Malcolm, Dunwin, and Shepely leave the lander and set foot on the dusty red surface of Duna!
“We made it!! The satellite scans show the anomaly is 800m away … Sorry we couldn’t land closer!”
-Malcolm
“It’s ok! I can walk that far, no problem! Should be plenty of life support and EVA fuel!“
-Shepely
Shepely heads west, toward the anomalous reading the survey satellite detected…
After a long walk, and a few ‘EVA hops’, Shepely arrives at the anomaly!
“Wow! It’s huge! Looks like another mysterious Monolith! The dimensions look identical to the one by the space center and I’m Mun and Minmus… Fascinating!”
-Shepely
Next, Shepely explores the region around the Monolith!
Not too far from the Monolith is a large Duna Rock!
“Hmmm… Can’t get much of a sample with my tools… We’ll need a rover arm to really get a good sample!”
-Shepely
Next, Shepely heads over to an odd rock formation…
The strange blueish hued stones are quite odd!
“Weird! These look like big stone blueberries! I’ll get a good sample!
-Shepely
After gathering some Duna Blueberry samples, Shepely heads back to the lander!
Malcolm helps Shepely load his samples into the lander, then all 3 Kerbals begin unloading the surface science equipment for Shepely to set up!
“This looks like a good spot! Good thing we brought the RTG power supplies… Not enough solar power is available down here!”
-Shepely
“Lookin’ good!”
-Malcolm
“Yeah! The ground science equipment should be fully deployed… The relay satellites in orbit should be able to have ongoing communication with Kerbin!”
-Dunwin
Before heading back to the Spaceport there’s just one thing to do…
The lander fires it’s aerospike engine! This mission will be to investigate some anomalous readings detected from orbit!
Unlike previous Duna Landers that entered the atmosphere “engine first”, the Advanced Duna Lander enters “nose first” like a spaceplane!
The rear airbrakes provide just enough lift!
“Lander is on course for target… Atmosphere is slowing us down a bit more than expected… We’ll need a short engine burn to adjust our approach!” -Malcolm
The engine fires, and the lander accelerates enough to stay on target!
“Oh wow! We’re really close to the surface! Speed is down to 200 m/s…. Is that enough to deploy the parachute?”
-Dunwin
“Not quite! Almost at target…. Almost… Deploy the chute!!”
-Malcolm
The landing parachute deploys! The airbrakes retract and the landing gear deploys!
This is one of the most dangerous phases of the mission, as the landing gear and airbrakes must retract with the parachute cords clear so nothing gets jammed or tangled! The chute then lifts the nose up, and orient’s the lander for landing!
“Chute is deployed, gear is down and locked! Starting slow burn to decelerate!”
-Malcolm
The lander slows to just 1 m/s as it gently sets down!
“Mission Control, this is Explorer 7 Lander .. we have set down on Duna! All systems are good!”
-Malcolm
On Kerbin, cheers fill Mission Control! The new lander performed perfectly!
“Nice work everyone!”
-Gene, at Mission Control
Malcolm, Dunwin, and Shepely will rest for a day, then suit up and head outside!
Explorer 7 performs a circularization manuever as it passes it’s closest point with Duna!
“I’m showing a circular orbit – nice work!” -Shepely
Next, Malcolm performs the rendezvous maneuver, and intercepts Duna Spaceport!
“Firing thrusters… just need to get lined up with the docking port!” -Malcolm
Explorer 7 moves in to dock…
…and makes a solid connection with the spaceport!
“OK! Time to get out there and reposition the Advanced Lander!” -Malcolm
“Be careful out there! There’s a lot of hardware operating very closely!” -Dunwin
“It’s beautiful out here! The station and lander look to be in great shape! Hard to believe the Spaceport has been here for 13 years!
-Malcolm
Malcolm uses his EVA pack to maneuver over to the Advanced Lander…
…then grabs the handholds and climbs inside!
“It’s nice and roomy in here! Much cozier than the Mun Landers!”
-Malcolm
Using only RCS thrusters, Malcolm detaches from the Ground Science cargo payload that came with the lander (and will remain attached to the Spaceport, to be used on future missions) and moves away from the station!
“The lander is oriented away from the station, and momentum is carrying us away… ejecting engine fairing!”
-Malcolm
The interstage fairing protecting the engine (which allowed the Ground Science payload to be carried inline with the lander) ejects! The momentum away from the Spaceport will carry the fairing out and away from the station!
The Advanced Lander drifts slowly over the spaceport!
“RCS thrusters firing… Forward momentum should be enough to dock…”
-Malcolm
“I show you at .1 m/s … Alignment good…”
-Dunwin
With a loud ‘CLUNK!’ and some mechanical ‘whirs’ Explorer 7 is docked and securely attached to Duna Spaceport! Malcolm climbs over and the Explorer 7 crew prepares for their landing!
While actually under construction for quite some time, a name hadn’t been chosen yet! Endeavor will be a “Horizon Class” DSV, that is, almost identical to DSV-3 Horizon!
Endeavor’s name is from the Crew Shuttle Endeavor, which has been out of service for some time now!
“I miss flying those Crew Shuttles… when are they going to be cleared for flights again!?” -Edan
Unfortunately, it may be quite some time for them to get cleared again – the basic design of a spaceplane makes it difficult to create a design with multiple abort options throughout the flight. In fact, there are no launch aborts available right off the launch pad!
“The engineers are working on it! No promises though!” -Gene
Aurora 24 blasts off, heading for Mun! While some say that the Mun missions have become routine, the Kerbals who fly them know that space travel is never routine! In fact, even the simplest mission is quite dangerous and even deadly!
“Where’s the landing site this time? ” -Mirphe
“The northeast basin! We’ve never been there before!” -Luly
Mirphe and Luly transfer over to the lander…
… and head down to Mun’s surface!
“We’re almost there…. contact!” -Mirphe
“OK… deploy the rover!” -Luly
The rover detaches, and the RCS deployer lifts it up… and then gently sets it down next to the lander!
Next, Mirphe and Luly head out to explore!
Luly plants the flag at the Northern Basin, then salutes while the cameras on the lander take their portrait!
“For all Kerbalkind!” -Luly
Luly deploys the scientific instrumentation, while Mirphe supervises!
“Mmmhmmm. Looking very scientific – carry on!” -Mirphe
Next, the RCS deployer detaches from the lander, and expends all it’s fuel to fly up and away from the landing site! The seismic sensor will get interesting results from the impact!
“I feel a little bad littering on Mun! But I guess it IS for science!” -Luly
Luly and Mirphe explore the surface in the rover!
After scouting out the landing site, the two return to the lander to rest! Mun missions have been getting longer and longer, training the crew for the rigors of landings on very distant worlds!
Mission Control remotely pilots the Advanced Duna Lander as it completes it’s final manuevers to dock with Duna Spaceport!
First, it circularizes it’s orbit…
…then rendezvouses with the Spaceport!
Next, it docks, backwards, with Duna Spaceport! This is so the crew of Explorer 7 can unload all the ground science experiment cargo that the lander carried with it!
Docking is a success! Duna Spaceport, and the new Advanced Duna Lander, wait for Explorer 7!
Another component of the Deep Space Relay Network arrives at Moho!
In a wide 80 degree orbit of the warm little planet closest to the star, this relay satellite will help future missions here communicate back with Kerbin!
“…huh… sensors indicate it’s dustier here than last time! How peculiar!” -Gene
Kerbal States | Kerbin Space Exploration Administration 