ThreeMartiniLaunch

Launch 5 with video and image is posted here.

. (Updated images and mission schedule in first post.)This is a bonus double episode. Lots happens. I refuel the Quadrapus and return it to Minmus orbit. The pusher that pushed Selene Station to Minmus returns to Kerbin. I launch a really tall ship, the Fuel Modules for various space stations. I somehow manage to get them into Minmus orbit and even take one down to the surface to load up on fuel, and dock it to Selene. It is looking less and less likely that I will have any Kerbals on Duna by day 500. Probably on Ike, but not Duna.

That is almost as cool as this challenge!

Ok. Got a decent work around from another thread. I'll be switching to KAS, but rather than redesign the last two published launches (and one as of yet unpublished), I'll send up a tiny xfer vehicle to Minmus with two winches and a bunch of those removable attachment points. I will not be deducting this from my launch tonnage.

I've run into a bit of a snag. Turns out the Quantum Fuel Transfer system does not work in 0.21. I'm pretty sure I tested in 0.20, but forgot to with 0.21. If anyone knows of a fix, please let me know. If I don't have a fix by this evening, I'm going to have to redesign missions three and four using KAS and relaunch. Fortunately, I back up my save games frequently so I can go back to a point where I don't have to duplicate too much work, but getting the fuel transfer system working would still save me a bunch of time.

I think Harv of HOCGaming is 15. Or maybe 14. If you haven't seen his YouTube videos, I highly recommend them.

Thanks. I'm afraid I will not score well, but I don't really care. I'm having a blast building up this infrastructure within the confines of the challenge. At this point, I'm not even sure I'll have any Kerbals on Duna by day 500. I was also concerned that I wasn't getting many hits on my videos, but I'm having such fun making those, it doesn't really matter. Sturmstiger has created an excellent challenge.

Updated With Episodes and

Updated with Launch of the Kethane Mining Rig into Kerbin orbit Launch of the Quadrapus, the Minmus surface to orbit shuttle. And the very hair-raising transport of the Kethane Mining Rig to the surface of Minmus. Mining Rig in full operation:

My apologies, sturmstiger, but I am still having trouble with this. First, the "ships tend to turn retrograde while in atmosphere". When a ship enters atmosphere, with no SAS or other input, will tend to point ass forward. Try it. Depending on the mass of the ship, how much torque it has, and possibly other factors, you may not be able to avoid this. Try it with a three man capsule reentering Kerbin atmosphere. It will turn retrograde in short order. Bigger ships take longer, it's like they're turning with super weak torque, but they all do it. That being the case, the logical location for heat shielding is the rear of the ship. At least one example I have seen in this thread, and I think an early example of yours, used structural panels as a heat shield. Placing structural panels as a heat shield at the rear of the ship will leave the engine(s) exposed. Is this acceptable? And how much is required? Is this enough? This? Am I totally missing the boat? I am not trying to be difficult, I'm just having trouble understanding what is required to comply with this rule. Maybe I'm just focusing too hard on this one particular rule. Can I just place some structural panels in an aesthetically pleasing pattern and call it a heat shield? Thank you again for this awesome challenge and whatever guidance you can offer.

Duna has changed! And not just in appearance (which is awesome, BTW). I've flown dozens if not hundreds of Duna missions. I've always aerobraked at 12.5km. I have never seen flame effects and have always been put into an orbit inside of Ike's orbit. Since 0.21, aerobraking at 12.5km causes the flame effects. Further, it does not put me into an orbit. I suspect I'll also get flame effects when I go to land. Thus, I would like a little more guidance on heat shielding. Is there a weight requirement? Does the shielding have to go anywhere in particular? Most of the ships I've seen in this thread have the heat shields near the front of the craft. In my experience, ships tend to turn retrograde while in atmosphere. It doesn't seem like the heat shielding would do anything. Anyway, advice on this would be appreciated. Thanks

Good stuff. Looking forward to more.

You may indeed suggest Minmus. I had not considered it. My orbital scanner has scanned the entire equatorial region of the Mun and probably has enough delta-v to get to Minmus. The remaining lander certainly does. The lander on the Munar surface probably does as well. Let me run some simulations. I may change the locus of my Kethane mining operation. Thank you for the suggestion.

Remember me? I launched that first mission forgetting to feed my Kerbals. Well I'm back with a completely re-engineered approach. I'm still going to be documenting missions as I complete them rather than plan an entire mission architecture up front, but I'm taking a whole different approach. I'll be setting up Kethane mining operations both on the Mun and on Ike. This will probably take me significant time and I really don't expect to score well, but the challenge has inspired me to perform this ongoing mission. I'll be documenting my progress here as well as on YouTube. I'd appreciate feed back as time goes by. Good, bad, whatever. I just want to know if I'm wasting my time keeping everyone informed. Thank you, sturmstiger, for this awesome challenge. And thanks to everyone else for inspiration. ThreeMartiniLaunch (BTW, is it possible to change my forum handle?)

