Circling Minmus in a Cricket -- "We found Santa."

[GreenWolf]

Some of you might remember that in my last AAR, I promised to do a circumnavigation of Minmus in 6.4x scaleup. Well, that AAR died, and the save is lost, but I've been playing some more KSP again lately, and I've finally reached a point in my current career game where I can attempt a Minmus circumnavigation. Consider this my very belated entry into the Elcano challenge.

THE MODS

Here's the entirety of my modlist, as pulled from CKAN:

Spoiler

Flight Manager for Reusable Stages (FMRS) Continued (FMRSContinued 1.2.5)
[x] Science! (xScience v5.10)
Ambient Light Adjustment (AmbientLightAdjustment 2.6.3.8)
AmpYear (AmpYearPowerManager 1:V1.5.0.0)
Astrogator (Astrogator v0.7.8)
AT Utils (AT-Utils v1.4.4)
B9 Aerospace Procedural Wings - Fork (B9-PWings-Fork 1:0.40.13)
B9 Part Switch (B9PartSwitch v1.9.0)
BetterBurnTime (BetterBurnTime 1.6)
BetterTimeWarpContinued (BetterTimeWarpCont 2.3.8)
Bulb (BULB 1.3.4)
CactEye Optics Community (CactEyeCommunity 1.3.0)
CapCom - Mission Control On The Go (CapCom 2.7)
Community Category Kit (CommunityCategoryKit 2.0.1.0)
Community Resource Pack (CommunityResourcePack 0.7.2.0)
Community Tech Tree (CommunityTechTree 1:3.2.0)
Community Trait Icons (CommunityTraitIcons v0.1.2)
Configurable Containers (ConfigurableContainers 2.4.1)
Configurable Containers Core (ConfigurableContainers-Core 2.4.1)
Connected Living Space (ConnectedLivingSpace 1.2.5.3a)
Contract Configurator (ContractConfigurator 1.23.2)
Contract Pack: Bases and Stations (ContractConfigurator-KerbinSpaceStation 2:3.7.0.1)
Contract Pack: Clever Sats (ContractConfigurator-CleverSats 1.4)
Contract Pack: Field Research (ContractConfigurator-FieldResearch 1.2.1)
Contract Pack: Kerbal Academy (ContractConfigurator-KerbalAcademy 1.1.7)
Contract Pack: Tourism Plus (ContractConfigurator-Tourism 1.5.2)
Contract Parser (ContractParser 7.0)
Contracts Window + (ContractsWindowPlus 8.1)
CraftHistory (CraftHistory 2.2.0)
Crowd Sourced Science (CrowdSourcedScience v4.1)
Cryogenic Engines (CryoEngines 1:0.5.8)
Cryogenic Engines Extras: Surface Attachment (CryoEngines-SurfaceAttach 1:0.5.8)
Cryogenic Tanks (CryoTanks 0.4.8)
Custom Barn Kit (CustomBarnKit 1.1.16.0)
Dang It! Continued (DangItContinued 0.7.14.1)
Deployable Engines Plugin (DeployableEngines 0.4.8)
Distant Object Enhancement (DistantObject v1.9.1)
Distant Object Enhancement default config (DistantObject-default v1.9.1)
DMagic Orbital Science (DMagicOrbitalScience 1.3.10)
Docking Port Alignment Indicator (DockingPortAlignmentIndicator 6.7.0)
Dynamic Battery Storage (DynamicBatteryStorage 1:0.4.8)
Editor Extensions Redux (EditorExtensionsRedux 3.3.13.1)
Engineering Roles - Final Frontier Ribbon Pack (STMsFFRibbonPackEngineeringRoles 0.5.1)
EVA Parachutes & Ejection Seats (EVAParachutes 0.1.14)
Ferram Aerospace Research (FerramAerospaceResearch 3:0.15.9)
Filter Extensions - Default Configuration (FilterExtensionsDefaultConfig 3.0.4)
Filter Extensions - Plugin (FilterExtensions 3.0.4)
Final Frontier (FinalFrontier 1.3.2-3155)
Firespitter Core (FirespitterCore v7.6.0)
Firespitter Resources config (FirespitterResourcesConfig v7.6.0)
Flag Rotate (FlagRotateCont 1.1.4)
FlightPlan (FlightPlan 1.0.2)
Fuel Tank Expansion Rebuilt (MunarIndustriesFTX 0.9.5.4)
Graphotron (Graphotron 0.4.3.0)
Ground Construction (GroundConstruction 1.2.0)
Ground Construction Core (GroundConstruction-Core 1.2.0)
Heat Control (HeatControl 0.4.1)
Hide Empty Tech Tree Nodes (HideEmptyTechNodes 1.0.0)
Impact! (Impact v1.6.0)
Interstellar Fuel Switch Core (InterstellarFuelSwitch-Core 2.9.3)
JoolBiomes (JoolBiomes 1.1)
