Duna in 11 Years, 364 Days

[themaddogfred]

NOTE: This is my FIRST challenge. Criticism is welcomed and suggestions for improvement welcomed.

Synopsis: A rival Space Center, Fry Tech Industries says they can land a Kerbal on Duna in 12 years and a large budget. As owner of (Put Space Center Name Here), you want to beat that; 11 years and 364 days.

Mission: Send a Kerbal to Duna in 11 years and 364 days.

Rules:

*NO MODS OTHER THAN THE FOLLOWING:

**Mechjeb

**Protractor

**Kethane

**Docking Camera Mod (I forget the name, Scott Manley uses it in his Reusable Space Program series)

**Quantum Struts

***Mods take away from Score & Budget

*No Debugging Menu. Debugging will be classified as cheating (obviously).

*Screenshots or it didn't happen

*Starting Budget: $9,000

Money:

Pods: (Manned: $100) (Unmanned: $50)

Thrust and Fuel: All fuel tanks: $100, All engines $100 (Sepatrons $20).

SAS and RCS: $50

Structural: $90

Aerodynamics: $150 (Winglets $100)

Utility: $100

Science: $50

Scoring:

Into Space!: 5 points and +$100

We aren't in Kansas Anymore: Reach Duna Orbit; 10 points and +$300

Hippity Hop: Land on Ike before Duna; 20 points and +$100

Orbital Pitstop: Refuel in Duna Orbit; 50 points

Eco Friendly: No wasted Parts; 65 points +$500

Are we Lost?: Take off, Land on Mun, Land on Minmus, Land on Ike, Land on Duna, Land on Mun, Return Home; 150 points +$1000

Minimalist: Under 50 parts; 30 points

Beep Boop: Unmanned success; 70 points

Safe!: Return Home; 50 points

Bad stuffs:

Killing Kerbal: -$100

Losing Rocket: Under 100 parts: -$300. Over 100 parts: -$500

Can't Return Home: -$200

Scoreboard

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

9.

10.

Honorable Mention

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

Debuggers

1.

Good luck on the challenge, and may it be fun for all.

[Atanar]

Why did you invent your own money system? can't you just use the game values?

Also, please read the rules regarding challenges.

[Flixxbeatz]

Have you tried doing this yourself?

[zarakon]

11 years and 364 days is more than 12 years

a year for Kerbin is 106d 12h 32m 24.6s, according to the wiki

[sal_vager]

"No mods except these mods"

You really need to think on your presentation a bit more

Also lets see your attempt

[Boffinbox]

Sorry for the image intensive post guys, fred requested screenshots or it didn't happen. I'll embed the most relevant screenshots only, the rest w/ links. This is the first part of today's efforts. I'll show you the rest after me dinner.

Cost of rocket according to prices: $49600

(took a loan out from the bank of kerbal, don't worry about it yeah? i saved money with no SAS or RCS though )

Attempting for the "Are we lost?" achievement by recycling an old rocket.

Ascent phase

http://i.imgur.com/IL9tahC.jpg

Stable orbit [+5 Points]

http://i.imgur.com/CB5hFd1.jpg

TMI

Got there safely

http://i.imgur.com/9YHrD52.jpg

Name change

Ditching last stage of ascent phase (this rocket was a modified Laythe lander)

http://i.imgur.com/A6e31jg.jpg

To show off, rendezvous with rover

http://i.imgur.com/MIWLGQZ.jpg

Landed on Mun

Liftoff for Mun-Minmus transfer

http://i.imgur.com/DHKd6fh.jpg

Straight into that transfer

OP implied I can refuel whenever I feel like by suggesting Duna refuels are +50 points

http://i.imgur.com/niQ4jOS.jpg

Refuelling at Minmus outpost before landing.

Bit tipsy

Greeted by the ground crew of Minmus base

Stereotypical space postcard shot

http://i.imgur.com/rP1NJFL.jpg

Leaving for Duna

http://i.imgur.com/PZJxSJK.jpg

Refuelling again.

http://i.imgur.com/MT3dsGl.jpg

At this moment, It occured to me that to land on Ike and Duna in that order and return, I needed to keep the landing legs attatched to asparagus staging. Because of this, I needed to launch a seperate fuel tank to Duna along with it. I'm gonna tack on an extra $30000 on my loan.

Duna transfer

View from window during aerobrake (in case you're wondering what's obstructing views this entire time, it's sepratrons, as part of an abort sequence. OP requested safety first.

http://i.imgur.com/44yvhIr.jpg

After aerobrake [+10 Points]

http://i.imgur.com/bcxSEvM.jpg

Link up with fuel tank around Duna [+50 Points]

Duna-Ike transfer

Ike de-orbit burn

http://i.imgur.com/sV20g2i.jpg

Right before Ike touchdown

Made it. [+20 Points]

I'll get the rest to you in a bit.

