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The thing is this: I originally created a ship to "imitate" the Cassini-Huygens, the section that would land on Laythe I separated it successfully, I was about to enter Laythe but it just touched the atmosphere and went off to Jool. Nor did he fall into the latter but accelerated a lot. The discussion is, is this normal? I have not been able to calculate to what percentage of the speed of light this speed corresponds; Here an image.

Even though I have 15,000 excess science.. it's not enough. I found I had not yet landed on any of the Jool moons. Bad Kerbals! So, i decided I would take a lab with me, and make a single lander that can hit all the moons except Laythe (requires a specialized design). Tylo being the biggest challenge, because of its very high gravity/size, it's like landing on Kerbin without an atmosphere. So I designed a lander with some jettisonable fuel, with the idea I would go to Tylo FIRST, and then wouldn't need those tanks for Vall, Pol, or Bop. I would bring my lab with me as an undockable section, with its own fuel, RCS, etc. Unfortunately, I forgot to put a probe controller on it, but that's OK, I'll just have the lander always dock to it. The small docking ports are for refueling (note that I can't refuel the lander without the lab until I jettison the tanks, but might have been nice to put one on an external tank just in case.). The lab acts as the big com relay back to Kerbin, if needed. And, of course, I need to refuel constantly, so I made a one-piece driller/ISRU/fuel transport, with a small docking port for refueling the lander/lab sections. Small engine to just handle interplanetary and landing on Pol. Checking out the dV for the lander, the DV maps *say* I need about 2280 to land and take off at Tylo, with 4750, I *should* have enough, right? (more on this later). It may take a low starting orbit, but on paper, it should work. So, first we get up into Kerbin orbit, and head to Minmus to refuel everybody for the long drive to Jool. Note that I was able to keep the lower booster from Kerbin, so it took two refueling runs, but the landing section would come into Jool with plenty of fuel, while the driller would come into Jool orbit with maybe only 800 dV, probably enough to get to Pol on its own, but this added extra insurance. Turns out I had plenty, transfer, orbit and landing is maybe 500-700. We refuel everyone at Pol, and head to Tylo. Now, I begin to worry- if I start my landing low (say 17km), and get back to a low orbit, can my fuel ship dip down that low to refuel (before landing and after re-orbit), and climb back out the gravity well and get back to Pol and land? The answer, it turns out, is yes. I leave about 1000 dV for each run back to Pol. So, we try our first descent from 17km. We learn two things. (1) You can't start from 17km because you can't slow down fast enough before gravity sucks you into a mountain. If you thrust downward enough, you use too much fuel. So we raise the descent to about 30km. That works well, but we land with only about 2100 dV left, not nearly enough to get back into orbit. It turns out it takes about 2500 dV to get to a roughly 10km orbit. Yep, this looks bad. So, after failed attempts, I realize I need help. So I built another fuel/engine "top" component to provide more fuel (and the thrust to counter its extra weight). Note that I added a decoupler to the docking ring, because those BIG docking rings have enough magnetic attraction they don't come loose easily. I am still granted the proper dV, but I didn't want to have something that might crash on top of me and explode after landing. With this component and some careful piloting, I'm able to land with about 2561 dV left. Note that I hit hard when I landed and broke a strut, but I should still be fine for Vall. 2561 was enough to put us back into a 9kmx20km orbit, with enough dV left to re-dock with the science section. Then the refueler only had to make one stop! So, the major lesson learned is- don't trust the dV maps. It took about 2600-2800 dV to land and 2300-2400 to reach stable orbit, and that's with optimal piloting. But other than that, the "two ships, single lander for four moons" project is so far a success, and has passed the toughest test.... Tylo, with only one landing strut as a casualty.

Welcome! So, you want to go to Tylo. Alright, keep reading then. But know this: Tylo WILL BREAK YOU. Why? It's as big as Kerbin, just a little bit lower surface gravity, but HAS NO atmosphere. That means you will have to brake ALLLLLL the way down to the surface burning precious fuel. You will find yourself orbiting very low (10km or so) with speeds of 2400 m/s, and if your TWR is lower than 1 you will fail. Simply. This is not a tutorial, this will not teach you how to do transfers between planets, nor how to construct a rocket. It will just tell you what to expect before arriving there. Ok, here we go: What you need: Basics - Since it's a manned mission, you need at least a scientist, to reset the science stuff and collect more. A pilot and engineer are optional, if you have a good relay network, that is. - About 19000 Dv total, to ensure you don't get stranded in space. My rocket had 19500 and ended at Kerbin with 1000 left, but I used some gravity assists in the middle to economize fuel. -Nuclear engines. Highly recommended for space. NOT FOR LANDING - Some landing engine with good thrust. NOT FOR SPACE FARING. What you need: Specifics - A rover: Tylo might be treacherous, but provide a very good ground for rovers! It's fun, actually. It will behalve almost like in Kerbin. Beware of speeds surpasing 40 m/s! -A lander: DO.NOT.MAKE.YOUR.LANDER.TOO.VERTICAL (like i did) or it will fall!!! I made a ship bottle shaped and it was a pain in the ass to land. My horizontal speed was between 1 and 2 m/s and that was enough for it to tilt to one side when touching ground. A wide-base lander would have been much better suited. -An escape ship: Once the fun is over, you need to return. Calculate about 3300 Dv to get to orbit from Tylo's surface, to hopefully your mothership, space taxi or whatever is waiting to deliver bak home. What to have in mind: -Bring lots of solar panels or isotopes, Kerbol shines too softly on Tylo to gather enough energy. -Big wheels on the rover wont hurt. -Save before landing. Even close to the ground your engines will fire uncontrolably at full force, aproach as slowly as possible, and reduce your gimbal. Consider Tylo as a super Mun. -Use Jool, Laythe or even Tylo to assist your interplanetary brake. Actually, every Jool mission should make use of its satellites to help you. -Too insecure to try a Tylo mission? Go to Pol first, it's close by but much simpler to land (surface gravity a noch more than Gilly) Have Fun! (manned mission to Pol, SOON!)

The buoyant force works not only from the liquids, but also from the gases. So how possible is to build bases on the level of gases with density equal density of the base? The density of atmosphere at the sea level on the Earth and on the Kerbin ~ 1.25 kg/m3 . So if we need to reach the density level like water, we need to reach the depth when pressure is equal 800 atm. What do you think about this? I think that it's impossible, because pressure must be 80000000 kPa, but the pressure limit for all details is only 4000 kPa. And also it would be impossible to take off from this depth because pressure is unbelievable and I think that the atmosphere altitude would be about 1-3M KM. P.S. That was written by Russian student that study in 8 class. Maybe I don't know some physics laws.

