Just a quick mission to Priax

[Bill2462]

Quote

Whether the surface is edible has yet to be confirmed.

 

Ok let's actually do that

 

T- 200 days :

Tytan Heavy rocket launches from KSC carrying 170 ton, fully fueled propulsion module for the transfer vehicle.

After 25 minutes of flight, propulsion module reaches it's orbit, 650 km above kerbin. I decided to put it that high to make trans-Urlum burn easier to perform with low thrust plasma engine.

 

T-150 days :

Another heavy launch! This time, crew habitation module is send to dock with previously launched propulsion module.

After a successful rendezvous, crew module separates from the upper stage of the rocket and begins docking maneuver using build in RCS thrusters.

 

 

T-100 days :

Last peace of hardware required to complete the mission leaves kerbin.

It is a small lander that will carry the crew from the Atlantis transfer vehicle to the surface of Priax and back to orbit.

 

T-10 days :

 

The Orion Heavy capsule launches from the KSC carrying 6 crew members on board.

Capsule docks to the docking port number 2 of the crew the crew transfer vehicle.

Finally, the capsule detaches from the Atlantis and begins it's journey back to kerbin.

 

T-0 - the launch day :

Launch day!

After reaching an Urlum launch window, crew fires the main reactor and the plasma thruster for the trans-Urlum transfer maneuver.

The burn will last for about 1.5 hours, increasing the speed of the space by around 4500 m/s.

This will put the ship on trajectory that will lead to an interception by Urlum's gravity in 3 years and 70 days.

Then the crew had to wait 3 years for the next part of the mission. They spend this time watching dr Kerman, Kerman Trek and other fantastic TV shows

 

T+ 3 years and 40 days :

Urlum arrival.

Crew fires main engine again. This time to deaccelerate the ship and close the orbit around Urlum.

Due to the high speed of the spacecraft, this burn also lasted for about 1.5 hours.

After 1.5 hours, burn is complete and ship enters a stable orbit around Urlum.

 

T+ 3 years and 49 days.

9 Days after the orbit insertion burn, ship performs a small correction burn.

 

T+ 3 years and 60 days :

Priax arrival.

Crew fires the engine again to close the orbit 40 km above Priax surface.

 

T+ 3 years and 61 days :

Landing time !

Crew boards the lander and undocks from the orbiter.

Next, landing burn is initiated to slow down the spacecraft and bring it down safely. As a propulsion, lander uses pair of small monoproppelent thrusters.

Pilot had a really hard time finding a landing spot.

Touchdown!

Now it's time for the first step on the Priax surface.

Bill Kerman - First Kerbal on the surface of Priax !

The rest of the crew joins him to make a space selfie.

Crew spent next two months on collecting some science and making flying around using jetpacks.

 

T+ 3 years and 122 days :

Just before leaving, crew used a fuel reserve onboard the lander to visit the bottom of the nearby crater. 

Now it's time to finally leave this piece of rock and come back to kerbin.

To do that, crew must enter the orbit and dock to the Atlantis crew transfer vehicle.

Docking complete!

After transporting all samples to the transfer vehicle, crew seals the hatch and detaches the lander.

It will remain on Priax low orbit until Urlum's tidal forces will cause it to crash onto the surface.

Meanwhile, crew executes a maneuver to leave Priax SOI.

 

T+ 3 years and 135 days :

Crew performs trans-kerbin insertion burn.

Burn lasted for 1 hour and put the spacecraft on a return trajectory.

Return trip will take a bit longer than a flight from kerbin.

 

 

T+ 8 years and 356 days :

Kerbin arrival.

Ship performs the last burn of this mission to close the orbit around kerbin.

 

T+ 8 years and 360 days :

4 Days later, Orion heavy capsule launches from KSC to bring the crew down from the transfer vehicle.

The end

PS: Unfortunately Priax turned out to be made out of ordinary rock and ice.

 

Mods :

• Outer Planets (For Urlum and Priax)
• Kopernicus (required by Outer Planets mod)
• Near future propulsion
• Near future electrical
• Near future solar
• Near future spacecraft
• Near future launch vehicle

 

Edited February 15, 2018 by Bill2462

[Clipperride]

Well done!  

[DAL59]

Found the next @lajoswinkler

[Geschosskopf]

Quick trip indeed .  Well done!  Urlum is WAY out there   Getting there in 3 years and back in 5 is quite impressive speed.  I went there with rather less dV in the tank so had to go the long way.  Took me 10 years just to get there  

Next time you go, you might consider using @Sigma88's OPM Tilt mod.  This puts the whole Urlum system cocked at 90^ like the real Uranus, which makes things a bit different, but not really much harder.  Worst case, IIRC it's only about 1500m/s to match planes with the moons, usually less.

[Alpha 360]

Wow. That was pretty good. That nuclear engine seems to have a pretty bad TWR, but really good Delta-v. I'm trying to play without any mods involving nuclear engines as I occasionally think them overpowered. But here, that was pretty amazing. Download a life-support mod and this would be absolutely incredible. Life-support mods really up the bar.