Kerbal Space Project: MPT-2-Minmus

Mün Probe Test phase Two: Mission to Minmus!

How exciting! I've never tried a Minmus mission before. 

The previous phase of the mission was so successful, mission control decided to send Lendin on to Minmus before returning home. One probe would land on the surface, and another would remain in orbit around the small and distant moon.

 First order of business: dropping a probe in Münar orbit so we even out the center-of-mass.

That was easy. Next, we plot a transfer to intercept Minmus. Escaping Mün influence is easy compared to Kerbin - the Mün is a comparative featherweight!

Executing the transfer burn.

That was surprisingly cheap. Leaving orbit around a moon requires a much smaller fuel (or, more precisely, delta-V) investment than leaving Kerbin.

Getting closer now. It's about time to see how Lendin is going to enter orbit around this odd-looking blue marble.

That will do it - if these maneuvers are executed properly, the craft will be in a neat circular orbit around Minmus.

About to begin - the surface does not look particularly smooth or inviting.

We will have to aim the probe at one of these flat areas. A mare of sorts, I suppose.

Undocking the probe, it is discovered that one of the rocket engines is missing! Oh well, that's why there are four of them - the one opposite the missing engine is disabled so the craft won't start spinning uncontrollably as soon as the throttle is opened.

Mental note: check that engines are bolted on before launch.



It took only a small amount of thrust to drop the orbit down. Two engines is more than sufficient - Minmus has very low gravity. Controlling the unbalanced probe was not too difficult here.






The descent is going smoothly here. The tiny RCS nozzles, which are most often employed for adjusting the orientation and for docking maneuvers, are powerful enough to slow the descent. This saves primary fuel, which is nice, but the main benefit is that they are extremely responsive.

A soft landing on the bright blue mare.

Deploying the science equipment. This probe could ostensibly explore more of this small moon. Nearly all the fuel and RCS fuel is left!







The final probe is released from the craft, in Minmus orbit.

Orienting towards Kerbin. There is so much fuel to spend, and Lendin is quite homesick after 3 days in space. This is going to be a straight shot without subtlety of any kind.






The second-to-last burn of the mission. Lendin is going to need to slow the ship down before re-entry to avoid breaking up in the atmosphere.








The Mün could have formed a fatal interruption, but the current trajectory brought the vessel safely past the devious satellite. This encounter was unplanned, and rather frightening!






Threading the needle here...

Home, sweet home. The main engines and fuel will remain safely in orbit, while the smaller ship detaches to bring the control module into the atmosphere.

The dropship ran out of fuel, and the control module has detached. Lendin would have preferred a dry landing, but the orbital speed was too great and the dropship overshot the intended landmass.






Parachute deployed!










A reasonably safe velocity for a water landing. Lendin is a true hero, having brought the extended MPT mission to a successful close!

Kerbal Space Project: Mün Probe Test

It would be pretty disappointing if the probes were unable to, say, descend to a landing on the Mün, or exploded during take-off, or didn't generate sufficient electricity to operate, or if the legs were too weak to support a landing, etc.

So, the complete probe stage was sliced down to just one section, mounted to a Mün transition rocket, and then launched. This is the story of the Mün Probe Test mission MPT-1 - the first mission building towards the interplanetary tour that is the ultimate goal of the Kerbal Space Project.

The rocket: One kerbanaut will pilot this beast. Four probes mounted radially to the hull. A bunch of rocket fuel and a triple-nuclear-engine setup to make the transfer from Kerbin orbit to the Mün.

Taking off from the Kerbal Space Port. All systems are nominal, although I had been hoping for more acceleration at this stage. Lendin is at the helm. Mental note: add boosters.

Separating the last of the so-called "asparagus stages." The remaining vehicle parts will travel away from Kerbin, while these four discarded tanks and engines will de-orbit and explode on the surface. In an empty spot of ocean or farm, I hope.

 There they go!

Here's the Hohmann transfer! No turning back now!









The burn took a good 8 minutes, which is a considerable portion of the orbit at the low altitude I was keeping!
Mental note: The full-sized vehicle is going to need considerably more thrust.

Reached the Mün and circularized the orbit. Easy as pie, and everything is peachy keen. Look at how much fuel there is left!

One probe decouples from the ship, and slowly drifts away.
Mental note: don't forget to activate ALL the engines next time.

It handles like a lopsided goose.
Mental note: Oh god, who built this thing?

For some bizarre reason, mission control decided it would be best to deploy the radio dish, comm antenna, and all the scientific gadgets before executing the landing. The probe now handles like a drunk lopsided goose.
Mental note: I have to land this thing?!?


There it is, solidly on the surface, and with more than 15% fuel to spare.

Scientific data is forthcoming!

Due to the unexpected success of this preliminary mission, it has been extended to include a landing on Minmus. It has also been determined that there is now an uneven number of probes mounted to the vessel, which may cause Lendin some difficulty executing the transfer burns. Therefore, a second probe will be released, and will remain in orbit.

Mental note: it would be nice to avoid this by having some probe-sized empty fuel tanks to shift the center-of-mass around.

Next up: MPT-2-Minmus!

Kerbal Project: Initial designs

The final craft will be composed of several components, to be assembled in orbit. The first four parts have been designed and are ready for mounting to a lifter.

Bow: Lander

Habitation

Probes

 Aft: Fuel and Propulsion

Kerbal Project: Goal and Mission Outline

The goal:

• To send a team of kerbonauts on a return tour of the complete kerbol system to make scientific measurements and take photographs.

The mission:

• A probe will touch down on every celestial body with a surface.
• A manned lander will touch down on Mün, Minmus, Duna, Dres, Laythe, and Eeloo, before returning the kerbonauts to the space center on Kerbin.

The engineering:

• A new lander
• A new probe
• An interplanetary stage
• A launch vehicle

Some thoughts:

• It will be necessary to construct the spacecraft in orbit around Kerbin. 
• Such a heavy craft makes ion engines impractical.
• A nuclear engine will work, but will require a whole lot of fuel. 3 orange tanks? More?
• It may be possible to refuel later on, if the mission turns out not to be feasible with the existing fuel.
• The mission will likely last a year or more. A habitation module would be nice.
• 14 probes will be necessary - minimal design!
• Only 3 bodies have atmospheres, allowing parachute landings. (Duna, Laythe, and Eve)
• The rest of the probes will have to land on rocket power.
• The lander will execute 6 landings and take-offs, before a 7th and final landing (on Kerbin).
• Landing on and leaving Duna will likely be the most challenging parts of the mission, although the landing may be easier if parachutes are used.

Out-of-game thoughts:

• I've safely landed on the Mün just once. This is all going to be very new!
• Let's take it one easy step at a time...

Kerbal Project - Professional Edition

I'm going to try an experiment, and that is to engineer an interplanetary exploration mission in Kerbal Space Program. The entire process will be documented, including all missteps and failures, from design to engineering to the execution of the actual mission. There are two rules I will be following:

1. There are no (other) rules than these.
2. I will use no mods or external programs, and only the stock parts supplied by the most recent version of KSP.

Stay tuned for the first delivery: a defined scientific goal and a mission outline.