A proposal was made to design a long-ranged interplanetary transport based on the venerable Julius platform. The A3-Julius was a military cargo transport (often nicknamed the Space Truck) used extensively during the Minmus-Mun Conflict. Even though the ship was unarmed, it's oversized manoeuvring pods gave it the thrust needed to side-slip in all directions. Thus, it could perform evasive manoeuvres needed to avoid enemy attacks. This, coupled with it's thick plating, gave it a reputation for reliability and survivability (albeit at the cost of delta V). fig 1: A3-Julius military transport The new ship will be named Jericho, and it's mission is to send a crew of four into the outer solar system. Prior missions have proven unsuccessful, as the attempted in-situ resource utilization ended in failure. Insufficient fuel for a return trip as well as a lack of vital resources resulting in a loss of life of all crew members. To correct these oversights, the Julius-class will feature a state of the art ore scanner, capable of pinpointing viable ore deposits from a distance of over 600 km. High-ISP nuclear engines will serve as the main propulsion systems, with lower-efficiency, higher thrust engines providing extra thrust when needed. Nuclear power will also be used to provide electricity in the sun-starved depths of the outer system. The ship will also feature an entirely self-contained mining and refinery system capable of refuelling it's tanks in under 2 weeks. This equipment will significantly dig into the ship's mass-budget, and as such multiple refuellings will be necessary to reach Jool. First at Minmus (where the ship will perform it's initial shakedown and extensive system's tests), then Dres, until finally refuelling at Pol when it arrives within the Jool system. While there, we expect to perform the first ever manned landing of Laythe. The lander (then unmanned) will be sent ahead of the Jericho and rendez-vous with it later. The ship's ventral engines provide an acceleration of 0.12 g with fuel and ore tanks at full capacity. At reduced capacity the engines can achieve 0.20 g, meaning it could theoretically perform a ventral landing on the Mun (though his has yet to be tested, as it would be pushing the safety margins to their limit). fig 2: the Jericho undergoing final tests before being mated to it's launch vehicle Since the orbital shipyards have yet to be repaired following the end of the war, the ship needed to be constructed on the ground, and then hauled into orbit on boosters. After careful planning, a modified Boreal-class lift vehicle was successful at performing the boost. The Boreal booster is capable of providing more than 13 million newtons of thrust at liftoff. Even this was not sufficient to lift the Julius, so modifications were made, adding 4 vector engines as well as 8 solid rocket engines to the first stage. fig 3: a Boreal-class booster in it's cradle prior to modifications fig 4: the Jericho escaping the atmosphere The vehicle boost was meant to be unmanned (due to the extreme G-forces that the vehicle would experience on ascent), Jeb insisted on coming along for the ride. The rest of the crew boarded via shuttle-capsules. Boarding was finished last night at 21:00 hours KCT. The ship is now ready to depart on your order. The injection burn will require around 1400 m/s. Upon departure the ship will be carrying a total of 4000 m/s (a significant excess and safety margin). God speed, and good luck. fig 5: the mission begins (( If the delta-V costs seem a bit high, it's because I'm playing on an up-scaled Kerbol system. Everything is 2.5x bigger than normal, resulting in some pretty big delta-V requirements. ))

This day, i launched the rocket that carried the JoolianExplorer, a probe that will explore Jool and his moons. I don't have the screenshots to show cause i'am playing in a another computer. Forget this, let's get started. The rocket was ready to launch, but a new foe has appeared. Who? THE SAS!!!!! aww man.. Again the SAS came with his incredible "crazy" out of control attack. I tried but at least i recovered control. Now entering LKO and prepare to half-burn. Half-burn complete, now manuever to solar orbit and injection burn to Jool. Years later, periapsis at 459K (idk), burning capture orbit. Acheived LJO (Low Jool Orbit). Window transfer encounter to Laythe. Burning to Laythe, capture orbit and done... And some juicy science. That's all i have got from today. I was planning to launch a probe to Jool today to explore even the moons. I orbited Laythe cause i was needing to put some waypoints to my vessels land on a good place that isn't a giant sea. Laythe. A Kerbal beautiness.

NOTE: if you want rings for all the planets, not just Jool, check out the KSP Ringification Mod. Tired of boring old Jool? Add some rings to it! This mod offers six different ring variants, in a range of styles, sizes and colours to suit (almost) everyone! Jupiter style - Grey and relatively faint, with one bright white ring. Based off of the real-life rings of Jupiter. Saturn style - Various shades of green and yellow, with seven distinct zones. Also includes a faint Phoebe ring beyond Tylo's orbit - see if you can spot it! Uranus style - Slim and grey, stretching out towards Tylo. Fainter and less "in yo face" than Saturn style, but more extensive than the Jupiter style. Neptune style - faint and blue. See if you can find them all! J1407b style - yellow and mind-bogglingly massive. X style - who says crossed rings aren't possible? Top tip: you can add rings to Neidon (in the Outer Planets Mod) by going into the config file, changing "Jool" to "Neidon", and changing "AFTER[Kopernicus]" to "AFTER[OPM]". Pictures: J1407b style rings J1407b style from KSC launch pad X style rings Neptune style (around Neidon) More pictures coming soon! Can be downloaded from Spacedock. Make sure you have the correct version of Kopernicus installed! This mod is released under an MIT license.

The time has come for Kerbal-kind to leave our small blue oasis on Kerbin and venture out into the great beyond - to the unknown worlds that beckon us from afar like silent lanterns adrift in the night. We are resolved to go to Jool! To unlock the secrets of the unknown, and hopefully also to come back! Prologue: What follows is my account of the planning, execution and aftermath of the Magellan mission to the Jool system in my career save. I have spend the majority of my time playing KSP within the Kerbin system visiting the Mun and Minmus ad nauseum, and unlocking most of the tech tree. Besides Duna, I have never visited any other body in a career save. My goal in this career is to send missions to visit all the celestial bodies in the Kerbol system. Some will be manned and some unmanned. With a Jool transfer window approaching in 41 days, I have decided to take a bold step towards this goal by sending a crew of valiant (or maybe daft) kerbals to this giant green world and her moons. Magellan Mission The Magellan mission will take after the great explorer Ferdinand Magellan in attempting a feat which has never before been done (by me). To send a manned mission to the Jool system, take science data on all the worlds therein and return to Kerbin. I'm calling this a Jool-4.5 mission because unlike the Jool-5 mission reports from challenges, there will be no flags or footprints on Tylo, instead I will have a probe land and report back with science data. But the rest of the moons will be visited by Kerbals. Here is the mission patch for the Magellan Mission : The patch shows the silhouettes of Jool, Laythe, Val and Tylo against a backdrop of stars and backlit by the sun as the spacecraft flies by. It is modeled after the STS-41 mission patch. The motto is latin for "To the stars through adversity", and was totally Magellan's rallying cry on his voyage something I thought sounded cool. This mission report is primarily for my own benefit, as something to look back on when this mission is over, but I hope others will find it enjoyable as well. I intend to chronicle my thinking as it relates to mission planning, vehicle design and testing and mission execution in a matter of fact way, and not to write a story or a novel. Right now, I'm not planning to do much if any roleplaying from a Kerbal standpoint, but who know maybe I will get carried away later on. Notes about my playstyle: At this stage, I have designed the vehicle and a rough sketch of the mission plan. I build and test all my vehicles in a sandbox save and then copy the craft files to my career save. For testing purposes, I am allowing myself cheats to get the vehicle into LKO, but no testing will be done in the Jool system. This will hopefully force me to think more carefully about what conditions I will encounter at Jool and will preserve the newness of the experience for me when I actually fly the mission in my career save. I do use quite a few mods, but no part mods (aside from SCANSAT). The mods that I use fall under one of three categories: (1) Visual enhancements (2) Sounds/Effects to increase immersion and (3) Gameplay tools (ie KER) What's Next: In the next posts I will be showcasing the design of the spacecraft, and possibly doing some on-orbit testing. Once I unlock all the parts I need in my career save we will get onto the meat of the mission.

Simple poll: Would you like to see another gas planet besides Jool? If so describe the moon(s) you would want in the GP2 system. FYI : I plan to do a poll almost once a month because of how popular (kinda) this was. Hint for next poll (minimally encoded, I'm not THAT nice): Wait, wait, check my other new poll now:

Hello, B14TC1-1 Just kidding, i'm currently planning a Jool 5 mission, but it's no ordinary Jool 5, it's a "no docking, no refueling, no MechJeb" landing mission, now i only got Tylo landing and return Stages here. the Laythe stages are too big so i had to return to this state, any suggestions that should keep the mission in this way ??? order type : Pol-Bop-Vall-Laythe-Tylo

Note: This isn't being played as part of a campaign, so there pretty much isn't any RP. I'm coming at it as an engineering exercise, since that's pretty much my play style. So there's going to be a lot of dry reporting on engineering, testing, and development. Comments and questions are welcome! A week or so back, I came across a mention of the Jool 5 Challenge. I've played KSP since 0.19, so it's not like I haven't heard of it before - but for some reason, this time the bug bit. I decided to take on the Challenge, even though I've never attempted anything nearly so big before. Since the Challenge requires some form of log or report, I'm starting this thread to first keep track of my design decisions (in case someone is ever interested) and then to eventually serve as the required report. My current plan is that even if I don't fly it as a Challenge, I'm going to fly it as flotilla mission. I'm going to start with a series of posts detailing how I got to where I stand today, then I'll follow with updates daily or as warranted. Next up: The Tylo lander.

