The Ultimate Jool 5 Challenge - 1.0 to 1.3

[sdj64]

@JacobJHC Congratulations, you have completed the Jool 5 Challenge on Level 3!  Your modular ion ferry and landers look very efficient and I think you will be well prepared for a future grand tour.

Jool 5 missions without using strut connectors is a testament to the power of autostruts, and maybe an argument for nerfing them.  It's like saying in real life "I've made a plane without any wooden parts" when you just got access to aluminum (rigid attachment) and carbon fiber (autostruts).  I have yet to see any ship that actually needs real struts anymore.

 

On 11/5/2016 at 1:33 PM, -DDD- said:

Hi! I'm trying the level 1 for the first time, Is it ok to disable the CommNetwork?

Yes, you can run your mission without ComNet or on any level of ComNet difficulty.

[-DDD-]

Thanks @DustInTheWind and @sdj64, the mission is in progress

[JacobJHC]

27 minutes ago, sdj64 said:

JacobJHC Congratulations, you have completed the Jool 5 Challenge on Level 3!  Your modular ion ferry and landers look very efficient and I think you will be well prepared for a future grand tour.

Thanks, I will repost the video in a few minutes when it uploads. I had to take it down since it has so many typos. For example in the credits I had the word sesscription. That's what happens when you add captions at midnight.

[JacobJHC]

There we go I fixed the video

 

[Eidahlil]

After management decided that xenon is too expensive...

Ahem, actually, I just wanted to build myself a giant asparagus. Nostalgia and all. And when you have a hammer, you want to solve a problem with it, right? Jool 5 is a really good problem.

The whole thing carried Jeb on a solo mission. It's a single launch, no refueling, chemical beast, with a price tag of 4.25 million and a launch mass of 12.15 kt, of which 9 kt are rocket fuel and 1.15 t is sepratron fuel, all contained in 724 parts. It does not really take any cargo larger than a banana, however even said banana would have to ride in the same breadbox/heatshield as the PB-NUK leg warmer.

MechJeb says it has 22.1 - 22.4 km/s dV, depending on engine utilization (the lower isp Skippers are in an action group). I had 256 m/s left on Kerbin reentry. Landed with the ship on all the moons and used three gravity assists - a Tylo-Laythe for Jool capture, Tylo for Vall->Bop transfer and (Tylo-)Laythe for Jool ejection (Laythe, but Tylo tried to help, aka got in the way).

KSP 1.2.1, using MechJeb and not using KER and TCA, but having them on standby. New game on normal difficulty.

It was a fairly straightforward linear mission, so I hope everything is clear from the video, the only thing I cut out is me fiddling with maneuver nodes (the black fadeouts). I have 4 hours of footage of that and half of the time cannot follow it myself, and I'm supposed to know what is going on. Well, that, and all the quickloads. There were quite a few of those.

EDIT: Bonus screenies of the more interesting transfers, the rest were pretty much straight Hohmann transfers: http://imgur.com/a/DsA8L

 

Edited November 8, 2016 by Eidahlil

[sdj64]

@Eidahlil Congratulations, you have completed the Jool 5 Challenge on Level 1!  That is probably the heaviest single launch in Jool 5 history.  That Kerbin ejection was one of the most... creative ways I've seen to get into space (at least since 1.0!) but you clearly had enough extra delta V to complete the mission, and the rest of it seemed to be efficiently executed.

[Eidahlil]

2 hours ago, sdj64 said:

That Kerbin ejection was one of the most... creative ways I've seen to get into space

Well, no arguing with that, I just managed a normal LKO launch (after 10 or so tries), and it ended up being 750 m/s dV cheaper. The TWR is really not excessive on this thing, so the straight launch is very expensive.

I was mostly trading dV for my sanity though. With that part count (and recording on top) it takes 15 real life minutes just to get out of atmosphere on my laptop. More with a gravity turn. And the stages are long, gaps relatively narrow, and the sepratrons only barely adequate. What it all means, is that if I have any sort of noticeable angular momentum during staging, the stage ends up colliding into something. So I have to babysit it for at least the first 15 km, trying to squeeze in just the right amount of rotation between the stages and the lag. And I'm more often staging than not (I counted, I have three staging events before hitting 1km ASL already).

That launch is accelerated 20 times in the video, after all.

So there we have it. Well, and it's fun to do something ridiculous once in a while.

Thanks!

[-DDD-]

So, i dislike low TWR, so the trans-Jool-transfer was performed by a 7.5 m wide "Dual-Emu", with a TWR of 1.5. The mission carried Jeb (as Lander Pilot), Val (As carrier pilot) and Bill (...as engineer) to Jool.

The whole single-launch-mission weigh 5000+ t on the launch pad, and cost 1798711 founds.

