Search the Community

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

Ok let's actually do that T- 200 days : Tytan Heavy rocket launches from KSC carrying 170 ton, fully fueled propulsion module for the transfer vehicle. After 25 minutes of flight, propulsion module reaches it's orbit, 650 km above kerbin. I decided to put it that high to make trans-Urlum burn easier to perform with low thrust plasma engine. T-150 days : Another heavy launch! This time, crew habitation module is send to dock with previously launched propulsion module. After a successful rendezvous, crew module separates from the upper stage of the rocket and begins docking maneuver using build in RCS thrusters. T-100 days : Last peace of hardware required to complete the mission leaves kerbin. It is a small lander that will carry the crew from the Atlantis transfer vehicle to the surface of Priax and back to orbit. T-10 days : The Orion Heavy capsule launches from the KSC carrying 6 crew members on board. Capsule docks to the docking port number 2 of the crew the crew transfer vehicle. Finally, the capsule detaches from the Atlantis and begins it's journey back to kerbin. T-0 - the launch day : Launch day! After reaching an Urlum launch window, crew fires the main reactor and the plasma thruster for the trans-Urlum transfer maneuver. The burn will last for about 1.5 hours, increasing the speed of the space by around 4500 m/s. This will put the ship on trajectory that will lead to an interception by Urlum's gravity in 3 years and 70 days. Then the crew had to wait 3 years for the next part of the mission. They spend this time watching dr Kerman, Kerman Trek and other fantastic TV shows T+ 3 years and 40 days : Urlum arrival. Crew fires main engine again. This time to deaccelerate the ship and close the orbit around Urlum. Due to the high speed of the spacecraft, this burn also lasted for about 1.5 hours. After 1.5 hours, burn is complete and ship enters a stable orbit around Urlum. T+ 3 years and 49 days. 9 Days after the orbit insertion burn, ship performs a small correction burn. T+ 3 years and 60 days : Priax arrival. Crew fires the engine again to close the orbit 40 km above Priax surface. T+ 3 years and 61 days : Landing time ! Crew boards the lander and undocks from the orbiter. Next, landing burn is initiated to slow down the spacecraft and bring it down safely. As a propulsion, lander uses pair of small monoproppelent thrusters. Pilot had a really hard time finding a landing spot. Touchdown! Now it's time for the first step on the Priax surface. Bill Kerman - First Kerbal on the surface of Priax ! The rest of the crew joins him to make a space selfie. Crew spent next two months on collecting some science and making flying around using jetpacks. T+ 3 years and 122 days : Just before leaving, crew used a fuel reserve onboard the lander to visit the bottom of the nearby crater. Now it's time to finally leave this piece of rock and come back to kerbin. To do that, crew must enter the orbit and dock to the Atlantis crew transfer vehicle. Docking complete! After transporting all samples to the transfer vehicle, crew seals the hatch and detaches the lander. It will remain on Priax low orbit until Urlum's tidal forces will cause it to crash onto the surface. Meanwhile, crew executes a maneuver to leave Priax SOI. T+ 3 years and 135 days : Crew performs trans-kerbin insertion burn. Burn lasted for 1 hour and put the spacecraft on a return trajectory. Return trip will take a bit longer than a flight from kerbin. T+ 8 years and 356 days : Kerbin arrival. Ship performs the last burn of this mission to close the orbit around kerbin. T+ 8 years and 360 days : 4 Days later, Orion heavy capsule launches from KSC to bring the crew down from the transfer vehicle. The end PS: Unfortunately Priax turned out to be made out of ordinary rock and ice. Mods : Outer Planets (For Urlum and Priax) Kopernicus (required by Outer Planets mod) Near future propulsion Near future electrical Near future solar Near future spacecraft Near future launch vehicle