UKS MASEC Mission Logs [Picture Heavy] | UPDATE: Back in business, again!

[Cashen]

Your arrival at Duna didn't disappoint. :-)

Are you considering a land base in there? I'm curious to see your designs for that. I don't know if you agree with me that when it comes to bases, stock and mods parts are sorely lacking at this moment. I'm using H.O.M.E. parts for that and although they look really cool, you can't get much variety from them.

Anyway, awesome tread, keep on the good work.

Still undecided on what I will do at Duna. The next step might be a rover probe, followed by a manned one-off land-and-return mission, before setting up something permanent. If that something permanent happens to be a surface base, or an orbital one like the ones I've made so far, that remains to be seen. I opted for orbital bases at the moons because it's easier to get there (I've not been able to fully master precision pinpoint landings), and as long as said orbital base can deploy a lander with a rover, you have complete freedom to go anywhere on the surface you like. A surface base is actually more limited in its exploration range in this regard. For this to work on Duna though would require a lander with a lot more power than I have now, but it's a design I've already been considering.

Anyway, enough spoilers! Thanks for reading.

[Cashen]

Chapter 4: The Explorers

Interplanetary Exploration

Project Newet, the largest, most complex, and most expensive construction project of all time, is completed. Three orbital stations, as forward operating bases to perform exploration of Mun and Minmus, plus supporting operations in Kerbin orbit, are online, staffed and operational. What happens next? Well, there are many ideas. Let's break it down based on the different locations within the solar system.

Mun and Minmus

In terms of infrastructure, Mun and Minmus are more or less complete. While NAMLARV and Fennec haven't been put to use yet, there's no forseeable reason they wouldn't function exactly as intended. Soon enough, much more detailed exploration of both moons will begin, entirely supported by kethane produced from Minmus. Interesting geologic features, particularly on Mun which has more varied terrain, will be undertaken. The potential for additional hardware exists as well - surface bases or habitats? More advanced rovers? To a degree the moons will act as an easy-to-reach proving and testing ground for hardware to be deployed elsewhere.

Now, let's look at the planets, from the inside out.

Moho

At present, Moho is a low priority for MASEC. It's a dead rock devoid of an atmosphere, and not that different from Mun, though far, far harder to reach. Manned missions are unlikely any time soon. Several transfer windows to Moho have come and passed already with no interest in sending missions there. Eventually, Project Isis does plan to send a combination IKSS/ILP mission there, but there are other bodies of higher interest for such missions first.

Eve & Gilly

Eve is one of the few bodies that has both an atmosphere and surface liquid and is therefore a very high priority for unmanned exploration. As soon as possible, Isis Science Packages essentially no different from the ones that recently arrived at Duna will be sent there. There is interest in sending two surface probes to Eve in fact, one of which will land in an ocean, to study its atmosphere and surface liquid, and some sort of surface rover for more detailed exploration. An ILP probe will also be sent to Gilly. Manned exploration of Eve is considered unlikely for the foreseeable future, due to the difficulty in returning - a reusable exploration vehicle would be nearly impossible. A one-time surface visit is not impossible though. The possibility of a manned Eve orbital mission and surface exploration of Gilly has been considered as well.

Duna & Ike

The only celestial bodies outside of the Kerbin system to have been visited by probes thus far, Duna and Ike are a prime target for long term exploration. Due to the mistake in the descent of the IALP probe, another probe is likely to complete the atmospheric analysis at the next opportunity, and MASEC would like to use that opportunity to send a surface rover for additional exploration capacity. An unmanned rover based on the chassis of the Fennec is in development. Beyond that, a question remains if there should be a visit-and-return mission first, or if the first Kerbals at Duna should establish a permanent presence there immedeately, either through orbital bases much like the ones currently in orbit at the Kerbin system, or a surface base on Duna, or both. In any case, a long term presence there would almost certainly be supported by kethane extraction from Ike, using a similar technique used on Minmus.

Dres

Dres is probably the lowest priority for visitation at the moment, as its a fairly uninteresting target compared to the others. It will likely be the last body visited. There are no plans for any missions there presently.

The Jool System

Jool, and its extensive system of moons are of special interest to Masec. There is no hiding this fact: Laythe is, by far, the most interesting and highest priority target in the entire solar system. Analysis from a distance predicts an oxygen bearing atmosphere and oceans of surface water, prime conditions for life to exist, and probably the most comfortable place for Kerbals aside from Kerbin, owing to its higher gravity and thicker atmosphere than Duna. The last transfer window to Jool was missed after the launch failure of the first habitation module for Minmus station, but the next transfer window will see a flurry of probes send to the Jool system: A sacrificial probe into Jool's atmosphere to study its properties down to the point of the probe's destruction, kethane scanners for all five moons, lander probes for all four of the airless moons, and probably two landing probes for Laythe, one to study its atmosphere and oceans, and another to land somewhere on land (Much like the landers being proposed for Eve).

