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My highest aim is to a collection of lessons and anecdotes learned the hard way from exploring beyond the Mun. There's some humor along the way- I hope it's appreciated. By now in my first career I've planted some flags, made some gravity turns, even scribbled some maths, but nothing could prepare me for the long journy of the Ike-razy.. In hindsight, it's over-engineered. I've been holding onto this idea of a re-usable lander for a while now. First I built a 10-ton Mk2 lander before I had the full-size docking port unlocked...First words of advice: Clamp-o-Tron Jr. is not a good option here unless you like maneuvering with a jelly noodle. So anyway I'm headed to Ike with this new 4-ton lander and a good crew now that I have me some humility, and here's the thing about my new clever lander: Make sure your CoM is spot on when something's riding the nose of your rocket! I thought it was good enough...but it was only good enough to keep me drifting southward throughout my ascent...needless to say landing was a bundle of joy as well. So Jeb is stranded in LKO at the moment and before I realized I was going on a three year trip, I figured he'd be fine. So I took Val, a scientist, and an engineer...or so I thought. Kerbals are tricksy creatures, always double check your crew manifest in between VAB edits. I'm not saying they pulled a switcheroo on me...but I'm not saying they didn't either. The end result was I took Val and two engineers to Ike and back, so much for that science grab... I'll gloss over the nitty gritty, there's lots of tutorials for that...I hit my window, escaped Kerbin, I even made a sweet aerocapture around Duna that helped me return to Kerbin with 1000 dV (almost 3x my planned margin!) So here I am in orbit of Ike...minus 1 RCS block and my lander's solar array...WOOPS! Yeaaaaa...when you're planning an aerocapture, don't skimp on retractable solar panels!!! Or just don't extend them? I dunno...there's a lot of details here. Now, the real mistakes come out...Probably don't cut corners on RCS when you're planning some interplanetary docking business either. I may have decided I didn't need RCS on my lander to dock it which, strictly speaking, you don't. But, especially when you DO put monoprop on it...just add the thrusters. Your one pilot will thank you when they don't have to EVA several times to get the un-stabilized crafts situated before docking. So I docked this sucker with an empty lander floating through space and an asymmetric RCS arrangment. I'm almost done, promise. Here I am on Ike, and then I have one thought to share about return. Pretty snazzy low-tech lander right? Yea...it's gone now. To my friends comtemplating interplanetary adventures for the first time: Returning an object to a Kerbin orbit that you actually WANT it to be in from a Hohmann transfer without aerobraking...is hard. Even with the 1000dV I returned to the Kerbin SOI with, There was NO WAY I was putting that glass house into a reasonable orbit...I jettisoned it and let 'er burn!! So, tl;dr, I like to learn things the hard way, and bite off more than I can chew. Learn from it, laugh at it. I thought I'd contribute something to the forum, it's been a huge help to my space program! To anyone good reading for laffs, I'd love build and maneuvering advice!

All the tutorials I have seen have Kerbin around 43 degrees away from Duna. Is there a way I can get to Duna without the planets being like this, or a way where I can easily get the planets into the needed position?

Hey guys, I'm new to this forum so forgive me if this question has been asked already... What do you do once you get to the Mun, Minmus, and collected the data? More contracts? More trips to the moons to get as much science as possible? Do you try for Duna right away? If so, how will I get there without burning too much fuel? I have just gotten the basic parts for heavy rocketry (fuel tanks, command pod, engines, and one fuel booster) so I am not familiar at all as to how to make efficient rockets with them. Any tips as to how to reach there properly? Thanks everyone

As the title says, how much Delta-V is required for a Duna-and-back mission with one kerbal ? Because I can land on nearly any body but I can't come back... How much delta-v should the rocket have to land on Duna, and how much to get back to Kerbin? I know Delta-V maps exist but I prefer asking to be sure. Also, I'm using a rocket, not a plane. Thanks for any answer!

I launched a mars rover to Duna. I planned interplanetary transfer by reading the wiki Tutorial. Actually you have to wait for the planets to align i.e., Kerbin and Duna should be around 44° with sun as center. Then I launched it to a 100km orbit around kerbin. And after the prograde burn my spacecraft was on the transfer orbit around the sun to Duna. I did a retrograde burn after arriving Duna so that my periapsis is beneath the surface for an aerobraking. Then I opned the parachutes to slow it down to around 10m/s. After that the engines of the skycrane were ignited to land it safely and later detachd the skycrane and crashed it somewhere. I will be uploading the pics soon.

