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This challenge was continued with permission from the previous thread manager @sdj64 LINK to the old Jool-5 thread There are over forty-five pages of entries and discussion, so look and see what made it and what didn't LINK to the older Jool-5 thread. There are hundreds of pages of entries and discussion, so look at it to see what worked and what didn't! 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, kraken drives, 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 low Kerbin orbit (preferably below 100km, not a hard ceiling though, but do try to stay around or below 100km at most). 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. Once the ship leaves LKO, it cannot obtain more parts or fuel unless it mines and refines the fuel itself. 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 / DLC: 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. DLC: Any and all DLC made for Kerbal Space Program are allowed. 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. Low mass and low cost and low parts sub-challenges: with stock parts and physics, how low can you go and still accomplish the mission? NOTE: Low cost submissions may not utilize ISRU, or a negative cost would be possible. (Thanks @jinnantonix!) 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. GATECRASHER / HONORARY MENTIONS: Missions completed the mission in spirit but didn't meet every requirement. 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. Hall of Fame 1st Level- - @Laie Video here. Used a smaller-than-you'd-expect rocket with a dedicated Tylo lander and a spaceplane shell that encloses the Vall-Bop-Pol lander to make the Laythe lander. A very well done mission with a great video. - @Stratzenblitz75 Video here. Used a completely reusable mission involving a tiny mothership which orbited Tylo and tiny landers that explored the system. I should also point out that no nuclear engines or ions were used in the mission. Truly impressive. - @Ultimate Steve Videos here and here. Used a single launch in career mode sending Val to many places in the system including Vall. Very impressive how quickly the mission was thrown together and carried out. - @IncongruousGoat Album here. A simple, single launch Jool 5 mission that only uses 42 parts! Very well optimized and well done. Good job! - @chargan ISRU Gif here. Used an ISRU shuttle and hopped from Kerbin, to the Mün, to the Joolian moons, to Duna, and finished it off with a glorious vertical landing at the KSC. Excellent job! - @GRS Album here. Used a massive, creatively named mothersheep that carried landers for Laythe and Tylo, landing on Vall and Bop (AND DRES!) by itself. As an added bonus, the lonely Dres was even visited, that doesn't happen very often. Amazing job! - @Challyss Album here. Used a brute force 5 meter launch booster with two 5 meter side boosters. Once in LKO used a vector-power stage to boost to an elliptical orbit, then used a rhino powered mothership to go to Jool, where it completed the mission. - @5thHorseman Videos here. Used a single launch to send three Kerbals to the Jool system, where the ship parked in an elliptical Tylo orbit. From there a tug took the landers to their respective moons where they *wait for it* landed. The ship then fired all three Kerbals home safely. An amazing mission and equally amazing videos. - @Xurkitree Grand Tour Thread here. A surprisingly small mission that not only landed on all the Jool moons, but also every other planet and moon in the system. The mission sent a craft out to Eeloo, which landed and returned to Jool before heading home. Once in orbit Derton was picked up by a recovery rocket and landed safely back on Kerbin. Outstanding. ISRU Video here. I don't even know where to start, Xurkitree didn't just do a Jool 5 in this mission, they did it twice. A large SSTO ISRU craft launched and refueled on Minmus before gravity assisting its way to Jool where it completed the landings and then returned to Kerbin, WHERE IT RELAUNCHED and then detached a small non-ISRU craft which carried out the landings again. A fun note was when the Laythe lander landed by computer control while the Kerbal parachuted down. Great job on your fourth Jool 5 submission! - @dvader Album here. A single launch using only chemical engines. Used several gravity assists to make the trip to Jool cheaper in terms of delta-v. Used a small but capable plane for Laythe, and a donut lander for the other moons (with extra fuel for Tylo and Vall.) Overall a very optimized mission, complete with a near KSC landing. - @fulgur Album here. A very small and well optimized mission with a smaller-than-you'd-expect mothership. Ions were used to scoot Jeb and Vall about the system to the various moons, and then left as the small mothership made its way home, getting into Kerbin orbit with only forty m/s of delta-v remaining. (Talk about close margins!) The crew were returned safely by an Aether SSTO. - @Pro100kerbonaut ISRU Mission report here. Used an SSTO spaceplane to go to Minmus to refuel, then flew off to Jool. This mission is the most impressive in how it handled the Tylo landing. Not only was the landing done using the SSTO, but it came directly from Vall without refueling at Bop or Pol. The landings were all completed flawlessly, but was destroyed in a crash landing back on Kerbin. The pilot survived though, and any landing you can walk away from... - @dnbattley Album here. A direct ascent mission to all five moons, starting with Pol and Bop, then Vall, Tylo, and finally Laythe. The tensions on this mission were very high, as Jeb began his Tylo descent on a NERVA powered craft with a TWR of .9, managing to get it above 1 just in time to pull off the landing. From there Jeb flew to Laythe where he somehow missed the ocean (this might be a KSP first) and used the craft's jets to push it into the water for an ocean launch. After struggling back into orbit, Jeb flew by Tylo back to Kerbin, using a Duna aerogravity assist to get the right trajectory (ARE YOU SERIOUS?) Upon returning to Kerbin he was able to sneak in a Minmus landing. This mission is without a doubt one of the more Kerbal ones submitted, complete with Jeb gliding the final stage down to Kerbin with his EVA chute. - @EveMaster Grand Tour, ISRU Thread here. Additional album here. EveMaster managed to complete the Jool 5 challenge with an ISRU craft, utilizing the power of two mammoth engines and a detachable spaceplane. Also went the extra few million miles and completed a grand tour! Both Bob and Jeb were on this mission, however Bill stayed behind on Eve, so only Jeb is being considered for this entry. Regardless, an excellently executed mission. - @ManEatingApe, @Jacke, @dvader, @Muetdhiver, @Rakaydos, and @Pds314 Mission thread here. What these users have completed is the first community Jool 5 mission for this specific thread, possibly the first ever. Furthermore, this mission was done in a 'caveman' style approach, meaning no maneuver nodes, tier one buildings, and launch mass restrictions. These restraints meant the main ship was built over multiple launches. The landings were carried out by a plane and three identical landers, which carried Jeb to, around, and back to Kerbin from the Jool system with excruciating precision. I highly suggest checking out this mission's thread, it's one of a kind! - @Space Nerd Album here. Using a long nuclear mothership, Jeb and Malvis conquered the Jool system in a surprisingly easy manner. An off-center Bop/Pol lander was docked onto the side of the mothership, leading to one of the more interesting mothership designs. Jeb took Laythe, Tylo, and Vall, and Malvis handled Bop and Pol. Once all the landings were done, they flew back to Kerbin and used a 10 meter heat shield to slow down and splashed into the ocean. - @ralanboyle Video here. Using a single brute force launch, a main station of sorts was put into Jool orbit,. From there a Laythe-plane was released, and upon returning from Laythe, a lander/fuel tank combo (and an extra part for Tylo) took on Tylo, then Vall, then Bop, then Pol. They forgot to put a flag on Pol, but who cares. Also, the lander was able to return to Kerbin all by itself. Quite the capable craft I'd say. The mission is edited into a very nice video, and I suggest giving it a watch if you've got the time. - @Carbonjvd Album here. Using the incredibly stylish IPV Excelsior spacecraft, Tridous Kerman flew to Minmus to refuel, where she picked up two more crew members in Minmus orbit. From there they flew to Jool, where they refueled at Bop. After the tanks were full, they hopped to Pol, then Tylo, then Bop again, then Vall. From Vall the crew hopped back to Bop for more refueling, then flew to Laythe. After converting stored ore into liquid fuel, the crew touched down on an island, then (you guessed it) flew back to Bop! (for more fuel) From this final Bop landing, the Excelsior returned to Minmus where it all began, then safely touched down on Kerbin. A stylish landing for a stylish craft. - @camacju Grand Tour. Album here. This mission is impressive as it not only visited the five moons of Jool, but also every other landable surface in the Kerbol System. The Jool portion of this mission was completed after the mothership completed the Eve portion, then used gravity assists to get to Jool. A Tylo assist put the ship on course to aerobrake at Laythe, and after landing on Laythe the lander was then reused for Tylo. The other moons were completed using a smaller lander, and the brave Kerbonaut landed back at Kerbin after quite an exciting trip. Video here. A very well edited video of a Jool 5 mission which used only liquid fuel! Launching from the runway as a spaceplane, the craft flew up before staging its rapier engines and continuing to orbit on nerva-power. The Laythe landing was done using a smaller spaceplane, and the rest of the landings were done using a very impressive lander which used only 1 nerv engine to land on all the other moons, including Tylo! The lander also served as a trip home and as a heat shield so that the brave kerbonaut could parachute to safety. This mission is beautifully summed up in the video link, and I highly suggest checking it out. A truly unique mission! Video here. Another liquid fuel only mission! This one utilized multiple relaunches of the same spaceplane to put multiple fuel tankers in orbit. From there, the craft departed for Jool after some gravity assists and once again demonstrated the unusual, difficult, and impressive use of a nerv-powered Tylo lander. The video this mission was edited into is nice and tidy as well, and I suggest watching so you can see all the work that went into it. Video here. And yet another Jool 5 mission, but this time with only one engine! A cargo spaceplane with a single rapier made multiple launches to place several fuel tankers into orbit before flying a gravity-assist-utilizing course to Jool. Once in Jool space, the Laythe landing was conducted first, and then the plane ditched its outer shell so that just the rapier engine and a few fuel tanks remained. The craft then docked to a fuel module in orbit and flew to Vall, landed, then went to Tylo where a dedicated fuel drop-tank was used with what I'll dub "backflip staging". From there the Pol and Bop landings were done, with fuel to spare. After a fiery return to Kerbin, the brave Kerbonaut, Wildard, paraglided safely into the ocean. I recommend giving this video a watch, because it's short, to the point, and an amazing display of Kerbal engineering. Grand Tour. Video here. This mission is truly a record breaker, as not only was it a Jool 5, but it is the lowest mass Grand Tour without ISRU record holder, with a take off mass of 14.447 tons, less than a Mammoth engine! To focus on the Jool 5 portion of the mission, a spaceplane made a bouncy, thrash-flippy landing, then a tiny tiny lander was used to tackle Tylo. Pol and Bop were handled by a small ion lander, and Vall was handled by a lander so small it looks like a pancake. You should definitely give this mission's video a watch, as words cannot truly describe just how insanely optimized this mission was. - @Goufalite Video here. This mission began with the assembly of a main mothership in LKO. Once complete, the ship cruised to Jool where it used gravity assists to achieve orbit. From there, the spaceplane was deployed to Laythe, but missed its target island. Never fear! The spaceplane had such high performance it was able to fly to a nearby island. Once back with the mothership, the SSTO was drained and detatched, and a capsule on its nose was undocked and docked to the Tylo lander. The Tylo lander used 2 aerospike engines to blow its way to the surface, and the final stage of the lander redocked to the mothership to be reused as the lander for Vall, Bop, and Pol. After visiting Vall and Pol, the lander flew by itself (and out of connectivity range) to Bop, where it landed and returned to Pol all on its own (Goufalite found this method was more fuel efficient). After returning to the mothership at Pol, a Tylo gravity assist sent the crew home, and both safely landed only 50 kilometers from the KSC. This mission made me nostalgic for my first Jool 5 mission, which in turn makes this mission special to me. Nice job, @Goufalite. - @king of nowhere Grand Tour. Mission thread here. This mission was done using Kerbalism, and an absolute UNIT of a mothership. Appropriately named the DREAM BIG, this ship conducted the Jool 5 challenge with dozens of farms, radiation shields, and drop ships to keep itself self-sufficient. Fighting food limitations, mod issues, solar storms, insanity and radiation damage, the crew of DREAM BIG flew throughout the entire Kerbol system planting flags on every world. The mission thread is an entertaining read, and has a video tour of the DREAM BIG spacecraft, which I highly recommend you check it out. I congratulate @king of nowhere on completing the mission, and for not losing their sanity in the process! Mission thread here. This mission was done with tremendous build constraints, and done entirely in a no-contract career mode save. Each launch was limited to 20-25 tons, meaning it took dozens of flights to finish the main ship, the Marco Polonium. The ship used many cost and weigh saving methods, including using the Laythe lander as a stage on Tylo, and by using claws instead of docking ports in some cases. The mission also visited Duna, Ike, Eeloo, Dres, and Eve (orbit) as well. This mission is one of the most entertaining ones I've reviewed (along with one of the most optimized) and I highly recommend giving it a read. Mission thread here. This mission was much like @king of nowhere's previous two in the sense that it involved Kerbalism and self-imposed building constraints. The result was a Jool 5 mission designed and flown to be as realistic as possible, and done with a maximum LKO mass of 140 tons. Bill and Bob took the Economic Downturn and its support craft to Jool and visited Tylo first, using the Seated Man lander, then made way for Laythe to deploy the Sole spaceplane, each accompanied by the space tug Right Answer. Sole's upper stage was reused as a Vall lander, while Seated Man's upper stage was used to land on Bop and Pol. For the inner three moons, great care was taken to limit the radiation damage incurred on the crew, with Bill being irradiated all the way to 95% upon his return to Economic Downturn. The return trajectory had to be tweaked a few times to prevent the capsule overheating, but Bill and Bob ultimately prevailed, and returned to Kerbin with nearly 500kg of samples. This mission is one of the few anxiety inducing submissions due to the challenges imposed by Jool's radiation belt. If you are a fan of gripping mission threads, I suggest giving this one a read. - @Lt_Duckweed Video here. This Jool 5 mission is notable for three reasons. Firstly, it is fully recoverable. Secondly, it only uses two engines, being the nerva and rapier. And thirdly, it was edited into a masterpiece of a video. This mission began with a launch just west of the KSC, and made a direct transfer to Jool. Upon Jool arrival, the elegently designed craft deployed a nerva-propelled lander, which performed the Tylo landing. After refueling at the main ship, the lander then visited Vall, Bop, and Pol with refueling trips to the main ship in between. The lander then returned to the main craft, which transfered to Laythe, completing the final landing. The craft then returned to Kerbin and came to a stop on the KSC runway, returning with it every part it launched with. I must repeat the high quality video the mission is edited into, and strongly suggest giving it a watch. - @bwest31415 Album here. This mission began with the launch of a long thin rocket which was followed by a normal transfer to Jool. Upon arrival to Jool however, inflatable heat shields were used to induce a Joolian aerobrake, a maneuver I've scarcely seen used since the addition of reentry heating to the game. The first landing to be done was Laythe, and the final stage of the lander was used to land on Vall and Tylo. The lander then left the main ship behind and traveled to Pol, then Bop, then back to Kerbin all without refueling. Jeb landed safely back on Kerbin after a toasty aerocapture, and exited the pod to take in a nice mountain view. - @18Watt ISRU, Thread here. This mission was done as both a Jool 5 and a Kerpollo submission. The mission began with a brute force launch and direct transfer to Jool. The mothership used wolfhound engines, which was good for TWR but slow when the ship was fully fueled. The ship flew first to Tylo, and after landing, the Tylo ascent stage would be reused for later landings. Next, the ship went to Bop to refuel, then to Laythe, where a staged spaceplane returned the brave Kerbonaut to the mothership. Next Val went to Vall, then the ship went to Pol and landed, before returning the crew to Kebrin, who parachuted to the surface of one of Kerbin's icecaps. - @OJT ISRU, Thread here. This mission was fully reusable* (apart from deployed fairings but we couldn't decide if that counted or not) and landed every component of the main ship back on Kerbin upon finishing the Jool system's exploration. The mission began with three launches, one for the mothership, one for the lander, and one for the SSTO spaceplane. Due to unfortunate moon placements, no gravity-assisted captures were possible and a retroburn was conducted. From there, a surprise Laythe aerocapture was conducted, saving much needed fuel. After the Laythe landing, the main ship flew to Vall, left the plane in orbit, and then landed with the lander beneath it and refueled on the surface. Next up was a Tylo landing with razor thin fuel margins, followed by Pol and Bop. It is worth noting that this mission did not repeat OJT's previous Jool 5 mission's Pol refueling process, in which the lander did numerous trips to the surface to bring tiny bits of fuel up to the main ship. With the landings complete and plenty of fuel to spare, the ship flew back to Kerbin where it landed piece by piece, with the lander being launched an SSTO parachute module. An excellent mission, and no doubt a fine achievement. - @kspfreak Video here. This mission not only visited the moons of Jool, Bop's Kraken, and in a rather small vehicle, but also visited every other moon in the entire Kerbol System! This mission's video is a fun watch, and ends with a fun paraglide back to the KSC. A mini grand tour of sorts, and very well done. - @JeDoesStuff ISRU, Video here. An SSTO submission! Coming in with a mass at just under 30 tons, JeDoesStuff showed off an incredibly refined ISRU SSTO by flaunting it around the Jool System. Included on the spaceplane are subtle but clever features to aid in launching horizontally, such as Vernier thrusters on the nose to raise attitude during takeoff, as well as a large landing gear that is only deployed to angle the craft. I haven't seen the latter of those additions on an SSTO before, so I applaud the ingenuity! The video this submission is contained within is also very well edited, resulting in a brief, yet concise viewing experience. If you're looking for a fun video to watch, or to see a razor-thin-margin Tylo landing, then this submission is for you. Low Mass - @EvermoreAlpaca Video here. Mass of 6.2 tons. Spaceplane launch, gravity assists off Kerbin and Eve to reach Jool. Landed on Laythe with the same rapier used in the launch stage, returned to orbit with an incredible TWR, scooted over to Tylo where the most bare-bones Tylo lander I've ever seen was used to land on and take off from Tylo (saved fuel by having Bill push it to the top of the mountain), flew over to Vall where the landing was done using staged batteries and a single ion engine. The Vall lander (which was also part of the Laythe lander) completed the last two landings on Bop and Pol and returned to Kerbin using many more gravity assists before preforming an aerobraking, with Bill parachuting to the space center and landing atop the RnD. - @Alpaca Z Video here. Mass of 5.8 tons. Vertical launch using a whiplash ramjet engine, which was staged prior to orbital insertion. Resonant orbits with Kerbin and Mun assists were used to set up a KEKKJ gravity assiste route to save fuel. Spider engines were used in a two-stage Laythe lander design to save weight, and EVA construction was used to rebuild craft to negate the need for decouplers or rebuild the craft (or get away with only bringing one chair). Landings were otherwise routine apart from an incident on Tylo where the lander fell on its side, requiring an intuitive solution to rebuild the craft in such a way it could use redundant engines as support pillars. The video is very well narrated and goes into much more detail regarding the craft's design and flight plan, I highly recommend watching it to get the full picture of this mission. - @camacju Video here. Mass of 5.2 tons (Current Record!). This mission not only shatters the previous record, but does so with an impeccably made video. Launch mass was saved in numerous ways, one of which involved using tiny flags in place of landing gear for the horizontal KSC Runway takeoff. EVA construction was used to reassemble the craft(s) into what was needed at any given point during the mission. The vessels flown and techniques used are difficult to describe, so I highly encourage a watch of this mission to see some of the best of Kerbal engineering. - @camacju and @Ultimate Steve Grand Tour, Video here. Mass of 7.6 tons. This is a meticulously crafted and borderline perfectly executed low mass mission. This was not only a Jool 5, but also an entire grand tour weighing not even 8 tons! The video's excellent editing allows it to speak for itself, and I highly recommend you watch this mission to see perhaps the greatest low mass mission in the history of KSP. Low Cost - @jinnantonix Video here. 34,663 funds. The thread's first low cost submission! Using a low cost launch vehicle and a K-E-K-K-J flyby route, the mission put Val and a fuel-tanker station in elliptical Laythe orbit. From there one lander tackled Laythe, and another tackled the other four moons, with an extra few stages for Tylo. It is worth mentioning that this mission used no electrical charge and relied entirely on engine gimbal and some RCS to steer. On the way back, a double Eve flyby helped slow down, so an aerocapture could be done at Kerbin, where Vall proceeded to parachute onto the VAB. - @camacju Mission here. 24,070 funds. This mission used a SRB powered launch stage and a terrier powered transfer vehicle to get the landers to Jool (after numerous gravity assists). A dedicated Laythe lander tackled the ocean-world, while a multi-stage Tylo lander tackled the rest of the moons, and returned the brave Kerbonaut Wildard Kerman to Kerbin. Before heading back however, the new space-construction method was utilized to steal a solar panel from the transfer stage, marking the first time this creative form of staging has been used. Mission here. 17,635 funds (Current Record!). This mission is a more stripped down version of @camacju's previous low cost mission. This mission featured a visit to Laythe's ocean floor, and utilized eva construction to manually remove empty fuel tanks from the mission. Additionally, eva fuel tanks were used to refill the brave kerbonaught's jetpack to enable fuel savings by extended jetpack use. Low Parts - @bayesian_acolyte ISRU, Album here. A small, single stage craft comprising of 31 parts. Bayesian_acolyte said there could have been some part count improvements, but even without it the mission still did so much with so little. This mission shows just how far ISRU can be stretched, especially with that Tylo landing. - @Majk Thread here. A simplistic Jool 5 mission consisting of only 30 parts . The mission began using a very basic launch stage, and flew to Jool using a long nuclear ship. Lander reuse enabled part count savings, and usage of the nuclear ship as an ablative heat-shield helped return Val to Kerbin's surface in one piece. - @Majk Video here. Easily the most simple Jool 5 mission completed to date, accomplished using only 9 parts (Current Record!). This mission started with the 9th part, an RTG, stowed inside the command pod before installing it in orbit. It is also worth recognizing that a clever method of timewarping in the tracking station enabled refueling to take place while utilizing only a single RTG. The submission takes the form of a short, concise, and wel narrated video, and I highly encourage giving it a watch. 