TheCardinal

An incredibly beautiful Jool rising over Tylo (as seen through the nightvision camera) Then a major setback for the Tylo mission And a nice shot of the rover

Unfortunately it won't be possible to visite the highest point on Tylo. The closest distance i'll get to it is about 850 km (70 degrees). Today was a fabulous day for (of) driving. With the paper mod (sticking a piece of paper between the W key) the rover went several times into a special cadans. The speed then get's to maximum, the rover doesn't veer off to the left or the right or when it does, returns to the same course by itself due to the angles of the trench (lacking a better word). The sound of the engine and tracks get's rythmic, almost hypnotic. The paper mod is an excellent cruise control! I've noticed that the landing foot at the front is place to low. From a certain speed and at specific angles between inclines and declines, the foot can clip the terrain. As a precaution, i retract all landingfeet when i think it might happen. I've stopped planting flags every 5 degrees, instead it plant one at every 10 degrees, which is about once every 104 km. (i've deleted the ones already planted to prevent possible memorycrashes).

Can anybody provide the coordinates of the highest point on Tylo?

Scansat and MJ have have been OK'ed for stock. I also use KAS/KIS but i wouldn't call them stock as those allow you to make changes to your verhicle while underway. If you really want to do it with only stock parts, use docking for the transfer of fuel.

The only way to descend safely to the bottom of the canyon was to use the rocketengines. After descending, the craft rode up the other canyon side. I just let it go until it reached a (reasonable) safe spot.

You should read that date as "we'll try it but we promise nothing". Tylo is a heavier challenge than Dres i.m.o. but i've never driven on Dres. Tylo is more difficult because of the distance, the hard landing and its size. You'll need a lot of perseverance for Tylo. Frankly, i cant wait for a 64 bits KSP but even if it's released today, i won't upgrade until i've finished Tylo (same as i said about KSP 1.0.5).

Then why not finish this one?????? Tylo does take more time than smaller moons (such as Dres) but you've already overcome the largest hurdle for Tylo: landing safely. 1.1 still might be months away (or do you know something i don't?) I guestimate you've already driven somewhere between 500 km and 600 km. When you drive an average of 100 km a day, you'll only need about 30 days more (still more than a week before X-mas).

82N90W Finished for today

O, DEAR!!! I've gotten myself in a somewhat nasty situation. If i move the rover, it 'll slide down, tumble over and explode. I did make a quicksave but unfortunately it's at this spot. It's the place a small meteor crashlanded and created a nice crater. The inclination of the walls is larger than the rover can handle (43 degrees). The torque of the engine is enough to flip the rover over. As i see it, i have only two possible options 1) move forward and backward which will let the rover slip downwards 2) reconfigure the rocket engines (for flipping the rover back on it tracks) to get extra pressure on the tracks and move upwards while the engines fire Option 1 has the disadvantage that i can't control the speed at which the rover slides. Option 2 will cost a lot of fuel and oxidizer. (The rover is the white dot in the center of the screenprint) In the end i combined option 1 and 2. I managed to get up to the other side of the crater but the cost of 40% of the fuel/oxidizer the rover had. Note to self: Use the thrusters only as a last resort! Note to self: After use the thrusters rebalance fuel in tanks! Note to others: Don't try to reach the EXACT Northpole or you'll be sorry you did. Flag planted at 89.8961N176.8498E According to my calculations my next stop should be 85N270E or 85N90W