This post is an improved copy past of my attempt at Jool5 & STS Jool I've added more beauty pics and more details around re-entry, orbital maneuvers, shuttle ascent lifter etc ... STS Jool / Jool 5 This was a first to me because I've only landed on Vall once (one week ago :o) and I'm quite proud of my Artisan shuttle design which proved itself to be very sturdy and adaptative Jool is an amazing system and there's so many possibilities with all those moons ... I'll be back for sure I decided to launch 2 shuttles to fly this mission. STS Artisan ST : almost standard DropCargo (with its bay facing the ground) converted as an SSTO. It's probably one of my best design so far, this thing is easy to fly with or without payload and at all fuel levels <3. It's the whitest and shortest version of the two shuttles STS Artisan HE : modified Artisan, turned into a rocket machine with Lf/Ox fuel tanks, more dV, 0.7TWR, smaller cargo bay. I tried to keep modifications at the minimum so I re-used the wings arrangement and the back end of the original design. It's the longest version, with dual big elevators and rocketfuel fuselage STS Jool 1 challenge require an outpost on Laythe with room for 4 people, an ISRU, an exploration plane and docking ports The ground base was split in half to fit into regular cargo bay and let some room to install the exploration plane (WhishPlorer !). The shuttles also hold a relay network which proved to be ineffective. As there was very little room available, I used a probe with 3 88-88 and 2 Ra-2 but the signal from the 88-88 could not be relayed to the RA-2.... =_=" Total duration of this mission was just short of 40 years. Part 1 : Take off, Docking in LKO, Jool injection STS HE STS ST Moving nuke pods on the front of STS HE Part 2 : Capturing around Jool, encounter with Pol STS ST burning to Pol I made a mistake while refuelling at Bop : every tanks were filled up and an excess of Oxidizer almost put an end to the mission during the later developpement. Because of this, take off was hard to achieve : 2 Nervas were unusable due to the alignement of the shuttles. TWR dropped to 0.105 and weight balloonned up to 234t. ! Part 3 : Artisan ST flies to Pol ! It was very cool to visit a new place, I've only saw those spikes on video and the surface looks great Part 4 : Vall fuel-pump Many things happenned around Vall. Both shuttles met in low orbit to transfer fuel, then Artisan HE landed using its Darts combined to Nervas. Once topping its tanks, it encountered STS ST again before landing a second time. At this point, STS ST still had tons of useless Ox inside. Once those maneuvers were completed, the two ships departed to Tylo. Part 5 : FEAR TYLO Believe it or not but this low pass occured at 1950 m/s. Absolutely not planned Tylo... Tylo took me some time First step was to dock the shuttles using as less dV as possible. Then the landing was hard because of low TWR (0.73). Then rolling take off was harder, took me lots of trials to find a perfect spot to pitch the ship. Then redocking to STS ST was impossible due to very high inclination. Only option after this landing was to re-unite around Laythe using its atmosphere to circularize both Artisans ! In the end I'm happy how things turned out, this was my very first touchdown on Tylo's surface and I learned a lot ! I built STS HE around Tylo's dV / TWR requirements but I somehow forgot that circularizing both ships would cost me a ton... Part 6 : Laythe, at last ! Finally touching Laythe ! Aerocapture After slowly aerobraking ~15 times the shuttles were able to reunite in low orbit. Part 7 : Outpost assembly, landing, refuelling ops First landing on Laythe I was surprised at how easy it is to fly and get back into orbit from here. Such a beautifull planet.. I deorbited the outpost before the plane so I could finally refill them ! Because the cargo bay is facing downward, I did not want to deploy the radiator through it, so I docked the shuttle to it using the bay doors as landing gears Part 8 : Take off, deploying WhishPlorer, refuelling again ! Once STS Artisan ST was available, I took it back into orbit to start the refuelling maneuvers with STS HE 3 successives times. WhishPlorer was deployed during second landing, its not very good at exploring because it will melt if flying for too long, but it's usefull for flyby at mach 4 . I finally managed to get rid of the excessive Oxidizer from Bop after flying 2 times around the base using Rapiers closedcycle, which is very effective. Part 9 : Ending a 40 years mission on Kerbin's surface I used a Tylo flyby to eject from Jool, then two Kerbin flyby before finally entering its atmosphere. Getting to Jool and flying all the moons took +/- 4 years. Coming down at Kerbin took 35 ! Jool5 flags : I still got a few more pics if needed, but I think everything's here Questions, remarks, insults (I know this is a lot of pics !) are welcome