2nd Level - @jinnantonix ISRU, Album here. Used a big launch with a self-refueling vector-powered lander that made multiple Laythe landings and mined ore from every moon. Two kerbals were landed on each moon and the lander was recovered at KSC. - @Kerbolitto ISRU, Album here. Excellent mission done using two space shuttles capable of refueling on moons. Absolutely amazing job. In all things I ever thought I would see happen in KSP, a space shuttle landing on Tylo was not one of them. - @Marschig ISRU, Videos here. Not one, not two, but three ISRU planes flew to Jool and to all five moons on both the 3rd and 2nd levels. The SSTOs also visited Duna and Minmus in their missions before landing back at the KSC. Truly exceptional. This is the first time I've seen three Jool 5s all submitted at one time! - @PhoenixRise86 Album here. Used a mothership for the first part of the mission, then resorted to ions to get to Ike and Minmus, then safely back home. Also, this is the first 2nd level mission to not use ISRU. - @GRS: Album here. The highly anticipated Sheep v2 did not disappoint, and went above and beyond by visiting not just Jool's moons but also Kerbin's and Dres. Used massive nuclear boosters to get around the Jool system and the Tythe lander to get two Kerbals on every moon and Dres, before using the Sheep v2 to land the entire crew on Minmus and Mun. Spectacular! - @Xurkitree ISRU Video here. This modded mission utilized ISRU, a nuclear mothership, and eight aerospikes to land on all five of Jool's moons with Cerdrin and Lodous Kerman. Returned the lander and mothership to LKO where a separate rocket retrieved the crew. I highly encourage watching the video submitted, it is excellently edited and the music supports the awe of the mission. - @QF9E Thread here. This mission used a blunt-force approach by lifting off on a powerful launch stage, and made quick work of Jool's moons. The moons were all visited by one lander, which dropped various attachments that helped it land on some of the bigger moons. At the end of the mission, the three brave kerbonauts safely touched down in the ocean, and a BFR style spacecraft recovered the remains of the lander in Kerbin orbit for historical preservation. Truly an impressive mission indeed! - @Mars-Bound Hokie ISRU Mission here. Using the Anubis II SSTO, Tancan, Fernal, and Kenby Kerman flew to Minmus to refuel, then blasted off for Jool. After touching down on Laythe to refuel, the crew went for Bop, then to Tylo. After landing with no liquid fuel to spare, the Anubis II was refueled, then launched for Pol. After a risky auto-piloted landing, the ship refuel before bounding to Vall, where the crew had a group picture. Heading back to Kerbin, a mix of brute force and aero-braking was used to get the trajectory needed to get back to the KSC, and then the crew refused to ditch the plane and pulled off the legendary runway landing. - @king of nowhere Mission here. "And so I completed the Jool 5 in day 383, 1 hour and 9 minutes of a new career" are the words typed by @king of nowhere at the end of the mission thread, and fundamentally capture the astronomical accomplishment documented within it. In a career save speedrun, it was decided to focus on a Jool 5, and the mission was optimized for time rather than mass or cost. The amounts of delta-v put into each maneuver to achieve bullet-like trajectories around the Kerbolar and Jool systems is simply jaw dropping. Over the course of the flight, the La coscienza di xenon and its landers managed to plant flags on all 5 moons within a 12 day window, which I don't believe has ever been done before. If you wish to see the chronicles of a one-of-a-kind, record setting Jool 5 mission, the flight of the La coscienza di xenon is the mission thread for you. Grand Tour Mission here. @king of nowhere's second Kerbalism Grand Tour, but with radiation shielding 3 times less effective, bugs, life support issues, frantic crew members smashing fuel cells and dumping food overboard, and so much more! This mission chronicles the Nail Bolt on its tour around the solar system, finding monoliths on every world and making it back in roughly two decades. This mission thread covers the begins, rebeginnings, redesigns, quick fixes, and compromises that took place during the Bolt's journey not just to Jool's 5 moons, but to every other surface as well. This is one of the most thorough submissions the challenge has seen, and is a great resource for those considering Kerbalism entries of their own. - @Lyra Mission here. A single launch mission! Using a spaceplane for Laythe, a notably slim Tylo lander (with a reusable upper stage for Vall), and an ion lander for Bop and Pol, this mission was a pleasant, self contained romp around the Jool System. One unique aspect of this mission I've seldom seen elsewhere was the use of claws on the nuclear mothership's outer hull. This allowed the landers to not need docking ports and attach to the hull like barnacles. A very clever, mass saving decision for the landers for sure! 3rd Level - @iAMtheWALRUS Grand Tour, ISRU, Album here. Used SSTOs to launch the mission and used moon hopping to get around the Kerbol system. Very nicely done. Also, first 1.4 submission - @sturmhauke Album here. To put it in the words of the pilot them self; "A mostly reusable mission to all 5 of Jool's moons. Single launch SSTO carrier drone, with a separable mothership and 5 landers." Very well done and efficient mission. Used fuel cells to power ion crafts for Bop and Pol, sent a plane to Laythe, and conquered Tylo with a rocket lander. - @mystifeid Album here, ISRU. Used two launches to put a mothership and a universal lander into orbit. Then used left over launch stage to boost to Jool and then around the system until it ran out and was staged at Tylo. Bob landed on every moon, accompanied with a different Kerbal for every moon. Very nice mission, and even had the added bonus of a near KSC landing. - @PhoenixRise86 Album here. Used a single launch of pure rocketry, no jets, ions, or nukes used in the entire mission. This mission did the Jool 5 mission in style, with some of the most interesting landers I've ever seen, including an aerospike Laythe plane. - @Marschig ISRU, Videos here. Not one, not two, but three ISRU planes flew to Jool and to all five moons on both the 3rd and 2nd levels. The SSTOs also visited Duna and Minmus in their missions before landing back at the KSC. Truly exceptional. This is the first time I've seen three Jool 5s all submitted at one time! - @jinnantonix ISRU, Video here. Of all the Jool 5 missions I have seen in this thread so far, none treat their Kerbals better than Jinnantonix has. The craft was modular in design and split into several different arrangements for various landings, and came with a gravity spin for deep space transit. Very considerate, and very awesome. - @Grogs Album here. Two launches to build the main ship in orbit, one crew launch for realism. Used a giant transfer stage to get the landers to Jool. Chemical engines pushed the landers about the Jool system, with nine Kerbals in total being involved in the mission. Once the landings were completed the mothership returned to Kerbin where a fourth launch collected the Kerbals and returned them safely to Kerbin. - @Pipcard ISRU Thread here. A well executed, eight Kerbal mission with one of the longest ships I've ever seen in this game. Excellent mission that toured the Jool System in an engaging thread. Mission was assembled in multiple parts, flew to Jool, landed on the moons (being sure to refuel on Bop and Pol when needed), EVA jetpacked off Tylo, and the crew was returned to Kerbin by a separately flown space plane. - @Kerbolitto ISRU Mission here, here, and here. Kerbolitto's second submission! Using a space shuttle with several surface experiments, a crew of eight explored the system. The Tylo landing was done with perfect margins, landing with no fuel left! This craft may also hold the record for lowest TWR launch of Bop in history, and an outpost on Laythe with a mini-plane was even constructed. Bob chose to stay behind and man the base while the crew returned home. Excellent end to an excellent mission! - @Ksp Slingshooter Album here. Assembled the main ship using multiple launches, then flew to Jool, settling in an elliptical Jool orbit with some help from a few gravity assists. From there the landers detached and flew to their moons, one by one and completed their landings. Due to some unexpected occurrences at Laythe, the Vall lander swooped in and rescued the Kerbal, taking both back to the mothership. Without enough room in the command pods for everyone, two brave Kerbals rode back to Kerbin on ladders, detaching and re-rendezvousing during timewarp. A rescue craft was launched, and met the mothership just in time, with only three minutes to transfer the Kerbals before a fiery re-entry. Truly a Kerbal mission! - @RoninFrog ISRU Thread here. Using the gloriously huge HMS Sauron, Jeb and 16 friends took to Jool in this massive SSTA. First they stopped at the Mun, then flew to Pol, then Tylo, then Vall, Laythe, and finally Bop. On the way back to Kerbin, time and fuel and the positions of the planets made a Duna landing prove itself most useful, before heading back to the Mun, and finally, back to Kerbin. This 1 stage mission has some amazing screenshots in its thread, as well as most amusing comments for each picture. If you're wanting to learn more about an ISRU approach, I suggest giving this mission a peak. - @OutInSpace Video here. Using a total of eight launches, this mission's mothership was constructed methodically, complete with an enormous pair of transfer boosters. After heading to Jool directly, the mothership flew to Tylo, Vall, and Laythe by itself, and sent an ion craft to Bop and Pol instead. After numerous attempts, the Laythe plane was finally able to show what it could do, and the 5 crew returned to Kerbin orbit, where they were picked up by a landing craft. If you want to see the nitty-gritty maneuvers used during a Jool 5 mission, I suggest you check out this mission's video. Its editing and methodicalness make it an unintentional flight-tutorial for getting to Jool. - @Entropian ISRU Mission here. Using a 5 meter tank with 5 meter tanks strapped on the side and a large cluster of mastodon engines, the craft rocketed off the pad to Minmus, where it refueled and went off to Jool. Landing on Laythe proved to a close call, with ZERO delta-v remaining upon touchdown. From there the ship bounced to Vall, Tylo, Pol, and Bop, before making a rough splashdown on Kerbin. It is worth noting that the crew did forget to put a flag on Bop. However since every other mission criteria was met and the craft was landed on Bop it is still being counted. - @GRS Grand Tour. Mission here. This time with the Sheep v4 the Jool moons were visited again, along with 60 other destinations! Relying heavily on ion power, landing after landing was accomplished visiting worlds close to the sun, around Jool, and even outer dwarf planets. So many worlds were mentioned that the Jool 5 portion is only a tiny fragment of the overall mission. There is genuinely too much in that mission to describe here, so I highly suggest you check out the most expansive sheep yet's thread! - @s_gamer101. Mission here. This mission began with the launch of an enormous reusable launch system that placed the main ship in orbit. A trip to Jool ended with a fiery aerocapture above Laythe, where two of the crew members took a small spaceplane to the surface. After a tricky fuel situation in which drop tanks were accidentally kept as huge pieces of ballasts, the Tylo tug was used as an extra stage to boost the main ship. This proved to be enough delta-v, as once the landings were completed the ship cruised back to Kerbin, where they parachuted safely to complete the mission. - @AlpacaMall Mission here. This mission began with the launch and orbital construction of the KSS-J "Orca". Engineer construction added fuel lines and removed unneeded RCS thrusters, and the craft departed for Jool with a reusable lander upper stage, with lander stages for Laythe and Tylo. The landings were completed in the following order: Laythe, Tylo, Vall, Pol, Bop. From Bop, the Orca was left to serve as a relay station while the crew module left for Kerbin. The vessel landed with all the crew and 23458 science. - @BeanThruster Album here. This mission began with the launch of Vapidity, the mothership used during the mission. Instead of going to Jool, Vapidity made its first flight to an E-class asteroid so it could refill all of its fuel tanks (it launched almost empty to save weight). After flying to Jool, the first landing took place on Tylo, before leaving the engine nacelles in case later refueling was needed. Next, the last stage of the Tylo lander was used to land on Vall, then the lander flew solo to Bop where it awaited the rest of the ship. Vapidity took the time to take a spaceplane to Laythe, then went back to low Tylo orbit to refuel. Vapidity met the Vapidlander at Bop, conducted the landing, then went to Pol to do the same. Vapidity returned to Kerbin before the crew landed using the Laythe spaceplane. In total, the crew collected 20113.6 science. - @RuBisCO ISRU Album here. This mission began with a lot of mainsail engines to push the main craft into orbit, and delivered not one, but seven Kerbals to the surface of each moon. The first visit was Pol, where cleverly built piston legs kept the refueling craft perfectly level. Next was Bop, then Vall, then Tylo, where a rover and lab were brought to the surface and returned to orbit (except Tylo where it got left behind). For the Laythe landing, the crew took down a spaceplane, as well as a helicopter and a floating lab with plane-refueling capabilities. The helicopter was used to collect science from the local area, and after being refueled, the plane returned to orbit. After the main ship was refueled on Pol, the crew returned home. - @18Watt ISRU , Mission here. This mission is nearly identical to 18Watt's previous submission, but now has accommodated a unique Kerbal for each moon, bumping it from a 1st to a 3rd level submission. Main ship refueled on Minmus before heading to Jool, refueled on small moons, and pilots Val and Billy Bobfurt flew each unique specialist to their respective moons. - @Krazy1 ISRU, Album here. This mission was done with the Principia mod, which makes gravity and orbits behave more realistically. The spacecraft used was the "2 by 4", named after its two mammoth engines and four nervs. First the craft launched to Minmus, then visited a passing asteroid, then went back to Minmus to refuel, then shot off to Jool. After the Laythe landing, there was some trouble getting to Vall due to orbital issues. After Vall came a very bouncy Tylo landing, which was followed by a Pol landing, and then a Bop landing. It is worth noting that Bop is orbiting retrograde in this mod for orbital stability. After completing the landings and experimenting with weird orbits, the 2 by 4 traveled home, refueled on Minmus to prep for landing, and then touched down safely on Kerbin with its crew of 5. ISRU, Album here. This mission utilized an orange and gray aesthetically pleasing spacecraft. Once launched into orbit, the craft refueled on Minmus, then shot off to Jool where it landed on Vall, then flew to Tylo where it performed this landing, before nearly burning on Laythe, then finished up with Bop and Pol. Upon returning to Kerbin, some excess ore was turned to fuel to save weight, and the crew splashed down 10km from the KSC. - @Kimera Industries. Mission here. This mission's mission thread chronicles the Avocado on its journey to Jool's moons and back, using appropriately named components and landers. Due to its nuclear propulsion, the escape burn was split in two, though did not go gently into that good night, and upon arriving to Jool, took use of a convenient Tylo assist to go almost directly to Laythe. From Laythe, a lander was dispatched to Vall and Pol, then the entire ship reunited and migrated to Tylo where the landing was achieved on the fifth try. Next came Gilly 2.0 Bop, where an interesting SPOILER was discovered. Upon returning to Kerbin with little to no time for caution, the cargo container and its draggy friends kept the craft from overheating during airbraking, and the crew landed to live another day. Jeb's Level - @Xurkitree Grand Tour, ISRU Album Here. Collected 19,711.3 science from Jool on a girl's night out mission with no lack of gravity assists. A note from the author said that the mission greatly improved their skills in KSP and proved that fact well with the insane gravity assists they pulled off. Also first Jeb's Level on the new thread yay! - @ManEatingApe Video here. And here. And here. And here. And here. And here. Collected 16,532.0 science from Jool. There isn't anything I can say about this mission except you need to see it for yourself. Exclusively low tech was used, and collected in space science from all biomes. This mission did the near-impossible, with primitive parts, and landed all Kerbals safely back on Kerbin. - @SolarAdmiral Video here. Collected 42,296 science from the Jool System. Single launch on a cluster of three meter parts, before heading off to Jool. Started with Laythe first, landing using a floating platform. Science was collected with a small jet-powered boat. Next stop was Tylo, where a rover was used to collect science from many biomes. On Vall one landing was done, and a hop added to it before heading to orbit again. Numerous biomes collected from Bop and Pol by hopping around in their low gravities. Direct shot home and landed all seven Kerbals to tell the tale. Absolutely astounding mission! - @jinnantonix ISRU Video here. Collected 82,510 science from the Jool System. Single launch, one much smaller than you might expect. Used a plane to gather large amounts of science from Laythe, dove into Jool's atmosphere, grabbed science from almost if not everywhere, and even managed to use the Laythe plane as the final stage on the Tylo landing. Had an artificial gravity system to facilitate the kerbals, and landed back at the KSC. Honestly jinnatonix managed to do so much in this video I can't describe it all here so I suggest you just watch the video. Amazing job. - @GRS Album here. Collected 28,643 science from the Jool System. The long awaited Sheep mission that satisfied both the Kerpollo and Jool 5 requirements led by Simone Kerman that explored the Jool system and returned home Apollo style. The mission had a heavy launch and went to, around, and from Jool using a massive nuclear stage. The usage of the Scifi visual pack gave the mission a unique look as it took science from every moon (including Jool's upper atmosphere!) in style. Incredible. - @Jim123 Video here. Collected 8780.9 science from the Jool System. Single giant launch put a large nuclear mothership in orbit. Flew straight to Laythe where the landing was completed with a dual stage to orbit (and Jeb's jetpack). From there the crew went to Vall and landed, before heading to Tylo and dropping one of the most Kerbal looking Tylo landers I've ever seen to the surface. After Tylo biome hopping was used on Bop and Tylo, before a pair of service modules detached and went back to Kerbin, boosting each other home where the crew landed. Nice video. - @jost ISRU Album here. Collected 16940.2 science from the Jool system. Flew to Jool using a long nuclear mothership. From there an ion ore probe helped find ore on every moon but Laythe for the rocket lander. Laythe used a three seat plane for the landing, and even found a geyser while on the surface. Landed on Tylo with 1m/s to spare before refueling, and landed everyone safely back on Kerbin after leaving the nukes in a graveyard orbit around Kerbin. Excellent! - @Beriev Album here. Collected 49430.1 science from the Jool system. This entire mission was done in a 6.4x solar system. Launched off the pad with an absolutely enourmous rocket, fittingly dubbed the 'Absolute Unit'. Used many kicks to get out to Jool, where the ship split up to tackle the moons. For Laythe and Tylo, ascent vehicles were landed separately, before the crew arrived on-surface. Later, both sets met up at Vall, then flew to Pol, then Bop, and then to Dres. After a fun journey, the Absolute Unit returned to Kerbin, and the crew landed safely. This mission has an incredible execution and design, as well as a well-captioned Imgur album. I highly suggest giving it a look. - @Pro100kerbonaut Video here. Collected 10238 science from the Jool system. This mission was done with a rather interesting, asymmetrically balanced ship, and had quite the bouncy ride. On Tylo parkour was done, on Laythe swimming. On Vall two landings were done, and on Pol and Bop the lander bounced around. This mission used a combination of a gravity assist off Tylo and a retro-burn to capture at Jool, and upon return to Kerbin parachutes were attached to the crew section using a klaw. A fun mission with great editing. - @king of nowhere ISRU Mission thread here. Collected 105136 science. This mission was insane from its conception, with the goal to collect every single bit of science from the Jool system as possible. While this goal was not ultimately accomplished, the mission is still one of the greatest Jool 5 submissions I have ever seen. To collect science on each world, a durable lander known as the Dancing Porcupine was deployed and driven on all moons but Laythe. For Laythe, a spaceplane called Absolutely NOT Albatross was used to collect science from each biome. In fact, Absolutely NOT Albatross did even more than just Laythe. Using a multi-stage attachment, Absolutely NOT Albatross visited the lower atmosphere of Jool and returned to tell the tale. The craft's brave pilot even took an EVA report while in flight before ascending. The main ship dubbed the Flying Christmas Tree, and was capable of refueling on low gravity worlds. Upon returning to Kerbin, a craft launched to return the brave Kerbonauts to their home-world. Having visited every biome on every moon, it is no surprise that this mission amassed more science than any other Jool 5 mission before it. I highly recommend viewing this mission's main thread. Amazing job king of nowhere! Mission thread here. Collected 11395 science from the Jool System. The sheer amount of effort put into this mission cannot be overstated. King of Nowhere started this mission as a nanocristalline diamond caveman mission, which in short meant no contracts, no facility upgrades, no quicksaving, on career mode, while starting the save with severe limitations. While the mission ended up needing quick-loading, it still is eye popping to see just how much work went into it. Each launch (in the VAB) was limited to 18 tons maximum, so a work around was used by having docking ports around the base of the rocket, to which separate boosters would be docked using a runway-launched rover. This meant that many launches required multiple launches of booster attachment vessels before the rocket itself could attempt to leave the pad. After over 100 launches, the Navis Sideralis Neanderthalensis and all its cargo were ready, and the ship departed for Jool, leaving a most amusing pattern of drop tanks in its wake. Upon reaching Jool, disaster struck when the Tylo lander suffered an anomoly, and quicksaves were needed to complete the Jool 5. While at Jool, science modules were discarded after use because a lack of KSC upgrades prevented their resetting, and every aspect of the mission, from flying between moons to the landings themselves, were executed with meticulous testing and prior calculation. I cannot possibly explain everything this mission did in this little blurb, so I highly encourage anyone who wants to see some of the best Kerbal engineering I've ever seen to check out the linked mission thread above. ISRU Mission thread here. Collected 142744 science (Current Record!) from the Jool system. This mission is perhaps the greatest Jool 5 missions to ever fly. A worthy successor to @king of nowhere's previous submissions, this mission collected practically every single piece of science that the Jool system has to offer, with only a few dozen science bits unobtained. In addition, the mission visited every single anomaly in the Jool system, performed circumnavigations of every moon, and flew a two-crew craft into Jool's upper atmosphere to collect science, and deployed an aircraft carrier to Laythe. The mission's thread linked above follows the journey of the Flying Christmas Tree 2, a massive mothership capable of landing and refueling itself, Leaping Mantis, a rover designed for climbing steep grades on alien worlds, Tamarromobile, a larger rover for Tylo, Phoenix, the spaceplane for Jool, Absolutely Not An Albatross, an SSTO for Laythe, and Garibarge, the aircraft carrier for Laythe so that Kerbals could disembark from Not Albatross and collected surface samples from Laythe's ocean biomes. The mission began with Flying Christmas Tree 2 being equipped with the landers, planes, and aircraft carrier. Use this link here to see the majesty of Flying Christmas Tree 2 in all its glory -> (https://youtu.be/h61wplb0DRw?si=HlNYwxnYPkPaem2k). From there, it flew to Minmus to land and refuel, and then departed for Jool. The following efforts to circumnavigate all 5 moons and locating the anomalies require an entire thread of its own, requiring one to view and read the entirety of the mission thread linked above. Out of all the Jool 5 missions I have ever reviewed, none have exhibited such effort or gone to the extent shown here. This is not one of many Jool 5 missions, this is the Jool 5. - @OJT ISRU Mission thread here. Collected 26871.3 science from the Jool System. This mission thread contains some of the most eye-catching, visually stunning KSP screenshots I have ever seen in a Jool 5 submission. The mission itself was tested and proofed in sandbox, and consisted of a long, skinny mothership, a spaceplane, and an ISRU lander for Tylo. With the lander and plane hanging from docking points on the main ship, the craft boosted to Jool and used a Tylo flyby to capture. Visiting Vall first, the lander took around 100 days to refuel. The ship then flew to Pol where the relatively tiny lander (in relation to the mothership) flew to Pol's surface and back numerous times to refuel the main ship before it could head to Bop. At Bop a kraken was discovered, and on Tylo the crew found it refreshingly eventless. The last destination was Laythe, where the plane and lander were left in orbit so the main ship could return to Kerbin. A return craft returned the crew and science, and crew XP was had by all. - @Robin Patenall Mission thread here. Collected 61174.6 science from the Jool System. This mission began with the construction of the Emerald Star, a large and reconfigurable interplanetary vessel that required 17 launches to complete. Once built, the Emerald Star used Eve and Kerbin gravity assists to efficiently sling itself to Jool and started with Tylo. Using one of the Emerald Star's 3 drive cores to send itself down to a lower Tylo orbit, the lander successfully brought the crew to and from the Tylic surface. When the mission reached Vall, a magical anomaly was discovered, one which would prove to be only one of many odd discoveries made on Jool's moons. An SSTO found one on Laythe as well, during one of its three total landings. A monolith was found on Pol, and a deceased kraken on Bop, one which caused a crew member to lament their inability to bury it. Once the landings had been complete, the remains of the Emerald Star returned home, where it was parked in Kerbin orbit awaiting future assignment. - @problemecium Mission thread here. Collected 8755.7 science from the Jool System. This mission thread covers the finally completed tale of the Aletheia, a massive, nearly 1.3 kiloton mothership. With numerous cargo bays, it brought landers, an SSTO, a deployable space station, numerous pieces of scientific equipment, and two ARKS to return the crew to Kerbin if needed. Upon construction, Aletheia and its seven crew members proceeded to Jool, using 46% of its total fuel. The transfer section was left behind in Laythe orbit while the rest of Aletheia continued on. After Laythe came Vall, where one of the ARKS was used to refuel the Tylo lander to enable it to tackle Vall (the ARK was then joined to the deployable station and left behind). The lander then tackled Tylo, and was left behind for future use. Bop saw the discovery of a hopefully deceased Kraken, and Pol marked landing number 5. This romp unfortunately depleted Aletheia of the fuel sufficient to return to Kerbin, so the second ARK spacecraft brought the crew home safely, using a Mun assist to tweak its final trajectory. This is one of the more aesthetically pleasing Jool 5 missions, and done in career mode in a very well typed out and necromanced thread, so if you are a fan of large stylish motherships, I would recommend giving this thread a view. Gatecrashers / Honorary Mentions - @JacobJHC Grand Tour, video here. Giant single launch craft, also visited every planet and moon from the OPM planet pack. Very big. Gatecrasher because crew hasn't landed yet. - @Fraus Mission here. There's nothing that can be said about this, other than that this mission definitely had more thought put into it than any other Jool 5 I've seen. - @cqIpb Mission here. This mission was flown on an Xbox, and pushed the console to its framerate limits! cqIpl was inspired to do a Jool 5 mission after finding this thread, and despite not being able to land on Laythe due to lander instability, still had a lot of fun finishing the rest of the mission, and took a few great screenshots along the way! As of writing this, cqIpb is still new to the KSP Forums. Welcome, we're glad you're here! - @Alpaca Z, using a craft built by @Lt_Duckweed (with permission) Grand Tour, ISRU . Video here. Using a rather simply built SSTA, this mission was a simple case of flying around the entire solar system and refueling everywhere. This craft utilized air-fans, ions, vectors, and nerv engines, allowing it to be not only capable of high efficiency maneuvers, but also those requiring high TWRs. A highlight of this mission was the strategy to use EVA construction to rebuild the back of the plane to enable it to land vertically on Tylo's surface. Why bring landing legs when you have wings that could do the job just as well? This mission's video submission is also of a high quality, so I recommend giving it a view. In all, the crew of three finished their grand tour in only 15 years and 117 days! Efficient and speedy Moved to Honorary Mentions due to the fact that the crew could not exit onto Tylo's surface.

