The Martian - my ideas for recreation

First of all , sorry about my english.

Few weeks ago /u/ proposed a poll abut recreation of " The Martian " . Yesterday, after two days, i finished the book, so it's time for my ideas about recreation.

If you din't read the book , watch out HUGE spoilers ahead

Seriously SPOILERS everywhere

This is gonna be tough mission so i decided to prepare Easier way and Harder way, so everyone can play.

First of all we need to pick 3 spotts on Dune.

• Ares 3 landing site

• Ares 4 landing site

• Pathfinder location

As pathfinder location we can use Burried Rover easter egg, but i have no idea where put other two. The problem is no one wil ride 3500 km from Ares 3 to 4 so we need to pick clouser locations.

Next step is either uploding clear save with 3 flags on Dune, so everyone know where land, or screanshots of the map with market locations.

Phase I - Preparation

Now it's time to send Ares 3 with all equipment required for that mission. We need to build:

• HUB (Base on Dune)

• 2 Rovers ( no chairs , every vehicle must be hermetic)

• Hermes

• Ares 3 Dune Descent Vehicle (a.k.a DDV)

• Ares 3 Dune Ascent Vehicle (a.k.a DAV) clasic ship to get into orbit, land with almost empty fuel tanks, with detachable ISRU

• Ares 4 Dune Ascent Vehicle (about it later)

This is 6 kerbals mission so everything, except rovers, must be able to support 6 kerbals.

First launch HUB, rovers and Ares 3 DAV, land in 15 km radius from designed location. Every launch must be unmanned.

Next build Hermes. Hermes is main transfer ship with attached DDV, it must fly to dune, get into orbit, send down DDV, wait for DAV and get back to Kerbin without refueling.Hermes is single stage, ship so no detaching empty tanks. (more details later)

But be careful, because depending with way you choose , you might need way more dV than you think. So better first read whole mission plan.

Now time for some fun.

   | Easy | Hard

:---:|:---:|:---: Hermes|Use only LV-N "Nerv" engines, add science lab|If possible , use only ION engines ( i have no idea is it even possible) add science lab Rovers| Build 1 kerbal rover| Build at least 2 kerbal rover with only expandable solar panels Send|Ares 3: HUB, Rovers, DAV . THAN Hermes with DDV|Ares 3: HUB, Rovers, DAV also Ares 4: DAV. THAN Hermes with DDV

Forgot about one thing: send 2 pilots, 2 scientists , 2 engineers

Some rules might change , depending on your suggestions.

Phase II - Arrival

Now time to park Hermes into Dune orbit. There is one thing i'm not certain. Can Hermes aerobreak ?

So for:

Easy It can!

Hard IT CAN'T !!

Now transfer all your Kerbals to DDV and land at Ares 3 landing site.

Enjoy your moment of triumph when everything works perfect.

To celebrate sucsesfull landing all crew ate their favorite rations of beans, the next day there was no way to breathe without EVA suit. While everyone went to do some science stuff outside. one of engineers decided to open the door and let in some fresh air. Obviously he cheated during exams. Long story short, there was explosion that fired our brave/stupid Kerbal far away from HUB. When the rest of the crew returned they saw their staff lying around, no door in HUB and no antena. Quick decision and mission was canceled. Search party didn't found missing engineer, so they had to leave without him.

5 Kerbals without missing enginner launch DAV and dock with orbiting Hermes.

Next step transfer back to Kerbin.