The Ultimate Jool 5 Challenge Continued

[JacobJHC]

Hey everyone I'm back! Sorry for the inactivity, the last month has been very busy for me IRL. I'm excited to see recent submissions and will look at them in a timely manner. Thank you for your understanding.  

[OutInSpace]

Quick question - would PersistentThrust be acceptable? I'm sketching out a level three mission profile around an ion mothership, which obviously involves long burn times. PersistentThrust just lets you accelerate under timewarp, and doesn't change the actual capabilities of the craft.
 

I know the answer is probably yes, but I just wanna make sure before I actually engineer and run the mission! It'd be a shame to have it shot down.

[JacobJHC]

1 hour ago, SomewhereOutInSpace said:

Quick question - would PersistentThrust be acceptable? I'm sketching out a level three mission profile around an ion mothership, which obviously involves long burn times. PersistentThrust just lets you accelerate under timewarp, and doesn't change the actual capabilities of the craft.
 

I know the answer is probably yes, but I just wanna make sure before I actually engineer and run the mission! It'd be a shame to have it shot down.

Yep that's fine. I'm excited to see the mothership!

[TotallyNotHuman]

I've been planning on doing a Jool-5 for a while now and I've finally managed to hold on to the same savefile for long enough to do so. The problem is that some of the prohibited mods are installed in this particular save, and I don't want to remove them and potentially break things.

@JacobJHC would it be acceptable if I design the mothership and landers in a separate install/save without these mods, but fly the mission in my main save? Or would you prefer some other way of proving that I didn't use the prohibited mods?

[sturmhauke]

The decision is up to @JacobJHC of course, but there are couple of utility mods that can help ensure you don't accidentally use a mod part. Craft Manager can read your craft files and tell you if they are stock, or what mods were used. Janitor's Closet lets you show or hide parts from specific mods in the editor.

[OutInSpace]

On 7/26/2020 at 4:06 PM, TotallyNotHuman said:

 The problem is that some of the prohibited mods are installed in this particular save, and I don't want to remove them and potentially break things.

I know @sturmhauke already gave you some tips, but I wanted to add this: so long as you don't load the save after removing the unauthorized mods, nothing will break. I used CKAN to export my regular modlist before removing all the unauthorized mods and starting a new Sandbox save for the express purpose of this challenge.

[OutInSpace]

I've almost finished my mothership! I ended up ditching the ion mothership idea thanks to part count problems, and I've instead settled on a Mk3 nuclear design.

Spoiler

The strutted-in thing towards the front is my combination Tylo/Vall lander. I swear it works - it lands on Tylo, returns to orbit (ditching the side boosters in the process) and the core booster refuels from a dedicated tank on the mothership before being ferried to and landing on Vall.

The cargo bay just behind the cockpit houses the combo Pol/Bop lander. It's a tiny little ion chair, but it has TWR >4 on both moons and more than enough power to see it through to landing and ascent.

Not pictured:

* 12t Laythe spaceplane lander - docks atop the fuel tank behind the T/V lander. Single RAPIER engine, plus parachutes to compensate for my inability to land it properly.

* Rhino interplanetary transfer boosters - they double-dock on each side of the rear fuel tanks and provide the 2kms of dV needed for the Jool transfer. This is partially so I have the maximum amount of dV for capturing at Jool (I tried to do the Tylo gravity capture thingy but couldn't line up the encounter right) and partially because its high TWR makes the transfer burn a lot easier.

EDIT: The test run has been successfully completed! There were only two hiccups:

* The T/V lander ran out of fuel right at the end of its Tylo ascent and had to finish the burn on RCS. The motheship swung by to pick it up. Added some extra fuel to the T/V lander to compensate, and I'll be making sure to aim for the highlands on the actual run.

* After getting my Kerbin encounter, I was subject to the nasty realization that I had nowhere enough dV for a capture burn. The solution was to burn the drives in tandem with a 40km aerocapture (spinning it like a top to prevent rapid unplanned melting), followed by several far tamer aerobrakes to settle into LKO.

If all goes well I'll have the successful run recorded tomorrow, and hopefully I'll have it edited soon after that!

Edited July 31, 2020 by OutInSpace
update

[SiriusRocketry]

I've been occupied with flying 11,600 miles across our planet, so haven't been able to do much besides basic rejiggering of designs. Hoping to ramp up the efforts in a couple weeks.

[OutInSpace]

Right, well, without further ado, here is my Third Level entry to the challenge! Things went considerably better than they did in my test run (see above) - I directly captured into Tylo orbit from my interplanetary transfer, saving me something in the ballpark of 2-3km/s of dV - enough that I could do a powered Kerbin capture rather than an aerocapture. The mothership, T/V lander, and P/B lander performed admirably. The Laythe spaceplane... was difficult to control, but that's what quicksaves are for!

