generation module, consisting of angled solar panels, to supplement the Z-200 Battery - this directly feeds to the RA-2 Relay Antenna, which will provide communication facilities back to Kerbin. Within the pod, a roof mounted docking port provides an attachment point for the associated docking port on the Duna Rover, 'Rambler'. It is this component that is the focus of the first test - both the detachment of the rover, and exiting of the landing pod, must be without fault. Test Report

Pioneer: Duna In my career, I've never landed on another celestial body outside of Kerbin's Sphere of Influence. The closest I've come is a flyby of Eve, which - thanks to the help of the KSP Community, was a great success. It's made the chief decision makers at Chequers Aerospace feel brave, bold, and hungry to take on a new challenge. Now is the time to take a giant leap forward in the history of Kerbalkind - and for Chequers Aerospace. The mission To land a Kerbal-made object on Duna, capable of exploring the landing site, and beaming back scientific data to Kerbin. To this end, we will design a rover that can survive the harsh atmospheric entry of Duna; that is equipped with scientific instruments to conduct experiments; and that has the necessary communications equipment to beam that information back to Kerbin. The catch is, aside from a high-flyby of Eve, I've never come close to the surface of another planet. And without quicksaves and reverts enabled, there's going to be a lot of groundwork to cover. So join me on this venture, as we launch the Pioneer Programme here at Chequers Aerospace. I'll likely need your help. Mission Status: Complete Contents Mission briefing, proposal and initial designs (this post) DR-LP1 - Landing Pod and Rover Detachment Test Pioneer I: Atmospheric Parachute Deployment and Landing Test Landing Pod 'Sanctuary' Mk2, Initial Design Pioneer II: Re-entry and Landing Test Rocket Design for Pioneer III 'Sanctuary' Mk3. Final Design. Launch Preparations Pioneer III: Mission Log 1 - Launch and LKO Pioneer III: Mission Log 2 - Trans-Duna burn Pioneer III: Mission Log 3 - Arrival at Duna Pioneer III: Mission Log 4 - Landing and Rover Deployment Proposal We've been busy working on the rover that will land on Duna. It has to balance the need to fulfil science and communications objectives, with the need to survive the entry of Duna and land safely. We propose housing the rover (codenamed: 'Rambler') in a landing pod (codenamed: 'Sanctuary') that will be equipped with the neccessary equipment, such as heat-shields, parachutes, and landing boosters, to safely arrive on the surface of Duna. This will also double as a communications base to relay information from the rover back to Kerbin. Initial designs Duna Rover 'Rambler' Mk1. Landing Pod 'Sanctuary' Mk1.