Death Engineering

Basically, I am trying to encourage a demonstration that the spacecraft system is flexible enough, and piloting skills are sharp enough, to establish an Munar outpost anywhere on the Mun. I think you're describing EOR for the Munar orbital delivery and then LOR for the crewed landing. Totally fine. For Duna delivery, as long as the crew lands within 10km (or 100km if they have access to a rover) of the rest of the mission hardware, the mission is a success. As far as proximity to the pole, I'd say something like with a latitude >=66 degrees North or South of the equator. However, I do not know how to display that kind of detail with stock KSP. An intentional polar landing should be fairly easy to recognize - if it looks polar, it is polar. Yep.

Konstellation Space Program Update The Duna landing mission has been successfully completed! The Duna Surface Return Vehicle and the crew of four were launched to Duna on separate Ares V launches. Once the Surface Return Vehicle was successfully landed on Duna and put into a quiescent mode, the landing crew made their final course correction to commit to Duna aerocapture. The landing crew in the Duna Altair variant made several mid-altitude passes through Duna's atmosphere to establish a satisfactory orbit to permit a landing. Combining a long, low-thrust deorbit burn and staged parachute deployment, the Duna landing crew set down less then 70m from their return vehicle. With pictures taken and pockets full of Duna dirt, the crew lifted off in the return vehicle and headed back to Kerbin. Sixty-four days later, the crew successfully landed on Kerbin. The Duna outpost will remain powered until the next crew arrives aboard a modified Duna return vehicle. In astronomy news, the space telescope was launched to LKO. Four orbits with short burns have placed the telescope into a Kerbol orbit. The window to use Eve as an aerobrake to Kerbol synchronous orbital altitude comes up in 92 days.

Your test was pretty much how it should go, so points are earned for the lander test. Were those included in your tally? Cool looking lander!

1925t takeoff mass.. 97 days 7 hours round-trip mission.. just wow. Perfect execution.. except for the power problem. Interesting return trajectory from Duna.. I wonder if an Eve fly-by encounter could hasten the return even more. Seriously good mission.. and yet another high-score!

Thanks for the update. Looking forward to seeing more.

Great video! Fantastic editing and music choices.

When I first started KSP, I read about changing the values for the conic drawing modes so I did that and was quite puzzled by what I saw and immediately switched it back to default. Now that I've "been around" some, I put them back and it makes so much more sense now! Its also way better for ensuring equatorial orbits when encountering a new SOI.

"For this mission, we will extend the original vaccuum-only landing concept of Grumman's LM to include any command pod in KSP." Per the above line from the challenge rules (emphasis added), no, as a 'Command Seat' is not a 'Command Pod'. If you're trying to keep the mass down, consider using two Mk1 Lander Cans. Their combined mass is less than half the mass of Mk2 Lander-can.

1985h; found KSP when 0.18 was released.

That. Is. Insane (ly fun). I cannot believe that I've played KSP an average 13hrs a day since May and didn't see this before. Been avoiding the debug menu...

Trying to put together an "N1" style lifter. Having a hard time stuffing 30 engines into the first stage..

Konstellation Space Program Update After doing remote checks of the Altair Oupost Variant and the rovers which were recently delivered to the Mun's south pole, four crew aboard an Orion 5 docked with an Altair lander in a Kerbin polar orbit. The crew successfully landed their Altair in the crater on the Mun's south pole, 40m from the Outpost variant. The crew checked out the new pressurized rovers and started looking for places where the crater wall isn't too steep to climb, commencing the south pole exploration program. In Duna news, the Duna Return Vehicle is ready and will be leaving for Duna soon. The crew will depart several days later using an Orion 5 and Altair Duna Lander and will arrive at Duna several weeks after the return vehicle has landed, giving the crew enough time to decide whether a Duna landing mission will be possible. If the Duna Return Vehicle checks out after landing, the crew will alter their course from a Duna flyby to a landing. In the next update, the Mun program will be expanded in both outpost locations to include backup return vehicles and rovers to the first outpost location. Also, a new space telescope will be launched to Kerbol synchronous orbit. But the biggest news will be the launches of the first crewed Duna landing mission using the Duna Altair Oupost and Duna Return Vehicle.

Whack-A-Kerbal....? What am I missing out on?!? Edit: Unless you mean just blowing them up, hehe. Just because I have LES on my crewed rockets doesn't always mean I use it when something looks like it might blow up real good.

Now that the U.S. government has turned on the NASA web resources, I've seen a version of the Outpost Variant that does include an ascent stage. However, there is this image which clearly does not have an ascent stage: So, I've made a very small tweak to the challenge parameters for the outpost version to include option for ascent stage. No points difference for either: Outpost Variant: Develop a version of the Altair that can land robotically and has enough room for 1.5 times your Altair landing crew size (round up). Eg. If your Altair lander seats 4, the Outpost Variant should have pressurized seats for 6. If your Altair lander seats 5, your Outpost Variant should seat 8. The Outpost Variant can have, but does not require, the ability to return from Munar surface. (+2)

I haven't found a lot of data on how the Altair Cargo variant would deliver and deploy a sizable (pressurized) rover, but I suspect it would have taken the form of a top-mounted payload with a deployable ramp to the surface. This is not really doable here. For the intent of the challenge, method of deliver of the rover is open to interpretation. Feel free to deliver the rover(s) with any lander design. For my program, I've used the same ascent stage for both 4-crew landers and similar designs for the descent stage on all three versions of the Altair, but to use the same descent/landing stage for all three isn't really practical since the mass of each is likely to be vastly different. The three versions of the LM I've developed are: typical LM style with descent stage that has no other purpose than landing; LM with four pressurized seats in the descent stage that serves as a reusable base after the landing crew has left, outpost version that substitutes more pressurized seats and two rovers for an ascent stage. Another useful reference I've come across: http://astronautical.org/sites/default/files/vonbraun/2008/Von_Braun_Symposium_2008-10-21_2d_Dorris.pdf

Good to hear! Career mode has not gripped me, for some reason. I'm hoping Squad or a modder will make science relevant in sandbox. Until then, or until science in career makes sense, its sandpit for me.