Jool 500: The Ultimate Kolonization Program Most KSP players have heard of the Jool 5 challenge, which involved landing on each of Jool's moons with a single launch and with a different kerbal on each moon. Well, with the release of version 1.1 and the incredible performance improvements that are coming with this new update, I feel like it's time for something bigger. So I present to you the Jool 500 Kolonization Challenge. The idea of this challenge is to take five hundred kerbals to colonise all 5 of Jool's moons, in the most complete way possible. Although there is a way of scoring points (I will get to that later), the main challenge of this mission is the scale of it. It is not enough to simply launch 5 massive crew transports and land each of them on a moon. It is not even enough to bring a base and a rover along too. No, the goal of this challenge is to create a self-sustaining civilization in the Jool system. There are a number of different aspects of any colonisation program (satellite networks, resource gathering/transport, etc), and those wishing to undertake this challenge must consider them all. I am developing a guide for the challenge in sync with my own attempt at it. That guide can be found here. Rules Mods are highly encouraged, and some are required for certain difficulty levels, but some (of course) are banned for balance reasons. No cheating (e.g. the f12 menu, hyperedit, any other similar cheats). Re-entry heating and resource abundance must be at 100%. If a mod is removed from the list of allowed mods (which is unlikely), you may keep any craft that use it that were created before the mod's removal, but you may not launch any new craft with parts from that mod. Calculate your score according to the system outlined near to the end of this post. There is no cost limit, but cost of missions does affect score so keep track of it. Money spent acquiring kerbals is not counted for this challenge, but if you need to get some of your kerbals through recovery contracts you may not use any part of the recovery spacecraft as part of this challenge. You are allowed (and encouraged) to mine resources from Jool's moons for use in the colony. You can send fuel back to Kerbin to generate money, but this profit is not deducted from your total expenditure. Part clipping is allowed, but don't do things like hiding 12 fuel tanks inside 1 fuel tank (or other similarly cheaty things). This rule is rather lenient, just don't do stuff that seems super cheaty. Kerbals can't respawn, and there is a penalty for them dying. You must end up with 500 kerbals inhabiting the Jool system. If any die, you must send more to complete this goal. Reverting flights and quickloading is only allowed on test flights, or if a bug causes your ship to crash. Any times you crash or break something due to your own mistakes (or being too trusting in MechJeb's autopilot) that damage is permanent (so redundancy is recommended). Kerbals can't be sent to Jool in bases, rovers, or other vehicles that would not initially be crewed in a real mission. Instead, you must make specific interplanetary transports for your kerbals. Methods of minimizing costs without cheating (such as sending some of the vehicles in the cargo space of crew transports) are entirely acceptable and are the reasons behind some of the vehicle specifications. You should check the rules fairly frequently (at least in the early stages of this challenge) because rules, mod lists, and (less likely but still possible) methods of gaining points are all subject to change in accordance with what I feel is adequate for the challenge. Use of strategies in the admin building that make launches cheaper is not allowed. FOR ANYONE USING THE ATOMIC AGE MOD: The turbojet is banned due to the fact that it doesn't consume any resources other than intake atmosphere. This may change if this engine gets a depletable fuel source, but for now it is banned in this challenge. FOR REMOTETECH USERS: Disabling the time delay is allowed in Normal difficulty, but is not allowed in Hard difficulty. If you are playing in Hard then I recommend installing a mod with an autopilot function for maneuver nodes (MechJeb or kOS are what's currently allowed). If you find a way of exploiting some of the rules to generate almost unlimited points for minimal funds (I don't think it's possible but I could be wrong) please inform me of it so that I can make corrections, and don't use this exploit as it would ruin the entire scoring system. The Challenge You are probably wondering how to complete this challenge. The method is fairly simple: follow the guidelines for the Jool program according to the categorized contracts below, document all important aspects of your missions (use Imgur or make videos), and try to complete as much of it as you can. You don't need to complete the CHALLENGES in every difficulty, but doing them will get you more points. Also, please try to make your spacecraft look nice. You won't be scored on it, but I feel that a good aesthetic makes people more interested in what you're doing in the game. It's not absolutely required to complete every contract listed below (except for completing certain CHALLENGES), but the more you do the more functional your colony will be and the more points you will get for completing them. Now for the categories: Satellite Network and Probes Each moon, as well as Jool itself, should be explored by machines in advance of sending kerbals. Also, the colony will need a satellite network for communication. Send a resource scanner to a polar orbit of each moon and scan for ore. Each moon needs a separate resource probe. (+1 point per moon) Send at least 1 lander probe (max. mass: 3 tonnes, or 5 tonnes for Tylo) to each moon and transmit some science data back to Kerbin. (+1 point per moon; science from every biome gives an extra +2 points per moon (rovers are permitted)) Send at least 5 communication satellites (max. mass: 2.5 tonnes) to each moon as well as in orbit of Jool, to provide a communication network for your kerbals. Each satellite requires at least 4 antennas (with RemoteTech, at least one of these must be capable of transmitting data back to Kerbin, or to a satellite in Jool orbit that can transmit back to Kerbin). At least 3 for each moon must have orbital inclinations greater than 30 degrees, and/or eccentricities greater than 0.4. (+1 point per complete satellite network, +3 additional points for completing all 6 satellite networks) CHALLENGE: GROUND COVERAGE. Ensure that the entire surface of the moon is accessible by satellites. This requires 4 satellites equally spaced in equatorial orbit with line of sight to each other, and 4 satellites equally spaced in polar orbit with line of sight to each other. (+9 points per moon) Bases and Outposts For a colony to be a colony, it must have permanent residents. You must have space for a minimum of 50 kerbals on each moon (rovers do not count, these living spaces must be stationary), and a minimum of 10 kerbals at any one outpost. (There's no real difference between outposts and bases, 'outpost' just suggests a smaller base than usual). Launch and land your bases in advance of sending your kerbals. Send at least 1 base to each moon (though more are recommended). It's best to send your bases as modules rather than assembling them on the surface. (+10 points for every base with at least 8 different and useful modules; +3 points for each biome; +3 additional points if every biome has a base (including the Sagen Sea on Laythe); +1 point for every 10 kerbals your base can support (not necessarily all at once, not including the 10 that are required in each base); +1 additional point if the base has at least 1 science lab; (points are awarded per base)) Life support replenishment is not required at each base, but can be useful where the biome's resources allow it. (+1 point for partial replenishment of life support; +3 points for full replenishment of life support; (points are awarded per base)) Transport between bases and moons can be a hassle, so it helps to have a place to refuel. (+1 point for ability to replenish fuel, +3 points for ability to replenish uranium and xenon; (points are awarded per base)) CHALLENGE: COLONIAL PLANNING.Have a base or outpost in every biome on every moon, have fuel and/or life support replenishment on every moon at at least one base, and have space for at least 100 kerbals in bases on every moon. (+50 points) Rovers and planes The ability to transport kerbals and equipment between your various bases is important for a colony. You should send a number of transports to each moon so that kerbals can move around the surface without having to use rockets. All vehicles should be specialized to handle the terrain of the moon (amphibious vehicles and/or seaplanes are recommended for Laythe). Short-range scouting rovers (or boats) (max. mass: 10t) are a must-have. Send at least two to every base. They must be small and lightweight, and must be able to generate power, carry at least one and at most six kerbals, and be equipped with a few science experiments. (+3 points for each base that gets a pair of small rovers/boats (you can send any combination of rovers and boats to your Laythe bases, as long as each base has at least two)) Resource transportation vehicles are going to be needed to keep your colony running. Each should be able to carry a resource container at least the size of the Rockomax X200-32 Fuel Tank. It would be convenient to make these vehicles modular. Send at least 1 container for all relevant resources (life support, fuels, etc) to every base, and at least 2 resource transports to move them around. (resources not generated/consumed at a base do not need containers; +7 points for each fully implemented resource transport system at a base; (points are awarded per base)) Long-range transports (rovers, boats, or planes) are required for your colony to be a success. Send at least 3 to both Bop and Pol, and at least 5 to Laythe, Vall, and Tylo. Each should be able to transport at least 10 kerbals, and should be able to transport two short-range scouting vehicles and one resource transport (with resource container). Ideally they should also be able to generate power. (+4 points for each long-range transport; +1 additional point if it can carry two resource transports; +3 additional points for any fuel-using transports that can replenish that fuel; +1 additional point for transports that have a science lab). CHALLENGE: REDUNDANCY.All of the above, completed for every base on every moon, and with twice as many of every type of transport. (+35 points) Space Transport Building this colony is great, but useless if your kerbals can't get between the moons, or from Kerbin to the Jool system. Construct a fleet of spacecraft to take kerbals from Kerbin to the Jool system. Each interplanetary vessel should carry up to 100 crew members, and ideally should have a significant cargo capacity (at least the size of the largest MK3 cargo bay). Maximum of 5 large transports. (+5 points per transport; +1 point per 10 tonnes of cargo mass; crew do not all need to be sent to Jool at once, as the transports can make any number of trips between Kerbin and Jool (but please don't get ridiculous)) Large freight transports are going to be important for your colony. Each should be a highly specialized vehicle able to lift or drop at least 50 tonnes of cargo from the surface of the moon it is sent to (or 25 tonnes for Laythe and Tylo), and have the crew capacity for at least 3 kerbals. Each freighter should be able to get into a stable orbit of that moon with a full load of cargo (50 tonnes), to transfer to rendezvous with other freighters in Joolian orbit, and return to their moon with another full load (50 tonnes) of cargo. Send at least 1 to every moon. (+10 points for every transport; +1 point for every 10 tonnes of cargo capacity to/from the surface of that moon; +4 points for ability to replenish fuel; (points are awarded per transport)) You will need transport for colonists between the moons as well. You can integrate this into the freight transport system (+2 points per freighter-compatible module that can transport 10 kerbals) or you can make rockets specifically for this purpose. Each rocket should be able to transport at least 10 kerbals to/from any of the moons without being refuelled until it lands. Send at least 2 to each moon. (+8 points for each crew transport rocket; +4 additional points for each rocket with the ability to replenish fuel). CHALLENGE: ADVANCED TRANSPORT. Rather than docking freighters from different moons to transfer their cargo in space, every freighter (still a minimum of 5 overall) must be able to transport cargo between any two moons without refuelling in space (the most difficult journey is probably Laythe to Tylo, but it depends how you build the freighters). (+45 points) CHALLENGE: ORBITAL HABITATION. To enhance your crew transfer, make a station in orbit of each moon (that can support at least 20 kerbals) and replace your every-moon-capable rockets with a lander specific to each individual moon (must be able to take at least 20 kerbals to/from the station in moon orbit), and 5 inter-Joolian transports (each must be able to take at least 50 kerbals between the space stations without needing to land anywhere). (35 points) Other Things to Consider You're probably playing with a life support mod, so be careful to include enough supplies in all of your vehicles and bases. Safety is important. Make as many systems redundant as you can within a reasonable price range. Launch escape systems on crewed, escape pods, etc. (USI has some good stuff for safety and redundancy). -20 points for every kerbal that dies. Be careful, rockets are expensive. You're allowed to re-send vessels, but if a vessel crashes you lose the points that you gained from that specific vessel and cannot regain them by sending another (this does not affect points gained by completing multi-vessel contracts). Launches from Kerbin are unlimited, but keep an eye on prices. There is no time limit, but be wary of running out of life support supplies. When playing with USI Life Support, any kerbals who run out of life support are counted as dead and suffer the same points loss, despite the fact that USI Life Support doesn't actually kill them. If you think some of the specifications for some of the vehicles are unusual or arbitrary (like cargo bays in the interplanetary crew transports), try looking closer at what the intended vehicle would enable you to do and how it might be used to make things cheaper. CHALLENGE: COMPLETIONIST. Fulfil all contracts and all CHALLENGES. (+500 points) Scoring and Difficulty The way you judge how well you do on this behemoth of a challenge is fairly simple, and takes into account how many points you score overall, as well as the funds you spent on the colonisation program. I'll go over difficulty first, as it influences your score with points multipliers. I will also go over game modes, since you can start in either Career or Sandbox modes. Difficulty Level Easy (points multiplier x0.75): Play in sandbox or career (sandbox recommended); RemoteTech, Community Tech Tree, and any Life Support mods are not recommended; CHALLENGES are not required. This is the difficulty level to play at if you want to use stock parts. Normal (points multiplier x1 in sandbox, x1.4 in career): Play in career or sandbox; must use life support (USI, TAC, or Kerbalism); RemoteTech and Community Tech Tree are optional; do at least 3 CHALLENGES. If you want to, you may disable the time delay on RemoteTech if you are using it. Hard (points multiplier x1.75): Play in career; you must use RemoteTech, and Community Tech Tree; must use life support (USI, TAC, or Kerbalism); complete all CHALLENGES for your Hard mode entry to count. You may not disable the time delay on RemoteTech; mods with autopilot functionality are recommended for dealing with maneuver nodes. Game Mode Depending on your difficulty level, you may start in Career mode or Sandbox mode. Starting in Sandbox allows you to proceed with the Jool 500 challenge immediately. You must set re-entry heating and resource abundance to 100%, allow quicksaves and reloading (only for use in case of bugs), and disallow respawning of dead crew members. Starting in Career is the more challenging option, as you will have to earn funds through contracts until you can start the Jool 500 challenge. You start in normal mode, but the maximum starting science and science rewards are allowed (since science doesn't count towards score), and otherwise the same settings as a Sandbox playthrough. Funds spent on missions to anywhere other than Jool are not counted, but if you plan on using any parts of those spacecraft to facilitate the Jool 500 challenge then you must count the funds spent on that spacecraft (the same is true for using gravity assists). Score Calculation To calculate your score, keep track of the total cost of everything you launch from Kerbin (and subtract any funds you get back by recovering parts of launches). Add up the total number of points you get by completing my contracts and CHALLENGES, and multiply this by the multiplier given by your difficulty level, and then by one million (1000000) to get your Score Magnitude (e.g. if you had a total of 512 points at the Easy difficulty level, your total is 0.75x512x1000000=384000000). Divide that Score Magnitude by the amount of funds you spent to get your overall score for the Jool 500 Colonisation Challenge (e.g. if you had 384000000 Score Magnitude and you spent 1000000 funds then your overall score is 384000000÷1000000=384). The larger your overall score, the better you did. Keep in mind that spending more funds is not always a bad thing, so long as those funds get you additional points that you would not have gotten previously. Mods If you want to know about a particular mod, use ctrl+f to search for it on this page before making a reply asking about it. Required Kerbal Alarm Clock (I only say required because of the amount of vessels you'll be dealing with at once) USI Life Support, TAC Life Support, OR Kerbalism (except in Easy difficulty) Optional All other USI mods (except Alcubierre Warp Drive) (these are highly recommended as they will enhance your colony immensely) Any visual enhancement mods Atomic Age Behemoth Aerospace Engineering Buffalo MSEV B9 Aerospace CactEye Telescopes Color Coded Cannisters Colorful Fuel Lines Community Tech Tree Connected Living Space Cormorant Aeronology Shuttle Lifting Body DarkSideTechnology Deadly Reentry DeepFreeze Continued Deep Space Exploration Vessels DMagic Orbital Science Editor Extensions Redux EvaFuel Ferram Aerospace Research Final Frontier Fuel Tanks Plus HabTech Infernal Robotics KeepFit Kerbal Historical Institute Kerbal Joint Reinforcement (highly recommended) Kerbal Planetary Base Systems Kerbal Stock Part eXpansion KIS/KAS (highly recommended) KSI (useful for hiring kerbals) Lithobrake Exploration Technologies Mark IV Spaceplane System MechJeb, KER, or similar mods that are purely informative Mk2 Expansion Mk3 Hypersonic Systems Moar Mk1 Modular Rocket Systems Near Future Technologies NRAP Orbital Utility Vehicle Pathfinder RemoteTech RLA Stockalike SCANsat Science Revisited SpaceY and SpaceY Expanded Stockalike Mining Extension Surface Experiment Pack (requires KIS/KAS) Tantares and Contares Tarsier Space Technology Taurus HCV Universal Storage VX Series II Engine Pack (Vanguard Astrodynamics) Any dependencies these mods have (e.g. Firespitter, ModuleManager, Community Resource Pack) If there is a mod that you think should be added or removed from this list, please bring it to my attention along with your reasoning as to why it should be added or removed. Please also notify me if any links are incorrect or outdated. Banned Any mods that are not on the above list (unless I add them after being asked about them) Alcubierre Warp Drive (and other warp drive mods) KSP Interstellar Extended Extraplanetary Launch Pads (and other mods that allow you to build spacecraft off of Kerbin) Hyperedit (you are allowed to use it for testing your spacecraft, but not for any craft that are going to be used as part of the challenge) Kopernicus Any other mods that are unbalanced or cheaty in some way Again, please bring to my attention any mods that you feel should be added or removed from this list along with your reasoning for the requested change. Notes If you are starting out with stock parts but planning on modding (with life support) later, I highly recommend sending as many probes, bases, and vehicles as you can before the mods are updated, without sending any crew. Then, when you do send the crew to Jool (which should be done as late as possible to reduce consumption of life support) use KIS/KAS to attach life support containers to your bases and vehicles. This way you don't need to wait for life support mods to update before you can send your transports or bases. Alternatively, in the case of bases, you can plan for the presence of life support storage modules and transport them once you install the life support mod. Submission Submit your entry to the challenge on this thread in the form of an Imgur gallery (or multiple galleries) or a video (or more likely a series of videos). That should be everything for this challenge. If some aspects seem unclear please let me know and I will attempt to explain in a more effective manner. If I have missed anything important, please also let me know and I will edit this post to amend the lack of clarity. I hope everyone who chooses to attempt the Jool 500 Kolonization Challenge will enjoy it, and I wish you all luck in what is possibly one of the most extensive kolonization programs some of you have ever tried to undertake.

