The Dunatian (The Martian - Kerbal style)

[Mister Dilsby]

Go Philfred go! Bob wanted me to tell you he's following your mission closely, and he wishes there was some extra hardware on Eve he could science the $h17 out of.

[Yet.another.newbie]

Nice updates bringing our favourite Martian, sorry, Dunatian's adventure to life.

[SirJodelstein]

LOG ENTRY, SOL 38

Short break at midday to celebrate an two important milestones. I've driven 15 more kilometers since last morning, so only 100 km more to go. Also, I have just passed 4000 meters of altitude, and there are still higher peaks in the distance. Onward!

LOG ENTRY, SOL 39

Recharge time. 87 km to go. Parked the rover in a safe place and took a hike up the highest peak around. 5912 meters! Now I really feel like the king of this world.

Time for a majestic snack when i get back to my trusty rover.

Edited September 11, 2016 by SirJodelstein

[DMSP]

Good luck.

[DMSP]

How's it going?

Is everything ok?

[Glaran K'erman]

Lol I finished the book in a day and half, and this is taking so much longer. It's ok though, I enjoyed what you did up to here!

[SirJodelstein]

Hello everyone, I am back. Its been a while, and I have recharged my storytelling batteries (Still on KSP 1.0.2 btw). Where was I? Oh, yes.... (+rep for anyone who gets that reference)

LOG ENTRY, Sol 41

Pased 6100m yesterday. Its all downhill from here. Literally. The Pathfinder site is in the flatlands just south of these mountains, just 50 km ahead. And figuratively. Crashed again on a steep slope two hours ago, and broke one of my two remaining solar panels. Lets see: I have supplies till Sol 59. Batteries are at 20% now. Driving downhill and on flat terrain does not draw as much power as driving up mountains. I should be able to reach the Pathfinder site tomorrow, and I'll probably need at least one day at the site itself. That would leave me with 17 days of snacks for the return trip.The direct route through the mountains took 11 days, and I need to drive extra carefully on the way back, and I will need longer charging pauses. Oh boy.

[SnakyLeVrai]

Haha it's really good nice job, it looks like you are having fun! Thanks for doing this ^^

[SirJodelstein]

LOG ENTRY, Sol 42

I made it! I found the Pathfinder lander! Clearly visible against the midday sun, the site was visible from far away. After a few hours of dirt-moving (Yeah, finally something else to do other than driving!), the lander now looks almost like new. Some frozen components, some ripped cables, but nothing that I can't fix when I get this thing back to the Ares site. I have disassembled the landing gear and loaded the remaining structure with all the interesting parts (camera, antenna, computer module) onto my rover. I also scavenged some of the solar panels to replace the larger ones i lost. Hurray for standardization, hooking up the electrics to the rover was no problem at all

I also picked up the tiny Sojourner rover. It still stood right in front of that rock 'Yogi' that marked the end of Sojourners mission. Not so sure what i will do with it, but it might be useful later on. And if it is not, i still can make a remote-controlled toy out of it. Whooohooo!

Tomorrow i will start the return trip. Note to self: drive extra carefully! This vehicle has now a severely offset center of mass.

[RocketSquid]

12 hours ago, SirJodelstein said:

Hello everyone, I am back. Its been a while, and I have recharged my storytelling batteries (Still on KSP 1.0.2 btw). Where was I? Oh, yes.... (+rep for anyone who gets that reference)

From my experience, the switch from 1.0.2 to 1.0.5 is very smooth, and not savebreaking.

[SirJodelstein]

LOG ENTRY, Sol 44

The mountain range is up ahead. This time, I'm going to stay clear of them, taking a route heading north-west instead of straight north towards the hab. Reconfigured the rover once again to achieve better balance.

Edited February 28, 2016 by SirJodelstein

[RA3236]

Looking good.

[VASMIR]

Is this still going?

[RocketSquid]

On 5/12/2016 at 6:55 PM, VASMIR said:

Is this still going?

Yes. Going very, very slowly. This is one of those stories that alternates between "spate of updates" and "months of hiatus".

[samamstar]

wait, another 6 month wait for more? oh well, its still pretty funny.

[Wildcat111]

@SirJodelstein when are you going to continue this?

[vsully]

:'(

[SirJodelstein]

Well, its been quite a while. But man, i wish the terrain in KSP would be a little more interesting. Imagine KSP with terrain from No Mans Sky. Anyway, I'm back from several months of KSP hiatus. Lets see how Philfred has been doing :-)

LOG ENTRY, SOL 50

Woohooo! Home sweet home! I have finally reached the base camp again, with all my precious cargo intact. There's quite some dust on the solar panels, but everything seems to be intact, and the snacks have been growing nicely. I'll just hook up the solar panel from the rover to the grid, clear the dust off the other panels, and then I'll take a really long nap. The habitat suddenly seems really large and comfortable compared to the cramped confines of the rover.

Tomorrow I'll try to reactivate the Pathfinder probe.

[SirJodelstein]

LOG ENTRY, SOL 51

Time to do something other than rover driving! After carefully unloading the Pathfinder lander from the rover, I set it down close to the hab. This decade-old piece technology is my last hope of communicating with Kerbin. I hope it will boot up and connect to KSC when attached to a power supply, as it does not have an "on/off" switch. I guess nobody considered "in-situ reactivation, years after mission end" as a realistic scenario. Well, fingers crossed.

