Death Engineering

That's a good point. Consider my question revoked for my potential attempt, here. I need to embrace the 'homesickness' side in mods, since I build for it anyways. Thanks for the reply!

Those are all great ideas. When I want to do a quick visit to Duna's surface, I'll do something like this: Start with building a Duna lander that can get to Kerbin from Duna's surface Make sure your craft has drogue and main chutes for when you get to Duna Build a little extra ▲V to adjust orbit at Duna and do a chute-assisted powered landing Single-stage or two-stage can work here Design an interplanetary injection module that can take the craft out to Duna Plan on aerobraking at around 16km from interplanetary speeds Engine bells work fine for braking around Duna's wispy-thin aero Build a rocket that can get the whole thing into LKO.. Science!

Duna Landing Crew on Gateway Prior to Duna Departure Crew is home and ready for their next mission! Thanks again to @jinnantonix for this challenge and keeping it going! This mission was definitely not a low-cost attempt, but did attempt to capture the nature of the Gateway station (as conceptualized) and a Duna Direct-style mission. This architecture was not cheap to set up, however repeatable Duna missions can now be completed with only the cost of the Duna Base and an Orion-Mun crew module to the Gateway Mun station with these steps: Duna Base Launch (uncrewed) Includes Duna transfer stage and Duna return to orbit module Reaches Duna orbit robotically and awaits crew Crew launch to Gateway Crew mines the ore and processes it to refuel the Duna Shuttle Crew Boards Shuttle and departs from Mun polar orbit to Duna Crew rendezvous with Base and perform Duna landing Science! Crew returns to Shuttle which departs Duna for Gateway Mun station Crew uses the same Orion they arrived at the station with to return to Kerbin Cost Breakdown Gateway Station HALO Crew Module 69,200 Ore converter 131,111 PPE (Power/Propulsion) 218,241 Surface Driller 161,174 Resupply 61,815 Total 641,541 Crewshuttle 88,596 Sats Duna 2 x relays 36,983 Duna Relay 3/rover 59,044 Total 96,027 Duna Base and Crew Orion (Mun) 67,057 Duna base 84,643 Total per Duna Sortie 151,700 2 Additional Duna Missions 303,400 Grand Total 1,281,264 Two crew descend from Gateway to the South Pole for Ore to refuel the Duna Shuttle Crew arrives in the Shuttle and boards Duna Base Approaching the Landing Zone near the awaiting rover / surface scanner Crew leaving Duna's Surface! Crew back on board the Shuttle and leaving Duna SOI Crew back on Gateway Station awaiting the Kerbin-return window Beauty shot as Sol rises while the crew descends Crew back on Kerbin! And an all-female crew, too!

Hi @Watermel00n how do you feel about TAC Life Support?

Death Engineering's Duna Mission Do-over Done! After a save-breaking problem with the last attempt at this mission, we rebuilt the KSP mods* into the newest version and flew the whole mission again. Actually, flying these crafts was a breeze since I'd spent some time on the design, but the action groups were somewhat fogged over in my memory. Thank you quicksave/load! I'll put together a detailed post with the costs and such, but until then thank you @jinnantonix for putting this challenge together! Gateway Orbital Mining Platform with CrewShut preparing for Duna departure * Visual only, but that included Re-Stock and Waterfall which may add modules to the craft files. I dunno.. didn't want to take any chances.

This is a great thread and well worth the wait for each new release! I've done KConstellation missions to Mun, Duna, Dres and Laythe.. it's just a great architecture! Good luck on the next steps!

Death Engineering Apollo to Vall (by way of Mun, Tylo, Laythe and.. Eve..?!?) Hi @Kerb24! Thanks for the fun challenge. I always enjoy anything Apollo-ey and visiting Vall is always worth the effort. In this mission, the launcher was closer to a Nova than a Saturn V in order to balance out the mass with the engine requirements. In this design, there are 6 Mastodons on the first stage, 5 Mastodons on the second stage and one Mastodon on the third stage. The lander used a two stage design with a Terrier on the powered descent and landing stage and a Spark for the ascent stage. Flight Plan Kerbin launch Mun flyby gravity assist: +1 Jool SOI entry Tylo gravity brake: +5 Laythe gravity brake: +3 Vall orbital insertion and landing: +5 Leave Jool SO Eve gravity brake: +5 Kerbin SOI and landing So I think that's 19 points. Thanks again for the challenge! Photo album: Greetings from Vall Henge! Saturn - Nova Comparison:

Tylo cave might be the most worthwhile destination, ambience-wise at least. Bring viz mods!

As winter approaches (yeah, approaches, I'm in the south ), I'll pick this back up. Especially, with the rogues gallery. I wonder how JNSQ would play out in this mission? Thoughts?

Ouch! You need to send an Engineer down there to fix those wheels. Nice looking mission so far

From my strait-jacket; like how I see everyone.

Four Crew on Duna! Using a combination base/rover and a very cramped ascent module, this single-launch solution carried the first crew to Duna. Another four crew is on the way in a stationary base with a built-in single-use ascent module. Three RA-15 relay sats and one scanner sat were also deployed in Duna orbit. Deep-space Crew Transport Twin-nuke powered, with seats for 8 cruising around Kerbin or 4 crew for those deep-space missions. This has suitable ▲V to get from Munar orbit to Duna orbit and back to Munar orbit without refueling, where it will dock to Gateway and meet an Orion for the last leg back to Kerbin.

I'll always have some love for wild Gemini missions!

Deep in the Kerbin Deserts In a trial of the Duna mission hardware, four crew camped out in the desert singing songs and eating beans (no fireworks!) until... well, until they'd had enough. With seats for 8, each module houses four crew in comfort and will provide safe haven while camping on Duna.

