Interplanetary Ion Challenge!

[Dat_Spy_44]

Anyone can get to Jool with slow but efficient engines, like the Terrier, or the nuclear engine. But what about the weakling of them all?

Challenge Description:Make it to Jool with Ion Engines.

Normal:Any amount of Ion engines.

Hard:1-5 Ion engines.

Super-Hard:1-3 Ion engines, and get into orbit.

Manley Mode (WARNING:VETERANS ONLY!):1 Ion engine, get into orbit, and back.

Since this is very hand even on normal, MechJeb is allowed.

RULES:

1.All engines can be used to get into orbit around Kerbin, that moment you orbit, Ion engines only.

2.No cheats, HyperEdit, etc.

3.Must have at least 5000 electric charge.

4.You may use gravitational slingshots to get to Jool and back to Kerbin.

5.No landing on anything but Kerbin.

6.KWRocketry, BDArmory, Kerbal Engineer, and MechJeb allowed.

7(Optional). Challenge your friends!

8.Send a screenshot of you at Jool with only Ion Engines.

How to make it fun: Make a DMP server with your friends and either cooperate or race against each other! Include BDArmory so you can blow up stuff on the way. Bring probes on gravitational slingshots so you have probes at other planets. Make the biggest rocket you can make! Challenge yourself without MechJeb!

Objective:Make an encounter with Jool from Kerbin with only Ion engines.

Good Luck!

Edited October 18, 2015 by Dat_Spy_44
Wrong layout for setting challenge.

[Foxster]

You might want to check the challenges guidance for what should be included for a successful challenge.

[The Optimist]

Ion engines cannot escape Kerbin alone

[Foxster]

3.Must have at least 5000 electric charge.

Why this?

[MaxL_1023]

Unless I am missing something, isn't this trivial? Put 2 gigantors on a probe core with some batteries and a big xenon tank and light up the ion engine. Once you are in orbit all it takes is delta-v, and ion craft have more of that than anything.

[Alphasus]

Unless I am missing something, isn't this trivial? Put 2 gigantors on a probe core with some batteries and a big xenon tank and light up the ion engine. Once you are in orbit all it takes is delta-v, and ion craft have more of that than anything.

Ions don't have enough thrust in atmospehere.

[Two]

"1.All engines can be used to get into orbit around Kerbin,"

Not sure if this is a challenge at all. Oo

[cantab]

It's not that hard, you just need to watch out for the lack of sunlight at Jool. You can spam RTGs, spam Gigantors, use fuel cells, or just accept even less thrust.

My Xena made an impromptu trip to Bop a while back on the way back from Moho. Though I suppose technically it doesn't qualify because I landed on Moho in a separate chemical-engine lander, and on Gilly and Bop by jetpack.

[Sanic]

With one RTG, you can produce .9 kN of constant thrust assuming you are out of electric charge.

[Foxster]

Here's little trip to Jool I made just now using ions...

Javascript is disabled. View full album

[JacobJHC]

Is aero-braking allowed?

[NotAgain]

On ‎20‎/‎10‎/‎2015 at 10:16 PM, The Optimist said:

Ion engines cannot escape Kerbin alone

You are wrong.

[purpleivan]

Here's my entry to the challenge in the Manley Mode category - 1 ion drive trip to Jool with a return to the surface of Kerbin.

As I was approaching Kerbin after my trip to Jool I realised that I'd made a terrbile mistake... no parachute for the landing.

I decided to see what I could do with the single ion drive to slow my descent and luckily it worked. I hit the ground at about 35m/s with the only casualties being the two big solar panels and the ion drive, which took the force of the impact.

[commonnerfer]

why can't we land i think bop would be cool

[Jetski]

7 hours ago, NotAgain said:

You are wrong.

Ion engines have terrible thrust in atmosphere.  I think he was trying to say you can't take off and make LKO then escape using ions alone.  If you believe this to be possible, then by all means let us know how to do it.  I would be very interested if anyone has made a working ion glider that can escape since 1.05 changed the aero.

Edit: also here is the Jool portion of a recent ion mission I did to land on every planet that could be landed on with ions.  scroll up and down to see if rest if you can be bothered.

Edited April 18, 2016 by Jetski

[commonnerfer]

46 minutes ago, Jetski said:

Ion engines have terrible thrust in atmosphere.  I think he was trying to say you can't take off and make LKO then escape using ions alone.  If you believe this to be possible, then by all means let us know how to do it.  I would be very interested if anyone has made a working ion glider that can escape since 1.05 changed the aero.

bop has no aphnosphere and a lower gravity than minimum

[Jetski]

2 hours ago, commonnerfer said:

bop has no aphnosphere and a lower gravity than minimum

Umm.  That's true, but the quote you replied to was this:

On 10/20/2015 at 5:16 PM, The Optimist said:

Ion engines cannot escape Kerbin alone

LKO is Low Kerbin Orbit.  I think we are having 2 different conversations lol

 

 

 

Ions work for landing and taking off on any planet except Laythe, Tylo, Kerbin, Eve, Jool, and Kerbol.  Even Duna is doable, if sketchy.

Edited April 19, 2016 by Jetski

[commonnerfer]

12 hours ago, Jetski said:

Umm.  That's true, but the quote you replied to was this:

LKO is Low Kerbin Orbit.  I think we are having 2 different conversations lol

 

oh oops i thought that yeah I'm still getting used to the new forum stuff there used to be replies many months ago

 

 

Ions work for landing and taking off on any planet except Laythe, Tylo, Kerbin, Eve, Jool, and Kerbol.  Even Duna is doable, if sketchy.

 

[NotAgain]

16 hours ago, Jetski said:

I think he was trying to say you can't take off and make LKO then escape using ions alone.

Oh.

I take back my earlier comment.

[commonnerfer]

i have built the craft but don't have the free time to make a video or record it yet finals are in a few days and I'm taking a break from most video games

 

[Turf]

Well... Use Better Time Warp to time warp up to 100 times.

Use gravity assist, planned and precise maneuver, etc....

Adding more ion engines are making more worse since it adds more mass, fuel, and electric charge consumption.

Add 4 Gigantor solar panel.

Add as many radial batteries as you can because they are massless, be sure that it's enough to do a very long burn....

And patience....

I would try this but in 1.0.5 or 1.1?

[Jetski]

This ship can go anywhere in the solar system in 1.05 (I don't think ions have been changed for 1.1), and has landed Val everywhere that has no atmosphere (other than Tylo).  KER and Transfer Window Planner were most helpful.  The top part with the 2 solar panels has a command chair and is the lander, the can is the transfer stage.  Sustained burn of about 500m/s on battery power, much more if the solar is working well (so anywhere inside of Duna).  Mission profile was that I left a drop pod and some xenon in LKO, went to Eve, left some more xenon in Eve orbit, went to Moho, landed, back to Eve to refuel, landed on Gilly, back to Kerbin to pick up the LKO xenon, then out to Duna/Dres/Jool/Eeloo, then home to Kerbin and down in the drop pod.  Hardest planet to land on was Vall weirdly.  Also, batteries are no longer massless as of 1.05 sadly.

Edited April 26, 2016 by Jetski

[Artheus]

On 20.10.2015 at 11:16 PM, The Optimist said:

Ion engines cannot escape Kerbin alone

They can. My second Jool mission was a Cassini-like probe powered only with one ion engine, i put 2k ec in it an fired at the dark side to enlarge my apoapsis. At the third time, i just kept firing the engine and set course for jool.