Kalculator (Kalculator 0.2.3)
Kerbal Alarm Clock (KerbalAlarmClock v3.8.5.0)
Kerbal Atomics (KerbalAtomics 1:0.4.8)
Kerbal Atomics - NFE Compatibility Patch (KerbalAtomics-NFECompatibility 0.4.8)
Kerbal Attachment System (KAS 0.6.3.0)
Kerbal Engineer Redux (KerbalEngineerRedux 1.1.3.0)
Kerbal Flight Data (KerbalFlightData R23-Ksp1.3-recompile)
Kerbal Inventory System (KIS 1.7)
Kerbal Joint Reinforcement (KerbalJointReinforcement v3.3.3)
Kerbal Planetary Base Systems (KerbalPlanetaryBaseSystems v1.5.2)
KerBalloons (KerBalloons v0.4.3)
KerboKatzUtilities (KerboKatzUtilities 1.5.0)
Konstruction (Konstruction 0.2.2.0)
Kopernicus Planetary System Modifier (Kopernicus 2:release-1.3.0-8)
KRASH - Kerbal Ramification Artifical Simulation Hub (simulation mod for KSP) (KRASH 0.5.25)
Landing Height Display (LandingHeight 2.1)
Launch Numbering (LaunchNumbering 0.4.0)
MagiCore (MagiCore 1.3.0)
Maneuver Node Evolved (ManeuverNodeEvolved 3.1)
Mk2 Stockalike Expansion (Mk2Expansion 2:1.8.02)
Mk3 Stockalike Expansion (Mk3Expansion 1.3.5)
Modular Rocket Systems (ModularRocketSystem 1.13.1)
ModularFlightIntegrator (ModularFlightIntegrator 1.2.4.0)
Module Manager (ModuleManager 2.8.1)
Monthly Budgets (MonthlyBudgets 2.7)
Near Future Construction (NearFutureConstruction 0.8.3)
Near Future Electrical (NearFutureElectrical 0.9.5)
Near Future Electrical Core (NearFutureElectrical-Core 0.9.5)
Near Future Electrical Extras: Decaying RTGs Patch (NearFutureElectrical-DecayingRTGs 0.9.5)
Near Future IVA Props (NearFutureProps 0.7.3)
Near Future Launch Vehicles (NearFutureLaunchVehicles 1.1.1)
Near Future Propulsion (NearFuturePropulsion 0.9.4)
Near Future Solar (NearFutureSolar 0.8.6)
Near Future Solar Core (NearFutureSolar-Core 0.8.6)
Near Future Spacecraft (NearFutureSpacecraft 0.7.3)
Operations Roles - Final Frontier Ribbon Pack (STMsFFRibbonPackOperationsRoles 0.5.1)
OPM Galileo (OPM-Galileo 1.2.1)
OSE Workshop Continued (OSEWorkShopCont 1.2.1c)
Part Commander Continued (PartCommanderCont 0.1.2)
Part Wizard Continued (PartWizardContinued 1.3.4)
Persistent Dynamic Pod Names (PersistentDynamicPodNames 0.1.8)
Portrait Stats (PortraitStats 15.0)
Progress Parser (ProgressParser 8.0)
RasterPropMonitor (RasterPropMonitor 1:v0.29.0)
RasterPropMonitor Core (RasterPropMonitor-Core 1:v0.29.0)
RealChute Parachute Systems (RealChute v1.4.4)
ReCoupler (ReCoupler 1:1.3.0)
RecoveryController (RecoveryController 0.0.2)
REPOSoftTech-Agencies (REPOSoftTech-Agencies V1.5.0.0)
SCANsat (SCANsat v18.0)
Science Relay (ScienceRelay 4.1)
Science Roles - Final Frontier Ribbon Pack (ScienceRolesFinalFrontierRibbonPack 0.5.1)
Sensible Pumps Continued (SensiblePumpsCont 1.2.2)
Sensible Screenshot (SensibleScreenshot 1.2.3.1)
Ship Manifest (ShipManifest 5.2.0.0)
Smart Parts (SmartParts 1.9.7)
SMURFF (SMURFF 1.6.2)
SMURFF Extras - Ven Stock Revamp (SMURFF-Extras-VenStockRevamp 1.6.2)
StageRecovery (StageRecovery 1.7.2)
Stockalike Station Parts Expansion (StationPartsExpansion 0.5.1)
Strategia (Strategia 1.6.0)
Surface Mounted Stock-Alike Lights (surfacelights 1.5)
TAC Fuel Balancer (TacFuelBalancer v2.13)
Throttle Controlled Avionics (ThrottleControlledAvionics v3.4.2)
Toolbar (Toolbar 1.7.14)
Trajectories (Trajectories v1.7.0)
Transfer Window Planner (TransferWindowPlanner v1.6.2.0)
Universal Storage (UniversalStorage 1.3.0.0)
USI Asteroid Recycling Technologies (USI-ART 1:0.10.3.0)
USI Core (USI-Core 0.4.2.0)
USI Tools (USITools 0.9.3.0)
Ven's Stock Part Revamp (VenStockRevamp v1.9.6)
Vessel Viewer Continued (VesselView 2:0.8.5.1)
VesselView-UI-RasterPropMonitor (VesselView-UI-RasterPropMonitor 1:0.8.5.1)
Waypoint Manager (WaypointManager 2.7.0)

