A Fool's Errand - Eve Elcano

[James Kerman]

I decided to try an Eve Elcano because I usually avoid Eve, besides putting a simple science probe on the surface.

I am doing this in a career save I began about 2 weeks ago and I am running ScanSat and Kerbal Engineer as the only mods.

Mission Profile:
The interplanetary vessel "EVE" will launch from Kerbin and make a polar orbit around Eve. 
A Scan/Comms relay sat will be deployed into approx. 499x499km orbit (Sub optimal orbit for both scanners on-board however maximising monoprop for final orbit after scanning is complete).
The "Eve" will move to approx. 150x150km orbit to deploy the "victim rover".
The "Victim Rover" will de-orbit itself as close to the north pole as possible with Neldo Kerman and begin the Elcano.
The Eve will attempt a polar transfer to Gilly in order to deploy a second Scan/Coms bird and then return to Kerbin for refuelling and docking a return module for Neldon (if I can be bothered).

Launch and Delivery
 

Spoiler

The "Eve" on the pad.

Burning for an Eve encounter.

Course correction.

Scan/coms sat deployment altitude.

Bird deployed.

Victim rover deployed.

De-orbiting on RCS.

 

Heat Shield deployed.

Almost there.

Neldo is now ready to begin.

The Elcano Begins

Spoiler

Landing position.

That looks interesting.  I'll check that out when I get back here.

I'm using the flags (once selected) to control my steering on the relatively flat terrain.  I drive a few meters on my preferred bearing and then set SAS to anti-target.  Flags are being placed as close to 100km apart as possible.

Some progress.  Design weaknesses are becoming apparent.  A couple more RTG's would have been useful as would some kind of anchoring system to prevent hill sliding while re-charging.

Water testing did not go well.

Found this rock (one of many actually), also began watching voyager again on my secondary monitor.

Over a quarter of the way now.  The purple is really getting to me now.  Night driving is the worst.

 

Edited December 1, 2016 by James Kerman

[Geschosskopf]

Well, you're off to a good start.  Good luck and I really wish you success so you can investigate that strange thing at the pole.

A polar-to-polar transfers are my favorite maneuvers in all of KSP.  They're like hook shots in basketball or Massé shots in billiards, depending on whether you go up or down.  They're actually easier than they look at first glance although hitting Gilly with its tiny SOI makes that one the most challenging.  But when you get it lined up, you get that feeling of "nothing but net"

 

[James Kerman]

Thanks, mate.  I'm waiting for the net to be in the right place at the moment.
Currently I've done about 1400km between the flags  but actual distance would be about 2000km due to tacking uphill and avoiding bad terrain.
The Elcano itself is more of an endurance test than anything and I'm finding myself procrastinating a fair bit.  To the point that I'm doing housework instead of playing KSP however this has led to a fringe benefit:
Apparently there is nothing sexier than a fat, old bearded man doing the washing up - who knew?

[James Kerman]

Progress Report

I have now covered 2600km between the flags.

Deep South Discoveries (spoiler alert)
 

Spoiler

Getting close to the south pole I noticed this: there's one at each pole??  What are these things.

It's my belief that these things are rover traps placed there by beings who delight in the destruction of ground vehicles.  After a few hours of hilarity I planted a flag at the peak of the hill (names PITA hill after climbing it) that's as close to the south pole as I can get.
 

Scansat picked up an anomaly in this area (the lakes east of the explodium sea) so I change bearings to investigate.

I soon realise that to get there with the rover is going to cost me about 400km.  I choose a 15km swim instead.

Great Success!

After a lot of playing around to get an encounter with Gilly I realise the poor TWR of my interplanetary stage is going to cause problems for the precision I need for such a small target.  I had to make an adjustment or 3 to get an intercept:

I end up with a 2 minute encounter but thanks to Gillys low gravity well this isn't a problem.

Gilly Relay/Scansat deployed.  This mission so far has been a shakedown for the Interplanetary stage.  It has a ton of extra Dv because it will now return to Kerbin, be refuelled and return with a rocket to get Neldo home (I hope).

[James Kerman]

I've found my landing site for Neldo's return and he's lucky enough to have over 14% ore concentration at 6280m elevation  (slightly west of the Olympus biome).  It's a fair way from the equator so I have an alternate at 5800m but having never done the ascent before I think I'm going to go with the higher the better.

The elcano is about 3/4 done (3800km between the flags) so I should be able to wrap that up in the next couple of days.  I have made friends with the wheel tweekables and the driving is going fairly smoothly.  I'm just about out of The lakes area and it should soon be a straight run north up to the pole.

I am using extreme zoom outs to plot my way and avoid backtracking.

If anyone knows of a mod that can give Kerbals long hair and a beard please tell me.  For his service to stupidity Neldo has been granted exemption from grooming standards and hygene. 

[Magzimum]

Nice post, and a brave mission to undertake. What kind of velocity does your rover do, on average?

[James Kerman]

8 hours ago, Magzimum said:

Nice post, and a brave mission to undertake. What kind of velocity does your rover do, on average?

Thanks mate but I'm not that brave - that's why Neldo is in the driving seat and not Bob.

On average I'd say I'm doing 20 - 25ms with peak speeds downhill at about 40ms.  I have to charge about every 10 - 20km depending on the terrain.  I built the ec system to be able to send the biggest science data back (atmospheric) but I really should have added a few more RTG's.