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The drone itself flying west along Kerbin’s equator as part of the No-emission Kerbin Circumnavigation Challenge. Since it performed so well, all that was left was to construct a rocket to take it to Eve and I was all set.
Description
Inspired by the P-38 Lightning and Matt Lowne’s (manned) science plane, this bad boy’s sole mission is to fly around Eve gathering scientific data from the ground and the air. It performed well on Kerbin, but getting it to Eve is the real challenge.
A stock rocket called E-38 Earhart. Built with 397 of the finest parts, its root part is probeStackSmall.
Built in the VAB in KSP version 1.12.3.
The entire thing on display in the SPH.
- After several CATOs in the Heat Shield Detachment
phase, I had to add many extra stages in that phase to reduce the chances of drone parts getting snapped off in the process.
- Even then, I got lucky when the drone detached from the heat shields.
*
If you feel like it’s necessary to alter the staging, please do so and let me know in the comments if and how your (successful) alteration works.
The delivery rocket making its escape burn from Kerbin to Eve.
Details
- Type: VAB
- Class: aircraft
- Part Count: 397
- Pure Stock
- KSP: 1.12.3
The delivery rocket orbiting Eve at 117 km altitude with 720 m/s left.
After separating from the delivery rocket in a suborbital trajectory, the plane with all the heat shields deployed is corkscrewing prograde through Eve’s atmosphere.
- BEWARE: after that comes the tricky part.
As mentioned earlier, I was REALLY LUCKY that the drone survived the heat shield ejection phase.
- Unfortunately, when I confirmed that the drone was A-OK, the signal was lost. At least the parachutes slowed it down so that it could land right-side up intact. I then had to wait until I got a clear signal back to Kerbin before taking off.
The plane going on a stable flight north towards crater lake shortly after it gets a signal.
Gathering and transmitting science from Impact Ejecta (the island in the middle of Crater Lake) after a successful test flight.
Even without a signal, if the plane is kept (relatively) level and at a stable velocity, it will be fine. Just don’t expect to change direction or land anytime soon until a connection is restored.
ADVICE
- ALWAYS Quicksave before the Eve re-entry phase. That way, if you screw up the heat shield ejection phase, you won’t be depressed having to waste time and money doing this entire mission all over again (probably to fail again).
- Make sure Eve, or at least your staging area, has reliable CommNet coverage before landing and/or flying.
