jinnantonix

I thought Northrop Grumman was a shoe-in with a modified Cygnus XL, but well done SpaceX.

Jool 500 Mission: Transit 2. Delivery of more Laythe bases/outposts and resource carriers. Completion of Pol satellite network (3 in equatorial orbit, 3 in polar orbit). 25 frozen Kerbal pioneers on board. Refuel of the nuclear tugs at Pol, 40 days, no need for engineer yet. Delivery of bases/outposts and carriers from Pol to Laythe low orbit. Completion of Laythe relay network (3 in equatorial orbit, 3 in polar orbit).

The ships are surprisingly stable, but the CPU really struggles. Matters got serious when I foolishly executed a rendezvous at Pol with two transit ships within 200m of each other. Weird things happened, including random explosions. I won't do that again.

I am doing a Jool 500 Kolonisation mission, and using Kerbal Planetary Base Systems v1.6.9 with USI LS. Fantastic mod, I love it. Each base is delivered as a module for housing either 10 or 20 Kerbals, and I will be sending about 40 modules to the Jool system. There are some biomes on Laythe which allows >100% sustainability using algae farms and greenhouses, and this allows the generation of excess supplies to feed colonies on the other moons of Jool.

Delivery of 150 tons of payload from Pol to Laythe low orbit. https://youtu.be/6FNd6twow10

Commercial launches are a big part of Artemis. I estimate that for each SLS launch, there will be at least 2 commercial launches. I think that shows the difficulty in getting human rating for a launch vehicle.

Exploring the moon from a scientific perspective is not in the category of "never been done before". They are going to the moon to do science, including searching and experimenting with for in situ resources. That's the whole purpose of the mission, it hasn't yet resorted to flags and footprints. When they refer to doing something new, it is more about establishing a permanent space station in NRHO with multiple launches, docking multiple craft with it, fuel pumping, etc. OFFS, Starship by 2024? I will believe that when I see it. I think human life is still important in the private sector.

Successful delivery of the Laythe ocean habitats to Laythe orbit, but the Skycrane is a dud. I completely forgot to include air brakes! Darned beast keeps flipping over during the landing sequence. I am ditching this one into the Sagen Sea, and will send another better version on transit 2, along with an engineer (first colonist) to improve refueling efficiency. [video pending]

I don't think that is what he is saying. The PLAN is not to rendezvous with Gateway on the 2024 mission, and the mission will be designed assuming Gateway is not there initially. It might be, it might not be. But the PLAN is to assume it is not there.

Here is part 2 of my Jool 500 mission. The Planetary Base Systems habitats are landed on each biome of Pol, each ready for 10 Kerbals to use in a later part of the mission. This phase also sets up relays and probe/rovers on each biome of Laythe.

https://youtu.be/xn0uSftC6bo

Change of plan. After deploying all the relays and rovers/probes at Laythe, not much fuel left - I underestimated the dV needed to go from equatorial to polar orbit. So leaving the Skycrane (with a load of oxidizer) in Laythe retrograde orbit, two nuclear tugs return to Pol for refueling.

@Ksp Slingshooter, I am using USI-LS and Planetary Base Systems. Works well.

I believe the test of a successful Jool 500 colony is that no ships are required from Kerbin to maintain long-term presence (many Kerbin years). I have found that there are locations within the Jool system that can support full self- sustainability, requiring no external delivery of resources, and can in fact produce an excess of resources which can be used to supply other outposts. However non-self-sustainable outposts require constant transport of resources to maintain them, and if you create many such non-sustainable outposts, it requires effort to verify that these can be sustained long-term from within the Jool system.

With Pol deployment completed, and the nuclear tugs fully refueled, here are the two transit craft ready for transit to Laythe. One of the tugs will be left in Pol orbit and only used in an emergency.

Part 1 of my Jool 500 mission is completed.