I'm also running Simga Dimensions (0.9.3), with the following configuration settings (applied through a mod manager config):

@SigmaDimensions
{
	// Base Settings

	@Resize = 6.4
	@Rescale = 6.4
	@Atmosphere = 1.285
	@dayLengthMultiplier = 1


	// Advanced Settings

	@landscape = 0.25
	@geeASLmultiplier = 1

	@resizeScatter = 1
	@resizeBuildings = 0

	@CustomSoISize = 0
	@CustomRingSize = 0

	@atmoASL = 1
	@tempASL = 1
	@atmoTopLayer = 1
	@atmoVisualEffect = 1

	@scanAltitude = 1
}

Not all of these mods were used in the construction of the rover, but I'll do my best to point out mod parts when they show up.

 

THE PLAN

The rover I intend to use for my circumnavigation attempt is called the Cricket. It has 8 ruggedized wheels, space for two Kerbals, a bunch of science instruments, and is powered by a fission reactor from Near Future. Top speed on level ground is over 55 m/s. Due to its size and shape, I've packed the rover into a DIY Kit from Ground Construction, and will be assembling it in situ at my Minmus base. Once assembled, I'll take two of the base crew on a three hour cruise circumnavigation attempt of Minmus, gathering science along the way. The exact route has not yet been determined, although I intend to visit at least one of the anomalies I can see on my ScanSat maps, as well as the site of my first kerbal landing in this career save. I'll post a waypoint map of the route before driving begins.

 

THE LAUNCH

I launched the Cricket (or, rather, the kit which will be used to assemble it) atop a Sartre CRD. Capable of placing 10 tons into Minmus orbit, the Sartre (and its little brother, the Sartre Jr.) is the workhorse of my space program. The CRD variant is a recent design overhaul that standardized the common components of the Sartre and Sartre Jr., and added recovery systems to the boosters and core. (Every Sartre launch costs me about 220,000 funds, plus payload. Of that cost, almost 60% is just the four boosters, so recovering them is a high priority.) Images of the launch and transfer burn below.

(Imgur album embeds are apparently broken again, so have this direct link.)

(Single image embeds do appear to work, so have this image of the launch as compensation. Full album in the link above.)

 

Up next: Arrival at Minmus, landing, and assembly.

Edited October 7, 2017 by GreenWolf

[GreenWolf]

THE LANDING

Insertion at Minmus occurred three (in-game) weeks after launch. Once in Minmusian orbit, I rendezvoused the Cricket with Zenith Station, where the Acerodon skycrane was waiting to take it down to the surface. The Acerodon uses a winch to lower payloads onto the surface, which means that I need to EVA a kerbal to hook up the winch connectors every time I want to attach a new payload. Kimson Kerman ended up getting this job once the Cricket arrived at Zenith Station. Once the Cricket was secured, and after sending the transfer stage off to become another communications relay, the Acerodon began its descent towards the Minmus base. After dropping the Cricket kit onto the surface, Virburry Kerman went on EVA to hook up the Acerodon for refueling and to deploy the DIY Kit.

It was at this point that I realized my first mistake.

This is the first time I've ever used the Ground Construction mod, and in my naivety, I had assumed that it used Ore directly in construction. No such luck. It needs Material Kits, and while I have the capability to smelt Ore into Material Kits, there's no room to store them on the base. So I needed to send up a new workshop module with plenty of storage space for Material Kits (and any other resources I might need).

