Pioneer: Duna

[Chequers]

Pioneer: Duna

In my career, I've never landed on another celestial body outside of Kerbin's Sphere of Influence. The closest I've come is a flyby of Eve, which - thanks to the help of the KSP Community, was a great success. It's made the chief decision makers at Chequers Aerospace feel brave, bold, and hungry to take on a new challenge.

Now is the time to take a giant leap forward in the history of Kerbalkind - and for Chequers Aerospace. 

The mission

To land a Kerbal-made object on Duna, capable of exploring the landing site, and beaming back scientific data to Kerbin.

To this end, we will design a rover that can survive the harsh atmospheric entry of Duna; that is equipped with scientific instruments to conduct experiments; and that has the necessary communications equipment to beam that information back to Kerbin. The catch is, aside from a high-flyby of Eve, I've never come close to the surface of another planet. And without quicksaves and reverts enabled, there's going to be a lot of groundwork to cover.

So join me on this venture, as we launch the Pioneer Programme here at Chequers Aerospace. I'll likely need your help.

Mission Status: Complete

Contents

• Mission briefing, proposal and initial designs (this post)
• DR-LP1 - Landing Pod and Rover Detachment Test
• Pioneer I: Atmospheric Parachute Deployment and Landing Test
• Landing Pod 'Sanctuary' Mk2, Initial Design
• Pioneer II: Re-entry and Landing Test
• Rocket Design for Pioneer III
• 'Sanctuary' Mk3. Final Design.
• Launch Preparations
• Pioneer III: Mission Log 1 - Launch and LKO
• Pioneer III: Mission Log 2 - Trans-Duna burn
• Pioneer III: Mission Log 3 - Arrival at Duna
• Pioneer III: Mission Log 4 - Landing and Rover Deployment

Proposal

We've been busy working on the rover that will land on Duna. It has to balance the need to fulfil science and communications objectives, with the need to survive the entry of Duna and land safely. We propose housing the rover (codenamed: 'Rambler') in a landing pod (codenamed: 'Sanctuary') that will be equipped with the neccessary equipment, such as heat-shields, parachutes, and landing boosters, to safely arrive on the surface of Duna. This will also double as a communications base to relay information from the rover back to Kerbin.

Initial designs

Duna Rover 'Rambler' Mk1.

Landing Pod 'Sanctuary' Mk1.

 

 

Edited May 3, 2020 by Chequers

[Chequers]

DR-LP1: Landing Pod and Rover Detachment Test

The Pioneer Programme begins with the construction of the Duna Rover 'Rambler' and Landing Pod 'Sanctuary'. It is critical that the rover can adequately fit within the landing pod, and be secured during transit. It must be protected from the intense forces of Kerbin Launch, interplanetary transfer, entry into Duna atmosphere, and landing.

The Landing Pod is constructed from a 2.5m Service Bay, which is protected from below by a 2.5m Heat Shield. Mounted above, is the parachute bay - which consists of three Mk-12 R drogue chutes for slowing the craft within Duna atmosphere, and three main Mk2-R chutes. These will likely be supplemented by radial landing boosters - of which our engineers are currently designing.

Above this is the power generation module, consisting of angled solar panels, to supplement the Z-200 Battery - this directly feeds to the RA-2 Relay Antenna, which will provide communication facilities back to Kerbin.

Within the pod, a roof mounted docking port provides an attachment point for the associated docking port on the Duna Rover, 'Rambler'. It is this component that is the focus of the first test - both the detachment of the rover, and exiting of the landing pod, must be without fault.

Test Report

Spoiler

Landing Pod 'Sanctuary' in closed position - as it will be upon reaching the surface of Duna.

Sanctuary bay doors in open position, note attached Duna Rover, 'Rambler' in stowed configuration.

Detaching Rambler from Sanctuary - a clean detachment, and successful exit of Sanctuary.

 

Edited April 27, 2020 by Chequers

[jimmymcgoochie]

I built a copy of your lander/rover combo and gave it a test run. The heat shield is definitely not needed as the re-entry used up 2 out of 800 ablator, but it landed on a bit of a slope, bounced and went upside down... After deploying the cheat menu I put it the right way up and it drove backwards (although that might just have been me building it wrong ).

A couple of suggestions for you:

- Duna's atmosphere is very thin, so you need to set all the parachutes to open at the lowest possible pressure. Ditch the heat shield as it isn't needed, and scrap the Z-1k battery on the lander too as it doesn't have any real purpose. You DO need a reaction wheel though as unless there's one hidden in there somewhere the lander is uncontrollable and not entirely stable if it lands on a slope.