The end-game for the Jool system is up in the air, but all proposals represent construction projects bigger than even Project Newet. Laythe will almost certainly have surface bases, on different islands, supported by a large orbital station to coordinate efforts. There is a good bet that the Horus SSTO Spaceplane will be used there, alongside traditional VTVL rockets and dedicated manned rovers.

Exploration of Vall and Tylo is on the to-do list. These moons will probably not have their own dedicated bases (but that is also a possability). They could be serviced from a base at Laythe, either the main one or a separate one intended primarily for exploration of Vall and Tylo. A base in orbit around Jool could work for this as well, and could also serve as a waypoint for craft entering and leaving the Jool system.

Activities will be supported by a kethane extracting operation on one of the two outer moons, Bop or Pol. Which one will require kethane mapping and surface exploration, plus some additional analysis to determine the optimal location. In any case, a base will be established around one, and could easily be used for exploration of the other as well.

Eeloo

Eeloo is grouped in with Moho in the "Somewhat interesting, but hard to reach and not worth it at this point" group. At the opposite extreme of the solar system, it provides a technical challenge that would be interesting to overcome, but doesn't seem to provide that much interest once you get there. Very little is known about it at this point however, given its distance and small size, so a probe mission there would shed more light on it.

Stay tuned for more!

[Scotius]

So. Duna, eh? You will have to redesign your kethane miner - Ike is somewhat bigger than Minmus.

[Cashen]

So. Duna, eh? You will have to redesign your kethane miner - Ike is somewhat bigger than Minmus.

Very true! When I was first designing Amphion, I was using Kerbal Engineer to see where it would and wouldn't work based on TWR and DeltaV when fully loaded. It will work on Minmus, Bop, Pol and Gilly, and nowhere else. However, if I remove two of the six kethane tanks, reducing its capacity to 64,000L, it should work, at least for TWR. I'd have to double check though. I could also give it more power to keep the 96,000L capacity but it would need more than the one engine which would be a major re-design, which might be a more interesting challenge.

Edited September 17, 2013 by Cashen

[Thordan Ssoa]

Not one to update pester, but are you still working on this project? Or has MASEC gone belly up?

[Cashen]

Not one to update pester, but are you still working on this project? Or has MASEC gone belly up?

I'm still around, but things are really slow right now. I started my final year of university at the start of the month and it leaves me far less time to play video games than I anticipated. So we'll see how it goes.

[Captain_Party]

Can you put your gamedata in a .zip? Because whenever I download the docking cam it doesn't have that cool black and yellow gui, but some horrible gui insted cheers

[Warriorbulb99]

This is amazing! Keep up the awesome work, Cashen!

[Shalashalska]

Project Isis Update: Arrival at Duna

-snip-

The strength of gravity is similarly extrapolated, linearly this time, showing a surface gravity on Duna of 2.925m/s2. The step-wise increase in the real data points is due to limitations in the resolution of the sensor.

Gravity is an inverse square relation (F of g = G*m1*m2/r^2) and should be plotted as a curve. When converting to acceleration, the mass of the object you are accelerating cancels out, but the r is still squared. You can see how it curves, in a game, you should never have any error (unless it's intentionally added to the instruments)

Edited October 24, 2013 by Shalashalska

[Cashen]

Wow, so that was a lot longer of a hiatus than I expected.

Sorry for those of you who were a fan of my work. I'll reiterate that it's not dead yet. Real life sucked me away for a while though. I'm in 4th year engineering (chemical engineering to be specific) and the workload is far far higher than 3rd year. So much that I've had to spend almost the entire semester without playing any video games at all, including my beloved KSP. I seem to have a little more free time now though, and I hope to get back to work on MASEC missions: Actually, when I went on hiatus, there was a mission in progress. I had my NAMLARV landed on Mun and a couple of guys were out driving around in the Fennec rover. I went back to that tonight and played around with it a little more, and I think I can reignite my interest in the game again.

There's a transfer window coming up to Eve as well, so that should be fun.

Hope to update the thread within the next week or so.

[Cashen]

First mission back from a loooooooong break. Hopefully I can get back into the swing of things and keep the quality of my reports high. Just an FYI though, in about two weeks there will be another break as I'm flying home to spend the holidays with my family. Then we'll see how second semester treats me. Hopefully not too terribly!

Mun Exploration Mission I

With Project Newet completed, it's time to actually put all that fancy new hardware to the test. There was some controversy after cancelling Aten after just two landings, with the expectation of follow-on missions, but MASEC decided to pursue long-term exploration quickly, rather than just keep building Aten/Lupus V vehicles for one-off missions. It's been a long time since Mac Kerman became the first to set foot on another celestial body, and the only landing on Mun to date. Let's see how NAMLARV and the Fennec rover handle being put to the test for the first time!

