Two men Eve landing and return (image heavy)

[Temstar]

Back in 0.17 days, when docking was only possible by using the really primitive docking mods then available I performed one of the first mothership-lander style interplanetary mission, landing two crews of three on both Duna and Ike and then returning to Kerbin in one go.

Then encouraged, I undertook a huge mission to Jool with a mothership carrying three separate landers, landing on all four moons then available (Pol wasn't introduced until 0.18) and then successfully turning the crew back to Kerbin.

These two missions are now lost into the mist of time (or rather the forum purge). I noticed that since the coming of stock docking I've been mostly stuck in LKO and around Mun working out the nuts and bolts of space flight. It's time to change this. With all the changes since 0.17 I now finally feel both KSP and myself are ready to tackle the last big planet left in the Kerbolar system. The hardest of them all - a landing and return mission to the surface of Eve:

Manned Landing Mission to Eve and Gilly

As before, if I am to go I need to go in style, so some ground rules first to make things interesting:

• no space junk to be lift in orbit any where
  
• no deorbiting nuclear rockets onto Kerbin
  
• all stock parts, information mods are okay
  

In addition to the above three I decided to make things harder for myself - must return a sample of Eve's ocean to Kerbin. See everyone and their mum knows that the best chance to return from Eve is to land the return craft on top of mountain tops. While I'm fine with that concept I also realise that with resources coming the most interesting part of Eve is going to be the oceans. So to make a mission worthy to the Kerbals a sample of the ocean must be taken and returned to Kerbin. Since splashing down a landing craft in the ocean and then take off back to orbit will require a colossus lander some kind of engineering solution must be done to get around this.

Then an idea hit me: why not go to the ocean, and then go to the rocket? See I never attempted an Eve mission in 0.18 precisely because it wasn't possible. But now that 0.19 bought us rovers this option has opened up.

So there is a way to go to the ocean and then come to the mountain top, but that still leaves open the question is how to get back to orbit from the surface of Eve. This ascent takes at least 7500m/s from even the highest peak on Eve. To make a reasonable sized return vehicle I must shave as much weight as possible from the top down. I pondered this question for a long time until my eureka moment:

See all that time spent around Kerbin and Mun did not go to waste. One of the nifty gizmo I came up with in that time was a mobile based called MOLAB, equipped with two tiny landers/fliers powered by RCS and carrying a Kerbal by letting him hanging onto a ladder. In a flash of insight I realised this was the final piece of the Eve puzzle - by using an "open air" lander without using any manned pod I could build a very small lander (by Eve standards) capable of returning two Kerbins back to orbit:

So without further ado I present you Manned Landing Mission to Eve and Gilly:

Phase 1: Kerbin Orbit Assembly

To go interplanetary is going to require NTRs. Since I have a requirement where dropping nuke rocket engines back on Kerbin is not allowed these nuclear engines either needs to be ditched elsewhere or be attached to some kind of reusable craft. Thus I elected to employ the same method as the previous missions: a nuclear powered mothership that will carry the landers to Eve.

Presenting the Interplanetary Vessel Thunderchild II, named after the original Thunderchild that went to Duna in 0.17 (it's that one in the very first picture). Carrying 11,200L of bipropellant, 1,100L of monopropellant, crew capacity of two, powered by nine nuclear rockets and equipped with 4 small docking ports and one heavy quad docking port.

With IPV Thunderchild II waiting in orbit, the Eve return craft dubbed Heavy Planetary Lander Helldiver weighing in at some 50 tons is launched atop of a Zenith V booster rocket.

The quad docking port was developed for my propellant depot project. By building a custom part using subassembly saver/loader I could dock two crafts together via 4 nodes rather than one. This allows construction of large, robust spacecraft on orbit - another piece of technology I've developed over time which made this mission possible.

Next to launch is a tanker rocket to fuel the whole Eve stack.

