THE BARTDON PAPERS - "Cancel all previous directives."

[UnusualAttitude]

4 hours ago, Cydonian Monk said:

Though I doubt the [lack of] precision in RSS/RO is enough for them to look as rugged as they actually are.

That's the thing. Initial exploration shows that there are some pretty nice views to be had, but you can actually drive in and out of places you probably shouldn't be able to.

Spoiler

 

Climbing out of Hebes Chasma southwards, Hebes Mensa in the background.

 

 

[UnusualAttitude]

Another quick example of the sort of panorama you're welcome to request. 

Spoiler

 

Chasma west of Ganges Catena.

 

 

[KAL 9000]

But if they were landing sites, they would have had some interesting science stuff by definition...

[DMSP]

Wow. What about Juventae Chasma?

[UnusualAttitude]

48 minutes ago, KAL 9000 said:

But if they were landing sites, they would have had some interesting science stuff by definition...

Fair point. As I said, I will certainly try and reach the Chryse / Acidalia region, I just can't promise anything visually spectacular at the landing sites.

17 minutes ago, DMSP said:

Wow. What about Juventae Chasma?

Yes, certainly. This will be one of the first places Bartdon will head to. Sedimentary outcrops, sulphate deposits, awesome. Just post some coordinates if you want a particular spot.

[DMSP]

2 hours ago, UnusualAttitude said:

Fair point. As I said, I will certainly try and reach the Chryse / Acidalia region, I just can't promise anything visually spectacular at the landing sites.

Yes, certainly. This will be one of the first places Bartdon will head to. Sedimentary outcrops, sulphate deposits, awesome. Just post some coordinates if you want a particular spot.

Ok, here they are: -61.6, -3.67. There is a mound in the middle of the Chasma that seems quite interesting. A good lookout point through the whole place, may be useful. Thanks for doing this!
Another thing is, I'm wondering (And maybe you are) if RSS recreates the "splash"/"splosh" that you find around Martian craters. There's one overlooking Juventae, and had a pretty big "splosh-mark" too.

Another thing, will you get as far as Pavonis Mons? I'd love to see that beautiful mountain.

[UnusualAttitude]

23 minutes ago, DMSP said:

Ok, here they are: -61.6, -3.67. There is a mound in the middle of the Chasma that seems quite interesting.

Here, the target marker is bang on the coordinates you gave me. Do you mean the mound just to its west, the one that is made of a lighter material?

Spoiler

31 minutes ago, DMSP said:

There's one overlooking Juventae, and had a pretty big "splosh-mark" too.

Do you mean the large crater on the eastern rim (that will probably be our way into the Chasma)? By "splosh marks" do you mean a ray system or wind tails/streaks, or something else? In either case, I don't think anything will be visible from the ground, unfortunately.

If I do get as far as Tharsis, Pavonis Mons will be my first choice. (Still reading Alastair Reynolds and it appears in several of his books).

[DMSP]

10 hours ago, UnusualAttitude said:

Here, the target marker is bang on the coordinates you gave me. Do you mean the mound just to its west, the one that is made of a lighter material?

  Reveal hidden contents

Do you mean the large crater on the eastern rim (that will probably be our way into the Chasma)? By "splosh marks" do you mean a ray system or wind tails/streaks, or something else? In either case, I don't think anything will be visible from the ground, unfortunately.

Yes, it's the mount just west of the point. Imagine seeing that thing rise above you...

No, it's something different, and If I'm right it's like when a meteor hits the surface and there's water all the water gets vaporized and then condenses and makes a mark on the surrounding area.

Something like that.

And I sure do hope you get to Tharsis!

[UnusualAttitude]

As a final spoiler before I get on with my roving, here is a preview of @DMSP's request. Enjoy. 

Animation:

Spoiler

 

 

 

 

360° Panorama:

Spoiler

http://pnr.ma/cnBBgp 

or 

Any more requests? Don't by shy, 'cause I ain't doing this twice...

