The Grand Tour (lots of pics)

[indigo_dc]

Quick background, I've been playing KSP since 0.18 so a relative newbie but have been lurking here for some time. I've documented some of my early exploits on another forum but it's all "baby steps" stuff. Now I'm trying a Grand Tour and wanted to post/share it somewhere more visible. Bear in mind, to date I've replicated the Apollo mission and sent a fleet of probes to Duna but never made a manned landing beyond Minmus.

The Mission

Primary Goal

- Explore the entire solar system, visiting every planet & moon and gathering as much scientific data as possible

- Ensure your vessel can accommodate at least 10 kerbonauts in sufficient comfort with sufficient supplies

Secondary Goals

- Land on every possible planet & moon in the solar system

- Complete the entire mission without resupply from Kerbin

Tertiary Goal

- Try to avoid losing any kerbonauts

The Plan

With the aim to reach every single planet & moon that's an awful lot of delta-V. Without resupply or refuelling runs or using absurd looking contraptions, it pretty much demands in-situ resource utilisation. As well as that, this mission will take YEARS so I want my ship to have a means of supplying suitable living space & food for the crew.

The plan will begin by trialling experimental kethane miners, dropped onto the surface of the Mun, to validate the mining technology and ascertain hardware requirements. Following that, a one man Munar landing - in a vessel incapable of return without refueling - will confirm the refined rocket fuel is fit for purpose.

Following this the main vessel will be built in orbit*, travel to the Mun for resupply, onboard its crew and begin the trip. Mission Control are advocating the flight plan below -

Mun

Moho

Eve & Gilly (kethane resupply from Gilly)

Minmus (shallower gravity well for quicker resupply)

Duna & Ike

Dres

Jool - Laythe, Vall, Tylo, Bop & Pol (resupply as needed)

Eeloo

And finally Kerbin

The biggest headaches I'm expecting are, in order, the massive delta-V requirements to get to Moho, the excessive thermal environment at Moho, the massive moholes at Moho, Eve (I have NO idea how I'm going to tackle it), the demands of continual kethane mining operations to resupply, aerobraking into the Joolian system, getting to/from Laythe & Tylo. Oh and the small matter of a playable framerate with a 300+ part, 400+ ton ship.

Sounds like a challenge. To tackle this, and to build a "realistic" craft, I'm using the HOME mod for some of their cool modules, Kethane mod, ISA Map Sat, KW Rocketry, Mechjeb (to ease the burden of "mundane" flights), KAS winch system... and for reasons which become apparent, HyperEdit. I'd tried for quantum fuel nodes and quantum struts but installing either crashed my game repeatedly.

So without further ado....

Mission 1, 2 & 3

Mission 1 is a simple Kethane mapping satellite launched into Munar orbit. After sticking it on time acceleration and going for dinner, when I return I have ample deposits to choose from. I must say I really like the new hex-based mapping approach in the latest version of the Kethane mod!

Mission 2 is the launch of a kethane mining module. Having never mined or refined kethane I wasn't sure what was necessary and the craft I ended up with was an ungainly monster. 5 kethane refining units, 4 drills and a few solar panels. Not the best design.

Still, the launch, transfer and Mun landing go very smoothly indeed (and the new textures for the Mun are stunning) - here we are camped out on the surface mining away merrily.

screenshot8 by Kerbal Space Centre, on Flickr

After completely resupplying and filling my kethane tanks I decide my design isn't suitable and launch a second, tweaked miner. Mission 3 - this time with sufficient electricity generation to actually get the job done.

Approaching the Munar surface

screenshot10 by Kerbal Space Centre, on Flickr

And landing alongside it's near-twin.

screenshot15 by Kerbal Space Centre, on Flickr

Although this design is better, the ships are - to put it bluntly - pigs to fly and massively overengineered. For a deep space mission (and alongside a 300 part mothership) I need something leaner & lighter.

Anyway, onto mission 4. I build a lightweight ship with enough fuel to get to the Mun and land but deliberately with insufficient resource to make it back... might sound reckless but I know I can easily get to/from the Mun to launch a rescue mission. Jebediah steps up and pilots his way to the Mun

screenshot21 by Kerbal Space Centre, on Flickr

Hmm. This is bad planning on my part, I'm coming down in pitch darkness. Although my landing profile looks good, I'm not confident I can land this successfully in the dark, those kethane miners are parked on a shallow slope which is manageable in daylight but if I start toppling over in the dark I won't know until I smack into the ground.

I really, REALLY should have planned a daylight landing. Still, I can see the lights for my miners - quite an uplifting moment seeing them, shining like a beacon in the dark.

screenshot43 by Kerbal Space Centre, on Flickr

Coming down, vertically, I'm really, really nervous. I know the ground below is NOT flat and I can't see crap. In the end, I admit I bottled it and asked Mechjeb to just get me down safely.

screenshot41 by Kerbal Space Centre, on Flickr

Touchdown! Jeb goes wild! Mechjeb sits there smugly

screenshot33 by Kerbal Space Centre, on Flickr

Now it's to test that I can use the Kerbal Attachment System of winches and fuel lines to refuel my lander.

So far so good, Jeb has grabbed the connection hose and secured it to himself. In hindsight, this was pure luck. I hadn't realised the connection end of the winch needed to be attached in a specific direction - my 50/50 chances came out, luckily, the right way.

screenshot36 by Kerbal Space Centre, on Flickr

Hmm, another "miner" (heh) design flaw - the attachment node is several Kerbal lengths above the surface. Fine for the Mun where I can just jetpack up to it but I'll need to remember for other landers I need a node near the ground.

screenshot37 by Kerbal Space Centre, on Flickr

With the miner & lander now attached, Jeb clambers back into his ship and starts the fuel transfer process.

screenshot39 by Kerbal Space Centre, on Flickr

Refuelling complete, he detaches the hose then experiments with the automatic winch retraction mechanism. Thankfully he unplugs HIMSELF from it first.

screenshot40 by Kerbal Space Centre, on Flickr

After sampling the transferred fuel and confirming it tastes good to mission control he blasts off from the surface and begins the trip back home.

