Duna Fleet

[Mars-Bound Hokie]

While I still have crew stuck at Eve (three went to Gilly, none have gone down to Eve's surface yet - I need to wait until the next launch window to send a craft there (if I had one)), I noticed that the launch window for Duna was getting close on my alarm clock. As I already had a contract to build a space station in orbit around Duna, I seized my chance for an expedition to Duna. I haven't made a craft intended to get anyone to Duna's surface and back, but I at least can gain a lot of science and "World's First" money from the first wave.

 

Here's a list of the fleet of ships that I intend to send to Duna on the first wave

• Enterprise-Class Space Station --> crew of seven (3 scientists, 2 engineers, 2 pilots), buttload of fuel and science gear and relays, not designed for landing.
  • Designed like the Enterprise from I sent in my first Eve fleet here () I renamed the Duna ship after my grandmother so that I can tell the two ships apart.
  • I sent at least two ships up there to refuel it in LKO. Now it's loaded with over 20,000 units of both Oxidizer and Fuel (each)
• 2 x "Weather Satellites" --> has surface scanners to check for ore deposits on both Duna and Ike. Will put in polar orbits upon arrival.
  • Also have 4 x RA-2 relays each, so I think I'll be good network coverage-wise. Am I?
• 1 x Ike Lander --> 3-man lander (send unmanned), capable of landing on the Mun and Minmus and back, intended to rendezvous with the mother ship and send three astronauts to Ike and back.
  • The name of that lander is "Needs Moar Boosters"
• 1 x "Ike Rover" --> crew capacity of 5 (unmanned), Mun rover modified for getting to Ike.
  • Has drills and ore converters and other scientific instruments
• 1 x "Duna Surface Probe" --> unmanned probe with buttload of science meant for Duna's surface. 
• 1 x @Matt Lowne mobile base (unoccupied) --> I got the craft file from the link in the description of this video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U0HRdZgTFq4), then modified it with MechJeb and Bon Voyage and a couple of small fuel tanks so that the base can convert ore to fuel and oxidizer as well as monopropellant. I also replaced Lowne's docking port with a claw.
  • I may only get less than 100 units for each type, but it's more than what the original craft file had. And when I get around to sending a two-way surface lander at the next launch window, I can at least gas it back up if it cannot do so itself.
  • Thanks for that, @Matt Lowne

 

It will be over a year before the launch window for the return trip opens, and I'm running low on funds to send a return shuttle craft. While I sort out my financial issues, am I missing anything crucial?

Edited December 3, 2018 by Mars-Bound Hokie
It was my grandmother's birthday at the time of the launch window. I thought it would be more appropriate to name the ship after her.

[Mars-Bound Hokie]

UPDATE: I was lucky to raise enough money while the launch window to Duna was still open, so I launched a nuclear powered "escape pod" that will rendezvous with the U.S.S. (SHIP NAME CENSORED TO ENSURE NAMESAKE'S PRIVACY). When the next return window opens, I will transfer the crew into the return craft - that I will name the U.S.S. Oklahoma - and blast it off back home.

If, however, it's not possible to land the crew on Kerbin's surface - because of, let's say, I'm out of fuel and monopropellant when I get in Kerbin's sphere of influence - I have a "standby pod" in a parking orbit around Kerbin. ready to rendezvous with the Oklahoma and pick up the crew. Even if I can only manage an elliptical orbit, at least the crew will be ready for pickup.

• and if I can only manage an escape trajectory, I can rescue the crew from the doomed Oklahoma and send them home while the then-empty Oklahoma either crashes or flies away from Kerbin (doomed to float in space forever). 
  • I just need to make sure I have a 0-degree inclination.

[Ozymandias_the_Goat]

Good work! If you could, please attatch pictures so that people can better appreciate your work (some people will not be so generous and adhere to the “pics or it didn’t happen” policy). 

If you are uncertain of your ability to rescue the kebabs upon their kerbin intercept, the standby pod is not the best idea. It will be difficult to get a rendezvous with the return ship, whose orbit may or may not be ideally placed. Not to mention that it would take a lot of delta-v to get the intercept, and then can equal amount to return to low orbit. So you have two options. The first is aerocapture. You could put the ship on a deep atmospheric entry trajectory, so that when the Kerbin return vehicle passes by kerbin, it will pass so close that it will do an aerocapture.

The second option is to have a vehicle on the pad, standing by to launch when the inbound ship intercepts kerbin. With moderate proficiency at docking, you could get a rendezvous that you have far more control of. But there is still a lot that could go wrong with that (ie. the space center being on the wrong side of kerbin) and the rendezvous velocity would still be very high. So your best option is an aerocapture, if your craft is able of doing it. 

 

[Mars-Bound Hokie]

Unfortunately, @Ozymandias_the_Goat, a game crash wiped out half of everything I ever did (including the Duna fleet). Worse, it reduced my reputation down from 84% to 3% (Thanos > Kraken)

* Screenshot of the U.S.S. Susan Moss 350km above Duna's surface - taken a day before the crash. For some reason, I tried launching the same craft file into LKO in preparation for a Dres mission and then everything fell to excrements. Is it cursed?

 

No matter, I still have the craft files (and Sandbox). I can reconstruct the fleet (without budgetary constraints, I may add) and try again. Even better, I may even post a YouTube video (or series) about it.