I need help deciding on how I'm going to land on Duna

[generalmiller]

After months of playing KSP I'm finally planning of going on my first manned interplanetary mission. Partially because after my Mun base it seems the next logical step and because of Scott Manley's recent trip to Eve inspiring me. I've launched plenty of satellites, landers, and rovers to other planets successfully in my current save and others so I'm confident in my ability to get there. I've already started planning the vehicle to get me there and the two cBBp Dragon CSMs to get the fourteen Kerbals aboard. I've already decided on taking two small rocket powered UAVs to see Duna from the air. I've also decided that at least two Kerbals will remain with the interplanetary ship. It might be unnecessary, but I don't like the idea of leaving the ship empty. What I still haven't been able to make my mind up on is how I'm going to land all the Kerbal's on Duna and Ike. This is where I'd like to know any of your opinions on the matter to maybe help me decide or point out any pros or cons I might have missed.

Side note I use mods a lot to keep things interesting for me and all these plans involve liberal use of parachutes for the actual landing.

Option 1 Have four three man landers. Three for Duna and one for Ike

Pros

All landers are the same so COM on the main ship will be easy

Can explore three different places on Duna

Will be able to be relatively small

Will have twelve kerbals exploring

Cons

Requires four separate landings and returns

All the rovers I have stock or mod are designed for two

COM with one rover would be a problem and two rovers would be unnecessary weight

Option 2 Have three landers. Two four man landers for Duna and one two man roverless lander for Ike

Pros

Only three landings and returns

Can explore two places on Duna

Rover balancing wont be a problem with two per Duna lander

Cons

One lander is different throwing off the main ships COM unless it's docked center mass

Two less kerbals on the ground then option 1

Option 3 One massive 3.75m 8 man lander probably two stage either designed myself or built off of Frizzank's Big Gemini if it's released in time and one two man roverless lander for Ike

Pros

Only two landings and two returns

Rover balancing not an issue with four of them evenly spaced

Would not have to worry about Delta V and might have extra fuel for return to Kerbin

Cons

Can only explore one place on Duna

Two less kerbals on the ground then option 1

Massive heavy lander making actually landing and maneuvering possibly challenging

Lander is so massive it absolutely has to be centered on the main ship

Extra option for options two and three

Have another roverless Ike lander, but use it to go to somewhere else on Duna. Probably one of the poles. This would eliminate the main ships COM issue and have the two extra kerbals actually doing something.But it would mean an extra landing and docking.

Personally option 1 is my least favorite mainly because of the rover issue. Much like the Apollo Program weight is a major factor for me and carrying either an extra rover or dead weight to counter balance seems wasteful.

But I decided I'd put it up there to see what anyone has to say about it or any insight from those that have already under taken this venture might be able to offer to help make up my mind.

Also if there are any glaring grammar issues I'm sorry. I only had two hours of sleep and I'm not doing so great right now.

Edited October 4, 2013 by generalmiller

[Captain Sierra]

1 is probably your best bet when you start thinking about docking to the main craft. building a 4-way docking up and placing a lander on each would be easiest to balance once in space. Rather than try and balance two different designs, your best bet is to use multiple of the same craft opposite each other on the hub, making 1 the best and 2 your next best as you could always mount that odd-man-out lander inline.

[mellojoe]

I love the idea of a massive trip to Duna. What is the return trip plan? Launch everything from Duna and rendezvous with the orbiting craft? Sending one craft back to Kerbin? Or have each lander have its own propulsion to take it back home? Or are we doing a permanent outpost on Duna and the gang is just going to stay there?

If you are going to dock back with the main orbiting craft, then I say go with a multi lander plan. Each one will only need enough fuel to get to orbit and dock with the mothership. This way, you can land them in individual areas ... you know, FOR SCIENCE. Tip: Put your orbital mothership on an inclined plane. Then dropping each lander will just be a matter of timing. And then each one can launch right into the correct orbit inclination.

If you are going to send the Kerbals right from Duna straight to Kerbin individually, I would go with the idea of a single larger lander with rovers. This way, the Kerbals don't get too far away from each other. They could all climb aboard the single return ship, to keep things simple. Rovers would give them utility to explore as much area as possible. You could balance a manned rover and an unmanned rover, which gets left behind to continue to rove ... you know, FOR SCIENCE.

