Red Planet Duna
Apr. 12th, 2025 03:26 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
the_sky_callsConcurrent with the Amerikanskis building their munbase, the Soviet mission to Duna was arriving at its destination. As all are slaves to the laws of physics, it was suspected that the Amerikanskis had scheduled their construction intentionally so as to overshadow Soviet accomplishments. Live television broadcasts of landing after landing with a team of astronauts on the Mun building a permanent presence is much more dramatic than the announcements of telemetry and a curated handful of photographs of a far off planet.
The Chief Designer waved off any criticism as they were at Duna while the Amerikanskis had yet to leave Kerbin’s sphere of influence, excepting a pair of infra-red telescopes built to search near-Krebin orbit for asteroids. The Soviets had several of those as well.
The Soviet mission to Duna consisted of two satellites. The first to arrive was built on a Konstruktorskoye byuro khimicheskogo mashinostroyeniya 4D bus originally designed for an Eve mission but delayed development led to having missed a launch window. The main engine was encircled by a conical instrument compartment. Above that the central section of the bus contained propellant tanks for the main propulsion unit and had solar panels and a high-gain antenna attached. Atop the bus was a spherical reentry module containing the pressurized lander.
Pravda immediately began publishing rare full page color photographs of some of the best panoramic views of the planet with the headline KRASNAYA PLANETA DUNA. Additional observations added details on craters, canyons, clouds, dust storms with lightning, and unexpected aurora. The narrative played up that the Amerikanskis were years away from such an accomplishment, much as the Soviets had beaten them in cosmonautics at nearly every turn.
The 4D-2 craft arrived a day later and was nearly identical to the first except that, instead of the lander, the upper part of the probe had radar imaging and multspectral scanners for the mapping of Duna. It entered a polar orbit at 250 km and began its observations.
Within a few days, while Duna was not completely mapped, it was documented enough that the decision was made to move forward with the probe landing. What scientists considered to be the confluence of the most likely to produce interesting science data and the least likely to destroy the lander was was called the Midland Sea. It was, of course, not a sea but a series of basins across the equatorial region that, in all likelihood, once contained a sea. The Western Midland Sea contained Duna’s lowest point at its northern edge and was chosen as the primary landing area.
As the deorbit burn point was approaching, it was seen that the 4D-2 craft, being used to ensure the relay of telemetry, would be out of position. Not wanting to risk loosing contact during the most crucial part of the mission, deorbit was delayed for one orbit.
Connected to the Western Midland Sea by a canyon lies the Northern Basin. It also had some very low elevations but in the center had somewhat of a bulge or island. This was chosen as the secondary landing area.
The 4D-1 lander lost signal just a it detached its aeroshell but as the command was given to deploy its parachute at an appropriate altitude was already given, the landing itself should have proceeded autonomously. TSentr Upravlyeniya Polyotami was tensly waiting to learn if their entire mission was a success or failure.
Then, after breathless minutes (Kerbals can hold their breaths for a long time), they began to receive telemetry indicating that the craft had successfully landed. Shortly after that, the first image from the surface of Duna was delivered.
Even though picture after picture from the orbiter was received, scientists were disappointed by the limited data received from the lander, consoling themselves with the knowledge that it was launched with the best technology available at the time. Cosmonautics had advanced considerably since then and was still advancing such that the next mission to any of the other planets would be state of the art.
That opportunity will come in a about a year and a half. But before that, there will be transfer windows available to reach all the other planets in the system. The first two being Jool and Eeloo, though the antenna technology isn’t quite up to keeping stable communications out that far into deepy space. Those missions may be delayed until then next windows after that.
The Chief Designer waved off any criticism as they were at Duna while the Amerikanskis had yet to leave Kerbin’s sphere of influence, excepting a pair of infra-red telescopes built to search near-Krebin orbit for asteroids. The Soviets had several of those as well.
The Soviet mission to Duna consisted of two satellites. The first to arrive was built on a Konstruktorskoye byuro khimicheskogo mashinostroyeniya 4D bus originally designed for an Eve mission but delayed development led to having missed a launch window. The main engine was encircled by a conical instrument compartment. Above that the central section of the bus contained propellant tanks for the main propulsion unit and had solar panels and a high-gain antenna attached. Atop the bus was a spherical reentry module containing the pressurized lander.
Pravda immediately began publishing rare full page color photographs of some of the best panoramic views of the planet with the headline KRASNAYA PLANETA DUNA. Additional observations added details on craters, canyons, clouds, dust storms with lightning, and unexpected aurora. The narrative played up that the Amerikanskis were years away from such an accomplishment, much as the Soviets had beaten them in cosmonautics at nearly every turn.
The 4D-2 craft arrived a day later and was nearly identical to the first except that, instead of the lander, the upper part of the probe had radar imaging and multspectral scanners for the mapping of Duna. It entered a polar orbit at 250 km and began its observations.
Within a few days, while Duna was not completely mapped, it was documented enough that the decision was made to move forward with the probe landing. What scientists considered to be the confluence of the most likely to produce interesting science data and the least likely to destroy the lander was was called the Midland Sea. It was, of course, not a sea but a series of basins across the equatorial region that, in all likelihood, once contained a sea. The Western Midland Sea contained Duna’s lowest point at its northern edge and was chosen as the primary landing area.
As the deorbit burn point was approaching, it was seen that the 4D-2 craft, being used to ensure the relay of telemetry, would be out of position. Not wanting to risk loosing contact during the most crucial part of the mission, deorbit was delayed for one orbit.
Connected to the Western Midland Sea by a canyon lies the Northern Basin. It also had some very low elevations but in the center had somewhat of a bulge or island. This was chosen as the secondary landing area.
The 4D-1 lander lost signal just a it detached its aeroshell but as the command was given to deploy its parachute at an appropriate altitude was already given, the landing itself should have proceeded autonomously. TSentr Upravlyeniya Polyotami was tensly waiting to learn if their entire mission was a success or failure.
Then, after breathless minutes (Kerbals can hold their breaths for a long time), they began to receive telemetry indicating that the craft had successfully landed. Shortly after that, the first image from the surface of Duna was delivered.
Even though picture after picture from the orbiter was received, scientists were disappointed by the limited data received from the lander, consoling themselves with the knowledge that it was launched with the best technology available at the time. Cosmonautics had advanced considerably since then and was still advancing such that the next mission to any of the other planets would be state of the art.
That opportunity will come in a about a year and a half. But before that, there will be transfer windows available to reach all the other planets in the system. The first two being Jool and Eeloo, though the antenna technology isn’t quite up to keeping stable communications out that far into deepy space. Those missions may be delayed until then next windows after that.
