Multi vessel Duna Explorer Insect Theme

[John FX]

Hi everybody!

Here is my ship for Duna Exploration with an insect theme. Apologies for using dropbox, it seems attachments are disabled at the moment.

It has a base, transport, 5 rovers and a mapping probe. two of the probes are `sports` rovers and three are `utility` rovers

It is a little unstable below 2000m and 100m/sec but then the aerofoils kick in and you are ok. It is advisable to cut the thrust when the external tanks are released if you do not want an SRB damaged but the ship can get to a stable orbit with one or two knocked off with care. Myself I disengage the autopilot just before seperation and manually seperate then restart the autopilot. Get into an orbit around Duna and deploy the probe. The probe has enough Delta-V to get into a polar orbit from an equatorial orbit so you can map for height and kethane then once you have mapped Duna pick a landing spot and brake for burn.

I have gone for a dramatic entry, craft breakup and landing but it seems to work. Some of the wheels get damaged on landing but an EVA can fix that. I would wait until the chutes start to deploy before dropping the braking engine then once the engine is away, hit the space bar a few times until all the parts deploy. Landing is pretty much automatic as long as the base legs are deployed (after the transport is dropped) but you have time for that.

If I remember correctly the mods I used are Kethane, Mechjeb 2,super speedy reactor 6000, and CORE engine expansion. Sorry if I have forgotten anything.

Please post any variations especially for the transport. My transport design leaves a *lot* to be desired...

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/12775588/Duna%20Explorer.craft

[TheWanderer]

pictures needed

[John FX]

I`ve realised there are staging issues with the posted craft (chute stages not in correct order), here is the fixed version...

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/12775588/Duna%20Explorer%201.craft

Now you should get attitude and braking chutes before you drop the engine during descent. 14 stages and 663 parts. Hope your machine can handle it! (can`t wait for 64bit+gpu game engine)

[John FX]

pictures needed

OK, I`ll have to get an account with someone though, patience please.

[John FX]

Here it is on the pad. (hopefully)

[John FX]

first stage separation

[John FX]

orbit with about 3000 Delta-V left

[John FX]

second stage separation

[John FX]

Burn for Duna

[John FX]

Approaching Duna

[John FX]

Releasing probe.

[John FX]

probing

[John FX]

dropping engine

[John FX]

pre-chutes open

[John FX]

first 2 rovers

[John FX]

next three rovers

[John FX]

final separation

[John FX]

floating down

[John FX]

landing close to base

[John FX]

home sweet home

[John FX]

I`ve been unhappy with this design so I have updated it. It works much better now, the transport mines kethane and refuels the lander to go to orbit and dock with a station/engine.

Also the whole thing is much more safe when landing...

I`ll post the updated design in a new thread.