Mission Parameters
- Construct a ship in low Kerbin orbit (LKO) capable of taking Jebediah to the surface of Eve and back home to Kerbin.
- Eve lander will use the KE-J65 turbines (kethane atmospheric jet engines) for a vertical takeoff.
- Once leaving LKO, no new parts can be added to the mission, including refueling tankers.
- May refuel by mining kethane.
- The ship will consist of 4 parts...
- Eve Lander - for getting Jeb to the surface of Eve and back into orbit.
- Kethane Miner - to mine kethane on the surface of Eve's moon, Gilly.
- Kethane Probe - small satellite to be placed in Gilly orbit to find deposits of kethane.
- Mothership - the ship that will hold most of the fuel and engines for getting this mission where it needs to go.
- Game version - KSP v0.20.2 - the most recent as of June 2013
- Mods Used
- MechJeb 2.0.7 - Used for extra information only, no autopilot.
- Kethane 0.6.1
- KSPX 0.2.2 - I had not intended to use any other mods, but I accidently used one part from this, a 2m to 1m structural adapter used on the tops of several fuel tanks to make them look a little less ugly. I suppose it could easily be substituted for a stock nose cone; but by the time I remembered that it was a mod part, I was already in orbit around Eve and did not want to restart.
Imgur Links
Design PhasePhase 1 - LKO to Gilly Orbit
Phase 2 - Mining Gilly and Jeb's EVA Landing
Phase 3 - More Gilly Mining
Phase 4 - Landing on Eve
Phase 5 - Return to Orbit
Phase 6 - Return to Kerbin
Future Planned Missions
This whole mission was pretty much a practice for my planned Grand Tour. Will need to do some design tweaking before that however. I would love to make that Eve lander much lighter, but I think I am definitely on the right track with these kethane turbines.I also want to do a single-launch Duna/Ike mission that will be a test of my all-purpose lander for the Grand Tour. This mission will also include bringing a rover down with Jeb to the surface of Duna, picking that rover back up, then taking that same rover to Ike.