83N90E KSP 1.0.5. just has been released. After a (very) short deliberation, i've decided not to update KSP until finishing the Elcano challenge on Tylo. I consider the challenge more important than the update. Although i believe the update won't break the current savegame, i prefer to keep the conditions the same as before. Yesterday, I've covered more distance than i expected. Initially, the terrain gave the impression that there would be no sharp inclination changes but during the drive i did encounter a few sharp edges. Not as bad as on Pol but nevertheless something to keep in mind while driving towards an edge. The rover doesn't fly off like on Pol or Minmus. On Tylo the rover has the flight characteristics of a large brick. It a good thing the tracks are quite sturdy. During tests on Kerbin the tracks could absorb a drop of 59 meters without much damage. For all, i must avoid making sudden changes in direction. Even though the center of mass is situated very low, the higher gravity and friction on Tylo could cause the rover to overturn. The landing feet will prevent most of the damage but the remaining generator isn't fully protected by them. It still is possible to damage it. Continuing on the RTG's is possible but then langer stops will have to be made to refill the energy. I noticed that while driving at full speed without the lights on, the RTG's and generator provide enough power to fill the batteries nonetheless. Due to the lighting of Tylo, i'm forced to drive with the nightvisioncamera as display to the world (read: moon) outside. Constantly looking at a green monitor is somewhat stressfull to the eyes but it also has its advantages. No matter what the angle of the terrain is (front to back and lateral), it appears to the driver as if the rover is just on a flat surface. In other words, driverstress caused by driving under an angle is prevented. You do have to monitor the navball, though! The rover is only certified for angles not exceeding 45 degrees. The maximum angle i've encountered sofar was 25 degrees lateral. The rover does handle differently under an angle when compared to driving on a normal flat surface. It's much harder to keep the rover on the same course, for instance. A turn continues until it is stopped by a correction in the other direction. In a way, you can compare it with the rotation of a craft in space. I'm going to reset the point at which the generator switches on. It's more advantageous to start the generator at 50% energy capacity than at 30%. It reduces the time needed to refill the batteries when stopped. I've added nano gauges to the mods to better keep an eye on the energy.

Sorry to hear that Just Jim, but ... what's stopping you from having a 1.0.5 next to a 1.0.4?

I have a MJ unit in the inventory of the rover, which VBill can attach to the rover. I packed it just in case, but it isn't the same. Driving on automatic or driving yourself. My personal restriction on the Elcano challenge (sofar) is drive myself and not to use MJ to do that, that ios why i haven't installed it (yet). I have found another modification (which is acceptable to me) which helps me drive; a piece of paper between the W key.

After driving a small distance on Tylo, i must admit i have the temptation of installing MJ on the rover. At the moment it seems like it's nothing more than keeping the W key and an occasional course change to keep the rover in the direction. When i have to do that for 59 (projected) days, i'll go stark raving mad. I haven't decided yet, but the temptation is fierce.

At the moment whenever you using more than one instance of a part, all parts have the same name. It would be useful if their names could be slightly different thereby clarifying to the user which part is active/selected etc.. F.e. two generators are on a craft, the first is called generator1, the second generator2. A simple example on which one could say "what's the use of that?" Now imagine a craft which has 20 fueltanks, all the same type and size. You want to check a specific tank. See what i mean?

On Tylo that would mean planting about 360 flags. I doubt my computer will enjoy that (nor me). Even a flag every 50 km would result in 72 flags. I probably will quicksave every 20-30 km and plant a flag every 10 degrees (~105 km) or make a screenprint. The BTDT scanner will provide the proof of the cicumvention.

The starting point: After driving 35 km the sensor noticed that the energy supply of the rover dropped beneath 30% and it sent a signal to the surviving generator to startup, which it did. The signal light above the generator signalled the running of the generator. As i wanted to make a quicksave anyway, i stopped the rover and let it fill up the energy supply to 100% again. Starting the generator at 30% is automatic, shutting the generator down again has to be done manually (hence the flashing orange light).

It took me FIVE days to finally join you on Tylo. I hope you'll be able soon to continue with the circumnavigation of Tylo. Just wondering. How do you calculate/see how much distance you've covered? By the way, I don't consider this a race to see who's the first to achieve the circumnavigation, so i won't be driving like mad to gain distance. I'll be driving normally. Edit: I tried to calculate how much distance one degree of arc is on Tylo and i noticed that the circumference of Tylo is 3,769 km (and not 1,900 km!). Therefor a degree on Tylo is about 10.5 km distance.

55N90E Fuel/oxidizer transferred, all fuel tanks of the rover are filled to the brink. Landingstage decoupled. BTDT scanner started. No need to drive to the exact landingspot. It's no so far away, Jeb can walk the distance. Jeb has just returned. The distance was larger than expected but was quite doable. He planted the flag. According to his own words, Jeb has just claimed this moon for a rainy day. Nice idea but with the currently required travelarrangements i doubt if there will ever be a rainy day sufficiently rainy to warrant leaving for Tylo.