Mission Outline & Objectives

• Land NAMLARV on Mun
  
• Detach Fennec Rover and do some exploration of surface features on Mun
  
• Re-attach Fennec to the lander, and return to Mun Station
  
• Crew: Dunlie Kerman (Pilot/Driver), Wildon Kerman (Geologist)
  

Dunlie and Wildon climb into NAMLARV and undock from Mun station. Their target: The rim of a massive crater on the far-side of Mun, just below the horizon from Kerbin, on Mun's prograde side.

The small nuclear engines are much less powerful than the old moon lander's chemical engine, so the powered descent burn is much longer. They're aiming to set down just east of that crater, which itself is part of the much larger crater formation in question. This region was chosen for its geologic significance.

The lander works perfectly and touches down with the crater in the background.

Dunlie and Wildon detach Fennec from the base of the lander and get ready to do some exploration. The rover, provided it functions properly, will give them a far greater range of exploration than ever before.

Here we see the landing site on the edge of the large impact depression. Landing was just after local sunrise, as usual, to give them the maximum amount of time to explore.

They drive west to the rim of the smaller crater and begin driving north along its rim, looking for a suitable spot to drive down inside.

The slopes of the crater are too steep to descend, so they'll have to settle for exploring around the edge. Here, they're headed for that high peak at the top left, where this crater meets a smaller one.

Fennec is able to handle slopes quite well at reduced speed; upwards of 30 degrees in pitch and 30 degrees in roll.

The two of them park and dismount to do a little exploration on foot at the peak joining two craters. Wildon is admiring the view.

Clearly Wildon doesn't seem to mind sitting in the back, facing backwards. He has control of all the rover-based scientific equipment while Dunlie focuses on driving.

Every now and then they stop to examine something of interest; in this case, Wildon takes a look at one of the bigger boulders they come across.

They travel far to the north to reach another crater system. Again, the slopes are too steep to descend, but the view is spectacular. You can see the general slope of everything from right to left, indicative of the fact that they are within a much larger and much older impact depression.

The same picture from a different angle, looking back the crater they had just driven from, including that prominent peak where they'd stopped.

Driving back to the southeast to a third crater system, view looking south, again towards the original crater they landed next to.

"It feels weird being out here alone, out of contact from Kerbin!" remarks Wildon. They're just slightly below the horizon from Kerbin and hence, on the far hemisphere. However, they are in radio contact with Mun station periodically for short duration whenever the station passes overhead in its orbit, so they're not truly on their own.

After a productive day on Mun and exploring three smaller crater systems within the slopes of the larger depression, they return to NAMLARV.

Dunlie very carefully drives Fennec between NAMLARV's landing struts.

Wildon then grabs the winch cable and attaches Fennec to the bottom of the lander. The system works perfectly!

Wildon then joins Dunlie inside. After this, they'd retract the ladder, to allow Fennec to nudge forward and under the lander before being lifted and locked in place.

Liftoff from the surface of Mun. As they come out of the large depression, Kerbin rises over the horizon.

They complete an orbit on their way back to Mun Station, and from this altitude you can see their landing site (marked with an X) and the route they drove clockwise between those three crater systems.

They successfully rendezvous with Mun Station and their colleagues welcome them back after a mission well done!

Dunlie Kerman:

Wildon Kerman:

Edited May 1, 2014 by Cashen

[Scotius]

Glad to see you back, Cashen Good read as always. Are you planning on sending more science equipment to Mun Station? Maybe a proper science rover?

[Cashen]

Glad to see you back, Cashen Good read as always. Are you planning on sending more science equipment to Mun Station? Maybe a proper science rover?

Thanks! And I haven't decided yet. To be honest I've not really looked into the new features of 0.22, and since this mission was started back in September under 0.21 I just played as I always have. This whole thing is obviously purely in sandbox mode and I'm not sure what the new 'science' features are yet. If it's just the word 'science' without any real quantitative stuff it can do, like measure or observe or record, then I might not get too much into it. Things like temperature and pressure and whatnot you could measure already. But it would be cool to be able to measure the composition of atmospheres or liquids and stuff!

[Captain_Party]

Look who's finally back. The world of KSP has changed Cashen... Welcome back! That was a rather long hiatus... Have a look at RSS if you have the time

[Cashen]

Look who's finally back. The world of KSP has changed Cashen... Welcome back! That was a rather long hiatus... Have a look at RSS if you have the time

Thanks! Yeah, engineering degree programs tend to consume your life. Seems the big addition to KSP is career mode. I don't see much of significance for sandbox at least in terms of changes to parts or planets and whatnot, not as much as what changed in the 0.21 update.

[Captain_Party]

Also, in case you didn't know, we have multiplayer now. Real multiplayer.