This is the record of my first official Joolian mission and the craft, infrastructure, and various steps to make that a reality. I'm not sure if this will be an actual "Jool 5" attempt, although we'll see as it progresses. Mission Goals Design, build, and implement comprehensive space-faring infrastructure to facilitate a kerbaled mission to Jool and its moons Complete the process for the next Joolian transfer window within 1 Year, 96 Days, 4 Hours (Transfer window is Year 2, Day 245) Document key moments in the process via screenshots, specifically milestone achievements, main spacecraft, and orbital infrastructure Mission Objectives Create large-scale space stations, massive transfer vehicle, smaller spacecraft (landers, etc.), and other probes to support the overall mission The mission must travel as a single craft: the Zeus Transfer Vehicle ('ZTV' or 'Zeus'). This will include smaller payloads (craft, satellites, escape pods) all combined into a single launch towards Jool Construction of modules and sub-components for the Zeus must be completed in orbit (more efficient, based on early testing) using RPs manufactured in orbit from metal also processed in orbit. Ore will be ferried to orbit from Kerbin and/or extracted from other local bodies (Minmus, asteroids, etc.) Narrative Elements This mission report will be primarily first person, not really a "role playing" or storytelling document for the parts & pieces of the mission. That said, I hope to communicate with some degree of gravitas the different stages of the evolution of the history of space flight that leads up to the Joolian Mission. Here are some parts of the narrative that I'll document that have inspired our kerbals to undertake the Joolian Mission: First steps into space: "Spirit of Jebediah" spacecraft, first Munar mission Evolution of spaceflight: Mk3 Shuttle Program Vision for Jool: Construction of the 'Olympus' Orbital Facility Early Space-faring Infrastructure: 'The Foundry' Orbital Manufacturing Platform, Minmus Survey Mission Secret Missions and Skunkworks projects from the infamous Helmut Von Kerman (Werner's "evil" twin brother) Gameplay Rules I thought I'd put some thought into basic rules of gameplay that I'll try to follow in this mission. These of course are subject to change (and ignoring if necessary!). HyperEdit shall be used for testing purposes and whenever the Kraken/physics-easing makes things too ridiculous (i.e. if I don't want to re-design) Case in point: Olympus was actually HE'd into orbit after literally 10 attempts to lift off with at least 8 unplanned disassemblies. None successful. All parts mods and other functionality are acceptable (obv). But I'm not using any physics-changing mods or solar system-changing mods, other than OPM. Ore for refining can't come from the VAB via new launches. Since Foundry & Olympus both launched with ore, I'm considering dumping them to recreate the need to fill them. Additional missions for support craft, such as more Mk3 shuttles, additional satellites in the Kerbin system, or unkerballed probes to Jool will be launched from KSC. Larger craft or infrastructure, including material transport ships and ore mining platforms should be built from Foundry. I may do trial-run missions in an "alternate reality", i.e. save games that move forward in time but aren't going to be part of the "prime timeline" (my main save). Case in point: My Joolian Probe test missions are going beyond Year 5 to work out orbital injection, etc. and test spacecraft design. I don't want my other infrastructure sitting around in the meantime, so I'm using alternate saves. [Will add more if I think of them] Special Thanks! Awesome flag artwork by @cratercracker Excellent advice and support: @B-STRK, @Geschosskopf