The video is quite long, even after speeding up much of the footage in post (wanted to keep a continuity and not leave anything important out by accident) but I've put timestamps in the description so you can just skip to the relevant stuff. I can also post the raw footage or craft files if desired!

The mission used a total of 8 launches, with a final cost of ~4,937,317 funds.

Mods used: MechJeb2, AVP, Chatterer/Chatterer Extended, EVE, KAC, KER, PlanetShine, Scatterer, TextureReplacer.

Spoiler

Footage captured by Windows 10 Game Bar. Footage edited by Windows 10 Video Editor.

Total game time: Approximately 8 and a half hours.

 

Edited August 2, 2020 by OutInSpace

[Entropian]

So I completed this challenge at 3rd level (I think).  8 kerbonauts went to all of Jool's moons in 4 lander cans.  Mechjeb and Luna Multiplayer were installed, but not used.  No parts mods or physics-changing mods were used. 

Takeoff:

Ascent:

I forgot to take photos of the transfer to Minmus though.

Descending to Minmus:

Landed:

Flag:

Refueling:

Takeoff:

Transfer to Jool:

Correction burn:

After a Tylo gravity assist, I got this transfer to Laythe:

Aerobraking: 

Landed:

Flag:

Takeoff:

Vall transfer:

After braking:

Descending:

Flag:

Takeoff:

Orbit:

Tylo transfer:

Tylo descent:

Landed:

Flag:

Takeoff:

Orbit:

After some gravity assists:

Pol capture complete:

Pol descent:

Landed:

Flag:

Takeoff:

Bop transfer:

Capture complete:

Descent:

Landed:

I forgot to plant a flag on Bop; does this disqualify me?

Takeoff:

Transfer back to Kerbin:

Propulsively braking at Kerbin:

Reentry:

I was landing in the dark so I ended up smashing up the top of my craft having a hard splashdown, but any landing you can walk away from...

Thanks for continuing this challenge.

Edited August 19, 2020 by Entropian
Figured out how to embed Dropbox links

[JacobJHC]

On 7/26/2020 at 4:06 PM, TotallyNotHuman said:

I've been planning on doing a Jool-5 for a while now and I've finally managed to hold on to the same savefile for long enough to do so. The problem is that some of the prohibited mods are installed in this particular save, and I don't want to remove them and potentially break things.

@JacobJHC would it be acceptable if I design the mothership and landers in a separate install/save without these mods, but fly the mission in my main save? Or would you prefer some other way of proving that I didn't use the prohibited mods?

Yeah that's fine, as long as the craft itself doesn't have or use any forbidden mods it's all fine.

[JacobJHC]

On 8/2/2020 at 2:49 PM, OutInSpace said:

Right, well, without further ado, here is my Third Level entry to the challenge! Things went considerably better than they did in my test run (see above) - I directly captured into Tylo orbit from my interplanetary transfer, saving me something in the ballpark of 2-3km/s of dV - enough that I could do a powered Kerbin capture rather than an aerocapture. The mothership, T/V lander, and P/B lander performed admirably. The Laythe spaceplane... was difficult to control, but that's what quicksaves are for!

The video is quite long, even after speeding up much of the footage in post (wanted to keep a continuity and not leave anything important out by accident) but I've put timestamps in the description so you can just skip to the relevant stuff. I can also post the raw footage or craft files if desired!

The mission used a total of 8 launches, with a final cost of ~4,937,317 funds.

Mods used: MechJeb2, AVP, Chatterer/Chatterer Extended, EVE, KAC, KER, PlanetShine, Scatterer, TextureReplacer.

  Hide contents

Footage captured by Windows 10 Game Bar. Footage edited by Windows 10 Video Editor.

Total game time: Approximately 8 and a half hours.

 

Congratulations @OutInSpace on completing the Jool 5 Challenge on level 3! While you submission is longer than most, it was no less entertaining. I liked how you included the failed landing/launch attempts, and I really liked your mother ship. Seriously, it was already big to begin with, but the absolute SIZE of those size boosters made it a very kerbal construction. I will add you to the leaderboard now!

[JacobJHC]

@Entropian I'm reviewing your mission now and I have a quick question. How did you land on Laythe with 0 delta-v remaining?

[Guest]

1 hour ago, JacobJHC said:

@Entropian I'm reviewing your mission now and I have a quick question. How did you land on Laythe with 0 delta-v remaining?

I looked at his submission, he has a drill at the bottom where he can refuel

[Entropian]

15 hours ago, JacobJHC said:

How did you land on Laythe with 0 delta-v remaining?

I ran out of fuel literally as I landed.

I forgot to mention that it has ISRU capabilities.  It's also an SSTO.

Edited August 17, 2020 by Entropian

[theJesuit]

I have a question... I realise that the mission is for a single 'Transfer launch' to Jool, however:

In a save, could this be a second mission to the Jool  System?