Edited October 12, 2016 by UnusualAttitude

[KAL 9000]

Send more supplies on a supply rover from Earth. It will probably land after Phase 1 roving is complete. As the "grand finale" of the mission, dock the rovers and, using the extra supplies, make it to Tharsis and back! I'd love to see a flag on top of Olympus Mons . But it's your choice.

[UnusualAttitude]

12 minutes ago, KAL 9000 said:

Send more supplies on a supply rover from Earth. It will probably land after Phase 1 roving is complete. As the "grand finale" of the mission, dock the rovers and, using the extra supplies, make it to Tharsis and back! I'd love to see a flag on top of Olympus Mons . But it's your choice.

Unfortunately not possible due to transfer windows. Earth is on the opposite side of the Sun at the moment. We'll see about Tharsis: Bartdon is such a stubborn, dedicated investigator that he may just decide to go without creature comforts such as food for a few days if it allows him to get where he wants to go. 

Edited October 12, 2016 by UnusualAttitude

[DMSP]

That. Is. Incredible.

I wish my computer could run RSS! Thanks for giving me a preview! I wonder what surprises (possibly lethal ones) Mars has in store.

Edited October 12, 2016 by DMSP

[Shania_L]

I have spent the last few days catching up on this awesome quest, can't believe how I have missed it for so long but I'm here to stay now!

Very impressive missions, have to say its also refreshing to see an RSS career with Kerbals / Kerbal ships rather than recreations of human achievements.

You mentioned you are using ISRU to refuel your craft for in system and the return trip to Earth, I can see your main landers use HydroLox fueled LV-909s and your interplanetry ship uses Methane NTR. How did you manage to get sufficuent volumes of HydroLox into the airframes for Mars ascent? I may well be snooping for inspiration when you come to lift the volumes of methane from Mars to orbit for your return trip!!

[UnusualAttitude]

YEAR 11, DAY 319. BARTDON.

Once we had got over the initial excitement of our landing, it was all hands on deck. Our shuttle – and our new Martian home – was running off fuel cells. Life support, communications and heating depended on the small supply of consumables we'd brought with us. If we didn't get the blasted solar farm up and running before night fell, come dawn we'd be just a bunch of freeze-dried Kerbals.

Karanda sent the servant rover on a short scouting mission. Although Quissac had alighted on a very slight incline, even gentler terrain was discovered not far to the South. Using most of the remaining fuel in the bottom of her tanks, Munvey steered Quissac this short distance across the surface by firing her aft engines repeatedly. Our ship came to rest on almost perfectly flat ground just two hundred yards from our flag.

Under the supervision of Mitzon, the crew got to work straight away. The two rigs we had to set up each consisted of a platform and a mast on to which the sun-tracking solar panels, the ice drills and the radiators were mounted. Both rigs would then be connected by power lines and steam pipes that lead back to Quissac's cargo bay.

We unloaded the equipment piece by piece. Working in the low but manageable gravity of Mars was pleasant, and the most hazardous part of the job was avoiding being run down by the servant rover, which was remotely driven by Lisabeth from orbit.

A part from the brief spells when Laroque passed directly overhead, our Second Pilot was working with a small, but noticeable signal delay. It wasn't as bad as the lag of a geostationary network on Earth, but enough to make it a good idea to avoid stepping carelessly in front of our little wheeled assistant. Damn the size and bulk of those command stations! Nevertheless, as the day drew on, our base began to take shape.

All that was left to do was to turn the whole thing on and start digging a damned hole or two. But this will have to wait for tomorrow, while our batteries recharged and Mitzon runs a full series of checks on the shuttle's systems.

Everything we knew about Mars pointed to extensive and substantial layers of ice not far below the surface, but now it was time to put this knowledge to the test. If the borehole turned out to be dry, then we would have to pack our gear onto our rover (assuming it landed safely) and try elsewhere. This turn of events would waste a lot of time and seriously hamper our ability to explore.

