Tin Can Program Craft Instructions

This is a reference guide for users of the Tin Can Program.

After our Career Mode Guide, we offer a complete pre-built campaign. This is the essential guide to executing that campaign: what to research, when you need to upgrade, and what the craft are for.

This reference guide is no longer under construction. Basic instructions are nominally completed, but the later missions are lacking in detail. Due to the imminent release of Kerbal Space Program 2 the current state of KSP2, further detail is unlikely to may someday be be added. However, the program remains in an as-is state until further notice. Questions are welcome if they can be asked respectfully.

Illustrations by Books Bespoke (c) 2021

Introduction

These craft are meant to be used after completing our Career Mode Guide. The TCP Guide is a solid start for a new career, even if you don't need a tutorial. If you don't need to learn, you will blow through the guide missions in about 2-3 hours or less.

This guide only contains instructions on what needs to be done. We will tell you what to look out for, what you need to know, and what to do; you need to know what those things mean and how to do them.

Campaign Basics

For best results, have the infographics ready while you are flying. You can use the in-game Steam overlay if a second screen isn't an option.

Launch Profile

A Launch Profile is included for each craft. To follow these, just steer to each mark and hold as indicated.

For example, when you read "15° at 50km AP", this means that you should steer to 15° when your AP reaches 50km. You would then hold that pitch until the next indicated point.

In every case, we are steering with pitch only (other than corrections) and the listed angles are all pitch angles.

Also note that 'low throttle' refers to the lowest possible setting. This crucial technique keeps our program simple and math-free. Coasting to AP usually takes about 2 minutes on most flights. Use of the physics (2x-4x) warp to reduce this wait is possible, but untested.

For each craft, the full launch assembly and its different stages can be seen on the left-hand side of the infographic, which can be helpful when the Launch Profile references specific stages by name.

As a final note, just to be 100% clear, these profiles are for your liftoff from the Space Center to Kerbin orbit only. Launch profiles for liftoff from other planets (when applicable) will be discussed below, within the sections for the relevant missions.

Science Checklist & Action Groups

Use the Science Checklist and Action Group List to keep track of what you need to do and how to do it. Every time you collect a Crew Report, transmit it when possible to make room for another.

Always retrieve data from your science instruments between using each action group; the instructions don't specify this each time as it is standard procedure. The instructions do mention when you need a Scientist. If you have a Scientist aboard, use them for data retrieval, so they can restore certain instruments for another use.

Don't forget to collect Surface Samples, EVA reports, and EVA Science! There's no way to include this in the Action Groups, you just have to remember to do it.

Planetary Transfer Windows

Planetary Transfer Windows are integral to the use of these craft. We used a web-based tool for this, before it was included in the vanilla base game. Use of the vanilla in-game transfer window planner is still untested, but should be workable. If you dislike the in-game tool, web-based solutions are still available.

Schedule flights at your discretion. The campaign contains more flights than are needed to complete the tech tree. If you don't really care about the years passing and want to do each mission one by one, you can do that. At the same time, if you want to fly a bunch of missions simultaneously, you can launch each mission on the first available transfer window, and manage them all at the same time; everything will still work.

Landing

When Landing, make a habit of using a quicksave in orbit before the first attempt, as every lander in this campaign handles a bit differently. In every case, your lander should carry plenty of fuel for a powered descent using throttle control to manage speed. You can attempt a suicide burn if you like, but it shouldn't be necessary.
Here is our broad-strokes landing procedure which should apply to all craft in the campaign:

• From low orbit, initiate surface-mode retroburn over desired landing site
  
• Cut throttle at ~10m/s
  
• Descent becomes near-vertical
  
• Repeat retroburn when velocity exceeds ~100m/s, until ~1km AGL
  
• At ~1km AGL, initiate continuous low-throttle burn to manage descent speed
  
• Careful throttle control allows gentle, controlled ground contact

In general, for Landings with strong gravity, or landers with weak engines, keep speed lower or start burns from higher altitudes.

Specific details about what to expect on specific landings can be found below, when needed.

Regarding 'Phases'

The different research 'phases' of this campaign do not really correspond well to the transfer window schedule. It is fairly trivial to reach Phase 2 or even further before a year of game time has elapsed. This is why, for example, you see Omega placed in the Phase after Gamma, even though Omega is required for Gamma to succeed.

The different phases do reflect an increasing complexity, for the most part. It is not a strict plan but more of a loose categorization or rating of each mission. As the example above indicates, there is no need to fly every Phase 1 mission before advancing to Phase 2. In fact, sometimes the opposite is required.

Funding

For Funding, keep running asteroid and comet spotting contracts and filling them with your Observer satellite(s), and try to complete as many of World Firsts contracts as you can.

You can crank up the Fundraising Campaign we turned on in the tutorial, but a higher reputation gets you better contracts, so consider your options. Tourism contracts are usually really good for earning reputation. Of course, you can set your own goals and use this campaign in multiple ways.

The later missions are very expensive, and it's not really necessary to run all of them to complete the Tech Tree anyway. You should consider which ones you really want to fly before you spend your millions, or make a plan to save up enough funds to launch them all.