Sunrise over the ocean from low-orbit is pretty.

screenshot46 by Kerbal Space Centre, on Flickr

Firey re-entry!

screenshot49 by Kerbal Space Centre, on Flickr

After the successful Mun landing rescue, Jeb allows his mechanical counterpart to execute the final stages of the landing at KSC (no parachutes so it means riding the throttle in). Things don't go QUITE to plan, however, and this shot shows what happens if you blindly trust the autopilot.

screenshot54 by Kerbal Space Centre, on Flickr

Still, he's back and the first stage of the in-situ resource resupply portion of the mission profile has been proven valid. Now it's time to build the mothership!

Mission 5 - KSS Arcturus

Now this is where it all became massively frustrating and I spent/wasted several hours. The initial plan was to build my ship in two chunks. The rear half would be the heavy propulsion section, three large 3m fuel tanks with Wildcat XR engines, bolted onto the forward habitation section that would hold the habitats, farms and "general supplies". The kethane storage units & heavy refinery would sit between the two sections. Tons of solar panels (for redundancy, they are fairly weak) and even HOME powerplant module for electricity generation out at Eeloo where I'm not expecting the solar panels to be efficient enough.

The launches of the respective sections go OK albeit in relatively low ~85km orbits. Then I realise I forgot to add quantum struts... Reverting, fixing and relaunching then sucks up HOURS. These are big units and are utter pigs to fly with so many parts. In the end I get them into horrific orbits but successfully match them up and bring them together ready to dock. As I get them close to alignment the game crashes. Grrr. This is annoying. Another try, another problem. Given that it was the addition of quantum struts that did it, I remove them and this time not only is it easier to hit orbit but it doesn't crash when the two sections are on close approach. All looks good for a docking... yet when I bring them together they just bounce off each other. Alignment is perfect, ports are mounted properly... nothing. Bounce!

This is starting to get tedious so I revert both missions and try again. Same problem, no docking. Has anyone got the large docking ports to work?? This is where hyperedit comes into play, I teleport both sections to a stable orbit and try again. Still no luck.

In the end I decided that this had stopped being fun and was an exercise in frustration. I instead built the entire ship in the VAB, removed the nodes and struts (I even removed the mod completely) and hyperedited the completed vessel into orbit. Is this cheating? Well, technically yeah, but given I did all the hard work and all the individual launches I decided I wasn't going to let a docking bug ruin my enjoyment. Still, the silver lining is the extra parts needed for quantum struts/docking ports should help the framerate and make the ship a bit more stable.

The woe didn't stop there though. As I do a shakedown of the craft I then find that, somehow, my main engines won't fire. They won't even activate/stage correctly. Long story short I pin the problem onto the HOME reactor module, it has no nuclear fuel and refuses to start which has a side-effect of disabling my engines completely. So I remove it and stick on yet more solar panels

Wall of text complete, I give you the KSS Arcturus...

screenshot55 by Kerbal Space Centre, on Flickr

I tweaked the design and removed the long kethane tank from the centre and instead attached two smaller tanks on top of the rear fuel tanks. This meant the ship wasn't as long/wobbly and improved stability. From left to right we have the bridge (housing the kethane & radar mapping tools), the engineering decks (kethane refinery), habitation modules, auxiliary fuel store (Jeb complained we didn't have enough delta-V... MOAR FUEL), the farm module and behind that a LOT of fuel. With the extra fuel onboard we switched out the Wildcat XR engines for more powerful but less efficient versions - all told the ship has about 8k delta-V fully fuelled but the acceleration dipped below the 15m/s2 design requirement. With the uprated thrust we have about 7k delta-V and 22m/s2.

The shakedown mission involves transit to the Mun for refuelling and to fill the kethane tanks. Here it is boosting out of Kerbin orbit... looks epic, wobbles like a bastard though!

screenshot59 by Kerbal Space Centre, on Flickr

Still, we arrive in Munar orbit, albeit quite an eccentric one. A short time later we're in a reasonably stable 60km orbit.

screenshot60 by Kerbal Space Centre, on Flickr

Missions 6 and 7

Before launching a new ship I try to rendezvous my early kethane miner designs to offload some Kethane. Although successful (sadly lacking pictures) my fear the design was too unwieldy is verified - with a full load of fuel and kethane the ships are EXTREMELY unstable and although I rendezvous successfully and even hook the ships up for fuel transfer, I watch as the kethane miner slowly travels THROUGH the Arcturus... somehow, attaching the fuel line disables clipping so no damage is done but it's a fraught 2 minutes as the miner passes through my ship and into space. Brown trouser time!

Still, kethane loading works and the refinery module test is successful, partially restoring the fuel used to transfer to the Mun.

However, I need to design a new, lightweight miner/refiner. This is the design I settle on.

screenshot64 by Kerbal Space Centre, on Flickr

Behold the Micro Miner! A spindly little thing, getting it to the Mun and landing on the surface is absolute cake. Mining takes a long time without large solar panels but eventually I'm full and ready to dock with the Arcturus. I estimate 4 or 5 trips to fully refuel and fill the kethane tanks.

This time I try to validate the radial docking ports - I've proven the fuel line approach works already. Here I am coming in for close approach -

screenshot68 by Kerbal Space Centre, on Flickr

Close but not close enough.

screenshot70 by Kerbal Space Centre, on Flickr

On this approach I'd already clipped and destroyed a solar panel - note to self, retract all the panels before docking - so I decide to back off and move into a less dangerous position for fuel line deployment. By now I've realised a major flaw of my design, specifically I've not added any RCS at all and being a lightweight craft as the fuel moves out of one tank it wildly skews the handling. Not easy to fly!

Unfortunately I back off rather too far.

screenshot93 by Kerbal Space Centre, on Flickr

Seriously, it ticks the weight boxes but in terms of manoeuvrability it's dreadful.

DISASTER STRIKES!

screenshot98 by Kerbal Space Centre, on Flickr

This is what you get when you think you've told mechjeb to handle the close approach but you've accidentally turned it off....

