Artemis - Duna Mission Architecture

[Death Engineering]

First successful mining mission complete!

The crew landed within 200m of the marker lights and brought the Ore back to orbit. There it was refined for, overall, a very fractional part of what the landing mission cost (in fuel / ▲v).  So, while it would be possible to continue using this strategy, we're going to lower our Mun orbit from 80k to 20k; this should make the returns more acceptable.

The tradeoff will be when it comes time to fuel Duna transfer stages, but in those missions we may simply use the Ion engines to raise the Pe up  to 100k or so. 

Getting the Ore processor out to the Mun

'

Gateway Station Completed!

Mission Objectives:

• Goal 1: Establish Munar Orbiting Station (Gateway) Completed
  • HALO - Launch cost: 69,032
  • PPE - Launch cost: 218,241
• Goal 2: Develop 100% reusable fuel manufacturing/Munar mining at Gateway Completed
  • FU2 (fuel / logistics to Gateway) - Launch cost: 61,815
  • DRLR (surface mining) - Launch cost: 161,174
  • ORCH (ore conversion) - Launch cost: 131,111
  • Mining crew to Mun - Launch cost: 67,057
• Goal 3: Land crew on Duna and safely return

 

 

Edited August 18, 2021 by Death Engineering

[Death Engineering]

Deep in the Kerbin Deserts

In a trial of the Duna mission hardware, four crew camped out in the desert singing songs and eating beans (no fireworks!) until... well, until they'd had enough.

With seats for 8, each module houses four crew in comfort and will provide safe haven while camping on Duna.

[jinnantonix]

The tiniest probe for Duna.
 

 

[Death Engineering]

Four Crew on Duna!

Using a combination base/rover and a very cramped ascent module, this single-launch solution carried the first crew to Duna. 

 

Another four crew is on the way in a stationary base with a built-in single-use ascent module.

 

Three RA-15 relay sats and one scanner sat were also deployed in Duna orbit.

Deep-space Crew Transport

Twin-nuke powered, with seats for 8 cruising around Kerbin or 4 crew for those deep-space missions. This has suitable ▲V to get from Munar orbit to Duna orbit and back to Munar orbit without refueling, where it will dock to Gateway and meet an Orion for the last leg back to Kerbin.

[spikethedoggy]

Challenge 1.
I've created and launched a refuelling station with 8 seats. It's in a polar orbit around the Mun awaiting ore mined from the South Pole.

 

Cost of launch = 163,260

Edited August 31, 2021 by spikethedoggy

[jinnantonix]

@spikethedoggy Your craft looks amazing.  For your submission you just need to show a screenshot showing you have completed each of the 6 tasks, plus a the cost of each launch vehicle in the VAB.

[spikethedoggy]

5 hours ago, jinnantonix said:

@spikethedoggy Your craft looks amazing.  For your submission you just need to show a screenshot showing you have completed each of the 6 tasks, plus a the cost of each launch vehicle in the VAB.

Thanks @jinnantonix. I'll edit the post to show the cost of that launch. Now I'll have to complete the 5 other tasks!

 

[spikethedoggy]

Scanning the Mun with the M700 Survey Scanner and the M4435 Narrow-Band Scanner

 

 

 

Cost of Launch = 19,284

Edited September 1, 2021 by spikethedoggy

[HyperDraco]

Yep I'm doing this.

[HyperDraco]

THIS HAPPENED WHEN I WAS LANDING ON THE MUN

THAT WAS SERIOUSLY CLOSE.

[spikethedoggy]

Launch and land the Surface scanner on a Rover as close to the Mun South Pole as possible. I managed to find relatively flat ground and a good Ore percentage (11.71 at the Polar Lowlands) but the landing was difficult and all four tyres are damaged. The engineer arriving soon will be able to fix those!

 

 

Cost of launch = 40,067

Edited September 2, 2021 by spikethedoggy

[Death Engineering]

On 9/2/2021 at 9:43 AM, spikethedoggy said:

Surface scanner on a Rover

Ouch!  You need to send an Engineer down there to fix those wheels.    