- Personally, I would ditch the relay antenna on the lander and replace it with a dedicated orbital relay that would detach from the lander just after entering Duna's SOI and fly to a higher orbit. You would then have to time the landing so that the relay was overhead. A single RA-2 is not enough to reach Kerbin for a significant part of Duna's orbit and will only work if the two are really close, which tends not to be the case by the time you reach it after a transfer, so you should try to put an RA-15 relay dish on the relay instead and make sure you have a level 3 tracking station too.

- I would make one small but important change to the rover: swap the battery for a reaction wheel and strap a pair of Z-100 batteries on the sides of the probe core or the underside of the structural plate. The OKTO2 has no reaction wheels in it and all it would take is one bump or overenthusiastic braking to flip the rover over. As a rule I always pack more than one antenna so that there's a spare if one breaks, and you could easily fit several deployable antennae (C16, HG-5 or DTS-M1) into the design without them getting in the way. I also suggest putting the probe core on top of the structural plate with the decoupler on top of that, which greatly reduces the chances of breaking something if you drive over a rock.

If you're driving around on Duna, you should probably turn the steering off on the rear wheels as they tend to cause instability at anything above walking speed and can easily cause the rover to flip in low gravity. Front wheel steering only will make your turning circle a bit wider but it's also a lot more stable. If you put a reaction wheel on a rover, that will most likely make your wheel steering useless if SAS is on as the torque can overpower the wheels, so you could end up steering with the yaw controls instead of the wheel steering.

Good luck out there!

[Chequers]

Pioneer I: Atmospheric Parachute Deployment and Landing Test

Results of Sanctuary and Rambler testing have shown the proposed design is suitable - and we can move onto the second phase of development. It is imperative that Sanctuary (and Rambler contained within) are able to land stably, through the use of parachutes (and later, supplemented by landing boosters, which are not part of this test).

Pioneer I - the first flight of the programme - will carry Sanctuary to an altitude of 10,000m. There it will be released, and the parachutes deployed. Our engineer will carry out observations of the descending craft through a series of close passes, to evaluate its stability - and that the parachutes deploy properly.

A modified version of the SP-IV 'Talon' will be used to deliver Sanctuary to the required altitude; and also used to conduct observations.

The test will be carried out over the undulating grasslands beyond the KSC - an uneven surface suitable for testing the landing stability of Sanctuary. Thereafter, Rambler will be deployed, and its performance evaluated.

The flight roster will be Jebediah Kerman as Commander; with Bill Kerman as Chief Engineer.

Test Report

 

Edited April 26, 2020 by Chequers

[Chequers]

Landing Pod 'Sanctuary' Mk2 Initial Design

Following the successful flight of Pioneer I, which tested the parachute deployment and landing capability of the Sanctuary Mk1 landing pod, we move into the next phase of development, which is ensuring Sanctuary is able to survive the harsh re-entry forces of Duna's atmosphere; ensuring the Duna Rover 'Rambler' remains protected.

The latest iteration of Sanctuary features a detachable heat-shield, able to be jettisoned once it is no longer needed. Additionally, a 2.5m reaction wheel below the parachute bay provides additional attitude holding and stability. Finally, twin radially mounted '24-77' liquid-fuelled engines provide thrust for course correction and final landing velocity. These are fed by Oscar-B fuel tanks.

We are preparing for the flight of Pioneer II, which will carry Sanctuary into a sub-orbital trajectory to test re-entry capability.

[Chequers]

Pioneer II: Re-entry and Landing Test.

Having sufficiently tested the parachute deployment and landing capability of Landing Pod, Sanctuary, engineers have finished construction of the 'Sanctuary Mk2', which will placed into low Kerbin orbit with an apoapsis of 100,000km. The lifter will be a single stage, modified version of the Leviticus I rocket, used in Chequers Aerospace recent flyby of Eve. The payload has been fitted with a 2.5m fairing to protect the delicate equipment throughout the launch. This will be deployed once beyond 70,000m.

Once established in orbit, Sanctuary will be configured for re-entry over Kerbin's desert, to best simulate the Duna environment. The dual 24-77 engines will perform the de-orbit burn. Performance of the heatshield and reaction wheel will be monitored during descent through the atmosphere. A test of the landing boosters will also be performed, prior to touching down.

Test Report
Raw, unedited footage

 

Edited April 28, 2020 by Chequers

[KerballingSmasher]

Little bit of a bumpy landing there, but nice combination of powered and parachute!

[Chequers]

57 minutes ago, Kerballing (Got Dunked On) said:

Little bit of a bumpy landing there, but nice combination of powered and parachute!