I have playing this game for a very long time, maybe over 1000 hours. I tried returning to duna before I never could do it. I always had to cheat to get back home. I can make huge Space stations and make a lot of rockets but I could never Return form duna(or another planet)I know it sounds weird that I have playing this long but I could never do it. I barely make SSTOs too with over 1000 hours. Anyways I made a huge rocket that I hoped that could make it to duna. I have some pic for it to.

A little thing I drew on my iPad, in the end came out pretty well! You can view some of my other drawings on Behance!

Greetings! The good folks at the KSC decided that the program needed to complete several contracts on the surface of Duna, including a base, a mining operation, and collecting scientific data. So, to make it more interesting, it will be a mobile base (dubbed "Kratos"), and a fairly large one at that. And, since I find the Elanco challenge to not only be an interesting but even fun challenge, we might as well travel the entire equator while we're at it! Considering that my first interplanetary base has yet to see a return of its crew (five years and counting on Eve!), the number of volunteers for this mission were slim. However, five kerbals stepped up for the challenge: Jeb, Bill, Bob, Zeldine (pilot), and Eribella (scientist). I will be committing around an hour or two each day towards this circumnavigation, and will make a post in this thread for each day as a journey log. Since I've already completed two days of travel before making this, the next post will start on day three. The truck is equipped with a large fuel cell and four RTGs, so I don't need to worry about my energy situation while driving, allowing me to drive day and night. ------------------------------------ DAY 1: Of course, the first day starts by landing the Kratos truck on the surface of Duna. I wasn't confident in my parachute arrangement being able to land the crew safely in the Midlands nor the Highlands, so I aim for one of the canyons near to the equator. The exact landing site, and the eventual end to the circumnavigation, is located at 4o14'31"N 200o55'15"E and marked with the first of many flags. Bob and Eribella get to work collecting science from the Lowlands, and later on Jeb drives the Kratos up to the edge of the canyon in order for the crew to gather scientific data of the Dunar Highlands. Turns out that this detour wasn't needed since the end of the canyon in the west marks the beginning of a large area of Highlands, but this information was unknown at the time. ------------- DAY 2: Day 2 of the journey starts at dusk and continues until nighttime finally falls on Duna. Before leaving the canyon, I found an ore concentration of ~6%, so Bill decides to fill the ore tanks not only to complete a KSC contract but also to ensure that Kratos will have plenty of fuel between now and the next time the crew run across ore-rich grounds. Finally, Kratos leaves the canyon and properly starts following the equator within a degree north or south of it. It is decided that the crew want to visit the Ares probe, a lander which was the very first interplanetary mission carried out by the KSC in this career save. This is located at 0o37'0"S 41o49'56"E. One thing learned so far is that this beast doesn't like sudden changes of slope. Best case scenario is that Kratos flies through the air like some sort of monster truck, and worse case is death and destruction. The terrain in the Highlands forces Jeb to an average velocity of 10m/s instead of the 20m/s on the first day, and sometimes 15m/s on flat pieces of land. Later in day 2's journey, the crew run into what appear to be mountain ranges, forcing the Kratos to traverse the terrain even slower and forcing me to liberally use the quicksave (and reload) feature. The first problem area was the peak where the whole crew get out to stretch their legs; Zeldine isn't confident in Jeb's piloting ability, though she also hasn't been on a mission with him before and thus doesn't know how much of a BadS he is. So far it seems that only Jeb and Bill have an unfailing sense of joy and happiness, whereas the rest of the crew are uneasy during the rougher parts of the day's journey. The second difficult spot was right after Zeldine decided to catch a glimpse of the Duna sunset. The Kratos truck doesn't have enough SAS to correct its angle while in the air, I learn. The day ends at the edge of yet another steep slope. However, the crew get a chance to gaze at the stars above the Duna mountains while they set up camp for the night and catch some sleep. Given the number of times I've had to reload from quicksaves, driving in the Highlands at night might not be such a smart idea, as I feel I could have made more progress if I was better able to see upcoming slope changes. Alas, the mission started at ~200oE and so far ended at ~143oE, so progress is being made!

Hey folks, this is the first craft i think is worth to publish here. My intention was to buid a craft that is able to take off at a Duna ground base, fly to any desired destination, deplay a science rover (if needed) and return to base. It can fly kerbaled as well as unkerbaled, and the open-air-seat on the rover provides a great view. 65 parts, 5500m/s dV whenn completely fuelled (you can drain the wing tanks for easier handling), 19,7t wet mass.