[Cashen]

Minmus Exploration Mission I

You can't really expect the guys at Minmus Station to let Mun Station have all the fun with the new rover, really?

Mission Outline & Objectives

• Land NAMLARV on Minmus
  
• Detach Fennec Rover and do some exploration of surface features on Minmus
  
• Re-attach Fennec to the lander, and return to Mun Station
  
• Crew: Desbree Kerman (Pilot/Driver), Luski Kerman (Scientist)
  

Just like during Project Aten, MASEC has designed one lander and one rover to accomplish exploration of both moons. The lander design should therefore allow for multiple landings without having to refuel. There remain some doubts about the effectiveness of a wheeled rover in Minmus' low gravity however. Desbree and Luski back NAMLARV away from Mimmus Station in preparation to make a landing.

Landing on Minmus is rather easy. Unlike all previous landings, which landed in hilly regions, this time they decide to land in one of the flat salt lakes, since they've never been explored previously.

Once they land, the two of them get out and prepare to un-latch Fennec from under the lander.

They examine the frozen salt lake, collect some samples, and shown here; Luski examines a large boulder near the base of a large hill. "Interesting. No boulders in the salt flats, but you start to see them near the highlands."

Fennec is harder to control on Minmus and much less forgiving. Here, Desbree wipes out and Luski is thrown from the rover. Fortunately it lands wheels up and, in the low gravity, Luski isn't hurt at all.

They attempt to drive up the hill they landed near, and do some more exploration on the plateau at the top. They got to about 900 meters elevation, but when the grade became almost 20%, Fennec was unable to climb any higher. Fennec was able to handle steep slopes just fine on Mun, but it appears it's too light in Minmus' gravity to be effective. "Well, that's disappointing!" remarks Desbree.

Disappointed, the rest of the mission is called off, and they head back towards NAMLARV after spending only about half the planned time on the surface. MASEC will have to reconsider how to explore Minmus, if Fennec isn't an appropriate solution. Maybe they just need to add weight to it to give the wheels more traction?

The guys arrive back at the lander and Desbree skillfully parks right underneath.

Once Fennec is re-attached, they launch and prepare to make their way back to base. They attempt something new on the return trip. They do a direct ascent rendezvous, or at least a partial one. Rather than circularizing at apoapsis, they realize they can do a transfer burn without circularizing. However, the transfer burn occurs after the apoapsis.

The result is their transfer orbit passes through a periapsis before the rendezvous, and it took them within just 200 meters of the ground. A little scary to say the least!

They nevertheless make it back home in one piece, if a little disappointed.

Desbree Kerman:

Luski Kerman:

Edited May 2, 2014 by Cashen

[Cashen]

Isis VII, VIII & IX: Eve/Gilly Science Package

Team Isis are back and more ambitious than ever. This set of missions has been in the works since the probes that were launched to Duna and Ike. This time however they're being even more ambitious, as there will be three Isis launches on the same day, pointed at Kerbin's closest neighbor, Eve. Much of the hardware is identical to what was sent to Duna, with some modifications and additions. It's known from ground and orbit based observations that Eve has a very thick atmosphere and large oceans of some kind of liquid, and so the modifications are tailored to study Eve more properly.

Mission Outline & Objectives

• Isis VII: Eve Science Package 1. Put an IKSS into polar orbit around Eve, and land an Isis Atmospheric and Oceanic Probe (IAOP) on Eve's ocean. This mission will map Eve for kethane deposits, as well as do a thorough study of Eve's dense atmosphere and ocean surface.
  
• Isis VIII: Gilly Science Package. Put an IKSS into polar orbit around Gilly, and land an ILP on Gilly's surface. All hardware exactly identical to the Ike Science Package.
  
• Isis IX: Eve Science Package 2: Land an Isis Fennec Unmanned Rover (IFUR) on Eve's solid surface. This is essentially a Fennec rover without the seats, equipment for remote control, additional instrumentation, and a parachute/heat shield to survive entry into Eve's atmosphere. This takes the place of the IALP, like the one sent to Duna. It will perform the same atmospheric analysis but will then be able to move around and study Eve in more detail.
  

The VAB is large enough that all three missions could be assembled and checked out together. All three would launch on the same day; one just after sunrise, one at noon, and one just before sunset. All three probes would then be checked out in orbit and then head off to Eve.

The morning launch of Isis VII, Eve Science Package 1. Looks very much like the last two Isis launches. In fact, the launch vehicle is identical to both the Duna and Ike missions.

The four small solid rocket boosters separate. Isis VII makes it into proper orbit without incident.

The pad is prepared and Isis VIII rolls out for a noon launch. This launch will be aimed for Gilly. Its an exact duplicate of the hardware sent to Ike.

The Gilly Science Package sheds its core stage and payload fairing before also making it into a proper orbit.

