first ion ship

[Perotis]

is cool starting a mission with 9k D/v

[Guest]

19 minutes ago, Perotis said:

is cool starting a mission with 9k D/V

Indeed it is, well done!  Where is it going?

[Perotis]

trying to rescue some stranded science from Jool.  didn't realize that the sunlight that far out would be so weak though.  Even the solar panels in the picture are not enough to run the engines

 

[Guest]

Try only running one engine.  Good luck!

[HoloYolo]

Problem is they are slow as hell and the mission probably took ages.

[otblock]

Next time, there are other methods. I believe proper use of thrust limits and fuel cells could do the trick. Or, you could use nukes. Either works, but nukes carry more.

[Jetski]

I've been using batteries mainly.  A single RTG or a few solar panels to trickle charge up while warping is sufficient, then have about 4K per thruster worth of batteries and you can do a Jool ion mission fairly well.  Gives 400-600 dV worth of electricity per burn, which is plenty if you plan your mission well.  Good fun.  I tried hauling a fuel cell with a can of gas, but it worked out better weight-wise to just beef up my battery bank.  Check out the Ions Everywhere challenge - a few different approaches can be seen there.

[Vanamonde]

This sharing of a craft has been moved to the craft-sharing subforum.