Rescue Mission

[Doctornotyep]

I have recently launched a rocket (The HWI Oddity) to Eve and stranded 14 Kerbals on the planet. The Oddity broke apart while falling through the atmosphere and split up 4 hitchhikers (1 destroyed killing 4 kerbals), a mobile processing lab, and 1 MK1-2 Command Pod onto the surface of Eve. I want to rescue the kerbals, but am wondering how since there are fourteen on the planet.

[Spricigo]

rescueing 14 kerbal from surface of eve? That is a challenge.

1.Provide a persistent file.

2.Set a scoring system  (like "total mission cost, lower is better better") or create a badge

3. post it there:http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/index.php?/forum/25-challenges-mission-ideas/

 

alternativelly go to the subforum above and look for challenges related to bringing kerbal from suface of EVe for ideas.

 

[Chakat Firepaw]

The big thing is to forget about the need to rescue 14 and figure out how to rescue at least one or two using either:

A reusable lander.

or

A lander cheap enough that you don't mind sending a dozen or so.

If nothing else, you will become good at making pinpoint landings in an atmosphere.

[Aegolius13]

Oh dear, that's quite a challenge.  Seems like there are two distinct components of this:

1.  Getting the Kerbals to your rescue ship (or vice versa).  Precision landings on Eve are pretty tough.  One option is try try a winged lander design, but I've never had much luck keeping these from exploding.  Another way is to exploit quicksave and quickload until you've gotten a landing close enough just by trial and error.  It might also be worthwhile to send down some kind of rover to ferry them from the crash site to the rescue ship, if they're fairly far apart.  It's much, much easier to land things on Eve than it is to take off, so doing this might simplify some of your other mission elements.  

2.  Getting all those Kerbals back up to orbit .  14 Kerbals is a... very big crew for Eve.  I've only sent single-Kerbal missions to Eve and those landers/ascenders were still huge and complicated.  You might try a Mk 3 passenger cabin-based design to keep your part count low and your design compact, but even that part is fairly wide for Eve's thick air.  Otherwise it's probably something like what you tried - a stack of 3ish Hitchhikers or Mk 2 cabins.  You're probably going to want some kind of a Mammoth-based core stage, with either more Mammoths or Vectors for radial boosters.  However you build it, you're likely going to need multiple inflatable heatshields to get it to the surface, plus some ridiculous number of parachutes.  And a truly monstrous launch rig to get it going from Kerbin.  (on that note, if you have a mining infrastructure up, you might want to plan on refueling at the Mun or Minmus to keep the size and cost from getting too huge).

I would suggest testing out your lander in reverse order.  I.e., first see if you can get it from Eve's surface to orbit.  Then see if you can get it to Eve's surface.  Then get it launched from Kerbin and transferred.   This requires using Hyperedit or at least the cheat > orbit menu, so some purists might not want to do it that way.  

 

[Aegolius13]

I tried throwing together a quick ascender that can take an Mk 3 passenger cabin (and thus 14 Kerbals) to Eve orbit - see pic below.  It worked in testing but can probably be optimized further.  I might consider subbing out the Rhino (overkill in TWR) for a Skipper or Vector with a 3.75m interstage fairing.   It's also very top-heavy; longer struts for the landing legs might help with that, or putting more fuel on the radial boosters.  I might also be tempted to swap out the top nose cone for a shock cone intake, for better heat tolerance.

As far as how to land something like this - yikes.  Not being able to attach parts to the bottom of Mammoths would complicate the procedure quite a bit.  It might work to a second pair of radially attached 3.75m tanks (without engines at the bottom), so that the whole thing is shaped like a plus-sign.  Use those tanks to feed your Mammoths on the transfer to Eve, attach some inflatable heat shields to the bottom of those tanks for the descent, land with the the tanks attached for a wider base, and then decouple them as soon as you take off on your ascent. 

[Cpt Kerbalkrunch]

3 hours ago, Doctornotyep said:

I have recently launched a rocket (The HWI Oddity) to Eve and stranded 14 Kerbals on the planet. The Oddity broke apart while falling through the atmosphere and split up 4 hitchhikers (1 destroyed killing 4 kerbals), a mobile processing lab, and 1 MK1-2 Command Pod onto the surface of Eve. I want to rescue the kerbals, but am wondering how since there are fourteen on the planet.

One question; when was your last save?