Journey of the Avocado A Jool 5 Mission Report Long ago, (March 2023 I think) I set a goal of completing a Jool 5 before the end of the year. I began working on a Jool 5 ship but lost momentum pretty quickly. At that point, I hadn't even been to Duna, I was so inexperienced. Late November 2023, I picked up the muster to try it again- but it would be different this time. This time, I would do it on a science save, and get an actual reward from all this. Probably complete the tech tree, too. Arbitrarily, I named my ship the Avocado- and all the ships have kept an avocado naming rule as a result. To start with, I would launch a nuclear tug, but split it into two major parts- the first, relatively simple, and the second, like the first, but with four more radially placed and asparagus staging. Am I overdoing this just to compensate for my lack of skill? Maybe. Does it make me feel better about the chances of this working? Yes. And so, without further ado... Pit 1 launch: The launch of Pit 2: Docking the two Pits: Tada! Next, I will add a module with reaction wheels and more monoprop, because I ran out of it and it turns really slow without RCS. The Avocado is not complete. In my science save, I have the crew module docked, but I will have to post that another time. Coming up next on Journey of the Avocado: Launching the crew module (and a maneuvering module)!

Completing this challenge has been a dream of mine since I started playing KSP back in ~2018. I've played KSP on and off since then, and amassed several hundred hours of playtime, but today I finally finished my first ever Jool 5 Mission. One launch, no mining, no refueling, completely vanilla! And to be clear, no cheats or anything either. I'm sure posts exactly like this are made every day here, but I am really proud of this accomplishment, so I'd like to make my own going in-depth on the whole mission. I started thinking about doing this mission about a week ago. I had been coming back to the game and doing some things I'd never done before, like doing return missions to Tylo and Eeloo. At the time, my plan was really just to do a return mission to each celestial body, so I've truly explored the whole system. However, after visiting Pol and Bop, I started pondering the feasibility of a Jool 5 mission. I have distinct memories of fantasizing about doing the challenge years and years ago, and I even have the save files for one of those attempts. Although, I warn you, the lander designs are pretty... unconventional. This is a Tylo lander, apparently. Anyway, I'm pretty sure my biggest KSP achievement back then was stranding a lander on Duna, so needless to say I was not exactly equipped to do a Jool 5 mission. Over the years since then, however, I've played KSP periodically, getting better and better each time I come back. And as I said, this time I felt ready to go for it, so I did! When designing the craft, I took quite a lot of inspiration from Matt Lowne's Jool 5 video. This is most obvious in the Laythe spaceplane, because I am terrible at making SSTOs. However, I still made the whole craft myself from scratch without downloading anything or whatever. Speaking of the Laythe spaceplane, this was by far the hardest thing for me. I tested this thing relentlessly, spending hours descending and ascending over and over again in a testing save file. It took several days and many, many iterations of the plane to get something that could a) land on Laythe, and b) limp back into orbit again. Even in the final version, it barely could make it to orbit and I actually had to fly the mothership down a bit to pick it up. I think I had too much liquid fuel, but I'm not totally sure. The other lander to design would be for all the other moons, most notably Tylo. This was a piece of cake compared to the Laythe lander. I had already done a Tylo return without refueling, so I knew how to make it, and I didn't find it too difficult since I could use a lot of the same design elements (though I could only fit 4 side boosters instead of my previous 6). Nevertheless, I only had to make a couple changes while testing, and soon it was ready to go. After discarding the 4 side boosters via asparagus staging, the lander would be ready for use on the other vacuum moons (Vall, Pol and Bop). My first attempt ran into some issues with parts blocking NERV thrust, but after getting that sorted, I was ready to go. However, the second attempt didn't get too far either. I was struggling a lot with getting into orbit around Laythe, since I wanted to be as efficient as possible and was trying to aerobrake a little. However, my craft was not set up for that at all, so I could barely enter the atmosphere, and my encounter was pretty bad too so I was using a ton of DeltaV to circularize. I eventually got there, but I was in a retrograde orbit, and still struggling to get my plane to orbit after landing. I only had about 4.6k DeltaV parked in Laythe orbit (even without the plane) and I didn't really trust myself to finish the journey with such limited fuel. So, I decided to start over, making some changes to the craft to allow for easy aerobraking. Finally, we are at the important part of this post, the actual final mission. I launched 3 days ago, and this is what the craft looked like, rocket and mothership. In the VAB, the whole thing weighed in at 1300 tons, with 262 parts. The rocket is pretty huge overkill, but I didn't feel like having to do a super efficient Kerbin launch, so I left it. In fact, almost all of the second stage is still full of fuel when we reach LKO, so I could use it as some nice high-TWR thrust for our first escape burn. As usual, I split the Jool transfer into a bunch of burns to be more efficient (and because the mothership has a TWR of 0.20). I wanted a nice Tylo gravity assist to save DeltaV, and they aren't super hard to get. However, the one I got here was amazing (by my standards at least), and with only a small adjustment it gave me a nice and curved Laythe encounter for an easy aerobrake. I had the big inflatable heat shields at either end of the craft to aerobrake with. At first I had some flipping issues, but I got some advice from Reddit, and moved most of the mass to the front along with putting some wings on the back end. This fixed the issue for me. The aerobrake went smoothly, and I got lucky again here, because my first random guess at an altitude gave me a nearly perfect circular orbit with an Apoapsis of around 56 km (I think). Now that I was here, I could continue with the hauntingly familiar task of landing and returning from Laythe. I had already developed a strategy to land on the correct land mass (be 1/4 of the planet back from where you want to land, burn down until your orbit line is as far ahead of that island as the distance between the two big equatorial islands, and go into the atmosphere at about 30 degrees with the plane). It's kind of a ridiculous method but it worked consistently for me. Anyway, I followed those directions and after a few quickloads made my first landing of the trip. Now it was time to take off, which would prove to be much more difficult than the already challenging landing. I basically just did trial and error until I could barely get above the atmosphere and still be orbiting. The mothership was also in a somewhat inclined orbit, so I had to try and match that on the ascent. Eventually I got it, and we could collect all the science and move on to the next moon: Tylo. After collecting the science, I detached the section of the ship that carried the plane, as well as the plane itself. Then it was time to make the journey over to Jool's largest moon. As expected, Tylo was pretty straightforward compared to Laythe - however, there were a few issues I ran into. One of them you may be able to spot from the picture of the mothership earlier in this post. I moved a few engines up towards the front in order to prevent flipping while aerobraking, and made a very stupid mistake. Try and spot it. The nuclear engines block the Tylo lander from getting out of its compartment! This was such a moronic error, and I was afraid I would have to start all over again. However! Bill Kerman was able to save the day, by using his engineer construction skills to move the mothership's docking port out of the way. This allowed the now undocked lander to just barely squeeze out. I later moved the docking port around to the front of the ship (since I had jettisoned the heat shield that used to be there). After that, the Tylo landing went pretty smoothly. I'd like to mention that I think in the context of a Jool 5 mission, I think Laythe is way, way harder of a component than Tylo is. At least for me. I've heard a lot of people say Tylo is the most difficult moon, and maybe that's true as just a normal return mission, but within a Jool 5 mission Laythe is infinite more challenging. Both in designing a lander that works well for it, fitting it into the mothership, and then actually flying it down and back up again. Anyway, it was time for the Tylo ascent. Something weird happened here, and I'm not sure why - the craft just kept trying to tip over and fight my control. I had to use a lot of RCS throughout the whole ascent, which wasn't great, because I realized I didn't pack any extra monopropellant on the mothership besides the default stuff in the capsule. I would have to be more sparing with it from now on. Now that we had finished with the two hardest moons, I redocked with the mothership and headed over to Vall. After arriving at Vall, I turned the thrust limiter on my lander's aerospike engine down to 20 and left it like that for the rest of the mission. It seemed to mostly fix the weird flipping thing, and would just be more convenient on lower gravity bodies anyway. The Vall landing was pretty standard, although I forgot to refuel one of the lander's fuel tanks which made the ascent way closer than it needed to be. I think I had to pick the lander up with the mothership again. I've always really liked Vall, I think it's a nice place to visit and isn't ridiculously challenging. Now we only have the two outermost moons left, Pol and Bop. I chose to do them in that order because I figured it would be a bit more efficient - because their orbits are inclined, I could just do one adjustment to match Pol and then another adjustment in the same direction to match Bop. This would prevent me from having to undo/go backwards on my Bop adjustment to match Pol. Getting out to Pol was more trial and error, but I got pretty lucky and found a nice encounter fairly quickly. Pol is quite small, so the landing wasn't too hard, although I kept bouncing and tipping over when touching down. This was an issue on Bop too. I like visiting Pol a lot as well, it's got a cool design and the gnome hats are fun. So now it was time for the final landing, Bop. It's in a very inclined orbit, but I had quite a large excess of DeltaV by this point, so I didn't need to be too efficient about it. Just like Pol, it's nice and small, so the landing was easy and DeltaV wasn't an issue. And with that, we've landed on every moon in the Joolian system! I took some science from orbit around Jool since I realized I'd forgotten to do that earlier, and then it was time to do my burn back to Kerbin. I didn't need to bother getting into orbit or anything, since my command pod has a heat shield. I entered the atmosphere at nearly 5000 m/s, but heat shields are insanely powerful, so it was totally fine. Finally I splashed down in the ocean on Kerbin, home at last after a lengthy 7 years and 100 days! Our final science gathered was almost 16,000! I only did science landed and in low orbit (or high orbit in the case of Jool), so I could have gotten much more. However, I didn't feel like doing science constantly, and I already cheat unlocked the whole tech tree before starting lol (don't worry, I've unlocked the tree legit before). And that's the whole mission! I'm so happy to have done this, and I found it a really fun challenge. I hope this post can encourage people to do this themselves, if anyone wants advice or has questions I'd be happy to help any way I can (I'm not really a KSP super-expert though). Congratulations and thanks if you read this whole thing, and good luck on your own missions!

