Carlson & Peters: Duna Explorers (Now Complete!)

[Carsogen]

Hi there everybody!

I've been playing KSP for almost a year now, but this is my first big post in the forums! I figured it was about time I started actually exploring instead of just messing around on Kerbin orbit (more on that later), so here is the epic tale of

CARLSON AND PETERS(!) A Voyage to Duna and Ike! (10 points for the Beyond Good and Evil reference ;P)

If all you want to see is the ship 'n' trip that's cool! Just scroll on down, this first stuff is just a bit of rambling, all the juicy pictures and info/tips are still to come! Still here? Awesome! Let the (short) ramble begin:

OK so recently I've just been (mostly) messing around with stuff in the Kerbin system trying new things and what-not, like my assemble-on-orbit modular spaceplane (docking practice!). Unfortunately though most of that work and other stuff like it was lost in the great computer (not forum ) catastrophe of a couple of months ago, and having to be on my laptop has sort of put a dampener on my KSPing due to it having a heart attack whenever I even think about mods. That's one of the reasons that everything I build is all stock.

So I got a bit bored but then came back to KSP with a new passion: to put Kerbals on as much stuff as I can! Not very original I know, but it leads to this:

The Mission: (This is in a 0.24.2 Career)

1. Send a 2-manned ship to land on and return from Duna.

2. Send a smaller manned lander to Ike For Science!

The main section underlined in blue on the left is 'Carlson", the main Duna lander with the interplanetary fuel tank attached. This ship will perform the landing, re-orbit and return of the mission.

The red section is 'Peters', a one-manned science-laden glorified scooter that performs a transfer to Ike from Duna orbit, lands on Ike and returns to Duna orbit to rendezvous with Carlson for crew and science transfer before it will be left to circle the red planet forever. The attached fuel tank is only for the ~1200-1550 m/s transfer to Duna, where it will be jettisoned before landing. Carlson has 2000m/s delta V and Peters can manage about 1200. So, on with the show:

First off I need to grab my two pioneering crew members (Bill for his piloting skills and Jeb for style) from their thrones by the runway (they're totally not there just so I don't accidentally kill them ).

(Bob is in the middle one). After the team is assembled, the next stage is liftoff!!! (If anyone has any detailed questions about the ship(s) please post a comment or send me a message, I'm more than happy to share, I'm just not sure what I should/shouldn't include! Also the craft is all stock so if you guys want I can post the file )

Anyway on with the show:

Here she is ready for launch:

BOOM!!!

Gravity turn

And finally apoapsis at 100km

After a loooong wait for a transfer window (I happened to just miss one ), we burn for Duna and get a very nice encounter

And just for a treat, Jeb collecting some science

And as we approach Duna (and a flukey Ike encounter ) that about wraps up part 1 of CARLSON AND PETERS(!) A Voyage to Duna and Ike! If anyone has any comments, questions, love or hate please post them in the comments! I'd love to know what everyone thinks should or shouldn't be in this thread, and I will very shortly be posting part 2: the landings. DUN DUN DUUUUUNNNN. Will Jeb and Bill make it back alive? Or will they run out of fuel and be forced to burn the snacks to get home? Find out soon!

Cas.

Edited September 23, 2014 by Carsogen

[Carsogen]

Part 2: Electric Boogaloo (The Landings)

As we left our brave heroes in part one of CARLSON AND PETERS(!) A Voyage to Duna and Ike!, they had just arrived in the Duna system, and were preparing for a very risky (my first) aerobrake maneuver in the Dunaian atmosphere...

About to get hot...

SUCCESS!!! Carlson and Peters are on their way to a very fortunate Ike intercept, and we are ready to undock and prepare Carlson for a second aerobrake...

Bill moving across to Peters for the Ike trip.

Carlson detaching and using RCS to move away

Peters heads off to Duna, and somehow Carlson gets caught by Ike...

I decided to just go straight in for a Duna landing at this point, because my whole 'achieve stable orbit' plan was thrown out the window by Ike and its annoyingly in-the-way SOI.

First though we need to detach the interplanetary tank even though it still has some fuel in it, seeing as how we can't land with it on. Incidently this was actually the one design flaw of either ship: I had to lower Carlson's gear to decouple the tank becasue otherwise it got stuck

So now it's time for the descent, I actually haven't ever landed on Duna before, so I'm hoping my 8 total parachutes will do the job and sruvive...

Woohoo! Not a single part lost!

And landed... Obligatory flag shot...

Jeb, get down from there!

Very pleased with my first ever successful Duna landing! I actually tried sending a spaceplane to Duna once before but fell victim to the whole 'jet engines need oxygen' problem.

Now for Ike: Peters begins deorbit burn and heads down to the surface...

This was actually the first of my quickload mountain goat moments, I overestimated the TWR of Peters on Ike and was worried about fuel so left my slowing-down too late and well, didn't.

But eventuall Bill makes it onto the surface of Ike! A true accomplishment for Kerbalkind!

Damn it Bill, not you too! Those roofs aren't for standing!

Part 3: The Return of the Kerbals

And sadly our brave explorers must return to their homeworld of science and dense oceans!

Unfortunately I left infinite fuel on after testing a new secret project unimportant side activity (coming soon!) on the mun, so I performed my second quickload (thank god for named saves! Alt+F5) and reorbited both ships for rendezvous around Duna.

I chose to return to Duna and perform the transfer back to Kerbin from there because I had plenty of fuel to spare and couldn't be bothered with complicated phase angles and such.

And after some last group photos in front of the joined ships (who took the photo? it's a conspiracy!) Peters is abandoned left behind to continue surveying Duna, while Carlson burns for home...

Kerbin reentry:

And back home at last! Jeb still feels the urge to plant a flag everywhere he goes...

Look at all that science!

And that's my tech tree for this career done! (yay!) Don't worry, I'll still be sending Kerbals to their doom space for science(!), but now I won't have to take hefty experiments

Hope everyone enjoyed this journey as much as I did! Please let me know what you thought of the mission and the post so that I know what to do next time. Longer, shorter, less pictures, more text etc? Thanks for reading!

Cas.

[xtoro]

Nice one! I like the design of the Carlson with the pod on the bottom. I assume you transferred the science from Peters to the Carlson before returning to Kerbin? You did you leave the science in Duna orbit?

[Scotius]

Congratulations Very nice mission and ship design. Carlson&Peters can easily get you to Eve\Gilly and back. Well, without landing on Eve of course

[Carsogen]

I assume you transferred the science from Peters to the Carlson before returning to Kerbin?

Haha yeah I made sure of that, got a few pictures of Bill jamming himself into the ship to retrieve the materials and goo science

Carlson&Peters can easily get you to Eve\Gilly and back. Well, without landing on Eve of course

Wow, yeah that would be cool! I am actually in the process of sending an ion price to Gilly to check it out, maybe Peters Junior could go next?

Cas.

Edited September 23, 2014 by Carsogen

[Cydonian Monk]

Impressively tiny! And welcome to the forums!

[Carsogen]

Thanks Monk! I'm making an even smaller version to be serviced by a mothership around Duna Stay tuned!

Cas.