The Tylo rover is now in orbit around Tylo. Periapsis 1141 km, Apoapsis 1539 km. Currently altitude corrections are underway. Periapsis has been reduced to about 200 km. At periapsis the apoapsis will be reduced to 200 km as well. A circular orbit around Tylo has been achieved at 200 km. ^#@#$@%%^# !!! I forgot to change the inclination of the orbit at an high altitude, SHI...P! 4773 m/s dV of fuel remaining. I had the intention of an equatorial circumnavigation but if the inclination change requires more than 700 m/s a polar circumnavigation will have to do. It requires 2150 m/s to change the orbit for a landing at the equator, so a polar circumnavigation it has to be. Prepare for landing! Landing initiated. Target: 55 N 90 E (Tylo lowlands) Waiting for low deorbit burn. Engine activated. Time to land 6 minutes 27 seconds. Target difference 311 km. Reducing target difference. Currently 209 meters. dV still required 1984 m/s, remaining 3173 m/s. Target difference 74 meters. 1347 m/s dV needed, 2529 m/s remaining. Altitude 30 km, vertical speed 800 m/s. Jettisoning last boosterstage, landingstage activated. Altitude 3350 meters. Touchdown! NO ! NO !! DON'T DROP OVER !! Blast ! The rover and the attached landing stage have tumbled over and landed on one of the generators which has exploded. Only one generator remaining now. In theory, i should be able to achieve all goals, even without both generators and the solar panel. Perhaps i could even achieve it on one RTG (but that would really hamper the mission). First order of business is to transfer all fuel and oxidizer from the landingstage to the rover and then decouple it. Start the BTDT scanner, drive to the exact landing position (55N 90E), plant a flag and take a picture.

The Jool Insertion Burn has just completed. Periapsis (64000 km) in 53 days 6398 m/s dV remaining. Course correction to bring the craft in roughly the same inclination as Tylo. Periapsis (53600 km) in 47 days 5625 m/s dV remaining Small course correction 11 m/s. Periapsis (62800 km) in 45 days 5625 m/s dV remaining. MJ doesn't have a problem, the designer made a serious error with the fuel lines. Instead of attaching them at the lower (providing) tank they're attached to the upper tanks which are now empty, no fuel is pumped automatically to the center stage. It must be done manually after every burn. Tylo intercept correction 159 m/s. Periapsis (1612 km) in 48 days 6524 m/s dV remaining. Next burn is the Tylo orbital burn in 48 days.

You've put into words exactly what i would have liked to tell everyone thinking about an Elcano mission. It starts of as just a challenge but becomes so much more! During the missions on Minmus and Pol i got so immersed that i tensed muscles in my arms and legs constantly when the rover moved along cliffs or became somewhat unstable or ... or ... or ... And as Castille7 has said " It will bring you to apprecaite the beauty of Kerbin and the Challenge has Challenges in the Challenge".

The craft performed nominal during the Jool Transfer Burn (1993 m/s dV). After the separation of the first empty fuel tanks MJ recalculated the remaining dV and came up with 6540 m/s remaining. I guess the fuel transfer between the stages poses a problem for MJ. The values are still incorrect for the different stages but the calculated total dV remaining is more realistic. Estimated flight time is a little over 3 years and 335 days.

It took 2 tankermissions to fill up the Tylo rover craft completely. According to MechJeb i only have 7000 m/s dV but i know this is incorrect. Just before launching the same craft MJ displays 8300 m/s dV, so i must conclude that MJ doesn't take the weightloss of the stages into account. I have checked the staging over en over again and i know it has the right order. Below is an image of the second tanker docked with the Tylo rover craft. There is some fuel left in the tanker so i'll leave that in orbit when the Tylo craft blasts off to Jool en Tylo. The countdown to launch has commenced. The mission will depart in 1 year 248 days 5 hours 48 minutes and 1 second {MARK}. I'm not superstitious but still i'm wondering if Tylo somehow is jinxed. Many missions of others have failed in the past. My previous mission to Tylo came up just 300 m/s dV short for a landing. And lately even SpaceplaneAddict has had to postpone his Elcano attempt on Tylo indefinitely. So many things have gone wrong so far with my second mission that i've sent up Jeb and Bill for the attempt. Perhaps they can succeed where so many others have failed.

The name isn't really important, is it? It could even be called zero-x, as long as it does what it's supposed to.

Frankly, i don't understand your pissed off attitude and i completely disagree with your remarks. Introducing 1.0.5 most propably will remove some flaws, so it will make the game better to play. That will make the wait for 1.1 more acceptable. I don't believe Squad will be able to release 1.1 before Christmas. The conversion to unity 5 is a humongeous task. It seems more plausible to me that 1.1 will be released in march or april 2016.