The third craft to be launched is the Light Planetary Lander Ranger intended for Gilly landing. Analysis shows that from LEO to Gilly requires a surprisingly large amount of delta-V due to Gilly's high erratic orbit. On the other hand actually landing and take off from Gilly requires very little delta-V due to low gravity. Thus It was determined that LPL Ranger will need a large tug stage and a separable small lander.

Here we see LPL Ranger demonstrating its ability to separate: the tug stage is docked to the starboard docking arm while the Ranger lander is docked to the zenith docking arm. There is actually another reason why I decided to go for this design...

Last to launch is the Manned Eve Rover Nomad. Once HPL Helldiver has confirmed successful landing on the Eve highlands the MER Nomad will undock and land on the surface carrying Jeb and Bill. It will then be used to drive to the beach for a swim before heading uphill to meet Helldiver.

Nomad's launch vehicle decouples and deorbits itself after docking. Then Bob undocks and manoeuvres his Ranger lander to dock with the bottom docking port of Nomad. See this here is a trick - by splitting up the heavier Ranger in two and shifting some of the weight over to Nomad's side I end up with a more or less balanced complete Eve stack in LKO.

Phase 2: Landing on Eve

After waiting patiently on orbit for the Eve transfer window the time has finally arrived. The tanker rocket undocks and leave as the nine engines of Thunderchild II roars into life, sending the combined spacecraft on its way to Eve.

"Jeb to KSC, I have visual of the target. It kind of looks like a blueberry."

Thunderchild II performing a blazing aerocapture manoeuvre through Eve's atmosphere. It will end up going through the atmosphere in three passes to settle down into a Low Eve Orbit.

With LEO achieved, Helldiver undocks from Thunderchild II, moves away to a safe distance and performs its deorbit burn.

Helldiver flying through a fiery re-entry over Eve. The quad heavy docking port also serves as a heat shield for the vehicle.

Deorbit package jettison. The bottom part contains the small 200L de-orbit fuel tank as well as the docking port/heat shield + RCS blocks, while the top bit is the RCS tank and RCS blocks used for docking/undocking.

Landing leg deployment.

"Jeb to KSC, Helldiver have successfully landed on equatorial highland. Altitude approximately 5000m above sea level, all systems show normal reading. Helldiver is now switching to surface hibernation mode. Eve landing is go."

Before Jeb and Bill head down though Bob has to get on with his mission - Gilly landing. Ranger tug and Ranger lander are undocked from Thunderchild II...

...and joined back together to form one craft.

"Bob to Thunderchild, trans-Gilly injection complete. ETA two and half days to Gilly. You guys enjoy the purple planet, remember not to drink any of that water!"

With Bob done, Jeb and Bill undocks Nomad and performs a deorbit burn to take them down to the surface.

A closer look at the Nomad's deorbit package. Basically two of those toroidal tanks, two R24-77 engines and a docking port for Ranger lander. Total delta-V is under 60m/s, but that's enough to deorbit from a 100km x 100km Low Eve Orbit.

Retropack jettison and reentry of Nomad.

Nomad nearly clearing the re-entry blackout period, Helldiver is in sight.

Parachute deployment and soft landing on Eve.

"Jeb, I'm really happy you let me take the first steps on Eve, but why am I repacking our parachutes again?"

"Well we can't drive around dragging those things behind us now can we?"

"That part I get, buy why repack? Why not just cut them loose?"

"In case I drive off a cliff, I might need to deploy them agan."

"Oh..."

Landing site of Helldiver and Nomad. They landed within 40km of each other. However it will be a 80km drive to the closest shoreline and then another 90km drive to the Helldiver.

Phase 3: Surface exploration

After an hour of driving southwards:

"Hey look! It's the ocean!"

"I claim this ocean, the shores and the islands in the name of King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of Spain."

"WHAT?! What did you say Jeb?"

"Nothing"

Bill wonders weather the heat, radiation or the long periods of stuck in a tin can is having an effect on Jeb.