The worst case scenario was that somewhere, at some point, an investigator had misinterpreted some data or an engineer had got his calculations wrong. If the water ice was buried much deeper or more sparsely dispersed than we had thought, then we would not be going back to space anytime soon. Or, indeed, at all.

To alleviate the apprehension we all felt while we waited for our fate to be determined, Karanda took the servant rover further afield and drove it to the top of the nearest high ground to get a better look at our surroundings.

Lunae Planum was a rather monotonous affair, I must admit. It was a wide volcanic plateau that sloped gently away from the highlands that bordered the Arean Canyon system towards the lowlands further north. Crisscrossed with ridges that were formed as the lava cooled and scattered with small craters, it was covered in the fine ochre dust that seemed to prevail almost everywhere on this planet.

Looking at the telemetry from our little scout's camera, we saw that the wind had whipped this sandy regolith into deep drifts and dunes, tens of metres high in places. We would have to go hunting for outcrops where the bedrock emerged. Roving through this landscape looked perfectly feasible, although I guessed that a strong stomach would be required to avoid getting seasick driving up and down the rises and dips in the terrain all day.

Speaking of rovers, Lisabeth called down from Laroque to announce that a window for landing Espedaillac and our wheels would open in two day's time, but it wasn't an ideal one. Our second shuttle risked coming down to land somewhere to the South or the East of our position. The exploration rover could then be driven to us from Laroque's remote command station, but this might lose us the best part of another day. Lisabeth ensured me that more favourable windows could be as much as a week away, so it would be worth the additional delay. I gritted my teeth and resigned myself to another couple of days more without mobility.

YEAR 11, DAY 320. BARTDON.

Today we started drilling. The tension amongst the crew was palpable as two of our four bits sank into the regolith in order to probe the subsurface for the ice table that was supposed to be there. Mitzon was suited up, watching over his machinery with the juvenile fascination he displays as soon as he's in spitting distance of anything mechanical.

Rather than attempting to share his optimism, I stalked around our shuttle, pretending to search for interesting samples. The truth was, that I was feeling edgy now that I had both my feet back on solid ground and on a body with something resembling proper gravity. It had been far too long, and I was suffering from withdrawal symptoms. Damn, that rover had better get here soon.

Suddenly Mitzon shouted over the intercom, and as I turned to look, a wisp, then a small cloud of steam erupted from the ground beneath one of our drilling rigs.

“I knew it! It's teatime, dudes. Two sugars please, Des...”

Desfal was already checking the readouts from the engineering station on board Quissac, and he confirmed that steam was indeed already condensing into her tanks. A timid dribble at first, it soon became a trickle. Then, as the day drew on, it turned into a steady flow of water that would fill up our ship's considerable reserves in a matter of hours.

We'd soon had more of the damned stuff than we knew what to do with, and our refueling operations would be limited only by the capacity of our electrolyser and our cryocoolers. So much for our fear of not being able to take off again.

As night fell over our little settlement, Mitzon and I reviewed the plans for our first exploratory voyage across the surface of Mars. Debates as to where to go exactly once the first Kerbals set foot on Mars had raged for years within the scientific community, but now we were here we were spoilt for choice.

The canyon system lay at about four hundred klicks to the South, but if we were to go sifting through the canyon floor itself for sedimentary rocks and traces of past lakes and rivers, then chucking ourselves off the first cliff we came to simply wouldn't do. We might have to make a significant detour eastwards and enter Vallis Marineris via the chaotic region around the mouth of Eos Chasma. If this worked, we would then be able to travel the length of the equatorial canyon and attempt to find a way out at the far end in, from the jumbled mess that was Noctis Labyrinthus.

We would then return to resupply at base camp before heading northwards, into the immense reaches of the Vastitas Borealis, and possibly eastwards into the Acidalia Planitia. Reaching the North Polar Icecap would be an added bonus, but I had my doubts about getting that far. Then, and only then, would I address the matter of that damned oddly shaped hill.