Regarding Design

Regarding design, we want to be clear that these designs are presented as-is. Our designs are deliberately over-built to provide you with a wide margin for error in flying our missions. Not only that, but the designs are sometimes deliberately inefficient in order to fulfill certain aesthetic or narrative ideals. Feel free to take the ships apart to see how the designs work or build your own improved variants of our designs. In a few cases, we have even made note of a Design Project highlighting certain shortcomings in a craft's capabilities.

Having said that, these designs attract a surprising number of presumptive, snobbish comments. This is your fair warning: this is a stock vanilla campaign for non-elitist players. If you write an irrelevant comment, or especially a rude comment, it will be deleted with no fanfare.

Progress Checklist

Phase Zero Prerequisites

• Heavier Rocketry
  
• Precision Propulsion

Total Cost: 320 Science

• Upgrade Launchpad & Tracking Station to Level 3*

Total Cost: 843,000 Funds
*n.b. this cost only covers upgrades from level 2 to level 3.
Buildings should already be upgraded to level 2 during the Tutorial Guide.

UNLOCKS:
Dessert, Cab, Snack, and Tiny

Phase One Prerequisites

• Specialized Construction
  
• Advanced Fuel Systems
  
• Precision Engineering
  
• Advanced Electrics
  
• Space Exploration
  
• Advanced Exploration
  
• Command Modules
  
• Electronics
  
• Scanning Tech

Total cost: 1650 Science

UNLOCKS:
Express, Picnic, Van, Station, Messenger, Observer, Surveyor, Relay, and Tanker

Phase Two Prerequisites

• Aviation
  
• Unmanned Tech
  
• Specialized Control
  
• Nuclear Propulsion
  
• Advanced Landing
  
• Advanced Science Tech
  
• Aerodynamics
  
• Advanced Metalworks
  
• Supersonic Flight
  
• Composites

Total Cost: 2365 Science

UNLOCKS:
3000, Gamma, and Wanderer

Phase Three Prerequisites

• High-Powered Electrics
  
• Field Science
  
• Very Heavy Rocketry
  
• Large Volume Containment
  
• Meta-Materials
  
• Automation
  
• Actuators
  
• Advanced Unmanned Tech
  
• High Altitude Flight

Total Cost: 3560 Science

UNLOCKS:
Omega, Traveller, Miner, and the Long-Range Relay

Phase Four Prerequisites

• Heavy Landing
  
• High-Performance Fuel Systems
  
• Advanced Motors
  
• Ion Propulsion
  
• Large Probes
  
• Specialized Electrics
  
• Experimental Electrics
  
• Hypersonic Flight

Total Cost: 5050 Science

UNLOCKS:
Crawler, Extra, 9001, and Pioneer

Unused Techs Total Cost: 3010 Science

Phase Zero

At the end of the tutorial program, you should have more than enough funds and science to begin Phase Zero immediately. The Dessert and Snack missions to Minmus should provide all the science you need to advance.

It's a good idea to keep carefully collecting as many World Firsts contracts as you can for Minmus, just like in the tutorial. After Minmus, the distance plus the randomness of the contracts makes them much harder to keep up with. Get that easy funding while you can.

Cab is a utility craft only. Its main use is to complete rescue or tourism contracts, or any leftover World Firsts rendezvous contracts.



Dessert, Snack, and Tiny are all science missions. Tiny is a longer mission to Duna's moon Ike, but Dessert and Snack are much shorter local missions to Minmus. At Minmus, use the contract collecting habits you learned in the Tin Can Program Tutorial to cash in as many World Firsts contracts as you can.

Tin Can Dessert is a very simple flyby mission. Check the infographic and make sure your flyby is low enough to get all the Science. Rather than sweat out the perfect encounter, you are carrying enough fuel for a second burn somewhere during the Minmus flyby to set up your direct return to Kerbin's atmosphere.
(If this sounds familiar, it's because it's the same plan as the Tin Can 5 Mün flyby in our tutorial.)



Tin Can Snack is a quick and simple Minmus landing mission. The main thing to keep in mind is your 'hop' to a second landing site. Try to land near the edge of one of the flats on Minmus, so you can make a quick, easy hop over to a new biome.

Tin Can Tiny - Ike Landing

There are only a few details to remember for this mission. Most importantly, you'll need to send a CommNet Relay to Duna (if you don't already have one in place) for the Service Module.



The 'Jettison' action group is critical. Use it to discard the payload fairing during launch, and to jettison the radial fuel tanks when they're empty. The '8', '9', and '0' keys will eject one ring of tanks each, from top to bottom; the tanks will also drain from top to bottom.

The staging column often displays an inaccurate Δv count, especially before all radial tanks have been jettisoned. This can be alarming when a very small reading is shown, but the fuel gauge is reliable.

This mission carries lots of extra fuel. There is enough to land on Ike twice, though this is not in the mission plan, and requires careful fuel management. The main reason for all this extra fuel is to provide a broad margin of error.

