Planet Exploration Process?

[JonathanDahlq]

Hello.

This question is mostly targeted to sandbox players: how do you do when going to a new planet/moon? Do you first send an unmanned probe to land or just orbit? Do you send the Kerbals right away (do they return)? Do you prefer being realistic or doing everything fast and easy?

[Spacetraindriver]

TBH I would just go full on in. I had the (dumb) courage to attempt a Mun landing AT NIGHT! I of course lost something, only my ladder and Decent stage engine. 

[Superfluous J]

I generally go full on Kerbal. Probes are generally used just for satellites and for finding a nice spot to land if I'm dong a big mining op or something.

Everybody* comes home, unless they're colonizing. And I decide if they're colonizing before sending them out, not when they get stuck

*Well, mostly everybody...

[James Kerman]

Before coms I used to probe then kerbal a planet or moon.  Now I do all in missions where I deploy a coms net, land with kerbals, leave some automated crap on the surface and head home.

[DrunkenKerbalnaut]

In sandbox, I go full tilt. Well, just about.

1st Window - Unmanned - Sattelites and surface probes. 

2nd Window - Unmanned - Mining Pylon and small HAB setup. 

3rd Window - Kerbals and snacks, small rover. 

After that it's about what's needed, and relieving the Kerbals with fresh ones. To be honest, I've only done this at Duna, but that save went for 36 kerbal years - predominately Duna and Ike stuff. Ended up having 3 manned surface bases, 2 more unmanned mining pylons, various rovers, 6 sats in orbit, a surface-to-orbit shuttle that the two camps shared, an unmanned fuel freighter, and an unmanned orbital fuel depot. 

It sucked giving that save up haha. 

[KerikBalm]

launch windows come up so infrequently, and then it takes so long to get there... I go full kerbal.

Besides... I've already been to all these places....

The only exception are the outer planets of the OPM mod. When the journey takes 30 years... I can wait another year before sending kerbals, and send a probe in advance... but I dont wait for it to arrive before sending kerbals.

For RP, at least they get data on their destination a year before the insertion burn/aero brake

[The Space Dino]

I went all in for the Mun but it took me 7 tries to nail it.

Currently planning for Duna mission with probes, which I think will be a good idea so that my manned Duna mission will not have to bring all that heavy science there...

[Ty Tan Tu]

I am one of those slow plodding types. I launch a resource scanning prob in a polar orbit along with a rover with a Surface Scanning Module in an equatorial orbit. I skip the narrow-band scanner altogether. Like I say, I am willing to take time for a miner to produce fuel, so good enough is best for me, I find a likely spot to land with the data from the polar orbiting prob, and land the rover. This is the best part of the game for me, exploring a distant planet for the first time, I rove around to find a flat spot with at least some ore.

I jump right in at that point and send a small surface base. Something like a Mk2 Cockpit, Mk2 Crew Cabin and Mobile Processing Lab, although that is not easy to do with a planet that has an atmosphere. But it does hold up to 8 Kerbals, but I put fewer on it, otherwise you have to kick someone off to move the crew around. Only lately have I added a resource miner, but I am still not good at those, so it is just a one off unmanned craft to refuel the coming space station

Finally I launch the space station with attached lander to shuttle the Kerbals back and forth.

I should refine that more because I have shamelessly resorted to the F12 fuel and electricity cheats at times. It is really very handy to have your space station arrive with a full tank of gas. 

[DrunkenKerbalnaut]

@Ty Tan Tu Loving the profile pic. 

[Tyko]

I conduct a Low res altimeter scan, a biome scan, and a couple of robotic landings before I put Kerbals on a planet. The robotic landers help me keep Science flowing in early on and from an RP perspective it makes sense to send probes before risking lives.

[OrbitalBuzzsaw]

22 hours ago, JonathanDahlq said:

Hello.

This question is mostly targeted to sandbox players: how do you do when going to a new planet/moon? Do you first send an unmanned probe to land or just orbit? Do you send the Kerbals right away (do they return)? Do you prefer being realistic or doing everything fast and easy?

1 - Orbiter/lander combo probe

2 - Kerballed mission

3 - Small mining base and space station (if applicable), Comsats

4 - Proper bases etc.

[septemberWaves]

In my long-term career, I have a several-step process that will be more-or-less followed wherever it applies.

For Kerbin's moons:

1. Flybys. The original plan was to have them be uncrewed, but contracts and the need for science data accelerated the process to crewed flybys.
2. Uncrewed orbiters.
3. Crewed orbit and return missions.
4. Autonomous landings.
5. Communications network.
6. Basic space station.
7. Early crewed landings.
8. Space station upgrades.
9. Reusable crew landers.
10. Complete surface base infrastructure.
11. Science gathering from every biome.

For terrestrial planets:

1. Uncrewed flybys and orbiters.
2. Basic communications network (only what is needed to facilitate next few steps).
3. Uncrewed landers for the moons.
4. Uncrewed landers for the planet.
5. Crewed flybys.
6. Uncrewed sample return missions (for non-transmittable data).
7. Crewed orbits, and crewed landings on the moons.
8. Complete communications network.
9. Reusable interplanetary transports, and a station in planetary orbit.
10. Crewed landing on the planet.
11. Reusable crew landers for the moons.
12. Reusable crew landers for the planet.
13. Complete surface base infrastructure on planet.
14. Fuel production systems.
15. Science gathering from every biome.

