How to get to Venus in RSS

[KingKerb]

I'm trying to send an unmanned probe to Venus orbit in RSS. I'm using Hangar Extender, SMURFF, Kerbal Atomics, and Stockalike Station Parts Redux, but besides that I'm not using any mods.

Edited January 6, 2020 by KingKerb

[Laie]

What is the problem? Do you know how to go interplanetary? I guess you do. So here's some words about landing on Venus (I've done this in RO, not sure how SMURFF compares):

Generally, Venus' atmosphere quickly becomes thick. Anything with a PE below 90km will be caught and fall to the surface. The braking is violent with very high g-forces, but heat isn't so bad (mostly because it's over quickly). In RO, ordinary heatshields were enough.

The landing then takes a looong time. Depending on aerodynamics it can easily be 30 minutes to reach the surface. Terminal velocity will likely be less than 20m/s, so if you have sufficiently tough parts, you can make do without a parachute. That, by the way, is just what the Soviets did back in the 60s.

Near the surface, temperatures are about 500K -- that was a problem for some RO parts and parachutes. Generally, deploying parachutes near the surface was tricky because the sudden jerk of opening a chute in that thick atmosphere would prove to be altogether too much. Even though things were moving at a leisurely 30m/s. So bring drogues, or deploy the chutes quite some ways up... but then the descent takes much longer.

[KingKerb]

On 1/6/2020 at 10:42 AM, Laie said:

What is the problem? Do you know how to go interplanetary? I guess you do. So here's some words about landing on Venus (I've done this in RO, not sure how SMURFF compares):

Generally, Venus' atmosphere quickly becomes thick. Anything with a PE below 90km will be caught and fall to the surface. The braking is violent with very high g-forces, but heat isn't so bad (mostly because it's over quickly). In RO, ordinary heatshields were enough.

The landing then takes a looong time. Depending on aerodynamics it can easily be 30 minutes to reach the surface. Terminal velocity will likely be less than 20m/s, so if you have sufficiently tough parts, you can make do without a parachute. That, by the way, is just what the Soviets did back in the 60s.

Near the surface, temperatures are about 500K -- that was a problem for some RO parts and parachutes. Generally, deploying parachutes near the surface was tricky because the sudden jerk of opening a chute in that thick atmosphere would prove to be altogether too much. Even though things were moving at a leisurely 30m/s. So bring drogues, or deploy the chutes quite some ways up... but then the descent takes much longer.

I have not yet gone interplanetary, nor am I planning on landing. My main problems are the inclination difference and transfer window. When is the first Window to Venus?

[OHara]

The first transfer window to Venus is on day 158. (Venus should be catching up to earth, still 45° behind.)

The small mod Astrogator is nice for finding the times of transfer windows, whatever set of planets are in your game.

The inclined orbital planes cross each other near that first transfer window, so there is benefit to ejecting from Earth's orbit so as to go a little south.  You might want to alt-F12 "set orbit" as set of probes that you can use as markers to visualize the interplanetary leg, the earth orbit that is in the plane of that interplanetary leg, and then time your launch to go into that orbit.  You can designate these probes as "simulations" to distinguish them from launched craft, but it is nice to put real probe cores on these 'simulations' so you can make manuever nodes on them.

[pmborg]

 

I landed my space ship in Venus vertically:

[1] At the first try after descend at 300m/s only the ship exploded.

[2] At second attempt used parachutes, but at 1000m height, the ship exploded due huge chute drag.

[3] At 3rd attempt no parachutes, no engines, no balloons, just the wings of the ship and RCS, were used to touch down, vertically.

(Have a video of the lading if you are interested.)

 

I was not expecting to survive at Surface of Venus... but yes the stable temperature is 708K for Kerbal suits.

 

 

Edited February 8, 2020 by pmborg