Dres: Ceres Analog
Moho: Mercury Analog
Duna: Mars Analog
Kerbin: Earth Analog
With the failures of Moho behind us, the Kerbals decided to once again execute a return mission to Dres without any sudden change of plans during operation. The Kerbals down at mission control didn't want to bother with the three Kerbalnauts stranded on Moho. The Mohollo 1 lander was quite large and required an excessive amount of fuel for interplanetary travel. A new interplanetary craft was designed and called the Waffle 1. The Waffle 1 had a crew capacity of one and would rely on its small size to escape Dres. Lemfry Kerman, who was mistaken for Loddo Kerman, was chosen to be the first Kerbalnaut to land on Dres and ejected into space.
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| Landing on Dres. |
The mission plan was to have the interplanetary rocket component achieve a low Dres orbit. The Waffle 1 lander would undock and descend to the surface of Dres. The return trip would involve the lander re-docking with the interplanetary component and returning to Kerbin. However, as seems to be quite common with our space adventures, we forgot to bring enough fuel. The mission otherwise executed accordingly and the Waffle 1 arrived at Dres without any problems.
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| What a wonderful day for Canada. And therefore, of course, the world. |
The Waffle 1 landing craft was cumbersome to land with because there was a small mono-propellent fuel tank sticking off the back (not pictured) that kept pulling the lander in its direction. Nonetheless, the craft landed without any serious problems and extremely little fuel. Lemfry planted a flag and was instructed to name the location Loddo's Landing after himself. Lemfry did so begrudgingly and after a short picnic prepared to return to Kerbin.
A number of simulations were performed and it was determined that after landing the Waffle 1 had insufficient fuel to achieve an orbit around Dres. Lemfry was terrified. The poor Kerbal had heard horror stories of Gerlo Kerman losing his mind after spending nearly a decade alone on desolate Ike. Lemfry quickly scribbled out plans for a larger craft which would be capable of lifting him from the surface of Dres and place him into orbit for future rescue. Mission control agreed to Lemfry's proposal, constructed a slightly larger lander, and directed the new unmanned Pancake 1 towards the planet Dres. Lemfry's rescue craft would arrive in a handful of years.
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| The Pancake 1 rescue craft. |
The Pancake 1 also consumed far more fuel than expected on its journey to Dres. In order to capitalize on their extremely high fuel efficiency, the interplanetary nuclear engines were used during landing. At 3000 meters above the surface of Dres the nuclear engines were dropped onto the planet below resulting in a magnificent explosion. The Pancake 1 lander quickly rotated into the upright position and continued it's descent using liquid fuel engines. The four radial lander engines, which were expected to be discarded after landing, were kept attached and contained a reasonable amount of fuel.
The Pancake 1 had landed approximately 50 kilometers away from the Waffle 1. Lemfry Kerman was instructed to perform a suborbital trajectory burn that would move him closer to the return craft. While there was enough fuel to bring the Waffle 1 near the Pancake 1, there was not enough fuel to slow down and land safely. At approximately three kilometers away from the Pacake 1, Lemfry ejected from the Waffle 1 and activated his jetpack. He performed the final leg of the landing without any spacecraft. Lemfry boarded the Pancake 1 and blasted off from the surface of Dres.
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| Welcome home! |
Mission control suggested to Lemfry that the extra fuel in the Pancake 1 lander might be sufficient to perform a transfer to Duna where he could refuel at the Duna Space Station. Lemfry achieved ejection velocity and began to correct for the difference in orbital inclination. However, the years stranded on Dres appeared to have affected Lemfry and he refused to transfer to Duna. Instead, Lemfry squeezed another few hundred delta velocity out of the Pancake and achieved a highly eliptical orbit with Kerbin at the periapsis.
The velocity of the Pancake 1 relative to Kerbin at the periapsis would have made it impossible to stay within Kerbin's gravitational influence. Lemfry would pass by Kerbin with nearly twice the escape velocity of the planet and have no fuel to slow himself. However, a reasonable approach towards Kerbin that spent as much time in the atmosphere of Kerbin as possible would slow down the spacecraft significantly. This aerocapture maneuver allowed Lemfry to stay with Kerbin's atmosphere and land in the ocean using parachutes.
The Kerbals involved in the rescue were surprised to discover that it was Lemfry, and not Loddo, who was piloting the craft. Regardless, we had landed a Kerbal on Dres and probably returned the same one back to Kerbin. Hooray!
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| Landing over the ocean. Mun can be seen on the right side and Minmus can be faintly seen to the left of the parachutes. |
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