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Ions, Ions Everywhere

HoloYolo
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HoloYolo

HoloYolo

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Yup... HotRockets it is.

I added a bunch of stuff from Astronomers Visual Pack a couple of days ago to spruce up my KSP experience, which is making things a little more fun to look at. However I thought that the clouds in the BoulderCo Environmental Visual Enhancements pack were a bit too bright to look at all the time, so I replaced the clouds texture for Kerbin with another I found, that had a lot less cloud in it.

- - - Updated - - -

One thing I'm a bit unsure about with this challenge is at what point does the vehicle needs to be all ion powered to qualify for it.

With my Mun landing I used a liquid fueled launcher to get my ion powered vehicle into an orbit of a few hundred km of Kerbin, then did the TMI burn onwards on ion drive. So I'm assuming that for an attempt at the other planets that I'll need to be all ion powered for the escape from Kerbin orbit onwards, until finally splashing down again on Kerbin after visiting a planet/planets.

Is that correct?

Yup. You're allowed to use liquid fuel and/or soloid fuel till escape
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purpleivan

purpleivan

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I now have an entry in the "For the person who is nuts:" part of the challenge, with an ion flight to Dres.

The cost of the whole vehicle in the VAB was 239,116 for a return flight to Dres.

Now for the piccies.

Javascript is disabled. View full album

Next step will be a trip to Moho .

Edited by purpleivan
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  • 11 months later...
Jetski

Jetski

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Starting this challenge tonight.  I think I qualify so far for Bye Kerbin! level, but Val is just getting warmed up :) Total cost 311468 including lifter in VAB, one launch only.  Could have saved some $$$ on the lifter but too lazy, just strapped a Mainsail and some boosters to it. Main ship is in orbit, using chem rockets for lifter and Kerbin escape, ions for everything else.  First album is Mun landing. 

Second album Minmus landing and some shots of the mothership.

Third album is gathering tanker, lander, and main ship together in LKO.  I then leave behind some spare xenon and a drop pod for later, and use chem rockets to burn for escape.  Note I drop the chem rocket module while still close to Kerbin - should be well within the rules here :) I thought using chem rockets for the escape burn would be a big help, but really this could have been done in a few Pe bumps with ions, barely 1200dV used to get to Eve.  Oh well.  Anyway, an Eve flyby and a Gilly landing later, Val is waiting in high Eve orbit for her Moho transfer window. 

 

Edited by Jetski
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Jetski

Jetski

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OK, next phase is completed. @HoloYolo I believe this bumps me up to For the Person who is Nuts - so far landed on Mun/Minmus/Gilly/Moho/Ike/Dres/Bop and still going.  Also flybys but no landing of Laythe/Eve/Jool. 

This album is a Moho landing, then a jaunt back to LKO to pick up some Xenon I left in orbit from my original launch (this whole mission so far has been a single launch, and hopefully will stay that way).  Next stop was a quick orbit of Duna and an Ike landing, but Val is far from finished! 

Edit: Val made it out to Dres, landed for a brief visit, and headed out towards Jool.  After a disturbingly close Jool flyby, and a Laythe flyby to adjust orbits, she touched down at Bop.  Although she was a little disappointed that she didn't see a Kraken, mission control insisted she move on toward Pol next. Getting late here, to be continued...

 

Edited by Jetski
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Jetski

Jetski

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OK, finished now.  For the Person with Infinite time on their hands, actually about 6 hours IRL over 3 days.  Here's my run from Vall out to Eeloo, then back to Kerbin.  Had to do 3 Kerbin aerobrake passes to get captured, then another 2 passes to lower my orbit enough to meet with my drop pod.  Finally met up, burned the last drops of xenon to deorbit, and landed about 50km east of KSC.  Val is very happy to be back, having flown by every planet and moon, and landed on every one that's possible to land on with ions.  She didn't land on Tylo/Eve/Laythe/Duna, but did fly by them all.  Enjoy the ensuing wall of pictures lol

 

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  • 2 weeks later...
Hodari

Hodari

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The Voyage of the Dawn Treader:

A single mission which landed on the Mun, then Minmus, then did a fly-by of Duna and Ike, before finally returning to Kerbin.  Regular engines were used to get into low Kerbin orbit and do the inclination change, then ion engines only for the rest of the mission.

 

The final landing on Kerbin was especially difficult since the craft design didn't allow for a heat shield and also because the day/night terminator was right near periapsis, so needed to just get a stable but highly elliptical orbit on the first pass and then gradually lower it on the next several orbits before final re-entry.  Also kept the craft rapidly spinning during the final descent and ended up only losing the solar panels.

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EvermoreAlpaca

EvermoreAlpaca

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 Stock grand tour of the kerbol system, landing on all bodies. Ion engines were used everywhere except for the ascent to a 75 km-ish LKO, and the landings on Tylo, Laythe, Eve, and Duna, All parts were recovered with the exception of the eve lander. No ISRU or additional launches to refuel.  Kerbal's EVA pack was used for orbital module docking.  Also submitted for Jool 5, #doublesubmission

Edited by EvermoreAlpaca
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max_creative

max_creative

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44 minutes ago, EvermoreAlpaca said:

You can also land on duna. 

Actually no not anymore. Yes yes are correct, it would be very hard but you are correct.  Execpt for one thing. Duna has an atmosphere. And the ions got seriously nerfed back in I-don't-know-what-update-because-I-haven't-played-that-long. So not anymore. It also killed people's ion gliders.

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EvermoreAlpaca

EvermoreAlpaca

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On 3/20/2016 at 11:15 AM, max_creative said:

Actually no not anymore. Yes yes are correct, it would be very hard but you are correct.  Execpt for one thing. Duna has an atmosphere. And the ions got seriously nerfed back in I-don't-know-what-update-because-I-haven't-played-that-long. So not anymore. It also killed people's ion gliders.

You can still land on duna and get back to orbit with ion engines.   The atmosphere is thin enough the engines still function acceptably.  I've personally done it and so have a few others.   

Edited by EvermoreAlpaca
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max_creative

max_creative

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Just now, EvermoreAlpaca said:

You can still land on duna and get back to orbit with ion engines.   The atmosphere is thin enough the engines still function acceptably.  

Oh really? I didn't know that! Just after some update I just heard people saying stuff like aww man my Duna ion glider got killed. Huh. Today I'm launching the ion insanity 1 which is a ton of ion probes going the mun for testing because I eventually want to send them to Dres.

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Jetski

Jetski

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10 hours ago, max_creative said:

Oh really? I didn't know that! Just after some update I just heard people saying stuff like aww man my Duna ion glider got killed. Huh. Today I'm launching the ion insanity 1 which is a ton of ion probes going the mun for testing because I eventually want to send them to Dres.

Nobody goes to Dres. It does not in fact exist.

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Foxster

Foxster

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20 hours ago, EvermoreAlpaca said:

You can still land on duna and get back to orbit with ion engines.   The atmosphere is thin enough the engines still function acceptably.  I've personally done it and so have a few others.   

Agreed...

The transfer craft was a tad over-engineered, had 3000dV left when returned to Kerbin - but better safe than sorry. 

This looks all science-fictiony...

N4Mvpr8.jpg

This propulsion is known (now) as an Ion Cascade!

Edited by Foxster
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Jetski

Jetski

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@HoloYoloany plans to update the leaderboard or throw together a badge?  Couple of good missions here completed. 

Also, has anyone tried an ion glider on Eve since 1.05? Interested in coming up with an efficient way to visit 2 or 3 biomes with science gear, but not sure how nerfed ions are now for thick atmo.

Edited by Jetski
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