Dres Love Missions

[DoctorDavinci]

Thanks for stopping by to check out the Dres Love missions ... This is my answer to the "Dres Awareness, Show Your Support" challenge started by SpaceplaneAddict

In addition to this, I started a challenge based on one of the many objectives I set myself to do in this mega-mission which is to land a probe or plant a flag in each of the 42 known craters on Dres (although the challenge I came up with lets you choose which celestial body) ... The Crater Cartographer Challenge

 

The story so far ......................

10th November 2015 at 13:44.

In order to achieve one last mega mission as the last thing I do in 1.0.4, I have decided to send some seriously overbuilt monstrosities to Dres to show my support ... Not a single mod used

My first behemoth comes in at 2558.3 tons and 1103 parts sitting on the launch pad.

I now present to you for your approval, the Dres Love MK1 launch to LKO

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10th November 2015 at 17:39.

So I adapted another monstrosity and launched it to LKO about 7 minutes behind the Dres Love MK1

I present to you the Dres Love MK2 ... 2288.1 tons with 983 parts

My intention is to launch another behemoth just behind the MK2 and then enact refueling missions to each of the beasts before sending them in a convoy to Dres

The Dres Love Party Bus Express is now under construction

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12th November 2015 at 02:16.

So the crews on the MK1 and MK2 received a transmission from someone at the Kerbal Space Center that contained the technical readouts of the Dres Love Party Bus Express (no, they weren't worried about the thermal exhaust port) ... This shocked and angered both the crews and they decided to protest being left out of the party not to mention the thermal exhaust port, a torpedo could mess with it and that didn't sit right with Valentina.

Anyways ... After a long discussion it was unanimously decided, in order to profess their love for Dres in an appropriate manner, that they will ditch both the MK1 and the MK2 missions and return to Kerbin to catch the next bus ... They figured why send one mission for one price when you can send two for twice as much.

The problem they now encountered was that each of the mother-ships have a rudimentary AI autopilot that would not allow the intentional destruction of itself by crashing into a celestial body.

The solution they came up with was to manually pilot each craft back into the atmosphere and then detach and return to the surface of Kerbin ... For The Love Of Dres, this is gonna be epic

---- Summary ---

The MK1 and MK2 missions are being scrapped in order to send 2 Dres Love Party Bus Express' to Dres (8 Party Bus' each containing 19 Kerbals)

We're trying to keep space junk down to a minimum so both the MK1 and MK2 will be ditched into the atmosphere to crash into Kerbin

The crews of the MK1 and MK2 are not happy about being excluded from the party and will be catching the next bus

Pics to follow shortly as the bus is leaving

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12th November 2015, 03:51

So the first 3 kerbals have made it down ... next comes the atmospheric re-entry and safe return of the remaning 3 kerbals on the Dres Love MK1

First 3 landed

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12th November 2015, 14:20

So the remaining crew of the Dres Love MK1 have completed the transfer to their re-entry module attached to one of the outer fuel tanks.

Let the re-entry begin

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13th November 2015, 01:03

So the remaining MK1 Crew have landed safely on Kerbin

The photo record of their experience can be found below

 

Edited December 14, 2015 by DoctorDavinci

[Sanic]

More party buses are not always a bad thing :cool:

[DoctorDavinci]

Quote

More party buses are not always a bad thing

Not at all ... Speaking of which, here's the first Dres Love Party Bus Express launch to LKO with the crew from the MK1 aboard

812 parts weighing in at 2881.4 tons ... 4 Party Bus' each with 19 Kerbals onboard - Total of 76 Kerbals

I am debating on whether to refuel and send the MK2 to Dres with her 4 rovers (even though the crew want to take the bus). The reason I ditched the MK1 was because it would take so long to refuel by mining ore and processing it and she didn't have an easy way to refuel her otherwise.

Edited December 11, 2015 by DoctorDavinci

[DoctorDavinci]

So the Dres Love Refueling Tanker has made it to LKO within a stones throw of the MK2 so it has been decided that the MK2 will be refueled and sent to Dres against the wishes of the crew.