YEAR 11, DAY 321. BARTDON.

Espedaillac came down this morning.

Dumping her empty transfer stage in orbit just as her sister ship had done, she made her de-orbit burn on the nightside of the planet and screamed in over the canyons. I listened in on the proceedings from Quissac's coms station, following the gals commentary of the landing minute by minute.

Because the blasted planet we were on kept spinning, Espedaillac's orbit didn't quite line up with our landing site. Lisabeth had no choice but to pull the shuttle into a hard bank to port over Hebes Chasma, attempting to turn as tight as possible and avoid overshooting our position away to the Northeast. Quite a feat, since the sleek, wingless vessel appeared to have all the gliding ability and cross-range of a gold-plated brick in the thin Martian atmosphere.

Espedaillac eventually touched down just over eighty kilometres short of our position, almost due south. I waited and listened with baited breath for news of the rover's deployment. We were still far beyond walking distance. If something malfunctioned during its release... No, dammit, I need that rover!

“Main gear unlocked, wheels deployed. Bay door open, contact detected on the wheels,” announced Karanda.

Now the moment of truth...

“Good release confirmed. Contact detected. Areocambal is on the ground.”

Yes! Now all Espedaillac had to do was perform a push-up and my rover would be free...

“Shuttle main gear deployed and locked again. Areocambal is free to rove. She's all yours, Lis.”

My rover was on its way.

Areocambal arrived late that afternoon, appearing over the ridge of dunes in the South and driving up to park next to our camp. She was immediately commandeered by Mitzon who had been provided with some radiators to attach to Quissac's hull. These were to evacuate the waste heat of the shuttle's active cooling system: an essential feature to reduce the loss of fuel due to boiloff.

Unfortunately, whichever damned imbecile had designed the fixtures had completely failed to realise that Mitzon is not twelve feet tall, but a proud three-foot-six when he stands on the tips of his toes. Fortunately, his resourcefulness made up for being vertically challenged, and I manoeuvred the rover ever so carefully into position alongside our ship while he stood precariously on the crew cabin's roof and bolted the blasted things into place.

At last, our days chores were completed and all we had to do was rest and wait for a new dawn to start our journey across Mars. But first, if you'll excuse me, there is something that I've been looking forward to for a damned long time.

 

[UnusualAttitude]

3 hours ago, Shania_L said:

I have spent the last few days catching up on this awesome quest, can't believe how I have missed it for so long but I'm here to stay now!

Great to have you with us. 

3 hours ago, Shania_L said:

Very impressive missions, have to say its also refreshing to see an RSS career with Kerbals / Kerbal ships rather than recreations of human achievements.

Thank you, and yes this surprised me a little when I first started playing RSS/RO. Everyone has their own idea of fun, of course, but I see a lot of RSS players into replicas and recreations. For me, the whole point of KSP (stock or otherwise) is that you get to try things that we poor humans don't yet have the technology/budget/sheer recklessness to attempt.

3 hours ago, Shania_L said:

You mentioned you are using ISRU to refuel your craft for in system and the return trip to Earth, I can see your main landers use HydroLox fueled LV-909s and your interplanetry ship uses Methane NTR. How did you manage to get sufficuent volumes of HydroLox into the airframes for Mars ascent? I may well be snooping for inspiration when you come to lift the volumes of methane from Mars to orbit for your return trip!!

For ISRU, I use parts from Regex's sadly unfinished Real ISRU mod (the cryocooler, and sometimes the electrolyzer) and simply make the assumption that water ice can be extracted from the subsurface of Mars, the Martian moons, and the polar craters of Luna. I simply modify the stock drills to extract water rather than ore. It's a gross simplification of the problem, but I can't see any better way to do it with my limited modding ability that is limited to .cfg file tweaking.