[Boffinbox]

Part Two, sorry for the delay - exams take precedence at the moment. (one on mechanics tomorrow)

Takeoff from Ike

Another "postcard" opportunity

http://i.imgur.com/RWPPu7I.jpg

Transfer to Duna

Not before refuelling first though... [another +50 maybe? i dunno...]

Oh and the crew in the fuel tanker were not part of the main objective, and were "returned" to the KSC through the teleportation power of "End Flight"

Start of descent

http://i.imgur.com/9T8eUVM.jpg

Activated parachutes, missed the landing site completely

http://i.imgur.com/Tap8ZxN.jpg

Lot of smoke

http://i.imgur.com/ddQ4ATb.jpg

Landed [Mission Complete, no points however - i'd revise your scoring system OP]

And the glorious shots w/ no HUD

http://i.imgur.com/Ui5bJqm.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/KWYN1hT.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/TOM0JIH.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/ZEJ0GSG.jpg

Duna Ascent

Ship during Duna-Kerbin transfer burn

http://i.imgur.com/on06fPb.jpg

Confirmed encounter

Adjusted trajectory for Mun encounter

http://i.imgur.com/3pzmQC7.jpg

Start of Mun descent

http://i.imgur.com/Qytws8v.jpg

Almost there

Penultimate landing

(i was gonna throw in a surprise trip to Gilly at this point but i'm too tired. for simplicity, 1L of fuel = 2 dV)

Only took one postcard shot, didn't wanna risk me lander tipping over

http://i.imgur.com/5zw6jR8.jpg

Got out of there pretty quickly

http://i.imgur.com/kJAqDaI.jpg

Return home

BUT WAIT!

So, it's going smoothly, I decouple the pod...

Guess who didn't pack the parachutes from the Duna descent?

Not exactly a problem, just climb out and pack them 19000 feet up

Sorted.

Landed safely! [+50 points]

(but an unmanned mission would have got me MORE points because of a fewer part count, the 70 point bonus AND no risk of killing kerbals so it'd be cheaper.)

Final Statistics

Cost: ~$79600 (fairly cheap for an interplanetary mission)

Points achieved: 285

Gained $1500 in achievements.

Definitely within 12 years, but I can't give an exact flight time because the mission counter kept resetting every time I docked. ~Three years I think.

Mods used: None. (the comms info box was there because i was recycling a rocket that had a probe as the base unit, couldn't be bothered to uninstall mod or build a new rocket for one challenge. it wasn't used at all.)

No SAS

No RCS

It was certainly a fun challenge, filled up me whole day with a specific task.

Your move themaddogfred, good luck

Edited May 12, 2013 by Boffinbox
linked incorrect image

[3_bit]

I might do an unmanned ion mission real quick... I have a ship I would use for another challenge but could use here to do a quick low-budget Duna flyby....

[Designer225]

Part Two, sorry for the delay - exams take precedence at the moment. (one on mechanics tomorrow)

<-snip->

Final Statistics

Cost: ~$79600 (fairly cheap for an interplanetary mission)

Points achieved: 285

Gained $1500 in achievements.

Definitely within 12 years, but I can't give an exact flight time because the mission counter kept resetting every time I docked. ~Three years I think.

Mods used: None. (the comms info box was there because i was recycling a rocket that had a probe as the base unit, couldn't be bothered to uninstall mod or build a new rocket for one challenge. it wasn't used at all.)

No SAS

No RCS

It was certainly a fun challenge, filled up me whole day with a specific task.

Your move themaddogfred, good luck

You've just used 1.52 years. Now that's fast.

And 11 years and 364 days is a day less than 12 years. That's in real life.

[Dunbaratu]

11 years and 364 days is more than 12 years

a year for Kerbin is 106d 12h 32m 24.6s, according to the wiki

I was going to ask which "year" was meant. An Earth Year, a Kerbin Year or a Duna Year? (And of course if you assume Earth year because of the "364" days being one day shy of an Earth year, you then have to ask WHICH specific Earth years you meant. Some spans of 11 years are going to include 2 leap years, and others are going to include 3 leap years, depending on exactly when those 11 years start in the leap year cycle.)

Perhaps it would just be better to issue the challenge in terms of total number of days period.

[Designer225]

I was going to ask which "year" was meant. An Earth Year, a Kerbin Year or a Duna Year? (And of course if you assume Earth year because of the "364" days being one day shy of an Earth year, you then have to ask WHICH specific Earth years you meant. Some spans of 11 years are going to include 2 leap years, and others are going to include 3 leap years, depending on exactly when those 11 years start in the leap year cycle.)

Perhaps it would just be better to issue the challenge in terms of total number of days period.

He meant normal Earth year, but I think it is a mix of two types of Earth years.

If it is a mixture, then the title should be "Duna in 11 Years, 365 Days", which is 1 day before 12 years.