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The Sands of Duna
Part 1: Introduction
So let's go to Duna! (Duna is Kerbal Space Program's [KSP's] analogue of Mars.) Here are some mission requirements that I set out for myself:
Mission requirements:
Disclaimers:
Part 1: Introduction
So let's go to Duna! (Duna is Kerbal Space Program's [KSP's] analogue of Mars.) Here are some mission requirements that I set out for myself:
Mission requirements:
- Bring two or three Kerbals to the surface of Duna and bring back all sorts of science.
- Design the ship to for a comfortable trip -- not wasteful, but not necessarily minimal either (if instead we were to only send a single Kerbal, the rocket could be made much smaller and cheaper. But it's a long journey, and I figure the Kerbals could use company).
- Introduce the reader to the Oberth effect.
- Touch on the topic of Gravity assists a little and distinguish gravity assists from the Oberth effect.
- Demonstrate how to leverage the Oberth effect even for an underpowered (low thrust) rocket stage, and explain why high thrust is more of a convenience, rather than a necessity, once in space.
- Pack some extra fuel on the rocket to experiment with a "fast return" path, shortening the total mission time to about 1 1/2 Kerbin years, as opposed to the several year trip that it would take using a more efficient return transfer orbit.
- Again, no modded parts allowed. Only stock parts are acceptable.
Disclaimers:
- The mission was performed, and all images were taken with KSP version 0.23.5. I'll make note in the text of any changes I might have made for 0.24 on up (the latest KSP version is up to 0.24.2 at the time of this writing).
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