Duna Apollo Style Challenge mission report

[Patupi]

OK, I've done another challenge, and this time this is all after the fact. My last challenge, the Duna Architectural Challenge was long winded, months longwinded! This one was a single trip to Duna. How long could it take? Yeah... right. Well, over a week later and I'm done. One or two mistakes that cost me points, but overall well done.

For those that haven't seen the challenge here is a link to the appropriate thread: Duna Apollo Style Challenge

My effort used the 'E K Bod launcher', which is named after a famous Kerbol in a poem that fought a headless ghoul that was stealing all the drinking goblets from a village. The mission profile is named after the ghoul itself: The 'Kup Hollow' program. Yeah, I was in that kind of mood when I came up with this *sigh*

So, the EK Bod launcher:

As the rules state it's a three stage to LKO orbit launcher with a fairing to cover the lander stage (optional rule) and the Command Moduel+Service Module (CM and SM) on top, just like Kup Hollow.. I mean Apollo. It's all done with no mods that add any aids to flight or add components. I did use one mod that affected flight: the Actions on the Fly mod. It allows you to reallocate action groups as you go. Hope fully that won't affect the scoring. The other mods I know from the thread aren't an issue. I used the universe replacer mod (merely graphics), the Editor Extensions mod (doesn't affect game play), the subassembly manager (ditto), and the Select Root mod (ditto also). I had hyper edit and Mech Jeb installed, but only used them for testing the hardware on a seperate save game. Neither were used in the actual mission. Basically they helped me to figure out what dVs were needed and to test to see if the landers came apart during descent on Duna when the chutes open (They did at first *sigh*).

The pilots need no introduction, Jeb and Bob as Lander crew and Bill stuck on duty in the Command Module during the Duna exploration. The ship carries two Kerballed rovers on the lander and each of those rovers carries two mini probe rovers. It was supposed to be that all of these would be science packages, driven to places and left there... but I forgot to install any science stuff on the two Kerballed rovers... this left me one short for a mission objective five points lost there! Of course I only figured this out after I landed *Face palm* Unfortunately I also didn't realise that to get 20points you had to have your two stage lander leave the lower stage on Duna! I used it for a minor part of the ascent. What's annoying is that it was unneccessary. The Ascent stage is perfectly capable of getting to low Duna orbit by itself! *sigh*.

Anyway, back to the details of the mission.

Launch went well (but in the dark! ).

1st stage separation:

2nd stage separation:

and the third going into it's gravity turn. Yeah the first two stages were light on fuel. It worked out well though.

Once in a roughly 100km orbit (95km by 105km if I remember right, sloppy parking by Bill) it was time to separate the third stage and to shed the fairing. A messy business!

Then, once clear of the debris the SM needed to dock to the Lander.

That went well! Next, plot a course to Duna. I left a lot of dV on the SM, and testing showed I needed to leave at least 800 units of fuel for a return journey (accounting for 100units for messing around at Duna orbit)

And with all the fuel I'd put in the launcher I got a good transfer orbit with an early arrival.

The mission timer started at day 54, and the time taken... 54 days to Duna SOI? Hmm, odd coincidence. Still the challenge states anything earlier than 75 days after start earns bonus points, so 21 extra points I guess.

After a dull, dark aerobrake the ship was left in an elliptical orbit.

This was left as is on purpose. Testing proved that to get to the poles used a lot of fuel to change inclination. But the further you are out in your orbit the easier it is to change inclination. I planned to do as much as possible with the lander's fuel to correct it's steep inclination on launch from Duna's pole then the main SM would use it's wide elliptical orbit to shift far out to match the lander. Amazingly this actually worked! See later on.

Edited October 9, 2013 by Patupi

[Patupi]

The orbit the SM was left in was still dipping into the atmosphere from the aerobraking, but rather than correct that this ship launched the two satellites and transferred Jeb and Bob to the lander and launched that, and THEN bringing it's PE up to about 50km

At this point Sat 1 went in orbit around Duna, and Sat 2 was on it's way to Ike. The Lander still had to use it's descent stage to alter it's inclination to hit the south pole.

And we're down... in the dark again. What is it with night launches and landings? Well, at least dawn is soon.

Meanwhile I got Sat 2 into an Ike orbit... this was about the time I realized the SM had gone into a retrograde orbit during braking! DOH!

Still, only a bit of fuel wasted on landing launching from Duna *sigh*

Once down Jeb and Bob got the rovers disconnected from the lander and the minirovers separated too. All seemed to be working.

Now the sun is up the mini rovers can go score mission points... I mean do science! Yeah, that. Yes, the minirovers have two fixed solar panels whereas the Kerballed rovers have an RTG. Jeb swears riding with a large nuclear battery under him hasn't affected him at all. He likes glowing in the dark! (For some reason I never got a good daylight pic of the Kerballed rovers, just the mini rovers)

The science package mission parameters were:

1&2) a science package to go beyond 10km from the lander and also another 2.5km from lander. I got a good view from the 10km rover back towards the lander and in the distance on a peak you can see the second mini rover 2.5km behind that. A two for one pic!

3) a science package at 1000m altitude difference from the lander.

4) a science package close to an anomoly.

5) and a science package at the lander.... oh... run out of science packages The Kerballed rovers stayed there after the lander left, but they didn't have science packages built in. Some contractor messed up here! Also there was a requirement of a kerballed rover to venture 10km from the lander. This was more of a challenge than I thought, more due to the design of rover I used and the limitations I had in getting it to fit in the Kerbin launch fairing. Jeb jumped at the chance to drive a rover... after taking a moment to watch the rising Kerbol with Bob.