So... I think you all know the premise: "It wasn't supposed to be a colony." Well, in my desperation to land something on Duna, I sent a one way mission, and landed it on the surface. I feel obligated to get my crew of the surface because I've already killed three similar crews in botched capture burns (I failed to capture around Duna because I designed a terrible ship, and the kerbonauts were flung into frigid, interplanetary space). Considering I managed to save Jeb, Bill, and Bob from a horribly protracted death, and I actually have a chance to bring them home, I figure I should send a rescue party. I barely managed to get a one way mission down to the surface however, and though I designed a perfectly functional interplanetary shuttle for transport, I'm still not sure how to manage the landing. Here's where things stand: I'm playing in stock sandbox mode. I know how to fly interplanetary missions and build launch vehicles. Landers are not my forte. Three kerbals are stranded in a Mk 1-2 Command Pod. They're landed well below the equator. That's the entirety of my assets on the Dunatian surface. The biggest issue I've found in ship design is crew capacity. I haven't been having trouble building something simultaneously light enough to reach Duna and big enough to carry three crew and a pilot for the trip out. Any advice as to procedure, Duna landings, and actual plausibility would be greatly appreciated (and I don't use the word appreciated lightly, least of all in bold font). I've been thinking of getting a rover down to the surface to help with transport in case the landing sites of the postulated rescue ship and the stranded lander are too far apart. Is this a necessary step? Are wings a good way of landing a ship on Duna? They didn't seem to help my shuttle (I sent a shuttle mission, but after numerous failed landings and quickloads, I abandoned the mission, and flew back to Kerbin. The shuttle is now stuck in retrograde orbit around Kerbin). TL;DR: The original three are trapped on the surface of Duna with no provisions for return. How do I bring them home?

Woohoo! I got a probe to Duna for the very first time ever playing the game, and it felt sooooo gratifying. The Mun? Moderately hard but not impossible! Minmus? Easy when you've visited the Mun a couple of times. But Duna? Oh boy...! Let's Play: Kerbal Space Program 1.0, Part 43: Duna Probe, Arrival & Execution LESSONS LEARNED during this mission: - I've concluded that I have used a TON of Delta-V for this simple probe, sending the cost of the rocket soaring up, and could have done it with (a lot) less probably - RCS is great for maneuvering, but not for slowing down a descent, even with parachutes out - Parachutes work a leeeeeeeeeeetle different in Duna's atmosphere - It's takes a while to get there & back again, good to note for any manned mission and short running contracts

I tried making a craft to land on duna. I put loads of regular parachutes (did not yet unlock drogue shoots in career mode) and small wings to help me steer and slow down. I've managed to get velocity below 300 m/s (i think as low as 240 m/s) but the parachute color in staging still didnt change from red, so when i deployed, the chutes broke. (1) Is it possible to land on Duna (without retrograde burn) w/o drogue chutes? Or am i experiencing a bug/incorrect physics and i should download a mod (real chutes, for instance)? (2) Does this make sense? The density is so low on Duna, could the atmosphere really break my chute off? (3) Does it have something to do with being below Mach 1? Duna's temperature is much lower than Kerbin, so Mach 1 is much slower. Is that it? What am i doing wrong? To clarify: my problem isnt that the parachutes dont slow me down enough and i crash, but rather, i cant slow down enough to be able to deploy them without them being destroyed instantly.

Single stage'ish Trip to the Duna-Face, Ike, Laythe's South Pole, the Kraken and back to Kerbin. athmospheric summary of a (nearly) single staged flight to the Mohole and back to Kerbin. V.105 / no mods & last but not least how it all started: Single Stage flight to Laythe, the Kraken, Duna and back to Kerbin. V1.04 / no mods