I present to you the Dres Love Refueling Tanker launch #1 to LKO

Edit -----

If you are so inclined, you can watch the launch on YouTube ... I sped the video up 4x

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IJ-tLw2qO0g

Edited December 11, 2015 by DoctorDavinci

[DoctorDavinci]

The tanker has docked with the MK2

The following is video of the encounter sped up 4x

(I apologize for the video quality and will be sure to remedy this in the future)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yR5ooL6X4jU

Edited December 1, 2015 by DoctorDavinci

[DoctorDavinci]

The MK2 has been re-fueled and the tanker has been dropped back into the atmosphere

(4x speed with crappy res again ... I think I have it figured out now though)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M1Sr7J-yDdw

Edited December 1, 2015 by DoctorDavinci

[DoctorDavinci]

The refueling tanker for the Dres Love Party Bus Express has achieved LKO

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9c19_wHuBIg

Edited December 1, 2015 by DoctorDavinci

[DoctorDavinci]

Tanker has docked with the Dres Love Party Bus Express (4x speed video)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lASFRLCfqJg

Fuel transfer has also been completed .. Photo's documenting the exchange are as follows

 

And just for kicks here's the re-entry into the atmosphere of the second tanker (4x video speed)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Nhb2v4lni8

Edited December 11, 2015 by DoctorDavinci

[DoctorDavinci]

Second refueling mission to the Dres Love Party Bus Express is complete

Currently I am sitting on approximately 8375 Dv for the Party Bus and 5540 Dv for the MK2 ... So as long as I hit the window in 320 some odd days I should have lots of Dv to spare

I probably will throw another monstrosity up but I'm thinking since I already have 4 Party Bus' full of Kerbals and the MK2's 4 rovers, that I will send some sort of thing to add a little light to some of the darkened corners of Dres

The Dres Love Rainbow Bright is now under construction

Edited December 11, 2015 by DoctorDavinci

[L4r5man]

Looking good.
There will be a party. And then you will be baked.

[DoctorDavinci]

Quote

Looking good.
There will be a party. And then you will be baked.

I guarantee that there is a party in the works

Anyways, I now present the Dres Love Rainbow Bright to LKO ... coming in at 851 parts and weighing 2704.5 tons

Now for a refueling mission or two to this new beast

Edited December 11, 2015 by DoctorDavinci

[DoctorDavinci]

First refueling tanker for the Rainbow Bright has achieved LKO

I made some minor modifications which added some radiators, changed the lighting and changed the nose cone ... I can throw these into orbit so easy now, I had a dream about it last night

Edited December 11, 2015 by DoctorDavinci

[DoctorDavinci]

Dres Love Missions Status Update .........

Dres Love MK1 - Ditched into atmosphere in order for the crew to catch the bus
Payload - Destroyed

Dres Love MK2 - Refueled and ready for Dres
Payload - 12 ground scanning comsats and 4 Drop Ships each containing a crater jumping science rover with a scientist onboard (4 Kerbals)

Dres Love Party Bus Express - Refueled and ready for Dres (The MK1 Crew caught the bus)
Payload - 4 Party Bus' each with science, mobile processing labs and 19 Kerbals onboard (76 Kerbals)

Dres Love Rainbow Bright - In LKO awaiting refueling
Payload - onboard planetary resource scanner, 12 science/lighting lander probes and 6 comsats

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After a bit of research I have discovered that Dres may contain the answer to life, the universe and everything within her 42 positively identified craters. So I shall now have to shed some light on this issue of 42

The Dres Love WITQ is now under construction

........... END OF MESSAGE

 

Edited December 1, 2015 by DoctorDavinci

[DoctorDavinci]

The first refueling mission to the Dres Love Rainbow Bright is complete with another 2 to follow

Edited December 11, 2015 by DoctorDavinci

[DoctorDavinci]

So I took a Rainbow Bright and made a bunch of modifications to it and think I have found a solution to the conundrum of 42 .....

..... 'What Is The Question' is the answer

I present to you for your approval, the Dres Love What Is The Question-1

Weighing in at 2545.7 tons and an insane 1268 parts sitting on the launchpad

She contains 37 science/lighting lander probes ...... and 1 comsat

Add the 12 science/lighting lander probes in the Rainbow Bright and I have enough probes for all 42 known craters on Dres as well as the ability to drop in on another 7 locations to take a peek at what's really up (or down for that matter)

This behemoth has the most parts of anything that I have built to date that has made it into LKO ... at first she was over 1460 parts but, as we all know, the Kraken giveth and the Kraken taketh away