Later video analysis revealed the miner collided with the central fuel tank and the resulting explosion broke the back of the Arcturus. Secondary explosions which could have destroyed the entire ship were thankfully averted.

screenshot101 by Kerbal Space Centre, on Flickr

But the Arcturus is a wreck. Bill Kerman, trained professional that he is, immediately enacts emergency procedures. Though there is a huge debris field, the bulk of the wreckage is an expanding cloud thrown sideways and backwards and nothing strikes the habitation decks or the bridge. He quickly embarks on EVA to make sure that any further collision damage doesn't take him out (the EVA gives him mobility to avoid incoming debris) but it soon becomes apparent that the front of the vessel is largely unscathed. He heads back into the HOME MK1 habitation module - as the toughest part of the ship if something DID hit him or, heaven forbid, the Arcturus has been knocked out of orbit, this module is his best chance of survival.

screenshot103 by Kerbal Space Centre, on Flickr

Thankfully the orbit is largely unaffacted but as the fuel tanks spinning around outside collide into each other, one is looking like it's coming alarmingly close to spinning back into him. He deploys the farms & additional hab modules. Acting quickly he EVAs again with a plan - if he can secure the spinning fuel tanks using KAS tethers he can winch them back to the hab in a controlled fashion. Still, that means grabbing the connector while the tank is spinning in 3 axes...

Still, he manages it! However, as he tries to torturously drag the tank back to the remains of the Arcturus he realises the cable isn't long enough... and as it jerks taught, the sheer force of it whips him up and away from the Arcturus and the tether snaps, scything around in a vicious arc.

screenshot104 by Kerbal Space Centre, on Flickr

Although he tumbles head over feet for nearly 200m he soon rights himself and, keeping a very safe distance from the lethal spinning cable, heads back to the Arcturus. At least the tank and the Arcturus are now separating again and the immediate danger is over. He heads back.

screenshot106 by Kerbal Space Centre, on Flickr

The Arcturus is ruined. The engine block has snapped off completely and although the remaining section has power and sufficient accomodation & farms to support 10 Kerbals, Bill is effectively marooned in Munar orbit.

Mission Control are stunned. Although relieved to have not lost a kerbonaut the Arcturus and all the kethane acquired so far. Their ambitious plan for a Grand Tour is in tatters. Emergency planners are already at work designing rescue missions for Bill (who seems to be actually quite enjoying all the space and free food he has in his massive new home).

Throughout all of the chaos and confusion, one figure walks from the doorway into the room with an EVA helmet clutched under one arm, his face set in grim determination. Soon people notice him, not moving and not speaking. The room gradually descends into hushed tones, followed by silence.

Jebediah Kerman, his voice level and firm, announces to the room.

"Build me a rocket", he says.

"I'm getting my friend back"

The room erupts into cheering and applause.

-- to be continued --

Edited October 22, 2013 by indigo_dc
title change

[indigo_dc]

Normally I'd take far more screenshots but parts of this adventure involved heavy manual flying... next time I'll improve the quality & quantity of pics

[suzin.felipe]

Great tread. Looking forward for the next chapter.

Also loved your designs, especially the mini miner. Needs a bit of work but the concept is sound.

[indigo_dc]

Thank you!

The miner worked well until I needed to do accurate manoeuvres. Then the absence of RCS meant I was totally reliant on the reaction wheels and main engine and burning fuel rapidly led to uneven mass distribution. I hadn't realised I'd not fitted RCS until I came to launch from the Mun back to orbit - I'd let mechjeb handle the now routine task of landing on the surface. So when I came to dock it, or even just hold position within tether range, it was an absolute bitch to hold steady. Even mechjeb struggled and clipped another solar panel.

I liked the design of having the kethane tank low to the ground, makes landings easier because the centre of mass is near the surface. I'll probably go with radial engines, I think the design was inadvertently asparagus which introduced an ungodly rotation Independent, lighter engines is the way forward.

[Geschosskopf]

Damn, what frustration after all that hard work!

You asked about "big docking ports". Are you talking about the stock Clamp-O-Tron Sr or some mod part? If you mean the COTSR, I have no trouble with them at all. In fact, they're the only docking ports I use. So there must be something about your ship that was making them unhappy. Off the top of my head, I can only think of 3 things that might cause this:

1. Clipping Problem

The COTSR doesn't have clipping for some reason. Thus, other parts can go right through it if you're not careful, meaning that while you think you're attaching another part to the rear side of the COTSR (or vice versa), the other part actually sticks through and grabs the front attachment node. If this happens, then the port won't work because that node is no longer available for docking, even if the ports are facing the right direction. Bottom line: just because it turns green in the VAB doesn't mean it's properly attached--always zoom in close enough to see whether it's on right.

2. Obstruction

If you strut the COTSR to the rest of the ship, be sure to do so only around the rim, and make sure the end knobs of the struts don't stick out past the end of the port. Having just a bit of strut in the middle or beyond the end will prevent docking.

3. Power?

I have no idea whether this is really an issue--never seen anything saying that docking ports require power. But that magnetic field has to come from somewhere and you did say 1 of the ships you were trying to dock had no power.

[indigo_dc]

I suspect point 1 is the source. I've since docked ships successfully (albeit with the standard clamp-o-tron, not the Sr.) so I might try again using a demo mission to validate. I'd much rather have a fully "ground launched" mission but at this point I've been wrestling with it so long and basically did everything I needed to I've reconciled the hyperedit needed to get it up there with the desire to see what story lurks in the rest of then solar system

Mind you, given the destruction of the Arcturus I'll likely have another pop at it... I've already designed the next class of Grand Tourer

[indigo_dc]

Bear with me - this isn't a dead thread, I did manage to get a lot of hours under my belt on a recent holiday but getting images online and the report typed up is taking longer than expected.

By way of a sneak preview, I've only made a small amount of progress but it's as though every step of the way there is drama

Wouldn't be KSP without it I guess!

[czokletmuss]

Cool story with an unexpected twist. I wonder what would happen in the next update

Edited October 17, 2013 by czokletmuss

[Sigma]

*applauds wildly* more!

[indigo_dc]

So, a quick summary of the state of the Grand Tour...

We have a mission director who has never landed a kerbonaut on anything more distant than Minmus.

We have a kerbonaut stranded in Munar orbit in the remnants of the largest, most unwieldy vessel I've ever created.

We still need a viable craft design that can fulfil the mining/return operations to refuel outside of Munar orbit.

We still need a viable craft design that can return from the surface of Eve (not to mention Moho, Duna, Tylo & Laythe!)

We'd best get busy...

Remember clicking the pics opens a bigger version.