However, the lander itself can carry enough fuel to fly home to Kerbin from Duna alone. You could leave the SM in the Duna system, to refuel another craft later. You could even leave the SM in Kerbin orbit to act as a local fuel tanker.

When landing on Ike, be ready for weak engines, and plan accordingly. Save plenty of time to slow down before ground contact. The landing legs on this lander are rigid, to prevent damage to the docking ring, so try to make contact with the ground as gently as possible.

There's no launch profile for your return to orbit; it's just like orbiting the Mün. Fly just as high as needed to clear the terrain, then fly horizontally to orbit.

Orbit Duna when you're done at Ike. Go down to a 100km circular orbit at Duna for a clean transfer back to Kerbin. Send the craft directly back to the atmosphere: set your PE to about 35km for a safe, easy landing.

Phase One

Picnic landings on Mün and Minmus will easily provide enough Science for Phase Two. Another option is to wait for the Express mission to return from Eve, but this takes considerably longer.

Phase One Utilities

Van, Station, Observer, Surveyor, Relay, and Tanker are all utility craft, making Phase One by far the most utilitarian of them all.

Station forms the basic core of a space station. It's not a dedicated Science mission, really, but a platform for multiplying your Science returns if you should wish to do so. The core has multiple docking ports, enabling expansion for any imaginable purpose.

Note: Station can be flown to orbit under remote control, and crewed in orbit with a subsequent flight. This option is included for players who have seen "The Right Stuff" and are hesitant to put crew inside of a spacecraft cockpit which they can't see out of.



Van is an improved crew transport. Use this for everything you were using Cab for, and also for transferring crew to your new Space Station once you have that going.



Observer is actually your main funding engine. Use the telescope in solar orbit to complete as many asteroid / comet spotting contracts as you possibly can to keep the funding rolling in.



Surveyor is for finding Ore. You can wait to launch this until you unlock Tin Man Miner, or launch it ahead of time to look for Ore before you send the mining robots. This guide doesn't have a dedicated Science mission for Dres, so to fill that gap we designed our mining demonstration to take place there. A second option is Ike, which has similar gravity to Dres and is easier to reach.

Relay and Tanker are pretty self-explanatory. Be sure to send along a Relay to Duna and another to Eve with your first missions to those planets. Some craft will depend on the presence of a relay to function correctly.

A single Relay in a large polar orbit (~5000km or more, depending on the planet) gives a great compromise between signal coverage and time spent on the repetitive task of placing Relays, especially when using the default 'Normal' difficulty settings, which are very generous about signal obstruction.



Use the Tanker locally as desired. You can immediately upgrade your Space Station core with a generous refueling tank, for one thing. The Picnic lander will depend on this tanker if you wish to send it to a second Münar landing in one mission.



Don't miss the best use of Tanker: setting off your new seismic stations on the surface of Mün / Minmus. Once your Picnic landings are finished, crashing one of these tankers near the LZ can return hundreds of science. Try to make impact as close to the seismic station as possible for maximum yield; even an empty Tanker can yield hundreds of Science.

When you dispose of a Tanker in this way, it leaves behind a small, short-range signal relay. This is a bonus feature; a sort of 'why-not' inclusion. It has no specific, assigned use within this campaign.

Tin Can Picnic - Improved Moon Landings

This mission is the workhorse of your Research program. It's a routine, simple mission, and there are only a few important details to remember.

Bring a full crew: a Scientist, an Engineer, and a Pilot.



You can fly this mission to Mün or Minmus. On Minmus, you can hop to a second LZ, just like we did with Tin Can Snack. Again, the easiest way to do this is to land near the edge of one of the 'Flats' biomes.

The craft carries two sets of surface instruments. Mün landings with this craft use more fuel, so it must be refueled in orbit if you wish to deploy the second set of instruments at another Münar LZ.

Take note of the dedicated action groups for the secondary landing engines. Use these to avoid the Lander becoming overpowered in Minmus' weak gravity. Use this at your discretion: Lander thrust at Minmus is reasonable at first, but becomes excessive as the fuel tanks drain.

All other procedures from liftoff to re-entry are routine.

Tin Can Express - Eve Probe Landings

This is a complex mission, but it's not difficult. You will fly a to Eve in a crewed orbiter with two probes stacked on top. At Eve, you will deploy the probes and collect orbital science before returning to Kerbin.

Be sure to bring a Scientist along! Send a CommNet Relay to Eve, if you don't already have at least one placed there.



First, on top of the stack, is the one-way "Skydiver" probe for Eve. This probe requires careful deployment for the best Science returns. More details about using the probe are written below.

The next probe in the stack is "Hopper" Lander probe for Gilly. Again, there are more details about how to use it written below.

Before you can use the probes, you have to send the whole package to Eve. Use transfer window planning as usual, but set your inclination to match Gilly's orbit, instead of Eve's. By doing this, the "Hopper" probe will have a much easier time reaching Gilly, and it won't interfere with anything else.

While collecting your orbital science, don't miss out on using the EVA Science kit! It's easy to forget.