Konstellation Space Program Update Having successfully completed a Duna flyby mission and taking lots of good photos for the design team, the Altair Duna Variant and Duna Return Vehicle were completed then sent on high Kerbin orbital tests. Both landers were sent out past 15000 km before heading towards a high speed re-entry on Kerbin. Both vehicles performed as expected and no changes are needed before beginning the Duna stage of the Konstellation space program. In Munar news, a crew exchange vehicle was launched uncrewed to the first outpost. This variant of the Altair uses the same ascent stage as the main Altair lander but does not have any crew quarters on the descent stage and will be used as a backup ascent vehicle for the next crew coming to the outpost. Also, an Altair Outpost Variant with two rovers was landed on the Mun's south pole. This will soon be joined by an Altair lander with four crew.

The ascent stage has 16 toroid tanks (160). It wasn't too close on fuel for the ascent, but getting back to Kerbin was very tight. If I hadn't decided at the last moment to pull the capsule away and transfer the remaining fuel from the ascent stage to the planetary transfer stage, they'd be orbiting Kerbol.

Thanks for the kind words about the KP-1 challenge! What's funny is that I always think everyone else's vessels look better. I like your rover - did it drive okay on Duna? My rovers are always rubbish.. Funny that you presented the album like a hoax... harsh ending! Not even Brubaker made it back, hehe. Fun to read, though. Thanks for the entry!

Kaprikorn Un Mission Complete The Duna landing mission crew arrived safely at Kerbin after completing a two-kerbal landing, deploying a probe, and cruising around Duna until busting the rover. Walking almost 4km (2km per stranded crew) took so long that by the time I got back to the lander I'd forgotten when I'd left the broken rover. Fuel constraints were extremely tight and since I didn't have enough fuel to burn into a controlled landing back on Kerbin, I just accepted the landing site that I'd set up almost 60 days earlier. Unfortunately, it was a land touchdown. The KP-1 didn't like the hard landing and self-destructed. No crew were lost in the landing, but there were some tense moments until all crew had safely egressed. Scoring True Apollo - +100pts - Transfer stage, lander and CM make orbit on the 2 ascent stages alone, and the trip to Duna is done only by the Transfer stage. (2STO Ascent stage)(Assistance from ascent stage during transfer is allowed) +100 - I leave the final decision on whether these points are earned to the OP. The Ares V is a two stage to orbit, with two SRB's which are dropped when expended during the first stage powered ascent. The second stage (Earth Departure Stage - EDS) delivered the mission to Duna, established Duna orbit, and provided the first push from Duna back to Kerbin. The engine on the KP-1 command module finalized Kerbin intercept. Um, were we meant to leave that there?! - +10pts per science package left on the surface, 30pts for a two kerb rover. (Maximum: 1 Rover, 3 Science packages) {UPDATE FOR 0.22: + 1/2pt per science gained upon transmission and recovery of craft} +10 one science package; +30 two kerb rover Duna Explorers - +50pts - Take a Kerbal at least 2.5Km from the launch site and return. +5pts per extra 500m travelled. +50 for 2.5km drive; +20 for 2.0km extra drive Ah, contingency equipment... - +10pts - Working Launch Escape System on your Command module. +10 for LES There and back again - +100pts - Complete the challenge, and return all Kerbs to the surface of Kerbin. +100 all three returned safely. Capsule, not so much. Last year's model - +20pts - All stock parts (MechJeb, Kerbal Engineer Redux, and Kerbal Alarm Clock are not counted as using mods, Unless MJ autopilot used) +20. Kerbal Alarm Clock only. The wonders of Chemicals - +50pts - No Jet engines, Nerva's and the like used. +50 no nukes Total: 390 Big thanks to Deathsoul097 for creating this challenge. I never turn down a challenge to get to Duna and back! I'm sure I've been to Duna more than all other destinations combined, but it was good to try a few different design ideas. The film "Capricorn One" is a fun little movie with great lines from Sam Waterston, Elliot Gould and Telly Savalas. And we got to hear O.J. Simpson refuse to take the handgun saying, "I'd probably just shoot myself." Turns out, he likes knives. Kaprikorn Un

Literally, rofl. I'm often amazed how creatively other people play KSP.

Wowjustwow. Having formed my opinion on the "Structural Pylon" you referenced, I mistaken believed the "Small Hardpoint" was a smaller version of the pylon. So glad I read this! I've wanted something like this for attaching radial engines to "Structural Fuselage". Quite hilarious I had this part and didn't realize it's value.

Kaprikorn 1 Update After a smooth landing and deploying the rover, the landing crew is ready to get on with the mission. The fuel margin in the ascent stage is very tight. Also realized that power could be a problem since the ascent stage has no battery and no power regeneration system.. should be an interesting return to orbit.

I stand corrected.

Sure is possible. This mission uses an orbital flyby trajectory that pushes out past Duna's orbit to give Kerbin enough time to catch back up. Obviously, the mission I did was not intended to be a career/science mission.. way more hardware than is required to fly past Duna. I bet it would take very little delta-V to do this in a Mk.1 pod.