I didn't extensively screenshot the launch and landing of the Minmus Workshop Module, because its mission profile was essentially identical to the Cricket's. Launch atop a Sartre, rendezvous with Zenith, delivered onto the surface by the Acerodon. And now that it's finally on the surface (three in-game weeks after I landed the Cricket), I can finally begin assembly of the Cricket.

(Link to the Imgur album of the landing, with some additional commentary in the captions.)

(Compensatory single screenshot because album embeds are broken.)

Up next: Finishing assembly, THE REVEAL, and the first leg of the trip.

Edited October 2, 2017 by GreenWolf

[GreenWolf]

THE REVEAL

So after landing the workshop module, I was finally able to begin construction of the Cricket. I left it to work in the background, then went off to fly a crew rotation for Pinnacle Station (my space station in LKO). 14 days later, I came back and unpacked the completed rover.

Behold!

The basic chassis is the Common Octo Chassis that I'm using on all my large rovers, constructed out of I-beams and Not-Rockomax Micronodes, although it's been modified with wider front and rear axles to provide greater stability. The nuclear reactor at the back (from Near Future Electrical) is run at a low setting to provide constant power for the wheels, and is cleverly encaged (without part clipping!) inside a hex truss piece from Near Future Construction, which helps protect it from damage in the event of a crash. A couple of structural panels in front of the reactor act as a shadow shield (mostly cosmetic), protecting the crew from radiation. Batteries are mounted underneath the frame, in the gaps between the axle pieces, which helps lower the center of mass. There are two antenna on the Cricket: a high-gain primary antenna mounted on top of the cockpit, and a short-range backup antenna mounted between the materials bay experiment and the shadow shield. There's also a ScanSat BTDT mounted on the cockpit, as well as various pieces of science equipment attached in various places.

But enough about the rover, let's meet the crew.

On the right is Minmus Base Chief Engineer Virburry Kerman, who will be acting as the commander of this Elcano Expedition. As part of the first Minmus Base crew, she's played a pretty big role in setting everything up and getting things working properly... although she also broke one of the solar panels on the Acerodon (which necessitated removing both the broken panel and the panel opposite it to maintain balance). But there are no solar panels to break here, so everything should be just fine.

On the left is Patzor Kerman, who will be acting as the mission scientist. His primary job will be servicing the various experiments aboard the Cricket, and occasionally getting out to take surface samples. Because this is, after all, a science mission. If you're gonna travel around the entirety of a moon in a rover, you might as well as collect as much science as you can along the way, right?

Below, you can see our foolhardy brave cosmonauts erecting a flag to mark their starting point (probably while singing the national anthem off-key).

Then they clamber inside and start warming up the systems.

(Full album of setting up the rover and mucking about with the kerbals.)

(Hey, look at these cool displays.)

 

THE ROUTE

But enough about those losers, let's talk about our plans. Below is a ScanSat map with my intended route plotted. The image links to an album with additional screenshots of my waypoint route in the orbital map.

As you can see, our intended route is a bit circuitous, but that's because there are a couple of places I want to go visit during this trip, and they're a bit out of the way from the direct route. But by hitting both the north and south pole, I will definitely have done a circumnavigation. Among the points I want to visit are the first probe landing spots on Minmus, one of two anomalies that I've detected from orbit, the landing site of the first kerbal on Minmus, and as many biomes as possible. Depending on if time allows, I may also take some detours to visit other "famous" Minmus landmarks, like the site of Brotoro's Minmus base (which is in the same flat as my own base, but further east). This is going to be a pretty scenic trip.

Up next: The first leg of the trip.

Edited September 28, 2017 by GreenWolf

[Geschosskopf]

Good luck with your Elcano!  Minmus has some pretty steep hills.

[GreenWolf]

THE JOURNEY

Part 1 -- Minmus Base to E1 (Mayate Crash Site)

(Full album of the first leg.)

Our valiant explorers waited until dawn to set off, as dawn is the proper time for beginning these kinds of things. The long early morning shadows lend a certain gravitas to publicity photos.

Once the sun was at a suitably photogenic angle, Virburry radioed Minmus Base Commander Valentina for permission to begin. Although this is, of course, an officially planned and sanctioned mission, it wouldn't look good if they just took off in the Cricket without saying goodbye.

