The Duna 6 expedition

[Snarfster]

Today I got this mission offered.

Looks like a grand challenge

 

[Sirad]

If you take a unmanned Probe and land on Eve last, this will be no real big challenge.

(with ISRU this is like no challenge at all)

[xendelaar]

Sounds like a pretty cool mission! 

[Death Engineering]

I don't even have the contract, and I want to do that mission!  

[Snarfster]

I went for totally overengineered.

Just after take-off from the Mun, on the way to Minmus. Where it'll gas up as well.

[Der Anfang]

Holy shiz. That is one hell of a mission! I got the Duna 4 Challenge where I need to flyby the Mun, Minmus, Duna, and get back to Kerbin. Not as wellpaying as this, nor as difficult. Still, very fun!

[MrOsterman]

Careful with the gas up.  If the wrong vessel docks in the wrong order you'll lose the "with the same vessel" portion of the contract.

[Snarfster]

Thanks for the heads up. This beast has it's own on board refinery. It's currently at Minmus converting cheese into rocket fuel.

[Shamus6200]

Looks like a lot of fun to plan and design for. You get this mission with a "do NOT use ISRU" clause if you play on Scott Manly Hard Mode. Either way would be a fun read through with lots of pics.

Edited December 21, 2015 by Shamus6200

[KerikBalm]

Hmmmm, I was thinking ISRU setups were expensive... but now I see they aren't so bad. 1x 2.5m converter and 2x large drills barely cost more than a single KS-25 engine (although that is a really expensive engine for its size). Still it could be nice if you seperate just a small probe with a heat shield and chutes, and lob it at eve at the end, and keep the rest of your craft with the ISRU at gilly to serve as a fueling base (have the probe that goes to eve be the root part to be safe?)

Otherwise, the entire craft is basically a complete loss once it goes suborbital at Eve. (yes, I know the contract payout will be high enough to cover the loss, but in my save I like to set up as much infrastructure and waste as little money as possible).

[Snarfster]

I agree with you, the craft is a write off. It's a fun little expedition though  

[322997am]

But including the fact your budget for this is around 2m dollars it's doable.

[Shamus6200]

In my mind, I think of every 1000 kerbal dollars as a million USD. So a craft that cost 10,000 kerbals dollars in game is $10 million. I know it's low, but I'm old, so a million dollars still seems like a lot of money :-)