Hello everyone! I recently flew a Jool 5 mission that, as the title says, was done in one launch. Here's how it went. I'll be uploading the report in seven parts, with (hopefully) one per day, for each leg of the mission: from Kerbin to Jool (this one), one for each moon, and return to Kerbin. Part 1: Launch! We begin on the pad with this massive rocket - nicknamed the "Colossus" - that appears to be almost half fairing. I don't have either DLC, so Mammoth spam (Spammoth?) it is. The two boosters, connected to the core via fuel pipes, will get the rocket off the pad before separating and letting the core carry it to a suborbital trajectory. There's also an extra Vector that's been attached to the bottom of the core stage, because the TWR was far too low with only the Mammoth. All systems are nominal, staging triple-checked, and Val, Bill, and Bob are all on board. We are clear to launch. Liftoff! A fairly standard gravity turn. Booster separation! The core stage will carry us to a roughly 100km altitude. The core stage is empty now and the Rhino will take us to orbit and beyond. Our apoapsis is just above 100 km. Fairing deployed and the interplanetary craft is revealed! It has a small SSTO for Laythe, a two-stage Tylo lander that will refuel for Vall, and an ion lander for the two outer moons. A 350 m/s circularization burn puts us into LKO. Launch happened at a Jool transfer window, so we're able to plan our Kerbin escape burn immediately. Two staging events will happen during this burn - the Rhino engine and the lower liquid fuel tank will both be dropped. And here are those staging events now. Goodbye Kerbin! The crew plans a correction burn and Tylo gravity assist in deep space. We want our periapsis to be nice and close to Laythe's orbit, and the apoapsis not too far out. As you can see, this required a close scrape with Tylo. (the second maneuver there is only because KSP doesn't like to show my trajectory beyond Tylo's SOI when plotting an assist from Kerbin or interplanetary space unless I put a maneuver node in Tylo's SOI. I deleted it right after the correction burn.) Hello Jool! And hello Tylo, too! The aforementioned close scrape of Tylo. The crew will be getting much closer soon with that lander in the back, but for now the moon has done its job. Val, Bill, and Bob are safely captured around Jool. And with that, the crew is in a stable orbit around the green giant. This is all for today, but I'll be back tomorrow with what was arguably the most annoying part of the whole mission: the Laythe landing.