"Skydiver" Probe

The "Skydiver" probe is fairly simple, but there are a lot of small details to consider. First, consider where you want to probe to land. For maximum science, land on solid ground to use the Seismometer.

The probe is unpowered, so you must set its trajectory to reach the atmosphere before releasing it. About 70km is low enough. Be sure your landing zone is in sunlight.

Select the 'Eve Probe Release' action group and press '0' to release the probe. For best results, release the probe in a Radial attitude. Return the spacecraft to the default action group, then return it to a safe orbit before you switch to the probe to manage its descent.

Don't forget to set the probe to the 'Eve Probe' action group. To land, no action is required other than activating the retrograde hold.

Open the service bay when collecting data, but keep it closed at all other times for thermal integrity. Press '8' when below 90km ASL, and transmit all four of these 'Upper Atmosphere' reports right away.

When you are below 22km ASL, press '9' to collect 'Flight' science. Store these reports for now and focus on completing a safe descent while the batteries recharge.

Activate the parachutes immediately when it is safe to do so. 'Chutes are set to open at maximum altitude (5km) as a fail-safe protection. After ground contact, press '1' to extend the solar panel for faster charging.

Once the battery is fully charged, transmit stored 'Flight' science. When transmissions are complete, press '0' to collect 'Ground' science, wait for full charge, and then transmit again. Note that this final round of data includes an additional report (Seismometer) and thus requires more power (and an additional recharge delay) to fully transmit.

"Hopper" Probe

The second probe, for landing on Gilly, is simpler. Release it using the dedicated 'Gilly Probe Release' action group. Clear the Orbiter's docking ring by releasing the final decoupler; for safety, this final decoupler is manual release only.

Once released, the "Hopper" probe may be piloted to Gilly's surface like an ordinary spacecraft. Before initiating maneuvers, be sure to press '1' and '2' to extend the solar panels and antennas.

This unmanned lander has dedicated instruments for each stage of your Gilly encounter. Again, the action keys are set up in order. Press '8' in high orbit, press '9' in low orbit, and then press '0' on the surface; transmit the data as you go to free up the instruments for the next round.

Land on Gilly as usual, with one difference. After your initial burn, when you begin your vertical descent, accelerate toward the surface. This landing is more like a controlled flight to the surface, rather than a proper descent. Gilly has very weak gravity, and doesn't pull you in very much.

The "Hopper" lander has a high impact tolerance. The 'foot' of the lander will tolerate impacts below 9m/s. Even if you exceed that, destroying the base, the modular girder behind it is also a suitable landing foot, and it will tolerate impacts up to 80m/s. However, landing at ~5m/s or less is recommended due to risks of unpredictable bouncing on impact, often resulting in solar panel damage.

How fast you want to come in just depends on how high your starting orbit is... and your patience, of course. Speed up to make the descent less tedious and more accurate, but leave yourself time to slow down before impact, and don't go too fast, or you'll bounce.

Kerbin Return

Once the probe is down, and all the science is transmitted, the mission at Eve is complete. Don't forget to set an alarm for the Orbiter's next transfer window back to Kerbin. At Kerbin, enter Kerbin atmosphere directly for a simple, safe return. Careful fuel management may allow for orbital insertion in Kerbin system and refueling for extended mission life.

Tin Can Messenger - Moho Landing & Close Solar Flyby

This is a challenging mission, with much narrower margin of error than most of our designs. Your encounter with Moho needs to be carefully aligned.

The low-tech probe core precludes the use of automatic maneuver tracking, and you must manually pilot this flight.



There are numerous factors to consider before launch, starting with Moho's eccentric orbit. Try and encounter Moho when it is further from the Sun for best results.

Fly slow and steady with this one. Steering power is limited; be careful not to over-steer. Once in orbit, take the next transfer window to Moho. On the way there, make a mid-course correction to match Moho's inclination and finalize your close encounter. Set your PE at Moho to about 100km.

The encounter itself must be clean and favorable, too. Do not intersect Moho's trajectory at an acute angle; just brush up against Moho's orbit to enter its SOI. You must eliminate virtually all inclination.

At Moho, be sure to use a maneuver node for your retroburn to orbit. When you set up the maneuver, the complex staging will make it appear that you do not have enough Δv to make orbit, but this is inaccurate. Cut throttle before staging the Lander.

After staging to the lander, the Solar probe continues on out of Moho's SOI. Stay with the Lander. You need to reset your maneuver node, or just delete it and make a new one. Once you finish your orbital insertion at Moho, leave the lander in orbit and switch over to the Solar probe.

"Sundiver" Solar Probe

It will take some days before the Solar probe arrives in the right position, so you may just want to set an alarm for Solar PE and return to land on Moho. It's up to you how to proceed.

With the Solar probe, continue out of Moho's SOI and approach your Solar AP. All you have to do is one very long retroburn, to bring your PE to within 1,000,000km of the sun. With that done, just wait until you arrive at your new PE and transmit the Science from there.

Moho Landing

Landing on Moho is no different from any other vacuum landing, but, just like every other part of this mission, your fuel supply is less abundant, and you must burn carefully.