Welcome to my third mission report! As for the first two, one save got eaten by the Kraken(Speaking of Krakens, liking your Mission Reports @Alpha 360!), and the second one got its mods eaten and I gave up on trying to resurrect it. Links to these are here if you want to see my old work: The My Space Program Thread, the first mission report I did, and the second one, a 2.5x playthrough. Please don't post in these threads, they are old and discontinued. Hopefully, the third time is the charm! Also, this one will have a bit of a storyline. This S.A.V.E (Thanks @Parkaboy, I also need to catch up on Plan Kappa, although I haven't seen it in a while.) is in Sandbox mode, in the stock star system, lightly modded. The mods I have are... goes and checks GameData folder... BetterBurnTime, and BetterCrewAssingment, by @Snark, MechJeb, the Making History DLC, and Kerbal Alarm Clock by @TriggerAu (right?). I will be doing a Jool 5 mission, although I doubt that I will be able to keep my readers strung along for as long before getting to Jool as @Kuzzter did(I'm actually caught up on that, eagerly awaiting more!). I will also be doing in-depth missions to Laythe and Duna(Sort of like @Brotoro's, if you've read them; if you haven't I highly suggest reading them, they are wonderful!). I will also be establishing bases on the Mun and Minmus. Don't expect my story to be as good as @Just Jim's(I need to catch up on Emkio Station too.), but hopefully, it will be good enough. Project Voyager: Jool 5 Mission. Mothership launch. I have surprisingly few pictures of the launch of the mothership, these are the only ones. The launch of the Val/Pol/Bop lander: Intrepid. The pictures of the launch have disappeared. Valentina Kerman: "Mission Control, this is Intrepid." Docking successful." "We'll float through the hatch and join the boys. Mission Control(CAPCOM): "Roger Interpid, have fun." Well, 4/5 of the crew are partying in orbit, let's see the ship designs, and figure out who the last 1/5 of the crew is. Tylo Lander "Nut" in the VAB. Stats: Stage 2: 3953m/s of Vacum DeltaV, 2.30 Tylo Local TWR. Stage 1: 3148m/s of Vacum DeltaV, 5.09 Tylo Local TWR. Crew Capacity: 2 Kerbals. Laythe Lander "Dawn": Stats: Stage 1(0) 3975m/s Vacum DeltaV, Laythe SLT 2.17. Crew Capacity: 2 Kerbals. Vall/Pol/Bop Lander "Intrepid": Stats: Stage 1(0): 4058m/s Vacum DeltaV, 4.70 Vall TWR. Crew Capacity: 2 Kerbals. Vall has the heaviest gravity of the three moons, so the TWR's for the other moons are higher. Mothership: K.S.S. Eagle: Stats: 10703m/s Vacum DeltaV, without landers, with tugs. Crew capacity: 10. Writing this I just realized that those "tugs" on the docking ports lack RCS thrusters, which means that the other landers will have to have their transfer stages dock them too. Also, the vacuum TWR without landers is 0.77. Let's meet the other crewmember. Linser Kerman, a scientist. Well, I'm off to play the game. I feel like I wanted to say more, but I can't remember it.

So while I wait for Squad to get a handle on the suddenly-fragile/explosive landing gear in 1.4.2, I've put my Career save on hold and I've been experimenting with designs and concepts for a Laythe colony with an associated Ore miner/refinery infrastructure in the Jool system. I've got a Jool window coming up and I want to send a flotilla of missions to establish a permanent presence there. At first glance, Vall looks ideal to support a Laythe base. It's in the same plane as Laythe; it's close in terms of dV, and there's no atmosphere to complicate precision landing or cause ascent drag losses. Howver, it does have relatively high gravity for a planetary moon, and I've found that the gravity losses incurred in both landing and return to orbit are eating up all or nearly all of the Ore I can recover with a reasonably-sized rover. By that I mean, after I've refined all the Ore into LfOx to refuel the lander, I've got nothing left; this is using unscrewed equipment - if I understand correctly, have an Engineer available "on site" so to speak can increase the efficiency. Is that correct? By contrast, a mining lander and refinery operation on/around Pol costs next to nothing in dV to land and return to orbit; the downside is that there's a fairly high dV cost to haul the fuel back to Laythe. Pol's orbit is inclined relative to Laythe's and it's pretty far out from Jool. I'm sure that some folks out there have explored these trades in great depth and can provide some pointers. Thanks.