----------------------

After the initial panic and mass-confusion arising from the collision that wrecked the Arcturus, Bill Kerman finds himself in a ship designed for 15 kerbals with one hell of a view of the Mun. All in all, he's quite comfortable and after overhearing comments from Mission Control referring to the Arcturus as "Arcturus Station" he suspects that people back home realise they now have a perfect, fully functioning space station handily located in a 60km orbit with plenty of fuel, RCS propellant and kethane onboard. Things could be worse. Bill also has the pick of the food stores

Still, Jeb is annoyed. He wanted to tour the solar system with Bill and he doesn't care what anyone else things so he drives the design of the Pegasus - basically, a ship that can carry upto 10 Kerbals and ferry them to/from any point in the Kerbin-Mun-Minmus system without refueling. The Pegasus I suffers from that most ignoble of fates... namely "insufficient thrust" and it fails to reach orbit. Still, the design works admirably and after hitting the atmosphere the craft separates into three independent sections, each landing safely into the ocean -

screenshot116 by Kerbal Space Centre, on Flickr

screenshot119 by Kerbal Space Centre, on Flickr

Still, the sequel does better and the imaginatively named Pegasus II hits orbit -

screenshot133 by Kerbal Space Centre, on Flickr

At the same time, the Grand Tourer design team have been hard at work and have a redesigned mothership under construction... cue a mysterious shot as it sits fuelling on the pad with a solar eclipse above!

screenshot110 by Kerbal Space Centre, on Flickr

Until the day comes it's ready for launch...

screenshot169 by Kerbal Space Centre, on Flickr

Here it is... The GT mark 2... The KSS Pollux...

screenshot166 by Kerbal Space Centre, on Flickr

screenshot165 by Kerbal Space Centre, on Flickr

screenshot164 by Kerbal Space Centre, on Flickr

The design learns from the stability lessons passed down from the Arcturus. Rather than have a long, thin ship with each element stacked on top of each other, this time the vessel is shorter and squatter to improve handling. The central core is a colossal kethane tank with a capacity of 28,000 units with four radial fuel tanks bolted to the sides, strapped onto Wildcat engines to give the best balance of thrust & efficiency. On top of each fuel tank are the habitation modules, alternately containing living space and the farms necessary to support the crew of 12. Auxiliary fuel tanks are also located within this structure to boost the total fuel capacity to over 62,000... or in other words, fully loaded, approaching 6000km/s delta-v, excluding the additional fuel available from converting the kethane.

Atop the central column is the kethane refinery unit and ahead of this is the command section - a four-way connection hub hosts two radial docking ports, the surface mapping science instrumentation, a large crew cupola offering the best views of space on the entire ship and the bridge.

The plan calls for three vessels to dock in kerbin orbit before boosting to stage 1 - Eve - and begin exploration. Using the forward docking clamp to attach by turns the ancilliary refuelling "tug" followed by the Eve Explorer the whole contraption will be boosted out of Kerbin orbit in one unit. That's as soon as the other two ships have a workable design...

--------------------

With the Pollux in orbit it's time to load the crew. Jeb requests the first flight and no one dares get in his way. After piloting the Pegasus III to a rendezvous with the Pollux, at that stage he "forgot" to bring any crew with him... it's just him & his co-pilot. After briefly telling Mission Control he's "not forgotten about Bill" he fires the engine up once more and plots a transfer to the Mun. He clearly had no intention to deliver anything to the Pollux but there is precious little mission control can do about it! Jebediahhhhhhh!

Samcott Kerbin, unsuspecting co-pilot, is clearly not impressed with this turn of events.

screenshot131 by Kerbal Space Centre, on Flickr

(admittedly the game bugged and the crew I had loaded onboard mysteriously vanished when I hit orbit so I thought "what would Jeb do?" and decided a rescue mission was appropriate)

Being an impromptu mission, Bill was somewhat surprised when a ship turned up on his doorstep bearing an elated Jeb and a by-this-stage-catatonically-terrified Samcott. Jeb pilots another pinpoint docking...

screenshot148 by Kerbal Space Centre, on Flickr

Why is it all my docking efforts are on the backside of moons or planets!! Certainly doesn't make it easy!

After coaxing Samcott onto the Arcturus with the prospect of as much hydroponically grown cheese as he can eat, Bob & Jeb swiftly refuel, undock and head back to Kerbin.

screenshot150 by Kerbal Space Centre, on Flickr

Coming back into LOS of Kerbin, Mission Control blast the airwaves with demands for Jeb to come back immediately, he's grounded. In Jeb's absence they have launched another Pegasus shuttle to drop crew off at the Pollux and bring Jeb back... Permanently.

Loading up the Pollux -

screenshot162 by Kerbal Space Centre, on Flickr

Mission Control didn't account for kerbonaut solidarity however and one of the crew members of the Pegasus IV wilfully gives Jeb his spot on the Pollux, taking control of the Pegasus III. Good old Merrim!

screenshot160 by Kerbal Space Centre, on Flickr

With the Pollux fully fuelled and crewed focus now shifts to designing the manned exploration/mining vessel and the Eve explorer.

Early efforts don't go too well - but test pilot extraordinaire Eble Kerman somehow manages to walk away from this -

screenshot193 by Kerbal Space Centre, on Flickr

With booster problems ironed out the CEVAMTVTATTP II (crew exploration vehicle also mining transport vessel thing that attaches to the pollux) - hastily nicknamed the Spider II by it's pilots because of it's looks - hits orbit and ferries itself to the Mun to begin mining shakedown trials.

screenshot196 by Kerbal Space Centre, on Flickr

As the Spider II begins it's transmunar voyage, a quick note on the design of the Spider here, ably assisted by a shot of the Spider II beginning a munar orbital insertion.

screenshot219 by Kerbal Space Centre, on Flickr

The principle is driven by two mission goals -

Land on planets and moons that have a not-inconsiderable gravity well/atmosphere/both, albeit less of a roadblock than Eve.

Conduct mining landings on lower gravity moons to resupply the Pollux.

Initially the plan was to have two ships, one for "hard" landings and another for mining. This was a cause for concern - if one vessel failed, it'd mean writing off a large part of the mission (being unable to visit the larger moons or, more worryingly, not be able to refuel). In the end a unique solution was arrived upon. Have a reusable craft (the Spider) with modular payloads depending on the mission. For a refuelling mission a huge kethane tank and multiple mining drills to speed up the process. For a hard landing, an extended capacity fuel tank, also with mining capability to refuel on the surface. Each of these modular mission pods were also remote controllable so the Spider would ferry a pod to the surface of the moon, conduct the mission, return to the Pollux and detach the pod - this would then be docked by remote control with the Pollux.