It's entirely possible to arrive in Moho orbit with a lander that has insufficient fuel to land. In this case, your Moho encounter was not favorable; better luck next time. Once landed, there is no return flight to orbit. Transmit all the data.

Phase Two

3000 and Gamma are long interplanetary missions, and Wanderer provides only a small science return from Mün. If you prefer not to wait for the interplanetary missions to return, stage additional Picnic missions to earn Science.

Tin Man Wanderer is a simple proof-of-concept Mün rover. This is an easy mission with very few notable details.

You should have some kind of relay in Münar orbit before you fly this mission. Even just the tiny "Link" relay our Local Fuel Tanker leaves behind is sufficient.



Fly this mission like an ordinary Mün landing. There's no special procedures to follow until you are actually on the Münar surface. The rover itself is fairly slow, so you should try to land in an unexplored biome, as driving from one biome to another takes ages.

Try to make touchdown as gently as you can. If you've landed on a slope, turn on the brakes at touchdown. For very steep slopes, you may need to use the parking brake by manually unlocking and extending the piston.

Once you are stable on the Münar surface, just press '0' to separate the descent module. You will stay in control of it, so hit full throttle immediately when you separate, and fly the module clear of the rover.

With the descent module disposed of, you are free to return to the rover and practice driving it around. It's safest not to exceed speeds of 10m/s.

You may need to use the manual parking brake to operate the scanning arm, which is very sensitive to any movement of the rover while in use.

Tin Can 3000 - Duna Landing

A simple mission. Very few notes for this one.
Parachute deployment force is often in excess of 25g: fun!

Be sure to bring a full crew: Scientist, Engineer, and Pilot. You life will be a bit easier during one tricky moment if you ensure that the Scientist is inside of the Lander Can seat.



To descend, get into a close Duna orbit (~100km circular) and then set your PE to about 25km. Descent to Duna should be almost totally unpowered; you only need a short burst of thrust just before ground contact to achieve a safe touchdown.

Sometimes, especially in the event of steep or high-altitude topography, thrust is needed earlier in your descent in order to attain a safe parachute deployment speed.

You need to keep careful track of collecting all the science on this mission! There are no less than five different locations to observe: High Orbit, Low Orbit, Upper Atmosphere, Flight, and Surface. The only tricky bit is the upper atmosphere reports: collect this Science immediately when you enter Duna's atmosphere, then quickly go EVA to collect it before aero forces become too intense. This is why you put the Scientist in the Lander Can seat: faster data retrieval.

Return to Duna orbit is an easy flight. Make a vertical ascent until your AP to reaches 25km. Set pitch to 45° (on a 90° heading) and hold until your AP reaches 45km. At that time, set pitch to horizontal. Once horizontal, reduce throttle to about 50% or less: be sure your time to AP is counting down.

Reduce or increase throttle as needed. Get closer to AP, but don't run out of time. Eventually, you'll make orbit. To go home, just use the next transfer window and return directly to Kerbin's atmosphere: ~36km is safe. Don't forget to re-pack the parachutes! You can set them to deploy at 1000m for Kerbin, and the descent will go faster.

Tin Can Gamma - Not a Spaceplane

This is an optional mission. It's more of a demonstration, and not really an important part of the campaign.

The mission's main purpose is to reach Jool's upper atmosphere and return to Kerbin with the data gathered there. Since we are bringing the Atmosphere Analyzer, the mission plan also includes a stop at Laythe to sample the atmosphere there. Now, that concludes the sensible portion of the mission.

As a secondary goal, this mission is designed to demonstrate the greater difficulty involved when bringing a large, aircraft-sized object home to Kerbin from a long distance space mission. Importantly, please be aware that this spacecraft is not a spaceplane.



Remember that this mission is designed to rendezvous with the Tin Can Omega mission at Laythe for refueling. Omega carries enough extra fuel to fully reload Gamma, allowing it to reach Jool's upper atmosphere.

Collect all the orbital science you can from Jool and Laythe, and be sure to dip into both of their atmospheres. You will have no other difficulty until the time comes to return to Kerbin.

Deorbit has not been comprehensively tested. Trial and error is required to find your optimal capture altitude. At Kerbin, expect to make two or more passes through the atmosphere before landing. Don't forget to extend the hinges to increase drag. The hinges can be glitchy; cycle the 'lock toggle' action key if any are stuck.

Phase Three

As we are entering the final phases now, there are numerous ways you can collect the science you need to advance. If you are stuck, you can always stage additional Picnic landings - this is your workhorse.

Long-Range Relay is just a simple utility craft, and almost identical to the precursor Relay in Phase 1, with an improved antenna.



Tin Can Omega is another space station core, very similar to the precursor Station in Phase 1, with the obvious difference, of course, that it is configured for placement in low orbit of Jool's moon Laythe. It also carries extra fuel for Tin Can Gamma, so they can complete their excursion to Jool's atmosphere.

No crew is required for Omega's mission, but the craft has room for three Kerbals if you wish to send crew to Laythe for permanent assignment.