Virburry: "Elcano Expedition to Minmus Base. We've finished our systems checks and are ready to set out."
Valentina: "Elcano, this is Base. We're reading your telemetry loud and clear over here, so you've got a greenlight to go anytime now. I can provide a countdown if necessary."
Virburry: "Countdown to what? There's no ignition on this thing."
Valentina: "It seemed appropriate for the circumstances. But no, you're right, that would be silly. Fly-- er, drive safe."
Virburry: "Copy that Base, will be sure to fly-drive safe. See you on the other side."

And then they were off!

The first waypoint on the trip is a mere 10 kilometers away, and coincides with the location of the crashed Mayate rover. The Mayate is an autonomous light rover that was dropped onto Minmus over a year ago to scout potential locations for the Minmus base. At some point during the construction of the base, it was refitted (using KIS) to carry kerbals so that it could serve as a short-range transport for the base. Then someone (not naming names, but it was totally me), rolled it and got it stuck on its back. Virburry and Patzor are going to head there first to see if it can be righted so that it can drive back to the base.

Unfortunately, I underestimated how long it would take to slow down from the top speed of 55 m/s, and overshot the waypoint and the Mayate by over a kilometer. In an effort to slow down more quickly, Virburry performed a hard right turn that started a rollover and sent the Cricket into the air (vacuum?). However, because the gravity on Minmus is so low, and because the SAS torque on the Cricket is so high (provided by two 1.25 meter reaction wheels mounted on the far side of the shadow shield, for exactly this kind of scenario), she was able to reorient the rover in mid-air (mid-vacuum?) so that it landed going in reverse. This maneuver, which had previously only been accidentally performed in simulations, was immediately named the Burry Brake, and classified as absolutely insane.

Patzor: "Hey, slow down, we're gonna overshoot."
Virburry: "I am slowing down, but, if you'll remember from all your surface samples, we are driving on ICE."
Patzor: "Maybe if you increased the friction--"
Virburry: "Don't backseat pilot. And hold on, things are about to get spinny."
Patzor: "Spin-- whoa! I don't think this is what Val meant when she said to fly-drive safe."
Virburry: "No, it's what I meant. Look, see, we're fine. And we stopped."

After a short drive back towards the waypoint, the Cricket finally arrived at the Mayate. But before any attempts to tip it back over could be performed, some quick repairs needed to be made to one of the batteries, which had failed due to the DangIt mod. Virburry climbed down onto the surface and, being very careful to keep the frame of the rover between herself and the nuclear reactor, replaced the failed battery. Then she waddled over to the Mayate and used her jetpack to ram it until it tipped right-side-up again. While she was doing this, Patzor got out to collect the data from the science equipment and reset the experiments.

 

Part 2 -- E1 to E2

(Album link.)

The next part of the journey entailed traveling north for 50 kilometers, arriving at a gap in a low ridgeline that intersects that flat, functioning as a sort of gateway between the northern body of the flat and the long shallow valley that runs northeast from it. This part of the trip was largely uninteresting, since we were driving almost exclusively over the flats. So I'll just skip to showing you the screenshot of the Cricket at the waypoint. The full album of this leg of the trip is in the link above, if you care.

 

Part 3 -- E2 to E3 (Limelight 5 Second Landing Site)

(Album link.)

For the next leg of the trip, we turn towards the northeast and head up the bottom of the shallow valley I mentioned earlier. I'm not sure what kind of processes would create a feature like this, but it provides us with a convenient flat area to drive on as we head towards one of our larger goals on this trip: an anomaly in the highlands to the northeast. But first, we're going to stop to visit the second landing site of Limelight 5, the first probe to land on Minmus. Not that there's much to see there, since it didn't leave any debris behind.

Because this was a long stretch of uninterrupted flatland, I left the rover running at 2x physical time acceleration after getting it up to speed, and then went and read a book for a while, occasionally checking on the Cricket to see if there was anything interesting happening. There was not.

Still, you can see that we're making pretty good time. But now we're about to leave the flats, and things will start getting interesting.

 

Part 4a -- E3 to E4 (Unknown Anomaly)

(Full album.)

Part 4a? What does that mean? Well, you'll soon find out.

The slopes on Minmus are not nearly as steep in 6.4x as they are at normal scale (although my terrain rescale factor of 0.25 might have something to do with that). They are, however, very very long. It took almost 14 minutes of in-game driving to pass behind a ridge and out of view of the flats. You'll notice that I've retracted the high-gain antenna for the moment, to avoid damaging it in case we have another rollover. The backup antenna, safely mounted between the materials bay and the shadow shield, is still deployed and keeping us in contact with Minmus Base via satellite relay.

