meyst

This is good to see and I admit temptation to join you all... I have not heard anything about those for a while! I used an outbound Aldrin-Cycler (S1L1) cycler myself. Some problems I encountered ironing out the bugs of that outbound orbit; Expecting to always see a Ballistic Trajectory on the Kerbin gravity assist (usually but not necessarily always the case due to the angle needed on the gravity turn. [This is even more true of an Earth<->Mars Aldrin-Cycler]) Not recognizing/correcting course/orbit deviations early enough. Errors escalate every orbit. Orbital duration, drifting/not in sync with the Synodic orbital period of Kerbin and Duna, 19 645 697.3 seconds. I settled on an outbound Kerbol (solar) orbit Ap of 31 505 200 km and Pe of 13 400 000 km but anything that matches the Synodic period should work. I strongly suggest you test that inbound Duna>Taxi>Aldrin-Cycler>Kerbin transfer before committing to it. That one is a surprisingly high Delta V intercept for the taxi and not the easiest thing to fly either.

I give it a well earned F minus Expansion adds parts, mission editor and consistent game crashes; When loading rockets/space planes onto the pad/runway. I have yet to be able to fly anything in a making history expanded game due to the aforementioned game crashes. As of this writing the best thing I have seen regarding the expansion is that the uninstall making history expansion program works. I reserve the option to change my opinion IF a stable version is ever released.

You want to do your outbound trip faster to arrive early in the transfer window so you have time to do an outbound trip back during the same transfer window, I hope you have extra Delta V to spare. Fortunately for you Alexmoon has an App for that.

After a long hiatus I find myself on a KSP kick and to my surprise I was mentioned in a new post. Those look like high Delta V corrections to me. I saw no images of the cycler orbit you are using to confirm this but my guess is that your orbital period is off. You want the orbital period of the cycler to match or be a whole number multiple of the Synodic period. The Synodic period of Duna and Kerbin per the Wiki is 19645697.3 seconds http://wiki.kerbalspaceprogram.com/wiki/Duna (I used a solar Pe of 13271 and Ap of 31296 as references the last time I did an Aldrin cycler) With an Aldrin cycler it is easiest to slightly miss the SOI of Duna and get your gravity assist off Kerbin. Don't be afraid to undock your taxi vehicle earlier to complete the transit to Duna. Try to make most of your course correction to use the force gravity assist to set up your next flyby with Duna as far from Kerbin as possible. Low thrust to weight is ideal for making the small accurate burns. I like the outbound S1L1 Kerbin --> Duna Aldrin cycler. On the other hand I don't care for the inbound Duna-->Kerbin Aldrin cycler. I found the Delta V needed to make the intercept coming from Duna to be high. A challenge that would suit what Cyclers can offer would; use a life support mod with heavy recycling hardware Have a long or unlimited time frame to execute Want roomy (ie heavy) long term habitation for the transit Want to move significant numbers of Kerbals Of the active challenges the Jool 500 looks like the best fit http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/index.php?/topic/135965-jool-500-kolonization-challenge/

These are pictures from missions I did in 1.02 before the update. I cashed in on a science contract with my probe on the Mun with the last of it's power. Unlocked the advanced rocketry node and upgraded the astronaut complex and did a combined Rescue from Kerbin and Mun return from orbit mission. With all the science I unlock space exporation for more science and fuel systems for... fuel. Took on contracts for and did a combined rescue from Kerbin and get science from the Mun contract, apparently somebody paid up to confirm that space around the Mun was a vacuum.

I unlocked Basic Science for the temp scanner and probe core. I was also lucky enough to be offered a test LV 909 engine, so I took that contract and put a probe called the Stayupnik into orbit with plenty of fuel to spare. The cash was used to upgrade the launch pad for larger craft and take on a 10% commitment for more rep (In the hope I can get more lucrative contracts). The science from the temp scans of the Stayupnik was used to unlock stability tech. I got return from orbit and gather science contracts and sent Jeb into low orbit with the Kersplorinator (The Stayupnik was not equiped with a parachute). On landing Jeb picked up some more science at Kerbins Deserts. Flyby the Mun and Science from space around the Mun contracts became available so I sent the Stayupnik to the Mun! After getting to the Mun I had fuel left so I took contracts to orbit the Mun and get science from the surface of the Mun. Stayupnik is now on the Mun.... Maybe I will rename it to Munnik now. Pictures!

I have decided to try my hand at a Stock Career Game and share my progress. To open I Gathered some Science from the Runway and used that to unlock the first two tech nodes With the new parts made the Omnomnom Science, to do a hop over the pad to devour all the science and recover all the parts Last mission of the night, I unlocked General Rocketry and added Moar Boosters to the Omnomnom Science so it could Omnomnom all the science both high over Kerbin and in space. Rocket assisted Landing ran out of fuel and resulted in some unplanned lithobraking. This sets me up with 211,690 roots and 62.9 science available to work with for my attempt to reach orbit.

The most recent update changed many of the engines in addition to the aerodynamics. I have yet to decide if I will finish this using 0.90. If not I will start a new 1.02+ challenge to revamp the old challenge and start new. What do you all think?

A great deal has been added and changed in the game since this challenge. I don't think a score from an entry now is directly comparable to the original entry scores. Instead of getting a mode to update the original post scores I think it may be better to start a refresh of the challenge and take advantage of the opportunity to updated the rules.

Duna Base

Duna Base

Looks like this is still going, very good. My original plan was going to be so much work (over 150 launches and twice as many dockings) I just ended up doing everything else instead of 'working' at KSP. However I could not stay away because I like the game and have come up with a new more workable plan that I should be able to fly over the next few days I have off. I organized the new plan on a spread sheet to make the plan more organized instead of a long scary notepad laundry list. Any time a Cycler leaves Kerbin or a Taxi is at Kerbin a crew will be delivered to it and I don't have these free missions shown on my list. I made significant changes to the details of the plan but kept the overarching structure the same. I upped my lifter tonnage from 4 tons to 18 (and reduced the launches from 130 to 29). Eliminated the required in orbit assembly, about 300 dockings, from the previous plan. I kept cyclers as I really want to see them in action but I completely resigned them to vastly lowered the mass and use rockets to get them started so they will not take twenty hours to fly. I kept the Rover I was using before because it seemed popular and handles well. I also upgraded to imgur album Pictures for my plan and hardware

I took a break from gaming but I am back with a new plan, pictures and time to fly.

Deadly re-entry can be used but it sounds to me like you are already set. Otherwise make it look like it has a heat shield on it.

The launcher is built to be fully recoverable in the game, unlike many reusable designs that are plagued by issues of debris removal and in game physics range. I present the Fully Recoverable stock 0.90 Launcher, the Helga. Mediafire .Craft download file link. https://imgur.com/a/mCi4V#0 Launcher is intended to deploy payloads not exceeding a mass of 4 tons or volume of a large cargo bay. In retrospect I think I should have done the pictures during the day so it is easier to see them.... Tell me what you think. Also this is my first time using IMGUR so any tips for using that would be helpful as well.