[Dynamo]

It depends on what you want to see. Unless you have some mods to make planetside more interesting, there will only be a couple unique landing spots for Duna, perhaps a crater or a mountain slope. I think you should go with option 2, as you shouldn't limit yourself to only 1 landing, and you can always put counterweight on for the rover if you design it carefully. In addition, since the overall weight of the vessel will likely be much larger than the rover, it can't move the CG that much relative to center. Plus, rovers make exploration of nearby terrain far less painful. Duna has just enough of an atmosphere that jetpacks are inefficient and only suitable for short trips, and the surface gravity is too low to make walking useful.

My first trip to Duna carried 2 stock 2-man landers of my own design, a more minimal payload to ease design for my first IPV. Personally, i find it hard to deal with high payload fraction, and i stay away from huge landers to save frustration with making the transfer stage. However, if you've got the vehicle for it, go nuts.

[Rocket Farmer]

You missed Option #4. The albatross.

One large lander with all the bells and whistles.

I recently just landed one of Laythe. It had:

1. Laythe orbital space station with crew of 1 as overwatch for the Laythe mission.

1. Return cable assembly to be docked with the return orbiter for flight back to kerbin.

4. Probe Satelites to circle Laythe.

4. Probe landers to assist with picking a landing site. With this successful with 3 the 4th was tasked to Bop.

1. Large lander home to the 12 crew (room for 28) Attached to the lander:

2. Jets (1 kerbal each) stored vertically with a spread to allow for liftoff.

2. Sky cranes for unloading the 2 heavy rovers

2. Heavy rovers capable of carrying 2 kerbals tested to 55m/s previously.

2. Light probe rovers for close quarters rover worker around the base.

1. Detacheable return to orbit unit.

Things that didn't make the final mission cut

Boats - I just couldn't get a viable entry to send to laythe that could be driven/sky craned to the ocean.

Submarine - Same issue

Ground based refueling station for the jets. Just couldn't come up with anything to work.

I just recently made landfall (talk about parachutes).

So be like my kerbals and go and get away from it all by bringing it all with you.

[DerekL1963]

My current Duna architecture is based around a single (re-useable) lander and tankers in orbit.

[Geschosskopf]

My advice:

Send a flotilla of 5 ships instead of 1 big ship. 1 ship carries Kerbals and extra fuel, the others are 2 landers for Duna and 2 for Ike, which go out unmanned. Once everything's at Duna, rendezvous a lander with the Kerbal ship, EVA some Kerbals, and land them. Then bring them back, refuel lander, and land again in a different place. Repeat until you're bored with Duna. 2nd Duna lander is for rescue if 1st lander crashes. Then EVA Kerbals to an Ike lander and repeat the process there. Once bored with Ike, get everybody back in the main ship and go home, leaving all landers in Duna system for future use.

[Galane]

I still need to send something to another planet, but I'd balance a rover with drop tanks, or non-drop tanks if on a lander stage that's going to stay on the surface. Tanks of fuel, or batteries, whatever parts that serve a useful function and can be dumped if you need that part of the lander to lift off again.

Also if there are any glaring grammar issues I'm sorry. I only had two hours of sleep and I'm not doing so great right now.

Just used then when you needed than. "I'd rather play KSP than do work." VS "I'd rather play KSP then do work." Oh, wait, both of those work... but the meaning is completely different. ;P

[JiWint]

What about 1 lander for duna and ike?

[Geschosskopf]

What about 1 lander for duna and ike?

Anything that will work on Duna will work on Ike but then miss out on the fun of building and flying some cute, silly little low-gravity lander .

[panzerknoef]

I really think breaking your big ship up in to smaller modules and docking the in orbit around duna is way better idea! I'm currently flying a 200ton space station (2 landers, 2crew supply modules, 2 propulsion stages with 4nukes each and a living compartiment, crew of 6) to duna and damn it's a pain in the ass to fly i'm spoiling hundreds of units of rcs at each node. So i would surely pick the option of smaller pieces for the advantage in control and speed. And btw why don't you just take a rover to ike to, could be fun