I am planning a Jool 5 mission on my creative save to prepare for science and career worlds, and I need some help. EDIT: So it turns out there are official rules for this. I have rewritten the following questions in response. 1.Is refueling (ISRU) recommended? For Tylo, my lander will carry a small surface base with them. This base will have ISRU with the intent to fill up the lander so it has more fuel to rendezvous with the station after it gets into orbit. Refueling makes things easier on fuel but they take up a lot of space-what should I do? 2.Multiple landers? Or just one, all-purpose plane-LEM crossover? The current mission plan has 4 landing craft-1 small lander for Pol, Bop, and Vall; a (very) large lander for Tylo; and 2 planes for Laythe. I've seen both done (one lander vs. multiple) so what should I go with? Which is generally simpler? 3.Where should the mother ship orbit? My plan is to leave it orbiting somewhere while the landers do their stuff, but I'm not sure where. For the smaller moons, (Pol and Bop) the small lander will have enough fuel to rendezvous if the mother ship is orbiting Jool, but the Tylo lander (and probably the Laythe planes) will not. Should I leave it orbiting just one of the moons, (i.e. Laythe because of its decently sized, but not too large gravity well) and have the landers meet up with it? Or should the mother ship orbit whatever moon the lander is currently at? I hope it's not too much trouble to answer these questions! Hopefully the mission will proceed as planned, becoming a mission report!