Still, I found that the Cricket handles the slopes quite well, being able to achieve a speed similar to that on the flats, although I would occasionally have to apply the motors a little bit to keep it from slowing down. I was able to tackle the slopes head-on, which meant I was able to take a more direct route towards the next waypoint, although I suspect that once we get into the highlands we might have to start switchbacking on steeper slopes.

About 18 minutes into the trip, there was a bit of excitement as the MR-5 relay satellite was spotted passing by overhead. The MR relays are just re-designated Sartre transfer stages -- during the construction of the Minmus base, I realized that the transfer stages: a) have fuel left over after Minmus insertion; b) already have power and communications on them; c) would save me a lot of launches if I just stuck a probe body onto the side and shifted them into polar orbits to act as relays. So I did that, and now have decent and robust coverage all over Minmus. There are eight MRs in orbit, plus Lemonlight 5 (the transfer stage/orbiter from Limelight 5), the Magic 9 and Magic 13 science/survey probes, and of course, Zenith Station. Minmusian space is getting kind of crowded these days.

The drive continued uneventfully for another 20 minutes, during which time I finally figured out how to check the BTDT track on my ScanSat maps (you have to use the small map, not the large map or the zoom map). Then DangIt decided to strike again, and the motor on the third right wheel burned out.

No worries! I'll just stop and have Virburry repair -- wait, what's that looming up ahead.

Oh no.

It's a terrain tear.

And now we discover the true danger of driving along at 50 m/s on an icy, low-gravity moon. Unable to stop quickly enough, I could only watch in horror and rage as the Cricket hurtled towards its doom at 180 kilometers per hour, being completely shredded and destroyed by this insidious glitch.

I immediately reloaded my last quicksave (it's not my fault that the terrain sometimes tears open and devours rovers)... which put me back at waypoint E3, almost 115 kilometers and 40 minutes earlier. Curses.

At this point, I decided to end the driving session there. But I'm not giving up yet.

Up next: Attempting the trip from E3 to E4 a second time, and hopefully investigating an anomaly.

Edited October 2, 2017 by GreenWolf

[GreenWolf]

THE JOURNEY (CONTINUED)

Part 4b -- E3 to E4 (Unknown Anomaly)

(Full album link.)

Alright, we're back. After some sleep (and then writing up the previous night's failure), I made a second attempt at Part 4. This time, I was going to stop and quicksave every 50 kilometers, and when I got to within 10 kilometers of the approximate location of the tear, I would slow down to 25 m/s.

With these restrictions in mind, the trip took a bit more time and effort than the first attempt, but otherwise went largely the same. We didn't see MR-5 this time, mostly because I had time accelerated a little bit after the end of the last session (so that Zenith Station could do a science transmission in daylight, and so that my screenshots from this session didn't have overlapping timestamps).

About 40 minutes into the trip, we spotted the tear in the ground. (It's the very thin black line just below the horizon.)

Virburry: "Hey, what's that coming over the horizon?"
Patzor: "What's what? You know I can't see from back here."
{Brief silence, then the sound of someone gasping.}
Virburry: "Oh my god."
Patzor: "What? What is it?"
Virburry: "There's a hole in the ground that leads to the sky."

I very carefully parked the Cricket near the edge of the tear, then considered my options. The tear runs perfectly north/south, and is, by my reckoning, at least 20 kilometers long (although it could easily be much longer). To the north, I couldn't see any perceptible end to it, but to the south, I thought I could make out a place where it rejoined the ground and could be safely crossed. So I decided to head south, then double back towards the waypoint once I was on the other side.

Meanwhile, Virburry and Patzor consulted KSC and were instructed in no uncertain terms to NOT get too close to the tear. Who knows what might happen around such weird spatial anomalies? So we drove south until we reached a point where we could continue eastwards.

Once across, we continued northeast towards waypoint E4, and the approximate location of the sensor anomaly.

Part 4c -- Anomaly Investigations

(Full album link.)

After a quick break for lunch, I decided to start hunting for the anomaly that I knew was nearby. According to my charts, it was about 5 kilometers south of the waypoint.

After a few minutes of driving, I finally spotted it looming up on the horizon, like a big tall thing that looms.

Virburry: "Hey, I think I see something on the horizon."
Patzor: "Another hole to the sky?"
Virburry: "No... it looks like some kind of tower... can't tell the scale from this distance though."
Patzor: "What's it look like?"
Virburry: "Tall, black, ominous. Obviously artificial... maybe a precursor artifact. Hold on, I'm taking us in to get a closer look."

