A Case for Duna aka "no nukes, three mods and a lot of aerobraking" (pic heavy)

[Potterus]

This mission is inspired by two things:

- "A Case for Mars" by Robert Zubrin, a remarkable book about ways to reach Mars using realistic technology. I've taken some inspiration from it but had to put other points from it aside (more on that later). Link for book is here http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Case-Mars-Settle-Planet/dp/145160811X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1377203751&sr=8-1&keywords=a+case+for+mars

- Hardware difficulties (i.e. an underpowered PC) means I have to be economical with the size of my Kerbal spacecraft beyond launching them. Multi-launch/in-orbit assembly, space stations and large surface bases are off the table for me for the time being

Mission Specifics:

- Land a crack team of brave Kerbals on the surface of Duna and return them safely to Kerbin

- Single launch from the KSC using a heavy launch platform

- No nuclear engines, all chemical baby!

- Aerobraking will be used extensively (4 times in total)

- Some mods will be used for navigation and timing (see mods section)

- Acceleration restricted to 20 m/s² during the first two stages of take off, to save fuel and also to keep the launcher in one piece. During a trial run, when the external tanks were nearly empty, the launcher was pushing 4.5G+ and would result in something breaking, followed by a big explosion (cool to watch but doesn't get Kerbals to Duna)

Mods Used:

- Mechjeb 2.09 (did most of the work if I am honest)

- Kerbal Alarm Clock (set the pace of the mission)

- Sub Assembly Loader (for the launch vehicle)

I would have liked to have used elements from the Mars Direct plan such as in-situ fuel production and while mods exist for such things, they aren't quite what I was looking for. Mostly their models were too bulky for the craft size I had in mind and I didn't know if they would work on Duna. Maybe something to look into in the future (Duna Direct Enhanced?)

Additionally, while Mechjeb is a wonderful tool, somewhere between KSP 0.21 and the newest version of the mod it can't land at specified target on Duna.

Works fine on the Mun and Minmus but goes crazy when attempting to "land at target" on the big red-one. First time I tried it, the craft ended up burning most of its fuel putting itself in a very wide orbit. However the "land anywhere" option works so it landed but in a near-random spot. Luckily, Mechjeb managed to put the craft down on a relatively flat area (which was nice).

*** if anyone has had more luck with targeted landing using Mechjeb on Duna, please let me know! ***

These two elements together (in-situ and target landing using Mechjeb) would allow me to do a two part mission closer to the Mars Direct plan - return craft lands, refuels using in-situ then the crew turn up later in the lander/hab and transfer over to the return craft when its time to go home.

Things I didn't include:

- In-situ fuel production (see above)

- A seperate habitat/lander (see above)

- Deployable surface structures (need to do some research on what is out there)

- Orbital comms satellite (not essential but would have been nice)

- A rover for the crew (maybe next time)

- More interesting things for the crew to do once they land (rover might have helped with that)

So find below the photo album of the mission for your enjoyment. It is 168 images, hopefully you'll find this mission interesting

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[Specialist290]

The only thing that disappointed me about this account is that you made no mention of Jeb, Bill and Bob bringing a sixpack with them down to Duna's surface and thus missed a great opportunity to turn "A Case for Duna" into a wonderfully groan-worthy pun.

Other than that, nicely done!

[Speeding Mullet]

I'm reading just that book at the moment it's pretty inspirational, great mission report!

[Potterus]

The only thing that disappointed me about this account is that you made no mention of Jeb, Bill and Bob bringing a sixpack with them down to Duna's surface and thus missed a great opportunity to turn "A Case for Duna" into a wonderfully groan-worthy pun.

Other than that, nicely done!

Good point, can't believe I missed that!

I'm reading just that book at the moment it's pretty inspirational, great mission report!

Definitely worth picking the book up for any KSP player