Note: Omega can be flown under remote control, and crewed in orbit with a subsequent flight. This option is included for players who have seen "The Right Stuff" and are hesitant to put crew inside of a spacecraft cockpit which they can't see out of.

Your flight to Laythe is routine. Once in Laythe orbit, retain the fuel tanks and engines until your rendezvous with Gamma. When the refueling operation is complete, you are free to discard any remaining fuel along with the tanks and engines. This will expose the large docking ring so it is available for use.

Tin Can Traveller - Eeloo Landing

Other than the extreme distance, this mission presents few challenges.

Mainly, the difficulty comes from the distance involved and the long duration of the flight.



During liftoff, there is a break in the staging sequence before activating the upper SRBs. This is to allow the lower SRBs to fall clear of the rocket. If you stage the upper SRB too quickly, a collision may occur.

Transfer to Eeloo often requires a mid-course correction. The craft carries a generous fuel allowance to enable extensive maneuvering when needed. You will use up some of the Service module's fuel load during orbital insertion. As long as about half of the SM fuel remains, everything's fine.

Once arrived in orbit of Eeloo, just conduct an ordinary landing. Once you've returned to orbit, rendezvous with the SM for return to Kerbin. Before departure, transfer any fuel remaining in the Lander to the SM and shut down the Lander's engines.

Return to Kerbin on the next available transfer window. In spite of the extreme distance, direct transfer to atmosphere is still safe. Your velocity on arrival at Kerbin will vary depending on Eeloo's position in its orbit, but 30km should be a safe altitude for aerocapture. Adjust as needed.

Tin Man Miner - Robotic Mining & Fueling Station

This mission is different from the rest of the campaign, and more of an optional extra. The purpose is to demonstrate the use of ore mining technology and the support systems involved. Crucially, one of these support systems is a separate launch: The Surveyor mission (in Tier 1) provides critical support in locating ore-rich sites, and should not be overlooked.

The mining demonstration is intended to take place at Dres, but you can send this equipment to numerous different locations. See the in-game craft description for more details on that.



During liftoff, there is a break in the staging sequence before activating the upper SRBs. This is to allow the lower SRBs to fall clear of the rocket. If you stage the upper SRB too quickly, a collision may occur.

Once in orbit, transfer to your desired mining site on the next available transfer window. In its current state, this mining platform is not very practical. More ore storage, fuel storage, and greater electrical output are needed, and docking ports are available to expand the ore processor with these improvements.

The mining process itself is a simple matter of landing the drill, collecting the ore, and returning to orbit for a rendezvous. The lander carries more than enough ore to fully refuel itself, so the lander can return for more ore indefinitely.

Since the Lander can refuel the Processor indefinitely, it is theoretically possible to send the mining operation to any destination. In practice, the range of the processor is limited by its small fuel tanks. Plan your mining operations accordingly, and upgrade the processor with greater fuel storage if you wish to set up your mining operations anywhere more distant than Dres.

Design Project:You can sort-of use Tin Can Miner at Mün, but the lander's performance is marginal, and an engine upgrade would probably be best. The Mün's gravity is only a bit weaker than Eeloo's, so this upgraded lander might also be suitable for a very impressive long-distance mining mission to the outermost planet. Do Miner and Surveyor have the range to reach Eeloo's orbit? Should you use Dres as a refueling stop, or try to increase their range?

Phase Four

For the final Phase, we offer a few 'showcase' missions. These missions are a lot less fail-proof than the ones that came before, and operate on narrower margins, but they are still quite user-friendly:

• The Crawler mission sends a mobile science lab (with multiple sets of surface instruments) to Duna. Crawler also carries two independent science return modules which can launch from the surface of Duna and fly back to Kerbin, maximizing Science returns.
  
• The Extra Tylo landing is spread out over two launches, so be sure to send that "Chauffeur" service module along, or your crew will be stranded!
  
• Tin Can 9001 is a solo flight to the surface of Eve and back. No big deal.
  
• Pioneer is a lengthy robotic mission to the Jool system, with landings on Pol, Bop, and Vall in a single flight. All data is collected by an Ion-powered return module and flown home to Kerbin.

Tin Can Crawler - Duna Science Rover

This mission is relatively simple for its size, but there are a few details to keep in mind. You will need a Relay at Duna to make use of the Crawler's return modules. These modules have minimal signal range, so you should bring your relay to within about 5000km of Duna.

The payload's imperfect mass balance makes for a challenging flight. Fortunately, precise flying is not required to succeed.

Take note that this is a one-way flight to Duna. The crawler requires a Pilot, an Engineer, and at least one Scientist. If you intend to use the mobile lab to process data, you can bring two Scientists for maximum effect. These crew will be permanently assigned to Duna.

Note: This craft can be flown to orbit under remote control, and crewed in orbit with a Shuttle flight. This option is included for players who have seen "The Right Stuff" and are hesitant to put crew inside of a spacecraft cockpit which they can't see out of.


