Death Engineering

Death Engineering Presents... The "KB X-11" with "KB X Command Module"! Features: 158 parts, 152t Named for the 11 engines that fire at launch Tested as a Mun orbiter or one-way Mun lander and a return capable Minmus lander for three crew Docking capable No debug clipping Control through aerodynamic and thrust vectoring (one of the 11 engines) Demonstrates simple clustering, asparagus staging, and structural reinforcement Tidy RCS tanks and battery placement Solar panels do not need to be deployed Stable, stress tolerant lander KB X Command Module Description: This craft is very easy to fly and get into orbit. It demonstrates building techniques such as clustering, asparagus staging, internal fuel lines, simple "no debug" clipping and using action groups. No throttling back during ascent is required, just point-and-shoot. I've tried gravity turns at 10km, 14km and 20km and got into orbit easily with all attempts. Munar orbits are easily done, but Munar landings are a little tight on fuel (returns from Mun are not likely). Minmus landings and returns are also easily done. Action groups: G - Deploy landing gear and ladder 2 - Open/close docking port 5 - Deploy chutes and jettison service module 9 - Toggle CM engine Craft file: KB X-11 with KB X Command Module

Thanks. Thank you! And, appreciate the offer but the crafts for this challenge are pretty much done.

The ascent stage docks with to the return stage (four ascent stages on the return stage), but the landers get out to Vall on a separate IP stage. It is true that you can complete the challenge without returning them home, but you lose a lot of points (2 per kerbal).... edit: You could probably use the "Overbudget" allowance to at least bring some back and still be ahead of the game.

Too bad they're going to Vall!

What a totally epic mission! Well done!

It is a "typical" two stage Apollo-style LM that seats 4 kerbals. For "science", it has four mini-labs, four goo-canisters and some of the small instruments. I don't use KER, so we're doing it the Kerbal way ("that should be enough fuel").

Thanks to all who followed this series! It is continued below... Death Engineering Presents... [Vall Exploration Challege - "Done with Duna, we're volitant on Vall!" - Episode 1] In the first entry to the Vall Exploration Challenge: Bill and Jeb get ahold of the "secret" photos Bob is still dry-witted Ludlong has his way with a new Vall Landing Module

Yeah vid submissions are awesome!

Death Engineering Presents... [Vall Exploration Challege - "Done with Duna, we're volitant on Vall!" - Episode 1] In the first entry to the Vall Exploration Challenge: Bill and Jeb get ahold of the "secret" photos Bob is still dry-witted Ludlong has his way with a new Vall Landing Module

Protractor, eh? I wonder if that would work better than trying to 'eyeball' it.. I think that will be my next mod. Please do! There have been a lot of really unique designs already, but always cool to see someone else's interpretation of the rules and mission goals. Good luck!

Yep, I am nearly done a second run at this challenge. Much smaller scale and tried out assembling large space-trains in orbit with multiple launches.. did not work so well on my PC. Thanks for reading the "Duna Space Program" mission reports! It is continued here. Thanks! Edit: did you add up your score for this challenge?

Always enjoyed reading your updates and congrats on finishing this up. It certainly is a handful of a challenge! I must say as well that your crafts were an inspiration to my second run at this challenge. I thought that the assembled in orbit space-train method would allow large deliveries to Duna, but I found the lag (too many docking ports..??) to be utterly unbearable. Well done!