Indeed - the next design of the landing pod will feature quad landing boosters to provide further stability in this area.

[Chequers]

Rocket Design for Pioneer III

The final design for the rocket that will carry Sanctuary to Duna has been finalised.

An upgraded and modified version of the Leviticus II platform, Leviticus III features a powerful 'Mainsail' lifting stage that will carry Pioneer III into a sub-orbital trajectory. The upper stage; 'Chariot', will perform circularisation, trans-Duna burn, and correction burns to place the vessel on a path to intercept Duna with a Periapsis of 14,000m - it will then be discarded to burn up within Duna's atmosphere, leaving Sanctuary to perform the landing.

Sanctuary has also been modified to alleviate concerns around strength of signal to KSC from Duna. It now features an RA-15 Relay Antenna. The solar panels have been redesigned, to feature extendable and retractable panels for optimal sun exposure. The dual landing booster configuration has been redesigned for stability, and now features a quad-booster arrangement.

Edited April 30, 2020 by Chequers

[Hotel26]

It is really fun to watch a one-man space program having so much fun!!  Inspiring, too.

Relish your instalments.  Keep up the good work, Chequers!

[Chequers]

9 minutes ago, Hotel26 said:

It is really fun to watch a one-man space program having so much fun!!  Inspiring, too.

Relish your instalments.  Keep up the good work, Chequers!

Thanks for swinging by, compadre! I am indeed having bundles of fun with this project.

One of the main things that bothered me when first playing KSP, was the lack of repercussions for getting things wrong. One of the most incredible and inspiring things of some of the real world space programs, is knowing the amount of steps, planning, effort and outright tension that goes into them.

When Opportunity plonked down on the surface of Mars and started beaming back data and images... I can only imagine the pride, relief, and joy that went through every person that had been involved - and many hours of hard work from so many people went into it. I also can't imagine how painful it would have been if something had gone wrong and the mission had failed.

I guess I wanted to get the tiniest inkling of what that might be like, which is why after playing for a couple of hours, I started my career again with Quicksaves and Reverts turned off, and also making time a precious commodity. I don't timewarp massive chunks of time without doing something in between. When Pioneer III is on its way, I'll be continuing my space programme's other missions, such as charting all of the biomes on the Mun and Minmus. That's because if Pioneer III fails, I want that to be a kick to the stomach - because if this thing works, MAN I'm going to feel a lot of joy. Just as I did simply managing to do a flyby of Eve.

So that's why I test all these different things, and design stuff slowly, making sure everything works. There's just a lot of enjoyment in that part of the process for me.

 

[Chequers]

'Sanctuary' Mk3. Final Design.

We've finished construction on the final design for LP-3 'Sanctuary'. Recent research advancements have allowed us to pursue more robust communication technologies, resulting in the RA-15 Relay Antenna providing permanent connection to KSC throughout the mission. 

Furthermore, we have installed retractable solar panels to provide power to the probe core throughout the mission. 

Finally, additional landing boosters have been installed, to provide a stable quad formation for any landing manoeuvres that may need to be performed following entry through Duna's atmosphere.

[Chequers]

Pioneer III: Launch Preparations

The time for designs, testing and plans are over: the launch window has arrived, and it is time to embark on a bold step forward in history.

Pioneer III has been rolled out to the launchpad, and is undergoing final checks for launch. Action groups have been set up, contingencies made for unforeseen circumstances, and mission control have taken their seats.

Jebediah wishes Pioneer III well with a flypast in the Scoundrel.

[Chequers]

Pioneer III: Mission Log 1 - Launch and LKO

Final checks completed, Pioneer III went through the countdown procedure, and successfully launched into clear blue skies of a beautiful Kerbin morning. We're on our way!

All gauges held steady as Pioneer III accelerated through 100m/s and began the roll program, accelerating smoothly and passing the sound barrier at roughly 10,000m, with a 45 degrees pitch attitude held until 20,000m.

Fuel was depleted as intended with an apoapsis of 80,000m. With its work completed, the lifting stage, Leviticus III, was separated from the upper stage, Chariot, to fall back to Kerbin.

The fairings were successfully deployed shortly afterwards, revealing Sanctuary; with no reported malfunctions or damage sustained during launch. Solar panels were deployed, and shortly afterwards Chariot completed the circularisation burn to put Pioneer III into a parking orbit.

We will shortly be commencing the manoeuvre calculations for the trans-Duna burn. Stay tuned!

Mission Log Screenshots

Spoiler

 

We have a lift off! Pioneer III is on its way! 

Executing roll program.