KSP 1.2.0 with some mods, all listed below

Spoiler

• AutomatedScreenShots
• BetterBurnTime
• ColorCodedCans
• FuelTanksPlus
• KAC
• KAS
• KerbalizedFlagspack
• KIS
• Mechjeb2
• Modular Rocket Systems
• RCSBuildAid
• SpaceY Heavy Lifter
• SpaceY Expanded
• Trajectories

 

Launch
From transfer to Laythe orbit
Laythe descent

Edited November 14, 2016 by -DDD-

[Magzimum]

I did a Jool-5! 

25 Kerbals: 5 to each moon, except to Pol where I landed all 25.

It's all stock, with no ISRU. 

I hope it qualifies for 2nd or 3rd level. I think both.  

[sdj64]

@Magzimum Congratulations, you have completed the Jool 5 Challenge on Level 3!  I liked the interchangeable lander crew stage, and the Laythe planes were awesome!  Sorry to hear they invited bugs.  I'm impressed by the size of the Jool 5 ship, it must have been quite a challenge to launch it and to land on Minmus.  Yes, your design qualifies for both 2 and 3, so I will list it under the highest level qualified.

 

@-DDD- Looking good so far.

 

I'm glad that people are finding new and creative ways to go above and beyond the basics of the Jool 5.  Keep it up everyone!

[Magzimum]

3 hours ago, sdj64 said:

Congratulations, you have completed the Jool 5 Challenge on Level 3!  I liked the interchangeable lander crew stage, and the Laythe planes were awesome!  Sorry to hear they invited bugs.  I'm impressed by the size of the Jool 5 ship, it must have been quite a challenge to launch it and to land on Minmus.  Yes, your design qualifies for both 2 and 3, so I will list it under the highest level qualified.

Thanks!

The Minmus landing was actually really easy for me, because I have landed a bunch of ridiculously large rigs on Minmus, most of which were far less maneuverable than this ship (example 1, example 2 ) I always struggle with the interplanetary courses, but I got some really good answers to questions I had a few weeks ago when planning a different mission, but already having the Jool-5 in mind as well (thanks again @Streetwind, @Sharpy, @Plusck for your answers in this thread).

tr;dr, good planning and lots of pratice made this possible.

 

[-DDD-]

Thank @sdj64, I've had some irl problems... in a few days I should be able to resume the mission.

[Ripper2900]

I just completed my second Jool-5 run.
With S.L.A.C.K.E.R - Single-Lander Asymmetric Configurated Kerbal Exploration Rocket

The new-built craft owes much to my last modular approach (SMACKER

http://imgur.com/a/YvGhw
Here's a description of the lander carrying 4 kerbals. A 5th pilot stayed on the interplanetary tug during the first two moons, but swapped seats with Valentina for the remaining 3 moons, so this mission should qualify as a Level-3 (isru) entry, right?
A full mission report album will follow along with a formal description as soon as i have sorted and described the sceenshots...

That took some time, as i reflew some of the mission. This time all kerbals landed on Pol and Bop, with only Valentina staying back for the three inner moons.
Also: better screenshots this time. Hope you like it!

This mission was made in KSP 1.2 aiming to upgrade my previous Jool-5 level-2 to a level-3.

Edited December 20, 2016 by Ripper2900

[RepublicOfMars]

Tried level 3.

Decided to do in Career mode.

Built 100+ part mothership with 5 dockings.

Managed a successful aerobrake.

Tylo lander ran out of Fuel.

Crashed into Tylo.

R.I.P. Gersby Kerman, a level 4 pilot who went on a Kerbin system grand tour the year before...

Will be trying level 1 soon!

Edited November 25, 2016 by RepublicOfMars
To inform

[HoloYolo]

1 hour ago, RepublicOfMars said:

Tried level 3.

Decided to do in Career mode.

Built 100+ part mothership with 5 dockings.

Managed a successful aerobrake.

Tylo lander ran out of Fuel.

Crashed into Tylo.

R.I.P. Gersby Kerman, a level 4 pilot who went on a Kerbin system grand tour the year before...

Will be trying level 1 soon!

Hope it works out for you! Shame you lost your pilot.

[RepublicOfMars]

1 hour ago, HoloYolo said:

Hope it works out for you! Shame you lost your pilot.

Thanks.

[slouis]

Challenge completed! http://imgur.com/a/ppVtn

That's the hardest Video Game Thing I've ever done. I'd been figuring out how to do this for the past six months (there were four failed attempts).

Highlights include:

• Disassembling almost the entirety of a ship with a power drill
• Attempting to land on Tylo approx. 50 times (with reloads)
• Two-hour IRL aerobraking maneuver
• Exploding flags

Mods used:

• KER
• KAS & KIS
• MRS
• SpaceY
• Kerbal Alarm Clock
• Transfer Window Planner
• Precise Node

Edited December 1, 2016 by slouis
added image

[sdj64]

@slouis That was an impressive mission!  The descriptions you added to the pictures were very helpful.  However there are a few things missing.  I need pictures of the rockets you used to launch each part of your ship, and also many of your pictures are missing the HUD and resource window.  For example nobody can tell how much fuel your lander has or your velocity and other things for all of you landings.  Especially with Vall, and your mid-flight lander disassembly! If you have some quicksaves you can go back to them to take a few pictures.