See the Vall Exploration Challenge for more details... [Prologue] Jeb, Bill and Bob, along with a cast of other rising star space adventurers, recently wrapped up the Duna Space Program. Many good times and snacks were shared by all, but the most important thing was the discovery of a face on Duna! This face had a mysterious carving which led kerbal scientists to believe that something mysterious is on Vall, and a new space program was born... [Mission Report 1 - Vall Lander First Look] Jeb and Bill were staring alternately at the grainy photo of Vall from the space telescope and the letter with the blacked out words. Bill and Jeb passed the photo and the letter back and forth and talked about patterns and shapes on Vall and tried to guess what the blacked out words were. They did not notice Bob approach them quietly from behind. "Geez, Jeb, what do you think is on Vall?", Bill said quietly in almost a whisper. Jeb replied back, trying to be equally quiet but failing in that regard because of his ongoing inability to contain his excitement. "I don't know, but we need to get some answers out of Bob!" Bob, having heard enough from Bill and Jeb to realize that they didn't know anything about what was really going on in regards to Vall, put his hands on their shoulders from behind and said loudly, "Bob's not likely to tell you guys anything!" Bill and Jeb let out shrill screams from the shock of Bob grabbing their shoulders. They both dropped what they were holding and spun around to see Bob's glaring, expressionless face. "Since you guys aren't supposed to have those sheets, I'm guessing you found them. And, since the last time I had my copies was just before I saw you two in the hallway after the Vall briefing, I will further guess that you have my copies. Hypothesizing even further, I'm certain that you were both on your way to my office so you can return them, right?" After re-gaining his komposure (and ignoring Bob's question), Jeb exclaimed, "Hey Bob! Just they guy we were looking for! What can you tell us about the Vall mission and what the scientists found with the space telescope?" "Jeb, old buddy, you know I'd tell you anything if I could. But so far, things are pretty hush-hush about Vall. Actually, though, there is something you might want to check out: Ludlong is out on the pad right now and he needs another test pilot to....." Before Bob could finish, Jeb interrupted "You got it, Bob! I'll go show Ludlong the ropes. See you kerbs later!" As Bob watched Jeb run furiously towards the pad, Bob said to Bill "I didn't think he'd be so excited to observe an engine test." Bill replied, "So, Jeb's not going out there to do a test flight? He's out there doing the work of a trainee? He's not going to like that." "Well, he should have listened to what I was going to ask him. You guys know the new trainees better than I do, so I was going to ask him if he could recommend a trainee crazy enough to stand under the engine while Ludlong fires it. But if he's so eager to watch Ludlong test the Vall lander, he can go for it." Jeb watching Ludlong test fire the Vall lander The Vall Lander Mk.1 was on the launch pad, with Ludlong in the command pod. It was a Munar lander that was modified to carry some extra fuel to accomodate Vall's gravity which was slightly higher than Mun. It was capable of delivering four kerbals down to Vall's surface and was equipped with enough science to make the trip worthwhile. For Kerbin tests, the main descent engine was replaced with an uprated engine to allow short flight tests around the KSC. "Please don't let me kerb up.." Ludlong said to himself, but out loud, not realizing his helmet mic was still on. "Vall Lander 1, this is mission control. Can you say that again?", chirped Ludlong's cabin speaker. "I said, 'everything's a-ok'!" Ludlong replied quickly. "That's what I thought you said", replied mission control. "By the way, Ludlong, Jeb is on the pad right now to observe the engine test. Go ahead whenever you're ready." 'Why would Jeb, of all kerbals, be watching the engine test', Ludlong wondered. 'Was Jeb out there to make sure I don't blow something up? Wait a minute, he blows up more stuff that anyone so that can't be it.' Ludlong was a little uncomfortable with Jebediah Kerman, test-pilot and hero to all Kerbin, out there watching this simple engine test. Ludlong recalled that if the test looks good when the engine fires, he can take the Vall Lander for a short hop.. as long as he sets it down without breaking it. Ludlong started a countdown but got too excited at "3" and hit the staging button in the command pod. Instantly, the engine aboard the Vall lander roared to life! Ludlong burned the engine for five seconds then shut it down. "Whoo hoo! Engine burn test successful, mission control!" Ludlong exclaimed gleefully. "Roger that, Vall Lander 1. The report down here says that thrust was sufficient for a short flight if you think you can manage it without crashing. Are you going to fly it around a bit, Ludlong?" "I sure am, mission control!" Ludlong replied enthusiastically. Bob had taken Ludlong under his wing and had been very kind to him, but ever since becoming a test pilot with the Kerbal Space Center, Ludlong had been looking for acceptance from Jeb and Bill, too. Ludlong wondered if Jeb would be nice enough to fulfill a little fanstasy of his and give him a test-pilot's 'thumbs-up' from the launch pad. Ludlong climbed out of the command pod and called down to Jeb who was standing on the pad, "Hey Jeb, how did the engine test look from down there?" Jeb, a little confused as to why the test seemed to be starting without him, replied to Ludlong who was perched on the ladder outside his command pod, "The engine looked good, but don't you want an experienced pilot to do the test flight?" "No thanks, Jeb! I got it from here. You might want to stand back!" Ludlong climbed back into his command pad and announced to mission control that he was about to launch. On the launch pad, Jeb could hear the engine re-pressurizing as Ludlong prepared to take off. "Hey, Ludlong, wait up! I want to..." Jeb yelled towards the Vall Lander as he started to run towards it. A moment later, the engine re-lit and the launch clamps released, and the Vall Lander took to the clear blue sky. With a long, forlorn expression, Jeb watched the lander ascend without him. Without even a glance to see how the craft flew, he turned slowly and began walking back to the kerbalnaut complex. A saddened Jeb watches the Vall Lander test depart the launch pad Aboard the Vall Lander, Ludlong was grinning from one green ear to the other. The spacecraft was performing flawlessly! He flew it over the research and development building, then out past the tower, then started lining up for a landing. However, when he looked down at the fuel guage, he became a little concerned: he was almost out of fuel! "Uh, mission control, this is Ludlong. Is this engine.. is there a fuel.. what's the rate of... I'M CRASHING!" With no fuel left for the descent engine, Ludlong's choices were very limited: crash and burn or drop the ascent stage and test out the chutes. "Mission control, I'm dropping the descent stage and using the chutes to come down. Tell Bob I'm sorry I broke the lander." "That's not a problem, Lud, things blow up around here all the time.. welcome to the test pilot programme!" Vall Lander Test In the next episode... Bob and Ludlong fly to the Mun Jeb and Bill sneak around The first official Vall Mission launch heads to orbit

Wow! I just noticed this.. the Kraken has been hungry, it seems! Hope the next launch goes better. Glad this didn't cancel your space program!