"Okay just fill that last flask and we have what we came for."

"What does the reading on the spectrometer say?"

"Well Jeb, apparently Eve's ocean contain water, hydrocarbon in an emulsion and A LOT of dissolved Blutonium salt. Not only that the Blutonium has some unusual isotope ratio."

"What do you mean"

"Well if we dry it out and then separate out the Blutonium, we will have weapons grade Blutonium-238."

"Hey I have an idea, do you think if we do just that and cut our RTGs open and stick the extra Blutonium inside, we'll get more ummph out of the Nomad?"

"I don't think so Jeb."

Meanwhile...

"Bob to Nomad."

"Go ahead Bob."

"I'm a... going out for a walk."

"Wait what?!"

"Where the hell are you Bob?"

"I'm right here on Gilly, I can see Eve from here. How's the weather down there?"

"Where is the ship?"

"Right were I left it, in Gilly orbit."

"..."

"Okok I'll get back to the ship, relax I have plenty of MMU fuel left."

Undocking the Ranger lander from the tug section, Bob descends down to Gilly's surface for the second time.

Bob and Ranger on Gilly. Gilly's gravity is so low that you can do silly things like this. The pull of the gravity to overturn the craft is so minuscule that it can easily be countered indefinitely just by turning on ASAS. Thus you can actually balance your spacecraft in any orientation you like on Gilly given the typical rotPower available for a ship.

Phase 3: Eve Orbit Rendezvous

Some 90 days later, it's time to start heading back...

An hour and half and 90km of overland driving later, Nomad reaches Helldiver. Here Jeb and Bill will perform more studies around the mountain top for the next 20 days.

At the same time, Bob takes off with the Ranger lander and rejoins with the tug in Low Gilly Orbit.

Bob's mission calls for Gilly mapping run from polar orbit. The low gravity means it actually only costs 25m/s to change inclination by 90 degrees.

20 more days pass...

"Alright guys I'm on my way back. You better wrap up too the Kerbin transfer window is in only a few days."

Ranger aerobraking in Eve's atmosphere.

Ranger redocking with Thunderchild II in two sections.

Meanwhile on the surface...

Getting ready for take off, Jeb wakes up Helldiver from surface hibernation mode and jettisons the surface survival packs that have kept the ship alive.

"Just for the record Jeb but this is a really bad idea"

"Relax, they said this would work. Just strap yourself in and feel the Gs"

Helldiver blasting off. The take off is a special action group - it activates all the engines and jettisons the landing legs at the same time.

Helldiver, using up its six asparagus boosters climbing to around 18,000m

Helldiver gravity turn and climbing to orbit.

Orbit achieved! The final stage of the helldiver is actually very difficult to fly even with ASAS. The two Kerbals shifting around on the ladders constantly threatens to throw the ship off course so I messed up and ended up in an elliptical orbit. But good enough this will work.

Bill and Jeb jumping ship to the Thunderchild II using their MMU packs. No need for RCS and docking capability on the Helldiver when the payload can make the final "docking" themselves.

"You two did remember the water samples right?"

"Yeah sure sure, it's in the backpack."

Its mission complete, the final stage of Helldiver is deorbited and allowed to burn up in Eve's atmosphere.

Helldiver's mountain launch site. The Nomad is still fully functional so the next crew to Eve will only require a simple lander rather than a rover. Nomad can drive out on probe control to pick them up.

Similarly, protractor shows that was only a bit over 1300m/s to get back to Kerbin from Eve so Thunderchild II have more than enough fuel on board. I decided to fully fuel the Ranger tug and leave it on orbit. Future missions go Gilly will only require the lander.

Phase 4: Return to Kerbin

But every journey have to come to and end. The Kerbin transfer window came and Thunderchild II fires up its engines again to bring our heroes home.

"KSC, we see you in our windows and you've never looked better."