LINK to the old Jool-5 thread. There are hundreds of pages of entries and discussion, so look at it to see what worked and what didn't! IMPORTANT INFO The Jool 5 Challenge has a new owner! @JacobJHC has started the new thread here: The Ultimate Jool 5 Challenge Continuation for 1.4/ Making History Post your new entries there! This thread is now closed to new entries. CHALLENGE RULES Given the scale of this challenge, everyone who completes the mission successfully gets a spot in the hall of fame. 1. No cheating, including the stock debug menu cheats, HyperEdit, or file editing. HyperEdit is allowed for testing but get rid of that H when you fly the real mission! 2. No part-clipping of functional parts (fuel tanks, batteries, crew pods, engines, science parts, SAS) into each other. It is okay to clip structural and non-functional parts, wings, and heat shields. 3. Any number of launches are allowed to assemble the ship in Kerbin orbit. All launches must be flown! 4. There's funding for one main ship only so all the crew, lander(s) and other stuff has to go to Jool as one big ship. The ship can separate once in Jool's SOI. 5. Kerbals must be in a pod or cabin (no seats) for the interplanetary journey. Seats are okay for landing and flying within the Jool system. 6. One refueling mission is allowed in the Jool system if you run out of fuel, unless your ship uses ISRU. The refueling mission can only transfer resources, not parts, to your Jool 5 craft. This mission must actually be flown! 7. On all of the landings, the Kerbal must be able to get out and walk (or swim!) around on the surface. Make sure your ladders work! 8. Use Normal difficulty or harder, except, any ComNet settings are allowed including turning it off completely. 9. All the Kerbals have to arrive back to Kerbin surface at the end of the mission, happy and alive. You are allowed to optionally send up a craft to return them from LKO. 10. Mods: STOCK: only mods which do not add parts and do not change physics are allowed. This includes any informational, planning, visual, autopilot, or automatic functions. MODDED: Use of most parts mods and certain game mechanics mods are allowed. You NO LONGER HAVE TO ASK if your favorite part pack is allowed! Some parts mods are prohibited. Please see below. Specific Mods: ENTRY SUBMISSION RULES 11. Submit your challenge as an imgur album, with good captions and descriptions, as a video or series of videos, or as a thread in Mission Reports. 12. Pictures or it didn't happen! Please keep the resources tab open, as well as show the informative windows from Mechjeb or KER if you use them. Take a picture of every important moment, including transfers, dockings, landings, stagings, and refuelings. For Jeb's Level, also take pictures of the science screen when you recover your craft. Alternatively, video submissions are a great way to show everyone your mission as well. These will help future participants to see exactly how you accomplished each part! CHALLENGE LEVELS 1ST LEVEL: one Kerbonaut lands on all the moons and come back safely. 1st level low mass and low cost sub-challenges: with stock parts and physics, how low can you go and still accomplish the mission? 2ND LEVEL: two or more Kerbonauts land together on all the moons together and come back safely. 3RD LEVEL: There's not enough time left for training one crew member to be an expert on all of the moons, so five Kerbonauts must go to the mission, with at least one unique Kerbonaut landing on each moon. JEBEDIAH'S LEVEL: collect as much Science as possible! Your score is the number of science points from the Jool system only, returned to Kerbin (not transmitted). Only stock experiments count for this! To score, take pictures of the science screen(s) when you recover the data. Otherwise, the rules are the same as 3rd Level. ISRU: Use of ISRU will get a note ISRU on the entry description in the hall of fame. This includes stock ore harvesting and converting as well as mods such as Kethane and Karbonite. ISRU is allowed for any level of completion. GRAND TOUR: Not officially part of the challenge, but landing on all planets and moons in the Kerbol system in one mission will earn a GRAND TOUR note and the everlasting praise of all of Kerbal kind. Rule 4 is waived, but any Kerbals on the mission cannot return to Kerbin in between any landings and you still must follow the other rules. Additional optional information to help others see how the mission was accomplished: - Which game versions did you use? - What mods did you use, if any? - How many Kerbals are on the mission? - How many launches were needed to start your mission from Kerbin? - How much did your mission cost? - Did you needed a refueling mission? - Did you bring additional stuff like satellites, rovers, etc? - Share the delta-V information too, if you tracked it! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Well, now this big announcement is in the Kerbal News, all the public is excited about this mission and even the Government is watching! Now it's up to you, to the engineers and to the bravest and craziest Kerbonauts of all time! Completion Badge: Anyone who has finished the challenge can add this badge to their signature. The Low Mass Feather badge is available for entries in the low mass sub challenge. 1.2 and 1.3 Hall of Fame 1st Level- DustInTheWind (MODDED, 1.2, reusable nuclear lander, Tylo lander, Laythe plane, 1 refueling mission, also went to Eeloo and Dres, hopes to continue to finish the Ultimate Challenge) Eidahlil (STOCK, 1.2.1, giant 12000 ton asparagus, no docking, no nukes, no jets, launched straight up from Kerbin to a Jool intercept without orbiting first) slouis (MODDED, 1.2.1, long stack of landers and boost stages, assembled in multiple launches, collected 7468 science, 3 crew and 1 on each landing) IncongruousGoat (STOCK, 1.2.2, GRAND TOUR, separate transfer stages for large moon landers, one mothership each for inner and outer planets, ion lander, Eve lander with wings for precision landing) Jetski (MODDED, 1.2.2, GRAND TOUR, bunch of landers bolted together to make the mothership, pancake ion lander, compact Eve lander, no nuclear engines, unconventional outer planet order - Jool > Eeloo > Dres > Duna) HarrySeaward (STOCK, 1.2.2, ISRU, SSTO self refueling plane, separate staged Tylo lander that is also a rover, drove from the equator to the pole on each moon) foobar (STOCK, 1.3, asparagus drop tanks, plane for Laythe, Tylo lander upper stage doubles as small moons lander) Jetski (STOCK, 1.3, drop tanks with only one Nerv, compact command seat landers, ion lander, also visited Eeloo and Dres) Kerolyov (STOCK, 1.2.2, Laythe plane, Tylo lander upper stage doubles as small moons lander, nuclear tug, separate fuel section left in high orbit) jonny (STOCK, 1.3, ISRU, spaceplane with nuclear engine on the nose, 3 crew, small one-seat Tylo lander, plane lands on Vall by flipping to activate Rapiers) Xyphos (STOCK, 1.3, no quicksaves, design for safety, nuclear transfer stage with drop tanks, jet lander with parachutes for Laythe, high dV Tylo lander, reused top stage for Vall, ion lander for Bop and Pol) astrobond (STOCK, 1.3.1, ISRU, bird-like spaceplane with 2 nuclear engines and 2 rapiers, 1 crew, incredibly low cost of 1535 after recovery) PhoenixRise86 (STOCK, 1.3.1, Falcon Heavy inspired launch, universal lander with Laythe and Tylo boosters, 3 crew on mission, no nukes, 3883 science collected) foobar (STOCK, 1.3.1, ISRU, small spaceplane with Tylo lander in cargo bay, no reaction wheels on Tylo lander) McQuacker (STOCK, 1.3.1, staged nuclear mothership, Tylo and Laythe landers, Tylo upper stage becomes small moons lander, 2 crew, 9131 science collected) Low Mass Challenge- foobar - 28.8 tons astrobond - 32.5 tons jonny - 43.6 tons zanie420 - 53.1 tons Low Cost Challenge- foobar - 63606 funds jonny - 94452 funds zanie420 - 111869 funds astrobond - 120273 funds 2nd Level- DerekL1963 (MODDED, 1.2, big 4-pod mothership, similar short wide Tylo and Laythe landers, moon orbit ferry, mothership parked in Jool orbit) HarrySeaward (STOCK, 1.2.2, ISRU, huge asparagus launch, disposable landers, SRB assisted on Tylo and Vall, main ship mined on Bop and Pol, video) zeta function (STOCK, 1.3, no nuclear engines, asparagus tanks and Mainsail, disposable multistage landers with seats, Laythe rocket lander with Thud engines, rescued Laythe lander using refueling mission) IncongruousGoat (STOCK, 1.3, crew and science pod with modular lander attachments, cage-like mothership keeps landers centered, gravity assists, career with limited tech) 3rd Level- Nefrums (STOCK, 1.2, launched in an SSTO, fully reusable without mining, Laythe plane, all landers packed into a Mk3 cargo bay long+short size) JessShadowheart (STOCK, 1.2, divide and conquer with each lander splitting in Jool SOI and meeting back up afterwards in Tylo orbit, plane to return to Kerbin) IncongruousGoat (STOCK, 1.2, small mothership, Laythe and Tylo landers with their own transfer stages, ion lander for Bop and Pol, mothership parked in Vall orbit) JacobJHC (STOCK, 1.2.1, mothership with many drop tanks, modular ion ferry and command seat landers took the Kerbals to the moons, fixed video here) Magzimum (STOCK, 1.2.1, 25 Kerbals with 5 landing on each moon, interchangeable lander crew/upper stage, Laythe planes deployed from lander, giant mothership refueled at Minmus but did not carry ISRU to Jool) AeroGav (STOCK, 1.2.2, ISRU, 7 Kerbals, large spaceplane carrier, rover, separate Tylo lander, lounge constructed from parts in a cargo bay, razor thin TWR and fuel margins many times) Alchemist (STOCK, 1.3, ISRU, two space shuttles with 4 crew each, Laythe shuttle brought a mobile base and a hydrofoil plane, Tylo shuttle brought onboard ISRU, also completed the Shuttle Challenge V5 and Elcano Challenge) McBalsam (STOCK, 1.3.1, splitting SSTO carrier, small landers each capture to one moon for simultaneous landings, everything recovered, SSTO re-docked for runway landing) IvanBatura (STOCK, 1.3.1, small ship, 5-seat Laythe plane, 2-seat lander with Tylo booster stage, crew rode a heatshield on seats for Kerbin reentry, included gifs of cool parts of mission) Jeb's Level- zanie420 (STOCK, 1.3, ISRU, 56927 Science, small SSTO plane with mining and science equipment, 6 crew, small one-seat Tylo lander) Cpt Kerbalcrunch (STOCK, 1.3, 1510 Science, no nukes or jets, Mk 1-2 pod switched between landers for each moon, 3 Kerbals per landing with 5 total, landers stacked in middle of transfer stages) 1.1 Hall of Fame 1.0 Hall of Fame