Here's an example of the kethane pod docking itself shortly after launch -

screenshot228 by Kerbal Space Centre, on Flickr

Pilots love the Spider, partly because the cockpit is based on the cupola modular offering a wonderful view and sense of space -

screenshot218 by Kerbal Space Centre, on Flickr

Shakedown trials looking good, Munar mining has commenced!

screenshot221 by Kerbal Space Centre, on Flickr

With the kethane pod & Spider II safely back in Kerbin orbit and docked to the Pollux, the Spider III arrives at the launchpad to haul the extended capacity fuel pod into orbit.

Disaster strikes on launch. To improve stability over the Spider II (which had a.... wobbly... launch to orbit), extra struts were added to the Spider III, including adding struts between the top of some of the second stage boosters and the NERVA engines on the Spider themselves. Post launch analysis showed that a structural linkage on the first stage booster sheared just prior to first stage separation. This caused the still-accelerating first stage to slam into the second stage causing a colossal explosion. Although the Spider III module was sufficiently far away to not be destroyed outright, the struts tore off all four engines while the vehicle was still on a suborbital trajectory. Without parachutes.

The scene shortly after the accident with Johnney Kerman riding a cloud of expanding debris.

screenshot231 by Kerbal Space Centre, on Flickr

His stricken craft. Note that as well as the nuclear engines having been completely annihilated the force of the separation tore off the underside docking clamp as well.

screenshot234 by Kerbal Space Centre, on Flickr

Mission Control spring into action. By sheer, happy coindcidence, Pegaus IV piloted by the eccentric Edwell is due to pass above the stricken Spider III. Without wasting a moment, Edwell plots a VERY shakey intercept trajectory and begins a deorbit burn - if he can get within a few hundred meters of the Spider, Johnney can make an emergency EVA and rendezvous.

screenshot201 by Kerbal Space Centre, on Flickr

It's a vain hope though as the Pegasus doesn't contain nearly enough fuel to slowdown and intercept - but in trying, Edwell manages to deorbit his vessel though at least he survives the landing.

screenshot207 by Kerbal Space Centre, on Flickr

Mission Control are distraught. Edwell was the only hope and even that proved to be too tenuous. With grim inevitability Johnney has started to descend. He fires his RCS on full reverse in the vain hope of slowing down enough to perhaps survive the landing.

screenshot235 by Kerbal Space Centre, on Flickr

Alas it is not to be and he crash lands too hard and too fast. The Spider III is lost with all hands.

screenshot238 by Kerbal Space Centre, on Flickr

The first casualty of the Grand Tour.

In the end, the Spider platform is deemed to unsafe for further Kerbin launches and the modular fuel pod payload is launched on an unmanned rocket and piloted to a Pollux rendezvous automatically.

A sad day indeed.

screenshot239 by Kerbal Space Centre, on Flickr

You can see here the Pollux with the Kethane pod and Extended Capacity pod to the left/right of the cupola behind the main bridge.

All that remains now is the development & launch of the Eve Explorer portion of the mission. As any seasoned kerbonaut knows, getting to Eve and landing is a piece of cake. It's the getting back that's the hard part. Because of this, mission designers & engineering design arguably the most complex, unproven vehicle ever.

Without seemingly learning a lesson from Spider III, it's launched successfully.

screenshot248 by Kerbal Space Centre, on Flickr

Here it is in orbit -

screenshot251 by Kerbal Space Centre, on Flickr

It's design relies on the theory that although conventional rocket engines won't work on Eve, experimental Kethane turbojets WILL work. The approach is simple - use the Kethane jets to get to the very limit of their operating envelope and as that stage is reached, switch to conventional rockets. To further complicate the design and push the limit of the craft, multiple stages are planned to reduce weight on the ascent. Indeed, before launching from the surface of Eve, the first stage is to drop the mass of the kethane drill, large solar panels, parachutes etc. and as the second stage turbojets ignite even the landing legs are dropped. When the jets reach the limit of altitude, they drop, followed by two consecutive stages of twin rockets, ultimately leaving only a central, single rocket column topped by the cramped pilot's module. Even that has quad rocket engines to give it the push it needs to reach orbit! Hell, given the complexity of the superstructure and the associated weight, traditional ladders have been abandoned - to get off the craft and set foot on Eve the pilot exits the cockpit before attaching himself to a winch that lowers him to the ground and safely pull himself back onto the top of the ship.

We don't know if it will work and the pilot who volunteers knows it could be a one way trip.

With all three vessels in orbit and within rendezvous distance the final stage of the preparation begins. And with the amount of parts on screen, the KSP slideshow mode also begins!

Step 1 is to dock the Spider on a rotated axis to the Eve Explorer (EE).

screenshot261 by Kerbal Space Centre, on Flickr

So many engines!

screenshot262 by Kerbal Space Centre, on Flickr

With the vessels successfully docked, the KSS Pollux is complete! Finally!

screenshot267 by Kerbal Space Centre, on Flickr

That's one hell of a ship.

screenshot265 by Kerbal Space Centre, on Flickr

However, a brief trial main engine burn to test stability reveals that the ship is simply too long and too unwieldy with so much flex in the different sections the whole ship bends at a 90 degree angle! THAT was stunning to see - sorry I don't have pictures - but seeing the Spider and EE perpendicular to the Pollux while still attached was frightening! Took all my effort just to safely recover it!

An alternate configuration is trialled, with Macry Kerman (Super Spider Pilot) reversing onto the Pollux and docking the EE onto the top of that.

screenshot269 by Kerbal Space Centre, on Flickr

Still this configuration is too unstable. With a heavy heart, mission control admit that getting to Eve in one ship just won't work so they make the decision to send the Pollux/Spider & the EE in convoy. EE goes first and is due to arrive at Eve about 3 days ahead of the Pollux/Spider

screenshot275 by Kerbal Space Centre, on Flickr

The Pollux is MUCH more stable in it's new arrangement and follows on the very next orbit.

screenshot273 by Kerbal Space Centre, on Flickr

WE ARE OFF!! The Grand Tour has begun!

Edited October 21, 2013 by indigo_dc

[indigo_dc]

Episode III

Things are finally underway. The Eve Explorer (EE) and the Pollux are on course for Eve and the excitement in mission control is palpable.

Having left Kerbin first the Eve Explorer is scheduled to hit orbit first. Fuel is low - very low - because not only had we not planned to independently boost the craft to Eve but we also accidentally included a full load of Kethane. Considering the plan was to fill up on the surface this is a really silly oversight.

