SSSPutnik

Some initial pictures. This will be cleaned up later.

Hello all. I've done a few Jool 5 missions so far. This is the most ambitious yet. It's also the largest launches and ship I've ever built. The Challenge You can find the Jool 5 Kethane Expedition thread and rules here. (I highly recommend any of the Jool 5 mission variants. Ziv posted the challenges and they are well thought out, with great attention to detail. I commend Ziv for the amount of time and effort he has spent maintaining the challenge. The challenge is time consuming but very rewarding. Some of the entries are marvels to behold, (especially some of the low mass ones, who would think a 31 ton launch weight craft could do this!?)) Basically, you must depart Kerbin with one ship, get to Jool and then land on all 5 moons and return back to Kerbin. This is the Kethane Expedition variant. I am using the following mods. (Thanks for all the great work modders!) Apologies if I miss any. RemoteTech2 (I want to establish a comms network). Kethane (Need this for the challenge). KAS (For fuel transfer and winch on sky cranes). Infernal Robotics (Nice movable radiation shields, antenna and rover spotlights). KW Rocketry (Used extensively for launches). LLL (Really like the look of LLL parts and they are great for building large structures). MechJeb (Makes life so much easier). B9 (Some cargo bay parts). Kerbal Alarm Clock. Chatterer. FAR (Makes flying more interesting, makes aero braking more alarming). The Ship My main craft is the Osperus III. It is the fifth ship I have made for the challenge and the third to be submitted officially. (I hope!) (The first, tanks kept falling off and was aborted, the fourth had major design issues, specifically a tendency to ostrich into the ground when landing and too low a TWR). The ship consists of: 2 x Large Kethane mining rovers. 2 x Large skycrane/tanker/landers. 4 x Mini bases with room for 5 Kerbals each. 2 x RCS tugs. 4 x Communications satellites and Kethane scanners. 2 x Jool science penetrator probes. 1 x Communications dish to talk back to Kerbal. 1 x 5 man ion powered return craft. (With a small Kethane store to carry a sample of this new substance back to Kerbin). Crew capacity total is 83, however for comfort on this long mission, we are carrying a crew of only 42. The total count includes landers and bases. Some other stats: Starting wet mass: 1360t Cost: Around 900M$ (Not including fuel launches or assembly launches). Part count: 1115 Jebediah Kerman is in overall command. Engines Main thrust is provided by 2 x LLL NE-800 Open-Cycle Nuclear Engines. (Thrust at max temperature is 234kN each, ISP is 800). These give off a LOT of radiation, so crew are shielded by three methods. Physical separation, fuel tanks and four movable radiation shields, (which also host solar panels for extra power). "This engine achieves it's raw power via lax nuclear reactor shielding laws and an open-cycle engine, meaning that it's legal to pump propellant through the middle of a nuclear reactor. This has a minor and harmless side-effect, the blasting of chunks of the reactor and fuel rods out of the back. It may also be worth noting that opening up the throttle too much can over-load the cooling system, this may lead to a slight 'nuclear meltdown' effect." One nice bonus, it has always on power generation. (1.5 units) Due to the mass of the entire ship, my initial TWR was 0.02 ! Some long burns ahead. I did consider increasing thrust, however they would have added either more mass, or more parts. I also think a ship like this, it is more realistic for burns to take hours, if not days. I am willing to live with it. One burn I estimate will take around 9 hours real time. More to come. [Last updated 14-May-2014]

Nice work! I hit severe lag around 1050 parts... Lander designs look good.

I quote: "Lastly, there is the command one. Currently only provided on the large probe stack by default, it allows a vehicle consisting of 6 or more kerbals to act as their very own Mission Control. While science transmissions need to route back to the Kerbal Space Center at all times, these do allow you to give control to any vehicle connected to them." What is a "large probe stack". I have a ship with 42 Kerbals on board, but it doesn't seem to function as a Mission Control. Also, any idea what "Antenna Locked" means ?

Is there a probe core or better on it? If not, the debris is basically on rails.

Where do you get Kethane from? I didn't know there was Kethane on Jool ? Or are you hacking it in?