Liftoff to Kerbin orbit is routine. Your transfer to Duna, however, will be sloppy because of the unbalanced load. Just be sure your encounter PE is within 250km, and not too inclined. There is plenty of extra fuel in the "Jetpack" module, so feel free to make course corrections as needed.

Be sure to land near the equator. A perfect equatorial orbit isn't needed, just a landing somewhere in the 'tropics'. Your best bet is to aim for the big canyon system around the equator.

To descend, set up a ~20km PE; once inside Duna's atmosphere, stage the parachutes as soon as their caution status is clear. As you approach the ground, manage your descent speed with a low-throttle burn. Try to hit the ground at 5m/s or less. The slower, the better. Activate the brakes when you are on the ground, to prevent Crawler from rolling away.

Deploy one set of surface instruments before you disengage the "Jetpack" module. The landing gear button (or the 'G' key) will activate a ladder for easier crew EVA access. With the surface instruments deployed, and the crew back aboard, you may proceed.

To discard the descent module, stage the counterweight jettison first. Wait for it to fly clear, then stage again and hit full throttle immediately; fly the "Jetpack" toward distant terrain. Cut the throttle before impact. Back with the Crawler, don't forget to run the science instruments before you proceed.

Return Modules

When ready, load all your data into one of the return modules. The Crawler should be parked on relatively level ground before launching a return module. When you launch, you'll need to quickly switch to the module before it flies away.

Do not steer. Don't stage immediately at flameout, either. Let the whole assembly coast up to about 20km. To be sure the staging works, add an empty stage to the bottom of the stack before proceeding. Once you get to 20km, stage the return module.

Set the control inputs to 'Reversed'. Now, find the 90° heading on the navball, set your pitch to 45° on that heading, and hit full throttle. Push your AP to ~60km. When it gets there, set pitch to horizontal and manage your approach to AP (the usual low throttle / full throttle procedure).

Once in orbit, you might have to clean up your inclination a bit, then you can transfer the return module directly to Kerbin's atmosphere on the next available transfer window. Use the 'Prograde' navpoint during re-entry! Once the parachutes are deployed, drain any remaining fuel. Don't jettison the heatshield. On touchdown, the heatshield or fuel tank may be destroyed. This is normal, and not a cause for concern.

Driving the Crawler

Back with the Crawler, you may now depart for another Biome. Once you arrive, you can repeat the entire process: Set up additional surface instruments, collect additional Science, and send it all back to Kerbin on the other return module. Remember not to wander to far away from the equator. We encourage you to quicksave a lot when driving until you are familiar with the limits of Crawler's performance envelope.

Once you have launched both return modules, the Crawler itself is at peak performance in terms of balance, torque, etc. Generally, driving at speeds up to 20m/s is always safe. Beyond this speed, attention must be paid to ground slope and collision hazards. Speeds of 40m/s or higher are quite sustainable when caution is taken regarding slope hazards, which can launch one side of the vehicle into a destructive rollover event. Drive safe!

Design Project: We consider this a permanent crew assignment, but you could easily design a mission to recover the crew once you are done driving around collecting science. Could you make use of the leftover "Tender" service module from the Tin Can Tiny mission? Modifying Tin Can 3000 to carry extra passengers is one approach, or you could build a new craft entirely from scratch...

Tin Can Extra - Tylo Landing

Another optional mission. This is our most marginal flight, by far, and barely includes enough fuel to reach its target. Fly carefully! For your return flight, you will need to use an additional service module, launched separately.



In the early phase of the flight, when maneuvering the heaviest stages, allow up to 3 minutes for the craft to turn around.

Tin Can 9001 - Eve Landing

This is a surprisingly simple flight, in theory, but there are many small details to discuss. We strongly recommend that you make multiple save checkpoints as you proceed. In particular, we recommend saving when in Eve orbit (when ready to land) and again on Eve's surface (when ready to return to Eve orbit.)

Without getting sidetracked by PC hardware specs, and to keep this topic brief, we will just say that you should expect a low framerate during liftoff until orbit. If you don't experience this, I'm happy for you, but most PCs will have a low framerate at this time.

Liftoff and Orbital Maneuvers

The Launch Profile, as written, is very simple. You pitchover almost directly to the horizon in two big moves. Take it easy, and make these turns carefully. Wait for the discarded stages to clear the rocket before you turn. There's no need to hurry. A little throttle control is sometimes needed for a clean, circular orbit of Kerbin: use your best judgement.

Once in orbit, the rocket will turn very slowly. It can take about 3 minutes to turn around. Keep this in mind while you plan and execute your transfer burn to Eve. Set up your encounter at 100km, with inclination very close to 0°.

Get into Eve orbit with a standard retroburn. Bring your orbit down as low and close as you can, but save a little fuel to get yourself inside the atmosphere.

Before attempting to land, park the Service Module in orbit by pressing the '7' key. Do this on a Radial attitude, so there is no collision risk on your final retroburn.

The final consideration before landing is your landing zone. You need to land somewhere above 1.5km ground altitude; use an in-game or web-based resource to locate a region of appropriate height before you proceed. Once you have located an LZ, wait until it is below your PE.