I am now completing the Jool 6 voyage and have completed two of the contract items (the flyby Jool and flyby Laythe). I have set up the manuver node to Dres and started timewarping. But suddenly, the two of the completed contract items turned from 'done' to 'undone'. And they don't turn back. Please help me...

Rest in Peace Cassini-Huygens Probe As many know, today (at the time of writing) the Cassini Saturn Probe will be completing its mission to the ringed planet in a spectacular grand finale. After spending nearly 20 years in space, Cassini will be plunging into Saturn in an effort to protect potential lifeforms on its moons. It has given us much insight as well as fascinating pictures of Saturn and its moons, and is a scientific marvel. This challenge is to remember and memorialize the Cassini-Huygens Probe. (So its not meant to be super hard, but that's what bonus points are for! ) CHALLENGE INFO Send a probe weighing at least 4 tons to Jool, visit (flyby) at least 1 moon. Then destroy your probe in Jool. *Substitute Jool for Saturn (RSS/RO) or another Saturn alike planet with at least 1 moon for other planet packs *Parts from any publically available mod allowed, as long as they are balanced. (I.E. No 10,000 thrust, 1,000,000 isp engines) Bonus Points Realism - realistic looking probe (screenshot required) Real Scale Solar System - Mission is done with RSS/RO, challenge is exactly the same, but going to Saturn Huygens Lander - send a battery powered lander to Laythe (or Titan for RSS players) That means no solar panels, RTGs or fuel cells! Maneuverer - use a gravity assist to get there Realistic Maneuverer - use 2 Eve gravity assists, followed by a Kerbin one Explorer - Flyby at least 2 of Jool's moons Explorer plus - Flyby every Jool moon Minimalist - entire rocket masses less than 60 tons Maximalist - Largest probe by mass and/or size Direct route - Fastest mission time Badge available! (Thanks CraterCraker for the artwork) GOOD LUCK KERBONAUTS! Don't forget to post your attempts, as well any bonus points in this thread Craft files & screenshots welcome too! -Rev

Laho Butterfly Challenge This one requires some mods: Kerbol Starsystems Near Future Tech Scatterer EVE Pretty basic, the challenge is to do the to following: 1) Unmanned flyby of Laho 2) Unmanned orbit of Laho 3) Returning research probe from Laho 4) Relay around Laho 5) Manned flyby 6) Parachuting probe 7) Lander probe 8) Manned orbit 9) Probe mine 10) Return probe landing 11) Probe refueling station (needs at least 2 modules. Cargo holds are accepted if you have KIS, but there is no real need. You could also use the other low gravity moons for that. 12) Manned station 13) Manned landing 14) Base and planet a flag next to it, take a screenshot (F12) and post below! 15) Terraform it? Step 6 example.

So , im on my way to jool. My first polar jool comnet crashed into laythe. This is the setup i use on duna with excellent coverage. Big relays on polar , small relays on equatorial evenly spaced. Any ideas for jool? I have 1 ship with 2 big relays inbound with alot of dV to manuver on jool. Then 4 ships with 3 small relays ( one for pol as my spacestation and refueling will be here)

BROWN DWARF JOOL CHANGES JOOL INTO A BROWN DWARF AND REARRANGES ITS SYSTEM TO LOOK MORE LIKE A SYSTEM OF PLANETS. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Celestial Bodies: JOOL: Jool is now a small T-type brown dwarf. TYLO: The first planet is Tylo, a hot, atmosphereless, and dead world orbiting closest to Jool. LAYTHE: The second planet is Laythe, a sanctuary for Kerbalkind around Jool. POL: Laythe's moon, Pol, is tidally stretched by both Laythe and Jool, creating a small yet volcanicly active moon. VALL: The third and final planet is Vall, a small, cold world with no atmosphere orbiting far from Jool. BOP: Vall's moon, Bop, is a relatively large asteroid orbiting closely to Vall, but since Vall is smaller than Laythe, it isn't pulled and stretched too much. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Credit to: Nobody, I just had an idea and played around with it for a few days, and voila! -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Download: https://spacedock.info/mod/1265/Brown Dwarf Jool -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Dependencies: Kopernicus (Packaged with mod)

Interplanetary speed , think i saw 9000ms at jool burn Im 14 days out of jools periaps. (can warp back but since i have many ships its a lot of extra work) got 2000dV sience/relay sattelite with no heatshield. I manage to catch jools orbit via areobrake and burn. But i always end up with to little dV left to manuver. I see some talk about gravity assist to brake but i cant find the correct one. How do i brake in jools system without using up all dV ? Does not matter if i end up on any other planet.

So ive sent my fist probes in and building a comnet. Looking for the best plantet/mun to setup a space station and ore production. Last time i went to duna and did the same job i missed out on the effect of solarpanels. Im guessing jool needs even more panels and for the ore mashine , what solutions do you use there. Pictures appriciated.

Hmmmmmm I need a plot device to start this off......... Year 3, day 239. Tracking station, KSC. Bob Kerman was looking over the latest astrometry read-outs on the jool system, while he was observing the orbital resonances, he noticed something anomalous between Laythe and Tylo, something defiantly out of the ordinary, disrupting the orbits of both of the planet-moons in a very regular fashion, causing a very interesting orbital resonance of both of the moons, eyes widening, he knew exactly what was happening, another planet-moon, orbiting between Laythe and Tylo, he rushed to the mission control room (during their coffee break), and they agreed to the mission, although bob personally thought that Wherner, and Gene agreed to just shut him up, so they could finish their coffee break in peace. The VAB team started work on a latest pod design, named (very colorfully) Eggshell 2, no one, AND I MEAN NO ONE, shall ever speak of Eggshell 1 since it`s last few test flights. With the rocket put together with ample amounts of superglue, duct tape, and coffee, it was rolled out to the launch pad on a Eggshell booster. After a beautiful lift-off from launchpad K-19, it began its graceful gravity turn, into Kerbin`s summer clouds After a successful launch (the first one since the cursed Eggshell-1), they proceeded to test out the crafts maneuverability in orbit, and it`s OMS engine And with much bickering about Bob`s mustache distracting bill, they prepared for re-entry Then as they felt the gees from re-entry slowly creep up, They continued bickering, but did not realize one very, very important thing..... They forgot a parachute! So, Bill being Bill, he decided to channel his inner para-trooper, and jump out <CLASSIFIED> <REMOVED FROM TEXT> <NO!> After a very long fall, both bob, and bill survived, bob being the lucky one, he survived with only a very wet mustache as a injury... Bill, on the other hand had to be carted away in a charter boat that the kerbals use for recovery. And this, was the end of the first (mainly successful) test flight of Eggshell-1