Closer inspection revealed that the anomaly was, in fact, a precursor monolith, just like the one near the Kerbal Space Center. Our intrepid cosmonauts jetpacked up to the top of it for a publicity photo, as is their wont.

Then Virburry pushed Patzor off the edge, laughing maniacally as he floated slowly down to the surface. Then she tripped and fell off after him.

I parked the rover next to the monolith for the night, which I'm sure won't cause our Kerbal pals any loss of sleep at all. After all, it's just a big dumb obelisk. What's the worst that could happen?

Up next: We go to the north pole in search of Santa.

 

[GreenWolf]

THE JOURNEY (CONTINUED)

Part 5 -- E4 to E5

(Full album link.)

After spending the night camped out next to the monolith (which mission control insisted was completely harmless), our would-be circumnavigators awoke just in time to watch Kerbin, the Mun, and Kerbol rise in short succession.

Before setting off again, Virburry took a moment to place a flag marking the location of the monolith and documenting their discovery of it. Then, with the morning shadows once again at a suitably photogenic angle, they headed north, towards the next waypoint, and the north pole beyond it. The goal was to reach the pole before the sun set again.

However, before they were even out of sight of the monolith, one of the tires on the Cricket burnt out.

Virburry: "Ugh, seriously? A motor burnout already? We'll never reach the pole at this rate."
Patzor: "We're not even up to speed yet, it shouldn't take too long to stop and fix."
Virburry: "Nah, I've got a better idea."
{Virburry sets the rover controls to auto and starts to get out of her seat.}
Patzor: "Whoa, hey, what are you doing? We're still moving!"
Virburry: "Don't worry, I'm just gonna do a quick hot-fix."
Patzor: "That's not what people mean by hot-fixing!"
Virburry: "No, it's what I mean. Be right back."

After that bit of excitement, the rest of the trip to waypoint E5 passes quickly and relatively quietly, although Virburry does perform another Burry Brake to slow down when they reach the waypoint, much to Patzor's consternation.

 

Part 6 -- E5 to E6 (The North Pole)

(Full album link.)

For this part of the trip, I deviated slightly from the direct route (which would have taken me through a rather steep valley that I didn't much like the look of), instead aiming for an intermediary waypoint designated E5.5 (which would take us along the top of a relatively level plateau). Once we reached E5.5, we turned due north and took off on a straight path to the pole. This leg of the trip would be the longest one so far (almost 100 kilometers longer than the trip from E3 to E4), so I didn't want to have to repeat it. Quicksaves were made every 50 to 75 kilometers, and I tabbed back into the game regularly to check the progress.

About 50 kilometers into the trip, we had a reaction wheel failure that necessitated a stop (it was too far back for Virburry to reach from the lander can ladder, and trying to walk along the frame at 50 m/s would just ragdoll her). Being very careful not to leave the cover of the shadow shield, Virburry repaired the reaction wheel, using kerbal space magic to fix it despite the solid structural plate between her and the wheel.

Then 20 kilometers after that, we had another motor burnout, which Virburry repaired with another hot-fix.

At this point, I started to get concerned about the number of spare parts I had left (8), and the rate at which we were going through them (way too high). So Virburry radioed back to Minmus Base to see if a supply drop could be arranged when they reached the north pole.

Virburry: "Elcano Expedition to Minmus Base. Anybody home over there?"
Valentina: "We're reading you Elcano Expedition. What do you need?"
Virburry: "Well this is a bit embarrassing, but we seem to be running a bit low on spare parts, which, as you're aware, we require to perform repairs in the unlikely event that we experience a mechanical failure. Wait, did I say unlikely? I meant extremely likely."
Valentina: "Is there something wrong with the Cricket?"
Virburry: "Not per se. Just normal wear and tear, writ large. Nothing I can't handle. As long as we don't run out of spares."
Valentina: "Understood. You want me to send the Mango over with a resupply?"
Virburry: "Has Obgas fixed that engine yet?"
Valentina: "Supposedly."
Virburry: "Then I would love for you to send it up to the north pole in a couple hours, which we should be reaching shortly."
Valentina: "Copy that. Let us know when you get there."
Virburry: "Will do. Elcano out."

We continued driving north, the sun moving further south as our latitude increased. Pretty soon it was almost directly south of us, and starting to set again.

But we were really close to the pole now, and it wasn't much longer before we arrived, sun on the horizon but still in the sky.

There was still enough light left to take a few publicity photos, so our cosmonauts hastily planted a flag and posed heroically.

Up next: Resupplying and heading south.

