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I visited various celestial bodies, both in stock and modded KSP 1, and yet Duna is the place I find myself always returning to: relatively small dV required to reach it, enough gravity for quick surface traversal, atmosphere thin enough to allow brutal reentries but at the same time just so thick enough to fly and even land planes. Pretty much everything I could do on Duna I did it: from simple fly-bys to non-refuelable SSTOs to even circumnavigating the entire planet on land With the release of KSP 2, total redesign of Duna and (future) addition of all the new game mechanics, I plan to again thoroughly explore the Red Planet. But, instead of doing it all myself, I decided to share the fun with others! Proudly introducing... The Mastery thread will consist of various challenges/achievements that you will need to complete in order to get on the respective list. Challenges must be done in order from start to finish. Depending on the future updates and new gameplay mechanics new challenges will be added, or the old ones adjusted. Rules might also be modified accordingly Rules: Usage of potential physics exploits is forbidden: no cheats or Kraken drives of any kind If you use any mods that affect stock gameplay (whether it is new parts, changed rigidity configs or otherwise), state them. These submissions will be marked as Modded General construction of the vessels is up to you: use any part you want, as long as you keep within the broad requirements of each challenge (satellites must have antennas, Rovers must have wheels, you get the idea) All crafts must be launched from Kerbin (unless specified) Post proofs of your mission: screenshots or videos. If you have a lot of screenshots, place them under a spoiler Don't mix up the missions: there must be one submission per mission and the missions must be flown one at a time State the Game Version that the mission was flown on If you have concerns or questions about the ruling - ask away! Let's get down to the Challenges. And before you ask: most of the Challenge names are inspired by various works of fiction about Mars 1. Destination Duna Pretty straightforward: build an Unmanned Probe and perform a fly-by of Duna. Very broad definition of "Probe" here: you don't need to have antennas or means to generate electricity. As long as it has a Probe Core and it fly-bys Duna - you're in 2. Otherworldly Connection Build an Unmanned Satellite and enter Duna orbit. Satellite must have an antenna strong enough to reach Kerbin and have means to generate power. Take Ike's SOI into consideration when you plan the orbit! 3. Transmitting Live From Duna Set up a Relay Satellite constellation in Duna's orbit. There must be at least 3 satellites in the constellation. Each Satellite must have a Relay antenna strong enough to reach Kerbin and have means to generate power. You can either launch new satellites or add some to the one you've sent in Challenge 2, as long as the Satellite from Challenge 2 satisfies the aforementioned requirements 4. First Landing Launch an Unmanned Lander (like Viking) and land it intact on Duna. Lander must have an antenna that can reach the Relay satellites, means to generate electricity and some sort of landing legs. Whether you choose to use already provided lander legs or make some of your own from structural parts is up to you 5. Desolation Road Design an Unmanned Rover, send it to Duna and demonstrate its functionality by covering some distance in it. Rover must have an antenna that can reach the Relay satellites, means to generate electricity and at least 3 wheels 6. Bring It Home Design an Unmanned Lander that can land on Duna and then subsequently return it intact to Kerbin. If the Lander is multi-stage, the stage with Probe Core must be returned. Otherwise the requirements are the same as in Challenge 4 7. Strangers in a Strange Land Land a Kerbal (or Kerbals) on Duna and then bring him (or them) back. The method (Direct ascent vs. Orbit rendezvous) is up to your choice. If you send multiple Kerbals, all of them must return home: leave no one stranded! 8. Come Fly With Me Design a Duna Plane and demonstrate its ability to navigate its skies. Plane must have wing parts and be able to land and take off horizontally. Plane can either be Manned or Unmanned. If Manned, all Kerbals must later return home (either via Plane or other means). If Unmanned, the Plane must have an antenna to reach the Relays and have means to generate electricity. Extra kudos if it can return intact back to Kerbin More to be added... Good luck and have fun!

