Field testing a landing pad kit

[Free Trader Beowulf]

Hi,

I've been inspired by the possibilities of KAS and the lights that alexustus makes (http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/50531-Sunshine-movie-style-Deployable-Light-Globe-%28updated-7-10-2013%29).

So, I built a "portable landing pad kit" and sent it to Minmus for field testing.

Bob was mission commander with Bob second seat and Scott along for the ride. Chief Danler was in charge of the landing pad and Dr Jendred took advantage of he last seat in the lander to pick up some more Minmus samples.

As soon as the lander touched down, Danler was out and looking for a good landing spot for the pad:

The landing pad kit arrived in minmus orbit on the nose of one of my standard nuclear tugs, but deorbited and landed under its own power:

Danler started work, setting up the pad:

Soon it was set up and Danler was able to admire his work:

So you can see how the kit works. There are four pairs of radially mounted winches that are used to give power to ASET extendible lights which were stored in the KAS equipment lockers. The lights are positioned 10m and 20m from the landing module, where they illuminate a cross that marks out four separate landing spots. The idea is that you land in one of the four quarters. In this configuration I decided to only turn the outer lights on, it was a little bright with all the lights on:

I would probably space them at 20m and 40m in future. The central unit has batteries and solar panels for the lights, one of the ASET stack inline lights and four more winches which I plan to use to connect landers up to a fuel depot. In theory the pad is visible from a long way:

But of course, the 2.5km physics limit means that in practice you can't see it from that far. But 2.5km is far enough to be a sensible guide, after Danler set it up, the boys did a once around and came down over the pad at night:

Chief Danler briefs the pilots on the new equipment:

Dr Jendred returns from a rock gathering trip:

Just using the 2.5m stack inline light, things are a little dim, but probably enough to set things up with the Kerbal's headlights. I'm trying to use a light on the stack to light up the stack, so it's probably not that surprising that it's not that bright:

Having successfully tested the new gear, the boys mounted up and headed for home. Here's a final shot of the Eagle lander detaching from the Mun Transfer Vehicle just before deorbiting over Kerbin.

Fly safe!