Landing on Eve

When ready, do a final retroburn at your AP to bring your PE inside Eve's atmosphere. Set it somewhere from 60-75km, depending on how high your AP is. If your Eve orbit is highly eccentric, with a very high AP, keep your PE higher, so that your final descent is less violent. You can even make multiple passes through the atmosphere if you need to.

Now you can jettison the enormous bulk of Stage 13 and any fuel left in it. Again, do this from a Radial attitude so there is minimal collision risk.

After discarding Stage 13, inflate both of the heatshields (top and bottom) and be sure the navball is in surface mode. Engage the retrograde hold. Don't forget to retract the solar panels!

If you see some overheating, begin to roll the craft until the spinning action dissipates the heat. Even if you don't do this, the craft will eventually begin to roll on its own, until it is rapidly spinning as it descends. This is normal.

When they have cleared both red and yellow caution states, stage the drogue parachutes; the upper heatshield will jettison, too. After a while, it will be safe to deploy the remaining 'chutes. Wait for these to fully inflate (at 1km AGL) before activating the next stage to discard the remaining heatshields.

Now you can safely deploy the landing legs. You will make ground contact at ~9m/s, no engines required. While you descend, open the service bay and collect some 'Flight' science. There's a small chance that you will be in the same 'biome' as your "Skydiver" probe, but usually you will get some fresh 'Flight' reports on the way down.

Once down, check the ground altitude where you landed. 2km or higher is best, but anything over 1.5km should be fine. Because of the lander's tremendous bulk, it will sometimes slide downhill when the ground angle is too steep. Generally, this isn't much of a problem, but you will be limited to the 2x-4x physics warp if the Lander hasn't come to a complete stop.

Be advised that any use of time warp with the Lander on the surface (whether sliding or stable) is likely to result in broken landing legs, or worse. Use caution. Return to the Tracking Station if you really need to time warp with the Lander parked on the surface.

Send your Pilot out on EVA (the ladder goes all the way down) and be sure to collect the 'Flight' Science from the instruments on your way back. Once you're back inside with all the reports, collect 'Ground' Science and go EVA to collect all those reports, too.

Do not press '0', which will extend the non-retractable solar panels on the orbiter. This literally ruins everything.

Return to Eve Orbit

For your return to Eve Orbit, the Launch Profile is simple, but your starting ground altitude will make the flight unique each time, so detailed instructions are virtually impossible. Fly straight up until your AP is at 60km.

Once you have a 60km AP, pitchover to 45° on a 90° heading. Gradually continue pitching and push your AP out to about 100km by the time you are fully horizontal. When you're down to the last engine, use standard procedures (low throttle / full throttle) to make orbit.

Return to Kerbin

In orbit, extend the orbiter's solar panels and rendezvous with the service module. The SM has plenty of fuel to make rendezvous, if the orbiter is running dry. Once docked, transfer any remaining orbiter fuel into the SM (if possible) then jettison the orbiter's fuel-engine assembly: no need to carry the extra mass home.

Crucially, don't forget to set the command pod's controls to 'Reversed', since the whole engine situation is now upside-down. With all this done, you are ready to transfer your pilot back to Kerbin at the next available transfer window. For the safest possible descent, we recommend that you undock the command pod from the SM before encountering atmosphere. Don't forget to restore the controls to 'Normal' from 'Reversed', of course. Happy landings!

Tin Man Pioneer - Jool Moon Landings

This mission is lengthy, but not particularly difficult. The effort is worthwhile, though: you can collect over 10,000 Science when you finally recover the return module.



Begin with the outermost moon of Jool and work your way inward. Transfer all Science to the Return module as you go.

For your final landing on Vall, use the service module's remaining fuel for the first part of your descent. The SM is discarded onto Vall's surface, as it is no longer needed.

More details about Tin Man Pioneer should have been included but are unlikely to be added.

[Sistrum]

Craft are located here on the Steam Workshop

[Frugdog]

are these on KerbalX? I can't really tell what engines are being used in some locations

[Sistrum]

Afterthought: it also depends on which location WFRKS targets after Minmus. Most would probably prefer to see Duna contracts before Eve but they love to go straight for Eve...

[Sistrum]

It's up to you... at Minmus, it's very worthwhile and rewarding to keep collecting them. After that, because interplanetary missions take so much longer, they start to feel less rewarding, and you will probably have a lot of funds saved up, anyway.

[RyRyMc]

Just checking, is the plan for this to stop following the World First Contracts, or do we keep following them?

[RyRyMc]

Yay! I started playing the game on my ps4 because of a sale. I would study the pictures of your vessels in the first guide since I couldn't download them to the ps4 and reengineered them from the pictures. With the recent sale, I finally picked up the game on PC and I am going back through the first Tin Can Program Tutorial. Can't wait to get to this one though, so much fun stuff to do from the looks of it!

[Sistrum]

Thanks! Still working on these, when not delayed / distracted

[RyRyMc]

Hey man, I don't know if you are still working on these, but keep up the good work. I love your guides!