JoolSat Mission

[SpaceYorkie]

Mission Briefing 

JoolSat^TM (Werner said we needed the ^TM to make us sound more serious, and not ludicrously stupid with this mission) is a mission about placing orbital surveying satellites around Jool, because the moons weren't enough. Call it overkill, I sure did, but in this mission three satellites must be consecutively launched. Without refuelling. From an SSTO. And the satellites must form a pentagonal shape because here at the KSC we have OCD, and a variety of other acronyms we pass off as qualifications to make us sound more... qualified.

Mission Objectives

Build an SSTO capable of holding 5 satellites that can perform orbital surveillance. Or at least try, we don't really mind.

Take off, and survive the ol' spinning-out-at-25000-meters-and-crashing scenario, or avoid it completely. The latter is a better choice, I guess.

Reach Kerbin orbit. From here you can go anywhere, but we want you to go to Jool. Or die trying. (We aren't responsible for any deaths).

Go to Jool, and reach low Jool orbit. Avoiding the thick, hot atmosphere of Jool is advised. We don't want the SSTO returning home half melted, or not returning at all.

Deploy the satellites, all three of them, in the shape of a triangle. (Summoning the Kraken is optional, the shape is a gift, he won't mind. I think).

Return home, and land at KSC or the airfield next to it on that island I can't reach with my helicopter.

If possible, post an image or a video of it. This is optional too, Jool is camera-shy sometimes, and so am I.

The Rules

The only mod you may use to assist you is the Mark 4 Spaceplane mod. Nothing else. Reason being, the Mark IV Spaceplane parts are BIG and have BIG engines. Really nice.

The height of the satellites in relation to Jool should be 300,000m high. 

All three satellites must be in working order. We'll try our best on the ground to build them that way.

You may make good use of gravity assists. Or die trying.

No cheats allowed. That upsets Werner.

How do I win?

Get your satellites as close to Jool as possible (300,000m above the surface to be precise), and as circular in orbit as possible. Should you succeed, post your apoapsis and periapsis with a screenshot (or video, those are fancy). There are two leaderboards, one for the most circular orbit, and another for how close your satellites are to the target. Good luck, and try not to blow anything up!

 

JoolSat^TM Leaderboard for Most Circular Satellite Orbit

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5.

 

JoolSat^TM Leaderboard for Closest Satellite Orbit to Target (300,000m)

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5.

 

 

Edited February 25, 2017 by SpaceYorkie
Challenge needed a way to "win". Also added a leaderboard for bragging rights. Also added rules.

[Planetace]

OK making a submission, saw tons of loopholes and thus have exploited them. And no, my ship is a SSTO, so dont think I have a fully reusable rocket that needs 2 stages to get to LKO...

[Planetace]

Welp SSTO died in reentry, but I must carry on! I am too far into the mission! I CANNOT STOP IT BECAUSE OF A SINGLE THING!

Edited February 22, 2017 by Planetace

[Planetace]

Yeeeee... Sorry but this challenge is impossible without cheats. Have fun with the submissions that will never come!

[Foxster]

I might give this a go...once the proposer posts his successful attempt as per the rules for posting challenges here. 

[Planetace]

16 hours ago, Foxster said:

I might give this a go...once the proposer posts his successful attempt as per the rules for posting challenges here. 

I don't think he will...

[SpaceYorkie]

Not to worry!

1. I updated the mission to make sure it was possible without cheating, which is good. I also allowed the use of 1 mod, the Mark IV Spaceplane Parts mod (optional) just to make it that little bit more easy.

2. I did the challenge for myself, at last, having re-read the rules of the challenge posting thing (thanks for the tip-off, Foxster). 

Now I am sure you are all wondering; "Yorkie, you dim-witted, half-minded Kerbonaut? Did you succeed?"

Sort of.

The satellites were around 2000m+ above the goal height, and... they don't really form a triangle, do they? Maybe if you squint your eyes. Not to mention, the orbital survey equipment they are supposed to carry isn't functional at that altitude, and its not in the right orbit. Great. I completely forgot (or didn't know at all) that orbital survey scanners don't work on sort-of-equatorial orbits.

As for the SSTO? I decided to use the Mark IV Spaceplane Parts mod (listed as allowed in the updated, now slightly-possible rules). How did it do, though? It did better. By better, I mean completely overshot the runway because the parachutes were deployed too late, and an airbrake burned off. One of them survived, so there's that. It is now splashed down a few hundred metres away from the runway, still somewhat intact. Kinda.

I hope Jeb, Val, Bill and Bob know how to swim, because as buoyant as this plane is, it's not a boat.

Good luck, more successful Kerbonauts! I'm certain you'll do better than I did. Anybody can do better than I did. Right?

[Planetace]

58 minutes ago, SpaceYorkie said:

Not to worry!

1. I updated the mission to make sure it was possible without cheating, which is good. I also allowed the use of 1 mod, the Mark IV Spaceplane Parts mod (optional) just to make it that little bit more easy.

2. I did the challenge for myself, at last, having re-read the rules of the challenge posting thing (thanks for the tip-off, Foxster). 

Now I am sure you are all wondering; "Yorkie, you dim-witted, half-minded Kerbonaut? Did you succeed?"

Sort of.

The satellites were around 2000m+ above the goal height, and... they don't really form a triangle, do they? Maybe if you squint your eyes. Not to mention, the orbital survey equipment they are supposed to carry isn't functional at that altitude, and its not in the right orbit. Great. I completely forgot (or didn't know at all) that orbital survey scanners don't work on sort-of-equatorial orbits.

As for the SSTO? I decided to use the Mark IV Spaceplane Parts mod (listed as allowed in the updated, now slightly-possible rules). How did it do, though? It did better. By better, I mean completely overshot the runway because the parachutes were deployed too late, and an airbrake burned off. One of them survived, so there's that. It is now splashed down a few hundred metres away from the runway, still somewhat intact. Kinda.

I hope Jeb, Val, Bill and Bob know how to swim, because as buoyant as this plane is, it's not a boat.

Good luck, more successful Kerbonauts! I'm certain you'll do better than I did. Anybody can do better than I did. Right?

Thats not a pentagram. You failed the mission.

Edited February 25, 2017 by Planetace

[SpaceYorkie]

Just now, Galacticvoyager said:

Thats not a pentagram. You failed the mission.

I updated the OP to make it easier on the player (and myself). OP now says three satellites instead of five.*

*I know, this challenge is confusing and badly thought out. Thus, I have requested it's deletion, so you don't need to bother doing this poorly-explained challenge anyway.

[sal_vager]

This challenge is now locked by request, @SpaceYorkie please don't be dissuaded from trying again.

Edit:

By the way, th challenge guidelines are a guide, not rules, and example attempts can be unsuccessful.

Quote

Is this challenge possible?

Many challenges we see are nearly or literally impossible to achieve, and usually very little thought has gone into them, these challenges just annoy people, waste forum space and show that the submitter hasn't really tried.

So test your challenge yourself first to make sure it is possible, you don't have to be successful but you'll soon know if the challenge has a hope of being completed.