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Hello all. This thread will be on a mission where I land a kerbal on Tylo in Alternis Kerbol and return them safely to Kerbin. As of writing this initial thread, I've designed, tested, and assembled all the mission hardware and just need to fly it. Introduction Alternis Kerbol (modernized as Alternis Kerbol Rekerjiggered) is a mod originally released in 2013. It revamps the solar system to be more challenging, with Tylo having one of the most drastic transformations. The ex-moon is now a standalone world orbiting near where Duna used to (Duna and Dres are now moons of Tylo), and now possesses a radius of 1103 km, a surface gravity of 4 Gs, and a thin, hot atmosphere that makes Eve's look tame. Online, I've only located two people who have returned kerbals from Tylo - @metaphor and @Xurkitree. However, metaphor's mission (video here) was accomplished with no aerodynamics or reentry heat, while Xurkitree's mission (video here) tortured his kerbal with 6 years on Tylo's surface in a command seat, and to top it all off, neither included science gear. I am going to change that. I will be landing a kerbal on Tylo with a pressurized pod and full scientific suite, while minimizing time under Tylo's crushing gravity. Part 0: Craft Overview This is Tartarus, the single-launch ship I've developed, as it will look in low Kerbin orbit. It's named after the abyss of torment and punishment from Greek mythology, which I found to be an apt description for Tylo, too. The ship weighs around 1715 tons at the start, and has 3 main sections: the command section, the lander, and the transfer stage. At the top is the command section (which will carry the name Tartarus), which includes the return capsule, the transfer habitat, and 4 satellites. The satellites consist of 3 scanners, which aim to map all bodies in the Tylo system, and 1 relay, which will provide constant communication for the lander while on the surface. In the middle is the Tylo lander, Bonecruncher. The name was chosen due to the extremely high G-forces sustained during landing and ascent. The high mass, at 769 tons, was due to me opting for a powered descent instead of heat shield spam. The lander carries a full set of scientific instruments and ISRU kit, which I've tested to refill the ascent stages in under 150 kerbin days when landing in an ore-rich spot. At the bottom is the unnamed transfer stage. It uses vertical asparagus staging to eke out 5 km/s of delta-V while pushing Bonecruncher and Tartarus, which should be enough to get to a 25x25 km orbit around Tylo, while still leaving enough fuel to return home (though if there's insufficient fuel, I'll launch a refueling craft). Tartarus needs to still get to space, however, which is where this launch vehicle comes in. It is a fairly simple 3 stage setup, each stage primarily using varying quantities of an OTRAG-esque common booster (consisting of two S3-14400 tanks and a Mammoth engine). Unfortunately, the VAB is too small to show the entire assembled rocket inside of it, so the full image will have to wait for the next part.

After a while of lurking on the forums and replying to the occasional topic, I decided to make a mission report. This report will cover my journey in the Alternis Kerbol planet pack with Sigma Dimensions set to 2x scale. Table of contents here: Mod list below: ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Part 0: Everyone's gotta start somewhere, right? Introducing the Dawn program, an unoriginal way of naming the dawn of a new space program. Dawn 0, the first rocket: After that mission, the space program only had enough science for fuel tanks, but not engines. Dawn 1 was assembled to get that science. Afterwards, the engineers finally had enough science to build a real rocket. Introducing Dawn 2. Very creative, as always. Aviation parts and wings were unlocked, and the R&D department realized that it would be easier to use a plane to get some data. These new parts were quickly glued together in the SPH to get some science, and Jeb was the victim loyal test subject that was put in the pilot's seat. With more science, the space program was finally ready to reach the cosmos. The next mission would finally go to orbit. However, a camera malfunction (me forgetting to take screenshots) led to only one picture of this mission, of the tiny satellite in orbit. Dawn 4 is in orbit! As is the pattern, there is a drought of science. Dawn 5 was launched to escape Kerbin's sphere of influence and transmit data from Jool. No photos of this mission exist, but the probe looked similar to Dawn 4. In addition, the VAB was upgraded before the launch and the pesky 30 part limit was FINALLY gone. Dawn 6 was up next: That concludes the first part of this space program. Next up will be the start of the long science grind until better parts.

Background After reading the great feedback about the Alternis Kerbol mod and working within the vanilla/OPM solar system for a few years I was excited to try the new solar system out. I am still working in KSP 1.2.1 because it takes a long time in RL to get anything done. I was not sure if the latest download of the mod would incorporate into the old version of the game. After making a copy of the KSP 1.2.1 folder I copied in mod files and tried to start the game up. It did start ok, upon inspection Duna is missing completely. I’m unsure whether I’ll be able to copy it in from another version but for now I thought might be interesting to take the Kerbals from my previous save who were just launching their first Kerballed Duna mission after working towards it for 7 years (career mode) and ‘start again’ in the new system. Once I get the story going I’ll post in Mission Reports. Chapter List Chapter 1: Discovery Chapter 2: Starting Over Chapter 3: Communications & Scanning and reaching for Bop Chapter 4: Unexpected landing Chapter 5: Kerbals back into Space Chapter 6: Contract Stacking Chapter 7: Controlled Landing? and Science Return Chapter 8: Among the Moons of Jool Chapter 9: Back in the Saddle Again Chapter 10: The short Life of the Bop Orbital Science Platform Chapter 11: Getting Picard Home Chapter 12: Jool Orbital Science Platform/ Cerberus Launcher Chapter 13: First Losses Chapter 1: Discovery