Galileo's BepiColombo (Icarus) Probe

[JadeOfMaar]

With the launch of the ESA/JAXA operated BepiColombo probe bound for Mercury, from French Guiana (pretty near to where I live) I got this idea for a challenge for users of Galileo's Planet Pack and Kerbal Konstructs.

In Kerbal fashion, Icarus is characterized with a number of references to seafood, crustaceans and extreme heat. It orbits lower than Moho does and is in a good few ways different from what you expect with a journey to Moho.

Requirements

Build and launch your own fully decked-out probe to study Icarus, and launch it from the DomRok site, not the default site. DomRok is the mid-sized island near the Uakora super-continent, and its space center is roughly 7 deg south, not north, of the equator, incidentally granting some familiarity to the French Guiana launch site.

If you don't use Kerbal Konstructs then it's okay still, launch from the default KSC/GSC. But you're missing out on the earliest part and a great part of the challenge.

Spoiler

Your probe, on arrival, must separate into 3, and MUST contain:

• A solar-fed transfer stage.
• The lower probe body which will study the planet's surface and interior (with whatever installed mods apply).
• The upper probe body which will scan the magnetosphere and all things exosphere within the SOI (with whatever installed mods apply).

The real BepiColombo probe will spend 7 years gravity braking at Venus and (several passes at) Mercury. But in GPP, your probe can gravity brake through flyby of Niven, Thalia, and Icarus itself.

Ranking

As with my Angelo Kerman's Gold Rush challenge I'm more interested in a mission report than a scoreboard, but for score-keeping, how about the following. Ranked players gain silver, bronze or gold medals per ranked item. These medals will be tallied and weighed for the final rank.

• Did you launch from DomRok? (Ranked. Silver if Yes, Bronze if No)
• How many flyby at each planet? (Rank for highest count: style points for patience and efficiency)
• If you flyby Thalia: (Rank for players who like to live on the edge: more passes and more boldly going where kerbals don't wanna go)
  • Did you fortify the probe? (Gold if No and passed low but undamaged. Silver if No and undamaged. Bronze if Yes and undamaged. No medal if No and damaged.)
  • How many flyby? (Rank for more counts)
  • Did you pass very low? (Ranked for low(est) Periapsis)
• Total transit time at the end of the Gael ejection burn? (Can rank for beefy ion clusters and TWR to shorten transit time, or for more efficient and longer transit)
• Did you use any of Gael's moons for gravity assist? (Bronze for Iota, Silver for Ceti, Gold for both)
• How much dV did you use at each burn phase? (Not ranked)
  • Plane changes(s) in Gael SOI
  • Gael ejection
  • Mid-course correction
  • Icarus capture
• dV in orbit before firing the ion engines (Used for % dV ranking)
• dV remaining after Icarus capture (Ranked for more % dV saved)
• Rescaled GPP? (Not ranked but good for bragging rights)

Precautions/anti-cheat:

• Your launcher must have no more than 4 km/s vac dV at stock scale; 6.3 km/s at 2.5x; 7.2 km/s in 3.2x.
• The probe transfer stage must run on XenonGas (The Xenon engines from Near Future Propulsion are allowed).
• No nuclear reactors.

Ranking Time

The contest aspect of this challenge ends December 1st. Signature badges will be provided, and I may offer a more tangible prize to the gold winner.

Spoiler

I can't do money. Perhaps a flag or two, another sort of graphic, or a part. (No IVAs, sorry. And I haven't yet learned to do animations other than engine heat.)

 

Edited October 20, 2018 by JadeOfMaar

[doggonemess]

I am intrigued! I'll add this to my gigantic pile of Kerbal stuff I want to do.