Next is transferring both the MK2 and the Party Bus Express to a higher circular orbit around Kerbin to await for the Dres rendezvous burn, somewhere in the vicinity of 450km ...... and then refuel, refuel, refuel, refuel, refuel

The only foreseeable problem is the fact that the WITQ-1 in orbit consists of 1100 parts and the tanker has 276

1376 parts ... I'm just asking for a Kraken attack when I join a tanker to the WITQ-1

Edited December 11, 2015 by DoctorDavinci

[DoctorDavinci]

I have launched 2 refueling tankers slated for the Rainbow Bright to LKO

 

Edited December 11, 2015 by DoctorDavinci

[DoctorDavinci]

The MK2 and the Party Bus Express have been dropped into the Dres Departure orbit (between 450 and 500 Km up) and will each receive an additional refueling mission to top them up before doing an inclination burn to match Dres' orbital plane.

I have also chosen 200 Km up as the refueling orbit and both the Rainbow Bright and the WITQ-1 have been positioned there to await refueling

I still have 2 tankers in LKO below 100 Km and will be setting up their rendezvous with the Rainbow Bright in due course

Edited December 11, 2015 by DoctorDavinci

[DoctorDavinci]

Well as it turns out it was much easier to rendezvous with and refuel the WITQ-1 with both of the tankers ... and the Kraken didn't strike with 1376 parts (although Laggy lagger lag lag ... and then some more lag)

Anyways, I now present to you the refueling of the Dres Love WITQ-1 as well as her transfer to her assigned Dres Departure orbit

The Rainbow Bright needs to be refueled now and I think imma gonna strap and orange to the MK2's nose as well as top her up before Dres departure burn is a go

Edited December 11, 2015 by DoctorDavinci

[DoctorDavinci]

So I threw another tanker up to refuel the Rainbow bright and put her into her designated Dres departure orbit

Just an inclination change left for each of the 4 motherships and a fuel top off ... I may still stick an orange to the MK2's nose though

Edited December 11, 2015 by DoctorDavinci

[DoctorDavinci]

Day 260 ......

I threw 4 tankers into LKO to top off the 4 ships going to Dres

Each of the 4 ships will get a tanker and then I'll start my inclination burns. Once that is completed I plan on starting the push to Dres by dropping each of them into orbit around Kerbol in succession

Edited December 11, 2015 by DoctorDavinci

[SpaceplaneAddict]

Gewd luckie! Ths Dres mission feels more elaborate than a Jool-5 combined with 30 ships!

[DoctorDavinci]

Quote

Gewd luckie! Ths Dres mission feels more elaborate than a Jool-5 combined with 30 ships!

Well there's questions to be answered in the craters of Dres and the canyon looks like a great place to throw a party so I really didn't have a choice in the matter as the objective is to go all out for her ... Go big or go home they always say but since I am at home already the only thing left to do is go big

Anyways, I have finished the final refueling of both the MK2 and the Party Bus Express ... You'll likely notice in the pics that I got a bit cocky and smashed one of the tankers into a group of 3 ground scanning comsats on the MK2 trying to be slick with the docking

Some parts went flying off into the nether but the SComs that were hit seem to be intact, we'll find out soon enough

 

 

Edited December 11, 2015 by DoctorDavinci

[Sanic]

Jool-5 is overused and overrated.

I could not admire your determination more, DoctorDavinci.

[DoctorDavinci]

Quote

Jool-5 is overused and overrated.

I could not admire your determination more, DoctorDavinci.

Thanx ... To be honest though the MK1 was originally designed to do a Jool-5 trip and the MK2 was slapped together to see how much science I could gather in one launch with no refueling (think I managed a little over 6000 or so off of the Mun and Minmus if I remember correctly)

Anyways, I now present the Rainbow Bright and WITQ-1 final refueling

The ships are prepped and ready to begin their journey to Dres to show some love

Edited December 11, 2015 by DoctorDavinci

[DoctorDavinci]

So all 4 monstrosities have exited the SOI of Kerbin and entered into a comfortable orbit of Kerbol as well as matching Dres' inclination and setting up maneuver nodes for each that will bring them quite close to their destination.

One problem that I know I will have is the MK2 will not make it to Dres as she's short on fuel

The solution is to engage the MK2's separation sequence and individually send each drop ship to it's destination (although I'm not sure if the drop ships can make it the rest of the way)

I guess I'm about to find out .......

Edited December 11, 2015 by DoctorDavinci