Interplanetary Challenge Mission (picture heavy)

[Scarecrow88]

mangekyou-sama posted up an idea for a challenge that involved visiting a number of places and/or completing some tasks. Asking for help, I offered to set up a fairly small set of outposts for him to test his concept. The result was an actual challenge thread titled The Amazing Race: Interplanetary Edition Season 1

The basic concept is that Jebediah is the only pilot available to complete a set of tasks that have presented themselves to KSC that need to be completed as quick as possible. His first is to collect his buddy Bill, who is currently situated on Kerbin station. A few artefacts have been found on Mun, which they need to check out, but they also need to transport the resident alien expert, Ripley, to Mun station. At some point they also need to pick up Bob, who is currently on Minmus station. As the stations can't be left unmanned for any length of time, Buzz has offered to transfer from Mun station to Minmus station to replace Bob. Buzz apparently has had enough of the Mun anyway. Before they leave Minmus, Bob has offered to deliver a lander at Minmus station to Minmus base. Unfortunately that means someone will have to go and pick Bob up once he's made the delivery.

Duna is also on the task list, as someone back at KSC realised they didn't stake any sort of claim to the face that was recently unearthed on Duna, so they've been asked to go and plant a flag there. Meanwhile on Laythe, due to boredom, a couple of guys on Laythe station decided to have some fun by trying to automate their lander. Unfortunately whilst it worked perfectly all the way to the surface, at that point their system gave up the ghost and stranded it there, so two of our intrepid trio have been asked to pay a visit to Laythe and retrieve the lander from the surface.

This is my log of that mission.

Jeb sits alone on the pad, raring to go.

The timer probe is released from the end of Kerbin station, as this is the most reliable way of keeping track of the MET. Jeb is still docked, to show that he didn't try to leave before starting the timer. Meanwhile, the mission lander is sitting off station just out of shot.

Having released the timer, Jeb is free to set off. The first thing he does is dock with the lander, and has a final check that he has both Bob and Ripley on board before setting off for Mun.

On reaching Mun, Jeb and Bob trust Ripley to take the main craft to Mun station, while they go and visit the artefacts on the surface. They find the Armstrong Memorial rather poignant.

Meanwhile they rue the darkness at the arch, as apparently the view is quite good there.

Having picked up Buzz, Ripley waves the boys goodbye from Mun station as they set course for Minmus.

Making use of the multi-docking facilities at Minmus station, the boys top up their fuel.

Meanwhile Bob sets off to deliver the Minmus lander to Minmus Base.

Bob is really thankful for the low gravity on Minmus as he is pretty sure he would have had a much longer walk if he had been landing anywhere else.

Jeb isn't far behind to pick him up, but it's already dark by the time he arrives.

Leaving Buzz behind, the boys set off on their next leg to Duna.

Leaving the main ship in orbit, Jeb and Bob set off in the lander for the face. Unfortunately, the face site is in dusk as they are coming in, and Jeb can't actually see it, so just trusts to memory that he will be able to land somewhere close. Unfortuantely it turns out he was not as close as he hoped, so someone has a long walk ahead of them.

With a wry twist of humour, when Jeb finally plants the flag at the face, he comments on the flag plaque about having had to walk so far.

As a matter of curiosity, once Jeb gets back to the lander, he scans the flag to see how far out he was with his landing. 6.6km! That's 13.2km he has just had to walk. No wonder his legs feel a bit wobbly.

Meanwhile Bill is having it easy refuelling at Duna 32. He advises Jeb and Bob that they might want to consider docking with Duna 64 to refuel.

Despite being in an inclined orbit, making it more difficult, this makes sense to the boys, as Duna 32 doesn't have enough fuel to fill them right up, and they need to use the lander tanks as reserve for the long burn to Laythe.

Meanwhile the scanners show that the flag they have just planted shows up nicely from orbit.

The minor inconvenience of visiting Duna 64 is offset by the fact that they can completely top off their tanks with what little fuel remains at Duna 32.

Eager to make up for his slight navigation mishap when landing on Duna, Jeb manages to plot a double slingshot out of the Duna system, saving them a bucket load of fuel in the process.

On their way, they take time to appreciate the views as they slingshot past Ike.

Jeb is really back on form, as he manages to plot their aerobrake at Laythe straight in to an encounter for rendezvous with Laythe station.

Their joy is short lived though. Heading straight for the surface to recover the stranded lander, they suddenly realise that they forgot to pack the parachutes after landing on Duna. Their pinpoint landing is some small comfort, but Jeb is acutely aware that he will be tight on fuel for getting back to orbit, having used more than normal for the landing.

As Bob climbs in to the stranded lander, his thoughts are with his best mate, who he realises has a serious problem on his hands.

Meanwhile Bill docks the command ship at Laythe station, completely unaware of the drama unfolding on the surface.

Bob's trip back to orbit is uneventful.

He slides past the station so that he is facing his chosen docking point.

Completing his docking, he quickly brings everyone on board up to speed with regards to Jebediah's situation.

Having thought the situation through, Jeb has come up with a solution, and finally hits the loud pedal to lift off.

As soon as the external tanks are empty, he jettisons them, believing that the saving in weight will give him the edge he needs.

Hurray, he was right. Bob and Bill vacate the docking point so that Jeb can fill up.

With a full tank again, Jeb rejoins his two comrades and starts making preparations for their journey home.

The boys have to jettison the lander much earlier than they had hoped. As a reserve tank, it would normally have lasted much longer had the external tanks still been available. They're not going to quibble though, as they are just happy that Jeb made it, and he has another plan to compensate for the reduced level of fuel.

Jeb decides that a much more aggressive approach to Kerbin, digging really deep in to the atmosphere, will save them having to do such a long retrograde burn, negating the lack of fuel on board.

He was right (again). A successful capture in to orbit around Kerbin has them patting themselves on the back, with plans for a big celebration meal once they are back home.

Another steep burn has them slowing down rapidly for a landing right back at KSC.

With all the hard work behind them, the boys can relax as they slowly drift back, reassured that they won't have to sit around waiting for a recovery vehicle to show up.

And there they all are, just before they head off for a well deserved (and needed) shower.

Mission log. Mission Elapsed Time 2y 188d 18h 13m 31s

If anybody would like to have a go at this set of tasks, the persistent file with the base, landers, stations and fuelling depots in place, together with the two Mun flags that need to be visited, it can be downloaded here

Edited October 5, 2013 by Scarecrow88