[Geschosskopf]

Elcanos are deceptively challenging even without malfunctions and other voluntary complications.  Bravo for overcoming the obstacles so far.

[GreenWolf]

Indeed. I did my best to design the Cricket with long-range over varied terrain in mind, keeping in mind the problems that some previous Elcanoists have had, and I would say that I've largely succeeded in that regard. The design itself is robust and capable enough, but there are a couple things I hadn't accounted for. The first, of course, is the rate at which Dang It failures would occur (normally I don't have a vessel in-focus and actively doing things for this long), so I underpacked on spare parts. Then, of course, there's the issue of terrain tears (which, fortunately, I haven't seen any more of since the first disaster). I hadn't accounted for the fact that at 50 m/s, slowing down in time for a tear would require me to spot it 3+ kilometers out.

But probably the biggest thing is just time and distance. I picked Minmus because it's small, but in 6.4x scale, the circumference of Minmus is just over 2400 km (making it larger than stock Duna). And the route I'm taking is not the most direct path, so that probably adds another 100 to 200 km to the whole thing. As with any Elcano, what it ultimately comes down to is an endurance test. So in a way, I'm glad that I have to send over a resupply mission, because it helps break up some of the monotony of driving. It's also why I'm going to start adding some additional objectives to the mission, just so that I have things to do beyond tabbing in to make sure it hasn't gone airborne.

[GreenWolf]

INTERMISSION

Mango Resupply Mission

(Full album link.)

I finally had some more time to play KSP last night, so I set about resupplying our prosaic polar pals. After some conferencing with mission controllers back at KSC, it was decided that, in addition to carrying a full can of spareparts for the Cricket, the Mango Cargo Lander would also bring up two boxes of rocket parts, which would be used to assemble 4 ground relay stations on the far side of the moon. (These ground relay stations will form the first part of a circum-minmusian ground communications chain, which will be expanded later by several seismic probes being sent out in the next launch. But more on that later.)

After quickly fabricating the necessary parts in the Minmus Workshop Module, Obgas (Auxiliary Engineer) and Tanly (Lander Pilot) packed them into boxes and shoved them into the hold of the Mango.

Then they took off for the north pole. (Important note: The Mango has enough delta-v to boost into a ballistic trajectory and land at the north pole, but won't have quite enough delta-v to do the return. Instead, it will boost into a low polar orbit and rendezvous with the Apricot Fuel Tanker [which itself will be sent down to Minmus Base to fill up, and then launch into a polar orbit]. Obgas and Tanly will spend the time waiting for the Apricot doing some long-term observations at the pole, or something.)

A few minutes later, and they were landed half a kilometer from the north pole. And to think, it took me all that time to drive here.

 

Assembling MGR-1

(Full album link.)

Once Tanly and Obgas were landed, Virburry drove the Cricket over to greet them, taking care to keep the Mango in the safety of the Cricket's shadow shield. Wouldn't do to accidentally irradiate your resupply mission!

Virburry: "Look Patzor, we found Santa."
Patzor: "Funny. Try not to crash into them, maybe."
Virburry: "I would never run over Santa with a rover. He probably has a separate list just for that."

The two crews got out of their respective vehicles, and after a quick exchange of greetings, set to work.

First, the Cricket would need to be retrofitted to carry the cargo boxes, at least temporarily. After a short argument with Patzor over the placement of the new cargo racks, Obgas bolted them into place.

Then the two of them brought the supply boxes over from the Mango and mounted them on the new cargo racks. Virburry and Tanly watched from atop the Cricket. Obviously practicing their management skills.

With that out of the way, they set to work assembling the first ground station nearby. (Which did necessitate bringing one of the cargo boxes over to the construction site.)

Tanly: "Wow, that thing fit inside one of those boxes? How the heck?"
Virburry: "It's an ancient engineering technique called IKEA, primarily used for creating flatpack furniture. I did my thesis on applying it to space construction."
Tanly: "Huh. Neat."

 

Up next: Heading south.

[obney kerman]

On ‎10‎/‎7‎/‎2017 at 10:44 AM, GreenWolf said:

It's an ancient engineering technique called IKEA

Originally used in the store of the same name!

[cratercracker]

@GreenWolf

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"A man, soldier, a president, there an equal justice for all"

150-200

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Your welcome!

[GreenWolf]

@cratercracker Oh man, that's super neat. Might see if I can find a way to edit that onto the shoulder of their EVA suits without changing the overall mission flag.

I've been out of town most of the last week, but updates should resume tomorrow/this weekend. Want to see if I can maybe get all the way to the south pole by Sunday.