Mission Planning

Year 6, Day 281 (Duna Spaceport Lander Readied)

sayburstuff Year 6 , , , , , ,

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Mitster remotely pilots the Duna Landing Vehicle to the Crew Docking Module.

“Well, that wasn’t so hard!

-Mitster

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Mitster and Dunwin celebrate the docking by relaxing in the Observation Lounge, and taking in the impressive view of Duna!

Late last year (Y5D421), the Duna Surveyor arrived in orbit of Duna and has been dutifully mapping the surface.  Mission Planners have been working tirelessly to select the best landing sites!  Already, several anomalies on the surface have been found – one located in the lowlands has been selected as the first site for landing on Duna, designated Duna Spaceport Landing Site 1, or DS-LS01!

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Year 4, Day 340 (First Unity Space Station Landings Planned)

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Mission Planners announce the first destinations of the Unity Space Station Science teams!   The first landing will be at USSLS01-A, in the Highlands.  Next, the lander will perform a short jump and land in the Southwest Crater.  From there, the lander will return to Unity Station and the next team will head down!

A scientist will be required for each landing, so Luly will get the most time on Mun! Tentatively, the crew rotation will be:

  • Landing 1:  Luly, Edan
  • Landing 2:  Luly, Dunwin
  • Landing 3: Luly, Kerlorf
  • Landing 4: Luly, Seely

This should let all crew on the station get some experience!

Year 4, Day 325 (Next Harmony Space Station Mission Planned!)

sayburstuff Year 4 , , ,

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The next landing site for the Harmony Science team is announced!  This mission will primarally focus on site A, the Poles, and site B, the Highlands.  If fuel is available, and the team deems it safe, a third landing will be performed at site C, the Flats.

Planners are optomistic, but a landing at the poles has never been tried before, so they want to play it safe! Kimmy and Gilian will head down to Minmus very soon!

Year 4, Day 203 (Harmony Station First Landing)

sayburstuff Year 4 , , , ,

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Mission Planners determine that the first landing site for the Harmony Science team will be at the Greater Flats, at a site designated HSS LS01. Due to the very low gravity of Minmus, there are several additional biomes the team will check out, marked A through D.  (Officially they are catalogued as HSS-LS01-A, etc.

This will be the first mission that makes use of the new telemetry data gathered by the Minmus Surveyor probe, that has been carefully mapping the surface of Minmus for future exploration!screenshot948.png

Samner and Robart board the Automated Lander, and head down!

screenshot954.pngThe lander sets the crew down perfectly at HSSLS01-A, the Greater Flats.  This is the first time a mission has been conducted entirely by a science team – some of the pilots look a bit nervous about this!screenshot961.png

Next, on to HSSLS01-B, a hill on the Lowlands of Minmus!screenshot963.png

“This is a pretty precarious landing site! I don’t think we should plant a flag… just in case!  We’ll gather all the science data though!”

-Samner

Thankfully, the lander sets down nicely… while the team conducts SCIENCE!  The mission needs to stay on a timetable… communications with Kerbin are necessary, due to the remote systems on the lander!

screenshot964.pngNext, on to HSSLS01-C – the Midlands! This landing goes much better… however not much science is gathered.  Hopefully site “D” will have better luck! This time, a more precise landing along the Slopes of Minmus will provide some interesting data.  Probably another tricky landing though!screenshot966

Unfortunately, the last landing site doesn’t yield much more data. However, interesting research was conducted on the Great Flats, the Lowlands, the Slopes, the Midlands, some of it already known, but nonetheless valuable to Kerbin!

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As the lander reaches orbit in the first leg of its rendevouse with Harmony Space Station, the crew gets a good look at the region they were just exploring.

“Wow – will you look at that!”

-Robart

screenshot973.pngThe lander docks with Harmony Space Station!  However, a small problem has become clear… the station is not equipped to handle refueling of the RCS thrusters that make docking possible!  A mission will have to be done soon to resupply the station… and Unity Space Station’s design has already been changed, swapping out two Life Support bays for RCS fuel. This will reduce the amount of time crews can inhabit the station, however it is doubtful a crew would be left without supplies for over a year!