The IFUR launch is a much heavier launch, surprisingly. Fennec, with its parachute and heat shield are almost double the weight of the IKSS/ILP combination, and therefore it requires a much heavier launch vehicle, as seen here prior to launch in the evening.

Four much larger solid rocket boosters are jettisoned during the ascent of Isis IX.

The missions are numbered for the order they launch, but Isis IX gets the first transfer window. Here we can see the Fennec rover. The same design as the manned rovers sent to the moons, but modified to work unmanned, commanded from Kerbin. Given how thick Eve's atmosphere is, only a single parachute ought to be needed to properly touch down.

Isis VII gets the next transfer burn time. Here we see the only other new piece of hardware. The round Isis Atmospheric and Oceanic Probe is packed with sensors. It has no up or down orientation, other than having a parachute attached to one end. This means it can come to rest at whatever orientation it wants once floating in Eve's ocean.

Gilly Science Package gets the last transfer, and here we see the ILP stacked in the middle, as usual.

The three probe missions head on out of the Kerbin system, passing Minmus on the way. Next stop: Eve.

Stay tuned for more.

[Cashen]

Horus IV: Spaceplane Grand Tour

Been a little while since we saw this thing, huh?

Project Horus is still ongoing. The design has been mostly validated. It has achieved all of its primary objectives. The SSTO is mostly a technology demonstrator; it has no real practical use, yet. But there is one requirement that hasn't been fulfilled yet. Travel in deep space. To test this, the Horus SSTO is going to perform a Kerbin system grand tour. It will also be the first Horus flight to use a crew of two instead of just one, owing to how long the mission will be.

Mission Outline & Objectives

• Take off from KSC, achieve orbit, rendezvous and dock with Kerbin Station and take on a full load of propellant.
  
• Perform an ejection burn to travel to Mun, achieve low orbit for Mun observation, then rendezvous and dock with Mun Station to await a transfer window to Minmus.
  
• Perform a transfer burn to Minmus, achieve low orbit for Minmus observation, then rendezvous and dock with Minmus Station. Take on liquid fuel but not oxidizer.
  
• Depart Minmus and return to Kerbin, landing on the KSC runway.
  
• Pilot (From takeoff until Mun Station Docking): Jebediah Kerman
  
• Pilot (From Mun Station undocking to landing): Bob Kerman
  

The mission will be a long one, and there's not a lot of room inside Horus. Jeb will fly the first half with Bob as a passenger. During their stay at Mun Station, they'll switch seats and Bob will fly the second half.

Jeb at the controls as Horus takes off from KSC. Again, its excellent lift characteristics allow it to use such a short segment of the runway and pitch up dramatically.

Horus has only actually got to orbit once, the other flights were atmospheric test flights. Jeb becomes the second pilot to get to orbit in a single stage. He's come a long way since Geb I at the very beginning of the space program.

Horus reaches orbit easily, with a little over 800m/s of deltaV remaining. Not quite enough to get to Mun.

The two of them dock at Kerbin Station just long enough to refill their propellant tanks.

Not long after that, it's time for the ejection burn to Mun. Horus leaves Kerbin for the first time.

"Look at that. Who would have thought a plane would get this far out," Bob remarks from the back seat.

Jeb adds, "The view from the big cockpit windows is much better than the tiny windows in the Aten capsule." They approach Mun.

"Woah, do you see that arch there?" Jeb asks Bob. They are flying past at high speed on a hyperbolic trajectory, having not yet performed the orbit insertion burn. There's not enough time to perform a proper observation as they're busy preparing for ignition.

Ignition of Horus' twin rocket engines places it in Mun orbit. "Mun Station, this is Horus IV, we are in orbit around Mun. We saw a strange rock formation on the way in, will attempt a better observation on the next orbit."

"That view never gets old." It's been a little while since these guys have been this far from home.

"I have a clear view of the anomaly now. It appears to be a stone arch of some kind. It's located at the northern edge of the large impact depression that faces toward Kerbin." Jeb would relay the actual coordinates up to Mun Station. It's agreed that the next Mun Exploration Mission will attempt close, ground level observation of the formation. Bob points out, "See, it's the visibility of the windows. In Aten I probably never noticed that because of the restricted view." Bob was in low Mun orbit as CSM Pilot of Aten V.

Later in the second orbit they transfer up to Mun Station and get out to rest a while. They spend a whole day on the station waiting for the window to Minmus. A nice break.

The next day its off to Minmus. Bob is now at the controls, and Jeb in the rear passenger seat. They don't take on any fuel at Mun, Horus holds more than enough.

The coast to Minmus takes a few days. Here they witness Mun occulting Kerbin, when they both have the same apparent diameter.

Jeb has seen this view before: The entire Kerbin system in the same field of view.

Horus arrives at Minmus. They complete half an orbit at low altitude (about 6km) before transferring up.

"Well ain't that a pretty sight."

