Jool - 5 The Mighty Quest for Epic Science

[kookoo_gr]

This is the report of the Jool - 5 challenge that i completed a while ago. Although i did completed it once i decided to visit all the planets and collect as much science as possible from the Kerbin system. The rules i set up for this endeavor are the following: At each planet i will collect science from high space, low space, surface and for planets with atmosphere from high atmosphere, low atmosphere, at planets with water a water science is also required. At the Kerbin SOI since there are multiple biomes i will only acquire science form water, surface, low atmo, high atmo, low space, high space, the biome is of no importance as i will only get only science reports for each one of the previous requirements even though they are from different biomes. Finally i will need to get science form an asteroid and visit low solar orbit.

The final requirement of this challenge is to do it without any refuel after starting to send ships outside Kerbin's SOI and no modification to the ships launched into orbit is allowed, ie. i need to be careful when designing/building my ships since i can't replace any fault at my designs and the ships will have to complete this challenge with the faults they have.

Having laid the rules i started designing/testing ships at 0.23.5, continued at 0.24.2 started the challenge and completed it at 0.24.2. The mods i used are Kerbal Alarm Clock KER, Mechjeb (for info purposes), Steam Gauges, Enhanced Navball, Docking Port Alignment Indicator, Precise Node and Trajectories and Kronal Vessel Viewer.

In order to get to all the planets i designed a dedicated transport ship/lander for the planets of the Kerbin system and when i finish with the other planets then i can go to Jool. In short the timeline of the mission is (depending on the launch windows) Kerbin SOI, Low Sol orbit, Moho, Eve, Duna, Dres, Jool , Eeloo, return home. This means multiple launches and docks at a 100km around Kerbin and form a massive ship that will break later on to its individual components. The crew will consist of five Kerbals and a different Kerbal is required to set foot at the Joolian moons. This is kind of a loose regulation as later on i landed two Kerbals on Laythe. The one the planted the flag and did all the science is charged of its conquest as the second Kerbal was used as a counterweight on the return vehicle. Also in order to reduce weight and save some ÃŽâ€V

most of the landers for the Jool system have no batteries along with an Ion Ship/Lander i built, so all the landings/maneuvers will have to take place during daytime. Also in order to have some extra TWR for these landing i had to forget placing parachute at the whole ship, especially the lander, so a return vehicle for 3 Kerbals had to be launched during the build phase and remain at Kerbin orbit

So without further ado i give you my entry

P.S. since there are many photos i will post them gradually on this post

P.P.S. Some of the photos were to dark and i increased the brightness, also they are posted at the chronological order they were taken, i provide explanations when jumping from ship to ship.

The ships of the Jool - 5 Mission

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Build Phase

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Kerbin SOI

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Moho and ARM Mission

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Duna Launch

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Eve Stage I

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Duna and Ike

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Dres

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Eve Stage II

Sorry for the amount of photos but it was the longest mission that involved ground travel and i spent my time taking screenshots

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Going to Jool

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At Jool SOI

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Laythe

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Vall

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Tylo

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Bop - Poll

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Eeloo

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Return Home

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Edited October 28, 2014 by kookoo_gr

[MoeKitsune]

You went to all those planets and got all that science while still following the regular rules of the original Jool-5 challenge without using any part mods and refueling? *Takes a deep breath* You, sir, just conquered KSP. I applaud you for your awesomeness. Here, take this medal:

\ /

O

(I know, it's a bit small, but this is all I got.)

[sedativechunk]

I did this challenge just this past week but using mods. It was merely a test run. The mods I were using were KW rocketry, engineer, and the ALCOR lander pod.

The one I'm surprised you attempted this without is KW rocketry, even in comparison of real rockets, KSP's stock rockets are just so severely under-powered.

[Ignium]

This can´t be more epic. Mother of God!

[Himynameisjake]

Well done, another worthy competitor

[RogalDorn]

I registered on this page just so that I could say this. This thread has dominated 2 hours of my day, and completely blown my mind. I would love to know what the final mission time was for this, but I can't quite make it out. So ridiculously inspiring!!!!!!!!!! Thank you for documenting so well.

[rbt0583]

How much did this mission cost?