Transit 1: Satellites/network (Jool and Pol) and Pol probes and outposts (part 1) My first two craft have completed the transit to Jool. The following video shows : 7 x launches of the Superlifter Assembling in LKO two transit vehicles: comprising Relay satellites (Jool Laythe and Pol), Pol and Laythe probes/rovers 1 x Skycrane 4 x Pol Terrestrial Outposts and 4 x Laythe Ocean Outposts 4 x Nuclear Tugs Execute the transit to Jool, including Tylo flyby capture Deploy relay satellites for providing full surface coverage 2 x Jool RA-100 relays head toward the edge of SOI for polar orbit adjustment (alarm clock is set for 178 days) 3 x Pol RA-2 relays go to polar orbit, and T700 scans for resources. Deploy probes/rovers to each Pol biome (Highlands, Lowlands, Midlands, and Poles) and mark flat landing zone Land 4 x Nuclear Tugs and Skycrane at the Pol Highlands landing zone for refuelling It will be 40 days to complete the refueling (minus engineer) so time to assemble craft for the the next transit. https://youtu.be/5643Z0DuXaU Next video (part 2) will show deployment of habitats with the Skycrane, and landing of probes/rovers on Laythe, and deployment of the Jool relays into Jool polar orbit

The TRANSIT 1 vehicles, TV1a and TV1b headed from Kerbin to Jool.

Lots of autostrutting

My Jool 500 Kolonization Mission has begun, logging the mission here. Below is my Superlifter launch vehicle lifting two modular moon bases/outposts for assembly in LKO into the first transit vehicle.

The mission has hit it's first disappointment. My initial plan was to assemble one big (and I mean HUGE) craft so I only needed to calculate a single Kerbin to Jool transit per transfer window. Fail! My computer CPU and memory is nowhere near capable of handling such a large craft. So the plan now is to assemble 4 separate transit vehicles (TVs) in the transfer window 1, which I will refer to as TV1a, TV1b, TV1c and TV1d. Adds to game time, but considering the scale of the mission, I am sure it will not be the last time I will need to adjust the program . Edit: Better news. Through a program of reduced part count, and cutting down the number of relays per moon, I have succeeded in building the first transit with two craft. TV1a and TV1b.

High Level Mission Schedule Transit 1: Satellites/network (Jool , Laythe and Pol) and probes, bases Transit 2: More bases and outposts delivered Transit 3: Kolonists (20) and resource carriers Transit 4: Satellites/network (Tylo, Vall and Bop) and probes, bases Transit 5: Bases and resource carriers Transit 6: Kolonists (480) and ancillary craft Demonstration of sustainability. Craft Scanners and relay satellites Probe and scouting rover (dual purpose): Includes 5 seats, and science scanner Bases: Habitat supporting up to 20 kerbals Resource carriers: Skycrane, Supply Carrier, Kerbal Carrier (Cryo Rover) and Nuclear Fuel Facility Rovers: Includes 5 seats, science lab and science equipment Space Transport

Jool 500 Kolonization Mission Overview The idea of the Jool 500 Kolonization Challenge is to take five hundred kerbals to colonise all 5 of Jool's moons, in the most complete way possible. 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 including satellite networks, resource gathering/transport, etc Simulator Kerbal Space Program v1.7.3 with Making History and Breaking Ground. Game Mode: Sandbox, Normal. Mods: USI-LS Kerbal Planetary Base System SpaceY Heavy Lifters NearFuture Electrical BallastWater Tanks DeepFreeze (CPU killer) MechJeb Kerbal Alarm Clock Minimum Ambient Lighting [Pending] Outer Planets Mod Thanks to Alex for The Alex Moon Launch Window Planner

I am using planetary bases, and have a functioning self sustaining habitat. It makes fertilizer from ore, and also requires water. As you have guessed it requires an engineer to work efficiently. My Deepfreeze deployment for 25 Kerbals is pretty simple, just 5 cryo chambers, 6 wheels, a probe core with RTG, and docking ports. Can't see how to reduce part count further.

I ran a test mission which established an elliptical polar orbit with Pe inside Moho,. and Ap somewhere beyond Eeloo, about halfway (in km) to the edge of Kerbol SOI. According to the rules, I understand this is adequate to meet the challenge requirements. I wanted to return the scanner to Kerbin, but forgot to take a heat shield, so it exploded. Craft was stock with liquid fuel. Will run the mission again properly when I have a free moment.