Now off Jeb went! And promptly flipped the rover. Even with ASAS on and using docking controls (which worked great on the minirovers for fast stable driving)

The rovers have a probe body though and some judicious use of torque later the vehicle is righted and Jeb can resume his trip.

I won't tell you how many times Jeb flipped the vehicle. It's too embaracing! Curiously the return journey went without a single flip. I guess Jeb got used to it. *shrugs* Still, here's a pic at 10km from base camp.

Oh yes, before all this rover malarky Jeb did plant a flag.

After these glorious days of exploration on Duna Jeb didn't want to leave. He liked his rovers!

Still they launched (Wish I'd left the damned descent stage down there! *sigh*) and soon were baralling up to orbit.

They did, as expected, run out of fuel before they could correct the high inclination of their orbit so Bill had to match orbits with them in the SM. They left some RCS in the lander for docking... but not a lot. It ran out with about 2 seconds to spare before they docked!

Once Bob and Jeb were back in the SM they spun the assembly and timed the release of the Lander so it was slowed in it's orbit and the SM was slightly raised. Worked well! Saves on fuel a tiny bit. (Definitely used Actions on the Fly here to let me set the 'undock' key)

Then it was a matter of waiting for the return window to open up. Yeah I could have left them on the ground for most of this but then Bill would have been left on his own in orbit for MONTHS! He'd have gone insane! Still, got a good tranfer orbit back home and headed off.

Kerbin aerobraking went well, and a bit more visually dramatic than the Duna aerobraking.

The SM used the last dregs of it's fuel to slow down during final de-orbit, then was cast off for the final landing.

And finally splashdown! Mission completed.

Final result:

Basic mission profile to earn the base of 50 points:

Non-asparagus, Saturn 5 style launch vehicle: 3 main stages to LKO, no asparagus-style fuel-tank/engine jettisons on ascent to LKO.

Solid rocket boosters ARE permitted, as they were being developed for the Space Shuttle, but there is a penalty for making KSC accelerate their development for this mission.

Start with the provided save game persistent file.

Single launch mission. No refueling or constructing the vessel in orbit from multiple launches.

The Apollo CSM was not capable of doing a 'direct ascent' mission. You must use a separate command module and lander.

Powered descent, parachutes, or a combination will qualify.

All stock flight-parts. No mods which provide improved flight performance or flight assistance (auto-pilot) are allowed.

Return at least one of the Kerbals that started the mission back safely to Kerbin's surface.

Addition points for standard mission goals:

3-kerbal mission +10

2-kerbal lander +10

2-stage lander with separate ascent stage (descent stage stays on Duna) +0 (DOH! Everything except the descent stage stays behind!)

Launch escape system (LES) escape tower +10

Duna lander stored behind the CM during ascent +20

Lander tucked away behind some fairing +5

Perfect landing - no damage to LM +10

Dock with LM's ascent stage prior to leaving Duna's SOI +10

Ascent module de-orbited to burn up in Duna's atmosphere +5

Plant at least one flag +3

Splash-down on Kerbin (water landing) +5

Kerbal fatality -20 each (if any kerbal is left on the Duna surface after the ascent module leaves the surface or the CM leaves Duna

orbit, they will die). -0

Flight goals:

Launch vehicle should avoid using solid-rocket boosters during its ascent. This *does not* include use of Separatrons that are not used for ascent purposes. If you use a SRB for ascent -10 -0 (separatrons used only in launch escape system)

Complete the mission with only chemical rockets (no nukes). The KSC already has a crate of chemical rockets on hand and you get a bonus for not having to accelerate development on the nuclear engine +15

Aerobrake around Duna to achieve orbit +10

Less than 75 days from game start to Duna orbit? Launching when the game saves starts and performing a standard orbital transfer gets you into a Duna orbit 75 days from when the provided save game starts, day 129 in the game. Find a faster way to get into a Duna orbit using another transfer faster and earn +1 point for every day less than 75 days it takes to get to Duna orbit, from the starting point of day 54, where the provided save game starts (calculated by 129 - day when Duna orbit is reached). +21

Water sample return bonus! Land on either polar icecap AND return a sample to Kerbin (either as part of the kerballed lander or a robotic lander) +10

Rover:

At least one rover on board +5

Rovers can seat at least one Kerbal +5

Additional rovers +3 each +15

Distance (score for one only and counts only for a kerballed rover)

Drive beyond 100 meters of the lander

Drive beyond 2.5 km of the lander

Drive beyond 5km of the lander

Drive beyond 10km of the lander +15

Orbital Science goals:

Deploy orbiting satellite around Duna +5

Deploy orbiting satellite around Ike +10

Duna surface science goals.

Each science package must be a powered probecore with at least one scientific instrument.

Deploy one science package at landing site (on the LM itself counts, if that part of the LM stays on Duna's surface and remains powered) +0 (Doh again!)

Deploy a science package at least 2.5km from the landing site +10 (score first one only)

Deploy a science package at least 1000m +/- different alititude from LM or any other science package +15 (score first one only)

Deploy a science package adjacent (within 100m) to any anomoly +10 (score first one only)

Deploy a science package at least 10km from the landing site +10 (score first one only)

Total score: 294 (would have been 319 if it weren't for those darned kids... I mean if I hadn't messed up Twice! )

Edited October 9, 2013 by Patupi
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