Journey to the Planets - Chapter 8 (Jool-5 Mission )

[Venturer2Space]

Chapter 8: Jool-5!

 

In today's edition of Journey to the Planets the valiant Kerbals of the Kerpollo Program headed out to Jool and visited not one but all five moons! 

(NOTE: This was my biggest mission to date and required a lot of testing and planning hence the delay in posting this chapter  ) 

Blueprints: 

Orbiter:

Spoiler

Here, the blueprint for the orbiter can be seen. It follows the same basic design as previous nuclear powered orbiters but with a few modifications.

This iteration of nuclear orbiter has: more droptanks, five engines, a truly enormous reaction wheel, a large battery supply and a fuel reserve to refuel the multi purpose lander. 

Landers:

Spoiler

The top section of this stack will be used to land on Pol, Bop, Vall and will be refuelled by the orbiter's fuel reserve. The middle section of the stack will be used to land on Laythe and the bottom section will be used to land on Tylo. After each lander has completed its objective they will be jettisoned to reduce the amount of fuel that needs to spent to return to Kerbin. 

After a bit of fiddling around, I managed to squeeze everything into this enormous rocket, which turned out to not as big as I thought!  

 

Kerbin to Pol: 

Spoiler

(Here's the obligatory pre-launch tech tree pic.) 

It's a beautiful sunny day, as Valentina and Jeb prepare to head out to Jool on the rather unimaginatively named spacecraft: Jool-5 Craft. Bob will not be utilised on this mission as all the landers are seat-controlled and I want to retain the use of maneuver nodes at all time. 

Heading up to Low Kerbin Orbit with a bang

The side boosters were discarded at this point enabling the rest of the launch vehicle to inch its way into orbit. At this point my laptop stopped lagging at the sheer number of parts being utilised on this mission  

The ship heads out to the Jool system. Val and Jeb settle down for a very long game of cards... 

After around 2 years transit time the ship arrives at the Jool system. The craft utilises a gravity assist past Tylo to reduce the delta-v insertions requirements down to around 600 m/s. 

 

At last! Jeb and Val halt their card game to flip the ship around for a final burn into Pol's orbit. 

Val heads down to the surface and successfully touches down on the dusty surface of Pol. Only, EVA reports and surface sample were available to her as science experiments were not included on the landers to cut down on mass and fuel penalties. Nevertheless, much science was accomplished!

The lander redocks to the nose of the ship and Valentina EVAs back to the command module hauling her precious cargo of Science! The crew get ready to head to their second destination.

Heading to Bop: 

Spoiler

After burning out of Pol's orbit, the crew set sail (metaphorically speaking..) towards the small yet bizzarely inclined moon that is Bop. 

A satisfactory orbit was achieved and Valentina prepared once again to head down to the surface. 

The lander undocks from the orbiter on the dark side of Bop and heads for the surface. 

Success! Valentina even has time to grab a selfie of her planting the glorious flag of the Kerpollo Program. 

The lander hops back into orbit and Val grabs another selfie this time with Jool hanging in the background. 

The ship docks with the returned lander and Val heads back to the command module to settle in for the the next transit to Vall.. 

Vall, Valentina Kerman's favourite destination...:

Spoiler

Valentina was looking forward to the mission's next destination simply because it was her namesake. You see, long ago Valentina's mother had looked up into the sky through a telescope and observed that icy moon hanging in the darkness and decided to name her daughter after it... 

Valentina quickly ignites the nuclear drives in an effort to reach Vall as quickly as possible. 

After a bit of fiddling, a reasonable intercept course is plotted 

On the way to Vall, the outer four nuclear engines are ejected leaving the one nuke and its drop tanks to propel the orbiter and the landers. 

Orbit achieved! The ship slows down into a reasonable orbit and Val prepares to embark to the surface

Val lands safely on Vall's icy surface and grabs some selfies again with the lander and the flag. She also grabs a few surface samples to take back to the orbiter. 

After a bountiful excursion Val returns from the surface of Vall (see what I did there..  ) and docks to the the nose of the orbiter. 

Having completed its purpose of landing on Pol, Bop and Vall the top lander is ejected and the ship is made ready for the next destination. 

 

Watery Laythe: 

Spoiler

The ship burns out of Vall's orbit and heads toward the watery moon of Laythe. Back in Mission Control, Bob was steaming with envy as he wanted to explore that mysterious moon himself. Luckily Wernher was able to prevent Bob from sneaking onto the Jool-5 Craft by sedating him. 

Orbit was once again nicely achieved. After a few additional burns the ship was ready to release the Laythe Lander and Val to head down to the surface. 

