Remember that big transport ship I created a while back? I finished refueling it with horrible FPS.
Turned out, however, with those two spaceplanes docked the engines of the ship became terribly inefficient that even full throttle would be painful. Furthermore, a single docking port was highly unstable for high-thrust maneuvers. Instead, I had to undock the spaceplanes and send them separately. Our target?
Wasn't too hard with the new adjustments, just had to start off with multiple slow jerks instead of one big jerk.
I was however, still using too much fuel than intended but in the end it worked out. Sort of. By the time I reached Duna I noticed I would never be able enter orbit with the fuel consumption/impulse I had. A compromise was found.
In the end, we all entered orbit. At the cost of no return.
Shortly followed by one of the Populators.
Since the fuel reserves of the Populator were quite low, I decided to try to land it first as a benchmark. A "transfer orbit" was devised.
The approach seemed reasonable...
There was still no sign of the atmosphere thus a small final retrothrust...
Then I found it, but Duna was a far harsher mistress than I realized.
"No Oxygen" - Epitaph of the Populator
In a last-ditch effort to salvage something, I tried gliding my way down. But it was all for naught as I couldn't counter the vertical velocity.
With the Populator having had received an
early retirement, it was time to move on and send down the Colonials. The first Colonial I lowered itself to a 430 km orbit and detached its two probes. One landed intact, the other broke its solar panel.
Then I tried landing the actual colony module, which began the eternal torment of Ike whom always interfered with my orbits.
The module, however, didn't survive the crash landing on Duna. I had once again underestimated Duna. The atmosphere twisted the module that tore apart the parachutes.
Attempting another landing with a different Colonial I didn't change the outcome. A direct landing approach on Duna was inadvisable. For the third Colonial I I attempted an aerobraking maneuver. I came in low on the far side of Duna and hoped the atmosphere would cut down on the orbital velocity. The low atmosphere of Duna wasn't thick enough. Only option left was a partial, powered descent.
One small step for Kerbal, one giant leap for Kerbalkind.
I attempted a similar approach with the final Colonial I with greater success.
With the ground firmly secured, it was time to launch the satellites, one at 100 km, the other at 500 km.
Lastly, the rovers. They followed a similar approach as the Colonial I.
I took one of the rovers for a spin towards a Colonial I module.
All in all, a success despite the
early retirements of a few Kerbalnauts. Now I just need to find a way to bring a few Kerbals back to Kerbin...
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Topic: Kerbal Space Program: Now Hiring Optimistic Astronauts for Dangerous Munission (Read 1550137 times)