Land on Duna without using oxidizer

[Monthar]

I was testing this using KER, KAC (alarm clock) and active texture management mods, so this isn't for submission, at least not until I replicate the ship in a pure stock install. Based off Zipmafia's design I changed out the probe controller for the lander can to do a manned landing. For this manned version it needed another 12 of those Mono-prop tanks, 60 more of the mono-prop engines, 6 more decouplers and 36 struts for a total cost of 90,512 kerbucks. I had 61.95 mono-prop (503m/s delta-v) left in the last tank after landing. That's approx 3.705x the cost of his unmanned attempt to complete this challenge with the lightest manned capsule.

Edit: The struts were required, because of how much taller the manned version ended up being, it would collapse and explode as soon as the physics loaded when attempting to launch.

Edited September 28, 2014 by Monthar

[gm537]

Here is my challenge entry. It was kinda improvised because when I first planned the mission I was just gonna land but then I saw Mesklin's score and decided to go a bit further. Note that on the last picture I am literally dead out of fuel... talk about tight margins. Haha My final score is: 12348/4 (return to Kerbin) - 5,000 (No Xenon) - 10,000 (No solid fuel) - 10,000 (Stable Duna orbit) - 7,500 (No parachutes) = -29,413.

http://imgur.com/a/4FRcV#0

(Also I am apparently terrible at the internet because I cannot for the life of me remember how to put an imgur album so you actually see it in the post... grr...)

[gm537]

Also as far as challenge balance recommendations you may want to put divide by 4 on manned missions rule or something like that so that we can see some of those. Also the "stable Orbit around Duna" is pretty easy, you can just aerobrake and then raise Periapsis, it takes at most 100 m/s of d-V so that bonus probably should only be like 2,500 points or something. Have you thought about adding bonuses for Ike orbits though?

[Spacepetscompany]

Well, using only using solid boosters it IS pretty difficult to orbit Duna. Manned missions are not quite what I had in mind for this challenge, and I highly doubt any bonus I could reasonably give would offset the additional cost and weight of manned pods! And finally giving bonus points for orbiting Ike.... Well actually that's not a bad Idea, the only problem is that I don't intend to add any more bonus points as this would not be fair to the people who have already done the challenge. It would make their (possibly) previously high score, very low compared to the possible scores achievable after they have already finished, due to the additional points awarded to people who designed their vehicle to get these additional points. I added a few at the beginning because not many people had entered yet, but significantly modifying the rules now would just be unfair! Sorry if I came off as rude, it was not my intent. By the way, congratulations, I'll add you to the leaderboard right away!

Edited September 28, 2014 by Spacepetscompany

[gm537]

Well, using only using solid boosters it IS pretty difficult to orbit Duna. Manned missions are not quite what I had in mind for this challenge, and I highly doubt any bonus I could reasonably give would offset the additional cost and weight of manned pods! And finally giving bonus points for orbiting Ike.... Well actually that's not a bad Idea, the only problem is that I don't intend to add any more bonus points as this would not be fair to the people who have already done the challenge. It would make their (possibly) previously high score, very low compared to the possible scores achievable after they have already finished, due to the additional points awarded to people who designed their vehicle to get these additional points. I added a few at the beginning because not many people had entered yet, but significantly modifying the rules now would just be unfair! Sorry if I came off as rude, it was not my intent. By the way, congratulations, I'll add you to the leaderboard right away!

Yeah man no worries I understand your view point I was just giving some feedback since you had asked. haha All in all a pretty good challenge man. Maybe once this one has played out do one for another body?

[Spacepetscompany]

Yeah man no worries I understand your view point I was just giving some feedback since you had asked. haha All in all a pretty good challenge man. Maybe once this one has played out do one for another body?

Yeah, I think I might do that! Thanks for the feedback by the way!

Edited September 29, 2014 by Spacepetscompany

[RocketBlam]

OK, this was a fun challenge.

Achievements: No solid fuel, Duna orbit, Return to Kerbin.

Total cost: 51,474.

So I guess the score is 51,474 /4, -10,000 (no solid fuel), -10,000 (Duna orbit) = -7131.

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Edited October 1, 2014 by RocketBlam

[Spacepetscompany]

Good job! I'll add you to the leader board later today.....

[mckamx]

In the "day late, and 80,000 roots short" department, here is my completion of the challenge. My lander is massively over-engineered, but in my defense, I did bring spare parts (using Dang It!) and Snacks (using Snacks!). Kerbin ascent uses SRB's, interplanetary stage uses ion engines, and de-orbit/landing control done with monopropellent. The most difficult part of the challenge was piloting w/o the help of computer aids (MechJeb). Obviously do-able, but not as efficient as using computers to do what they are good at. If I were to do it over again, I would use a much lighter lander, and probably leave Jeb in orbit (I need him along to do repairs, but the landing is sufficiently quick so that I can do that unmanned with a high probability of success). Reduction in payload weight would delta-V requirements and cost. I would also leave off the monopropellent rockets, and just use the ion engines to de-orbit the ship.

Kerbin orbit

Noxious in interplanetary travel configuration

Duna orbit

Duna decent

Landed on Duna

I have determined that my Duna orbit was unstable (the interplanetary stage got ejected back out into solar orbit), so no bonuses. My claimed score = 91950.

Edited October 10, 2014 by mckamx

[purpleivan]

I've just completed the Duna challenge and here's the details on my entry.

First of all the craft file.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/3ic1j5me8wca6x2/Duna%20Challenger.craft?dl=0

Now the details of my trip.

Total funds = 15,678

Bonus amounts were as follows.

No Xenon Gas -5,000

No Solid Fuel -10,000

Enter a stable orbit around Duna before landing there -10,000

No parachutes -7,500

I think that comes to a total score of -16822 if I've understood the rules correctly.

By the time I landed I still had most of my mono propellant remaining on my last stage, so I could have trimmed the vehicle down a bit.

Before flying this vehicle to Duna I also did the challenge with a very different version that used a chute for the landing, but I realised when I did this that a non-chutes landing wouldn't be that hard, so put together this vehicle to go for a better score.

And... the piccies:)

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