Land Ion Craft on Duna Without Parachutes or Wings

[thereaverofdarkness2]

The primary target of this challenge is to see if you can land an ion craft on Duna without using parachutes or wings, but I am also adding Vall in as a secondary target if you want something a bit easier (or harder, depending on how you play KSP). Both should definitely be possible, as I have built an ion probe with a TWR greater than 1 on both worlds.

Rules:

1.) It doesn't matter how you get to Duna or Vall orbit.

2.) Start in orbit of Duna or Vall.

3.) Use only ion propulsion and any structural parts you wish. No parachutes, no lifting surfaces, no airbrakes, and no engines other than the Dawn engine.

4.) Using decouplers or other explosives as a source of thrust counts as cheating.

5.) Come to a complete stop with an operational craft. It can be as intact as you want, and it doesn't have to be able to take off again.

x.) Mention your version of KSP and any aerodynamic mods you use. It won't affect your score but I want to mention them because it can affect the challenge.

 

If you can't make the landing, I'll score you on impact velocity. The lower your velocity, the higher your score. Successful landings are ranked at the top in order of when the entry was posted here. I won't be doing this challenge myself at current because I cannot play KSP after 1.1, and that makes me very sad. =( Perhaps watching your attempts will cheer me up!

If you decide to land an ion craft on another world and you think it was difficult, post it here and I might add a spot for you on the leaderboard!

 

Leaderboard for Duna

1.) astrobond - landed on Duna

 

Defunct Leaderboard

These submissions were posted when I allowed wings. They showed me how easy it is to land on Duna with wings, so I changed the challenge.

1.) JebsDead - landed on Duna

2.) Wibou7 - landed on Duna

Edited May 20, 2016 by thereaverofdarkness2
changed to disallow wings

[JebsDead]

Here's one I did a while ago.  The lander has a rapier but it went from Ike to Duna on ions only, coasted to a landing then made orbit again with an initial boost from the rapier but using the ion engines to make orbit. 
 

 

I also landed a single ion engine craft on the Mun.  The video is in 0.90 but I've done it in 1.0.5.  

 

[wibou7]

On Duna, you can just strap some light wings on an ion engine core and land as a glider. Since you don't have to take off again, TWR < 1 would not matter at all.

[wibou7]

Here is an example.

The plane took me about 15 minutes to put on together and another 15 minutes to land.  It worked on my first try.

[thereaverofdarkness2]

I see. I didn't realize planes get so much lift on Duna. I'll edit the challenge to say no wings either.

Sorry for the mistake, I hope you guys understand. And thanks for the wonderful submissions and demonstrations!

[astrobond]

Hi All

Here is my lander, Jebediah is alive on Duna !

( After several crashes lol  )

KSP 1.1.2, one Dawn engine, no chutes, no wings, stock parts and physics  

Fly safe with Valentina !

 

[thereaverofdarkness2]

Nice job! I see you took a very direct path down to the surface!

[astrobond]

1 hour ago, thereaverofdarkness2 said:

Nice job! I see you took a very direct path down to the surface!

Thank's a lot @thereaverofdarkness2

Yes, i used the xenon to kill vertical speed, and the thin Duna atmosphere killed the horizontal speed !

A long low twr suicide burn...