Not QUITE as silly as the other oversight though... there is no kethane refiner onboard so we can't top off our rocket fuel when we land, though in theory we shouldn't use much to get to the surface anyway.

Still, seeing Eve grow larger as we approach is quite something.

screenshot280 by Kerbal Space Centre, on Flickr

It's really getting quite large now. Look at the size of that thing. It's certainly no Mun!

screenshot283 by Kerbal Space Centre, on Flickr

I have nowhere near enough fuel to get a stable orbit but all is not lost - while still a few days out I nudged my trajectory just enough so I'd approach Eve to within 65km - 75km. On Kerbin that's technically within the atmosphere and with Eve allegedly having a much thicker one I'm hoping it's thick enough to aerobrake me down into an orbit.

After an absolutely a hair raising aerobraking manoeuvre we're left with 100m/s delta-v and we're in the most bat**** crazy orbit imaginable! Still... it's an orbit Sadly no images as it demanded full attention.

screenshot286 by Kerbal Space Centre, on Flickr

The EE then goes into parking mode waiting for the Pollux to arrive. Luckily there are plenty of freeze dried meals onboard.

During the month long interplanetary cruise the Pollux begins the process of refining kethane into rocket fuel but a previously unseen design flaw manifests itself - there is no physical connection between the refiner and the fuel tanks. Luckily though, the plucky engineers in mission control figure out a workaround. By transferring fuel from the extended capacity landing module attached to a docking port into the main tanks, the kethan refiner can then feed the landing pod. It's slow and needs a lot of manual effort but it's viable. The mission can continue! So long as we don't lose that pod...

The Pollux retracts all life support and habitation bays ready for it's own aerobraking approach; although I suspect the habitation/farm decks could survive the heat I really can't take the risk. This shot just before I also retract the solar panels (which certainly WOULDN'T survive!).

screenshot291 by Kerbal Space Centre, on Flickr

Lined up and waiting for things to get hot....

screenshot300 by Kerbal Space Centre, on Flickr

Hmmm, the trajectory is a bit high for my tastes so I nudge it down lower into the atmosphere.

screenshot311 by Kerbal Space Centre, on Flickr

Here we go! At this point even Jeb, normally as ecstatic as a Labrador puppy to be flying, has a worried look on his face.

screenshot323 by Kerbal Space Centre, on Flickr

I realise quickly that I'm too high and not slowing down enough so engage engines.

screenshot325 by Kerbal Space Centre, on Flickr

Success! Sort of. I'm in orbit but I can do better than that -

screenshot326 by Kerbal Space Centre, on Flickr

At apoapsis I setup another skim through the atmosphere to circularise my orbit.

This time it looks even hotter :S

screenshot338 by Kerbal Space Centre, on Flickr

But it offers one hell of a view from the chap sitting in the observation cupola!

screenshot337 by Kerbal Space Centre, on Flickr

That's better - I use the main engines to circularise and the crew of the Pollux start breathing again!

screenshot351 by Kerbal Space Centre, on Flickr

At this stage we only have about 3000m/s delta-v which puts the crew into something of a quandry... they have yet to try landing on Eve's moon Gilly and they don't know how much delta-v the Spider will need for a return trip but given their recent experiences getting the Pollux into orbit they suspect it's going to need a lot of fuel. The vote is unanimous - before any exploration can commence the Pollux needs to be refuelled. Macry Kerman clambers into the Spider and deftly undocks before picking up the kethane modular miner. He has an intercept with Gilly plotted in - not easy, it's on a very wild orbit - before he realises that there is no kethane mapping radar on the Spider. Just in time he cancels his Gilly insertion burn and returns to the Pollux, the only vessel with a kethane mapper.

screenshot356 by Kerbal Space Centre, on Flickr

The events that follow are still somehow unclear but after undocking the kethane miner, Macry hands over control of the pod back to the Pollux for docking.

screenshot354 by Kerbal Space Centre, on Flickr

However, the pod approaches the Pollux at far too high a speed and with a resounding clang that echoes throughout the ship, it careers into the docking port and everyone onboard feels a tremor as the port is wrenched off. Though warning klaxons sound the whole event is over before any emergency evacuation can take place. The Pollux suffers no further damage but it has lost the ability to attach both of it's pods... you can see the docking port on this image floating away in front of the solar panel.

screenshot355 by Kerbal Space Centre, on Flickr

Steve Kerman quickly hops into his suit and out of the airlock to inspect the damage

screenshot357 by Kerbal Space Centre, on Flickr

At least it's a clean break. Though he suspects it's a vain effort he speeds off after the gradually receding docking port... though he's not the biggest fan of heights and he can't bear to look down on Eve.

screenshot358 by Kerbal Space Centre, on Flickr

As suspected there is nothing to be done and the port can't be salvaged. Steve heads back.

screenshot362 by Kerbal Space Centre, on Flickr

Though not a disaster - we still have two docking ports - it's a significant blow to the mission. Furthermore, because of the kethane refinement/refuelling issue the extended capacity pod is now mission critical and can't risk being moved. Though this could mean writing off a portion of the latter parts of the Tour, right now the crew are determined to continue. Indeed, without refuelling they aren't going far!

Macry redocks the Spider "the wrong way round" and everyone holds their breath as a course to Gilly is plotted and the engines fired up... remember, this kind of configuration nearly tore the ship apart in Kerbin orbit...

screenshot367 by Kerbal Space Centre, on Flickr

It works! Sort of. Jebediah quickly realises that any acceleration above 4m/s2 introduces an uncontrollable wobble. Though the autopilot can compensate for it, it's an annoyance and something that will need to be factored in to any further course corrections.

Gilly is a tiny moon and, as hinted at previously, a real bugger to hit with an orbital transfer. The autopilot flat out refuses to cooperate and fails to find a solution. Not one to be put off Jeb does the maths in his head and flies the whole burn manually!

screenshot374 by Kerbal Space Centre, on Flickr

We're on course for Gilly! Though the crew are excited to be visiting another new sight there is a lingering undercurrent of tension. Will it have kethane? How hard will it be to land on? Will anything else fall off the Pollux? Is the Spider robust enough to handle a dozen or more refuelling missions?

