Katla - mission to Eve and back

[lajoswinkler]

Again, I've dumped two Kerbals on Eve, something I haven't done in a long time. Now with faster CPU/GPU, maybe things will work out better.

Here I'll mark the success of the mission. Notable mods: Deadly Reentry, Kerbal Engineer Redux, KOSMOS, Procedural Parts and Real Chute.

The lander and the nuclear tug are in Kerbin's orbit, slowly pushing at 1/3 thrust on each periapsis.

The Katla ascent vehicle has more than 12 km/s of delta-v in atmosphere of Eve, so it should be able to reach orbit even from the ocean level. It has been tested for dynamic stresses and climbing of Kerbals. Expected speed of descent is 15 m/s. Kerbals board the external seats. It is equipped with a huge heatshield and will be dropped near the stranded Kerbals which will reach it by a rover.

The tug, connected to the vehicle, has over 8 km/s of delta-v and might serve as a return vehicle to a station in Kerbin's orbit.

[meve12]

Neat lander. Where did the engines come from?

[Spica]

Those are from the Kosmos pack, as the OP said.

[lajoswinkler]

Update.

I've dropped an unmanned rover some 14 km away from the stranded Kerbals, drove there and now they're waiting for the rescue.

While driving, I've passed next to a floating boulder of Eve.

The lander has freed itself from Kerbin's SOI and is now orbiting Kerbol. One set of tug's tanks have been jetissoned. Tug and lander are connected by the smallest docking port (stupid, I know), so I can't thrust over 1/3 with 4 LV-N engines or the thing tilts away.

meve12, thanks. Some of the engines are from KOSMOS, others are stock. There might be one central engine from Home Grown Rocket mod, but I'm not sure. It took a lot of experiments to find out the proper layout to get almost 13 km/s of delta-v. Kerbals are roughly at 2700 m high ground so it should be sufficient... if I manage to land this thing anywhere close.

Edited August 31, 2014 by lajoswinkler

[meve12]

Ya, precision landing's going to be tough.(Could have attached the lander to a rover, to help relocate. Too late now.)

[lajoswinkler]

I've successfully shaved off excess speed upon Eve encounter, and after annoyingly long time, parked the thing into 100x100 km orbit.

Next, reentry test. Eyeballed. Controlling the ship was very hard, so reentry was under lots of tilting back and forth. Consequently, small stuff such as some parachutes and perhaps ladders overheated and exploded, but the overall structural integrity was preserved.

If it weren't for the crooked parachutes, the lander would have landed straight, but...

It landed on one side, so the impact wasn't distributed evenly and one set of landing gears failed.

The landing site was hundreds of kilometres away from the target. This was just a preliminary test to test the required levels of manual precision. Next time I'm doing it right. The game is saved so I can try again.

[lajoswinkler]

I've had two more failed landings because of landing on mountain slopes. Reentry was without any damage.

One of the touchdowns was some 15 km away from the target, which is great, knowing that I've eyeballed this by thrusting on the other side of Eve.

Parachutes deployed fine every time without any damage.

I've thought about landing with the shield on, but the speed of impact would be too great. I had to briefly use engines to go from 10 to 4 m/s.

The lander now looks like this. It's stable, but very tilted. 9620 m/s delta-v on the surface.

Kerbals are now on their way towards the ascent vehicle. Tug is still in orbit.

[lajoswinkler]

After a dangerous drive up and down Eve's mountains, the duo has finally spotted Katla ascent vehicle on the horizon.

Parking nearby.

Taking a portrait in front of the vehicle.

Ready to go home.

[meve12]

Your Kerbals are awfully exposed up there.

[lajoswinkler]

They sure are, and they had a blast with the best view ever. Why? Because for the first time ever, I've managed to get off Eve. With lots of delta-v left, too.

The vehicle had one major flaw. One of the pipes on the first stage wasn't connected, so ascent would soon turn into unbalanced flight, ending with ground fireworks. It also registers incorrectly with the KER delta-v. Actual atmospheric delta-v was close to 10,000 m/s.

Interesting enough, the flag left there actually broke and was left lying on the ground.

Screenshots of ascent soon.

[Galane]

Looks good! Just had to up the difficulty level with DR and manual piloting...

Tug and lander are connected by the smallest docking port (stupid, I know), so I can't thrust over 1/3 with 4 LV-N engines or the thing tilts away.

Quantum Struts or Strut Guns on the tug would take care of that, or at least most of it. Locking suspension on the downhill legs of the lander can help push it up straighter.

[lajoswinkler]

Looks good! Just had to up the difficulty level with DR and manual piloting...

I don't see the fun playing KSP without Deadly Reentry, and I never really needed MechJeb because it gets in the way of even more fun.

Quantum Struts or Strut Guns on the tug would take care of that, or at least most of it. Locking suspension on the downhill legs of the lander can help push it up straighter.

It was already too late for that, but it turned out fine.

I did try locking them, and that caused quite serious trembling of the vehicle.

After some adjustments, the launch went quite straightforward. It's important to get the hell out of the first 10 km as soon as possible, and then things go relatively easy.

I didn't even spend the last two stages.

Trying out weightlessness.

Establishing an encounter with the tug.

Their heads were in the way for a proper contact, so I had to remove them, dock and get them on again.

With plenty of fuel left, they went home and boarded Kerbin's orbital station.

[Rolanvorxariat]

i feel bad for those kerbs... i wish you had a mk2 lander can on top of the RCS tank-that way, you dont eve need the tiny leftover of the ascent vehicle!

But good job. Eve ascent is tough. im too much of a wimp to even try...