Jool 5 for 1.0, Challenge accepted!

[nigelvn]

Hello,

In this thread you can read about my Jool 5 mission as you could probably guess due to the title . It will be an attemt for level 3. I will warn you, I have included a lot of screenshots in imgur albums, due to time restrictions I only included discriptions on the most important ones (you can always PM me if I missed an important pic). Furthermore I advise you to listen to this song:

(over and over and over ) as seeing the craft made me think about it, hence the name of the Mothership. Anyways, let's start with the mission.

First off, i'll answer these questions:

- Which game versions did you use?

1.04

- What mods did you use, if any?

Kerbal Alarm Clock, to easily find the transfer windows

- How many Kerbals are on the mission?

5, 1 for every moon (aka level 3)

- How many launches was needed to start your mission from Kerbal?

10: 1 main launch

7 refuel launches (could have been less with a better pc)

1 extra fuel modules

1 to bring crew and an extra reentry pod

- Did you needed a refueling mission?

unfortunately yes, I did the whole mission without, but could not get the mothership in orbit around Kerbin anymore so I had to reload and send a refuel mission.

- Did you bring a Living Quarter (Hitch-hiker's Storage) for the guys during the long journey?

there was 1 space plane passenger part for 4 kerbals, the last one sat in the command pod

- Did you bring additional stuff like satellites, rovers, etc?

does a SSTO for Laythe count? if so, yes.

- Share the delta-V informations too, if you tracked it!

did not track it, did it all on luck, did not work out (needed refuel mission)

- Any additional note or description?

will be told under the right places

Used crafts (for comparing purposes):

http://imgur.com/a/6oX6n#0

Assembly:

Launch of the Mothership, called Big Poppa:

http://imgur.com/a/pnHYF#0

Refuel launches:

http://imgur.com/a/5Afse#0

Final Edits (Extra fuel tanks, crew and extra re-entry pod):

http://imgur.com/a/TKMMh#0

Mission:

Now we have arrived at the actual mission

Kerbin to Jool transfer:

http://imgur.com/a/JEsFN#0

Tylo:

From Jool Orbit I first wanted to do Tylo as that lander was the heaviest.

I have a note about Tylo: After I arrived in Tylo orbit I stopped my play session, however between this session and the next one I played around in another save to test some new ideas (not even related). For this I installed Hyper edit as I did not want to spend too much time as I wanted that time to finish the Jool mission. When I wanted to deinstall Hyperedit I accidently deleted Kerbal Alarm Clock, I found out when I reviewed the screenshots of the session (I stopped after I had rendezvoused) and saw instead of my Kerbal Alarm Clock logo the Hyperedit one. I did not use it for the landing and return and deleted it immidiately after I found out. Luckily there are a lot of screenshots, but if you don't trust it I will post the craft file (I don't know how to do that yet, so then I will have to research it).

http://imgur.com/a/QHh6t#0

Laythe:

After Tylo I wanted to do Laythe as then I could get rid of the SSTO

http://imgur.com/a/PcbeZ#0

Vall:

Next on the list is Vall as I didn't need the droptanks for Bop and Pol, but still used the same lander.

http://imgur.com/a/knxWy#0

Pol:

Next was Pol instead of Bop as Pol was in an easier orbit, and I was getting nervous about my left fuel

http://imgur.com/a/40jV7#0

Bop:

I then went to Bop and surprisingly had enough fuel to do it and even return to Jool orbit.

http://imgur.com/a/4R1nc#0

Refuel Mission:

Then after trying to return to Kerbin I found out I did not have enough dV left, so I included a refueling mission.

http://imgur.com/a/getnI#0

Jool to Kerbin transfer and reentry:

http://imgur.com/a/twWHM#0

That's it, I was quite happy about this achievement as it was the first real big mission I pulled of. The previous biggest one was landing on Duna and Ike in one mission .

Feedback/ rep will be appriciated

Edited July 9, 2015 by nigelvn

[Wallygator]

Well done!

Regardless of design or approach the Jool challenge it a lot go work and effort - nice!

I've not attempted it myself yet, but have built a few crafts - your's are quite a build!

[LtWhiskers]

Sweet ship! I fancy your catamaran design

[GehringGame]

What LiWhiskers said, I love the dual hull design of your ship! I don't see that too often.

[Nich]

My only question is how did you do the pitch dark landings with no landing lights?

[nigelvn]

Thanks all!

My only question is how did you do the pitch dark landings with no landing lights?

As you can see I only landed on the dark side of Bop and Pol, which have the lowest gravity. Furthermore was the lander a bit overdesigned for those moons (as it also had to land/return from Vall) which allowed me to be less efficient with my fuel which in turn allowed me to manouvre a bit (this happened on Pol, I only saw on the last moment I landed on a slope, after which I had to burn to a flat area). Moreover I don't know for how long you played KSP, but after my 1000 hours I developed a sense of when to burn while landing in the dark

I do agree that lights would have been fancier, but with the ridiculous part count of the mothership I did not want to try.

Edited July 23, 2015 by nigelvn