This thread has moved to New Releases: Click Here In collaboration with @GregroxMun: The Coming of the Martians Chapter One The Eve of the War NO ONE WOULD have believed in the last years of the nineteenth century that this world was being watched keenly and closely by intelligences greater than man's and yet as mortal as his own; that as men busied themselves about their various concerns they were scrutinized and studied, perhaps almost as narrowly as a man with a microscope might scrutinize the transient creatures that swarm and multiply in a drop of water... ...Yet across the gulf of space, minds that are to our minds as ours are to those of the beasts that perish, intellects vast and cool and unsympathetic, regarded this earth with envious eyes, and slowly and surely drew their plans against us... --> <-- OK. So Kerbals don't exactly look like particularly fearsome Martians and their intellect has been brought into question more than once. But as the story goes, the Kerbals, whom we call Martians, arrived on Mars in days too ancient for us to remember. As their planet slowly and steadily lost its vast oceans & atmosphere, the Kerbals moved underground... This is the premise of "Little Green Men From Mars" based on Nathan Kell's awesome Real Solar System (RSS) mod. Essentially, it moves the KSC to Mars (where little green men belong). Step I - Move the KSC to Mars. The low delta V required for orbit and significant lack of atmosphere make Mars the ideal spot in RSS to explore the rest of the solar system. With its 2 moons, Phobos and Deimos, much science can be gained in the campaign game without leaving the SOI of Mars, much like the Mun and Minmus. Step II - Add Content. Hmmm... What can we add? Maybe a "War of the Worlds" part pack complete with giant cylinders, fighting machines, heat rays! That means we would also need a mission pack that includes H.G. Wellian missions to peacefully explore (conquer) the earth! Alternatively, with the October 2015 release of "The Martian" we could create its habitats and vehicles on Mars. We would also want to add sites to include the Viking landers and Mars rovers for the Kerbals to explore. Maybe some missions to keep an eye on those pesky earthlings. Martians... I mean Marbles... I mean Kerbals have developed "jet engines" that work in the Martian Atmosphere (what little there is of it). Also they have researched advanced Air Brakes rather early in the career game. Why? Because... well, you'll find out. Currently, here is the setup and debug notes: Real Solar System (RSS) & Module Manager are required. KSP is now on RSS Mars close to Olympus Mons. Air breathing engines work on Mars as I have set the atmosphere to contain oxygen. This will change to a more exotic solution. Climbing through the atmosphere to orbit has some weird atmospheric fades. KillAshley is working on smoothing them out for RSS. Scatterer configs are in work with help from Blackrack, but currently are set to Mars in a dust storm. I also have a well known modeler working on some 1952 era Martian parts. I can hardly wait to see 'em! Thanks to GregroxMun for all the atmosphere help. It will be lots of work to get it just right. To add an extra bit of fun to this completely alien environment, I recommend you use: The Engineering Tech Tree Futuristic mods like Interstellar, Near Future, Atomic Age, Solaris Hypernautics and don't forget the airbags (you'll need 'em): SXT Airbags by Lack & USI Survivability Pack by RoverDude. To set the mood listen to: . Remember to build everything in threes, as 3 is the Martian "lucky" number. Download the WIP Development zip and install: DOWNLOAD I prefer to play with RSS textures at 2K but I install the Mars files from the 8K version. Known Issues: 1. Double Fade high in atmosphere. 2. Surface reflection coloring needs tweaking 3. Phobos has a blocky, quicksandish surface in RSS. NathanKell is looking into this. This mod is not for the KSP beginner. More to follow... Released under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 license. You are free to redistribute and modify the work so long as it is not used for commercial purposes.

Hey all, having a great time with this mission and would like to share. Hope you like the format. This is a Career save in V1.0.2, all stock except for Kerbal Engineer, visual mods, and alarm clock. Here are the first three pages, will post additional pages as missions complete. At this writing I have not yet launched for Duna, so you know as much as I do about how the story will turn out. Enjoy! ETA 28 Sept 2015: I added links to the Eve, Order Zero chapters in chronological order. If you are reading the comic for the first time, go in this order Read DOB Chapter 1 here Read DOB Chapter 2 here Read DOB Interlude One here Read DOB Chapter 3 here Read DOB Chapter 4 here Read DOB Interlude 2 here Read Eve: Order Zero Chapter 1 and Interlude Here Read DOB Chapter 5 here Read Eve: Order Zero Chapter 2 Here Read Eve: Order Zero Chapter 3 Here Read DOB Interlude 3 here Read DOB Chapter 6 (and end of that book) here Read Eve: Order Zero Chapter 4 Here ...from this point follow Kerbfleet's progress on the Eve: Order Zero main thread.

OVERVIEW: 04/14/16 DUNA DIRECT 1. HAB This is where Kerbals will live both on their journey to Duna, and while on Duna. A. Crew i. Seats: 6 (No Designation) ii. Provides a common area for crew members to eat, sleep, and be entertained. iii. Contains Life Support recourses: 1. Food 2. Water (1/2) 3. Oxygen (1/2) B. Command i. Seats: 2 (Pilot, Commander) ii. Provides control of the spacecraft and docked spacecraft. iii. Reaction Wheels. C. Science i. Seats: 2 (Scientist, Scientist) ii. Contains science experiments: 1. Mystery Goo. 2. PresMat Barometer. 3. Science Lab (Experiment processing) D. Utility i. Seats: 2 (Engineer, Engineer) ii. Contains resources: 1. Electric Charge. 2. Mono propellant. 3. Liquid Fuel & Oxidizer. iii. Contains Life Support resources: 1. Water (2/2) 2. Oxygen (2/2) 3. Empty Waste Tank. 4. Empty Co2 Tank. 2. KRV This craft will be sent ahead of the HAB and crew in order to start processing fuel for the Kerbals journey home. Only the second stage will return to Kerbin. A. Return Module (Stage 2) i. Seats: 6 ii. Provides control of the spacecraft (No docking capability) iii. Reaction wheels iv. Contains resources: 1. Electric Charge 2. Mono Propellant 3. Liquid fuel & oxidizer B. Utility Module (Stage 1) i. Contains recourses: 1. Liquid Fuel & Oxidizer 2. Mono Propellant ii. Contains chemical processing plugin. 1. Converts Co2 into Liquid Fuel and Oxygen ( For engines and life support) Design concept images from the Mars Direct Program. Dev. Blog: <no posts> Duna Direct by Tyler Grommesh is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.

