Kron series (Kron 6 end of mission) - temporary halt of program

[lajoswinkler]

Inclination was set at 90° ± 0.05° and periapsis lowered to 50 km.

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Then, at the periapsis a few minute long burn lowered the apoapsis and circularized the orbit.

[IMG]http://images.akamai.steamusercontent.com/ugc/403432173267451381/AD0CBFB0FB6E4199084A5C95CE5CDE390FE805CB/[/IMG]

[IMG]http://images.akamai.steamusercontent.com/ugc/403432173267452443/D5E96443A5AC58ADA6445E769F1005A049B66774/[/IMG]


Scanning and mapping Thatmo's surface can begin. Valentina strongly approves of it.

[IMG]http://images.akamai.steamusercontent.com/ugc/403432173267450289/A95562C02983D19E5A0F328F6211ACF65001D4D9/[/IMG]

[lajoswinkler]

Does anyone have any idea where to land on Thatmo? There are various features. My plan is to visit both poles and one interesting place. There should be enough oxidizer onboard.

[DMSP]

[quote name='lajoswinkler']Does anyone have any idea where to land on Thatmo? There are various features. My plan is to visit both poles and one interesting place. There should be enough oxidizer onboard.[/QUOTE]

I don't know!

Is there a way for you to scan for anomolies?

[nsgallup]

There is an anomaly.. it is classified though so I will send laj a pm

[lajoswinkler]

Ay, IMG code does not work...

[Geschosskopf]

On ‎11‎/‎25‎/‎2015‎ ‎3‎:‎05‎:‎10‎, lajoswinkler said:

Does anyone have any idea where to land on Thatmo? There are various features. My plan is to visit both poles and one interesting place. There should be enough oxidizer onboard.

Well, Thatmo's biomes are all messed up.  The "pole" biome is the 90% of the surface area that's NOT at the geographical poles :.  The geographical poles are like "highlands" or something.  There's also the "cantelope terrain", which kinda speaks for itself.

Anyway, pretty much all of Thatmo sucks as a landing zone due to scads of rather steep, jagged, low hills pretty much everywhere.  The cantelope terrain is worse but it's all bad.

The "poles" (i.e., the central bulk of the planet) does have occasonal smooth, flat areas like the flats of Minmus.  However, these are so small that you can't see them from orbit due to terrain smoothing with distance, nor pick them out easily on the SCANsat maps (they're the same biome as their surroundings, even).  Furthermore, Thatmo doesn't have enough atmosphere to create reentry flames but it still creates enough drag to throw your aim off, so landing at a specific place is problematic even if you could see one of these little flat patches.

So basically, just pick a spot that looks slightly less hilly than others and hope for the best.  But you'll still almost certainly come down on a steep hillside.  Best of luck with it ;).

[lajoswinkler]

I've managed to get plasma upon landing on Thatmo. It takes considerable speed and steep trajectory, but it's possible.

Yes, I've seen smooth flats on it before, but those aren't interesting to me because I'd know they'd look dull. Cantaloupe parts look like a combo of mountains and canyons. All in all, what you see in map view isn't really what you get when you land.

[lajoswinkler]

Thatmo has been concoured. The crew landed very close to its north pole. More precisely, in an impact basin right next to it. This was done in one try. If I didn't try hard at VAB, meticulously planning the whole Siren lander layout, I would've crashed.

I know I had a hiatus, but remember KSP got updated and forum, too. Also I didn't have enough time. So here's lots of eye candy screenshots.  

Siren doing the retro burn above Thatmo.

 

Close to northern basin, Neidon peeks out for a brief moment.

 

Chutes have been deployed at the very edge of the tenuous atmosphere. Three radial pairs. They were barely useful. You can see the northern pole here.

 

Thrusting is an absolute must on Thatmo.

 

The terrain around the pole reminds me of Mün, but this is far from Mün by composition.

 

Siren is resting very close to the steep mountains,

 

Upon zooming out, polar intricacies are visible.

 

The crew will now prepare for EVA. Visiting the pole itself is optional. It will depend on jetpack performance.

Edited December 7, 2015 by lajoswinkler

[Sanic]

How much did you slow down with the parachutes?