Nice looking mission so far  

[jinnantonix]

@spikethedoggy Full marks for aesthetics so far.

[jinnantonix]

 

Edited September 14, 2021 by jinnantonix

[spikethedoggy]

8 hours ago, jinnantonix said:

 

wow @jinnantonix So very clever. I especially liked how you got you Duna habitation module to orientate itself with the surface by using the parachute to flip it! You've given me some good ideas now.

[Geryz]

@jinnantonix You said SSTO spaceplanes are disallowed for lack of realism, but what about using vertically rocket launched spaceplanes ("Dream Chaser"-like) as reentry pods? Is that allowed?
Also can I use Restock?

Edited December 4, 2021 by Geryz

[jinnantonix]

2 hours ago, Geryz said:

@jinnantonix You said SSTO spaceplanes are disallowed for lack of realism, but what about using vertically rocket launched spaceplanes ("Dream Chaser"-like) as reentry pods? Is that allowed?
Also can I use Restock?

An SSTO like dream chaser would typically only be able to handle atmospheric re-entry from orbital speeds.  For this architecture, the Duna return craft must be able to directly enter the atmosphere- and survive aerobraking.  It would be unrealistic to do that with anything other than re-entry pod with stock heat shield.   I have already rejected an entry that had an unrealistic architecture, so I need to be fair.

Restock is allowed since it does not affect gameplay or part balance 

[Geryz]

On 7/15/2021 at 3:25 AM, jinnantonix said:

• Clipping may be used for aesthetics purposes. Clipping parts where the overall volume is approximately maintained is allowed.  All parts must appear adjacent to each other, and appear functional

Ok so 3 more questions: 1. Does the clipping rule allow clipping a MK1-Lander can into the Duna Lander's bottom fuel tank to act as an "airlock" (negating the need for ladders)?
2. Do the Kerbals also need those 8 total seats on Duna Return?
3. Is Kerbal Joint Reinforcement allowed?
Sorry if I'm being obnoxious with all the questions

Edited December 5, 2021 by Geryz

[jinnantonix]

1 hour ago, Geryz said:

1. Does the clipping rule allow clipping a MK1-Lander can into the Duna Lander's bottom fuel tank to act as an "airlock" (negating the need for ladders)?
2. Do the Kerbals also need those 8 total seats on Duna Return?
3. Is Kerbal Joint Reinforcement allowed?
Sorry if I'm being obnoxious with all the questions

1.  Yes that is allowed.
2.  8 seats are required on the Space Station and the Duna Habitat,.  The return craft requires 4 seats.
3.  Yes, allowed.
 

[Beriev]

The below details a hypothetical mission design. I won't fly it due to IRL issues, but will remove it if considered irrelevant.

I saw this challenge and decided to have a bit of fun planning out a quick hypothetical architecture using RSS with stock parts (I will not be flying it, however). It will require extensive use of nuclear engines, but I should be able to get each individual mars mission down to a launch of ~30-40 tons to LEO. The main difficulties are twofold:

1. Compared to stock, the gravity wells of the Earth and Moon are insanely deep. RSS requires ~4 km/s between Low Earth Orbit and Low Lunar Orbit, and another 1.8 km/s between the surface and LLO. This is why nuclear engines are a necessity at this scale, as well as extensive use of aerobraking unmanned spacecraft.
2. Mars's atmosphere is too thin for stock parachutes to work. Stock parachutes semi-deploy at 0.01 atm, and Mars is half that on average. Because of that, powered landing is a necessity, requiring a large descent stage for each mission.

With that in mind, behold, here is the mission design I came up with (delta-V factored in, but unmentioned):

Launch 1: ISRU Miner (ISM)

The ISM would have 6-7 nuclear engines and 15,000 units of LF, as well as a large ISRU converter, large drill, and large fuel cell (since the Moon's size makes precise landings extremely tedious).