Also, you did admit breaking rule 7 on Tylo:  "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!"  Using KAS you should be able to fix a problem like that.

[slouis]

Before I start pulling out more screenshots, I have a few questions...

Quote

Also, you did admit breaking rule 7 on Tylo:

Five minutes ago, I reloaded the save and was able to get the Kerbal back into lander by retracting the landing gear and using RCS to jump over the culprit engine. The retracting of the landing gear would make a negligible difference in the overall mission; if I uploaded a youtube video of the feat, without replaying everything afterwards, would this suffice?

Quote

 I need pictures of the rockets you used to launch each part of your ship,

I could show those retroactively by loading them after the mission. Would that work?

Quote

also many of your pictures are missing the HUD and resource window.

I will be able to provide pictures of most relevant shots but not all. In some cases, such as the Vall return flight, I may need to redo the flight (obviously following the same procedure). Again, is that acceptable?

[He_162]

On 11/13/2016 at 0:52 PM, -DDD- said:

So, i dislike low TWR, so the trans-Jool-transfer was performed by a 7.5 m wide "Dual-Emu", with a TWR of 1.5. The mission carried Jeb (as Lander Pilot), Val (As carrier pilot) and Bill (...as engineer) to Jool.

The whole single-launch-mission weigh 5000+ t on the launch pad, and cost 1798711 founds.

KSP 1.2.0 with some mods, all listed below

  Reveal hidden contents

• AutomatedScreenShots
• BetterBurnTime
• ColorCodedCans
• FuelTanksPlus
• KAC
• KAS
• KerbalizedFlagspack
• KIS
• Mechjeb2
• Modular Rocket Systems
• RCSBuildAid
• SpaceY Heavy Lifter
• SpaceY Expanded
• Trajectories

 

Launch
From transfer to Laythe orbit
Laythe descent

I've got a lifter (unreleased due to high part count, and 3 hour physics rendering time) that can actually lift your entire lifter into orbit.

I wonder if you could take your lifter to every planet and mun in KSP if I put it into orbit with this beast.

[JacobJHC]

19 hours ago, He_162 said:

I've got a lifter (unreleased due to high part count, and 3 hour physics rendering time) that can actually lift your entire lifter into orbit.

I wonder if you could take your lifter to every planet and mun in KSP if I put it into orbit with this beast.

*zooms in* "Oh my god...."

[sdj64]

On 12/4/2016 at 0:03 PM, slouis said:

Before I start pulling out more screenshots, I have a few questions...

Five minutes ago, I reloaded the save and was able to get the Kerbal back into lander by retracting the landing gear and using RCS to jump over the culprit engine. The retracting of the landing gear would make a negligible difference in the overall mission; if I uploaded a youtube video of the feat, without replaying everything afterwards, would this suffice?

I could show those retroactively by loading them after the mission. Would that work?

I will be able to provide pictures of most relevant shots but not all. In some cases, such as the Vall return flight, I may need to redo the flight (obviously following the same procedure). Again, is that acceptable?

That would be great, thanks.  A video or even a gif image would be fine for showing the Tylo lander jump (some websites let you make a gif from a short video, if you think that would be easier).  You don't need every single screenshot, but I would accept your submission if you took at least one shot of each lander by itself showing resources.

Loading the rockets onto the pad would work.  If your payloads are in fairings just say which one is which.

[slouis]

@sdj64

Ok, I made the additions as requested! Here is a new imgur page with as many UI shots as I could find:

http://imgur.com/a/12BLd

(I couldn't get an album to sort properly. Just sort the images there by "original filename" and then by "ascending")

In addition, here is a video of landing on Tylo, planting a flag, and returning to the craft:

 

Edited December 8, 2016 by slouis
Album actually works now

[sdj64]

@slouis Congratulations, you have completed the Jool 5 Challenge on Level 1!  Thank you for adding some screenshots and a video to prove you have done it!  I like your Laythe plane and the stack of your landers and vehicles in the order they would be used.  You went above and beyond the minimum for Level 1, taking 3 crew and collecting science, but it didn't exactly fit the requirements of a higher level.

 

Just another reminder to future entrants to document your submission well with screenshots with the HUD and resource window open!  Also, named quicksaves (alt-f5) work wonders if you ever need to go back to take more pictures or re-do a landing.  Because slouis had saved his progress at multiple points he was able to go back and get more screenshots to show his landers' fuel levels.

[Jetski]

Finally got around to doing a Grand Tour in 1.2,

Imgur album. I can't figure out how to embed any more...

Mods used were KER, KIS, KAC

All interplanetary flights were done in a lander can, but landings were made in command chairs generally.  Bill finished up with a powered landing on the VAB

KIS made this a lot of fun, I was basically rebuilding the ship for every planet.

Edited December 29, 2016 by Jetski