[lajoswinkler]

It's hard to tell. I was certainly accelerating all the time. I honestly don't know if even the parachutes themselves could enter zero acceleration motion. I don't think it was significant; I just wanted to include parachutes to see their performance. Any braking would be a bonus.

[Sanic]

On December 8, 2015 at 9:11:54 AM, lajoswinkler said:

 I just wanted to include parachutes to see their performance. Any braking would be a bonus.

Not necessarily. The added weight of the chutes could've cost more DeltaV than they saved in braking.

Edited December 10, 2015 by Sanic

[lajoswinkler]

Well then. It was an interesting experiment.

Jeb was the first to go outside.

 

As with most poles, Thatmo's is also an environment with stark differences in contrasts.

 

Deploying the flag.

 

Scientist Bob left his pals to explore the actual geographical pole itself.

 

One of those lights in the distance is Kerbals' home.

 

The northern pole is a cliff towering at least kilometre above the surroundings.

 

It has few peaks of similar height.

 

The very tip of it has a glitch that allows the Kerbal to stand on it, sideways.

 

Later, Bob returned to the lander with his findings.

[Mister Dilsby]

Very cool, nice find on the glitch. 

[DMSP]

I have seen that glitch once before, at Laythe's North pole, and it's flat, so it looks like the Kerbal fell over...

Cool to see that you are experimenting with the lander.

[lajoswinkler]

Back at the lander, Jebediah was watching Kerbol from a little hill.

 

And off they go, because there was nothing they could do there anymore.

 

Siren blasts from the northern impact basin.

 

Bill and Bob were panicking for no reason at all. Perhaps because they felt the ground was at their feet during the burn, and the actual ground was sideways?

 

Catching up with Kron 5.

 

Jebediah had to do his famous EVA bragging over the dark cryogenic parts, too. The crew did not appreciate their pilot doing this.

 

The crew has docked and soon the ship was passing near the next landing site - the flat area you see just right of the ship's hull.

 

It should provide the zero elevation point for the Kerbal geographical society.

[lajoswinkler]

Time to visit the next site. Thatmo's rotational period is so slow that after the ship revolved around it for three times, the landing site was just right beneath it. The lander detached and did a retro burn.

 

Larger, flatter area was chosen as the landing site.

 

Thatmo's atmosphere did finally prove as a decent braking medium in Siren's case. The key is very shallow aerobraking.

 

ALCOR's window gave a nice opportunity to examine the adjacent, smaller flat area.

 

The nitrogen ice surface is littered with what are probably water ice boulders.

  

Final descent speed was 10 m/s. That is still not enough for safe landing, so some thrusting is applicable.

 

Those boulders aren't small.

 

Siren has landed. Neidon is high in the sky.

[DMSP]

That's one cool shot.

 

[KAL 9000]

Moar! By the five shiny moons of Jool, you are far from home!

[lajoswinkler]

Moar you asked, moar you shall receive.

Is this inside Neidon's van Allen belts? Who cares? The view is splendid, thought Jeb as he climbed down the ladder.

 

While others were working, Jeb was enjoying himself.

 

Nitrogen ice is a fascinating thing, indeed.

[KAL 9000]

Sorry, but MOAR! Me likey this series!

[Sanic]

No offence or anything, but Kron V looks rather small.

[lajoswinkler]

Small? Well, it's not the largest I've built, but it's near my part number limit. I don't have a very powerful computer.

[Sanic]

14 hours ago, lajoswinkler said:

Small? Well, it's not the largest I've built, but it's near my part number limit. I don't have a very powerful computer.

My computer dies at 100 parts, it's pathetic really.

[lajoswinkler]

This is how stacking Kerbals on the top of the lander and on top of each one ended.

 

Anyway, the surroundings are nice.

 

However, Bob went to explore a bit more. As you can see here, the area they've landed on is roughly 2.5x5 km. The smaller flat area needed some love, too.

 

Bob found out it wasn't flat at all as it was an extension of the larger hill.

 

The crew will pack their stuff and launch to orbit very soon.

[NotAgain]

On ‎19‎/‎12‎/‎2015 at 1:05 PM, lajoswinkler said:

Bob found out it wasn't flat at all as it was an extension of the larger hill.

Glad you didn't land there, then?