This is my attempt at @JacobJHC's Jool 5 challenge. A few months ago, I had realised that I had been playing since version 0.25 and yet had never attempted a Jool 5, nor even conducted a manned landing on any of Jool's moons and return, even though it was well within my skills to do so. Part of the reason why it took me so long to build and complete a Jool 5 is because aside from real life concerns, it is an active save and I was engaged in doing other things. And now, I have finally done it! My my, what a journey it was. One of the most complex missions I have ever designed. Another thing that made the mission challenging was having USI life support installed, so no stuffing kerbals in lander cans for decades! It forced me to build a true mothership that could keep them in relative comfort for years. This also comes on the heels of the completion of another challenge, a Minmus elcano. But first, some general information: MODDED 3rd level submission (notable mods include SSPrx, USI life Support, Scansat, Near Future Electrical and B9 Procedural wings). Game version 1.10.1 Non-ISRU (Didn't refuel.) 5 kerbals are onboard. (Jebediah, Hadley, Bobrim, Barke, and Melfrod) 11 Launches were required (13 counting the two service missions that I will go into greater detail later). Two probes were launched along with the mission (separately), a satellite (Deep Space 1), and a laythe drone, (Laythe Skipper). The vessel chosen for this endeavor was the Jewel 1. The first in a line of interplanetary vessels. Its sister vessel, as of the completion of this challenge, Jewel 2 has been completed and has now served two missions to Minmus to construct a station and base in orbit. Being 70 meters long and weighing 779 tons, it is by far the largest vessel I have ever constructed. It carries all the logistical necessities with USI life support to bring a crew of 5 to Jool and back in its upper portion, including scansat data, supplies and fertilizer storage, a converter and a greenhouse. It carries several modules, including the Tylo/Vall/Pol/Bop lander, the Laythe spaceplane, a small LF+OX fuel reserve, and the Hibiscus, the crew return vehicle. The mission took 8 years, from its first module to its return. Well, let's get started, shall we?

The Jool-5 challenge. A classic KSP challenge. One of the hardest. And with this variation of the challenge, I want to push things further. OBJECTIVE: Land on all 5 of Jool's moons and return to Kerbin with a craft (or several craft) made out of nothing but 0.625m parts (except for crew modules). RULES: You should only use 0.625m parts, but for crewed craft, you may use a command chair/radiator combo, a service bay, or a fairing CM. No part mods AT ALL. No mining AT ALL. Modular craft are ALLOWED. Spaceplanes are ALLOWED. EVA pack should only be used to transfer between craft. Cheating is NOT ALLOWED (duh). If your mission takes advantage of a physics exploit (excluding Kraken drives) such as Stratz's OP heatshield wing then let me know. SUBMIT THESE: Craft info tab. (The design checklist thing.) Screenshots of the craft on Kerbin, in flight, and on all 5 moons, with the Kerbal on EVA having planted a flag (not needed if your craft is uncrewed). (You may also add some more screenshots.) Compilation vid of takeoffs, gravity assists, entries/re-entries and landings. EXTRAS (optional): More insight of the craft Craft download SCORING: formula: (1/mass + 1/cost + 1/partcount + 1/fuel dV used) * 1000 (+5% for full recovery of crew, +5% for reusability) Remember to include the formula in your submission. GOOD LUCK! (@Stratzenblitz75 @EvermoreAlpaca I know you can make something crazy out of this...)

Jool 5 Delta-v Chart NOTE: This is based off of my flown mission but can be used to plan other missions to Jool. This chart is nowhere near perfect, but it should give you an idea of what to do or how much to build. I know circularization is not a word but I am trying, I am meaning it as making you orbit less eccentric. If you have any questions please ask me or someone else in the Jool 5 Challenge's main page listed here... The Chart Itself Action Rough Delta-v Requirement (meters per second) Launch to LKO (Inefficient launch) 3000 LKO -> Jool Transfer 2000 Jool Capture (moon assist) to Low Laythe Orbit This can range ALOT but I managed to do it with around 1500 Low Laythe Orbit -> Low Tylo Orbit Transfer 1400 Low Tylo Orbit -> Vall 800 Vall Capture 415 Low Vall Orbit -> Pol 800 Pol Capture 500- Including low Pol orbit circlularization Low Pol Orbit -> Bop 200 Bop Capture 190- including circularization Bop to 79,000 kilometer Jool parking orbit 660 Jool-> Low Kerbin Orbit 4110 FOR THOSE WHO MIGHT BASE A MISSION OFF THIS CHART - Do not base a mission only off of this chart, this does not include landing amounts yet - If I were you I would ensure that you have more delta-v that I have shown to be safe, especially for Jool capture as the moons are not always lined up to help you - I am basing all these values off my submission to the challenge (shown below).

Hello all, it's been almost forever and several updates to KSP since I last posted a mission report thread... Here is my entry into the Jool 5 Challenge, Jeb's Level: Episode 1 is here: The craft file is here: The mothership was inspired by this photo: Mass on the pad: 3 014.78 tons Cost: 1 825 046.0 (on the pad, no refuelling missions... yet) Parts on the pad: 410 Crew Capacity: 33 Crew on Mission: 2 of 6 Snacks/not Snacks on board: Loads...

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.

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.

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

Like a child's blanket, I try to bring my favorite command module with me wherever I go. Though it's absurdly heavy, as is completely unnecessary, I just like the way it looks. To me, it's the coolest command pod by far. It's girth does presents problems however, but the challenge of getting past those hurdles is a lot of fun. Wanted to log two of my most recent, and current favorites, because they were so tough. First up is my just completed mission to bring the Mk1-2 to Eve's surface and return to orbit. It was a monster, at almost 2,000 parts and over 7,400 tons. Not to mention 3,000,000 bucks. The November designation should tell you how many redesigns I went through. Surprisingly, only a couple were used on the ascent vehicle. My last Eve mission lifted 2 Kerbals, so I had a pretty good idea of what I would need. Getting it down to the surface, however, proved to be exceedingly difficult. Full glory on display on the launchpad. Almost looks like I'm lifting a space station to orbit. Plenty of staging; as you can imagine. Completing the transfer. The Vectors burning are meant to be the landing and capture engines, but I needed them to complete the burn. Because I had to use them to transfer, after capturing, I didn't have enough fuel to lower my orbit properly. Had to make a shallow dip into the atmosphere and let Eve help me out. Took a bunch of passes, because I can't hit the atmosphere too steeply. I despise autostrut, so the ship is manually strutted like all my others. I have to be careful, or some of the exposed struts overheat. Spectacular, explosive disassembly follows. So I took it slow. Dumping inflatables is always a dicey proposition. The ship may be a monstrosity, but I discovered a way to dump them without destroying half the ship. Transfer droptanks with heatshields dumped (they stuck out a bit, hence the shields). Those are a ton of sepatrons burning. Last of the shields dumped. Looks bad, but worked just fine. SRB's fired to keep them away from the ship. No damage. Comin' down easy. All but 2 of the landing legs busted. Probably should've warped to morning, but I was excited. Jeb jumped out to do his thing. I'm not good with ladders, so one of the toughest parts for me is always getting in and out of the ship when you can't just jetpack. Came up with a good method this time, though. Took a few redesigns, but in the end, it worked pretty well. What made this tougher than usual was, not only did I bring the Mk1-2, I also brought along a service module packed with equipment. Figured if we were goin' to Eve, lets get some science out of it. Liftoff. The landing engines still had fuel, so I used them to help with the ascent; though that wasn't planned or used in the testing phase. Dumping the landing engines. Dumping a couple of Vectors. And again. Last radial tanks. Poodle time. Back in orbit. Because I used the landing engines to help with the ascent, I actually have some fuel left. In testing, I was empty upon reaching orbit. If I get out and push, I can just make it back to Kerbin for a rescue instead of refueling. For now though, I'll leave it here. I wanted to bring the Mk1-2 to Eve's surface and back to orbit, and I did. I'm extremely happy with the turnout. And proud, of course. Here is my Jool 5. Used the Mk1-2 and 5 different landers, with 5 Kerbals along for the ride. As always, no nuclear, ion, or jet engines. All stock. No mods except KAC. Way too many pics, so I'll just post the album link below. https://imgur.com/a/Yog1d Anyway, thanks for checking this out. If there are any more fans of the great Mk1-2, feel free to post here as well. I'd love to see your work.