Docked at Minmus Station. They have enough oxidizer to get home, but they take on a full load of liquid fuel; there's no guarantee where they will re-enter Kerbin's atmosphere so Horus may have to fly some distance under jet power to get home again.

Bob uses a camera with a long lens to take this spectacular photo out the front cockpit window after docking with Minmus Station. The two of them spend another day or so at Minmus.

The ejection burn back to Kerbin. Time to come home.

Bob takes one last look back at Minmus as they fly out on an escape trajectory.

A couple of days later, they prepare to return to Kerbin. Horus will hit the atmosphere faster than ever before. Their approach looks close to KSC already. Perhaps a little long.

Long indeed. "Okay, not the first time I've overshot KSC," Bob remarks. His flight back from the north pole during Horus II had the same result.

So Bob calmly performs a 180 degree turn out at sea once they're low and slow enough for the control surfaces to be safely used.

Getting lined up with the runway. More than enough fuel left.

"Man that was a hell of a ride, but does it ever feel good to be back on Kerbin!"

Jebediah:

Bob:

Edited May 2, 2014 by Cashen

[Scotius]

"Go where no plane has flew before." Very nice and ambitious mission (well, maybe from my POV, 'coz i can't build a spaceplace to save my life ).

[Cashen]

Isis Update: Arrivel at Eve

The three Isis missions have arrived at Eve. The trip to Eve is quicker than the trip to Duna, just over 40 days. The three probes would arrive staggered by a few days. Each made course corrections to align with Eve's orbital plane along the way. Gilly Science Package arrives first as its course correction was adjusted to enter close to Gilly's orbital plane.

Gilly Science Package arrives at Eve, but a critical mistake is made. The probe is passing Eve in a retrograde manner, not a prograde manner. This means fuel has to be spent getting properly into the right orbit, in Gilly's plane and in the right direction, in preparation for Aerobraking. While Ike Science Package ran into fuel issues due to the required correction burn, Gilly Science Package expected to make a correction burn due to the inclination change. This meant that while Ike had some margin for error, Gilly had very little. This mistake may cost the mission. To conserve delta v, the probes separate themselves on the way in.

The IKSS bound for Gilly prepares to aerobrake through Eve's atmosphere, aiming for an apoapsis near Gilly's orbit. There's not enough fuel to do a manual transfer to Gilly, the mission will have to park in an elliptical orbit and simply wait for an encounter.

The final orbits the two probes end up in. Mission planners feel confident that the ILP will be able to land on Gilly, but the IKSS likely doesn't have enough fuel to get into orbit. In any case, they will have to wait for an encounter. Meanwhile, the other probes are arriving.

Eve Science Package arrives next. It does one hard aerobraking through about 60km altitude, shown here, to be captured into an elliptical orbit. Three consecutive aerobraking passes at 72km roughly circularized the orbit. Eve Science Package also corrected the mistake the Duna Science Package made, as the entire mission approached from a polar direction. IKSS needs to be in a polar orbit and there is no particular requirement on the descent probe to be at any inclination.

After exiting the final aerobrake pass, the probes separate themselves from each other. IKSS moves into a 135km circular orbit, while IAOP remains in a fairly elliptical orbit to await entry.

IKSS quickly detects kethane on Eve, and continues mapping. Safely in orbit, attention turns to IAOP, which waits for a body of liquid to rotate under its periapsis.

This orbit will see a large body of liquid under the periapsis, so IAOP performs a de-orbit burn at apoapsis

The interplanetary transfer stage is then jettisoned.

IAOP's instruments and recording devices come online and prepare to begin gathering data once the atmosphere interface is detected.

Re-entry begins, IAOP is recording.

Heating effects dissipate and the probe free-falls through Eve's dense atmosphere.

The chute opens. IAOP will splash down within sight of that island. All data recording is going smoothly.

Splashdown! The first probe landing on Eve is a resounding success!

The Isis Atmospheric and Oceanic Probe's landing site shown on the surface of Eve.

Data is soon relayed back to KSC regarding Eve's atmosphere and oceans:

The descent profile, showing IAOP's velocity relative to the atmosphere and the dynamic pressure it experienced. The peak in dynamic pressure shows the peak of re-entry. The two large drops in both near the end are the partial parachute deployment followed by full chute opening.

Eve atmosphere temperature and pressure as a function of altitude. Eve is confirmed to be quite hot and possess a dense atmosphere. Temperature at ocean level is 150 degrees, with a pressure of 5 Kerbin atmospheres.

The density of the atmosphere can be calculated from velocity and dynamic pressure, and is shown here along with the strength of Eve's gravity, both as a function of altitude.