This mission is in response to sturmstiger's challenge Duna Permanent Outpost Mission Architecture Challenge. My mission is more inspired by than a wholehearted effort to do well in it. I will also be documenting it on YouTube. The challenge calls for simply planning a mission architecture rather than actually flying the missions. You get more points if you fly them, but it is not required. I'm doing it a bit in reverse. I'm flying the missions then will be documenting as I complete them. I have altered one rule for myself in the challenge. The challenge states that any Kerbals in space beyond 10 days require twice the normal habitation they normally would, and require supply in the form of additional fuel tanks to represent food, water, air, etc. I am assuming that before instituting a permanent Duna presence, there would be ample infrastructure within the Kerbin system to provide supplies to whoever needed them. Thus, all of my Kerbals in Kerbin SOI are assumed to have supply. Anyway....here we go. The schedule so far: Note: After the day 60 launch, KSP 0.21 was released. My save game did not make it so I reflew both missions. The ships underwent minor design changes to take advantage of some new parts offered with the update. I will continue to update this schedule as time goes by. The videos: My 25 tonne lifter - the Pony 25: Designed to take a 25 tonne package from the surface of Kerbin to a 125km parking orbit. Launch 1 - Station Cores: Two Station cores - one for Kerbin and one for the Mun. Launch 2 - Kethane Recon: Contains an orbital kethane scanner and two surface probes for each the Mun and Ike. After dropping off an orbital scanner and two probes at the Mun, it ejected for Duna SOI and eventually Ike orbit. Launch 3 - Kethane Mining Rig: Kethine miner for the surface of the Mun. You will note that it is well over 25 tonnes. I will be dumping fuel on the launchpad to bring it down to just under 25 tonnes. Launch 4 - The Quadrapus: Minmus surface shuttle. Used to land stuff on the surface of Minmus. Launch 5 - Fuel Modules Fuel modules for my various stations. Launch 6 - Space Truck by Four Pushes payloads between Kerbin and Duna Launch 7 - Duna stations Space stations for Duna and Ike Luanch 8 - Quadrapus Another Quadrapus for operations in and around Ike Launch 9 - Ike Mining Rig Mining rig for operations on Ike Launch 10 - Space Truck by Six A more powerful pusher Launch 11 - Supplies Also includes removable heat shields inspired by Patupi Launch 12 - Another Pusher Need something with a Clamp-o-Tron Sr. Docking Port Launch 13 - Space Truck by Six II (no image) Identical to Space Truck by Six I Launch 14 - Duna Habitation Thing Where my Kerbals will live on Duna Launch 15 - Taxi and Lander Comfortable accommodations for four Kerbals headed to or from Duna. And a Duna lander. Launch 16 - Supply and Hab II More supplies for Ike and Duna as well as a habitation modules for Gaea Station and Selene Station.

Maneuver Node Improvement is updated. http://kerbalspaceprogram.com/maneuver-node-improvement/

Temster, the designer of the Zenith family of lifters, posted an excellent discussion on this topic here.

For many months I was a staunch stock player. After playing for a while just throwing ships together and hoping they would get the job done, I started learning the math and began making purpose build ships. Eventually, I got tired of tabbing out to a spreadsheet, or using a calculator and writing stuff down. This kind of thing really should be in the game. So, I got MechJeb. (I did not know about Kerbal Engineer at the time and by the time I learned of it, I was already used to the way MechJeb presented data.) I would just use it in the VAB to show stats and would take it off before launch. More recently, I started working on a challenge that required a lot of probe core ships. With the old SAS system, turning some of these would take several minutes (I have not yet tried them with the new system.) Sitting there with my finger on the D key for five minutes is not particularly challenging and I don't think I'm missing anything by bringing up Smart A.S.S. and clicking Prograde. During construction of a Mun base, I got tired of F5, land, oops - too far away, F9, land, oops - too far away, F9, land, oops - explosion, F9, land, perfect. So, MechJeb can land for me. I know there are people who can land on a dime, or, if not, take off again and maneuver around effortlessly to position their craft exactly where they want it. I'm looking at you, Harv. I can't. It's not for lack of practice. I'm fumble fingered. In addition, pressing "left" and have the ship tilt forwards and to the right puts my head in a swim. So...MechJeb.

Cool. Thanks for the link. oh....nm. http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/showthread.php/12384-PLUGIN-PART-0-19-Anatid-Robotics-MuMech-MechJeb-Autopilot-v2-0-7

As of this post, Maneuver Node Improvement does not appear to be working.

That one seems to imply that it transfers fuel from one part to another....I'll take a look though. Also found this: Excess Fuel Vents. Uses a part, but the description sounds like just what I need. Guess I should have looked a little harder before posting.... Thanks, all.

Could you give me a clue what it might be called? Thanks

I would like to launch with some empty fuel tanks. I suppose I could thrust lightly on the launch pad before releasing the launch clamps.... I could make a special rover out of a big fuel tank and an engine. Fire the engine to drain the tank. Then drive up to the launch pad and xfer fuel via Quantum Fuel Thingy. Edit: I could edit the persistence file. Any other suggestions? Thanks

.I'll post in the mission report forum before too long with pictures of the ship and my ongoing "mission schedule".

I knew I forgot something. That did it. Thanks.