Just FYI your screenshot looks like it was taken on the Mun. As an aerospace engineer, you should know plume expansion changes based on ambient pressure - an underexpanded exhaust at ASL will not be underexpanded in a vacuum - in fact all engines in a vacuum will be overexpanded, as you will never have an infinitely-long nozzle. ——————- MODERATOR NOTE: This thread was split off from:

The KSP forum moderator's team presents the Threads of the Month April 2023 Edition Hello, and it's that time for another edition of the Threads of the Month! It's that time where we highlight the threads the forum community felt needed a little extra attention. There were a lot of things happening in our forum community! And in case you missed one of the best April Fool's jokes we've had in a while (with the exception of the Orange Jool gag), the Kapybara Space Program was a big hit! When I first saw it, my first thought was "it won't be too long before someone mods it!" And as I do in each of these threads, I am asking a favor - if you see an interesting thread - NOMINATE IT! The instructions for nominating a thread are at the bottom of this post. Instructions on using the TOTM images: If your thread has been selected as a TOTM, you can copy the image's link above, go to the area of the forum you want to place it, then paste the link. When the image appears, press the <CONTROL> button and right click on your mouse. A menu will drop down and offer you the option to edit the picture. You can resize it - the first number can be changed as large or small as you want it. Eventually I will be adding these images to the thread I've created as a repository. For those out there who like the nerdy parts of the TOTM: To continue what I started in May 2021, I began keeping some forum statistics to respond to those claiming the forum was dying. In March, there were 1296 new forum accounts (a decrease of 311, or down 19.35% from February). Out of the new forum members that joined last month, there were 101 who were active and participating in the forum. This conversion means 7.79% of the new users who registered their accounts are now contributing members of our community! (This is a decrease from February; 8.02% of the new members became active and contributing members). If you’re interested in seeing the new members of our forum, you can click here! Now, without further delay, I present to you the threads of the month for March: Fan-fiction, Mission Reports, and Kerbal Space Program-inspired Creative Works: This category features a thread (or threads) that, while not directly Kerbal Space Program related, may be a creative work, fan-fiction, or other presentation related to the game. There were no nominations for this category for this month. Forum Member Created Challenges and Missions: This category contains missions and challenges created by you, the members of our gaming community. Many excellent missions and challenges threads are created that expand our fun with the game and press our skills, creativity, and sometimes, luck beyond what we get accustomed to. Let’s face it, we all have our go-to design basics and even our go-to vehicles we like to use. So sometimes, a good challenge can cause us to think of another way to achieve our goals. Ever start the game and stare blankly at the Kerbal Space Center with no idea of what you want to do? Then why not give this challenge by @OJT a try. This is not just one challenge, but several packaged into one. The OP introduces the challenge: As it is currently presented, there are eight challenges listed in in the OP that make up the entire "Duna Mastery Challenge." So, if you are looking for something to do over the next few days, weeks, or longer, why not give this challenge a try! I'd like to note, as @OJT has done, this challenge would also be doable in KSP2. And as always, as you complete this challenge, be sure to share your favorite screenshots, you know how we love to see them. Game Support/Game Mod of the Month: This category features either help with the game (stock or modded) or mods that add quality-of-life gameplay improvements to Kerbal Space Program. Black holes, event horizons, and to boldly go where no Kerman has gone before! Wait - well, you get the idea... We all like the challenges of sending our brave daring Kerbalnauts to strange new worlds. Some of them are excited while others are more hesitant to see what is beyond the pale blue canopy of Kerbin's atmosphere. But if you're like me, none of that matters because we send them to explore the far reaches of space anyway! If you're looking for more places to explore, then @Jason Kerman just might have what you're looking for. In this mod, the OP offers this brief introduction: So, if you're looking for new challenges and want to see if your favorite craft have what it takes to face to handle the demands of a new planet pack, then why not download this one and give it a try? General community threads of the month: This category features a thread that adds to the community and doesn’t fit the game support/game mod categories. Once in a while, there are threads that are created when another thread becomes derailed during the course of discussion on another thread. What is discussed has gained attention of many forum members and gains a following of its own. As the moderation team becomes involved in the thread because of the reports