After being incredibly busy uploading new videos and pushing myself on youtube, I have finally decided to come back and be active on the ksp forums! To start off I will be attempting an extremely hard challenge. I will be calling it Jupiter 5. The mission will be in RSS and I will have to fly to Jupiter, land on 4 moons (only has four moons at the momment, I am counting Jupiter as part of the 5 :P), and return. While I attempt this I will be uploading other videos on my youtube https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCmP0rv_z2IOe0V6GaYQLe4w Don't forget to check out my 1 tank to Vall challenge too!

Does anyone have some good tips for jool 5 challange? I am goong for a lv 3 completion.

Werner : "What do you mean, 'Inventory Problem' !" Gus: "One of our warehouse staff caught a bag of Nachos with his bar code scanner by mistake. Turns out they use the exact same SKU codes as the Rockomax Conglomerate. Threw our stock control all out of whack." Werner rolled his eyes. "So what do we actually have?" "Well doctor, we've just finished the manual audit. Four NERVs, two Rapiers, Two Whiplash, a Panther, and a Poodle, also", said Gus, rustling through some papers, " we found a some Twitch motors in the creche facility. They were being built into some kind of toy, but they still look serviceable". Mortimer pulled out his credit card, "What's the Rockomax sales number again? 321-800-800-?" Gene : "No time for that Mort, launch window in three days" Werner : "Well, that's it then. We'll just have to make do with what we've got. Tell your boys to keep everything small and light, if we follow good maths it should be possible" Gene : "We'll need a spaceplane for Laythe" Werner : "That too, just for goodness sake keep it light. The smallest wing you can get away with to reduce drag. Simple and quick to build". "At least they'll have plenty of Nachos" added Gus. The following morning, Gene stepped into the hangar with Werner. It took his eyes several seconds to focus on the towering leviathan in front of them. He read the stats off the sheet, "255 parts, 187 Tons.." Werner stood, ashen-faced. It seemed like an age before he spoke. A pen fell from his hand in slow motion, bounced once, then clipped through the floor and disappeared in a puff of smoke. He knew that near the singularity of a black hole, time itself was slowed by the intense gravity, but this is the first aircraft he'd seen to have that effect on its surroundings. "You'd better give the launch to Val", drawled Werner, his voice sounding like he'd just inhaled a balloon of sulphur hexafluoride, "She's been spending some time in the Kessna, and just got her PPL". "Private Pilots Licence?", replied Gene. "What about instrument rating, multi engine?" "Won't need it, clear skies forecast. And we're not planning on having any engine failures. Separations, maybe, but those are much easier." "I'll tell 'em to pack", said Gene.

I was flying a fuel tank with a Kerbal strapped on the front to Eeloo and back for the Fly to Eeloo and Back with 2 fuel tanks No Refueling Challenge. Since it takes alot of delta-v for a plane change I decided that a Jool flyby would do the trick. Since I am filming the submission to make a video I slowely warped towards Jool when I saw Laythe, Vall and Tylo. This is pretty normal around Jool since the moons are so big, BUT then I noticed the 2 small glowing specs above Jool. I moved my mouse to make sure they were moons and not stars, now I present this image: Here's the original screenshot:

After many failed design projects, the KSP software engineers decided they needed a hardware update. After a new installation, the engineers at KSP found themselves capable of flying larger ships with higher part counts. This lead to a desire to take up a mission so challenging that it would test the abilities of the new computer tech at hand. Thus the Juno 5 mission was born. The mission profile calls for six kerbalnauts, 2 pilots, 2 engineers, and 2 scientists to visit all five moons of the Jool system and then return safely to Kerbin. The first issues faced by the engineers was designing a command module with enough DeltaV built in to safely get the CM to orbit in the event of an emergency in mid-ascent from either Tylo or Laythe. This meant that any engines on the CM would have to be attached radially in order to make room for the 2.5m docking port at the rear of the CM. Then Public Relations made the job ten times worse when they discovered that public opinion found cargo bays to be "kinda kool". Thus, the CM needed radial engines that could fit inside a Mk.3 cargo bay. After about three different reiterations, the Intrepid class CM was built. With 800 units of Lf/Ox mix and 900 units of monoprop, the CM has a little over 2100 m/s of DeltaV. The Intrepid CM is also fully equipped with scientific instruments and onboard RTG to provide constant and steady electrical power. After the CM was designed, the Tylo and Laythe landers had to be worked out. The Laythe lander is pretty much a freefall, aerobreaking design. The detachable heat shield has a small fuel supply meant to power the CM's radial engines just enough for the CM/Lander to fall gradually from low Laythe orbit. The biggest challenge is managing to land on solid and level ground. Once i'm over a landing site, lateral momentum is killed with drogue chutes, followed by the main parachutes. Then, before landing, the heat shield and its small fuel tank are jettisoned, the Mainsail engine is primed, the landing gear is deployed, and a minimal retro burn is fired as briefly as possible. With Laythe's lower gravity and thinner air, there should be plenty of fuel to return to orbit in the CM, even if too much fuel is used in the descent. The Tylo lander is attached to the forward section of the mothership. Its an orange tank with six smaller radial tanks. It's powered by 6 aerospike engines and, by the time landing approaches, will have plenty of TWR to safely land on Tylo. After, the lander should have 1/4 of its fuel supply left to start the ascent, the rest being attained by the CM. The Vall, Pol, and Bop lander is a fuel tank with poodle engine and landing legs. The mothership holds the CM, VPB and Laythe landers in two very large cargo holds. These holds are flanked by the majority of the fuel for the single rhino and six LV-N engines. Foward of the holds is a Mk. 3 passenger cabin. Launching the mothership and all its tenders took some practice, but LKO of 94,000~ meters was attained. The next and hardest part of the pre-mission phase were the eight separate refueling missions. Eigth identical launches carried fuel and crew members up to the Juno 5 mothership as it was in LKO and passing directly over the KSP launch center. All pre-mission resupply flights and crew transfers were completed and the Juno 5 broke LKO mid-day on year 8, day 419 in order to exit Kerbin SOI, make an orbital plane change, and commit a planned Jool rendezvous burn on year 9, day 44. Planned Jool SOI intercept is year 11, day 390, followed by an aerobreaking maneuver in Jool's upper atmosphere. Next mission update will be post-plane change and rendevzous burns.

Jool. That great green gas giant we all love. Well, except me, Jool is #3 On my favorite planet list, but you get the idea. Dres is #1. You might remember me as "that guy who has HUUUUUUUGE ships" or as "that guys who really likes Dres," but yeah. So, The Jool 5 challenge. One of the most famous challenges ever. Everything is ready. The main cruiser, called the KSS Creativity, and maybe the lander launch tomorrow. Yes, tomorrow because I didn't have time today. *facepalm* Uh, but yeah. Sorry guys. *facepalm* (And, yes the name is a reference to 2001: A Space Odyssey.)

III have been wanting to complete the Jool V for a while now. I have gotten pretty adept at SSTOs, have landed on almost every planet and returned in the stock game and gotten pretty far on a career save. Recently, I was thinking what if I carried some ships, packed with DV, Jool and then releasing them to go to all the other planets, then meeting up and taking the kerbals back to Kerbin. So I didn't think this would work at first, these ships being heavy would require a big mothership. I put together a small 30 ton mk1 SSTO with about 6k m/s with the nerv. I built a 400 ton mothership and stuck the ssto to it. The mothership still had 12k m/s. I then took my famous Astro Explorer and removed the parachute. I then copied this and strapped a 9 ton Tylo lander onto it. The Tylo lander has loads of fuel left once it has ascended to orbit from the surface of Tylo so I thought I'd bring it to Vall if the Astro Explorer doesn't have the TWR to land on Vall. The 1st Astro explorer will land on Pol, then Bop, then Vall so I might as well park the cruiser in Vall orbit and take the SSTO there after it has done Laythe. However I knew I couldn't take the entire thing up to LKO with one rocket and using two would cause a flex when activating the engine. However I hyperedited it into orbit and stress tested it. No flex. If there does end up being one, I'll download KJR. Phase one Getting the Mothership and the SSTO into orbit I used a pretty big ship to get this 400 ton spacecraft into orbit. I had about 300 m/s to spare in LKO but I had to decouple the last boosters unfortunately. Phase 2 Getting The Astro Explorer and the Tylo Tug to the mother ship Had a couple of issues with this launch. The top was a bit wobbly but not too much so it was pretty easy to get into orbit. The whole thing didn't have enough torque so once I was within 1km of the mothership, I decoupled the payload only to find out the Tylo tug didn't have RCS thrusters. I have no problem with doing a rendezvous without RCS at Tylo but the monopropellant tanks are dead weight. Docking was a little tricky but I did it in the end. I got to the target docking port, just to find out that there was a docking port in the way. This was from when I was building it in the VAB, I forgot to remove it. :/ Anyway I undocked that and then docked to the mothership. Also to get a good encounter with the Mothership, I had to dip into the atmosphere at about a 63km PE dangerous maneuver but I'm lazy. Phase 3 Getting to Jool and all moon landings! Next Phase: Return to Kerbin! I finished this. Apparently, I didn't show the interface in the pictures so my entry wasn't valid. I really don't see the point in posting the rest of the pictures. If anyone wants me to though, will.

It was a long time since I posted a mission report here, but this will be my most complex mission to date so I thought that it deserved it's on thread. The Ultimate Jool 5 Challenge with KScale64 KScale64 is a mod that increases the size of the Kerbol system by x6.4. All planets have 6.4 times the radius and ~41 times the mass. So surface gravity remained unchanged. This is closer to our real solar system that is 10 times bigger (100 times the mass) than the default Kerbol system. The main challenge here is the effect this has on dV requirements, they are ~2.5 times larger. For instance geting to LKO is closer to 8000 m/s dV rather than the standard 3000 m/s dV. I will be using any part mod allowed by The Ultimate Jool 5 Challenge. To do list: Design a Tylo lander ~13 000 m/s dV Done Design a Laythe lander Done Design a Vall Lander with a reusable last stage ~ 5000 dV Done Design Kerbal return stage Done Estimate mothership dV requirements. Done Design mothership for transfers within Jool Done Design a LKO escape stage for mothership ~5000 dV Done Figure out how to get the ship to LKO Done Fly the mission Ongoing Album of the ongoing mission: http://imgur.com/a/BiSNM Tylo Lander: Can land and return to orbit with a little help from EVA. Also included is a nuclear stage with 2100 dV to get from high elliptic orbit to low Tylo orbit, and a small return craft with simmilar dV to get back up to the mother ship. Laythe lander: Reentry on Laythe is harder when orbital velocity is close to 6000 m/s. But this is handled by the inflatable heat shield that also acts a flotation device. The last two stages are the same as on the Tylo lander. It has enough dV to get to a high elliptical orbit of Laythe where the mothership will be parked.

