FTLparachute

I have absolutely no idea if I can even break the record, but the only science I know I'm not getting so far is the repeat Goo/SciJr from JoolASL. The whole mission been set back though, as now I have to refit about 8 craft to have 4 experiment storage units each.

I'd bet 5 bucks that the wiki is going to go into anarchy at some point, but that's just robbery at that point

Yep. One of at least 6 ascents, if you get what I'm saying.

Here's a quick teaser for the next mission I'm working on - and probably the most complicated yet, too...

Didn't even know that they're in KO. We're referencing the same thing.

Do you have Click Through Blocker installed?

Update on the previous post: i did it

Curious if anyone can guess what Daphy and Potatus are referencing...

Fair enough. I'll probably do a mission with that anyway, though I'll dock those points for the final total (i.e: put the samples in a storage unit). I don't think that the comet would count anyway though - unlike the asteroid sample I think that comet samples are not biome/state dependent. EDIT - no im dumb, comets work the same way.

Just want to check - are you allowed to do asteroid sampling in the Jool system (i.e: hauling along one to jool and then doing the sampling in soi)

No, got uninstalled when I removed AVP. I should probably put it back on.

PT2 - The Return Conclusion Sparse science over the mission netted 3708 points. I did enjoy this, but never again. Unless I have an excuse, though. Have I at least passed?

(this was a stupid idea) The last two missions I have done for Beyond Jool have been relatively simple. However, mod author @Mr. Kerbin decided to make another challenge for the mod, landing a plane and rover on the moon Moach. During the design phase, I was surprised that, testing my lander as a LKO SSTO, it was able to achieve orbit with 2600m/s remaining. And so, I began one of the hardest missions I've ever done. TLDR today I'm landing on Moach and returning with an SSTO. What is a Moach? Moach is a moon of Sarkin, the mod's Saturn / GP2 analogue. It is a dead world, with frozen wastes, desolate continents and an oxygenated atmosphere. While this leads to the conclusion that it is 'Laythe Easy Mode' (tbf its 100km smaller in radius), the problem comes from Sarkin itself, which is massive. The giant has a surface gravity of 4.11g, which combined with its general girth makes Moach spin around it at >6km/s. This makes transfer to and fro really hard. So, what craft have I engineered to get there? The SSTO This is the Daphy, an SSTO (im shocked). Running on 6 Rapiers and 2 Nervs, it has enough range to get to Minmus. However, the cost of high dV is low vacuum thrust, with a Kerbin TWR of 0.12 fully fueled. The cockpit design is borrowed from previous planes I have built, wanting to keep the plane looking somewhat flush. It also serves a second purpose, as on the end of its fuselage is a Convertotron, which is needed to get even close to Moach. The only issue is the front nosecone (which also has fuel) clipping into the front fuel tank, so this part has no Oxidizer to keep this looking nice without clipping fuel. In order to qualify for the challenge, I had to stuff a rover into the cargo bay (hence why I went with the MK3 form factor). This birthed the Potatus rover, a very unstable design which looks more like the Bat-cycle from Dark Night than an actual rover. The worst feature is the docking. Having seen @MythicalHeFF's recent Jool 5 video, it seems I was inspired to make an even more convoluted method of re-attaching the rover. It drives in backwards into the Daphy's cargo bay, where on Kerbin this bay must then be closed slightly to stop the rover getting stuck on the floor. A MK2 docking port then attracts the lander's port, aligning them. If the gravity is too high to let the two auto-attach, a set of Twitch engines on the rover then pushes the rover into the port until the two connect. oh it also has a scanning arm. Y1 - Launch The two modules had to be separately loading in, as despite my best efforts the Potatus would remain attached even after separation, is the two were the same craft. One quick drive from the Launchpad to the Daphy, followed by loading, later, and the crew of Jeb, Bill, Bob and Vall took off. The ascent from Kerbin was very sketchy, as poor TWR lead to a short re-entry during orbital insertion. But, it was successful, and 3 separate burns were done to get to Minmus. I initially landed on a plateau overlooking the Great Flats, as I wanted to pay homage to my first surface base, located in the same spot. However, it seems old me was an idiot, as this area had no ore, so I instead landed in the south strip of the Great Flats, which has ore (and was the site of my favourite suface base, go figure). Val and Bob took the rover out to scan nearby surface features, although the slippy surface of the slope resulted in some interesting ways to keep still. After returning, the rover was reattached to boost overall EC, and the mining began. Y3 - Transfer to Jool The transfer was done at Y3, as I was trying to use Jool as an assist to reach Sarkin. This plan was scuppered when, forgetting the Oberth effect was a thing, I spent 2.5km of dV ejecting to Jool from Minmus' orbital height. Just when all hope seemed lost, I remembered Pol existed. Y6 - Pol Landing Landing on Pol was tense, as by this point Daphy was running on fumes. Landing though, was achieved. The rover was not deployed, as there were no large features on Pol. During the mining process, I was able to experience a Jool eclipse. The colours are extra vivid as I installed Spectra Scatterer, which makes the eclipses, IMO, look better than stock Scatterer. Following this was a 19 year long wait for an efficient Sarkin window. Y25 - Transfer to Sarkin This was pretty standard, though this did take place during a rare Bop eclipse on Jool. And, after 11 years... Y36 - Sarkin Arrival After several assists of Tyrant, the capture burn around Moach began. Half of it was done at Sarkin periapsis to keep the actual encounter as efficient as possible. Even still, the full circularization took several orbits. The descent was turbulent, as Daphy span out hard. Luckily, I was able to stabilize the plane, and made a successful landing on the surface. (see top of post) The rover was deployed, before being stowed for the mining process. I'll do a second post for the return, as this is getting quite long.

I think the game treats asteroid sampling as a state specific experiment (i.e: you can do it for space low, flying high, splashed etc), I don't know about biomes though. EDIT - It is biome specific, but only when landed/splashed

Courtesy of Spectra Scatterer.

That only happened when I dedcided to test a Moach lander as an LKO SSTO and realised it had about 2700m/s left thx Here's a couple more images

Nearly done with Challenge 5.

Today I managed to limp this SSTO to Moach, from the planet pack Beyond Jool. This took several landings for refueling, using Minmus (2X), Bop, Pol and another body from this pack, Kotta. I'll do a full post on this at some point - hoping to land this back on Kerbin tomorrow

just read the wiki for GP2 Beyond Jool on the KSP Forums by Mr. Kerbin is a planet mod that has a blue, second gas planet as a Saturn analog, Sarkin. Like GP2, it is larger than Jool. It also uses some ideas from GP2’s moons, with the option to make Eeloo a moon as well. sneaky

The page on the Deep Space Kraken is far, far worse. Danny's Glitch Device (also 10 years ago) is listed as 'Recently Discovered'.

Looking good, just make sure to get some pictures during the mission what steroids did you give that rocket?

Sorry, got confused.

here too, and can't find biomes for Anune bodies

mfw i finish a moach mission and only complete one of the objectives also, do the rover and the plane have to land as one craft, or can they be separately landed?

1. Quicksave often. Most of the catastrophic mission failures I have endured could have been wholly avoided by using f5 - f9 more often 2. Overengineering is better than underengineering 3. Get good at planning out in real time. Improv can seriously help you avoid failures. 4. Gravitiy assists are your friends. especially Laythe, Tylo and (in case of post - Jool planets) Jool assists. Learn how to use them. 5. Use the cheat menu to test designs. This is a great time-save, especially with Eve landers. 6. A kerbal's terminal velocity at Kerbin sea level is slower than the speed needed to die during splashdown. 7. Use the right engine for the right job, and in the case of the Kodak never.