First successful mining mission complete! The crew landed within 200m of the marker lights and brought the Ore back to orbit. There it was refined for, overall, a very fractional part of what the landing mission cost (in fuel / ▲v). So, while it would be possible to continue using this strategy, we're going to lower our Mun orbit from 80k to 20k; this should make the returns more acceptable. The tradeoff will be when it comes time to fuel Duna transfer stages, but in those missions we may simply use the Ion engines to raise the Pe up to 100k or so. Getting the Ore processor out to the Mun ' Gateway Station Completed! Mission Objectives: Goal 1: Establish Munar Orbiting Station (Gateway) Completed HALO - Launch cost: 69,032 PPE - Launch cost: 218,241 Goal 2: Develop 100% reusable fuel manufacturing/Munar mining at Gateway Completed FU2 (fuel / logistics to Gateway) - Launch cost: 61,815 DRLR (surface mining) - Launch cost: 161,174 ORCH (ore conversion) - Launch cost: 131,111 Mining crew to Mun - Launch cost: 67,057 Goal 3: Land crew on Duna and safely return

Landing Zone Probed! With two dedicated communication satellites in place and a relay on the scan-sat, a simple rover set down on the selected mining site. With the landing zone below, we're tempted to do some exploring around the extreme polar terrain. Nearby is a monolith and a deeeeeeeeep hole! Ready for mining! Shown highlighting the reusable mining craft, we have our crew ready to do a test-run of mining. Notably missing is an ore-conversion module.. unfortunately, these were contracted to a company that is all show and no go.. Blue-something-or-other... LZ Coordinates

Where's the ore-gone? Is it typical for there to be no ore on the south pole? I may have to restart this thing.. (I don't do mining typically.. maybe it will work anyways?)

Press Release / Mission Background Mission Parameters: Operating Orbit for all missions: 115km minimum Pe Goal 1: Establish Munar Orbiting Station (Gateway) Completed HALO - Launch cost: 69,032 PPE - Launch cost: 218,241 Goal 2: Develop 100% reusable fuel manufacturing/Munar mining at Gateway Goal 3: Land crew on Duna and safely return Primary Heavy Lifter: Death Engineering '23 Skidoo' (highlighting second stage logistics section) Nominal Payload: 23t Cost: 51,363 Primary Crew Module: Orion 4 Nominal Crew: 4 Cost: 16,108 HALO: Habitat and Logistics Outpost Crew seats: 9 Nominal Crew: 4 Docking ports: 4 (one fore, one aft and two mid-ship) Airlocks: 2 Cost: 18,197 PPE: Power and Propulsion Element Cost: 167,524 Power generation capability (with full Sol and fuel cells active): 88 EC/second (can I time travel with that?) Onboard EC: 14,400 Propulsion: 6x ION and 4 Spider LFO

Gateway gets PPE! (no, not that kind) The Power and Propulsion Element launched to the Gateway after the first crew arrived home. Using the second stage, the PPE is sent to Munar orbital insertion, but will use its own propulsion to rendezvous and dock to Gateway. Docked to Gateway, the PPE aligns Gateway to a near perfect polar orbit.

Apollo to Laythe - McDonnell Douglas Phase B 12-Man Space Station Bob stood on the bow of their spaceplane and, after tucking the DeGrasse Sea science into the hold, took one last look at the distant SOL and how different it looked shimmering with Laythe's pastel-pink sunset. Thanks @jinnantonix for this challenge - I'd not ever attempted to sink anything (on purpose)! We arrived at Jool with a quick gravity assist past Tylo before aerobraking into Laythe orbit. Total ▲V to enter low Laythe orbit from interplanetary space was just a few hundred m/s. It was a very light pass through Laythe's atmosphere to slow down, then ditched the heat shield. After waiting for their landing zone to roll into daylight, the crew separated from the Phase B and headed down, brakes on FULL. Landing on chutes was the safest way to go. With no time to waste, they opened the door and dropped the probe.. wayyyyy down! The view from the bottom was eerie.. need a sub next time! Payload back on board, the crew jetted... then rocketed.. back to orbit. No docking ports on the spaceplane, so a quick EVA got them back on board, then a long burn home for a 2.5 year cruise. Don't forget the Mystery Goo!! Back home safe and sound... until next time!

Habitation and Logistics Outpost (HALO) and First Crew Launched aboard two separate missions, the HALO station first into a Munar polar orbit and then the first crew of 4 crew to check things out. HALO on the Pad The HALO has seats for 9, with 8 seats in cabins and a single command seat for logistics and communication. On board are 4 primary docking ports and two airlocks with auxiliary ports/airlocks. Four Crew headed to the HALO The crew are aboard a partially reusable crew module that seats four, almost comfortably. Val can hardly feel that storage bin pressing against her head. Val appears completely thrilled to be in the back seat with a storage bin behind her head. The Power and Propulsion Element (PPE) has not been delivered to the KSC yet, but should be ready to launch before the break-in crew get home.

Oh this is a very good clarification Making adjustments now (to the design I had floating in the holographic ether that is my KSP-designated on-board Imaginationlandtm)

This has worked very well for me in another challenge.. but that was with mod parts. Probably could conjure something up with cabin bits, I guess.

Hi @jinnantonix ! Well, this challenge is right up my alley and is something I'd probably do outside of a challenge. Time could be a factor since I'm still plugging along in the Life on Laythe challenge.. but I would get to this and complete it.

How does a 'Das Marsprojekt' mission sound? It doesn't.. it's space! Well anyways, this is the vonBraun mission using nukes and a big stack of hardware to Mars, and yes Venus (on the way home). What's under the hood? Little bit of this and little bit of that.. http://www.astronautix.com/graphics/z/zmem69b.jpg