The molar mass of Eve's atmosphere can be calculated by the ideal gas law, using pressure, temperature and density, and this calculation is displayed below, along with the result:

The two primary components of Eve's atmosphere are determined to be carbon dioxide (94%) and water vapour (6%), and the average molar mass agrees with this being between that of carbon dioxide (44 kg/kgmol) and water (18 kg/kgmol). After the atmospheric data is returned, composition data on the oceans is relayed back as IAOP begins to sample and analyze. It turns out that Eve's oceans are composed of very high salinity water. Much more saline than Kerbin's oceans. The saturation temperature of pure water at 5 atm is 152 degrees, not much above Eve's surface temperature. The high salinity serves to elevate the boiling temperature substantially, but nevertheless the oceans exert a significant vapour pressure on the atmosphere above, resulting in the 6% water composition. Given the thickness and density of Eve's atmosphere, this 6% still represents a large amount of water. It is therefore theorized that at some point, Eve warmed up, its oceans began to evaporate into the atmosphere, concentrating the salts and elevating the boiling temperature until some kind of stable equilibrium was reached at the current conditions. The purple colour is due to minerals present in the water, and Eve's oceans may have at one point covered almost all of its surface, leaving behind the same purple minerals on land as water evaporated away.

IFUR performs a powered aerobraking as it enters the system a day or so later. It has the most fuel remaining on entry so can afford to get its orbit down in one shot like this.

A couple orbits go by to wait for a good landing site to appear, before the de-orbit burn is performed, aiming to land just beyond the far edge of the large circular sea (which appears to be an impact basin, not unlike the one found on Kerbin).

The transfer stage is jettisoned prior to entry.

IFUR's heat shield protects the rover from re-entry. The rover is equipped with the same instruments as IAOP and so records its descent.

Once shock heating dissipates, the heat shield falls away and IFUR is in free fall.

The parachute opens up as IFUR approaches Eve's surface.

The shadow creeps up. Here's a good look at all of IFUR's instruments, including a new, smaller kethane scanner.

Touchdown is a success! IFUR begins transmitting the first pictures from Eve's surface.

IFUR's landing site shown on Eve's surface.

IFUR's descent profile, velocity and dynamic pressure. In this case, three downward steps can be seen. From left to right they are: Heat shield jettison, parachute partial deployment, and full deployment. Touchdown occurred at an altitude of 928m above sea level.

The rover remains on the surface for the time being. Its exploration of Eve will be long-term, and chronicled in the future. Meanwhile, one half of the Gilly Science Package finally reports some good news.

The Isis Lander Probe finally gets an encounter, after performing a slight orbital boost to align with Gilly.

The interplanetary transfer stage doesn't have enough fuel to capture at Gilly, so it's jettisoned while on an impact course. The probe itself has more than enough fuel.

ILP uses its eight tiny engines to perform the orbital capture at Gilly.

On a sub-orbital trajectory now, ILP witnesses Eve rising above the horizon. Targeting a landing on the plateau at the bottom left of the image.

Coming straight down now, ILP's laser rangefinder can be seen targeting the ground. Gilly's gravity is extremely weak, and the descent is quite slow.

Successful landing on the surface of Gilly!

The other half of the Gilly Science Package would not be so lucky. After witnessing roughly the delta V required to get to Gilly from their current elliptical orbits, it became clear that the IKSS had nowhere near enough fuel to make it to Gilly. It was decided to abort the IKSS mission by crashing it into Eve.

IKSS Gilly's mission is aborted. It performs a burn far from Eve that will take it straight into Eve's atmosphere and be destroyed.

The satellite enters Eve's atmosphere almost perpendicular, and is rapidly torn apart and destroyed.

Mapping Gilly will have to be the subject of a future mission. A disappointing end, but an otherwise resoundingly successful mission.

[Cashen]

"Go where no plane has flew before." Very nice and ambitious mission (well, maybe from my POV, 'coz i can't build a spaceplace to save my life ).

Thanks! I really enjoyed this mission, both doing it and writing up the report. It's the most fun I've had with KSP in a while. The only downside was the low framerates I get when near the space stations.

I appear to be back with a vengeance.

[Scotius]

Wow, so much science done with probes I hope future updates to stock science will let us get similiar results in game, without needing to roleplay. As of 0.22 science is fun, but it feels kind of shallow.

[Cashen]

Wow, so much science done with probes I hope future updates to stock science will let us get similiar results in game, without needing to roleplay. As of 0.22 science is fun, but it feels kind of shallow.

That's my current issue with 0.22 and science. As an engineering undergrad student, I like finding numbers; what's the temperature, pressure, composition, etc. Hard science, number crunching, like earlier. And in KSP I do that just with the stock sensors plus the Graphtron2000 mod that can record their outputs over time, which is how I gather atmospheric data during entry. The rest is just number crunching on my part. The science in 0.22 is really kind of an abstract concept meant to earn you points. Sure, you do science, but what do you actually find out?