Aerocapture in Kerbin's atmosphere brings Thunderchild II back to LKO.

To bring our heroes back, a Crew Return Vehicle "Dragonfly" is launched to join up with Thunderchid II.

Dragonfly deobit burn and SM separation.

"Dragonfly to KSC, the ship is secured. Jeb signing off."

But wait, that's just the crew! What about all that Eve ocean sample and Gilly rock samples that the crew stashed away in the Ranger?

Fortunately while the crew was away KSP designed a Ranger Return Vehicle just for this purpose.

RRV docking with Ranger. Once the parachute section is docked to the nose of the Ranger it is decoupled and the heat shield is then attached to the bottom docking port of the ranger.

Deorbit burn with RRV and SM jettison.

Ranger, deorbiting with the aid of the heat shield. Once the craft has sufficiently slowed the heat shield is jettisoned and parachutes are deployed.

Ranger, splashing down safely.

Woah that was a long summery. Now onto 0.20 and stock seats!

[Tada]

Very nice! Thunderchild II is extremly capable platform

Mission itselft was very well planned and executed - you don´t put it easy on yourself

[rowns]

That was a nice post i did really like it. Hope that you are going to make more.

[CalculusWarrior]

Wow! A fantastic read, and congratulations on your Eve mission! I imagine you would have liked to put the kerbal seats on the Helldiver, eh?

[Temstar]

Yes if I were to do it again I'll use these new seats. I think it will fix the control issue on the final stage caused by Kerbals shifting around on the ladders throwing off ASAS.

That final stage has a dry weight of only 551kg. A kerbal on EVA is 32kg so the final mass to orbit of Helldiver is 613kg with Kerbals making up more than 10% of the mass. The fact that I'm lifting only 613kg to orbit is the main reason why a lander could be designed within the 50 ton range. Where as a one man spacecraft using capsule will be 800kg just for the capsule itself, once you add fuel tank and engine and ASAS and what not you'll end up with at least one ton, so if we keep the design and just scale up the rocket you get a lander of around 80-100 tons which will be difficult to bring to Eve.

[Commander Zoom]

Another amazing achievement in imagination, engineering, and execution. Eve presents some tough problems and you handled them beautifully. (I'm particularly impressed by your "land on a mountain, drive to the beach" solution, and your trick for getting the Ranger capsule down safely.)

Have you had a chance yet to see how the strength of the Clamp-O-Tron Sr. compares to your Heavy-Duty Docking Ports? I've been designing my own first interplanetary craft and was going to use the latter, but the simplicity (and lower part count) of the new stock part tempts me...

[TheWanderer]

craft files for the ships you haven't already posted up please! Brilliant work again.

helldiver, nomad and ranger will add perfectly to my new "temstar style" mission save

[Temstar]

Sure:

IPV Thunderchild II: http://www./download/404151xv3wyn6de/IPV_Thunderchild_II.craft

HPL Helldiver: http://www./download/781hob7odns6btz/HPL_Helldiver.craft

MER Nomad: http://www./download/o1a4aq83o4wywic/MER_Nomad_LV.craft

LPL Ranger: http://www./download/6dd6pb92b4t4wfi/LPL_Ranger.craft

Ranger Retrieval Vehicle: http://www./download/sf51uneytoi5gbf/Ranger_Retrieval_Vehicle.craft

[AmpsterMan]

Temstar, as usual, you are amazing at what you do. Keep it up dude!

[Akalaël]

Perfect, you're a good story teller in addition to your engeenering talent !

With the Skipper added in the 0.2, does your Zenith Rocket Familly will evolve ? (Thinking of certain combinations of 4 LV-T 45 that can be replaced)

[Shimmergloom]

That was an awesome read!

[Tw1]

Looks like I was late to the party (missed this one.)

Your (published) missions are always so complex, yet efficient, with neat craft as well. It'll be interesting what you do in 0.21, with both seats and reaction wheels in place.