Mission 18

Mission 18, named Atmospheric Probe, is your first encounter with GRN (or the Green planet). You'll need to put a Survey Satellite into orbit around the planet on one ship, then enter an Atmospheric Probe into/onto the atmosphere. The antenna on the satellite must face the surface of the planet, and the probe's antenna should face space in order to send the data from the probe gathered during the atmospheric entry.

These 2 ships should be launched relatively quickly to each other in order to complete the mission in time.

Walkthrough:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=labnXVMCUYA

Contributor's Tip:

• It is advised to use a powerful medium-sized rocket or a Long March rocket to deliver the atmospheric probe and the survey satellite separately, because of their weight. Multiple Payload Launch Systems can also be used to cut time.
• The smallest/cheapest rocket capable of carrying both payloads to orbit simultaneously, to current knowledge, is a Titan II 1st Stage with Long March Boosters, a heavy Tug Module carrying the probe, an N1 Payload Fairing (since the satellite can be with placed directly onto it), and a Black Arrow fairing. The vessel costs barely over $7M, and eliminates the complexity that would otherwise be caused by having to manage multiple vehicles.

Objectives

Award	Cost	Time	Checkpoints
Gold	< $25,000,000	< 12m	No
Silver	< $80,000,000	< 15m	Yes
Bronze	< $100,000,000	< 20m	Yes

• Put a Survey Satellite into orbit around GRN
• Point the dish antenna towards the planet
• Put the Atmospheric Probe into orbit around GRN
• Re-enter the Atmospheric Probe
• Upload scientific data to the orbiting satellite
• Budget: $100,000,000
• Max time: 20m

Trivia

• The mission can still be completed even if the Survey Satellite is still attached to the tug module (or some other similar part, e.g. Delta II 2nd Stage).