As an example, could you send an Scanning satellite to the Jool system ahead, so that you are able to scout for Ore ahead of time?

Or even satellites that have already landed to collect precious science?

No interaction with the first satellites or landers would occur for the challenge mission.

Or should this be a 'first' mission with the Ore scanner part of the mothership, or carried with it?

[Guest]

Would it be okay if I where to attatch a Jool Probe with my submission to dive into Jool? It would collect science and transmit it back to the main spacecraft.

I also made a custom suit for this challenge...

 

[JacobJHC]

On 8/6/2020 at 10:53 AM, Entropian said:

So I completed this challenge at 3rd level (I think).  8 kerbonauts went to all of Jool's moons in 4 lander cans.  Mechjeb and Luna Multiplayer were installed, but not used.  No parts mods or physics-changing mods were used. 

Takeoff:

Ascent:

I forgot to take photos of the transfer to Minmus though.

Descending to Minmus:

Landed:

Flag:

Refueling:

Takeoff:

Transfer to Jool:

Correction burn:

After a Tylo gravity assist, I got this transfer to Laythe:

Aerobraking: 

Landed:

Flag:

Takeoff:

Vall transfer:

After braking:

Descending:

Flag:

Takeoff:

Orbit:

Tylo transfer:

Tylo descent:

Landed:

Flag:

Takeoff:

Orbit:

After some gravity assists:

Pol capture complete:

Pol descent:

Landed:

Flag:

Takeoff:

Bop transfer:

Capture complete:

Descent:

Landed:

I forgot to plant a flag on Bop; does this disqualify me?

Takeoff:

Transfer back to Kerbin:

Propulsively braking at Kerbin:

Reentry:

I was landing in the dark so I ended up smashing up the top of my craft having a hard splashdown, but any landing you can walk away from...

Thanks for continuing this challenge.

Congratulations @Entropian on completing the Jool 5 challenge on level 3! Building an SSTA that can handle Tylo is already challenging enough, not to mention how tall yours was. Similarly, your tight-margin landing on Laythe is something truly kerbal, and I like how you used the 5-meter tank section with the built-in nosecone flares. Even though you forgot the Bop flag, I will still put you in the main thread since your mission did everything else it needed to excluding the flag, and you were on Bop. 

[JacobJHC]

On 8/23/2020 at 7:04 PM, theJesuit said:

I have a question... I realise that the mission is for a single 'Transfer launch' to Jool, however:

In a save, could this be a second mission to the Jool  System?

As an example, could you send an Scanning satellite to the Jool system ahead, so that you are able to scout for Ore ahead of time?

Or even satellites that have already landed to collect precious science?

No interaction with the first satellites or landers would occur for the challenge mission.

Or should this be a 'first' mission with the Ore scanner part of the mothership, or carried with it?

Yeah an ore satellite is fine to send ahead, just make sure no actual transfer of science occurs tho between the Jool 5 mission and previous missions. Preferably you'd bring the ore scanner with you, but it's not  required.

 

On 8/23/2020 at 9:18 PM, The Doodling Astronaut said:

Would it be okay if I where to attatch a Jool Probe with my submission to dive into Jool? It would collect science and transmit it back to the main spacecraft.

I also made a custom suit for this challenge...

 

Yeah that's fine. Please do post a picture of your custom suit!

Edited August 28, 2020 by JacobJHC

[Guest]

10 minutes ago, JacobJHC said:

Yeah that's fine. Please do post a picture of your custom suit!

Evolving it off from my Eve Crew Lander mission suit

I have the full gallery here:

https://kerbalanders.wordpress.com/2020/08/23/making-jool-5-stuff-jool-5-diaries-1/

Right now I am deciding if Ion engines would be worth the cost of time and energy.

Edited August 28, 2020 by Guest

[JacobJHC]

1 hour ago, The Doodling Astronaut said:

Right now I am deciding if Ion engines would be worth the cost of time and energy.

They are the most efficient bet, but they are also the most annoying. As someone who has done NUMEROUS missions using ion engines, I must warn you your patience will be tested.

[Nebulagoodies]

I'm building a Jool V of my own.

[Nebulagoodies]

i took it out to Jool and failed at taking off from Laythe  might try it another time.

[JacobJHC]

1 hour ago, Nebulagoodies said:

i took it out to Jool and failed at taking off from Laythe  might try it another time.

Something similar happened on my first Jool 5 attempt, the kraken destroyed my Tylo lander. I wish you the best of luck in any and all future attempts.

[JcoolTheShipbuilder]

hmmm... i have a plan for a massive mission, with a gigantic mothership that might be able to land on Vall to refuel, but it will carry two large capacity landers for Tylo and Laythe, i might bring 100 kerbals (although the massive mothership can hold 360) lol