Upon reaching orbit, it would weigh ~100 tons (which ballparks* a 6,600 ton launch vehicle), and would land directly at the moon's south pole to mine fuel. There, it will wait for the next launch.

Launch 2: Lunar Station (LUS) + Transfer Tug (TST)

The TST would have 3-4 nuclear engines and 10,000 units of LF, as well as an inflatable heat shield module that doubles as a detachable RCS tug. 

The LUS would have capacity for 8 kerbals, 2-4 docking ports, some low-thrust propulsion, and an empty fuel tank that can hold 5000 units of LF. 

These two payloads would launch together on the same launch vehicle design as the ISM, also massing ~100 tons in LEO. They would insert into a lunar orbit similar to LOP-G, a polar, elliptical lunar orbit with an apoapsis over the south pole and a periapsis over the north pole.

For refueling, the ISM launches from the moon, rendezvouses with the LUS, transfers fuel to the TST, and then returns to the surface to mine, repeating until the TST, LUS, and ISM have a total of at least ~23,000 units of LF on the station (3,000 units for landing the ISM, 20,000 units per mars mission). 

(An optional extra payload for this launch would be a transfer habitat, an 8-kerbal facility which would fly with the TST to Mars, alongside each mars mission.)

Launches 3-5: Mars Mission 1 (MM1), Mars Mission 2 (MM2), Mars Mission 3 (MM3)

These missions will launch 4 years apart, skipping a transfer window for each mission (though if another TST is launched and mining is fast enough, the missions can be launched 2 years apart).

MM1 will consist of 4 components: the return capsule, Mars descent stage, Mars base, and Mars ascent vehicle. VAB testing has estimated this payload to weigh around 30-40 tons in LEO (ballparking a 2300 ton launch vehicle), obeying all given rules.

Mission Procedure

• MM1 launches into LEO, fully fueled and crewed
• TST leaves LUS with full fuel tank and heat shield, aerobrakes into LEO
• TST docks with MM1, transfers with MM1 to LUS
• TST+MM1 dock and refuel from LUS**
• TST+MM1 depart from LUS, swings by Earth for Mars transfer
• TST+MM1 capture into highly elliptical Mars orbit
• MM1 undocks, lands on Mars directly from elliptical Mars orbit***
• TST aerobrakes into Low Mars Orbit
• MM1's ascent vehicle launches to LMO, docks with TST
• TST+MM1 leave Mars for Earth transfer
• TST+MM1 undock at edge of Earth's SOI
• MM1 lands on Earth
• TST aerocaptures, captures into lunar orbit, docks with LUS
• TST refuels from ISM
• MM2 launches into LEO

This is highly complex by stock standards, but I think at the scale of RSS, it's an excellent design to work around the inefficiencies of stock parts without going too massive.

*In my RSS career, I've found 1.5% to be a decent payload fraction estimate for most stock-part rockets.

**MM1 could also refuel in lunar orbit, decreasing launch costs but increasing complexity (as the ISRU facility is LF-oriented otherwise, and MM1 will need oxidizer).

***If the return capsule is separate from the Mars ascent vehicle, it remains docked to the TST during the aerobraking.

Edit: I just realized I forgot about preliminary probes. Here's the changes to the above plan that need to be made:

• Add a Launch 0, which would carry a scanning satellite and 3 communication satellites for Mars
• Add to Launch 1 a Moon scanning satellite, deployed in LLO by the ISM
• Add to each MMx mission a tiny marking probe (likely <1 ton)

Edited December 6, 2021 by Beriev

[Geryz]