[Cashen]

Project Anubis Announced

MASEC is one again ready to take on the next big challenge in manned space exploration. It's time to visit one of the planets: Duna. Project Anubis plans to do just that. This will be an Aten-style one-off mission to explore Duna in advance of potential permanent settlement at a future time. For now, they're going to visit first and see what the place it actually like, how to maneuver in another planetary system and in interplanetary space.

The project will begin with a series of sequentially numbered testing/training missions in the Kerbin system as the first phase, and the second phase will be the actual mission to the Duna system. The mission itself will involve all new hardware. An upgraded Aten COV will act as a ferry, going to and then returning from Duna. It will carry a crew of seven explorers, whom have not been named yet. It will also carry a lander, which is only in the design and testing phase at the moment. The lander and the ferry vehicle will launch separately and rendezvous in Kerbin orbit before heading to Duna. The Aten COV is a proven design already, so a larger fuel tank is not a major modification. The Anubis lander however will be a design not quite like anything seen before, due to the requirements set on it:

• Must be able to de-orbit and land at Duna using a combination of drogue parachutes, main parachutes, and powered descent.
  
• Be able to carry a Fennec rover along with it (which will be left behind)
  
• Launch from Duna when the time comes and re-rendezvous with the Aten in orbit.
  
• Must carry five Kerbals - the other two crew members will remain with the Aten in orbit doing observations from above.
  
• The lander's upper stage must then be capable of performing a landing on Ike.
  
• The lannder will then be discarded before the trip home.
  

The Ike lander portion is a fairly straightforward design, not unlike the Aten MLRM seen before.

The Anubis Ike Lander, shown in the VAB with all of its important stats. It carries the crew during the landing and ascent phases of both the mission to Duna as well as Ike. It's simply an Aten capsule affixed atop a typical lander cockpit, providing a total crew capacity of five.

The completed Anubis Lander

The lander consists of three stages:

• The first stage, or lowest stage, is the Duna Descent Stage. It contains a tiny 2.5m propellant tank (on which the lower ladder is mounted) and four 1.25m NovaPunch Aerospike engines for powered descent. It also contains the heavy landing legs, a small docking clamp underneath to hold a Fennec rover, and four structural pylons upon which are mounted two drogue parachutes and two main parachutes in opposite pairs. This stage will be left behind on Duna.
  
• The second, or middle stage, which is simply a NovaPunch Orbital Bertha engine and a small 2.5m propellant tank (on which the middle ladder is mounted). This is the Duna Ascent Stage and will provided most of the energy needed to leave Duna. It will use the Duna Descent Stage as a launch platform.
  
• The upper, or third stage, is simply the Ike lander. It will provide the rest of the energy to get into orbit and rendezvous with the capsule, where it will be re-fueled and ferried to Ike to perform its mission there.
  

Anubis I

Mission Outline & Objectives:

• Unmanned test flight of the Duna Ascent Stage and Ike Lander Stage
  
• Suborbital flight
  
• Test the validity of using the Descent Stage as a launch platform.
  

The Anubis Lander on the launch pad. The descent stage is a mock-up. The ascent stage and lander stage are live. The docking port atop the lander has been replaced with a large parachute so it can be recovered.

The "fire in the hole" method works. There are no clearance issues, or any other issues, blasting off from the descent stage.

Very quickly the ascent stage pitches over and heads out over water. This is only a short suborbital flight, as a proof of concept.

Staging. The Duna Ascent Stage performs well, and now the Ike Lander takes over. In the real Duna mission, these two stages would be enough to get to orbit. On Kerbin, not even close.

The lander fires until it runs out of fuel, before free-falling to parachute opening, where it would splash down and be recovered.

This part of the design has been validated. Anubis II will place the entire Lander system into Kerbin orbit and attempt to demonstrate an (unmanned) landing on Kerbin to show it can be done on Duna. Meanwhile...

Hiring Announcements

With the announcement of Project Anubis, and the fact that all current Kerbonauts (Except the three test pilots) are on assignments, MASEC has hired another group of Kerbonauts who, for the time being, will be stationed at KSC, though they will eventually be rotated up to Kerbin Station to get some experience. All six are scientists of some variety (no engineers this time). This group contains two new subgroups of scientist; a pair of climatologists, with the intent of eventually studying the climates of other planets, and a pair of biologists, should life be found on other worlds.

[TABLE=class: grid, width: 500]

[TR]

[TD]Name

[/TD]

[TD]Occupation

[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD]Adwise Kerman[/TD]

[TD]Geologist[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD]Obcan Kerman[/TD]

[TD]Geologist[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD]Jedlock Kerman[/TD]

[TD]Climatologist[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD]Thompler Kerman[/TD]

[TD]Climatologist[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD]Gilfal Kerman[/TD]

[TD]Biologist[/TD]

[/TR]

[TR]

[TD]Dilden Kerman[/TD]

[TD]Biologist[/TD]

[/TR]

[/TABLE]