The Laythe Lander ejects from the rest of the ship and heads down to the surface. 

After a slightly harrowing entry into the atmosphere of Laythe the lander submerges itself into the oceans of the Laythe. Not to worry though, Valentina and the lander remained unharmed due to the lander being designed to withstand a water landing. 

The ascent stage climbs back into Laythe Orbit to meet up with the orbiter. (The eagle eyed among you will notice that the seat is actually located inside the toridial tanks to reduce the amount of drag and protect the pilot on ascent and descent) 

After a short waiting period, the lander makes a few short burns and docks with the orbiter. Jeb heads outside to take pictures of the whole spacecraft in all of its glory. 

After Valentina returned to the command module, the lander is released having expended all of its fuel and achieved its majestic purpose of landing and returning from a Kerbin-like world.

 

 

 

Tiresome Tylo: 

Spoiler

The Jool-5 Craft blasts its way out of Laythe's orbit and heads to Tylo. 

After I tinkered with the maneuver nodes we achieve an intercept with Tylo. 

A quick burn is required to do some last minute adjustments to make sure the altitude of the orbit is suitable for our purposes. 

After some, burning the ship arrives in Tylo's orbit intact, but Val and Jeb grow weary of playing their card games and have resorted to playing noughts and crosses.. 

The Tylo Lander separates from the orbiter and Valentina plots a course for the surface of Tylo. (NOTE: This landing was particularly nerve racking as the high gravity of Tylo chipped away at my fuel reserves) 

Thank goodness! The lander touches down relatively intact on the surface of this cursed rock. (The decoupler to the side of the lander is what remained of the descent stage after touching down) 

After some enjoyable cavorting about on the surface, Val pilots the lander into an intercept course with the orbiter. 

Eureka! The final destination has been crossed off the list and Valentina redocks with the orbiter. 

Having completed its purpose the lander is undocked from the orbiter and left to remain in Tylo's orbit as a monument to the Kerpollo Program's achievements. 

 

 

Heading Back to Kerbin: 

Spoiler

Firstly, the ship raises its orbit to an altitude that is high enough to avoid any accidental encounters with any of Jool's moons while waiting for the transfer window. 

Jeb and Val wave goodbye to the green orb of Jool as they ignite the remaining nuclear engine and head back to Kerbin. 

After a couple of years, the ship arrives back at Kerbin and the ship begins its braking burn and ejects its expended side tanks 

A nice circular orbit is achieved. The final step before the command module plunges through the atmosphere and heads back to Kerbin's surface. 

The nuclear engine is jettisoned before entering the atmosphere. The administrators of the Kerpollo Program began to grow slightly worried about the environmental effects of releasing nuclear waste materials into the atmosphere but dismissed these worries as insignificant.. 

The ship splashes down off the coast of the Kerbal Space Centre and the crew await the recovery team to retrieve them... 

 

After Mission Results: 

Even without bringing any science experiments, the mission was able to retrieve around 1900 Science, an impressive measure by any count.

 

Weekly Joke: 

Q: What do you call a spacecraft that drips water? 

A: A crying saucer... 

 

As usual thanks for reading and get ready for the last chapter coming soon! We'll be visiting Eve and Gilly.. 

 

Edited July 26, 2020 by Venturer2Space

[KerballingSmasher]

21 hours ago, Venturer2Space said:

Q: What do you call a spacecraft that drips water? 

A: A crying saucer... 

PFFFFFFT-

[Venturer2Space]

6 minutes ago, KerballingSmasher said:

PFFFFFFT-

I have an infinite supply of these sort of jokes don’t you worry  

[Venturer2Space]

I haven't forgotten about this guys don't you worry ! Me and my terrible jokes will return in a final chapter that will be delivered within the next few weeks or so 

[Kerminator K-100]

Hmm, I'm guessing either Eve, an asteroid, a comet, or Kerbol.

Loving the jokes.

[Venturer2Space]

1 hour ago, Kerminator1000 said:

Hmm, I'm guessing either Eve, an asteroid, a comet, or Kerbol.

Loving the jokes.

One of these guesses is correct....

You'll have to wait and see which one it is  

[Kerminator K-100]

34 minutes ago, Venturer2Space said:

One of these guesses is correct....

You'll have to wait and see which one it is  

Now that I looked at the challenge, I'm guessing Eve.

[Venturer2Space]

Apologies for the lack of updates guys. I've been really busy with studies recently and haven't had much time for KSP ....

I will definitely complete this challenge by hook or by crook! It's just taking a bit longer than I anticipated. 

Thank you for your patience and I hope to see you soon for the Final Expedition to Eve.....