Pioneer III passes 70,000m - we're in space!

Stage separation and fairing deployment.

Chariot configured with solar panels extended, and burning for circular orbit

 

 

Edited May 2, 2020 by Chequers

[Chequers]

Pioneer III: Mission Log 2 - Trans-Duna Burn

With orbit established, we began the complicated computations to plan a manoeuvre that would intercept Duna's sphere of influence. 

Chariot initiated a 72 second burn, with a change in velocity of 1248.3 m/s - placing Pioneer III on a course to reach Duna in 304 days. Further deep space course correction burns will be planned and initiated during transit to bring the periapsis around Duna within the atmosphere.

With the burn complete, Pioneer III was placed into hibernation mode for the long journey.Pioneer III came out of hibernation briefly to capture one last image of Kerbin from the edge of its SOI - the last this vessel will ever see of its home planet.

Mission Log Screenshots

Spoiler

Setting up the transfer burn.

Trans-Duna burn initiated.


Days later, Pioneer III comes out of hibernation to take one last image of Kerbin from the edge of its SOI.

 

 

Edited May 2, 2020 by Chequers

[Chequers]

Pioneer III: Mission Log 3 - Arrival at Duna

315 days after launching at Kerbin, Pioneer III entered the SOI of Duna, and we got our first view of the red planet, with its moon, Ike.

Pioneer III came out of hibernation to perform a final correction burn, placing the periapsis at 13,500m.

As the vessel passed through the orbital plane of Ike, and no further course corrections were needed, Chariot was separated, and Sanctuary was orientated for entry into Duna's atmosphere.

And we all held our breath.

Mission Log Screenshots
 

Spoiler

 

Entering Duna's SOI. Confirmation of the World First Milestone - and rapturous applause at Mission Control!

A final correction burn places the periapsis within Duna's atmosphere, for capture and landing.

Passing through Ike's orbital plane, and marvelling at the beauty of Duna: and readying ourselves for the last stage of the mission.

Separation of Chariot - which will impact on Duna's surface. She performed beautifully.

 

 

Edited May 2, 2020 by Chequers

[Chequers]

Pioneer III: Mission Log 4 - Landing and Rover Deployment

Sanctuary was configured for entry through Duna's atmosphere at approximately 100,000m above the surface. Solar panels were retracted, and final parachute checks were performed. Finally, the craft was orientated retrograde, with the powerful 2.5m reaction wheel adding stability.

The craft descended through the upper atmosphere quickly, and entry heating effects were observed shortly afterwards - the heat-shield ablator performing flawlessly as speed was rapidly bled off.

The quad 24-77 radially mounted boosters were engaged to both decrease velocity to acceptable levels for parachute deployment, and also help predict a suitable landing site for Sanctuary.

The entry of Chariot was observed during descent; passing below Sanctuary before contact was lost as it was destroyed upon hitting the surface.

Good chute opening occured of both drogue and main parachutes, and the heat-shield was detached, impacting on the Duna surface a short time later.

In the final stages of landing, the quad landing boosters were engaged to bring the craft to a descent rate of 1 m/s, which was maintained until Sanctuary safely touched down in Duna's 'Midlands' region, within a low lying depression, surrounded by rising land on all sides. A strikingly beautiful place to set down.

Engine shutdown. Sigh of relief. We were immediately called by the World Record Keeping Association who confirmed the first landing on Duna.

Duna Rover 'Rambler' was deployed shortly afterwards, and immediately began collecting information of the surrounding area, which was beamed via Sanctuary to Kerbin, adding incredible new science data to our labs. Rambler then proceeded to journey further afield to explore the landscape and continue beaming back data, and will continue to do so.

We have successfully completed the Pioneer Programme parameters to: 'To land a Kerbal-made object on Duna, capable of exploring the landing site, and beaming back scientific data to Kerbin.' This paves the way for even more ambitious missions to other planets - perhaps even one day landing Kerbals themselves!

But for now: Mission Accomplished!

Mission Log Screenshots

Spoiler

 

Sanctuary configured for landing. And watching the Ike set as we descend.

Plummeting through the atmosphere - holding steady!

Good chutes! And landing boosters engaged.

Moments from touchdown...

Safely down! Engine shutdown and solar panels extended.

Confirmation of World First Milestone.

Deployment of Duna Rover - Rambler.

Exploring the landing site, collecting readings and data, which are transmitted back to KSC via Sanctuary.

Rambler exploring further afield to uncover the mysteries of Duna. 

 

 

Edited May 3, 2020 by Chequers

[Hotel26]

Congratulations, Chequers!  Neatly done...