I know from my own experience that Dunas atmosphere starts on 17~18 km and Kerbins at 75 km. That means Duna is 4 times smaller than Kerbin?

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After a long time spent not playing KSP, I went back to playing KSP! And suddenly planets! And I knew I had to go to them. But first I had to get back to the Mun. And seeing that the stock parts were now many and varied, I decided to use them. I found getting to the Mun to be much harder than back when I used to play. Probably this is because I refuse to build a Mun rocket which does not do two things: 1. Look like a rocket (no un-capped fuel tanks or other silliness) 2. Leave behind its descent stage on the Munar surface In any case I eventually managed it, in a rocket dubbed the Kerbal Panic I (a play on Kernel Panic; all of my rockets being named after computer errors on this save). And then I accidentally erased the save. So here is the Kerbal Panic II. It is capable not only of a Mun return mission, but a Duna return as well (and quite probably Ike, Minmus, and others, though I have not done this yet). On the pad: <img src="http://i.imgur.com/TBq4I.jpg" /> Landed on Duna: <img src="http://i.imgur.com/L0Ios.jpg" /> The .craft file is attached. How to fly: Launch at full throttle. I recommend using a joystick and leaving SAS off, as this will be gentler on the rocket. It sometimes explodes (the capsule's usually fine, though.) By the end of the first stage you should be tipped over about 45 degrees. Start the second stage and aim at the horizon (SAS works well from now on). Keep an eye on your apoapsis and remember it will go up as you burn horizontally. The second stage doesn't last long, start the nuclear engines and burn horizontally until you are in orbit. From here, you can do whatever sort of transfer you want to get where you are going. I was able to make Mun orbit with at least a quarter of the nuclear stage's fuel left. I was able to do the same for Duna by using aerobraking to achieve orbit. Landing: For the Mun, reduce your orbit until you will hit the surface. Start a retrograde burn around 25km out until your velocity is <100m/s. Switch to IVA and keep your velocity at 100m/s (burning dead retrograde) until you start to see things on the radar altimeter. Keep velocity at 100m/s until the needle hits 6-o-clock and then burn full retrograde until your velocity is below 10m/s and you are just above the surface. Switch out of IVA and land. Remember to kill your engines JUST above the surface or else you will tip over. For landing on Duna or returning to Kerbin, you are on your own; it's fairly easy, except that there is only just enough fuel for a Duna return in the ascent stage; you'll need to aerobrake to avoid escaping Kerbin. Also, this craft lacks RCS. It works fine without it, but RCS would make a lot of things easier. I may try a mod that adds small external RCS tanks like Silisko Edition had; I can't find a good place for the normal ones on the rocket. The lack of SAS on later stages is also annoying, though less so than the lack of RCS.

Colonization Has Begun The story of the journey and arrival of various craft at the Jeb, Bob and Bill's new home. Duna. Link at the bottom for full 2560x1600 shots if anyone wants them for a wallpaper or some shiz. Pictures Interplanetary Transfer of my first attempt at a Duna landing. Looks quite good. Bill Jeb and Bob stand proudly on the Duna surface, after about 8 hours of failures. Transfer of the permanent Duna habitat, with apparently a Halo in the background, over Duna. (The habitat is my own slight modification of segaprophet's Torus Hab.) The Hab with Jeb standing proudly atop it + newly landed rover. wait, whats that on left??? ERMAHGERD!!!!!!!! Nostromo, game over man, game over. FACE IT!!! Why aren't you scared Jeb, why? (The Nostromo is an awesome way of getting around the new planets to test for atmospheres and gravity.) Here is a link to the album and the full res screens:http://imgur.com/a/NvVta#0 And here is my other imgur album for KSP: http://imgur.com/a/MXOIp#0 Comments and feedback would be very much appreciated. Also, would love to know how to get spoilers to work?