For gas planets:

1. Uncrewed flybys and orbiters.
2. Basic communications network (to facilitate next few steps).
3. Uncrewed landers for the moons.
4. Uncrewed atmospheric entry probes for the planet.
5. Complete communications network.
6. Advanced autonomous exploration, mostly consisting of sample return missions.
7. Long-term crewed orbiter mission for the planet (using partially reusable transport).
8. Crewed landings on low-gravity moons. Surface base infrastructure on a high-gravity moon (where applicable) to facilitate long-term exploration of the planetary system.
9. Space stations where useful.
10. Move towards reusable infrastructure for crewed exploration.
11. Complete surface base infrastructure on medium-to-high gravity moons.
12. Fuel production systems.
13. Science gathering from every biome.

 

This is the general process. There will be exceptions - e.g. for the Plock-Karen system there will be no early crewed flybys, and no crewed orbiter missions until a long-term station infrastructure can be sent there. And for the Eve and Richell systems, as well as for Tylo, Slate, and Laythe, reusable crew landers will have to wait until they can be refuelled both on the surface and in orbit due to the fuel cost of reaching orbit. Plans will probably also change due to various factors that I will encounter during the career game (such as the way I started exploring Minmus with a crewed flyby).

[NSEP]

1. Fly by

2. Orbiter

3. Lander

4. Land some kerbals and return them or never come back again.

 

[Wjolcz]

I like how the question of "what first" is directed towards sandbox players only because there's simply no choice in career mode.

In my modded career I go unmanned scouts first (because I have a choice) and then the manned mission just for the sake of it and to plant a flag.

Edited December 5, 2016 by Veeltch

[DrunkenKerbalnaut]

33 minutes ago, Veeltch said:

I like how the question of "what first" is directed towards sandbox players only because there's simply no choice in career mode.

In my modded career I go unmanned scouts first (because I have a choice) and then the manned mission just for the sake of it and to plant a flag.

I don't know what OP intended, but that's not how I read it. Seemed like more of a "when money and science isn't a limiting factor" kinda thing. Like sandbox. 

[LordKael]

I send a massive mission there at the first launch window, and then once the whole set up gets there, I release orbital probes, landing probes, land the base unmanned, then land the crew in their shuttle. This has the benefit of not risking lives unduly without having to spend decades waiting for separate launch windows for each stage of the mission series.

[Sharpy]

I'm past sending probes. They are unsatisfactory. Not enough to satisfy the appetite, enough to make me hesitate about a full-scale mission.
Duna - would send a lander, maybe crewed. Touch down, gather science, go back.

Nowadays - Duna circumnavigation, crew awaiting return window and picking anyone they can rescue from Duna or Ike (orbit or surface). Not even counting the number of kerbals on board, just how much room is left and seriously considering retrieving kerbal+craft instead of kerbal alone just to increase living space (would be already running out about now if not two craft attached already).

Eve. Would send a bunch of microlanders. Kinda fun, but not long-term. Currently, a MASSIVE Gilly base, with OSE workshop constructing stuff to meet current needs of Eve conquest.

Last career I sent a tiny lander to Eeloo and never got around to landing it actually.

Currently this is underway:

150 tons, verified to be handling decently as a rover. Mostly loaded with base building supplies; also a Terravore drill - equivalent to about 20 big drills. 10 crew. Enough fuel to get there and land, but not enough even to reach orbit again, and NO ISRU ON BOARD. It will need to be constructed on site.

But it carries TWO nuclear reactors. .

[Wallygator]

For me:

In sandbox: Full on - I do whatever I want. (RSS/RO on the other hand requires one to actually think about what level of 'explore' you can personally muster.  For moon and near planets you can go with manned quite a bit easier, but further out is a major planning and design activity - so not sure there is a stock equivalent thinking paradigm for that)  IMHO Sandbox is role-play, as much as you want it to be.

In Career: As much and as far and I can build based on the parts available at the moment. Career is more like a jigsaw puzzle - the 100 part kind, not the 1000 part kind 

 

[SkyHook]

I will give you the interplanetary procedure since Mun and Minmus are..works in progress. They are always changing depending on my needs. I am currently in the planning an construction stages for my Duna mission and it is as follows:

1. Interplanetary Crewed Mothership- Currently the AR-01 "Shepard". This is the primary method of habitation for the crew while in transit to Duna and also includes an orbital maneuvering craft (think Orion capsule).

2.Crew and Cargo Lander- Currently AM-05 "Valhalla". This is a winged Duna SSTO that transports all of the parts of my main base from orbit to the surface of Duna/Ike. The crew lands with the main habitation module.

3. Optional Cargo Tug- No name for this one yet. This transports part of my base, the ISRU lander, and other components. I may actually need 2 of these.

4. Comsat Array- The "Whisperer" line of comsats. Can't operate if I can't reach KSC!

In short, at my stage in my Kerbal career, I go interplanetary without a Mothership, Cargo/crew lander, and ISRU and Comsat arrays in tow. As you can tell this requires a flotilla of ships. After all, why wait 2 years for another Synod when you can send all of it at once!

 

[suicidejunkie]

I've gone with full crew this game.  First exploration mission was a munshot flyby with Bob aboard to reset everything repeatedly for mad science gains.

Then a series of engineers planting DTS-M1 retroreflectors on the near sides of mun while taking surface science.

Then a flock of small landers to minmus after I bulked out the lifesupport supplies, followed by colonization.

 

Since interplanetary travel takes so very long when you drive rovers around instead of timewarping, I'm sending my first mission as a 6-kerb colonization package to Dres because I don't have time to send probes first.