Alright so here's my mission plan so far, please correct me if I make any mistakes:
1. Send a mun scanner + Landing/Marking probe that will also act as an ISRU unit
2. Establish an orbital vessel with multiple docking ports which will act as the "station" as well as having nuclear engines (unfueled)
3. Dock the Duna Habitat with 8 seats, a command capsule with 4 seats, the Duna Lander, and the 3 Duna Commsats and a landing probe (all unfueled) to the orbital vessel
4. Use a Mun - LKO tanker to refuel the large orbital vessel from the Mun's ISRU until its fuel is full
5. Transfer the entire assembly off to Duna, where it inserts into orbit, releases its probes and puts them into the correct orbit / lands them in case of the Marker Probe
6.  Dock our previously established command capsule to the Lander Module, which, together with the Duna Habitat, lands at the Marker Probe
7. The Lander + Capsule assembly takes off from Duna again, where the Capsule docks back to the mothership and the lander is discarded in Duna orbit
8. Transfer back to Kerbin, where the main ship aerobrakes into LKO and the command capsule performs a direct reentry
This all is a bit inspired by @jinnantonix's mission profile but to me it seems like the most efficient solution
 

Edited December 6, 2021 by Geryz

[jinnantonix]

On 12/6/2021 at 1:23 PM, Beriev said:

The below details a hypothetical mission design. I won't fly it due to IRL issues, but will remove it if considered irrelevant.

I saw this challenge and decided to have a bit of fun planning out a quick hypothetical architecture using RSS with stock parts (I will not be flying it, however). It will require extensive use of nuclear engines, but I should be able to get each individual mars mission down to a launch of ~30-40 tons to LEO. The main difficulties are twofold:

1. Compared to stock, the gravity wells of the Earth and Moon are insanely deep. RSS requires ~4 km/s between Low Earth Orbit and Low Lunar Orbit, and another 1.8 km/s between the surface and LLO. This is why nuclear engines are a necessity at this scale, as well as extensive use of aerobraking unmanned spacecraft.
2. Mars's atmosphere is too thin for stock parachutes to work. Stock parachutes semi-deploy at 0.01 atm, and Mars is half that on average. Because of that, powered landing is a necessity, requiring a large descent stage for each mission.

With that in mind, behold, here is the mission design I came up with (delta-V factored in, but unmentioned):

Launch 1: ISRU Miner (ISM)

The ISM would have 6-7 nuclear engines and 15,000 units of LF, as well as a large ISRU converter, large drill, and large fuel cell (since the Moon's size makes precise landings extremely tedious).

Upon reaching orbit, it would weigh ~100 tons (which ballparks* a 6,600 ton launch vehicle), and would land directly at the moon's south pole to mine fuel. There, it will wait for the next launch.

Launch 2: Lunar Station (LUS) + Transfer Tug (TST)

The TST would have 3-4 nuclear engines and 10,000 units of LF, as well as an inflatable heat shield module that doubles as a detachable RCS tug. 

The LUS would have capacity for 8 kerbals, 2-4 docking ports, some low-thrust propulsion, and an empty fuel tank that can hold 5000 units of LF. 

These two payloads would launch together on the same launch vehicle design as the ISM, also massing ~100 tons in LEO. They would insert into a lunar orbit similar to LOP-G, a polar, elliptical lunar orbit with an apoapsis over the south pole and a periapsis over the north pole.

For refueling, the ISM launches from the moon, rendezvouses with the LUS, transfers fuel to the TST, and then returns to the surface to mine, repeating until the TST, LUS, and ISM have a total of at least ~23,000 units of LF on the station (3,000 units for landing the ISM, 20,000 units per mars mission). 

(An optional extra payload for this launch would be a transfer habitat, an 8-kerbal facility which would fly with the TST to Mars, alongside each mars mission.)

Launches 3-5: Mars Mission 1 (MM1), Mars Mission 2 (MM2), Mars Mission 3 (MM3)

These missions will launch 4 years apart, skipping a transfer window for each mission (though if another TST is launched and mining is fast enough, the missions can be launched 2 years apart).

MM1 will consist of 4 components: the return capsule, Mars descent stage, Mars base, and Mars ascent vehicle. VAB testing has estimated this payload to weigh around 30-40 tons in LEO (ballparking a 2300 ton launch vehicle), obeying all given rules.

