The Duna Sort-Of Cycler

[Ozymandias_the_Goat]

After reading about the Aldrin Mars cycler, I did a KSP take on it. I am aware that I am not the first to do this, with @PLADs being the most notable on the forums. @meyst posted a challenge a long time ago. There are many more who have brought up this idea as well. Anyways, this mission was not truly a cycler mission, as I did not use real cycler orbits, hence the "sort-of" part. I  just would filled with the orbits and use up more fuel than a real cycler would. This took many quicksaves and reloads to get more efficient trajectories. Even so, many "correction burns" were course adjustments on the order of 400 m/s or more. So here it is:

Album link: Right Over Here!

A few highlights:

SLS launch with cycler.

Approaching Duna for first time.

Ike landing

Duna Landing.

 

I plan to make a challenge based on this mission soon anyway. Please notify me if there is an active challenge of this type.

Thanks for Viewing!

 

 

[meyst]

After a long hiatus I find myself on a KSP kick and to my surprise I was mentioned in a new post.

Those look like high Delta V corrections to me.  I saw no images of the cycler orbit you are using to confirm this but my guess is that your orbital period is off.  You want the orbital period of the cycler to match or be a whole number multiple of the Synodic period.  The Synodic period of Duna and Kerbin per the Wiki is 19645697.3 seconds http://wiki.kerbalspaceprogram.com/wiki/Duna (I used a solar Pe of 13271 and Ap of 31296 as references the last time I did an Aldrin cycler)

With an Aldrin cycler it is easiest to slightly miss the SOI of Duna and get your gravity assist off Kerbin.  Don't be afraid to undock your taxi vehicle earlier to complete the transit to Duna.

Try to make most of your course correction to use the force gravity assist to set up your next flyby with Duna as far from Kerbin as possible.  Low thrust to weight is ideal for making the small accurate burns.

I like the outbound S1L1 Kerbin --> Duna Aldrin cycler.  On the other hand I don't care for the inbound Duna-->Kerbin Aldrin cycler.  I found the Delta V needed to make the intercept coming from Duna to be high.

 

A challenge that would suit what Cyclers can offer would;

use a life support mod with heavy recycling hardware

Have a long or unlimited time frame to execute

Want roomy (ie heavy) long term habitation for the transit

Want to move significant numbers of Kerbals

Of the active challenges the Jool 500 looks like the best fit http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/index.php?/topic/135965-jool-500-kolonization-challenge/

 

Edited June 19, 2016 by meyst