The landers are both all hydrolox powered; no methane is produced on the Martian surface. I know many real proposed projects use methane but my reasoning was that you need hydrogen from ISRU anyway (or take it with you), so why not refuel your rocket with LH2/LOx? Assuming manageable boiloff, of course. Having said that, the concept would work perfectly well with methalox. You'd just have to find/configure the right engine.

The interplanetary ship is indeed methane NTR and carries all the fuel needed for the return journey. (Well, hopefully. I haven't got back yet).

If it helps, here is Quissac in ascent configuration: minus the servant rover and the cargo pallets (left on the surface) and with the two extra fuel tanks in the cargo bay full. 4,5 km/s delta-vee is more than enough for Mars ascent, even with me flying her. Note that those MkIV parts are incredibly light, which is only fair since many parts are stupidly heavy for RSS purposes.

Spoiler

 

 

And here with the fuel capacity of the individual tanks.

Spoiler

Hope this helps you with Big Duna. 

Edited October 14, 2016 by UnusualAttitude

[KAL 9000]

Yay! New update!

[HamnavoePer]

NUUU. I did not see the comment on requests. Still, Maybe Ares Planitia? Because, Martian Film? 

[UnusualAttitude]

5 hours ago, HamnavoePer said:

NUUU. I did not see the comment on requests. Still, Maybe Ares Planitia? Because, Martian Film? 

You're still good if you want to request a site. Acidalia Planitia is already planned, so if you want to choose somewhere else, please do.

For a precise location, please provide a set of coordinates. NASA has a pretty cool interactive map which is excellent for virtual exploring, but it seems to require a pretty beefy internet connection. Mars on Google Earth works well, too.

[HamnavoePer]

5 hours ago, UnusualAttitude said:

You're still good if you want to request a site. Acidalia Planitia is already planned, so if you want to choose somewhere else, please do.

For a precise location, please provide a set of coordinates. NASA has a pretty cool interactive map which is excellent for virtual exploring, but it seems to require a pretty beefy internet connection. Mars on Google Earth works well, too.

Phew!

Can you go to 31.3 Degrees North, 331 Degrees East. Because Martian Movie.

Edited October 14, 2016 by HamnavoePer

[DMSP]

Oh, enjoy your golf, Bartdon, enjoy your Golf.

You earned it.

Also, another excellent chapter!

[Shania_L]

I am so happy Bartdon finally gets to play some golf ... I hope he brought plenty of balls with him though as I doubt he will be able to recover any after a low air-resistence drive in 1/6g !!

On 14/10/2016 at 1:27 AM, UnusualAttitude said:

Hope this helps you with Big Duna. 

Yes it does, gives me some alternate ideas and makes a few things I was considering impossible to make more likely just difficult!

Like RSS Mars ascent being 4,500dV, I was guessing about that for a 6.4k Duna so I know I can cut the fuel budget a bit lower now

On 14/10/2016 at 1:27 AM, UnusualAttitude said:

For ISRU, I use parts from Regex's sadly unfinished Real ISRU mod (the cryocooler, and sometimes the electrolyzer) and simply make the assumption that water ice can be extracted from the subsurface of Mars, the Martian moons, and the polar craters of Luna. I simply modify the stock drills to extract water rather than ore. It's a gross simplification of the problem, but I can't see any better way to do it with my limited modding ability that is limited to .cfg file tweaking.

That is a similar process to mine, except with Karbonite, I currently assume it to be ice, however I will have to config-foo up a distiller which will produce methane for me.

On 14/10/2016 at 1:27 AM, UnusualAttitude said:

The landers are both all hydrolox powered; no methane is produced on the Martian surface. I know many real proposed projects use methane but my reasoning was that you need hydrogen from ISRU anyway (or take it with you), so why not refuel your rocket with LH2/LOx? Assuming manageable boiloff, of course. Having said that, the concept would work perfectly well with methalox. You'd just have to find/configure the right engine.

