First Mission to Duna

[Yarrula]

After having created a launcher and landing program that made gathering science from the Mun and Minmus a routine operation, I decided to set my sights upon something slightly more challenging. Duna had been tossed around as a preferred destination by my fellow Kerbalnauts, so I figured, why not? This was a career save and I'd managed to unlock a good portion of the tree, but I was getting bored after the fifth or so Minmus landing. I like the fact that it has different biomes now, but there isn't enough difference between them to hold my interest for much longer than it did. I'll go back when I figure out all this rover business.

I constructed my ship out of three major parts. First, there was the Transfer stage, which contained all the engines and fuel needed for the trip. Second, there was the Command module, which had the power, batteries, mobile lab, hitchhiker containers, monoprop tanks etc. that would sustain the brave crew on their adventure. The Lander made up the third part. Everything was launched separately and docked together in orbit.*

*I would like to take a brief moment here and thank the tweakables function for letting me launch with empty fuel tanks for the transfer stage. I would never have gotten the thing in orbit without it. Empty, it weighed about 120 tonnes and was also my largest single lift to date.

The transfer stage took three or four trips with a tanker to completely fill. I am now an accomplished docking pilot. When all was said and done, there was about 11,000 m/s (+/-) of delta v available. The lander would start with full tanks, but would refuel from the transfer stage to allow it to make multiple landings. Its initial fuel didn't count towards my delta v budget, but every landing I did would eat a little more out of it. Still, it looked to be massive overkill when compared to the best delta V maps I could find, so I remained optimistic. Besides, anything left over would go back into the transfer stage for the burn home.

The lander contained duplicate copies of all the scientific instruments, excluding the nosecone part as I've never actually used that and I have no idea what it does. Science, I assume, but whatever. The idea would be to take duplicate readings from all the areas I could, use the science lab to process and transmit one set and EVA to collect the others into the command section for later return to Kerbin. The experiments would then be reset and the entire ship would be moved onwards to the next place of science.

I loaded it up with the full crew complement of 7 and set forth to adventure! It was majestic. It was awe inspiring. It had an intercept burn time of somewhere between two cups of tea and reasonably quick pot of soup. Note to self: do not neglect the TWR numbers for the next construction project.

Mission Highlights

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This was probably the most complex thing I've ever done in KSP, and it was the first manned mission I've ever done outside of Kerbin's SOI. It was also the most fun I've had to date. Design and build, launch, docking, interplanetary flight, this mission covered pretty much the whole darn shooting match. While the autopilot option was there, I did all the flying myself on this one. I now consider myself a (lightly) seasoned veteran when it comes to orbital rendezvous and docking. Take that, MechJeb, your services are no longer required! (You can stay if you want to plot all my circular orbits though...)

Despite the few attempts needed to make the Duna landing, the mission was a wild success. It netted me somewhere in the neighbourhood of 4,200 science points, enough to unlock the rest of the tree, except for a single node. 550 needed, 427 available. So close. I guess I should have looked into that nosecone after all.

There was a brief moment of panic when I tried to make the transfer to Ike. I was still commanding the ship from the landing can, which was docked backwards compared to the rest of the ship. All the indicators said prograde, but I managed to put 300m/s towards a deorbit and crash on Duna before I noticed, flipped the ship around (so slowly!) and burn with the engines pointing in the right direction. Talk about an adrenaline rush followed by a face-palm of epic proportions. I did not manage to take screen shots of this as I was too busy muppet-flailing in panic to hit that particular key. Since nothing broke or exploded, I stabilized the orbit and went to Ike on the next go around. Another Note to self: Next ship, have everything docked facing the same direction to engineer this problem out of existence.

I am now planning a similar mission to the Jool system where I hope to put a Kerbal on every moon, with triple the number of nuclear engines. The budget is unlimited so far, but my patience is not.

[Vanamonde]

This is the kind of mission I like to fly, though I haven't tried one in career yet. Nice mission, and an ambitious first post.

[Specialist290]

Nicely done! Like your first Mun landing, your first Duna mission tends to stick with you (or at least it did for me).

[Jacob01]

Well done! I managed to land and return from Duna recently for the first time, its a great feeling when you do it!

[Brotoro]

Congratulations! Nice first post.

[Yarrula]

Thanks! Regarding the first post business, I'm not the type that usually joins forums etc. I mostly lurk in the background. But this was enough fun that I felt the need to share.