For heat shielding, I think most people installed shields for anything that uses aerobraking, which is how I did my first entry to this challenge. On the second entry for the challenge, I have shielding for anything that aerocaptures through Duna or Kerbin. However, I have designed my landers with the intent of doing a semi-powered descent with parachute assistance, so they're never really going through the atmosphere with any dangerous speeds and thus no shielding. No real way to prove it's safe that way, as I don't use 'deadly re-entry', but in theory it should be fine. Looks like a rough landing! I've not had a lot of success with parachute only landings on Duna. What is the nominal capacity of your lifter for this challenge? Looking forward to seeing your kerbals on Duna!

Backup-Backup Plan C-3 After the Tri-Hub Lander and 6 kerbals successfully set up camp on Duna, a shift in the Kerbol's phase from 0.21 to 0.22 caused all deployed landing gear to spontaneously retract. The resulting impact of the sensitive aerospike engines onto Duna's surface caused the starboard engine on the backup surface-return lander to detach! Since this vehicle relies on two functioning engines, it was rendered inert. Luckily, a backup plan was already in place! After discovering that the Tri-Hub Lander did not burn fuel evenly from the outboard tanks, meaning it could not return to orbit, plans were already in place to send a backup to the backup surface-return lander. An Ike landing mission was also accommodated thanks to the cancelled plans to send a second, flawed, Tri-Hub Lander. Launches in this update: 298: 600 Unit Surface Supplies 334: Ike Landing Mission 370: Ike Crew module 406: Ike IP Stage 442: Surface-return lander 478: IP Stage/Phase B supplies The plan is to use the surface supplies to exhaustion then use the second surface-return lander to return the 6 kerbals to the Phase B orbiting station. Supplies will already have arrived at the station for the return mission. If all goes well, the last day on Duna will be day 713, seven days before the Duna -> Kerbin window. There is no backup-backup-backup plan, so if this revised mission profile fails, Bill will return home in the Phase B alone, leaving 6 frozen kerbals on Duna.

M.U.L.E. is one of my favorite games! I still play it, in fact.. emu of course. D. Bunten created a great immersive game. How about Modem Wars? Edit: "emu" refers to the C64 "M.U.L.E.", not the Atari port.

Unless.. British_Rover proves the cake is a truth.

Mac'n'cheese.. what a drag! Can you re-launch it and recover or is it a total do-over?

Photo log, video, write up.. anything that highlights your mission. For science, I'm just noting my before-mission points and after-mission points. There's probably better ways to track the science. That's a lot of Mk.1 command pods and landing legs, there!

This is looking great! Does that total mass include the launcher which gets your payload to LKO?

Some really great feedback on this challenge today! Thanks, all. New way to earn points: A real 'stick and rudder' kerbal: Complete the challenge with no flight assist mods. Any mod that has the ability to provide active control, whether or not it is used, is not permitted +5. Tweak for SMART landers/rovers which have the ability to deploy SMART probes/rovers: SMART rovers: Score for each SMART rovers landed on Vall +5. * SMART landers: Score for each SMART landers landed on Vall +5. * * Any SMART rover/probe that relies on another spacecraft to land on Vall must be deployed at least 2.0km from its "parent" craft and any other SMART rover/probe. Minor tweak to "This means something" and "We could use a shower": This means something: Discover an anomaly on Vall, land <100m from it and place a flag there +10. Altered rule slightly to explicitly state that a precision landing is required. We could use a shower: Score for every kerbal who earns "Floating in a tin can" and lands safely at Kerbin +2. Increased from +1 to +2; the original intent was to provide a total of +5 for any kerbal who lands on Vall and makes it back to Kerbin. Too bad I can't add... Bonus: Bragging rights for getting all the references in the 'scoring' titles (not all of them are)

These are some really good points to bring up. These scenarios are exactly where the challenge is designed to test the engineering and creative design skills. However, as you alluded, there is considerable room for excessive exploitation. A tweak to the surface-deployed SMART probes is in order. Thanks for the idea!

Not just accepted, but embraced!

Good question, but unless it decouples into two separate SMART spacecraft, then it scores as one.