I was assuming harvest of both atmospheric CO2 and drilling for ice, this gives you all the ingredients for methane and you get some O2 to release into the atmosphere. A MethaLox engine would be a wonderous thing, alas my 0.90 mods do not contain such a thing (except the RAPIER which I havent unlocked), my understanding is they are slightly more powerful/efficient than KeroLox maybe something else to test my config-foo on as this would make the mission so much easier.

On 14/10/2016 at 1:27 AM, UnusualAttitude said:

The interplanetary ship is indeed methane NTR and carries all the fuel needed for the return journey. (Well, hopefully. I haven't got back yet).

I expect this is possible because you are taking the long duration efficient transfer? I'm looking at burning ~200 tonnes just escaping Kerbin with no return fuel, and having to raise the best part of 60t methane from Duna.

 

[UnusualAttitude]

7 minutes ago, Shania_L said:

Like RSS Mars ascent being 4,500dV, I was guessing about that for a 6.4k Duna so I know I can cut the fuel budget a bit lower now

A better pilot than me could probably do Mars ascent with 4km/s. Be aware that Mars' atmosphere is really thin. This makes landing a terrifying experience, but it also makes ascent easier. 64K Duna - if the atmosphere is similar to it's stock value scaled - might have a non-negligeable effect on ascent dV. The good news is that parachutes will be of some use. I couldn't even get one to open on Mars.

12 minutes ago, Shania_L said:

I was assuming harvest of both atmospheric CO2 and drilling for ice, this gives you all the ingredients for methane and you get some O2 to release into the atmosphere. A MethaLox engine would be a wonderous thing, alas my 0.90 mods do not contain such a thing (except the RAPIER which I havent unlocked), my understanding is they are slightly more powerful/efficient than KeroLox maybe something else to test my config-foo on as this would make the mission so much easier.

Methane would be a good choice if you go for a traditional capsule-style lander for parachute assisted landing. Fuel tanks are so much more compact. Slightly lower thrust but better ISP compared to kerolox. This is the Realfuels - Stockalike config I use for the stock Aerospike with a methane config: it has 5 ignitions FYI.

Spoiler

@PART[toroidalAerospike]:FOR[RealFuels_StockEngines] //Aerospike
{

  @mass = 0.33
  @cost = 781
  %entryCost = 3905
  @maxTemp = 2400

  @MODULE[ModuleEngine*]
  {
    @name = ModuleEnginesRF
    @maxThrust = 175
    @heatProduction = 199
    @atmosphereCurve
    {
      @key,0 = 0 350
      @key,1 = 1 315
    }
    !PROPELLANT[LiquidFuel] {}
    !PROPELLANT[Oxidizer] {}
    !PROPELLANT[MonoPropellant] {}
    PROPELLANT
    {
      name = Kerosene
      ratio = 37.694087
      DrawGauge = True
      %ResourceFlowMode = STACK_PRIORITY_SEARCH
    }
    PROPELLANT
    {
      name = LqdOxygen
      ratio = 62.305913
      %ResourceFlowMode = STACK_PRIORITY_SEARCH
    }
  }

  MODULE
  {
    name = ModuleEngineConfigs
    type = ModuleEnginesRF
    techLevel = 6
    origTechLevel = 6
    engineType = A
    origMass = 0.33
    configuration = Kerosene+LqdOxygen
    modded = false

    CONFIG
    {
      name = Kerosene+LqdOxygen
      maxThrust = 175
      heatProduction = 199
      PROPELLANT
      {
        name = Kerosene
        ratio = 37.69408655434424
        DrawGauge = True
        %ResourceFlowMode = STACK_PRIORITY_SEARCH
      }
      PROPELLANT
      {
        name = LqdOxygen
        ratio = 62.30591344565576
        %ResourceFlowMode = STACK_PRIORITY_SEARCH
      }
      IspSL = 1.0000
      IspV = 1.0000
      throttle = 0
      ModuleEngineIgnitor
      {
        ignitionsAvailable = 5
        useUllageSimulation = true
        autoIgnitionTemperature = 800
        ignitorType = Electric
        IGNITOR_RESOURCE
        {
          name = ElectricCharge
          amount = 1.75
        }
      }

