Kerbal Space Program Mission #6: The mission itself

Munar Lander 3: Thunderbird Three, go!

Day 13

Active project: Munar Lander Project

Active mission: Munar Lander 2
Next mission: Munar Lander 3

Selected vehicle: Lightning 2

Assigned crew: Unmanned

The one with the big round thing on top is the water tower. Oh, wait.

The selection of the unmanned prototype as the Lightning 2 came down to three factors; Nick commented first, his argument was more compelling, and I felt like it.

No point in a countdown on an unmanned launch; nobody's got cheeks to nervously clench in anticipation.

Although the Munar Lander 3 mission is the first unmanned flight, the probe allows for the same range of controls a pilot provides. The reaction wheels are less powerful so it's slower to rotate itself without rocket thrust vectoring or utilizing the empty command pod's control system (which it seems to be doing successfully.

The major difference is the lack of a crew member to perform any reports on its own. There won't be much for the probe to do on this mission except plot a course.

Today's global weather report is zero overcast.

 The launch vehicle and orbital transfer rocket perform the same as last time, putting the similarly-sized Lightning 2 on a path to the moon.

Ugly lighter, or crappy lightsaber? You be the judge.

The rocket passes close to the Mün after a 6-hour journey and decelerates enough to be placed into orbit. So far the solar panels have been collecting enough sunlight to maintain power close to full, though the battery itself holds about six hours charge.

Landing at the exact same site as Munar Lander 2 is going to take some precision maneuvers to line up, not to mention I want to wait until it's daytime down there for visibility. The first maneuver instructed to the probe is to tilt the axis up to match the latitude of the site. Performing it on the further end of the elliptical orbit costs less fuel.

Great, I've just turned this mission into an Energizer commercial...

It's only after reaching that distance a few hours later that I see one point to making bigger initial orbital adjustments: for some reason the unmanned rocket was left in a such a position that neither solar panel would face the sun. In an orbit that will probably never tilt them towards the sun.

By the time I realized the error, the probe was out of power. No power means no turning to face the sun on its own, let alone restarting the engine.

...And our rocket into a $25m lawn ornament.

Looks like we'll get to try out that 2-seat lander design after all! 

Thong was rather keen on that version, so I think I'll assign his Kerbonaut to pilot the mission unless another volunteer steps up.

"I'm cold and I think there's wolves out here..."

Josh will just have to spend another dreary Münar night waiting while I get the Lightning 3 assembled and stitch up a new mission banner.