Everyone is glued to the readouts and displays as the Pollux approaches it's encounter with Gilly. Finally it swings into view.

screenshot376 by Kerbal Space Centre, on Flickr

And within seconds it's nicknamed "The Potato". It's just looks like a large asteroid!

All radar mappers are activated as soon as possible to quickly find out if Gilly holds kethane...

screenshot378 by Kerbal Space Centre, on Flickr

However the kethane mapper is the full focus of attention. The first sector scanned is devoid of kethane, and the second, and the third. The crew clamp down on a rising sense of panic. The only sound is the quiet beep of a negative return.

Suddenly the scanner lets out out a resounding *chirp*... Kethane! The whole ship - and mission control several minutes later - erupts into applause! There is kethane, the mission is still on!

screenshot383 by Kerbal Space Centre, on Flickr

Macry suits up and heads to the Spider and although the crew on the Pollux look at the topography map of Gilly and notice it's the most undulating terrain they have ever seen, Jeb dispells any fear with a glance - he has total faith Macry can land the Spider safely. Getting it back without smashing off another docking port is his silent fear mind you.

Macry doing what he does best, receding quickly from the Pollux. He notices that his approach to Gilly isn't exactly a normal deorbit burn, rather instead a near vertical plummet! The gravity on Gilly is so low he's only moving at a few metres per second which he quickly realises means he needs far, far less fuel. In fact, it should easily cut the number of refuelling landings!

screenshot384 by Kerbal Space Centre, on Flickr

Descending in silence. Again, it's in the dark... what is it with me and night side landings/dockings?!

screenshot400 by Kerbal Space Centre, on Flickr

A few hundred metres up Macry realises the landing is coming down right onto a steep incline so he pitches over at the last minute and takes it onto a somewhat shallower slope. Touchdown!

screenshot387 by Kerbal Space Centre, on Flickr

He's made it! As Spider pilot he has the honour of being the first Kerbal to land on a body outside the Kerbin-Mun-Minmus system

screenshot386 by Kerbal Space Centre, on Flickr

He plants his flag and the Johnney Kerman Memorial Station is born.

screenshot405 by Kerbal Space Centre, on Flickr

He soon realises that the Gilly gravity is quite difficult to walk in and each step sends him hundreds of metres into the air. Although fun to begin with he has work to do and quickly switches over to his jetpack for increased mobility.

screenshot406 by Kerbal Space Centre, on Flickr

Mining goes super smoothly and he soon blasts off back to the Pollux. It is by turns both easy and difficult operating this close to Gilly - the absurdly low gravity means any manoeuvre only needs a few m/s of delta-v to achieve but as a result it's easy for any trajectory to accidentally leave orbit. Even RCS attitude control can tip him over and he soon realises it's best to turn it off and use only reaction wheels to control his facing.

screenshot408 by Kerbal Space Centre, on Flickr

Just in case, the decision is taken to connect the Pollux and the Spider using their refuelling line rather than risk a docking. Things go well, though Macry is still a little nervous.

screenshot409 by Kerbal Space Centre, on Flickr

As soon as the kethane and excess fuel is transferred over he swings back round to Gilly. This time he finds a flatter spot to land on.

screenshot415 by Kerbal Space Centre, on Flickr

Another refuelling sortie complete.

screenshot418 by Kerbal Space Centre, on Flickr

Now at this point I've flown five or six refuelling missions and it's taking an absolute age to do each one. Though it's simple to do, it's taking a lot of time and turning into something of a chore - I'm not exploring here, I'm a petrol station attendant. Jebediah quickly becomes bored so after a hushed conversation with mission control decides to stop wasting time. He's *landing* the Pollux on Gilly.

The crew are frightened rabbits at the best of times but this sends them into a shrieking panic, running around banging into walls, each other, farmyard plants... so Jeb locks himself alone on the bridge to concentrate.

Gilly soon rises up beneath the Pollux.

screenshot421 by Kerbal Space Centre, on Flickr

The trajectory is right on target but look how steep it is!

screenshot422 by Kerbal Space Centre, on Flickr

Getting closer now. Surface boulders are easily visible to the naked eye and despite their panic, the rest of the crew begin to calm down and look out of the windows... though scared, it's still cool!

screenshot426 by Kerbal Space Centre, on Flickr

Touchdown is suprisingly gentle and he uses a navigation beacon planted by Macry to guide the Pollux to a soft, safe landing. Cue the crew now running around into stationary objects, this time in excitement! They all get to visit Gilly!

Macry follows him down using the lights of the Pollux as a beacon.

screenshot429 by Kerbal Space Centre, on Flickr

Easy does it....

screenshot433 by Kerbal Space Centre, on Flickr

Success!

screenshot450 by Kerbal Space Centre, on Flickr

With both vessels docked, Jeb unhooks the refuelling line, attaches it to his suit and zips over to the Spider.

screenshot438 by Kerbal Space Centre, on Flickr

Before reaching the end of the line and being yanked unceremoniously back to the Pollux... it's not QUITE long enough, the Spider is only a metre or so too far out!

No problem, Macry fires up his RCS system and makes a short, controlled hop well inside the range of the refuelling line.

screenshot439 by Kerbal Space Centre, on Flickr

Jeb hooks them up and refuelling commences. Much much quicker, why didn't they think of this before?

screenshot440 by Kerbal Space Centre, on Flickr

One by one, the entire crew leave the Pollux and pose for a team shot on the surface of Gilly. Jeb, ever the poster boy, leaves his suit lights on in broad daylight.

screenshot446 by Kerbal Space Centre, on Flickr

Time to go. Jeb punches in a custom ascent profile for the launch.

screenshot451 by Kerbal Space Centre, on Flickr

The Pollux returns to orbit, fat & heavy with it's belly full of fuel and kethane.

screenshot456 by Kerbal Space Centre, on Flickr

Rejoining with the Spider, now crewed by Bill Kerman to give Macry a

screenshot453 by Kerbal Space Centre, on Flickr

Returning to Eve needs three successive aerobraking manoeuvres so as not to waste all the recently-acquired fuel but for the crew this is now routine!

screenshot466 by Kerbal Space Centre, on Flickr

Back in Eve orbit. It really is a beautiful purple planet.

screenshot473 by Kerbal Space Centre, on Flickr

Here ends episode 3.

Will it be possible to rendezvous with the Eve Explorer? Will it be possible to actually dock without breaking something? Will we be able to land on Eve and - more importantly - return safely to orbit?