    }
    CONFIG
    {
      name = LqdHydrogen+LqdOxygen
      maxThrust = 131
      heatProduction = 199
      PROPELLANT
      {
        name = LqdHydrogen
        ratio = 76.30830964721619
        DrawGauge = True
        %ResourceFlowMode = STACK_PRIORITY_SEARCH
      }
      PROPELLANT
      {
        name = LqdOxygen
        ratio = 23.69169035278381
        %ResourceFlowMode = STACK_PRIORITY_SEARCH
      }
      IspSL = 1.3000
      IspV = 1.2700
      throttle = 0
      ModuleEngineIgnitor
      {
        ignitionsAvailable = 5
        useUllageSimulation = true
        autoIgnitionTemperature = 800
        ignitorType = Electric
        IGNITOR_RESOURCE
        {
          name = ElectricCharge
          amount = 1.75
        }
      }
}
CONFIG
    {
      name = LqdMethane+LqdOxygen
      maxThrust = 168
      heatProduction = 183
      PROPELLANT
      {
        name = LqdMethane
        ratio = 43.54679276535492
        DrawGauge = True
        %ResourceFlowMode = STACK_PRIORITY_SEARCH
      }
      PROPELLANT
      {
        name = LqdOxygen
        ratio = 56.45320723464508
        %ResourceFlowMode = STACK_PRIORITY_SEARCH
      }
      IspSL = 1.1021
      IspV = 1.1021
      throttle = 0
      ModuleEngineIgnitor
      {
        ignitionsAvailable = 5
        autoIgnitionTemperature = 800
        ignitorType = Electric
        useUllageSimulation = true
        IGNITOR_RESOURCE
        {
          name = ElectricCharge
          amount = 4.25
        }
      }

  
  }
  !MODULE[ModuleEngineIgnitor] {}
  ModuleEngineIgnitor
  {
    ignitionsAvailable = 5
    autoIgnitionTemperature = 800
    useUllageSimulation = true

  }

}

...and you can modify any engine in a similar manner. (ISP x 1,10: thrust x 0,96)

19 minutes ago, Shania_L said:

I expect this is possible because you are taking the long duration efficient transfer? I'm looking at burning ~200 tonnes just escaping Kerbin with no return fuel, and having to raise the best part of 60t methane from Duna.

Yes, this is a 8-month low energy optimal Hohmann transfer with a powered insertion burn and aerobraking to circularise at Mars, and I'm planning to do the same when returning to Earth.

If you need any help with your config hacking, just send a PM and I will provide any help I can. 

[Starman4308]

If it helps you guys, I did hack up a RealFuels config (which seems to work in 1.1.3) for Karbonite to hydrolox, methalox, methanol, ammonia, the standard hypergols (hydrazine, MMH, UDMH, Aero50, with NTO and IRFNA-III oxidizers). The two biggest stretches I can think of: the HF component of IRFNA-III comes from space magic, and the synthesis routes for MMH, UDMH, and Aero50 are... complicated.

If you use it, I suggest using a bit of restraint and thinking of whether it would be realistic to get the raw materials at that body; I generally started my syntheses from H2O, NH3, and CO2, which may not be always available.

Alrighty. Sounds to me then like I should make the default hydrolox config dump LO2 (for some reason, the engine configs use ~3x more LH2 than LO2, when comparing on densities, it should be ~2x), and then have the hypergolic configs dump the byproduct (usually LH2 or LO2).

Testing is going well: it behaves as expected. The only thing I can't test is the CO production of the "real methalox" config, because procedural fuel tanks don't have any config for CO. While I'm at it, I'll polish things off with configs for a few of the easy-to-make molecules like methanol, H2O2, etc.

