To Duna, Part 1 - TO BE CONTINUED

[Fryer Mike]

Hey there, Fryer Mike here. So I finally got Mechjeb working, and man it's been helpful! It's also been strange, getting used to how it all works. I think I've finally have the basics down, and use it fairly often. That being said, I don't use it extensively... I enjoy my gameplay and would not want the computer to do it all for me!

So I recently mapped out Mun and Minmus. Mun took 5 trips, but I managed to do Minmus in only one trip, which I am quite happy with. I don't have any screenshots of that however. My gaze then focused toward that mysterious red planet orbiting just outside Kerbin. My goal is to get there, and get EVAs, Crew Reports, Materials Bay samples, Mystery Goo samples, and Surface Samples (as well as atmosperic data) from every biome, and return in one (or two) pieces!

So... let's get started.

In order to accomplish my goal, I realized that I need to build a rover... and so I spent a few minutes throwing some parts together. Somehow they turned out to be fairly decently arranged by the end ! I call it "Duna Lander". Yes, I know... very creative.

Here are some screenshots.

This vehicle is actually quite fast, and very stable! Although, I've yet to drive it on Duna's surface, haha!

So after building it, I realized that it's going to be a challenge getting it up into space... or at least I thought it was. I tried a few different things. First, I built a gigantic spaceplane (which is actually a very capable spaceplane), but the wheels didn't allow the plane to be high enough to be able to dock the rover with it.

Here's a screenshot of the spaceplane. I call it "The Albatross".

Next, I attempted to hover a rocket just over the rover, and hopefully pick it up, and head straight to space with it! This just didn't work for a few reasons:

1. I couldn't find a way to have enough thrust after I had picked up the rover.

2. I couldn't find a way to have enough fuel after picking up the rover to make it into orbit.

3. Just managing to get over top of the rover proved hard enough.

So, I moved on.

I ended up attaching the rover directly to a "spacetug" vessel. Now, I warn you... this vessel is quite odd looking. The reason for this is, I had to balance the center of mass, so my center of thrust could be in-line.

Here are some photos:

Into orbit!

Originally, I planned to bring this into an orbit of 375 km, And dock it with the "Pelican" Space Station orbiting at around 370km above Kerbin. Unfortunately, I stopped paying attention as Mechjeb was "circularizing", and I must've done something wrong because my apoapsis ended up being around 3.7 Mm! So, I corrected it. Luckily, these nuclear engines are very efficient!

I ended up just leaving it at a 375 km orbit, so I could send the Duna Lander up, dock with it, and then refuel at the Pelican.

Liftoff!

Booster stage gone... fire the main engines!

Into orbit:

After the main stage is gone, I'm left with my "spacetug" vessel for the remainder of the Duna mission:

Time to rendezvous with the rover.

Thank goodness I put lights on this thing!

And now we are one:

Time to transfer the fuel from the rover's "spacetug".

Now begone, foul beast!

Hopefully that thing doesn't turn around... or we're in serious trouble!

And now, I rendezvous with the Pelican.

SO...MUCH...LIGHT...

And now we are three!

Time to refuel.

Don't forget the RCS... I forgot to put any S.A.S on this thing!

Jeb says hi to Bill and Bob.

TO BE CONTINUED....

- - - Updated - - -

If anyone can tell me why these photos aren't showing up, that'd be great!

Edited February 14, 2015 by Fryer Mike