Eve

Year 21, Day 142 (Construction on New Eve Communications Network Begins!)

sayburstuff Year 21 , , ,

There has been renewed interest among researchers on Kerbin to explore one of the most hazardous planets: Eve! Missions to the cloudy purple planet have been frequently plagued by problems. The intense temperature, the high gravity, and the super dense atmosphere make Eve fairly easy for small spacecraft to land but nearly impossible for large vehicles set down – let alone take off from again!

To facilitate missions a new upgraded communications network is required, and with the upcoming window a Sarnus rocket will carry two small relay probes, identical to those carried by Aurora 23 for DSV-3 Horizon’s mission to Sarnus!

Year 14, Day 400 (Last Pathfinder 7 Probe Lands!)

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The third Pathfinder 7 probe heads down, after deploying from the Pathfinder 7 spacecraft. Since so many probes have missed their targets, a much larger landing zone, the northern polar region, is selected.

The heat shield glows bright as the probe decends through Eve’s thick atmosphere…

Finally, the parachute deploys and the heat shield seperates. The surface of Eve glows an eerie shade of green…

Finally – the little probe sets down on Eve! Sensors indicate a successful landing at the north pole of Eve!

“Finally a successful deployment of the mini-rover!Nice work everyone!”

-Gene

While the final Pathfinder 7 probe was a success, the general agreement at KSEA is to rework the planetary probes – the mini-rovers are simply too fragile and have limited scientific and power abilities!

Year 13, Day 391 (Pathfinder 7’s Second Probe Deploys!)

sayburstuff Year 13 , , ,

Pathfinder 7’s second probe deploys! As the probes launch from Pathfinder 7 itself the vehicle’s center of balance changes. Thankfully, the reaction wheel works overtime to stabilize the spacecraft.

The probe’s RCS engines fire, and de-orbit!

The probe’s heatshield and re-entry shell protect the little rover inside!

Let’s open that chute the moment it’s safe… we’re going to need to slow this thing down as much as possible if we want those wheels to survive!

-Gene

The parachute deploys… and the little rover slowly decends to the surface!

The landing is a success! The little probe sets down safely!

We’re a little off target… let’s get that rover to head east. To the… Western Sea. Hmm.

-Gene

The probe sets off, toward the Western Sea.

“We’ll be watching it drive forever! It’s a shame we can’t just set the rover to head that way, and come back and check on it later!”

-Orlas

“It sure is. It sure is.”

-Gene

Year 13, Day 390 (Pathfinder 7’s First Probe Deploys!)

sayburstuff Year 13 , , ,

The first probe ejects from Pathfinder 7, and heads down through the atmosphere!

While the parachute deploys, Mission Control reports that the entry angle to reach the Impact Ejecta landing site was off… the probe will set down in the Highlands, west of the crater and completely off target!

Worse still, the landing was too fast, damaging the fragile little rover’s tiny, tiny wheels.

“Drat! It’s starting to look like the mini rovers aren’t a very solid design. We might have to go back to the drawing board for the Eve Mini-Landers! We still have two more to go… hopefully they do better!”

-Gene

Year 13, Day 385 (Pathfinder 7 Orbits Eve!)

sayburstuff Year 13 , ,

After its long journey, Pathfinder 7 arrives at Eve!

The engines fire to circularize the orbit…

…and the orbital transfer stage ejects! Then the spacecraft’s remaining fuel is used to change the inclination to provide a greater range of potential landing targets! An 80 degree inclination is finally reached.

It’s important to make sure the craft is in its final desired orbit before launching the probes… the downside to the radially mounted probes is that it makes the main engine quite unbalanced!

Despite having all this time to plan for where the three rovers will land, KSEA has only just begun picking out landing sites!

“I suppose we didn’t want to make all those maps until we were sure it would work! Now that we’re there… well, we’ll get right to work! The Wanderer Rover set down near the Explodium Sea and the Shallows… so probably not there!”
-Gene

Year 7, Day 121 (Wanderer Lands On Eve)

sayburstuff Year 6 ,

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Wanderer arrives at Eve – there should be just enough fuel to circularize!

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Wander burns into its orbit of Eve! The orbit isn’t perfectly circular, but it’s an orbit!  So far the Eve Communications Network has been performing perfectly!  Scientists are eager and nervous to see if the Eve lander will survive the landing, and transmit from the surface! screenshot16.png

Because of the tremendous speed of the lander, the Re-entry rockets fire so that the craft will slow down in the atmosphere for a few orbits before actually taking the final plunge. screenshot18.png

While Eve has been mapped from orbit, the particulars of navigating the planets ultra dense atmosphere has proven challenging for KSEA mission planners!screenshot15.png

While tedious, the orbital dipping method does appear to be a good strategy – impatient engineers are already working on a replacement for the next Eve lander though!screenshot24.png

The protective shell ejects and the Wanderer rover slowly glides to the surface!

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Cheers are heard throughout KSC – Rover has safely landed on the surface and started transmitting science! After transmitting the science data from the surface the rover will need to recharge… then scientists will see if surface exploration is possible!