And given 0.22 has arrived rendering mechjeb impotent, will any of this nonsense be possible with me flying it ALL by hand!

Tune in next time to find out!

Edited October 22, 2013 by indigo_dc

[indigo_dc]

Episode IV - Eve or Bust

Landing on Eve and returning to orbit. That's the task ahead. It's made slightly more complicated by the fact our Eve lander is on a weird orbit with no fuel and an extremely bored pilot.

Let's not forget mechjeb isn't working so this is now 100% manual, I don't even have the data readouts.

To begin I need to get the Eve Explorer refuelled and back on mission so Bill Kerman heads out with the Spider to see what he can do; Macry might be the better pilot but he's exhausted.

My first effort to rendezvous generates a close enough encounter -

screenshot515 by Kerbal Space Centre, on Flickr

but the Eve Explorer at periapsis is moving almost a kilometer per second faster than the Spider. Bill watches in stupefication as it rockets past him - he hasn't a hope in hell of catching it.

In the end the Spider needs to put itself on it's own elliptical orbit, meet up and apoapsis when speeds are slowest, swing back down to periapsis and burn almost all it's fuel to get into a circular orbit. Piece of cake!

screenshot518 by Kerbal Space Centre, on Flickr

Bill is worried. Very worried. The fuel situation is pretty dire even though they are in a much more circular orbit - he isn't sure they have enough to get back to the Pollux. Chad politely reminds him that the Eve Ex is carrying a full load of kethane and Bill is sitting on a refinery. Looks like hauling all that kethane to Eve paid off in the end! There's sufficient kethane on board to fully refuel the Eve Ex and leave Bill enough to get back to the Pollux!

With resupply complete there really is nothing left to do but to head on down. Both Bill and Chad EVA together and Bill motions Chad to turn on the private short range radio.

screenshot522 by Kerbal Space Centre, on Flickr

"Chad... you know a few of us in the office... we, well, we... don't rate your chances of returning that highly."

Chad just smiles.

"I've been in this game for years now", BIll continues, "I've probably fried myself with radiation. You have it all ahead of you. If you wanted to trade places, to continue in the Pollux, no one would think badly of you".

Chad bangs his helmet gently against Bill's - he'd forgotten to cancel his forward thrust momentarily, stupid EVA suit - and thumbs his radio on.

"I know", he says, "I've always known it was a one way trip. But it's one hell of a trip, eh?"

The two look at each other for a long moment before Bill shakes his hand, "Safe trip, see you when you get back".

"Thanks", smiles Chad before turning around and savouring what could well be his last moment in space.

screenshot520 by Kerbal Space Centre, on Flickr

The pair clamber back into their respective ships, give one last wave through their windows and undock.

screenshot529 by Kerbal Space Centre, on Flickr

Chad nearly gives Bill a heart attack when he brushes extremely gently against the solar panels... though they don't break! "Who teaches these kids to fly??" thinks Bill

The descent profile is entered and executed. This is it, Chad is committed now. Accounting for the thick Eveian atmosphere and it's rotation he aims to overshoot a narrow strip of kethane rich land.

screenshot531 by Kerbal Space Centre, on Flickr

The landing is timed to touchdown just as a new dawn arrives on Eve and the pre-dawn glow over Eve is stunning. Look at that beautiful sky and who knew Eve would have a GREEN glow?

screenshot533 by Kerbal Space Centre, on Flickr

Wow - the colour of that atmosphere is simply majestic, look at it!

screenshot537 by Kerbal Space Centre, on Flickr

Chad doesn't get much time to admire the view though as his ship slams into the upper atmosphere at nearly FOUR kilometres per second. Even after slowing to 3km/s the re-entry is ferocious.

screenshot539 by Kerbal Space Centre, on Flickr

Parachutes pop at 38km up - at this point, mission planners assumed the craft would have comfortably slowed to well below 1km/s but Chad is still racing through at almost 50% faster than predicted.

screenshot541 by Kerbal Space Centre, on Flickr

He casts a nervous glance out of the window -

screenshot542 by Kerbal Space Centre, on Flickr

Thankfully the furnace of re-entry abates and his descent shifts to near vertical, still decelerating rapidly.

screenshot563 by Kerbal Space Centre, on Flickr

He seems to be coming down at an interesting spot near the shores of what seems to be a huge ocean. A win for the science team!

Man that sky! Awesome!

screenshot564 by Kerbal Space Centre, on Flickr

screenshot571 by Kerbal Space Centre, on Flickr

As he approaches 1km in altitude he gets particularly nervous... on the last unmanned Duna missions the force of the parachute opening literally ripped the landers in half so he needs to make sure he's descending at slower than 50m/s... it means burning fuel but he NEEDS to be sure he lands.

screenshot568 by Kerbal Space Centre, on Flickr

The chutes open! Two small solar panels mounted on the command pod fly off and crash to the ground but the bulk of the ship is intact and it touches down at a graceful 6m/s! For the briefest of instants it begins to topple but with instinct born from years of flying Chad quickly rights himself and stabilises the lander.

He is DOWN!

Checking his ship he notices another design flaw - when adding the kethane drill some enterprising engineer replaced one of the landing legs to fit it in and forgot to replace it. Shaking his head but still smiling he begins suiting up for EVA.

screenshot572 by Kerbal Space Centre, on Flickr

He gingerly exits the capsule and as the rulebook demands, attaches himself to the safety winch. Stepping to the edge he notices something else - someone has actually added a ladder! Though not sure who, he silently thanks them - bungee jumping off the side of a rocket and faceplanting into Eve's soil was not the brightest idea in his opinion - and begins descending.

screenshot575 by Kerbal Space Centre, on Flickr

They even fitted an extendible ladder for him! Someone clearly noted his wariness about the "fling yourself off the top, we have a rope" approach and quietly rectified it!

screenshot576 by Kerbal Space Centre, on Flickr

He steps off the bottom rung and detaches the safety rope.

screenshot577 by Kerbal Space Centre, on Flickr

Chad Kerman is on Eve.

[Geschosskopf]

Chad Kerman is on Eve.

And best of luck getting him back .

I really like this story. Please keep at it.

[indigo_dc]

Thank you, seeing that people are still reading is a great motivator for continuing to document it

It'll likely be a day or two before my next update. If people want requests for side missions etc. then let me know and I'll try and work them in!