Maybe a spirit-of-the-mod question: is Karbonite meant to be a very raw resource? Right now, I have Karbonite -> fuel production being 80% mass-efficient (though that's 80% with byproducts, such as MMH/UDMH producing LqdOxygen), and I'm wondering if that should be tweaked down.

EDIT: If you want to try it out, let me know if this DropBox link works. Sorry about not putting it as a pull request on GitHub, I've just had GitHub issues (can't have a separate account for professional vs. KSP work).

https://www.dropbox.com/s/1byx3p67f38vvxb/KA-RealFuels.cfg?dl=0

The spreadsheet, for whoever wants to check my work:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/09e08kp5qey2g17/Spreadsheet.xlsx?dl=0

[UnusualAttitude]

We set out at dawn. Our goal: to return back samples and data from as many places of scientific interest as possible over the next 50 days.

Our first stop was early that afternoon: the landing site of the rover carrier shuttle Espedaillac. She came down near the bottom of a small hollow between two dunes 80 kilometres to the South of where we landed.

Mitzon wants to examine Espedaillac and see if any of the components of her propulsion system could be salvaged if something on our own shuttle fails. It turns out that she is in perfect condition and would only require refueling in order to be able to take off again.

There's a ton of room in her cargo bay. It seems a shame for all of this to go to waste...

We continued our journey across Lunae Planum in a southwesterly direction and spent our first night on the rim of the first large crater on our itinerary. This one hasn't yet been given an official designation, so I will be naming it Crater Margaret, after the late Planetary Investigator who died accomplishing her duty during our first orbital mission to Mars.

It appears to be quite an old formation: its rim is well-weathered and the bottom is partially filled with aeolian deposits. No sign of sedimentary rocks. We will continue further to the South tomorrow, towards Hebes Chasma. It should take us just over a day to reach it, though.

I took a panoramic view of the crater, you can receive a radio-transmitted facsimile of it here.

We spent another day trekking across the southern reaches of Lunae Planum before arriving at what would be our first major challenge on the morning of day three: Hebes Chasma.

Hebes Chasma lies north of the great Valles Marineris but we suspect that it is part of the same system of crust fracturing that occurred during the great upheaval of volcanic activity that formed the Tharsis bulge, further to the West. It is an 8,000 metre deep scar that cuts into the terrain of Lunae Planum and the views from the eastern end of the Chasma are incredible. In the distance, we can already spot the towering mass of Hebes Mensa, a Himalayan-sized tabletop mountain that lies in the centre of this gigantic rift valley.

The descent towards the chasm's floor was perilous, but part of the eastern wall had collapsed, allowing us to drive gingerly down a ramp of rocky debris into its depths. There we sank far below the level of the surrounding plains and found outcrops of rocks that had originally lain deep within the Martian crust.

During the course of the afternoon, we made our way towards the towering flanks of Hebes Mensa, hoping to discover the nature of this massive mesa. We suspected that long ago, Hebes Chasma had been submerged, a great lake of sorts. Did the Mensa consist of sedimentary deposits that would prove that water once pooled here? Would the samples we took reveal the tell-tale traces of microbial life that once inhabited the Martian seas and rivers? Regardless, the views from the mountainside proves to be worth the effort to get there, as this animation shows.

Then remained the small matter of escaping from the clutches of the Martian canyon. We found a way out, taking a switchback route up part of the southern wall that had collapsed at some point in the distant past. Night approached swiftly as we finally reached the summit of this gruelling climb, and turned to look back upon the distance we had covered.

In three days we have covered 690km.

Edited October 16, 2016 by UnusualAttitude

[Starman4308]

You know, there's actually a non-zero chance Bartdon could hit a golf ball across some of the smaller craters on Mars. Given a 100 m/sec swing (almost the world record), at a 45 degree angle, with Mars's weak gravity and negligible atmosphere, that ball could go nearly 2.7 km.

And yes, I was thinking "hm, I wonder if Bartdon could hit it across Hebes Mensa" when I started to run the math.