...

Alright , time to find out wether the excursion was a huge waste of time or not. I'm about to connect the extension cord from the hab to the lander mainboard. KSC operates all systems on the same voltage, so in theory, this should work. I have also prepared some makeshift flags from hab canvas and set them up near the lander's camera.

Woot. Blinking links and computer beebs! Alright, Pathfinder! Im counting on you. And on some clever computer geeks back at Kerbin. I hope someone still knows how to operate this thing.

 

Shoutout to xEvilReeperx and his FlagRotate plugin! Thanks for keeping old versions of your plugin available. (I'm still on 1.0.2)

Edited September 4, 2016 by SirJodelstein
shoutout to FlagRotate author xEvilReeperx

[DMSP]

Alright! We're back!!

[TheEpicSquared]

Looking forward to more!

[Wildcat111]

WOOHOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!! MOAR!

[SirJodelstein]

LOG ENTRY, SOL 52

Oh what a beautiful sight! Took a look out of the northern hab windown first thing this morning and guess what - the pathfinder camera has moved! It points straight at the "Yes" flag. I can't describe how happy I am right now. Finally I am able to communicate with other Kerbals again.

...

Well, in theory at least. I have re-established a communication link, but KSC can only send binary answers to my short questions. Plus, there is this whole signal delay matter. At the speed of light, the signal round trip time is about 40 minutes, and I am not quite sure about the bandwidth of the Pathfinder to Kerbin link. Time for some tinkering! And double rations for me today :-)

LOG ENTRY, SOL 53

Ok, let's see if that works.

Edited September 11, 2016 by SirJodelstein
fix sol number of second entry

[SirJodelstein]

this is exiting and nerve-wracking at the same time. I have no idea how fast (if ever) i will receive an answer. I have to keep an eye on the Sojourner wheels all the time so that i don't miss a thing. It's just been two hours since i put up the new sign, but the wait is already killing me.

three hours. I've moved into Duna Rover 1 to conserve valuable spacesuit CO2 filters, observing the site through the window.

four hours.

There!

-.-. - / -.-. - / -.-. - / .... .. / .--. .... .. .-.. ..-. .-. . -.. / - .... .. ... / .. ... / -.- ... -.-. .-.-.- / - .-. .- -.-. -.- .. -. --. / -.-- --- ..- / ... .. -. -.-. . / ... --- .-.. / ..--- ..... .-.-.- / .-- . / .- .-. . / ... ..- .--. .-. .. ... . -.. / -... ..- - / .... .- .--. .--. -.-- / - --- / ... . . / -.-- --- ..- / .- .-.. .. ...- . .-.-.- / .-- .... .- - ... / -.-- --- ..- .-. / ... - .- - ..- ... / -....- / .... . .- .-.. - .... / ... ..- .--. .--. .-.. .. . ... / . --.- ..- .. .--. -- . -. - ..--.. / -. -..- - / -- ... --. / .- - / ... --- .-.. / ..... ....- / .---- / .... --- ..- .-. / .- ..-. - . .-. / ... ..- -. .-. .. ... . .-.-.- / .-. . .--. . .- - .. -. --. / -.-. - / -.-. - / -.-. - / .... .. / .--. .... .. .-.. ..-. .-. . -.. / - .... .. ... / .. ... / -.- ... -.-. .-.-.- / - .-. .- -.-. -.- .. -. --. / -.-- --- ..- / ... .. -. -.-. . / ... --- .-.. / ..--- ..... .-.-.- / .-- . / .- .-. . / ... ..- .--. .-. .. ... . -.. / -... ..- - / .... .- .--. .--. -.-- / - --- / ... . . / -.-- --- ..- / .- .-.. .. ...- . .-.-.- / .-- .... .- - ... / -.-- --- ..- .-. / ... - .- - ..- ... / -....- / .... . .- .-.. - .... / ... ..- .--. .--. .-.. .. . ... / . --.- ..- .. .--. -- . -. - ..--.. / -. -..- - / -- ... --. / .- - / ... --- .-.. / ..... ....- / .---- / .... --- ..- .-. / .- ..-. - . .-. / ... ..- -. .-. .. ... . .-.-.- / ... -.-

Well, that could have been much worse for a first contact considering what I've done. I better go and set up my reply on a flag. See you tomorrow.

 

[samamstar]

translation for those of us who can't read morse code: 

Quote

CT CT CT HI PHILFRED THIS IS KSC. TRACKING YOU SINCE SOL 25. WE ARE SUPRISED BUT HAPPY TO SEE YOU ALIVE. WHATS YOUR STATUS - HEALTH SUPPLIES EQUIPMENT? NXT MSG AT SOL 54 1 HOUR AFTER SUNRISE. REPEATING CT CT CT HI PHILFRED THIS IS KSC. TRACKING YOU SINCE SOL 25. WE ARE SUPRISED BUT HAPPY TO SEE YOU ALIVE. WHATS YOUR STATUS - HEALTH SUPPLIES EQUIPMENT? NXT MSG AT SOL 54 1 HOUR AFTER SUNRISE. SK