I am pleased to report a successful outcome to my first Jool 5 expedition. I've called the ship the Outrigger, because the side-mounted fuel tanks remind me of canoe outriggers, as used by the Polynesians on long voyages. This was really a sandbox dress rehearsal before the “real” mission on career, though I'll make some more small tweaks at that point. But it's a full Jool 5 run-through. Pictures and mission narrative below! http://imgur.com/a/OyaGo Some more info about the mission and vessel: Design Constraints / Principles In addition to the basic Jool 5 rules, I've designed around the following: -No ISRU or external refueling. I'm going face to face with the tyranny of the rocket equation. Landers can still refuel from the mothership's fuel supply, though. -Everything launches in one go; no assembly in LKO. Not gonna bother with floppy ships or KAS struts. -No command seats – all kerbals will be landing in enclosed command pods. -To avoid electric drain, all of the landers will be controlled by pilots and will not feature probe cores. -Even though all of the landers are one-person, I'll be bringing a crew of four on the mothership: two pilots, one scientist and one engineer (hmmm, that combo sounds familiar). -No RCS or monopropellant. It's not necessary since I only need to dock one time (the Tylo lander refueling for Vall), and that can be done with the “point at target” technique. -Landers will be used for multiple moons when feasible. Craft Overview The Outrigger can be broken up into the following sub-units: -Launch stage: four Mammoths, asparagus staged. The two outer Mammoths are augmented with six Kickbacks each for some extra liftoff thrust. The Mammoths and Kickbacks burn out within a second of each other, so I can just use one decoupler for each cluster, rather than dropping all the Kickbacks separately. -Sustainer stage: Two Rhinos, which will start when the outer Mammoths drop off, burn along with the other two Mammoths, and continue after the Mammoths burn out. These are not asparagus staged to the Mammoths, as I need them to burn off a little fuel to get acceptable TWR once the final Mammoths drop off. This stage will then get me to orbit, and do part of the ejection burn before turning things over to the nukes. -Mothership service module: a long Mk 3 cargo bay to hold my two vacuum landers, along with some fuel tanks, a large reaction wheel, and three NERVs. -The “outriggers”: two side-mounted liquid fuel nacelles, with another three NERVs each. These are segmented into three pieces so the fuel tanks can be detached once they're empty. -Vall/Tylo lander: the core of the lander is a ground-breaking combination of the Mk 1 landing can, flat 800 tank, and Terrier (patent pending). This will serve as the ascent stage for the Tylo landing, and double as the entire Vall lander. A Dart-powered descent stage will take the lander down to Tylo, and be detached just before landing. -Laythe lander: a small Mk 1 spaceplane with a single Rapier. I added a couple drop tanks to handle the deorbit burn and any cruising necessary to find a good landing spot. Since the wings are too wide to fit in a cargo bay, this sits on the front of my mothership like a prow / figurehead. Jeb likes to sit in here and pretend he's flying. -Pol/Bop lander: another Mk 1 landing can, powered by an ion engine and a couple xenon tanks. Electricity comes courtesy of an RTG and 2k worth of batteries, which is enough for all the maneuvers I'll need to make. Almost 4,000 delta-v in a one-ton package – now I see why people put up with ions! (Full disclosure: I clipped the RTG inside the landing can to look better). -Command and return module: a Mk 2 crew cabin, with an inflatable heat shield, a couple parachutes, flat 800 tank and Terrier. An Mk 2 drone core drives the bus. Would have used either an Mk 1-2 command pod or Hitchhiker, but the weight savings and crash durability of the Mk 2 cabin won me over (even though it looks kinda silly). Again, I clipped the RTG inside the module for looks . Vital Stats Mass on the launchpad is 1,697 tons. Cost is 868,803 funds. Starting part count is 215, about half of which are struts. (I kid. Sort of.) Mods List of my mods: KER, KAC, KAS/KIS (I did not use on this mission), Docking Port Alignment Indicator, Better Burn Time, Jettison Fuel, Precise Maneuver, Trajectories, Transfer Window Planner, Science! Hope you enjoy! Let me know if any questions or suggestions.

Im attempting to build a tylo lander, and im wonder a few things about it. 1. What kind of TWR should i have for my decent stage 2. How much Delta v would it take to land, and return to LTO (Low Tylo Orbit) 3. I am using a Ion Tug to de-orbit my lander, so I don't need to worry about that.

Dear Billy-Bob, Here are the first few newspaper clippings you requested regarding Project Zeus. KSC is trying to put a Kerbal on each of Jools moons in one go. How amazing! Anyway, I put the clippings in the right order, but they aren't all here yet -- the mission is still going on, after all. I'll send more of them when I find them. I also found a stack of photos, so I've included them. Be sure to look at the descriptions that I wrote on each one. First, the latest stories. Project Zeus Begins Exploration of Jool System By Jebbles Kerman Y1 D241 KERBIN SPACE CENTER (KerbinPress) -- Kerbin's space exploration initiative began a new era of discovery today with the launch of Project Zeus, which promises to land a Kerbal on each of the five moons of Jool. Dr. Wehrner von Kerman, Chief Engineer and Program Director of the Kerbin Space Center, spoke at the gala dinner on the floor of the Vehicle Assembly Building at the KSC. "Going to Jool is not very hard," said Kerman, "and landing on Pol, Bop, or even Vall isn't difficult, either. What is hard is landing on all five moons in one unsupported mission. We believe we have developed the right hardware to do the job, and testing has already shown that we are on the right track. We also have five excellent astronauts in Jebediah, Bill, Bob, Valentina, and Siesa. They are already hard at work training for the landings and assisting with mission planning. We intend to launch by the middle of next year, and plant our first flag within three years." Kerman promised that all of Kerbin would be kept up-to-date with the mission as it proceeded. "We have every intention of publishing photographic evidence, along with technical information pertaining to the mission so that we can avoid any silly conspiracy theories regarding this effort," he said. KSC Administration has also released the proposed budget for Project Zeus, which comes in at √1.5 million. It includes five launches to low Kerbin orbit, where the ship will be assembled. The main component of the ship is Red Dragon, a nuclear-powered vessel with space for six Kerbals. Red Dragon will push three other vessels: the Centaur lander intended for Jool's moon Laythe, a second lander, named Lucy, which will land on Tylo and Jool's three smallest moons, and an in-system refueller and tug named Tumnus. This will be pushed out of Kerbin orbit by a kicker drive which consists of the Urlum V core which will also launch Red Dragon. Once in orbit and assembled, Red Dragon will mass just over 700 metric tons. Kerman stated that although excitement for the project is high, the budget "will be a hard one to work with, since it doesn't give us any room for a refuelling mission, should it become necessary," though he noted that in the extremely unlikely case that astronauts were stranded in Jool's orbit the funding would probably come through. "We hope that we don't have to find out the hard way, however." The five astronauts associated with the program were not available for comment at press time. *** Project Zeus Nears Launch; Red Dragon Close to Completion By Jebbles Kerman Y2 D227 KERBIN SPACE CENTER (KerbinPress) -- In a press conference today Dr. Wehrner von Kerman, Chief Engineer and Program Director of the Kerbin Space Center, stated that the planning phase of the much anticipated Project Zeus is coming to a close, with a launch becoming more and more likely within the next few days. "We are pleased to announce that after much planning, many simulations, and even some major software setbacks, we are nearly ready to launch Red Dragon and the other associated modules which comprise Project Zeus." The software setback Kerman mentioned refers to the "1.1 Fiasco", a rather optimistic software "upgrade" that quickly showed its ugly side. KSC quickly reverted to a previous, much more stable version to run the ships of Project Zeus, but not before losing several experimental vessels. Kerman also claimed that so far the project was running under budget, despite the software and planning setbacks. However, sources within KSC claim that the project has already eclipsed the √1.5 million budget after at least two prior iterations of the Red Dragon were built and tested -- the latest of which fell victim to the 1.1 Fiasco, which lead to the loss of the two vessels. These same sources claim that after rolling back to a previous software version, all of the crafts had to be completely redesigned. "Some parts became unavailable, and others were incompatible with the old software," one engineer said, agreeing to speak on the condition of anonymity. "It turned out that the vessel we had planned to build was simply no longer feasible." According to a report released by KSC Engineering, Red Dragon will cost √470,690 before launch costs are considered. Kerman plans to use the massive Urlum X launcher to boost Red Dragon into low Kerbin orbit. This launcher consists of an Urlum V launcher with four 5-meter boosters and four 2.5-meter boosters, making it one of the largest rockets ever assembled and flown by KSC. Other components will be launched with the slightly smaller Tylo rocket, a single-stack measuring 3.75 meters in diameter and boasting a single Titan I engine. Kerman stated that the launches would begin soon, in order to catch a favorable transfer window to Jool that would peak within the next few days. "We will have to get everything launched and assembled in orbit," he said, "and it will take the hard work and dedication of everyone here at KSC to make it happen." Jebediah Kerman, mission commander and pilot for all five of the landings, was eager to get started with the mission. "We've been training hard here on Kerbin, and we've all logged countless hours in the simulators as we worked on our own skills and also helped the engineering team with their proposed designs. We're all really excited to begin." *** Red Dragon Launched Amid Fanfare By Jebbles Kerman Y2 D240 KERBIN SPACE CENTER (KerbinPress) -- Red Dragon, the main vessel of Project Zeus, successfully launched from Kerbin Space Center today with five astronauts aboard. KSC Mission Control was more tense than usual immediately before and during the launch, pointing to the fact that they had only simulated it once. However, the room erupted in a cheer when Valentina Kerman, ship commander and pilot, radioed confirmation that the ship had successfully entered orbit around Kerbin. Red Dragon rode into orbit atop a massive Urlum X rocket, a 1,407 metric ton beheamoth capable of easily lifting the 368.8 ton Red Dragon into low Kerbin orbit. At a cost of √977,443, the launch takes up nearly two thirds of the proposed budget of √1.5 million. However, sources within the administration say that the remaining launches will put the project severely over budget, blaming recent software malfunctions and lost ships for the overage. The five astronauts selected for the mission have been training for months in preparation for the mission. The mission's executive officer and Red Dragon co-pilot, Jebediah Kerman, will pilot all of the landings, including the one on Jool's innermost moon Laythe, which will be a solo landing. For the remaining four moons of Bop, Pol, Vall, and Tylo, he will be joined by one of the other four astronauts, with a different one for each moon. Bill Kerman, Red Dragon's chief engineer, will accompany him to Vall. Mission Scientist Bob Kerman is slated to land on Pol. Science Specialist Sieisa Kerman will land on Bop, while Mission Commander Valentina Kerman will assist him in the Tylo landing. Although Red Dragon has launched, the mission still has four more launches before the mission can leave orbit around Kerbin. Still to be launched are the two landers which will be used in the attempt, along with a robotic refueller craft to be used within the Joolian system and an "Interplanetary Kicker Drive" consisting of an Urlum V lower stage, which will be used to push the vessel out of Kerbin orbit. Additionally, these launches will be accompanied by larger-than-necessary service modules to fully fuel the ship in preparation for the mission. The next launch is planned for tomorrow, despite cloudy skies forecast over KSC. *** Project Zeus Underway Red Dragon Ready to Leave Kerbin Orbit By Jebbles Kerman Y2 D241 KERBIN SPACE CENTER (KerbinPress) --After five launches in six hours, Wehrner von Kerman, Chief Engineer and Program Director of the Kerbin Space Center, announced that Project Zeus is ready to begin the next phase: the journey from Kerbin to Jool. Those five launches mated the five modules of the Red Dragon ship. Kerman said that the astronauts were excited to begin their three year trek to Jool. Spirits at Mission Control were indeed high, as all of the launches had gone smoothly, with only minimal need for simulation before the actual flight. Technicians also reported that their computer software was running smoothly, with no apparent bugs or framerate lags despite the number of modifications being used for this flight. "Sometimes you have to be careful what you ask for, because what you think is better might not really be better," said Gene Kerman, flight director of KSC. Mortimer Kerman, KSC's chief financial officer, spoke about the costs of the mission thus far. He reported that Project Zeus has gone over budget, largely due to unexpected costs associated with launching the Centaur lander. "All together it comes to √2,055,906. But remember that in this situation money is basically meaningless. If we were in a different mode, we might have a problem if we went over budget. But now? It's just a way to measure something. Not sure what, mind you, but something." Ignition of Red Dragon's twelve nuclear LV-N engines is scheduled for later today, beginning the flight to Jool. *** (Note to the reader: This is a Jool-5 attempt written as newspaper clippings. I will be updating the Imgur album periodically as I make the attempt, and further news clippings will be added to the OP, so future readers will have a more streamlined experience.)