generated by members reporting the off-topic conversations within the thread, we decide the off-topic posts merit a thread of their own. And that's what happened here - and surprisingly, this thread was nominated by our forum community as one worthy of the thread of the month recognition. Although the first post in this split-off thread is by @RocketRockington, the split's early contributors also include @Gargamel and @j12sfgd23. Interestingly enough, we have forum members from a variety of careers - real rocket scientists, KSP enthusiasts, programmers, and some of the game developers contributing to the discussion on this thread. So, if you're interested in learning about rocket science and being a part of a discussion, then this is a thread you can take part in and enjoy the camaraderie that our Kerbal Space Program community is known for! Cinematic-based Fan-fiction, Mission Reports, and Kerbal Space Program-inspired Creative Works: This category features a video or other form of cinematic of a Kerbal mission report using in-game video recorded game play. Note: This has changed. Instead of awarding this to a thread, this is a *post of the month* since most new cinematic works are being posted in a single thread. We have a lot of great content creators but because they've been posting their mission reports as videos in a single thread, most of their work goes unnoticed by the general forum audience. Hopefully, with this change in the category to a Post of the Month (POTM), this will highlight the great work done by these deserving content creators. Other threads that contain cinematic posts will also be featured in this category, too. Yes, folks, that's right. An overhauled image just for the cinematic posts! There's a lot of great content creators who are deserving of this recognition since we were made aware of the thread, Post Your Cinematics Here! (Cinematic Enthusiasts) by @HatBat. Although the thread did receive TOTM previously, it was felt that it wasn't enough for those of you who have shared your great creations featuring our favorite Kerbalnauts. Instead of of it being a TOTM, I've changed it into a CPOTM - a Cinematic Post of the Month. There were no nominations for this category for this month. If you happen to encounter other cinematics you feel are worthy of being recognized as this category's post of the month, please nominate them! You can use the same instructions to nominate a post containing a video as you would use to nominate a thread. Honorable mentions: Sometimes it’s a challenge to choose which threads are going to receive the honor of being selected as the Thread of the Month for our five categories. We get so many good nominations each month to choose from, but we limit it to one for each type. Threads nominated but not selected as a thread of the month become honorable mentions. The honorable mentions for this month are: [CHALLENGE] Delighttest. Lightest plane to Island Airfield by: @azgar Calvinball by @Deddly Game cliches that need to die. by @Vanamonde How fast can you fly under the bridge? by @Meta Jonez The Kerbal KAL Logic & Computing Laboratory [WIP] by @Nazalassa The honorable mentions for this month may not have made the Thread of The Month, but if you think they might be worthy of another opportunity, please renominate it! Congratulations to all the winners of the Thread of the Month! We want to thank our forum members, @Abel Military Services, @AlamoVampire, @LHACK4142, @Poodmund, @Scarecrow71, and the members of the moderation team and staff who nominated this month’s contenders. Thank you so much for helping us identify noteworthy threads and bringing their awareness to our forum community. We’d appreciate your continued help in the future. The odds and ends: WE WOULD LIKE TO SAY A SPECIAL THANK YOU to @Vl3d and @Speeding Mullet for their great assistance to the moderation team in reporting duplicate bug reports in our KSP2 bug report area of the forum. TO NOMINATE A THREAD FOR CONSIDERATION: If you find a thread you feel should be considered for next month’s thread of the month, then use the “report comment” feature (the three dots on the upper right corner of the comment box) to report the comment. Please put in the text field of the report post “Nomination for thread of the month,” and we will do the rest! You can always nominate more than one thread, too. IF YOU WANT TO KNOW WHAT GOES INTO THE DECISION WHEN CONSIDERING THE TOTM: Wonder no more! This helpful guide is to help you understand what we use to help determine what makes a thread a really good thread and one that becomes a thread of the month/cinematic post of the month winner. It's everything you want or didn't want to know and includes some helpful tips. And the last word this post: I'd like to thank a few people who continue to trust me enough to continue to support and allow me to contribute to the forum. I'd like to thank the Lead Moderator, @Vanamonde for bringing me on as a moderator, a decision that I'm sure has had moments where he often wonders why he did it. I'd also like to thank @Ghostii_Space and @PD_Dakota , our community managers and @Nerdy_Mike, the KSP Franchise Community Lead, for tolerating me and allowing me to continue to serve our Kerbal Space Program forum community through the monthly Threads of the Month post. In case you missed last month’s threads of the month, you can click here.