Mission Procedure

• MM1 launches into LEO, fully fueled and crewed
• TST leaves LUS with full fuel tank and heat shield, aerobrakes into LEO
• TST docks with MM1, transfers with MM1 to LUS
• TST+MM1 dock and refuel from LUS**
• TST+MM1 depart from LUS, swings by Earth for Mars transfer
• TST+MM1 capture into highly elliptical Mars orbit
• MM1 undocks, lands on Mars directly from elliptical Mars orbit***
• TST aerobrakes into Low Mars Orbit
• MM1's ascent vehicle launches to LMO, docks with TST
• TST+MM1 leave Mars for Earth transfer
• TST+MM1 undock at edge of Earth's SOI
• MM1 lands on Earth
• TST aerocaptures, captures into lunar orbit, docks with LUS
• TST refuels from ISM
• MM2 launches into LEO

This is highly complex by stock standards, but I think at the scale of RSS, it's an excellent design to work around the inefficiencies of stock parts without going too massive.

*In my RSS career, I've found 1.5% to be a decent payload fraction estimate for most stock-part rockets.

**MM1 could also refuel in lunar orbit, decreasing launch costs but increasing complexity (as the ISRU facility is LF-oriented otherwise, and MM1 will need oxidizer).

***If the return capsule is separate from the Mars ascent vehicle, it remains docked to the TST during the aerobraking.

Edit: I just realized I forgot about preliminary probes. Here's the changes to the above plan that need to be made:

• Add a Launch 0, which would carry a scanning satellite and 3 communication satellites for Mars
• Add to Launch 1 a Moon scanning satellite, deployed in LLO by the ISM
• Add to each MMx mission a tiny marking probe (likely <1 ton)

I don't see anything wrong with the strategy.  I think it follows closely that Artemis proposed framework very closely, so kinda disappointed you wont be actually doing it.  i am pretty sure at some stage I will do a RSS simulation, and I expect it will be near identical to your architecture.
 

[jinnantonix]

8 hours ago, Geryz said:

Alright so here's my mission plan so far, please correct me if I make any mistakes:
1. Send a mun scanner + Landing/Marking probe that will also act as an ISRU unit
2. Establish an orbital vessel with multiple docking ports which will act as the "station" as well as having nuclear engines (unfueled)
3. Dock the Duna Habitat with 8 seats, a command capsule with 4 seats, the Duna Lander, and the 3 Duna Commsats and a landing probe (all unfueled) to the orbital vessel
4. Use a Mun - LKO tanker to refuel the large orbital vessel from the Mun's ISRU until its fuel is full
5. Transfer the entire assembly off to Duna, where it inserts into orbit, releases its probes and puts them into the correct orbit / lands them in case of the Marker Probe
6.  Dock our previously established command capsule to the Lander Module, which, together with the Duna Habitat, lands at the Marker Probe
7. The Lander + Capsule assembly takes off from Duna again, where the Capsule docks back to the mothership and the lander is discarded in Duna orbit
8. Transfer back to Kerbin, where the main ship aerobrakes into LKO and the command capsule performs a direct reentry
This all is a bit inspired by @jinnantonix's mission profile but to me it seems like the most efficient solution
 

Yes, looks good. 

1.  Your probe for the Mun should be a simple marker with resource scanner, and land PRIOR to to the ISRU facility.  The intention is to find the resource and a landing zone prior to landing an expensive asset.  

2.  Looks like you are using the Duna Habitat to provide the 8 seats  for the space station.  It is within the rules. 


 

[camacju]

On 12/4/2021 at 3:55 PM, jinnantonix said:

I have already rejected an entry that had an unrealistic architecture

):

[Geryz]

@jinnantonixAlso I wonder would a mission using Kerbalism Life Support be allowed? I feel like that'd add some extra challenge (I would have to alter my mission plan then), but technically it is a mod that adds parts 

Edited December 7, 2021 by Geryz