Duna lander with FAR?

[BudgetHedgehog]

So I'm stumped..

I have FAR installed but for the life of me, I can't figure out how to make an aerodynamic looking lander with enough dV to land and orbit again that ALSO contains all the science sensors AND has a docking port on top to rdv with my orbiting lab.

What I usually end up doing is keeping the nosecone I used from my Kerbin ascent, attach it to the front of my tug and then, when I'm about to deorbit at Duna, I reattach it to the front of my lander (Mk2 lander can, decoupler, Sc Jr, 2m fuel tank, Poodle with all the sensors and goo pods and stuff on top of the fuel tank) ready for ascent. But that still, to me, doesn't look right.. Compared to my vacuum lander, it's huge and ungainly and could be mistaken for an actual spacecraft..

So I'm curious - what do you guys use for landing on Duna if you want to take off again in the same thing?

Edited April 17, 2014 by ObsessedWithKSP

[Taki117]

Duna's Atmosphere is thin enough that aerodynamics don't really matter. If you have enough dV to reach orbit (About 1300m/s according to the dV map) and you have enough parachutes to land without using your engines (I suggest real-chute) then you should be fine.

[undercoveryankee]

I just happened to be ferrying mine to the transfer ship today, and I got a picture. This has landed and returned to orbit in pre-expedition "simulation" tests.

This is a two-stage single-use lander. The radially-mounted science pods are on the descent stage. Note nose cones in the direction of travel, and odd-shaped science parts on the trailing surface.

Nose docking port would be a shielded port, but I needed to build it docked to the delivery tug and Ike lander as shown. Building a shielded port open requires TweakableEverything or similar, which I don't have on this install.

If I needed a reusable lander, I would probably use basically the same shape, but cover the upper ends of the science pods with a 6S fairing and another nose cone.

Mod parts: 6S service compartments (one in the ascent stage for batteries and RCS tanks, more if I needed to cover sensors for return to orbit); B9 (Atlas low-profile engine, aerodynamic-looking RCS block), RealChute, Infernal Robotics.

Edit: More mod parts: The decoupler is Deadly Reentry. Fits nicely over another Atlas engine. Some KW Rocketry fuel tanks are visible, but vehicle function doesn't depend on the tanks being KW.

Edited April 17, 2014 by undercoveryankee

[federally]

I haven't done a manned landing but the probe I landed there and flew around hitting biomes was not aerodynamic.

I am on my phone so I can't post a screen shot. It was a center tank with for tanks mounted radially around it. Then some stuff stacked on top of the center tank. I brought and deployed a drogue chute to help slow me down and keep the ship oriented properly since it was so not aero.

Really you need to plan a Duna landing like it's on a body with no atmosphere. You will get hardly any drag and will need power to slow down.

I also have DRE installed and had heat shields installed over the engines but they were completely pointless as entry heat was negligible.

[KerbMav]

This is a two-stage single-use lander. The radially-mounted science pods are on the descent stage. Note nose cones in the direction of travel, and odd-shaped science parts on the trailing surface.

Genius! I learned something new today which I simply did not think of myself.

[BudgetHedgehog]

So basically, I don't need to worry that much about it. Groovy, thanks guys

EDIT: mind if I use that single use lander? I always plan an Ike visit every time I go to Duna so I usually have to make my lander multi-use, BUT if I dock one Sc Jr and goo to the top of the tug, I can bring that down with me to use. Or, I could just not jettison them when I leave Ike.. all depends on if I visit Ike before or after Duna, I guess..

Edited April 17, 2014 by ObsessedWithKSP

[undercoveryankee]

EDIT: mind if I use that single use lander? I always plan an Ike visit every time I go to Duna so I usually have to make my lander multi-use, BUT if I dock one Sc Jr and goo to the top of the tug, I can bring that down with me to use. Or, I could just not jettison them when I leave Ike.. all depends on if I visit Ike before or after Duna, I guess..

I just remembered a few more mod parts that are in my .craft file but not really part of the structure of the Duna lander. KER, MechJeb, RemoteTech2 antenna on the tug, Interstellar radiators and magnetometer on the Ike lander, and one of the experiments I'm carrying is from the BioMass pack. Possibly TAC Life Support as well. I'll make a "public" version of the .craft with those non-critical mods removed and share it this evening or tomorrow.

Mission profile: I built separate single-use landers for Duna and Ike. The assembly was built in orbit with Extraplanetary Launchpads, and the tug stage between the two landers took them from the construction station to the interplanetary ship. The interplanetary transfer ship will park in low Duna orbit and both landers will operate from there.

The Duna lander deorbits from low Duna orbit, makes a few burns during the descent to minimize entry heating, and deploys drogues around 10km. Main chutes are armed at drogue deployment. Terminal velocity under chutes is around 10 m/s. Final burn just before touchdown to land at 5 m/s or less. Should be enough fuel in the descent stage to cut chutes and extend powered flight if you need to move off a steep slope, but you'll want to add an action group to cut all chutes together. Don't forget to hit the Infernal Robotics controls as part of extending the landing gear. Science pods are for upper atmosphere, lower atmosphere, and landed. They are all on the descent stage, so don't forget to collect the data while you're on EVA.

The Ike lander includes a transfer stage to get it from low Duna orbit to low Ike orbit and to return the ascent stage to low Duna orbit afterward. Science for Ike high and near space located on the transfer stage. Science for Ike landed is on the descent stage.

[undercoveryankee]

https://www.dropbox.com/s/zp722uknlo808zf/Duna-Ike%20landers.craft is a reduced-mods version of the lander package I posted a picture of. It should require only the mods I mentioned in the post with the picture.

[BudgetHedgehog]

https://www.dropbox.com/s/zp722uknlo808zf/Duna-Ike%20landers.craft is a reduced-mods version of the lander package I posted a picture of. It should require only the mods I mentioned in the post with the picture.

Sweet, thanks! My Duna mission is saved, hooray!