Here are some more pics. Mods used in image: LLL KW Rocketry RemoteTech Infernal Robotics B9 I will do some higher res ones as well. The link is to my personal Owncloud server - no client required, no popups or ads. https://moc-per.micromine.com/owncloud/public.php?service=gallery&t=4783a8654f19277461839fd9277b1a5d Egads! Jool insertion burn going for over 4 hours so far. (Real time). Mass is now under 1000t. Three pairs of drop tanks gone now.

Here are some more pics that lean heavily on LLL's designs. You may freely use them for any purpose such as promoting the pack etc, as long as you do not make fun of my designs Mods used in image: LLL (of course) KW Rocketry RemoteTech Infernal Robotics B9 I will do some higher res ones as well. The link is to my personal Owncloud server - no client required, no popups or ads. https://moc-per.micromine.com/owncloud/public.php?service=gallery&t=4783a8654f19277461839fd9277b1a5d

May I suggest an extra score bonus? Orbital satellite discovers asteroid but is of course impacted by it and destroyed. Screen cuts to black or something.

@Ziv - Some people, like myself, have zero interest in Science and/or career mode. For me its all about build and function. I'm lugging some science probes on the Kethane Expedition purely for points even though they won't generate science I will get points for sending science probe here or there. My two cents.

Well done Lack and thanks MrWizerd

I build big rockets, like, 800t to LKO. I also use very few struts. For 3.75m I typically use 1 pair in X shape between boosters, a decoupler, a fuel line and then 1 or 2 more to central. With 0.23.5 the connects are better and stuff flies wonderfully with a well built and symmetrical stack.

A lot of people will view items but never comment, even if they have a direct interest in the topic. Delivery should be short and punchy, with an emphasis on clear pictures and diagrams. The best way to get comments is to invite them by asking questions in the dialog, especially if you act stupid. (Nothing people love more than demonstrating superiority). Done well this can invite decent comments but to be honesty, most people just can't be bothered even if they like what they see. @Ziv. Congratulations 100 pages dude!

Thanks, yours was really epic and so well documented. Its getting dull doing Oberth burns. I just had to F9. Computer crashed, (I have a weird RAID issue). So I reloaded and kept going. For some reason MechJeb came back with "Prevent Overheats" disabled. I wandered off for dinner, came back and was like, "Why is dV of burn not dropping, hang on, where are my engines in the stage tree? F3 engines exploded." Lol. F9....

You need a ladder or else it doesn't count for entry without touching the ground.

No, that's dV total at departure. I think I have around 800ton of fuel.

I can't do a single burn. My TWR is too low. I'm not sure, but I think my total dV is actually 16000.

Neat! How did you do the composite shot? On my 5th boost loop around Kerbin now. 1100 laggy parts... Around 100t of fuel burnt. If game crashes now I think I'll cry.

I missed the safety lights. Sorry, my bad. Do they lead anywhere or just to a blank wall? BTW when are you posting a release to the non in-development area?

No tray tables?! No emergency exits? No safety light path? Oh hang on, this is KSP. Seriously, nice job! (Overhead locker marked "Body Bags" would be cool.)

What Padishar said. I'll check swap today and maybe run performance profiling on the machine whilst I repeat. The main craft is just over 1000 parts.

Can we use LLL mod please? Mod

Where in MJ does it state crew aboard? I can only see capacity. RIC: Kethane variant of Jool 5. Landing 25+ at moons in bases, 5 return to Kerbin, extra for shuttle piloting, some for remaining space station, (5 min so I can run RemoteTech local command center).

@Kasuha : I've not check that, but I doubt it, the machine has 16GB RAM and no other memory intensive apps running. Usually just Outlook and remote desktops. Alchemist and you sound on the right track re memory management. Once it goes laggy it doesntnseem to unlag ever without game restart.

Nice one. I think you are first for proper counting of score for this mission? Just running mine through paces at the moment before departure. I think I have around 10,000dV! Maximum acceleration with all full tanks - about 35cm/s Mass firming at about 1350t